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BY RYNE MARTIN CANTON - The St. Lawrence- Lewis Board of Cooperative Educa- tional Services (BOCES) proposed $6 million fiber optics telecom- munications system will meet the needs of the county government, but the county's $235,000 microwave system proposal won't meet the needs of area school districts. \Their system will not help us in any way, shape or form,\ said Bon- nie Bettinger, a major supporter of the BOCES plan. \Their system won't do what we want it to.\ Th,e BOGES system could easily meet the county's needs, she said. \The system we're putting in would eventually do what the coun- ty wants to do. Our system will get them what they want but not on the timeline they've established,'' The county has been studying a proposal to install a $235,000 microwave system to handle the county's long-distance telephone calls between Massena, Potsdam, Canton and Gouverneur. The St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES, meanwhile, is studying a $6 million proposal that would link the area's 18 school districts — from Ham- mond to St. Lawrence Central — to an interactive telecommunications system. The BOCES system would use a combination of microwave and fiber optics. Fiber optics cables would connect the majority of the 18 districts in the BOCES district, but St. Lawrence Central, Clifton- Fine, Madrid-Waddington and Hammond would utilize a microwave system to tie into the fiber optics lines. Bettinger, superintendent of the Gouverneur Central School District, said, the BOCES system can be used for data transmission as well as voice and video intercon- nections. She said school districts could 1 see savings in telephone and postal costs through their associa- tion witti the system. She said she doesn't feel it is ap- propriate to constantly compare the BOCES proposal and the county plan. \They are looking for a single-purpose system, and I assume they are looking at it as soonas possible. \We're doing a study on a multi- purpose system that is probably go- ing to take three to five years. I don't see it as adversarial at all,\ Bettinger added. The Gouverneur school superintendent stressed the two systems are not duplicative. \What they are studying and what we are studying is quite different.\ Bettinger said county govern- ment is just one of several entities in the area that could be included in the fiber optics system. She suggested the local colleges, library network system, law en- forcement agencies and penal in- stitutions could also be linked to the svstem. County officials disagree, argu- ing that all those agencies could be linked to their system, including BOCES. But Bettinger disagrees. The county's microwave pro- posal and the BOCES fiber optics plan are simply not compatible from a timeline stance, according to Bettinger. \The county wants to act now. We can't help them with that. This system won't be in place now. It will take several years just to get Continued On Page 12 USPS 403900 VOL. 26 NO. 8855 FIVE SECTIONS—56 PAGES JOURNAL Highlight Reservation Faces Tough Fight Over Slot Machines - See Page 7 Daily Entered As Second Class Matter Post Ollice Ogdensburg, N.Y. Glass Outwits Captors: Now A Free Man DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - American journalist Charles Glass said today he outwitted his captors and fled to freedom after two mon- ths as a hostage in Lebanon. He was turned over to a U.S. diplomat in Damascus. Foreign Minister Farouk al- Sharaa handed Glass over to American Charge d'Affaires David Ransom, the senior U.S diplomat in the Syrian capital. \I feel good,\ Glass told reporters. \The people who really, suffered are my wife and children.\ He appeared to be in good shape but looked tired. He said he wanted to fly to Lon- don, his home, \as soon as possible to meet with my family and folks.\ Asked whether he was set free or had escaped, Glass replied: \It was an escape.\ Glass, wearing a blue track suit and no shoes, walked into the seaside Summerland Hotel in west Beirut at 2:30 a.m. today and said: \I am Charlie Glass. I need a place to hide,\ a Lebanese police spokesman said. Glass was abducted by 14 gunmen in the suburban Beirut district of Ouzai oh June 17 along with Ali Osseiran, son of Lebanon's defense minister. Osseiran was released a week later. A group calling itself the Organization of the People's Defense claimed Ju)y 7 that it kid- napped Glass and said he was a CIA t spy. The group is believed made up of Shiite Moslems loyal to Iran. Glass said he escaped while his captors were sleeping. However, his wife Fiona said her husband told her he locked up his guards and fled. The 36-year-old journalist was spirited out of Moslem west Beirut under the protection of Syrian troops, who police several areas in Lebanon. Before Glass was driven to Damascus, Beirut physician Noureddine Koush pronounced him \all right and fit.\ By the time Glass arrived at the Syrian Foreign Ministry late this morning, he had donned a blue shirt and beige trousers and shaved the beard he. grew in captivity. Glass said he escaped from a building in the Beirut suburb of Bir el-Abed while his captors were sleeping:. Bir el-Abed is a stronghold of the pro-Iranian Shiite group Hezbollah, or Party of God, which is believed to be an umbrella for groups holding foreign hostages. \I saw people queuing in front of a bakery, and one family accepted to take me to west Beirut and (they) deposited me near the Sum- merland ... that is where I got the Syrian who brought me here,\ he said. He did not give details of his escape. Sharaa told Glass: \We have spared no effort of any kind to save you ... We consider this (kidnapp- ing) an unacceptable challenge to us.