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.
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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
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