The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, June 3, 1981-Page 3
PRISON OFFICIALS SA Y DISTURBANCE QUELLED
Inmates riot in Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP)-About 300 inmates took over a
cellblock of the Oahu Community Correctional Cen-
ter yesterday in what had been labeled "a major
disturbance," but later agreed to withdraw so riot
equipped guards could search for contraband, of-
ficials said.
No injuries had been reported and no hostages were
taken, but the trouble was considered unresolved
more than six hours after it began at 8 a.m. local
time, prison officials said.
NO WEAPONS WERE used in the takeover, which
succeeded through "sheer force of numbers," said
corrections spokesman Chapman Lam. Ambulances
and fire trucks were standing by outside the prison,
and police closed off a busy thoroughfare in front of
the prison in a residential and industrial section of
Honolulu. The facility houses 55 inmates in- three
wings.
At an earlier point in the disturbance, inmates were
chased out of the cellblock by tear gas, but they had
later retarned.
Riot-equipped Honolulu police provided backup in-
side the prison and continued a perimeter around the
facility during the shakedown, which Lam said would
take several hours.
THE INCIDENT WAS described as a "major
disturbance" when it began, but had calmed down
considerably about two hours later, Lam said.
He said the inmates had made "a lot of racket" and
broke equipment, but there was no immediate
assessment of damages. -
He also said there would be no immediate talk of
any disciplinary action. "The emphasis is to keep
things cool and defuse the situation," Lam said.
THE INCIDENT began after an inmate threw cof-
fee on a guard during breakfast at the mess hall, Lam
said. No immediate action was taken against the in-
mate, but when guards went to the cellblock to
question him, the other inmates began the disturban-
ce.
"The overcrowded conditions here have made the
situation in the cellblock barely tolerable," Lam said.
"'We've known for months that all it would take is a
minor spark and it would go."
During a-meeting with prison administrator Antone
Olin, inmate representatives agreed to recommend
that the prisoners enter the recreation yard while the
cellblock was searched for weapons and other con-
traband, Lam said.
THE PRISONERS left the cellblock before 80
guards entered wearing helmets and flak jackets,
Lam said, adding that the evacuation of the cellblock
was a test of inmate cooperation in ending the distur-
bance.
Police armed with M-16s and guards established a
perimeter around the facility while a police helicop-
ter was circling overhead.
PREPARE FOR 3,000 MILE TREK:
A2 hikers walk for a cause
By JENNIFER MILLER
Imagine a 3,000-mile, six-month hike
along the Continental Divide: trekking
across glacier fields, scaling moun-
tains, and crossing desert, grassland,
and forest. Three men and one woman
from Ann Arbor are facing such a trip
next week.
Their main goal is not solely to sur-
vive the grueling trek, however. Clarke
Ball, Patricia Ball, David Kahn, and
Stewart Merritt are making the trip as
volunteers for the Society for
Epidemiology and Voluntary Assistan-
ce, to raise funds to prevent and cure,
blindness in Nepal, a Himalayan coun-
try where one out of every 47 people are
blind. Ninety percent are curable, but
there are no hospital facilities and few
eye doctors, SEVA says.
CLARKE BALL, 34, a veteran hiker
who has walked half of the Continental
Divide, said the group plans to cover 10-
35 miles per day.
The trip will begin five miles inside
the Canadian border, with marked
trails guiding the group for 1,900 miles,
and the rest navigated by map and
compass.
"We'll have some challenging snow
fields to get across ,at first," Clarke
said, and further south "in the desert,
we'll travel by moonlight. You can't
travel at midday there. And we'll have
to travel fast or winter will catch up
with us."
PATRICIA BALL, 26, will possibly be
the first woman to hike the Continental
Divide. She quit her secretarial job at
the University's School of Public Health
to make the trip. "I've been trying to
picture what it will be like - I have no
idea. I haven't had any experience,"
said Patricia.
The trek is sponsored by SEVA and
various companies who have donated
money, equipment, and food. The group
hopes to raise $250,000 for Nepal
through pledges and donations for each
mile walked. $10,000 has been pledged
so far.
SEVA, an international organization,
and other groups have a "goal to reduce
the prevalence of blindness by 95 per-
cent in five years, then leave the coun-
try self-sufficient in terms of eye care,"
said Steve Merritt, expedition coor-
dinator for SEVA.
ALL THE HIKERS said the com-
mitment and support they've received
from people has given them incentive to
finish the trip. "Sometimes I think,
what the hell am I doing this for? What
am I getting into? Then I feel really
touched by it all," said Patricia.
The four hikers also spoke of the per-
sonal rewards from the trek. Clarke
said, "It's an opportunity for me to use
the skills that I have to make an impact
on the world. Otherwise, I wouldn't be
See HIKERS, Page 5
FOUR ANN ARBOR residents sort through boxes of food and equipment in
preparation for a six-month hike from Canada to Mexico along the Continen-
tal Divide. The group, which leaves Ann Arbor Friday, is making the trek to
raise money to fight blindness in Nepal.
Soviet
tanks in
N icaragua,
Haig says,
WASHINGTON (AP)-The United States has
received intelligence reports that Soviet tanks may
have been sent to Nicaragua and that more tanks are
in Cuba awaiting delivery, the State Department said
yesterday.
Department spokesman Dean Fischer said the
reports have not been confirmed but added that the
presence of heavy Soviet Armor in Nicaragua would
pose "serious problems" for Nicaragua's neighbors.
IN HIS EARLIER remarks to reporters, Fischer
said Soviet arms shipments through Cuba to in-
surgents in El Salvador have increased recently after
having been sharply reduced shortly after the
Reagan administration took office.
Just Monday, however, Under Secretary of State
Walter Stoessel suggested Cuba was sending only
minimal amounts of weaponry to El Salvador.
Spokesmen did not say what type of Soviet tanks
may have been sent to Nicaragua, but other sources
said they were believed to be T-55 heavy tanks, which
were secretly sent to that country under the cover of
darkness.
FISCHER ALSO suggested that the Soviets may be
planning to send aircraft to Nicaragua, but he left the
impression the United States has no concrete infor-
mation on this point.
He said Nicaragua's neighbors have expressed
concern to the United States about the alleged Soviet
activities. Fischer said the United States would take
into account Moscow's military relationship with
Nicaragua in weighing whether or not to restore U.S.
economic aid to Nicaragua.
CUBA'S SUPPORT for Salvadoran rebels was a
priority concern for the administration during its fir-
st six weeks in office. Secretary of State Alexander
Haig warned that the United States was prepared "to
deal with the problem at the source"-meaning
Cuba-and officials said the United States was
prepared to take direct action to halt the arms flow.