\ \I highly appreciate all your ef- forts. I know that you have done so much,\ Glass replied. Housing Nets First Increase Since Feb. By The Associated Press Housing construction edged up 0.9 percent in July, the first mon- thly increase since February, as the housing industry finally showed signs of recovering from a jump in mortgage rates this spring, the Tuesday Documents Found The FBI is examining another cache of rare Civil War documents allegedly stashed in a safe deposit box by a writer accused of taking valuable letters from two govern- ment manuscript collections. Page 3. Weather Today...Mostly sunny and not as warm as yesterday. High in the lower 80s. West wind 5 to 15 mph. Tonight...Partly cloudy. Low' in the upper 50s. Light wind. Wednesday...Clouding up...With a chance of showers. Chance of rain...30 Percent. High near 80. Index State News > .Page2 NationalNews Page 3 Editorials Page4 Local News Pages 6,7,12 Sports Pages 8,9 Comics Page 10 Classified Ads Page 11 SOLD ON FIRST CALL!! FOB SALE: Artaona Car, I960 Buick Beg«l Limited, « cyllnitor. air conditioned, loaded. No nut, like new. $3,M0. Call 000-0000. WE WORK FOR YOU! The Journal Classifieds CALL 393-1003 or 393-1006 government reported today. The Commerce Department said new homes and apartments were being built at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.61 million units last month. In June, housing construction had fallen 0.6 percent following even larger declines in the previous three months. It was the first time that housing construction had declined for four consecutive months since 1981. The weakness was blamed on a run-up in mortgage rates this spring. After declining to a nine-year low of 9 percent in late March, fixed- rate mortgages surged up by almost 2 percentage points over the next eight weeks. Since late May, rates have been falling again and now stand at 10.33 percent, ac- cording to a weekly survey by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. Analysts had been predicting that this rate decline would halt the drop in .construction activity and sales, The rebound in July came entire- ly from a jump in construction of single-family homes, which rose by 5.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.16 million units. Construction of multi-family units fell 9.8 percent to an annual rate of 452,000 units last month. The level of activity in this area is almost 30 percent lower than a year ago. Housing permits, considered a good indication of future activity, edged down 1.9 percent in July to an annual rate of 1.49 million units, the slowest annual pace since March 1983. Oil prices plunged to their lowest level in nearly two months as the market focused its concern on swelling world inventories. But the mood was upbeat Mon- day for the nation's factories, mines and utilities, which operated at 80.5 percent of capacity in July. In its rosiest report in 18 months, the government attributed the re- bound to strong demand by manufacturers, who continued to reap the benefits of higher export sales, A Park Newspaper OGDENSBURG, N.Y.- TUESDAY, AUGUST 18,1987 Republican Established 1830 Copyright© 1981 Park Newspapers of St. Lawrence, Inc. Journal Established 1858 SECTION ONE SINGLE COPY 25* Sx J& « BY LAND OR SEA — These two area youngsters took dif- ferent routes for some summer fun, In photo on the right, Michael Mills, 7, headed to Grove Street Park's spring ride. In left photo, Andy Friot secures his cap before entering the St. Lawrence River at the City Beach. Areet children have about three weeks of summer vacation left. (Mitchell Photos) Miracle Survivor Only Bright Spot ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) — A 4-year-old girl emerged as the miraculous survivor of the nation's second-deadliest air disaster, and reports surfaced of repeated engine malfunctions in the Northwest Airlines jetliner that crashed, killing up to 162. Cecilia Cichan, who was listed in critical condition today with third- degree burns over 29 percent of her body, was identified as a passenger on Flight 255 by her grandfather, who recognized her chipped tooth and purple nail polish, officials said. \Her mother shielded her, and that is what saved her,\ said the grandfather, Anthony Cichan of Maple Glen, Pa. The girl's parents and6-year-eldhEQth-er were tilled in Sundayjiight's crash just after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a flight to Phoenix and suburban Los Angeles. Authorities have yet to establish an official death count in the crash of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80, which occurred in clear weather. John Lauber, of the National Transportation Safety Board, said 152 aboard the plane died. Northwest spokesman Kevin Whalen said 155 people might have been aboard, and at least 154 people died. \The infant count is going up,\ he said. Infants generally are not ticketed on commercial airline flights if they are carried by adults. Wayne County officials reported that two people died on the ground. Late Monday, County Medical Examiner Werner Spitz said five or six bodies were pulled from three vehicles destroyed when the plane smashed into them or showered them with blazing fuel and debris. Spitz said the bodies were too charred to determine the number, and it wasn't immediately clear whether he included the two earlier ground f stalitips At least six people who had been on the ground were treated at hospitals for injuries in the crash. Northwest Airlines on Monday began bringing family members here to help identify the victims, but an official passenger list wasn't releas- ed. A team of 100 investigators, including experts from the federal