Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 9, 1993 TAG: 9305090274
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY PARHAM and GERRIE FERRIS COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A: The feds control it for the duration of the investigation. After that, it's anybody's guess. There is a delinquent tax bill of $3,013.80, so it's conceivable that what's left could be sold on the courthouse steps. The 77 acres are owned by a corporation, General Association of Davidians of the Seventh-day Adventists. David Koresh had appointed himself trustee of the corporation and head of the cult, replacing George Roden.
In 1987, Roden, who now is in a mental hospital, sued in District Court to void Koresh's claim. Amo Paul Bishop Roden, his wife, has said she is eager to get control of the land, reorganize the Branch Davidians and open the area for public tours.
Q: How are space shuttles named? How many are there?
A: Six orbiters were built, with four now in use. The first, Enterprise, a prototype not built for spaceflight, was to be called the Constitution, for the historic ship better known as Old Ironsides, but Star Trek "Trekkies" conducted a write-in campaign and NASA christened it after the ship exploring the "final frontier." NASA named the Challenger, which blew up during takeoff in 1986, after a Navy ship that explored the Atlantic and Pacific from 1872 to 1876. Of the four orbiters in use, Endeavour was named after a ship sailed by Capt. James Cook, the British navigator who explored the Pacific, by students at Tallulah Falls (Ga.) School after Congress directed that schoolchildren name the shuttle to replace the Challenger. NASA named the rest. Columbia was named after the Navy's first ship to circumnavigate the world in 1836. Discovery was named after two ships: another of Cook's and the ship Henry Hudson sailed in 1610 in search of the Northwest Passage. Atlantis was named after a ship that sailed for the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in 1930-56.
Q: Why is it that every 18-year-old male has to register for the draft, but women who soon will be given the same duties are not required to?
A: When the law was written in 1940 and reinstated in 1980, the wording was "it shall be the duty of every male citizen . . . " There is no mention of female citizens.
Q: In how many of the countries that were part of the Soviet Union is there conflict based on ethnic or territorial differences?
A: Armed conflicts are under way between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over Nagorno-Karabakh and between Georgians and secessionist Abkhazians. Other conflicts simmering but not bloody include one between rival factions in Tajikistan, which already has claimed 20,000 lives; one in Moldova between ethnic Romanians and Slavs; and one between small ethnic groups in the Russian Caucasus region.
Q: What is the difference between filibuster and cloture?
A: A filibuster is interminable debate; cloture is the cutting off of that debate. Unlike the House of Representatives, where rules limit the duration of a member's right to speak, the Senate allows unlimited debate on a measure before it is voted on. Cloture requires three-fifths of the full Senate - 60 votes - to halt such debate and call the question to a vote. A filibuster is not mentioned in any Senate rule as such, but the tradition of unlimited debate began in the nation's early years as a protection for minority rights. Cloture gives the majority some recourse if the minority is too small.
Q: When will Mike Tyson be eligible for parole?
A: If the appeal fails, he will be eligible for parole no sooner than April 1995.
by CNB