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turn to North Padre Island after
Corpus Christi police reopened the
causeway.
Bret had top sustained w ind o f
45 mph and som e h ig h er gusts,
the N atio n al H u rrican e C en ter
said. The m inim um for a h u rri­
cane is 74 mph.
Bret had been rated a C ategory
4 storm when it approached over
the G u lf o f M exico w ith 140 mph
w ind, piling w aves 26 feet high at
one offshore w eather buoy, but
made landfall w ith wind dow n to
125 mph.
The center o f Bret moved across
rural southern Texas, going west-
northwest at 6 mph
It was expected to turn westward
toward Mexico, where more than
3,500 people living near the Rio
Grande in Nuevo Laredo, just across
the border from Laredo, Texas, had
been evacuated because o f the pos­
sibility o f flooding, the government
news agency Notimex reported.
Thousands o f residents from
Brow nsville to Corpus Christi had
fled north and west as the hurricane
approached on Sunday. Windows
throughout the region were taped
and boarded in anticipation o f the
worst storm since Hurricane Allen,
another Category 4 storm that struck
roughly the same area in 1980, caus­
ing $55 m illion in damage.
• ’I th ink it w as o v e rp u b li­
c iz e d .” said R alph H ulf, who
defied conventional w isdom - and
an evacuation order - and stayed
in his cinder block hom e over­
looking Baffin Bay, ju s t east o f
this sm all agricultural town. His
phone and pow er w ere still w ork­
ing late Sunday.
Even though the storm ’s center
passed less than 10 m iles to the
south, “ there w asn’t even any
storm su rge,” he said.
President C linton issued a ma­
jo r disaster declaration Sunday
night for seven counties, freeing
funds to help local governm ents
w ith em ergency supplies and de­
bris rem oval, said FEMA D irector
Jam es Lee W itt.
Texas had n ’t been hit by a hur­
ricane since H urricane Jerry killed
three people in O cto b er 1989.
H ow ever, the sta te ’s 367-m ile-
long coast has been struck by tropi­
cal storm s since then, including
C harley, w hich dum ped 18 inches
o f rain and killed 19 people after it
m oved inland in A ugust 1998.
NEW S
Talk Show Host Montel
Williams Has MS
B> JUDIE GLAVE
T he A s so ciate d P ress
NEW YORK (AP) - The night
held the air o f youthful prom ise as
16-year-old Y usuf Hawkins and
his three friends em barked on a
typical teen-age rite o f passage:
looking for a used car.
Instead, it ended in violence
when about 30 club-wielding white
youths - one with a gun - co n ­
fronted the blacks, m istakenly
thinking they were coming to the
largely w hite neighborhood for a
p a r ty b e in g th ro w n by o n e
attack er’s ex-girlfriend.
Shots rang out and Hawkins lay
w o u n d e d on a s tr e e t in th e
B ensonhurst section o f Brooklyn.
W ith his death that night on Aug.
23, 1989, the c ity ’s oft-m ended
and fragile cloth o f racial civility
was tom wide open.
“ If H oward Beach was the chip
in the w all. B ensonhurst probably
w as th e s le d g e h a m m e r th a t
knocked the wall down, said the
Rev. A1 Sharpton, referring to the
fatal beating o f a black man by
another w hite mob in the borough
o f Q ueens three years earlier.
Eight people w ere tried for the
attack. Three w ent to prison: two
others w ere convicted but given
probation; three w ere acquitted.
O nly the gunm an, Joey Fama.
rem ains jailed . C onvicted o f sec­
o n d -d e g re e m u rd e r, he is not
scheduled for parole until 2022.
P ro testers w ho cam e to the
neighborhood after the killing were
m et by residents shouting racial
slurs. Som e chanted "useless, use­
less,” a play on the slain H aw kins’
first name. One spectator spat in
the face o f the v ictim ’s father,
M oses Stewart.
"D o you know how that felt to
hear those people shouting ‘useless,
useless’? It nearly tore my heart
out.” said Stewart, who still blames
the neighborhood for silently sup­
porting his son’s attackers.
Bensonhurst, once a stronghold
for Italian im m igrants, now has a
m uch more diverse flavor Chi­
nese. K orean and R ussian stores
dot a main drag, and hundreds of
M exican im m igrants gather each
m orning, hoping to get day jobs in
construction and gardening.
At St. D om inic’s Roman Catho­
lic C hurch, the Rev. Italo Barozzi
sa id the n e ig h b o rh o o d w ould
rather forget the incident and the
dozens o f m arches it set off.
"It was shocking to the people.
They don’t expect that here," Barozzi
said. "But all those marches? We
must solve problems in a better way.
W hat, after all, is the importance o f a
march ? What are you protesting?”
Still, the killing spurred politi­
cal change.