government and the companies that made the plane and engines, walk- ed the flight path and examined the remains the jet's two Pratt & \Whitney JT8D-217 engines. Federal Aviation Administration records showed plane had engine failures on takeoff twice in 1986 and once in 1985. As recently as January 1987, the plane was forced to return to the airport in Memphis, Tenn., after takeoff because of low oil pressure, said Bobby Mardis of the FAA*s Aeronautics Center in Oklahoma City. The aircraft landed safely in Minneapolis on Jan. 6,1986, after flying 18 minutes on only its right engine, according to FAA records sited by \WCCO-TV in Minneapolis and The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. Republic Airlines, which merged with Northwest last year, discovered defective T-3 turbine blades, the report said. Northwest spokesman Redmond Tyler called that report misleading, saying the problem engine was replaced. On April 1, 1986, the same plane lost power in its right engine and returned safely after 11 minutes, the reports said. The airline again •discovered that the T-3 blades, which power the aircraft, had failed. In November 1985, an engine turbine section failed about 80 miles from Minneapolis, forcing the plane to return, Mardis said. The crash was the first of a major commercial plane in the United States in almost a year, and the first involving a domestic carrier in almost two years. The death toll was the worst since 275 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed at Chicago's O'Hare Interna- tional Airport on May 25,1979. Helicopter Carrier Cruising Through Gulf MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - The U.S. helicopter carrier Guadalcanal steamed through the central Persian Gulf behind a mine-sweeping helicopter, and Iran claimed its navy had joined ef- forts to ferret out mines threaten- ing shipping in the area. Iran's President Ali Khamenei said the United States will suffer a \crushing blow\ if its warships at- tack Iranian ships or ports. Iran has widely been blamed for laying the mines that have disrupted traf- fic in the Persian Gulf and the near- by Gulf of Oman. Meanwhile, Iraq said its air force flew 90 combat missions Monday, striking an Iranian oilfield, two sugar plants and Iranian troops. Iran said its gunners shelled \military and industrial targets in the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr in revenge. The helicopters on the Guadalcanal are expected to help clear the way for the return voyage of three U.S.-flagged tankers in Kuwait. The U.S. Navy has refused comment on when the Kuwaiti tankers and their U.S. escorts will set sail. The tankers are among 11 Kuwaiti vessels the Reagan ad- ministration has agreed to reflag and protect from Iran's attacks. Iran has targeted Kuwaiti ships in the past year, charging that the emirate supports Iraq in the 7- year-old Iran-Iraq war. White House Predicting More Red Ink WASHINGTON (AP) - The Reagan administration, which earlier this year was predicting a gradual decline in the deficit, now says the red ink will get worse before it gets better. At the same time, the ad- ministration is postponing plans to send Congress a new set of options for reducing federal spending. In its midyear budget review, the White House said the deficit for fiscal 1987, which ends Sept. 30, will be about $159 billion. That's a dramatic decrease from fiscal 1986, which added nearly $221 billion to the government's debt. But the administration has dumped its January prediction that future deficits would remain on a downward path without any new spending cuts or new taxes. And even the relatively good news for this year comes with a catch — the 1987 estimate reduc- tion Is largely the result of a one- time-only government windfall under the new tax laws. The president's fiscal 1988 deficit estimate, meanwhile, has risen to more than $161 billion, and the report says the deficit will rise, again in fiscal 1989 unless action is taken, The deficits would not begin to decline until fiscal 1990 and more ;han $100 billion in red ink would re- main in fiscal 1992, a year after the Gramm-Rudman budget balancing law calls for a balanced budget. Earlier this summer, the White House announced it would ask federal agencies to find more places to cut spending. The goal was to offer Congress a last chance to bring the fiscal 1988 deficit down to Gramm-Rudman's interim goal of a deficit next year no larger than $108 billion. But the review released Monday had no mention of the cuts, instead noting that Congress has been discussing easing the targets. One Pentagon source described the schedule of the U.S.-escorted convoy, the second to ply the gulf, as \fluid.\ Shipping sources said the tankers finished loading Satur- day. The Guadalcanal cruised the cen- tral gulf Monday behind one of its Sea Stallion choppers, which scouted for mines. Pentagon sources in Washington said the 602- foot warship and some smaller Mideast Force ships are also carry- ing helicopters from the Army's elite Special Operations Forces. The Guadalcanal moved to within about 12 miles of Bahrain an island state midway up the Per- sian Gulf, according to witnesses. Tehran radio, monitored in Nicosia, Cyprus, reported that Ira- nian navy mine sweepers located and destroyed several mines Mon- day south of the Persian Gulf in the Gulf of Oman. There was no in- dependent confirmation of the claim. The U.S.-operated supertanker Texaco Caribbean hit a mine in the area Aug. 11. Iran has claimed the mine was laid by the U.S. Navy to frighten Arab gulf states into back- ing U.S. protection of Kuwaiti tankers, but U.S. and gulf-based shipping officials believe it was laid by Iran,
