Rocky Mount Telegram from Rocky Mount, North Carolina • 1

MONDAY Rocky Mount Christmas Parade was Sunday afternoon page 3 Ray Floyd wins 1988 Skins Game The City on theRise MDUNT LJ HE VENING $6. SO pr MMirii kj tmrtnf Vol. 73. t3. 47-14 Reeky Mount, II.C.

rhoira 44S-5161 Sm4y: 7S tt II: i A- iW III' IV I 49 ft FI fl ociay orGiaciioe rip mroysirs Nayi, -nammi Couple jTornado injures Wen in Halifax, i.k Nash storm' A-n in By CHARLES HOSKINSON Staff Writer HALIFAX A tornado touched uown three times in Halifax County any this morning, injuring seven people and causing the county's chools to close. County emergency management coordinator Dick Clayton said the ornado touched down about 2 a.m. fiear the Ita community in the south western part of the county. That appears to be where the nost damage was done," he said. -rs SSSsniry ass? le said 10 families were left home- ess by the tornado.

County officials aid they have received approval to bse White Oak Elementary School as an emergency shelter it By GENE DOWNS JR. Staff Writer A Nash County couple was killed and nearly 50 area people were injured during a tornado that crossed the northwest corner of the county early today. "It's a hell of a mess," one rescue worker said. "Where houses were, they are no more." Leroy and Mary Alston were found with their arms around each other in the remains of their mobile home near the intersection of state highways 56 and 58, near the Nash-Franklin County line. The couple's two children suffered minor injuries and were transported to a local hospital.

The area was one of the most heavily damaged in the tornado's path. The tornado moved into the Aventon and Castalia areas around 2:15 a.m. after causing heavy damage and at least three deaths in Raleigh. Lightning and heavy rain followed the storm's path. The first light of Monday crept through cloudy skies, revealing a scene of fallen trees, downed utility lines and twisted debris.

An intermittent path of snapped trees and battered houses outlined the storm's path down Hawkins Boulevard and Murray Loop Road before heading into Halifax County along N.C. Highway 43. "I've never seen anything like it," Salem rescue squad worker Mike Williams said. It's the worst I've ever seen it I'm just thankful it wasn't around my house." An estimated 100 Nash and Halifax rescue workers were on the scene this morning. "Every rescue squad and fire department in the county, from Rocky Mount to Enfield, has been out here tonight," Raymond Gupton of Salem said.

Damage was heavy at the intersection of N.C. 43 and Harrison Road. Interior walls were all that remained of a log cabin standing near a pond along Harrison Road. Parts of the house floated in a pond behind the remains. (See TORNADO Page 2) iecessary.

Clayton said the tornado touched town two more times, near the town hi Ringwood and also near the peaverdam before passing through Halifax about 2:15 i.m. 1 "There's wind damage here in lalifax," Clayton said, adding that le is not sure if the tornado ever ouched down in the town. He! said he tornado damaged the roof of the ounty courthouse and the jail. "We have treated seven victims," said Val Short, a spokesperson for lalifax Memorial Hospital in Roa- oke Rapids. She said six were from he EnfieldHollister area and one skipped through the county, killing two people and injuring dozens of others.

About 20 houses were destroyed. (Telegram photo by David Chicelli) TORNADO DESTRUCTION This house near Aventon flipped over and landed on a truck during a tornado this morning in Nash County. The storm from Jackson in Northampton (See HALIFAX Page 2) Area hospitals coping with worst storm in recent years By LISA ROGERS were released between 6 and 7 a.m., she said. Standi said about eight children, ranging in age from 19 months to 16 years, were injured during the" storm. rY'V Although the patient load was not extremely heavy, Standi said the family members arriving with the patients crowded the emergency room a little.

"We opened the cafeteria to handle the additional people," he treated and released. One victim is in the intensive- care unit due to chest injuries. Another was still in the fracture room early today. Davenport said about six people were taken to Community Hospital and seven to Halifax Memorial Hospital. "Franklin Memorial Hospital was really swamped earlier," Davenport said.

The majority of the patients arrived between 2:30 and 3 a.m. and said. Stancil estimated between seven and 10 doctors worked in the emergency room throughout the night. Usually two to four, doctors man the emergency room on any given shift. Stancil said several hospital personnel came to help.

Pushing stretchers, carrying linens and escorting patients, Stancil said, "You do whatever you can." "One couple left their home and turned around to see their house disappear," Davenport said. NGH received the majority of the patients in the Rocky Mount area with a total of 30 patients receiving treatment. The two people fatally injured near Castalia were transported to NGH. Patients were from Nash, Franklin and Halifax counties, Standi said. Sixteen of NGH's patients were Sims said.

Most of the people that came to NGH were residents of the Taylor Store Road area," she said. The majority of the injuries in the Rocky Mount area were crapes and bruises, Bill Standi, director of public relations at NGH, said. Linda Davenport, emergency room clinician at NGH, said although the cuts and scrapes made up the majority of the injuries, dealing with the shock was also a part of coping with the storm. Staff Writer Area medical personnel are coping with one of the worst storms in recent years with the touchdown of a tornado in Nash, Halifax and Franklin counties. Hitting the Nash area about 2:30 a.m.