It help ed c reate an ac tiv ist
m ovem ent that was recently re­
vived w ith the police killing o f
unarm ed black immigrant Amadou
D iallo in a hail o f 41 bullets. It
also catapulted M anhattan Bor­
ough President David Dinkins to
victory in that year’s D em ocratic
m ayoral prim ary. He becam e the
c ity ’s first black mayor.
“David Dinkins walked into City
Hall over the body ofY usufHawkins.
said Hawkins' father, his voice tinged
with both pride and sadness.
The night o f the slaying began
innocently enough. Hawkins and
three friends went by subway to
B ensonhurst to look at a used 1983
Pontiac. A fter stopping to buy
candy, they w ere suddenly sur­
rounded near the house o f Gina
NEW YORK (AP) - Montel W il­
liams has been diagnosed with mul­
tiple sclerosis but told reporters
Monday he w on’t quit his talk show.
•‘This disease is not going to stop
me,” said Williams, who was accom-
the changes that are evolving in law
and legal education. We are honored
that she accepted our invitation.”
During the dedication ceremony,
Dean Strickland will confer upon
O 'Connor the law school's highest
honor, the M eritorious Service
Award. The award is given by the
UO law faculty in recognition o f
outstanding service to the adminis­
tration o f justice and legal education.
During her visit, O 'Connor also
will meet privately with UO law fac­
ulty and students.
President Ronald Reagan nomi­
nated O ’Connor, 69, as associate jus­
tice o f the United States Supreme
Court, and after the U.S. Senate con­
firmed her appointment, O ’Connor
took the oath o f office on Sept. 25,
1981, becoming the first woman to
sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Previously, she was appointed to
the Arizona Court o f Appeals by
Gov. Bruce Babbitt and served from
1979 to 1981. and was elected judge
o f the Maricopa County Superior
Court, Phoenix. Ariz, where she
the crippling disease.
MS is a degenerative disorder
ofthe nerv ous system. Victims typi­
cally typically lose some problem ­
solving capacity and short-term
memory. Most end up in w heel­
chairs or need help walking.
Jackson Says Dollars
Undercutting U.S.
Democracy
F e lic ia n o , w ho had a n g ered a
n e ig h b o r h o o d y o u th , K e ith
M ondello, by asking som e black
and Latino teen-agers to a party
M ondello had vow ed to keep
m inorities out o f the neighbor­
hood. He and the others had spent
the day drinking beer and smoking
m arijuana, then gathered up base­
ball bats, g o lf clubs and sticks.
Stew art said his son and the
others never understood what was
happening. Shots rang out and
H aw kins fell, still clutching a
candy bar. None o f the other black
teens was seriously hurt.
Thinking back on that night,
Stew art rem em bers the new pants,
shirt and shoes he had bought his
son - a B-plus student w ith dreams
o f being an engineer.
“W hen 1 cam e back from the
hospital after seeing my son lying
so still, like he was sleeping, 1 saw
the clothes hanging in the closet,"
Stew art said. "I was w aiting for
him to come home to give them to
him , but he never cam e hom e.”
L ast y ear, M o n d e llo ask ed
S tew art's forgiveness after serv­
ing eight years in prison. But
Stew art said the meeting could not
m end his hurt.
"It was a nice gesture, but I told
him up front that I am in no posi­
tion to offer forgiveness - th a t’s
G o d ’s jo b .”
M ondello, now a college stu ­
dent, could not be reached for his
thoughts on the case. Stew art, a
former truck driver who now works
with Sharpton fighting bias, said
the killing changed his life.
His relationship with his longtime
sweetheart, Diane Hawkins, ended
three years after Y u su f s death. Ms.
Hawkins has never spoken o f the
shooting. Their younger son, dis-
U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Sandra Day O’Connor To Speak At
UO Law Building Dedication
Students at the University o f O r­
egon School o f Law are enjoying a
momentous start to the new academic
year, which kicked o ff on W ednes­
day, Aug. 18. They are the first to
attend classes in the new William W
Knight Law Center and can look
forward to a visit from U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Sandra Day O ’Connor
forthe center's dedication ceremony.
O ’Connor will address law stu­
dents, faculty, alumni and other guests
at a noon dedication ceremony on
Wednesday, Sept. 15, in the rear
courtyard at the new law center, 1515
Agate St. The talk is free and open to
the public, but seating will be lim­
ited. A private reception will imme­
diately follow the ceremony.
"Having Sandra Day O ’Connor
speak at the dedication o f our new
building will help set a tone for the
kind o f educational experience that
we hope our students will have in the
new law cen ter," says R ennard
Strickland. UO law school dean " As
the first woman on the U.S. Supreme
Court, Justice O ’C onnor symbolizes
panied by his wife, Grace, at a news
conference.
“We don’t know how long I’ve
had it for. but I’ve been misdiag­
nosed for 10 years.” he said.
