The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

MR. LEHRER: Good evening. Leading the news this Monday, the right wing claimed victory in El Salvador's election, Continental Airlines was hit by a flight attendants strike, and 19 U.S. Marines died in a helicopter crash in South Korea. We'll have the details in our News Summary in a moment. Charlayne Hunter-Gault is in New York tonight. Charlayne.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: After the News Summary, we go first to the Salvadoran elections. We'll have a report by Correspondent Charles Krause, followed by reaction from two members of the Congressional observer team, Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic Representative Tony Coelho. Then a documentary report on the dangers of offshore oil rigs, and finally we look at how to handle the growing problem of drugs and violence in the nation's capital with D.C. Mayor Marion Barry and Virginia Congressman Stan Parris. NEWS SUMMARY

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: In El Salvador, the right wing party known as Arena today claimed victory in an election that was marked by violence and death. With about half of the ballots counted, the ruling Christian Democrats conceded victory to Arena's presidential candidate Alfredo Cristiani, a wealthy coffee grower. Leftist guerrillas called the election meaningless, claiming low voter turnout. Meanwhile, the military said six soldiers and twenty-three guerrillas died in clashes during Sunday's balloting and three journalists were also killed, two Salvadorans and one Dutchman. We have more from David Simmons of Worldwide Television News.

DAVID SIMMONS: The capital San Salvador was calm after Sunday's election violence. Petrol stations closed during the run-up to the voting reopened, but though there was some semblance of normality, troops still patrolled the streets. Despite guerrilla claims that too many people abstain for a valid result, U.S. observers say the vote seems fair. The rebels lifted their transport ban and buses slowly went back into operation. Meanwhile, Alfredo Cristiani said his priority is talking to the rebels.

ALFREDO CRISTIANI, Arena Party: We have already started. We have been participating in the dialogue and we will continue, so far as they are willing to find some ways to incorporate themselves into the process, we're willing to work out some sort of arrangement in order for them to do so.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: In Washington, State Department Spokesman Charles Redman said the U.S. is prepared to support whatever Salvadoran Government emerged from this election, but only to the extent it respects democracy and protects human rights. Jim.

MR. LEHRER: President Bush said today he was still searching for a solution to the semiautomatic gun control problem. He said he was looking for a way to balance the concerns of police officials with those of sportsmen. He said it in a Washington speech to state legislative leaders.

PRESIDENT BUSH: I am convinced that reasonable men and women can work together to find an answer to the problem of these automated weapons, and I think we've already had some signs in the sporting community that there is support for what we've done, but we're going to keep working it. I am very serious about this, this drug fight and it's going to be fought on all different fronts, and we have got to give the police the proper support when they lay their lives on the line for us. And so we'll find some answer that is constitutionally sound and that also protects the lives as best one can from Washington of these officers.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: On the airline front, Continental Airline's flight attendants announced a strike today and began picketing airports in three cities, however, Continental brought in back-up personnel and reported no service interruptions. The 7000 attendants have been working without a contract since December. Continental is owned by Texas Air Corporation, which also runs Eastern Airlines. Eastern's mechanics and pilots have been on strike since March 4th. A spokesman for the Continental flight attendants said the two strikes were unrelated. Meanwhile, Donald Trump said today that the Eastern Airlines shuttle is no longer worth the $365 million he originally offered. Citing the airline's labor problems, he said he has cut his offer by approximately 1/3. Texas Air Corporation had no comment.

MR. LEHRER: Nineteen U.S. Marines are dead in South Korea. They died in the crash of a troop carrying Sea Stallion helicopter during a training exercise. Sixteen others were injured. The chopper crashed into a mountain near the Southeast Coast of South Korea, but there was no word on the cause. A Korean news agency said there was an explosion in the air before it hit. It was the second Marine helicopter disaster in the area. Four Marines died in the Friday crash of a smaller chopper.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Israeli jets bombed two Palestinian bases in the Syrian-controlled Bakah Valley today. Police sources said the raid killed at least five guerrillas. The attack occurred on Bar Elias, about six miles West of the Syrian/Lebanese border. The target was the popular front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, a pro-Syrian PLO faction that has claimed responsibility for several recent infiltration attempts into Israel. Meanwhile, the PLO wants to grade the level of its talks with the United States so that its chairman, Yasser Arafat, can take part, this word from the Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia. And in Baghdad, Arafat said the PLO would push for a rapid convening of an international peace conference in talks with U.S. officials this week in Tunisia.

MR. LEHRER: Seven crew members are missing from an offshore oil drilling platform that caught fire off the Coast of Louisiana this morning. About 30 of the rig's crew were rescued, 10 of them were injured. The rig is located near the Southeast tip of Louisiana, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, 70 miles from New Orleans. It is owned by the Atlantic Richfield Company. Still ahead, the Salvador election, the dangers of offshore oil rigs, and escalating violence in the nation's capital. FOCUS - BALLOTS AND BULLETS

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: We focus first tonight on yesterday's violence plagued Presidential election in El Salvador. Fighting between government forces and leftist guerrillas led many to stay away from the polls, but those who did come out, opted for change. Correspondent Charles Krause spent election day in Chalatenango Province, a hotly contested area of the front lines of El Salvador's civil war, about 90 minutes outside of the capital of San Salvador. He filed this report.

