A state weight inspector whose boss says he tipped the scales at 500 pounds himself and ``kept growing out of the uniforms'' is appealing his firing by the North Dakota Highway Patrol. Melvin Hansen of Wahpeton, who is awaiting a hearing before the state Personnel Board on Wednesday, was given five reasons in writing for being fired, including his weight, his lawyer, Hal Stutsman, said Friday. Hansen was dismissed July 31 from his job in a scale house where he weighed trucks and inspected cargo. ``To say we terminated the guy because he was overweight is basically unfair,'' said Brian Berg, superintendent of the Highway Patrol. ``I feel bad for the guy. We tried to work with him to improve his situation. He left us no alternative, in our opinion.'' Berg said Hansen's ``weight probably contributed to other things. ... Personal health habits would be a polite way of saying it.'' Highway Patrol policy requires employees to maintain ``appropriate health levels, weight levels and physical fitness levels'' as determined by the department's doctor, personnel officer Richard Anagnost said. Anagnost said Hansen was informed that reasons for his firing included his failure to follow the doctor's recommendations about weight loss, his appearance and grooming and his inability to wear a uniform while on duty. Hansen weighed 325 in 1983 and 500 pounds when he was fired, Berg said. ``He kept growing out of the uniforms. We refused to keep altering them.'' Stutsman refused to discuss details of the appeal, and Hansen referred all questions to his lawyer when contacted Friday. Stutsman called Hansen a ``fairly good-sized man, that's for sure,'' but he said his client's weight is disputed, in part because ``they have never really had an adequate scale to weigh him on.'' Hansen, in his 40s, had worked for the Highway Patrol since 1977 in the agency's truck regulatory division, Stutsman said. His exact age was unavailable. Fighting an image that Alaska is cold and forsaken all year, the state tourism division is running new TV ads that get a little good-natured revenge by poking fun at its big-state rival, Texas. Four years ago, former Texas Gov. Mark White said he didn't believe anyone would want to visit Alaska, which he called a frozen wasteland, said state tourism marketing director Mary Klugherz. ``We basically took that page from history'' in making the series of six commercials, Klugherz said. In the commercials, a governor visits Alaska to see for himself why people come here. The governor's state is not identified, ``but you can tell he's from Texas,'' Klugherz said. ``He's sort of an LBJ look-alike.'' The governor also wears a 10-gallon hat and cowboy boots. The first commercial shows the governor visiting Alaska and discovering the summer weather is great. The second ad says the governor's aides are coming north to look for him because he apparently has decided he enjoys it in Alaska so much he stayed longer than expected. People still believe Alaska endures cold, snow and ice all year, said Klugherz. ``We're trying to tell travelers the truth,'' she said. July temperatures in Anchorage average in the high 50s, with daytime temperatures often in the 60- to 70-degree range. In past ad campaigns, tourism officials have pitched the state's scenery and wildlife, Klugherz said. This year, ``We're basically hitting the weather head-on,'' she said. The tourism division is spending $2.3 million to air the commercials on network stations in 20 cities in the Lower 48. The ads started running last month and will continue through April, Klugherz said. The ads will not run in Texas because it's too expensive to advertise there, she said. The stock market closed out its worst week so far this year, as prices fell for the second straight session. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials dropped 44.92 points Friday to 1,978.95, finishing the week with a net loss of 108.42. That marked the average's biggest weekly decline since it dropped 143.74 points last Nov. 30-Dec. 4. After tumbling Thursday in foreign exchange, the dollar showed signs of steadying Friday. Interest rates, which had contributed to the stock market's woes by rising Thursday morning, dropped back a bit. But analysts said investors were still leery of stocks. They said Thursday's selloff dealt a significant blow to the tenuous confidence that had been building up in the market's rally since late last year. In the absence of any news to explain the market's weakness, brokers said many traders remained fearful that economic and inflationary pressures might soon reach a point where they would prompt the Federal Reserve to begin tightening credit. Declining issues outnumbered advances by about 3 to 1 in the daily tally on the New York Stock Exchange, with 385 up, 1,156 down and 428 unchanged. Big Board volume came to 163.17 million shares, against 184.91 million in the previous session. The NYSE's composite index lost 2.42 to 146.58. As measured by Wilshire Associates' index of more than 5,000 actively traded stocks, the market lost $39.81 billion, or 1.52 percent, in value. The aging of America's population led to a national record of 2.1 million deaths last year, but births topped 3.8 million for the highest number in 23 years, the government says. The National Center for Health Statistics reported Friday that deaths in 1987 totaled ``2,127,000, about 28,000 more than the previous year and the largest number ever reported for the United States.'' Deaths from heart disease, the nation's No. 1 killer, slipped slightly, but cancer claimed more victims than in the year before, the study showed. The nation's overall death rate was about the same as in 1986, at about 8.7 deaths per 1,000 people. That's because the number of fatalities increased at about the same rate as the population grew, the study noted. The study also found that marriage and divorce rates changed little, remaining at relatively low levels. Births, which had dipped somewhat in 1986, climbed 3 percent the following year to an estimated 3,829,000. ``The 1987 provisional total is the largest number reported since 1964,'' the study said. The fertility rate was 66.1 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44, up from 64.9 in 1986. The rising number of births that have occurred in recent years has resulted from the large number of women born during the post World War II Baby Boom who have now entered their main child-bearing years. That has prompted population experts to term the recent rise in births an echo of the Baby Boom. They insist it is not, in itself, another Baby Boom, however, pointing out that birth rates have remained well below those of the 1950s and early 1960s. Subtracting deaths from births, the study reported a natural increase in population of 1,702,000 people last year, 3 percent more than in 1986. Just slightly over twice as many couples married as were divorced during the year, the annual report found. Marriages in 1987 totaled 2,421,000, 1 percent more than the year before. That represented a marriage rate of 9.9 per 1,000 population. That was the lowest rate since 1977, when it was also 9.9. Meanwhile, there were 1,157,000 divorces last year, a 1 percent decline. The divorce rate was 4.8 per 1,000 people, about the same as the year before and the lowest divorce rate since 1975. The report also looked at causes of death reported across the nation, and found a decline in heart disease fatalities, but an increase in cancer deaths between 1986 and 1987. Because it takes longer to compile the detailed figures, the cause-of-death statistics were reported for the 12-month period ending with November 1987, rather than for the calendar year. For all causes, the 1987 rate was reported at 873.0 deaths per 100,000 people, down from 873.3 in 1986. The rate for major cardiovascular diseases slipped from 401.8 per 100,000 in 1986 to 395.7 in 1987, the study said. But at the same time, the death rate for all types of cancer increased from 193.7 per 100,000 to 195.9. Among the other causes of death reported were diabetes, 15.4 per 100,000, up from 15.2; stroke, 61.0, down from 61.6; pneumonia and influenza, 28.2, down from 28.7; chronic lung disease, 31.7, up from 31.3; chronic liver disease, 10.7, down from 10.8; accidents, 38.1, down from 38.9, and suicide, 12.1, down from 12.6. The Defense Department will try to prop up the slumping U.S. bearing industry with a requirement that makers of jets, submarines and other military systems use only American-made bearings. The ``Buy-American'' regulation, due to be published Monday in the Federal Register, would be in place for at least three years, said Rep. Nancy L. Johnson, R-Conn., who pushed for the rule. She called it a ``tremendous victory'' for U.S. bearing makers. The domestic industry has been severely eroded by foreign competition in recent years. Nearly 65 percent of ball bearings sold in the United States come from abroad, and 40 percent of the roller bearing sales are from imports. The Defense Department is a major buyer of bearings, making up nearly 19 percent of the U.S. market. The Pentagon buys a majority of the super-precision bearings used in jets and submarines. Congressional proponents warn that the sagging domestic industry would be unable to gear up for wartime production. They point to a 1986 Pentagon study that said the bearing industry is critical to the nation's defense and warned that domestic manufacturers were in ``imminent danger of being unable to support national defense needs.'' ``This action is clearly needed to halt a trend that directly jeopardizes our ability to defend ourselves,'' said Mrs. Johnson, a founder of the Congressional Bearing Caucus whose western Connecticut district includes several major bearing employers. ``This new policy will prevent the loss of even more business overseas and give our bearings companies the breathing room they need to regain their competitive edge,'' she said. The new regulations would cover only combat-related systems and not non-military items bought by the Pentagon such as bearings for automobiles, according to Johnson aide Caroline Willson. Military bearings make up more than half the bearings purchased by the department. About $40 million of the $350 million in military-related bearings purchased by the Defense Department annually comes from foreign countries. And that trend has been increasing, the congresswoman said. From 1980 to 1986, she said, the number of foreign manufacturers authorized to sell bearings to the Pentagon increased from two to 12. Mrs. Johnson said that would have climbed to 30 companies by 1990 without the new regulations. Mrs. Johnson and other industrial-area lawmakers are supporting an industry request to the Commerce Department urging restrictions on foreign imports. The department has until July to respond to last summer's request and make a recommendation to President Reagan. Since 1980, the industry has lost 15,000 jobs, a 20 percent decrease. Thirty plant closings have left about 80 companies remaining and 43,000 employees, Ms. Willson said. Critics say President Reagan interfered with the legal process by predicting that former White House aides Oliver L. North and John M. Poindexter will be acquitted of charges in the Iran-Contra affair. In off-the-cuff remarks Friday, Reagan called the affair ``the so-called scandal'' and said he still considers North ``a hero.'' But he refused to say whether he was considering granting any pardons in the case. ``I just have to believe that they're going to be found innocent because I don't think they were guilty of any lawbreaking or any crime,'' Reagan said in response to a question at a seminar sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Presidency. North and Poindexter, along with arms dealers Richard V. Secord and Albert A. Hakim, pleaded innocent Thursday to charges of conspiracy, theft and fraud in the Iran-Contra case. The case involved the sale of U.S. arms to Iran and the diversion of proceeds to the Nicaraguan Contras. Senate Majority Whip Alan Cranston, D-Calif., said Reagan's comment about the innocence or guilt of people under criminal indictment ``is highly inappropriate.'' ``His statement could adversely and improperly influence the execution of justice,'' Cranston told reporters on Capitol Hill. ``President Reagan has contributed to a prejudicial climate which could make it extremely difficult to get an unbiased jury in these cases,'' he said. ``The president has made a judgment about guilt or innocence which only a jury is supposed to decide under our system of justice.'' Professor John F. Banzhaf III of George Washington University Law School, called Reagan's remarks ``highly inappropriate'' and said they could influence jurors in the case. ``Millions of people feel strongly in favor of the president and his views carry great weight. He has an awful lot of credibility,'' said Banzhaf, a consumer advocate who has been associated with liberal causes. ``This is prejudging the case.'' In 1970, defense lawyers unsuccessfully sought dismissal of murder charges against Charles Manson after then-President Richard M. Nixon said Manson ``was guilty directly or indirectly of eight murders without reason.'' Nixon subsequently issued a statement saying he had not intended to proclaim Manson guilty, and that a person was presumed innocent until proven otherwise. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, questioned about Reagan's remarks, said, ``He's a man who tells you what he thinks and that's what he thinks.'' He said the president was ``a man of rare insight and perception, just giving his perception there.'' White House chief of staff Howard H. Baker described the president's remarks as ``personal views,'' and said the president's ``official position is that the system must operate.'' Reagan said that when he learned that proceeds from the arms sales to Iran had been channeled to the Contra cause, he had top aides brief congressional leaders and appointed a commission to probe the matter. Reagan also noted that he had sought the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the diversion. ``Now, that's the whole extent of the so-called scandal,'' he said. ``What our intent was and what happened. And you know something? After all the investigations, today I still don't know who got that extra money or where it came from. I'm hoping to find out.'' ``But I wanted you to know that I have some definite reason for still thinking Ollie North is a hero,'' he added. Reagan previously had said he did not think any laws were broken in the Iran-Contra affair, but had never gone so far as to predict acquittals. Five private exporters have been given the green light for subsidized sales to the Soviet Union of 475,000 metric tons of hard red winter wheat, the Agriculture Department says. The government's Commodity Credit Corp. has approved in-kind bonuses averaging $21.95 a ton in value to the exporters to send the wheat to the Soviet Union in May, the Foreign Agricultural Service said in a statement Friday. Under the Export Enhancement Program, approved by Congress in 1985, grain companies and other exporters receive government-owned crops as bonuses to spur overseas sales of American commodities. Subsidized sales of wheat to the Soviets have totaled more than 10.8 million tons since last April, officials said. And the program is playing an increasingly large role in the overall U.S. farm export picture. Melvin E. Sims, general sales manager of the Foreign Agricultural Service, identified those receiving the bonuses and the amounts of grain involved as Garnac Grain Company Inc., 50,000 tons; Richco Grain Ltd., 200,000 tons; Mitsubishi International Corp., 25,000 tons; Artfer Inc., 50,000 and Louis Dreyfus Corp., 150,000 tons. The Soviets may still purchase an additional 525,000 tons under a 2 million ton offer made by the United States on Jan. 29. The United States also made the Soviets a further 1 million-ton offer on Saturday. The two countries are preparing to negotiate a new long-term grain agreement to replace the one that expires Sept. 30. It calls for the Soviets to buy 9 million metric tons a year, of which 4 million must be wheat and 4 million corn. The remainder may be in wheat, corn, soybeans or soybean meal, with every ton of beans or meal counting as two tons of grain. Despite the agreement wheat sales to the Soviets slumped badly in 1986 but picked up against last year as the United States gave that country the green light for purchases under the subsidy program. Giveaways of government surplus milk to poor people are set to resume temporarily in June after a planned suspension in May, according to the Agriculture Department. Just how long the distribution of nonfat dry milk under the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program can continue beyond June remains uncertain, the department said in a statement Friday. Suspension of the nonfat dry milk and cheese distributions was announced in February amid dwindling stocks of government-owned commodities. USDA inventories, however, have again climbed to the point that 8 million pounds can be distributed through local food banks in June, the department said. ``At this time, we do not know if distribution of non-fat dry milk can be continued beyond June,'' Assistant Secretary for Food and Consumer Services John Bode said in a statement. He said the department would ``monitor our inventories and keep states informed of availability.'' ``The same is true for cheese,'' he said. ``If we get more, we'll give it away.'' Also announced in February was a suspension of rice and honey distributions this month because of declining reserves. The actions have drawn fire from Capitol Hill, where Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., is holding hearings on the problem of hunger and focusing on the TEFAP. He planned a grocery-bagging session at a downtown Washington food bank on Monday to draw attention to the issue. Leahy said after the USDA announcement of June milk distribution that he was ``pleased that there's an additional temporary supply for the month but this does not address the long-term problem.'' More than 5 billion pounds of surplus food worth more than $5 billion has been distributed since 1981 when the program got under way on orders from President Reagan, the department said. Seven types of goods have been provided: cheese, butter, nonfat dry milk, honey corn meal, flour and rice. USDA has set a May referendum for cattle producers and cattle and beef importers on whether to continue their current $1 per head promotional program. The department announced Friday that anyone who produces cattle or has imported beef or beef products since Oct. 1, 1986, will be eligible to vote. A simple majority of votes will determine whether to continue the promotions, which have included television spots by actor James Garner and actress Cybill Shepherd. ``Real food for real people'' has been the slogan of the commercials. The referendum will take place on May 10 in all states except West Virginia, where the voting will be one day earlier. Extension Service offices will distribute ballots in April and absentee ballots will be available from them by mail. The program is funded by a fee of $1 per head on all domestic and imported cattle and an equivalent fee on beef imports. It was established under federal legislation approved in 1985. Agreement Republican conservatives in Congress are wary of the Nicaraguan cease-fire, with one saying the United States may have to ``take some action with external forces'' if the Contra rebels quit the field. ``It's down to that,'' said Rep. Rod Chandler, R-Wash. ``It's definitely a new era.'' Chandler was among GOP conservatives attending a retreat Friday in Houston. In Washington, meanwhile, President Reagan said that ``there is reason to have caution'' about whether Nicaragua's leftist government will keep its agreements. Reagan's comments were his first statement in any detail on the 60-day nationwide cease-fire announced Wednesday in Sapoa, Nicaragua, by leaders of the Sandinista government and the U.S.-backed Contra guerrilla force. ``Of course we look forward to this and hope it continues, but ... just as in some other meetings that have gone on in which I have been involved, I think that we should keep in mind that both parties must be dedicated to the things that are said and agreed to in those meetings,'' the president said. ``I think there is reason to have caution _ they have a past record that indicates that we should be,'' he added. Reagan was questioned by reporters as he prepared to meet with President Joaquin Balaguer of the Dominican Republic. In a formal statement as he appeared with Balaguer in the Rose Garden after the meeting, Reagan commended the Dominican president for hosting previous Nicaraguan peace talks, mediated by Roman Catholic Cardinal Obando y Bravo. ``We both hope for democratic and peaceful solutions to the problems of the region,'' he said. ``We want to see an end to the pursuit of military solutions and to the massive Soviet armament that fuels that pursuit.'' During his daily White House news briefing earlier, presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the administration believes ``that this agreement has been reached by both sides in good faith'' but is ``skeptical of the compliance.'' ``We're very hopeful that it works,'' Fitzwater said. ``We want to do whatever we can to see that it works.'' The spokesman also said the administration is ``very hopeful'' that a package of humanitarian assistance to the Contras can be approved by the House and Senate before Congress' Easter recess. He said the United States had no intention of entering into direct discussions with the Sandinistas, as suggested by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. ``We've discussed that two years,'' Fitzwater said. ``The answer is no.'' At the Houston retreat, Chandler said that if the Contras fold their tents and it is ``back to the usual Sandinista behavior'' of totalitarian rule, the United States will have to ``take some action with external forces ... external, including the United States.'' Chandler, who has co-sponsored a plan to renew military aid to the Contras, said he expected Congress in the meantime to approve rapidly some new humanitarian support for the Contras with the option of adding military aid if things turn sour. In Washington, other conservatives criticized the agreement, but appeared willing to put the Sandinistas to the test and wait to see whether promised democratic reforms materialize. ``It's an agreement that's shaded on the bad side,'' said Sen. James McClure, R-Idaho. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., said, ``A sense of euphoria is not in order ... I don't believe I've ever heard of a leopard changing his spots.'' Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said, ``The end product of what they've agreed to still leaves a Soviet puppet state in Central America.'' Here are tentative schedules for the presidential candidates for the week beginning March 27. The information was provided by the candidates. Sunday, March 27: Democrats: Dukakis _ Boston; Connecticut Gephardt _ Washington, D.C. Gore _ Connecticut Jackson _ Hartford, Stamford, Bridgeport and New Haven, Conn. Simon _ Wisconsin Republicans: Bush _ Palm Springs Dole _ Washington, D.C. Robertson _ down Monday, March 28: Democrats: Dukakis _ Connecticut Gephardt _ Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wis. Gore _ Connecticut; New York City Jackson _ Middlebury, Waterbury and New Haven, Conn.; New York City Simon _ upstate New York Republicans: Bush _ Milwaukee and Cedarburg, Wis. Dole _ Washington, D.C. Robertson _ down Tuesday, March 29: Democrats: Dukakis _ Boston Gephardt _ Green Bay and Milwaukee, Wis. Gore _ New York; Wisconsin Jackson _ New York Simon _ Washington, D.C. Republicans: Bush _ Osh Kosh, Appleton, Stevens Point, Milwaukee and Waukesha, Wis. Dole _ open Robertson _ down Wednesday, March 30: Democrats: Dukakis _ Boston Gephardt _ Wisconsin Gore _ Wisconsin; Washington, D.C. Jackson _ Wisconsin Simon _ Wisconsin Republicans: Bush _ Madison, Eau Claire and Washington, D.C. Dole _ open Robertson _ down Thursday, March 31: Democrats: Dukakis _ Boston; Colorado; Wisconsin Gephardt _ open Gore _ Washington, D.C.; Miami Jackson _ Wisconsin Simon _ Wisconsin Republicans: Bush _ open Dole _ open Robertson _ down Friday, April 1: Democrats: Dukakis _ Wisconsin Gephardt _ open Gore _ Wisconsin Jackson _ Wisconsin Simon _ Wisconsin Republicans: Bush _ open Dole _ open Robertson _ down Saturday, April 2: Democrats: Dukakis _ open Gephardt _ open Gore _ open Jackson _ Colorado Simon _ Wisconsin Republicans: Bush _ open Dole _ open Robertson _ open Sunday, April 3: Democrats: Dukakis _ open Gephardt _ open Gore _ open Jackson _ Colorado Simon _ Wisconsin Republicans: Bush _ open Dole _ open Robertson _ open New Jersey Rep. James Howard, whose death at age 60 leaves open a powerful congressional post, was a widely admired lawmaker who loved a good legislative scrap almost as much as he loved golf. The 60-year-old Democrat died Friday, a day after suffering a heart attack on a suburban Maryland golf course, his office said. Howard, influential chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, succumbed at the Washington Hospital Center here at 1:46 p.m., said aide David Smallen. A Roman Catholic funeral was planned for Tuesday in Spring Lake, N.J. Howard's office said the Spring Lake Heights lawmaker died ``of complications arising from a heart attack ... from which his heart never fully recovered.'' They did not elaborate. Howard, a 22-year House veteran, was stricken Thursday while playing the first hole of a morning round of golf. ``His last memory was that he was wearing Irish green and hit a great shot that landed him on the green in two,'' said his daughter Marie, who was with him at the time. Howard's wife, Marlene, and their two other daughters also were with him. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., recalled Howard's fondness for Kennedy's brother, the late President John F. Kennedy. ``The last time I saw him, last week, he asked me for another PT-109 tie clip, and we reminisced again about Jack's 1960 campaign,'' Kennedy said in a statement. House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, said of Howard: ``He worked hard, played hard, loved his family, his state and his country with a burning intensity.'' Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., said Howard was one of his first friends in politics. ``He leaves a great legacy of accomplishments,'' Bradley said. Howard was known among colleagues as one of the House's toughest horse traders. He was an aggressive and agile lawmaker who wielded his considerable clout in an old-fashioned, behind-the-scenes way. The committee he headed since 1981 is one of the least glamorous but most powerful in Congress. It has jurisdiction over multibillion dollar highway and water projects, as well as the airline and trucking industries. Once in 1985, Massachusetts lawmakers mounted a plan to legalize dumping of their state's sewage off the New Jersey coast. Suddenly, money for a much sought-after Boston Harbor tunnel slipped to the bottom of the Public Works Committee's agenda. Elected in 1964, he rose to become the second most senior member of the New Jersey congressional delegation after Rep. Peter Rodino, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who says he will not seek re-election. Howard represented the 3rd Congressional District along New Jersey's central shorefront. Rep. Glenn Anderson, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat of the Public Works committee, is in line to succeed Howard. Any new chairman must be approved by the House Democratic Caucus. A chronology of the Robert Chambers Jr. case: _Sept. 20 and 26, 1985 _ Robert Chambers allegedly burglarizes three apartments, stealing furs, jewelry, silver and art. _Aug. 25, 1986 _ Chambers goes to the bar Dorrian's Red Hand about 11:30 p.m. and runs into Jennifer Dawn Levin, 18, who arrives shortly after midnight. _Aug. 26, 1986 _ Chambers and Miss Levin leave Dorrian's for Central Park about 4:10 a.m. 6:15 a.m. _ Bicyclist finds Miss Levin's body behind Metropolitan Museum of Art; police officer spots Chambers sitting on nearby wall. 2:15 p.m. _ Police pick up Chambers at his Manhattan home. 9 p.m. _ Chambers admits lying to police about whether he left Dorrian's with Levin. Provides a written statement. _Aug. 27, 1986 _ Provides videotaped statement. _Sept. 10, 1986 _ Chambers indicted on two counts of second-degree murder. _Sept. 22, 1986 _ Chambers pleads innocent. _Sept. 29, 1986 _ State Supreme Court Justice Howard Bell, the trial judge, sets bail at $150,000. _Oct. 1, 1986 _ Chambers released on bail after bar owner Jack Dorrian puts up his house as collateral. _Oct. 15, 1986 _ Chambers indicted on three burglary counts; Bell orders an additional $7,500 bail. _Oct. 21, 1986 _ Chambers attorney Jack Litman asks prosecutor Linda Fairstein to turn over Jennifer Levin's diary, saying it chronicles a kinky sex life. _Dec. 23, 1986 _ Levin diary turned over to Bell. _Jan. 28, 1987 _ Bell refuses to turn diary over to Litman. _April 1, 1987 _ David Fillyaw, who identified Chambers as his accomplice in two Sept. 26, 1985 burglaries, pleads guilty to burglary. _Oct. 16, 1987 _ Bell rules Chambers' written and video statements will be allowed at trial. _Oct. 21, 1987 _ Jury selection begins. _Dec. 18, 1987 _ Jury seated. _Jan. 4, 1988 _ Opening statements. _March 1, 1988 _ Prosecution rests after calling 25 witnesses. _March 4, 1988 _ Jury visits Central Park site of Miss Levin's death. _March 10, 1988 _ Defense rests after calling five witnesses. _March 17, 1988 _ Deliberations begin. _March 25, 1988 _ Chambers pleads guilty to first-degree manslaughter. International Business Machines Corp. offered last year to sell important computer chip technology to Digital Equipment Corp. in an effort to keep Digital from becoming more dependent on Japanese suppliers, a published report said Friday. The New York Times, citing a forthcoming book and sources in the industry, said IBM apparently believes the entire American electronics industry could be weakened by growing dependence on Japanese semiconductor technology. IBM's offer is reported in a book entitled ``Trading Places: How We Allowed Japan to Take the Lead,'' written by Clyde Prestowitz and scheduled for publication in late April, The Times said. Prestowitz, formerly the Commerce Department's chief trade negotiator with Japan, wrote that in mid-1987, IBM approached Digital, ``its most dangerous domestic rival, and offered to transfer certain key technologies. ``At first DEC suspected a trick, then it realized the objective was to prevent DEC from falling even further into Japanese hands,'' Prestowitz wrote. His book does not elaborate on what technology was offered or whether Digital accepted the offer, The Times said. Spokesmen for IBM and Digital would not confirm whether such talks occurred, but other industry sources who declined to be identified verified that IBM had made such an offer, the newspaper said. A lone salamander made its way through a tunnel built to prevent cars from crushing the amphibians during their annual trek across a street in this college town. ``It was an historic event. It was the first salamander to go through a tunnel all on its own,'' Shutesbury school teacher Ken Lindsay said Friday. But 39 other salamanders bypassed the tunnels, to the dismay of onlookers. Fifty people turned out on a drizzly Thursday night to watch the salamanders cross Henry Street to reach a breeding pond _ a route that results in death for many of the creatures each spring. The watchers ended up barricading the street and carrying about 40 of the struggling yellow-spotted amphibians across the road. The tunnels installed for the salamanders under the street were ignored by all but the one. Shouts went up when the salamander was discovered crawling along a fence leading to one of the tunnels. The creature made it through in 5 minutes, 20 seconds, said Lindsay, who lives about a mile from the street. The salamander tunnels were installed after a public outcry over the amphibians' plight. Local naturalist Robert Winston persuaded town officials to close the street last year until all the salamanders had emerged from their underground hibernation to make the nighttime trek during warm rains, which usually takes a week. The three 19-inch-high tunnels of polymer concrete were donated by ACO Polymer Products of Cleveland and installed in November for about $2,000. Volunteers erected fences in January to guide the salamanders to the tunnels. The fences failed their first test, but townspeople said it was too early to tell how the experiment would fare. ``There were very few salamanders out, probably because there's not enough of a saturation rate yet to rouse the rest of the population,'' said Lindsay. Townspeople had different theories to explain why all but one of the salamanders bypassed the tunnels. Lindsay, who also coordinated a contest for ``Salamander Crossing'' sings, said the salamanders might have been hibernating between the fence and the road. Richard Minear, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said the tunnels may not have been wet enough for the salamanders' liking. The town's superintendent of public works said he is in the process of hanging the crossing signs, designed by Shutesbury fourth-grader Rachel Mackintosh. Dr. Louis Irwin Grossman, a pioneer in root canal therapy, has died at age 86. A professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, Grossman in 1940 wrote one of the first textbooks on endodontics, or root canal therapy, the removal of diseased soft tissue from inside the tooth. ``Endodontic Practice'' is now in its 11th printing and is used worldwide, said Phyllis Holzman, a university spokeswoman. Grossman, who died Thursday at home, began teaching at the dental school in 1926. ``Through his pioneering research in the field and his clinical care, endodontics got started and is where it is today,'' he said. Grossman developed methods for removing diseased pulp, the soft tissue inside the tooth, sterilizing the hollowed area and filling it with inert material to strengthen the tooth, said Dr. Malcolm Lynch, the school's dean. Before root canal therapy, abscessed teeth had to be extracted. Grossman was named an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1984. He retired in 1968. Grossman was born in a Ukrainian village near Odessa and was brought to the United States by his family as boy. He earned a doctorate in dental surgery from Penn in 1923 and a doctorate in medical dentistry at the University of Rostock in Germany in 1928. Survivors include his wife, Emma May; a daughter, and a son. pickup Stock prices declined sharply for the third straight day in Tokyo Saturday, following an overnight tumble on Wall Street. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei Average of 225 selected issues, which lost 154.57 points Friday, shed 305.99 more points, or 1.2 percent, during Saturday's half-day session to finish the week at 25,320.72. ``Prices were down almost across the board prompted by profit-taking selling,'' said Hiromi Yoneyama of Wako Securities. He said investors sidestepped the market, following the second straight tumble on Wall Street, and before the close of Japan's 1987 fiscal year, which ends on March 31. Yoneyama, however, added investors appeared to be optimistic about the prospects for the new fiscal year. In New York Friday, the Dow Jones average of 30 industrials fell 44.92 points to 1,978.95 at the close of the market's worst week this year. On the first section in Tokyo trading, major losers included large-capital issues, such as steels, heavy electricals and shipbuildings. A light 400 million shares were traded during the session. The foreign exchange market is closed on Saturdays. Syndicated columnist Abigail Van Buren called on state legislators to pass a bill that would ban the use of animal tests for cosmetics and household products. ``Dear Abby,'' as she is known to millions of readers of her daily advice column, said at a news conference that she is not opposed to animal testing for medical research when necessary. But ``it's not necessary for floor wax or lipstick,'' she said. Some makers of cosmetics and cleaning products told lawmakers that animal testing is necessary to ensure the safety of their products for humans. The Maryland appearance is not the end of Miss Van Buren's campaign. ``I'm going to use my column as a platform to do this nationally,'' she said. Catherine Malfitano sang the title role in Berg's ``Lulu'' for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera on Friday night. She sang it well, leaving only the question of whether the luminous lyric quality of her soprano voice will survive a role composed with so many shrieks on top and such angular intervals. She is singing all six performances, which includes the Saturday afternoon radio broadcast of April 2. Tenor Ronald Hamilton, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, made his Met debut as Alwa on Friday night. ``Lulu'' is a difficult opera in which to judge voices but Hamilton certainly coped with the very high range of a fairly large but thankless role. Franz Mazura was excellent as Dr. Schon, Alwa's father. Tatiana Troyanos was properly self-sacrificing as the Countess. James Levine conducted, with the orchestra sometimes at times overpowering the singers. The John Dexter production, from 1977, captures the decadence of the story in which everybody falls for Lulu, some to die of suicide, murder or shock. The Met performed ``Lulu'' for the first time in 1977 and performed it with the third act added, making it a four-hour evening, for the first time in 1980. Nancy Reagan went two for three in goals as she wielded a hockey stick during a ceremony to thank athletes for promoting the ``Just Say No'' anti-drug campaign. Mrs. Reagan made two goals in three shots during her appearance before a sellout crowd at the Capital Centre just after the first period of the Philadelphia Flyers-Washington Capitals game Friday night. When Mrs. Reagan was introduced, most of the sellout crowd of 18,130 stood and applauded. She was joined on the Capital Centre ice by National Hockey League President John A. Ziegler Jr., and 30 ``Just Say No'' skaters, including one dressed as the Peanuts character Snoopy. ``Athletes are very important role models for our young people,'' Mrs. Reagan said. ``I'm very grateful for all of their help.'' Mrs. Reagan took a hockey stick and made three shots on Washington Capitals goaltender Pete Peeters. Two shots went in. Each of the 21 NHL teams will participate in a salute to the Just Say No Foundation at games being played this week across the United States and Canada. A federal appeals court will hear arguments May 6 on whether to dismiss a contempt ruling against Eastern Airlines for its attempt to sell its East Coast Air shuttle. The hearing date was set Friday, when the court also refused a request by Eastern to block a set of sanctions levied against the carrier. The ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means Eastern, at least temporarily, will have to halt its efforts to sell the shuttle while it conducts a legal battle with its largest labor union. Judges David Sentelle, James L. Buckley and Laurence H. Silberman all voted to deny Eastern's request to drop the sanctions. On March 10, District Judge John H. Pratt found Eastern in contempt for trying to sell its shuttle for $225 million. Eastern, a subsidiary of Texas Air Corp., proposed selling the shuttle to a new company to be created within Texas Air. Pratt found that the proposed sale violated an order he issued last July that Eastern not change the working conditions of its 12,000 employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Company officials had said Eastern was in the red and needed the cash from the sale, but union leaders said the deal really was intended to weaken the labor organization. Monday, Pratt ruled that until the case was settled, Eastern would have to halt all efforts to gain government approval of the shuttle sale. The judge also threatened to fine the airline $10,000 daily for future violations. Under Friday's ruling, the sanctions will remain in place until Eastern's appeal of the contempt ruling is decided. Settlement The Reagan administration is halting its supply of Stinger missiles to the Afghan rebels because of concern the weapons could be left to Afghan factions that couldn't be controlled if U.S. military ties were severed, according to a published report today. The Washington Post, citing diplomatic and other U.S. sources that it did not identify, also reported that the administration is rushing at least $300 million in other weapons to the resistance before an agreement is reached that would ban such outside assistance. Among the U.S.-purchased military equipment being rushed to the resistance are 120mm Spanish heavy mortars and modern mine-clearing weapons, the Post said. The decision to stop supplying the anti-aircraft Stingers apparently was reached late last month in anticipation of a peace settlement in Afghanistan, the newspaper said. ``Certainly we would not want the war to end with a lot of them unused,'' said Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Texas, a strong supporter of the resistance who said he did not know if a decision had been made to stop supplying the Stingers. Last month, an Afghan guerrilla commander either sold or was forced to hand over some Stingers to Iran. Pieces of a Stinger were found on an Iranian gunboat involved in a shooting incident with a U.S. helicopter helping the U.S. escort mission in the Persian Gulf last October. The Afghan rebels started receiving the Stingers in mid-1986 and they reportedly have gotten more than 1,000 of them, the Post said. A withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan was a major topic discussed during this past week's visit to Washington of Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. Two Cubic Corp. employees were charged Friday with falsifying test results on hand-held mine detectors produced for the Army. In announcing the indictment, U.S. Attorney Peter Nunez also said that the San Diego-based defense contractor had agreed to pay the government $7.25 million to settle a civil suit stemming from the allegations. William Bauder, 55, of Tullahoma, Tenn., and Dennis B. Fink, 39, of San Diego, pleaded innocent in federal court Friday to conspiracy to defraud the government, making false statements and submitting false claims for payment. Each of the 24 counts in the indictment carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Cubic held a $9 million Army contract to produce and retrofit more than 8,500 detectors designed to locate mines in arid soil. The Justice Department said the devices were never used in combat by American forces. Fink was the senior associate engineer on the technical staff, while Bauder was the program manager for Cubic Defense Systems on the contract signed in 1981. Before full-scale production could begin, Cubic had to demonstrate that it could mass produce mine-detectors that worked as effectively as earlier prototypes, the indictment said. The indictment alleged that the test results were falsified so that the mine detectors appeared to function better than they really did. As a result of the false information, the indictment said, the Army gave approval for full-scale production but terminated the contract in 1984 because of equipment faults. In the civil suit, prosecutors alleged Cubic knowingly presented false claims for payment because some company officials were aware that the detectors had failed the tests. Under an agreement with the Army, Cubic company will remain a government contractor. ``Since the events leading to the indictment, Cubic has taken the necessary steps to avoid a recurrence of similar conduct,'' Nunez said. ^By RICHARD COLE Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega has failed for the first time to pay the 15,000 troops supporting him as Panama's economic crisis deepens and the opposition promises more confrontation. Also Friday, the civilian government that acts for Noriega threatened to revoke stores' licenses unless they stop observing a week-long general strike and open to sell such essentials as food, medicine and gasoline. The strike has shut down more than 90 percent of the nation's commerce. Cash and food are in short supply. The opposition, meanwhile, said it was planning massive street anti-Noriega demonstrations for Monday that appeared likely to trigger a confrontation with troops loyal to the general. Noriega, under indictment in the United States on drug trafficking charges, once again claimed the United States, in a desire to hold on to the Panama Canal, is behind his country's troubles. ``A man is not the problem,'' Noriega said of himself on Friday. ``The problem is Panama's canal and the presence of a foreign army in our territory.'' In an attempt to force Noriega into exile, the White House has had Panamanian deposits in U.S. banks frozen and payments for use of the Panama Canal withheld. The former canal zone is headquarters to the U.S. military's Southern Command. Under a 1977 treaty, the United States will cede control of the canal by the year 2000. Noriega denied any connections with drug-trafficking pilots whose testimony led to his indictments last month, and joked about reports he wields a $200 million fortune: ``Bring it to me, bring it to me and I'll pay off Panama's foreign debt.'' He implied force might be used to make the nation's banks re-open. On Thursday, they refused to hand over an estimated $70 million in their vaults so the government could pay the army on Friday, pensioners Monday, and 130,000 public employees over the next week. Banks have refused to open, partly to support the general strike and partly because they fear a panic run on their deposits. ``Those who understand such things consider it necessary to open the banks,'' Noriega said. Opposition leaders said they hoped Noriega's soldiers would stop supporting him now that they have joined the 2.5 million Panamanians who have gone without pay for up to a month. But the anti-Noriega umbrella group, The National Civic Crusade, suffered a surprising blow Friday when Roman Catholic Archbishop Marcos C. McGrath failed to issue an expected statement strongly condemning Noriega and supporting Monday's planned demonstration. McGrath, who had met with Noriega on Thursday, would only say on Friday that he planned to meet with again with the general, who heads Panamana's Defense Forces. Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., ended a two-day fact-finding trip Friday saying he was ``still hopeful that at some time the Church will be able to make a statement that will bring a happier remedy than we have seen so far.'' Ackerman and Rep. Peter Kostmayer, D-Pa., issued a statement saying ``there is absolute unanimity that Gen. Noriega should go, and that his departure is only a function of time.'' That sentiment was echoed in Washington, where the Senate voted 92-0 to demand that President Reagan increase economic sanctions to force Noriega out. In the former canal zone, wives of the mostly American ship pilots who guide vessels through the Panama Canal _ and could shut the waterway down if they went on strike _ demonstrated in front of the joint U.S.-Panamanian commission that runs the canal. They complained they were being harassed by Panamanian troops who set up roadblocks at intersections across Panama City, questioning motorists and searching their cars. ``We feel like we are hostages within the political crisis because we feel unsafe going into town,'' said Gloria Olsson, wife of a canal pilot. The problem was apparently resolved later Friday, but the Panama Canal Pilots Association and the commission refused to say what arrangements were made. A new medal being issued to honor American prisoners of war features an eagle surrounded by barbed wire and bayonet points and includes the inscription, ``For Honorable Service While a Prisoner of War.'' The Pentagon announced Friday it was ready to begin issuing the new military medals, which Congress authorized two years ago. About 142,200 individuals or their families will be eligible for the awards, the Defense Department said. The medals can be awarded posthumously to legal next-of-kin. The phone number for requesting an application form is 800-873-3768. Personal letters requesting award of the medal or more information should be sent to one of these three addresses: _For former Army prisoners of war: U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Center, Attn.: DARP-PAS-EAW, 9700 Page Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63132-5200. _For former Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard prisoners of war: U.S. Navy Liaison Office, National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63132-5199. _For former Air Force and Army Air Corps prisoners of war: Air Force Reference Branch, National Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. 63132-5199. A new ``Fiscal Survey of the States'' finds that most states tightened their budget belts last year and are reluctant to start major new programs this year because of uncertainty about the economy. The report from the National Governors' Association, says most states are in sound financial shape, although states such as Louisiana and West Virginia are facing tough financial times because of their reliance on the troubled energy industry. Most states, however, are close to the financial edge, according to the report released Friday. It found that the majority of states will end the year with only small budget balances. Those balances are expected to fall to 1.5 percent of total expenditures at the end of next fiscal year, the lowest level since the recession of 1983, when it was 1.3 percent. The Pentagon says this year's ``Ocean Venture'' exercise will take place in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea as well as at selected bases in Florida and Puerto Rico. More than 40,000 servicemen are expected to participate in the exercise, which begins on April 1 and extends through April 22, the Pentagon said Friday. ``Ocean Venture exercises are held every two years and are designed to demonstrate the joint forces capability of the U.S. Atlantic Command to rapidly project military power,'' the Pentagon said. The exercise will include aircraft carrier operations; airborne, amphibious and infantry assaults; live-fire exercises, and port security, harbor defense and combat search and rescue drills, the Pentagon said. Two senators say the United States should be cautious about allowing the sale to Canada of highly secret U.S. submarine technology. Sen. James J. Exon, D-Neb., chairman of the Senate Armed Services strategic weapons subcommittee, said Friday that U.S. nuclear-powered sub technology had only been transferred once in the past, to Britain, and he questioned whether Canada has ``the money and the enormous infrastructure'' needed to safely operate the subs. Any accidents aboard Canadian subs which involve U.S. technology would raise fears about U.S. subs and could hamper the American Navy's operation, he said in a speech to the Senate. Sen. John Warner. R-Va., said, ``before we approve this decision, we need to know how Canada proposes to fund this program, how Canada proposes to insure that the standard of nuclear safety will be at least as high as the United States and the British.'' Canada is considering building vessels which are updated versions of the British Trafalgar-class subs or the French Rubis-class subs. The Trafalgars use U.S. technology, which means the information could not be supplied to Canada by the British unless the United States approves, both Exon and Warner said. ^By ELOY O. AGUILAR Felipe and his wife Donilda, teachers at government high schools who haven't been paid since mid-month, are selling bootleg beer to feed themselves and their three children. They eat only twice a day. Even so, they are luckier than one neighbor in the poor Villa Guadalupe neighborhood in the San Miguelito hills on the outskirts of Panama City, who had sent her children out to steal. As the opposition exerts pressure to oust strongman Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega and cash grows increasingly scarce, many Panamanians are relying on donated food to stay alive. Families have sent their children to stay with relatives in the countryside, where fresh milk and produce is at least more readily available than in the capital. Felipe, who insisted on not being further identified for fear of reprisal, said several stores in his neighborhood, mostly owned by Panamanians of Chinese descent, have been robbed during the past couple of weeks. ``People are not stealing money, they are stealing food,'' he said. ``This woman the other day told her kids to go in that store and grab some milk. When the owner came chasing after them, she faced him with a big stick and told him her kids had to eat and she would kill him if he tried to stop them.'' ``What do we tell the kids we are teaching?'' Felipe asked. ``We have suffered years of bad government in this country,'' he said of 20 years under military rule. ``I am not very political, but things must change ... Noriega's departure would be the beginning of the political solution.'' The general, who heads the 15,000-strong Defense Forces and is Panama's de facto ruler, is under U.S. indictment on charges of trafficking in Colombian cocaine. The United States, seeking to force him out, has frozen virtually all Panama's funds in U.S. banks, including Panama Canal tolls, the country's main source of revenue. Since the U.S. dollar is Panama's currency, the cash shortage became doubly acute. Most of the country's 118 banks have been closed for three weeks, some for longer. There have been street demonstrations, some of them violent, and a general strike has paralyzed the nation since Monday. Noriega has dug in his heels and refuses to leave. Felipe and his wife, together normally net $170 a month after deductions for taxes and payments on a government-financed mortgage on their three-bedroom concrete block home. Each got their last paycheck _ for $75 _ on March 15. It was the last time the government paid employees, and many didn't get anything. Felipe used to make about $40 more a month refereeing soccer matches. But the games haven't been played since the crisis began. There is no money. A strong, wiry man with a mustache and a tiny tuft of beard on his chin, Felipe held his restless 4-year-old son Francisco, trying to quiet him. ``We make adjustments, we survive,'' he said. That morning, Felipe and his family had oatmeal, some cheese and bread for breakfast. Donilda was planning to cook some fish and rice for lunch. But there would be ``some tea and bread only in the evening,'' she said. Felipe said he hadn't paid his light and water bills. With the schools closed until further notice, Felipe spends his time doing odd jobs around the house, training his 12-year-old daughter Zulia and other kids in the neighborhood in track and field. And he digs into his savings, buying American bootleg beer and cigarettes which he resells, making about $4 profit on each case of beer. ``A lot of people are doing that. People will always buy beer,'' he explained, sweating in Panama's tropical heat. A few blocks away, several hundred people stood in line outside the Christ Redeemer Roman Catholic Church, which has been donating bags of food and running a soup kitchen for the destitute. ^With US-Nicaragua, Bjt ^By JAVIER PICHARDINI President Miguel de la Madrid strongly criticized the Reagan administration for stressing might over diplomacy in its Central American policy _ at a high cost in death and destruction. ``We oppose the justification for acts of intervention or economic coercion'' in Central America, he said Friday during a state dinner for visiting President Vinicio Cerezo of Guatemala. ``The protection of our security isn't associated with strategic projects of doubtful standing,'' he added in comments clearly aimed at the Reagan administration though not mentioning the United States by name. De la Madrid and Cerezo held two rounds of private talks Friday in this Caribbean resort on the Yucatan peninsula. Mexico's own interests in Central America are jeopardized by instability in the region, de la Madrid declared in the rare attack on his country's northern neighbor. ``Mexico perceives the overflow of the Central American conflict as a risk affecting its legitimate interests and provoking disorder and instability that threaten our institutions,'' he said. De la Madrid referred to U.S. financing of the Contra rebels who have been fighting Nicaragua's Sandinista government for six years and the dispatch of 3,200 American troops to Honduras on March 17 after an alleged incursion by Nicaraguan troops chasing Contra fighters. Military sources in Honduras say the U.S. troops are going home Monday, now that a Sandinsta-Contra truce is holding with the two sides' agreement Wednesday to cease hostilities and seek to forge a lasting peace. De la Madrid also criticized U.S. trade and economic sanctions against Panama that are aimed at forcing the ouster of that country's military strongman, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega. ``Stubbornness in imposing military options over diplomatic efforts is producing a conflict whose high costs in death and destruction we can neither tolerate nor view with indifference,'' the president said. De la Madrid first voiced criticism of U.S. policy in the region Monday, when he said ``it is not with the movement of troops, nor with the financing of subversion from whatever origin that the problems of the area which is vital to the interests of the Mexican people are resolved.'' Conflicts in Central America stems from economic and social causes, he said, declaring that his nation would search for solutions that ``guarantee the legitimate interests'' of the region. Cerezo and de la Madrid were scheduled to conclude their talks today. Eds: UPDATES throughout with NORAD spokesman saying object launched from Soviet Union, eyewitness descriptions. No pickup. Soviet space debris bigger than a railroad boxcar re-entered the atmosphere in a brilliant atmospheric fireworks display Friday night that triggered phone calls from curious skywatchers in three states, officials said. ``I saw a meteorite once that was pretty spectacular, but this one just blew that away. This was the most amazing celestial event I've ever seen,'' said Chuck Farr, 33, of Round Rock, who watched from his front yard. ``It was part of a package that was sent up a couple of days ago from the Soviet Union'' said Lt. Col. Ivan Pinnell, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The object, which was ``larger than a railroad boxcar,'' re-entered the atmosphere around 10:50 p.m. CST, Pinnell said. The chances of it causing any damage on the ground were highly improbable, he said. ``When an object like that re-enters, it breaks up in the atmosphere, and you have these smaller pieces and sometimes you have quite a show,'' Pinnell said. The re-entry was seen in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. NORAD had been tracking the object by satellite, he said. ``We knew this was going to re-enter, but exactly where was hard to predict, as far as the exact time and location,'' he said. Most of the phone calls about the fiery re-entry came from the Houston and Dallas areas, but the object was seen as far away as Little Rock, Ark., Pinnell said. Bill Hecke, a retired Air Force meteorologist who operates a weather station from his home in Moody, 30 miles south of Waco, said the object looked like a meteorite to him. ``It was closer and larger than anything I've ever seen anything before, and I've been real active watching the skies since 1963,'' Hecke said. He said he called a number of radio stations after the sighting and said it had been seen in Lawton, Okla. Cars along Interstate 35 pulled off the road to watch the fireworks, said Jim Ribble, a newsman for Texas AP Network Radio who was driving on the interstate when he saw the re-entry. He said it looked like the sparks caused by a car whose muffler has come loose and is dragging along the roadway. ``It just kept growing, like a sparkler,'' said Farr, a 33-year-old technical writer for Texas Instruments in Austin. ``It went across the entire sky.'' The ancient art of weaving baskets from sweetgrass, brought over from Africa by slaves and passed down for generations in South Carolina's Lowcountry, is threatened by the modern-day condominium. Booming coastal development of the past 20 years is reducing the availability of the sweetgrass favored by local artisans for the baskets, a popular purchase for tourists, folklorists said. ``What's at stake is the continuation of this traditional African craft,'' said Myrtle Glascoe, director of the Avery Research Center for Afro-American History at the College of Charleston. ``If people can't get the grass, they won't continue to do the craft.'' A conference on the problem was scheduled for today at the Charleston Museum. Basket weavers, government officials, historians and others were invited to attend. Weavers have seen their access to local sweetgrass decline in recent years, and have been forced to buy it from as far away as Florida. ``It's getting scarce,'' said Elizabeth Fleming, a basket weaver from nearby Mount Pleasant. ``People are building condominiums all over and they don't want you to go on their property.'' The preferred type of grass for the ornamental baskets, Muhlenbergia filipes, generally grows in the sand beyond the dune line at the beach _ the area that has been developed extensively in recent years. ``The grass is still there and certainly not all of it has been built over,'' said Dale Rosengarten of the University of South Carolina's McKissick Museum in Columbia. ``But many of the areas in which it grows are restricted entry.'' Mrs. Fleming said that, in addition to the access problem, there seems to be less sweetgrass available in areas still open to gathering. Mrs. Fleming said she buys some of her grass from suppliers in Florida, but even that is not without problems. Once, two men who supply her with the grass were arrested for gathering it, she said. Some local artisans have resorted to making their baskets from bulrushes, which aren't as pliable or bright as sweetgrass. ``You can't make a small basket with a bulrush because the bulrush won't bend as easily,'' said Mrs. Fleming, who operates a family basket stand in Mount Pleasant which her grandmother operated before her. Mrs. Rosengarten said the economic impact of basket sales is probably slight. But she said it's hard to gauge their importance to Charleston's tourism economy because visitors remember the historic city as one of pastel houses, horse-drawn carriages _ and basket weavers. Mrs. Rosengarten said there are a number of things that can be done. The Charleston Museum has a plot of land where officials hope to cultivate sweetgrass. ``We'd like to see the (commercial) nurseries carrying the grass and to see it used as an ornamental,'' Mrs. Rosengarten said. ``We want people to be aware of the grass and what it is. It's great for holding the dune'' against erosion. ``We're trying to take action before it's too late,'' she added, noting that if the sweetgrass becomes an endangered species, no one, including the basket weavers, would be able to pick it. voting begins at 10 a.m. EST; TOP prospects uncertain. Republican Bob Dole, saying ``I can read the numbers,'' admits his race for the White House is all but over, as Democrat Richard Gephardt faces the prospect that today's Michigan caucuses could write the end to his campaign. The Democratic hopefuls searched Michigan for every last vote Friday, with front-runners Michael Dukakis and Jesse Jackson exhorting their backers to ignore the polls and make a final push for victory. Dukakis closed his campaign with a noisy gathering at a Polish-American center in Detroit, while Jackson wrapped up his day with thunderous rallies across the state. Gephardt told supporters in a series of stops that he can pull off a stunning upset here. Despite showing some late strength, the Missouri congressman was still third in the polls and aides were talking about a race for re-election to his House seat. ``We will pull off a miracle in Michigan tomorrow,'' Gephardt told a crowd in Taylor, Mich. Neither Sen. Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee nor fellow Democratic contender, Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois, had made significant organizational and advertising efforts in Michigan. Both have spent more time in the upcoming primary states where they saw better chances for a breakthrough. On the Republican side, Dole stunned a Washington audience with a frank admission that Vice President George Bush is almost certainly the Republican nominee. ``I can read the numbers and I know probably what's going to happen,'' the Kansas Republican told reporters after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce meeting. ``I think it's probably a foregone conclusion what's happening on the Republican side,'' Dole told the group. Asked if he would continue until the Wisconsin primary on April 5, Dole had this to say: ``I may tell you that later this week, probably next week.'' But a spokesman was quick to deny that Dole was conceding the race. For his part, Bush said Dole's comments won't change any of his plans. ``This doesn't say it's over. So I'm going to just keep going right down to the wire and not speculate on somebody else's campaign or on the Democratic side,'' he said after a campaign appearance in Denver. Bush brushed aside questions about potential running mates as well. ``It's too early for me to start thinking about any running mates. That would project a certain arrogance or presumption that I don't want to do.'' In Washington, White House chief of staff Howard H. Baker Jr. was asked on Cable News Network's ``Evans & Novak'' if he would accept the vice presidency if Bush turned to him. Baker said he did not believe he would be the choice, but when pressed, he said: ``You know, most of my adult life I've spent in public service, and if someone asked me to do it, I would have a very difficult time trying to figure out what I was going to say. ``But I do not wish that to happen. I do not think that will happen, and I do not expect it.'' The Democratic spotlight was on Michigan, the latest in the series of big-state primaries that may decide the party's 1988 nominee. Dukakis, leading in the delegate count for the nomination, hoped his strength across the state would give him a large share of the 135 delegates at stake as well as the popular vote victory. The Massachusetts governor, making a joke about his heavy, dark eyebrows, asked his people to work hard in the final hours. ``When you make those phone calls tonight and tomorrow _ and I hope you will because you know in caucuses particularly turnout is very important _ you just tell them to go with the guy with the eyebrows and we'll have a very good Saturday,'' he told the Polish-American Century Club in Hamtramck, Mich. At his side were Mayor Coleman Young of Detroit and Sen. Don Riegle. In Flint, Jackson named rivals Dukakis and Gore and said he was outspent 50-to-1 by them in the South ``yet we got the most votes.'' ``If they had my budget, they would surrender. If I had their budget, they could not compete,'' he said. Later, Jackson spoke at a Baptist church where the crowd was so large that people stood outside unable to get in. Gore began suggesting that the Wisconsin primary on April 5 will be where he tries again to win one from Dukakis and Jackson, who he suggested are more liberal than he. In Detroit, Gore took the opportunity of a question on his defense ideas to restate his claim to be the moderate among the Democrats. ``It's not conservative. I've never used that word. Let me hasten to add, you don't have to be very far to the right to be to the right of this crowd,'' he said. Dukakis held a slim lead over Jackson in the AP delegate count, with 548.55 votes to 520.55 for the civil rights leaders. Gore had 362.8 votes, Gephardt, 154 and Simon 171.5. A total of 354.6 votes are currently in the uncommitted column. On Aug. 25, 1986, Dorrian's Red Hand was just another bar on Manhattan's Upper East Side catering to the young and upwardly mobile: a hangout for yuppies and preppies, where the Izod crowd came to knock back a few. Twenty-four hours later, all that changed. With the death of Jennifer Dawn Levin early on the morning of Aug. 26, Dorrian's became _ fairly or unfairly _ a symbol of youthful decadence, of teen-agers with too much money and no place to go. Among them was Robert Chambers Jr., who sat at the bar drinking shots of tequila with beer chasers the night he killed Miss Levin. ``He fouled everybody's life up,'' bar owner John F. ``Jack'' Dorrian said recently. ``Who needs this guy?'' After Miss Levin's death, investigators returned to Dorrian's and closed the bar for 10 days for serving underage patrons in November 1986. Dorrian has put the bar up for sale; no buyer has been found. Chambers, now 21, had been a regular at Dorrian's. He also was a college dropout who had a very proper upbringing. Dinner at the Chambers house, located next to the former Andrew Carnegie mansion a few blocks north of Dorrian's, ``always had silver involved,'' said Ralph Destino, a friend of Chambers, shortly after Chambers' arrest. Chambers apparently had no steady job at the time of his arrest, yet was drinking and flirting ``five or six nights a week'' at Dorrian's, said its owner. Interviews in the months since the slaying indicate that Dorrian's remains attractive, a place where young people can gather in front of an ornate fireplace and play backgammon at the tables. Regulars said they avoided Dorrian's after Miss Levin died, fearing the bar had been taken over by the curious. But the young men and women who grew up in the wealthy neighborhood and knew one another in the best prep schools came back. Miss Levin was not a regular at Dorrian's but was known there. Patrons don't talk much about the case, they said. ``I come here when I feel like sitting around like I'm in my living room,'' said Alyssa Donati, 21, who said she has been frequenting Dorrian's for five years. Dorrian himself knows who's who in the bar; he can point out the child of a well-known writer and the daughter of a presidential adviser. John Zaccaro Jr., son of ex-Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro, was tending bar the night of the death. Chambers would no longer be welcome, Dorrian said. Other regulars would say tourists, out-of-towners and the curious are not welcome either. ``Parents like their kids to come here,'' Miss Donati said. ``Here they know the people are from at least good families, they've been to good colleges, and they're not out to rape people.'' Want' Gov. Evan Mecham, defending himself against charges he misused $80,000 from a protocol fund, said he was never told it was public money and was given carte blanche to do nearly anything he wanted with it. Mecham testified at his Senate impeachment trial Friday that when the proceeds of his inaugural ball were converted into a protocol fund, nobody questioned whether it should be considered public money instead of private. Mecham, taking the stand for the second time in his trial, said inaugural committee Chairman Bill Long told him, ``We've gone through all of this rigamarole'' in determining that the inaugural funds could not be used to pay off campaign debts. Mecham said Long told him, ```You can spend it for any damn thing you want' _ those are his words _ `except you can't spend it for politics or for personal living expenses.''' Mecham is accused of misusing $80,000 from the $92,000 protocol fund by loaning it to his car dealership, Mecham Pontiac. The governor is scheduled to resume testifying Monday. Mecham has testified on the first charge against him: that he tried to thwart an investigation of an alleged death threat by a state employee. The Senate plans to begin hearing testimony next week on the third charge: that Mecham concealed a $350,000 campaign loan. Mecham, 63, also faces a recall election May 17 and an April 21 criminal trial on six felony charges of hiding the $350,000 loan. The prosecution contends the protocol fund was state money, and that Mecham Pontiac needed the loan to meet its July payroll. A prosecution witness testified earlier this week that the dealership had about $3.7 million in loans against an appraised value of $3.35 million. Prosecutors have said Mecham tried to conceal the $80,000 loan. Mecham and his 37-year-old son, Dennis, who has been the dealership's general manager since his father ran for governor in 1986, sought to paint a rosier financial picture. Dennis Mecham said he borrowed the money simply because his father offered it in an effort to get a higher interest rate for the protocol fund. He said he could always use additional capital in an effort to generate more profits. ``The rumor mill has been rampant about Mecham Pontiac since day one. We've had our lives, every scrap of it, demonstrated to our competitors ... and God and his angels,'' the younger Mecham said. Defense attorney Jerris Leonard led the governor through a series of calculations that he said showed that Mecham Pontiac had $2.5 million worth of unencumbered property. Later, Leonard told reporters, ``The numbers are obvious. There was at least $2.5 million worth of real estate value behind an $80,000 loan. I'll take that deal anytime.'' However, the governor acknowledged that in July 1987 _ the same month the $80,000 loan was made _ he was notified that he was behind on repaying a $101,905 loan from Valley National Bank. ``Quite frankly, I wasn't watching my details,'' Mecham said. ``I was a little red-faced when this caught up with me.'' He said he paid part of the loan and refinanced the rest in a transaction handled by telephone. A two-thirds vote of the 30-member Senate is required to convict Mecham, and lawmakers also could decide to bar him from holding any future office. Mecham is the first U.S. governor to be impeached in six decades. Robert Joffrey, the acclaimed choreographer whose vision created the Joffrey Ballet and made it one of the nation's foremost dance companies, has died after a lengthy illness. He was 57. Joffrey died early Friday at New York University Medical Center of liver, kidney and respiratory failure, hospital spokeswoman Terrie LoCicero said. As artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet for three decades, Joffrey guided the troupe from its early days as a struggling six-member company traveling in a borrowed station wagon to international acclaim. ``Robert Joffrey brought an unbridled passion for ballet in every form to our profession,'' said Mikhail Baryshnikov, artistic director of the American Ballet Theater. ``His love of the heritage of ballet was an inspiration to everyone,'' Baryshnikov said. ``He was also committed to seeking out new choreographers and often was not afraid to put the most untried choreographers on a ballet stage for the first time. We salute his taste and his ingenuity.'' The Joffrey Ballet, appearing in Chicago, dedicated Friday night's performance to its founder. Joffrey became ill in April 1986. He was diagnosed as having severe myositis, which causes deterioration of the muscles, enlarged liver and asthma. Medication that he was receiving for asthma and the muscle condition caused his fatal liver ailment, hospital spokeswoman Pennie Curry said. Because of his asthma, a doctor had recommended that Joffrey take up dancing as a 9-year-old to improve his health. Joffrey was born Abdullah Jaffa Anver Bey Khan in Seattle on Dec. 24, 1930, the son of an Italian mother and an Afghan father. He started dance classes in Seattle, also studied at the School of American Ballet in New York and studied with two modern-dance teachers. His short performance career began with a solo concert of his own works in Seattle. He danced with Roland Petit's Ballets de Paris in 1949; from 1950 to 1952 he sometimes danced in the concert group of one of his teachers, May O'Donnell. The Robert Joffrey Ballet Concert performed at a New York YMHA in 1954, but Joffrey dated the founding of his company to 1956, when he taught six dancers four pieces he had choreographed and sent them on an 11-state tour in a borrowed station wagon. Within 10 years of that tour, the Joffrey Ballet had performed at the White House, in the Soviet Union and the Far East. The Joffrey now ranks with the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater as one of America's big three ballet companies. ``He had a passion and a love for dance. He loved to bring dance to parts of the world that had never seen it,'' said Gary Chryst, a member of the Joffrey troupe for 11 years and one of its best-known dancers. ``Robert Joffrey was one of a handful of artists who made their personal visions into a public statement. The company he started will continue to bring that vision to audiences all over America,'' said Charles B. Raymond, managing director of the New York City Ballet. Among Joffrey's accomplishments was his recreation of Vaslov Nijinsky's 1913 ``The Rite of Spring.'' Joffrey engaged two dance historians to recreate the ballet, danced only eight times previously. It premiered in September 1987 in Los Angeles. His own ballets include ``The Nutcracker'' in 1987 and his striking 1967 ``Astarte,'' in which a couple dance in front of a billowing white silk curtain on which a movie of them dancing is projected. He left no immediate survivors. The funeral will be private. A memorial service will be scheduled later. ^By RODOLFO GARCIA The nation's largest opposition coalition praised the Sandinista-Contra peace accord but assailed the government's pact to negotiate political reform with a small segment of the opposition. In other developments Friday, the Sandinista government's newspaper Barricada said citizens should now prepare for ideological warfare. And the U.S.-supported Contra rebels indicated they would resume fighting if reconciliation talks don't achieve greater political freedom. The Defense Ministry said a 5-day-old cease-fire appeared to be holding. The Nicaraguan Democratic Coordinate, a coalition of four leading political parties, two labor unions and professional and business organizations, said Wednesday's peace accord represented ``positive advances to obtain real and effective peace in Nicaragua.'' But the coalition rejected the `National Dialogue'' agreement the leftist government signed two days earlier with eight smaller political parties not affiliated with the Coordinate. In a statement, it called the agreement ``contrary to the interest of the people of Nicaragua in their efforts (to promote) democratization and freedom.'' By signing the pact, the Sandinistas sought to separate negotiations on democratic reform from talks with the Contras, the Coordinate said. The Sandinistas and Contras agreed Wednesday to maintain their cease-fire until June 1, hoping negotiations to begin April 6 in Managua will by then have forged a lasting peace. The Contras agreed not to accept any more U.S. military aid. Under the agreement, reached in the southern border town of Sapoa, the Sandinistas promised a gradual amnesty and unrestricted freedom of expression that would allow the Contras a role in Nicaragua's political process. But the Contras' future political role is unclear _ and that concerns the Coordinate. Under the Sapoa agreement, up to eight Contra leaders would be allowed to participate in the so-called National Dialogue. Ramiro Gurdian, Coordinate vice president, said he hoped Contras will begin a ``tripartite dialogue'' with the government and the Coordinate. The National Dialogue, begun in October with 15 opposition parties, reached an impasse two months later when the government refused to discuss opposition proposals for modifying a new constitution that went into effect in January. Carlos Huembes, president of the Coordinate, said Friday that domestic economic and political pressures, as well as international opinion, had forced the Sandinistas to the negotiating table. ``We all know about the decomposition and lack of political pluralism existing in Nicaragua. We all know and understand the economic crisis the Sandinista government is foundering in and the lack of international credibility and aid that the Sandinista front has lost,'' he said. Barricada said in an editorial that the cease-fire agreement means the 6-year-old civil war will enter a new phase: ``On an internal political level, this means the incorporation of pressure groups, that even though disarmed, continue to be armed ideologically against the popular power and its conquests.'' Jorge Rosales, a Contra spokesman in Miami, indicated that if democracy is not achieved through the Sapoa accords, the Contras could renew their armed fight: ``If we can't do it peacefully, if the Sandinsitas do not want to achieve democracy, then the reasons Nicaraguans took up arms will still be there.'' Carlos Huembes, president of the Coordinate, said Friday that domestic economic and political pressures, as well as international opinion, had forced the Sandinistas to the negotiating table. ``We all know about the decomposition and lack of political pluralism existing in Nicaragua. We all know and understand the economic crisis the Sandinista government is foundering in and the lack of international credibility and aid that the Sandinista front has lost,'' he said. The 3,200 U.S. troops President Reagan sent to counter Nicaragua's alleged military incursion into Honduras will return home Monday after an 11-day stay, U.S. military officials said. On Friday, the light infantry and paratroopers continued joint training exercises with Honduran troops at four bases throughout the country, said Cap. Brian DeLoche, a public affairs officer at Palmerola Air Base. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Mike Stepp said the soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division and the 82nd Airborne Division, sent to Palmerola March 17 ``will begin redeploying from Honduras to their home bases in California and North Carolina on Monday.'' Honduran President Jose Azcona Hoyo had asked for the troops after Sandinista troops allegedly crossed the border in pursuit of Contra rebels. On Wednesday, Contra and Sandinista leaders signed an agreement to continue until June 1 a cease-fire that began Monday with the hope they can forge a lasting peace. The U.S. soldiers' arrival from Fort Bragg, N.C., and Fort Ord, Calif., boosted the American military presence here to more than 6,000 personnel. The deployment was intended only as a show of force. Calm prevailed along the border on Friday, government officials said. ``It's peaceful on the border with Nicaragua because there are no Nicaraguan troops,'' said presidential spokesman Lisandro Quesado. At the height of the alleged incursion, Sandinista troops penetrated an area of about 36 square miles in the border province of Olancho during their pursuit of more than 1,000 Contra fighters, Honduran military intelligence sources said. A young Irishman, in jail on a murder charge while the woman who crossed an ocean to see him lies comatose, says he hopes they still can have a life together. ``I'm scared out of my wits,'' Daniel Stokes, 21, said in a telephone interview Friday from the Cook County Jail, where he is being held on a murder charge that could bring the death penalty if he is convicted. Margaret Hanley, who flew from her home in Ireland to see Stokes in jail, remains in a coma at Weiss Memorial Hospital after being hit by a car on St. Patrick's Day. She is in critical condition. ``I hope that one day I should walk away from this and make a life for both of us,'' Stokes said. Stokes and Miss Hanley met in August 1987, when Stokes returned to Ireland from Chicago, where his mother lives and he lived briefly. Miss Hanley, 22, was an actress for Stokes' father, a theater company owner in Dublin, Stokes said. That's where their love story began. ``I met her the very day I got off the plane. She was over at my house. She came over on her tea break because she and my sister are best friends,'' Stokes recalled. Romance ``was in the air,'' he said. ``We got very serious after a couple of weeks. We found that we were very compatible.'' But Stokes, a cabinetmaker, found hard economic times in Dublin, so he returned to Chicago in November. On Dec. 29, Stokes was charged with bludgeoning his landlord to death in the man's apartment, said Lisa Howard, a spokeswoman for the Cook County State's Attorney's office. Stokes allegedly took hundreds of dollars and the man's car before fleeing, she said. He is charged with first-degree murder, residential burglary, armed robbery, home invasion, armed violence, and possession of stolen motor vehicle, Ms. Howard said. Stokes, who declined to discuss the case, pleaded innocent and has a pretrial hearing scheduled for March 31. Despite the murder charge, Miss Hanley and Stokes' sister Susie, 20, flew to Chicago on Feb. 23. Miss Hanley knew Stokes was in jail, but wanted to help him, he said. She wrote him letters ``saying that no matter what, she wanted to be there for me,'' Stokes said. Their reunion at the jail ``was very emotional,'' he said. ``I think she was more or less speechless. ``I was delighted, I was overwhelmed because it proved something to me ... that a woman willing to travel 1,000 miles to see me must be worth keeping.'' But he said ``the emotional stress of seeing me behind bars'' was hard for Miss Hanley to accept. She called her family, telling them she planned to return home March 18. ``She said she'd explain it all to us later,'' said her father, Stephen Hanley. But she was hit by the car March 17. Her parents flew to Chicago after the accident and have kept a vigil at their daughter's bedside. Stokes said he still hopes he and Miss Hanley will be together again. ``I'm madly in love with her. There's something there that no other woman has shown,'' Stokes said. The United Nations will send a team of experts to Iran next week to examine victims of poison gas attacks blamed on Iraq that killed thousands of people. Iran said the chemical attacks have been aimed at Kurdish rebels in a portion of northeastern Iraq claims to have captured. A Kurdish leader asked Friday for medical aid for the victims. In a related development Friday, Iran's U.N. ambassador, Mohammad Ja'afar Mahallati, said Tehran would send a special emissary to the United Nations for talks on seeking an end to the 7{-year-old Iran-Iraq war. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar had requested the talks and the U.N. decision to send the team to Iran was an apparent compromise. Earlier Friday, Mahallati had accused the United Nations of foot-dragging on Iran's request for a U.N. mission to investigate allegations Iraq used chemical weapons on Kurdish rebels, in violation of international agreements. He had indicated that lack of action on the request could lead to delays in reaching a cease-fire, as called for in a July resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council. ``It means if the United Nations remains inactive regarding all aspects of the war, a political solution would be more and more difficult,'' Mahallati told a news conference. A Kurdish rebel leader appealed for urgent medical aid for Kurdish villagers he said were affected by Iraqi poison gas attacks this week. ``The situation is getting desperate as we do not have any facilities to cope,'' said a statement issued by the office of Massud Barzani's Kurdish Democratic Party in London. The statement claimed at least 50 Kurdish villagers were killed and scores wounded in the last such chemical weapons attack Thursday, when Iraqi planes bombed Seyo and Senan villages in northeastern Iraq. The villages are near Halabja, where Iran said 5,000 Kurds died last week after an alleged Iraqi air raid with internationally banned poison gas bombs. After late-afternoon consultations with Perez de Cuellar, Mahallati announced that the expert mission would arrive in Iran on Monday and an Iranian emissary would meet with the secretary-general in New York. The United Nations had been hesitant to send a team to the scene of the purported attack because it is in Iraqi territory now held by Iran. Baghdad has not granted permission for such a mission to visit its territory. The United Nations has investigated and condemned Iraq for using chemical weapons in previous years, but those incidents occurred on Iranian territory. Perez de Cuellar said Iraq agreed to send a special envoy for talks April 4-5. Mahallati would not say when the Iranian emissary would meet with the secretary-general. Francois Giuliani, Perez de Cuellar's spokesman, confirmed the two-person team, including a doctor, will be sent to Iran to see chemical attack victims. Iraq claims Iran was responsible was the gas attacks, but Perez de Cuellar said Friday that it appeared Baghdad was at fault. ``Sadly, there is considerable and most serious evidence in the public domain that chemical weapons have again been used by Iraqi forces in the past few days, causing a high number of casualties, including civilians of both Iran and Iraq,'' he said in a statement. Massud Barzani's party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan have been fighting the Iraqi government with Iranian support in recent years, seeking autonomy for the 3.5 million Iraqi Kurds. Iraq has been condemned by the United Nations on four previous occasions since 1984 for using chemical weapons in its war with Iran. Contra leader Adolfo Calero says the newly signed cease-fire pact with the Sandinistas is an ``acid test'' of the Nicaraguan government's sincerity, and the rebels will keep their weapons just in case. ``We're not signing off any leverage, any power,'' Calero said Friday on his return from Sapoa, Nicaragua, where the pact was signed. ``We're keeping our weapons,'' he said. ``We aren't simply letting things develop any other way except the way they're signed.'' Calero, one of three top rebels who signed the preliminary peace accord Wednesday in hopes of ending the bitter seven-year civil war, acknowledged his skepticism toward the Sandinista government. ``We feel this is the acid test that will bring the Sandinistas to the moment of truth,'' Calero said. ``If they don't comply, it will be very difficult for anyone to believe them. ``We have the right to break this accord if they don't comply,'' he said. President Reagan and Nicaraugan exiles living in Miami have expressed doubt that Nicaragua's Marxist-led government will live up to the agreement. Some exiles have criticized the rebel leadership for negotiating the truce. Silvio Arguello Cardenal, a former vice president of Nicaragua, told The Miami Herald it would be ``political suicide'' for the rebels to turn in their weapons before the country was fully democratic. ``There is no guarantee, just a Sandinista promise,'' Cardenal said. Calero said the decision to sign the agreement was one that had to be made, whether or not the exiles favored it. ``This is a good decision,'' he told a news conference at Miami International Airport. ``We had the courage to make it ... and strength to make sure that if it fails, we can hold our own.'' The Nicaraguan Resistance, a Contra umbrella group, was completely behind the agreement, Calero said. ``I think all this talk on the local radio stations that we've sold out to the Sandinistas, I don't think we have,'' said Contra spokeswoman Marta Sacasa. ``Some exiles don't really understand the situation well.'' The resistance assembly, which regularly meets to discuss developments, began a three-day, closed-door conference here Friday and planned to review the nine-point agreement signed with the Sandinistas, Ms. Sacasa said. Under the peace accord, the temporary truce now in effect would run into a 60-day cease-fire starting April 1. On Monday, government and rebel commissions will meet to designate zones the rebels will occupy for the 60 days. As Contras move into the zones, the Sandinistas will begin releasing political prisoners including Contras and former members of the pre-revolutionary National Guard. Negotiations are to resume April 6 on a permanent cease-fire, including terms of rebel disarmament. Police and firefighters declared victory and ended a two-day sick-out after city officials agreed to meet with them and appoint a commission to investigate workers' wage complaints. The ``blue flu'' began Thursday after the city announced a 2 percent pay raise for city employees to take effect July 1. Police and firefighters complained the raise was inadequate and would be devoured by higher city garbage fees that would be used in part to fund the pay raises. The officers and firefighters ignored back-to-work orders from the city council, mayor and a circuit judge, but began returning to work Friday afternoon. Officers will meet with five city council members Monday to discuss their grievances, said police Cpl. Monon Taylor, president of the Fraternal Order of Police chapter. ``We got what we wanted _ a meeting with the council,'' Taylor said. ``We haven't discussed money yet, but we feel we're worth more than 2 percent.'' Officers are hoping for a 5 percent pay increase, Taylor said. But Mayor Chuck Gardner said there was no money for larger raises. ``Let them come forward and show me where the money is,'' he added. Earlier Friday, Gardner ordered police and firefighters to end their walkout and threatened to fire those who ignored the order. But Patrolman Andrew Pickens said the threat had no effect on the decision to return to work. ``I think they're eager to come back,'' Pickens said. ``It took a lot for us to take off work. We didn't come back because the mayor said to. If we didn't come back for a circuit judge, we wouldn't come back for the mayor.'' Taylor added, ``We think we got our point across.'' After the walkout ended, Gardner lifted a civil emergency declaration he issued Thursday. Firefighters and police who returned to work faced no punishment, Gardner said, but must have a doctor's excuse. Officers who had been off the job said they were collecting the required excuses. Taylor said he visited a doctor Thursday to obtain an excuse because of ``an old, nagging backache.'' ``I think everyone will have a doctor's excuse,'' Taylor said. The city budget, approved Monday, includes appropriations for 165 policemen, 147 firefighters and 10 paramedics. The 2 percent raise averages $438 per employee annually, city officials say. Salaries for uniformed police officers range from $18,589 for a patrol officer with three years' experience to $27,673 for a captain with 20 years' experience. City firefighters' pay ranges from $18,409 for a first-year firefighter to $27,673 for an assistant fire chief with 20 years' experience. Spaceport Gov. Bob Martinez wants to develop America's first commercial spaceport here, but the project faces a number of hurdles and an uncertain future. Martinez said Friday that he will ask the Legislature next week for $500,000 for a feasibility study of the project called Spaceport Florida. He was vague about how the spaceport would be developed and operated, saying only that ``we feel with the money we can acquire the necessary consultation and advice.'' If the Legislature approves the money, part of a supplemental budget request, the state Department of Commerce will seek bids on a feasibility study that would begin in July. However, legislative leaders already have warned they expect difficulty finding money for new programs in the 1988 session beginning April 5. The governor spoke Friday to about 80 aerospace executives and legislative leaders outside the Space Museum at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Martinez said the facilities at Cape Canaveral and the adjacent Kennedy Space Center give Florida a clear advantage over Hawaii and other states contemplating developing facilities for commercial launches. ``We have the tracking systems, the launch pads, the support services, and most importantly we have the people to make Spaceport Florida a reality,'' he said. Asked how a commercial customer would benefit from going to Spaceport Florida rather than dealing directly with a rocket maker, as is done now, Martinez replied, ``Maybe our role is to provide the opportunities for the companies to do business. ``We could guarantee them a launch date months in advance,'' he added. Before reporters could ask how, he cut off questioning. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Air Force have launch pad priority. It is doubtful Spaceport Florida could guarantee a launch date unless it builds its own launch pads, control centers and tracking facilities, an expensive undertaking. All launch facilities in the United States are controlled by the federal government, and commercial payloads such as communications satellites have to compete for rocket space with NASA and Defense Department launches. U.S. launches have been scarce since the space shuttle Challenger and two major unmanned rockets exploded in 1986. This has created a huge backlog of payloads, and the military and NASA will have priority when shuttle flights resume, now scheduled for August. The United States is building a new family of unmanned rockets, but these are also heavly booked by the Pentagon, NASA and commercial customers dealing directly with rocket makers. Many American companies are seeking launch services from the Europeans and Japanese, but those launch pads also are crowded. ``Because of the backlog of commercial payloads, there is a great demand in the private sector for launch facilities,'' Martinez said. ``Our goal is to launch one commercial mission each month from Spaceport Florida,'' he said. ``At the current rate of $45 million per launch, this would directly inject $540 million per year into our state's economy.'' He predicted the spaceport also would attract much of the private sector space industry, which he projected would be worth $60 billion by the end of the century. Straight Year = China's finance minister says the government's $71.2 billion budget will run a multibillion-dollar deficit for a third straight year despite plans to impose new taxes, issue more treasury bonds and slash spending. And in a speech today, Vice Premier Yao Yilin warned the National People's Congress that ``wining and dining and giving gifts out of public funds have become a bane to society.'' Finance Minister Wang Bingqian, addressing the congress Friday, said China's deficit in 1988 will be 8 billion yuan ($2.2 billion), the same as in 1987 and up slightly from 1986. Wang urged greater controls over government taxing and finances, saying tax evasion, withholding of profits, extortion and doctored accounts have led to ``loss of an enormous amount of state revenue and ... also sabotaged party policies and principles.'' He said substantial revenues are needed as China transforms its socialist economy to a more market-oriented model and strives for rapid economic growth. ``It therefore will be hard to eliminate the deficit within the next two or three years,'' Wang said, speaking on the second day of the annual congress, which is China's legislature. In his speech Friday, Acting Premier Li Peng stressed that China must make greater efforts to control inflation and increase agricultural production as it forges ahead with economic reforms. Wang said state revenues rose 6 percent in 1987 to $63.4 billion while expenditures also rose 6 percent to $65.6 billion. The draft budget for 1988 calls for revenues of $69 billion. He said $3.5 billion in revenues will come from foreign loans, up from $2.8 billion in 1987, and that increased revenues will also be sought by imposing a new tax on land use in urban areas. In addition, state treasury bonds worth $2.4 billion will be issued, $811 million more than last year. Wang said the government will continue to suppress spending on capital construction and hold down administrative costs, steps taken after overall spending jumped 20.1 percent in 1985. He said the state will substantially boost spending in agriculture, up 14.6 percent in 1988 to $4.2 billion. Officials have stressed the need for more investment in rural areas following several years of listless grain production and a trend among individual farmers to use profits to build houses and buy TVs rather than further develop their land. The budget for capital construction is slated to fall about 4.5 percent to $17.1 billion; education, science and public health is to receive $12 billion, up 15 percent; and defense is allotted $5.8 billion, up 5 percent. Yao, who also heads the State Planning Commission, asked high-spending officials to remember ``China is as yet very underdeveloped economically, with numerous tasks to undertake and inadequate funds and materials.'' He outlined four goals for 1988, topped by the promotion of agriculture production. Yao said China will continue to reform its pricing system so that prices, now kept artificially low by government subsidies, better reflect market values. Local authorities will provide direct subsidies to workers to help compensate for price rises of those foodstuffs that are rationed, he said. The second goal is building up the nation's infrastructure to provide the materials and energy, now often in short supply, needed for expanding industries. Third, he said, more emphasis will be put on improving science and technology levels, as well as the education system. Finally the government should back the proposal, put forth by party chief Zhao Ziyang, to open up coastal regions for export-oriented industries. Yao said the government will set up national investment corporations to better monitor projects and reform China's foreign trade system to make it more responsive to the international market. Yao predicted the gross national product, which topped $270 billion in 1987, will grow by 7.5 percent in 1988. Agricultural production will rise 4 percent, and industrial output by 8 percent, he said. He did not estimate the inflation rate, which has run at double-digit levels in the past year, but said incomes ``will be slightly higher'' than last year after adjustments for price rises. Killed About 200 leftist guerrillas blasted their way into the country's largest prison and battled guards, allowing about 10 inmates to escape and killing two prison workers, officials said. No guerrilla casualties were reported in half-hour battle Friday. The rebels entered the Mariona penitentiary, just north of the capital of San Salvador, by blowing a hole in its wall, Gen. Rinaldo Golcher, deputy security minister, told reporters. The facility normally holds 1,000 inmates. Seven guards were wounded by rifle fire and grenade shrapnel and ``some prisoners'' also were injured, Golcher said, adding that 10 inmates escaped as the guerrillas withdrew. A guard interviewed by journalists as he left the prison said two civilian employees were killed. Some inmates set fires as the rebels launched their attack in the early afternoon, according to the guard. He said ``about 200'' guerrillas launched the assault. Golcher said a large number managed to get into the prison grounds during the ``very strong'' attack. A first-aid worker said three civilian employees suffered serious bullet wounds and were taken by ambulances to hospitals. Journalists were kept hundreds of yards away from the penitentiary as scores of soldiers were rushed to the prison. Two helicopters flew over the compound. Officials did not give a breakdown on the number of common criminals and the number of rebels held in Mariona. The guerrillas have been fighting the U.S.-backed government since 1979. BOGOTA, Colombia _ Two and a half years after killing 23,000 people, a volcano rumbled back to life, sending ash miles upward, spewing fresh lava and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of farmers from surrounding hillsides. The Nevada del Ruiz volcano's activity had stabilized by Friday night and there appeared to be little immediate danger of a major eruption, said Eduardo Parra, director of Colombia's Volcano Institute in Manizales. ``The evacuations are for avoiding any ugly surprises,'' he said in a communique. Airline pilots reported seeing steam and ash rising to 28,000 feet above the volcano, the Colombian Civil Aeronautics Administration said. About 1,900 people in the villages of Libano, Murillo and Palestina, all on the volcano's western slope, were being moved out Friday night, the government's National Emergency Committee said in a communique. Before dark Friday, about 600 people living on farms on the sides of the volanco were evacuated, the emergency committee said. The Volcano Institute upgraded its alert at nightfall Friday, advising people living along rivers up to 20 miles away to be ready to flee if the volcano erupts. An estimated 50,000 people live within a 15-mile radius of the volcano in what is considered the danger zone if there is a major eruption. The Andes Seismological Institute in Bogota said it was recording almost constant tremors, but none strong enough to register on the Richter scale. The river danger zones were established by a National Emergency Committee after the devastating Nov. 13, 1985 eruption. They includes the rivers Guali, Lagunilla, Azufrado, Recio and Sabandija to the east of the volcano and the Chinchinica River to the west. Residents of Honda, 20 miles northeast of the volcano and at the confluence of the Guali and Magdalena Rivers, suspended their annual fishing festival. The dancing, parades, parties and heavy drinking mark the movement of millions of fish up rivers to spawn, a boon to fishermen. Sight of the awesome column of steam and ash sobered up many revelers, the RCN radio network said. About a quarter-inch of ash covered the town of Manizales about 20 miles to the northwest of the volcano, RCN reported. Manizales is not considered to be in danger because it is outside the flooding zones. Friday's volcanic activity was the highest since the 1985 eruption, when melting glaciers on the volcano created flooding that left trees, boulders and other debris blocking the Lagunilla River on the western slope. The blockage burst, and a 10-story-high wall of mud roared down the river canyon, burst onto a plain and wiped out the town of Armero in seconds. ``His love of the heritage of ballet was an inspiration to everyone.'' _ Mikhail Baryshnikov, on the death of Robert Joffrey, founder of the Joffrey Ballet. ``President Reagan has contributed to a prejudicial climate which could make it extremely difficult to get an unbiased jury in these cases'' _ Senate Majority Whip Alan Cranston, D-Calif., commenting on Reagan's prediction that former White House aides Oliver L. North and John M. Poindexter will be acquitted of charges in the Iran-Contra affair. ``A man is not the problem. The problem is Panama's canal and the presence of a foreign army in our territory.'' _ Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega of Panama, who claims the United States is behind his nation's unrest and has rejected calls to step down. Unidentified gunmen killed the military commander of Yasser Arafat's Fatah guerrilla group in a shootout at the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, police reported today. The PLO commander, Farid Hourani, was killed in a 30-minute gun battle Friday in the camp on the southeastern outskirts of the port city of Sidon, 25 miles south of Beirut, police said. Three Fatah guerrillas with Hourani were wounded, police said, who gave no other details of the shootout. There have been frequent clashes between Palestinian guerrilla factions supporting Arafat and those who oppose the Palestine Liberation Organization leader's policies. Ein el-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, houses 30,000 refugees registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. President Eisenhower considered dropping nuclear bombs on Communist China in the 1950s to defend the Nationalist Chinese islands of Quemoy and Matsu, a historian says. Eisenhower ``actually brought the country to the `nuclear brink,' far closer to war than a distraught public feared in 1955,'' said Gordon H. Chang, a historian at the International Strategic Institute at Stanford University. Chang, citing declassified documents, made the comment in an article for the spring issue of the Harvard University-based journal International Security. ``The possibility of using nuclear weapons was indeed considered,'' said a former senior counselor to Eisenhower, speaking on condition of anonymity. ``The president was definitely considering this alternative,'' the former official said Friday. ``The use that was discussed was of small nuclear weapons to be used against mainland airbases which were close enough to Quemoy and Matsu to provide air cover.'' The official said the tentative plan called for several atomic bombs of 10 to 15 kilotons each _ about the yield of the bomb that destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima _ to be dropped on the coastal air bases, whiche were in populated areas. Eisenhower and key aides were aware that civilian casualties could number in the millions from such attacks, the official said. Consideration of a nuclear attack began little more than a year after Eisenhower conditionally approved a plan in May 1953 to end the lingering Korean War with a full-scale military attack that might have included the use of atomic weapons against the Chinese. When the Chinese began shelling Quemoy in September 1954, acting Secretary of Defense Robert Anderson alerted Eisenhower that the intensity of the attack on the Nationalist Chinese-held island seemed to herald an all-out assault. ``Over the next nine months, the United States, in support of the Nationalists' defense of these islands, lurched toward disaster,'' Chang wrote. But the Communist Chinese unexpectedly defused tensions. On April 23, 1955, Premier Zhou Enlai announced that his government was willing to negotiate with the United States on the reduction of tensions in the Taiwan area. Chang, in a telephone interview from Palo Alto, Calif., said much of his article was based on material declassified in the last two or three years. He cited an excerpt that he said records the substance of a March 28, 1955, discussion between Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Robert Bowie, head of Eisenhower's policy planning staff. ``Mr. Bowie advanced the idea that we might serve notice that if the CHICOMs (Chinese Communists) took Quemoy and Matsu, we would in future, from time to time, drop a bomb on them, in order to neutralize them and give the CHICOMs no advantage by their capture,'' the excerpt said. ``The secretary disagreed, saying that this would be a considerable waste of armament; and we would accomplish nothing but the killing of a number of harmless fishermen, whom the CHICOMS would put on the island in such an event,'' it said. A wintry storm packing snow and winds gusting to 35 mph blew through the upper Midwest today as rain fell in the Northwest and the Gulf Coast states. Snow and gusts of 25-35 mph cut visibility to near zero between Fargo, N.D. and Barnsville, Minn. Showers and a few thunderstorms lined the Gulf Coast from Mississippi through northern Florida late Friday, causing heavy downpours and local flooding. Flood warnings were posted for the lower Pearl and Bogue Chitto rivers in southeast Louisiana. Five to 7 inches of rain fell north of Franklinton and Bogalusa, La., on Friday, triggering sharp rises in the river levels. Thunderstorms produced three-quarters of an inch of rain within an hour late Friday at Mobile, Ala. Showers and isolated thunderstorms traveled ahead of a cold front slowly moving across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys Friday night. Thunderstorms produced small hail and gusty winds across a small part of southeast Kentucky. A half-inch of rain was reported across northwest Ohio, prompting flood warnings for the Tiffin and St. Joseph rivers. Showers also extended from upstate New York into Pennsylvania and Virginia. Other rain showers and thunderstorms were scattered across northern and central Missouri, and showers were scattered across the Northwest. Heavier rainfall in six hours overnight included nearly 1\ inches at Mobile and nearly three-quarters of an inch at Rochester, N.Y. Today's forecast called for scattered showers and thunderstorms along the East Coast from southern New England to northern Florida and in southern Mississippi and Louisiana; rain showers in the northern and central Appalachians, the upper Ohio Valley and the southern Great Lakes; snowshowers from northern Michigan to northern Minnesota; and rain from the Northwest to northwest Montana. High temperatures were expected to be in the 20s or 30s from northern Michigan across Minnesota to eastern North Dakota; the 40s or 50s in portions of New England and from the Great Lakes region to Illinois, the Missouri Valley, the northern Rockies and the Northwest; the 80s over Florida, parts of Mississippi, most of Louisiana and southern Texas; and the 80s or 90s in the desert Southwest and Southern California. Elsewhere, highs were predicted in the 60s or 70s. Temperatures around the nation at 2 a.m. EST ranged from 17 at Devils Lake, N.D., to 76 at Los Angeles. Other reports: _East: Atlanta 59 foggy; Boston 52 windy; Buffalo 46 partly cloudy; Charleston, S.C. 67 cloudy; Cincinnati 46 fair; Cleveland 46 cloudy; Detroit 44 fair; Miami 73 fair; New York 49 windy; Philadelphia 61 windy; Pittsburgh 48 cloudy; Portland, Maine 42 drizzle; Washington 62 cloudy. _Central: Bismarck 29 windy; Chicago 46 partly cloudy; Dallas-Fort Worth 57 fair; Denver 36 fair; Des Moines 46 fair; Indianapolis 42 fair; Minneapolis-St. Paul 26 snow; Nashville 44 fair; New Orleans 71 foggy. _West: Albuquerque 50 fair; Anchorage 29 cloudy; Las Vegas 59 fair; Los Angeles 75 fair; Phoenix 71 fair; Salt Lake City 40 fair; San Diego 68 fair; San Francisco 56 fair; Seattle 49 rain. _Canada: Montreal 43 rain; Toronto 41 foggy. President Reagan sent a note of thanks to a wildlife ranger who plucked a wayward bald eagle from a beach in Ireland and helped it resettle in the United States. The bird, believed to be the first American bald eagle sighted in the British Isles, was flown to the United States amid much fanfare in December. Although some doubted that the bird actually flew the 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to Ireland, Reagan lauded Pat O'Connell for nursing the eagle back to health and escorting it to its native continent. ``I and the American people thank you for your dedication in rescuing this eagle and ensuring its safe return to the United States,'' Reagan wrote. The letter was dated Feb. 18, but a U.S. embassy official said it was sent by diplomatic mail and received only recently. Deliberations in the ``preppie murder'' trial stalled because the jury could not agree on Robert Chambers Jr.'s state of mind at the time of the killing, a juror says. Chambers, who could have been convicted of second-degree murder, pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree manslaughter in the Aug. 26, 1986 death of Jennifer Dawn Levin, bringing those deliberations to a halt on their ninth day. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said the prospect of a possible mistrial, the strain on the Levin family and circumstantial evidence prompted him to agree to the plea bargain. ``There was one critical issue that kept swaying people back and forth. That issue was understanding the concept of operation of the mind,'' juror Mike Ognibene said after Chambers entered his plea. ``We had the facts, we'd put it all together. The only thing lacking was what was going on in his mind at the time,'' Ognibene said. Jury forewoman Debra Cavanaugh said the panel was frustrated by the amount of circumstantial evidence. ``Both sides proved their points. Both sides' stories could be true,'' she said. Morganthau said three jurors sent notes to the judge saying they could not go on. A prosecution source who spoke on condition of anonymity said a black juror ``thought a couple of the other jurors were racists,'' a woman juror was concerned because she had been scheduled to begin a new job on March 1 and the third ``just wanted out.'' The jury's vote swung from 8-4 for acquittal to 9-3 for conviction and ended up 7-5 for acquittal on the second-degree murder charge, Ognibene said. ``This was the most incredible experience of my life and I am satisfied the jury system works,'' he told reporters who mobbed him as he left the courthouse. Jack Paladino is going all the way to Iowa for people to pump gas and check oil at the Exxon station he manages in affluent Greenwich, Conn. ``We just can't find anybody to pump gas out here,'' Paladino said in a telephone interview from Greenwich this week. ``We already have three or four people from Iowa,'' and he's advertising in Iowa newspapers for more. This weekend, an employee of Paladino's will be in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids to interview some of the 50 people who have submitted job applications in response to the ads. The process already has led to a job for Tony Moran of Van Horne, who replied several weeks ago to an ad in The Cedar Rapids Gazette. The ad promised terms unheard of for similar work in Iowa: ``We offer $305 a week, free housing and benefits, plus free flight out.'' This seeming generosity, Paladino explained, stems from a severe shortage of people willing to take service jobs in the high-income Greenwich area. ``It's so bad here that the fast-food places have vans so they can bus people out here from New York City,'' he said. Some of those jobs pay $6 to $8 an hour. Because of the labor shortage, Paladino placed newspaper ads in upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Iowa, where he'd heard unemployment rates were high. ``We've had better response from Iowa,'' he said. Moran, 20, is enthusiastic about his new job. ``It's working out great here,'' he said. ``It's everything I expected. I was excited by the idea of living close to New York, I like the idea of working with cars, I like the pay. I like the apartment.'' California cockroach catchers are beating the bushes in search of big bugs and big bucks. The owner of the largest cockroach _ unsquashed _ gets a shot at a $500 prize and the national championship, which offers the winner a $1,000 prize. ``We're looking for the largest one from the tip of his head to the end of his body. Feelers don't count,'' said Nancy Dunvant, executive secretary of Western Exterminators Co. of Irvine, local sponsor of the contest. The biggest bug in the region will compete against cockroaches from six other regions in the second annual Great American Roach-Off. This year's cockroach colossus will be chosen in June by judges meeting in New York. In California and Arizona, Western Exterminator will begin accepting entries April 1, Ms. Dunvant said. Judging will be assisted by a University of California, Riverside, roach expert. International Business Machines Corp. offered to sell important computer chip technology to a major U.S. competitor because it feared American electronics companies were relying too much on Japanese technology, a newspaper reported today. IBM made the offer last year to Digital Equipment Corp. in an effort to keep Digital from becoming more dependent on Japanese suppliers, The New York Times reported, citing a forthcoming book and sources in the industry. The book, titled ``Trading Places: How We Allowed Japan to Take the Lead,'' did not elaborate on what technology was offered or whether Digital accepted the offer. The book was written by Clyde Prestowitz and is scheduled for publication in late April, The Times said. Prestowitz, formerly the Commerce Department's chief trade negotiator with Japan, wrote that in mid-1987, IBM approached Digital, ``its most dangerous domestic rival, and offered to transfer certain key technologies. ``At first DEC suspected a trick, then it realized the objective was to prevent DEC from falling even further into Japanese hands,'' Prestowitz wrote. The book said IBM apparently believes the entire American electronics industry could be weakened by growing dependence on Japanese semiconductor technology. Spokesmen for IBM and Digital would not confirm whether such talks occurred, but other industry sources who declined to be identified verified that IBM had made such an offer, the newspaper said. Despite some misgivings, Wisconsin state senators have approved a measure allowing blind people to hunt deer and other game if accompanied by a sighted hunter. ``Do we really want people out there shooting guns when they don't know where they're shooting?'' Sen. Alan Lasee asked during debate Friday night. ``As much as I have empathy for the visually handicapped, I don't believe I can support this.'' Sen. Brian Rude supported the proposal and noted that the Department of Natural Resources can issue licenses to handicapped hunters. People confined to wheelchairs are allowed to shoot or hunt from an automobile parked off a highway and more than 50 feet from the center of a roadway, he said. The bill extends eligibility for a special permit to people who present medical evidence that they are unable to hunt alone because of a permanent physical disability or handicap, including blindness. Under the measure, a visually handicapped hunter would have to be accompanied by someone who could assist in sighting the firearm. A 27-6 vote sent the measure to Gov. Tommy G. Thompson. Picks up 13th graf, `Bill Hecke ...' Part of a rocket launched by the Soviet Union to resupply its manned space station re-entered the atmosphere over San Antonio, lighting up the sky with celestial fireworks seen in three states, officials said. The rocket burned up on re-entry around 10:50 p.m. Friday, blazing its way across the Texas sky from southwest to northeast in a light show visible for more than a minute in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Radio stations, police and the National Weather Service in Fort Worth said they were besieged by calls from curious skywatchers. ``I saw a meteorite once that was pretty spectacular, but this one just blew that away. This was the most amazing celestial event I've ever seen,'' said Chuck Farr, 33, of Round Rock, who watched from his front yard. Although the rocket was bigger than a railroad boxcar, it was unlikely that it caused any damage on the ground, said Lt. Col. Ivan Pinnell, a spokesman for the North American Air Defense Command, or NORAD, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Pinnell said the rocket was used to launch a cargo satellite carrying food and other supplies to the Mir space station manned by two cosmonauts. The Soviet Union launched the Progress 35 satellite Thursday, according to a report by the Soviet news agency Tass. Pinnell said NORAD had been tracking the rocket since its launch and had expected the re-entry, but had not known when or where. The reference book ``Soviet Military Power'' lists the SL-4 as the type of rocket normally used by Soviets to launch such a payload, Pinnell said. The SL-4 weighs about 720,000 pounds and is about 91 feet long, Pinnell said, citing the March 1988 issue of Aviation Week and Space Technology. ``When an object like that re-enters, it breaks up in the atmosphere, and you have these smaller pieces and sometimes you have quite a show,'' Pinnell said. He said he didn't know if the supplies had made it to the space station, were on their way, or burned up on re-entry. ``I would have to refer you to Tass,'' the spokesman said. In Moscow, the Soviet news agency Tass reported that the Progress 35 cargo spacecraft carrying food, fuel, mail and equipment docked with the Mir space station today. There was no mention of the rocket re-entry. Bill Hecke, a retired Air Force meteorologist who operates a weather station from his home in Moody, 30 miles south of Waco, said the object looked like a meteorite to him. ``It was closer and larger than anything I've ever seen anything before, and I've been real active watching the skies since 1963,'' Hecke said. Motorists on Interstate 35 south of Waco pulled over to the side of the highway to watch the fireworks, said Jim Ribble, a newsman for Texas AP Network Radio. Ribble said it looked like the sparks caused by a car dragging a loose muffler on the road. ``It just kept growing, like a sparkler,'' said Farr, a 33-year-old technical writer for Texas Instruments in Austin. ``It went across the entire sky,'' he said. ``It took from 45 to 75 seconds. It gave me enough time to yell to the kids, and they saw it, too.'' Suzuki Motor Co. may continue to import its tiny Samurai sport-utility vehicle as a truck rather than a car because it enters the country without back seats, the U.S. Customs Service has ruled. ``I don't like making any decision which seems illogical. This decision doesn't make any sense when people see how these vehicles are being used in the United States, but in this case the Customs Service has no choice,'' said Customs Commissioner William von Raab. ``These are `trucks' under the law when they enter this country,'' he said in announcing the decision Friday. Suzuki's Samurais are imported into the United States as trucks because Suzuki doesn't have a large enough allocation under the Japanese government's voluntary export restraints to ship them as cars or sport-utility vehicles. Instead of paying a 2.5 percent car tariff, Suzuki pays a 25 percent truck tariff on each of the vehicles, which are shipped without back seats to qualify as trucks. Rear seats are added either at the port of entry or at dealerships. Few of the small, Jeep-like vehicles are sold without rear seats. Suzuki sold 81,349 Samurais in this country in 1987 and said it plans to sell 100,000 this year. