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.
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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
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