today, the storm did the most damage on mobile homes, Deverna Sims, a registered nurse at Nash General Hospital, said. "There was a lot of flying deoris," Most say Quayle not qualified New Saudi Arabia proposal threatens OPEC agreement Is the new vice president. Dan Quayle. the right man to head the for heading fight against drugs zbLi federal government's efforts aoainst Segal drugs, or not? 36 32 32 A senior Iranian delegate to the conference, Feredoon Barkeshli, said the Saudi plan "is a major divergence from- OPEC resolutions so far" and "can totally sabotage the agreement." "Iran is not going to accept Uiis type of idea," he said. said that among OPEC's 13 members, Algeria, Nigeria and Libya also oppose changing the $18 benchmark.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Julio Cesar Gil said his country favors maintaining the $18 price. Barkeshli said the Iranian oil minister, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, had agreed to a tentative proposal that kept the benchmark at $18. The dispute surfaced Sunday morning when Barkeshli told reporters there were still some points to be worked out. Aghazadeh, who flew to Tehran on Friday, had by that time announced his government's acceptance of the plan. VIENNA, Austria (AP) Saudi Arabia's proposal to lower the benchmark price of crude oil from $18 to $15 a barrel threatens a.

tentative accord aimed at reducing the world oil glut and driving up prices. Saudi Arabia's oil minister, Hisham Nazer, said late Sunday the proposal was designed to prevent prices from falling below $15. But other ministers fear that a minimum price could become the ceiling price. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' currently maintains a benchmark of $18 a barrel, but prices recently have been running at $14 or less. Each $1 rise in the price of crude oil theoretically means a pickup of 2.5 cents a gallon in retail gasoline prices, although oil companies do not always pass along the full increase.

The ministers had been scheduled to resume their formal discussions Sunday, but they were postponed until today. said Eush gesh for a. crackdown on illegal drug users and as many or more backed more federal spending for drug enforcement, education and treatment. Three-quarters said the military should patrol the nation's borders for drug smugglers. But considerably fewer, 40 percent, said the military should strike at illegal drug operations abroad.

In addressing the deficit, respondents firmly opposed most new or higher taxes. Most also opposed cuts in spending for domestic programs such as welfare or a freeze in Social Security benefits. Strong majorities, however, supported nigher taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. And a narrow majority, 52 percent, favored defense spending cuts. The survey also found overwhelming support for an Internal Revenue Service crackdown to collect taxes.

The nationwide poll's respondent far and away said reducing the federal budget deficit should be Bush's top priority as president 10 times as many as picked drugs. Majorities backed a tax crackdown and cuts in defense spending to address the deficit. The survey also found support for restrictions on foreign investments in the United States, and broad backing for aggressive measures to address the federal trade deficit, including higher import taxes and quotas. On drugs, six in 10 favored drug testing of all federal employees and two in 10 favored testing some of them. The government now conducts random tests of federal workers in sensitive jobs, and has proposed testing privately employed transportation workers.

There also was support for other drug-fighting efforts. Eight in 10 NEW YORK (AP) Americans want military patrols and a crackdown on users to combat illegal drugs, but many doubt the choice of Vice President-elect Dan Quayle to run the effort, a Media General-Associated Press poll has found. Although George Bush made a campaign pledge to put his running mate in charge of the fight against drugs, only 32 percent of the 1,084 adults surveyed said Quayle was the right man for the job. As many weren't sure about the selection, and 36 percent said Quayle was not the right choice to lead the drug war. Republicans were more supportive of Quayle, but fewer than half of them backed him as drug chief.

Although the bill creating the Cabinet-level drug czar prohibits the official from holding another federal post, Bush has indicated he might have the drug czar report to Quayle. Yes No Don! know noanswe AP Gorbachev warns ethnic strife threatens Soviet reform programs fe f3 1 Ik. if Sunny and cool Tuesday. City-State Obituaries Sports TV listing Weather Classified 12-14 Comics 10 Editorial 4 Legals 14 Life 5 7 2 8-9 11 3 I MOSCOW (AP) Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said ethnic strife is threatening bis program of economic and social reforms, and he said restructuring is the cure for the Violence, not the cause. Gorbachev was reacting to a wave of nationalist unrest that has swept across the country from the Baltic republics in the northwest to the Caucasus in the southwest.

He said in a speech broadcast on state television Sunday that "attempts are being made to kindle disliKe in the interethnic sphere." "This would be disastrous, it would put perestroika in jeopardy," he said, referring to his reform campaign. "It would even make some people think that it is, perhaps, perestroika that is to blame for all that." He said his policy of opening up information and opinion is the solution to ethnic tension, which exists in many of the 15 Soviet republics. Gorbachev's remarks come during violent tensions between the neighboring southern republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan and during demands for increased autonomy in the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. He made his speech Saturday before the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the nation's top executive body. Saturday's session of the Presi-dum struck down an Estonian declaration of limited sovereignty made earlier this month, official media reported.

Estonia declared then that it had the right to veto Soviet laws. Official media said Gorbachev acknowledged before the Presidium that national constitutional amendments he has proposed may have angered Estonians and others by curtailing local rule. But his remarks Saturday also carried a veiled warning. "I must say we receive a great number of letters from working people in every republic with remarks that we are at times too tolerant with regard to extremists," Gorbachev said. In Azerbaijan on Sunday, two Communist Party officials were reported fired.

Soviet newspapers charged that local authorities were not helping soldiers halt the ethnic violence, in the republic. Rallies of up to 500,000 people were reported Sunday in Baku, the republic's capital. The military newspaper Red Star said local officials are not helping troops trying to keep the clashing Azerbaijanis and Armenians apart in the Azerbaijani city of Kirovabad. At least seven people were killed and 160 injured in Kirovabad. "What you really value is what you miss, not what you have." Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (1899-1986).

resch vs The Telegram circulation service desk is open until 6:30 p.m. weekdays, 8 to 10:30 a.m. Saturdays and 8 to 10 a.m. Sundays. Please call us at 446-5161 if you don't get your paper by then.

The Telegram switchboard for circulation and all other departments i open at the same number from 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m. weekdays. cow cemetery protesting vio'encs in Azerbaijan. (AP LaserPhotc) MOSCOW PROTEST Several hundred ethnic Armenians listen as an Armenian activist speaks during a dsmonstratlen In a Mos.