CHARLES KRAUSE: The voting in Chalatenango was of special interest to the United States. One of El Salvador's poorest provinces, at least a third of Chalatenango is now controlled by the guerrillas. Traditionally, life here has been dominated by the Catholic Church, the government and the army. But nine years of civil war have altered the political landscape. The guerrillas have fought and won a share of power. Yesterday in Chalatenango the government was forced to deploy thousands of soldiers to protect voters and to safeguard the election. That heavy military presence was especially present in Chalatenango's city, the provincial capital, an Arena stronghold, more than 10,000 citizens were registered and could have voted here. But it was the guerrilla strategy to stop them. The rebels lost seven of their men during an initial attack on the city last Tuesday. Fighting here continued until just a few hours before the polls opened yesterday morning. To try to reduce guerrilla influence and to promote democracy, the United States has recently begun a major counter insurgency campaign throughout Chalatenango province. Thus the outcome of yesterday's election, especially the turnout here, was a key test of U.S. policy. Amb. William Walker and U.S. election observers were in Chalatenango all afternoon. Late in the day, Col. Syro Lopez Roquet briefed them on guerrilla efforts to disrupt the vote. From the briefing at fourth brigade headquarters, the Ambassador and the election observers proceeded to a nearby village called El Paraiso. There Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky questioned local election officials about the low voter turnout.

WILLIAM WALKER, U.S. Ambassador: Everybody admits that there was a fear factor, that there's been a lot of threats levied against people for voting or for working the booths, this sort of thing. They also say that the transportation stoppage has badly affected, a negative effect on the turnout. And I certainly agree with those two factors. If I was afraid and I couldn't get there, I might not vote in my home town either.

MR. KRAUSE: Despite the war and threats of violence, both major Presidential candidates campaigned in Chalatenango. Christian Democrat Fidele Chavez Mena was here without President Jose Napoleon Duarte. After five years, Duarte's government and his Christian Democrats were largely discredited inside El Salvador. Chavez Mena distanced himself from the dying President. Arena Candidate Alfredo Cristiani also campaigned in Chalatenango, with him Major Roberto Dobison, Arena's president, and according to U.S. intelligence, a founder of El Salvador's death squads. Cristiani has tried to deflect questions about Dobison's influence. Yesterday few voters would tell us how they voted or why. Their standard answer was, it's a secret ballot. But one Arena campaign worker told us Salvadorans want a change. It was clear that Cristiani would do well here in Chalatenango and throughout the country.

WILLIAM WALKER: You know, the present government has the problems of incumbency, there is little question in the minds of the observers that have been with me that Arena has a greater facility for organization.

MR. KRAUSE: If Arena wins, do you anticipate there being problems in terms of continuing level of U.S. aid to El Salvador?

REP. CHUCK DUGLAS, [R] New Hampshire: Well, some in the other party probably would want to punish Arena if it wins, but I think you're seeing a fair andopen election, a decision made on ballots, not bullets. I think what we have to do is work to encourage this process that we've seen today.

MR. KRAUSE: When the votes were counted in Chalatenango late yesterday afternoon, it appeared that Cristiani had defeated Chavez Mena and the handful of other candidates on the ballot.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Late today the Salvadoran Election Commission gave Cristiani 53 percent of the vote in a provisional count based on about half the ballots. For more on the election results and the implications for U.S. policy, we turn now to two of the American poll watchers who just returned. They are Sen. Mitch McConnell, whom we just saw on the tape, and Republican of Kentucky and Chairman of the Observer Delegation, and Representative Tony Coelho, Democrat of California and House Majority Whip. They join us from a studio on Capitol Hill. Sen. McConnell, you're looking a little bit different than on the tape. There seems to be no doubt about this outcome. Would you agree that Cristiani is going to be the president?

SEN. MITCH McCONNELL, [R] Kentucky: Yes, it appears to be rather overwhelming. When I called the President this afternoon to report the results of our findings, the principal thing I told him, of course, was that it was our unanimous conclusion, everyone in the election observer team, that the election had been fair and honest and open and it appeared as of Arena had won an overwhelming victory and would avoid a runoff.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: I assume you conquer in that, Congressman Coelho. Let me just move on to ask you, the turnout was the lowest in Salvadoran history. You said it was, Sen. Mitchell said it was free and fair, but how do you feel about this turnout and what that says about the results?

REP. TONY COELHO, [D] California: Well, if people stayed away from the polls because they thought that process was unfair, I think that that's something that we would have to be concerned about, and I don't think we would have made the statement that we made, but we determined that people stayed away from the polls because they were fearful for their lives, the intimidation that existed, the deaths, et cetera. In a democracy, and I happen to believe strongly in democracy, if you think the process is fair, but you're afraid for your life, the democracy still exists, and we should support that. And so yesterday's elections I feel were fair. We're now interested in what happens to this new government, the Arena Government, and what it does when it starts governing. I think that's the issue.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: All right. We'll get to that in a minute. Let me just ask you, Sen. McConnell, do you have any other thoughts on the low turnout?

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, I'll say to you what I've said to others in the course of the day, we should remember that in spite of all the intimidations and violence the Salvadorans had a higher turnout than we had in this country in our Presidential election last year. I wonder how many Americans would go to the polls if they thought they were going to get shot, so I think the turnout under the circumstances was commendable.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Does it give you, does it raise any questions in your mind about Mr. Cristiani's ability to govern? The guerrillas said that this low turnout proved that the country's problems could not be solved without their participation.

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, I would say that the party aligned most closely with the guerrillas participated in the election in spite of a number of threats to them, and an overwhelming majority of Salvadorans were given the opportunities to vote for parties of the left, center and right, and they came out in rather substantial numbers to exercise that option.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Just very briefly, what can you tell us about Mr. Cristiani?

