An Tostal - page 8 VOLXIX.NO. 136 tlu- independent student newspaper scr\ ing nniri dame and saint man 's MONDAY, APRIL 29, 1985 ND/SMC professors voice opposition to aid for Nicaraguan rebels By JOHN HINES position to the Reagan administra­ Copy Editor tion’s admitted policy of covert operations to destabilize the present Two bundled and sixty-five Notre marxist Sandinista government Dame and Saint Mary’s faculty mem­ there. By supporting the bishops, bers have signed a document sup­ the signators oppose the administra­ porting the U.S. Catholic bishops’ tio n ’s policy. opposition to any military aid to “ There’s a basic message o f saying Nicaraguan rebels. there are other ways to bring about a The statement, titled “The Cat­ peaceful solution in Central holic Church and Central America,” America,” said Monsignor Joseph was released earlier this month. Gremillion director of the Univer­ “The situation is of such great so­ sity’s Institute for Pastoral and Social cial inequity, it calls fo r an economic Ministry and signator of the docu­ and political solution rather than ment. m ilitary, ” said Father Robert Pel ton The solution is “ to encourage the director o f the N otre Dame Institute Contadora process and, second, to for Clergy Education and a signator start cultural and economic ties, ” Observer photos by Pete Laches of the Notre Dame document. explained Peter Walshe, professor of Endemic Social Inequity is the government and international Rock-Alike “core problem ” in Central America studies and director of African Notre Dame’s own Kevin Herbert won according to the April 17 statement studies. Saturday’s MTV/MS Rock-Alike contest by of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Con­ The Contadora talks are an at­ out-rockin' the University of Wisconsin’s ference opposing aid to Nicaraguan tem pt by M exico, Panama, Colum ­ Madonna (above), Miami of Ohio’s Vanity rebels presented to the House ofbia, and Venezuela to arrive at a ( below), and Northwestern's version o f Mick Representatives by Cardinal John peaceful solution to the problems Jagger (below, left). O ’Connor. facing all of Central America. “They (countries in Central “Nicaragua has no other place to America) will blow (up) because trade than w ith the United States. there’s extraordinary under­ We are forcing them away from us,” development from a material point continued Walshe. o f view. There are great class d if­ “1 think the bishops have cor­ ferences.” continued Pelton. rectly diagnosed that a military solu­ The bishops have labelled the at­ tion is not the solution to the tempted overthrow of government, problems of Latin and Central which we are not currently at war America,” said Prof. Walshe explain­ with and are maintaining diplomatic ing his support for the document. relations as “illegal and immoral. ” Last Thursday the House defeated The bishops also believe that it President Reagan's proposed $14 jeopardizes the political process in million nonmilitary aid package to the region. the Nicaraguan rebels. “I think the “It violates treaty obligations and people and Congress have undermines the moral standing of recognized the duplicity of asking the United States in the w o rld com ­ (for nonmilitary aid) to the Contras. munity,” noted the bishops’ state­ It’s a tissue paper dragon saying we’ll ment. do it for humanitarian reasons,” ob­ Essentially, the bishops oppose served G rem illion. Nicaraguan military aid from any The New York Times reported source and advocate a political solu­ Saturday that the administration w ill tion as the only resolution to the see NICARAGUA, page 4 conflict in the region. This is in op­ Professor Rogers dead at Natural51 gas explosion blasts town; Special to The Observer 5 killed, 3 injured, 40 evacuated Stephen J. Rogers, a professor in the Notre Dame department of liberal studies, died Friday of an apparent heart attack at ap­ Associated Press “ It was described to me as resem­ fire departments, two rescue squads proximately noon in the emergency room of Memorial Hospital. He BEAUMONT, Ky. - A natural gas bling where a bomb went off,” said and an ambulance service. was 51. line explosion killed five people,Bob Walter, a disaster and emer­ Shortly after the explosion, the He had been blind since early childhood and taught poetry and gouged a 20-foot deep crater and gency services worker. “If you’vegas source was cut off, but it took other classes at N otre Dame since 1961. He graduated from the U ni­ flattened six buildings in a tiny com­ ever been to Vietnam, that’s exactly hours for the remaining gas in the versity’s liberal studies program in 1956. munity, igniting fires that were what it looked like. ” line to burn, Walters said. He also held a