Peak ascent featured in slide show
■ CLIMB: Corvallis woman
is the only American to reach
the top of the world’s 13th
tallest mountain
By Christian Hill
Community Reporter
McKenzie Outfitters is offering
an event that might satisfy the ap
petite of the most avid winter
sports fanatic.
The store is hosting a slide
show of Heidi Howkins’ ascent of
the world’s 13th highest moun
tain tonight beginning at 7 p.m.
The Corvallis climber is the only
American this year to ascend the
26,360-foot Gasherbrum II peak,
part of the Karakoram range in the
country of Kashmir. She is also
only the second female to summit
the mountain since climbing the
peak began in 1956.
Howkins said she left Oregon
on Memorial Day and reached the
mountain’s base camp on June 14.
Two American teams consisting
of 14 members traveled to the
mountain. The first expedition
lasted from May to June. Her ex
pedition began in June and lasted
until late July.
Howkins said she reached the
summit on the morning of July 29,
the end of a 36-hour marathon to
the peak to make the weather
window.
“It was wonderful,” she re
called. “It was a very slow motion
kind of experience . . . You feel
like you’re walking on the moon."
While Howkins was the only
American to reach the summit,
nine other people from countries
such as Spain, Ukraine and
France also surmounted the peak.
As for her future plans,
Howkins said she just received an
invitation to climb the third high
est mountain in the world,
Nepal’s Mount Kanchenjunga, in
March. She said she hopes to be
come the first female to reach the
summit of that peak.
Howkins said she hopes aspir
ing climbers participating in the
event “get a sense of what’s possi
ble.” She also said the people ob
tain a sense of “inclusion” in the
company of other climbers.
“This is an informal communi
ty event we’re not charging for,”
said Cassie Curtis, one of the
event’s organizers.
Curtis said McKenzie Outfitters
became involved with Howkins
when she approached the Eu
gene-based business for a spon
sorship to help purchase some of
the expensive mountain-climbing
equipment.
Curtis said the slide show will
last approximately an hour. After
ward, Howkins will answer ques
tions from the audience. Curtis
also said Howkins will bring
along some of the gear she used
during the ascent.
Army instructors face charges in Missouri
■ SCANDAL: The military says the incident is
not related to the charges made against five
men in Aberdeen, Maryland five days ago
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — In the second
Army sex scandal in less than a week, three instruc
tors at one of the nation’s biggest basic-training posts
faced charges Tuesday of sexual misconduct with
young women recruits.
The charges were announced five days after a sex
scandal broke at the military’s Aberdeen Proving
Ground in Maryland.
The three male soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood face
charges ranging from consensual intercourse to inde
cent assault, or touching. Army regulations ban sex
ual relationships between commanders and subordi
nates. The recruits were 21 years old on average and
were undergoing basic training.
The Army did not say when the charges were filed.
One court-martial was to begin Tuesday; the others
will be conducted within the month, it said.
A Pentagon spokesman said there was no connec
tion between the Fort Leonard and Aberdeen cases.
The Fort Leonard cases came to light before the Army
set up a hot line for reports of sexual misconduct,
said Lt. Col. William Harkey.
The Army did not identify the Missouri soldiers
except to say that all are non-commissioned officers
and that one or two are drill sergeants. Other allega
tions of misconduct at Fort Wood were also under in
vestigation.
At the Army Ordnance Center at the Aberdeen
Proving Ground, the Army last week charged four
drill instructors and a captain with raping, sexually
harassing or otherwise having improper relation
ships with at least a dozen young women recruits in
their first weeks of training at Aberdeen.
The men were suspended along with 15 other in
structors.
The Army said trainees at Fort Wood are told their
first day on the base how to report harassment or un
comfortable situations involving other soldiers.
On Tuesday, the Army allowed reporters to speak
with a group of Fort Leonard trainees who have been
in the military for about six weeks. None of the
women said they felt sexual pressure or harassment.
“My drill sergeants are very, very helpful to us,”
said Pvt. Sheila Stanton, 20, of Frostproof, Fla. “They
train us hard, they treat us as equals to the males.
They’ve never done anything to make us feel uncom
fortable.”
An angry Pvt. Eric Beckham said the accusations
had tarnished others.
“Our drill sergeant has a black mark on him be
cause of what some people did or they did not do,”
said Beckham, 21, of Abilene, Texas. “It’s not right.”
About 25,000 soldiers pass through the Missouri
base each year, making it the second-largest of four
posts where the Army conducts its basic training.
