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J u h 14, «999
Committed to Cultural Diversity
\olum e X X IX , Number 28
US Women Go AH the Way in
World Cup, Surprise Officials
and Set US Attendance Records
Daughter of the Late
Dizzy Gillespie Visits
Cathedral Park
See B 3 _ _ ______________________ _
See Focus Page 7__________
Che
jto
S ección
en
E spañol
THE I N
Senate Defeats HMO
Amendment
Democrats trying to expand a GOP
patients’ rights bill lost the opening
vote today as the Senate rejected their
effort to allow women more options
in choosing doctors and hospitals.
The vote was 52-48, mostly along
party lines. This amendment would
have allowed women to designate
obstetrician-gynecologists as their
primary care doctor.
Peace Process
Israel’s foreign minister told Is­
raelis not to expect too much too
soon from the peace process revival.
The new government wants to see
deeds as well as words from the
Palestinians and Syria. A recent ex­
change between Prime Minister
Ehud Barak and Syrian President
Hafez Assad has been portrayed as a
sign of a quick breakthrough.
Anti-Milosevic
Movement
A petition was signed by thou­
sands of people in Belgrade Yugo­
slavia calling for Slobodan
Milosevic’s resignation. It was an
effort to oust the Yugoslav president.
Thousands turned out for an opposi­
tion rally in a central Serbian town
which the police tried to suppress by
blocking roads. The increase in pro­
tests were a show that ordinary Serbs
are “waking up” to the horrors
Milosevic incited in Kosovo.
M ilitary Y2K Test
The Pentagon had conducted a ma­
jor test of their computer systems to
make sure that they will still be op­
erational on January 1, 2000. They
identified that there were three minor
glitches in its complex computerized
logistics network. Technical experts
built a duplicate network - what they
called a “parallel processing envi­
ronment” - then rolled those com­
puter clocks forward to simulate the
week following Feb. 28, 2000.
Jobless Claims Falling
Declining claims for jobless ben­
efits and rising retail sales are pro­
viding fresh evidence of a booming
economy. The Labor Department re­
ported that jobless benefits fell un­
expectedly. Last month, sales from
the nation’s largest re toilers rose to
better-th an -ex p ected
levels.
Warmer-than-normal weather attrib­
uted to the hefty U.S. economy.
Liver Transplant
A tricky series of liver operations
involving four patients simulta­
neously will be handled by four teams
of Japanese doctors. The 20 doctors
will complete the last phase of the
operation at Kyoto University Hos­
pital. The procedure is called a
domino transplant because the work
involves a string of operations con­
ducted one after the other.
Bulk Rate
U.S. Postage
PAID
Portland, OR
Permit No. 1610
art hi uh (Observer
University of Oregon
Knight Library
Newspaper Section
Eugene OR 97403
Alleged Railway Killer in Custody
B y MICHELLE KOIDIN
C T he A ssociated P ress
EL PASO, Texas - Rafael Resendez-
Ramirez, the train-riding fugitive sus­
pected of killing eight people who lived
near railroad tracks, surrendered at a bor­
der checkpoint today in a deal brokered
by his sister.
The 39-year-old drifter, who is charged
or wanted for questioning in the slayings
in three states and was on the FBI’s 10
Most Wanted List, surrendered at the
Ysleta port of entry to Texas Rangers Sgt.
Drew Carter, state investigators said.
’’Carter told me that he extended his
hand, they shook hands, and they hand­
cuffed him. He was very pleasant, not
aggressive,” said state Department of
Public Safety Capt. Bruce Casteel.
He said he didn’t know how long
Resendez-Ramirez had been in Mexico.
Resendez-Ram irez, wearing gold-
rimmed glasses, appeared briefly before a
magistrate, saying only ” no, sir” twice
when asked if he had questions. The sus­
pect was escorted into the courtroom in
handcuffs and a chain around his waist.
Later, motorcycle police escorted a
white van that carried Resendez-Ramirez
to the airport and a flight to Houston.
The surrender agreem ent with
Resendez-Ramirez included assurances of
family visitation rights, a psychological
evaluation and promises that he would be
safe in jail, Casteel said.
However, it does not shield Resendez-
Ramirez from the death penalty, he said.
Ramirez’s sister, who lives in Albu­
querque, N.M ., called Carter on Sunday
while he was on a fishing trip and said
she had been in touch with her brother
through an intermediary, said Mike Cox,
Rafael Resendez-Rambfiz
state D epartm ent o f Public Safety
spokesman.
Carter, an FBI agent and a deputy
U.S. marshal met with the sister Sunday
night and Monday to negotiate the sur­
render on a burglary warrant related to
one of the slayings.
