Standard-Speaker from Hazleton, Pennsylvania • Page 1

in ii in Murom re, pi BLAZE Butler Twp. home damaged by afternoon fire BIG Giants keep hold on lead in NFC East BEST Jeff Gordon wins Winstop Cup title Page 18 Mostly sunny, Highs around 40. Details, Page 4. -'J Page 17 Page 18 Devin Hampton, 8 Hazleton temoaiirdL Speaker Serving Luzerne, Carbon, Schuylkill, Columbia and Monroe Counties since 1866 Jl 11 18 years after fight for democracy dissident freed By SETH HETTENA Associated Press problems, high blood pressure and other ailments made worse during his prison term. After his arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Airport Sunday morning, the 47-year-old Wei was admitted to Henry Ford Hospital, hospital spokeswoman Meg Leonard said.

Wei was in fair but stable condition Sunday evening, said Dr. Thomas C. Roy-er, chief medical officer. He was being treated for hypertension and being evaluated for other problems. "We're pleased Mr.

Wei was able to walk into the hospital without assistance," Roy-er said. "We are conducting further tests, and in the meantime are assisting him in getting much-needed rest." Royer declined to answer questions, saying the hospital was honoring Wei's request for privacy. Ms. Leonard said Wei could be released from the hospital as early as Monday. Siblings Wei Ling and Wei Xiaotao said in Beijing that their brother had been unable to get adequate treatment in a Chinese prison.

Since last year, Wei had been placed under 24-hour watch in a cell with two glass walls and a light that was never switched off, said his sister, Wei Ling. "If Wei Jingsheng stayed in jail, he'd be in danger because he's in such bad shape," Liu Qing, a friend of Wei's who came to greet him at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Please see FIGHT, page 2 DETROIT China's most prominent pro-democracy campaigner was freed pa medical parole Sunday after nearly 18 years in prison and flown to the (United States, where he was hospitalized immediately. Wei Jingsheng, first arrested in March 1979 during the crackdown on the Democracy Wall movement, suffers from heart JLjd MjlMtfm ASSOCIATED PRESS Wei Jingsheng SttesnnrDDinig) ttowusiirdl a oBirnffnnctt In stodgy Senate, Santorum sees a wave for the future Administration confident it will have Arabs' OK i By ANICK JESDANUN Associated Press By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press iisilSS' WASHINGTON Sen. Rick Santorum envisions a more efficient Senate, where members can get work done on the debate floor while monitoring the oratory of their colleagues in the background. All they need are portable laptop computers the same kind used by many households and businesses to review memos, edit speeches and write letters, the freshman Pennsylvania Republican figures.

Farfetched? Apparently so in a body loath to do anything that might threaten its stately and often obscure traditions. There won't be any laptops on the floor anytime soon, the Senate Rules Committee ruled this month. Santorum cast the only vote in favor of the technology. "I can imagine having it on the desk for all sorts of research," Santorum said. "I don't see this as an affront to tradition.

Is it more unseemly to have a neat-looking computer than a stack-high sort of a mess" of papers and notes? Added his spokeswoman, Laura Lebaudy, "The Senate is the most deliberative body, and things tend to move slowly. Sometimes in the Senate we work hard to stay a step behind." The Rules Committee was voting on whether to grant Sen. Michael 4. i I Please see FUTURE, page 2 ill 8 WASHINGTON Despite the outward oppo-. sition of Arab countries to a military strike against Iraq, the White House is confident the Arabs won't stand in the way of any U.S.

action, President Clinton's top security adviser said Sunday. Sandy Berger said that in any case, the Unit- ed States is ready to go it alone if necessary. The Arab nations, National Security Adviser Berger said on NBC's "Meet the Press," understand the threat posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "In the end of the day, they are not going to impede our ability to do what's nec- essary," Berger said. The administration campaigned hard among allies over the weekend for support of strong I sanctions, and possibly military retaliation, against Iraq for expelling American members of the U.N.