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, he's a businessman. I think clearly the Arena Party earlier in the eighties was associated, and there's no question about this, with activities which this government simply does not approve of. Congressman Coelho and I have said frequently, repeatedly over the last couple of days, we want to see what this new administration is like. I don't think we ought to prejudge it. We ought to give Cristiani a chance.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Congressman Coelho, is it your sense that Mr. Cristiani and not Mr. Dobison is going to be the man to run things?

REP. COELHO: We'll soon find out.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: What's your sense?

REP. COELHO: My sense is is that Dobison is not going to lay back and let Cristiani just take off and do what he wants to do. I think the American public really doesn't appreciate the fact that Dobison is a member of the Parliament. While he is not the leader of the Parliament, everybody acknowledges that he probably controls the votes of the Parliament, and so while Cristiani is the President, you have Dobison over in the Parliament, basically going to try to turn it from there. And the question we have to ask ourself is Mr. Cristiani strong enough to run the government? He's never been in public life before. We'll have to see. I don't think we should automatically say, no, he's not. I think we have to see whether or not he can do it and give him a chance. It's this new government's opportunity to see if democracy should continue. We'll have to see.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: The United States has been a strong supporter of the Christian Democratic Party of Jose Napoleon Duarte. And as you heard in Charles Krause's piece, this election was seen as the result of U.S. policy. By that logic, can this be seen as a defeat for U.S. policy, this outcome?

REP. COELHO: Well, I don't think so. I think that basically our position has been to see the Democratic process work. Duarte may not have governed well. I'm not going to make the judgment there, that's up to the people of El Salvador to make. But I think that his parting gift to his nation will be that he provided a free and fair election. The winner of that election now has to decide whether or not they continue in the democratization of El Salvador. That's up to them to decide. Based on that, then we'll make some decisions in regards to assistance from the United States.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: What do you think, Sen. McConnell? Was this a defeat for U.S. policy?

SEN. McCONNELL: I don't think so. I think all parties engaged in a certain amount of anti-U.S. rhetoric. Apparently that's good politics in El Salvador. There was a widespread suspicion and it was probably true that in '84, the U.S. favored the Christian Democrats. I can tell you from firsthand experience, the American Government did not have a party in this contest and I don't think the outcome of it says anything about our policy other than that we have promoted democracy and democracy is working. They've had six elections in this country since 1982 either for the assembly or for mayors or for president, and a democracy is taking hold there and in a democracy sometimes there are changes and they voted for a change yesterday in El Salvador.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: The State Department today expressed support for the government so long as it protected democracy and human rights. Congressman Coelho, are those the only conditions? Should there be other conditions? I mean, what should U.S. support or U.S. policy, how should be formulated at this time?

REP. COELHO: Well, I don't think that we should try to tell the Arena Government or the Government of El Salvador they have to do x, y and z. I do think that I agree with the State Department's position in regards to the death squads and human rights, that those are things that we're going to watch very carefully. We also want them to, if we provide assistance, to try to better the life for their people. We're looking, watching that very carefully. There are a lot of things going on right now in El Salvador that are very positive from this perspective. The guerrillas want to see a lot of that stopped. They are very upset that the mayors are gaining more strength than some of these areas and they want to see that rebuilding of the infrastructure of El Salvador stopped. Well, those are the things we want to be watching carefully, but as far as the policy of this new government, I think we've got to be careful that we don't step in and say that you're a puppet government of ours.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: How much time --

SEN. McCONNELL: If I may interject --

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Yes, sir.

SEN. McCONNELL: Let me just say that on the violence issue, we need to apply a standard that we, ourselves, could meet, there were more people killed in Washington last year than in the occupied territories in the Middle East, and while we want the death squad activity not to resume, we must recognize there is a war going on in El Salvador, and there will be some deaths, and we don't like that, but we need to apply a reasonable standard to El Salvador.

REP. COELHO: My only comment on that where I agree basically with Mitch, but I disagree to some extent, El Salvador and nobody else will provide us foreign aid and our foreign aid does have strings attached, as it should, and so we will hold them to a different standard.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: I was reading today where the guerrillas were saying or there were reports that the guerrillas probably liked this outcome because it would polarize the country, at least the choices would be crystal clear between I guess you could say two extremes. Do you sense that there is an impending polarization that is likely to develop in the country and that this will be detrimental to the process you seem hopeful that would go forward?

SEN. McCONNELL: Let me say the guerrillas, you know, are not doing as well as they used to. They have about half as many now in their membership as they had in the early eighties. I'm sure they're hoping for something to turn it around, because they're failing badly. The democratic convergence, the party that probably came in third, and as a result of that will have a place on the election council for the next five years, is a party of the left that some felt was sympathetic with the FMLN, and the Marxists look around now and they find they don't have many allies that are not participating in the process, and so their numbers are shrinking, they're more and more isolated, and I think that's good news for democracy in El Salvador.

REP. COELHO: I think Mitch and I heard several times that the guerrillas were hopeful that Arena would win, that they felt that they could divide the nation that way. We'll just now have to see how Arena governs and whether or not they can prevent that from happening.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: What do you think it would take? I mean, you heard Cristiani say a few moments ago on the tape thathe wanted to -- that there had been talks -- I believe that's what he said - - and that they wanted to continue talking. I mean, does he have, do you believe he has the strength and the will to do that?

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, let me tell you what he has to do right up front, and I'm sure Tony would agree with this. There were two journalists killed this weekend by the army. We're going to be looking to see if those cases are prosecuted to the full extent of Salvadoran law. There were some atrocities at San Sabastian recently by army soldiers. We're going to be looking to see if those cases are handled appropriately. That's the kind of standard we want to apply to this administration, and if they meet that kind of test, then I think they'll find the Congress interested in helping this administration.

