University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

Page 89 text:

H H DECEMBER NORTH KOREA ' S REFUSAL TO ALLOW INTERNATIONAL INSPECTIONS OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES PROMPTED PRESIDENT CLINTON TO MEET WITH SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, LES ASPIN, AND JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF, JOHN SHALIKASHVILI. THEIR OPTIONS INCLUDED POSSIBLE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS OR EVEN A MILITARY STRIKE COCAINE KINGPIN PABLO ESCOBAR WAS KILLED IN A SHOOT-OUT WITH SOLDIERS AND POLICE. THEY TRACED CALLS MADE BY ESCOBAR TO HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN ON HIS BIRTHDAY. HIS DEATH ENDED THE 16-MONTH MANHUNT THAT BEGAN AFTER HIS ESCAPE FROM A COLOMBIAN PRISON THE DISCLOSURE OF SECRET TALKS BETWEEN THE IRA AND LONDON LED TO A MEETING BETWEEN IRISH PRIME MINISTER ALBERT REYNOLDS AND BRITISH PRIME MINISTER JOHN MAJOR. THEIR GOAL WAS TO END THE 25 YEARS OF VIOLENCE THAT HAD PLAGUED IRELAND AND BRITAIN THREE WARRING BOSNIAN FACTIONS MET TO DISCUSS AN END TO THE LONG WAR. A BREAKTHROUGH IN DISCUSSIONS CAME WHEN BOSNIA ' S MUSLIM GOVERNMENT CONSIDERED A PLAN TO PARTITION SARAJEVO IN EXCHANGE FOR SERB LAND IN THE EAST. THIS PLAN FELL THROUGH THOUGH, WHEN THE SERBS REFUSED TO GIVE UP LAND WARRING SOMALI FACTIONS MET IN ETHIOPIA TO DECIDE ON THE FATE OF SOMALIA. EVEN POWERFUL WARLORD MOHAMMED FARRAH AIDID, WHO BOYCOTTED PREVIOUS PEACE TALKS, ATTENDED. AIDID, WHO WAS THE TARGET OF A U.S. LED MANHUNT ONLY WEEKS BEFORE, WAS FLOWN TO THE CONFERENCE ON A U.S MILITARY PLANE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LES ASPIN RESIGNED. REPORTS CLAIM THAT ASPIN WAS FORCED OUT OF OFFICE AFTER GETTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIGHT OVER GAYS IN THE MILITARY. PRESIDENT CLINTON NOMINATED BOBBY RAY, A POPULAR FIGURE WITH BOTH PARTIES, TO REPLACE HIM RUSSIANS APPROVED A NEW CONSTITUTION GIVING PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN STRONG NEW POWERS. AS PART OF THE ELECTION HOWEVER, THE ULTRA-REACTIONARY LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, HEADED BY VLADIMIR ZHIRINOVSKY, ALSO MADE MAJOR GAINS. ZHIRINOVSKY, OFTEN COMPARED TO HITLER, SPOKE OF RESTORING RUSSIA ' S BORDERS TO THOSE EXISTING DURING ITS 19TH CENTURY EMPIRE, INCLUDING PARTS OF ALASKA AND FINLAND - THE GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE (GATT) WAS APPROVED BY 1 1 7 NATIONS AFTER 7 YEARS OF DELIBERATION. THE NEW AGREEMENT ELIMINATED NATIONAL TARIFFS, SUBSIDIES, AND QUOTAS FOR DOZENS OF INDUSTRIES THE FOX TELEVISION NETWORK OUTBID CBS FOR THE RIGHTS TO THE NFC. CBS HAD BEEN HOME TO PRO FOOTBALL SINCE THE 50 ' S r ISRAEL AND THE PLO MISSED THE DEADLINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PEACE PLAN AGREED TO IN THE FALL. BOTH SIDES ANNOUNCED FURTHER DELAYS WOULD HOLD OFF PALESTINIAN SELF RULE FOR AWHILE , VI H H Retrospect 87

Page 88 text:

