Judge allows lawsuit over
state refusal to let gays adopt
1 MIAMI — A gay man in
Oregon who wants to adopt
the 8-year-old foster child who
has been in his custody for years
can sue Florida over its law ban
ning homosexuals from adopting,
a federal judge in Miami ruled.
Florida is the only state in the
nation that prohibits gays from
adopting. Homosexuals in the
Sunshine State, though, can serve
as foster parents.
“We think this is a significant
step forward,” said Michael
Adams of the American Civil Lib
erties Union Lesbian and Gay
Rights Project in New York, which
filed the lawsuit on behalf of
Steven Lofton and other gays hop
ing to adopt children in Florida.
“The judge made it clear these
folks will have their day in court,”
Adams said in a telephone inter
view Monday from New York.
Lofton is a former Key West res
ident who last year moved to Port
land with the 8-year-old boy and
two other Florida foster children
he has legal custody of. Lofton’s
1996 adoption application to
Florida’s child welfare agency
was denied on the basis of a 1977
. state law that denies gays the right
to adopt.
There was no immediate re
sponse to a message left on his
home answering machine.
Several other gays and lesbians
who hope to adopt are named in
the lawsuit. However, only Lofton
has submitted an application to
the Florida Department of Chil
dren and Families.
Janitors accept new contract,
ending 3-week-old strike
2 LOS ANGELES — Thousands
of striking janitors over
whelmingly approved a new con
tract Monday, ending a 3-week
old walkout at Los Angeles-area
office buildings. The janitors
were headed back to work Tues
day.
About 88 percent of janitors
voting at union headquarters ap
proved the three-year contract,
' which will increase their pay by
26 percent for workers downtown
and 22 percent for those in outly
ing areas.
Union leaders praised the
agreement, even though it fell
short of their original goal of $1
an-hour increases each year.
“It met our primary goal of lift
ing our members out of poverty,”
Mike Garcia, president of the Ser
vice Employees International
Union Local 1877, told cheering
janitors at union headquarters.
“We have reinvented labor’s
most powerful weapon — the
strike,” he said.
'Millionaire* game show
has first black player
3 NEW YORK — After 84
shows and 192 people in the
hot seat, “Who Wants to Be a Mil
lionaire” had a black contestant
sitting across from Regis Philbin
for the first time
Sunday’s program marked
something of a milestone for tele
vision’s most popular program,
which has been criticized for its
overwhelming number of white
male players and even issued an
on-air plea for more diversity in
February.
Steven Maurice Clark, a Har
vard-educated surgeon from
Aiken, S.C., walked off with
$32,000 after guessing wrong on a
question that could have earned
him $250,000.
“To me, it shouldn’t be an issue,
and I think if I had been on in No
vember it wouldn’t have been an
issue,” Clark said in an interview
Monday.
As the months wore on, though,
the lack of black contestants had
become an annoyance for the pro
ducers, who have slightly modi
fied the way the show selects con
testants in order to minimize what
are perceived as advantages for
white men.
Only 26, or 13 percent, of the
195 people that have been in the
hot seat through the end of Sun
day’s show were women, accord
ing to ABC.
Philbin took the unusual step
on Feb. 1 of appealing to women
and minorities to dial the toll-free
telephone number for a quiz to
qualify for the show. Before that
date, only 12 percent of the hot
seat contestants were women;
since then, it has been 17 percent,
ABC said.
Including Clark, there have
been six blacks among the 855
people who made it onto the
show. Each program begins with
10 players, and just a few get to
play for a million dollars.
Rescue teams pinpoint
location of gunmen, hostages
4SEMPORNA, Malaysia —
Rescue teams searching
southeast Asian seas on Monday
zeroed in on a band of heavily
armed assailants, who had
stormed one of the world’s top
diving resorts and sped off with
20 hostages.
An American couple escaped
by refusing to swim out to the kid
nappers’ boats and then hiding
overnight in nearby bushes.
Philippine Muslim rebels who
are seeking the release of militants
jailed in the United States claimed
responsibility Tuesday for the kid
napping. But Philippine officials
quickly expressed skepticism
over the statement.
Defense Minister Najib Tun
Razak said Monday that an air-and
sea search team had determined
where the hostages—half of whom
were foreign tourists—were being
held, following their abduction the
previous evening on the lush
Sipadan Island in eastern Malaysia.
“We now know their exact loca
tion,” Najib said without giving
details. The Philippine and
Malaysian navies were coordinat
ing the rescue effort.
Malaysian police said they sus
pected “political motives” were
behind the attack. “We believe a
foreign element is involved,” In
spector General of Police Norian
Mai said.
The attack began when six
masked gunmen, carrying AK-47s
and a rocket launcher and speak
ing a Philippine language,
grabbed tourists and workers and
confiscated their cash and jewel
ry, Norian said.
