Expert investigates Spokane mayor's computer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE — Photos and docu
ments from a gay Web site that are on
Spokane Mayor James E. West’s City
Hall computer were put there deliber
ately, a computer expert said.
The affidavit from Josiah P. Roloff of
Global CompuSearch LLC, refuted
West’s contention that much of the
material was automatically placed on
his computer while he surfed Web
sites like Gay.com.
In an affidavit filed Friday in
Spokane County Superior Court, Roloff
said an index of West’s computer files
provided to The Spokesman-Review
newspaper included a history file
showing 56 visits tojthe Gay.com site.
“The history file shows heavy us
age and visits to the Gay.com site by
the computer user,” Roloff’s affi
davit said, “including some visits re
quiring the user to enter a user
name and password.”
Gay.com requires that personal
profiles be “consciously selected” by
the computer user, Roloff said.
“The Gay.com site will not dis
play personal profiles and the im
ages included on the profiles absent
the computer user’s affirmative
choice to view a certain profile,”
according to the affidavit.
Roloff is working with lawyers for
The Spokesman-Review newspaper,
which since May 6 has been seeking
access to the records on West’s taxpay
er-provided computer as part of its in
vestigation into whether he abused his
office by offering young gay men pub
lic appointments and jobs in exchange
for sex.
Roloff’s affidavit appeared to conflict
with assertions by West’s lawyers and
a city attorney that approximately
1,800 photos and documents, many of
young gay men, were inadvertently
downloaded to West’s computer.
West faces a Dec. 6 recall battle over
the abuse of office allegations.
West, a longtime Republican state
senator and opponent of gay rights,
has acknowledged that he was a clos
eted homosexual, but has denied
breaking any laws.
In a high-profile public records bat
tle, he is trying to keep the public from
seeing some of the files on his laptop
computer, saying in a sworn affidavit
that they contain material that would
be “highly offensive” to citizens.
After hearing oral arguments on
Oct. 12, Adams County Superior Court
Judge Richard Miller is expected to
rule later this month whether West’s
computer files should be released.
Lawyers for West said Friday the
mayor has already admitted he visited
Gay.com.
“This appears to be part of an ongo
ing effort by The Spokesman-Review
to keep the West story alive until the
recall election occurs,” West’s lawyers
said.
The lawyers also wondered whether
Roloff’s company was the “forensic en
tity” the newspaper hired to identify
West’s activities on the gay Web site.
“This raises the issue as to Mr.
Roloff’s disinterest and objectivity,”
said lawyers Bill Etter, Susan Tropp
mann and Carl Oreskovich in a
written statement.
Newspaper attorney Duane Swinton
said Roloff was not the computer ex
pert the newspaper hired to pose as a
teen-age boy during online chats that
eventually snared West.
Roloff based his affidavit on his
familiarity from other computer
forensic cases with Gay.com, the
source of many of the disputed files
on West’s computer.
He disputed the conclusions in a
Sept. 22,2005, letter from a city lawyer
to Spokesman-Review attorney Duane
Swinton about how the images got on
West’s city computer.
In that letter, Milton Rowland said
he’d discussed West’s computer with
the city’s information systems director
and the documents “were almost cer
tainly placed on Mayor West’s comput
er without his knowledge, and likely
without his having even visited all the
Web pages represented.”
That’s not accurate, Roloff said in
his affidavit.
If images from Gay.com are con
tained in West’s Internet cache file,
this means the computer user “affir
matively viewed the images by
clicking on profiles displayed by
Gay.com,” he said.
Troppmann told Judge Miller that
West didn’t deliberately download
material from gay Web sites to his
city computer.
“These are Internet cache files — in
formation on your computer you
don’t put there,” TYoppmann said at
the Oct. 12 hearing in Ritzville.
“There are hundreds of people’s
identities at stake here some of them
are local.”
Lynch: Believes 'Peace-Creating Experts' aid in obtaining world peace
Continued from page 1
introduced him to the technique.
Lynch said in an interview with the
Emerald that he has never tried anoth
er form of meditation, and while other
meditation techniques focus on con
templation and concentration, tran
scendental meditation allows the per
son to experience a wholeness
because it goes beyond the surface.
Oregon has six transcendental med
itation training centers throughout the
state, in Seaside, Salem, Lake Oswego,
McMinnville and two in Portland.
Training for the technique is a $2,500
four-day course.
Lynch is founder of the David
Lynch Foundation, a non-profit or
ganization dedicated to conscious
ness-based education and world
peace and one that strives to pro
vide students with the opportunity
to learn the meditation technique.
Lynch said things get better when
people know themselves and the
calmness of life.
