Indiana Gazette from Indiana, Pennsylvania • 5

(gazette More Pa One ge Sunday, April 30, 2000 Pa A-8 New NATO chief respected but inexperienced Chiefs of Staff. "If I were a European and I saw an officer the caliber of Joe Ralston takv -ing this job I would take it as a very strong sign that the United States is serious about the importance of this alliance," Jones said. Ralston has held a Hide variety of Air Force posts, including commander of Alaskan Command at Elmendorf Air Force Base from 1992 to 1994 and commander of Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, from 1995 to 1996: In 1997 Ralston was Defense Secretary William Cohen's first choice to re- By ROBERT BURNS AP Military Writer WASHINGTON Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, who takes over as supreme commander of NATO forces in Europe on Wednesday, has earned great respect as both a warrior and diplomat in his 35-year Air Force career.

But unlike most of his predecessors in the NATO job, he has little experience in Europe. Ralston, 56, 'will replace Army Gen. Wesley Clark as the top commander of NATO forces. As is traditional, Ralston also will be commander of U.S. European Command, in charge of all 100,000 U.S.

forces in Europe. Officers who have worked with Ralston speak in glowing terms of a man who entered the Air -Force in 1965 through the Reserve Officer Training 'Corps program at Miami University in Ohio, flew 147 combat missions over Laos and North Vietnam and has been vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff since 1996. "He is absolutely the right person at the right time for this job Gen. James Jones, the commandant of the Marine Corps, said in an interview Friday. Jones is a member of the Joint place Gen.

John Shalikashvili as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but Ralston withdrew his name after, word got out that he had had an affair 13 years in the past At the time, the Air Force was under heavy attack for having discharged a female pilot, 1st IX. Kelly Flihn, for lying about an illic-, it relationship with a married man. 1 Ralston, who was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff then, stayed! on and was reappointed for a second term. In preparation for taking the Job, Ralston consulted with several former top NATO commanders. News briefs By Tfto Associated Press GOP to work on education bill WASHINGTON Senate Republicans will soon try to pass an educa tion bill that gives parents and teachers more authority to make decisions for their schools.

President Clinton has threatened to veto the legislation. Parents and educators in your community will be able to target fund ing towards your students' greatest educational needs," Sen. Slade Gorton, said Saturday in the weekly Republican radio address. "Whether it is for small classes; a program focused on Improving student's reading skills, computers in the classrooms, or whatever is needed most. In October, House Republicans narrowly passed the Academic Achieve ment for All Act, or "Straight As, which gave 10 states in a pilot program more freedom in complying with federal school programs.

Clinton says "Straight As would turn federal education programs into a lump sum that states could invest in children who are neither poor nor low-achieving. 8 Children pose with the Orphan Train in Kansas in 1900. The orphans could he adopted at train stops. (AP photo) Gorton said Democrats oppose the bill because they believe they know better than parents and teachers what is right for children. President uinton wants to move in a ainerent direction, ne saia 'Whether your school is located in Walla Walla, the Bronx, New York; or somewhere in between, he trunks he knows what's pest for your school.

Every child, regardless of Income or where he or she lives, has the right to a quality education free of unfair and inappropriate restrictions set tiy Washington. D.C-," he salcL Iraq announces record oil earnings' BAGHDAD, Iraq Iraq said Saturday it would export more than $8.5 billion worth of oil in Its current six-month phase, a record for its earn An orphan reunion Trains changed children's lives ings under the U.N. ou-ior-rood program. In forecasting such high revenue for the phase ending late May, Iraq also signaled it was implementing part of the U.N. Security Council resolution it had rejected.

The announcement was made in a statement by Oil Minister Amer Mo hammed Rashid to the official Iraqi News Agency. The U.N. program used to limit Iraq to selling $5.2 billion in oil every six months. Iraq was allowed to exceed the limit only with special dispensa-. tion.

However, the security council passed a resolution InDecember offering Iraq certain incentives such as the abolishment of the $5.2 billion cap to encourage it to allow a resumption or disarmament inspecnons. The sanctions imposed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 can be lifted only when experts report that Iraq is free of has destroyed its weapons ot mass destruction. Iraq claims to nave done so, and nas refused to let arms inspectors in the country The oil-fbr-food program allows Iraq to bypass the sanctions the oil proceeds are spent on food, medicine and humanitarian goods for the Iraqi people. Niece of former president wed in prison MEXICO CITY The daughters of Mexico's rich and famous are known for extremely extravagant weddings beautiful colonial settings. But Mariana Salinas, the niece of former Mexican president Carlos Sali Cornell, then -6, rode the.frain twice with his 'brother, victor, who Wa8 5.V,;:.v.' i Their mother died when their was bom, and their father; a victim of a German gas attack in World War was unable to care for them.

