May 17, 2000
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Metro/Religion
School board invites religious study, Jury selection begins for Michigan man
in O ’Hair disappearance
draws questions from parents
A ssociated P ress
A ssociated P ress
T he district school board has invited students to spend an
hour a w eek in religious instruction at churches, a plan that
is prom pting questions from parents.
If enough students are interested, the “ R eligious Release
Program ” w ould go into effect in Septem ber, board V ice
P resident Jody H ahn said. “ W ith ev ery th in g th a t’s
happening in schools, w e see this as a chance to do
som ething for the students besides m etal detectors and
drug dogs,” H ahn said.
In a M ay 5 letter to parents, the A ugusta School D istrict
told parents that students w ould be bused each Friday to
churches for 50 m inutes o f religious instruction, then
bused back to school.
Students w ho do not participate w ould spend the tim e in
study hall.
A letter dated May 11 said the district needs at least 80
percent participation by the student body to offer the
program . Students m ust sign up by Friday.
T he letters w ere sent by Superintendent Fred Brow n and
said “the religious instruction program will enrich the lives
o f ou r children.” The program was proposed after m ore
than a y ea r’s study involving the A ugusta M inisterial
A ssociation.
responsibilities.
“ 1 d o n ’t think it’s right for a public school to prom ote a
religious program like this that it seem s could leave a lot o f
people out,” said W endy M osley, parent o f tw o school
children ages 7 and 10.
“It’s not ju st allow ing an activity, it’s prom oting. It sure
feels like it w hen my son com es hom e and asks, ‘C an 1 go
to the M ethodist church because th a t’s w here all my friends
are going?’ because he d o esn ’t want to spend all that tim e
in a study hall,” M osley said.
“ I have no objection w hatsoever to the religious release
idea, but isn ’t it the fam ilies’ role to put those program s
together?,” parent A lan Jenkins said.
W anda Conner, m other o f three school children, endorsed
the plan.
“In general it’s a great idea,” she said. “ I think character
education is shortchanged in our schools. Book sm arts are
im portant, but so is character education.”
School board m em ber E lizabeth A nderson called it “a step
to trying to get the com m unity and the kids involved as a
w hole. To get that bond you have to start som eplace, and
th a t’s why I support it.”
The A ugusta School D istrict, southeast o f Eau C laire, has
about 700 students.
" State law allow s public schools to excuse individual
Som e parents objected to the program , saying it would students from class forreligious purposes. However, federal
leave som e students out, force others to attend different school funds cannot be used for bus transportation," said
p a r is h e s th a n th e ir f a m ilie s , o r u s u rp p a r e n t s ’ G reg D oyle o f the state D epartm ent o f Public Instruction.
Atheist M adalyn M urray O ’H air reveled in calling
herself the m ost hated w om an in A m erica.
Now five years after she vanished along with $500,000
in gold co in s_ sp ark in g rum ors she tied overseas with
money from her atheist o rg an izatio n _ a M ichigan man
who is the only one ever charged in her disappearance
is set to go on trial.
Federal prosecutors say G ary Paul Karr, 52, o f Novi,
Mich., took part in a plot to steal the coins and kill
O ’H a ir, h e r so n Jo n G a rth M u rra y a n d h e r
granddaughter Robin M urray O ’H air, w hom she had
adopted as her daughter.
Though no bodies w ere ever found, prosecutors say
the three were dism em bered and buried.
Jury selection begins today in K arr’s trial on federal
charges ofconspiracy to kidnap and extort money from
the victims. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
“ W e do believe Mr. K arr is a very d an g ero u s
individual,” U.S. A ttorney G erald C arruth said.
O ’H air is best known for launching the legal challenge
that led to the 1963 Suprem e C ourt decision that
effectively struck down organized prayer in public
schools as unconstitutional.
In 1995, she and hertw o grown children vanished from
San A ntonio along with the coins. She w asn ’t reported
m issing until a year later when her estranged son,
W illiam M urray, called the A ustin police.
Initial speculation was that the three w ere victim s o f
foul play or m erely ran o ff with the m oney from their
organization, United Secularists o f A m erica. Som e
suggested O ’ Hai r, who was age 77 and ai 1 i ng, had gone
Pope’s attacker says he almost walked away that day
A ssociated P ress
T he gunm an serving a life sentence
forshootin g P o p eJo h n P au lIIin 1981
said M onday that he alm ost w alked
aw ay from St. Peter’s Square that day
w ithout pulling the trigger.
M ehm et Ali A gca w as interview ed
on a talk show late M onday on RAI
s ta te T V a b o u t th e V a ti c a n ’s
revelation tw o days earlier that the
so-called third secret o f Fatim a w as a
prophetic vision o f the assassination
attempt.
T he church says the prophecy was
delivered to three shepherd children
w hen the V irgin M ary appeared to
them in Fatima, Portugal, on M ay 13,
1917.
Speaking from his prison in A ncona,
on Italy’s east coast, A gca offered
the public his version o f the dram atic
m om ents during the p o p e’s general
audience before he started firing.