Williams, 43. is considering sev­
eral recently approved drugs and is
starting a fund drive to find a cure for
© T h i A s s o c ia t o P rias
Wounds Remain 10
Years After Killing
C
Page A2
(Fije Fortiani» © bsrrucr
August 25, 1999
served from 1975. O ’Connor also
served as an Arizona state senator
from 1969 to 1975, and as an Ari­
zona assistant attorney general from
1965 to 1969.
Bom in El Paso, Texas, O ’Connor
received her bachelor's degree in
1950 from Stanford U niversity,
where she received her doctor of
laws degree in 1952.
The dedication ceremony kicks
off three days o f activities for the
public, students, law alumni and sup­
porters, in celebration of the new law
building. Among these is the free
public lecture.” A European Civil
Code: A Project in Progress,” to be
delivered by Guido Alpa, distin­
guished professor o f law at the Uni­
versity o f Rome Law School and the
University ofGenoa Law School The
lecture takes place from 4-5 p m. on
Friday, Sept 17, in Room 184 ofthe
law center.
A renovated Grayson Hall, which
formerly housed the law school. wi 11 now
provide classroom and office space for
the UO College of Arts and Sciences
f nt
he said favoured the rich, criticising
figures such as Senate Majority Leader
Trent Lott as being influenced by
campaign contributions.
"D em ocracy has been undercut
— neutralised — by dollars,” Jack-
son said.
Reiterating his themes o f eco­
nomic empowerment for the pov­
erty-stricken and an end to “eco­
nomic apartheid" in the United States
and the world, Jackson said the U.S.
civil rights movement had entered
the fourth stage where “access to
capital" was the catch phrase.
"O ur destiny is not in the hands of
the candidates (for president). Their
destiny is in our hands." he said.
The race to attract m illions o f
dollars o f cam paign dollars has
been tracked as closely as the early
polls. The Republican front-run­
ner, Texas Gov G eorge W. Bush,
has captured the lead by raising
$37 m illion in the first six months
o f the year and turning dow n fed­
eral cam paign m atching funds.
Jackson also cited campaign fi­
nance as a factor behind the Republi­
can-led $792 billion tax cut bill, which
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Rev.
Jesse Jackson said on Wednesday he
believed the flood o f campaign dol­
lars represented an eftort to "pur­
chase and privatise” the presidency.
Without mentioning by name any
o fth e contenders for the presidency
in 2000, the U.S. civil rights leader
said that campaign finance laws are
undercutting democracy.
“There is an effort to purchase the
presidency and privatise it,” Jackson
told reporters and supporters at the
sta rt o f his R ainbow PUSH
Coalition’s annual meeting.
gusted with New York, has moved
away; a third son is reclusive.
Asked if he has m anaged to find
peace in the decade since the slay­
ing, Stew art replied:
“ It depends on w hat you call
peace. Can I sleep at night a little
better? Yes. Has some o f the rage
in me calm ed? Yes. As tar as me
being peaceful about the racial
overtones - no. I am still just as up
in arms as the day after my son
d ied.”
The Salvation Army Accepts
Financial Donations For
Earthquake Relief
dressed to: The Salvation Army, P.O.
Box 2823, Portland, OR 97208; (503)
234-0825.
Until further notice. The Salva­
tion Army is not collecting in-kind
donations for this disaster.
The Salvation Army is accepting
financial donations to aid victims ot
the devastating earthquake in Turkey.
Checks should be made payable
to The Salvation Army, earmarked
"Turkey Earthquake R elief’ and ad­
L
E D U C A T IO N C R IS IS TEA M
Upcoming meetings:
Thursday, August 12,1999
and
Thursday, August 2 6,1999
7:00 p.m.
Self Enhancement, Inc.
3920 North Kerby Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97227
♦ The Urban League, Self Enhancement, Inc., the Albina Ministerial
Alliance and the Black United Front are forming Education Crisis
Teams to reverse the educational crisis that is crippling our children.
♦ Please join us on August 12th and August 26th. We will discuss
specific steps our community must take to rapidly improve our
children’s poor academic performance. The plan’s dual focus is on
holding Portland Public Schools accountable for providing children a
quality education and the development of a community-wide
mobilization to address this education emergency.
♦ All participating organizations agree this education crisis is causing
irreparable harm to children and severely limiting their future. This
crisis is impairing the ability of children, families and our
community to successfully compete in today’s technology-based
economy.
♦ Our choice is clear, respond to this emergency and take the necessary
steps to prevent our children from joining the growing ranks of
dropouts and high school graduates that possess few marketable
skills.
♦ Please plan to attend these meetings. Our children need us, we have
promises to keep.
Bishop A.A. Wells . . . Tony Hopson . . . Lawrence D ark. . . Ronnie Herndon