REP. COELHO: We were told also by, or I was told by one of Cristiani's top people, that they were going to have a broad-based government if they won today, that they intended to put people other than Arena members in their government and have an active, very positive role in running the government. We'll have to see now if they do want to broaden their base and if they do want to make some changes. Cristiani also said to me that he intended to immediately start the discussions with the guerrillas. But we've seen that he's really started that. So I think we have to kind of sit back and watch for a bit. He doesn't take over the reins of government until the first of June.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: June 1st.

REP. COELHO: And let's see what he does between now and June 1st. Dobison and he will have a chance to fight it out on the judicial appointments that must be made before June the 1st, so we'll get a good idea as to whether or not Cristiani can govern, we'll get a good idea as to how Dobison is going to handle Cristiani. All of things will happen before June the 1st.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Is the tone that I'm hearing and the expressions out of both of you likely to be reflected in your, in the larger House and Senate? Is this, in other words, likely to be a bipartisan approach now to the problems? Are we hearing the beginnings of a new working relationship in terms of El Salvador?

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, we certainly hope so. I think Cristiani can have a lot to do with what happens here by his behavior and the leadership that he and his party exert in that country in the coming years.

REP. COELHO: We are told basically that Cristiani intends to come soon to the United States. I assume that now that he's been declared the winner or will be declared soon the winner that he will come quickly to meet with members of both parties and I'm sure the administration to spell out what he intends to do and why and how and based on those discussions I think we'll determine whether or not we end up with a bipartisan policy. I think people are prepared to accept the results of a free and fair election but they want to know the attitude of the people that have won.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: All right. We'll be watching. Congressman Coelho and Sen. McConnell, thank you both for that very interesting report.

MR. LEHRER: Still to come on the Newshour tonight, oil rigs in the Gulf and the nation's crime capital. FOCUS - RISKY BUSINESS

MR. LEHRER: Next, oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Today an explosion set off a fire on an oil rig 70 miles South of New Orleans. Seven oil workers are reported missing. Ten others were injured in the incident. The rig is operated by Atlantic Richfield. Last fall, that company gave Dan Gifford of public station KUHT-Houston a look at safety measures on another of their offshore oil platforms.

DAN GIFFORD: ARCO Oil & Gas Company's high island platform 116A is typical of the newer platforms found in the gulf. It collects gas from a number of wells and pipes it to shore. Most of that gas winds up in the Northeast. The gas wells are at the left end of the platform, with living quarters in the right end, 175 feet apart. That separation helps manage the risk of a potential gas leak, fire or explosion from the six wells that come out of the ground at a pressure of three thousand pounds per square inch.

JOHN MORGAN, ARCO Platform Manager: In case you had an uncontrolled flow from one of these wells, you want it as far removed from your personnel as possible so that they will be capable of making their escape if need be.

DAN GIFFORD: Sixteen people live and work here with room for thirty-two. They operate a number of wells by remote control, a growing trend in the gulf to reduce costs and a number of the people at minimal risk. Escaping normally means using survival capsules, but on this visit, they're out of service for maintenance. A new abandonment routine is explained at an orientation.

DOUG IVEY: The abandonment platform alarm is a continuous blowing of the general alarm. There won't be any break in it. So what we need you to do is go down as close to the water as you possibly can get and then we'll be going in the water.

DAN GIFFORD: Doug Ivey wasn't so confident. He says he used to constantly worry about the worse.

DOUG IVEY, ARCO Production Supervisor: When I first came out, I'd hear different sounds now and then, I was sleeping very light, every little sound would wake me up and I really wasn't sure of myself. I learned that the safety systems that are here and automated will take care of just about everything that could possibly happen on the platform.

DAN GIFFORD: Abandonment is given special attention, because when an explosion happens, jumping into the water may be the only route to safety.

OFFSHORE WORKER: As you can see, like we mentioned before, getting to the water is a big problem, and when you jump from a hundred feet up, you will get hurt. Generally, you have a facial injury, broken nose --

DAN GIFFORD: How high is the deck when this is normally on station drilling?

OFFSHORE WORKER: Fifty feet.

DAN GIFFORD: Fifty feet?

OFFSHORE WORKER: Fifty feet.

DAN GIFFORD: So that's still a pretty good jump.

OFFSHORE WORKER: Yes.

DAN GIFFORD: Rigs are also required to have escape capsules.

OFFSHORE WORKER: They run these through burning water and these are designed so that if the rig is surrounded by fire with noxious fumes that the men couldn't breathe, they can survive in this capsule.

DAN GIFFORD: Testing the capsules and life boats is also part of the inspection.

OFFSHORE WORKER: Every week we have a fire drill so you can practice what you are doing right here.

DAN GIFFORD: Despite all the safety precautions, safety experts who studied past accidents and disasters say most are caused by human error.

KEN ARNOLD, Oil Rig Designer: You look at fatalities, you look at fires, you look at oil spills; those are the things we're concerned about. When you look at that data, what you find is the overwhelming majority of them have to do with someone making an operational mistake, someone doing something where he didn't consider the safety aspects of it.

DAN GIFFORD: Training people to work safely is an issue among offshore drillers. Some say safety training departments are being cut in order to save money, allowing them to make lower bids for work from the major oil companies.

SPOKESMAN: They want the best safety program and the best training program that a contractor can absolutely give, but yet, you cannot give that and be on this very very tight competitive situation that you're in. You just can't do it. There's no money there for anything extra. The three things that primarily suffer on a deal like that is safety, training and even maintenance.

