January 10, 1995

The biggest and most complicated terrorism trial ever to come before an American court got under way in lower Manhattan yesterday morning with a Federal District Court judge directing prospective jurors to fill out a 19-page questionnaire, asking them, among other things, if they have any opinions of Arabs or knew that the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993. All 12 defendants in the case, including the Egyptian-born religious leader Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, were in their places at several defense tables as the first 100 prospective jurors filed into the courtroom. Indeed, there are so many defendants and lawyers in the trial that the courtroom has been modified, with a special defense section carved out of an area that usually accommodates three rows of spectator seats.

In a daunting new turn in the traffic of Colombian cocaine into the United States, smugglers are buying old passenger jets, taking out the seats and using the planes to fly huge amounts of the drug into Mexico, American and Mexican officials say. Traveling at night with their lights off, the Boeing 727's and French-made Caravelle jets are believed to be carrying as much as six tons or more of cocaine on a single flight.

Orange County, in bankruptcy, has become the laboratory that some conservatives have always hoped for. Because the taxpayers wouldn't stand for it, the county cannot turn to tax increases to help cover a $2 billion loss from a risky investment portfolio that went bad. That means the county will need to reduce the size of government -- a long-held conservative goal -- well beyond anything done elsewhere.

Marlin Choice to Head Port Governor Pataki has picked George J. Marlin, a Conservative Party leader with no experience in public sector management, to head the Port Authority. Page B6. Rowland vs. State Workers Connecticut's Governor urged legislators to reject raises for state workers awarded by arbitrators last year but not yet in effect. Page B1. Mexican Market Tumbles The Mexican stock market posted its worst loss in more than five years, 6.65 percent, as investors reacted to the plan to bolster the peso by raising rates and borrowing. Page D1. Top Baboon, at a Price Dominant female baboons reap substantial rewards, but they also run a much increased risk of fertility problems. Science Times, page C1.

In Brooklyn Heights, nearly everyone has a story about the tow trucks. Karen Gordon, 38, who lives on Clark Street, said she recently saw a friend pull into a no-parking zone with her car all packed for a vacation. The woman put on her flashers and ran into her house for what seemed like a matter of seconds. "When she came out, they had the car hooked up," she said.