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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2000)
Space shuttle Discovery swoons into California By Matthew Fordahi The Associated Press EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Space shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts landed in California’s Mojave Desert on Tues day after dangerously high wind prevented a touchdown in Florida for the third day in a row. The shuttle swooped through a clear sky and touched down on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base about 2 p.m. PDT, ending a 13-day flight during which the astronauts got the international space station ready for the arrival of its first full time residents next week. The desert landing, the first for a shuttle since 1996, will be expen sive for NASA. Ferrying Discovery back to Florida, done piggyback on a modified Boeing 747, is expected to cost close to $1 million. The mission was NASA’s 100th shuttle flight. The shuttle zoomed across the Pacific and right over Los Angeles, then northward into Ed wards on the final approach. “Welcome back to Earth after a super-successful mission,” Mission Control said after Discovery rolled to a safe stop. “Great to be back,” replied Cmdr. Brian Duffy. Gusts of close to 30 mph forced NASA to pass up a landing attempt at Cape Canaveral, Fla., earlier in the day. The wind also kept the shuttle from landing in Florida on Sunday and Monday, while rain clouds at Edwards on Monday scut tled landing plans there. To the astronauts’ relief, the weath er was ideal at Edwards on Tuesday. As Discovery flew over metropol itan Los Angeles, about 80 miles south of Edwards, two sonic booms blasted through the atmosphere. Minutes later, the shuttle touched down on a runway, not far from desert scrub. “We had a terrific mission,” Duffy said two hours after landing. “While we were there, we knew that we helped the future of the International Space Station and so doing we helped the future of the space program.” During the flight. Duffy and his crew installed two new segments on the outside of the space station and also spruced up the inside for the three men who will be moving in for four months. They conducted four spacewalks on four consecutive days, an exceptional — and ex hausting — amountof work. The astronauts toiled from morn ing to night, from the time they rock eted into orbit on Oct. 11 until their departure from the space station on Friday. A broken antenna and a short circuit made their work even more difficult. Shuttle program manager Ron Dit temore gave the astronauts an “A plus” for their efforts. “This one’s go ing to be hard to beat,” he said at a news conference after landing. Now the spotlight shifts to Russia and Kazakhstan. Astronaut Bill Shepherd and two cosmonauts are scheduled to lift off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan on Oct. 31. They will ar rive at the 240-mile-high space sta tion two days later. The next shuttle flight is a trip to the space station by Endeavour in early December, to carry up giant so lar panels. Discovery, meanwhile, is supposed to return to the space sta tion in February, to pick up Shep herd and his crew and drop off their replacements. The retrieval mission remains on track, even though technicians may have to work over the Christmas holidays to get the shuttle ready, Dittemore said. Work will be de layed about a week as Discovery is ferried back to Florida. Space shuttles have landed 45 times before at Edwards. Until the early 1990s, it served as NASA’s main touchdown site. Federal government puts college crime statistics online By Liz Sidoti The Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio — The gov ernment is putting campus crime statistics for 6,700 colleges and uni versities on the Internet, but making realistic comparisons among schools may be nearly impossible. While the Education Department forced all institutions of higher edu cation that receive federal funds to turn in crime figures, there is no na tional set of standards for how crimes are compiled or even de fined. For example, the Internet report on Ohio State University shows the Columbus campus reporting 179 burglaries in 1999. Arizona State University’s main campus in Tempe is about the same size but reported 355 burglaries 1999. Is the Arizona school nearly twice as burglary prone as the one in Ohio? No one knows for sure, said department spokeswoman Jane Glickman, because there are no na tional standards for campus crime reporting. Beyond that, she said, the department assumes, without checking, that reports are correct. Reports from the Pratt Institute in New York City shows it is nearly crime-free, with no assaults, rob beries, auto thefts or arsons in 1999. Fordham University, also in New York City, also reported no rob beries. The Department of Education has required campuses to report crimes for the past 10 years. It stipulates schools must disclose violent crimes, burglaries and auto thefts on campus and arrests for liquor, drug and weapons violations. The law was amended in 1998 to require the reports be available on the Internet. As of Tuesday, the deadline for schools to submit statistics for the last three years, information from 4,200 schools was posted, and data from other schools was in the process of being entered, Glickman said. Corye Barbour, the U.S. Student Association’s legislative director, acknowledged data was not consis tent, but praised the Web site for making information available