DAN GIFFORD: Monitoring maintenance and conditions on American flag rigs like the Rowland Midland basically falls on three organizations, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service, and an industry society, the American Bureau of Shipping. This day the Rowland Midland has all three groups on board. Minerals Management Service Inspector Jim Heil basically looks at the machinery used for drilling and the working conditions on the rig. Inspections are done monthly, or whenever a rig starts a new job.

JIM HEIL: You've got to start from the top. Usually I start up on the rig floor. This is where all the action takes place. There's a lot of required data they're supposed to have over here in this particular area. This is where the driller does his job.

DAN GIFFORD: Inspector Heil pays special attention to the blow out protector that keeps well pressures under control. Notice its size compared to the man walking behind it. This one weighs 400,000 pounds and can control pressures up to 10,000 pounds per square inch. Federal Inspector Heil used to work offshore himself. He says things have improved.

JIM HEIL, Federal Safety Inspector: A lot of the working conditions when I first started working out here were deplorable. They were living conditions that you or I wouldn't hardly walk through, much less spend the night. The living quarters now, some of the rigs call them the hotel unit. You'd pay money anywhere else. The working conditions is still hard work, no matter how you look at it. That much hasn't changed.

DAN GIFFORD: Life on board the rigs is very much life on a merchant marine ship. The men eat in a galley and live in dormitory style quarters during their seven to fourteen day tours. Many rigs also have exercise facilities for those not exhausted from what workers characterize as a grueling twelve to fourteen hour a day work schedule.

WORKER: I've seen us work in weather that I wouldn't put my dog out in. It's dirty, it's nasty, it's long hours. It is a hassle.

DAN GIFFORD: Offshore oil workers realize that risk simply goes with the territory. They're not only working around heavy machinery and explosive gases under tremendous pressures, they're also working on bigger, more complex projects. A platform that's higher and larger than the Chicago Sears Tower, for instance, is now being built in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico in almost 2000 feet of water. Plans are to drill 60 wells on that platform when it's finished. It's a trend many people feel will test the ability of workers to work without mistakes while testing the ability of designers to build even safer islands in the sea.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Once again, there's been no official word about the cause of the explosions and fires Sunday night on two connected ARCO Oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. FOCUS - CAPITAL CRIME

MR. LEHRER: Next tonight murder in Washington, D.C. One hundred and nineteen people have been killed in Washington since New Year's Day, a murder roughly every 16 hours. Most of the deaths have been drug related. The crime wave has set off a wave of alarm and condemnation,much of it directed at the city's Mayor, Marion Barry. Just today, one of the city's most prestigious business organizations, the Metropolitan Board of Trade, passed a resolution saying the D.C. Government has allowed the nation's capital to become a place better known for crime than history. It has also led to drastic ideas, from the federal takeover of the D.C. police to a curfew for all young people 18 years old or younger. A judge today issued a temporary restraining order against that curfew. Kwame Holman has more on the story.

KWAME HOLMAN: City officials say some 80 percent of the killings were related to drugs. The open and highly profitable trade in crack, cocaine, and the hallucinogen PCP spawned deadly disagreements in the city almost every night this year. Most of the victims were young black men involved in the drug trade. Most of the killings occurred in and around the dozens of drug markets in Washington's poor, predominantly black neighborhoods. What Washington Mayor Marion Barry said a year ago applies to the city's drug war today.

MAYOR MARION BARRY, Washington, D.C.: 80 percent of the murders we've had here have been drug users and drug dealers killing each other. They're just mean, and, therefore, life has no value apparently.

MR. HOLMAN: A familiar scenario, the execution of the young man who drove this car. Reportedly, he stole money from drug dealers. Four men riddle him with bullets while he waited at a traffic light at mid day. Several innocent people have been hit by drug dealers' gunfire, but Washington's mainstream bastions and affluent neighborhoods largely have been immune to the violence. Nonetheless, the concentration of news organizations, the federal bureaucracy, and the Congress in Washington has made the city's death toll nationally known.

WILLIAM BENNETT, Drug Policy Coordinator: [NBC News "Meet the Press"] What we want to do is to offer some help for the federal level, to get in, to help, and then to get out, so that the District of Columbia can run its own affairs.

MR. HOLMAN: Last week, Drug Czar William Bennett chose Washington as the first show case of the federal government's anti-drug effort. At a Senate hearing later in the week, Sen. Warren Rudman lambasted the city's leadership for failing to stem the violence and called for a federal takeover of the 3900 member Washington Police Force.

SEN. WARREN RUDMAN, [R] New Hampshire: You can't have people killed and blood running in the streets of the city like it was some third world capital run by a despot. It's absurd. It's the Mayor's fault obviously. It's lousy leadership and there are those of us sitting here quietly, looking at the situation, saying enough is enough at some point.

MR. HOLMAN: Meanwhile, the curfew law passed by the Washington City Council was aimed at protecting children and teenagers from the violence and at getting other young people out of the drug markets. Children often act as drug couriers. Last year, a 12 year old allegedly working for a drug dealer was murdered. The curfew law was to take effect today over the opposition of Washington Mayor Marion Barry, but a Washington judge suspended the curfew temporarily based on the assertion of the American Civil Liberties Union that the law is unconstitutional.

MR. LEHRER: We go now to separate interviews with Washington Mayor Marion Barry and a Republican Congressman who represents a suburban Washington section of Virginia. The Congressman is first. He is Stan Parris. He's the ranking Minority Member on the House Committee on the District of Columbia. Congressman, do you favor federalizing the D.C. police function?

