An independent newspaper
www.dailyemerald.com
The Bourne Supremacy opens Friday Page 7
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 106, Issue 10
UO researches Donner cannibalism
Artifacts at the suspected
Donner party site are studied
for evidence of cannibalism
BEN BROWN
NEWS REPORTER
The story of the Donner party is infamous
and widely known. Eighty-one men, women
and children pinned down by snow on the far
side of the Sierra Nevada mountains starved
and eventually resorted to cannibalism before
the 40 survivors were rescued.
However, State Museum of Anthropology
Research Associate Julie Schablitsky and oste
ologist Guy Tasaboth part-time University in
structors, have found artifacts that might tell a
different tale of that tragic winter in 1846.
"It's a big story because of the cannibal
ism, which has been sensationalized,"
said Schablitsky. "The real story is about
survival."
Earlier this summer, Schablitsky and a
team of researchers from the University of
Oregon and the University of Montana
found a cooking hearth, bone fragments,
broken china, jewelry and musket balls at
the site at Alder Creek Camp in California's
Tahoe National Forest.
Schablitsky said these artifacts provide
long-sought-after definitive proof
that Alder Creek is where the Donner party
spent the winter of 1846-47. The hearth
is specifically important, she said, because
it is evidence of long-term residence
and not just an overnight stay by other
pioneers or miners.
The bone fragments will allow researchers
to finally prove whether the pioneers resorted
to cannibalism to stay alive during those long
hungry months, Schablitsky said.
Tasa said cursory examination of the bones
reveals that they all come from large mammals,
but at present he can not say what animals —
oxen, deer or humans — they came from.
"If we identify non-human bone, we can
say they were hunting resources not consid
ered before," Tasa said.
Diaries from the camp have never re
vealed whether the trapped pioneers hunt
ed, but Schablitsky says new evidence indi
cates they did. More than 50 musket balls
were found near the hearth. Schablitsky said
Please see CANNIBALISM, page 4
Erik R. Bishoff Online & Photo Editor
Research Associate Julie Schablitsky displays a piece of lead shot
found near the recently discovered Donner party hearth. Osteologist
and archeologist Guy Tasa (background) will assist in the
investigation of bone fragments found at the excavation site.
STAR GAZERS
Innovative telescope builder John Dobson, celebrated for helping popularize amateur astronomy, teaches on campus this summer
Erik R. Bishoff Online & Photo Editor
John Dobson, world-renowned astronomer and creator of the Dobsonian telescope mount, teaches summer
classes on cosmology and telescope construction at the University.
OMIE DRAWHORN
NEWS REPORTER
On Friday night John Dobson was out on the
town, living it up in a way only John Dob
son could. He stood outside of Prince Puck
" lei's Ice Cream on the corner of East 19 th Street and
Agate Street with a 12-inch-diameter telescope set up
on the sidewalk, urging passersby to take a look, to
see the universe they live in and to understand it.
"It's not enough just to see it, you need to under
stand what the hell you see," Dobson said.
Dobson — a world-renowned astronomer, co
founder of Sidewalk Astronomers and inventor of
the Dobsonian telescope mount, which is used
worldwide — has made it his mission to share
his love and knowledge of astronomy with the
rest of the world.
Now he's brought this vision to the University.
Dobson travels around the world, but is current
ly living in Eugene teaching classes on telescope
making and cosmology.
Dobson currently teaches a 20-student, twice
weekly class in telescope making. Under his instruc
tion, students are building cardboard Newtonian
telescopes, which are shaped like cannons. Most of
the telescope lenses are between eight and 12 inches.
Garth Eliassen, Dobson's host when he lived in
Monmouth, said the telescopes are made out of
"junk." The students use plywood for the base,
cardboard for the tube and a binocular part for the
telescope's eyepiece.
The telescopes will be on display at the Science
Factory Children's Museum and Planetarium at
Please see TELESCOPE, page 3
Trade commission urged to censor Fox News
The Federal Trade Commission
will give 'little consideration'
to claims Fox News is misleading
MICHAEL A. BOOTH
FREELANCE REPORTER
Political-action committee MoveOn.org has
blasted Fox News' slogan "Fair and Balanced" as
"false and deceptive advertising," calling on the Fed
eral Trade Commission to censor the news outlet
under its authority to regulate commercial speech.
MoveOn.org, which has more than two mil
lion members, according to its Web site, recently
promoted the documentary "Outfoxed: Rupert
Murdoch's War on Journalism," and followed
m
the promotion with a petition that challenges
Fox News' slogan as false advertising.
The Web site claims Fox News is intentionally
misleading the public by promoting a biased
conservative message. Hie organization says the
proof is in the documentary, in which former
Fox News employees allege that channel execu
tives hand down a politically conservative agen
da and decide how to work it into a seemingly
objective news piece.
Cable television news channels are loosely reg
ulated by the Federal Communications Com
mission, not the FTC, but are only censored by
the FCC in cases of defamation and obscenity.
The FTC has a responsibility to regulate
commercial speech but it is unprecedented to
consider censorship of any news organization.
Kyu Ho Youm, University School of Journal
ism and Communication professor and
Jonathan Marshall First Amendment Chair, said
the petition has little legal merit and is likely "po
litically and ideologically motivated."
"I don't think the FTC will address this issue,"
Youm said. 'Most likely, they will dismiss it out
of hand."
In a statement to the Associated Press, Fox news
spokeswoman Irena Briganti said, "While this is
clearly a transparent publicity stunt, we recognize
all forms of free speech and wish them well."
The FTC investigates all complaints by the pub
lic, but the commission will give the petition little
serious consideration, according to a statement
Please see LAWSUIT, page 3
Senators
question
committee
authority
The ASUO Student Senate
summer session debates
issue resolutions and
documentation of minutes
MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
FREELANCE REPORTER
The ASUO Student Senate debated July
15 whether it could assume the full senate's
authority to pass resolutions, revealing di
visions among summer-session senators
over the role of the summer committee.
The debate stemmed from an issue reso
lution some senators wanted to refer to the
Rules Committee and sparked a deeper
discussion about problems in the way the
Senate has operated this summer, includ
ing the Senate's failure to provide the man
dated documentation of meeting minutes
to University officials.
Summer-session Senate President Ro
drigo Moreno-Villamar supported the pro
posed resolution that criticized a Multicul
tural Center employee's job evaluation
that resulted in a "substandard" contract.
However, summer-session Senate Vice
President James George and Senator Kevin
Day both heavily criticized the resolution,
arguing that the Green Tape Notebook
prohibits the summer-session Senate from
passing resolutions.
"We cannot pass this resolution because
we're not the full Senate; we're a commit
tee of the Senate," Day said, referring to
Senate rule 10.2, which explicitly states
"The proposed resolution shall be present
ed to the full Senate at a regularly sched
uled meeting." Rule 8.5 of the Green Tape
Notebook calls for the Senate to make a
summer committee, which Day said he in
terprets to mean that the summer Senate
is not, and cannot, act as the full Senate.
If Day's interpretation is correct, the Senate
violated its rules June 24 when it passed an is
sue resolution in support of the
Please see SENATE, page 3