The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 1

Reds hit stride, beat Pirates, 7-4 Stillwell back in lineup, triples in two runs SportsD-l Public schools try to serve disabled Parents seek best option for handicapped children MetroC-l Celebrities steal the book show 4 Publishers peddle JjrJ writings by the stars TempoB-1 Kurt Stillwell Carol Burnett nntrTr QNQNNAH ENQUIRER 1JLO FINAL35C .14 1 'J I .3 1 v. 1 T-Jfe Cincinnati area links 6Hands City's touch of clasp does its part for effort rf1 More inside Across the TristateA-6 Across the nationA-6 The lines in colorA-6, 7 Away from TVA-7 In Butler CountyA-7 With the RedsA-7 On the bridge. HicksC-1 -y i 1 yyr- -v ry yyf ''y- -fy yy- -v BY HOWARD WILKINSON The Cincinnati Enquirer A nearly unbroken chain of hands a volunteer army 90,000 strong reached out across Hamilton County Sunday in a misty rain to aid the homeless and hungry. From the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, through the heart of a downtown already packed with people, all the way to the quiet countryside at the Indiana border, people sang and swayed, laughed and cried as they held hands to form Hamilton County's 39-mile link in the coast-to-coast "Hands Across America" chain. In Butler County, too, a line of thousands snaked its way through Middletown and down Ohio 747.

Ohio had the largest number of people in line among the participating 16 states and the District of Columbia, according to nationwide estimates reported by the Associated Press. Hands Across America representatives said some 901,960 people lined up along Ohio's 593-mile line, which spanned 24 counties. In Indiana, organizers said some 260,000 people had taken part in the hand-holding fund raiser. That was about 65 of the 400,000 people organizers had said would be needed to fill the 321-mile Indiana route. More than 60,000 Kentuckians joined hands to form a 52-mile link through a rural part of far western Kentucky, the Associated Press reported.

The chain through Greater Cincinnati also took a slight detour into Kentucky, across the Suspension Bridge and back. "I got goose bumps and started crying," Kevin Corrigan, logistics co-ordinator for Hamilton County, said of the moment at 3 p.m. when the thousands joined hands. "I was pretty much of a blithering idiot, but that's all right." Rumors hint at release Hopes rise for Beirut hostages ENQUIRER NEWS SERVICES AMMAN, Jordan A flurry of press speculation in the Lebanese capital has raised hopes once again that release may be near for at least some of the 18 Western hostages being held in Lebanon by extremist groups. The Beirut leftist daily As-Safir, on Sunday said the French government had sent an intermediary to Damascus to resume negotiations for the release of eight Frenchmen kidnapped in Moslem West Beirut in the last year and a half.

The newspaper identified the envoy as Omran Adham, a Syrian businessman who lives in France. Adham has held previous talks in Damascus on behalf of the French hostages. However, an informed source told the Associated Press: "I am in a position to assure you that all the gossip about the release of any hostage is without foundation at all." The source said that although Adham was in Damascus, he was on a "private business visit." In the last six months, Adham made frequent trips to Syria to try to gain freedom for the hostages. Syrian officials in Damascus have said that President Hafez Assad is "doing everything possible" to bring pressure to bear to free the hostages, who include five Americans. Syria has been stung by recent charges that it supports terrorism.

Both Iran and Libya, close allies of Assad, have ties to some of the groups that have claimed responsibility for the abductions. The Syrian officials said they expect "some movement" during the next 10 days, although diplomats pointed out that past optimism has proved unfounded. Most of the Lebanese reports, which could not be independently verified, spoke of release arrangements nearing completion for some of the nine French hostages. Only one report, in the pro-Syrian magazine Al Shiraa on Saturday, mentioned the five Americans who remain missing. It said three Frenchmen and three Americans "will be freed shortly." As-Safir on Saturday also reported that eight Frenchmen (Please see HOSTAGES, Page A-5) There were gaps in some places, but participants used their ingenuity to keep the line intact, stringing themselves together with coats or stretching ropes and ribbons across empty places.

Local organizers of "Hands Across America" hoped to raise $500,000 for the homeless here through donations from people who had registered in advance to stand in the line. By Sunday, organizers were encouraging anyone they could find to participate in order to fill the gaps. Buses, directed by 53 volunteer ham radio operators stationed along the route, transported participants from spots along the line where there were too many people to places where there were not enough. In Northside, the largest gap in the line was on Hamilton Avenue, near the Southern Ohio College Technical Center, despite the fact that "Hands" volunteers were going door-to-door in the neighborhood, trying to convince residents to turn off the TV and join the line. There were no serious problems along the route for area police and life squads, according to ham operator Bob Lidden, emergency co-ordinator for the Hamilton County Amateur Radio Public Service Corps, the group which monitored the route.