REP. STAN PARRIS, [R] Virginia: I'm not sure I know exactly what the Senator meant by a federal constabulary. We don't have a bill as such, but there are a lot of ways to do that, Jim. We could appoint a federal criminal supervisor, so to speak, a gentleman who would be appointed to supervise the delivery of emergency medical service, the police department, the fire department, a safety commissioner, if you will, at the federal level. That's one way to approach the problem. I think the answer to the bottom line is that somebody's got to do something about the situation that exists. Sen. Bennett is concerned. Obviously, members of the Congress are concerned. Those of us in this area surely are concerned. We've got to get a handle on this problem.

MR. LEHRER: Sen. Rudman said that it's the Mayor's fault. Do you agree?

REP. PARRIS: No, I don't think you can blame just the Mayor. I think there's enough blame to go around here, but clearly, I don't see the urgency displayed by the administration of the District of Columbia to attack this problem that I think it deserves. The prioritization of the crime rate and the drug traffic in the District of Columbia simply has to be elevated, and very honestly if the City Council and/or the Mayor or the city administration won't do it, then those of us in positions of responsibility are going to have to.

MR. LEHRER: Why? Why do you have to? Why can't the city be allowed to go on the way it is under the leadership?

REP. PARRIS: Well, you said some of the reasons in your initial opening. Somebody gets to be a part, a victim of violent homicide every 12 hours in the nation's capital. This is not just the City of Washington, D.C. This is the nation's capital. And we have a responsibility not just because of the carnage that's going on but because of the constitution. The Congress of the United States is required to administer the functions of the District of Columbia under the constitution, except those that have been delegated for micro management, and I think the Congress is becoming increasingly aware of the fact that it's getting out of control.

MR. LEHRER: Is it your reading of the situation that the leadership, the Mayor, the City Council, the leaders of the city, as you say, just aren't giving it enough attention, or they don't have any fresh ideas or what? Lay that out. What do you think they're not doing that they should be doing.

REP. STAN PARRIS, [R] Virginia: Well, there's 3800 policemen in the District of Columbia, and 1400 of them are assigned to uniformed street duty. Now I think that's upsidedown. There's got to be a better answer to the carnage that's going on than to declare war on Middle America or Latin America, as the Mayor has suggested that what we ought to do is send the Marines to Columbia and Peru and Bolivia, wherever, or simply have a curfew on 17 year olds.

MR. LEHRER: You think that's a lousy idea?

REP. PARRIS: I don't think it's going to go to the problem. The problem is law enforcement and the fact is there's no deterrent in the District of Columbia, because if you get arrested for a drug violation, sometimes, we have records of people being arrested 12 times from the time they're first arrested until the time they go to trial. Then frankly most of them are released because there are no jails. There's no room in the jails; there's no place to put them. So there is no deterrent for crime and the people from New York who get dealt more severely with in that city come here to do their dirty work.

MR. LEHRER: The Mayor and others have also suggested that one of their problems was also brought on by the State of Virginia in that D.C. has strong gun control laws, the State of Virginia has none, and that people are buying guns in Virginia, bringing them into the district and using them in a harmful way.

REP. PARRIS: Well, I think the suggestion that the Virginia suburbs are responsible for the drug trafficking and the criminal conduct that goes on in the District of Columbia is simply a diversion perhaps. It certainly can't be considered to be true. The question of gun control is a total other subject, but certainly the problems of the District alchemy I think is too simplistic to simply say that they're the fault of the suburbs in Virginia.

MR. LEHRER: Kwame Holman said in his report just now that 80 percent of the victims and of the killers are young black males and the killings are taking place in predominantly low income black areas. What can the police -- do you believe that that can be stopped by good police work?

REP. PARRIS: I think if you have a deterrent to criminal activity, if you have the presence of a uniformed policeman to protect the families of the District of Columbia, as well as all of the rest of it, I have a couple of hundred thousand constituents that come to the city every day. There are millions of tourists that come here every year. We have simply got to protect them and in order to do so, I think we've got to increase the number of uniformed policemen on the beat, on the street, and when someone is arrested, they've got to be dealt with severely, surely, quickly, and they have to do, if punishment is required, they have to be incarcerated.

MR. LEHRER: So you believe it's in the power of government to stop this?

REP. PARRIS: I think it is indeed, and especially under the new drug bill with Sec. Bennett and the powers that he has with increased interdiction, with education, with treatment, with all of the different ramifications of the new drug bill that will be applied, it can, the situation can be improved, but first of all, you've got to stop the situation that exists in this city. We have to do it soon.

MR. LEHRER: Are you one of those who believe that Marion Barry is one of the problems because of his past associations with alleged drug related folks and things like that?

REP. PARRIS: I wouldn't suggest that that's the case because I know none of the facts in regard to that. I would hope that would not be the case, but I know none of the circumstances of that. The only thing I fault the Mayor for is not providing sufficient leadership with the City Council and the programs that are administered by themselves in regard to public safety. As I say, a Public Safety Commissioner, if you will, we've got a bill that we're drafting now that we're going to introduce that might have to be the way to go, to simply provide additional assistance.

MR. LEHRER: Is it to a point now, Congressman, that if Marion Barry and the D.C. Government doesn't do something about it, the federal government will?

REP. PARRIS: Well, I wouldn't lay any bets on if you took a vote today in the Congress whether home rule would survive that vote. I think people in the Congress who after all live in this city most of the time, they go back and forth on the weekends to their district, but they live here all the time, they know what's going on, their families are here. We've got to protect the people of the city and that includes the members of the Congress and their immediate families. They're not ignorant of the circumstances.

MR. LEHRER: In one way or another it's going to happen, you think?

