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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2005)
Today Wednesday Thursday High: 69 Low: 54 Precip: 30% High: 64 Low: 49 Precip: 60% High: 67 Low: 47 Precip: 30% IN BRIEF Groom says he will still marry runaway bride DULUTH, Ga. — The jilted groom whose bride-to-be ran away four days before the wedding still wants to marry Jennifer Wilbanks, saying, “Haven’t we all made mistakes?” “Just because we haven’t walked down the aisle, just because we haven’t stood in front of 500 people and said our ‘I Do’s,’ my commit ment before God to her was the day I bought that ring and put it on her finger, and I’m not backing down from that,” John Mason said Monday in an interview with Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes show. It was Mason’s first public state ment since he learned on the morn ing of his scheduled wedding day that his fiancee had gotten cold feet. Family and friends feared the worst. Police say Wilbanks cut her hair and took a Greyhound bus to Las Vegas to back out of a lavish 600-guest wedding planned for Saturday. She went on to Albu querque, N.M., where she eventual ly called Mason and police from a pay phone at a 7-Eleven, saying she had been kidnapped. She later said it was simply a case of cold feet. Iraqi leaders try to fill Defense Ministry BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq’s incoming prime minister struggled to find a Sunni Arab to run the key Defense Ministry in time to join Iraq’s first democratically elected government when it takes office Tliesday. A torrent of bloodshed, at least 140 killed in five days, fol lowed the approval of a Cabinet that mostly shut out members of the dis affected Sunni minority. Disputes persisted over the De fense Ministry on Monday after Prime Minister-designate Ibrahim al-Jaafari filled six of the seven Cab inet seats left undecided last week, said al-Jaafari aide Laith Kuba. The defense portfolio, in charge of some 70,000 soldiers and national guards men, will be designated to a Sunni in an attempt to balance the con flicting demands of Iraq’s many reli gious and ethnic factions. At least 23 Iraqis were killed Monday, including eight soldiers cut down by a suicide attacker who blew up a truck at a checkpoint south of the capital. Six civilians were caught in a car bombing that set fire to a Baghdad apartment building. A British soldier was also killed by a roadside bomb in the southern city of Amarah. — The Associated Press Study reveals one in five Oregonians is uninsured BY NIKI SULLIVAN THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SALEM — Amid a shrinking Oregon Health Plan, Congress’ cuts in Medic aid funding and high unemployment, the number of Oregonians who lack health insurance has risen to 613,000, according to a study released Monday. Health care activists said at a news conference that the result is a “crisis” in which many uninsured adults can not afford preventative care or pre scription drugs, and end up in hospital emergency rooms. The Robert Wood Johnson Founda tion, which focuses on improving health care through grants, studied government census and Centers for Disease Control statistics and found that 19 percent of working adults in Oregon don’t have health insurance, the ninth-highest level in the nation. The jump in uninsured Oregonians is “huge” according to Maribeth Healy of Oregonians for Health Care. The number of uninsured Oregonians in creased by nearly 200,000 from 2002 to the 2004 census, Healy said. Vern Smith, 51, is one example of the one in five uninsured Oregonians. Smith suffered from multiple chron ic health problems, including diabetes and high cholesterol, which made him unable to work. He and his wife were on the Oregon Health Plan, but when she got a job the couple became ineligible, even though her work didn’t offer her insur ance and they still couldn’t afford to purchase it. In March, Smith suffered a heart at tack that sent him to the emergency room to get three stints in his heart. The bill was $100,000, which he said they cannot afford. With a tight budget, the Legislature has limited options this session to im prove access to health insurance. Neither Gov. Ted Kulongoski nor the Legislature’s budget-writers are pro posing additional money for the Ore gon Health Plan, a state-sponsored plan for those without Medicaid. Sen. Ben Westlund, R-Tumalo, joined Smith at the press confer ence, along with health care work ers and advocates, and called the situation a "crisis.” “This is insanity ... it has got to stop,” Westlund said of the high num ber of Oregonians who lack health in surance. Westlund said he wants to create a task force that would look into how to improve the situation in Oregon, in cluding inefficiencies in the Depart ment of Human Services, drug costs and how federal Medicaid and Medicare dollars are used. oeoizo Wednesday 1/2 Price Nachos 99 WEST BROADWAY • 683-3154 Spring Equipment Swap Tuesday, May 3, EMU Ballroom, 7:30 pm Buy, sell, trade, & socialize for FREE at this humming outdoor equipment flea market! R e t u r n 2 s e n d e r Thursday, May 5, 177 Lawrence, 7:00 pm Rock climbing, BASE jumping, a rock climbing dog and Timmy O'Neill is here to host it all! Tickets at the door: $7 UOstudent/OP Co-op, $9 general. Smith Rock Clean-UP depart Saturday, May 7,8:00 am: OP Barn return Sunday, May 8,4:00 pm Volunteer at Smith Rock State Park on Saturday and climb or hike on Sunday. Free camping, dinner, auction and raffle. $10 transportation fee. Pre-trip Wed, May 4, 5pm: OP. Paddle Captain Clinic Thursday May 12,5:30 pm & Saturday, May 14,9:00 am: OP Barn for both sessions Learn boat handling, river running strategies, reading the river, swimmer rescue, and team work. $15 for UO students/Co-op members; $25 for general public, pre-register at the OP office. The Outdoor Program has cooperative, low cost trips that go everywhere from our backyard: McKenzie River, Oregon Coast, Three Sisters Wilderness to expeditions all around the globe: Tibet, Cuba, Europe, South America, Alaska and more- you name it! We can also help you plan your own trips. If you'd like to recieve a weekly update of trips and events sign up at our website undep^OP Email Alerts" at: http://oufdoorprogram.uoregon.edu Accommodations for people with disabilities will be provided upon request 346-4365 West Cascades Forest Practices Sunday, May 15,8am-6pm: OP Bam then Willamette National Forest Join Whitey Lueck for this informative field trip. $4 van fee, pre-register at the OP office. Heart of a Champion Thursday, May 19,7pm: Outdoor Program Through slides and stories, see how Bruce Wheaton became the first heart transplant patient to summit North America's highest peak- Mt. Whitney- via the vertical west face. Free! Outdoor Photography Contest Awards Friday, May 20,5:00 pm, EMU Aperture Gallery Come see the winning photos, meet the photographers, and be inspired! Refreshments. Fire Ecology in the Warner Burn Area Sunday, May 22,8:30 am: OP Barn then Warner Creek Burn Area Timothy Ingalsbee teaches us all about fire ecology. $4 van fee, pre-register at the OP office. liiPiiil iMi The OP has tons of gear to help you launch a grand adventure or a simple day trip. We've got rafts, kayaks, backpacks, tents, and much more! You can see our rental gear on our web site under "Rental Program": &ittp://outck»orprograiii.uoregon.e«ftf OP Barn Trip Facility, and Rental Program 346-4371 K Universal y General Information. QP _ (Basement of EMU. 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