NAFTA with Vice-President, Al Gore. Gore succeded in frustrating Perot by bring- ing up Perot ' s business profits as a result of free trade through his own personal airport. The House vote finally took place under the scrutiny of the entire nation. By a narrow margin, NAFTA was passed 234- 200. After the vote came the tough chore of healing the wounds that had been cre- ated over the debate. 156 of 258 Demo- crats opposed Clinton on NAFTA. Many were still sore over the loss. Ohio Demo- crat, Marcy Kaptur, pointed out that Clinton was out of synch with the party. She said, I think he ' s the candidate of Wall Street, not Main Street. Clinton had to hurry and heal the wounds because soon after the NAFTA vote came votes about his health care and welfare reform packages. Without Republican support of either, both required as much partisian support as possible. HELL ON EARTH California used to be considered a veritable Heaven on Earth. People would flock to the Promised Land with their hopes and dreams. However, recent history treated residents of this paradise more like residents of Hell. The past few years saw the state hit by riots, fires, gangs, guns, smog, drought, and earthquakes. The last of these calamities devastated Southern Cali- fornia early on a January morning. The earthquake ' s epicenter was focused on Northridge, a suburb just North of Los Angles. The earthquake measured 6.6 on the Richter Scale. Early estimates counted 50 dead, 6,000 injured, and 20,000 homeless. The numbers though, did not express the terror experienced by residents of this region, who continued to wait for the cataclysmic big one feared by all. The Great Quake of ' 94 only added to the list of problems for the region. Governor Pete Wilson esti- mated that the damage could reach $30 billion, making it the most costly disaster in history. The damage could not have come at a worse time for a region already hurt by an economic recession. Forecasts called for a return to positive job growth by the end of 1 994, but as a result of the quake, experts predicted that the region could lose 40, 000 jobs. Economic forecasts for 1994, revised after the earthquake, predicted that the region ' s economy would shrink by more than 10% this year. The earthquake destroyed many people ' s homes, leaving them among the city ' s homeless. City parks quickly became refugee shantytowns, as tents sprung up. Police estimated that 13,000 people were living in the parks. Police reacted quickly to the situation, imposing a night curfew and maintaining order during the ordeal and the chaos afterwards. They piled up the overtime as they worked 12-hour shifts, even though they had not received the extra cash earned during the riots 2 years before. Unlike the riots however, the earth- quake encouraged a cooperative effort. There were only 1 28 arrests in the first 48 hours, one ninth the normal rate. Food and prayers were shared by all in the ensuing aftershocks which continued to jolt the area. President Clinton surveyed the damage several days following the quake during a brief visit. He immediately prom- ised $45 million to clean debris from the highways, $95 million for small-business loans, $100 million to repair local roads and other facilities, and $100 million to pay the rent of displaced low-income fami- lies. i Retrospect

Page 90 text:

The region was already on edge following the riots, and a general feeling of lost security from the violence plaguedthe area. Tensions increas ed as aftershocks continued to be felt for days and weeks. Closed off roads and bottleneck traffic j ams added to the tension. However badly the region was battered, however, one could not deny the assets of Southern California. On the day of the earthquake, while the rest of the country froze, Los Angles re- mained a balmy 80 degrees. So despite the onslaught of catastrophes that ravaged the state over the past few years, a majority of people stayed and attempted to rebuild yet again. Also, the thousands that flocked to the state every day continued to pour in with dreams and wishes that they expected the Golden State to fulfill. MICHAEL JACKSON One of America ' s biggest pop icons was put through an arduous ordeal, when a 13 year-old child accused Michael Jackson of molesting him. The news was splashed across newspapers and tabloids around the world when the Los Angeles Police De- partment began to investigate the charges. The boy, his half sister, and his mother traveled to Monte Carlo and Disney World with Jackson, where, the boy claimed, Jack- son slept with him. The boy told his thera- pist that in Monaco, Jackson lured the boy into a bathtub and performed oral sex on him, and then told him that he would be sent to juvenile hall if their relationship was revealed. Over the ensuing months, Jack- son and his image both suffered a tremen- dous loss of prestige. He was dropped by Pepsi as a spokesman for their products, and then was sued for more than $20 mil- lion in a fraud and breach-of-contract suit filed when he canceled his world tour amidst the allegations. Many of his friends and family also bailed out on Jackson. Sister LaToya hit the talk show circuit yet again, this time to throw mud at her superstar brother. She said that their mother, Katherine, had called Michael a damn faggot even as Katherine was on TV de- fending him. It seemed as though most of Jackson ' s friends were on vacation during the controversy, as none lent their public support. Only Elizabeth Taylor continued to proclaim her friend ' s innocence through- out the ordeal. As the winter dragged on, more claims came to light. Jackson ' s former maid, Blanca Francia said that the star had slept and showered with little boys, and may have abused these children. She said that Jackson had given them the nickname Rubba, which meant that he rubbed the boys against his genitals. In return for making these allegations on the tabloid TV show Hard Copy, she earned a reported five-figure payment. Even Brett Barnes, an 1 1 -year-old Australian boy who spoke in Jackson ' s defense, said that the star had shared a bed with him. In Oprah Winfrey ' s interview with Jackson the pre- vious year, Jackson said that the thing he missed most about his own childhood was slumber parties. After months of being the head- line on countless tabloids, hear ing con- stant rumors about the entire controversy, and being subjected to a strip search that he called the most humiliating ordeal of my life, Jackson settled out of court with the 13-year-old. Lawyers refused to discuss the details of the settlement, but sources said that the amount fell between $10 and $20 million in addition to a trust fund that was also set up. Many questions were raised by the settlement. Why did Jackson take so long to settle? Many blame some of Jackson ' s lawyers and private investigators who feared a settlement would induce oth- ers to come forward with false claims in the hope of reaching a similar settlement. Despite the settlement, L.A. County District Attorney ' s Office contin- ued with its criminal investigation of Jack- son. The settlement was expected to have the silence the 13 year-old, which meant that the D.A. ' s office had lost its star wit- ness. ' Retrospect