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
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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. Q *
Authorized and paid for by Vicki Walker for State Representative
STATE REPRESENTATIVE - DEMOCRAT
FIND THINGS IN ODE CLASSIFIEDS (BICYCLES, PETS, CARS, JOBS,
ROOMMATES, APARTMENTS, CONCERT TICKETS, PLANE TICKETS,
STUFF YOU LOST, TYPING SERVICES, ON-CAMPUS OPPORTUNITIES)