Resendez-Ramirez’s ability to elude
law enforcement had been an embarrass­
ment to law enforcement. On June 2, he
was released by
Border Patrol
agents,
even
though he was al­
ready wanted by
the FBI and Hous­
ton police, had
told the immigra­
tion service, they
wanted him for
questioning in a
murder. The Bor­
der Patrol agents
had picked him up
for illegal entry
and sent him back
to Mexico.
But Immigra­
tion C om m is­
sioner
Doris
Meissner said the
Immigration and
N a tu ra liz a tio n
Service, parent of
the Border Patrol,
had multiple en­
tries on Resendez-
Ramirez in a com­
puterized photo
and fingerprint
database that pro­
vides immediate
identification of
aliens apprehended by the Border Patrol.
Two days after that release, authori­
ties believe, he killed a 73-year-old
woman west of Houston. The following
day, they say, he killed a 26-year-old
Houston schoolteacher at her home. His
fingerprints then were found June 15 in
Gorham, 111., at the scene of the slaying
of a 79-year-old man and his 5 1-year-old
daughter.
The INS first encountered Resendez-
Ramirez in 1976 after he was arrested in
Michigan. He was returned to Mexico, but
since then has been deported from the
United States three times - in 1985, 1987
and 1991. He also was apprehended by
Border Patrol agents eight times since
January 1998.
Meissner said the Justice Department
inspector general would look at why
Resendez-Ramirez ’’was not detained and
whether INS knew about Resendez-
Ramirez’s criminal activities after being
contacted by local law enforcement ear­
lier this year.”
In addition to the killings in June, Lex­
ington, Ky., police obtained warrants last
month for Resendez-Ramirez’s arrest in
connection with the August 1997 murder
of University of Kentucky student Chris­
topher Maier, who was attacked with his
girlfriend as they walked near some rail­
road tracks. The girlfriend, who was raped,
survived. The charges are murder, two
counts of first-degree robbery and single
counts of rape and assault.
He also was linked to the Dec. 17,
1998, sex slaying of Dr. Claudia Benton,
39, at her home in West University Place,
a well-to-do community that is sur­
rounded by the city of Houston; and the
slayings of the Rev. Norman ’’Skip”
Sirnic, 46, and his wife, Karen, 47, in the
parsonage behind Weimar (Texas) United
Church of Christ. They were beaten to
death with a sledgehammer and were
found May 2 after they failed to show up
for Sunday services.
The suspect’s real name is Angel
Leoncio Reyes Recendis, according to a
birth certificate, but authorities had been
using the name Resendez-Ramirez, one
of his aliases.
WELLS FARGO BANKS ON SCIENCE AND MATH
Portland Students Gain
table giving.”
grant is just one of 17 grants from Wells success in life for our children is a
The Portland School Board gave
This is the third year that Portland
q
u
a
lity
e
d
u
c
a
tio
n
,”
said
G
eorge
Fargo
to
school
districts
in
Oregon.
The
thanks to Wells Fargo on Monday night,
received a grant or materials from Wells
Passadore,
president
of
Wells
Fargo
in
total
this
year
reached
$356,471.
That
July 12, for a $90,000 grant. The bank
Fargo. Statewide the total contribu­
includes teacher inservice for more than Oregon. “That is why we have made
and and its foundation want students
tions from the bank reached more than
pre Kindergarten through grade 12 edu­
2000 math and science teachers.
learning more and more about the world
$1 million.
“We believe that the first step to cation a primary focus of our chari-
them and using math to understand it.
The grant will be used to create science
and math kits for students.
In the last few years Wells Fargo
donated computers and money for
novel science and math experiment
kits. Teachers throughout the Port­
land Schools tested the kits and
taught other teachers to use them.
This is part of a broader program
called “inquiry-based Science for
Non-Science Teachers”. 448 teach­
ers are involved. The original kits
include work with electricity and
motors, testing pendulums and ex­
amining what owls are eating.
“The Owl pellet kit was great
fun to work with whether you are
eight years old or a Superintendent
in his 50’s", said Portland Schools
Superintendent Ben Canada. “Do­
ing real science, with hands on the
materials, make science learning
meaningful. And that means the
in terest in science continues
throughout m iddle and high
school.”
Groups of fourth and fifth grad­
ers in Portland worked with the
kits in the 1998-99 school year.
The Hands-on, minds-on” experi­
ments will be expanded to all of
the district’s 64 elementary schools
Ron Saxton, Chairperson of the Portland Public School Board along with Superintendent Ben Canada present awards
and now available to students Kin­
to George Passadore, President of Wells Fargo of Oregon and his executive of the foundation In appreciation tor their
dergarten through third grade.
$ 9 0 ,0 0 0 M ath & Science Grant for grades K - 1 2 .
The Portland Public Schools