Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 6

A-6 Thursday August 25. 1994 THE NATION i il Ell to fofesEs era itate retafffs In final arguments, Republicans said there was plenty, of time to pass crime legislation before Jt 1- 1 1 llltf. 4 Mil, VlO nil- A. 4Ua bill to Clinton's desk. Six years in the making, the measure is designed to help pay for 100,000 new police; build new prison cells; expand the federal death penalty; mandate prison terms for some three-time felons; and ban 19 types of assault-style weapons that the National Rifle Association worked hard to protect The bill nearly died two weeks ago in the House, only to be resurrected when Clinton and House Democrats trimmed crime prevention funds and won several Republican converts.

There was no such compromising in the Senate, though, as Democrats, backed by Clinton, presented Republicans with a take-it-or-leave it proposition. To underscore the importance of the bill, Vice President Al Gore presided, even though he can only vote to break a tie. Associated Press WASHINGTON In a victory for President Clinton, the Senate rejected Republican efforts today to block passage of a $30 billion, election-year crime bill, advancing the measure toward a final vote. On a vote of 61-39, just one more than the 60 needed. Democrats shut down Republican attempts to open the bill up to last-minute changes.

Republicans said they wanted to cut spending on crime prevention programs and toughen minimum sentencing provisions. But Democrats claimed the GOP's true goal was to strip out a provision that bans 19 assault-style weapons and inflict a political defeat on the president, already wounded by Whitewater and loss of momentum on health reform: Democratic officials said they hoped for a final vote within several hours that would send the crime aujuurumem una I ail. warn iui iv uib pork and we want a tougher bill," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who also disputed claims that the bill would mean 100,000 new police. But Sen.

Joseph Biden. said Republicans' were mistaken in many of their claims. This bill will save people's lives," he said. Fifty five Democrats and six Republicans Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania; James Jeffords of Vermont; William Roth of Delaware; John Chafee of Rhode Island; Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas and John Dan-f orth of Missouri voted to send the measure toward final approval. Thirty eight Republicans and Democrat Richard Shelby of Alabama voted to open it up for further chances.

1 Housing the refugees The Clinton administration will expand detention camps at Guantanamo to house up to 40,000 refugees. Contingency plans are being reviewed to house up to 65,000 at Guantanamo. To date: Senators to take a 'health' break Associated Press The U.S. may commit several dozen more Marines, military police units, a 50-bed hospital and 125 support personnel to feed the refugees. 1 2,000 Cubans and 14,000 Haitians are at Guantanamo.

About 10,000 refugees have been picked up by the Coast Guard since Friday. Gusntanamo D3y River Brldg I 4 (Restricted pant this point) WASHINGTON The "exhausted Senate is leaving health-care reform in limbo while it goes on vacation. With Just a congressional workweeks left this year, the break casts further doubt on the fate of the White House crusade. Senate Majority leader George Mitchell and -il. 4...

1 a Man until am nuaiMUM i ii ii ii il vctiiu 3 icks iSW Barn Cemetwy -Tent city i nine 1km oilier uemuirais Iiau vuweu lJ ovajr umu a health-care bill passed. But the latest version of health reform is far from ready for floor consideration, and lawmakers were clamoring to vacation and campaign. i 'i Key senators were asked to be on call through' out the recess while their aides worked on a modest bipartisan compromise that is heavy on insurance reform and deficit reduction but far from the universal coverage sought by President Clinton. Fla. tourists shot in robbery attempt KISSIMMEE, Fla.

Robbers shot and wounded two Italian tourists as they were walking back to their motel near Walt Disney World, officials said today. The man and woman were each shot several times and were in serious condition today at Orlando Regional Medical Center. They were shot as they were walking back to the motel from a boutique at a shopping mall, Osceola County Sheriff's LL July Rivers said. Police had sketchy information about the couple because they apparently cant speak English, Rivers said. The couple asked that their names not be released.

