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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 28, 1999)
April 2S. 1999 Committed to Cultural l ) i \ v is its Volume \ . \ l . \ , Number 17 Jennifer Straight Specializes in Image Consulting The Battle of Puebla May 5,1862 Bulk Rate U.S. Postage See Popeye s PAID Coupon's X Inside! University of Oregon Portland, OR Permit No. 1610 See Focus Page 9 See Page B5 Knight Library Newspaper Section Eugene OR 97403 Ch* IJartkinb (Ohsex 500 Colorado Remembers School Shooting Victims High School Shooting Two students o f Columbine High School attacked students with guns and explosives in a suicide mission. Twenty five students and teachers may have been killed. The gunm en’s intention was to target minorities and athletes. They were found dead o f self-inflicted gunshot wounds, with what appeared to be bombs around their bodies. NATO Attacks NATO continued to launch attacks a c ro s s Y u g o s la v ia w ith U .S. helicoptors and troops heading to ward Albania. Their m ission is to assist in the a llia n c e ’s attack on Yugoslav ground forces and stop their cam paign to rid Kosovo o f its ethnic A lbanian m ajority. Their main tar gets are a dozen select towns and cities. Church Fires Jay Scott Ballinger, a 36-year old Indiana satan worshipper was indicted on charges o f setting fire to seven churches in Indiana and three in Geor gia, including one in which a volunteer firefighter died. The Justice Depart ment has not decided yet on whether Ballinger should seek the death pen alty in the Georgia case. He recently admitted to burning 30 to 50 churches in 11 states between 1994 and 1998. Vitamin C The new recom m ended daily al lowance by G overnm ent researchers is to double or triple the intake o f V itam inC because ofitscancer-fight- ing ability. The N ational Institute o f H ealth stated that the RDA for vita min C should be increased from 60 m illigram s to betw een 100 and 200 mg. Killer Virus A new virus in Malaysia had al ready claimed more than 90 lives and recently killed some stray dogs in M a laysia. This rare strain, called Nipah virus is named after the village where its first victim died. Similarly in Japan, a dozen victims had died o f Japanese encephalitis. Rosa Parks The Senate had voted unanimously to award Rosa Parks with a Congressional Medal for surrendering her bus seat to a white man that sparked the civil rights movement. Her arrest in 1955 lead to a yearlong bus boycott by blacks spear headed by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. New Dinosaur Species Two new heavily armored dinosaur species were uncovered by James Kirkland from the Ecollege o f Eastern Utah in Price, about 100 miles south west o f Salt Lake City. The species found are either an ankylosaur, club tailed armored dinosaur or nodosaur. Cloning Goats A Canadian biotechnology company successfully cloned goat triplets to produce spider silk in goat's milk for medicinal use The spider silk is valu able in helping to repair broken limbs and tom tissue Cloning the sheep was done in a way similar to the cloning Dolly the sheep in 1997. The major concern is that the technology used could lead to the cloning o f humans Bv D an W hitcomb LITTLETO N , Colo., April 27 (R euters) - W ith church bells pealing across the state, residents o f Colorado rem em bered the victim s o f the C ol um bine High School massacre w ith a m om ent o f silence on T u esd ay, w hile three more slain students w ere laid to rest. The solem n tribute began at 11:21 a.m local time (1:21 p.m. EDT) (1721 GM T), ex actly one w eek after gunshots first rang out in the school lo cated in L ittleton, a suburban co m m unity outside D enver. Fifteen people, including the two student gunm en, lost their lives in the ram page. R adio and television sta tions in Colorado also observed the m om ent o f silence. The tolling o f the bells was the only sound heard in dow n town D enver, w here an elec tronic billboard near the air port read, “C olorado, joined in grief.’’ A giant blue ribbon em bla zoned w ith the word "C olum bine" fluttered from the outer w all o f a sports stadium in C o lo rado’s capital city, and blue ribbons w ith the initials “CH S” w ere seen on jacket and coat lapels around town. Police said Eric H arris, 18, and D vlan K lebold. 