doctorate in comparative literature from Harvard visible 20 miles away, authorities Four bodies were found Sunday in Representatives of Texas Eastern University and could read five languages. said yesterday. a destroyed wood house, and anot­ Transmission Corp., the company In 1974, his book, “Classical Greece and the Poetry of Chenier, Three people were seriouslyher was found in a dwelling nearby. that owns the gas line, were at the Shelley and Leopardi,” was published. Numerous other scholarly injured in the blast Saturday night A temporary morgue was set up in a scene Sunday as investigators and philosophical works of his were also published throughout his that ripped up a section of Kentucky tent, and officials said they did not searched fo r a cause. career, most recently concentrating on what Rogers called 90, devastated a m ile square area, expect to find more bodies. A truck containing dynamite and “ different ways o f knowing.” and forced the evacuation of about The Cumberland County Hospital one holding gasoline inside the blast Rogers helped to develop a course in the Notre Dame ar­ 40 people, according to authorities. in nearby Burkesville treated two area, “ no longer pose a threat o f ex­ chitecture department which taught students how to design build­ The dead included four members of adults and a child w ho were injured. plosion," he said. ings that are esthetically attractive and accessible to the blind. one family. They were in serious but stable con­ Kentucky 90 was closed to traffic He was one of the most inspiring teachers at Notre Dame because Dick Brown, a spokesman for the d itio n Sunday, a spokesman said, the southeast of Glasgow because of the of his excellence in the face of a significant handicap,” said Walter state Department of Disaster and adults suffered from burns and the blast damage. Nicgorski, liberal studies chairman. Emergency Services, said two child from abrasions. He was born Aug. 19, 1933, in Maiden, Mass. In I960, he married houses, three mobile homes and a The fire, extinguished early yes­ “You just can’t describe it,” said Dana Adomkaitis, who survives with two daughters, Andrea D. and saw mill were destroyed in Mar­ terday, blackened the green rolling Joe Adams, a member of the Maria L„ at home; three sons, Paul A. and John S., both at home, and rowbone Hill, a settlement about a fields in the m ostly agricultural area, Tompkinsville volunteer fire depart­ Thomas J. of South Bend. mile east o f Beaumont, whose and sm oldering ashes spewed ment that was called to assist. Also surviving is his sister, Mary Buckley of Malden, and a brother, population is 60. The blast site is 90 smoke yesterday afternoon. “We’re 15 miles away and it’s just Paul F., o f W ilm ington, Mass. miles south of Louisville. About 250 to 300 people were in­like it’s right here.” Services for Rogers were held this morning at 10 at Sacred Heart A crater 100* feet long, 30 feet volved in Saturday night's rescue The Monroe County medical Church. Burial w ill be in Riverview Cemetery. wide and 20 feet deep was left by the operation, said Joe Cross, a DES center called in all its available staff He was a member o f the H oly Cross Catholic Church. blast, which occurred about 9:30 spokesman. Among them were state to prepare for any injuries, a spokes­ p.m., B row n said. police, fire marshals, eight volunteer man said. The Observer Monday, April 29, 1985 — page 2 In Brief Of used-car dealers and newspaper journalists Dillon Hall resident Joseph Auchter, a senior from Jacksonville, Fla., was injured Thursday night at about When shopping for credibility and high ethical stan­ 11:30 when the vehicle he was driving struck the traffic signal at dards, American adults w ill browse the newsstand right Sarah Prarie and Dubail Avenue, police said. According to South Bend before they stop at the used car dealer. police, Auchter said he was eastbound on Prarie when he failed to It is quite a blow to members of the press to discover negotiate a turn onto Dubail and hit the traffic signal. He suffered that mature American readers compare the fourth Hamilton estate with those wily characters sporting smiles as minor facial bleeding and after treatment he was released from Editor-in-Chief Memorial Hospital. • The Observer suspiciously wide as the fenders on the jalopies they peddle. In the latest credibility study commissioned by the American Society of Newspaper Editors only 27 per­ been criticized for assuming it knows what the public W h en Lisa B irnbach visited Emory university cent of the respondents rated newspaper editors as needs to know. The argument has been raised that for a speaking engagement, she was surprised by the wrathful recep­ practicing high ethical standards.