The Michigan Daily-- Tuesday, March 29, 1994 - 3 Distraught Southerners survey storm damage THE WASHINGTON POST ROCK RUN, Ala. - A cold wind blew across the ravaged hilltops of Alabama yesterday as Bradford Poole, an unshaven farmer, surveyed his world: his 100-year-old farm house gutted; his daughter's trailer exploded; his son's new home scattered across the highway. "And we were the lucky ones," Poole said. His family lost three of its homes, but escaped without death or injury as Sunday's storm system ripped across the area. Poole's sons had lain face down in the basement of one house, "and they swore they could feel that twister trying to suck them out," Poole said. Sunday saw one of the worst tornado ram- pages to run through the South in years, a day when hail the size of marbles fell in Mississippi, funnel clouds destroyed churches in Alabama and brilliant, violent lightning blazed across the AP PHOTO Georgia skies. Y. Before it was all over late in the day, at least 45 people were dead - crushed by debris churned up by the twisters, struck by lightning or drowned by the flood waters borne of the torrential rains that followed the tornadoes. Hundreds more were injured. At the storm's peak, some 150,000 customers around the region were without power in the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Most of the power will be restored by daybreak tomor- row, utility officials said. About 35 tornadoes were reported in the re- gion on Sunday, and thunderstorms and cold heavy rains continued yesterday, raising rivers and causing widespread flooding. Several funnel clouds were spotted yesterday, though none was reported to have touched down. The National Weather Service had been moni- toring the storm since Saturday. It contained the warm, moist, unstable air and strong high-alti- tude winds with shears that can turn an ordinary thunderstorm system into a whirling monster. Debris from the Goshen United Methodist Church in Piedmont, Ala., is all that remains after a tornado destroyed the sanctuar a Mexican presidential candidate works to end one-party rule W NEWSDAY MEXICO CITY -- The price of political monopoly is social instability, and 65 uninterrupted years of control by the Institutional Revolutionary Party can be blamed for the turmoil currently roiling Mexico, says a presidential can- didate campaigning to end Mexico's one-party rule. "In the six years of the Salinas *administration, the government has not resolved the serious economic prob- lems of the country, nor has it accepted complaints about democratic expres- sion in the country," Cuauhtemoc Cardenas said in a recent interview. "That is at root the cause of what hap- pened in Chiapas,"where peasants took up arms on New Year's Day to drama- tizetheirpoverty, and about 150 people died in the days that followed. "It is not really a local problem; it is the management of a political and eco- nomic policy nationwide, extended by corruption, by the lack of respect for the rule of law." Cardenas, who was warning of in- stability before the outbreak in Chiapas he had blamed an atmosphere cre- ated by the government for a rising tide of political violence that including the killings of dozens of members of his party - says the rebel violence is an understandable outgrowth of decades of desperation felt by the majority of Mexico's 75 million citizens. The government has been trying to negotiate an end to the conflict with the rebels in Chiapas. But in the aftermath of the assassination of the leading can- didate, Luis Donaldo Colosio, on Wednesday, rebel leaders said they were suspending talks and feared new military action by the Salinas govern- ment. Six years ago, Cardenas, a former governor of Mexico state who had bro- ken with the ruling party, narrowly lost a bid for the presidency in an election where charges of fraud were particu- larly sharp. He is campaigning again, as leader of his breakaway Democratic Revolutionary Party. Diego Fernandez de Cevallos of the National Action Party is another contender; the Institu- tional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has not yet named a replacement for Colosio. Colosio's accused assassin, Mario Aburto Martinez, 23, was reported to have told officials he had contacts with leftist groups, possibly including forces linked to the Zapatista National Lib- eration Front, the rebel organization that emerged in Chiapas. The government has maintained that Aburto acted alone when he shot the PRI's candidate during a rally in a Tijuana slum. He has been moved to a maximum-security prison outside Mexico City. Cardenas, who deplored the kill- ing, called for an independent panel to determine whether the assassin indeed acted alone. Cardenas, 59, dropped out of the PRI, prior to the 1988 elections and formed his party, declaring the politi- cal machine controlled by the govern- ment had become corrupt and inatten- tive to the needs of a majority of Mexi- cans. Unlike other opposition politi- cians', his decision had special weight. Cardenas' father was President Lazaro Cardenas, a revered general and leader of the 1940s. The father is perhaps best remembered for having nationalized the Mexican petroleum industry, thereby taking a stand against traditional U.S. domination of that sec- tor, which now is the single largest source of exports for Mexico. In the 1990s, his son also took a nationalistic stand, being one of the strongest critics of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari's negotiations with the United States and Canada that led to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Cardenas has moderated his opposition to the pact, but says the agreement must be based on equal treat- ment for all three nations. Clinton rebounds from 6 PLO snipers killed y in shootout with Israel 'Whitewater THE WASHINGTON POST WASHINGTON - Public sup- port for President Clinton has surged in the wake of his prime-time news conference last week on the Whitewater affair, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll. The news conference performance appeared to restore Clinton's stand- ing, after signs that Whitewater had begun to sharply erode his popularity, and