Another sister took Eloise but didnt have room for Stanley and Victor. On their first trip they were taken in by a family in Coffeyville, Kan. "They were kind and we liked them, but after a couple of months they sent us back. I still don't know why. Maybe their other kids didn't like us," said Cornell, now 80.

On their second trip, they met a Wellington, Texas, man with two daughters who had wanted a son. "He only wanted one but he took us both," Cornell recalls. His only question "was whether we liked farms and and when they passed that test, he gave them a bag of jellybeans, Liebl said the nuns of Foundling. Hospital, New York, were finding up to 1,000 babies on their doorstep every year in the 1870s. The nuns and Brace's group were the main groups sending orphans on trains.

Brace's faith in farmers didn't al-' pan'out for the children. I in some cases orphans were treated as indentured workers, and were sent away once the harvest was finished. "My mother loved me but all my father cared about was how much farm work I could do," said Sharpley. The orphans were told to never try to find out whom their parents were, and their adoptive parents signed an agreement not to divulge the information. "I'm still trying to find out who my real parents are.

But the Foundling Hospital tells me the records are all said Sharpley. Cornell got unexpected assistance finding his family. While serving in the Army during World War II, he sent a telegram to J. Edgar Hoover asking for help. The FBI director replied within 10 days, telling him where his father (On the Net Orphan TYain Heritage Society, pdd.republic.netothsa;.

Adoption Search Information, www.cyndislist.comadoption.htin) revolution, out to the West and wholesome farm family life." "It was a major event in migration to the West, where life revolved around the railroad," said Tom Noel, a University of Colorado historian. For Sharpley, life before the Orphan Train meant having to beg for food in an orphanage with 600 chil-. dren. Janet Liebl, author of "Ties That Bind, the Orphan Train Story in Min- nesota," said her research indicates the number of orphans who rode the trains is about the same as the number of slaves brought into the United "We don't hear about these people because they were assimilated," said -LiebL Less than 1,000 of the "riders" are estimated to be still alive. The Orphan Train was a sweet sec-ond chance for many, a Dickensian nightmare for others.

"We'd stop in these little towns and get out of the trains and they'd inter- view us. It was kind of like a cattle auction. If they liked us they'd take us," said Stanley Cornell, who joined Sharpley at Saturday's reunion. By ROBERT WEU1R 4 Associated Press Wrrter" LAKEWOOD, Cola It is one of the least-remembered of America's migrations to the West: as many as 350,000 orphan children shipped out of New York on "Orphan Trains'' from the 1850s to 1929. The trains stopped in rural areas so that prospective parents could look over the youngsters and decide whether to take in any of them.

The process wasn't always successful, recalled Dorothy Sharpley, Bl one of six Orphan Train who attended a reunion Saturday in Colorado. Sharpley said she was rejected by her first adoptive family, in Columbus, Neb. "I was sent back to New York only to ride the train again and end up in St. Mary's, only 20 miles from Columbus." The trains were the idea of Methodist minister Charles Loring Brace, founder of the Ouldren's Aid Society of New York, intended as a means of moving children out of the alleys and squalor of a city overrun immigrants and the industrial nas de Gortari, gave up that oppportunity to wed with her father present In prison. The daughter of Raul Salinas married Mexico City lawyer Luis Gernrdo del Valle during a croup wedding Friday with 10 inmates at the Mexico State prison in Almoloya de Juarez west of Mexico City, the Mexico City newspaper Keiorma reported Saturday, ine lormer president aid not The justice of the peace brought the couples cake, and the Salinas fam ily brought sandwiches, the newspaper reported.

Raul Salinas gave his daughter a picture he painted of ported He is serving a 2744-year sentence for masterminding the 1994 of his former brotlier-in-law, Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu. who was secretary-general of the governing Institutional Revoluuonary Party. He maintains his innocence. Police beat opposition protesters BAKU, Azerbaijan Police with batons beat back more than 1,000 demonstrators seeking to stage an unsanctioned rally in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Saturday and detained three opposition leaders. Dozens of people were clubbed, including 13 prominent opposition figures, two Parliament-members and five reporters who covered the rally, according to the information center of the Musavat opposition party.

At least one person was hospitalized, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. Business group to raise WWII payments As police in green helmets and riot shields advanced, pushing back protesters, an Associated Press reporter saw three men left lying on the road, their heads and laces smeared witn oiooa. Opposition parties wanted to hold a rally In central Fizuli Square to demand that this fall's parliamentary elections be free of fraud and govern ment intimidation of opposition groups. City authorities refused to allow the protest on Fizuli Square, but said they could gather at a raceway on Baku's northern outskirts, fenoring the refusal, a few hundred protesters broke through police cordons around Fizuli Square on. Saturday, and police beat them back with batons.

