Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 1

Notre Dame's Holtz savors big game U-M FOOTBALL, ID I Sat a STORES 7 fe7? 1 'Voodoo Lounge' tour promises a spectacle WEEKEND, 1C, PHOTOS, 10F Baseball season's last-chance talks details, Section Sr toft Jfe etro Friday Partly cloudy. High 78. Low 57. Saturday: Partly sunny, cooler. September 9, 1994 35 cents (50 cents outside 6-county metropolitan area) Home delivery 25 cents in metro area (call 1-313-222-6500) On Guard For 163 Years TfT MOT 131 on board; rescuer reports no survivors had been taken to a hospital by helicopter, but it wasn't known if the person had been on the plane or on the ground.

Flight 427 originated in Chicago and was to stop in Pittsburgh before continuing to West Palm Beach, Fla. The Boeing 737 was carrying 126 passengers and a crew of five, said Dave Shipley, a spokesman for the airline. See CRASH, Page 9A Free Press Wire Services ALIQUIPPA, Pa. A USAir jet' carrying approximately 131 people nose-dove into a field Thursday while trying to land near Pittsburgh. A local rescue official said his helicopter crew had found no survivors, television stations reported.

"There are bodies in trees everywhere," an eyewitness who did not give his name told KDKA radio. "It is as grotesque as it could possibly be." Medivac helicopter rescue program, told local television station KDKA that Flight 427 apparently was coming in to land when it went nose down into a field about a half-mile from a shopping center northwest of Pittsburgh. He said there were no survivors. There was a report that one person Thursday's crash, said the plane was flying very low and, "Its engines suddenly died and there was a big sonic boom. "There was black smoke, nothing is left of the plane, it just blew up," she told CNN in a live telephone interview.

Jim Bothwell, director of the state If there are no survivors, it would be the worst U.S. plane disaster since the Aug. 16, 1987, crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 255 near Metro Airport, in which 156 people died. A 4-year-old girl, Cecelia Cichan, was the sole survivor. Sandra Zuback, an eyewitness to 7 Engler rejects casino project for Greektown Plan would hurt tribes, economy, he says 4..

Engler's 13-member commission will study the effects of gambling on Michigan until Jan. 11, the start of the next legislative session. The commission must issue a report by mid-April. The Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa tribe says it will keep working to get a casino jn Detroit.

by Tina lam Free Press Staff Writer Gov. John Engler has torpedoed Detroit's Greektown casino plan, saying it would result in a proliferation of Indian-run casinos that would hurt Michigan's tribes and the state's economy. "I'm concerned about the potential proliferation of off-reservation casinos, not only in Detroit, but throughout our state," Engler said in a two-page letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, who approved the plan three weeks ago after a 21 -month review. The letter, written Wednesday, was released Thursday by Engler's office.

The tribe that wants the Greek-town casino, the Sault Ste. Marie Chip-pewas, said it will not give up. "We're not happy, but we're not ready to throw in the towel," said tribal spokesman John Hatch. Engler vetoed the proposal using powers granted to him under a 1988 federal law. In the letter to Babbitt, Engler said the plan could harm existing Indian casinos, encourage other tribes to submit casino plans, and would not add to the overall economic development of Detroit.

"If one casino is acceptable to the Interior Secretary, what would stop him from approving a casino for every tribe in Michigan or 10, 20 or 50?" Engler wrote. In a related development, Engler appointed a 13-member commission Thursday to study the future of gambling in Michigan, from riverboats to video-poker machines at horse tracks. He said the commission must finish its work by January 1 1 and issue its report by mid-April at the latest. Among its members are mall developer Al Taubman and Detroit casino JOHN LUKEDetroit Free Press Neila Johnson, 17, a senior at Cooley High School in Detroit, says her principal told her that she can't run for homecoming queen because she's the mother of 2-year-old Diamond. "I'm a good student.

I feel I should have as equal an opportunity as everyone else," she said. I A ROYAL DISPUTE By Jacquelynn Boyle And Cecil angel Free Press Staff Writers Principal insists there no ride; prl says he won let her be queen opponents the Rev. William Quick and the Rev. Jim Holley. The chairman is former Appeals Court Judge Robert Danhof of East Lansing.

Babbitt, who approved the Greek-town casino Aug. 18, had not received the governor's letter rejecting the plan late Thursday, said Interior spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna. "No one here has seen it, and we can't comment on it," she said. The tribe said it was disappointed. "We feel we put in a damn good proposal for Detroit, and it got a fair review by the department of the Interior," said Hatch, the tribal spokesman.

"It had the backing of City Council and the voters. It would have provided jobs and economic development to Detroit; it would have given revenue to all the tribes in Michigan." Hatch said the tribe isn't sure what the next step is, but it hopes to meet See CASINO, Page 4A eila Johnson, a 17-year-old senior at Detroit's Cooley High School, claimed Thursday she's being prevented from running for IV Williams said. But Johnson and White said Williams told them that having babies out of wedlock carries consequences, and not being allowed to seek a spot on the homecoming court was one of them. "He said he don't believe in girls having babies out of wedlock, that he's from the old school and he's not going to permit it. He's not going to let us run if we have a baby," See DISPUTE, Page 6A by Cooley principal Posey Williams that unmarried girls with children shouldn't hold such positions because they are bad role models for the other students.

But Williams said Thursday he had instituted no such rule. "That has never been a stated policy or written policy. Mind you, I don't advocate teenage pregnancy as a reason to run for elective office. But I don't have policies like that," homecoming queen because she's a single mother with a 2-year-old daughter. Johnson and her mother, Rose White, said they were told Tuesday 33! 1 vnJ'Ai A FORD GEARS UP William Clay son to chair finance panel i A -J) --nrriii -rii inn MgMilmw Ann Landers 2F Bridge 9F Classified 10D 8F Crossword Puzzle 8F Death Notices, Obituaries 4B Editorials 10A Feature Page 7F Horoscope 7F Jumble 130 Lottery 2A Movie Guide 2C Names Faces 10F Sports Weekend ID Stock Markets 2E Television The Way We Live 3F Weather 9F Your Money 3E Volume 164, Number 128 1994 Detroit Free Press Inc.

Printed in the United States By Alan Adler Free Press Automotive Writer William Clay (Billy) Ford Jr. will become the first of Henry Ford's great-grandchildren to wield significant power at the auto company. Billy Ford will succeed his father, William Clay Ford as chairman of the board's powerful finance committee. History dictates that only a Ford can chair the committee that reviews plans for everything from new factories to new models, and recommends whether the board approve or reject them. As the committee's new chairman, the 37-year-old Ford will be watching over company Chairman Alex Trot-man's shoulder, and arguably becomes the second most powerful person at the world's second-largest manufacturing company.

Most observers suggested the move gives Billy a slight edge over another Ford great-grandson, Edsel B. Ford II, to be the next Ford running the 91-year-old company. But since Edsel See Ford, page 6A A China deal falling apart Chinese government officials made two last-minute demands that have jeopardized a planned Chrysler minivan plant, says Chrysler's Robert Eaton. And he's determined not to give in, Business, IE. RICHARD LEEDetrolt Free Press Taking turns at a news conference Thursday: William (Billy) Clay Ford Ford Motor Co.

Chairman Alex Trotman and William Clay Ford Sr..