1982 Year

A judge has ordered the arrest of a former military ruler and seven onetime army and police officials for the torture and attempted assassination of six leftist students detained in 1982, a court here said Wednesday. Judge Ana Pinde ordered the arrest of retired Gen. Amilcar Zelaya, a member of the military triumvirate that ruled Honduras in 1978-79, and whose country house north of the capital, investigators say, served as a clandestine prison for "disappeared" leftists.

A judge has ordered the arrest of a former military ruler and seven onetime army and police officials for the torture and attempted assassination of six leftist students detained in 1982, a court here said Wednesday. Judge Ana Pinde ordered the arrest of retired Gen. Amilcar Zelaya, a member of the military triumvirate that ruled Honduras in 1978-79, and whose country house north of the capital, investigators say, served as a clandestine prison for "disappeared" leftists.

Jan. 16: Smoked salmon and caviar pizza anyone? Spago, Wolfgang Puck's Hollywood celebrity hangout, enters the culinary spotlight to great fanfare and mediocre reviews. March 5: The Killer Bee and Samurai Chef, comic actor John Belushi, dies of a drug overdose in Hollywood at 33. Police arrest singer Cathy Smith for administering the fatal mixture of cocaine and heroine.

The victims never knew what hit them. Never knew its name, that is. Remembers Michael Malley, who was washed down a Canoga Park storm channel: "El Nino? I just figured that it was winter. It rains in winter." Says Irene Willis, who was plucked off Broadway in South-Central Los Angeles by a black funnel cloud: "I'd never heard of El Nino. But I knew what a tornado was--I was raised in Oklahoma."

The victims never knew what hit them. Never knew its name, that is. Remembers Michael Malley, who was washed down a Canoga Park storm channel: "El Nino? I just figured that it was winter. It rains in winter." Says Irene Willis, who was plucked off Broadway in South-Central Los Angeles by a black funnel cloud: "I'd never heard of El Nino. But I knew what a tornado was--I was raised in Oklahoma."

If only Byrtle could talk. This California desert tortoise vanished from his owners' back yard in Long Beach more than a decade ago, only to turn up last month on the streets of Santa Maria about 190 miles north. On Saturday, Byrtle was reunited with his owners in the parking lot of a Ventura restaurant. During the decade-long journey, he was dropped on his back or smashed by a car, gained about four pounds and grew a few inches longer.

Maeve Binchy, who was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed authors in contemporary Irish literature, selling more than 40 million books, died Monday at a Dublin hospital after a brief illness, according to Irish media. She was 72. "We have lost a national treasure," said Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. A former teacher and journalist, Binchy didn't publish her first novel, "Light a Penny Candle," until 1982, the year she turned 42. Like many of her books, it was set in an Irish village and follows two girls growing up in the aftermath of World War II. When it became a commercial success, the author compared it to winning the lottery.

Her mother's peaceful death at age 92 finally got Frances Berenice Schreuder what the murder of her father could not: his money. Or at least what's left of it. Schreuder, a onetime Manhattan socialite and former member of the board of directors of the New York City Ballet, is less than six months from parole after serving 12 years of a life term in Utah State Prison for ordering her son to kill her multimillionaire father, Franklin Bradshaw.

Is this the last laugh for the Laff Stop, Orange County's oldest comedy club? The marquee still boasts "All Comedy Nite Club," but comedy was consigned to Friday and Saturday nights as of Feb. 1. Topless dancing has taken over the stage the rest of the week. Owner and operator Jorn S. Rossi said in an interview Monday that he is committed to keeping the Laff Stop name.

Hunters killed 841 moose during Maine's six-day season, down 40 from last year, according to tentative figures. Final figures were expected to change by no more than a half dozen as reports of additional kills came in from remote areas, said a spokesman for the Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department. Last year's total was 881, two less than the record 883 shot in 1982, the year moose hunting was revived in Maine after a 45-year hiatus.

If only Byrtle could talk. This California desert tortoise vanished from his owners' back yard in Long Beach more than a decade ago, only to turn up last month on the streets of Santa Maria about 190 miles north. On Saturday, Byrtle was reunited with his owners in the parking lot of a Ventura restaurant. During the decade-long journey, he was dropped on his back or smashed by a car, gained about four pounds and grew a few inches longer.

Jan. 16: Smoked salmon and caviar pizza anyone? Spago, Wolfgang Puck's Hollywood celebrity hangout, enters the culinary spotlight to great fanfare and mediocre reviews. March 5: The Killer Bee and Samurai Chef, comic actor John Belushi, dies of a drug overdose in Hollywood at 33. Police arrest singer Cathy Smith for administering the fatal mixture of cocaine and heroine.

Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, an architect who changed the face of Mexico City by designing a number of landmark modernist structures, died on Tuesday, his 94th birthday. The cause was pneumonia, according to Mexico's National Council for Culture and the Arts. Ramirez Vazquez was known for stunningly original designs that blended a European modernist sensibility with pre-Columbia aesthetics. His most famous modernist buildings, all in Mexico City, include the Basilica of Guadalupe, one of the country's holiest shrines; the National Museum of Anthropology, distinguished by a vast, square concrete umbrella; and Azteca Stadium, open since the mid-1960s and home to Mexico's national soccer team.