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Volume X X V III, Number 52
1 9 9 8 "The End &
The Beginning
A year has passed, now we
look hack to our tragic
and joyous past
D E C E M B E R SO, I99K
C ommitted to cultural diversity, http: www.portlandobserver.net
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See , F O C U S Inside!!!
Christmas for Inner
City Youth
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o p d e rte. s
Concordia University's
second annual Christmas
program fo r the children at
Lutheran Inner City
Ministries.
See Metro Section
See Popeye's
Coupon
Inside!
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BULK RAI L
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PAID
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT NO.
1610
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University of Oregon
Knight Library
Newspaper Section
Eugene OR 97403
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250
U n c e r t a in
Im p e a c h m e n t
1
W ith in the S e n a t e , t h e r e is l
m o r e b i p a r t i s a n s u p p o r t to
c e n s u re P r e s id e n t C lin to n and
n o t e n o u g h v o t e s to im p e a c h ]
h im . B o th p a r t i e s a r e s e a r c h ­
in g fo r a c o m p r o m is e th a t
w o u ld b r i n g th e p r o c e e d i n g s
e x p e d i t i o u s l y to a c l o s e n e x t
y e a r . A m a j o r q u e s t i o n is
w h e th e r th e p r e s i d e n t c a n w in
an a c q u i t t a l in a t r i a l o r b o w |
to c e n s u r e .
Ir a q i
B o m b in g s
U .S . w a r p la n e s f ir e d m i s s i l e s !
in n o r t h e r n I r a q a f t e r b e in g at-1
t a c k e d fro m an I r a q i a n t i - a i r - |
c r a f t m i s s i l e b a t t e r y . It h a s r e ­
s u lte d in th e d e a th o f f o u r I r a q i]
s o ld ie r s . Ira q i o f f ic ia ls are
t h r e a t e n i n g to c u t o f f r e l a t i o n s ]
w ith th e U n i t e d N a ti o n s a n d ]
h a v e flo w n p l a n e s o v e r th e " n o t
f l i g h t ” z o n e s p r o v o k i n g an a t - ]
ta c k .
Euro C u rre n c y
A s o f J a n u a r y 1, t h e r e w ill
b e 2 9 0 m i l l i o n r e s i d e n t s in]
th e 11 E u r o p e a n U n io n c o u n ­
t r i e s c o n v e r t i n g to th e n ew
E u ro p e a n c u rre n c y . M ost b ank
a c c o u n ts w ill n o t be s w itc h ­
in g to th e e u r o s u n t i l th e s e
b i l l s a n d c o i n s a p p e a r in th e
y e a r 2 0 0 2 . F in a n c ia l i n s titu ­
tio n s an d b a n k s a re ta k in g
le a d a t i n f o r m i n g th e p u b l i c
o f w h a t to e x p e c t r e g a r d i n g ]
th e m o n e y c h a n g e s .
The D ru g F ig h t
F o r t h r e e y e a r s , th e U .S .
has b een d o n a tin g d o z e n s o f |
h e lic o p te rs and tra in in g h u n ­
d r e d s o f M e x i c a n s o l d i e r s in ]
th e U n i t e d S t a t e s in an a n t i ­
d ru g o p e r a tio n th a t has m et
w ith m a n y p r o b l e m s . U .S . r e ­
l a t i o n s w ith M e x ic o h a s b e e n
s t r a i n e d as a r e s u l t . T h e re a re
c o n tin u in g r e p o r ts o f d ru g ]
c o r r u p t io n b y th e M e x ic a n ]
m i l i t a r y f o r c i n g U .S . o f f i ­
c i a l s to r e t h i n k t h e i r s u p p o r t ]
a n d c o l l a b o r a t i v e e f f o r t s w ith ]
th e m .
V io le n t C rim e s
Down
N ew s t a t i s t i c s b y th e J u s ­
tic e D e p a rtm e n t show th a t
r o b b e r y h a s f a l l e n b y 17 p e r ­
cent
in
1 9 9 7 .