REP. PARRIS: I think we've got to get a handle on the problem, or something is going to happen in the not too distant future.

MR. LEHRER: Congressman, thank you very much. Now to Marion Barry, the Mayor of Washington. He joins us from a studio on Capitol Hill. Mayor Barry, you heard what the Congressman just said, you're not exercising the leadership that it takes to care of this problem. How do you respond to that?

MAYOR MARION BARRY, Washington, D.C.: Obviously everyone has a point of view about this, but Washington is no different than Miami or Chicago, or Los Angeles, or New York, any place, except we're the nation's capital. Washington, downtown, most of Washington is safe for people to come to visit, the Congress people are safe, they know that. I spend about 60 percent of my time almost every day on this problem. We have arrested more people than 46,000 in two years. Over 12,000 people are incarcerated, the highest number of anywhere in America, in the world, except South Africa. There are 13,000 people on probation; 5,000 people on parole; 10,0000 people waiting trial here, and so we think that we have been very vigorous in our pursuit on law enforcement. Let me also say that every life is precious, every life is precious, whether you're black or white or young or old, it's precious. On the other hand, these killings according to Police Chief Turner are among drug dealers. 80 percent of these killings are assassinations. 60 percent of the people who are killed have cocaine in their blood stream, 40 percent have cocaine on their body, and 15 percent have guns. According to my police chief, it's his view that 3,000 police officers or 4,000 or 5,000 could not stop these assassinations. It reminds me of a time in the Capone era where there were liquor dealers killing each other. And so I feel empathy for the families of these people who are killed, I want them to stop, but the City of Washington is not in danger, Congress people are not in danger. Constituents can come here and convention people can come here. Legal Citizens were meeting here last weekend where I'm a member of. They were surprised that the city is clean. We have the lowest unemployment rate we've had in 18 years. Downtown is booming. Our neighborhoods are blossoming. Of course, we have violence, drugs and social causes, but because we're the nation's capital, people focus on us. The 119 murders are too many, but there are murders in California, Los Angeles, murders in Chicago, murders in New York, murders in Miami, murders in Detroit, or Phoenix, all over. What we need to do is stop the flow of drugs into this country. We need to tackle internationally what happens by going to those countries and cutting off the supply down there, 90 percent of their drugs that are manufactured, ready before America gets here. We need to stop that by sending the military down there, on the domestic side try to decrease the demand for drugs, which is very difficult to do apparently now in this country. There are more drugs on the streets of America now than there was this time last year, so we believe the city government is providing leadership. We've closed down dozens of open air market, 46,000 people arrested in two years. That's a lot of arrest. Twelve thousand people in jail, the highest per capita in the whole free world outside of South Africa, a lot of arrests, we don't appoint the judges here. The U.S. Attorney prosecutes our cases, and so we arrest people. The U.S. Attorney has the responsibility to prosecute them. He does. J. Stevens is a good U.S. Attorney but he shouldn't be prosecuting our cases and the federal government's cases too. The judges should not be appointed by the President, even though they're good judges. And our prisons there, we have room for people. I'm interested in making Washington safe and it is safe. The portion of Washington that has problems is in low to moderate income communities. That does not mean it's right. That's where the killings are taking place. These are assassinations, and my police chief tells me, I've got to believe him, he has 33 years of experience, that there is no way that four or five thousand more police officers could stop these assassinations.

MR. LEHRER: So then what happens, Mayor, there's nothing that can be done?

MAYOR MARION BARRY, Washington, D.C.: Yes. We can be vigorous in our prevention program, as I am. We can be vigorous in going to schools and try to get young people like Students Against Violence Everywhere to get involved. We have neighborhood watch programs. We have closed down dozens of open air markets. We're going to close down more of them. We're going to put more officers on the street for high visibility patrol. I'm for a curfew. I'm sorry the judge knocked the one down today. We're going to send another one to the council tomorrow. We've got communities who have taken care of themselves. There's a summer job for every young person who wants one. For the last four or five years, we have done that. And so we are doing a great deal, but I think the media is doing a disservice when they say that Washington is the murder capital of the world, that it's unsafe. That's not true. Washington, D.C., as a city is safe, but what's not safe in some instances is these, actually the low income neighborhoods -- and again I have sympathy for the people, families of people who get killed -- but these are drug dealers killing each other. That doesn't make it right.

MR. LEHRER: What do you say to Sen. Rudman, Sen. Hollings, Congressman Parris and others who -- we just heard Congressman Parris say if you don't do something the federal government's going to, and they're going to federalize the police force or do something.

MAYOR BARRY: Part of my frustration is that we have the Pentagon located in Washington, the State Department located in Washington, the Congress located in Washington, and the President located in Washington, and yet, 90 percent of all the drugs destined for America gets here. Here our big powerful United States Government can't stop but 10 percent of the flow of all these drugs, $150 billion industry. Bankers are involved with it, car dealers are involved with it, jewelers are involved with it. So we've got all these powerful forces that can't stop it. I'm working every day trying to stop it. I'm hopeful that we can, but I think it's up to all of us to join together. I'd welcome all the help I can get from the Congress, but Mr. Bennett, but here you have the Pentagon, the State Department, the President and Congress can only stop 10 percent of all the drugs coming to this country. Our priorities are wrong, but I am doing all I can to make Washington even safer.

MR. LEHRER: Mr. Bennett, you know, after his meeting with you a few days ago said that he didn't hear any new ideas from you as far as what you plan to do about this.