Only Fort Jackson, S.C., is larger.
The post’s main mission has been to train officers,
non-commissioned officers and enlisted soldiers in
engineering skills. The Army is adding a military po
lice school and a chemical warfare training school,
which will add 5,500 people to the base by 1999.
Women make up 25 percent to 30 percent of each
class of trainees.
“We have found that’s an ideal mix for males and
females to complete their training under ideal condi
tions,” said Brad Rose, a base spokesman.
When the Aberdeen scandal broke last week, the
Army asked that anyone who had been a victim of
sexual misconduct call a special toll-free number at
the base near Baltimore. More than 2,000 calls had
poured in by Monday afternoon.
Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, said the Army had to assume such im
proper conduct was taking place elsewhere. He said
officials are looking all across the Army, particularly
at its training centers, to root out sexual wrongdoing.
A little more than 10 percent of the calls to the hot
line were deemed serious enough to refer to the
Army’s Criminal Investigative Division.
Army investigators at Aberdeen have said they
plan to interview as many as 1,000 women who were
trained at the post since the beginning of 1995, a
process that could take months.
EDITOR’S NOTE — The Army hotline is 1-800
903-4241.
PARS adds variety
to class schedule
■ OPTIONS: Students can
earn credits outside of the
traditional classroom
setting
By Laura Cadiz
Higher Education Reporter
Want to learn how to survive
an avalanche? Take Avalanche
Safety. What about shooting
pool? Take Billiards I. Or just
wanting to relax? Take Medita
tion I.
These classes and more are
available courtesy of the Physi
cal Activity and Recreation
Services (PARS). And with
winter registration starting in
less than a week, it’s time to
start thinking about which
classes to take.
PARS was developed in
1990 as a result of the College
of Human Development and
Performance shutting down.
The program incorporates
physical education, recreation
al activities and intramurals.
Allen Mather, a visual de
sign major and marketing and
promotional director for PARS,
said one of the benefits of the
program is it offers "weird
courses” for credit. These
courses include trampoline,
juggling, SCUBA diving, snow
camping, table tennis and yoga.
The courses incorporate exer
cise with managing stress and
nutrition, which Mather said
are main concerns of students.
“The department is really
there for students,” Mather
said. “It’s there to serve us.”
Karla Rice, director of PARS,
said the most popular classes
are currently weight training,
aerobics, outdoor pursuits and
yoga. Depending on the class
es, zero to some experience is
necessary. This term, 3,100 stu
dents are enrolled in PARS
classes.
Being a self-funded program,
PARS course fees range from
$37 for classes such as fencing
and Aikido, to $374 for classes
such as snowboarding and ski
alpine.
"Measure 5 pretty much cuts
us away,” said Michael Strong,
co-director of Outdoor pur
suits. "We have to generate
money somehow.”
History major Erica DeBois is
in her second year of PARS
classes. She has taken wilder
ness survival, snow camping,
ice climbing and kayaking and
believes the classes are worth
the fees.
“It’s a burden [the fees],” she
said. “But in relation to how
much a class like that would
cost with a guide program, it’s a
lot cheaper.”
For now, Rice said the de
partment is doing fine with ex
penses, but added, “Every pro
gram has an increase in
expenses ... as inflation goes
up.
To help attract interest, areas
such as volleyball, basketball
and weight lifting have male
and female only classes avail
able. Single gender courses
were created about three years
ago.
“Some areas we felt warrant
ed men only or women only
programs ...” Rice said.
“Women like to be able to get
into a single gender situation...
they feel more comfortable. ”
Aside from the physical as
pect, DeBois said leadership
skills are also gained.
“It provides another way of
looking at the wilderness and
learning from it,” DeBois said.
“It will impact my life and help
me become a better leader. ”
A non-credit option is avail
able for people who want to
take the classes, but don’t want
or need credit. This way, facul
ty members and people off
campus can take PARS classes.
In such cases, people can sign
up through the PARS office,
rather than DUCK call.
“The idea is to try to offer ac
tivities and events to interest
the general population,” Math
er said.
A proposed plan to consoli
date engineering education
into a state-wide college will be
the main focus November 15
when the Oregon State System
of Higher Education meets at
Portland State University.
It will consolidate competi
tors Oregon State University
and Portland State University’s
engineering programs in re
sponse to Oregon’s demand for
more qualified employees.
Oregon’s high technology com
I__
panies hire 80 percent of its en
gineers out of state.
Oregon is among the top five
in the nation in economic
growth with high technology.
— Compiled by Tamyra
Howser
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