Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2002)
Presents the 56th Annual Eugene Active 20-30 Club ,Jul\ 4th at Alton Baker Park Parking at Aut/en Stadium S2 (SI with your Bi-Mart card) .Admission: S3 tor Adults S2 lor Kids 6-12 Free tor Kids 5 and under :i: Event begins at 4pm ^Fireworks start at dusk (I Op) * Music/Food/Beer Garden/ Kids & Family Games thanks to these t'ino Sponsors! SCORPIO Will an old friend appear today? find out in the ODE Classifieds every day! WorldCom Inc. faces charges, bankruptcy By Vikas Bajaj The Dallas Morning News DALLAS (KRT) — The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud and other charges against WorldCom Inc. Wednesday in feder al court in New York, putting the company a step closer to bankruptcy. The action came a day after the nation’s second-biggest long-dis tance company revealed it had in flated 2001 and first-quarter 2002 earnings by improperly accounting for expenses. SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, speaking at a news conference in New York, said he would seek to bar the company from destroying doc uments or paying executives sever ance. The agency accused the com pany of inflating profits to please Wall Street. “In a scheme directed and ap proved by its senior management, WorldCom disguised its true oper ating performance by using undis closed and improper accounting that materially overstated its in come,” the SEC contended. WorldCom officials couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday evening. Separately, the Justice Depart ment said it was considering a crim inal investigation, and U.S. Rep. Bil ly Tauzin, R-La., said his House Energy and Commerce Committee would begin an investigation. President Bush chastised the company earlier in the day, saying mounting corporate misdeeds were undercutting investors confidence in the nation’s economy and finan cial markets. “Today the revelations that WorldCom has misaccounted $3.4 billion is outrageous,” Bush said in Kananaskis, Canada, where he was attending a summit of world lead ers. “We will fully investigate and hold people accountable for mis leading, not only shareholders, but employees as well.” Michael K. Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Com mission, said the agency was moni toring WorldCom and he would vis it industry officials and others in New York to assess the impact on the nation’s telephone system and Internet infrastructure. MCI is WorldCom’s long-distance division. Experts said WorldCom will have to declare bankruptcy to survive, and even then the company’s future appears bleak. The Nasdaq stock market halted trading in WorldCom early Wednes day morning before the market opened. The stock had fallen to about a dime in pre-market trading. It closed Tuesday at 83 cents. Experts said WorldCom’s banks will probably push it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which lets compa nies renegotiate its debts. The com pany was already in talks with banks to secure a new $5 billion credit line. But as the company’s long-dis tance business continues to shrink, WorldCom will be hard-pressed to convince bankers and other lenders it can pay them back, let alone get a new loan. Before the SEC riled charges, WorldCom spokesman Brad Bums called talk of bankruptcy “specula tion.” The company has previously said it remains viable, because it doesn’t have to pay down its $30 billion debt in the next six months. “We are in discussion with our bank lenders,” he said. “We are certainly hopeful we will get their support.” ©2002, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Pledge continued from page 1 As a result of the decision, an atheist Sacramento father’s icono clastic, one-man legal crusade could be transformed into one of the most contentious church-state bat tles to reach the U.S. Supreme Court in years. In a 2-1 vote, the federal ap peals court sided with his argument that the pledge violates the Consti tution’s strict provisions separating church and state. “In the context of the pledge, the statement that the United States is a nation ‘under God’ is an endorse ment of religion,” wrote 9th Circuit Judge Alfred Goodwin. It is identical, he added, to “a profession that we are a nation under Jesus,” a nation “un der Vishnu,” a nation “under Zeus” or a nation “under no god. ” The decision, which appears des tined for review in the Supreme Court, was jeered by politicians and others who warned it could serve as justifica tion for banning the word God from everything from U.S. currency to the Declaration of Independence. In a 99-0 vote, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday backed a resolution sup porting the pledge and instructed its legal counsel to intervene in the case while 100 members of Congress recit ed the pledge on the steps of the Capi tol. The bipartisan vitriol took direct uni versiTY COMMONS apaRTmenTS 90 CoMmoNs DRive EuGenE, OR 97401 Welcome UO Students! 338.4000 OpeN 7 Days a week FuRNisHed 1, 2 & 4 BeDRoom ApanmeNts • CLubHousE w/GaMe Room • Deckcd out kiTCHeNS • FiTNess CEnTEr • CAbLe/lNteRNeT HooKups • AMPle REsiDEnT and VisiTor PArKinG • EMerGeNCY AlArM Buttons • SwiMMinG Pool • iNdividuAl LeAsEs • LiGHtEd VoLLeyBaLL & BAsKetBaLL CouRts • RooMMaTe MaTCHinG SERvicE • OuTdooR Gas GHlls & BBQ • On Bus RoUTe to CAMpus 4 BeorooM, 2 bAtH stArriNg aT $325 2 bEdRooM, 2 Bath sTaRtine At $395 www.universitycommons.com aim at the 9th Circuit, a frequent tar get of controversy over the years and widely regarded as the nation’s most liberal federal appeals court. But while the reaction to the rul ing amounted to a collective wave of the American flag, the law might have a less emotional response. Even though the ruling is the first of its kind, legal experts were quick to point out that the Supreme Court has on a number of occasions taken a firm stance on keeping religion out of schools and government. Sixty years ago, the court made it clear that students cannot be forced to recite the pledge. Even conserva tive Justice Anthony Kennedy, in a 1989 case, specifically warned in a dissent on a different church-state issue that the pledge might be prob lematic for atheists. Congress added the words “Un der God” to the pledge in 1954, with a declaration from then-President Dwight Eisenhower that “millions of schoolchildren will daily pro claim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty, ” Michael Newdow, who brought the suit without a lawyer and now finds himself squaring off against the White House, Congress and the U.S. Justice Department, called the ruling “unquestionably correct.” “It’s ironic,” Newdow said. “Imagine having to say we’re one nation under Buddha every morn ing. The Christian community would go crazy. It’s the same thing to an atheist.” ©2002, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. EXCHANGE Quality New dr Used Office Furnishings • 100's of Chairs • Vertical Files • Cubicles • Exec Desks • Lateral Files • Credenzas • Computer Armoires • Bookcases • Storage Cabinets • Conference Tables • Greaseboards • Reception Chairs NKW SHIPMENTS WEEKLY 687-7965 J 10th & Charnelton, Eugene 91EH0 | AND WIN Eugene Emerald tickets Drawings are held weekly during the season. • Close to campus • Clean • Handicap Accessible Machines ♦ Serving the Area for 26 years MR. CLEAN JEAN'S COIN-OP LAUNDRY 240 E. 17th (between High & Pearl) 7'f; ■