MAYOR BARRY: I offered a whole series of idea, what we need. Again, Washington, the only thing that makes Washington unique is one, we're the capital, we have the U.S. Attorney prosecuting our cases, and there are more killings here per capita than anywhere else in the world, but there are more drugs -- but I told him we needed more jail space, we needed treatment facilities, we need - -

MR. LEHRER: Why are there are killings, why are there more killings and more drugs per capita in D.C. than there are in Cleveland and Detroit and Chicago and Los Angeles?

MAYOR BARRY: Well, at one point, Detroit went through the same thing. Wherever you have crack, and we have PCP was our drug of choice in terms of those who use drugs, now 64 percent of the people who are testing our criminal justice system have cocaine, so that crack dealers from New York and Miami and others have come here.

MR. LEHRER: Why? Why do they come here?

MAYOR BARRY: Because of the lucrative market here. The supply is great, the appetite is great from the Washington suburbs. We have people from Virginia and Maryland coming in here by the car loads buying drugs. We confiscated 3,000 guns on the streets of Washington last year 60 percent of which were from Virginia. You can't just ignore that. If they couldn't buy those guns there, they'd buy them somewhere else I'm sure, but it'd make it more difficult. And so we don't have any organized efforts here by gangs or organized crime, so it's just everybody for himself or herself.

MR. LEHRER: But your police chief, Chief Turner, says that he cannot stop these assassinations between these drug people?

MAYOR BARRY: He said that these are assassinations and that two or three more thousand people couldn't stop it. It may make it more difficult. They'd just kill you at 9 o'clock at night as opposed to 12 o'clock in the daytime. It happened in Detroit, it happened in all over. These are people who know each other. 80 percent of these are drug related and almost 100 percent of the people who kill, are doing the killing, know each other. They do it when it's convenient to do it. I don't think it's right. I want to stop it. Do you think I wouldn't stop it if I had the know how? I don't believe that there's anybody in this country that has the solution. I wish they would call me tomorrow and call the Mayor's office and say I know how to stop these killings and rest assured I'd give them all of my day to listen to them.

MR. LEHRER: What do you say to people who question your commitment to this?

MAYOR BARRY: Well, look at my record. I've had 30 years of service to the public, from 1960 and the civil rights movement to president of the school board, to four years on the council, my eleventh year as the Mayor of our great city as a great sacrifice to my family, my wife and child. We put in twelve, fourteen hours a day working on D.C. Government business, about six days a week. We're bright enough to try to figure out what we're doing. Our city's on the move. The quality of life in Washington is better now in 1989 than it was in 1979, because of the Barry administration's push, and so we welcome new ideas. I want to help if I can, but we're giving good leadership to this city, excellent leadership to this city. We have bright people around, we've got a good police department, the best in the nation, working hard, and so if we can control these killings, we'll find that Washington's problem would be minuscule compared to some others.

MR. LEHRER: What about the image problem, your own image problem, Mayor? I referred to it in a question to Congressman Parris, the allegations that you've been associated in the past with people who have been associated with drug allegations and this sets a wrong example for the very people, the young blacks in this town who are killing each other?

MAYOR BARRY: Well, first of all, I'm a victim of the new McCarthyism. Back in the old days if people didn't like you, they called you a Communist without proving it, and so there's been no substantiation of anything that's been said except rumor and innuendo, but forget about that for a moment. These killings are going on between drug dealers, among each other. When I go out to high schools, young people cheer me. When I go out to elementary schools, they just clap and they see me as a good person to --

MR. LEHRER: Do they see you as a fighter against drugs?

MAYOR BARRY: Yes, they sure do. You talk to young people. I was out at Balu Senior High School one day, the auditorium was full, at Anacostia High School. I taught a class in Rocket Tree at Fletcher Johnson. I was out at a school kicking off a drug free zone last week and I'm not being egotistical about it, but I suspect I got the largest applause of anybody on the dice, so young people believe in me. The media is the one that keeps feeding these things that Marion Barry is not solidly against drugs. I am not associated with drugs, don't want to be around people who use drugs. I abhor it. It's the worst thing that ever happened to anybody, and I'm going to keep fighting as much as I can. The government is not responsible for these young people being out at 3 o'clock in the morning; parents are. The government is not responsible for parents not sending their kids to school; parents are. The religious leaders need to get out and do some marching and clean up their neighborhoods. The business for their own self interest ought to be interested in trying to make sure that Washington is not projected as the murder capital of the world because it's not. Statistically we have more murders, but more of Washington is safe than anywhere else in the country, and so we're given good leadership, the young people appreciate that. They want me to do it. I went up to Harvard University to work with the students on another kind of problem. They asked me to come back. I had lunch with them last week and when I left for L.A., they left there with great applause, and so the media has given a false image of Marion Barry. They ought to be balanced about it. I am committed to public service, been that way for 30 years, intend to continue this fight, I'm not giving up. I'm not going any place. I'm going to talk to Congressman Parris. I respect him a great deal. I'm going to ask for his ideas, for his help. I've talked to Sec. Bennett, asked for his ideas, want some help from him. Anybody who has ideas, I want it, but on the other hand, we've given it all we got. You can't give any more than we've given, 60 percent of our time on just this problem alone, working twelve to fourteen a days on D.C. Government business. But Washington is a great place to live and work, but we're going to try to solve this problem too.

MR. LEHRER: They won't give me any more time, Mayor. We've got to go. Thank you very much. RECAP

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: Once again today's top stories, in El Salvador, the right wing Irana Party was recognized as the winner of Sunday's election. Flight attendants at Continental Airlines went on strike, and 19 U.S. Marines were killed in South Korea when their helicopter crashed during training exercises. Good night, Jim.

MR. LEHRER: Good night, Charlayne. We'll see you tomorrow night. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.