“T he pope had done his first sw ing,”
A gca said, referring to the p o n tiffs
m oving through the square in an
o p e n - to p p e d w h ite v e h ic le as
thousands o f faithful w aved and
cheered. “ He had his back to m e,”
said A gca, an alleged sharpshooter,
contending that he refused to shoot
any man w ho had his back to him.
Agca said at that point he w as thinking
that he w ould w alk aw ay, "throw the
gun into theT iber” River, which flows
near the V atican and take a train to
Zurich, Switzerland.
Volunteers needed to help
monitor street trees
«.O M KIiH IkPSIORT
eor T iie P o r iia sd O iisermb
V olunteers are needed tohelp m onitor
street trees training set for Saturday,
June 10, from 9 :3 0 am until 12:30pm.
F rie n d s o f T re e s an d its m any
volunteers planted 2,256 street trees
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Team volunteers who spend 2-3 hours
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neighborhood street trees. The Tree
Team training is set for Saturday,
June 10,2000 from 9:30am until 12:30
pm at the Kennedy School, 5736 NE
33rd (one block north ofKillingsworth)
in Portland. Friends o f T rees’ Tree
Team is made possible by a special
grant from Pacific Power.
For more inform ation or to sign up for
the Tree Team , call B ecca C haffee at
503-282-8846extension 13.
Happy 7th Birthday
Then “ I heard this strong applause. I
saw the pope in front o f me, 50 meters
(y a rd s) aw a y ....so m e th in g w as
dragging m e (back). ‘You m ust do it.
You must do it,” ’ Agca said he recalled
a voice in his head saying.
The pope had ju st picked up a blond,
curly-haired toddler that a parish
priest had held out to the ponti ff, then
gave the girl back. A gca said at that
m om ent he pulled the trigger.
In the interview , A gca, speaking
alm ost perfect Italian, insisted he
acted alone. T he Turk, w ho has been
seeking a pardon from the Italian
president, im plied in his interview
M o n d a y th a t s o m e u n n a m e d
authorities had suggested that he
com e up with som e co-conspirators
in order to win early release.
“If there is nothing, you have to invent
som ething to get out,” A gca said.
M ost life sen ten ces in Italy are
com m uted after about 20 years.
The pope chose the V atican’s No. 2,
C ardinal A ngelo Sodano, to reveal
the m eaning o f the secret w hile the
p ontiff w as at Fatim a Saturday during
his latest pilgrim age to the shrine to
g iv e th a n k s fo r s u r v iv in g th e
shooting. M any believers had feared
th e s e c r e t w a s a b o u t so m e
apocalyptic end for hum anity.
T he o th e r tw o secrets had been
revealed decades earlier. T he visions
foretold the end o f W orld W ar I and
the beginning o f W orld W ar II, and
the rise and fall o f Soviet Com munism.
Raymond Everett Beal
A memorial service will be at 4 p.m.
T h u rs d a y , M ay 11, 2 0 0 0 , in
K illingsw orth Little C hapel o f the
C him es for Raym ond Everett Beal,
w ho died May 4 at age 74. Mr. Beal
was bom Sept. 7,1925, in Butte, Mont.
He moved to Portland in 1942 and
graduated from Lincoln High School.
During W o rld W a rll.h e se rv e d in th e
U.S. N avy in the Pacific. He w as an
electrician until his retirement in 1990.
Survivors include his sons, Robert
W. and Jason S.; daughter, A llie R.;
sister, M argaret W endell; brother,
Elmo; and tw o grandchildren.
Private interment will be in Willamette
N atio n al C e m e tery . T h e fam ily
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Obituaries
In Loving Memory of
o ff to die quietly to pre-em pt C hristians w ho might have
prayed for her soul.
“ I think the evidence is just as consistent with them
having done w hat they said they w ere going to d o _ le a v e
tow n and get aw ay from the IRS,” said K arr’s attorney,
Tom M illso fD allas.“ W e’rejust going to have to see what
evidence there is that som e violence happened to them .”
A ccording to court records, investigators believe the
fam ily was killed, dism em bered in an Austin storage unit,
then put into 55-gallon drums and buried.
D espite last y ea r’s searches o f a South T exas ranch w here
an inform ant said the drum s were taken, investigators
have found no bodies.
Investigators have alleged that Karr, O ’H air’s form er
office m anager David Roland W aters, and Florida resident
D anny Fry kidnapped the family and forced them to turn
o ver the gold coins.
Karr, w ho has a violent crim inal history dating back to the
1960s, has said the O ’Hairs voluntarily left A ustin with
W aters, his form er cellm ate in Illinois.
In Septem ber 1995, authorities say, Karr went with Jon
M urray to New Jersey to arrange a $600,000 bank transfer.
About a week later, M urray took deli very ofapproximately
$500,000 w orth o f gold coins.
K arr and W aters w ere arrested last year on weapons
charges.
W aters has not been charged in the alleged plot. H e is
serving up to 60 years in prison for the weapons charges
and a previous conviction for stealing from O ’H air’s
atheist organization.
Fry w as found dead in 1995 in Dallas. His body was not
identified until three years later because his hands and
head had been cut off.
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S u r v iv o r s o f R ic h a rd H en ry
W a sh in g to n , Sr. W ife C a ro ly n
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