most respondents said they be- lieve Whitewater has diverted the gov- ernment from more important national concerns. The survey, which was conducted over the weekend, found that more than half of those interviewed now approve of the way Clinton is han- low in polls dling the Whitewater matter. Three weeks ago only one-third expressed a similar view. More than half - 55 percent - now say they do not think Clinton did anything illegal, up from 44 percent earlier in the month. And a larger majority said the president is "mostly telling the truth" about his involve- ment in the failed Arkansas land de- velopment company. But the new survey found that two out of three Americans acknowledged they understand little or nothing about the Whitewater affair, suggesting that attitudes on Whitewater could change again if additional details become known about the Clintons' involve- ment. THE WASHINGTON POST JERUSALEM - Six armed Pal- estinians affiliated with the Fatah wing of the Palestine Liberation Organiza- tion were killed lastnight in a shootout with Israeli undercover troops in Jabaliya, a Gaza Strip refugee camp, Palestinians and the army said. One soldier and two Palestinian bystanders were wounded in the ex- change of fire, the most deadly since Israel signed the Gaza-Jericho peace accord with the PLO last September. According to witnesses, the six were distributing leaflets in two cars when the firefight with the undercover unit broke out. It is not known what triggered the exchange of fire. In the past, the Is- raeli undercover units have dressed up in Arab garb to take suspected fugitives by surprise. Israel has kept the controversial undercover units in operation even as it tries to finish negotiating the peace deal with the PLO. The killings come at a delicate point in the negotiations. The PLO broke off talks on implementing the Gaza-Jericho accord last month after the massacre of 29 Muslims in Hebron by a Jewish settler. PLO leaders in Gaza called yesterday for a three-day general strike and mourning period. Today in Cairo, Israel and the PLO are scheduled to discuss creation of a Hebron security force, composed of Norwegians and International Red Cross personnel, as well as a Palestin- ian police force. Agreement on secu- rity in Hebron could lead to resump- tion of separate talks on carrying out the Gaza-Jericho autonomy plan, Is- raeli officials said. However, last night's deaths in Gaza could intensify pressure on PLO Chair Yasser Arafat to slow down the talks with Israel, especially since those killed were affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement, the main faction in the secular PLO. Last week, Israel laid siege to an apartment block in Hebron, bombard- ing it for two days with anti-tank missiles and machine-gun fire in pur- suit of suspected fugitives from the armed wing of Hamas, an Islamic Resistance Movement. Court bars insanity defense THE WASHINGTON POST WASHINGTON-Yesterday, the Supreme Court allowed states to forbid defendants from claiming that they were insane at the time they committed their crime. The court, without comment from the justices, let stand a ruling from the Montana Supreme Court that said abol- ishing the insanity defense does not violate the Constitution. While the court's order does not apply beyond the individual case, other states could follow Montana's lead. "It would be a mistake if a large * number of states did this," said Univer- sity of Virginia law Prof. Richard J. Bonnie, an expert in the field. "But I don't think the momentum is there. We went through an important test of that after (John W.) Hinckley (Jr.)" was acquitted on charges of shooting Presi- dent Ronald Reagan in 1981. The insanity defense, adopted from centuries-old English law, arose from the notion that some people are so mentally diseased or unable to under- stand their actions that it is unfair to hold them responsible for criminal be- havior. While the defense is rarely invoked, it has arisen in numerous high-profile trials. Most recently, Lorena Bobbitt used the insanity defense to convince a jury to acquit her of charges related to cutting off her husband's penis. A Palestinian youth kicks an Israeli tear, Currently, only Montana, Idaho and Utah bar the insanity defense, reflect- ing concerns that some defendants ex- aggerate their mental conditions to win "not guilty" verdicts. After Hinckley's acquittal, several states adopted legislation restricting the defense by raising the burden of proof for a defendant who claims insanity, or allowing juries to find someone insane but still guilty and eligible for prison. gas canister in yesterday's clashes. 'Eercise Room *"StudiLounge '/Lounge Computer Room *0LaunrfFaciities 24 iourfittendedLo4 ~* Game Room beat and'Water Include' University Tow Aprments 536 S. Forest Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 761-2680 3 Corrections Journalist-in-residence Bruce Finley said he believes that "accurately assessing the situation in South Africa will depend on understanding ordinary citizens." This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily. David Busfield is president of the Dekers Club. Wally Grant is the vice president. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily. Group Meetings Q American Movement for Is- rael, Hillel, 7 p.m. Q Ann Arbor Festival of Origi- nal Plays, Auditions, 3032 Frieze Building, 7-10 p.m. Q Arab-American Students' As- sociation, Michigan League, Room A, 7:30 p.m. Q Asian Pacific Lesbian-Gay-Bi- sexual Support Group, 3116 Michigan Union, 5:30 p.m. Q People Opposing Weapons sembly, Michigan Union, Baits tivities Building, 4:10 p.m. Room .9 n m aeweu, ,, F.aaa. Events Q From Backpack to Briefcase, sponsored by Career Planning and Placement, 3200 Student Activities Building, 5-8 p.m. Q Historical Knowledge and the Russian Crisis," Moshe Lewin, sponsored by the Center for Russian and East European Studies, 4633 Haven Hall, 4 Student services Q 76-GUIDE, peer counseling phone line, call 76-GUIDE, 7 p.m.-8 a.m. Q Campus Information Center, Michigan Union, 763-INFO; events info., 76-EVENT; film info., 763-FILM. 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