They were walking on a sidewalk when two men began following them, police said. A third man was waiting in a getaway car across the street The two men accosted them and a struggle ensued. Witnesses told police they heard a volley of gunshots, then saw a car speed away. The victims were found lying on the pavement One of the suspects lost a shoe in his hurry to escape, authorities said. Woman's heart transplanted in dad ROYAL OAK, Mich.

A man who had been waiting years for a heart transplant finally got one from his own daughter, who was killed in a car wreck. Chester Szuber received the heart Monday from his 22 year-old daughter, Patti, officials at William Beaumont Hospital said today. She was killed in a traffic accident in Knoxville, Tenn. Szuber, 58, had been on a heart transplant waiting list for nearly four years, the hospital said in a statement. Action on RTC investigators probed WASHINGTON The Democratic chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee want the head of the Resolution Trust Corporation to explain why three officials whose work triggered, the Whitewater controversy have been suspended.

Sen. Donald Riegle, the committee's chairman, and Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, the ranking minority member, made the demand yesterday in a letter to Jack Ryan, acting RTC president It was disclosed last month that investigator L. Jean Lewis, who was closely involved in the RTC's investigation of the Madison Guaranty Savings Loan in Arkansas, as well as her boss, Richard Iorio, and another top RTC manager, Lee Ausen, were put on temporary administrative leave with pay. All three worked in the RTC's Kansas City office and were involved in the investigation of Madison Guaranty.

Lewis wrote the nine formal requests for criminal investigations involving Madison Guaranty Jhat are at the heart of the Whitewater affair. Cowlings probe could affect O.J. LOS ANGELES The district attorney confirmed he is using a grand jury to investigate Al "A.C. Cowlings and suggested he may wind up with evidence against his friend J. Simpson as well.

District Attorney Gil Garcetti said today that he is not seeking a grand jury indictment against Cowlings, the driver during Simpson's highway chase the-day he was charged with murder. 'We are there for strictly investigative purposes," he said. Garcetti didn't comment specifically on the Simpson case but said any information obtain by the Cowlings grand jury "can be used in any other criminal proceeding as long as it's relevant" S. Florida college called best buy fvfEW YORK Forget Harvard, Yale and Columbia The best education for the buck can be found at New College of the University of South Florida, a personal finance magazine says. Sarasota, school ranked No.

1 for the secjpnd year running by not raising tuition while keeping its academic standards high. Money magazine said. The magazine's fifth annual survey of America's 10 best college buys is due out Sept 6. Factors determining the ranking included entrance exam results, graduation rates, faculty resources and deployment budgets for instruction and student services, and default ratios on graduates' student loans. The magazine compared those figures with each college's tuition and fees.

Rice University in Houston was ranked No. 2 for the second year. lo Hawaii schools made the list From Star-Bulletin news services Conservative Republicans eager to kill health reform for the year portrayed the recess as a final surrender. "This is a dead body that they've Coast Guard cutters patrol outside a 1 2-mile limit. Refugees are picked up, then transferred to Navy ships for the trip to Guantanamo.

Ten Coast Guard ships, summoned from the West Coast and the Great Lakes, have joined the original fleet of 20. Also, 280 Marines are on board the Coast Guard and Navy ships to help with security and crowd control. Refugees who slip by the patrols are taken to a federal i Deen dragging arouna ior me iasi iwo weens, 1 C. 1 FT-- saiu sen. rnu urumiu, iwbabs.

But Democrats said they have just begun to fight. "It's not over. We're not giving up," said Sen. Tom Daschle, said the reform drive Not a free ride Under optimum wind and current conditions, a raft leaving the Cuba coast would reach Florida In about three days. But the path is treacherous, and refugees are hampered by their primitive crafts and Gulf weather.

