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Portland Archdiocese files for bankruptcy In the wake of costly sex-abuse lawsuits, the church rallies its family' in trying times WILLIAM MCCALL ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER PORTLAND — Portland Archbish op John Vlazny urged Roman Catholics to rally around the church, one day after the Portland Archdio cese became the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy because of the mounting costs of sex abuse lawsuits. In a brief sermon during morning Mass Wednesday, Vlazny did not re fer directly to his decision to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the Archdiocese of Portland, an nounced Tuesday. The archbishop said the purpose of the church was to follow the teachings of Christ, including the need to take responsibility for sin in order for it to be forgiven. After the betrayal of Christ, "I imag ine heads had to bow when the name Judas Iscariot was said," Vlazny told a small group of mostly elderly parish ioners scattered among the front rows of the Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception, referring to the disciple whom the Bible says betrayed Christ. "Undoubtedly many heads are bowing in embarrassment and shame today," he said, "when we still have traces of that original sin in our church." Vlazny called the church a family that often suffers together while it seeks to help others. "Sometimes we are ashamed and need to do penance because of problems in our family," the arch bishop said. "But we cannot stay mired in that frustration and that sense of failure." Josie Meskill, a longtime parish ioner who immigrated from Ireland in 1947, said many of her fellow parishioners were concerned about the sex abuse lawsuits and the bankruptcy, but they try to put it in perspective. Meskill said the Roman Catholic church has survived war, schism, per secution and upheaval "so this is not the end of the world." "Like the archbishop said today, we are a family, and we stand by each other," Meskill said. Another longtime parishioner who identified himself only by his first name, Thomas, said he was a retired accountant who had seen plenty of companies facing financial problems during his career. The church was forced to make a business decision to seek protection for assets that can be used to help the poor and needy, he said. He also questioned whether some the victims and their attorneys were asking too much, referring to one vic tim seeking $ 130 million in damages for alleged abuse. "Come on," Thomas said. "There is such a thing as common sense." Initiative petitions still subject to 'sign-and-date' regulation An injunction request that claims signatures were 'unfairly disqualified' was turned down Wednesday ASSOCIATED PRESS PORTLAND — State elections offi cials can continue rejecting initiative petitions that are improperly dated or signed, a II.S. District Court judge ruled Wednesday. ludge Owen Panner turned down an injunction request by a coalition of po litical activists, who argue that voter sig natures are being unfairly disqualified due to tiny errors like "a slip of the pen." A state requirement dating to 2002 mandates that petition circulators must sign and date every signature sheet they turn in. State elections officials do not count petition sheets with mistakes such as crossed-out and rewritten dates. Organizers of initiatives on same sex marriage, medical marijuana, forests and other issues say that rule violates the First Amendment, and could deprive voters of their rights to weigh in on initiatives. But assistant attorney general David Leith, who represented Secre tary of State Bill Bradbury at Wednes day's hearing, said that the sign-and date requirement is meant to guard against fraud and forgery. "The problem is trying to distin guish between which one (error) was a slip of the pen and which one was a fraudulent attempt to turn in an in valid petition," Leith said. Portland attorney Dan Meek said plaintiffs hope to learn on July 21 whether the "hundreds of signatures" Best Sunday K thrown out under the state regulation will be declared valid. Judge Panner could issue one of three rulings. He may mandate that the rule remain in place, or he could require secretary of state to accept the rejected petitions. He might also ask circulators to submit affidavits verify ing that the signatures and dates are correct. That could be difficult be cause many petition circulators are out of town, the lawyer said. Initiative organizers worry that the state elections rule could hurt smaller grassroots efforts by tossing out even a few signatures. "Obviously all the initiatives with millions of dollars can afford to col lect twice as many signatures. But our campaign has been close to the bone, " said John Sajo, chief petitioner for the medical marijuana initiative. 'Express lane' allows business passengers speedy airport checks The automated screening process is aimed at easing airport congestion BRIAN BAKST ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER MINNEAPOLIS — Select airline passengers breezed through securi ty Wednesday at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport in the start of an experiment to ease de lays and make flying a little more agreeable. Under the program, frequent business fliers will not be subject to random searches if they pass back ground checks in advance and do not set off any alarms while moving through security. Minneapolis-St. Paul is the first of five U.S. airports to take part in the program, which could be made per manent. Airports in Boston, Los An geles, Houston and Washington are scheduled to adopt the practice over the next two months. By midmorning, about 50 North west Airlines passengers used the special express lane that the Trans portation Security Administration hopes will reduce wait times for fre quent fliers while allowing screeners to focus their attention elsewhere. "If we can ease the congestion at the busy checkpoints just a little bit, that's a good reason to have the reg istered traveler program," said Carol DiBattiste, chief of staff for theTSA. Over the past two weeks, about 2,400 frequent business travelers have signed up, providing scans of irises and fingerprints and exten sive personal information. That in formation was cross-checked against several criminal and terror related databases. DiBattiste said the overwhelm ing majority of those who applied were admitted into the program. She would not comment on those who failed. On Wednesday, some of those registered travelers were moving through the lone express lane at the airport's six security checkpoints. It took about a minute for registered travelers to get through security and about five minutes for everyone else. The registered travelers presented their boarding passes to an agent who asked them to put their left in dex finger on a scanner. After about three seconds, a computer screen read: "Success. You may proceed." The registered travelers still had to go through a metal detector and their carry-on bags had to go through an X-ray machine. However, they were not subject to random searches once they passed that point. Twin Cities businessman Bert Harman said he had written two let ters to Congress asking for some thing like the program, and he was happy when he got it. There was no line when he went through security. "It was simple so far, hopefully it stays that way," he said. Gary Fishman, senior vice presi dent for Northwest, said he hopes the program will encourage busi ness travelers to fly rather than drive. Airlines lost many customers after Sept. 11 and the security restrictions that followed. Justin Oberman, aTSA official in charge of the program, said the sys tem has adequate safeguards. "If you are able to beat the back ground check, you still have to go through security," he said. "You're going to have to get through the metal detector." Brian Bakst is a writer for the Associated Press. You’re always close to campus. - ■ —> www.dailyemerald.com 019235 ARE YOUR WEEKENDS MISSING SOMETHING? + + TT Join us on Sundays tor worship services featuring Holy Communion. We have traditional services on Sunday mornings and Marty Haugen services on Sunday evenings. 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