"The people down at the head- (Please see HANDS. Page A-7) xNyy- -n ii to 0 The Cincinnati EnquirerJim Callaway Hands Across America participants cross the Suspension Bridge to touch Kentucky and return to Cincinnati. Americans bridge country to help homeless visors offered for larger donations but in the final days organizers simply urged people to show up and contribute later. New Jersey organizers said that 200,000 people 80,000 more than needed completed the state's 88-mile line. Illinois reported a solid 65 miles of people in one stretch, and the 12-mile link through Manhattan was nine-deep in some places.

In the California desert, however, gaps as long as 5 miles were seen. There were no reports of injuries or other incidents in the line. The route was marked balloons, flags and clanging church bells, and weddings, and even a couple of killer whales and a penguin contributed to a party poverty and to the porch of the White House, where a casually dressed President Reagan, his wife, Nancy, and daughter, Maureen, locked hands. At its terminals in New York and Long Beach, the line was thick with people, swaying to the strains of "We Are the World" and holding clasped hands aloft. In other places, red-and-white ropes and ribbons substituted for humanity.

Organizers had said they needed more than 5 million people to form the chain and hoped to raise $50 million or more for the hungry and the homeless. Based on estimates provided by local organizers, at least 4.9 million people participated Sunday. "This is just the beginning," organizer Ken Kragen said at Battery Park in Manhattan. "When today is over, roll up your sleeves and go out to work in your community. We have to move from the big event to the person on the street." In Pittsburgh, Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dave Parker and pitcher Tom Browning and four Pirates players held hands with hundreds of Little Leaguers before the Reds-Pirates game.

The actual line cut through the grandstands later in the day, but Reds player-manager Pete Rose, a national Hands chairman, balked at interrupting the game to let the line cross the field as originally planned. Everyone in the line had been asked to contribute $10 or more with T-shirts and ENQUIRER NEWS SERVICES For 15 shining minutes, they bridged the land with hands, hearts and harmony and with symbols over the barren, burning miles where flesh could not meet flesh. And when they broke the Hands Across America human chain that stretched more than 4,100 miles between little Amy Sherwood, in Battery Park on the tip of Manhattan, to Ginger Ruiz, at the pier in Long Beach, they had contributed uncounted millions of dollars to feed America's homeless and hungry. "America," said actor Ben Vereen, "you're looking good today." The broken line stretched over over mountains and plains, through pockets of Syria denies terror link in notes to U.S., Page A-4. Rain whets Cincinnati appetites 9 Four Sections 146th Year, No.

47 Copyright, 1986 The Cincinnati Enquirer Barry B-1 Bridge B-7 Business C-5 Classified C-6-20 Comics B-6 DearAbby B-2 Deaths C-4 Editorials A-10 Horoscope B-6 Horse racing D-2 Music B-5 People B-2 Puzzles B-6-7 Readers' views A-1 1 Sullivan D-1 TV-Radio B-8 Weikel C-2 Weather There's more than a taste of rain in the forecast: an 80 chance, with showers and thunderstorms expected. High of 70-75; a low tonight of 55-60. Details on A-2. Andrew and Agatha will kick up a storm THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Andrew and Agatha will lead off the 1986 hit parade of hurricanes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Sunday. Andrew will be the name of the first tropical storm or hurricane in the East the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico; the first storm to threaten the nation from the Pacific will be called Agatha.

In the past, storms have been named for saints and politicians, military nomenclature, latitude and longitude designations and meteorologists' girlfriends. The names, compiled by the World Meteorological Organization, contain a variety of ethnic names, seeking to reflect the nationalities affected by the storms in each ocean. Besides Andrew, Bonnie and Charley, which open the East Coast tropical storm season this year, others on that list include Georges, Hermine, Otto, Virginie and Walter. Pacific names include Bias, Javier, Newton, Orlene and Paine this year. 'Taste' lures crowds despite bad weather BY BEN L.

KAUFMAN and KEVIN WASHINGTON The Cincinnati Enquirer It takes more than rain to dampen an appetite for a Taste of Cincinnati. "People were here at 11:30 this morning with their umbrellas, waiting for us to open," Anne Khoury said as she scooped salad into a falafel sandwich at the Alhambra booth near the public library. She and her husband, Tony, own the Corry-ville restaurant, and this was their first Taste of Cincinnati. A Mount Washington woman in a rain scarf, sitting with a Clifton friend, said the weather didn't affect her plans. She had been enjoying herself all afternoon and wasn't about to slow down.

"It's too much fun. I think we'd come in any kind of weather. Cincinnati likes its festivals." (Please see TASTE, Page A-5) iiC I 3 v. Mfan The Cincinnati EnquirerJim Callaway Audrey Noble of Silverton and her daughter Rhonda find the taste treats finger-licking good Sunday at the Taste of Cincinnati downtown. 'i.