LAURA GOSS/Emerald
Jackie, 10, holds a propeller engine while Leila, 13, re-wires a bat
tery-operated buzzer Wednesday at “Geek Chic. ”
Science: Attendees
disassemble radios
M Continued from Page 1
made it less intimidating.
“Several kids wouldn’t have
come if it were boys and girls be
cause it would mostly be boys,”
she said.
Johnson claims that this type of
setting encourages girls to be more
aggressive, which is essential to
the hands-on learning approach.
The girls took apart telephones,
radios and a computer by using
screw drivers and hammers. And
sometimes, when all else failed,
they opened the machines by
dropping them. The students also
rebuilt some of the machines and
tested them with special equip
ment to find out if they were suc
cessful.
“Although there are a lot of pro
grams for girls in science, there are
not many that focus on physics or
engineering,” Johnson said.
In addition, Johnson predicts
that less than 20 percent of engi
neers are women and “it is time for
a change."
Johnson hopes to get a grant
from the National Science Foun
dation next year in order to offer
the program throughout Oregon.
State Republican convention
to discuss new abortion plank
At issue is a proposal
to punish candidates
who do not oppose
partial-birth abortions
By Charles E. Beggs
The Associated Press
SALEM — Abortion is expect
ed to be the issue at center stage
this weekend when the Oregon
Republican Party holds its bienni
al platform convention in Port
land.
The spotlight also is to include
Bill Sizemore, the GOP’s nominee
for governor, who plans to put on a
solid presence at the meeting.
Despite criticism of his past
business practices and turnover
among his campaign manage
ment, Sizemore persistently has
said he isn’t about to quit the race.
He’s scheduled to speak to the
convention as it opens with a
breakfast meeting Saturday.
Sizemore said Wednesday he
didn’t seek out the forum to affirm
his candidacy because there’s no
doubt he’s running.
“That’s been put to bed. I want
ed to speak because I’m the Repub
lican candidate for governor and I
should be able to speak,” he said.
State GOP spokesman Joel Cole
estimated 200 to 250 delegates
will attend from the around the
state.
Much of Saturday will be spent
reworking the party platform.
Cole said it’s an “ongoing docu
ment” that doesn’t have to be re
newed at each meeting. Only ad
ditions and deletions are
proposed at the conventions.
The existing GOP platform in
cludes several anti-abortion provi
sions. But Cole said he expects an
additional one this time.
“I see a call for an end to partial
birth abortions,” he said.
The late-stage abortion proce
dure involves a legs-first birth and
draining the fetus’ skull.
A platform plank opposing the
practice would seem likely to sail
through the convention. But more
fireworks could develop Sunday
when the Oregon GOP Central
Committee is to take up a resolu
tion to punish Republican candi
dates who refuse to support the
partial birth abortion ban.
Several state Republican parties
have adopted that policy, al
though the GOP National Commit
tee refused to do so.
In fact, the Oregon GOP rarely
gives any cash donations to candi
dates. But Cole said denying state
party help to contenders who
wouldn’t support the abortion ban
would raise questions about such
non-cash party aid as voter lists
and efforts to get out the vote.
movie siirs old war memories
By Amanda Riddle
The Associated Press
GILBERT, Ariz. — Ed Porter cried at the scene in
“Saving Private Ryan” in which a soldier walked
across Omaha Beach, clutching his own severed arm.
For the first time in years, Porter recalled the horrif
ic moments he endured as a staff sergeant more than a
half-century ago. Tears came with memories of the
soldier he found lying on that beach, also clutching
his severed arm, looking up at Porter as if asking what
to do.
Porter’s only answer was a dose of morphine, eas
ing the soldier’s death.
“It brought back stuff that I’d never remembered,
stuff that happened that I’d brushed out of my mind,”
said Porter, a retired Tacoma, Wash., policeman now
living in suburban Phoenix. “It brought it back like a
flash. Like I was there."
Director Steven Spielberg has said the film's graph
ic re-enactment is his tribute to those who fought and
a message to viewers about the real brutality of war.
Harry Pruden of Albuquerque, N.M., who was a
crewman on a Navy landing craft at Utah Beach, said
Spielberg’s movie was an exceptional picture. But, he
added, there always will be a difference between his
experience and a war brought to the screen by Holly
wood.
“It was a good movie, but I wouldn’t say it made
me feel like I was in combat again,” Pruden said. “We
knew going in that this is a movie, and no movie can
really do that.”
