The Paris News (Newspaper) - December 12, 1988, Paris, Texas Good Afternoon Last game is set RHS Wildcats to face West Orange Stark in College Station Pg IB Falcons memories linger IB end big skid IB hi arrested 8A Weather Yesterdays High 42 The Forecast Clearing tonight with a low near 30 Details Pg 2A Index 254 Call 7858744 For Home Delivery Monday Dec 12 1988 121st Year No 124 Paris Texas 75460 The Paris News 12 Pages In 2 Sections Earthquakes death toll is still rising hopes of finding survivors waning By Mark J The Associated Press YEREVAN Official estimates put the death toll from the Armenian earthquake at up to today and hopes waned that any more survivors would be found A second relief plane crash ed near the Armenian capital kill ing seven people Renewed political trouble broke out with Armenian activists repor ting clashes with troops over the ar rest of several nationalist leaders Soviet President Mikhail S Gor after touring the disaster area accused provocateurs of using the consequences of last weeks earthquake to create in stability and insisted They must be One Armenian activist who avoided arrest Raphael said by telephone today that three demonstrations were staged Sun day in the capital of Yerevan He said all were protesting the arrest of leaders of a committee that has spearheaded a drive to an nex a predominantly Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan In one tion troops and demonstrators began fighting and several were wounded on both sides said An editor at the Armenian news agency confirmed there was violence at one demonstration but said the incident did not appear serious The editor who spoke on condition of anonymi ty acknowledged soldiers fired several warning shots to break up the protest He confirmed that police detained several leaders of the Committee on Saturday A dozen tanks were parked in central square Sunday night Before dawn today a Yugoslav military plane crashed while trying to land at Yerevan airport with medical supplies the second crash of a relief plane in as many days On Soviet military Please see Armenia Pg 2A Information is sought in school theft An unlocked window allow ed burglars easy entry at Blossom School the night of Nov 25 Taken were a number of electronic items cash and even two caged birds belonging to a student Lamar County Crime Stop pers is offering cash rewards of up to through Dec 18 for information leading to the arrest and grand jury indict ments of the person or per sons responsible It is thought juveniles are responsible for the breakin where a color television set video cassette recorder Sound Design AMFM cassette stereo a small amount of cash and two live finches were taken Persons with information about this or any unsolved crime are asked to call Crime Stoppers day or night at 785TIPS Callers are not asked to give their names and calls are not recorded Crime Stoppers is a non profit organization that seeks to solve crime through anonymous information pro vided directly to its hotline number REDUCTIONS t v ff V A Vv f NATO Proposes reduction in all tank types by about half to Including main battle tanks SOVIET men and tanks will be withdrawn from E Germany Czechoslovakia and Hungary Overall the Soviets intend to reduce their armaments in Central Europe by tanks artillery systems and 800 combat aircraft Portugal Weapons FORCES 1 460 W United United shown on map WARSAW PACT FORCES Bulgaria Czech E Germany Hungary Poland Romania TOTAL Troops Main Combat Aircraft 250 400 350 150 700 350 Artillery 800 AntiTank Weapons 500 800 700 source lor NA I u report as of January 1989 Greer Deficit would not be helped by reducing troops in Europe say overall military cuts are needed By Norman Black The Associated Press WASHINGTON Mikhail Gor vow to cut the size of the Soviet Army could put new pressure on the United States to withdraw troops from Europe but any such move would do nothing to reduce the federal deficit govern ment officials and analysts say Unless Presidentelect Bush is prepared to reduce the overall size of the American military simply bringing home soldiers to match a Soviet withdrawal of troops from European front lines wouldnt save money and might even cost more the officials say Its debatable whether you get any cost savings and if you do theyre says Sen John Warner of Virginia the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee We dont even have the facilities here to ac commodate If Bush decides not only to withdraw troops from Europe but also to dismiss them from the military the budget savings could be substantial Pentagon officials and top brass however will resist such a move The service was forced to cut its strength by soldiers in budget cuts last year and is now fielding its smallest force since before the Korean War in 1950 about Further reductions would in crease the risk to the nations a new Army briefing paper warns Outgoing Defense Secretary Frank C Carlucci in several re cent speeches has made it clear he will not include any further force structure cuts in the Reagan ad ministrations final budget pro posal which goes to Congress in January He has publicly urged Bush to en dorse that budget proposal and fight Congress for a 2 percent real increase in Pentagon spending Carlucci further has