Protest ends over the use of Indian artifacts at campus
DETROIT (AP) -- Protesters at the University of Michigan have ended their 37-day sit-in at the office of a secretive campus society accused of mocking and misusing American Indian customs and artifacts.The protesters left after genuine and pseudo-Indian artifacts were removed from the Michigamua society office, university spokesman Joel Seguine said. He said the items were taken to the university's Natural History Museum for safekeeping.
Protesters said Michigamua, which includes former President Ford among its alumni, hasn't honored a 1989 promise to drop the use of "Native American culture and pseudo-culture" from its rituals.
7 children face punishment for falsely accusing teacher
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Punishment is still being decided for six girls and a boy arrested for falsely accusing a male teacher of watching the girls undress and fondling one of them at a suburban Maryland school.
The parents of the sixth-graders from the Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown brought their children to the police department's family services division where they were arrested Monday and charged as juveniles with making false statements to police.
Police fingerprinted, photographed and booked the children and then released them to their parents.
An adult charged with the same crime can face a $500 fine or six months in jail, but the punishment for juveniles can be tailored for each situation. If convicted, the students could be placed under the supervision of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice until age 21.
The school has already suspended them for 10 days.
U.S. to challenge EU's limits on use of older jet aircraft
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The European Union's decision to limit use of older commercial jet aircraft equipped with engine mufflers called "hush kits" will be challenged by the Clinton administration.
EU officials, especially concerned about the environment, have said that while reducing noise pollution, the kits are ineffective at controlling pollution. The administration says the regulations discriminate against American airlines, which resell aircraft with the mufflers in Europe, and kit makers, which are all American.
David Aaron, the Commerce Department's undersecretary for international trade, told reporters Monday that the administration planned to file the challenge Tuesday with the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation.
Rice student killed, 5 injured in crash of 2 vans in Texas
THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) -- A Rice University student was killed and five others were injured when two university vans carrying debate team members crashed along I-45.
The vans collided with two other vehicles involved in an earlier accident about 27 miles north of Houston just before 11 p.m. Monday, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Department.
The team members, who had won the national championship last year, were returning from a debate and public speaking competition in Omaha, Neb.
Authorities would not release the victims' identities. University spokesman Terry Shepard said a freshman from Vernon Hills, Ill., was killed.
Maine considers bill to allow medical use of seized pot
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- A bill before the Legislature would have the state distribute confiscated marijuana plants to people who are allowed to use the drug for medical reasons.
The law is meant to help people who have trouble getting marijuana to help treat their medical conditions, a practice that Maine voters approved in November.
But even the bill's sponsor doubts it will pass as long as marijuana possession remains illegal under federal law.
"The federal government really has to change its attitude about marijuana, it's got to allow research," Sen. Anne Rand, D-Portland, said Monday.
The bill calls for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency to distribute the marijuana and provides for a registry of patients allowed to use it.
U.S. Navy is giving Poland a 20-year-old missile frigate
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Instead of heading for scrap, the guided-missile frigate USS Clark will embark on a second career after being decommissioned as a U.S. Navy warship.
The Clark will be turned over to Poland in a ceremony Wednesday at the Norfolk Naval Station, the world's largest naval base. It is the first of two U.S. Navy ships to be transferred to Poland as part of a NATO upgrade.
Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a year ago as one of its first new members since the Cold War ended.
The 20-year-old Clark's U.S. sailors have been working with a crew of Polish sailors, including two U.S. Naval Academy graduates, since early January to prepare for the transfer.
The Polish sailors adjusted quickly because U.S. and Polish navy customs are similar, said Cmdr. Marian Ambroziak, the Clark's Polish commanding officer.
The "ship is really big, new for us, but generally, navy is navy," Ambroziak said in an interview on the ship's bridge.
The Clark made two cruises to the Mediterranean before joining the U.S. naval reserve force in 1985 and fighting illegal drug trading in the Caribbean. Last year, the ship did a recruiting cruise in the Great Lakes, stopping at towns that seldom see Navy ships.
The Polish sailors first attended U.S. naval training centers around the country to learn how to run the ship, then moved on board for hands-on training. The American and Polish sailors sailed together three times.
At 445 feet long, the Clark will be the second-largest ship in the Polish navy, Ambroziak said.
Thousands of acres of Alaska may be preserved for ducks
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) -- An estimated 17,000 square miles of Alaska land and 8,440 square miles offshore would be classified as protected habitat for a threatened species of sea duck under a plan announced Monday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The federal agency proposed designating the acreage as critical habitat for the Alaska-breeding population of Steller's eider. The Alaska population is one of three populations in the world. The other two groups of Steller's eiders breed in Russia.
"This proposal to designate critical habitat in Alaska highlights the fact that all species require healthy habitat to survive," David Allen, the Fish and Wildlife Service's Alaska regional director, said in a news release.
The agency last month proposed a similar critical habitat designation, covering 74,539 square miles of coastal terrain, for the spectacled eider, another sea duck listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The spectacled eider nests only in Alaska and Russia.
Both proposals were in response to legal action by environmental groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and Christians Caring for Creation, which last year served notice of impending lawsuits over failure to designate critical habitat zones for the ducks.
The critical habitat for both sea ducks would be along Alaska's North Slope, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in southwestern Alaska and area in western Alaska.