Oregon Daily
TUESDAY. FEBRUARY 2. 1993
EUGENE. OREGON
VOLUME 94. ISSUE 93
Window pain
<*w(o 6y MK f>mu,
Rain Sussman, a aophomora anthropology major, sattlas Into a comtortabta study
spot In tha EMU art gallary Monday night
Police arrest student
on intimidation charge
□A group of men confront
and beat a student they
believe to be gay
By Matt Bender
Emerald Reporter
An 18-year-old University student was
arrested and charged w ith intimidation
after a group of men allegedly assaulted
two men Friday because they believed
the victims were homosexuals
Tudd Unwood Pendexter is suspect
ed of assaulting Steve Laliberty, 2 1. and
a 19-year-old student, who asked not to
be identified, as the two were walking
on the 1300 block of Mill Street.
laliberty. who is bisexual, said he and
his friend were walking borne when a
group of about eight men started to yell
obscenities at them. He said one of the
memlieni of the group yelled, "Hey you
hippie faggots “
l-alihertv said the student he was with,
who is heterosexual, said, “I'm a hip
pie.” and the group ran up to the two
victims. According to police reports,
members of the group said they hated
“fags” and repeatedly cursed the vic -
tims.
"They got into our face and were real
ly foul," he said. “They were incredibly
intoxicated and started to push us "
One of the members of the group took
out Ills peiltS 1111(1 told tllll victims. Sill k
on this." (.aliborty suit) The victims said
they tried to talk to the group, but could
not reason with them.
"I take a lot of stock in Tantric Bud
dhism. so I told them to respect our
spin e and that I loved them." t.aliherty
said.
At that point, one of the assailants
knot ked t.aliberty s glasses off and
crushed them with his foot Then Lalib
erty was pushed over a picket fence and
kit ked in the head, ribs and groin The
man with Lalibertv was also thrown to
the ground in the confrontation.
The police arrived and the crowd of
about 20 people dispersed, l.aliberty
said. Pendexter was arrested after police
found him in the area shortly after the
incident occurred.
According to polii e reports, Pendexter
admitted to the assault and was taken to
jail Ijililierty said Pendexter was one of
the main participants in the beating.
However, ho said two or three other
members of the group also participated
in the assault.
Tim Birr, KPD spokesman, said Pen
dexter was charged with intimidation
because the assailant perceived that the
victims wore homosexuals
"If you threaten someone on the basis
of race, color, religion, national origin or
sexual orientation, you have committed
the crime of intimidation." Birr said.
Computer crunches
for physics students
□New software makes graphs allowing
students more time for analyzing
By Demian McLean
Emerald Reporter
FIRST
OF THREE PARTS
In the same way that the hand
held calculator replaced the slide
rule in calculus, computers may lie
replacing the traditional physics
experiment.
For the past three years, physics
Professor David Sokoloff has been
working on an innovative method
to teach the principles of physics
without burying students in statisti
cs (calculation.
The project uses computer soft
ware that can be run on a Macin
tosh computer. In one lab period,
students can run several experi
munis Instead of spending the whole lab computing the data for one
experiment. Sokoloff said.
Sokoloff said he got the idea for the software while attending a
1988 physics conference where Tufts University professors used
Turn to COMPUTERS. Page 3
Cat’s curiosity results in 911 call
By Martin Fisher
Emerald Editorial Editor
Larry Tomlinson lives in a
high-c.rime Eugene neighbor
hood, so when he called home
to check his messages Satur
day night, he was immediate
ly suspicious when someone
answered his phone.
Instead of hearing his own
voice issue a friendly, answer
ing-machine greeting, he
heard what he described as
"rustling" on the other end of
the line.
Certain his apartment was
being burglarized, Tomlinson
immediately hung up and di
aled 911. Tomlinson, who
sells men's suits at a Valley
River Center department store,
does not own a car, but was
able to get a ride to his apart
ment with a store customer.
When he arrived at his
apartment, he was met by four
Eugene police officers who
found no sign of forced entry.
The only other person with a
key to the apartment was the
manager
Tomlinson and the police
were growing more perplexed
by the minute.
After entering his apart
ment, Tomlinson discovered
Karts of his apartment had
Ben ransacked by a real-life
cal burglar — Buster. Buster is
Tomlinson's cat, a white,
American long-hair.
Apparently, Buster heard
the phone ringing end decid
ed to investigate the source of
the noise. "I didn't think he
could get up there,'' Tomlin
son said, referring to the coun
tertop where the phone was
sitting.
Buster apparently knocked
the receiver off the phone
before the answering machine
could kick in. The receiver fell
to the floor near a pile of
newspapers.
Tomlinson sold he believes
th»» rustling sound ho hoard
was his cat playing in tho pa
pors. "Ho must havti hoard my
voico at tho other end saying.
Hollo. Hollo,' and got ox
cited," Tomlinson said
"I felt pretty stupid," ho
said. "The police had a good
laugh."
Tomlinson was sufficiently
embarrassed by the incident
to stay home, rather than
return to work. "I just stayed
there feeling like an idiot," he
said.
Tomlinson said Buster got
his name for a reason. "When
ho was young, he used to tear
my house apart," Tomlinson
said. “He would actually bust
things, so I named him 'Bust
er.'"
Tomlinson said he does not
expect to have similar prob
lems in the future. "The
phone's on the wall now," he
said.
g WEATHER
l
Mostly cloudy skies with
temperatures in the lower 50s
Today in History
In 1987. the White House
announced the resignation of
CIA director William Casey,
who was hospitalized and
underwent brain surgery.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
(API - Over the weekend, along with making football picks and stocking
up on snacks, many people wen debating whether violence against
women is at its worst on Super Bowl Sunday.
A spot check of hot lines, police departments and shelters indicated that
most had received no more or less than the usual number of complaints.
"Whether there s a correlation between violent sports and domestic vio
lence. 1 don't know," said Sue Osthoff. director of the National Clearing
house for the defense of Battered Women in Philadelphia. "But that's the
wrong focus. It turns it into a sport like event It's very discouraging."
SPORTS
BUFFALO. N Y. (AP) - It * appropriate that Buffalo rest
dents woke up to winter's wont chill the morning after their
football team lost a record third straight Super Bowl - and
lost it big time.
The city cancelled a welcome-home rally for the Bills in
front of dty hail because the team didn't want to face the
humiliation after the Bills 52-17 loss to Dallas.
"Everyone s just doing work.' said lack Martin, spokesman
for toymaker Fisher-Price in suburban East Aurora.
‘Nobody's really mentioning the game it's like it never
happened. I think they're just wishing the last three yean
were all a figment of our imagination.'