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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 1998)
Court: Austin can appeal decision, file recall petition ■ Continued from Page 1 president Swnoifulfillment of duties under the oonsdtuti on. It found, though, that it could only remove a president few "non fulfillment so egregious that the position is all but vacant.” It de cided Miner's failure to fulfill one duty did not warrant a removal. Corcoran's concurrence said the court was implying that punish ments for nonfulfillment of duties should be weighed against the seventy and nature of the offense. The court also ruled that it could decide cases that deal with discrimi nation under federal and state law. Miner had argued that the justices had not passed the bar. and so do not have the authority to decide cases that deal with federal or state laws. The court argued such laws were incorporated in the ASUO Constitu tion and therefore fell under its juris diction. Corcoran explained that the court cannot treat the ASUO as “an island of law independent and apart from” Oregon and the United States. However, the court said nothing in the state or federal constitutions suggest that law students are a pro tected class. Corcoran's concurrence noted that Miner admitted he had failed to appoint a justice within 30 days, thus violating the constitu tion. But he emphasized that the court has no power to impose a sanction other than removal. “Quite simply. President Miner has violated the Constitution, yet the Constitution provides no means for this Court to correct that violation.” he wrote. Austin said the court had made “a severe error” in its decision. “The court lacks the backbone to ensure that our government is run by integrity7 and honesty,” he said in an official statement. “They are a joke. ” The decision establishes several precedents. Miner said. Most im portantly, it recognizes the presi dent's power of appointment and agrees he or she can appoint al most anyone. The Senate must ap prove all presidential appoint ments— a check against the presi dent that the court said would pre vent presidential abuses. “This Ls the way the United States Constitution separates the powers of the government branches, and if it is good enough for the United States government, it is good enough for this one, ” the decision stated. The ruling also establishes a high standard for nonfulfillment of duties: “We do not believe that the failure to perform one of a number of duties is sufficient to re move" the president in this case. But the court did not define what would meet that standard. That means officials can neglect some duties and not be sanc tioned, Austin said. The ASUO executives also said that established a strong precedent. “Basically, you would have to be in a coma for three weeks not to fulfill your duties,” Unger said. “I can’t think of anyone that would be so distant.” The court outlined several other options Austin had, including ap pealing to University President Dave Frohnmayer, filing a recall petition or taking his case to state or federal court. Austin said he had not decided whether to pursue those options. “I don’t know if I even care that much anymore,” he said. Minister on trial for performing lesbian unity ceremony Rei Jimmy Creech violated the rules of the Methodist church ~'e -tec*® Pms KEARNEY, Neb. — A Methodist minister who could be fired for performing a lesbian unit)' ceremony testified before a church jury Thursday that he was simply serving the couple’s spiritual needs. The Rev. Jimmy Creech, 53, pleaded innocent to charges that he held an unsanctioned liturgy and disobeyed United Methodist Church rules by conducting the ceremony. The trial is the first challenge of the church’s policy on homo sexual ceremonies, Methodist of ficials said. They said the trial’s outcome could shape how the church interprets its stance on homosexuals. Creech, who was senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Omaha before being suspend ed Nov. 10, testified that he takes the church’s Liturgy seriously but his main calling is to serve his lo cal church and its members. “I was responding to them as a pastor, to give them pastoral care,” Creech said, referring to the two unnamed women in volved in the September ceremo ny. Homosexual unions someday may be accepted by the church but Creech violated current poli cy' and should be punished, said the Rev. Loren Ekdahl of Lincoln, who presented the church’s case. The ceremony that Creech per formed was an “unauthorized rit ual conducted as if it were an of ficial rite of the church,” Ekdahl said during opening statements. “We’re not talking about a simple prayer or blessing here.” In Creech’s defense, Nebraska Wesleyan University religion professor the Rev. Douglas J. Williamson asked the jury of 13 fellow ministers “to make their minds as free and clear as possi ble. “If there is no evidence, clear and convincing argument, than this body cannot convict,” Williamson said. Williamson argued that the church’s Social Principles, which were amended in 1996 to prohibit “ceremonies that cele brate homosexual unions,” are merely guidelines. The trial is scheduled to end Friday with a verdict expected by