ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

MICHAEL NORTON

PETIONVILLE, Haiti (AP)—A white pickup truck rumbles up and down a side road after midnight, repeatedly passing by thieves carrying appliances from a neighboring home.

The truck, driven by a uniformed police officer with six plainclothes army auxiliaries in the back, does not stop. Neighbors watch the hourlong theft; no one dares go out.

The ambiguous relationship between the thieves and the army auxiliaries, both armed, reflects the breakdown in law and order in the two years since the military ousted Haiti's civilian president.

Despite a demand by Haiti's transition government to disarm the auxiliaries, more and more are being recruited and armed, diplomats and Haitian human rights leaders say. The recruitment comes a month before the scheduled return of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, endangering international efforts for a peaceful resumption of democracy.

The auxiliaries must pay about $10 for an I.D. card with their photo, name and the signature of a local police or army commander. They must find their own means of livelihood, but they get a gun—and are expected to do the army's bidding.

In the last two months, more than 100 people have been killed around the capital, Port-au-Prince. U.N. authorities and Western diplomats, seeking to play down the instability during the political transition, say only eight of the killings have been proven as ‘‘overtly political.'‘ But through police and army toleration, the effect is the same: terror.

U.N. human rights observers accuse the auxiliaries of committing one of the most blatant political assassinations in years, the daylight slaying of pro-Aristide businessman Antoine Izmery on Sept. 11 during a church Mass against army repression.

The auxiliaries, whose numbers are estimated in the thousands, often work alongside the 7,200 uniformed soldiers and police. Thousands of rural sheriff's deputies are also part of the security apparatus, as are some of the estimated 30,000 Haitians who had belonged to the repressive Tonton Macoute private militia, officially disbanded after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986. Analysts say the security network could number as many as 100,000 of Haiti's 6.5 million people.

The increased recruitment and tension ahead of Aristide's homecoming has produced dread on all sides. Soldiers as well as Aristide supporters in Port-au-Prince and suburban Petionville are sending their families to the countryside where they might not be recognized by the other side; those in the countryside are shipping their families to the city for the same reason.

The expected arrival within weeks of nearly 1,300 U.N. police trainers and army engineers, including 600 U.S. troops, has only heightened the tension.

Some incidents in the past week have provoked terror:

_Three armed men broke up an all-night vigil in a tiny Protestant church in Petionville, tying up the pastor, stealing small change and raping several women. The men accused the congregants of ‘‘praying for Aristide's return.'‘

_Gunmen broke up a charismatic Catholic service in nearby Delmas, beating worshipers and accusing them of praying for the return of their elected president.

_One recently recruited auxiliary, a 20-year-old man, showed off his Galil assault rifle to customers at a small grocery store. ‘‘This is going to kill 100 people,'‘ he bragged.

Until the international force arrives, the prime minister of the weak Aristide-backed transition government has conceded the street to the soldiers, who do not heed his commands. Western diplomats stress that the international force will generally be unarmed, not interfere in inter-Haitian affairs and limit themselves to ‘‘advice'‘ to the Haitian soldiers.

A former soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity, questioned how the foreigners could restrain the shadowy auxiliaries.

‘‘Who,'‘ he asked, laughing, ‘‘is going to give advice to them?'‘

NIU has a new student-run organization on campus. The NIU Student Leadership Development Board has been established to mold NIU and area high school students into future leaders of America.

The first project of the new organization is a leadership conference being held on Oct. 9. The conference will involve faculty, NIU students and area high school students participating in various workshops.

Chicago Bears motivational speaker, John Cassis, will be the keynote speaker at the weekend conference.

"John Cassis is being sponsored by the Student Association, so his speech will be open to everyone," said Student Leadership Board President Anna Bicanic.

Topics at the conference will range from time management to organizational skills and communication between membership and organizations. Four high schools have already agreed to participate in the conference.

"We are having college students conduct workshops for high school students," Bicanic said.

The initial reaction from NIU faculty has been positive. "They have been really enthusiastic," Bicanic said. "Everyone is really excited about this."

"The reaction from the university has been overwhelming," Board Treasurer Steven Pryor said.