In a computer model made -by University of Miami scientists, after four days only two out of 500 rafts had reached land. The trip is more likely to take six to eight days, but few people can survive that long at sea. detention center west of Miami. will resume at a high level of intensity next month. v' At the White House, Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said senators are so wearv and frustrat Havana ed auer a nara summer mat ii neaunier 10 sena them away while the health-reform principals negotiate in a quieter atmosphere.

z-miienmn s- Guantanamo Bay (see Inset map above) Poll: School violence worries U.S. parents Associated Press WASHINGTON Two school problems worry American parents the most: violence and gangs, and lack of discipline, a Gallup Poll said today. The two problems were listed first by 18 percent of 1,326 adults surveyed in the poll conducted 6r the 26th year for Phi Delta Kappa, an international professional fraternity for peo U.S. rejects talks with Casfro ple in education. Close behind, when people were asked the UIggCOV pi UU1CI119 TV ALIA WHICH UU11V.

okiiuuia utuok ucai ttwic 1av.1v vi pi upti imaiiviai support, drug abuse, and quality of education. Among non-white adults, fighting, violence and gangs assumed far greater importance, with Reulera WASHINGTON The United States today rejected Cuban calls for talks, blasted President Fidel Castro as the leader of a failed regime and pleaded with Cubans to stop their largest sea-going exodus in 14 years. The Pentagon meantime said it would pull most military families out of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba, to make way for a "small city" for up to 60,000 Cuban and Haitian boat people intercepted enroute to the United States. This was another huge expansion in the Guantanamo detainment facilities after the buildup announced only yesterday.

Undersecretary of State Peter Tarnoff, President Clinton's coordinator on Cuba, said Castro was trying to shift blame to Washington for a homemade crisis that has led thousands of Cubans to set sail for Florida this week alone. Tarnoff told reporters at the White House U.S. and Cuban officials met once every six months for technical talks on immigration matters and added: 'We're not interested in having a higher level political dialogue." "Our position is that we are not going to enter a dialogue with Castro over the pace and nature of change in Cuba," he said. "This is not a situation that has been brought on by American actions." Attorney General Janet Reno, the top U.S. law enforcement officer, said Castro knew what he had to do to end the standoff sparked by his decision to stop hindering departures by rickety boats and inner-tube rafts and Washington's determination to block the would-be immigrant armada.

Asked if she saw anything encouraging in a speech Castro made late yesterday after foreign minister and U.N. envoy urged comprehensive talks, Reno replied: "There's nothing encouraging about Castro." "His regime has failed. His country is in despair. And all he does is react in contemptible terms by letting his people risk their lives just to ease the pressure on himself." A total of 5,498 Cubans were sharing the base as of today with more than 14,000 separately sheltered Haitian boat people. Education Secretary Richard W.

Riley saw in the poll a message to Congress "to free the crime 1 bill and stop dilly-dallying around." The legislation makes money available to fight gang prob-. Jems. 5: The poll found the public blames school violence on: increased use of drugs and alcohol, growth of youth gangs, availability of weapons, the breakdown in the American family, schools lacking discipline authority they once had, and Increased portrayal of violence in media. gROM PAGE ONE GANGS: Officials to discuss security increase MONEY: Major concern for isle public schools FROM PAGE A-1 clashes last school year. Public schools -which means Hawaii's kids have been" treated as second-class citizens.

Joan Husted Assistant executive director, Hawaii State Teachers Association begin next Thursday. "What we would like to do is to have the community work with us in ensuring that we have a safe and orderly campus, because most of these incidents stem from problems in the community that get brought to school," Monte said. Police are investigating conflicting reports of whether gunshots were fired on campus. Witnesses said the fight ended when a single gunshot was heard. According to a police report, officers arrived shortly after 11 a.m.

to find a large crowd gathered by the cafeteria and Quiaoit lying unconscious on the ground. The gang members had fled. 1 ii. Samoa gang member and five were arrested on weapons violations because there was a revolver in the car, said Detective Steve Whiting. All those arrested were released pending investigation, Feigen-span said.

Police said up to 7 members of the Sons of Samoa gang and 12 to 20 of the Cross Suns were involved in the fight Gang violence is not uncommon at Farrington High School, which with 2,400 students is about the biggest in Hawaii There was a fatal gang shooting there in 1989. Investigators said yesterday's trouble stemmed from unresolved "What a way to start the year," said Vice Principal Myron Monte. "We will be taking steps immediately as well as deciding what to do next week." The school's seven security guards were not working yesterday because classes have not started. Students were on campus to pick up their registration packets. Farrington and Honolulu District officials met today to discuss what to do when school Monte said the school would like to hire more security guards and that Honolulu police officers likely would be on campus the first few days of school Classes FROM PAGE A-l Lionel Aono, budget director for the Department of Education.

