The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 1

IrJ 55 I TT LP i I. A ijm; inM msm mmsmms WEATHER: Good chance of storms but no hurricane yet. High 91, low 73. Details, page A-2. TUESDAY, September 19, 1989 1969 Sentinel Commurucatxyn Company 35 cents The best newspaper in Florida One Orlando SeMMei.

"63" 57 60 75 WT rrtn na TT' No firm forecast yet for Florida Advice to get ready or relax probably will be Wednesday PUERTO RICO 27,900 homeless; looting; hotels damaged CUBA MONTSERRAT 6 deaths reported; 12,000 are homeless ANTIGUA 2 deaths reported GUADELOUPE 5 deaths reported; 10,000 are homeless By Maya Bell BAHAMAS U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS Looting on St. Croix; boats, homes battered SENTINEL MIAMI BUREAU 18 JAMAICA States. The trough could draw the hurricane northward and away from land. The low is sitting between two high-pressure systems, one in the middle Atlantic and one building over the eastern United States.

If the low-pressure system is squeezed out, building a bridge between the two highs, Hugo would be forced to seek the path of least resistance. It would then be blocked from turning north and likely take a more westerly direction, aiming at the United States. Even if that should happen, it is still too early for forecasters to say where Hugo would likely come ashore. "It could be anywhere from Key West in Florida to Cape Hatteras in North Carolina," Sheets said. "But that's still three or four days away, and anything could happen between now and then." DOMINICAN Pafrn 15 REPUBLIC UN I bfcnriA I jgaVJ ADcLUU CORAL GABLES Wednesday probably will be decision day for Floridians anxiously tracking the path of Hurricane Hugo.

That is when forecasters at the National Hurricane Center expect to be able to predict whether the storm will hit the United States. Center director Bob Sheets said Hugo was weakened by its rampage across Puerto Rico but was expected to regain strength as it continued to move over open waters. Hugo was predicted to hit the Turks and Caicos Islands today and then head for the Bahamas, arriving Wednesday. A low-pressure trough bordering the East Coast is the key to whether Hugo will miss the United i u- rr. I r- Hugo and Iris Caribbean Se 1 1 Miles BARBADgS JIU SHARGAA SENTINEL 10:30 p.m.

Monday: Hugo center at 20.1 north, 67.2 west, moving northwest at 12 mph. Iris farther east. Hly Rue Puerto DWS mm jll COMPILED FROM WIRE REPORTS The full story Florida warned against getting ready too early Ham radio operators keep the world plugged In How to help relief efforts Page A-4 f7 J4 Lv SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Hurricane Hugo's 125 mph winds pounded Puerto Rico on Monday after ripping across other islands in the eastern Caribbean, leaving at least 14 people dead and tens of thousands homeless. The National Weather Service said Hugo, the most powerful storm to hit the region this decade, slammed into the eastern tip of Puerto Rico and skirted the northern coast before roaring off toward the Bahamas. Puerto Rico Gov.

Rafael Hernandez Colon said late Monday he will "ask President Bush to declare the island a disaster area" after a tour showed at least 27,900 people were made homeless by the storm. Colon and Police Superintendent Ismael Betancourt said there were no reports right away of deaths in the hurricane but that poor communications across the island prevented definitive reports on damages or casualties. Hugo is expected to graze the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Civil defense authorities in the Dominican Republic declared a state of emergency and the country's four international airports were closed. Eastern Airlines spokeswoman -5 I i ef Karen Ceremsak in Miami said it flew a special Boeing 727 charter to the Dominican resort of Puerto Plata Monday and returned to Miami with about 135 vacationers.

From tiny Culebra, a Puerto Ri-can island midway between Puerto Rico and St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, came reports that 80 percent of homes were destroyed and many of the 2,000 residents had fled into dense mangroves for shelter. Four bodies and more than 100 boats were reported washed ashore. In the Virgin Islands, according to amateur-radio reports, between half and 80 percent of homes on St. Croix were destroyed.

An oper-! ator in St. Thomas reported that work crews had started clearing wreckage but that it would take least five days to restore electric power and telephone service. In Washington, spokesman Bill Please see HUGO, A-4 ASSOCIATED PRESS San Juan airport worker Ramon Quinones passes a destroyed plane that was slammed into a passenger walkway. Wymore graduate beating the odds AZT maker cuts cost of AIDS drug Japanese gas sippers top EPA list ASSOCIATED PRESS By Mary Meehan OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Wymore last year he wanted to go to college. And his teachers, principal REUTERS ASSOCIATED PRESS EATONVILLE Security guards watch the gates of Wymore Career Education Center, keeping drug dealers and pimps out and kids in.