weapons inspection team. President Clinton on Saturday spoke to Russia's Boris Yeltsin, France's Jacques Chirac and -Britain's Tony Blair, urging a united voice in Confronting Iraq. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has been making the same pitch in a tour of Persian Gulf states and with the Russian foreign minister, Yevgeny Primakov. 'I While support has been solid for stronger U.N. sanctions against the Baghdad govern- ment, France, Russia and the Arabs have resisted the idea of militarily punishing Saddam for his latest challenge to U.N.

resolutions approved after the 1991 Gulf War. Please see ARABS, page 2 I' Civil rights battle a boon for Hatch By TOM RAUM Associated Press 1 Vf WASHINGTON Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is suddenly back in the good graces of many conservatives. Some right-wingers looked askance at the often enigmatic Utah Republican for his advocacy of I ASSOCIATED PRESS The ticonderoga-class USS Normandy, as seen from the USS George Washington, transits the Suez Canal on Sunday.

Saddam: 'Iraq does not seek conflict' i "-o a -i health programs for children and odd-couple alliance with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. But they're snowing him renewed respect for leading the current Senate opposition to President Clinton's efforts to make Bill Lann Lee, a Los Angeles civil rights lawyer, the Justice Department's top civil rights enforcer. Hatch says he's just acting out of principle.

As he always does. And anyone who doubts that, "I'd like to see afterwards," he said testily at last Thursday's "Iraq does not seek conflict with the United States and if there is a solution to this crisis we would be happy," he said in a statement carried by the Iraqi News Agency. Kuwait and Syria, which supported strikes against Iraq during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, said they were opposed to the use of force in the current standoff, which began on Oct. 29 when Iraq decided to expel American weapons inspectors working for the United Nations. Meanwhile, Iraq again offered to defuse the standoff if the U.N.

inspection team were reorganized. Please see SADDAM, page 2 BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Saddam Hussein stressed Sunday that Iraq "does not seek conflict" with the United States and expressed hope that a solution to a weapons inspection crisis could be worked out, even as officials ordered citizens to be prepared for a possible U.S. air attack. Saddam, who provoked the standoff by expelling American members of the U.N. arms inspection team, met with his Cabinet on Sunday and said he hoped an escalation of the conflict could be averted.

He praised other Arab countries for opposing the use of military action in the crisis. He did not, however, signal any willingness to compromise on the controversy over American inspectors. ASSOCIATED PRESS it- in Sen. Orrin G. Hatch acrimonious Judiciary Committee session where the Lee nomination was buried, at least for now.

A day later, relaxing in his Senate office, Hatch, 63, who has served Please see HATCH, page 2 ASSOCIATED PRESS Saddam Hussein Irish mark anniversary of deadly potato famine 2 By TOM RAGAN Associated Press -PHILADELPHIA Hundreds of Irish-Americans wore green clothing and carried Irish flags in a march Sunday through the city's historic district to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the deadly potato famine in Ireland, in which an estimated 1 million people died. The somber marchers walked past the cracked Liberty Bell and east to the Delaware River, where they threw 600 white carnations into the water to honor the 1.5 million Irish immigrants who fled to New York and Philadelphia in the mid-19th century to avoid starvation. The six-year famine was caused by a blight that caused the nation's crucial potato crops to fail repeatedly from 1845 to 1851. But some say he British government, which ruled Ireland, could have done more to alleviate the suffering. Please see IRISH, page 2 -li'-- X4v Ww i'u-' 'rM it ii I In on i a i I i i m.i 1 1 Bridge 10 Business 26 Classified 27 Comics, Puzzle 24 Editorial 14 Freeland 10 Neighbors 6 Horoscope 10 North Schuylkill 8 Hospitals 12 Sports 18 Local 17 Tresckow 10 McAdoo 8 Weatherly 12 Just passin' through Hundreds of hungry geese make a pit stop in this Butler Township field Sunday morning to grab a quick snack.

The geese are believed to be a native flock that lives in the valley. Standard-Speaker on the Web For home delivery, cail 71 7-455-3636 or 1-800843-6680.