But for some D-Day veterans, the movie is a visceral
reminder of what they lived through decades ago.
And for those like Porter, it is too graphic, too real.
“I don’t know why they put a film out like that,” he
said.
Joe Perotti Sr., a World War II paratrooper now liv
ing in Tombstone, Ariz., agreed.
“I was hoping I would find a lot of fault with it,”
said Perotti, who landed behind German lines before
the Normandy landings. "I want to say that it’s just a
war movie, but it’s too close to being realistic.”
Anticipating emotional reactions, the Department
of Veterans Affairs kept a telephone hotline open over
the weekend and received more than 100 calls by
Monday night.
VA spokeswoman Laurie Tranter said the 1986 de
but of the graphic Vietnam War film “Platoon” was
the only other time the department used its hotline to
field calls from veterans upset about a movie. The hot
line, which distributes benefits information, is nor
mally closed over the weekend.
Nancy Scott, a psychologist at the VA Medical Cen
ter in Phoenix, suggested that veterans avoid war
movies that can trigger painful memories.
“Just the colors, the movements — all of those —
will be very strong symbols of remembrances of what
it was like,” Scott said.
Student body president arrested after four months on the run
The Portland high school
student was ivanted in
connection with 19
armed robberies
By Amalie Young
The Associated Press
PORTLAND — After spending
months on the run with a little
help from his friends, a high
school student body president
wanted in a string of robberies
was arrested Wednesday in Las
Vegas on a tip from his own fa
ther.
Tom Curtis was in the lobby of
the Tropicana Hotel, calling his
father in Portland to say he was
ready to give himself up after he
was featured on “America’s Most
Wanted.” At the same time, his fa
ther was also on the line with au
thorities, who moved in and ar
rested the teen before he could
f
hang up.
"My feeling was he was tired
and there was no place to go.”
said Portland police Detective
Kelly Krohn. “He had kind of hit a
dead end.”
The 18-year-old homecoming
king had been a fugitive since
April, accused with classmate
Ethan Thrower in a string of 19
armed robberies dating back to
1996. Investigators said the teens
weren’t desperate for cash; they
robbed for thrills and bought cars
and jewelry with the money.
Curtis’ first stop on the run was
Mexico, where he partied last
month in Mazatlan with dozens
of classmates who refused to tell
authorities where he was staying.
From there, he traveled by bus to
Mesa, Ariz., where he worked in
a deli until abruptly leaving last
weekend when his story made na
tional television.
The FBI said it had received
dozens of calls after the “Ameri
ca’s Most Wanted” story aired,
and they were already closing in
on him when they were contacted
by Curtis’ father.
James Curtis, a lawyer, told po
lice he got his first call from his
son immediately after Saturday
night’s broadcast and they dis
cussed plans for his surrender.
But Curtis didn’t hear from his
son again until early Wednesday.
That’s when the elder Curtis
called police on another line, and
his voice was patched through to'
the FBI.
Agents were only about five
minutes away by foot, and arrest
ed Curtis while he was still dis
cussing his surrender with his fa
ther on the telephone.
“Everything just came togeth
er,” said FBI agent Gordon Comp
ton. “Their plans for surrender
weren’t finished, and we were
never sure it was more than just
talk."
Krohn said the show probably
persuaded Curtis that he couldn’t
start a new life before facing jus
tice.
“My intent on going on ‘Ameri
ca’s Most Wanted’ was to let him
know there was no place to hide,”
Krohn said. “And I think I accom
plished that.”
Although Krohn said Curtis
was cooperative and composed
when he was taken into custody,
he emphasized that an arrest was
clearly made. The boy’s parents
released a statement Wednesday
saying they are "grateful that Tom
had the strength to turn himself
in.”
Krohn said Curtis' father was
tom — his son was wanted by the
law, but he did not want him to
get hurt.
“His goal was the same as mine
— to bring him back in safely,”
Krohn said.
Curtis was to appear in court
early Thursday in Las Vegas. He is
expected to waive extradition and
be returned to Oregon by the end
of the week to face robbery
charges.
Thrower, 19, was arrested after
he accidentally shot himself in
the groin during an alleged rob
bery that went awry. He has been
jailed since his arrest April 16, the
same day Curtis fled.
“When you conduct your life at
the expense of everyone else,
there is a price to pay,” said Don
na Nelson, co-owner of a market
that was robbed three times. “My
thought right now is that his life
from this day forward will be a
different experience for him."
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