Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 16, 1993 TAG: 9305160259
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY PARHAM and GERRIE FERRIS COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A: There are more than 60 doctors on the task force, and 21 more were called in to review the working group's findings. A misconception that there were no doctors probably originated when the White House refused to let the American Medical Association or other interest groups participate.
Q: I've heard that the cafe in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" is not in Alabama, where the movie took place, but in Georgia. Where is it?
A: The Whistle Stop Cafe is in Juliette, Ga., near Macon. Every day, church groups, senior citizens groups and civic clubs stop at the 45-seat cafe, which has put the town on the map.
Q: I understand we participate in a U.N. peacekeeping force in Cyprus that tries to keep the Turks and Greeks apart. How did we get involved, and how long have we been there?
A: The U.N. Security Council is considering whether to discontinue the peacekeeping force in Cyprus, which has been in existence since 1964 - the longest in U.N. history.
Q: Is it true that Martin Luther King Jr. changed his name?
A: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't change his name; his father changed both their names. According to Taylor Branch's "Parting the Waters," the elder King was known as Mike King when he became pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church in 1932. His son, "Little Mike," was christened Michael Luther King Jr. at his birth in 1929. In the spring of 1934, "Big Mike" traveled overseas and toured historic sites in Germany, where Martin Luther started the Reformation. Upon his return, he marked the occasion by changing his name and his son's, who was about 5, to Martin Luther King.
Q: A puzzle to me is the oft-repeated statement that Serbs and Croats are raping and killing Muslims to achieve "ethnic cleansing." Isn't Muslim a religious rather than an ethnic designation?
A: News reports would be more accurate if they said Orthodox Christian Serbs and Catholic Croats in Bosnia are killing and raping Muslims. All sides, however, have been guilty of atrocities.
Q: A Navy seaman refused to throw overboard raw sewage, plastic and machinery, saying he was "killing the environment" and declaring himself a conscientious objector. Is this possible? Can the Navy dispose of such things at sea?
A: The Navy is processing Aaron Ahern's request for environmental conscientious objector status - a first. Whether he gets it is up to the chief of Naval personnel. In the meantime, he faces charges of "unauthorized absence" and his charges of dumping at sea are being investigated. It is legal to pump raw sewage overboard outside the territorial 3-mile limit. With regard to plastics, Navy regulations must meet the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act. That law permits food-contaminated plastics to be dumped beyond the 50-mile limit. Machinery is salvageable, and policy dictates that it be turned back in.
Q: Are any black women members of the Daughters of the Confederacy?
A: "None that we know of," said a spokeswoman at the group's headquarters in Richmond, Va. "If they can prove their lineage [being related to an honorably discharged Confederate ancestor], there is nothing in the bylaws that says they can't join."
Q: Were the Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas, receiving food stamps and was their property exempt from taxes because they were a religious organization?
A: Only two of the 77 acres were tax-exempt. A clerk at a nearby food warehouse reportedly said cult members often shopped there with food stamps.
by CNB