17. used guns and bom bs to kill 12 fel low students and a popular teach er b e fo re taking their ow n lives. M ore than 20 o th ers injured by bullets and fly ing shrapnel from pipe bom bs survived. Three student victim s o f the attack w ere buried on T ues day: Corey D ePooter. Matthew K echter and K yle V elasquez, who was laid to rest with a m ilitary honour guard. A t V e la s q u e z ’s fu n e ra l, fam ily friend John N ew hauser told m ourners, “ It is not right for the old to bury the young." In a d d itio n , p o lic e in Littleton review ed hundreds of leads in an attem pt to learn how Harris and Klebold am assed the high-powered w eap onry and explosives used in the attack. T he search for clues led Jefferson C ounty sheriffs to K lebold’s prom date, Robyn A nderson, 18, who was being treated as a w itness in the case, not a suspect, county officials said. A nderson did not answ er telephone calls or answ er the door on Tues- day at the Littleton home w here she lives with her mother. T he J e f f e r s o n C o u n ty S h e riffs departm ent said the woman, identified in local m e dia reports, was cooperating w ith police and that she had been released after being questioned on M onday. In W ashington. U.S. P resi dent Bill C linton cited the trag edy in pushing his proposal to keep certain firearms away from young people by closing w hat he called “ a dangerous loophole th at was likely e x p lo ite d in L ittleton, w hich allow s people to buy w eapons at gun shows w ithout any background checks at all." A gun shop ow ner in C olo rado Springs, about 60 miles (96 km) south o f Denver, said he recognised H arris’ picture from television as som eone who had com e into his store with four other teens trying to buy a m a chine gun and a silencer. But o w ner M el B ernstein said he threw the youths out o f the store because he thought they w ere too young. Published reports also said a D enver gun show organizer had turned over to federal agents lists o f ex hibitors. U nder a C olorado state law oassed in 1993 it is a felonv for parents to perm it a juvenile to possess a handgun if the parent knows there is a substantial risk the juvenile would use the hand gun to com m it a felony. But the law allow s adults to give m inors hunting rifles. Harris and Klebold belonged to a group at C olum bine High School know n as the "Trench C oat M afia,” whose m em bers, students who considered them selves social outcasts, wore dark clothing and revelled in talk o f w ar and w ar games. To help "give students a feel ing o f safety ,” the Jefferson C ounty school board voted late on M onday to ban students from w earing black trench coats to school or school-sponsored events. Oregon Takes Major Step Towards Reconciliation in its "Day of Acknowledgement" Bv A malie Y in ng A ssociated P ress W riter SA L E M .O re (A P )_ It w asn’tth ai long ago. " C o lo r e d s ” in O re g o n w e re shunned from w hite neighborhoods Signs above shops read "dogs or M exi cans not allow ed ’’ Japanese-A m en- cans w ere shipped out o f their homes and into internm ent camps Now, 150 years after passing a law to bar “negroes and m ulattoes" from the O regon T erritory, O regonians gathered on Thursday to recognize the sta te 's discrim inatory past. “No more will we tolerate injus tice," M yrlie E vers-W illiam s, form er chairw om an o f the N ational A ssocia tion for the A dvancem ent o f Colored People, told those at the C apitol for the Day o f A cknow ledgm ent. “No m ore will we tolerate hatred and in tolerance." E arlier in the day, both the House and Senate approved resolutions com m em orating O regonians’ struggle for racial justice. The m easure was ap proved unanim ously in the Senate, but it passed 50-7 in the House after several m em bers questioned the value o f the day. "I d o n ’t believe we serve ourselves well by recalling a painful past," said Rep C arl W ilson. R -G rants Pass. “ W hat really counts is what we do today and in the future, not to engage in sym bolism but in substance. “ R ather than reliving the past and risking division, lets pledge to walk the path that repudiates racism and discrim ination," he said T here w ere no words o f anger or blame at an afternoon cerem ony, when O regonians _ o f all colors and reli gions _ packed a House cham ber. D ressed in traditional navy-blue uniform s, Buffalo soldiers and N a tive A m ericans w ith feather head dresses posted the flags. The House sw elled w ith song, as form er Rep. M argaret C arter led the crow d in a rendition o f “G lory. G lory, H alleluiah!” "W e 'v e come a long w ay here in the state o f O regon," said Ciov John K itzhaber. “ But th e re ’s alw ays more that can be done." In 1844, a year after O regon lead ers passed an anti-slavery law, the provisional governm ent voted to pro hibit blacks altogether A fter repeal ing it a year later, territorial leaders approved the second exclusionary act in 1849. The law stayed in the O regon Con stitution until 1926. At least one black. Salem busi nessman Jacob V anderpool, was ex pelled in 1851. Although never fully enforced, some say the law 's mere existence discour aged many black pioneers from settling in Oregon and created a foundation for discriminatory laws and attitudes that continued well into this century. Oregon becam e the last state on the W est C oast to adopt, in 1953, a law outlaw ing discrim ination in ho tels, m otels, restaurants and am use ment parks. “ When we have injustice, we have to change,” said S enate President Brady Adams. “ We cannot change until we have acknow ledged."