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, criticized von Raab's decision. ``It appears that Customs is still winking at the fact that the Japanese are shipping seats into the U.S. separately, then installing them here to evade both Customs laws and the (voluntary export restraints),'' he said. Last year, Customs and Commerce Department officials said the U.S. government had little interest in helping the Japanese government enforce its export limits, particularly since federal government takes in more money when a maker opts to pay the 25 percent tariff instead of the lower fee. Other Japanese companies that follow Suzuki's practice include Nissan Motor Corp., Isuzu Motor Corp., Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., the companies said last year. Rally comment by organizer. Pickup 6th graf pvs: ``The massive...'' Riot police backed by water cannons beat and arrested hundreds of Roman Catholics in western Czechoslovakia who staged a rare demonstration for religious freedom, Western reporters said today. About 2,000 people in the Slovak capital of Bratislava gathered Friday night in front of the National Theater for a candlelight rally banned by Communist authorities, who tightly control religious activities. Witnesses said authorities broke up the demonstration by pushing into side streets protesters who had been singing Slovak and Czech national anthems, praying and holding candles. Hundreds of people were arrested and many were beaten by police, including some journalists, reporters said. There is growing discontent among Catholics at authorities' refusal to agree to Vatican candidates to fill 10 vacant bishoprics. No new Czechoslovak bishops have been named since 1973 and the three alive are all over 75. Jan Cernogursky, who helped organize the rally, said in a telephone interview from Bratislava that if there were similar protests in future, ``then the government will no longer be able to freely decide over the heads of the citizens.'' ``It was a new form of civil protest in this country after 40 years, because a previously announced demonstration of citizens .. . has practically never taken place here before,'' he told Austrian radio. The massive police turnout and violent action to disperse the crowd appeared designed to discourage opposition by Catholics, 430,000 of whom are said to have so far signed a petition for religious freedom and the appointment of bishops and priests. Otto Hoermann of Austrian state television ORF said his crew was dragged away by policemen, who appeared drunk, and taken to police headquarters for 2{ hours. Two other ORF journalists were held for eight hours. A team of the West German ARD TV network also was detained. Hoermann said he saw scores of people, drenched by water cannon, lined up at police headquarters with their faces to the wall. The exact number of arrests could not be determined. Bratislava is near the Austrian border, 40 miles east of Vienna. Negotiations between the government and a Vatican delegation in Prague in January were inconclusive, largely because the Holy See refused to agree to candidates belonging to the pro-government Pacem in Terris organization of clergymen, which is banned by the Vatican. The talks are scheduled to resume in Rome next month. The 31-point petition being signed by hundreds of thousands of Catholics nationwide _ an unprecedented manifestation of Catholicism in the Soviet bloc _ has made authorities increasingly nervous. It calls for more bishops, more priests and separation of church and state as well as the right to question Marxist dogma and to petition authorities without harassment. The petition's author, Augustin Navratil, was arrested earlier this month and charged with committing ``slander of a state organ and of a public organization,'' which carries a term of up to one year imprisonment. Frantisek Miklosko, a Slovak Catholic activist, had announced the rally to authorities ``on behalf of several faithful fellow citizens'' and organizers expected up to 70,000 participants. But authorities on Thursday issued a ban, saying the planned demonstration was ``an event guided from abroad'' that was directed against the socialist system. patrols in Stepanakert, ADDS background of Sumgait rioting. Pick up 14th graf pvs ``Meanwhile, the...'' TRIMS thereafter. Armenia's capital of Yerevan was like ``a dead city'' today as residents pressing for annexation of a disputed region of neighboring Azerbaijan stayed home to protest a crackdown on activism, dissidents reported. Soldiers and police with attack dogs were the only people on the streets while army helicopters hovered over the city of 1.4 million, said Andrei Bavitsky, of the dissident journal Glasnost, quoting sources there. Thousands of Azerbaijani police in Stepanakert, capital of the disputed Nagorno-Karabahk region, kept a tight hold on the city and Armenian residents there also stayed home in protest, Bavitsky said, quoting sources in that city. Armenians account for more than three quarters of the 160,000 residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. Four vocal leaders of the annexation campaign were arrested in Yerevan Friday after police ordered the dissolution of a committee organizing the quest for Armenian control of Nagorno-Karabakh. Both Bavitsky and Alexander Ogorodnikov, a Christian rights activist, said they were told by contacts in Yerevan that Armenians had decided to protest a clampdown on public demonstrations by refusing to go out of their apartments for the weekend. They said the silent protest was being adhered to by virtually the entire city. ``There are no children outside, no cars on the street, no activity whatsoever except for the troops occupying the city,'' Ogorodnikov said. ``Yerevan is like a dead city.'' He said activists told him 60,000 soldiers were patrolling the city. Mass demonstrations staged in Yerevan in late February triggered rioting in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait, where at least 32 were killed, 197 injured and 400 arrested for murder, rape, robbery and other crimes. Authorities had threatened criminal action against those taking part in any future illegal protests to press for annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian region that has been part of Azerbaijan since 1923. Armenians are predominantly Christian while most Azeris are Moslem. Those arrested Friday in the southern republic were identified as Paruyr Arikyan, Mofses Gorgisyan, Georg Mirzoyan and Mekhak Gabrielyan, said Ogorodnikov and Bavitsky. All four arrested had been pressing the annexation cause and providing information to foreign journalists. Soviet authorities have forbidden foreign correspondents to travel to the region. Telephone contact has also been disrupted. Numerous attempts to telephone Yerevan today were unsuccessful. Even calls to police stations and news offices went unanswered. Ogorodnikov said he was arrested and sent back to Moscow after arriving in Yerevan Friday night on an Aeroflot flight, and Bavitsky said Glasnost magazine's office was broken into overnight and ransacked in what might have been an official effort to discourage continued involvement in the dispute. Glasnost editor Sergei Grigoryants is Armenian and has been serving as an information liaison with Western news organizations. Meanwhile, a national newspaper today accused the Communist Party leadership of trying to suppress the sensitive ethnic dispute. Komsomolskaya Pravda said the ``organs of power'' should instead have openly discussed the proposal with Armenians. The critical commentary in the party youth newspaper contrasted sharply with articles Friday in two official newspapers, Pravda and Izvestia, that accused annexation activists of resorting to pressure tactics. Trud, the labor newspaper, criticized the state-run press today for failing to accurately report the Nagorno-Karabakh issue out of fear that it would stir up passions among the more than 100 Soviet nationalities. The Armenian government on Friday ordered the disbanding of an organizing committee spearheading the annexation drive, and Radio Moscow reported that self-appointed groups of activists, intellectuals and republic political leaders were ``disbanding themselves.'' Morning broadcasts of Radio Moscow carried no news from Armenia or Nagorno-Karabakh. Another round of strikes and demonstrations had been called in Armenia today, when the unofficial organizing committee was to meet. But activists called off the protests to avoid confrontation with security forces. The Communist leadership has taken a hard line against the annexation campaign and public activism, though at the same time attempting to appease Armenians who fear Nagorno-Karabakh is losing its traditional ethnic character. The Politburo has ordered a major improvement in living conditions in the region, including steady reception of Armenian-language television programming and more Armenian literature. Five school children believed exposed to a rabid bat are getting shots to prevent them from getting rabies, and officials say more children may need treatment. Officials of Alvin Dunn Elementary School said Friday they have advised parents of at least 31 children who may have been exposed to contact physicians to determine if treatment is necessary, said Dennis Stokes, assistant principal. ``I would guess we would have six to eight children get the shots before this is over,'' said Dr. William Townsend, chief of the county's Division of Communicable Disease Control. Stokes said three boys found the bat Tuesday while playing near an apartment complex in this town about 25 miles north of San Diego. They put it in a box and brought it to school for ``show and tell'' the next day, where many fifth- and sixth-graders either saw or touched the bat, he said. It is not believed that the bat bit any children, but the animal was salivating and the saliva carries the deadly virus. The bat was determined to be rabid after a parent at the apartment complex saw one of the boys with the animal, confiscated it and contacted health authorities. Two men have been charged with murdering two British soldiers during a funeral for an IRA member in which the soldiers were beaten, stripped and then shot execution-style. Alexander Murphy, 30, and Henry Maguire, 28, both of Belfast, were charged Friday night with the murders of army corporals Derek Wood and David Howes, police said. Maguire pleaded innocent today in court, but Murphy entered no plea. Judge Tom Travers ordered them held in custody until their next court appearance on April 22. The soldiers were killed March 19 after they drove up to the funeral procession of IRA member Kevin Brady. Mourners dragged them from their car and beat them unconscious. They were later shot behind a wall in a soccer stadium. The outlawed IRA claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers, both members of the Royal Corps of Signals, in the staunchly Roman Catholic Andersonstown district of west Belfast. Murphy and Maguire smiled and nodded to relatives in the small courtroom during the hour-long proceeding. The detective in charge of the murder investigation told the court that bloodstained fragments of glass were found on the clothing of the two accused. ``There was also bloodstaining found on the trousers worn by the accused (Maguire) when he was arrested and which have been identified as being consistent with the blood of Cpl. Howes,'' the detective said. ``An examination of the jacket belonging to Maguire contained fibers consistent with fibers belonging to a sweater identified as Cpl. Wood's.'' The Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland's police force, does not release the names of its investigating officers for security reasons. The Times of London said the accused men were arrested in a black taxi in the Andersonstown area shortly after the killings. Brady was one of three people who died when a Protestant gunman opened fire and hurled grenades at the March 16 funeral of three IRA guerrillas slain March 6 by British commandos in Gibraltar. Authorities said the guerrillas were planning a bomb attack. The mainly Catholic Irish Republican Army is fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland. It wants to unite the predominantly Protestant province with the overwhelmingly Catholic Republic of Ireland under socialist rule. A total of 391 British Army soldiers and 172 members of the Ulster Defense Regiment, a locally recruited militia, have been killed in Northern Ireland since sectarian and political violence flared in 1969. Michael Stone was charged with murder Tuesday in the slayings of Brady and the two others at Milltown cemetery in west Belfast on March 16. He also was charged with murdering three other Catholics in separate attacks. Stone, 33, has told police he was on a revenge mission against the IRA. Barbara Bush, wife of Vice President George Bush, said in an interview published today that she feels no need to defend her husband against the perception that he is a wimp. ``That's a figment of some cartoonist's imagination. George hasn't changed,'' Mrs. Bush said in the interview with The Denver Post. The Bushes were in Denver for a campaign appearance and rally at the University of Denver Field House, which was packed with supporters of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. The interview was conducted on Friday. If she becomes first lady, Mrs. Bush said, she would be active ``within my interests.'' One of those is fighting illiteracy. Lack of education is the greatest problem facing America, she said, ``because that affects everything.'' She has proposed a business and volunteer effort to help reduce the rate of U.S. illiteracy, which affects one of five Americans. ``Many of this country's problems would be solved, or at least reduced, if more people could read,'' she said. ``Education covers everything I'm interested in. Almost everything I worry about would be solved if more people were educated.'' She named some worries: prison recidivism, drug use, the numbers of abused women and children, and teen-age pregnancy. ``It breaks my heart to see a 14-year-old who's been tricked by life into getting pregnant,'' she said. Her husband probably agrees with her concerns, she said, ``but I won't wait for him. I work in the private sector. I do think I've had some influence on him, opened him up to things he hadn't considered.'' Bush has 10 grandchildren, two of whom appeared on the podium with their parents, Denverites Neal and Sharon Bush. Mrs. Bush said she would like to leave her grandchildren a legacy of peace. ``I've lived through war, and I hope my grandchildren won't have to. Testimony in the Lyndon LaRouche trial will be halted so a judge can investigate whether prosecutors should be sanctioned for withholding evidence from the defense. U.S. District Judge Robert E. Keeton made the announcement Friday after Assistant U.S. Attorney John Markham conceded materials he recently surrendered to defense lawyers should have been turned over before the trial began in December. The material concerns a former LaRouche consultant the defense contends was used by the FBI to entrap the political extremist, six aides and five LaRouche groups. They are charged with plotting to obstruct a grand jury investigation of alleged credit card and loan fraud during LaRouche's 1984 presidential campaign. Keeton said he also would hold hearings next week to determine whether other documents given to the defense lawyers this month should have been surrendered earlier. Those documents discuss alleged FBI and CIA infiltration of LaRouche groups and include a memo between two pivotal figures in the Iran-Contra scandal. Keeton said the jury would be called into court briefly Monday so Markham could finish questioning a former LaRouche aide about the organization's hierarchy and fund raising. Then Keeton will hold a hearing focusing on Ryan Quade Emerson, a longtime FBI informant who also worked as a consultant to LaRouche. Emerson was listed as a prosecution witness until earlier this month, about the same time the defense received copies of FBI documents indicating a Virginia agent sought Emerson's help with the LaRouche investigation. LaRouche's headquarters is in Leesburg, Va. Markham has said Emerson played a minimal role in the investigation, but the defense claims the FBI had him make erroneous statements to LaRouche aides about the case. Included in the hundreds of notebooks seized by investigators are several passages quoting Emerson, including one in which he said LaRouche had been successful in blocking the grand jury investigation. Markham said the comment was evidence of a conspiracy to obstruct the investigation. The prosecutor and the FBI agent who sought Emerson's help deny that Emerson was told to make the statement. Emerson, in an affidavit, said he had lied to the LaRouche groups throughout his association with them. LaRouche lawyers also learned this week that Emerson recorded an interview he had with a private investigator hired by a defense lawyer, and that he played the tape for Markham and another prosecutor. During the interview, conducted prior to the trial, the investigator discussed defense strategy. At Monday's hearing, Emerson and several FBI agents are scheduled to testify about his dealings with the agency. Possible sanctions Keeton can impose range from a continuance to allow further defense preparation to dismissal of the case. Then, provided the case is not dismissed, Keeton is to hold hearings to determine whether Markham should have surrendered to the defense prior to trial memos discussing possible FBI and CIA infiltration of LaRouche groups. Among those is a memo in which retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord told then-White House aide Oliver North that an associate had ``collected info against LaRouche.'' China's State Council has begun a high-level investigation of a train collision in Shanghai that killed 28 people, including 27 Japanese, official reports said today. A preliminary investigation found that brake failure caused the two trains to crash head-on Thursday, but it was not known why they failed, Fu Yatao of the Shanghai Foreign Affairs office said. Ninety-nine people were injured in the crash, China's fourth fatal train wreck this year. The collision occurred when a train heading south to scenic Hangzhou slammed into a northbound train from Changsha. The Hangzhou-bound train was carrying 193 Japanese high school students and teachers on a tour of Shanghai and nearby cities. In all 169 people died in the four accidents. Another 108 people died in a plane crash in January. Senior leaders responded to the string of accidents with demands for greater attention to safety, and China's railway minister resigned earlier this month in disgrace to take responsibility for several train disasters. The official Xinhua News Agency said the State Council appointed Deputy Railway Minister Li Senmao, Vice Foreign Minister Zhu Qizhen and two Shanghai vice mayors to head the group investigating the latest crash. ``This shows that the State Council attaches great importance to the work of improving transportation safety,'' said Fu. State Council General Secretary Chen Junsheng, representing acting Premier Li Peng, was in Shanghai today visiting the injured Japanese students and meeting with Japanese officials, Fu said. The nationally televised evening news broadcast lengthy footage of Chinese officials and weeping Japanese relatives bearing flowers and food visiting the 24 students who remained hospitalized. Relatives of the Japanese victims flew to Shanghai by a charter plane Friday, and visited the site of the crash Saturday, where they laid flowers in honor of the dead. Three Japanese doctors arrived on Saturday to help treat the injured. Fu said two Japanese students remained in critical condition. A Japanese Foreign Ministry official in Tokyo said the bodies of the 26 students and one teacher will be sent home by charter plane Sunday. However, Fu said three of the dead will be cremated in Shanghai at the request of the family. The news broadcast said train service was restored on the line this afternoon. Scorching Southern California temperatures sparked beach brawls among gang members and contributed to this year's first round of brushfires, authorities say, but some relief is on the way. Sunny but slightly cooler weather is forecast Sunday, but with hot Santa Ana winds in the evening and Monday. The mercury climbed to the 90s throughout the area Friday and hit 100 degrees in Thermal and Anaheim, setting new records for the second day in a row as tens of thousands sought escape at the beaches. At the downtown Civic Center, a sizzling 96 degrees shattered the previous high for the day of 89, set in 1978. Thursday's high of 94 topped the previous mark of 89, set in 1930. San Diego sweltered in record-breaking 89-degree heat, which topped the previous record of 86 degrees on March 25, 1947. ``It's so hot my shoes are melting on the pavement,'' complained Susan Seeger during a mid-day walk in downtown Los Angeles. Postcard-clear skies teamed up with the heat and a medium surf to draw 250,000 people to Los Angeles County beaches, lifeguards reported. But at Zuma Beach the scene was far from idyllic. An estimated 100 to 200 members of two rival street gangs broke car windows and started two brawls. Two 16-year-olds were taken to a hospital with bruises and head injuries and four people were arrested, sheriff's deputies said. The high temperatures combined with hot Santa Ana winds launched the unofficial start of fire season as two different blazes burned nearly 200 acres Friday. In northern San Diego County, firefighters were still mopping up today after a 100-acre fire in rugged terrain that investigators believe was caused by a spark from state Conservation Corps equipment. One firefighter was treated and released for a minor injury. In Riverside, a discarded cigarette was believed to have caused a fire which burned about 80 acres of a rocky hillside on the city's northeast edge, city fire Capt. John Coryell said today. Many of those who couldn't enjoy the day at the beach turned on their air conditioners. Southern California Edison reported a 3 p.m. peak power use of 12,292 megawatts, about 1,500 megawatts above normal and a record for the date. The National Weather Service says some relief is due Sunday as the high-pressure system causing the heat spell moves eastward, allowing an increased marine influence. Temperatures Sunday will hit the low to mid-70s in Los Angeles, slightly above normal for this time of year, and the mid-70s in San Diego, about normal. Highs in the desert areas will rise to the 80s to low 90s. Skies will remain clear except for some patchy clouds along the coast during morning hours, and more Santa Ana winds are due in the area Sunday night and Monday. An American photographer went on trial today for smuggling cocaine, and a U.S. narcotics agent testified that a drug ring tricked the photographer into transporting their cocaine. Conan Owen, a 23-year-old freelance photographer from Annandale, Va., is charged with smuggling more than four pounds of cocaine into Spain in a false-bottomed suitcase on March 13, 1987. The prosecution is asking for 10 years in prison on charges of contraband and violating public health laws that prohibit the transport or sale of dangerous drugs. The defense contends that Owen didn't know the cocaine was in the suitcase. Owen has spent the past year in pre-trial detention in Barcelona's 85-year-old Model Prison without possibility of bail. He told the court he had carried a suitcase to Barcelona from Santiago, Chile, while on assignment to take travel brochure photographs for George Barahona, an Ecuador-born, naturalized American living near Washington, D.C. Barahona on Feb. 5 pleaded guilty to a one-count charge of conspiracy to smuggle drugs in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. He received a two-year suspended sentence after he provided information that led to the indictment of three Spaniards and three Bolivians in a conspiracy to smuggle illegal drugs. They remain at large. Barahona told an American court he had shared a hotel room with Owen in Santiago and planted the cocaine-lined suitcase on Owen. Owen said he thought the suitcase contained only travel brochures and film and said Barahona had represented himself as one of the owners of the Sorosa Travel Agency in suburban Washington. Special Agent James Kibble of the Drug Enforcement Administration testified for the defense that he became interested in the Owen case while assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid because Owen was from the Washington, D.C. area, and the DEA was investigating a cocaine-smuggling ring the agency believed operated out of northern Virginia. ``I have found that there is a group of people involved in sending drugs from South America to Spain using unsuspecting people as carriers,'' Kibble testified. Kibble also testified he came to the conclusion Owen was ``innocent _ or stupid _ but innocent.'' Assistant U.S. District Attorney Justin Williams testified for the defense that testimony obtained from Barahona following a plea-bargain arrangement with his attorney indicated Owen had unwittingly taken the cocaine-laden suitcase to Spain. ``He (Barahona) specifically told us that Conan Owen had no knowledge that there was cocaine in the suitcase he carried into Barcelona airport March 13,'' Williams said. There are no jury trials in Spain, and Judge Jose Presencia Rubio said at the close of the 2{-hour trial he would deliver his verdict later. Owen wore a grey suit and stood with his hands clasped behind his back when addressing the court. He spoke in Spanish with occasional assistance from a court-appointed interpreter. His parents Ernest and Raquel Owen of Annandale, Va., sat directly behind him. His 25-year-old brother, Evan, also was present. Prosecutor Teresa Calvo called only two witnesses _ the paramilitary Civil Guard on duty at El Prat Airport who discovered the cocaine _ and the chemist who analysed the drug as being 84-percent pure cocaine. Defense attorney Ana Campa said the prosecution had not proven Owen knew there was cocaine in the suitcase and said the defendant had never denied taking the luggage from Santiago to Barcelona. Owen told the court he had always obeyed the laws of the country in which he was and said he could have been ``stupid _ but that is not a crime.'' Owen is a graduate of Syracuse University. Queen Sofia joined more than a 1,000 mourners at a funeral Saturday for 10 children and five adults killed in an accident involving a train and a nursery school bus, Spanish National Radio reported. Lerida Roman Catholic Bishop Ramon Malla Call read a telegram sent by Pope John Paul II offering condolences for the families of the dead and prayers for quick recoveries of the 17 children injured in Friday's crash, the radio said. The accident in the nearby town of Juneda occurred when a bus carrying the children from the Los Angeles nursery school went past a stop sign at a rail crossing and was rammed by a high-speed passenger train bound for Barcelona, police said. The crash killed six boys and four girls, four women in their 20s, including one who was seven months pregnant, and the bus driver, a Lerida province spokesman said. Eleven children remained hospitalized Saturday. One 3-year-old girl was in a coma with severe head injuries, and another was in serious condition, a spokesman at San Juan de Dios Hospital in Barcelona said. The rest were in stable condition, hospital spokesmen said. President Corazon Aquino on Saturday ordered an investigation into allegations by an anti-nuclear activist who said he was tortured at headquarters of her security force and his companion murdered. Presidential Executive Secretary Catalino Macaraig said that Mrs. Aquino told the National Bureau of Investigation, which will carry out the inquiry, to ensure the safety of the activist. The bureau is a civilian agency. Hilario Bustamante Jr., 18, was recovering in a hospital. He suffered a deep cut in the back of the neck which doctors said may have been inflicted with a machete or ax. The injury was similar to that which killed his companion, Rey Francisco. Bustamante told reporters on Friday that he, Francisco and five other members of the leftist organization Youth for Democracy and Nationalism were attacked March 19 while putting up posters condemning nuclear arms and U.S. military bases. Bustamante said he and Francisco were chased by a gang of armed men who were wearing civilian clothes but identified themselves as police. He said the men caught him and Francisco and took them to a military compound behind the presidential palace, where they tortured the two and accused them of belonging to the communist New People's Army. The compound houses the president's security forces. Bustamante said they were beaten with iron rods and burned with cigarettes as they were kept blindfolded and handcuffed. He said three men loaded them into a car Monday night and took them to a field on the outskirts of Manila, where they were hacked in the back of the neck. Col. Voltaire Gazmin, commander of the presidential security group, has denied his unit was involved. He added in a separate statement that his unit was investigating Bustamante's allegations. But in his statement, Macaraig said that Mrs. Aquino ordered Gazmin and the Manila-area command of the Philippine Constabulary to drop any investigations and leave the matter entirely to the National Bureau of Investigation. Earlier this month, Amnesty International, a London-based human rights group, charged that the Philippine military was using torture and murder to fight a 19-year-old communist insurgency. Mrs. Aquino called the report one-sided. About 5,000 teen-agers marched 22 miles Saturday to demand that the government find jobs for them and the estimated 10 million unemployed people in the country. Mohammad Helaluddin, general secretary of the Bangladesh Youth Union, told reporters the march was to call attention to government injustice and the suffering of the unemployed and their families. The union sponsored the protest. Helaluddin called on the government to end a hiring freeze imposed 2{ years ago. The ban was issued because of financial contraints. Bangladesh, with a population of 105 million, is one of the poorest nations in the world, with a per capita annual income of $160. The marchers took about nine hours to walk from the National Mausoleum at Savar northwest of the capital to a monument in downtown Dhaka. At least 40 people, including six children, were injured when bombs set off by robbers at a rural fair exploded, police said Saturday. More than 20 bombs went off Friday during a fair in the village of Kaliakandipara in Sirajganj district, about 50 miles northwest of Dhaka, according to police interviewed by telephone. A 7-year-old boy and five adults were critically injured, they said. The fair, an annual event in the village, draws thousands of farmers and traders. ``Some miscreants exploded bombs to loot the carnival,'' one policeman said. Officers said many stalls set up by traders were robbed, but the amount of money and goods taken was not known. The robbers escaped, they said. was...,'' to after 12th graf: ``On another....'' Pick up 13th graf pvs: ``Tehran Radio...'' Iraq said it fired two long-range missiles into Tehran today, and Iran said its fighter-bombers pounded Iraqi troops in a battle for a strategic region in northeastern Iraq. The Al Hussein missile strike ended a two-day lull in Iraq's bombardment of the Iranian capital during a month-long exchange known as the ``war of the cities.'' Missiles fired by Iraq and Iran have killed hundreds of civilians during the latest outbreak. The official Iraqi News Agency quoted an unidentified military spokesman as saying: ``The only reply we have to those who refuse peace and attack our cities and borders is death and destruction. We are going to ... level their cities.'' INA was monitored in Nicosia. There was no report from Tehran about where the missiles exploded. Meanwhile, Tehran Radio, also monitored in Cyprus, reported that Iraqi warplanes bombed residential sections of the western city of Ilam today. There was no immediate word of casualties. Iran said at least 53 civilians were killed and 112 wounded in Iraqi air raids on Borujerd and other western Iranian towns Friday. Fighting in a key Iranian offensive in northeastern Iraq also was fierce. Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency said today Iranian fighter-bombers attacked troops there as Iranian Revolutionary Guards were reported thrusting into the Kurdistan mountains in the 11-day-old offensive. The strategic area lies east of the Kirkuk oilfiends, which produce about 1.5 million barrels of oil a day, more than half of Iraq's current daily output. The Iranians claim they have killed or wounded 11,500 Iraqis, captured 4,500 and destroyed 200 tanks and armored vehicles since they launched the offensive March 16. Iranian communiques said their forces advanced 10 miles into northeastern Iraq and that Iraqi warplanes dropped chemical bombs on three towns overrun by the invaders, killing 5,000 Kurdish civilians and injured 5,000 more. The United Nations has said it will send a team of experts to investigate the reported Iraqi use of chemical weapons, outlawed under a 1925 Geneva agreement. On another front, the Iranian news agency said other Iranian warplanes heavily bombarded Iraqi troop concentrations and defense lines around the strategic southern port of Basra today. It was the third straight day the Iranians have hit that sector. An estimated 250,000 Revolutionary Guards and volunteer fighters have amassed east of Basra in past weeks for a long-expected offensive. Tehran Radio said two French-built Iraqi Mirage F-1s were downed by Iranian interceptors Friday over the northern gulf while two Soviet-built Sukhoi-22 fighter-bombers raiding the Iranian city of Borujerd also were shot down by anti-aircraft missiles. Iraq said only one of its jets was lost Friday in 343 combat missions, the highest one-day total in a year. Iraq also claimed Friday to have shot down four U.S.-built F-5 jets in the northeastern fighting, but Iran denied the claim. The Iranian claims raised to eight the number of Iraqi jets reported shot down in dogfights or by ground fire Friday. Iran's President Ali Khamanei declared late Friday that he will send an envoy to New York for talks with U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar on a Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in the 7{-year-old war. But it quoted him as saying he held out little hope of an agreement. Iraq has also said it's ready to engage in the indirect discussions. The political invectives exchanged between China and Taiwan for decades can barely be heard over a new chorus: ``Let's do business together.'' Merchants are scrambling to trade across the Taiwan Straits as China presses ahead with its modernization program and Taiwan eases its no-contact policy with the Communist mainland. The development could profoundly influence future political relations between the countries, some political experts say. ``How can you help but find that relations will just keep on rolling after this?'' said Byron Weng, a political analyst at Chinese University of Hong Kong. ``To be able to do business ... necessarily leads to (political) cooperation.'' Taiwanese officials say direct trade will remain outlawed for the present. But signs of increased business ties, made through legal and illegal channels, are apparent in both countries. Taiwanese markets openly display Chinese medicinal herbs, ginseng, dates, walnuts and other foodstuffs from the mainland. Mouthwatering mainland specialties _ dried duck from Nanking, salted fish from Canton and whole hams from Jinhua in Zhejiang province _ also are available in Taiwan. In China, factory tours often reveal a Taiwanese connection. The state-of-the-art Haide Polyester Plant on Hainan island uses polyester chips from Taiwan. Shenzhen Plastics Corp. in Guangdong province boasts that money of an American-Taiwanese investor helped the firm gain favorable treatment from Chinese authorities. The signs of cooperation arise against a backdrop of years of enmity. After losing a civil war to the Communists on the Chinese mainland and fleeing to Taiwan in 1949, the Nationalist government strictly prohibited Taiwanese from doing business with the Communists. Anyone caught doing so was considered a traitor. But the Nationalists, while continuing to reject official contact with the mainland, recently eased restrictions on people-to-people ties. They also gave a boost last year to now flourishing indirect trade by allowing imports of several mainland food items through third countries. Much of the business comes through the British colony of Hong Kong on the southeastern China coast, where last year indirect trade between Taiwan and China totaled $1.5 billion, up 58 percent from 1986. Taiwan's exports accounted for $1.2 billion of the trade and consisted primarily of textiles, machinery and electrical appliances, according to Hong Kong government trade statistics. A group of Hong Kong Chinese merchants with ties to the Nationalist government recently opened the Taiwan Trade Center in Hong Kong to facilitate trade with China. About 150 Taiwanese companies display exhibits there to entice mainland Chinese companies to buy everything from machine tools to cosmetics. ``In the future, we will open the market in China,'' said center representative Tina Lee N. Hwai, ``so I think this is the bridge.'' The mass-circulation United Daily News of Taiwan recently reported an increasing number of companies have invested or plan to invest in China in textiles, footwear, fertilizers, chemicals and food processing. Such activity would have to be carried out through third countries. A Chinese official this month disclosed plans to set up in southern Guangdong province a product-processing zone for Taiwanese companies that would receive preferential treatment. Weng, the political analyst, said China might use such contacts with Taiwanese businesses as a way to reach ``people who are not in the political field.'' Political leaders have been deadlocked for 40 years, with each group claiming to be legitimate rulers over the mainland. Each country says it is committed to reunification _ but under its own terms. Despite the increasing trade, Taiwanese officials are still balking at too much contact too soon with the mainland. ``Too much direct trade will have a negative impact on our efforts to restructure our industries,'' said Taiwanese Premier Yu Kuo-kwa recently. ``We want our companies to produce more sophisticated products, but the mainland market is only a market for low-end consumer goods.'' Some Taiwan merchants, however, argue that profits from selling low-end goods to China can be used to acquire advanced technology and equipment from the West. A judge has lifted a freeze on the city's bank accounts that had threatened to cast the community into bankruptcy, it was reported Saturday. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said a compromise has been reached between the city and the lawyer for a family seeking payment of $4 million jury award, permitting the lifting of the freeze. The lawyer, Clyde L. Kuehn, and city spokesman James Ingram would not comment on the report. However, a spokesman for the Union Bank of East St. Louis said the bank received a copy of the judge's order releasing the accounts, according to the newspaper. It did not identify the spokesman. St. Clair County Circuit Judge Roger M. Scrivner imposed the freeze Wednesday in response to a motion filed by Kuehn, who represents Walter DeBow of Granite City. DeBow suffered permanent brain damage in 1984 after being beaten by a cellmate at the East St. Louis jail. He was awarded $4 million, and the Illinois Supreme Court ordered the city of 55,000 residents to pay the settlement. Kuehn successfully petitioned Scrivner to freeze the bank accounts to force the city to comply with the order. The latest action will allow at least $85,000 in outstanding checks to be cashed and probably came in time to enable the city to meet next week's payroll for its 300 employees, Treasurer Charlotte R. Moore said. The Post-Dispatch reported that the agreement calls for payments to DeBow of $25,000 Tuesday and a further $54,000 by May 17 to bring interest on the settlement current. The newspaper said the agreement also calls for monthly payments of $20,000 to meet interest of 6 percent while setting up a payment plan, and a restructuring of the city's utility tax bonds to pay off the award. A mild earthquake shook parts of the Los Angeles area Saturday, but there were no reports of damage or injuries, authorities said. The quake was centered three miles southwest of coastal Malibu and measured 3.9 on the Richter scale of ground motion, said Robert Finn, spokesman for the California Institute of Technology. It struck at 6:54 a.m., he said. Residents in the San Fernando Valley, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and West Los Angeles reported feeling the tremor, Finn said. Police in the valley and West Los Angeles said they received one phone call each, but there were no reports of damage or injuries. Malibu is about 30 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. The Richter scale is a measure of ground motion as recorded on seismographs. Every increase of one number means a tenfold increase in magnitude.An earthquake of 3.5 on the Richter scale can cause slight damage in the local area, 4 moderate damage. Rewriting his own rules for superpower summitry, President Reagan is preparing to go to Moscow for talks with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev that appear unlikely to produce a new arms treaty or resolve major disputes. With the end of his presidency fast approaching, Reagan has decided to ignore his requirement that a summit must hold the promise of success and must lead to the signing of a substantial agreement. ``The man is 77 years old, and I think he wants to come out in the history books as somebody who has done tremendous things in superpower relations for the long-term benefit of U.S. national security,'' said William J. Taylor, vice president for political-military affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ``I subscribe to the theory that Ronald Reagan wants to make a strategic arms agreement a centerpiece of what he will have accomplished over eight years,'' Taylor said. ``I think it's possible he can do it before next January but I certainly don't think it's going to happen at the May-June summit.'' Reagan will visit Moscow from May 29 to June 2, the first American president to go to the Soviet capital in 14 years. The president had cited his insistence on guaranteed success in refusing to meet with Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko and Yuri Andropov. He bent the rule to hold an introductory meeting with Gorbachev in 1985. However, the rule was back in force in 1986 when Reagan met with Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland. With no advance prospects of agreement, Reagan doggedly refused to call it a summit. For their third meeting _ the Washington summit last December _ an agreement was ready for signing to abolish intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Gorbachev had refused to come to Washington until that treaty was completed. But in inviting Reagan to Moscow, the Soviet leader made no demand for the completion of an even more ambitious arms agreement, the strategic arms accord that would cut deeply into long-range nuclear weapons. Reagan and Gorbachev both appear content to meet, merely for the sake of meeting. Even with no agreements, there are sure to be political rewards for both leaders. Reagan and Gorbachev both will get credit for continuing the superpower dialogue at the highest level and for struggling with the difficult problems of arms control, analysts say. For Gorbachev, the summit will showcase his foreign policy achievements before a Communist Party conference later in June. For Reagan, it will highlight efforts toward peacemaking as the presidential campaign moves toward the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions. ``It will give the perception of progress in dealing with the Soviet Union, which certainly will help George Bush,'' the expected GOP nominee, said William Schneider, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. ``Both sides (Reagan and Gorbachev) get political benefit in showing progress is being made. It's hard to have a summit and not come up with something,'' Schneider said. Taylor said Reagan also will score points in Europe, where polls show Gorbachev is perceived more of a peacemaker than Reagan. Yet it appears unlikely they will be able to sign a new arms accord. ``I wouldn't want to lay you odds,'' Secretary of State George P. Shultz said, when asked if a treaty would be ready. Similarly, the superpowers have deep differences about Afghanistan, Central America and the Middle East that were not resolved by three days of talks between Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze last week. Putting a positive spin on the summit, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said: ``It will be well prepared. There will be substance to discuss. There will be good prospects for success. There will be a number of important and substantive and meaningful issues to be resolved, and all of those will occur at the Moscow summit.'' Asked how that would meet the old criteria of having a major agreement ready for signing, Fitzwater said, ``It meets all the criteria that needs to be met.'' 1980 and is The Associated Press' White House correspondent. and Lughud, State Department saying he'll return to Middle East. Pick up 3rd graf pvs: ``Officials at...'' EDITS thereafter to conform. A Palestinian man died today of wounds suffered in a clash with Israeli troops, the army said, and the mayor of Gaza City heeded a PLO call for Israeli-appointed mayors in West Bank and Gaza Strip to resign. Arab reporters said troops in the Gaza Strip continued a pattern of overnight arrests in an apparent attempt to stifle demonstrations planned for Palestinian ``Land Day'' next Wednesday. The army had no comment on reports of arrests. Secretary of State George P. Shultz met today in Washington with two members of a group affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization. The State Department announced that Shultz will return to the Middle East next week to push his initiative for peace. Shultz invited professors Edward Said of Columbia University and Ibrahim Abu Lughud to visit him at the State Department. Israeli officials had reacted angrily to the meeting, saying it violated a U.S. commitment not to talk to the PLO. Said and Lughud belong to the Palestine National Council, the PLO's parliament-in-exile. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir had protested the meeting to U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering. Officials at Al Ittihad Hospital in Nablus said Ayed Salah, 21, of nearby Zawata village, died at 4 a.m. of gunshot wounds to his spinal cord and liver. The army confirmed the death. Israel Radio quoted a military source as saying Salah was shot in a clash between soldiers and protesters who blocked the Nablus-Tulkarm highway with burning tires. Another Arab was wounded in the same clash, it said. Today's death brings to 112 the number of Palestinians killed since unrest erupted Dec. 8 in territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war, according to U.N. figures. One Israeli soldier has been killed. Protesters in several West Bank and Gaza cities demanded the resignation of muncipal councils, answering the call of a clandestine PLO leaflet that called today ``the day of struggle against municipal councils and appointed village councils.'' Municipal officials confirmed that the Israeli-appointed acting mayor of Gaza City, Hamza Turkmani, had offered his resignation and expected a reply later in the week. The officials insisted they not be identified by name for fear of angering either Israel or Palestinian nationalists. Former Gaza City Mayor Rashid al-Shawwa told The Associated Press that Turkmani was on loan to the municipality from his job in the Interior Department. ``He has resigned from the Interior Department, thus he has resigned from the municipality,'' he said. The PLO leaflet called for marches and demonstrations ``to rid us of these appointed councils, and the people of the uprising will be severe with anyone who remains outside national consensus and refuses to resign immediately.'' In the West Bank town of El Bireh, Arab protesters marched to the municipal council building demanding the resignation of council members, and troops responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, the Palestine Press Services said. In Bethlehem, an Associated Press reporter saw about 70 youths hurl rocks at soldiers and the municipality building on Manger Square. Troops responded with rubber bullets and warning shots in the air. An Arab reporter said troops used tear gas and rubber bullets in a clash with about 150 Arab youths who marched through the Gaza Strip village of Beit Hanoun carrying banners demanding the village council resign. The reporter also said troops forced closure of shops along Gaza City's central Omar el Mukhtar street, which was blocked with rocks and burning tires, and chased away street venders selling vegetables. Pakistan's chief negotiator at the Afghanistan peace talks said Saturday that an agreement could be clinched if the Soviets would agree with the United States to suspend all aid to the warring parties. Acting Foreign Minister Zain Noorani said that since another outstanding issue _ that of a transitional government _ appears to have been resolved in principle, ``we feel that as soon as the two guarantors resolve the issue of symmetry, the instruments can be signed.'' By ``symmetry,'' he was referring to Washington's position that it would be a guarantor of a settlement only if the Soviet Union stops military aid to the Kabul government at the same time the United States ceases military aid to the Moslem guerrillas fighting the government. The Soviets have rejected that demand as amounting to interference with relations between two sovereign states bound by international treaties. The Washington Post reported Saturday that the Reagan administration is cutting off its supply of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the Afghan resistance but is rushing at least $300 million in other weapons to them before an agreement is reached. The Post cited diplomatic and other U.S. sources, who were not identified. It said the decision to stop supplying Stingers apparently was reached late last month in anticipation of a peace settlement in Afghanistan. Among the U.S.-purchased military equipment being rushed to the resistance are 120mm Spanish heavy mortars and modern mine-clearing weapons, the Post said. Noorani, briefing reporters, said the Soviet Union is not prepared to stop or suspend aid to Kabul. ``It seeks the unilateral right to continue to supply arms to the Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan.'' He said ``a Soviet willingness to assume equal and reciprocal obligations as a guarantor can clinch the Geneva agreements and a political settlement of the Afghan problem.'' Noorani said Pakistan has told U.N. mediator Diego Cordovez ``that the texts of the four instruments (of an agreement) are now complete and that Pakistan does not seek any amendments or changes or modifications in the drafts.'' He noted that the issue of a transitional government appeared to have been resolved following last week's meeting between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. Pakistan has insisted during the talks that a broad-based transitional government would be needed in Afghanistan to ensure peace in the country following the withdrawal of the estimated 115,000 Red Army troops. Moscow had balked, saying this was outside the scope of the peace talks. But a U.S. official said in Washington on Thursday that Moscow had indicated support for having Cordovez act in a personal capacity to promote an intra-Afghan dialogue. In a related development, diplomatic sources said that Nicolay Kozyrev, the special Soviet envoy who has followed the talks from the wings since the latest round began March 2, met Noorani Saturday to brief him on the Shultz-Shevardnadze talks. The U.N.-sponsored talks are due to resume Monday, following a weekend recess. The State Department was close to proposing a halt in covert U.S. military aid to the Afghan resistance in exchange for an agreement by the Soviets to withdraw from Afghanistan, but President Reagan rejected the idea, say current and former administration officials. Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze said after talks last week in Washington that Reagan's tougher line was the final obstacle to Kremlin acceptance of a U.N.-brokered deal to get the Red Army out of Afghanistan. But he said the Soviets might pull out even without a U.N. agreement. Last December, Reagan said publicly that military assistance to the Afghan mujahedeen would continue until the Soviets were completely out of Afghanistan. But the Washington Post reported Saturday that the administration already is ending the supply of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the resistance in anticipation of a peace settlement. At the same time, the Post reported, the administration is rushing at least $300 million worth of other U.S.-purchased military supplies, including 120mm Spanish heavy mortars, to Afghanistan in an effort to get the weaponry there before any pact barring future aid takes effect. The newspaper, quoting unidentified diplomatic sources, said the Stinger cutoff reflects a general nervousness by the administration about leaving a large number of the missiles in the hands of Afghan factions that cannot be controlled after U.S. ties are cut. Iran already has obtained some of the missiles, perhaps through force, from one guerrilla commander. The apparent confusion over U.S. policy results from what former and current White House, Pentagon, State Department and congressional officials say has been a poorly coordinated ``end game'' strategy for Afghanistan. ``My phone rang one day, and it was someone asking what our policy was on cutting off aid to the mujahedeen,'' said a former White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity. ``I said that our policy was to continue the aid until the Soviets were completely out. Then, I called over to the State Department, and found out they had other ideas.'' Later that same day, Dec. 3, Reagan forced the State Department to scramble when a reporter asked if aid to the guerrillas would cease when the Soviets began to withdraw. Reagan said: ``I don't think we could do anything of the kind, because the puppet government that has been left there has a military ... You can't suddenly disarm them and leave them prey to the other government.'' The State Department then formulated a new policy, still not as hard as the president's, telling Congress that U.S. aid would end once the Soviet withdrawal began, but would be resumed if Moscow continued to supply its client regime in Afghanistan with wepons. ``We will continue our assistance to the Afghan resistance until it is no longer needed,'' Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Peck told the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs on Feb. 25. And Peck denied assertions by two congressional backers of the Afghan resistance, Sen. Gordon Humphrey, R-N.H., and Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Tex., that the department cut a secret deal with the Kremlin to stop aid to the guerrillas. ``There have been no secret deals. No deals at all,'' said Peck. Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., still found the State Department position too soft, and pushed through Congress a resolution calling for aid to continue until the last Soviet soldier leaves Afghanistan. Still unhappy with the State Department position, Byrd warned Reagan in a letter last Tuesday that ending U.S. and Soviet aid at the same time would have a ``shocking result'' and ``telegraph the end of our commitment to the mujahedeen while the Soviets maintain the major portion of leverage in Afghanistan.'' He urged Reagan to ``make a thorough review of any commitments which may have been made without your full support or knowledge.'' Talk of a secret deal apparently stemmed from a letter from Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead to U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cueller in December 1985 describing U.S. ``willingness to play an appropriate guarantor's role in the context of a comprehensive and balanced settlement ...'' Whitehead's letter was little noticed at the time, although he discussed it in a speech on Dec. 13, 1985. One of the provisions of the still-secret U.N. plan would ``require Pakistan to cease permitting the use of its territory as a conduit for military assistance to the mujahedeen'' within 60 days after the pact was signed, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report issued last week. The Whitehead letter and the demand that Pakistan shut down the supply pipeline apparently led the Kremlin to believe that Reagan was ready to end aid to the guerrillas when the Red Army began to pull out. ``Back in 1985, no one really believed that the Soviets would pull out, so I guess no one really thought the policy through,'' said a State Department source, speaking on condition of anonymity. ``When we got closer to an agreement, to the end game, we began to rethink the position.'' In their tenth month of crisis, many Panamanians are adopting the American view that officials in Washington can't see beyond the Potomac River. As Panama's problems have grown from bad to desperate, the word out of Washington has been that the days, even hours, of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega are numbered. Panamanians aren't convinced. Jose Mulino, a leader in the opposition National Civic Crusade, says Panama's military strongman shows no signs of throwing in the towel soon. As an anti-Noriega strike ended its first week Friday, Mulino rolled his eyes when asked by a reporter if the defense chief's ouster appeared close. ``I don't think so,'' he replied. ``I don't know what it is going to take to get him out, but the strike will continue.'' The very different view of Washington was illustrated late last week by a visiting U.S. congressman. ``When we were stateside, we were given a picture of a very short frame of reference,'' said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y. ``We were told we were looking at a time frame of a very few days in which Noriega might be expected to depart, cave in, what have you.'' That assessment came from State Department officials who briefed Ackerman and Rep. Peter H. Kostmayer, D-Pa., before they left Thursday on their two day fact-finding trip for the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Less than 24 hours later in Panama, Ackerman and Kostmayer had a new frame of reference. ``The view we're getting here is quite different _ from the U.S. embassy, from the American military and from Panamanians we've talked with,'' Ackerman said. ``Nobody's talking about hours, nobody's talking about days. And that's for sure.'' A few days earlier, a Panamanian woman pleaded for U.S. help as she ran past an American reporter watching soldiers clear a street of demonstrators with tear gas and shotgun pellets. ``What's the United States waiting for?'' she yelled. ``Can't you see what's happening? There are our soldiers. Where are yours?'' Many Panamanians want the United States to do more in a bid to force Noriega's exit. Some speak openly of military intervention _ something President Reagan has ruled out unless the Panama Canal is clearly threatened. Even the wife of Eric Arturo Delvalle _ the president in hiding whose ouster by Noriega last month fueled Panama's current crisis _ has suggested publicly that the United States may have to send in troops as a last resort. But the canal appears safe for the moment, and American military intervention seems unlikely. ``I don't think anybody _ even if their elevator doesn't go all the way to the top floor _ would consider jeopardizing the canal,'' Ackerman said. While Washington has been counting hours until Noriega's anticipated departure, Panamanians have heard their clocks tick through an escalating series of constitutional and financial crises that have left their once prosperous country destitute, their banks and businesses closed and many people without cash or food. Washington has been partly responsible for the fiscal crisis through its economic sanctions. But most of the crunch stems from years of unbridled spending by military-dominated governments that have held sway in Panama since 1968. They have given the country a $4.8 billion foreign debt, one of the highest per capita in the world. The country is in such bad shape that Washington is worried further economic sanctions could leave it a dead prospect for any future, democratic government. That's one reason Reagan hasn't imposed a total trade embargo against Panama, limiting American sanctions instead to a series of half measures, taken a step at a time. ``It's a very delicate line we walk,'' Ackerman said. ``Nobody wants to sink the ship in order to get at the captain. ``We have boxed ourselves in on this one. Noriega is to a great extent a Frankenstein of our making, and the people of this country are counting on us to do something.'' Three small children burned to death in a village in central Yugoslavia while their parents were away, the state news agency Tanjug reported Saturday. The agency said a 3-year-old boy and his sisters, aged 2 and 4, died as fire consumed their wooden home in the village of Imljani. The village, on Mount Vlasic, is 155 miles southwest of Belgrade, the capital. Only their 5-year-old sister was pulled to safety by a neighbor, the agency said. Six Moslem fishermen were shot and killed off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, and nine of their companions were missing and feared dead, a Sri Lankan military official said Saturday. The official said six bullet-riddled bodies washed ashore Saturday near the eastern port of Trincomalee. The men and nine others had set out a day earlier from the village of Nilaweli, north of Trincomalee harbor, he said. Trincomalee is 150 miles northeast of Colombo. The official said he had no information on who might have killed the fishermen. He briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. A Sri Lankan news agency blamed the attack on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the largest of the rebel groups that has been waging a nearly five-year war for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the island. The United News of India quoted residents of the area as saying they heard the sounds of motor boats and gun shots off the coast Friday night. UNI said several hundred angry fishermen surrounded the police station at the village of Muttur just south of Trincomalee to protest the slayings. Tamils, most of whom are Hindus, make up 18 percent of the nation's 16 million population. They claim they are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese Buddhists. The Sinhalese, who comprise about 75 percent of the population, control the central government and the military. The rest of Sri Lankans are Moslem descendants of early Arab traders or Christian descendants of Western colonial settlers. Tamil militants have, in the past, attacked Moslems in the east to underscore their claim to the region. India signed a peace accord with Sri Lanka last July aimed at ending the Tamils' insurgency. But the Tigers have rejected the accord and have continued their guerrilla war. India, which has a large Tamil population in its south, has more than 50,000 troops on the island to try to enforce the peace pact. On Saturday, the Daily News, a pro-government newspaper, said the government has taken at least 300 Sinhalese into custody on suspicion they are members of the outlawed Peoples Liberation Front. The front has pledged to kill anyone who supports the Indian-brokered peace accord, contending that it makes too many concessions to Tamils. The front has been blamed for killing at least 220 people and injuring 170 in the past five months. Another paper, the independent Sun, put the arrest total at around 650 in the past six months. Both quoted unnamed police sources. The cease-fire agreement signed this past week between Nicaragua's leftist government and the Contra rebels represents the most significant turning point for that country since the United States first began backing the insurgents in 1981. Barring unexpected developments, the agreement will probably bring the war to an end and leave the ruling Sandinistas with a firm grip on power. The Sandinistas have ruled Nicaragua since their 1979 revolution. President Reagan expended considerable political capital over the years attempting to convince his countrymen that Sandinista power, left unchecked, would mean a Soviet beachhead in Central America and grave national security risks for the United States. But Reagan was unable to muster consistent majority support for his policy. There were too many in Congress who felt that the human costs of sustaining the war were too high when compared with the benefits Reagan saw in trying to overthrow the Sandinistas. The price paid by Nicaraguans over the past seven years has been obvious. The war has claimed more than 40,000 lives and left the economy in a shambles. The policy never had much enthusiastic support beyond the conservative wing of the Republican Party. In Latin America it was difficult to find any president willing to express support for Contra aid, even in those Central American countries which Reagan said would be most affected by the collapse of the rebels. For all the energy Reagan spent in support of the Contras, Congress approved only about $209 million for them over seven years _ equivalent to what the administration says the Soviet Union provides to the Sandinistas every few months. During the height of the Vietnam war, the United States committed thousands of troops and spent that much every few days. Now, it appears there is little the United States can do to influence events in Nicaragua. The administration has used extensive diplomatic and economic pressures to force the Sandinistas' hand with minimal results and now it has been deprived of what Reagan and the Contras believe is their most effective lever _ military pressure. The best the Contras can hope for now is a humanitarian aid package the Congress will take up next week. Given its past statements, the administration may try to take advantage of the new mood of reconciliation in Nicaragua and explore ways to achieve a more normal relationship with the Sandinistas. There have been no serious talks between the two governments in more than three years. There are several theoretical scenarios under which what was done last week could be undone, and the war resumed. Under administration prodding, the Congress could decide to commit itself next week to an early vote on additional Contra military aid if the peace process breaks down and Reagan makes an aid request. But it appears a majority in Congress, worn down by the Contra aid issue, does not want to give the president that authority. The most likely outcome is a Contra surrender to terms set forth by the Sandinistas during talks due to start on April 6 on a permanent truce. Under the agreement, the Contras will be allowed to take their arms with them to mutually agreed cease-fire zones. But their supplies are running low, there is little prospect for replenishment, and nothing prevents the Sandinista Army from surrounding these zones while talks on a permanent settlement are carried out. The Contras will be at a severe disadvantage. After a year in which the Contras had emerged as an effective fighting force, dispatching thousands of troops into Nicaragua from sanctuaries in Honduras, 1988 has marked a steady downward spiral. The House defeated a key Contra aid vote on Feb. 3 and the Congress decreed an end to all aid shipments on Feb. 29. The Contras agreed less than a month later to a cease-fire proposal that fell far short of their demands even though they won some concessions from the Sandinistas, including the promise of free speech and Contra participation in a national dialogue. The administration has praised the agreement but this is one instance in which there is a wide gap between the publicly stated view and the private assessment. Officials felt it was inappropriate to criticize the Contras for signing an agreement after a lack of U.S. steadfastness forced their hand. ``The Contras made their own decision and they made it courageously, and we must not do anything to undo it,'' said White House chief of staff Howard Baker in an interview on Cable News Network's ``Evans & Novak'' Saturday. ``We've got to wish them well, as indeed we do.'' Some of the most optimistic statements are being voiced by the Contra leaders themselves, including Adolfo Calero, who is among the most conservative of that group. ``Today we have taken a first but firm step to end this fratricidal war,'' Calero said Wednesday night after the agreement was signed. ``It is a very serious obligation that we are undertaking, the government of Nicaragua as well as we in the resistance. I am certain that we will both comply.'' If Calero is right, then Reagan may be proved to have been wrong all along about the nature of the Sandinista government. EDITOR`S NOTE _ George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for the Associated Press since 1968. The Marine Corps has discharged a mechanic who said he cross-connected instrument switches on a helicopter to prove that pilots were flying the aircraft even when it appeared to be unsafe. Cpl. Kirk Hill agreed to the discharge rather than face a special court-martial for allegedly tampering with a CH-53D ``Sea Stallion'' helicopter before an Oct. 26 night flight, Cpl. Joe Velez, a spokesman for the Marine Corps' El Toro air station, said Friday. Hill, 22, will be demoted one rank to lance corporal and receive an administrative discharge under other-than-honorable conditions, Velez said. Hill faced charges of willful dereliction of duty, intentionally trying to damage a helicopter, attempting to destroy the national defense, using marijuana and disobeying orders by placing a foreign substance into a urine sample sought for drug tests. In previous testimony, the pilots testified that they detected an instrument malfunction before take-off, but other system checks showed nothing was wrong with the helicopter. They reported the malfunction after their 45-minute flight ended. Saturday. Secretary of State George P. Shultz will go to the Middle East at the end of next week to push his initiative for peace in the region, the State Department announced today. The secretary, after a stopover in Rome and talks with Italian officials, will arrive in Jerusalem on Sunday, April 3. He will later travel to Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia, returning to Washington April 8, State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman said. Shultz has been trying to arrange negotiations that would lead to a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians and made a trip to the region several weeks ago. ``We are continuing to work on his proposals for peace in the region,'' said Redman. He said Shultz made the decision to return to the Middle East on Friday after meeting Philip Habib, his chief negotiator on Mideast problems. Newspapers and television are coming under increasing fire from governments across the world, which claim their coverage of violence and unrest only creates more of the same. In some cases, coverage has been limited. In others, it has been banned outright. A graphic television film of recent bloody rampages at two Northern Ireland funerals prompted strong complaints from the British government. That reaction was mild compared with other countries. In Israel, the army regularly bars reporters and television crews from the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, rocked by protests since Dec. 8. In South Africa, photographing or filming unrest and security force actions is prohibited in a state where anti-apartheid protests are common. Tibet is closed to foreigners whenever an anti-Chinese protest occurs, and no Western reporter has been allowed to the troubled Soviet republics of Armenia or Azerbaijan. ``There does seem to be a trend to keep the television cameras away,'' said Philip Spender, deputy editor of the Index of Censorship, a London periodical that monitors media freedom worldwide. ``A very vivid picture says volumes, and it's very hard for a government to deny it's presiding over the mistreatment of people,'' Spender said in a recent interview. Some observers say in the long run, censorship won't work. ``If you look at South Africa at the moment, the people who are being fooled by the turning off of the cameras are essentially the whites; certainly not the blacks,'' said Leonard Sussman, executive director of Freedom House, a private human rights agency in New York. ``The blacks know exactly what's happening. They either see it with their own eyes or they hear rumors, and rumors tend to exaggerate, and that builds new problems.'' Observers say many governments use the possibility of increased violence to mask their real concern: their image abroad. Other governments are more forthright. Panama, for example, has expelled or refused to admit foreign reporters and warned others it will not tolerate what it calls ``the continuation of disinformation'' that ``damages the image of our country abroad.'' Many Israelis are angry because television has documented Palestinian unrest and Israeli attempts to crush it _ in particular, recent CBS-TV shots of soldiers beating two unarmed Palestinians. Israeli President Chaim Herzog recently referred to news reports as a ``weapon'' being used against Israel. ``I ask myself whether I'm permitted, in a very liberal and democratic approach, to allow this weapon to be turned against my children and my country,'' he said. Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and New York Mayor Ed Koch have both suggested Israel ban television crews from the occupied territories altogether. Before imposing stringent media controls, South African officials had complained that TV coverage encouraged unrest. But their main complaint was that the coverage gave a false or exaggerated impression of black dissent and encouraged sanctions and disinvestment moves. Sussman and others acknowledged that news reports can stir up trouble. ``But I think you have to weigh the damage that's done by the opposite, by the clampdown,'' he said. Journalists should police themselves, he said. ``They have to be wary that they're not being used, or exploited, by either of the parties, whether it's the government or the objectors,'' he said. Sussman said that censorship is justified when lives are at stake ``because of a really volatile situation.'' ``But usually governments take the easier road of stepping in well before that point's arrived, and that's the damage (to freedom),'' he said. The London-based International Press Institute said it opposes any attempt to curb news gathering. ``Whether cameras can incite, I think there's no doubt that they do,'' its spokesman said. ``But the question is, which is the greater ill. You have to inform the public.'' In Britain, few suggest the government should limit media coverage in Northern Ireland, where nearly 2,700 people have died in almost 20 years of sectarian fighting. Indeed, public debate over the television footage of the bloody funeral has focused primarily on British police efforts to obtain untransmitted videotape to identify suspects. On Thursday, after threats of prosecution under anti-terrorist laws, British and Irish TV networks gave police untransmitted videotape of an Irish Republican Army funeral procession that ended with the slayings of two British soldiers. The networks had initially refused to hand over the tape on grounds it would endanger the lives of their crews working in the British province. To Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, it was a much simpler issue, as she outlined it to the House of Commons. ``Either one is on the side of justice in this matter, or on the side of terrorism,'' she said. 1280 a week xxx, (grafs 2 and 3 of add) to CORRECT timing of Hart's withdrawal As George Bush amazed the pundits with a political resurrection, the Democrats lost a front-runner off the good ship Monkey Business, staged what looked like candidate-a-week auditions for a replacement and now worry about a convention without a clear winner. At its midpoint, the 1988 presidential campaign can claim more than its share of unexpected twists and turns. Without a front-runner, the lesser known Democrats found it hard to get attention and gain stature. The race became ``a series of isolated judgments,'' said Bill Carrick, campaign manager for Rep. Richard Gephardt. Carrick referred to the phenomenon of no Democratic being able to put together a series of victories. And as both parties looked ahead to November, they expressed pessimism. ``This looks to me like 1960 all over again,'' said Donald Devine, a conservative Republican and adviser to Kansas Sen. Bob Dole's presidential campaign. That was a year the Democrats recaptured the White House at the close of Republican Dwight Eisenhower's second term. Once again, said Devine, ``You have an aging president, who's kind of loved and recognized as doing a decent job.'' ``This is the Democrats' year,'' he lamented. ``The Republicans are going to have to work real hard to change that and the Democrats are going to have to help them a little in this nomination process, which I think they're going to do.'' Some Democrats agree that they could easily give the Republican the help they need. Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York predicted there'll be some brokering before the party's nominee can be selected, and he warned that if it takes place at the Democratic National Convention next summer in Atlanta ``the whole United States will see you in the grubby business of cutting deals.'' Two Democrats _ Gary Hart and Joseph Biden _ were knocked out of contention long before any votes were cast. Television evangelist Pat Robertson startled Republicans with his organizational skill, and even more with his accounts of conversations with God. Southern Democrats tried to give their nominating process a conservative cast and created Super Tuesday which gave the biggest boost to a pair of liberals _ Jesse Jackson and Michael Dukakis. Iowa's reputation took a beating and so did momentum. Voters demonstrated repeatedly they don't always do what the pollsters predict they will. And once again, money proved the indispensable element of campaigns for everybody but Jackson. After Ronald Reagan, who? Among Republicans, the debate centered on who could legitimately claim his conservative legacy and retain some of his electoral magic. For the most conservative element in the party, it also was the year to determine whether they or GOP moderates, represented by Bush, would control the party in the post-Reagan era. The Democrats looked forward to a presidential campaign without Reagan on the ballot, but also were aware they had lost four of the last five national elections, being virtually shut out in the South and West. They, too, talked of a fight for control of the party's future. Both parties started out with bumper crops of candidates and near candidates. Remember Donald Rumsfeld? A former Illinois congressman, White House chief of staff and defense secretary, he had a resume that rivaled Bush's and a speaking style that was a sure cure for insomnia. He appeared at Republican events around the country trying to drum up support for a presidential bid before finally giving up on April 2, 1987. Former Sen. Paul Laxalt of Nevada, best known as Reagan's close friend, also dipped a toe into the presidential waters but pulled it out when he discovered how tough it could be to raise millions of dollars. Conseratives were titillated by the prospect that Pat Buchanan, the former White House communications director, or Jeane Kirkpatrick, the former United Nations ambassador would run. Both eventually said no. The Democrats had their share of reluctant dragons. Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia considered running and then didn't; Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey said, no, no, a thousand times no. Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas and his governor, Bill Clinton, decided against running. Rep. Pat Schroeder of Colorado wanted to run but found raising enough money too great a hurdle. And then, of course, there was the ubiquitous Governor Cuomo of New York. ``I will not be a candidate,'' Cuomo declared in 1987, setting off still more speculation on whether or not he was running. ``Why don't you want to be president?'' he was asked a year later. ``Who said I don't want to be president?'' he retorted. ``Do you want to be president?'' pressed the questioner. ``No,'' he replied. But there plenty of real candidates. Bush, Dole, Robertson, Rep. Jack Kemp of New York, former Gov. Pete du Pont of Delaware and former secretary of state Alexander M. Haig Jr. on the Republican side. Hart, Biden, Dukakis, Jackson, Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois, former Gov. Bruce Babbitt of Arizona and Sen. Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee for the Democrats. The race began early with Democrats Gephardt, Biden and Babbitt taking the traditional route throught the small towns of Iowa, campaigning for legislative candidates in the 1986 elections. Dole, Kemp and du Pont did much the same thing on the Republican side. Meanwhile, Michigan Republicans tried to grab some of the presidential campaign spotlight. In the summer of 1986, they elected thousands of precinct level party officials who eventually would decide the allocation of the state's 77-member delegation to the GOP convention in New Orleans in August 1988. The Bush campaign liked the idea. The vice president beat Reagan in Michigan's 1980 primary. But Robertson was already at work and his forces matched the vice president's at the crucial task of recruiting candidates for the Michigan election. That was the first indication of Robertson's potential. It was bad news for Bush and even worse for Kemp. Then came Iran-Contra and the disclosures that the administration had been involved in covert arms sales to the Ayatollah. It was a bleak moment for the administration and it looked like Bush would be the principal political victim. Dole's advisers were split on the likely impact, but the senator was among those who thought it would severely wound Bush. ``I thought it was serious,'' said Lee Atwater, Bush campaign manager. ``But I never thought it would deprive the vice president of the nomination.'' Iowa's economy would prove an even greater hurdle for Bush. Throughout the Reagan presidency, things had gone from bad to worse in the state and it was one of the few soft spots in Reagan's generally strong approval from Americans. Dole campaigned there as a fellow Midwesterner with a rural background and an understanding of the problems of farmers. ``I'm from Russell, Kansas, and proud of it,'' he told countless audiences. The campaign began to get nasty. ``He's sort of had a charmed life in politics, he's gotten quite a ways without ever doing much,'' Dole said of the vice president. As Dole continued to portray Bush as a vice president who had no more than a passive role in administration affairs, the Bush campaign accused the senator of being ``mean-spirited'' and practicing ``cronyism.'' Dole later accused the Bush campaign of deliberately trying to provoke him. ``I think that was the effort,'' he said. ``I was a bit testy a time or two. I was getting angry.'' today, picking up 6th graf pvs, ``I'll feel ....' ^LaserPhotos NY9,11 Robert Chambers Jr. surrendered today after pleading guilty to strangling a young woman during a Central Park tryst. His plea ended the 10-week-long ``preppie murder'' trial that focused attention on the lifestyles of the young rich. Chambers, 21, admitted guilt Friday to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter, halting jury deliberations that lasted nine days and raised fears of a possible mistrial. Chambers' plea calls for a sentence of five to 15 years in prison, and he surrendered about 10:30 a.m. today at Criminal Court in Manhattan, where he began processing before being sent to the city jail at Rikers Island. Formal sentencing is scheduled April 15. Chambers admitted that he intended to seriously hurt Jennifer Dawn Levin, 18, the night of her death. Her battered, partly nude body was found under a tree behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Aug. 26, 1986. The agreement under which he made his plea was approved by Miss Levin's family. Chambers must serve five years before being eligible for parole. ``I'll feel better ... when he's in jail, where he should be,'' said Ellen Levin, the victim's mother. ``He wasn't the lily-white altar boy he appeared to be.'' During the trial, Chambers' defense had been that he had lashed out at Jennifer Levin when she hurt him during rough sex, and that he had not meant to kill her. Chambers' parents, Robert and Phyllis Chambers, stared silently and showed no emotion as their only child reluctantly entered his plea. He seemed both angry and sad as he stood before State Supreme Court Justice Howard Bell, who asked Chambers whether he had ``intended to cause serious physical injury'' to Miss Levin _ the key element for the manslaughter charge. ``Looking back on everthing, I'd have to say yes,'' Chambers replied in a lowered voice as he appeared to choke back sobs. ``In my heart that is not what I intended.'' The jury could have convicted Chambers of second-degree murder, a more serious charge, but Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said the prospect of a possible mistrial, the strain on the Levin family and the circumstantial evidence in a murder trial prompted the plea bargain. A prosecution source told The Associated Press that among their considerations were notes from three jurors who wanted to leave, leading to the concern over a mistrial. The source spoke only on condition of anonymity. The slaying was dubbed the ``preppie murder'' because the victim and the prime suspect were products of New York's monied elite, who went to private schools and came from wealthy families. Chambers, a former altar boy, flunked out of the exclusive Choate school before entering and graduating from York Prep in Manhattan. He dropped out of Boston University in his first year and developed a cocaine habit for which he was institutionalized twice. To help feed the habit, he committed burglaries, a prosecutor said. Chambers, who had been charged with three counts of burglary, pleaded guilty to one of those counts Friday. Miss Levin went to the park with Chambers after telling friends he was the best sex partner she ever had and that she was determined to have sex with him that night. Shortly after his arrest, Chambers told police in a videotaped statement that he had never intended to hurt Miss Levin. He said she had molested him sexually and hurt his genitals, and he killed her accidentally. He said Miss Levin had tied his hands behind his back with her panties, sat on his chest facing his feet and grabbed his genitals. Chambers said he freed his hands, reached up with his left forearm and yanked back against her throat, flipping her off him. Assistant District Attorney Linda Fairstein called Chambers' story ``ludicrous.'' She told the jury that he attacked Miss Levin in a rage, punched her, chased her when she tried to flee, caught her and ``squeezed the life out of her.'' Fairstein, holding a photo of Miss Levin taken in Dorrian's Red Hand bar hours before her death, said, ``One can't help but look at that photograph and pray for time to stand still, for time to grab her and say, `Don't go with Robert Chambers.''' picking up 3rd graf pvs, `Under the ....' SUBS last graf with 1 graf to UPDATE with House approval of revenue sharing delay. The Legislature today approved a bill giving Gov. Buddy Roemer unprecedented power to deal with Louisiana's fiscal crisis by slashing government spending, after several lawmakers said the state had no other choice. By a 32-4 vote in special session Friday, the Senate sent the budget-cutting bill to the House for consideration of amendments. The House concurred by a 101-0 vote today, sending the measure to Roemer's desk for his signature. Under the bill, Roemer would have the authority until June 30 to cut up to 20 percent from department budgets, eliminate entire programs and close institutions if necessary to keep the state from running out of cash. The governor has said the state will run out of money sometime in early May if emergency steps are not taken. The special legislative session to consider his program was to continue today. In proposing the legislation, Roemer said lawmakers would be able to reverse his cuts while formulating the budget during the regular legislative session beginning April 18. At the center of the Senate debate was the issue of whether the Legislature should be handing over such authority. Sen. Ron Landry questioned the constitutionality of the bill. ``We're supposed to have a constitutional separation of powers,'' he said. But other lawmakers said the state had no other practical choice. ``It is either this or a much greater evil,'' said Sen. Fritz Windhorst. ``If we don't like what he does, we can undo it during the regular session.'' Also Friday, lawmakers sent to Roemer a bill that is the keystone of the governor's plans to reorganize state government _ the splitting of the Department of Health and Human Resources into two agencies. The House approved the bill 97-3, and the Senate later concurred with House amendments. The measure is aimed at better management of health and welfare services that fall under the agency's $2 billion budget. With about 27,000 employees, Health and Human Resources is the state's largest agency and is the frequent target of charges of mismanagement. The bill would create two agencies: one to deal with welfare and other social programs and the other to supervise health and hospital programs. In addition, the Senate approved a bill that would allow Roemer to reappropriate funds in his office without legislative approval and another measure authorizing a delay in the state's final 1987-88 revenue sharing payment of about $30 million to city governments from May 15 to June 30. The House gave final approval to the revenue sharing measure today. graf, Department spokesman, to include more detail on Shultz trip. Secretary of State George P. Shultz met today with two members of a group affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization and the State Department announced Shultz will got to the Middle East next week to again push a U.S. peace initiative. Professors Edward Said of Columbia University and Ibrahim Abu Lughud met for more than an hour with Shultz, who had invited them to the State Department. ``We conveyed to Secretary Shultz the urgent need to lift Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza as a preparatory step on the road to achieving peaceful coexistence between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews,'' Said said after the meeting. The professor earlier said he had been in touch with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat about the meeting with Shultz. The State Department rejected news organizations' requests to photograph Shultz and the Palestinian leaders, both U.S. citizens, at the start of their meeting. The secretary, whose last Mideast peace-seeking trip was a month ago, has been trying to arrange negotiations that would lead to a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel rejects PLO participation in any negotiations. Department spokesman Charles Redman said Shultz made the decision to return to the Middle East on Friday after meeting Philip Habib, his chief negotiator on Mideast problems. He will arrive in Jerusalem Sunday, April 3, and visit Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia the following week, Redman said. State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley called the visitors ``prominent Americans with an intimate knowledge of contemporary Middle Eastern politics.'' She also confirmed they are members of the Palestine National Council, which is often called the PLO's legislative arm. Under U.S. law, administration officials are barred from holding meetings with PLO officials, but Mrs. Oakley stressed that the two guests are U.S. citizens and said the meeting did not represent a change in U.S. policy. Both the United States and Israel have called the PLO a terrorist organization. Asked in a telephone interview Friday if he received permission from Arafat to attend the session, Said replied he did not need such a ``green light.'' He added, however, ``We did notify Chairman Arafat, and that was fine with him _ absolutely.'' He said he and Abu-Lughud were interested in ``an exchange of views'' with Shultz. They want to know more about the U.S. proposal for Arab-Israeli negotiations and ``we're going to tell him about the Palestinians' view of the matter,'' Said commented. Israeli Ambassador Moshe Arad protested Shultz's invitation to the two as in conflict with a 13-year U.S. policy against dealing with the PLO, which is pledged to dismantling Israel as a Jewish state. For several weeks, Shultz has been trying to open negotiations by May 1 to provide self-rule for the Palestinians and move toward an overall Middle East peace agreement. The plan, designed to overcome Israeli objections to talking to the PLO, envisions participation in talks by PLO-approved Palestinians as part of a Jordanian delegation. None of the parties in the region has accepted the plan. In January, Shultz met here with two Palestinian Arabs, Hanna Siniora, a Jerusalem editor, and Fayez Abu Rahme, a Gaza lawyer. During a Mideast shuttle trip last month, Shultz tried to arrange a meeting in Jerusalem with 15 Palestinian Arabs, but none showed up, apparently by order of the PLO. The State Department, meanwhile, issued a warning to Americans not to travel to the Israeli-held West Bank and Gaza, where 111 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have been killed in clashes since January 9. There was no explanation for the timing of the advisory, but it coincided with the approach of Easter and Passover holidays that usually attract U.S. tourists to the holy land, including sites on the West Bank. Israel is safe for American travel, Mrs. Oakley said. The West Bank was held by Jordan and Gaza by Egypt from 1949 until 1967 when the Arabs lost the territories to Israel in the Six-Day War. About 96 percent of the population is Palestinian. The situation in East Jerusalem was described as ``unpredictable'' and Americans were advised to check with U.S. diplomats in the city before entering the area. ``Under all circumstances, Americans should avoid demonstrations and other situations that have the potential to lead to violence,'' the advisory said. ``American travelers should carry their U.S. passports at all times.'' Veto President Reagan's defeat last week on a major anti-discrimination bill demonstrates the chasm between his administration and the rest of America when it comes to civil rights, say those who fought for passage of the measure. Some conservatives counter that Reagan's positions are very much in tune with the American mainstream. The enactment of the Civil Rights Restoration Act over Reagan's veto was the latest skirmish in the administration's rocky seven-year attempt to redefine _ and some say erase _ the federal government's role in ensuring basic rights to all citizens. Reagan and his conservative allies contend they are committed to a ``colorblind'' society and reject the idea that they are less concerned about discrimination than those who support stronger remedies. But their vision has led to years of confrontation with Democrats and liberals and often with moderates, conservatives, Republicans and business people as well. ``People simply don't want to go back and undo things that have been accomplished over the last 20 years,'' says veteran civil rights attorney William Taylor, who helped draft the restoration act. But some conservatives say the administration's victories have not drawn the attention they deserve and do, in fact, reflect the public's feelings. ``The picture is more mixed than perhaps some would have people think about the Reagan administration and its civil rights policy and how much it's in sync with the public,'' said former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Fein, now a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation. Fein said the media has not fairly portrayed the administration's progress toward its civil rights goals. ``On the victories, they end up with a little three-graf snippet on page 25,'' he complained. But Ralph Neas, executive director of the 185-group Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said the victories have been small and-or temporary. ``Congress and the Supreme Court have reined in the excesses of the Reagan administration,'' he said. ``The only time they (the administration) have been able to do anything or change anything is when they have acted by executive fiat.'' The administration provoked an uproar early in 1982 when it tried to reverse a longstanding policy of not giving tax breaks to segregated schools and caused more controversy a year later by firing three liberal members of the supposedly independent Civil Rights Commission. Among other things, the administration has also tried and failed to: _Block strong economic sanctions against the South African government for its apartheid policy. _Dismantle or weaken ongoing school busing and affirmative action plans. _End affirmative action goals and timetables for government contractors. _Block a tough new extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1982 and win a different interpretation of it three years later in the Supreme Court. _Dissuade Congress from enacting a new holiday honoring Martin Luther King. _Elevate the architect of its civil rights policies, Assistant Attorney General William Bradford Reynolds, to associate attorney general. Those are the major defeats. Where are the comparable victories? Some point to the Supreme Court's 1984 decision narrowing protection under four civil rights laws to specific federally assisted programs, rather than prohibiting an entire institution from discriminating if any part of it receives aid. But that ruling was reversed last week with the veto override. There were also two Supreme Court rulings in which the justices found newer minority employees were improperly shielded from layoffs while innocent white workers with more seniority were let go. But the Justice Department later was rebuffed when it asked 51 local jurisdictions to scrap hiring and promotion plans on the basis of the court rulings on seniority and layoffs. One Republican mayor, William Hudnut of Indianapolis, said he refused to comply with the request because he felt it was wrong constitutionally, morally and politically. The high court went on to deal a double blow to the administration in 1986, approving the Cleveland Fire Department's plan to reserve half of all promotions for minority candidates and endorsing a labor union's use of racial quotas to help more minorities get jobs. Fein cited several lower court rulings that threw out racial quotas in government contracting and said the Supreme Court would review them. He also noted a federal appeals court decision this month striking down racial quotas used to avert ``white flight'' at an integrated Brooklyn housing development, Starrett City. The decision stemmed from a 1984 suit filed by the Justice Department. Taylor and others in the civil rights community do say that Reagan has succeeded in dismantling much of the federal civil rights law enforcement machinery and has kept advocates busy for seven years with rearguard actions. On the other hand, they say, in their forced re-examination and re-evaluation of the nation's civil rights policies, Congress and the courts have deemed them essentially sound. ``The basic threat the administration posed was turning the clock back and turning the country in a different direction,'' Taylor said. ``They sure tried hard. They failed every time. To me, that is a very encouraging development.'' A Lumbee Indian activist and candidate for Superior Court judge in racially troubled Robeson County was shot to death at his home, the FBI said today. Julian Pierce was killed sometime Friday night or early this morning, agent Paul Daly said. ``We've been notified that Julian was found dead,'' Daly said, adding that there had been ``an apparent burglary'' at Pierce's home. He said agents from the FBI and State Bureau of Investigation were assisting Robeson County sheriff's deputies. Pierce, 42, was a candidate for a newly created Superior Court judgeship. He was running against District Attorney Joe Freeman Britt in the May 3 primary. Here is a chronology of U.S.-Nicaraguan relations, dating back nearly a decade. It ends with the Sandinistas and Contra rebels signing a tentative peace accord last week: 1979 JULY 17 _ Anastasio Somoza, the Nicaraguan president, resigns and flies to Miami, ending more than four decades of rule by his rightist, pro-American family. Somoza had been weakened from both inside and outside the country. His refusal to allow democracy and freedom alienated businessmen, professionals and students, while his ties to Washington were weakened by President Carter's concerns about human rights abuses in Nicaragua. Two days after Somoza flees, the leftist Sandinista rebels take control of Managua. Somoza dies in 1980. 1982 NOVEMBER _ First reports emerge alleging covert U.S. aid to anti-Sandinista rebels. The aid actually had begun secretly in 1981 as part of legislation on intelligence activities and had been managed by the Central Intelligence Agency. 1983 MAY 1 _ Nicaragua claims violations of its territory by U.S. spy planes and warships. 1984 APRIL 6-7 _ Congressional and Reagan administration sources reveal that U.S.-trained commando units, operating from a U.S. ship off the Nicaraguan coast and directed by the CIA, had placed mines in Nicaragua's ports. APRIL 9 _ Nicaragua asks the World Court to order the United States to halt the mining and cease aiding attacks on Nicaraguan territory. A day earlier, in anticipation of Nicaragua's move, the Reagan administration had announced that, for a two-year period, it would not accept the court's jurisdiction in U.S. disputes involving Central America. JUNE 25 _ Senate votes to shelve the administration's request for $21 million in military aid to the Contra rebels, a month after the House also rejected the aid. 1985 JAN. 10 _ Daniel Ortega inaugurated as Nicaraguan president. JAN. 18 _ The United States withdraws from World Court proceedings involving Nicaragua's suit against U.S. aggression, claiming the case presents political questions ``that under the United Nations Charter are not intended for the World Court.'' MAY 1 _ President Reagan announces a trade embargo against Nicaragua. AUG. 8 _ Reagan signs a foreign aid bill into law that resumes aid to the Contras _ $27 million in ``non-lethal'' assistance. 1986 MARCH 20 _ The House defeats Reagan's proposal for $100 million in military and humanitarian aid to the Contras. JUNE 25 _ After an intensive lobbying campaign by Reagan, the House reverses itself and approves the $100 million aid package for the Contras. JUNE 27 _ The World Court denounces U.S.-sponsored military actions against Nicaragua and U.S. support for the Contras as a violation of the U.N. Charter ban on the use of force. AUG. 13 _ The Senate approves Reagan's $100 million aid package for the Contra guerillas. OCT. 5 _ An American-manned military cargo plane is shot down in southern Nicaragua. Two Americans are killed; the surviving crew member, Eugene Hasenfus, is captured and implicates the CIA in the Contra-supply operation. NOV. 25 _ Attorney General Edwin Meese III discloses that some of the profits from the sale of American arms to Iran had been secretly diverted to the Contras. It is later revealed that some foreign countries have donated money to aid the Contras. 1987 AUG. 7 _ Five Central American presidents sign a peace plan calling for cease-fires and additional steps toward democratization in the region. SEPT. 30 _ The last of the $100 million Contra aid package technically expires, but money and materiel still in the ``pipeline'' continue to flow to the rebels into 1988. DEC. 22 _ Reagan signs a pair of spending bills for fiscal year 1988 that include $8.1 million in non-lethal aid for the Contras. The aid expires Feb. 29, 1988. 1988 FEB. 3 _ The House rejects Reagan's request for $36.2 million in new aid for the rebels. The next day, the Senate votes in favor of the plan in a purely symbolic move. MARCH 3 _ Liberal Democrats, who oppose all aid, and conservative Republicans, who want military aid, join in the House to defeat a Democratic alternative package of humanitarian aid for the Contras. MARCH 16 _ White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater announces that the United States is sending 3,200 troops on an ``emergency deployment'' exercise to southern Honduras in response to the reported incursion of Nicaraguan forces into that country. MARCH 21 _ The Nicaraguan Sandinista government and the Contras open peace talks. MARCH 23 _ The Sandinistas and Contras sign an agreement for a 60-day cease-fire to start April 1. Both sides schedule a meeting in Managua for April 6 to start negotiations on a definitive truce. Remain President Reagan said Saturday that pre-summit talks have ``made clear how difficult the issues are between the United States and the Soviet Union'' and it remains to be seen how much good the Moscow summit will do. Reagan opened his weekly radio address with a review of his meeting Wednesday with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, during which he announced that he and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will meet in Moscow May 29 through June 2. ``My talks with him were cordial but, as you might expect, to the point,'' he said. ``Let me also say that while lengthy talks held between Secretary (of State George P.) Shultz and Mr. Shevardnadze at the State Department were useful, they also made clear how difficult the issues are between the United States and the Soviet Union,'' the president added. ``Some progress was made here and there in various areas, but much more remains to be done, given the importance of the topics discussed.'' Touching on arms control, human rights and other issues between the two countries, Reagan told his audience that ``the United States will sign only those agreements that are in our best interest.'' ``We've come a long way in our attempts to deal with the Soviets and to further the cause of peace and freedom around the world,'' the president said. ``The next summit will help,'' he said. ``How much we'll have to see.'' Reagan also used his speech to urge Senate approval of the treaty limiting intermediate- and shorter-range missiles that he and Gorbachev signed in Washington in December. The Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on the treaty during the coming week. Reagan also discussed an international trade bill being considered by a House-Senate conference committee, saying some administration objections to it have been met but that it ``still contains provisions that would restrict trade, deter investment in the United States, require mandatory retaliation that invites trade wars, and unnecessarily hamper my prerogatives as president.'' ``For example, one proposal still very much alive would create an obligation for the government to help each and every company that can't keep up with legal, totally fair imports _ in effect, an entitlement program for businesses that can't compete,'' he said. He urged Congress to ``stay on course and ... settle on a bill that avoids the great danger of choking off international trade and slowing down economic growth.'' ``I will not sign a bill that imperils our economy and threatens growth,'' he said. A large section of Jesse James' tombstone, which historians thought had been chipped away decades ago by souvenir hunters, has been found intact and will be delivered to the outlaw's old Missouri home. The section of the marble tombstone is about 18 inches high and contains James' name and the date April 3, 1882, when he was shot to death by Robert Ford in St. Joseph, Mo., officials said. The tombstone had been about 8 feet high originally. ``We thought it disappeared 60 years ago, but it showed up recently,'' said Milt Perry, curator of historical property for Clay County. Perry said he found the section of the tombstone in Kansas City, but refused to give details. The tombstone disappeared from Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kearney, a town of about 1,400 people 15 miles northeast of Kansas City, where James' grave was moved in 1902. County officials plan to unveil the recovered section Thursday and put it on display at the James farm near Kearney. State District Judge Don Leonard says he understands a man's fondness for his cowboy hat, but don't try wearing one in his court. ``The judge asked if I would remove it and said he could give me six months or a $5,000 fine,'' said Keven Beaird. ``I told him I wouldn't, his gavel fell, and it was 10 days in the county jail.'' Leonard sentenced the General Dynamics toolmaker for contempt of court Monday for refusing to take off his hat in a jury assembly room. The judge released him three days later after Beaird apologized. ``He said he was sorry, that he knew he had to follow the rules of the court,'' Leonard said Friday. ``I told him I admired his belief, but to save himself for the big battles of life.'' District Judge Joe Drago said he supports Leonard's decision. ``I've never heard of specifically a hat. But I've asked people to take off hats before, and no one has ever refused,'' Drago said. ``He must like his hat.'' ``I don't like anybody to tell me to take my hat off,'' Beaird said. ``I just won't do it, but I guess if I go to court again .. . well, I believe I would take it off.'' The Environmental Protection Agency says that three out of four municipal waste treatment plants it surveyed aren't able to stop water pollution from industrial toxics. The EPA audit, made public at a House hearing last week, is likely to rekindle a long-standing debate over whether the agency has properly enforced the anti-toxics provisions of the Clean Water Act. The audit focused on 265 of the 1,500 publicly owned sewage treatment plants with EPA-approved plans, which are supposed to minimize the amount of toxics reaching the environment. The audit said that 57 plants have been generally unsuccessful in carrying out their plans, while another 147 plants have been only partially successful in meeting the EPA-approved goals. Only 61 plants _ 23 percent of the total surveyed _ ``have implemented a generally successful program and are effectively carrying out program responsibilities,'' the audit said. James Elder, director of EPA's Office of Water Enforcement and Permits, said the audit indicates ``that the toxic impacts on receiving waters from publicly owned treatment works is more significant than previously thought.'' The audit focused on the so-called pre-treatment aspects of the Clean Water Act, which is considered one of the nation's most successful environmental laws because it has halted much direct discharging of untreated human waste into waterways. According to EPA, between 100,000 and 200,000 industrial concerns of varying size pump their wastes directly into sewers along with the wastes of millions of households and other non-toxic sources. The municipal plants are geared principally to treat human and other organic matter so it can be pumped into waterways with minimal environmental impact. Toxic waste from industry, however, remains largely untreated in the process, exiting plants either in the pumpings into waterways or trapped in sewage sluge, the residue that is disposed of in a variety of ways, including landfills. In order to minimize the amount of toxics reaching a treatment plant, the law requires manufacturers to pre-treat waste to remove chemicals, often an expensive proposition. Under the pre-treatment program, begun in the mid-1970s, EPA generally leaves it up to municipalities to police the toxic sources for compliance with EPA-approved pre-treatment plans. The audit, with findings similar to a smaller survey in in 1985, showed that 104 of the 267 plants had basically failed to implement their pre-treatment programs. The audit also said that municipalities are also hampered in the battle against toxic waste in the sewage stream by inadequate legal authority, ineffective enforcement and too little money committed to the job. ``The results are shocking,'' Frances Dubrowski, a lawyer formerly with the National Resources Defense Council, told the hearing by two Merchant Marine and Fisheries subcommittees that are taking an in-depth look at pollution of coastal waters. ``Extrapolating this data nationwide, some 500 to 900 (plants) merited enforcement for failure to implement the pre-treatment program as Congress intended,'' she said. ``Yet EPA referred only 10 enforcement cases for failing to implement pre-treatment.'' The EPA's Elder said that while increased emphasis on the toxics problem is ``making an impact, I agree we still have a lot to do.'' Ms. Dubrowski said that EPA should require treatment plants to develop local limits for 126 toxics cited by Congress in the 1987 updating of the Clean Water Act. EPA has issued requirements for only 10. She also said EPA should finally issue standards to regulate the toxic content of sewage sludge, which can contaminate groundwater if deposited in a leaking landfill. EPA missed sludge standards deadlines in 1978 and 1987, but officials say standards are in the works. Ms. Dubrowski and Reps. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., and William Hughes, D-N.J., said that EPA and the states might need to take a more active role enforcing pre-treatment requirements, rather than leaving this to municipalities. ``For a city to decide to take action against its biggest employer takes a big dose of political backbone,'' Studds said. ``But it's very clear a major part of the problem is political will at all levels of government.'' Hughes said that unless enforcement is brought against more violators of the Clean Water Act, ``it's like the drug traffickers: they don't feel a risk because the chances of their being targeted are very low.'' Shaking down shopkeepers. Taking protection money from criminals. Dealing drugs. Collecting kickbacks. Demanding bribes. This, prosecutors say, is how some municipal employees spend their days. The problem is as old as government and the prognosis for a cure is as bleak as ever. ``There's always going to be people who take advantage of the system. Eight percent of the Apostles were corrupt, and look at who screened them,'' said U.S. Attorney Andrew Maloney. Maloney displayed the latest example of his thesis last week, announcing charges that 28 current and former city health inspectors and supervisors extorted payoffs from restaurateurs by threatening sanitary law citations. The alleged scam may have been ``repellent and painful,'' as Health Commissioner Stephen Joseph said, but it was not particularly new or clever. ``It's a classic shakedown situation,'' said Maloney. It was just another in a long string of cases alleging municipal corruption in the city in recent years, ranging from high officials taking massive kickbacks to functionaries skimming or extorting cash. ``It's pretty simple: human nature and greed,'' said Kevin Frawley, the city commissioner of investigation. ``It's going after something that is tempting to you, which is an easy buck.'' The local FBI chief, James M. Fox, blamed some of the temptation on the city government itself. ``The vast majority of government workers in New York are honest and competent _ and grossly underpaid,'' Fox said. ``If you want to maintain integrity in any profession, you must pay a living wage to the employees. Government is not doing that today, and that is part of their problem.'' The end result: corruption that runs across the range of government activities. Among the most prominent is the case of Wedtech Corp., a military contractor accused of paying off state and federal politicians for favored treatment. Another is the Parking Violations Bureau case, in which some top city political leaders were convicted of taking kickbacks for contracts. But if those lead the list, it is the litany of cases that indicate the extent of corruption: _In a sting operation revealed in January, state prosecutors said court representatives stole property from the apartments of people they thought had died without family or a will. _In October, 35 workers for a company hired by the city to empty the cash from parking meters were accused of skimming nearly $1 million in quarters. _In July, authorities charged that guards at a city yard where illegally parked cars are towed took bribes to release vehicles to their owners. _In May, nine current or former maintenance workers and supervisors in the city school system were indicted in a nine-year kickback scheme; 19 people were charged in 1986. _In November 1986, prosecutors charged more than a dozen police officers at the 77th Precinct in Brooklyn with crimes ranging from selling cocaine to stealing garbage cans. _In June 1986, U.S. District Judge Leonard Wexler sentenced two former Housing Authority officials to prison for extorting kickback money. Said Wexler, ``Corruption is turning the city into a cesspool.'' Frawley, the city's in-house corruption investigator, has another view: New York corruption is no greater than in other governments or in private business, he said. But in New York, grifters get caught. ``It's a two-edged sword. You go after it vigorously, you announce arrests. And the public perception is, `Oh, well, more corruption,''' Frawley said. ``If you closed your eyes you wouldn't see it. This agency and the federal government work very hard to expose it.'' Indeed, Frawley noted that the FBI's local office has beefed up its corruption squad and the budget for his own department has doubled since 1985. ``We have a number of active investigations'' he said. Just since the restaurant inspectors arrests, the FBI's New York office has received several calls reporting graft in government, enough to persuade it to open a 24-hour hotline for corruption tips this week. ``We're looking harder than we ever have,'' said Fox. ``You say there's been a lot of cases. There are more coming.'' Allies The cease-fire pact between the Sandinistas and Contra rebels puts new pressure on the United States to hold direct talks with the Nicaraguan government _ something Washington has long refused to do. It also highlights how little progress U.S. allies in Central America have made in negotiating cease-fires under a regional peace plan. Before last week's agreement, many observers doubted the leftist Sandinistas would ever make political concessions to the U.S.-backed Contras. For years, the Sandinistas flatly refused to talk to the rebels. The Nicaraguan government insisted the only path to peace was direct negotiations with the Reagan administration, which it saw as the true instigator of the civil war. But the United States said it would only talk to the Sandinistas after they and the Contras made significant headway toward settling their differences. That headway appears to have been made and, after signing the pact Wednesday in the border town of Sapoa, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega renewed his call for direct talks with Washington. The last U.S.-Nicaragua talks were in 1984. ``Now is the time for the government of the United States to respect the force of peace and dispose itself to normalizing its relations with Nicaragua,'' he said. On Friday, however, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the administration has no plans for direct talks with the Sandinistas. ``We would be willing to talk on a multilateral, regional basis,'' he said. The Reagan Administration says it is skeptical about the Sandinista promises made in Sapoa. In the agreement, the Sandinistas promised to gradually end the more than six-year war, restore all democratic freedoms and grant amnesty to political prisoners. In so doing, Nicaragua could become the first Central American nation other than Costa Rica _ which has no war and no armed forces _ to fully comply with the accord signed Aug. 7, 1987, by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, Ortega and the presidents of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Neither El Salvador nor Guatemala, both U.S. allies, have come close to working out agreements with their leftist insurgents. Chronic guerrilla wars persist in both countries. When they began the cease-fire talks last Monday, the Contras and the Sandinistas faced intense pressure. Overt U.S. military aid to the rebels had recently ended, and President Reagan was having trouble convincing lawmakers that it should resume. The CIA has backed the Contras since 1981, but Congressional funding has been an on-again-off-again proposition. The Sandinistas faced pressure from chronic food shortages, the military draft and an economy shattered by a war that the government says has cost more than $3 billion and killed more than 50,000. The Soviet bloc supplies the Sandinistas. The Reagan administration, which contends the Sandinistas are the beachhead of a hemispheric communist threat, stopped economic aid to Nicaragua in 1981 and imposed a trade embargo in 1985. In January, the Sandinistas moved to comply with Arias' peace plan by lifting a state of emergency that had barred most basic freedoms since 1982. It resulted in the most open expressions of discontent since the leftists came to power in a 1979 revolution. There have been demonstrations, strikes, media criticism and public complaints that the Sandinistas reneged on their revolutionary pledge of democracy by becoming a Marxist regime. But Sandinista critics in Nicaragua are now praising the agreement with the Contras, in contrast to the Reagan administration's pessimism. ``Perhaps the Sandinista Front will finally comply with its word,'' said Enrique Bolanos, head of a private enterprise council. The Contras say they will resume fighting if the agreement falls through. The Sandinistas, in their newspaper Barricada, said Friday the Contra war is moving from the battleground to the political arena. It said the Contras, ``even though disarmed, continue to be armed ideologically against the popular power and its conquests.'' Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for designing the regional plan, said the Nicaraguan pact offers ``a new and firm hope that all Central Americans can live in peace.'' The regional plan is aimed at ending the wars in El Salvador and Guatemala as well as Nicaragua. It calls for political amnesties, democratic reforms, and an end to support for insurgencies _ but the key provision is the one calling for cease-fires. So far, the only one to be reached in the region is the one between the Sandinistas and the Contras, who suspended offensive military operations Monday and agreed to begin a formal 60-day cease-fire on April 1. Central American correspondent Bryna Brennan has been covering the region for The Associated Press for two years. Tens of thousands of people marched through central Rome on Saturday to call for more job opportunities for women and tougher laws against sexual abuse. Organizers estimated that 100,000 people took part in the afternoon demonstration, in which marchers slowly made their way across the city's historic center. The marchers, including large numbers of men as well as women, came from all parts of Italy by car, train and special buses. They carried banners, chanted slogans and blew whistles. The demonstration was organized by the country's three main labor federations. Their slogan was ``A job for everyone. A different kind of work. A society without violence.'' They are seeking more jobs and better conditions for women, including flexible schedules for working mothers. The groups noted that the national unemployment rate for women is 19 percent, compared with 8 percent for men, with 32 percent of women without jobs in the Mezzogiorno, the underdeveloped south. The women are also pushing for new laws against sexual violence, with the aim of making a sexual offense a crime ``against the person'' rather than a crime ``against morals'' as it is considered now. Contras President Reagan should show his support of the Nicaraguan cease-fire agreement by refraining from pushing for renewed military aid for the Contra rebels, a House Democratic leader said Saturday. ``Old policies _ like old habits _ die hard. We must resist the temptation to say `we know better' by approving military aid before the peace plan has a chance to succeed,'' Rep. Tony Coelho, D-Calif., said in the Democrats' weekly radio address. Coelho, the assistant House majority leader, said: ``The burden on President Reagan is to recognize that diplomacy works ... and make peace his highest priority.'' The president, commenting Friday on the cease-fire accord reached Wednesday, said ``there is reason to have caution'' about whether Nicaragua's Sandinista government will abide by the pact. The Sandinistas ``have a past record that indicates that we should be'' cautious, Reagan told reporters. The administration is pushing for approval of a package of humanitarian aid to the Contras before Congress recesses for Easter. Coelho said House Speaker Jim Wright of Texas is ready to schedule a vote this week. ``If our Republican colleagues help us write and pass a plan, we can speed humanitarian aid to the Contras. And the chance for a truly bipartisan policy toward Central America would be at hand,'' Coelho said. Earlier this month liberal Democrats opposed to any aid for the Contras and conservative Republicans pushing for military aid teamed to defeat a humanitarian aid bill offered by Wright. Top television series such as ``The Cosby Show'' and ``Moonlighting'' have had their seasons shortened and anxious advertisers have broken ranks to sign separate contracts as scriptwriters and commercial actors turn up the heat in their strikes. Hollywood labor's spring offensive against motion picture and television producers and advertisers has put more than 109,000 people on strike and forced more than 1,100 others out of their jobs due to the resulting shutdown of projects. The action has cost workers $4 million in lost salaries and benefits and threatened network advertising revenue by forcing early reruns. On Monday, the 9,000-member Writers Guild of America enters the fourth week of its strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Guild spokeswoman Cheryl Rhoden said Friday that informal talks were taking place between the union and producers; alliance spokesman Herb Steinberg refused comment. Meanwhile, 100,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists who work on commercials enter the second week of a strike against the Joint Policy Committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers. The actors, many of whom make their livings off commercials, and advertisers have agreed to meet April 6. Of the two labor actions, the writers strike has done the most immediate damage to the industry. Networks will be forced to show reruns as early as next month in order to save some new product for the critical May ``sweeps'' ratings period, when advertising rates for local stations are determined. Among the shows that will fall short of a full schedule this season are NBC's ``Cheers,'' short one show; ``L.A. Law,'' short two shows, and ``The Cosby Show,'' short three episodes, said David Brokaw, a spokesman for ``Cosby's'' Carsey-Werner Productions. ``It hurts,'' said Brokaw. ``Those were three scripts that weren't written, and three shows that won't be produced. And you can't make those up later.'' In addition, NBC's ``Saturday Night Live,'' ``Late Night With David Letterman'' and ``The Tonight Show'' will all be in reruns until the strike is resolved. A much-publicized 3-D sequence for ABC's ``Moonlighting'' that was to be shown during the May sweeps will not be produced. Last week's ``Moonlighting'' episode ended early, leaving the cast filling in with a lip-synched rendition of the rock oldie ``Wooly Bully.'' Stars Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis explained the script couldn't be lengthened because the writers were on strike. Also shut down on ABC is ``thirtysomething,'' one episode shy of a full season, which is usually 25 episodes. On CBS, three shows in production were affected, with replacement series ``The Dictator,'' starring Christopher Lloyd, taken off the schedule for its March 15 debut. Only six of eight shows were shot for ``Coming of Age,'' a new half-hour comedy. The new ``Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' will go ahead with at least three shows written before the strike. Daytime soap operas, usually the first affected by a talent union strike, were able to stockpile several weeks of scripts, although some could be in trouble by mid-April. On the advertising strike front, there were signs of erosion in management solidarity with separate interim contracts being signed between SAG and AFTRA and 41 advertising agencies and 42 production companies. John McGuinn, chief negotiator for the advertisers, said he had expected the interim agreements. ``When they sign P&G (Procter & Gamble, which has a massive advertising budget), I'll take note,'' he said. Writers struck over creative control, demands for a greater share of residuals for foreign-distributed products and rejection of producers' reformulation of residuals for syndicated one-hour television shows. Writers made more than $57 million in residuals last year. The two sides are so far apart that the producers claim their offer is a $50 million increase over the life of the three-year-contract, while guild officials claim it would be a $37.8 million loss. The guild says its own package would net its members an $8.7 million increase. Actors striking against advertisers want to keep a cost-of-living formula written into their contract 10 years ago, and seek a new formula for increased residuals for commercials shown on cable television. Advertisers say they have offered significant increases for all types of fees in return for surrendering the cost-of-living clause. Here is a text of the Democratic radio address delivered Saturday by Rep. Tony Coelho, D-Calif.: This is Congressman Tony Coelho. There is no harder decision in a nation's life than to abandon a failed course even at a time new policies could promise success. History is never generous in offering such moments, and it seldom selects leaders with the wisdom to seize them. But one such moment arrived late Wednesday in a Central American border town. Two hardened enemies _ the Sandinistas and the Contras _ decided to stop killing each other and signed a plan bringing political freedom to Nicaragua. America should honor this pact and their courage for signing it. The Contras showed great character simply by sitting down with the Nicaraguan government. Days before, Sandinista troops crossed the Honduran border and jeopardized the Contra's war supplies. Honoring engrained habits, the Contra leadership could easily have appealed to American anger and urged renewed military aid. This they did not do. The Sandinistas also resisted the practices of the past. When President Reagan deployed 3,200 American soldiers in support of the Hondurans, many predicted Nicaragua would break off the peace talks and ask Moscow for a fresh infusion of weapons. Such a request would have likely rendered Nicaragua's cycle of war unbreakable; its search for peace unachievable. But after six years of battle, and 40,000 Nicaraguans dead, the Sandinistas and the Contras concluded that war had become a cowardly and costly escape from the problems of peace. Instead, they negotiated an historic accord that offered a road to democracy for Nicaragua and new avenues of aid for America. The agreement provides a 60-day cease-fire, an amnesty for political prisoners, and freedom for estranged Nicaraguans to return home. It guarantees press freedom and rights for the Sandinista's opponents to run for political office. In almost every respect, this accord satisfies the concerns which prompted us to fund the Nicaragua war in the first place. The agreement bears the witness of Nicaragua's Cardinal Obando and the Organization of American States. And it assigns the United States a role to ensure fulfillment. Under its terms, we can provide strictly humanitarian aid to the Contras, providing the aid is delivered to the resistance forces by neutral parties. If it works, the agreement will take on the aspect of modern art, with Republicans and Democrats each finding in it qualities that conform to their own political agendas. Any politician who wants to claim credit will surely do so, but let's remember one central point: Nicaraguans from both sides of the civil war have closed ranks behind a blueprint for peace. And the United States will underscore their efforts or undermine the agreement depending upon how we respond. Old policies _ like old habits _ die hard. We must resist the temptation to say ``we know better'' by approving military aid before the peace plan has a chance to succeed. The burden on President Reagan is to recognize that diplomacy works, join our call to end partisanship, and make peace his highest priority. Speaker Wright wants to put the new agreement to the test. He's ready to schedule a vote on a humanitarian aid bill next week. If our Republican colleagues help us write and pass a plan, we can speed humanitarian aid to the Contras. And the chance for a truly bipartisan policy toward Central America would be at hand. At another time, at another struggle, Robert F. Kennedy said of Latin America: ``A revolution is coming _ a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough. While we cannot alter its inevitability,'' he wrote, ``we can affect its character.'' This is the moment all Nicaraguans have been waiting to seize. But in a very real sense, it is our moment too. They have pledged to bury past hatreds and forge new beginnings. We can do the same. This week, Americans welcomed the arrival of spring and prepared to observe the Easter and Passover holidays. It is a time to celebrate rebirth and redemption of people and the resurrection of a savior. It is a time for renewal. This year, in the prayers of all Americans, let us remember the struggle and the sacrifice of the Nicaraguan people, who have known too much war, too much repression, and too little freedom. Let us hope, this time that they find the peace that has eluded them for generations. Thank you, and God bless you. Here is the text of President Reagan's radio address from the White House on Saturday: My fellow Americans, this week, as our thoughts begin to turn toward Easter, the cause of peace among nations is foremost in our minds, a cause that was also at the top of our work agenda here in Washington as I received Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze at the White House. My talks with him were cordial, but, as you might expect, to the point. During Mr. Shevardnadze's stay, I announced May 29 through June 2 as the dates for my summit meeting in Moscow with the leader of the Soviet Union, General Secretary Gorbachev. And, of course, this was good news. The last U.S.-Soviet Summit in the USSR was 14 years ago. So this meeting will give me and, in a sense, you the American people, an opportunity to convey the message of peace and freedom to the Soviet people. But let me also say that while lengthy talks held between Secretary Shultz and Mr. Shevardnadze at the State Department were useful, they also made clear how difficult the issues are between the United States and the Soviet Union. Now some progress was made here and there in various areas, but there's much more that needs to be done given the importance of the topics discussed. Our agenda with the Soviet Union deals not only with arms reductions, but also regional matters, human rights, and people-to-people exchanges. And as our discussions continue in each of these areas I can assure you that the United States will sign only those agreements that are in our best interest. Let me also assure you as negotiations continue on efforts to further reduce U.S. and Soviet strategic nuclear arms, that my administration will carefully review such proposals. Still, we've come a long way in our attempts to deal with the Soviets and to further the cause of peace and freedom around the world. The next Summit will help; how much, we'll have to see. An important accomplishment of the first few summits however, will be before the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week for approval. This is the INF Treaty on intermediate-range nuclear forces that Mr. Gorbachev and I signed when he was here for the Washington Summit last December. It's an important vote, and I'm hopeful the Senate will, as it exercises its Constitutional duty, speedily approve what amounts to the first real nuclear arms reductions ever achieved. Now, some of you heard me say before that our progress with the Soviets is based on their awareness that we have no illusions about them. And on our determination to deal from a position of strength. Now, that strength means, of course, keeping our defenses ready and second to none. But it also means a strong and vigorous economy and a place for America as the world leader in trade. That's one of the other matters that is being considered in the Congress that is of critical importance. That is the legislative conference on trade legislation. Last year, there was trade legislation coming through the Congress that would have meant serious risks to America's prosperity, and indeed, the world's. Fortunately, working with our administration, Congress has made some progress in producing a sounder bit of legislation. Now, the legislation now before the conference committee still contains provisions that would restrict trade, deter investment in the United States, require mandatory retaliation that invites trade wars, and unnecessarily hamper my perogatives as President. For example, one proposal still very much alive would create an obligation for the government to help each and every company that can't keep up with legal, totally fair imports. In effect, an entitlement program for businesses that can't compete. So my hope is that the Congress will stay on course. And that we will settle on a bill that avoids the great danger of choking off international trade and slowing down economic growth. I will not sign a bill that imperils our economy and threatens growth. And by the way, that economic growth keeps coming right along. Only this week we heard that the gross national product growth for last year was four percent. Now, this was higher than our own expectations. Expectations that by the way were criticized as too rosey a scenario when we first made them. Well, the rosey scenario was even rosier than the one the critics were down on. It just shows what can happen when spending and taxes are held down, and trade is encouraged. In fact, right now much of our economy is being driven by the growth in exports that bad trade legislation would discourage. So you can see there's much on our minds this week in Washington. And before anyone looks prematurely forward to the arrival of the Easter Bunny, I hope Congress will stay focused on the important matters this week; the INF treaty, and trade legislation. Until next week, thanks for listening and God bless you. Takeovers Congressional and administration negotiators have agreed to give the president authority to block foreign takeovers of U.S. companies if the change in ownership would threaten national security. Treasury Department officials agreed Thursday to support the provision in a catch-all trade bill pending in a House-Senate conference committee, Sen. James Exon, D-Neb., said Friday. The president would not be required block a foreign takeover, ``but if anyone calls to the attention of the president a threat to national security, this bill gives the president the tool to stop it without declaring a national emergency,'' said Exon, who had proposed a similar measure that was approved by the Senate. He said he expected the House and Senate conferees to adopt the compromise on Tuesday. The administration initially opposed the proposal, fearing that the bill would chill foreign investment in the United States. The compromise would give the president or someone he designates the power to investigate a takeover or a merger when a foreign person or company is involved. The investigation would be limited to 45 days, a provision added to re-assure the business community that it wouldn't be prolonged. The president then would decide whether to intervene by issuing an executive order. During the negotiations, several changes were made at the administration's insistence, Exon said. Those changes included dropping a provision that would have allowed Congress to veto a presidential decision to block a takeover and the addition of assurances that any information obtained during the investigation from the U.S. or the foreign entity involved would be kept confidential. first name to Charley, sted Charlie, in first graf Country music singer Charley Pride says the ribbing he took as a skinny kid taught him not to be afraid of life's challenges. Pride, in town for the taping of the 20th anniversary show of television's ``Hee Haw,'' said he was often teased and told, ``You're so skinny, you ain't going to be nothing.'' The singer, now a well-built man who has won nearly every award given by the music industry, wears a gold astrological medallion of two fish swimming around the letters ``G.I.D.,'' standing for ``get it done.'' ``It's a challenge when people tell you that you can't do something,'' Pride said Friday, ``but what is it that isn't attainable? I was given incentive by my dad, who always says, `If you're going to do it, get it done.' So I had to prove something after hearing people keep saying that.'' The anniversary show of the syndicated country variety program is scheduled for Wednesday at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie. Armenians abandoned the streets of their capital to soldiers and attack dogs Saturday to protest an official crackdown that prompted activists to cancel a nationalist demonstration, dissidents said. One activist said most Armenians heeded the call to stay inside and made Yerevan look like a ghost town. ``There are no children outside, no cars on the street, no activity whatsoever except for the troops occupying the city. Yerevan is like a dead city,'' said Christian rights activist Alexander Ogorodnikov of Moscow, who said he talked to witnesses by telephone. The vast majority of people in Armenian-dominated Nagorno-Karabakh, in the neighboring republican of Azerbaijan, also refused to go outside, the dissidents' reports said. Armenians campaigning for annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh had called for protests Saturday, when an unofficial committee spearheading the drive was to meet. But authorities threatened criminal action against those taking part in illegal protests in the region south of the Caucasus Mountains. Nagorno-Karabakh has been part of the overwhelmingly Moslem Azerbaijan republic since 1923. Most Armenians are Christians, and many fear the ethnic character of Nagorno-Karabakh is being diluted. In Moscow, Armenian church official Tiran Gureghian said about 15 young Armenians gathered Saturday at a small church inside Yerevan's Armenian cemetery to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh. Gureghian said police prevented them from going into the cemetery, which had been posted with a sign advising visitors to obtain permits before entering. An Armenian telephone operator said in a phone interview that 20 to 30 people gathered near the Yerevan Opera Theater, the scene of huge demonstrations last month. The operator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that group was also talking about Nagorno-Karabakh. The operator said Armenians were disappointed that their demands for annexation had been rejected. ``They believed it would be ours. It probably won't be,'' she said. Police patrolled Yerevan's streets and helicopters crisscrossed its skies. Radio Yerevan, monitored in London, appealed for calm and restraint. Leaders of the unofficial Karabakh Committee in Yerevan had called off the strikes and demonstrations earlier in the week to avoid confrontation. But the Armenian government on Friday ordered police to ``put an end to the activities of the Karabakh Committee,'' Radio Moscow reported. Four Armenian activists were arrested Friday as authorities moved to prevent protests. Andrei Bavitsky of the dissident journal Glasnost said he was told Nagorno-Karabakh's central city, Stepanakert, was occupied by 15,000 Azerbaijani policemen on Saturday. He said residents of the region were staying indoors to protest the show of force. Local authorities said little of the situation. Someone who answered the telephone at the Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs refused to give his name and said Saturday's activity was normal. Soviet authorities have forbidden foreign correspondents to travel to the area. It was not clear how many Armenians stayed home out of fear of confronting authorities and how many stayed home to signal their displeasure. Bavitsky said he was told 60,000 troops were patrolling Yerevan, a city of about 640,000 people. A national newspaper accused the Communist Party leadership of trying to suppress the sensitive ethnic dispute. Komsomolskaya Pravda said authorities should have openly discussed the proposal with Armenians. The critical commentary in the party's youth newspaper contrasted sharply with articles Friday in the nation's two most official newspapers, Pravda and Izvestia. Despite its hard line, the Soviet Politburo has ordered a major improvement in living conditions in the region, including improved reception of Armenian-language television programming and more Armenian literature. Soviet authorities, meanwhile, allowed nationalist displays in Latvia and Estonia on Friday, activists said. They said the displays marked the anniversary of Soviet leader Josef V. Stalin's 1940 deportation of thousands of anti-communists before the Soviets took over the states on the Baltic Sea. In the Baltic, as many as 3,000 people were reported to have joined in a nationalist display in the Latvian capital of Riga and about 5,000 in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. One resident, Ints Zalitis of Riga, said human rights activists were warned against organizing mass demonstrations. He said Latvians showed up in small groups to lay flowers at a central monument, and police did not disturb those who left quickly. The official news agency Tass quoted Latvian newspapers reporting several hundred people gathered around Riga's Freedom monument to make a ``blasphemous provocation.'' Nine people were detained for trespassing and disrupting transportation, Tass said. The pastor selected to lead a group of moderate Baptists for the next year says his alliance seeks only a return to religious freedom within the fundamentalist-dominated Southern Baptist Convention, But the moderates are willing to act independently, for the time being, if necessary, said the Rev. John Thomason, elected president of the Southern Baptist Alliance at its annual meeting in Macon last week. The group celebrated its first year of existence by poking fun at itself and at the fundamentalists, but also worrying about what fundamentalist control is doing to the church. Delegates often likened the meeting to a family reunion, without the tensions that have grown up around their denomination's annual meeting. The alliance meetings ``have reminded us of former days when Southern Baptists could gather without hostility to learn together and share in the gospel ministry,'' said the Rev. Henry Crouch, who stepped down as president of the group. ``I have a home with you and do not have to explain or defend myself,'' said Anne Thomas Neil, a former missionary in Africa who was elected first vice president. Leaders of the alliance insist they do not plan to split from the 14.7-million member Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination. At the same time, however, the alliance is publishing books, setting up an office to help place moderate pastors with moderate congregations, and discussing providing Sunday school material and the possibilities of a new Baptist seminary or divinity school. ``Whenever we take specific steps like that, we are acting independently of the institutions of the Southern Baptist Convention and that gives the appearance of independence,'' said Thomason, whose 561-member Northminster Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss., was the third to join the alliance. The words of some of the speakers at the meeting appeared intended to keep open the door for flight. ``We would find it very uncomfortable to support indefinitely the present trend of (SBC) leadership,'' Crouch said in his status report to the delegates at Mercer University, a Baptist-supported school that avoided a fundamentalist takeover attempt last year. One sentence later, however, Crouch was applauded when he said, ``Pulling out has not been our goal or intention.'' Thomason admitted the words and actions don't necessarily match. But, he said, ``we have to be advocates of groups that we feel to be disenfranchised'' by the fundamentalist control of the denomination's offices. The alliance was formed in Charlotte, N.C., in February 1987 by moderates who felt shut out of their church through nine years of losing the Southern Baptist Convention presidental election to fundamentalists. Although both groups are generally conservative, they differ on key points, and victorious fundamentalists have used the presidency's broad appointive powers to put their supporters on the boards of Baptist agencies and institutions. Fundamentalists maintain that the Bible is literally, word-for-word, without error, while moderates hold there is room for interpretation, especially in historical and scientific concepts. Also, fundamentalists oppose ordination of women; the alliance has made one of its main activities welcoming female pastors. The alliance unanimously passed a resolution supporting W. Randall Lolley, who resigned as president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., rather than follow the orders of a fundamentalist-controlled board of directors that said only biblical inerrantists could be hired as professors. Another resolution decried ``restrictive understanding of Scripture,'' saying the emphasis placed on biblical inerrancy ``undermines free inquiry and diversity of opinion which have been a hallmark of Baptist life.'' Alliance leaders are quick to point out that other groups within the denomination are political, but that the alliance is philosophical, intent on upholding what it sees as Baptist principles. Many of the alliance leaders admit, however, that the convention election in San Antonio, Texas, next June may determine if moderates will retain a place in the denomination. Impeachment The two lives of Evan Mecham _ embattled governor and wheeler-dealer car salesman _ have emerged in the second act of his impeachment trial as witnesses sketch a complex saga of money, politics and family ties. Mecham, fighting to save his political life, is in his second round of testimony in the trial as the Senate considers the second of three charges. His son, Dennis, has stepped forward in a supporting role to help Mecham explain why an $80,000 loan from a protocol fund to the family car dealership wasn't illegal. The governor, admitting he was ``not enthused'' about having his personal finances spread out in public, said he was told he could use the protocol fund for practically anything he wanted. ``I never heard the words discussed, `public funds,''' said the first-term Republican who is the first U.S. governor to face an impeachment trial in six decades. The Senate is examining a charge that Mecham misused state funds by borrowing the $80,000 originally raised by his inaugural ball. When state law barred his inaugural committee from using the funds to pay off campaign debts, a ``protocol fund'' was set up instead to promote Arizona through events and gifts to visiting dignitaries. The defense contends the fund always remained private money to be used at the governor's discretion. The prosecution says it was clearly transformed into a public fund by an agreement between Mecham's inaugural chairman, William Long, and the Maricopa County attorney. The governor, whose testimony is to continue Monday, said Long told him exactly what to do with the money. ``Mr. Long said, `We have gone through all of this rigamarole and you can spend it for any damn thing that you want,' those were his words, `except you can't spend it for politics or personal living expenses,'' Mecham testified. What he used it for, the prosecution contends, was to save his auto dealership from financial disaster. They presented evidence of overdue loans and bounced checks at the car company. Mecham and his son insist that Mecham Pontiac was on sure financial footing and that Mecham's only motive for borrowing the $80,000 was to increase the fund by paying higher interest than it was getting in a bank. To evaluate the opposing views, senators were given an education in the car dealership business. At the end of a week in which they examined loan agreements and check receipts and heard about car ``floor planning'' and cars ``sold out of trust,'' the senators who sit as judges and jury appeared perplexed. ``Mr. Mecham, I'm absolutely baffled and confused!'' state Sen. Tony West told Dennis Mecham at the end of a long discourse on deeds of trust, interest rates and loan agreements. He questioned the extensive ``paper trail'' of checks linking Mecham Pontiac to assorted members of the Mecham family and an organization called Constituent Communications. Asked what that group was, Dennis Mecham, 37, who received a $15,000 loan from it, said he had no idea except ``I know my uncle Wayne controls the checkbook.'' Wayne and Willard Mecham, brothers of the governor, were among those who loaned money in a hurry when Mecham Pontiac was asked to pay back the $80,000 last Oct. 22. Dennis Mecham said the family loans were interest-free and were quickly repaid. He remembered that Mecham chief of staff Jim Colter called and said that ``a political question'' had arisen and the money had to be replaced right away. But Dennis Mecham couldn't remember until he was reminded by a prosecutor what political crisis spurred the Oct. 22 call. That was the day after Phoenix newspapers broke the story of Mecham's secret $350,000 campaign loan from developer Barry Wolfson. The charge that Mecham concealed that loan is the basis of the next count to be addressed at his impeachment trial and is the subject of felony criminal charges on which the governor and his brother Willard face trial April 21. The first count before the Senate involved allegations that Mecham tried to halt an investigation of an alleged death threat by a member of his staff. title. Picks up 20th, ```He (Barahona) ... An American photographer stood trial Saturday on drug smuggling charges and testified that his only crime was being stupid enough to let a cocaine ring dupe him into doing its dirty work. The trial of 23-year-old Conan Owen, whose case has drawn the attention of Attorney General Edwin Meese III, began and ended Saturday. The three-judge panel that took testimony for 2{ hours wasn't expected to issue a verdict for about a week. The free-lance photographer from Annandale, Va., is charged with smuggling 4.13 pounds of cocaine into Spain in a suitcase on March 13, 1987. James Kibble, a special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, testified that Owen was tricked by a drug trafficking ring into carrying the cocaine. Owen, he said, is ``innocent _ or stupid _ but innocent.'' The prosecution is asking for 10 years in prison on contraband charges and on charges Owen violated public health laws that prohibit the transport or sale of dangerous drugs. The defense contends Owen thought the suitcase only contained travel brochures, photographs and film. Owen, a 1986 graduate of Syracuse University and a former summer intern in Vice President George Bush's office, has spent the past year in Barcelona's 85-year-old Model Prison without possibility of bail. He told the court Saturday that he carried a suitcase to Barcelona from Santiago, Chile, for George Barahona, an Equadorean-born naturalized American who was living near Washington, D.C. Owen said Barahona represented himself as one of the owners of the Sorosa Travel Agency near Washington, D.C. and offered him $1,000 to take travel brochure pictures in Spain. Owen said Barahona gave him a suitcase to take with him, which he believed to contain the brochures and film. The suitcase contained $200,000 in cocaine. Owen told the court he had always obeyed the law and acknowledged he had been ``stupid _ but that is not a crime.'' Judge Jose Presencia Rubio, who heads a three-member panel hearing the case, refused to admit as evidence testimony about a polygraph test Owen took. Owen's lawyer, Ana Campa, said the test, administered by a DEA agent, indicates Owen was telling the truth when he said he knew nothing about the drug. Federal agents allege Barahona is part of a drug ring that moves cocaine from South America to Spain. On Feb. 5, Barahona pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to smuggle drugs in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. He received a two-year suspended sentence after providing information that led to the indictment of three Spaniards and three Bolivians in a conspiracy to smuggle illegal drugs. They remain at large. When Meese came to Spain to sign an annex to a 1970 extradition treaty Feb. 9, he handed over copies of Barahona's testimony to Spanish judicial authorities. Prosecutor Teresa Calvo called only two witnesses _ the paramilitary Civil Guard on duty at El Prat Airport who discovered the cocaine and the chemist who analyzed the drug as being 84 percent pure cocaine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Williams of Alexandria, Va., testified for the defense that statements obtained from Barahona following the plea-bargain arrangement indicated Owen had unwittingly taken the cocaine-laden suitcase to Spain. ``He (Barahona) specifically told us that Conan Owen had no knowledge that there was cocaine in the suitcase he carried into Barcelona airport March 13,'' Williams said. Kibble, also testifying for the defense, said he became interested in the Owen case because Owen was from the Washington, D.C. area and the DEA was investigating a cocaine-smuggling ring that operated out of northern Virginia. ``I have found that there is a group of people involved in sending drugs from South America to Spain using unsuspecting people as carriers,'' Kibble testified. ``The DEA was interested in the details Conan Owen had to tell for the conspiracy case we were working on,'' he said. Owen wore a gray suit and stood with his hands clasped behind his back when addressing the court. He spoke in Spanish with occasional assistance from a court-appointed interpreter. His parents Ernest and Raquel Owen of Annandale, Va., sat directly behind him. His 25-year-old brother Evan was also present. According to the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, as of last month there were 25 U.S. citizens in jail in Spain. Six are serving prison terms following conviction on drug-related charges, and another eight, not including Owen, are awaiting trial. There are no jury trials in Spain, and courts generally take about a week to issue verdicts. Azcona. Picks up 7th graf, `But the ... The 3,200 American soldiers sent to Honduras on an emergency mission 10 days ago are training up to the last minute before they begin an airlift home, a U.S. military spokesman said Saturday. Maj. Gary Hovatter, U.S. public affairs officer at Palmerola air base, said the troops were training at four sites throughout this country of 4.5 million people. Palmerola is about 40 miles northwest of the capital. ``We're just training down to the wire. It's nothing exotic,'' Hovatter said in a telephone interview. He said about 6,000 American soldiers currently are stationed in Honduras, including the 3,200 from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg., N.C., and the 7th Light Infantry Division at Fort Ord, Calif., who will begin the trip home Monday. President Reagan rushed the soldiers to Honduras on March 17 and 18 after Sandinista troops from neighboring Nicaragua reportedly entered Honduras in pursuit of U.S.-backed Contra rebels. The U.S. government billed the current military presence in Honduras an emergency training exercise meant both as a show of support for Honduran President Jose Azcona Hoyo and a warning to the leftist Sandinistas against further actions in the region. But the Nicaraguan government denied Sandinista troops were inside Honduras and charged that the Americans came to Honduras in order to leave behind weapons and equipment that the Contras could use. Hovatter said Saturday that three auditors from the General Accounting Office were staying at Palmerola, the headquarters for U.S. military operations in Honduras, to ensure that the all the equipment brought in by the Americans got back to the United States. The equipment includes two Sheridan tanks, a dozen 105mm howitzers, more than 100 machine guns, several thousand M-16 automatic rifles, mortars and ammunition. ``There will be a full accounting of all ammunition,'' Hovatter said. Tensions rose in the region after the American troops arrived, however, and the Honduran air force said it twice bombed the Bocay border region inside Honduras where Sandinista activity was spotted. Hovatter said Saturday the exercises here, nicknamed ``Golden Pheasant,'' have been productive because they gave American soldiers the opportunity to practice in the field. Soviet and American representatives agreed on how to defuse international tensions at a just-ended ``special session'' that marked unparalleled cooperation between the superpowers _ but it was only on paper. The Soviets and Americans were students. They met at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in a U.N. Security Council conference mock-up. Unlike their diplomatic counterparts at United Nations headquarters, they found quick solutions to delicate problems. Take the Gulf War, for instance. It took months last summer for the real Security Council to draw up a resolution with language acceptable to both superpowers. The two-day mock meeting, which ended Saturday, accomplished the same feat in just hours. The two sides at the mock session also found common ground on Southern Africa and the Israeli-occupied territories, issues that have split East and West at the United Nations for years. And unlike the normally somber, ponderous affairs at the real Security Council, the simulated meeting also generated laughter, applause and a palpable sense of enthusiasm. ``I think you can get an objective idea of the positions of different countries,'' said Vladimir Titov, a 25-year-old from the Moscow State Institute on International Relations. ``At the same time, we learn to understand each other.'' The Americans also were enthused. ``It's working beautifully,'' said Pam Burianek, 25, from Atlanta. ``We are really experiencing a great rapport with the Soviets who are here.'' Four Soviet students and four from the Fletcher School were paired to act out the negotiating and maneuvering of a Security Council meeting. They joined 22 other students from other colleges and countries to represent the 15 member nations of the Security Council. The Soviets came to the United States under a program sponsored by the U.S. United Nations Association and the United Nations Association of the Soviet Union. Spokesman Jim Muldoon of the privately funded U.S. United Nations Association suggested the event had more than symbolic significance because students later would use the lessons they had learned. ``At least on the Soviet side, many of them will be brought into the Foreign Ministry,'' he said. ``Many of the students that are at the school from elsewhere are already in their ministries.'' For Burianek, who wants to join a non-profit international organization after graduation, ``the shaking of hands, the eye contact, the upfront discussion'' will remain as impressions with ``much more educational value that something that's in books.'' Titov, who teamed up with Fletcher student Alison Avery to represent communist Bulgaria, said he was most impressed by the cooperation of the U.S.-Soviet teams despite different ideological backgrounds. ``Now I know it's possible to bridge any gap,'' he chuckled. ``Both of us are working very hard for Bulgaria here.'' The U.S. Navy Saturday escorted its 40th convoy of reflagged Kuwaiti tankers into the Persian Gulf. Followed by merchant vessels from other nations seeking informal U.S. protection against an upsurge in attacks by Iranian gunboats. A procession of as many as nine vessels, including two American warships, three U.S.-flagged tankers and at least four non-U.S. ships, slipped through the Strait of Hormuz and past the Iranian gunboat base at Abu Nusa at 11 a.m. local time, where the convoy briefly encountered an Iranian warship that steamed down the majestic line of vessels. The Navy was assigned only to accompany the ships flying the Stars and Stripes. But its presence appeared to suspend for a while the Iranian warship's radio challenges to merchant shipping that often fall victim to Iranian gunboats in the Iran-Iraq tanker war. The parade of five U.S. ships included two Kuwaiti tankers _ the 290,085-ton Middletown, a products carrier, and the 46,723-ton liquefied gas carrier Gas Princess _ and the 39,000 ton MV Courier, a U.S. Navy fuel tanker. The escort was provided by this guided missile frigate, making one of the last voyages in the gulf before returning home to Long Beach, Calif. Four unidentified tankers joined the convoy as hitchhikers as it passed through the so-called Silkworm Envelope, a 100-mile stretch of the Hormuz passage where vessels come within the 60-mile range of Silkworm anti-ship missile batteries installed by Iran a year ago but never fired. Some of the ships turned off on other courses as they cleared what Comdr. John J. Kieley III, skipper of the Reuben James, calls the ``Worm Hole.'' As the convoy approached the next perilous stretch, the waters around the Abu Musa Island base for Iranian gunboats, two more tankers lined up behind the American group. The line of vessels, with Middletown in the lead and Reuben James directly behind it, extended four miles long. Kieley, of Huntington Beach, Calif., said it was commonplace for non-U.S. flag tankers to tag along with American convoys in the narrow strait. ``But it is sometimes hard to tell whether they're actually trying to join us. Everybody has to go use the same traffic separation channels in the strait.'' As the convoy neared the Abu Musa area, the frigate peeled sharply out of its slot just behind the lead ship, Middletown, surged ahead at 25 knots and maneuvered into a position to screen the convoy from an Iranian navy ship, the Bushehr, which had turned up in the area. Issuing radio challenges to other commercial vessels to identify themselves and their destinations. Farther back in the convoy, the frigate Samuel B. Roberts did the same. As the Bushehr, a 3,100-ton supply ship, approached on the Reuben James' starboard side, Kieley radioed him to ``state your intentions.'' The Iranian replied: ``This an is Iranian warship. We are in normal patrol in this area of international waters.'' Kieley told him to ``stay clear'' of the convoy. The Bushehr held to its passing course, about two miles away. In rapid-fire sequence, an Iranian aircraft also showed up on the radar, approaching Abu Musa from about 48 miles away from the convoy. But the flurry of activity eased as quickly as it had developed. The American warships fell back in line as the Bushehr vanished behind. The approaching aircraft were identified as non-hostile. The small boats proved to be fishing craft. Vice President George Bush on Saturday picked up the support of California backers of Bob Dole, another sign that the Kansas senator's Republican presidential campaign is fading fast. The converts said they wanted to unify the Republican Party. ``It's vital to party unity that we rally around our nominee, which you appear to be,'' said Jim Nielsen, former Los Angeles area campaign leader for Dole. ``It's a very important signal for those across the country that we can bring things together,'' Bush said after receiving the pledges of support. Bush said he would keep driving for the GOP nod, despite Dole's statement Friday that the vice president's nomination appeared to be ``a forgone conclusion.'' ``I don't think there's any such thing as a free lunch,'' Bush said. Bush later toured the TRW Space and Research Center. Company officials showed Bush a high-orbit spacecraft-tracking satellite expected to be the first cargo for the renewed space shuttle program. The vice president and his wife, Barbara, will spend most of the weekend at the Rancho Mirage estate of Walter H. Annenberg, a major California Republican power and longtime friend of President Reagan. A fund-raising cocktail party for Bush was scheduled Saturday night with a target of $325,000. Gunmen killed the military commander of Yasser Arafat's Fatah guerrilla group and two bodyguards and wounded nine others in a raid on a refugee camp in south Lebanon, police reported Saturday. The commander, Farid Hourani, was killed when unidentified gunmen raked a military convoy driving through the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp on Sidon's southern flank Friday. Police initially said Hourani was killed in a shootout with gunmen who may have been members of a rival Palestinian group. They later said Hourani and Jamal Suleiman, commander of Fatah's Ein el-Hilweh Martyrs' Battalion, were on their way to arrest a guerrilla linked to drug trafficking when the convoy was ambushed. Suleiman escaped unscathed, but his brother, a Hourani bodyguard, was killed along with a second bodyguard. The bodyguards' names were not available. Ein el-Hilweh's 60,000 inhabitants went on strike Saturday to protest the killings. All shops, schools and businesses were closed in the camp, the largest in Lebanon. Angry Palestinians blocked approaches to the shantytown with burning tires and rocks. After the killing, Suleiman placed Fatah guerrillas on alert and warned of possible attacks on Arafat loyalists, who make up the majority in the camp. Many guerrillas later were seen patrolling the narrow alleys of Ein el-Hilweh. Arafat's Fatah is the largest guerrilla faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Police arrested 21 members of a banned peace group who met in a Warsaw apartment Saturday, a spokesman for the group said. Jacek Czaputowicz, leader of Freedom and Peace, said there had been no attempt to keep the meeting a secret. It was the first time police detained members of the group at such a session, he said. The meeting was of the group's national board in charge of raising money, paying legal fines and providing financial assistance for imprisoned activists, he said. A municipal official arrived with police at the apartment at about 11 a.m. and declared the meeting illegal, Czaputowicz said. Police detained everyone present, and 17 people remained in custody Saturday night, he said. Opposition activists in Poland frequently are detained for up to 48 hours on misdemeanor charges. Freedom and Peace opposes Poland's military draft and demands the right to alternative civilian service. It continues to operate even though it has been declared illegal. On Friday, Poland's National Defense Ministry Council endorsed government proposals announced earlier to permit ``alternative forms of military service.'' Czaputowicz said the detentions may be intended to show that alternative service, if it eventually becomes law, did not result from pressure from Freedom and Peace. PLO chairman Yasser Arafat said Saturday that several Arab states pressured him to accept a U.S. plan for Middle East peace, but he rejected it anyway. Arafat did not name the Arab nations but said he would ask leaders at an Arab League conference next month to renew their backing of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Arafat said his movement rejects any Middle East peace initiative that does not recognize his group as such, including the plan put forward by Secretary of State George P. Shultz. ``America still says `no' to the PLO, `no' to the Palestinians' right to self-determination, `no' to the Palestinian state, `no' to the representation of the PLO at this conference,'' Arafat declared at the news conference at his heavily guarded military headquarters near Baghdad. `` We say `no' to this American position.'' Shultz has called for interim negotiations, possibly beginning May 1, and subsequent broader peace talks aimed at settling the Arab-Israeli dispute. The discussions would be designed to return the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to Palestinian control while providing security for Israel. Shultz will travel to the Middle East next week to push the initiative. Arafat declined comment on meetings Shultz held Saturday in Washington with two members of the Palestine National Council, the PLO's parliament in exile. U.S. officials refuse to meet members of the PLO, which they view as a terrorist group. The Americans launched their effort after anti-Israeli violence erupted in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in December. Arafat, who arrived in Baghdad on Friday after visits to several Arab capitals, said Saturday he will push the Arab summit conference to support the cause of the Palestinian protesters. The 22-nation Arab League was expected to hold its session in either Tunisia or Algeria sometime next month. No date was set. Former President Carter applauded Secretary of State George Shultz's meeting Saturday with two American members of the Palestine Liberation Organization's legislative body and said, ``He should have met with them long ago.'' Israeli officials angrily charged that Shultz was violating a longstanding U.S. commitment not to ``recognize or negotiate'' with the PLO as long as it refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist. But Carter said Shultz ``is not violating anything.'' Shultz conferred for one hour with the two Palestinian-Americans at the State Department to hear their views on Shultz's latest Middle East peace plan. The two professors, Edward Said of Columbia University and Ibrahim Abu Lughud of Northwestern University, are members of the Palestine National Council, the PLO's parliament-in-exile. State Department spokesman Charles Redman stressed that Said and Lughud are U.S. citizens who did not characterize themselves as PLO members. He said the meeting was ``not a negotiation'' but ``a very useful exchange of views'' that represented no change in U.S. policy toward the PLO. Carter, interviewed at a luncheon of business and government officials at Gannett Co. Inc. headquarters in suburban Arlington, Va., said he knew Said and Lughud personally. ``They are very constructive in nature,'' Carter said. ``They're American citizens. They're not radicals.'' ``We don't have any obligation not to meet with Palestinian leaders,'' the former president said. ``The obligation we have is not to recognize the PLO officially and not to negotiate with the PLO. And Secretary Shultz is not violating any commitment.'' Carter said Shultz ``should have met with them long ago'' as part of the Reagan administration's efforts to arrange Arab-Israeli peace talks. He said he hoped that Shultz's ``belated effort'' will succeed. Carter endorsed Shultz's proposal for a preliminary international conference on the Middle East convened by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council _ the United States, the Soviet Union, China, Britain and France. Under Shultz's plan, a joint Jordanian and Palestinian delegation would attend the conference with Israel and other Mideast parties. Carter said such a conference is favored by the leaders of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, ``the overwhelming number of Palestinians and half the Israelis.'' If such a conference were held, Carter predicted, the Arab and Israeli leaders would be ``very moderate and constructive in their presentation'' because ``it would be their one chance to have the world listening to their best arguments.'' The former president, who has conferred extensively with Middle East leaders since he left the White House in 1981, also endorsed Shultz's call for direct Arab-Israeli peace talks after the international conference, with the aim of finding a way to grant self-rule to the 1.5 Palestinian Arabs living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Carter said deadlocks in bilateral talks between Israel and its Arab neighbors could be referred to a wider conference for discussion of ``new ideas.'' He said the Security Council members would be charged with guaranteeing enforcement of any Mideast settlement and, together with such wealthy nations as Japan and Saudi Arabia, would help finance the substantial costs of a settlement. Carter estimated those costs at about $15 billion over five years. Carter said a peace settlement won't be easy to achieve, but he insisted that ``the potential is there'' for accommodations on both sides. He warned that ``it is almost impossible to break down these barriers without a firm and persistent commitment from Washington, and that's what we have been missing for the last seven years'' under President Reagan. ``It may be that Secretary Shultz's belated effort will be successful,'' Carter said. ``I sincerely hope and pray that it will.'' The state Senate voted to designate the cranberry muffin the state muffin, then showed fourth-grade pupils who proposed the idea how difficult politics can be. A senator who said he had little taste for the idea added an amendment likely to make the measure unpalatable to Gov. Tommy G. Thompson. The amendment, approved Friday night on a voice vote by bemused senators, would designate the Egg McMuffin the state breakfast muffin and the ragamuffin the state's child muffin. Sen. Mordecai Lee sponsored the amendment after calling the cranberry-muffin campaign was a waste of legislative time. The Legislature then adjourned its winter session early Saturday without Lee's amendment being considered by the Assembly. The bill, introduced last year at the request of a class from Merrill that traveled to the Capitol as a class project to lobby, was left in limbo. No knees is bad news, say eight male students who wore miniskirts to protest a ban on shorts. ``I would like to know what is wrong with the boys' knees?'' said Alicia Williams, mother of Kennith Miller, sent home from Jacksonville High School on Friday along with classmates who wore miniskirts with hems a few inches above their knees. ``And why are they enforcing the dress code (on boys) when girls can wear skirts up to their (hips)?'' she continued. ``If girls can show their legs, why can't boys?'' Principal James Johnson said the school's dress code allows skirts, but bars shorts and halter tops. He said he sends home any girl who wears a miniskirt that is too short or revealing, but that he has bent the rules by allowing male students to wear ``jams,'' or shorts that end below the knees. Ms. Williams said the style nowadays is to wear jams at knee level or a little above. The boys said they thought their protest was a humorous way to make a point. ``I don't find it humorous at all,'' Johnson said. ``They were interfering with the educational process ... parading around and disrupting classes.'' Johnson said the protest hurt his feelings. The boys should have talked to him about the problem before wearing skirts to school, he said. The producers of the action-adventure movie ``Burning Vengeance'' wore their low-budget label proudly as they arrived here for the world premiere. Ron and Susana Ross showed up at Jake's Theater in a horse-drawn carriage, which rents by the hour in this historic coastal city. It carried a home-made sign calling it the ``R.S.R. Productions Executive Limo.'' ``We're just going to have some fun with this,'' Mrs. Ross said. The line outside the theater Friday night was a fashion hodge-podge of tuxedos and tennis shoes, sequins and sweatpants. The 80 local actors and technicians who filmed the movie in Wilmington last November were treated to a dinner with entrees labeled ````Burning Vengeance' Blackened Snapper'' and ``Flaming Ron Ross Tempura Shrimp Platter.'' Before the lights went down, the Rosses presented Golden Pentz Awards _ named in honor of the film's star, Robert Pentz of Carolina Beach. Categories included ``Best Actor with Ability to Grunt in Three Languages While Being Choked to Death'' and ``Best Performance by an Actor Wearing Tight Jeans Without Appearing to be in Pain.'' ``The main criteria for winning the Golden Pentz is how cheaply you said you'd work on the next picture,'' said Ross, who filmed ``Burning Vengeance'' for $350,000. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has awarded 14 grants totaling $4.4 million to support programs aimed at boosting childhood literacy and parent involvement in education. John E. Corbally, president of the Chicago-based foundation, said the grants, to be formally announced Tuesday, are designed to address problems outside the classroom that can determine whether children considered at risk of failure eventually can succeed in school. Such children, he said, often fail because schools don't meet their needs or because they lack parental support. The grants include: _$750,000 to Ohio State University to support a program to help Ohio grade-school children with early reading difficulties. _$733,000 for a four-year matching grant to the National Academy of Sciences to develop science units for use in elementary schools. _$700,000 to Brandeis University to support its ``Career Beginnings Program,'' which uses college and community mentors to help low-income students complete school and find jobs. _$500,000 to the National Committee for Citizens in Education to support ``ACCESS,'' the Columbia, Md.-based group's education information clearinghouse. _$424,900 to the Domestic Policy Association in Dayton, Ohio, to support adult literacy programs. _$400,000 to the College Board to support its ``Reading, Thinking and Concept Development'' project, which will develop and distribute video and print material to foster learning skills in elementary and middle-school students. _$400,000 to Work in America Institute Inc. in Scarsdale, N.Y., to support a two-year study on how to create home environments conducive to learning. _$150,000 to help support and expand KIDSNET, in Washington, D.C., the nation's only database listing audio, video, radio and television programs for children. _$90,000 to Applied Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences Inc. in San Diego to support research on how parents contribute to educational skills of their children. _$83,000 to the National Alliance of Business Inc. in Washington, D.C., to support projects including development of school-business partnerships in 12 cities to help at-risk students. _$80,000 to the Council for Basic Education to prepare and distribute a report on learning standards for students promoted from elementary school. _$50,000 to Designs for Change, in Chicago, to support a study analyzing the effectiveness of advocacy groups in boosting achievement in urban schools. _$25,000 to the University of Washington, in Seattle, to support research aimed at improving teacher training. _$15,000 to Citizens Education Center Northwest in Seattle to support a project aimed at assisting Hispanic farmworkers in helping their preschool children make a successful transition to public school. Local elections in Lagos state, rescheduled after authorities annulled the results of balloting in December, were completed Saturday without violence, officials reported. ``Everything has been orderly and peaceful. This is evidence that the National Electoral Commission has learned a lot from the mistakes of the December exercise,'' said Vice Adm. Augusut Aikhomu. Aikhomu, No. 2-man in the military government, toured voting centers Saturday. The News Agency of Nigeria said 10,000 police were deployed at the 7,000 polling centers in the state. Local elections had been held across the country Dec. 8. The electoral commission said the voting in most areas went smoothly, but it canceled the results in Lagos state saying there was disorganization, including the late delivery of ballots, indications of fraud and street disturbances. Voters elected members of local councils. National Electoral Commission spokesman Tonnie Iredia told reporters Saturday's voting was better organized than in December, but the turnout was lower. He gave noi figures. Some people said their names were not on the lists of eligible voters at polling centers, but Aikhomu dismissed their complaints. He said all lists had been posted at centers in advance of the voting and there was adequate time for eligible voters to have the lists corrected. The government of President Ibrahim Babangida had vowed the elections in Africa's most populous nation would be conducted without violence and fraud. Gen. Babangida, head of state since a coup in August 1985, has said Nigeria will return to civilian rule by 1992. A life of privilege and promise came to an end Saturday as Robert Chambers left his comfortable Manhattan home for the city jail to await sentencing for killing a teen-age girl during a Central Park tryst. Shortly after 10 a.m. under gray and rainy skies, the 21-year-old Chambers and his lawyer rushed past a horde of reporters outside his Upper East Side apartment and sped away in the back of a black limousine. Chambers was processed at Manhattan Criminal Court and then delivered early Saturday afternoon to the hospital at Rikers Island where he will be held in protective custody until his formal sentencing April 15. Defendants in cases that have received wide publicity are routinely segregated from the city jail's general population and held in the hospital, said Ruby Ryles, spokeswoman for the city Correction Department. After sentencing, Chambers will be transferred to the state prison system. Chambers reluctantly pleaded guilty Friday to first-degree manslaughter, bringing a surprise end to his murder case. Throughout 10 weeks of trial, he had insisted he killed 18-year-old Jennifer Dawn Levin accidentally during a rough sexual encounter in Central Park early on the morning of Aug. 26, 1986. The case, with its elements of fast-lane lives of easy sex, drugs and drink, offered a glimpse into the lifestyle of some of the city's most privileged youth. Chambers, a former altar boy and preparatory school graduate, and later a college dropout and drug addict, had been charged with second-degree murder in Miss Levin's death. But he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge Friday evening and admitted he had intended to hurt Miss Levin the night he killed her. The plea, proposed by Chambers' lawyer Jack Litman, was part of a deal that included burglary charges against Chambers and calls for a sentence of five to 15 years in prison. The bargain was justified by the district attorney's office because the jury appeared headed for a deadlock after nine days of deliberations. One of the jurors, Michael Ognibene, expressed ``great relief'' at having the trial over Saturday. ``I'm satisfied,'' said Ognibene, who works for an international banking concern. ``To me it proves the justice system works.'' pickup. Iraq on Saturday admitted losing ground to Iran in a major battle in its strategic northeast, and it reopened a deadly duel of the cities by firing two missiles into Tehran. Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, assembled by President Saddam Hussein, acknowledged Baghdad had lost land to an Iranian offensive, which Iran claims has resulted in 11,500 Iraqi casualties. The battle region is about 80 miles east of the Kirkuk oilfields, which produce about 1.5 million barrels of oil a day _ more than half Iran's daily output. Despite the losses, the Iraqi command said it was resolved to fight ``with all available weapons'' until Tehran agrees to settle the 7{-year-old war. Tehran's official Islamic Republic News Agency, also monitored in Nicosia, said one Iraqi projectile hit an orphanage and the other roared into a residential neighborhood. It reported seven civilians killed. The official Iraqi News Agency quoted an unidentified military spokesman Saturday as vowing to ``level their (Iran's) cities.'' In the Persian Gulf, U.S. warships were escorting reflagged Kuwaiti tankers in the 18th convoy of the year, part of an operation to protect the Kuwaiti vessels from Iranian attacks. Iraq has fired 112 long-range missiles into Tehran and Qom, seat of Iran's religious hierarchy, in a missile duel that has killed hundreds of civilians. Tehran says it fired 43 such projectiles into Baghdad and dozens into other Iraqi cities since Feb.29. In the offensive, the Iranian agency said Iranian fighter-bombers attacked Iraqi ground troops Saturday while Iranian Revolutionary Guards thrusted into the Kurdistan mountains. Iranian communiques said Revolutionary Guards advancing into northeastern Iraq have also seized control of the eastern shore of Lake Darbandikhan. A hydroelectric dam on the lake provides power for most of the region. The Iranians claim they have killed or wounded 11,500 Iraqis, captured 4,500 and destroyed 200 tanks and armored vehicles since they launched the offensive March 16. They say their troops have moved 10 miles into Iraq. Meanwhile, other Iranian warplanes heavily bombarded Iraqi troops around the strategic southern port of Basra, Iran said. It was the third straight day the Iranians have hit that area. An estimated 250,000 Revolutionary Guards and volunteers have massed east of Basra in past weeks for a long-expected offensive. Baghdad Radio reported three Iranian warplanes, all U.S.-built F-5s, were shot down as they tried to bomb targets in the embattled Kurdistan province on Saturday. The Iranian news agency reported a Soviet-built Iraqi Sukhoi SU-22 was downed Saturday. Iraq also hinted it may have used chemicals weapons that Iran claims killed about 5,000 Iraqi Kurds during the offensive. Many Kurds have long fought the Baghdad government for autonomy, and Iran claimed it had ``liberated'' their communities before the attack. ``Iraq has the determination and power to use all available weapons to crush the invaders,'' its command council announced Saturday in a veiled response to international condemnation of any use of poison gases. The United Nations has said it will send a team of experts to investigate the reported Iraqi use of the weapons, outlawed under a 1925 Geneva agreement. Iran agreed late Friday to send an envoy to the United Nations for indirect peace talks with the Iraqis. But a top Iranian official said he was pessimistic about the outcome. In the gulf, the guided missile frigates Reuben James and Samuel B. Roberts escorted the 290,085-ton supertanker Middletown and the 46,723-ton gas carrier Gas Princess into the gulf. The 35,663-ton Courier, a Navy tanker, was sailing with them. The trip north to Kuwait usually takes about two or three days. The convoys began last July after Kuwait re-registered 11 of its tankers in the United States. Iran accuses Kuwait of aiding Iraq in the war. comment; picks up 11th graf pvs, In what Secretary of State George P. Shultz, trying to invigorate a Mideast peace plan, met Saturday with two members of a group affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization and will travel to Israel and four Arab countries next week to push the initiative. Shultz will arrive in Jerusalem April 3 for talks with Israeli leaders and move on to Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt before returning to Washington on April 8, State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman said. ``We're intensely involved in this process and we're going to continue to push forward to do everything we can,'' Redman said. Asked if there had been any progress in getting other nations' approval of the plan since Shultz returned from his last trip, March 5, Redman asserted, ``no one has said no; our proposal is still on the table, people are actively and seriously considering it.'' Shultz's return trip ``will give us a chance to continue to do what it is we've been trying to do, which is to see if we can be helpful in getting this this Middle East peace process underway,'' Redman said. He said Shultz decided to make the trip Friday night after meeting his chief Mideast envoy, Philip Habib, who recently toured the area. The U.S. initiative calls for interim negotiations beginning perhaps by May 1 and eventually more intensive talks designed to return the West Bank and Gaza to Palestinian control and to assure security for Israel. While none of the countries in the region has rejected the plan outright, they have all expressed dissatisfaction with some of the proposals. One of the stickiest points has been arranging for representatives of the Palestinians to take part in the talks. The Palestinians want to be represented by the PLO, but Israel will not meet that group and there also is a U.S. law against dealing with the PLO, which the United States has declared a terrorist organization. The United States has sought to find representatives who would be acceptable to both sides and include them in a Jordanian delegation to any talks. PLO chairman Yasser Arafat told a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq, meanwhile, that he rejected pleas by several Arab states to accept the Shultz plan because it does not recognize his organization as spokesman for the Palestinians. ``America still says `no' to the PLO, `no' to the Palestinians' right to self-determination, `no' to the Palestinian state, `no' to the representation of the PLO at this conference,'' Arafat said. ``We say `no' to this American position.'' In what appeared to be a bow toward the Palestinians, Shultz invited two American members of the Palestine National Council _ the PLO's self-described legislative arm _ to an hour-long meeting at the State Department Saturday. Israeli officials denounced the talks as a violation of a U.S. commitment not to meet with the PLO. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir had protested the meeting to U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, negotiator on Mideast problems. The guests, Edward Said, a Columbia University professor and Ibrahim Abu Lughud of Northwestern University said they complained to Shultz about Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where 111 Arabs have been killed in recent demonstrations. ``One of the major aspects of our interest in seeing Secretary Shultz was to relate to him directly as Palestinians our extraordinary unhappiness, our anger at the repressive measures taken by Israel,'' Said told reporters. ``We also made clear to the secretary that all Palestinians regard the United States as directly involved in the repression since it is clear to everyone that the United States supports Israel and supplies it militarily and economically to an unprecedented degree,'' he said. He and Lughud also reiterated the Arab view that the PLO, headed by Arafat, is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Both Redman and the two PNC members were repeatedly asked by reporters after the meeting if they considered Shultz's invitation a deviation from the U.S. policy of not dealing with the PLO. ``These gentlemen did not characterize themselves as members of the PLO,'' Redman said. He said the meeting did not represent a change in U.S. policy and he stressed the fact that the visitors are U.S. citizens. ``This was not a negotiation,'' he said. ``This was a very useful exchange of views as far as the secretary was concerned. The secretary of course explained our proposal and what it is we're trying to accomplish in working with the parties in trying to advance the peace process.'' The visitors agreed that they were not negotiators or designated representatives of the PLO. At the same time, they likened the Palestine National Council to a national congress and said it plays an important role in PLO decision-making. They also said they had been in contact with Arafat about the meeting. ``This is probably one of the rare times that the secretary of state in practice is dealing with Palestinians in exile and therefore the message that ought to be understood by this is that there is a Palestinian people, irrespective of location that must be involved in the peace-making process,'' Lughud said. Before heading to Israel next Sunday, Shultz will spend the weekend in Rome, meeting Italian officials and taking part in Easter celebrations. for general strike; edits to tighten. Pick up 21st graf pvs: An Arab... Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in a West Bank clash Saturday and another died of wounds suffered earlier. The Israel-appointed mayor of Gaza City offered to resign in response to a PLO demand. The army said nine other Palestinians were wounded by gunfire in clashes on the West Bank. Israeli officials protested a meeting between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and two officials from the Palestine National Council, the Palestine Liberation Organization's parliament-in-exile. Arab reporters in the Gaza Strip said troops continued a pattern of overnight arrests in an attempt to choke off demonstrations planned for Palestinian ``Land Day'' on March 30. On that date in 1976, Israeli gunfire killed six Arabs during rioting against the forced purchase of 1,500 acres of Arab-owned land by Israeli authorities.Leaders of the Israeli Arabs called for a general strike to commemorate the day, Israel Radio said. Meanwhile, police closed predominantly Arab east Jerusalem to vehicles from the occupied territorites. Only local residents, United Nations personnel and foreigners were allowed to drive in, Israel TV reported. Arab reporters said there were arrests in the Jabalia, Nuseirat and Breij refugee camps. The army had no comment on the arrest reports. The army said villagers in Kafr Thulth, 28 miles northwest of Jerusalem, erected roadblocks, burned tires and surrounded an army force, attacking it with metal bars, rocks and bottles. It said troops fired at the crowd after it failed to respond to warning shots, killing two Arabs and wounding others. The Arab-run Palestine Press Service identified the dead as 19-year-old Majed Hussein Deeb and Hawad Qassem Ibrahim, 30. Officials at Nablus' Al Ittihad Hospital said Ayed Salah, 21, of nearby Zawata village, died at 4 a.m. of gunshot wounds to his spinal cord and liver suffered on Friday. The army confirmed the death. Israel Radio quoted a military source as saying troops shot Salah while trying to disperse Arabs who blocked the Nablus-Tulkarm highway with burning tires. Another Arab was wounded, it said. According to U.N. figures, 114 Palestinians have been killed since unrest erupted Dec. 8 in territories captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war. Demonstrators in several occupied cities demanded the resignation of municipal councils, following the lead of a clandestine PLO leaflet calling for Saturday to be ``the day of struggle against municipal councils and appointed village councils.'' The Israeli-appointed Gaza City mayor, Hamza Turkmani, offered his resignation and expected a reply later in the week, according to knowledgeable municipal officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity. In the West Bank town of El Bireh, Arab protesters marched to the municipal building and demanded the resignation of council members. Troops responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, the Palestine Press Service said. In Bethlehem, slogans painted on the walls called for the resignation of municipal council members. An Associated Press reporter saw about 70 youths fling rocks at soldiers and at the muncipal building, which faces the traditional site of Jesus' birth across Manger Square. Troops fired rubber bullets, then warning shots in the air. An Arab reporter said troops used tear gas and rubber bullets in a clash with about 150 young Palestinians who marched through the Gaza Strip village of Beit Hanoun carrying banners demanding the village council resign. The reporter also said troops forced closure of shops along Gaza City's central Omar el Mukhtar street, which was blocked with rocks and burning tires. The State Department announced that Shultz would return to the Middle East April 3 to continue campaigning for his Arab-Israeli peace plan, which was denounced in Baghdad by PLO chairman Yasser Arafat. Arafat told reporters the PLO rejects any Middle East peace initiative that does not recognize the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. Shultz on Saturday discussed the plan with Edward Said and Ibrahim Abu-Lughud, two Palestinian-American university professors who belong to the legislative arm of the PLO. Arafat declined comment on the meeting. The U.S. envisions Israel exchanging land to the Palestinians for peace. Israeli Ambassador Moshe Arad protested that the meeting violated a 13-year-old U.S. commitment to avoid talks with PLO officials. The State Department maintains that Palestine National Council members are not necessarily PLO officials. jury investigating Rochon's charges; picks up 17th graf pvs, Rochon's lawsuit Black FBI agent Donald Rochon, an alleged victim of racial discrimination at the hands of fellow agents, was also victimized by bureaucratic foot-dragging and a possible cover-up by federal criminal investigators looking into the case, his lawyer says. Rochon's story of racial harassment _ portions of which have been upheld by an administrative judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and an adjudication officer at the Justice Department _ has been widely publicized. Another part of his story that also could prove damaging for the government is how Rochon's supervisors at the FBI and officials at the Justice Department allegedly failed to aggressively follow up his complaints. A Justice Department spokeswoman, Deborah Burstion-Wade, declined comment Saturday on the specifics of Rochon's allegations, saying the department is investigating the case. But she did say that ``it is not unusual for any thorough investigation to take'' months to complete. Rochon's lawsuit against FBI and Justice Department officials says that in early 1986 he was unable to persuade his superiors at the FBI office in Chicago to investigate as a criminal matter death threats he had received from fellow agents. The suit alleges that he received anonymous obscene letters threatening him with mutilation and death and threatening his wife with sexual assault. The suit also charges that a fellow agent forged Rochon's name on an application for an insurance policy covering death and mutilation. Rochon also has said he received a picture of a badly beaten black man in his office mail, and that a picture of a monkey or ape was pasted over the faces of his children in a photograph that he kept on his desk. FBI Director William Sessions has characterized Rochon's complaints about harassment as ``extremely serious'' and said that racial discrimination ``has absolutely no place in the FBI and will not be tolerated.'' Rochon alleges in his suit that he was assured at one point that his complaints were being followed up, but that he soon found out otherwise. In frustration, in April 1986 Rochon went outside the FBI, sending a packet of material concerning alleged racial harassment at the Chicago FBI office to the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility. Two months later, the office referred Rochon's allegations to the Justice Department's civil rights division. To determine whether criminal action would be appropriate, the division's criminal section asked the FBI to launch a criminal investigation of Rochon's claims. The ensuing FBI probe was ``a paper review,'' Rochon's attorney, David Kairys, said in an interview. In a court filing this month, the Justice Department said the FBI conducted 75 interviews in its criminal probe. But Kairys says he was told that all of the interviews were conducted last summer following an EEOC decision that declared that Rochon had indeed been discriminated against when he served in the Omaha, Neb., FBI office in 1983 and 1984. ``This investigation it seems clear was a sham from the start,'' Kairys said. ``They never took the allegations seriously and they never intended to really investigate and only started interviewing people when they faced extreme embarrassment.'' It wasn't until last December, the month after Rochon sued FBI and Justice Department officials, that the FBI referred its evidence in the criminal probe back to the civil rights division. At about that time, the Justice Department initiated a grand jury investigation of Rochon's complaints. Rochon's lawsuit says the Justice Department and the FBI used the criminal probe as a basis to sidetrack two administrative complaints Rochon had pending before the EEOC in connection with alleged discrimination while he was serving at the Chicago office. Rochon got a letter from an FBI official saying that the Justice Department's civil rights division didn't want interviews in the administrative proceedings taking place while the criminal investigation was under way. The FBI suspended action on the administrative EEOC matters regarding Rochon's service in the Chicago FBI office. ``No further action will be taken concerning the processing of your complaints until such time as we are advised to proceed'' by the civil rights division, an FBI official wrote Rochon in August 1986. In its court filing this month, the Justice Department said that ``as a matter of standard business practice, the criminal section (of the Justice Department's civil rights division) seeks to ensure the integrity of potential criminal proceedings by requesting that civil investigations be stayed if they relate to the same events that are the subject of the criminal proceedings.'' Court rulings say that certain compulsory statements taken from law enforcement personnel in administrative proceedings could not be used in subsequent criminal proceedings against them. Evidence presented in a New Jersey court that cigarette makers were aware up to 40 years ago that smoking might cause cancer and other ailments will lead to a flood of tobacco-liability cases, attorneys said Saturday. The attorneys, including one involved in the New Jersey trial, said they expected the documents would lead to the first verdict against a tobacco company in a product-liability case. And now that the documents are a matter of public record, their availability will substantially reduce the cost of pretrial proceedings in other cases, the attorneys said. ``This is a product that is as dangerous as alcohol and as addictive as heroin,'' said Professor Richard Daynard of the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University. ``The evidence shows that.'' The project, which assists attorneys involved in suits against tobacco companies, brought together lawyers involved in more than 100 tobacco liability cases nationwide as part of its fourth anniversary conference. A lawyer for cigarette maker Philip Morris Cos., one of the defendants in the New Jersey case, said Daynard and other attorneys at the conference were taking the documents out of context. The attorney, Charles R. Wall, also criticized the group for discussing them while the New Jersey was still under way. ``These issues will be decided in the courtroom where they should be decided,'' Wall said. ``We disagree that there has been proof that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer.'' Daynard and others at a Northeastern news conference said past cases blaming smoking for deaths have failed because of insufficient evidence that tobacco companies knew smoking was or possibly was a health hazard. The documents gathered for the New Jersey trial include internal tobacco industry memos dating back to 1946 in which researchers for cigarette makers discuss growing evidence of a link between smoking and lung cancer and heart and respiratory problems. They also include verification that cigarette makers developed less dangerous cigarettes, and memos in which the companies are advised that marketing those products would amount to an admission that other cigarettes were dangerous. Don Davis, an attorney in a Mississippi tobacco-liability case that ended in a mistrial in January, said he hopes to use some of the documents as evidence at the retrial. William Townsley, a lawyer from Beaumont, Texas, called on Congress to investigate the tobacco industry. He charged that cigarette makers flouted laws that require manufacturers to warn consumers of hazards or potential hazards of their products. Wall maintained that tobacco industry documents discussing possible health risks were part of industry reviews that contained conflicting opinions. ``I don't believe these documents are incriminatory in any way,'' he said. ``They show that the industry was concerned about the charges against the product.'' Alan Darnell, one of the attorneys representing the estate of Rose Cipollone in the New Jersey suit against three cigarette makers, said the tobacco industry has a history of funding new studies of the harmful effects of smoking to create the impression that the link between smoking and health problems is inconclusive. ``They did worse than doing nothing,'' he said. ``What they did was a sham.'' The Cipollone case is expected to go to the jury in May. She died of lung cancer in 1984 at the age of 58 and had smoked for 40 years. Angolan forces repelled a South African attack on the southern town of Cuito Cuanavale, killing 18 black South African soldiers and destroying four tanks, the official Angolan news agency said Saturday. ANGOP quoted an unidentified Angolan military source as saying South Africa used artillery, jet fighters, helicopters and mortars in a drive that began March 18 and lasted until Wednesday. Cuito Cuanavale, 188 miles north of Angola's border with South African-ruled South-West Africa, also known as Namibia, has been under sporadic attack by South African forces and Angolan rebels since December. Angola's Marxist government has said the South Africans were trying to seize the town's air strip to provide them with a staging post for launching attacks further north. Recent news reports said South African forces have moved west and north of Cuito Cuanavale in an effort to outflank Angolan government forces and Cuban soldiers defending the town. The ANGOP report, monitored in Lisbon, said the South African drive was repelled by government forces who also captured artillery shells, other ammunition and documents. It said 18 black South African soldiers were killed in the latest fighting, but did not specify if they were from South Africa or Namibia. Angola usually refers to troops from both countries as South Africans. The main Angolan rebel group, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, has been fighting since Angola gained its independence from Portugal in 1975 to force the Cuban- and Soviet-backed government to share power. South Africa and the United States support the rebels. Sometimes it's hard to tell who's really on trial in the federal racketeering case against Rep. Mario Biaggi, D-N.Y., and six other men. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato and Rep. Robert Garcia aren't on trial _ or even charged with wrongdoing _ but a key prosecution witness spent much of last week telling jurors how he made at least $30,000 in illegal campaign contributions to D'Amato and helped pay $80,000 to Garcia. Attorney General Edwin Meese III isn't on trial either, but the witness _ former Wedtech Vice Chairman Mario Moreno _ also testified the company paid an additional $800,000 to a close friend and former lawyer of the attorney general ``for his influence with Ed Meese.'' Defense lawyers, in their cross-examination of Moreno, have hammered at his admitted illegal acts in their effort to prove that Wedtech ``corrupted an entire administration'' and didn't need to bribe Biaggi for his help. Biaggi, his eldest son, his law partner and four others are charged with turning Wedtech, a South Bronx defense contractor, into a racketeering enterprise that paid out millions of dollars to obtain and then hold onto government contracts. Wedtech, currently in bankruptcy proceedings, grew from a small machine shop into a $100-million-a-year business through a series of no-bid contracts set aside for minority-controlled companies. Moreno has linked the defendants to numerous payoff and fraud schemes and also admitted personally stealing $1.5 million in company funds. Moreno is among four ex-Wedtech officials cooperating with the government in return for leniency on state and federal charges to which they pleaded guilty. A D'Amato spokesman branded Moreno's testimony ``ridiculous,'' and prosecutors have said the senator will testify for the government. The prosecution contends that Biaggi enlisted the help of D'Amato and other politicians to help secure no-bid contracts for Wedtech, then extorted millions of dollars in Wedtech stock as a payoff. Moreno claimed Wedtech paid $80,000 to Garcia at the request of the congressman and his wife for ``political favors and political introductions.'' Garcia later denied the allegation through a spokesman. Moreno also testified that Wedtech paid $800,000 to San Francisco lawyer E. Robert Wallach, a close friend of the attorney general, ``for his influence with Ed Meese.'' According to the witness, Wallach said he had gotten Meese, then presidential counselor, to intercede for Wedtech in contract negotiations with the Pentagon and Commerce Department. Moreno also said he and another Wedtech official offered Wallach $200,000 to fix the Wedtech investigation. Wallach said ``he would take a look and told us we were not going to go to jail,'' Moreno testified, adding that Wallach never got back to them and the money was never paid. Moreno also said Wedtech paid: $130,000 to two Bronx bankers in early 1984 for helping the company obtain a $500,000 cash loan _ at $150,000 interest over three months _ from a Bronx businessman; an additional $15,000 to a Manhattan banker Manhattan banker who helped them launder the $500,000 cash; $10,000-$15,000 over six years to a a manager at Consolidated Edison, a local utility, ``to have Con Edison on our side whenever we needed it''; and $100,000 to two Teamsters officials in 1985 to settle a dispute with another union. The witness will continue his testimony Monday. President Miguel de la Madrid on Saturday said indirectly that the United States is meddling in Panama's internal affairs by trying to oust Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega. ``We urge that through reflection and dialogue it be the Panamanian people who determine their political future,'' de la Madrid said. He spoke at a news conference after reviewing the situation in Central America during two days of talks in this Caribbean resort with Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo. Although de la Madrid did not mention the United States by name, his references to Reagan administration efforts in Panama were clear. ``We two presidents (de la Madrid and Cerezo) are very worried by the present situation, in which Panama is suffering destabilization,'' he said. ``Of course we condemn any foreign intervention that aims at destabilizing (Panama) and interfere in political matters that are the sole concern of the Panamanian people,'' he added. The Reagan administration has frozen all Panamanian funds in the United States, causing a huge cash shortage in Panama. It has called on Noriega to step down as the commander of Panama's 15,000-member Defense Forces. Noriega is under U.S. indictments in Florida accused of drug trafficking and money laundering. In a joint communique issued earlier in the day, the two presidents praised Nicaragua's Sandinista government and leaders of the U.S.-supported rebel organization known as the Nicaraguan Resistance for agreeing on a cease-fire in their six-year-old war. The two sides reached agreement Thursday during talks at the Nicaraguan border town of Sapoa for a 60-day cease-fire. During that two-month period, the Sandinistas and rebels are to try to arrange a more permanent truce. ``The two presidents considered it encouraging for the process of pacification in Central America the developments in matters of democratization, national reconciliation and cease-firing that have taken place recently,'' the joint communique said. with police description of the device Green laser fire ripped through the mist and the faithful heard the words they've been waiting to hear. ``If we Republicans can let that future into our hearts... We can, I am certain, become the leaders of the Congress of tomorrow.'' House Minority Leader Bob Michel of Illinois, who spoke the words, isn't Moses, and the laser show at the Johnson Space Center doesn't equal lightning on Mount Sinai. But Republicans are longing to enter the promised land of congressional control. They came to a conference in Houston to find the key. About 70 GOP lawmakers visited the space center, the Texas Medical Center, and institutes of higher learning that have made Houston a technological haven. After years of being the complainers and nay-sayers on Capitol Hill, they are searching for something they can champion and capture the imagination of the American public. ``You don't get votes by just saying the Democrats are mean to us,'' said Rep. Lynn Martin, R-Ill., who heads a committee working to overcome the Democrats' 255-177 advantage and win the House back to the GOP. Like the desert-wandering Israelites of old, the Republicans have seen an entire generation move on during their exile from power. Not a single current GOP member was serving the last time the speaker of the House was a Republican 34 years ago. With their three-day ``Congress of Tomorrow'' conference, which ended Saturday, House Republicans launched a campaign to become known as the party of the future. Public investments in technology and education were the themes of the weekend, including meetings with businessman H. Ross Perot, supercomputer scientist Paul Chu, heart surgeon Michael DeBakey, and workers at an oil refinery. Secretary of Education William Bennett urged Republicans to take the issue of quality education away from the Democrats. ``Americans are really quite Republican and conservative when it comes to education,'' he said, alluding to the back-to-basics movement in the schools. Rep. Jack Buechner of Missouri, the only Republican to unseat an incumbent House Democrat two years ago, said he was working to convince fellow Republicans and Vice President George Bush, accepted here as the obvious nominee of the party, that a strong space and science plank was needed in the party platform. Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., enthusiastically pointed out that at the same time the Republicans were exploring 21st century ideas here, Democratic presidential candidates were campaigning in Michigan with a promise of trade protectionism for industrial technologies of the past. But as much as they wanted to look toward the future, the Republicans found in Houston a healthy dose of the present. Instead of the expected address on his latest heart-surgery breakthroughs, Dr. DeBakey gave the lawmakers a lecture on the need for stray dogs and cats in medical research and asked them to oppose animal rights legislation. Michel's keynote address at the space center rapped what he called backward looking Democrats and trade protectionists. Sony television cameras taped the speech and when lawmakers went later to buy ``NASA'' lapel pins, they said ``made in Canada'' on the back. The city's oil-bust economy could be viewed only a short walk from the plush conference hotel. Entire neighborhoods seemed nearly vacant, with many houses boarded up and dilapidated. As the police-escorted bus motorcade roared to one of the events, one man held out his upturned hat as though begging for money. A planned outing Saturday to the new Wortham performing arts center had to be canceled when police found what they thought was a bomb. It was later discovered the device was harmless. Houston Special Operations Sgt. John Scroggins described the object as a pipe about five or six inches long, two inches in diameter, that had caps on both ends. A party was held Friday night at the El Mercado Del Sol, a mall created to help the Hispanic community but which has been mostly empty and financially troubled. Privately, it was conceded that one Republican leader had questioned whether Houston was the symbol they were seeking. The organizers of the event, which was paid for largely by corporate sponsors, were clearly disappointed that less than half the House Republicans attended. Even the most optimistic lawmakers said it was unlikely the GOP could take over the House before 1992, when a post-census redistricting could throw many seats their way if the party succeeds in gaining control of key state legislatures. The plight was illustrated by the two fundraisers held during the weekend _ for Republicans bailing out of the House to seek the Senate. Rep. Beau Boulter's quest to unseat Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, is a long shot. And Rep. Trent Lott's campaign for the Mississippi slot held by Sen. John Stennis, the senior Democrat who is retiring, is even more indicative of the House Republicans' morale troubles. Lott, 46, is the Republican Whip, which means he would have become party leader after Michel decides to step down. Lott said his decision to run for the Senate was mostly because of the opportunity afforded by Stennis' retirement and personal reasons. But, he condeded, his decision might have been different. ``If I thought that we had the prospect of having a majority (in the House) next year or in four years, certainly that would be a factor,'' he said. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said he was optimistic but realistic. ``you win these things one step at a time,'' he said. ``We're ready. The question is when.'' All the Republicans were hoping they wouldn't have to be as patient as indicated by the laser computer-generated image of James Madison that spoke to them at the space center. ``God speed to you, founding fathers of the 21st century,'' it said. Former President Jimmy Carter criticized President Reagan on Saturday for proclaiming the innocence of former national security aides Oliver L. North and John M. Poindexter, indicted on criminal charges in the Iran-Contra affair. Carter told a meeting of government and business leaders that Reagan showed ``a callous attitude toward the principles of law enforcement'' when he said Friday that North and Poindexter would be found innocent of the charges and that he still thinks North is a hero. ``I think they violate basic principles of law enforcement in this country for the chief law enforcement officer _ that is President Reagan, in case you've forgotten _ to make the statement that indicted persons are guilty in his opinion ... or not guilty,'' Carter said at a meeting held at Gannett Co. Inc. headquarters in suburban Arlington, Va. North and Poindexter, along with arms dealers Richard V. Secord and Albert A. Hakim, pleaded innocent Thursday to charges of consipiracy, theft and fraud in the Iran-Contra case. Reagan has said previously he did not think any laws were broken in the Iran-Contra affair. In what seemed to be an off-the-cuff response to a question posed from the audience after a speech to young people Friday, Reagan said, ``I just have to believe they're going to be found innocent because I don't think they were guilty of any lawbreaking or any crime. ``I still think Ollie North is a hero,'' the president said. Attorney General Edwin Meese III's personal finances are under investigation to see ``whether there was an unexplained amount of money'' coming to him, a newspaper reported Saturday. The primary purpose of the investigation is to determine whether Meese derived any benefit, or promise of benefit, from his relationship with his longtime friend E. Robert Wallach while Wallach was representing Wedtech Corp. and the promoters of a $1 billion Iraqi oil pipeline, the Los Angeles Times reported. The inquiry under the supervision of independent counsel James C. McKay is comparable to an Internal Revenue Service ``net worth'' examination, conducted in cases in which persons are suspected of not having paid taxes on substantial illicit gains, the Los Angeles Times said. ``The purpose is to see and analyze whether there was an unexplained amount of money coming to Mr. Meese,'' the newspaper said, quoting an unidentified source familiar with the investigation. However, Nathan Lewin, a lawyer representing Meese, said it would be ``the most outrageous thing in the world to draw a negative inference'' about Meese because of the type of investigation under way. Lewin said the investigation focuses on transactions made before 1985, when Meese invested his funds with San Francisco financial adviser W. Franklyn Chinn in what the attorney general described as a limited blind trust. The Times said investigators were looking at how Chinn turned Meese's investment of about $50,000 into $95,000 within 18 months, a return exceeding 80 percent. Wallach, Meese's former lawyer, and Chinn, who was introduced to Meese by Wallach, were indicted Dec. 22 on federal charges of defrauding Wedtech, a now-defunct defense contractor based in New York. At the time, McKay said there was insufficient evidence to indicate Meese was involved in any criminal activity in connection with Wedtech. Meese has acknowledged intervening with the Pentagon in 1982 at Wallach's request to be sure Wedtech got ``a fair hearing'' in its effort to win an Army engine contract. Investigators are also scrutinizing Meese's moves to arrange a meeting between Wallach, who had been hired by a major financier in the Iraqi oil pipeline project, and Robert C. McFarlane, who was President Reagan's national security adviser at the time, the Times said. Sobbing elderly women clad in black begged President George Vassiliou Saturday to help locate hundreds of Greek Cypriots who disappeared during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus 14 years ago. It was Vassiliou's first official encounter with the anguished relatives of missing Greek Cypriots since he was elected last month. He assured the families he would do ``everything possible to speed up procedures to end your ordeal.'' More than 2,000 people packed a downtown Nicosia movie theater for the meeting with Vassiliou. The meeting was organized by the Committee of Relatives of the Missing after Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal declared last month there were no Greek Cypriots missing in the Turkish sector of the divided Mediterranean island. Vassiliou is a native of Famagusta, a port city that now is part of the Turkish-held eastern zone. Speakers told the meeting there has been no progress in efforts to determine the fate of the 1,619 Greek Cypriots missing since Turkey sent troops into Cyprus in July 1974. Turkey said it acted to protect Turkish Cypriots after Greek Cypriot militants temporarily seized power from the Cypriot governnment. Turkish Cypriots later declared their zone a republic, but only Turkey has recognized that move. ``We want to know if our children are dead or alive,'' one woman shouted at the meeting. ``We've been living in anguish for 14 years.'' Many of the missing disappeared after the International Committee of the Red Cross had listed them as prisoners of war in camps in Turkey. ``There's no doubt the responsibility for determining the fate of your missing loved ones lies with Turkey,'' Vassiliou said. A special United Nations committee appointed in 1984 to try to trace the Greek Cypriots and 600 Turkish Cypriots also listed as missing has failed to determine what happened to them. Vassiliou said he will ask U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar to make the committee more effective. The U.N. group's failure was ``due to a lack of sincere cooperation by the Turkish side,'' said the Rev. Christophos Papachristoforou, a Greek Orthodox priest and president of the relatives committee. ``Turkey holds the key ... and our aim must be to find a way to force it to cooperate,'' said Papachristoforou, who has four sons among the missing. The case of a 23-year-old American photographer, tried Saturday on charges of drug smuggling, has hightlighted differences between the legal systems and national customs of Spain and the United States. Conan Owen, a 1986 graduate of Syracuse University, was charged with smuggling more than four pounds of cocaine from Chile to Spain in a false-bottomed suitcase. He received the suitcase from a travel agent near his home in Annandale, Va. Both prosecuting attorney Teresa Calvo, who asked for a 10-year jail sentence, and presiding Judge Jose Presencia Rubio expressed incredulity that a university graduate would accept a job from a passing acquaintance and agree to carry a suitcase halfway around the world for someone he hardly knew. In Spain, the custom is only to do business with people you know. During his year in Barcelona's 85-year-old Model Prison, Owen said he didn't understand why he had not been freed on bail pending trial. Bail was denied because Owen was a foreigner caught with a substantial amount of relatively pure cocaine. When U.S. law enforcement agents testified Saturday that Owen had provided them with information leading to a half dozen indictments of members of a suspected cocaine smuggling ring, the judge called it all ``very interesting'' but said he was only interested in Owen's case. Attorney General Edwin Meese III even delivered copies to Spanish judicial authorities of a statement made by George Barahona, the man who hired Owen, and who early last month received a two-year suspended sentence for narcotics violations from a federal court in Virginia. In the statement made in a plea bargain agreement, Barahona said Owen knew nothing about the drugs and had been used as a carrier. But plea bargaining does not exist in Spain. In her summary, Calvo implied that plea bargaining was a less-than-honorable institution. U.S. officials faced a similar problem several years ago when a Spanish court was considering U.S. and Spanish requests for extradition of Colombian cocaine baron Jorge Luis Ochoa Vasquez. The U.S. indictment of Ochoa, who was arrested in Madrid in November 1984, was based on extensive testimony obtained through a plea bargin. The Spanish court instead sent Ochoa back to Colombia in July 1986. He went free a week later. situation during war years. Picks up 6th graf pvs, `Assigned to...'. An underage World War II soldier dubbed ``the Boy Hero,'' who was decorated for shooting down Japanese aircraft and helping shipmates in two battles, says his age was both a blessing and a curse. At age 12, Calvin Graham was one of this country's youngest war heroes. For his exploits, which will be the subject of a two-hour television movie Sunday night, Graham was awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. But his youthful looks and a bureaucratic error landed him in the brig and cost him his medals. It took him over 30 years to win back his decorations, and the former gunner, now 58 and a resident of a Fort Worth suburb, is still seeking disability benefits for his war injuries. The son of sharecroppers, Graham left home after his father died in a traffic accident and his mother remarried. He said his stepfather beat him and his brother and then threw them out of their Houston home when they tried to fight back. Graham shined shoes and sold newspapers to make money until he joined the Navy in July 1942, enlisting with the aid of forged papers that claimed he was 17. He was sent to the USS South Dakota for a Pacific tour. Assigned to a 40mm gun crew on the ship's fantail, Graham helped shoot down about 300 enemy planes launched from five Japanese aircraft carriers in the battle of Santa Cruz. Graham's gunnery officer asked him his age when he congratulated the crew. ``I told him I would be 13 in April,'' Graham said, according to a story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. ``He was shocked and I knew I had made a mistake. But I was proud of what we had done and I felt like I was 6-foot tall. I didn't care at the time if people knew how old I was. I felt like I had done what I set out to do.'' Later, Graham tried to tell the officer he had been kidding, but the boy hero was called before the ship's captain, who told him he would have to go back home. ``He told me it wasn't anything to be ashamed of, he had already sent three others back that same day. But I stuck to my story and claimed I was 17,'' Graham said. ``He said, `Well, you may have wished you took me up on this in the next 24 hours,' '' Graham remembered. ``We were headed for another battle.'' At Guadalcanal, an enemy ship knocked out Graham's gun with a 14-inch shell, and he was assigned to help the wounded. The ship later took 47 hits on its superstructure. ``Everyone who was in there that night was either killed or wounded,'' said Graham. ``I went up there and there were guys' hands and arms and legs floating around in the water. The bloody water was waist-high.'' Exploding shrapnel hit Graham in the mouth but he continued to help medical officers attend to injured crewmen. Graham received the Bronze Star for his actions. When his ship returned to Brooklyn Naval Yard in New York, the captain gave him leave to get a notarized letter from his mother permitting him to stay in the Navy despite his age. But when Graham returned with his letter, he was told instead by an executive officer to turn himself in to naval authorities in Houston. He was sent to the brig at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi for over a month and treated like a deserter because authorities thought he was really 17 and trying to lie about his age. He also had his medals taken away.. Then the Navy admitted its mistake and released Graham after his 13th birthday, giving him a ``cancellation enlistment'' with honorable conditions. But the Navy did not return his medals. Years later, Graham enlisted the support of Rep. Jim Wright and Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and won his honorable discharge from the Navy and reinstatement of his medals. But he is still denied disability benefits for his war injuries. Now confined to a wheelchair and crutches because of injuries he suffered after the war while a legitimate member of the Marine Corps, Graham monitors the status of proposed legislation that could restore his war benefits, corresponds with former shipmates and writes stories of his experiences. He helped write some of the material for ``Too Young the Hero,'' to air on CBS. President Daniel arap Moi was sworn in Saturday for a third five-year term and called on Kenyans to heal the wounds left by the violent election campaign. Thousands of people gathered for the outdoor inauguration ceremony in Nairobi's Uhuru Park, and pro-Western Moi told the crowd, ``My government is committed to defending our constitution and to abide by the tenets of democratic rule.'' He made a 30-minute speech after his new and expanded Cabinet of 29 ministers was sworn in. Moi also said four people were killed during the campaign, which was marked by frequent street battles between rival political groups. It was the first report of election-related deaths. Most of the violence occurred during the nominating process on Feb. 22 by Moi's ruling Kenya African National Union. There were few disturbances during the general election on March 21 and Moi ran unopposed for another term. Some church leaders, lawyers and legislators criticized the system used by Moi's party to nominate candidates for the general election. Under the system, party members physically lined up behind candidates' photos or their representatives to be counted, and there were clashes. Critics also denounced the rule that allowed party nominees who won more than 70 percent of their nomination votes to go to Parliament unopposed. About 4.3 million of Kenya's 5.6 million registered voters are listed as members of the Kenya African National Union, the country's only legal political party. Moi, 64, referred in his speech to rumors he is seriously ill. ``Many say: Moi is sick ... I say go on imagining. If anyone is praying for my death, then that is his own business.'' Moi has ruled since the August 1978 death of Kenya's first president, Jomo Kenyatta, who became head of state after Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963. Moi survived a major crisis in August 1982, when junior air force officers attempted a coup. Two years ago, Moi's government cracked down on a Marxist movement called Mwakenya. Several international organizations and local lawyers accused the government of human rights violations, including torture, of some of nearly 100 people arrested for alleged links with Mwakenya. About 80 were convicted and jailed. Human rights activists said many were tortured into confessing. The government said 13 people were detained without charge or trial, and that all but three were freed by the time Moi called elections on Feb. 5. About 8,400 gallons of slightly radioactive water leaked into the Hudson River from the Indian Point No. 2 nuclear power plant, the plant's operator said Saturday. The water was discovered missing from a 345,000-gallon storage tank outside the containment structure, said Bea Meltzer, spokeswoman for Consolidated Edison. ``It's really a minuscule amount'' that is undetectable, because river water normally contains a small amount of ambient, or background, radiation, said Meltzer. The discovery was made Saturday morning, but officials were unsure how long the leak had existed. Carl Abraham, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the leak posed no health hazard. The radioactivity in the water, he said, was ``about one-tenth of 1 percent of what they would be allowed to release to the river if they did it on purpose'' in a scheduled discharge. The leak in a steam line allowed water from a refueling water storage tank to leak into a non-nuclear boiler and condenser system, then into the river, said Con Ed spokesman John McCann. The leak was stopped by closing valves on the line. The incident had no effect on operations at the plant, located roughly 25 miles north of the New York City line, McCann said. Fourteen of 47 Tanzanians charged with murder in the massacre of government militiamen four years ago have died in prison from various illnesses, a published report said Saturday. Hospital death certificates produced during a court hearing showed the men died of illnesses that included pneumonia, diarrhea and kidney failure at varying times during their imprisonment, the government-owned Daily News reported. The hearing was held Wednesday before High Court Judge A.G. Korosso, who granted a government application for the state to withdraw its cases against the dead men, the newspaper said. The 33 remaining defendants have denied the charges and their trial is continuing. They are accused of ambushing and killing 48 militiamen at Mwamalole village in central Maswa district on May 23, 1984. The troops were attacked as they prepared an assault on rustlers who had stolen 680 head of cattle and killed a herdsboy. Tanzanians were shocked by the viciousness of the attack. Slashed bodies were found scattered in the bush and 42 of the militiamen were buried in a mass grave because the bodies could not be identified. Tanzanian courts have a huge backlog. It is not unusual for people to spend more than a year in jail before they are brought to trial. Fire swept through a three-story apartment building early Saturday, killing six immigrants, including two children, as they huddled in their kitchen, authorities said. The fire started in a vacant second-floor apartment and spread to the hallway and third floor, said Newark Fire Department spokesman Larry Krieger. ``There was no one in the apartment when it started,'' he said. ``It was being remodeled and someone could have left something on.'' Three men, a woman and two young children died when their third-floor apartment was engulfed by flames, Krieger said. The victims were found in the kitchen, he said. Another man in the apartment, Juan Rodriguez, managed to escape by jumping out a window. Krieger said the seven, natives of the Dominican Republic, had moved in less than a week earlier. Identities of the victims were not immediately released because relatives had not been notified, Krieger said. He said one child was about 3 months old, the other 2 years old. Rodriguez and five residents of another apartment were taken to University Hospital, Krieger said, but hospital officials said their records indicated that only five people were treated. Three of the five, including Rodriguez, were admitted for observation and were listed in fair condition, hospital officials said. A Defense Ministry spokesman said Saturday there have been no violations of the cease-fire between government troops and rebels, known as Contras. The official, speaking with the condition he not be identified, said ``all is calm'' in zones where fighting had occurred frequently before the truce. Sandinista and Contra leaders agreed to a provisional truce at the beginning of their cease-fire talks on Tuesday in the southern border town of Sapoa. A 60-day cease-fire agreed to Wednesday is to begin April 1. The two sides scheduled a meeting in Managua for April 6 to begin negotiations on a permanent. A Defense Ministry report said there was no military activity in Manteles Verdes, Cama, Wilson and other towns in Zelaya province that were the scenes of earlier battles. ``There has been no (rebel) activity these days against the Sandinista army,'' said Hermenegildo Torres, a peasant from the Rio Cama area that is considered a rebel stronghold in central Zelaya province. Carlos Suarez of Guapi, a village about 140 miles east of Managua, told The Associated Press a large number of Sandinista had gathered in the village but he said ``there is calm and tranquility and we can sow the fields.'' mill owners... with report flour taken to government warehouses. Troops loyal to Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega raided Panama City's port area Saturday and cleared it of barricades set up by striking dockworkers. The army threatened force to make the nation's banks reopen. Banks ignored the threats, and dockworkers stayed away from work as part of a general strike called by opposition leaders to force Noriega from power. Troops also raided several flour mills and shut down a union hall. Noriega announced Friday that soldiers would seize flour from the nation's mills, apparently to distribute it to Panamanians who have been short of food because of the strike. Defiant mill owners retaliated by announcing they were donating the flour to the Roman Catholic church's food program for the needy, but troops began raiding the mills before donations could be made. Esther Kwaiben, treasurer of the church's program, said more than 1.3 million pounds of flour stored in the mills apparently had been taken to government warehouses. At the Harinas Panama mill, the general manager, Tirso Wolfschoon, his wife and other company employees were arrested. At General Mills de Panama, troops kicked out all the employees and took over the plant. Noriega opponents got a boost when groups representing 55,000 retirees announced they will join nationwide street demonstrations which the National Civic Crusade has called for Monday. ``We will block the streets of this country. Let the president come and speak to us in the street,'' said retiree Manuel Escudero. The Crusade is made up of about 200 political parties, professional groups, and student and labor unions. It was formed last June for the sole purpose of forcing out Noriega. Noriega controls Panama through the 15,000-member Defense Forces which he heads. But that control could weaken the longer his soldiers go without pay. Their payday was Friday, but because of Panama's current cash crisis, they didn't receive money. Armed troops raided the capital's port before dawn, moving aside several ship containers that had been blocking the entranceway to the docks since March 14, when the port's 300 workers went out on strike because they had not been paid. A few hours later, the nearby union headquarters was wired shut and scores of workers who had been keeping vigil disappeared. National Port Director General Diomedes Concepcion denied reports that some had been arrested. ``The port had to be opened,'' Concepcion told reporters, adding ``if not, we are aiding the enemy.'' Noriega reiterated threats to force banks to hand over an estimated $70 million in their vaults so the government could pay its troops. But the Panamanian Bankers Association, which groups 90 of the 118 Panamanian and foreign banks operating in this country, rejected the request. The government's request ``does not solve the problem of the fiscal and financial crisis of the nation that has deep political roots,'' said a statement by the group. Panama ran short of cash last month after the Reagan administration blocked all Panamanian funds in the United States, including revenues from the Panama Canal. The Reagan administration recognizes Eric Arturo Delvalle _ now in hiding _ as Panama's legitimate president. Noriega supporters in the national legislature ousted Delvalle, who had been the civilian president, on Feb. 26 after Delvalle tried to fire Noriega. Since then, street demonstrations and a general strike have failed to push Noriega out of power. The strike has shut down more than 90 percent of the nation's industry. Cash and food are in short supply. In a decree made public Saturday, the government declared a moratorium on all rent payments. The gesture was a hollow one, since people have not been paying their rents for more than a month because of the cash shortage. Most supermarkets and drug stores remained closed Saturday, defying a warning from the Noriega regime the previous day that they would lose their business licences if they did not reopen. The Panama Canal so far has not been affected by the turmoil. New Book Getting President Reagan ready for a news conference was ``like reinventing the wheel,'' says former White House press spokesman Larry Speakes in a gossipy new book, portions of which were published Saturday. Some tidbits from the book entitled ``Speaking Out'' by Speakes and Washington writer Robert Pack, were included in the April 4 edition of U.S. News & World Report. Despite the difficulties preparing the president for news conferences, Speakes describes him as a super guy, according to the magazine. But Nancy Reagan is ``likely to stab you in the back'' when stirred up, while daughter Maureen is a ``punch-you-in-the-nose type'' who is ``to the right of Attila the Hun,'' the book says. In a generous sprinkling of criticism, Speakes describes former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger as ``a whiny type ... the loosest of cannons, the baddest boy,'' while Vice President George Bush is called ``the perfect `yes' man'' who ``tried to avoid taking a portfolio.'' Robert McFarlane, the former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with the Iran-Contra affair, is ``one of the most bizarre characters I've met,'' Speakes writes. Speakes says Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a former National Security Council aide who has been indicted in the Iran-Contra affair, is not a favorite of Mrs. Reagan's, even though her husband has referred to him as recently as Friday as a ``hero.'' The first lady is said to have quipped, ``Not funny, sonny,'' while watching North banter during a television interview. Speakes left the White House in February 1987 to accept a communications position with Merrill Lynch in New York. { The Vatican's official newspaper on Saturday denounced as ``tragic and startling'' the decision by a Swedish hospital to set an age limit for radiation treatment of cancer victims. In a front-page editorial, L'Osservatore Romano described as anti-human the recent decision by Stockholm's Radiumhemmet cancer clinic to refuse radiation treatment of patients over 70 because it said it lacked sufficient resources. ``Without going into the merits of the technical and financial problems that the state's health service has to confront in very civilized Sweden, there remains the tragic and startling decision left to the discretion of a head physician,'' the newspaper said. The editorial compared the action to ``the aberration'' of euthanasia and added: ``To let die on a humanitarian pretext such as relief from suffering, or to let die for an opportunistic calculation based on age, are two sides of the same coin.'' It said the Swedish case ``is even more alarming for the bleak greyness of the motivations: Lack of equipment, financial cuts by the state, lack of personnel....The substance is that the life of a man is no longer the normative worth for a doctor. ``The only criteria for discrimination would be age. Would there then be an age in which life ceases being the most precious gift?'' L'Osservatore Romano also commented on abortions in Britain. An editorial said the Vatican hoped that a move in the British Parliament to prohibit late-term abortions would be the first step toward a complete ban by Britain on abortions. A bill before Parliament would reduce the time limit for abortions from 28 weeks to 18 weeks. The measure is now in committee. Hundreds of thousands of people inundated beaches Saturday as the third day of record heat scorched Southern California, while authorities guarded against gang violence and brush fires. The noon high of 93 degrees at Lindbergh Field in San Diego broke a mark for the day set in 1923. Inland areas of San Diego County had highs near 100 degrees. A high of 100 was reported in the desert resort of Palm Springs 100 miles east of Los Angeles, where the high of 98 broke the record for the date set in 1986. The National Weather Service blamed northeasterly winds caused by a high pressure system over Western states reversing the usual flow of cooling ocean breezes for Southern California. Instead, the hot winds blew out of the desert. Heat records were also set in Arizona, where the reading of 100 in Phoenix broke the record for the date by seven degrees, and a reading of 99 in Tucson topped the record for the date there by 10 degrees. California forecasters predicted temperatures would drop to the 70s on Sunday as a front brought cooler marine air. In Palm Springs, an estimated 50,000 young people