Some protesters threw rocks at the police, and many were singing Azerbaijans national anthem and chanting breedomr Workers march for shorter workweek SEOUL, South Korea Demonstrators and police clashed Saturday "shadow fund," but Coleman said it is too early to tell how much the chamber could raise or whether the figure would approach that offered by the Germans. Germany has already made some $60 billion in payments for war crimes, but has never compensated the estimated 12 million enslaved and forced workers. Between 1.5 million and 2.3 million people still alive would be eligible for compensation, mostly non-Jews living in Eastern Europe. U.S. officials estimate about 240,000 former slave laborers survive.

About half that number are Jews who were held in concentration camps. Others were mostly non-Jews brought from the Soviet Union, Poland and other countries east of Germany and put to work making war goods and other products for die Nazi regime. U.S. officials estimate about 100,000 victims are Americans. New York attorney Meivyn Weiss, who represents some victims, said Saturday that good-faith contribu- lions to the fund might help avert a class-action lawsuit against at least 50 and perhaps as many as 200 U.S.

companies, including Kodak and Exxon-Mobil. "There's no fund big enough that could satisfy survivors in the absolute terms, but I think it's important to get a significantly meaningful contribution so that they will have some financial assistance in their later years, will feel better about getting the truth out, and get a certain amount of recompense," Weiss said. Journalist killings rose last year PARIS (API The number of journalists killed in 1999 nearly doubled to 36 from the year before, though slightly fewer reporters were put behind bars, according to a Paris-based media advocacy group. Reporters Without Borders' annual report, released this week, shows that the struggle for press freedom around the world remains an upward climb, with the Internet the latest target of authoritarian Press freedom does not exist in more than 20 nations thai arc home to about 2 billion people, and "truly (can) be said to exist" only in about 30 countries where less than 1 billion live, the report said. Press freedom is "random and unreliable" elsewhere.

On-Jan. 1, there were 85 journalists in prison, "slightly fewer" than in 199B when there were 93. However, 36 journalists were kiljed worldwide, nearly double the 199B toll of 19. In addition, 446 were reported fir-rested, and 653 attacked and thrcnt-ened, the report said. Another 69 journalists disappeared in 1999.

djnd about 400 media outfits were victims of bans, suspensions, seizures or censorship. after 15,000 workers took to Seoul streets to demand a snorter workweek and oppose the sale of South Korean car companies to foreign The protest turned violent when ZOO workers and students, hurling rocks and wielding sticks, clashed briefly with police. At least three protesters were injured, witnesses said. One person was bleeding from the many humanitarian challenges around the world, including disaster relief. Attorneys are scheduled to meet later in the week to determine, how funds specifically for war reparations will be structured within the foundation, Coleman said.

The fund would be led by Craig -Johnstone, who is a senior -vice president of the chamber, a former ambassador to Algeria under President Ronald Reagan and a former director of the State Department's office of policy and plans under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright "American companies are looking for a way to do the greatest amount of good for real Johnstone said. In December, U.S. and German negotiators, at the behest of President Clinton and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, announced a deal to establish a (5.2 billion German fund lb compensate hundreds of thousands of people forced to work for the Nazis and German companies during the war. Under that agreement, German companies would pay roughly half the restitution and the German government, would make up most of the rest American firms that had German subsidiaries during the war have said they would contribute. The U.S.

Chamber's project would be a parallel American By BWGITTE GREENBERG Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will solicit donations from U.S. corporations to compensate slave laborers and' others who were forced to work in German factories owned by American companies or their subsidiaries during World Wax authorities said Saturday. The chamber, which represents more than 3 million businesses worldwide, decided to establish the fund after being approached by the Clinton administration and a number of major U.S. corporations that have been threatened with lawsuits by survivors and their heirs.

Several large American corporations, including Ford and General Motors, have acknowledged having benefited from slave labor during the war. Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat and chamber officials plan to announce the project Monday at a conference on corporate responsibility in Washington. "If we can assist member compa- nies in resolving a humanitarian situation, while at the same time preventing trial lawyers from getting their hands on the money, we would like to help," Chamber spokesman Frank Coleman said. The fund would allow companies to pool resources to respond to head and was taken to a nospitat. Police took away several protesters in sporadic clashes that followed, witnesses said.

"Five-day workweek," the protesters chanted, picking up the slogan blared from loudspeakers mounted on vans. "Lets crush foreign sales and protect our neht to survival. Smaller protests were held in about a dozen other cities, organizers said. Those protests in the countryside ended peacefully, police said- Police stood guard along the eight-lane boulevards, and traffic was backed ud for miles. The demonstrations were organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a militant umbrella labor group that claims to nave 500.000 members, many ot them in the car and shipbuilding industries.

Workers demanded their workweek be cut from 44 hours to 40 hours without a cut in pay, saying South Korea had the longest workweek of all industrialized countries. They denounced plans to sell ailing Daewoo Motor Co. to a foreign in vestor. A successful mooer wiu ne cnosen ny aepiemoer. i.