H o m ic id e
c r im e s h a v e a l s o g o n e d o w n
c o n s id e r a b ly . T he w ith e rin g
o f th e c r a c k m a r k e t a n d p o ­
l i c e e f f o r t s to s e i z e h a n d g u n s
from c r im i n a l s a n d j u v e n i l e s a re
th e l i k e l y c o n t r i b u t i n g f a c t o r s
f o r t h i s d e c r e a s e in v i o l e n t
c r im e s .
In te r n e t H oliday
S a le s
Electronic retailers and small
electronic m erchants have b en ­
efited from the holiday on-line
frenzy as proven in high sales
figures nationw ide. The M arket­
ing C orporation o f A m erica de­
termined that women still trailed
men in total num ber o f Internet
purchases during the C hristm as
season. Men were 9 to 11 p e r­
cent more likely to make online
purchases.
A
13 of Oregon's Rivers go on flood watch, as heavy Rains & Melting Snow threaten to test the limits
of the Rivers' Banks.
(Photo by M. Washington)
Why The Year 2000 Problem Poses A Risk
To The Public Health And Safety
is these embedded chips and systems that
B y P aloma O ’R ieey
pose the greatest threat to our critical infra­
Beyond financial losses, the year 2000
structure and the public health and safety.
issue represents a significant threat to pub­
lic health and safety and critical infrastruc­
Examples of Actual And Possible Y2K
ture. Computer programs that utilize dates
Related Scenarios
also control nuclear power plant operations,
Here are some examples o f system
water and sewer plants, chemical factories,
crashes that have already occurred:
petroleum pipelines, and weapon systems;
The five year budgeting system of a
failure of which may lead to serious injuries
US
government
agency failed while pro­
or the loss of human life as well as environ- 4
cessing
the
fifth
budget
year (2000).
mental damage. Any computer system that
A
case
management
system of
makes use of dates is potentially at risk, and
some
courts
will
not
accept
a
probation
that is most of them.
period of five years because ‘00’ is flagged
as an invalid date.
Beyond the publicized software problems,
Driving licenses due to expire in
the aspect most overlooked is the literally
2000 are being rejected as already expired
billions of embedded computer chips pow­
by car rental agencies.
ering everything from copy machines to
Some credit card transaction pro­
medical devices to nuclear power plants. It
cessing systems refuse cards which expire
in 2000.
•A recent example was of a multi-million
pound UK hospital body scanner which
would not work on 29 February 1996 be­
cause it couldn’t handle leap years.
Examples of possible problems:
Data on pharmaceutical drugs with expi­
ration dates after the year 2000 would indi­
cate that the medication is expired, prevent­
ing prescription refills.
A medical center’s computer cannot trace
the medicines prescribed nor illnesses had
in the past.
•If the 911 emergency phone system mal­
functions for a municipality, the city’s popu­
lation could be at risk from lack of response
by emergency personnel.
■Residents lose access to local public
CMAC Meet To
Improve Student
Achievement
The Community Monitoring Advisory Coalition
(CMAC), (a parent organization to improve
student achievement), on Monday, December
28, held a conference to review the findings of
the Audit Report, uncover biases and to make
suggestions on how to make the
recommendations move effective for student
achievement.
(L-R) Ms. Carrie Bauske, Halim Rahsaan,
I
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Oregon Braces for Flooding
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• •. •
services: (e.g.. heat, light, water, sewage,
telephone, police, medical services, trans­
portation, etc.)
•The power fails, and it’s mid-winter
(Northern hemisphere), or the air-condi­
tioning fails, and it’s mid-summer (South­
ern hemisphere) endangering the elderly, ill
or infirm.
The police cannot trace the records of
known criminals, nor their fingerprints. Jails
mistakenly release the wrong prisoners, nor
track home detainees.
If the security computers in nuclear
plants lock doors and failsafes because of
Y2K rollover problems, will plant operators
be able to access the remote shutdown room
or facility were it to become necessary?
C ontinued T o P age A4
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