on spring break dressed for the weather, wearing ``bathing suits, shorts, tanks tops, as little as possible,'' said police Officer Karen Holtz. ``They all seem to hover around the yogurt places and ice cream places. I don't blame them.'' An estimated 200,000 people swarmed to Zuma and Santa Monica beaches to splash in 62-to-64-degree water, but surfers had to make do with 2-foot swells. ``It's just a full-out summer day,'' said lifeguard Capt. Don Rohrer at Santa Monica. By early afternoon, there already had been several rescues, including a person who was taken to a hospital for a possibly serious neck or spine injury, he said. Rohrer estimated there would be up to 50 rescues for the day. ``The only thing that's saving us right now is favorable tide conditions,'' he said. ``If the rips (riptides) were pulling a little stronger, we'd probably have well over 100.'' On Friday night, three people were hospitalized after more than 20 gang members got into a scuffle at Dockweiler State Beach, near Los Angeles International Airport. At Zuma Beach in the Malibu area, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were called in Friday night to quell a fight involving 300 youths. The situation was under control Saturday, said Zuma lifeguard Glen DuPont. ``There is a large force of sheriffs (deputies) here, and that is a wonderful deterrent,'' he said. Those who opted to stay home and use their air conditioners sent power usage soaring, but not to the record heights reached a day earlier. Spokesmen for the Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric companies said the power drain was less because many businesses were closed for the weekend. Not everyone was relaxing, however. In San Diego, city firefighters continued to mop up a 100-acre brushfire near Lake Hodges, where one firefighter was treated Friday for heat exhaustion. ``We've got a lot of hot spots. If the wind were to spring up, we might lose it,'' said a fire dispatcher who declined to identify herself. ``They're up there practically stomping it out by hand.'' sted tribal law, bars Stevens' use of real eagle feathers. A businessman was named a special Sioux chief Saturday and pledged to unite Indians to regain land they lost after gold was discovered, although some Sioux believe he is ``impersonating an Indian.'' ``I promise you I will carry the battle lance of our people ... until the Black Hills are once again ours forever more,'' Phillip J. Stevens, of Irvine, Calif., told a crowd of more than 600 people who attended a ceremony at the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. Stevens, who wore fringed buckskins decorated with Indian beadwork, was given a shield and headdress made of imitation eagle feathers and the name Man Who Walks With The Shield. He could not receive real eagle feathers under federal law because he is not an enrolled member of a Sioux tribe. The plan to make Stevens a special chief to lead the land battle was pushed by members of the Grey Eagle Society, a group of Sioux elders, and other traditional-minded Indians. Chieftainships are unrelated to the legal governance of a tribe, which under federal law is done by an elected president and council. At the ceremony, Stevens smoked a sacred pipe with Oglala Sioux Chief Oliver Red Cloud, Northern Cheyenne Chief Austin Two Moons of Montana and other leaders after singing and praying. ``We seek to injure no one in South Dakota. We only seek the return of lands that are rightfully owned by the Lakota (Sioux) people,'' Stevens told reporters. ``They (the Black Hills) are sacred to the Sioux people. They are our altar to God. ... It is like stealing their church,'' he said of the rugged area of western South Dakota. The federal government signed a treaty in 1868 saying 7.3 million acres of the region belonged to the Sioux, but then abrogated the treaty and took the land after gold was found in the Black Hills. Stevens supports a bill that would give the Sioux over 1 million acres plus money, but says more money is necessary to improve living conditions on reservations where unemployment reaches 85 percent. However, not all Sioux believe Stevens has earned the right to become a special chief, and a historian said it's an unprecedented title. Some argued Stevens was not an enrolled member of any Sioux tribe and has not substantiated his claim to be a great-grandson of Sioux warrior Standing Bear. Opponents also said he is splitting the Indian community and could damage efforts to regain the land. On Friday, the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council filed for a temporary restraining order in federal court in Rapid City to make Stevens prove he is of Indian descent or stop making the claim. The council advises the eight Sioux tribal councils on treaty issues. The complaint said Stevens ``is impersonating an Indian, claiming Indian heritage that is questionable.'' No ruling was expected until sometime this week at the earliest. Stevens said at Saturday's news conference that he had given Sioux leaders an affidavit signed by his father saying Standing Bear was his great-grandfather. Two members of the Standing Bear family appeared at the ceremony Saturday to support Stevens. Another supporter, Homer Whirlwind Soldier, said at the ceremony that Stevens would have the status to negotiate with federal officials for land. ``We send a general in to fight a general, so we give Mr. Phillip Stevens the symbol of authority.'' Stevens told reporters that he and other Sioux chiefs will ask Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel to meet with them and set up a public hearing on the issue. Stevens acknowledged that only one of the seven tribal councils that support the return of the Black Hills has endorsed his proposal and the plan to make him a special chief, but he said a petition signed by Sioux people in South Dakota indicates he is supported by a majority. ``I think that the will of the people has been neglected by the people elected to do the will of the people,'' Stevens said. Stevens is an engineer who played a role in development of the Minuteman III before he founded Ultrasystems Inc. in Irvine, Calif., in 1969. He recently sold the $160 million-a-year engineering company to devote his time to the Black Hills effort. Stevens, 58, supports legislation introduced by Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., that would return 1.3 million acres of federal land in the Black Hills to the Sioux. The Black Hills region was deeded to the Sioux in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. But after gold was discovered by an expedition led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, prospectors swarmed in and the treaty was abrogated in 1877. The Indians were forced onto reservations in less desirable parts of the state. The Supreme Court in 1980 upheld a settlement for the land, which with interest has grown to nearly $200 million. Most of the Sioux tribal governments have refused the money, saying they want the land. Bradley's bill would return about 1.3 million of the land covered by the original treaty. It applies only to federal land in the area of timbering, mining and tourism, and does not include Mount Rushmore. Stevens argues the Sioux also should get up to $3.1 billion for their loss of revenue since the land was taken. Bradley's bill, introduced two years ago and still not out of committee, is opposed by South Dakota's congressional delegation. Many backers of Bradley's bill say Stevens' plan to seek additional money would wreck the bill's chances in Congress. A lawmaker called for a government inquiry Saturday after the body of a guided missiles engineer was found inside a car filled with exhaust fumes, the latest in a mysterious string of deaths of British scientists. Trevor Knight, 52, who was found dead Friday, was the eighth British scientist involved in defense-related work to die in unusual circumstances since August 1986. Doug Hoyle, a member of Parliament for the Labor Party, said he would ask Defense Secretary George Younger to order an urgent probe of the deaths and report the findings to Parliament. ``What is the link between all these?'' Hoyle asked. ``Is it not surprising what is happening to top scientists? ``Is it simply overwork, or is there something more sinister afoot?'' The government so far has rejected an inquiry, saying there was no evidence to suggest the deaths were linked other than by coincidence. A Defense Ministry spokeswoman said Saturday that any investigation would have to be done by police on a case-by-case basis. Knight, who worked in the guided missiles division of the Marconi electronics firm, was found in a car parked in a garage at his home in Harpenden, 25 miles northwest of London, after he failed to report for work. Hertfordshire police said the car was filled with exhaust fumes, but gave no details. Chief Inspector Chris Partridge said, however, that the death was ``not being treated as suspicious,'' a phrase British police use for a suspected suicide. Marconi spokesman Ray Bryant confirmed Knight worked in the guided missiles division of the company's Stanmore plant. Bryant refused comment on the fact that five of the scientists worked for Marconi, a major British defense contractor, or an affiliated company. The string of deaths began Aug. 5, 1986, when Vimal Dajibhai, 24, was found dead in a gorge beneath a bridge in Bristol. The inquest returned an open verdict, meaning there was insufficient evidence to establish a cause of death. Dajibhai was a junior software engineer checking torpedo guidance systems at Marconi Underwater Systems in Watford, near London. The other deaths were: _Ashhad Shariff, a computer systems analyst working for another Marconi unit near London, who was found strangled in October 1986 in a park near Bristol. An inquest ruled he killed himself by tying one end of a rope to a tree and the other to his neck, then driving off in his car. _Richard Pugh, a computer designer found dead in his Essex home in January 1987 under circumstances police never have explained. _Peter Peapell, a lecturer at the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham, who was found dead in February 1987 beneath his car with the engine running and the garage doors shut. The coronor's report was inconclusive. _David Sands, who was working on an air defense systems contract for Easams, a Marconi affiliate, died in March 1987 when he drove his car loaded with tanks of gasoline into a vacant restaurant. _Victor Moore, 46, a Marconi scientist who died of a drug overdose in April 1987. His wife told an inquest he had been under strain in his job at Marconi Space and Defense Systems in Portsmouth. _Russell Smith, 23, a lab technician for Britain's Atomic Energy Authority, whose body was found Feb. 1 halfway down a cliff at Boscastle in western England. Police found a note but have not disclosed its contents. Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis conceded Saturday that Jesse Jackson had won a popular-vote victory in Michigan's Democratic presidential caucuses. ``It looks as if Reverend Jackson has won the popular vote in Michigan,'' Dukakis said at a news conference prior to a Wisconsin Democratic fund-raising dinner attended by all the party's presidential contenders. ``I congratulate him for that. He ran a good campaign and he has my congratulations,'' Dukakis said. But Dukakis refused to categorize the Michigan loss as a significant setback. ``I don't think I did very well in Michigan. I think I did reasonably well, but I don't think I did spectacularly well,'' Dukakis said. He said Michigan's troubled economy, plagued by auto-industry layoffs, was a factor in Jackson's victory and his own defeat. ``The people of Michigan have been through a very difficult time,'' said Dukakis, who has campaigned in part on his ability to turn around what was a faltering economy in Massachusetts. ``There is great unhappiness, great concern, great uncertainty. There are laid-off workers. Workers today who have jobs are worried they are going to be next. ``Jesse has strong feelings about that, as I do,'' he said. Although the full United Auto Workers Union has not endorsed any candidate, UAW Local 72 in Kenosha, Wis., endorsed Jackson, who rallied to them when Chrysler Corp. announced it was closing down an auto plant there later this year, a move that will cost 5,500 jobs. Dukakis said he would campaign hard in Connecticut, which holds its primary Tuesday, as well as Wisconsin, which votes April 5, and then on to later primaries. ``As I said in the beginning of this campaign, it's a marathon,'' Dukakis said. ``You've asked me about inevitability. As I have said on more than one occasion, nothing is inevitable about anything in American politics. ``I hope when we finish up in California and New Jersey, I have a lead I can take into the convention . . . and win the nomination.'' with San Francisco protest ending; several arrests in Washington, rally near White House. Picks up 10th graf pvs, ``In Chicago.'' Protesters opposed to U.S. policies in Central America marched in major cities Saturday with chants including ``Hey, hey, Uncle Sam, not another Vietnam,'' and signs reading ``No Contra Aid.'' The demonstrations were largely peaceful, but police in Boston had to break up a shoving match between the protesters and counter-demonstrators. The rallies were organized by a group calling itself the Pledge of Resistance, which claims 80,000 supporters nationwide. About 1,500 people marched in the rain in Boston, saying they backed the signing last week of a ceasefire in Nicaragua between the leftist Sandinista government and the U.S.-backed Contra rebels. ``We have to make it clear to the government that there's no way we're going to go for giving aid to the Contras right now,'' said Lauren Voloshen, a spokewoman for the Central American Solidarity Association, which sponsored the Boston rally. The counter-demonstration was staged by about 30 members of Young Americans for Freedom, who shouted, ``Peace through strength!'' More than 2,000 demonstrators rallied peacefully in front of San Francisco's City Hall as part of the ``national day of emergency protest.'' ``You're strong and you're right,'' city Supervisor Nancy Walker told the cheering crowd, adding that demonstrations in the United States helped lead to the end of the Vietnam War. Demonstrators in Civic Center Park across from the City Hall held signs reading ``Stop Reagan's War,'' ``No Contra Aid,'' and ``Hands Off Nicaragua.'' As the protesters marched cross town to gates of the Presidio Army base, their ranks swelled to 5,000, and a few demonstrators lobbed eggs toward police officers at the base gate. The demonstration ended with a rally a short distance away. Police reported no arrests. Police said several people were arrested in Washington, D.C., on charges of blocking traffic when they unfurled a banner on Pennsylvania Avenue. About 600 demonstrators marched from the Capitol to a rally in Lafayette Park, in front of the White House. President Reagan was inside, but it could not be determined if he witnessed the protest. In Chicago, about 500 protesters marched through downtown, carrying a mock casket emblazoned with the words ``Bury Contra Aid Forever.'' ``A public message has to be given that this is serious _ the whole effort for peace in Central America,'' said Sister Joellen McCarthy, 45, of Chicago, a nun who has spent five years in Nicaragua. ``It's so important for our national credibility. We preach democracy, and yet we won't accept the democratic processes in other countries.'' Joe Hansen, 20, of Edgerton, Wis., said he does not believe Reagan's warning that the ruling Sandinista government in Nicaragua poses a long-term threat to the United States. ``I think it's just a lot of propaganda,'' he said. ``I'm speaking out against an immoral war,'' he said. ``The U.S. doesn't belong in someone else's politics.'' The Chicago demonstrators chanted slogans including ``Hey, hey, Uncle Sam, not another Vietnam,'' and ``Cease fire, way to go; Reagan, this is not your show.'' About 200 people demonstrated in Pittsburgh. They chanted anti-administration slogans and carried signs reading ``Peace with Nicaragua,'' ``U.S. Troops out of Honduras,'' ``End Contra war!'' and ``Reagan, how many more Nicaraguan children must you kill.'' About 200 people gathered in Miami, where Central America peace activists just two years ago were pelted with rocks and eggs. ``This is a day to rejoice because at least, and at last, reason has been heard,'' said Andreas Gomez of the Latin American-Caribbean Solidarity Association. Jesse Jackson won a decisive victory Saturday over Michael Dukakis in Michigan's Democratic caucuses, where Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt's fading presidential hopes may have come to an end. Britons lost one hour's sleep as clocks were put forward one hour at 1 a.m. Sunday to 2 a.m. to start British Summer Time. British Summer Time is one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and will end early on Sunday Oct. 23 when clocks revert to GMT. In the United States, the Eastern Standard Time zone is five hours ahead of GMT and four hours ahead during Eastern Daylight Savings. Western Europe is one hour ahead of GMT and two hours ahead for a short period in summer and Britain is being pressed by its 11 partners in the European Economic Community to introduce Summer Time hours in line with Western Europe. Britain has been reluctant to agree. A man who became the first Coloradoan to cite the state's ``make my day'' law after he shot and killed a neighbor was found guilty Saturday in the unrelated murder of his estranged wife. David Guenther, 35, showed little emotion as an Adams County jury found him guilty in the death of his wife and the attempted murder of her friend in March 1987. The jurors had deliberated for three hours. ``It made my day,'' said prosecutor Bruce Levin, in a reference to an earlier case in which Guenther achieved notoriety as the first person to invoke Colorado's law allowing homeowners to use deadly force against intruders. The law was nicknamed after a line in a Clint Eastwood film in which a detective invites a criminal to ``make my day'' and give the detective an excuse to shoot. Authorities dropped the charges against Guenther in the 1986 shooting death of a neighbor and the wounding of two other people on the basis of that law. He shot the three after his wife got into an argument with them on the Guenthers' front porch. However, a higher court later reversed that ruling, tightening the criteria under which homeowners could claim immunity from prosecution under the law. Guenther than was acquitted of all charges in the case last fall, basing his argument on self-defense, rather than the ``make my day'' rule. Levin, who called Guenther ``a murderer who can't keep his story straight'' in closing arguments Saturday, said the guilty verdict ``was supported by the evidence and it was a just verdict.'' Prosecutors said earlier they would not seek the death penalty. Sentencing was set for May. Guenther's estranged wife, Pamela, was killed and a friend, Stanley Stinson, was shot several times outside a restaurant in Commerce City on March 1, 1987. The Guenthers' two children, ages 11 and 13, witnessed the shootings and testified at their father's trial. Guenther initially denied any involvement, but later claimed he shot the two because he saw them kissing. Guenther's attorneys argued he shot the pair in an ``act of passion'' and without premeditation. Prosecutors maintained the shootings were part of a pattern of threats and violence by Guenther against his wife. Testimony showed he had taken Mrs. Guenther hostage at their home one week before her death, violating a court order to stay away from her. He released her unharmed after a standoff with police that lasted several hours. Guenther was free on bond from that incident when his wife and Stinson were shot. Lord Carrington, NATO secretary-general, said in a report published Sunday he doubts that nuclear weapons will be totally abolished. ``I am not optimistic that you can ever get rid of nuclear weapons altogether. I am not sure it would be a good thing anyway, because they are the ultimate deterrent,'' he was quoted as saying in an interview with London's Sunday Express weekly. ``I am sure, though, that we can all live at a much lower level of armaments, and one of the reasons I am optimistic is that it is very much in Mr. (Soviet leader Mikhail S.) Gorbachev's interests to do that,'' he said. Carrington will be 69 when he retires from his post with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in July. He told the Express the West cannot disarm on its own, expecting the Soviet Union to do the same. The agreement reached by President Reagan and Gorbachev at a December summit in Washington for the superpowers to eliminate medium-range nuclear weapons and for continued talks on chemical weapons and reducing long-range missiles were originated by NATO, Carrington said. He added that Gorbachev ``contrived to let it be thought that all these initiatives are actually his.'' Because of the superiority of Soviet-bloc conventional forces in Europe, ``the idea that you can maintain a deterrent which is obsolete is not an idea which makes any sense,'' he said. temperatures and more records broken. Picks up 10th graf, `Temperatures around...'. Conforms with AM-Heat Wave, a0657. Rain and scattered thunderstorms drenched parts of the South and East from Texas to New England on Saturday, while snow and strong winds chilled the mountains in the Northwest, and some Southwest cities basked in record high temperatures. Morning and early afternoon rain showers and thunderstorms were scattered from south central Texas across the central Gulf Coast, northwest Florida and southwest Georgia. Thunderstorms produced three-quarter-inch hail at Gulf Shores, La., and marble-size hail at Mexia, Texas. Lightning and heavy rain caused power outages at Elba, Ala. Showers and thunderstorms also extended from Tennessee across the Ohio Valley and from eastern North Carolina across eastern New York state and New England. More than an inch and a half of rain fell between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST Saturday at Patuxent River, Md., while an inch was measured at Salisbury, Md., and Dover, Del. One inch of snow fell at Marquette, Mich., during the same six hours. Snow was scattered across Minnesota, Wisconsin and upper Michigan. Snow was expected to continue through Saturday night across the Olympic Mountains in Washington and the Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon. Snow was forecast through Sunday morning in the western and southern mountains and passes of Montana. Rain continued along the northern Pacific Coast. A high temperature of 100 in Phoenix, Ariz., Saturday broke the record for the date and was the earliest in the spring that 100 degrees has been recorded. A reading of 99 in Tucson, Ariz., surpassed by 6 degrees the previous record for March set just the day before. Los Angeles International Airport and Santa Maria, Calif., also had records for March with 95 degrees. The high was 98 in downtown Los Angeles. A reading of 93 in San Diego broke a record of 82 set in 1923. Temperatures around the nation at 2 p.m. EST ranged from 19 degrees at International Falls, Minn., to 98 degrees at Thermal, Calif. The nation's low Saturday morning was 12 degrees at Warroad, Minn. Sunday's forecast called for rain showers across New York state and New England, as well as the northern Pacific Coast. Snow should be scattered across the northern Rockies, changing to rain across the upper Missouri Valley. Winds were expected to be strong and gusty from Nevada across the Rockies and the central Plains into the Texas Panhandle. High temperatures were forecast in the 30s and 40s from the Great Lakes to the Ohio Valley and the upper Mississippi Valley, and in the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest; in the 50s and 60s from New England across North Carolina, the Tennessee Valley, the northern Plains, the central Rockies, Nevada and the central Pacific Coast; the 80s in central and southern Florida and much of Texas; the 80s and low 90s in the Southwest deserts; and the 70s in most of the rest of the nation. The Defense Department has scaled back its plans to develop a massive space security shield and instead has settled on a far less ambitious immediate goal of protecting U.S. military installations, The Washington Post said in Sunday's editions. The newspaper said the department _ five years and $12 billion after President Reagan launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) program _ has abandoned plans to try to protect U.S. cities as well as its military centers from a Soviet attack. The Post quoted senior U.S. officials as saying that the decision to concentrate on a limited defensive system reflects broad agreement within the administration that the president's dream cannot be attained. The threat of a ballistic missile attack will not be diminished in the foreseeable future, the officials told the Post, which did not identify them. The reorientation of Reagan's SDI program, also known as Star Wars, was revealed in part by a 1987 Joint Chiefs of Staff classified document calling for developments and deployment of a defensive system to stop only 30 percent of the nuclear warheads in a massive Soviet first strike, the Post said. The four-page secret document accepted the view of SDI officials that even this limited defense would help deter a Soviet attack, the paper said. However, if this American view turns out to be wrong and the Soviets initiate a massive first strike, the system the Pentagon now envisions may stop only 1,500 nuclear warheads, allowing as many as 3,500 others to penetrate and wreak devestation on U.S. and allied territory, the Post said. The newspaper said SDI officials believe this limited defensive system could be deployed beginning in 1996 at a cost of up to $150 billion in current dollars, double the expense they predicted last year. Many scientists and military experts, however, question whether the defensive weapons being pursued in the SDI program will be able to achieve even the scaled-back goals, the paper said. The Post cited U.S. officials as saying the Soviets may have sensed the course of internal American decision-making over SDI and predicted that Reagan's dream would be abandoned, causing them to tone down their public criticism of SDI in recent months and tolerate more aggressive SDI research under a potential new arms pact. Donald J. Trump said Saturday he bought the posh Plaza Hotel for $390 million but he does not plan to put his name on it as he has so many of his other prized buildings, according to a published report. The multimillionaire real estate mogul outbid two other Manhattan real estate developers who wanted the hotel at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue, The New York Times reported in its Sunday editions. The new president of the hotel will be Trump's wife, Ivana, who will be paid ``$1 a year plus all the dresses she can buy,'' Trump said. Trump, whose other properties include Trump Tower in Manhattan and Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, N.J., said he plans to make the building ``the most luxurious hotel in the world,'' but the name will remain the same, the Times said. ``It's got the most important name in the world and it's going to remain that way,'' he said. Trump said he signed a contract for the deal Friday and would take possession in 120 days. The hotel's current owners are Robert M. Bass, the Texas multimillionaire, and the Aoki Corp. of Japan. They took over the hotel three months ago as part of their joint $1.5 billion purchase of the Westin hotel chain from the Allegis Corp. Trump said he paid $210 million for the real estate, including a small apartment house next door to the hotel, and $180 million for the hotel and its contents. The hotel was built in 1907 along the lines of the French chateau and its first guest was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt, then the richest man in America. Guests at the nearly 1,000-room hotel have included Princess Grace, the King of Morocco, and the Beatles, whose visit in 1964 drew throngs of screaming teens to the Plaza. The Plaza is in the final stages of a major renovation, but Trump said he planned to upgrade everything even further. national delegate figures; picks up 8th graf pvs, bgng: ``We are... Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis overcame a strong showing by Jesse Jackson in the final weekend of Democratic caucuses to win North Dakota's presidential preference poll Saturday. Dukakis had 629 votes to Jackson's 416 with two rural districts left to be counted Saturday and Sunday in the precinct caucuses, which are the first step toward picking 15 of North Dakota's national convention delegates. Another 467 people voted uncommitted. Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt received 393 votes, followed by Illinois Sen. Paul Simon with 145 and Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. with 130. Other candidates received a total of 57 votes. Gephardt had been backed by fellow House member Byron Dorgan, North Dakota's lone representative in the House. If those results hold up at the state convention next month, Dukakis will win five national convention delegates from North Dakota, Jackson will gain three and Gephardt two. Another five delegates would be uncommitted. Ellen Austin, state campaign coordinator for Dukakis, said North Dakota voters liked his stands on agriculture and health care issues. The endorsement of Sen. Kent Conrad also helped, she said. ``We are more than pleased at the super showing Mike has shown in North Dakota,'' Ms. Austin said. ``We can't see how Dukakis can lose the (Democratic) nomination,'' she said. ``And I would like to predict he will be elected the 41st president of the United States.'' The precinct caucuses elect delegates to attend legislative district conventions, which are held immediately after each caucus is adjourned. The district conventions will elect 1,372 delegates to the state convention, where 15 of North Dakota's 20 delegates to the Democratic National Convention will be selected next month. While people attending the caucuses express preferences for presidential candidates, the delegates to the state convention often label themselves instead on the basis of their sentiment on various state issues, such as agriculture or labor. The outcome, however, does reflect the presidential preferences expressed at the first level of the process, said state party Chairman George Gaukler. One small town planned to hold its meeting Sunday but the outcome would not affect the overall statewide result. Jesse Jackson said Saturday that cab drivers, cooks, maids, small business people, farmers and other working men and women shared his dramatic victory in Michigan's primary-like Democratic presidential caucuses. ``The excitement is when you consider how the common people, workers, men and women, people who want a higher minimum wage, those who want work as an alternative to welfare, they are winning,'' Jackson said at a news conference while attending a Democratic fundraising dinner. ``Cab drivers are winning. Cooks are winning. Maids are winning. Small business people are winning. People who want jobs are winning. Those who want to save their farms are winning.'' Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis came in second in Michigan. ``People are responding to authenticity and message and soul over just money and mechanics,'' Jackson said. ``The only thing that is inevitable tonight is that when we, the working people, stand together, we win and we make America stronger.'' Jackson said he has stood with farmers fighting foreclosure, with striking factory workers and with high school students and their parents trying to stop the flow of illegal drugs. ``That Rainbow Coalition of people with whom I have worked has been standing by me,'' Jackson said. Jackson refused to characterize the Democratic race as a two-person contest between himself and Dukakis, the two men who lead in national convention delegates. ``In my opinion it is a five-person race,'' Jackson said. ``I would not be presumptuous enough to eliminate anyone from the race.'' But Jackson did not shy away when a reporter asked him if he might be the front-runner after the Michigan win. ``I've been there for over a year,'' Jackson said. Jackson is mounting a strong campaign in Wisconsin, where he has been endorsed by United Auto Workers Local 72, which represents about 5,000 workers at a Chrysler plant in Kenosha that is to be closed later this year. Jackson also has been endorsed by the union representing striking workers at the Patrick Cudahy meat packing plant in Cudahy. He picked up two significant political endorsements on Saturday: William Dixon of Madison, Wis., former national campaign manager for Gary Hart, and Karen Lamb, wife of veteran Milwaukee Mayor Henry Meier. The mayor, however, has not endorsed Jackson. County later taken from house, autopsy set for Sunday. SUBS last 2 grafs, bgng `A crowd...', with 5 grafs to UPDATE with 100 people attending closed meeting called by local leaders. No pickup. A Lumbee Indian activist running for judge in his racially troubled county was found shot to death Saturday at his home, officials said. Julian T. Pierce, who had complained to a friend of death threats, was shot three times at point-blank range with a shotgun, Sheriff Hubert Stone said. ``It just looks like he was actually assassinated,'' the sheriff said, calling it ``one of the worst'' murders he had investigated in his 33 years as a lawman. Gov. Jim Martin appealed for calm in Robeson County, where two Indians were charged with holding a newspaper staff hostage in February. He said the state had offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the killer's arrest and conviction. ``North Carolina has suffered another tragedy,'' Martin said at a Raleigh news conference. ``I want to express on ... behalf of the people of the state the grief we share and the sadness for what has happened.'' ``The investigation will leave no stone unturned,'' the governor said. Pierce, 42, was an attorney in nearby Pembroke. He had resigned as director of Lumbee River Legal Services, which provided legal representation to low-income county residents, to seek a newly created Superior Court judgeship. He was running against District Attorney Joe Freeman Britt in the May 3 Democratic primary. Britt released a statement saying he was ``shocked and dismayed'' at learning of the death. Pierce was found lying face down in the blood-spattered kitchen near a door which had several glass panes broken. Stone said the murderer either forced his way inside or broke the glass, stuck the gun through the opening and fired. A longtime friend who said he had spent several hours with Pierce on Friday said Pierce had been threatened and feared for his life. ``We were looking for this to happen,'' said Earl Moore, owner of a cabinet shop. ``He knew something could happen _ I won't go into it. ... If he had been white he wouldn't be dead today.'' Moore said he wouldn't cooperate with authorities because he didn't trust them. Stone said he knew nothing about threats against Pierce. Pierce was ``liked by all ... he had no enemies that I know of ...,'' the sheriff said. ``It took a very mad person to commit a crime like that.'' Nothing appeared to have been stolen from the house, Stone said. Robert Morgan, director of the State Bureau of Investigation, said ``we don't have any motive.'' Morgan said he believed Pierce lived alone. Authorities believe that the shooting occurred between midnight and 6 a.m., the sheriff said. The Red Springs Police Department received a call about the death Saturday morning, said Chief Deputy Al Parnell of the Robeson County sheriff's department. Authorities received the first word of the death from ``a friend'' of Pierce, said Morgan, who would not identify the caller. FBI agent Paul Daly said agents from the FBI and the State Bureau of Investigation were assisting county investigators. ``We will look into it from the aspect that it could be a potential civil rights violation,'' said Daly, in charge of FBI operations in North Carolina. ``He had a real good chance (to be elected) ...,'' said the Rev. Elbert Chavis. ``I don't think he had any enemies. He was a fine man. He would have been elected. All we want now is a thorough investigation.'' At midafternoon, the body was still in the house, in a rural area about 15 miles from Lumberton, as forensic experts combed the scene. The body was later transferred to a hospital morgue in Lumberton and officials said it would be transferred to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill on Sunday for autopsy. Robeson County, bordering South Carolina in the southeast corner of North Carolina, is the home of The Robesonian newspaper, where two Lumbee Indians were charged with holding the staff hostage Feb. 1. The men charged with hostage-taking, Eddie Hatcher and Tim Jacobs, said they wanted to call attention to racial injustice and corruption in the county. A letter written by Hatcher before the hostage incident criticized The Robesonian's coverage of Pierce's announcement for the judgeship. The letter, which was published in the weekly Carolina Indian Voice newspaper in January, said Pierce's story didn't receive as prominent display as did Britt's announcement. But Robesonian Editor Bob Horne said both candidates received front-page display with a photograph. The protesters also cited the death of a black jail inmate in January and the shooting death of an unarmed Indian in November 1986. The Indian was shot by Deputy Kevin Stone, the sheriff's son, in an incident that a coroner's jury later ruled to be an ``accident and-or self-defense.'' Robeson County's population of 100,000 is 37 percent white, 37 percent Indian and 26 percent black. Blacks and Indians long have alleged racism and corruption in the local criminal justice system. Britt, who is known for the number of death-penalty verdicts he has won, has been a frequent target of the complaints. ``I was shocked and dismayed by the death of Mr. Pierce,'' Britt said in a statement released to the Robesonian on Saturday. ``His murder was so senseless and violent. It is very sad and tragic, and I extend my personal condolences to his family and friends.'' He declined further comment to the newspaper, and there was no answer when telephone calls were placed to his home Saturday evening. Saturday evening, about 100 people gathered at an elementary school outside Lumberton for a meeting called by various local officials and clergymen in an effort to calm citizens' feelings. The meeting, closed to the press, broke up quietly after about 2{ hours. Jack Morgan, a county commissioner, said he asked for the community to remain calm and let justice take its course. He said participants suggested that the county commission ask the state attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor in the case, and vowed to bring such a proposal to the county group Monday. Because of the meeting, he said, ``I feel a little better about what they will do in their communities tomorrow.'' Earlier, a crowd of about 60 people, mostly Lumbee Indians, stood outside Pierce's one-story brick ranch house. Many said they believed the slaying was politically motivated and that they didn't have much faith that the sheriff's department would investigate the killing adequately. Morgan said, ``I'm sure that there are those who share that feeling, but if they don't trust the county, the SBI and the FBI, I don't know who else we can turn to.'' An armored truck was hijacked on a street Friday by a gun-toting duo who made off with more than $1.2 million, police said. Officer Joe Gallagher said the robbery occurred at 8:20 a.m. in Brooklyn. Two employees of Rapid Armor stopped for breakfast and left a third employee, Robert Molinelli, in the back of the truck. Gallagher said a man carrying a gun entered the back of the truck by unknown means and handcuffed Molinelli. Another man got into the truck and drove away. At an intersection, witnesses said, the men fled in a white van, taking two canvas bags containing $1,235,177 in cash. They left behind $50,000 in cash and coins, said Sgt. Peter Sweeney. Molinelli was uninjured, police said. A secretary who answered the phone at Rapid Armor said the company had no comment. Ballots to more than 4,400 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be mailed this weekend, Academy President Robert E. Wise said Friday. The returned ballots will determine Academy Award winners in 23 motion picture categories. The ballots must be received by Price Waterhouse and Co., an international auditing firm, no later than 5 p.m. April 5, Wise said. Price Waterhouse officials will tabulate the ballots and place the winners' names in sealed envelopes. Those envelopes are opened April 11 during the 60th annual Academy Awards presentation at the Shrine Civic Auditorium. That show will be televised by ABC. Georgia prison sentences. A 17-year-old was arrested Friday for allegedly burning a 3-foot cross and smearing racial ephitets on the house and car of a black woman who moved into a mostly white neighborhood three weeks ago, police said. The suspect, charged as a juvenile, was arrested by an officer who saw him walking near the neighborhood where incidents were committed, said Lt. Larry Leeson. Leeson said officers investigating the burning of a 3-foot cross Friday also found ``KKK'' painted in shaving cream on the windshield of a car owned by Carrie Venable, 50. Police found similar writings on a cardboard sign on the porch of Ms. Venable's house, Leeson said. Ms. Venable told police she had also had a car tire slashed and a license plate stolen. Ms. Venable said she has no plans to move. ``I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to stay so they might as well get used to it,'' she said. In Rome, Ga., on Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Vining sentenced four men to six months in prison for burning a cross in the yard of a black family in an Atlanta suburb. The four pleaded guilty in January to felony charges of conspiring to violate the family's civil rights. Alan Tieger, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, said the four were members of a loose-knit group called the ``Liberty Heights Klan,'' intent on keeping blacks out of the Liberty Heights neighborhood in Doraville. The Soviet Union has purchased an additional 475,000 metric tons of federally subsidized wheat for delivery in May, the Agriculture Department said Friday. The Foreign Agriculture Service said the Commodity Credit Corp. had agreed to pay in-kind bonuses to five grain exporters at an average value of $21.95 a ton. The subsidy payments were being made under the Export Enhancement Program, which provides grain companies and others with government-owned crops as bonuses to stimulate overseas sales of American commodities. Since last April, total subsidized sales of wheat to the Soviets have totaled amore than 10.8 million tons. The Foreign Agricultural Service identified those receiving the bonuses and the amounts of grain involved as Garnac Grain Company Inc., 50,000 tons; Richco Grain Ltd., 200,000 tons; Mitsubishi International Corp., 25,000 tons; Artfer Inc., 50,000 tons; and Louis Dreyfus Corp., 150,000 tons. The sales left 525,000 tons still remaining for the Soviets to purchase under a 2 million ton offer made by the United States on Jan. 29. The United States also made the Soviets an additional 1 million ton offer on Saturday. The two countries are preparing to negotiate a new long-term grain agreement to replace the one that expires Sept. 30. It calls for the Soviets to buy 9 million metric tons a year, of which 4 million must be wheat and 4 million corn. The rest may be purchased in wheat, corn, soybeans or soybean meal, with every ton of beans or meal counting as two tons of grain. Wheat sales to the Soviets slumped badly in 1986 despite the agreement but picked up against last year as the United States gave that country the green light for purchases under the subsidy program. Cattle producers and cattle and beef importers will vote in a referendum in May to determine if their current promotional program will continue, the Agriculture Department announced Friday. Anyone who produces cattle or has imported beef or beef products since Oct. 1, 1986 will be eligible to vote. A simple majority of votes will determine whether to continue the promotions, which have included television spots by actor James Garner and actress Cybill Shepherd. ``Real food for real people'' has been the slogan of the commercials. The referendum will take place on May 10 in all states except West Virginia, where the voting will be one day earlier. Extension Service offices will distribute ballots in April and absentee ballots will be available from them by mail. The program is funded by a fee of $1 per head on all domestic and imported cattle and an equivalent fee on beef imports. It was established under federal legislation approved in 1985. UPDATE update with demonstration by Angela Davis and others. City health officials are ready to begin clinical trials on drugs to treat AIDS victims but are prevented by cumbersome federal policies, the city's chief health officer told a presidential commission on Friday. ``We could do community trials; we'd be happy to. We could get clinical trials with controls going tomorrow,'' Dr. David Werdegar, director of the city's Health Department told members of the Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic. Large-scale clinical trials that could begin at San Francisco General Hospital, community hospitals and the University of California Health Science Center are prevented by a national cooperative drug trial policy Werdegar called ``lead-footed.'' The national policy is ``unduly long and cumbersome,'' said Werdegar, who estimated the city's 4,514 AIDS patients will increase to as many as 18,000 by 1993. ``As our own projections show only too well, time is of the essence,'' he said. Former Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who also testified during the second day of the commission's three-day stay in San Francisco, urged the panel to eliminate the use of placebo-controlled trials in patients with AIDS where possible. ``Science protocols must not be used to deprive individuals with these fatal conditions of possible relief from suffering,'' Feinstein told the seven commissioners. She also called for national civil rights legislation barring discrimination in housing, jobs, medical care and insurance coverage against people with AIDS. Despite local ordinances, AIDS patients are still summarily fired from jobs, evicted from apartments and denied insurance when people learn of their conditions, said Feinstein, who left office in January. Cities such as San Francisco, which has spent $50 million since 1981 to fight AIDS _ more per capita than any other city in the nation _ will not be able to keep pace with the epidemic unless federal grants to cities increase, Feinstein said. Meanwhile, several blocks away at United Nations Plaza, demonstrators including Angela Davis joined supporters of the city's AIDS-ARC vigil who chained themselves briefly to the doors of the old Federal Building in a protest against President Reagan's response to AIDS. ``The money that should be used toward an extensive system of education around AIDS and toward development of a national health plan for every single person is going into the war machine,'' said Davis, a member of the Communist Party of the USA, which helped organize the demonstration. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is caused by a virus that damages the body's immune system, leaving victims susceptible to infections and cancer. It is spread most often through sexual contact, needles or syringes shared by drug abusers, infected blood or blood products, and from pregnant women to their offspring. As of Monday, 57,024 cases had been reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Of those, 31,836 people have died. A museum security guard pleaded guilty Friday to kidnapping a 2-day-old boy from his mother's hospital room, then pretending for four months the child was hers. Dorothy Jean Brown, 44, of Riesterstown, Md., could receive up to life in prison at sentencing May 13 in U.S. District Court. Ms. Brown answered ``yes'' and ``no'' to Judge Frederic N. Smalkin's questions in a barely audible voice as she admitted taking Kendol Kernes from a bassinet at Johns Hopkins Hospital on June 18 while his mother, Patricia Nixon, slept. A government statement of facts, to which the defendant agreed in pleading guilty to kidnapping, said that police in mid-October received an anonymous tip that she had a 4-month-old baby but had not been pregnant. Ms. Brown, a guard at the Baltimore Museum of Art for 14 years, told police that she had delivered the child in Baltimore on June 18. She identified him as Tony Gilmore Jr., named for her boyfriend, the statement said. Police could not find any birth or hospital records to back up her account. Confronted with that information, Ms. Brown told a detective her twin sister had delivered the baby in Ms. Brown's home, the statement said. Ms. Brown later fled with the child to Philadelphia, where she was arrested Oct. 30. The baby was returned safely to his mother. A woman has sued Continental Airlines for detaining her at Dulles International Airport after she doodled on her food tray. Nita Brasch of Dumfries filed the $150,000 suit Thursday in state court, claiming the airline falsely imprisoned her and humiliated her when she and her son returned from Boston last year. Mrs. Brasch said the jet landed in a snowstorm and passengers had to wait aboard three hours. Frustrated, she drew on the airline food tray a cartoon of someone trapped in a plane, she said. Though her son offered to wash the tray, Mrs. Brasch said, she was arrested and charged with defacing an aircraft. A U.S. District Court judge dismissed the charge, but she had to pay attorney fees, the lawsuit says. Continental spokesman Ned Walker in Houston said the company had no comment because it had not been served with the suit. A contract dispute left more than half the school district's 1,200 teachers speechless, but they taught nonetheless. The teachers proclaimed Thursday a ``day of silent protest,'' during which they would not speak while school was in session. They wrote assignments on blackboards or on overhead projectors and answered questions from students with nods, gestures and notes. ``They had some clever things,'' said Stu Reeder, principal of La Puente High School. ``Some teachers made signs that would say, `Please be quiet,' `No, you can't go to the restroom,' or `You're goofing off. Get back to work.''' ``It's kind of funny, actually,'' said Dana Watanabe, 16, a junior at Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights, 20 miles east of Los Angeles. ``They all gave us tests and a lot of people saw movies. ... I think it's better than having them go on strike or something.'' Teachers in the Hacienda-La Puenta Unified School district, which serves 22,000 students in La Puente, Hacienda Heights, Valinda and parts of the City of Industry, have been working without a contract since August They are seeking a 12 percent raise over the next two years, while the district's top offer has been 3 percent. Starting salary is $20,265. ``I thought the teachers handled their action satisfactorily,'' said John Clonts, assistant district superintendent. ``From what I saw, it didn't seem to have any adverse effects on the students.'' Union officials estimated that between 80 percent and 85 percent of the district's teachers kept their vows of silence, while district officials estimated participation at between 50 percent and 75 percent. The next negotiating session is scheduled for April 8. Larry Dobbs thought some denture adhesive was all he needed to get out of jail, but he's still stuck behind bars. Dobbs, 39, ate a tube of Poli-Grip _ container and all _ about six hours after being booked into the Delaware County Jail on Thursday. Sgt. Richard Pickett said Friday he wasn't surprised. During previous stays, the jail commander said, Dobbs ate a soda bottle and a light bulb. ``We were just waiting to see what it was going to be this time,'' Pickett said. ``He just wants out of jail.'' Dobbs, who was returned to Indiana from Florida to face a charge of driving while intoxicated, was treated at a hospital and transferred to the Indiana Reformatory at Pendleton, where he can be watched more closely, Pickett said. Dobbs also is awaiting trial on charges including forgery, theft and criminal conversion, the officer said. A student who had threatened to burn a puppy to draw attention to U.S. policy in Centra America pleaded innocent Friday to carrying a knife. David Read, 26, was released on his signature after arraignment on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon, said Dane County Deputy District Attorney Steve Tinker. Police who arrested Read on Thursday on a warrant issued in July for non-payment of a fine found a seven-inch dagger in his pocket, Officer Maryanne Thurber said. ``He said he was afraid for his safety,'' she said. Earlier this week, enraged people across the nation had called humane societies, radio stations and police to denounce the University of Wisconsin-Madison student's announced plans to burn a puppy to demonstrate the brutality of war. The warrant was issued after Read failed to pay a fine from a 1985 disorderly conduct charge, said Jeanine Hayes, a Sheriff's Department clerk. Officers knew Read because of attention resulting from the puppy threat, Thurber said. Read said Thursday he never really intended to burn a puppy, but had made earlier this week to focus public attention on war in Central America. ``People panicked to save the life of one mythical puppy while thousands were dying,'' he said. The U.N.-sponsored Afghanistan peace talks went into weekend recess on an upbeat note Friday after word came that the superpowers were softening their positions on key issues. The Soviet Union was said to have dropped its objections to a Pakistani proposal to let U.N. mediator Diego Cordovez play a role in getting the process under way of forming a transitional Afghan government. The United States signaled new flexibility in trying to resolve a second major problem concerning future military aid to parties in the 8-year-old Afghanistan war. A Western source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Cordovez asked both Washington and Moscow to assign high-ranking officials to a new search for a compromise in the aid issue. There was speculation he wanted the co-chairmen of a special U.S.-Soviet working group to concentrate on the problem. That working group was set up at the Washington meeting between Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze this week. They named Michael Armacost, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Anatoly Adamishin, a Soviet vice foreign minister, as co-chairmen. Cordovez told reporters negotiations will resume Monday. He met with both the Pakistani and Afghan delegations after a senior U.S. official said in Washington that the interim government issue was now ``swiftly soluble.'' The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday that Moscow indicated support for having Cordovez act in a personal capacity to promote an infra-Afghan dialogue. Pakistan argues that only such a government, replacing the Soviet-backed one headed by President Najib, could oversee implementation of a peace settlement and ensure the safe return of more than 5 million Afghan refugees. Moscow and its Kabul allies maintained that the question of Afghanistan's future government was not a subject of Geneva talks and any attempt to link its formation with the settlement would be interfering with Afghanistan's internal affairs. Last week, the chief Pakistani negotiator, acting Foreign Minister Zain Noorani, indicated a modified position. He told journalists Pakistan wants signing of a settlement accompanied by an ``all-round commitment to the principle of forming'' such a government. Cordovez might subsequently convene a meeting between the Afghan factions. Originally, according to a Pakistani source, this was also vetoed by Moscow. The first indication that Moscow had dropped its objections came at Shultz's Wednesday news conference. He said the United States welcomes ``the development through which Mr. Cordovez will, in a personal capacity, be ready to serve as mediator among the contending parties.'' Shultz in turn seemed to be taking a more flexible stance on Washington's demand that Soviet military aid to the Kabul government cease at the same time as U.S. aid to the Islamic, anti-Marxist guerrillas fighting it. The Soviets said that amounted to interfering with relations between two sovereign states bound by international treaties. Shultz suggested in Washington that both sides agree at least on a temporary freeze on arms assistance ``or on something close to it.'' He said this would ensure stable conditions during the projected withdrawal of the estimated 115,000 Soviet troops from Afghanistan. The secretary said the Soviets ``did not feel they could agree to that,'' but he made plain his hope that Moscow would have second thoughts, saying the U.S. proposal remains on the table. Special Soviet envoy Nikolay Kozyrev called on Cordovez Friday, feeding rumors that there was movement in what the senior U.S. official in Washington termed the ``only unresolved issue.'' arrangements. Rep. James Howard of New Jersey, the influential chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, died Friday, a day after suffering a heart attack while playing golf. He was 60. ``It was very peaceful and he experienced no pain,'' his daughter, Marie Howard, said in a statement. Howard, a Democratic member of the House for 22 years, collapsed Thursday on a suburban Maryland golf course. Doctors at Montgomery General Hospital in Olney, Md., labored for nearly two hours to get the lawmaker breathing on his own. He was then rushed by helicopter to the cardiac unit at Washington Hospital Center. He never regained consciousness. A statement issued by his office said Howard died of complications from the heart attack, his third. Funeral Services were scheduled for Tuesday at St. Catharine's Roman Catholic Church in Spring Lake, N.J. Reaction to Howard's death was quick. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said, ``Jim always said he was inspired by President Kennedy to enter public service, and was one of the most effective and loyal supporters that John and Robert Kennedy and I ever had.'' House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, said of Howard: ``He worked hard, played hard, loved his family, his state and his country with a burning intensity.'' Reps. Glenn Anderson, D-Calif., and John Paul Hammerschmidt, R-Ark., the two ranking members on the Public Works panel, issued a joint statement saying, ``No person ever has done more to build this nation's backbone, its highway and public transit network, its dams and sewage treatment plants, its airports and its buildings.'' Transportation Secretary James Burnley said in a statement, ``He was a knowledgeable and effective lawmaker who was, above all, a dedicated public servant.'' Howard was known among colleagues as one of the House's toughest horse traders. He was an aggressive and agile lawmaker who wielded his considerable clout in an old-fashioned, behind-the-scenes way. He was instrumental in passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, and fought to end ocean pollution and to protect his largely coastal New Jersey district from the ravages of erosion. When stricken on Thursday, Howard was in the company of one of the literally hundreds of lobbyists seeking to curry favor with his influential committee. The Spring Lake Heights, N.J., Democrat was an avid golfer. He had a fondness for cigarettes and coffee. Howard excelled at eyeball-to-eyeball negotiations with other members, using his clout to make deals, or to push his position. Despite his power, Howard has sometimes held a tentative grip on his seat. During the Reagan landslide of 1980, he won re-election by a margin of only about 2,000 votes over his GOP challenger. The committee which he headed since 1981 was one of Congress' least glamorous, but most powerful. The panel has jurisdiction over multibillion dollar highway and water projects, as well as the airline and trucking industries. Howard was criticized for traveling and being entertained on the expense accounts of groups seeking his influence. He was also one of the largest recipients in the House of business-related campaign contributions. British journalist Alec Collett's fate was still a mystery Friday, the third anniversary of his kidnapping in Beirut by terrorists who have claimed they killed him in 1986. Collett worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, or UNWRA, which marked the third year of his abduction with an appeal for his release. ``We call on those who unjustifiably kidnapped the innocent Alec Collett to let him return to his family immediately,'' said Per Olof Hallqvist, UNRWA's director in Lebanon, ignoring the report of his death. Collett, 66, a New York-based journalist, was abducted March 25, 1985 while on a writing assignment for the U.N. agency. The Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Moslems said its members kidnapped Collett. It demanded the release of three Arab guerrillas jailed in Britain in connection with the June 1982 attempt to kill Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to London. The group claimed it hanged Collett on April 23, 1986, to avenge British support of U.S. air raids on Libya. Some of the American fighter-bombers that attacked Tripoli and Benghazi on April 15, 1986, flew from bases in Britain. President Reagan ordered the raids, accusing Libyan leader Col. Moammar Ghadafi of supporting international terrorism. After announcing Collett had been killed, the organization released a video tape purporting to show Collett's body hanging from a gallows. Those who viewed the 4-minute tape said the victim resembled UNWRA photographs of Collett. But Collett's colleages said they could not be certain the hanged man was the missing journalist. Twenty-two foreigners, including Collett, are still listed as missing after being kidnapped in Lebanon. Among them are nine Americans. Terry Anderson, 40, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, has been held the longest. He was kidnapped in west Beirut on March 16, 1985. At the United Nations in New York on Friday, officials and journalists marked the anniversary of Collett's abduction with a vigil. ``It pains me deeply to acknowledge that another year has passed,'' said U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar. ``Despite my frustration at the complete lack of information, we continue to pursue every outlet of information.'' Collett's wife, Elaine, told the group at the U.N. Correspondents Association Club ``the call I received three years ago remains a nightmare today.'' ``I want to know the whereabouts of my husband. The reality is harsh, and despite rumors circulating that he is alive, which confirms my gut reaction, there are no assurances to verify them.'' Roy Murphy, president of the Foreign Press Association, said in a statement addressed to the kidnappers: ``Alec Collett is not an oppressor _ he was working on behalf of the dispossessed and homeless when he was taken. ``Claiming to execute Alec Collett in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Libya is pointless _ he is a British citizen working for an international agency.'' ``If Alec Collett is alive, you can gain sympathy and goodwill for your cause by releasing him, now,'' the statement said. ``If he is dead, you can still gain by revealing where he is buried. By staying silent, you gain nothing but the revulsion and contempt of all.'' Four applications to build a bullet train linking Miami, Orlando and Tampa were submitted Friday, bringing Florida a step closer to a spage-age, high-speed passenger rail system between its top tourist spots. The applications are to be revealed Monday by Gov. Bob Martinez and legislative leaders. After a year's review, the state's High Speed Rail Commission expects to narrow the list to three semifinalists and award the franchise in 1991. Planners hope to have the trains running by 1995, Florida's 150th birthday. ``This is a major milestone in this project,'' said Diana Hull, commission spokeswoman. ``Today's deadline will put us one large step along toward putting high-speed rail in Florida.'' The 300-mile, multibillion-dollar project will link Miami with Tampa, on the Gulf Coast, and Orlando, in central Florida, but the applicants will determine precise routes, financing agreements and which technology to use. The train, which is still being developed, is expected to travel at average speed of 250 mph. Amtrak provides passenger service between Miami and the Orlando area, about 250 miles apart, but there is no rail service connecting Tampa to either city. Tampa is about 85 miles from Orlando. The team that wins the franchise will be allowed to develop property for rail stations and connecting attractions, a financing plan that mirrors one used by industrialist Henry Flagler when he built a rail line nearly 100 years ago down Florida's Atlantic Coast and eventually to Key West. In theory, the plan will allow the franchise holder to recoup its $2 billion to $5 billion in startup costs, while fares will support operation and maintenance. The idea has been in the planning for six years. The comission will balance financial arrangements, environmental concerns, growth patterns and technologies, select the best overall plan _ or reject all of them _ and make a recommendation to the governor and Cabinet. A white-supremacist paramilitary group was denied permission for an outdoor rally Friday, so the members met in a town hall where their leader delivered a fiery denunciation of the government. A magistrate banned the outdoor meeting under security legislation white authorities usually apply to black organizations. The move followed a Cabinet minister's statement that the extremist white group should stop ``intimidatory actions.'' The Afrikaner Resistance Movement, whose members wear swastika-like emblems and carry guns at public appearances, said it had expected 4,000 supporters at a stadium in Randfontein, about 20 miles west of Johannesburg. Hundreds of members packed the town hall in nearby Krugersdrop. Eugene TerreBlanche, the group's leader, condemned President P.W. Botha's government for subjecting his group to the same restrictions applied to black anti-apartheid groups. He said the Afrikaner Resistance was being treated like the outlawed African National Congress, the black guerrilla movement seeking to end rule by South Africa's white minority. Under the state of emergency in effect since June 12, 1986, outdoor rallies are illegal unless approved by a magistrate or by Adriaan Vlok, the law and order minister. The government has been criticized for restricting black gatherings, even funerals or meetings in churches, while allowing TerreBlanche's group to hold rallies for racial division and armed resistance to any political power for blacks. Botha's National Party has tried to discredit the Conservative Party, the main opposition, by emphasizing its links with the Afrikaner Resistance, but white voters chose Conservatives in two parliamentary by-elections March 2 and are expected to do so in another at Randfontein next week. About 35 Kurdish exiles protesting the alleged use of chemical weapons by Iraq burst into the London office of Air France on Friday and threatened to set themselves on fire, police said. The protest, on New Bond Street in central London, ended peacefully after 3{ hours. There were no reports of injury or arrest. It was the third sit-in demonstration in London this week by the group, which calls itself Kurdish Organizations in the United Kingdom. Group spokesman Kurdo Ali said the protesters want France to intervene through the United Nations to halt the alleged use of chemical weapons by Iraq against Kurdish border towns during the 6{-year-old Iran-Iraq war. He said France is the main supplier of weapons to Iraq and added: ``We would not be suprised that components of chemical weapons have been supplied by France.'' Police said protesters threatened to douse themselves with gasoline and set their clothes afire. But they left the building peacefully after speaking with a representative of the French Embassy. Kurdo said French Ambassador Luc de La Barre agreed to meet with the group Monday to discuss their grievances. Earlier, the embassy said in a statement: ``We deny sending any kind of component for chemical weapons to Iraq. It is of great concern to us, the use of chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war, and we condemn these practices.'' On Wednesday in London, about 40 Kurdish demonstrators occupied British Red Cross headquarters and 20 Kurdish students occupied Arab League headquarters. Prosecutors probing accusations of widespread government corruption said Friday that they are examining secret bank accounts belonging to the brother of former President Chun Doo-hwan. Hundreds of students at three universities staged anti-government rallies, with many protesting the alleged corruption. Violent clashes broke out as students hurled rocks and firebombs and fought with riot police. Prosecutor-General Lee Chong-nam said investigators have located secret bank accounts used by Chun's younger brother, Chun Kyung-hwan. Lee said the younger Chun would be questioned soon about whether he misappropriated funds of the semi-official Saemaul development movement he once headed. Prosecutor Kang Won-il said officials had seized secret ledgers showing how Chun Kyung-hwan and other top Saemaul officials had diverted funds. The ongoing investigation now centers on charges the younger Chun embezzled $8 million under a false name to invest in stocks, Kang said. ``Considerable progress has been made in the prosecution investigation on Chun's alleged embezzlement and receiving of money through influence peddling,'' Kang said. A probe into the activities of Saemaul movement has revealed widespread corruption, embezzlement and influence peddling. Officials believe huge sums of money, land and other property were embezzled. The Saemaul movement was set up in 1971 to organize rural and urban development and modernization. Saemaul means ``New Community.'' About 200 Saemaul and government officials have been questioned about diverting funds, selling influence, extorting donations and other crimes, according to the prosecutor-general's office. Prosecutors are investigating charges government officials were involved in corruption or helped to cover it up to protect President Chun and his family. The younger Chun, who was named to head Saemaul while his brother was president, resigned in 1987 after being linked to gangsters. He tried to flee to Japan last week, but returned Sunday to face questioning. President Roh Tae-woo, who took over from the elder Chun on Feb. 25, promised before he was elected in December that his administration would put an end to high-level corruption. In Seoul, riot police firing tear gas thwarted an anti-government and anti-U.S. demonstration by about 300 radical students who tried to march out of Yonsei University. The Korean news agency Yonhap said about 1,000 students clashed with riot police firing tear gas at two separate universities in Kwangju. Kwangju was the scene of a bloody nine-day anti-government insurrection in 1980. At least 191 people were killed and more than 800 others injured in the uprising, the worst in modern South Korean history. Howard; AMs separate moved as a0691 on Joffrey. Robert Joffrey, dancer-choreographer who guided his Joffrey Ballet from an itinerant troupe in a station wagon to international acclaim, died Friday. He was 57. The Joffrey Ballet now ranks with the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater as one of America's big three ballet companies, but it began in 1956 when Joffrey borrowed a station wagon to tour the United States with his fledgling troupe. Within 10 years of its 22-city auto tour, the Joffrey Ballet had performed throughout the Far East, in the Soviet Union and at the White House. Joffrey built by far the most far-ranging repertory. He brought into the company ballets of strong classical base and flowing quality by the British Royal Ballet's Frederick Ashton; the 1932 stylized anti-war masterpiece, ``The Green Table,'' by Kurt Jooss; a group of ballets created for Serge Diaghilev; John Cranko's full-length ``Romeo and Juliet,'' and dances by American choreographers from Agnes de Mille to the avant garde. Joffrey own ballets include ``The Nutcracker'' in 1987 and his striking 1967 ``Astarte,'' in which a couple dance in front of a billowing white silk curtain on which a movie of them dancing is projected. Durwood Manford, former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and member of the State Board of Insurance for 22 years, died Thursday at age 71. Manford was first elected to the House in 1940 at the age of 23 and served five terms. He served as speaker for one term, which included the 51st Legislature in 1949. That Legislature was the longest continuous session in state history _ 177 days. Manford served as chairman of the State Board for Texas State Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, on the Industrial Accident Board, and as a member of the Board of Water Engineers, 1957-61. In 1961, Gov. Price Daniel appointed him to the State Board of Insurance, where he served until 1983. James Howard, a New Jersey State representative, died Thursday of a heart attack. He was 60 Howard gained his congressional seat on the coattails of President Johnson's 1964 victory. During the Reagan landslide of 1980, he retained his seat by a margin of only about 2,000 votes over his GOP challenger. In 1986, Howard won re-election with 59 percent of the vote in a largely Republican district. He had been chairman of the Public Works Committee since 1981. The panel considers multibillion-dollar highway and water projects. Cancer Seven-year-old Brooke Ward, cancer-free after receiving the first bone marrow transplant arranged through a computerized donor registry, wrinkled her nose at TV cameras Friday and left no doubt where she'd rather be. ``Home,'' the little girl from Raleigh, N.C., said from behind a baby-blue face mask during her one-word news conference. She and her mother fly home Saturday after four months' treatment in Seattle. ``We're very excited about it,'' Margurite Ward said as she held an occasionally fussy Brooke. ``Back at Christmas time we didn't even think we'd probably reach this day.'' Mrs. Ward said there had been little hope for her daughter, who had acute lymphocytic leukemia when she arrived at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center on Dec. 2. The Wards had been told the odds of finding a bone-marrow donor outside the family were one in 15,000. However, the new computerized National Bone Barrow Donor Registry, based in Minneapolis, located Diane Walters of Milwaukee, whose marrow matched Brooke's. The transplant was performed Dec. 15. Christmas week was especially difficult, as Brooke's body tried to rid itself of the new, foreign marrow. She left the hospital as an outpatient Jan. 29, staying in the Seattle area with her mother, and they returned on Friday to thank doctors before leaving for home. Dr. William Bensinger said there was no evidence of leukemia in Brooke's body. ``I think the outlook for her is favorable,'' he said. Dr. Pat Beatty, director of the bone marrow registry at Fred Hutchinson, said three similar transplants had been performed at the cancer center since Brooke's operation, and five more were scheduled. About $118,000 in donations have been raised to help Brooke's bills. The operation costs about $100,000. Overheated wiring is believed to have caused a fatal fire Feb. 20 aboard a passenger train in Nebraska, an Amtrak spokeswoman said Friday. ``This is a preliminary determination, and the official cause of the fire will be announced at the appropriate time by the National Transportation Safety Board,'' said the spokeswoman, Debbie Marciniak. The fire broke out in a crew car on Amtrak's California Zephyr as the Chicago-bound train was pulling into Hastings, Neb., 150 miles west of Omaha. A crew member died of smoke inhalation. Nineteen other crew members, passengers, police and firefighters were treated at hospitals for smoke inhalation. Ms. Marciniak said the burned car was inspected March 1 by a private fire investigator and by representatives of the Federal Railroad Administration, the NTSB, the Nebraska Fire Marshal's office, Amtrak and one of its unions. Preliminary reports show the fire originated in wiring in the wall behind a heater in the luggage compartment of the crew car, she said. ``Rubber insulation became separated from the wiring because of extensive tightening of the plastic straps that were used to bundle the wires. Overheating was caused by the reduced insulation,'' Ms. Marciniak said. ``The plastic straps began to melt due to the extreme heat, dripping burning globs of plastic on the wooden floor, causing the floor to catch fire. Then the flames proceeded into the body of the car.'' Ms. Marciniak said Amtrak already has taken steps to prevent a recurrence. ``We've disconnected power-source wiring on cars of this type,'' she said. ``We are adding a stainless steel plating to the floors to prevent fire from spreading.'' There were no smoke detectors on the train, but because of the fire, Amtrak began installing them in all crew cars and is considering using them in passenger sleepers. NTSB spokesmen in Chicago did not return a telephone call Friday evening. number killed to 12, not 11; picks up 8th graf pvs, The meeting .. . SUBBING 13th graf pvs, British news ... to UPDATE with scheduled arraignments. Picks up 14th graf pvs, A private .... Britain's Cabinet officer for Northern Ireland said Friday he is exploring a new political structure for the province in an effort to bring peace, possibly based on power sharing between Protestants and Catholics. Tom King, the Northern Ireland secretary, gave no details but said he would discuss the prospects Tuesday with the moderate Social Democratic and Labor Party, which represents most of Northern Ireland's Roman Catholic minority. There was no immediate reaction. Previous attempts at sectarian power sharing have collapsed under opposition from Protestants. Britain governs Northern Ireland directly from London. Protestant political leaders oppose any weakening of British control over the province's affairs. King spoke with reporters after hours of talks with Foreign Minister Brian Lenihan of the Irish Republic that focused on increasing security cooperation against a common threat, the outlawed Irish Republican Army. A joint statement said both governments condemned the increase of violence Northern Ireland and urged both Protestants and Catholics to repudiate those responsible. ``They appealed to both communities to repudiate those in their midst who sought to promote the spiral of violence and to do all in their power to bring this violence to an end,'' said the statement issued by the Northern Ireland Office The talks in a heavily guarded London office marked the first full British-Irish government meeting since Oct. 21, King said. Twelve people, including two British soldiers, have been killed since March 6, when British commandos shot dead three unarmed IRA guerrillas who allegedly were on a bombing mission in Gibraltar. At the guerrillas' March 16 burial, a Protestant gunman killed three people and wounded 68 at Belfast cemetery. The meeting was called under the British-Irish Agreement of November 1985, which gave the government of the overwhelmingly Catholic Irish Republic a consultative say in the running of Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland. The ministers agreed to hold further meetings after Easter to include social and economic issues. Among the issues discussed Friday was Britain's decision to abandon a short-lived policy of not attending IRA funerals following the killing of two British soldiers who drove into an IRA cortege in Catholic West Belfast on March 19. Moderate Catholic leaders, including bishops, had advocated the policy in the hope of avoiding clashes between police and mourners. The soldiers were mobbed, beaten, stripped and then shot when they drove into the funeral of one of the Milltown victims, an IRA man. The Irish delegation ``stressed the continuing importance of ensuring that these and other public occasions should be organized in a sensitive manner,'' the statement said. Belfast police said in a statement Friday that two men will appear in Belfast Magistrates Court on Saturday to be formally arraigned on charges of murdering the two British soldiers at an IRA funeral in west Belfast on March 19. Police did not name the two accused men. A private family funeral was held Friday in the central England county of Bedfordshire for one of the slain soldiers, Cpl. David Howes. His colleague, Cpl. Derek Wood, was buried Thursday with full military honors. The violence erupted at an already low point in British-Irish relations, chilled by a series of incidents beginning in January when Britain announced it would not prosecute Northern Ireland policemen for an alleged ``shoot-to-kill'' policy operated by the mainly Protestant police force in 1982. Federal police have arrested a number of West Germans suspected of spying for communist countries, security officials said Friday. They were responding to a report in the newspaper Bild that said eight ``high-karat'' agents, including government employees and border policemen, were arrested in raids across West Germany Thursday and Friday. Security officials, speaking on condition they not be identified, were asked about reports that up to 15 people were arrested. One official told The Associated Press: ``That number is too high. It is several, but less than 10.'' The officials said a doctor in the Aachen area was among those arrested, but they did not identify him and would not give additional details. Hans-Juergen Foerster, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe, refused comment. ``We will explain everything on Monday,'' he said. Bild said the raids may have been connected to last week's arrest of Elke Falk, a secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation in Bonn. Ms. Falk is suspected of being a communist spy for years, according to the prosecutors' office. She worked in the West German chancellory from 1974 to 1977 and later in several ministries. She is being held in investigative custody and no charges have been filed against her. Officials have not said which communist country she allegedly worked for. In West Germany's last major espionage scandal, 15 communist agents were arrested or disappeared between August and December 1985. Among them was Hans-Joachim Tiedge, the chief counter-espionage officer responsible for catching East German agents. He fled to East Germany. A policeman who shot to death a teen-ager carrying what turned out to be a pellet pistol was acquitted Friday of involuntary manslaughter. ``This reassures me how fair the criminal justice system is,'' said Patrolman John Dolan Jr., 40. The 19-year veteran was charged in the death of 16-year-old Marcus Norris, who was felled by a shotgun blast Dec. 31. Dolan said he shot Norris because the teen-ager pointed a pistol at him that appeared to be real. Authorities said Norris had a pellet pistol, a non-lethal gun that uses air pressure to fire small projectiles. Norris had been target shooting at cans shortly before he was killed, authorities said. Norris' death led City Council to pass an ordinance banning the sale of toys that look like firearms. The shooting had also sparked complaints that police are overly rough with blacks. Norris was black; Dolan is white. The jury of four blacks and eight whites deliberated for eight hours over two days. James Turner, the teen-ager's godfather, said of the acquittal: ``Here, there is no justice.'' Norris was killed at a motel his mother manages after Dolan was summoned to check out a report of a man brandishing a pistol. Norris' mother, Faye Black, testified along with a family friend that her son had dropped the gun and raised his hands in surrender before he was shot, but a passerby told the court the teen-ager pointed the pistol at Dolan. ``It was a tragedy,'' Dolan said. ``I would give anything if it hadn't happened, but it was totally beyond my control.'' Dolan's defense was financed by the Memphis Police Association, and a half-dozen or more off-duty officers in uniform attended his trial each day. Ray Maples, president of the police association, said Dolan acted properly. ``Anytime somebody points a gun at you after he's been told to drop it and does not, your life is in danger,'' he said. Dolan, who has been assigned to desk work since the shooting, said he looks forward to returning to patrol. ``I hope a situation like this never develops again, but on an armed robbery-type call, I will do what I've been trained to do,'' he said. Two young brothers were seriously injured Friday by the explosion of a homemade grenade they found, officials said. They said the children, aged 7 and 8, were injured in the face, throat, legs and arms when the grenade blew up in San Fernando, a working-class suburb 12 miles north of Buenos Aires. A third child playing with the brothers escaped injury, firefighters reported. The Soviet Union has asked Portugal about the possibility of dividing Angola into north and south, sources close to the Angolan rebel movement UNITA said Friday. They said Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze raised the question with Portuguese officials during a four-hour visit to Lisbon on Thursday. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cited well-placed informants but would not elaborate. Government officials could not be reached for comment Friday evening. Shevardnardze said after meeting with President Mario Soares, Prime Minister Anibal Cavaco Silva and Foreign Minister Joao de Deus Pinheiro that he felt Portugal could play an important role in resolving the conflict in its former colony. UNITA, supported by the United States and South Africa, has fought Angola's Marxist government since independence in 1975 and claims to control large areas in the south. A Lisbon-based spokesman for UNITA, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, denied reports that it proclaimed a separate government in southern Angola. He said that was a misintrepretation of a new system of administering areas under rebel control, and UNITA opposes any division of the country. A high school honor student driving his mother's sports car plowed into a group of partying teen-agers early Friday, killing one and leaving another brain dead, police said. Five others were injured. About 50 teen-agers had gathered at the end of dead-end road to celebrate the first night of Santaluces High School's spring break, and most scattered when they saw Eric Christopher Norstrom speeding toward them, police said. Norstrom, 16, lost control of the Mazda RX7 when he tried to stop in front of the group, police said. Police estimated his speed reached 85 mph before the 200-foot skid. Amber Hunter, 16, died at the scene, police said. Charles Hamby, an 18-year-old dropout, was declared brain dead at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boca Raton, doctors said. Four others were hospitalized in fair or stable condition, and one was treated and released. No charges were filed. Police said they were awaiting the results of a blood-alcohol test on Norstrom. This pool report was written by Stewart Powell of Hearst News Service. _ ABOARD THE USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS IN THE PERSIAN GULF (AP) _ The cherished traditions of seamen sailing wooden ships ``with a star to steer her by'' are living in close quarters with technicolor technology aboard the Navy's most modern warships. The interplay is constant between past and present aboard vessels such as this 445-foot frigate patrolling near the Strait of Hormus as part of the U.S. mission to protect merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf. The sounds and practices of yesterday merge imperceptibly with those of today, as the warship monitors the activities of Iranian naval vessels and passes combatants of allied nations on station near Abu Musa Island, a staging point for Iranian speed boat attacks against international shipping. Nostalgia has nothing to do with it. Binoculars, barometers and paper navigation charts, every bit as much as the radar screen and computer, play a critical role in keeping this $400 million guided missile warship and her 202-member crew on the warrior's edge, ready to fight with a handful of captain's commands. No matter what the crisis, the familiar clang of the ship's polished brass bell sets the rhythm of the day, calmly parceling out the hours of day and night in half-hour increments. Eight bells struck every four hours still marks the change of watch even though the sound is now passed via ship intercom. The shrill whistle of the boatswain's pipe echoes as well, alerting the crew to an announcement of importance much as the pipe once orchestrated the actions of yeomen high in the yardarms on clippers rounding the Horn. Technology has its place, to be sure, often hidden deep within the ship where millions of dollars in sophisticated gear work around the clock. One deck beneath the bridge, where lookouts strain to spot ``contacts'' with binoculars and young mates polish brass each morning, the amber, blue and green displays of a computerized combat information center flicker and glow. The command center, geared to ``fight the ship'' into the 21st century, links the ship with ``eye-in-the sky'' surveillance aircraft that track every ship and plane for hundreds of miles. But ships like these, plowing through the best and worst nature has to offer, hold on to what they know best, chary to relinquish what has worked for generations. Says Senior Chief Petty Officer George ``Jack'' Frost, the senior enlisted man who has been in the navy for 20 of his 37 years: ``I don't think you can ever replace the seaman's eye no matter how much technology you have. Instinct is still a man's best defense.'' The systems that are ``up'' today, in the 20th century computer slang, could be ``down'' tomorrow. SATNAV _ satellite navigation _ could be off a few crucial miles if the earth orbit has deteriorated. ``I always tell my men that stars and planets never go down,'' observes the Roberts skipper, Cmdr. Paul X. Rinew, a detail-oriented leader who prides himself on being ready for anything. ``Venus is always there.'' ``You can walk out on the bridgeway at night and it's like Times Square,'' says the 40-year-old skipper, a native of the Bronx borough of New York City. Celestial navigation ``was good enough to get them (explorers) across the Atlantic, it's good enough for us.'' On this humid, hazy day, the ship frequently spurns radio communications to use a 1000-watt, 12-inch signal lamp to blink out messages in Morse code _ a method in use since before the Titanic. Administrative messages, greetings to captain, words of praise _ all are blinked from one U.S. ship to another to keep secure radio channels open for more important communications. ``I take pride in my rating, no doubt about that,'' explains Petty Officer Charles Dumas, 30, of Newport, R.I., a signalmen first class planning to re-enlist at sea next week after years in the Navy. ``It's a good life, a signalman's life.'' Signalmen often exchange pleasantries of their own between official messages. ``It's great to talk to other country's ships to find out what's going on,'' says First Class Petty Officer Serge Kingery, 40. ``It's the only place on the ship to be afforded that opportunity, we can talk no matter what nation it is.'' Signal flags of yore are flung, as well, just as they did in John Paul Jones' time. Each multicolored flag spells a letter for messages, with certain single letter flags signals specific ships actions. Boatswain mates similarly carry forward the traditions of forefathers on fore decks. Deck lines are wrapped and stowed neatly within several feet of the missile launcher capable of remotely firing harpoon anti-ship and standard anti-aircraft missilers at a moment's notice. Like the men before them, the bosun's mates scrub, chip paint, handle the ship's small boats and use a ``monkey fist'' on a light line to cast a rope over to an adjacent vessel to begin an underway replenishment. The lead-centered woven rope ball has been used almost as long as men have been at sea. The rating today attracts much the same type of sailors it did before. ``I like working outside,'' says Jim Owens, 24, a bosun's mate third class from Newport, R.I. Now as then, the mates with idle time stage practical jokes on newcomers to the ``Sammy B'' as she is affectionately known. A favorite: ordering a rookie on board to the rail to keep an eye out for the ``mail buoy'' _ a fictitious navigational buoy where vessels supposedly pick up their mail bag. ``Sure, we keep 'em up there for a while,'' say Owens. ``'Course a year later, he's doing the same to someone else.'' And for anyone thinking the tatoo has gone out of fashion in this man's Navy, just ask Frost, 37 of Kingstown R.I. ``I would never let anyone put anything on me when I was drunk,'' he says. ``I would at least want to know what was going on.'' A star adorns his left hand. His wife's name, Dawn, wreathes his wrist beneath his watch strap. The phrase ``American Navy'' in Chinese characters adorns his shoulder, along with his outdated service identification number _ all needled in to his ruddy, freckled skin at Pinkies, a notorious tatoo parlor in Hong Kong. The ship intercom announces the ``smoking lamp is lit,'' which allows smoking by sailors who in previous generations used a constantly lit ``smoking lamp'' to light cigarettes on wind-swept ships. And the ``dog watch'' now as then remains the watch that rotates the starting hour for work details forward by several hours a week. The phrase traces its origins either to the watch during the dog hours of early morning, or ``dodging the watch.'' Like so much in the Navy, the language and practices of yesterday blend with the demands of today _ assuring that today's Navy will pass it all on to tomorrow's. A bomb exploded Friday night in front of a Bogota bank, injuring several people, news reports said. The blast occurred about 10:50 p.m. at a branch of Banco Internacional in the northern part of the capital. The Bogota radio station RCN said several people were injured, but no other details were available. Citibank of New York owns 48 percent of the Banco Internacional, bank officials in Bogota said. A judge Friday refused to bar the city from altering a City Hall mosaic of a smiling black man freed from slavery. Edward A. Kane Jr., the son of the designer, had sued after residents, contending the mosaic is demeaning to blacks, persuaded City Council to remove the smile, add other facial features and replace the man's broken rope with a hoe. But Madison County Judge Edward Ferguson said Friday the lawsuit did not contain enough information for him to grant a preliminary injunction. In the lawsuit filed last week, Kane contended that the mosiac created by his late father in 1965 is a work of art and that alterations would violate constitutional rights to free speech and artistic expression. The 10- by 40-foot mosaic shows white pre-Civil War settlers in covered wagons and a freed slave, with a broken rope hanging from his wrists, celebrating his freedom. Residents of this predominantly white town of more than 12,000 contend it does not show blacks making any contribution to the city. The artist was white. Kane said he hasn't decided whether to pursue the case. ``I'm a little let down, but this is America, the land of change ... don't preserve anything,'' Kane said, shaking his head. News Digest: PANAMA CITY, Panama _ PM-Panama, a0448; DETROIT _ PM-Political Rdp, a0456; JERUSALEM _ PM-Israel, a0438; WASHINGTON _ PM-Shultz-Palestinians, a0412. Republican conservatives in Congress are wary of the Nicaraguan cease-fire, with one saying the United States may have to ``take some action with external forces'' if the Contra rebels quit the field. ``It's down to that,'' said Rep. Rod Chandler, R-Wash. ``It's definitely a new era.'' Chandler was among GOP conservatives attending a retreat Friday in Houston. In Washington, meanwhile, President Reagan said that ``there is reason to have caution'' about whether Nicaragua's leftist government will keep its agreements. Critics say President Reagan interfered with the legal process by predicting that former White House aides Oliver L. North and John M. Poindexter will be acquitted of charges in the Iran-Contra affair. In off-the-cuff remarks Friday, Reagan called the affair ``the so-called scandal'' and said he still considers North ``a hero.'' But he refused to say whether he was considering granting any pardons in the case. ``I just have to believe that they're going to be found innocent because I don't think they were guilty of any lawbreaking or any crime,'' Reagan said in response to a question at a seminar sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Presidency. A subdued Robert Chambers Jr. pleaded guilty to strangling a young woman during sex in Central Park, ending the 10-week-long ``preppie murder'' trial that focused attention on the lifestyles of the young rich. Chambers, 21, pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter, halting jury deliberations that lasted nine days and raised fears of a possible mistrial. Chambers admitted that he intended to seriously hurt Jennifer Dawn Levin, 18, the night of her death. Her battered, partly nude body was found under a tree behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Aug. 26, 1986. Gov. Evan Mecham, defending himself against charges he misused $80,000 from a protocol fund, said he was never told it was public money and was given carte blanche to do nearly anything he wanted with it. Mecham testified at his Senate impeachment trial Friday that when the proceeds of his inaugural ball were converted into a protocol fund, nobody questioned whether it should be considered public money instead of private. Mecham, taking the stand for the second time in his trial, said inaugural committee Chairman Bill Long told him, ``We've gone through all of this rigamarole'' in determining that the inaugural funds could not be used to pay off campaign debts. Robert Joffrey, the acclaimed choreographer whose vision created the Joffrey Ballet and made it one of the nation's foremost dance companies, has died after a lengthy illness. He was 57. Joffrey died early Friday at New York University Medical Center of liver, kidney and respiratory failure, hospital spokeswoman Terrie LoCicero said. As artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet for three decades, Joffrey guided the troupe from its early days as a struggling six-member company traveling in a borrowed station wagon to international acclaim. The aging of America's population led to a national record of 2.1 million deaths last year, but births topped 3.8 million for the highest number in 23 years, the government says. The National Center for Health Statistics reported Friday that deaths in 1987 totaled ``2,127,000, about 28,000 more than the previous year and the largest number ever reported for the United States.'' Deaths from heart disease, the nation's No. 1 killer, slipped slightly, but cancer claimed more victims than in the year before, the study showed. The ancient art of weaving baskets from sweetgrass, brought over from Africa by slaves and passed down for generations in South Carolina's Lowcountry, is threatened by the modern-day condominium. Booming coastal development of the past 20 years is reducing the availability of the sweetgrass favored by local artisans for the baskets, a popular purchase for tourists, folklorists said. ``What's at stake is the continuation of this traditional African craft,'' said Myrtle Glascoe, director of the Avery Research Center for Afro-American History at the College of Charleston. ``If people can't get the grass, they won't continue to do the craft.'' News Digest: DETROIT. Slug AM-Caucus Rdp. NICOSIA, Cyprus. Slug AM-Iran-Iraq. WASHINGTON. Slug AM-Afghan End Games. WASHINGTON. Slug AM-Unsafe Water. JERUSALEM. Slug Am-Isreal. MISSION, S.D. Slug AM-Sioux Chief. UNDATED. Slug AM-Elderly Guardians. ^By The Associated Press Michael Dukakis has laid out plans to establish himself as the Democratic presidential front-runner by building up a lead of 250-350 delegates over his nearest challenger, targeting delegate-rich New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In addition, the Dukakis organization hopes to reap delegates from what it sees as two rival campaigns about to collapse, as well as pick up support from ``super delegates'' and others now counted as uncommitted. ``I think that there's a magic number in this process in terms of what kind of distance is going to be adequate to separate a front-runner from second- or third-place candidates in this process,'' said Tad Devine, who handles delegate selection for the Massachusetts governor. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, trying to invigorate a Mideast peace plan, met Saturday with two members of a group affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization and will travel to Israel and four Arab countries next week to push the initiative. Shultz will arrive in Jerusalem April 3 for talks with Israeli leaders and move on to Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt before returning to Washington on April 8, State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman said. ``We're intensely involved in this process and we're going to continue to push forward to do everything we can,'' Redman said. Newspapers and television are coming under increasing fire from governments across the world, which claim their coverage of violence and unrest only creates more of the same. In some cases, coverage has been limited. In others, it has been banned outright. A graphic television film of recent bloody rampages at two Northern Ireland funerals prompted strong complaints from the British government. That reaction was mild compared with other countries. The cease-fire pact between the Sandinistas and Contra rebels puts new pressure on the United States to hold direct talks with the Nicaraguan government _ something Washington has long refused to do. It also highlights how little progress U.S. allies in Central America have made in negotiating cease-fires under a regional peace plan. Before last week's agreement, many observers doubted the leftist Sandinistas would ever make political concessions to the U.S.-backed Contras. In their tenth month of crisis, many Panamanians are adopting the American view that officials in Washington can't see beyond the Potomac River. As Panama's problems have grown from bad to desperate, the word out of Washington has been that the days, even hours, of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega are numbered. Panamanians aren't convinced. A Lumbee Indian activist who was a candidate for Superior Court judge in his racially troubled county was found shot to death Saturday at his home, the FBI said. Julian T. Pierce was killed sometime Friday night or early Saturday, said special agent Paul Daly, calling him the victim of an apparent burglary. The Red Springs Police Department received a call about the death Saturday morning, said Chief Deputy Al Parnell of the Robeson County sheriff's department. Rewriting his own rules for superpower summitry, President Reagan is preparing to go to Moscow for talks with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev that appear unlikely to produce a new arms treaty or resolve major disputes. With the end of his presidency fast approaching, Reagan has decided to ignore his requirement that a summit must hold the promise of success and must lead to the signing of a substantial agreement. ``The man is 77 years old, and I think he wants to come out in the history books as somebody who has done tremendous things in superpower relations for the long-term benefit of U.S. national security,'' said William J. Taylor, vice president for political-military affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. President Reagan's defeat last week on a major anti-discrimination bill demonstrates the chasm between his administration and the rest of America when it comes to civil rights, say those who fought for passage of the measure. Some conservatives counter that Reagan's positions are very much in tune with the American mainstream. The enactment of the Civil Rights Restoration Act over Reagan's veto was the latest skirmish in the administration's rocky seven-year attempt to redefine _ and some say erase _ the federal government's role in ensuring basic rights to all citizens. Top television series such as ``The Cosby Show'' and ``Moonlighting'' have had their seasons shortened and anxious advertisers have broken ranks to sign separate contracts as scriptwriters and commercial actors turn up the heat in their strikes. Hollywood labor's spring offensive against motion picture and television producers and advertisers has put more than 109,000 people on strike and forced more than 1,100 others out of their jobs due to the resulting shutdown of projects. The action has cost workers $4 million in lost salaries and benefits and threatened network advertising revenue by forcing early reruns. Black FBI agent Donald Rochon, an alleged victim of racial discrimination at the hands of fellow agents, was also victimized by bureaucratic foot-dragging and a possible cover-up by federal criminal investigators looking into the case, his lawyer says. Rochon's story of racial harassment _ portions of which have been upheld by an administrative judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and an adjudication officer at the Justice Department _ has been widely publicized. Another part of his story that also could prove damaging for the government is how Rochon's supervisors at the FBI and officials at the Justice Department allegedly failed to aggressively follow up his complaints. An American photographer stood trial Saturday on drug smuggling charges and testified that his only crime was being stupid enough to let a cocaine ring dupe him into doing its dirty work. The trial of 23-year-old Conan Owen, whose case has drawn the attention of Attorney General Edwin Meese III, began and ended Saturday. The three-judge panel that took testimony for 2{ hours wasn't expected to issue a verdict for about a week. The free-lance photographer from Annandale, Va., is charged with smuggling 4.13 pounds of cocaine into Spain in a suitcase on March 13, 1987. Shaking down shopkeepers. Taking protection money from criminals. Dealing drugs. Collecting kickbacks. Demanding bribes. This, prosecutors say, is how some municipal employees spend their days. The problem is as old as government and the prognosis for a cure is as bleak as ever. ``There's always going to be people who take advantage of the system. Eight percent of the Apostles were corrupt, and look at who screened them,'' said U.S. Attorney Andrew Maloney. The aging of the baby-boom generation is creating a ``couch-potato economy'' that will be marked by low unemployment, more savings and rising productivity, economists and population experts say. The dawning of a couch-potato economy is the best thing that could happen to the United States after years of yuppie splurging, says Edward Yardeni, the economist who coined the term. ``Yuppies are slowing down. We're all getting older, a little less frivolous,'' Yardeni, 38, director of economics and fixed-income research for Prudential-Bache Securities Inc., said this past week. Exhibit No. 1 in Yardeni's case is the shift noted last year in consumer-spending priorities after the go-go years of 1985 and 1986. In 1985, the two fastest-growing segments were brokerage and investment fees and audio and video equipment. In 1986, the leaders were boats and recreational vehicles. In 1987, America seemed to turn suddenly sedentary. Books and maps finished first, followed closely by funeral and burial expenses. The numbers from the Commerce Department may be misleading because the biggest percentage risers are small segments that fluctuate widely, but Yardeni is convinced that they tell a story. ``I'm not promising you that the transformation definitely happened in '87,'' but something is afoot, Yardeni said. He said the shift could point to an increased savings rate. ``And that should leave room for a boom in exports and a boom in capital spending. Which is not a bad mix at all.'' One reason for Japan's extraordinary success is its high savings rate, which creates a pool of money for investment. Trailing behind the American baby boomers is the ``baby-bust'' generation _ the smaller complement of workers that is entering the work force now. There are too few qualified baby busters to fill all the entry-level jobs. But Yardeni optimistically sees a positive side to that: It will force business to find ways to automate more, he says, increasing the nation's productivity. Yardeni's ideas are supported by others, including Cheryl Russell, editor-in-chief of American Demographics magazine in Ithaca, N.Y. As baby boomers settle down, they are beginning to put aside money for their children's education and their own retirement, Ms. Russell said. But baby boomers will still be spending, too, something that is good news for producers of consumer goods. ``Baby boomers are entering their peak earnings years, so they will be able to spend more and save more at the same time,'' Ms. Russell said. In spite of the free-spending reputation of the young, Ms. Russell said, households headed by people aged 35 and over lead their juniors in every broad category of spending except two: alcohol and rented dwellings. The mix of spending is what is changing. Couch potatoes spend less money on movie tickets, more on things like VCRs. And, of course, couches. The changing habits of the nation are more than a myth. The Roper Organization last year reported a poll finding that more than half of people over 30 prefer doing things at home, while more than half of people under 30 prefer doing things outside the home. The median age in the United States is rising, Ms. Russell notes, and it has just passed 30. ``Everyone's tired,'' said Thomas Miller, 30, editor of the Public Pulse, a Roper newsletter. ``Some peole call it the cocooning phenomenon. Some people call it the couch-potato economy. We think it's mainly exhaustion.'' In other business and economic news this past week: _The government said the economy, as measured by the gross national product, grew at a brisk 4.8 percent annual pace in the final three months of last year. _The government reported that in February consumer prices rose just 0.2 percent, factory orders for durable goods fell 1.8 percent, personal incomes advanced 0.9 percent and spending increased 0.7 percent. _A government report said that corporations' after-tax profits shot up 8.4 percent in 1987, the best performance in three years. _The Federal Home Loan Bank Board said the savings and loan industry lost $3.2 billion last year _ the largest amount since the Great Depression _ mainly due to insolvent institutions in Texas. _The government said it posted a $23.9 billion budget deficit in February after a $16.1 billion surplus the previous month. _The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing homes posted a modest increase of 3.8 percent in February. _Automakers reported a slight decline in domestic car sales in mid-March. _The Postal Service announced that higher postage rates, including a 25-cent charge for first-class letters, would take effect April 3. _Texaco Inc. won final bankruptcy court approval for a plan that would settle its multibillion-dollar dispute with Pennzoil Co. and bring it out of Chapter 11 protection early next month. _A federal bankruptcy judge approved Prudential Insurance Co. of America's offer to pay $11 million to settle claims resulting from a clerical error in which a lien it held was listed as worth $92,885 instead of $92,885,000. _Eight states filed suit accusing dozens of insurance companies of conspiring to create the liability insurance crisis, making coverage unavailable or too costly for many governments and businesses. _The Supreme Court ruled the government may limit a family's eligibility for food stamps when a family member is on strike. _Former stock speculator Ivan F. Boesky began a three-year prison term for his conviction in the nation's biggest insider-trading scandal. _Northwest Airlines announced a smoking ban on all its domestic flights except to and from Hawaii and on some foreign routes. _Du Pont Co. said it would stop producing chlorofluorocarbon compounds, which destroy the earth's protective ozone layer. _Campeau Corp. raised to $6.53 billion its bid for Federated Department Stores Inc., while friendly suitor R.H. Macy & Co. said it might sweeten its $6.3 billion offer for the retailer. _American Stores Co. offered $1.72 billion to acquire Lucky Stores Inc. of California in a deal that would create one of the nation's largest supermarket and discount drug chains. _Bank of New York Co. began a hostile $1.08 billion tender offer for Irving Bank Corp., but Iriving said it was seeking a ``white knight'' friendly bidder and other alternatives. _General Electric Co. launched a double-pronged attack in its bid for Roper Corp. by boosting its tender offer to $507 million and filing lawsuits challenging Roper's agreement to merge with Whirlpool Corp. _West Point-Pepperell Inc. intensified the bidding war for J.P. Stevens & Co. Inc. by announcing a $1.1 billion tender offer for the textile maker and indicated it could go even higher if Stevens agrees to a friendly deal. _Beazer PLC raised to $1.63 billion its hostile tender offer for Koppers Co., a building materials and cement company. _Entertainer Merv Griffin raised his bid for hotel and casino operator Resorts International Inc. by $70 million to $295 million, more than twice the amount real estate tycoon Donald Trump proposed to pay for the portion of the company he doesn't already own. _A group led by investor Howard Kaskel offered Kansas City Southern Industries Inc. $60 a share, or about $594 million, for the 89 percent of the railroad concern it didn't own. _Black & Decker Corp. withdrew its $2.45 billion bid for American Standard Inc., ending the bidding war over the plumbing giant. Wall Street analysts are expecting new signals in the next few days of a healthy outlook for the economy. They're not so sure, however, whether the figures will be enough to prop up the stock market after its sharp selloff of late. When the government reports Tuesday on the index of leading economic indicators for February, economists at Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc. expect it to show an increase of 0.9 percent. Another major brokerage firm, Merrill Lynch, is looking for a 1.0 percent rise. Anything in that range would be the best showing for the index, which is designed to measure forces influencing the future course of the economy, since last summer, well before the market crash. Among the 12 components of the index, Shearson says, building permits are likely to make a strong contribution, rebounding from an ``abnormally low'' level in January. Another indicator already known to be upbeat is the stock market itself, which turned in a good showing last month. For a while at midwinter, worries mounted that the index was foreshadowing a recession with three consecutive monthly declines. That caution light stopped flashing, however, when the decline originally reported for December was revised to show a small gain. Now, if the February figure lives up to its advance billing, fears of an impending business slump will presumably continue to fade. Yet Wall Street, with its traditional perversity, may not find the news reassuring. As the Merrill Lynch Market Letter observes in its current issue, ``A faster pace for the economy could be a double-edged sword for the market. ``It would support our projections that corporate profits _ based on Standard & Poor's industrial index _ will climb about 17 percent this year. But it would also fuel fears about increases in interest rates.'' That same reasoning applies to the report on the employment situation for March, which is scheduled to be issued by the Labor Department on April 1, when the markets will be closed in observance of Good Friday. The February figures, which showed a much larger-than-expected increase of 531,000 in nonfarm payroll employment, came as a blow to the bond market by quashing hopes that the Federal Reserve might ease credit further. Shearson analysts figure that pace is unsustainable, and are projecting a ``somewhat weak payroll employment gain of 150,000'' for this month. Still, past experience has shown that these data can spring some big surprises. While near-term recession fears were supposedly ebbing in the past week, so were stock prices. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials dropped 108.42 points to 1,978.95, for its worst weekly showing so far in 1988. The New York Stock Exchange composite index fell 6.07 to 146.58; the NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market 9.04 to 372.54, and the American Stock Exchange market value index 4.47 to 294.64. Volume on the Big Board averaged 157.26 million shares a day, against 175.26 million the week before. As bizarre as investors' responses to positive economic news might seem, there is a logical thread that runs through them, especially when you consider that the market's biggest concern is not the known present but the unknown future. Most economists agree that employment figures are a ``coincident'' indicator _ in other words, a rise in employment now is no reliable indication of better business conditions later on. The leading indicators, similarly, are old news for the market in the sense that they partly reflect what stock prices themselves were doing several weeks ago. The chief concern about economic strength is that it may be setting the stage for a tighter credit policy, increasing inflationary pressures, and other forces that might bring on a recession six months or even a year from now. Gillette Co. stock was up in heavy trading for the third consecutive day Friday amid speculation that yet another suitor was mulling an attempt to takeover the consumer products firm. Stock of Gillette, already the subject of a hostile takeover bid by Coniston Partners, was up 2} to 46}. Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange took a sharp drop for the second straight session. In its worst week so far in 1988, the Dow Jones average of 30 industrials closed at 1,978.95, down 44.92 points from Thursday and 108.42 points for the week. A Gillette spokesman would not comment on the rumors, nor would a spokesman for Philip Morris Cos., rumored on Wall Street to be planning to pay $60 a share for Gillette in an acquisition. Philip Morris shares fell 3 to 88{. Reese Stone, spokesman for Philip Morris Cos. Inc., said he had not heard any conversations concerning his company and Gillette. ``I don't know anything about it, but our policy is we don't comment on acquisition rumors,'' he said. Gillette spokesman Dave Fausch said ``we don't comment on rumors.'' Asked to explain why Gillette stock was up Friday on a generally bearish market, he said, ``we also have no comment on stock market activities.'' Allan Kaplan, a tobacco and beverage analyst for Merrill Lynch in New York, said he had heard the rumors but doubted their validity. ``(Philip Morris) Management has been saying all along that they aren't in the market for a large acquisition,'' he said. ``They just announced a small one. But this would cost them $7 billion, if they paid $60 a share for it. And I'm not sure they are willing to make another acquisition until they get General Foods going.'' Philip Morris acquired General Foods in November 1985, he said. ``All you hear is rumors,'' said Marc Cohenm, a Sandford Bernstein analyst who follows Philip Morris. ``It's all over the place but I have no way of knowing if there are any transactions taking place.'' Coniston, a New York investment firm which controls about 6 percent of Gillette's stock, announced last month it was approaching potential buyers of the Boston-based company and might take other moves to boost Gillette's share price. Last month Coniston nominated four candidates for the seats available on the 12-member board of directors at Gillette's annual meeting April 21. Gillette Chairman Colman M. Mockler Jr. responded by asking stockholders not to sign proxy cards being distributed by Coniston soliciting support in the elections. Earlier this month, New York real estate developer Donald Trump was granted a Federal Trade Commission waiver of the standard waiting period for acquiring large blocks of stock and was allowed to purchase up to 24.9 percent of Gillette stock. Trump owns about 400,000 shares, which was less than three-tenths of 1 percent of Gillette's 115 million common shares outstanding. Gillette underwent a major restructuring after rebuffing a third hostile takeover bid by Revlon in 1986, which agreed not to seek to gain control of Gillette under a 10-year pact signed in November 1986. John C. Maxwell, an analyst with Wheat First Securities of Richmond, Va., said the rumored takeover of Gillette by Philip Morris has been around for days and added that it makes no sense. ``It's another cash cow. It's in the razor blade business. That's not exactly a growth industry,'' said Maxwell, who follows Philip Morris. ``I can't pronounce the name, but there's also rumors that a Japanese pharmaceutical company is interested.'' Maxwell said the flurry of rumors riddling the market is a sign of another fall. ``They pushed up all these stocks the last time on disingenuous rumors. They just pumped all these stocks and then the market fell 500 points.'' Roper Corp. said Friday its board will meet next week to review General Electric Corp.'s $507 million tender offer and the $470 million acquisition agreement it has with Whirlpool Corp. A meeting date was not set, Roper spokeswoman Kathy Sanders said. Whirlpool asked Roper's board of directors to confirm its March 18 recommendation that Roper shareholders accept Whirlpool's $50-a-share offer. The board said earlier this week it would consider GE's sweetened $54-a-share offer. GE, meanwhile, said it would move its federal court action in the Roper acquisition struggle to Michigan after a judge in Kalamazoo rejected its request to move a related lawsuit by Whirlpool to Delaware. ``It was simply a matter of whether it would be consolidated in Delaware or Michigan,'' said spokesman George Jameson at GE's Fairfield, Conn., headquarters. Jameson said GE will withdraw the federal suit it filed in Delaware and refile it in U.S. District Judge Richard A. Enslen's court in Kalamazoo. ``Whirlpool will be inconvenienced by litigating in Delaware, while GE will be inconvenienced by litigating in Michigan,'' Enslen said in a written order Thursday, but he noted many of the main witnesses are in Michigan. GE raised its per-share offering from $45 to $54 for the Augusta, Ga.-based appliance and lawn equipment maker after Roper board's ecommended that shareholders accept the $50-a-share bid from Whirlpool. Whirlpool has not said whether it will respond with another increase. ``We don't have a comment on that at this point,'' spokeswoman Donna McLean said Friday. Analysts said merging with Roper would move Whirlpool ahead of GE as the nation's top appliance maker. Whirlpool's federal court suit charged that GE's initial offer for Roper was an attempt to sabotage a Whirlpool-Roper merger agreement announced in February, in which Whirlpool said it would pay $37.50 a share. In its lawsuits, GE claimed Whirlpool and Roper failed to adequately disclose terms of their merger agreement under Securities and Exchange Commission laws and failed to publicly disclose a prior interest by GE in acquiring Roper. The oil market has ended the week on a firm note, with crude prices rising above the psychologically important $17-a-barrel mark for the first time since mid-February. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the May contract for West Texas Intemediate, the benchmark U.S. crude, settled at $17.03 per barrel Friday. That was 7 cents higher than Thursday's close. Among refined products traded on the exchange, the April contract for wholesale heating oil rose 0.38 cent to 47.78 cents per gallon, after slipping 0.33 cent Thursday. Unleaded gasoline, up 0.08 cent Thursday, rose 0.61 cent to 47.94 cents a gallon. Traders attributed the increase to speculation that the five-member pricing committee of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would take substantive action to stabilize prices when it meets the first week in April. OPEC President Rilwanu Lukman had announced plans to hold the meeting earlier this week. Analysts, though, expressed doubts over whether anything would be accomplished prior to the cartel's regular meeting in June. Still,``the marketplace is telling us it's afraid of selling,'' explained Madison Galbraith, a senior trader with Merrill Lynch Energy Futures. ``There was very strong trade buying.'' Oil prices have fallen recently amid allegations that the OPEC member states were cheating on production levels as well as pricing rules. There will be no Economy Rdp this cycle. The AP