The idea came about last year and is based on a similar organization at Western Illinois University. "I was asked if I would be interested in such an organization," Bicanic said. "I definitely wanted to be a part of it."

Finding people who were interested in working on the project was difficult at first, Bicanic said. "Many of the people that we thought would be good for this organization were already involved with other organizations."

"Our priority this year was to get people who had a lot of experience in leadership," she added.

Bicanic has far-reaching goals for the new organization. "We are trying to include the entire campus," she said. "People who have different backgrounds, so that we can reach out to different communities," she added. "So far things have been running very smoothly."

"The reaction from the university has been overwhelming."

The Office of Public Information is the most recent office to reside in the Holmes Student Center.

OPI began moving into the student center Sept. 27 because its space in Lowden Hall is being taken up by the Office of Development and Alumni relations.

Judd Baker, director of the student center, said OPI is in temporary residence there.

OPI now is occupying five second-floor rooms of the student center and will pay a rent of $7 per square foot for the use of the space. The rooms formerly were occupied by the University Health Service, and before that they were guest rooms.

Baker said the rooms OPI is now occupying will eventually be converted back to guest rooms.

He said he considers all offices in the student center to have student-related functions.

"The primary focus of this building (the student center) is to the students of this university, but we have responsibilities to the entire university community. That includes the faculty and staff, and also includes the alumni and guests of the university," Baker said.

OPI deals more with the administrative aspect of the university and essentially is the public relations office for NIU.

OPI publishes items like the Northern Today newsletter for faculty and staff, and also press releases on university-related news and activities.

Student fees are only one way the building is supported, Baker said.

Outside conferences and student center operations, such as the University Bookstore, the Guest Rooms Hotel, the Huskie Den and Food Service financially support the operation of the building.

The other offices in the student center are University Programming and Activities, the office of the Ombudsman, Student Legal Assistance and Orientation, all of which, with the exception of SLA, pay rent at a rate of $7 per square foot, according to Baker.

"The primary focus of this building (the student center) is to the students of this university, but we have responsibilities to the entire university community."

The results are in on the pigeon poll, and it looks like NIU students think the current system the city is using should be dropped.

Seventy-nine students called in to voice their opinion on the 2-day Northern Star poll, with 54 voting to stop removing the pigeons from downtown and 25 saying to keep catching them.

At the DeKalb City Council meeting Monday night, council members discussed different alternatives to handling the pigeon problem in downtown DeKalb.

According to DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas, merchants and shoppers in downtown DeKalb, stretching from First through Seventh Street, have been complaining about pigeon droppings falling on people and the street and pigeons nesting in the buildings.

"It creates a problem with hygiene and appearance (of the downtown area)," Nicklas said at the meeting.

For the past couple of weeks, the city has employed a local wildlife preservationist to remove the pigeons using nets. This preservationist takes the pigeons to a remote location, where they are kept in a large cage until they lose their homing instinct and can't find their way back.

This method, however, has some flaws, as well as an extra cost to the city of $400 so far. "There hasn't been an appreciable impact (on the pigeon population)," Nicklas said at the meeting.

Also, as of now there is no mechanism to determine if the pigeons are finding their way back. "Are we marking the pigeons to make sure they don't come back?" First Ward Alderman Amy Polzin asked at the meeting.

Nicklas said that could be done, but costs would rise.

Students at NIU have their own opinions on what to do with the pooping pigeons.

"I bet our cafeteria could use them for our next casserole surprise," said Stacey Spada, a freshman bio-chemistry major.

Some students didn't think it was a problem worth dealing with.

"There should be no more funding for it," said Jennifer Asher, a freshman accounting major. "The city shouldn't be spending money for bird poop."

Jennifer Bundy, freshman physical therapy major, said she agreed. "Just leave them, who cares? I heard it was good luck when a bird pooped on you, anyway."

One student didn't like that idea. "Kill them all," said Todd Persenico, a senior elementary education major. "I'd hate to have poop on my head."

The city plans to keep the current system for now, Nicklas said. "We will continue to catch them and take them out until we reach the limit of our budget on this," he said.

"After that, it's up to the individual property owners to either follow our example, and maybe contract with the same person we have, or find some other legal means to take care of the problem," he added.