Nation -- News In Brief

KLAN'S CROSS BROKEN AGAIN; 3 RESIDENTS HELD

CINCINNATI - Protesters angered by a Ku Klux Klan cross erected on a downtown public square knocked it down and broke it early today in the latest in a series of attacks on the symbol, police said.

Police said they arrested three Cincinnati residents on charges of disorderly conduct in the attack on the steel-reinforced wooden cross. It was the fourth time in a week that a Klan cross was knocked down at the site.

The newest cross was broken at its base in the attack. A report on the vandalism will be sent to Klan members and it will be left to them if they want to press charges of criminal damaging, authorities said.

The Klan obtained a temporary permit to erect a cross in Fountain Square after employing the same religious-freedom argument a Jewish group had used to win a court order allowing the display of an 18-foot menorah there during Hanukkah.

The first cross was smashed hours after it went up Dec. 21. Another cross was broken in half Christmas Day, but it was repaired and re-erected. Then it was pulled down a second time yesterday. The third cross was then erected and was pulled down today.

MAN KILLS TWO POLICEMEN, THEN TAKES HIS OWN LIFE

RICHMOND, Calif. - Two police officers were shot to death this morning by a man who also wounded his 14-year-old son and his wife before taking his own life, police said.

Richmond police Lt. Tommy Phillips said officers arrived at the

apartment of Yon Soon Choe, 42, around 6:30 a.m. after she telephoned for help.

Richmond police Sgt. Mike Pon said police had been called to the residence before to deal with Choe's husband, Jay, 52. Neighbors said a court had ordered the husband to keep away from his family.

Officers Leonard Garcia, 31, and David Haynes, 30, died after being shot in the head. Both officers' guns were drawn, but it was not clear if they had fired them, Pon said.

INDIAN AFFAIRS OFFICER SLAIN AFTER KILLING 2 IN BAR

TURTLE RIVER, Minn. - A Bureau of Indian Affairs officer shot to death two people in a bar and seriously wounded two others before he was slain by a sheriff's deputy.

Lt. Delwyn Dudley, a 42-year-old officer at the Red Lake Indian Reservation, shot up the Turtle Club with a pistol and a rifle yesterday in a rampage that Sheriff Dwight Stewart said may have stemmed from a domestic dispute. He would not elaborate except to say some of those shot were bystanders and all were unarmed.

Dudley was slain when he tried to escape in his car and ignored orders to stop, Stewart said.

TRAVELING TOY SALESMAN IS SUSPECT IN STRING OF ARSONS

MATEWAN, W.Va. - A traveling toy salesman who police said was found with burns on his hands after calling an ambulance was arrested on suspicion of setting a string of Christmas weekend fires in this historic mining town.

Jerry Lee Barker, 38, of Sparta, Tenn., was accused of setting fire to a truck, one of four blazes that occurred within minutes of each other Saturday, police said yesterday.

Barker also is a suspect in the other fires, and in a blaze Friday that gutted four buildings and injured seven people.

Police gave no motive for the fires.

Barker was questioned after Saturday's fires at a bank, a tavern and a fire station and was under suspicion by the time he called for the ambulance. Police first encountered Barker when he walked into the police station during Friday's fire to report an accident. He was charged then with illegally carrying a concealed weapon - a gun on his hip, the chief said.

Barker was under guard yesterday at a hospital. He was listed in fair condition.

$8 MILLION STOLEN IN HEIST AT ARMORED-CAR BUILDING

NEW YORK - Up to six men overpowered a guard at an armored-car service building and escaped with at least $8 million, police said.

The theft occurred at the Hudson Armored Car Courier Service in Brooklyn last night, said police.

The men "put a gun to the guard's head," shoved their way into the building and scooped up at least $8 million in cash, police said today.

The building serves as a countinghouse and garage for the service. The guard was unhurt.

MEXICAN DEPORTEES RETURN TO U.S. AFTER RULING REVERSED

OMAHA, Neb. - A second teenager who was pulled from school and deported to Mexico as an illegal alien last month is back in Omaha after the U.S. government relented and let him stay while he seeks legal residency.

About 20 friends and relatives met Augustin Antunez, 16, and his brother Francisco, 21, at Omaha's Eppley Airfield yesterday.

Francisco Antunez was arrested Nov. 6 at the restaurant where he worked on the same day immigration agents arrested his 16-year-old brother and 17-year-old Ambrosio Lopez at Omaha South High School. The young men were dropped off at the Mexican border without money or a change of clothes.

After an outcry from Nebraska officials, the Justice Department reversed itself. Lopez returned to Omaha on Christmas Eve.

The Antunez brothers' parents have been granted permanent residency in the United States. Lopez's mother has temporary residency.