Russia to display fragment
of Hitler’s skull at exhibition
5 MOSCOW — An exhibition
opening Wednesday to mark
the end of World War II will feature
what officials claim is a fragment of
Adolf Hitler’s skull that was kept in
a secret archive for decades.
The fragment — with a bullet
hole through it — will be dis
played at the Federal Archives
Service in an exhibition called
“The Agony of the Third Reich:
The Retribution” to mark the 55th
anniversary of the end of the war.
The authenticity of the claim
has been in question since
Moscow first announced it had
the fragment in 1993. A Hitler bi
ographer Werner Maser said that
the fragment was a fake.
The director of the exhibition
hall, Aliya Borkovets, insisted
Monday that “no doubts remain”
about the authenticity of the skull
fragments.
Officials said Monday they also
had Hitler’s jaw, but it was too
fragile to put on display and just a
photograph will be displayed.
Vladimir Kozlov, head of the
Federal Archives Service, and of
ficials from the Federal Security
Service — the main successor to
the KGB — did not say at a news
conference Monday how the skull
fragments came to be in Moscow.
The exhibition will include
documents on Soviet work to
identify the remains, the archives
service said in a statement. It will
also display materials from a So
viet investigation into Hitler’s sui
cide, some of his belongings and
items from his bunker.
The Associated Press
Calendar
April 25
The Spring Equipment Swap will be
held in the EMU Ballroom at 7:30
p.m.
Environmental Issues Committee
Meeting: 11 a.m. - noon. EMU
Umpqua Room. For information,
browse darkwing.uoregon.edu/~eic
or call 346-1738.
Sociology Lecture: Eileen Barker,
London School of Economics, dis
cusses “And the Wall Came Tumbling
Down: Religion and the Rise of Na
tionalism in Eastern Europe." Noon.
Room 228, Chiles Business Center.
Free. For information, call 346-1169.
InterSEXions Conference: Brown bag
presentation by Kate Sullivan,
Women’s Studies graduate student,
on TransGendering Monstrosity.
Noon. Suite 34, EMU. Free.
For information, browse
darkwing.uoregon.edu/~program
or call 346-1134.
InterSEXions Conference: Lecture by
Susan Stryker on “Transexuality in
the Field of Vision: The Cultural Poli
tics of Transgender Presence in Un
derground Films from the ’60s.” 4
r
7777777777
p.m. Alumni Lounge, Gerlinger Hall.
Free. For information, browse
da rkwi ng. uoregon.ed u/~progra m
or call 346-1134.
InterSEXionsConference: Lecture by
Daphne Scholinsky on “What’s All
the LOCO-motion? Art Sanity and
Gender.” 7 p.m. Alumni Lounge,
Gerlinger Hall. Free.
For information, browse
darkwing.uoregon.edu/~program
or call 346-1134.
Ethnic Studies Lecture: Jose Saldivar,
University of California, Berkeley,
discusses “In Search of the Mexican
Elvis: Border Matters in American
Subaltern Studies.” 3-5 p.m. EMU Fir
Room. Free. For information, call
Patty Starks-Smith, 346-0901.
Classified staff meeting with admin
istrators: University President Dave
Frohnmayer, Oregon University Sys
tem Chancellor Joe Cox and other
administrators will take questions
from the Classified Staff Training
and Development Advisory Commit
tee and the Office of Human Re
sources from 10 a.m. to noon in the
EMU Ballroom. Refreshments will be
provided.
YOUR place for new/, clawified/, me/zaje board/,
reader/ poll/, ODE archive/ and mote...
Goodwrench Service/£-&</
MINUTES
OR LESS OR
your next Lube Service is
P*
On Most
■ GM Vehicles
SERVICE WHILE YOU WAIT
• Lube, oil & filter • Vehicle Inpections • Tires Rotated • Wheel Pack • 39 Point Safety Inspection • Transmission Fluid & Service
• Wiper Inspection & Replacement • Differential Service • Radiator Inspection Service • Lighting System Check & Bulb Replacement
• Goodwrench Service • Close to Campus • Option to leave your car there
when in class • Hit us at Lunch time... we’re that quick!
You’ll get a LIFETIME GUARANTEE** on parts and labor. Plus competitive up-front pricing and courtesy Transportation.
No Appointment Needed!
Uof o
Orchard Street
We’ll give you more than just an
OIL CHANGE
$-|Q95
Includes up to 5 quarts of GM Goodwrench Motor oil, a
new AC Delco Oil Filter, Chassis lube and ten-point
maintenance check, all in 29 minutes or less!
Restrictions may apply to some vehicles.
originally
$24 95'
NO COUPON NEEDED!
Everyday low price.
ROMANIA
Goodwrench Quick bJoe'^ud
| Chevrolet | The 'Ttfud means better.
‘See dealer for details. On most vehicles. “ See us tor guarantee details
2020 Franklin Blvd., Eugene • 465-3588 • Open Mon-Fri 7:30-5:30