News Digest
Zoo officials head for Malaysia
to pick up new elephant
1 PORTLAND — Two Oregon
Zoo officials left for Malaysia
Wednesday to pick up a new ele
phant they hope will help diver
sify the gene pool of Asian pachy
derms in the United States.
As things are planned, elephant
keeper Ray Hopper and Steve
Coven, the zoo’s public relations
director, will fly back to San Fran
cisco with Cheddar, a 6-year-old
female, on Nov. 19. Cheddar then
will be trucked to Portland.
The acquisition is expected to
cost about $100,000, with most of
the money coming from Enron
Corp., which had pledged to help
the zoo acquire an elephant when
it took over Portland General
Electric in 1997.
Though Enron has since agreed
to sell PGE to Nevada-based Sier
ra Pacific, the company has fol
lowed through on its promise to
the zoo.
Cheddar will become the zoo’s
fourth female elephant. Zoolo
gists will be watching carefully in
hopes that she will be able to as
similate easily with the zoo’s six
other elephants.
Former first lady admitted to
hospital after fainting
2 AUSTIN, Texas — Former first
lady Lady Bird Johnson was
admitted to a hospital in fair con
dition Thursday after fainting at
her home.
Liz Carpenter, her former White
House spokeswoman, said Mrs.
Johnson, 86, “has periodic faint
ing spells” and was transported to
Seton Medical Center.
Mrs. Johnson was awake and
alert and will stay overnight for
observation, hospital spokes
woman Stephanie Elsea said.
“Because of her age they want
ed to check her over,” said Shirley
James, Mrs. Johnson’s executive
secretary. “When she left here she
went by ambulance and was talk
ing and not wanting to go to the
hospital. She was in good spirits.”
Mrs. Johnson underwent
cataract surgery a couple of days
ago in Houston, Carpenter said.
Her daughter, Luci Baines John
son, accompanied her. “I think
she is doing very well,” she told
KEYE-TV, saying her mother has
traveled a lot lately. “She may just
have been exhausted.”
Mrs. Johnson, the nation’s old
est living former first lady, was
married to former President Lyn
don B. Johnson for almost 39
years. They were in the White
House from 1963 to 1969.
Airport bus crashes through
U.S. border
3 BELLINGHAM, Wash. — The
driver of an airport shuttle bus
was jailed Thursday after the ve
hicle sped away from Vancouver,
British Columbia, crashed
through the U.S. border and raced
the wrong way down Interstate 5,
police in pursuit.
Whatcom County sheriffs
deputies say that when the bus fi
nally was stopped Wednesday
night by a State Patrol trooper, the
driver had choked his only pas
senger, a woman, almost to un
consciousness.
Vancouver police Constable
Anne Drennan said the driver ap
parently told his bus dispatcher
he had been hijacked by men car
rying machine guns.
The driver, Vikram M. Menon,
37, of the Vancouver suburb of
Surrey, was booked into the coun
ty jail here for investigation of
four counts of first-degree assault
— three involving cars that were
run off the road — and one of kid
napping.
The sheriff s department gave
the following account:
The Vancouver Airporter dri
ver picked up a man and a
woman in downtown Vancouver,
stopped before reaching Vancou
ver International Airport and
asked the man to get out and
check for a flat tire. He then sped
away with the woman.
The bus raced through the
Peace Arch border crossing at
Blaine, Wash., without stopping
and sped a brief distance south
ward in the northbound lanes of
Interstate 5.
The Associated Press
':x.
Calendar
Friday, Nov. 12
■ Pacifica Forum: “Elections Past
and Prospective.” 11:45 a.m. to
1:15 a.m. Wesley Center, 1236
Kincaid St. Sponsored by the Fel
lowship of Reconciliation,
Friends Meeting and the Wesley
Foundation. For more informa
tion call Orval Utter at 344-0483
or call The Wesely Center at 344
0483.
■" Architecture Lecture: Thom
Hacker speaks. 4:30-7 p.m. Room
177, Lawrence Hall, 1190
Franklin Blvd. Free. For informa
tion, browse laz.uoregon.edu/cal
endar/calendar.cgi or call 346
3656.
■ Applying to Graduate School.
3:30 p.m. Metolius Room, Erb
Memorial Union 1222 E. 13th. For
more information call Academic
Advising at 346-3211.
■ Cultural Forum Film Series:
“The Day the Sun Turned Cold,”
a 1994 Chinese film noir, with
subtitles by Hong Kong director
Yim Ho. 8 p.m. Room 180, Prince
Lucien Campbell Hall, 1415 Kin
caid St. $3 general, $2 students.
For information, see darkwing.
uoregon.edu/~cultural/film.html
or call 346-4373.
■ Ancient Athens Lecture: “The
Uses of the Past on the Acropolis
in Athens,” Jeffrey Hurwitwill de
liver a free public lecture and
slide presentation on ancient
Greece as the first of three events
from “A Touch of Knowlege - UO
Public Lecture Series.” 7:30 p.m.
Room 100, Willamette Hall, 1371
E. 13th Ave. For more informa
tion call 346-4510.
■ Saturday: “Taiwan Food Festi
val” 5:30 p.m.-9:30p.m. Fir
Room, EMU. $7 per ticket. E-mail
tso@gladstone.uoregon.edu or see
gladstone. uoregon. edu/~tso/.
She wanted it.
I could tell.
What’s the truth? *
s
I
Justus: A Question of Conduct • Sexual Assault Hearing
November 15,1999 • Erb Memorial Union Ballroom • 7p.m.
Sponsored by the University Health Center, Office of Student Life, SASS, Greek Life and University Housing