The meditation technique was
started by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in
1958 and was a household name by
the 1970s. The technique claims to be
neither a religion nor a philosophy,
which allows it to be learned and
practiced by people from all walks of
life without conflicting with personal
beliefs, according to the official tran
scendental meditation Web site.
Peg Rees, associate director of the
University’s Physical Activities and
Recreational Services (PARS), said
the great benefits of meditation
are indisputable, but that PARS
could no longer offer meditation
classes specifically.
The University stopped teaching
meditation classes after spring
term 2005.
“Every yoga class we offer has
some meditation,” Rees said, adding
that it’s a valuable discipline. “We
just couldn’t justify offering it as a
stand-alone course.”
Rees said there is no physical bal
ance, movement or strengths in
volved to evaluate a student’s
progress in meditation.
PARS is offering a Yoga/Mediation
class next term at the Student Recre
ation Center that will be firmly rooted
in meditation practices.
Jude Kehoe, a licensed practical
Public Presentations
by candidates for Sr. Vice President and Provost
All candidates will speak on
"Challenges and Opportunities
for American Research Universities
During the Next Decade"
Question and Answer period following presentation.
Thursday, November 10
4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. — Browsing Room
Second candidate: Linda P. Brady, Dean and Professor of Political Science
College of Humanities and Social Sciences, North Carolina State University
5:15 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. — Gerlinger Lounge
Informal interaction
Monday, November 21
4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. — Gerlinger Lounge
Third candidate: Name to be released one week prior to presentation
023667
Faculty are invited to an Academic Forum with the candidates in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum
of Art lecture room.
Friday, November 11 — 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. — Linda P. Brady
Tuesday, November 22 — 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. — Candidate 3
Accommodations for people with disabilities will be provided if requested in advance.
Please call (541) 346-3039.
nurse and certified healing touch prac
titioner, teaches a six-week meditation
class at the University Health Center
that is free to staff and students.
“I’m teaching a lot of different
techniques,” Kehoe said. “All are ori
ented towards clearing the mind and
focusing your mind on breathing.”
Lynch cited Maharishi’s prediction
that with a large enough group of
transcendental meditation program
trained “Peace-Creating Experts,”
world peace can be achieved.
Harmony will spread through a
population if a number of people
equal to the square root of 1 percent
of the population practices transcen
dental meditation, Lynch said.
Applying that equation to the
world, 8,000 “Peace-Creating
Experts” are needed to bring coher
ence and peace to the whole world,
Lynch said.
According to the TM Program Web
site, more than 600 studies have been
conducted on the TM technique
showing that Maharishi’s program is
“by far the most effective remedy for
the ills of modern life. ”
“We need money — a wealthy
well-wisher who says, ‘I’m going to
back this thing’,” Lynch said-. If $1
billion were put into a savings ac
count, the interest alone would sus
tain consciousness-based education,
Lynch said.
Contact the people, culture,
faith reporter at
bmcclenahan@dailyemerald. com
Don’t Talk With Strangers
By C. Wilsey
It’s a warning we’ve heard since child
hood: strangers are dangerous. But
now that you're in college and seeking
the perfect internship or career-track
position, the rules have changed. You
need to talk with strangers and a lot
of them- to find a job.
The Career Fair is designed to help
you do just that. It’s great place
to connect with
people about
your dreams,
goals and pro
fessional future.
This year, the
UO Career C'en
ter has gathered representatives from
more than 70 companies and organi
zations for the November ] 0 event.
But you don’t want to go in unpre
pared. This afternoon’s Career Suc
cess Seminar. “How to Make the
Career Fair Work for You,” can help
you prepare for conversations with
these potential employers. The 90
minute workshop begins at 4:00 p.m.
today in the EMU Alsea Room. Re
search strategies, appropriate dress,
This Thursday’s Career Fair will
offer you the opportunity to talk with
representatives from more than 70
companies and organizations. Do
you know what you’ll say?
what to bring, one-minute introduc
tions, and important questions to
ask employers will be covered. You
will also learn about techniques such
as: the walkabout; lineage mileage;
the key to the treasure room; last
ing impressions; and the critical last
step. Knowing the format of the Fair
ahead of time will ease any anxiety
you might have about entering a
room filled with
dozens of com
panies for which
you might want
to work.
Preparation,
planning and practice are the keys
to making the Career Fair work for
you. Your only ‘*job” at the Career
Fair is to explore potential career
paths, meet company representa
tives, and learn how your collegiate
experience might contribute to the
goals and missions of the organiza
tions present. You can make that
process easier by attending today’s
workshop and learning techniques
that will help you talk more easily
with company representatives.
ess
Career Succ
How to Make the Career Fair Work for You
TODAY, November 8
4:00-5:30 p.m. in the EMU Alsea Room