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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1997)
News Digest Marine’s plea helps drop rape charges 1THE DALLES — A U.S. Ma rine charged with kidnapping, rape and assault in a campground attack this summer pleaded guilty to assault Monday after agreeing to testify against the other Marine involved. Under terms of a plea agreement with Wasco County prosecutors, the other charges against Sgt. Clin ton Allan Bergmann, 24, of Van couver, Wash., were dropped, Dis trict Attorney Bernard Smith said. In exchange, Bergmann will tes tify against Sgt. Rudolph Feodor Jackson, 29, in his Dec. 2 trial. Wasco County Circuit Judge John V. Kellv delayed Bergmann’s sentencing until after Jackson’s tri al. Both men were charged with two counts of kidnapping and rape and one count of assault and sex abuse in the June 21 attack of two campers at the Clear Lake campground in the Mount Hood National Forest. Jackson, of Gresham, pleaded innocent to the charges last month. He remains in the Klicki tat, Wash., County Jail with bail set at $200,000. Bergmann and Jackson are ac cused of dragging Henry Thomp son, 33, of Portland and his 23 year-old woman friend from their tent, taping Thompson to a tree and beating him, and raping the woman. Authorities believe Jack son was the one to commit the rape, but they believe Bergmann aided him. Bergmann was a recruiter based in Milwaukie, and Jackson worked as a clerk at the Portland Marine recruiting office. Nobel given for new medical discovery 2 SAN FRANCISCO — An American won the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for discover ing a startling new type of germ: a Jekyll-and-Hyde protein that causes mad cow disease and other deadly brain-destroying illnesses. The prize, worth $1 million this year, went to Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner, 55, a biochemistry pro fessor at the University of Califor nia at San Francisco. The an nouncement was made by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, which awards the prize. Prusiner was cited for his 1982 discovery of prions. These insidi ous proteins are considered an en tirely new type of disease-causing agent, distinct from bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites. The finding was controversial — and still is — because prions, unlike other germs, contain no ge netic material; they are simply proteins. The human diseases caused by prions are rare. But scientists said Prusiner’s work might help re searches understand more com mon brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s dis eases. Clinton uses veto pen to nix military money 3 WASHINGTON — In a blow to both Democrats and Republi cans, President Clinton used his line-item veto Monday to kill 38 military construction projects that Congress had added to a huge spending bill at a cost of $287 mil lion. California—which Clinton car ried in the last presidential elec tion — lost four projects worth $28 million. Texas — which voted for Republican Bob Dole — lost three valued at $22.5 million. Covering 24 states, Clinton’s hit list eliminated projects such as $20 million for a wharf at Vir ginia’s Norfolk Naval Shipyard, $17.9 million for dredging and pier improvements at the Mayport Naval Station in Florida, $16 mil lion for a new rail track at Fort Car son, Colo., and $14 million for a flight simulation training facility at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. Teen says Eddie Bauer falsely accused him 4GREENBELT, Md. — The pres ident and chief executive offi cer of Eddie Bauer testified in fed eral court on Monday that he was shocked when he heard a black teenager had been detained and wrongly accused of stealing at one of his stores. The $85 million suit resulted from an incident in 1995 at a Fort Washington Eddie Bauer store. Jackson was stripped of the shirt he was wearing because two store security guards thought he had stolen it. Jackson had bought the shirt only two days before. The store’s managers returned the shirt when Jackson brought the sales receipt as proof. Two of his friends were also detained and questioned. Task force examines ways to help Lane County’s homeless Area representatives believe children are most at risk during the cold winter months By Tricia Duryee Freelance Reporler The Eugene City Council dis cussed a variety of ways to pro vide or improve emergency win ter shelter to hundreds of Lane County residents by changing camping ordinances, providing an emergency mass-shelter plan and furthering preventative mea sures before temperatures drop too low. "If people aren’t in a house, they are going to freeze to death,” said Council member Bobby Lee. “We have to come up with a comprehensive approach. The winter is coming up too fast, and there are children in our own community that have to deal with that." During the first meeting last night of the Homeless and Shel ter Task Force, representatives from area homeless shelters and resource centers were asked to present information to task force members Mayor Jim Torrey, Council member Pat Farr and Lee. Susan Ban from Lane Shelter Care and others present shared the opinion that children and youth were most at risk. But Ban warned against spreading the funds to thin when expanding or creating new services. “With too many new ideas in the system, and no new money, they [new programs] will dilute the current systems, which are al ready stressed,” Ban said. Although community repre sentatives unanimously agreed that additional funds should be allocated for emergency and pre vention services, they were con cerned that it might be too late to get people permanently off the streets before winter sets in. “One thing we need to look at is not the long-term, but to just get people a place to stay at night,” Farr said. However, the requirements for creating a mass-shelter, even on a temporary basis, are hard to ful fill, according to Terry McDonald of the St. Vincent de Paul pro gram. “Not many public buildings out there fulfill the requirements for mass shelters,” McDonald said. “Showers aren’t a necessity, but accessibility of space, heat, toilets and fire codes are the ma jor concerns.” While McDonald found schools to be the most promising sites, he said they are only avail able a small portion of the time. McDonald expressed concern that on such short notice, a mass shelter, or a “warehousing” situ ation, may not be possible and that other alternatives should be explored. “The [homeless] aren’t wanted anywhere,” said Penny Ander son from the Homeless Action Coalition. “I believe it is a right to sleep in a safe place.” Anderson is currently working on a campaign to change the Eu gene Camping Ordinance, which makes it illegal to “camp” on “any sidewalk, street, alley, lane, public right-of-way, park or any other publicly-owned property or under any bridge or viaduct, un less otherwise specifically autho rized by this code or by declara tion of the mayor in emergency circumstances.” Anderson hopes that with a change in the ordinance, commu nity members and organizations will open their land, parking lots or driveways to the transient, without being criminalized for it. “To a certain degree, it is a bit of a surprise that the community wants the camping ordinance overturned,” said Torrey. “I’m sure 70 to 80 percent of the pub lic is against that, and to ask some groups, they will say, ‘Not in my backyard; but we will find a place.”' Council ULL: Council on International Educational Exchange 877 1/2 East 13tf1 Street Eugene ; (541) 344-2263 l - - mr 1V‘^r University of Oregon In the EMU Building Eugene K CALL HOME AND PAY 50% I m OVER 210 COUNTRIES WORLD WIDE Interested In playing P0C-1O Basketball? 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