in one place. Previously, students had to con tact schools individually seeking the numbers. “Statistics aren’t foolproof, but re porting these numbers is a step in the right direction,” Barbour said. “We really haven’t come up with a way to quantify how much violent crime students are experiencing, but this is a start.” The disclosure law was prompt ed by the 1986 murder of 19-year old Jeanne Clery at Lehigh Universi ty in Bethlehem, Pa. Fellow student Joseph M. Henry, who entered the dorm through security doors propped open by pizza boxes, was convicted and sentenced to death. Clery’s parents later learned that 38 violent crimes had not been made public in the three years be fore their daughter’s murder. In 1998, Congress toughened the law because of spotty compliance. Colleges now can be fined $25,000 for each unreported crime. Mail-in continued from page 1A dence,” Southwell said. “There were concerns about fraud, and that a vote-by-mail might favor one par ty or another... A lot of people find it difficult to vote [and vote-by mail] makes it easier.” She found that 76.5 percent of the 1,225 respondents favored vote by-mail elections over the tradition al polling place elections. Respon dents said vote-by-mail was more convenient and less time-consum ing. Many of the inconveniences of poll place voting have been neutral ized by the ability to vote in your own home, ASUO Student Affairs Director Brian Tanner said. “With the number of ballot meas ures and candidates, voting out of the convenience of your home al lows you to fully digest the info at your own pace,” he said. To help students take advantage Speakers continued from page 1A Jed McGuire, co-chair for College Democrats, said Bradley is sched uled to speak sometime between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., but the time hasn’t been confirmed. “There’s a possibility he might not come at all because of conflicts with other speaking arrangements,” McGuire said. If Bradley can’t make it Thurs day, McGuire said he hopes the for PoKitical speakers coming to campus: Gloria Steinem 6 p.m. Wednesday in the EMU Ball room. Sponsored by Voters For Choice and the Hillel Jewish Women’s Collective Bill Bradley Between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday in the EMU Amphitheater. Sponsored by College Democrats Xander Patterson 4 p.m. Thursday in room 175 in the Knight Law School Sponsored by Land, Air, Water Everclear and Sen. Ron Wyden 10:30 a.m. Friday in the EMU Am phitheater Sponsored by College Democrats All events are free OUS1999 budget mer New Jersey senator will speak at the “Get Out and Vote Tour” stop on Friday. That event will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the EMU Amphithe ater, and will feature speeches from Sen. Ron Wyden and Everclear frontman Art Alexakis, as well as a free performance in the amphithe ater by the band. McGuire added that the College Democrats are working to resched ule an appearance by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, possibly for Oct. 31 or Nov. 1. Jackson canceled an engage ment earlier this month so he could stand on the picket lines with strik ing transit workers in Los Angeles. But before the band takes the stage on Friday, Patterson will speak at 4 p.m. Thursday in Room 175 at the Knight Law School. Be sides being co-chair of the Pacific Green Party — the local chapter of the national Green Party — Patter son is also the treasurer for Victory 2000, a group working to support the Nader campaign. Holly Harris, co-director of Land, Air, Water, the law society sponsor ing the event, said Patterson will give a brief introduction and then field questions from the audience. Land, Air, Water also brought Kathleen McGinty, environmental advisor for Gore, to campus in Sep tember for a similar town hall meet ing. At that time, the group gave an open invitation to the Nader and Bush campaigns to also send repre sentatives. So far, Harris said, the Bush campaign has not responded to the invitation. of the convenience vote-by-mail election provides, the ASUO made voter registration their primary goal for the fall term. The efforts of the campaign contributed to the more than 5,500 University students reg istered. “One of the difficulties is that college students move so much, it handicaps students from getting their voter registration filled out on time,” Tanner said. “That’s why it was such an intense campaign on this campus.” One Dozen Roses $15°° Delivered Call us! 344-9998 One dozen loses with greens, wrapped Delivered with your personal message Orders received by I :OOpm WBMfc delivered the same day 13th & Kincaid Voting by mail 1. Preferred method of voting: -Voting by Mail 76.5% [930] -Polling Place 15.4% [187] -Doesn’t Matter 8.1% [99] 2. Why do you prefer voting by mail to a polling place? [Multiple responses coded]. -Easier, more convenient 78.5% -Less time-consuming 27.5% -More time to read ballot 18.0% -Bad weather not a concern 12.5% -Constraints of job 10.8% 1996 survey of 1225 people in the vote-by-mail senate election, conducted by the Oregon Survey Research Laboratory. Lane County Fairgrounds October 26 - 28 * Thursday: Consign Equipment 9am-9pm ^ Friday! Consign Equipment 9am-5pm Sale 6pm - 9pm * Saturday: Sale 9am - 6pm Presented by: Willamette Pass; Willamette Backcountry & Santiam Pass Ski Patrols. Representative Vicki Walker Supports Tolerance Eaimess and Respect Vote NO Vicki Walker, Proud _8 Parent of UO Students. 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