Plus, enrollment is growing at the rate of about 2,500 students a year. Cayetano, who has been lieutenant governor for eight years under John Waihee, said increasing "woefully inadequate" education spending would be one of his top priorities, even if it means cutting other programs or raising taxes. 'Second-class treatment That's music to the ears of Hawaii's teachers union. i "Public schools which means Hawaii's kids have been treated as second-class citizens. The money just isn't there," said Joan usted, assistant executive director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association.

There is an attitude that college-bound kids and good kids go to private schools and kids who can't make it go to public schools," she said. "That's wrong and it's terribly unfair but I think it's been pervasive among policy-makers for too long." Many of the candidates disagree, however. Jack Lewin, another Democrat running for governor, said that before raising taxes, he wants to reduce administrative spending and ensure that every bit of the $1 billion that now goes to schools is well-spent Former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fast, running for governor under the Best Party banner, said he would -raise taxes only as a last resort (HON: Bought by company partly owned by Fox Karen Knudsen, who seeks re- election to her Oahu-at-Large seat Meanwhile, Miles M. Jackson, a University of Hawaii dean who is a school board candidate, said the biggest problem is a skimpy budget combined with a lack of "com- petent educational leadership Voters don't trust spenders That Jibes with the indings of a poll of 1,210 registered voters in June for Power "94, an effort by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and other media to make voters heard. It found that' Hawaii voters were more willing to pay higher taxes to improve education than for any other issue, but only if they trusted political leaders to spend the money wisely and 1 they did not They do need more money said Kasey Molina of MauL Molina, like McGrath, is also Involved in Power "94.

"But you have to look at It closely and make sure every penny gets where it 5 And Republican Patricia Saikl said education does not require higher taxes, but changed "My administration will choose books over bureaucrats," she said. Aono said candidates are dreaming if they think they are going to pay for the backlog of 850 classrooms by skimming fat off administrative costs. Top-heavy, top-heavy. That's all you hear. They don't know what they are talking about" Aono said.

"I wish they would come look at the data. We spend less than 6 percent at the top, probably less than any other agency in the state and certainly less than most school systems." Proving money well-spent The BOE cant raise its own money, depending on the governor and Legislature to fund the schools. To encourage bigger budgets, the BOE should "make a concerted effort" to prove that it spends wisely the money it does get said school board member H. FROM PAGE A-1 Our television station is not becoming Channel 13; it's not becoming a different TV station," Rosenberg said, adding that he does not expect any immediate changes in staff. KHON has 117 employees.

"There will be no easy way to do acknowledged. "No doubt that the affiliate change in the market will be somewhat disruptive." KHNL late this morning had no word on whether it will still be running the Fox shows, which include such prime time series as "Married with Children," "X-Files," "Robocop: The Series" and "Beverly Hills 90210." Doug Armstrong, KHNL president and general manager, said he was still trying to find out late this morning what the impact of the Channel 2 ownership change will be. At KHON, a switch would mean dropping NBC news programs and prime time shows. Although Rosenberg acknowledged it's been "a horse race" as to who dominates prime time hours locally, "We will continue to have a strong local presence in news and the syndicated shows 'Wheel of Fortune, "Jeopardy, 'Oprah, 'Donahue' that have made us dominant," he said. "In prime time, rather than an NBC product, we would get two hours of Fox and program the third hour ourselves." Just last week, Peter Desnoes, founder and general partner of Burnham, denied reports that the station was for sale.

Today, however, he said, "The dramatic appreciation of station values has led me to conclude that my responsibility to our investors, who over the past decade have shown patience and resilience, dictates a course of action which capitalizes on the current robust market conditions." Desnoes is forming a new entity that intends to buy Burnham's remaining asset, KBAK-TV. Star-Bulletin reporter Russ Lynch and the Associated Press contributed to this report.