Students generally end up at Wymore after failing everywhere else. They are mostly poor, and if there is a parent at home it's usually a woman alone. The campus is the Orange County system's last, gasping effort to get students a high school diploma. But when Theo Wallace went to and counselors Wallace made sure he did. Through donations as small as $5 and as large as $1,000, they collected enough to pay about $1,500 in tuition and books not covered by financial aid.

They lent him luggage, bought him clothes and even passed along a few bucks for a pizza with friends. They did a quick shuffle to find a second university for Wallace to attend when Please see WYMORE, A-6 Candid camera Trial watcher Richard Hooper grabbed Jim Bakker for a photo Monday as the evangelist entered the courthouse in Charlotte, N.C. A witness said PTL's board lacked direction, A-5. Former employee at Martin charged in bidding scheme '11 IILL WASHINGTON London-based Wellcome PLC cut the price of its anti-AIDS drug AZT by 20 percent Monday, but U.S. AIDS activists said a bigger reduction is needed to bring the costly drug within reach of those who need it.

"We are pleased to see the price lowered but we feel that, to be fair and to put AZT within the reach of most people with AIDS, the price needs to be reduced much further," said Mervyn Silverman, president of the American Foundation for AIDS Research in New York. "For the most seriously ill people, who are taking this drug at full dose, it is still out of reach," said Timothy J. Sweeney of the Gay Men's Health Crisis. But U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan said the price cut was a welcome move nonetheless.

"This is good news for those infected with HIV the AIDS virus who can benefit from AZT treatment, and it is good news for the health care system as a whole," Sullivan said. Pressure for a price cut in AZT, which is sold by Wellcome under the brand name Retrovir, has been intensifying since a recent U.S. study found it was effective in delaying the onset of acquired Please see AZT, A-6 WASHINGTON Japanese automakers are still producing the most fuel-efficient cars tiny compacts getting up to 55 miles per gallon while the list of "gas guzzlers" is dominated by expensive, luxurious European models, government fuel economy figures showed Monday. The vehicle mileage survey, based on industry and government tests on all 1990 model cars, trucks and vans, showed little change over the previous year, although the number of vehicles subject to the "guzzler" tax dropped from 40 to 32. The tax, which can add $3,850 to the price of a car, kicks in on automobiles that get overall fuel efficiency of less than 22.5 miles per gallon.

Bob Larson, branch manager of the Environmental Protection Agency testing lab in Ann Arbor, said that, overall, the nearly 1,000 models tested averaged 24 mpg in combined city-highway driving. They ranged from the top-rated Geo Metro XFI, a small Japanese-made car sold by General Motors, that got a combined 55 mpg, including 58 mpg on the highway, to the two-seater Lamborghini Coun-tach, which managed only 6 mpg Please see CARS, A-6 By Richard Burnett OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Almanac A-2 Ann Landers E-7 Business C-1 Local state B-1 Classified F-1 Names and faces A-2 Comics E-8 Obituaries B-4 Corrections A-3 Sports D-1 Crossword E-7 Style E-1 Editorial page A-10 Television E-6 procurement official, used inside information to help Wynn's Welding Inc. win more than $67,500 in contracts from Martin Marietta Electronics Missiles Group in Orlando. The alleged scheme took place from Jan. 16, 1987, to Sept.

11, 1987, according to court documents. McDowell was not a Martin employee during that time, but court documents indicate that he could have obtained bid information from current Martin employees. Martin officials referred the Fease see MARTIN, A-6 Greg Dawson is mad because 'War and Remembrance' beat 'Lonesome Dove' for an Emmy. Page E-1 Federal authorities Monday arrested a former Martin Marietta Corp. employee and charged him with bilking the company of thousands of dollars through a kickback scheme that involved selling inside bidding information to an Orlando welding company.

George H. McDowell, 62, was arrested at his Orlando home and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to the alleged scheme. Authorities charge that Mcllwell, a former Martin IN A WORD bilk, BILK: verb. Altered form of balk. To balk or thwart.

To cheat or swindle. To get away paying. To elude..