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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2004)
Today Tuesday Wednesday High: 47 High: 48 High: 54 Low: 44 Low: 41 Low: 47 Precip: 100% Precip: 100% Precip: 70% IN BRIEF Bus ambush leaves 17 civilians dead in Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq — Gunmen am bushed a bus carrying unarmed Iraqis to work at a U.S. ammo dump near Tikrit on Sunday, killing 17 and raising the toll from three days of in tensified and bloody insurgent at tacks to at least 70 Iraqi dead and dozens wounded. The attacks, fo cused in Baghdad and several cities to the north, appeared to be aimed at scaring off those who cooperate with the American military — whether po lice, national guardsmen, Kurdish militias or ordinary people just look ing for a paycheck. Insurer will refund Oregon school districts PORTLAND — The scandal engulf ing the world’s largest insurance bro kerage firm has reached Oregon. The Portland office of insurance broker Marsh USA — the firm at the center of a corruption investigation in New York — has agreed to reimburse six Oregon school districts and one community college for $1.2 million in insurance overcharges stretching back to 2000. Marsh officials told school districts in Beaverton and in Eugene that they each had been overcharged $180,000 dollars over the last four years, dis trict officials said. Officials at the Salem-Keizer and Reynolds school districts confirmed they each had been overcharged by $200,000. The Oregon City School Dis trict, Springfield School District and Lane Community College said they too had been billed thousands of dollars more than they should have paid for property and casualty insurance. State insurance agents and the attor ney general’s office have opened an in vestigation into Marsh’s dealings with Oregon schools. Marsh, the target of a sweeping white-collar corruption investiga tion by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, has admitted it im properly charged the districts com mission payments. But the insurer is vigorously at tempting to distance the overbilling er ror in Oregon from Spitzer’s broader bid-rigging lawsuit against Marsh’s New York-based parent company, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Spitzer sued Marsh in October, claiming the company collected more than $800 million from insur ance companies in return for engi neering sham bidding and steering them new business. Spitzer filed his lawsuit Oct. 14. — The Associated Press r DPS revises draft of motor vehicle pursuit policy Director Tom Hicks said some of the policy's language needs to be less restrictive before it can be finalized BY JARED PABEN NEWS EDITOR Six months after the Department of Public Safety released a pursuit policy rough draft that effectively prohibits officers in patrol vehicles from chasing suspects, DPS Interim Director Tom Hicks said he still must reconcile his concerns about what he views as overly restrictive language before moving forward with a final draft in the next two weeks. DPS decided to create a pursuit policy — the first ever for the depart ment — in October 2003, three months after an officer in a patrol ve hicle drove on a sidewalk and struck a fleeing suspect riding a bicycle. The policy rough draft, which has n’t changed since it was first released at a Public Safety Advisory Group meeting in early June, prohibits all pursuits in a motorized vehicle. Hicks said Friday he will proba bly change some of the draft’s lan guage because some of it is too re strictive, but was hoping to get a final draft assembled within two weeks. If he does make those changes, he will take the new lan guage to PSAG in January for pub lic input and send it to University General Counsel Melinda Grier’s of fice for legal advice, he said. “Right now, the real hanging point is we have a statement that says DPS officers will only pursue persons who have committed or whom the officer has probable cause to believe have committed a crime,” Hicks said. “The thing that I’m trying to clarify in my mind is, do we want to revise the wording to say something like ‘or have reasonable suspicions to have committed a crime.’” As an example, Hicks said a DPS officer who sees a suspect pop up from behind a bicycle rack late at night and take off running has a “reasonable suspicion,” but not “probable cause.” Hicks also said he is unsure whether to change the language of the clause to allow officers to pursue suspects who commit a violation such as smoking marijuana. The draft also prohibits officers from us ing motorized vehicle to block anoth er vehicle, but Hicks said there may be situations where that should be al lowed. Lastly, Hicks said he’d like the policy to allow officers in patrol vehi cles to follow, not pursue, suspects driving a motorized vehicle in order to gather vehicle information. “The way this is written now, even that would be questionable whether the officer would have that discre tion, and I have a little bit of an issue with that, and I need to resolve it be fore we finalize this,” Hicks said. “It could be, and probably will be, that the officer shall receive approval of some sort to initiate that.” The policy has been in the works for more than a year, Hicks said, adding that he hopes to get a final draft instituted by February. Hicks said there have been no DPS pursuits since the July 2003 officer suspect collision. Since that time, DPS officers have been operating un der a verbal directive stating that pur suits won’t be initiated in a motor ized vehicle, while allowing bicycle pursuits, Hicks said. jaredpaben@dailyemerald.com ii i ■020944 I I Open an Christmas Tuesday and Thursday in the cantina* Handmade fresh with 100% stoneground corn maza choice of chicken or steak *21 and over in the cantina I El Torito in Eugene - 1003 Valley River Way, ^^^icross from Valley River Center Who-Song & Larry's in Vancouver, north base of 1-5 bridge and in Portland in John's Landing on the Willamette River n the Willamette River 4 —P ^*\ 014617 Do you need to take the GRE • GMAT • TOEFL* PPST/PRAXIS The University of Oregon Testing Office is an official ETS computer-based testing site. Testing is available year-round, Monday-Friday, 2 sessions a day. Appointments can be scheduled by calling 541.346.2772 or by visiting the Testing Office. The Testing Office is located on the 2nd floor (Rm. 238) of the University Health and Counseling Center, 1590 E. 13th Ave., Eugene OR. The period of greatest demand is usually Sept, through March, so it makes sense to plan ahead. For more information visit the Testing Office web site at http://www.uoregon.edu/~testing/ 020406, ARE YOUR WEEKENDS MISSING SOMETHING? + + + + Join us on Sundays for worship services featuring Holy Communion. We have traditional services on Sunday mornings and Marty Haugen services on Sunday evenings. Sundays 8:15 am, 10:45 am and 6:30 pm Student/Young Adult Bible Study, Sundays, 7:30 pm Central Lutheran Church Corner of 18th &. Potter • 345.0395 __www.welcotnetocentral.org All are welcome. A UO CAMPUS ALTERNATIVE SINCE 1974 768 East l 3th 345-1651 525 Willamette 343-471 7 a proud member of Unique Eugene SSeO STUDENT COOPERATIVE HOUSING II tlYMG fllTCRflflTIYC Lorax Manner • Vegan • Environmentally conscious Campbell Club • Diverse • Social • Artistic • Largest Janet Smith House • Independent • Cozy We hare immediate opening/... ... Or cheek us out for next academic year Since the houses are owned by the members who make decisions by consensus, everyone has the opportunity to take an active role in creating their ideal environment. We find shared living more social, affordable, and environmentally friendly than living on our own. We are open to undergraduate or graduate students taking 3 credits or more at any local college. Membership fees are as low as $345 per month, and include living space, food, utilities, and toiletries. Please contact the Students’ Cooperative Association at 541-6814112 or asuosch@gladstone.uoregon.edu to schedule dinner and a tour, or just stop by!