the end of the day. If found guilty, Creech could be stripped of his ministerial cre dentials. New calculations indicate asteroid will miss the Earth by miles Astronomers say the asteroid will come uithin 600,000.miles By Paul Recar TheAssocmslPrss WASHINGTON—Relax, Earth lings. That asteroid streaking to ward our planet is going to miss by miles. Actually, by 600,000 miles, according to new calculations. Just a day after one group of as tronomers reported that an aster oid was expected to pass within 30,000 miles of the Earth's center and could possibly collide, as tronomers at NASA’s Jet Propul sion Laboratory said their calcula tions — based on newly uncov ered data — indicate the asteroid will pass no closer than 600,000 miles away. “We are saying now that the prob ability of an impact is zero,” said Donald K. Yeomans of JPL. “It poses no threat to the Earth whatsoever.” Yeomans said he and fellow as tronomer Paul W. Chodas dug out some eight-year-old pictures of the heavens taken by the Palomar Observatory telescope and found that the photos contained images of asteroid 1997 XFll, which then was just an unidentified point of light. Using the 1990 pictures and re cent observations of the streaking space rock. Yeomans and Chodas re calculated the orbital path of the as teroid and found that it would miss the Earth by 600,000 miles in its clos est approach in October 2028. Brian G. Marsden of the Interna tional Astronomical Union, the as tronomer who made the calcula tions released on Wednesday, could not immediately be reached for comment. Steve Maran, an astronomer with the American Astronomical Soci ety’, said that Marsden's calculations were based only very limited data. “They got more information about the orbit,” Maran said of Yeomans and Chodas. “They should have a much better esti mate. This should certainly be more reliable because it is based on more data.” By looking at the 1990 pictures, Maran said Y eomans and Chodas, in effect, have a total of eight years of orbital measurements about the asteroid. “You really do need an inten sive set of observations to really nail it down," he said. On Wednesday, Marsden had issued a notice that the asteroid was expected to pass within only 30,000 miles ofthe Earth’s center. “The chance of an actual collision is small, but one is not entirely out of the question,” he concluded. Those calculations were based on short measurements taken just last week and included less of the asteroid’s orbital path than the old, archival pictures from Palomar. Even though the asteroid will pass outside of the Earth-moon complex, Yeomans said it will still be spectacularly close for an object that is about one mile across. Even though the Earth now ap pears safe from asteroid 1997 XF11, thousands of other aster oids that, theoretically, could one day approach the Earth are still out there, Maran said. “This whole exercise was a use ful reminder of the fact that these things can, in fact, hit the Earth,” said Maran. 4;\ Spring Ccrm MM $Rl 99 £mgf)t at tl)c ftlovies | / 70S 14:00 * 14:50 S’tP 16:00 * 17:50 t|/'; 35977 •; -••Come explore 6otfj cinema & tfje jftenc^ ffli§5(e ages in tf)is course ;tf*at:pairs moSern movies xoitfj literature from me5ievaf fratree. a IT fiftas, texts & 5iscussions in Cnglisf). Program Funding The ASUO Programs finance Committee committed $35,984 of student incidental fees for the 1998-99 year. Budget pro posals from the first five groups were approved on March 5. The budget forthe University Theater was approved on March 9. ORGANIZATION Black Women of Achievement Westmoreland Tenant's Council Malaysian Student Organization Latin American Student Organization Parents Attending Law School University Theater Total 1998-99 $6,060 1,917 2,817 490 300 24,400 35,984 1997-98 $5,542 1,297 2,567 480 0 23,400 33,286 %CHANGE FROM LAST YR 9.3% 47.8 5.2 2.1 100 4.3 8.1 {CHANGE FROM LAST YR $518 620 250 10 300 1,000 2,698 Emerald F Pitch in! Recycle your copy of the ODE. Emerald The Oregon Daly Emerald s put*sned daey Monday ttirougn Friday during die scnool year and Tuesday ar« Thursday during die summer By die Oregon Daly Emerald PuMsning Co. Inc., at die unrwrsey at Oregon. Eugem. Oregon A member ot the Associated Press die Emerald op erates ndeoendentVot die U«versay«*h offices mSuee 300 oldie Ert Memoraumon The Emerald B prvate prop erty The unawtui removal or use or papers s prosecutable by leer SETSROOM — V&riii Editor in chef: Sarah Wc«er Managing Editor Nicole Krueger ComBuaitT Michael Burnham edtor Tries Dury se. Jesse Sowa Eatortoimwat Evan OentBum etttor Shannon Higher Educates: Laura Cade, edttoc Ncoie Knsa, Ten Meeuwsen, Kan Thorene la lapMt Astdey Bach ^ragecthw: Michael Scfimerbach editor Dins HuScftmson, Bustraor Jonas Alen. Kameron Cole. Hannafi D*jn. Jef! Sha* columnists SMmIAcMIms: Doug I rang, editor Michael Knes. Chris Kenning Kostina Pudmskas Sportc P/an frank, editor Oiris Hansen, asst edi tor Joel Hood. Rot) Moseley Alex Pond Con Oak: Ho(y Sanders copyctml. Brian Deta, Tammy Salman Ke*/ Sdiufc* Stnnnon Sneed Nows Ait Mac Garten editor P»neta Sirianni. Cara Strazzo Pkekognoky: Amanda Conran Wendy Fuler, Rose Fung, Laura Goss. Nick Medley. 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