sought to re mind the American public there are important concerns besides money that guide the stationing of troops overseas To be simplistic he says it is far better for forces to engage the enemy on foreign soil than on American territory It is a strategy that requires a military presence beyond our shores not from habit not as a gift but rather for the defense of interests and he said in a speech last May Bringing troops home from abroad would not save money unless we deactivate There are some expenses you incur by posting troops overseas that you dont face here including swings in the valuation of the dollar higher travel costs said one top Pentagon financial of ficer who asked not to be identified But thats small potatoes com pared to the fact that we dont have the housing or facilities at our bases to accommodate these guys The refurbishing and construction would be a huge The United States has about servicemen assigned to Western Europe of whom about are Army troops Another are deployed to other coun tries around the world or at sea on Navy ships meaning roughly 25 percent of the American active duty force of million is deployed outside the United States Gorbachev told a United Nations audience last week that the Soviet Union will unilaterally reduce its own military of more than million by troops and pull back assigned to the front lines facing NATO Retired Rear Adm Gene R LaRocque the director of the Center for Defense Information and a frequent critic of Reagan ad ministration policies argues that the United Slates could easily remove troops from Europe without jeopardizing NATO security Im concerned that if we dont respond in some way the Soviets initiative will be of no avail to reducing forces in the long he says Theres nothing magic about the number of troops we have there now Pulling troops back to the doesnt do anything for your budget this year but if conditions improve then we can gradually shrink our Adm William J Crowe the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff counters that the cuts an by Gorbachev would still leave the Warsaw Pact with a strong numerical advantage in con forces Alliance leaders should be first watchful and se cond wary of moves Crowe said last week Train collision kills at least 42 hurt in tragedy in London By Ben Dobbin The Associated Press LONDON Three trains collided in south London at the height of this mornings rush hour killing at least 42 people and injuring more than 100 in a vast tangle of crushed metal the London Ambulance Ser vice said A spokeswoman for the am bulance service requesting anonymity said 42 bodies were ac counted for and we are expecting to find more She said 115 passengers were hospitalized 30 with serious in juries and others were treated where they lay on the ground and in the wreckage Other ambulance service spokesmen said some peo ple had to have limbs amputated to extricate them from the The British Transport Police a law enforcement unit controlled by stateowned British Rail said 53 people died in the crash But am bulance spokesmen and fire of at the scene said they could not confirm the transport police figure Lou Gill the Fire Brigades chief divisional officer said all survivors had been removed about five hours after the crash near busy Clapham Junction just before 8 But he said he feared that when the mangl ed wreckage was finally cleared there may be further bodies Rescue workers used metal cut ters to pry open rail cars strewn like matchwood across the tracks Scores of people suffered minor in juries and were treated on the scene Please see Crash Pg 2A Inferno in Mexican market claims lives By James Anderson The Associated Press MEXICO CITY Investigators today cleared unexploded illegal fireworks from a marketplace where a chain reaction of blasts and flames killed at least 70 people as the inferno raced through stalls crowded with Christmas shoppers Another 45 people were injured in Sunday afternoons mayhem in a congested street market said Salvador the Red Cross commander Most were quickly released from the hospital and none was reported seriously injured Red Cross spokesman Alfonso Manzo said early today that 70 bodies had been found At least 12 of the dead were children officials said The last seven bodies were discovered shortly after 3 4 EST in a fireworks storeroom Many of the other dead were found in the rubble of candy vendors stalls It was a time said Elizabeth Diaz a member of a union of market vendors Theres people who come here to sell them illegal they have for years Why didnt the authorities come Authorities said they had not determined the cause of the disaster and witnesses disagreed on where the first explosion occurred But all said that after the first blast explosions ripped like fire through stalls where vendors had been selling Please see Fire Pg 2A Photo By Dee Edwards Fearful of Santa Santa looks on patiently as Mrs Tony Perry tries to convince her 2yearold son Todd not to be afraid of the bewhiskered old gentleman Last year he wouldnt even go into the hut said Mrs Perry and this year he cried Santa has set up shop in Bywaters Park as part of the Winter Wonderland Christmas display He is scheduled to appear Saturday Dec 17 from 6 to 8 Sunday Dec 18 from 2 to 4 and Dec 2223 from 6 to 8
