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D ECEMBER 19, 2012
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXV, N O . 11
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Parks
Need
Diversity
By MATT VOLZ
of The Associated Press
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one
of two Hispanics in the Senate,
called Scott “a passionate,
thoughtful and sincere advocate
for the people of South Carolina
and for limited government
principles.’’
Scott is certain to be front and
center when Republicans talk
about fiscal matters and other
issues vital to the conservative
base. It remains to be seen what
committee assignments he will
get. He had served on the House
Rules Committee.
Scott’s selection culminates a
fast rise through South Carolina
WEST GLACIER, Mont. (AP) –National
parks must do a better job of attracting more
minority visitors and employees or else risk
becoming irrelevant in the future, the retir-
ing superintendent of Glacier National Park
said.
More diversity among park visitors and
National Park Service workers will better
ensure the nation’s most protected land-
scapes remain that way, Chas Cartwright
said.
``If I look at who visits here, let’s go with
that one first, it is a lot of white people,” he
said. ``We have an international visitation
that is fairly substantial, but there are seg-
ments of our population that aren’t spending
much, if any, time in the park, and that real-
ly kind of begs the question: Are we rele-
vant to all of America?”
Speaking to The Associated Press in a
wide-ranging interview about two weeks
before he steps down Dec. 28, Cartwright
said the lack of diversity is one of the great-
est challenges facing the National Park
Service.
Parks must find and tell the stories of
minorities, accommodate their needs and,
for kids, emphasize the fun side of the parks
instead of just the educational aspect, he
said.
``If we don’t have future stewards and
owners ... that are involved in helping pro-
tect them, then are they going to stay the
great places they are over time?” Cartwright
said.
A survey conducted for the park service in
2000, the most recent available, by Northern
Arizona University researchers found 36
percent of whites surveyed had visited a
park service unit in the past two years, com-
pared to 33 percent of American Indians, 29
percent of Asians, 27 percent of Hispanics
and just 13 percent of blacks.
The report said blacks were more than
three times as likely as whites to believe
park employees gave visitors poor service
and the parks were uncomfortable places for
people like themselves.
Cartwright is ending 40 years of federal
government service, the last four as superin-
See SCOTT on page 3
See DIVERSITY on page 3
The Skanner News wishes all our readers a very Happy Holiday season and respectfully reminds you to be careful
on the roads and in the streets. Remember, never drink and drive, and if you see someone heading toward a car
after drinking offer to call a cab.
PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER
Tim Scott to Replace Sen. DeMint
By SEANNA ADCOX
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Gov.
Nikki Haley appointed Rep.
Tim Scott to the U.S. Senate on
Monday, making him the
South’s first black Republican
senator since Reconstruction in
a state whose politics is steeped
in the history of slavery and
Civil War.
“It speaks to the evolution of
South Carolina and our nation,’’
Scott, 47, said of his appoint-
ment to fill the seat vacated by
Sen. Jim DeMint, a conserva-
tive who reigned his post with
four years left in his second
term to head a right-leaning
think tank.
Haley, a daughter of Indian
immigrants who became South
Carolina’s first female and
minority governor in 2010,
acknowledged making history
with her appointment, but she
stressed that she picked Scott
for his conservative values.
“He earned this seat for what I
know he’s going to do in mak-
ing South Carolina and our
country proud,’’ she said.
Scott, 47, will be sworn in Jan.
3. Senate Republicans wel-
comed the appointment, which
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comes more than a month after
Republicans’ poor performance
with minorities in the election
forced soul-searching in the
party to broaden its appeal.
He’ll become only the fourth
black Republican in Senate his-
tory and the only black Republi-
can in Congress, after Rep.
Allen West of Florida lost his re-
election bid last month.
“This is truly an historic
moment for the Palmetto State
from a governor who’s broken
more than a few barriers in her
own career,’’ Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky said.
Obama: Gun Proposals Due By January
By Josh Levs and Holly Yan
CNN
The nation will have a set of recommen-
dations to address widespread gun violence
within weeks, President Obama announced
Wednesday.
Vice President Joe Obama will lead an
inter-agency group to come up with “con-
crete proposals no later than January — pro-
posals that I then intend to push without
delay,” the president said.
Speaking five days after a gunman killed
27 people, including 20 children, at a Con-
necticut elementary school, Obama said that
“if there is even one thing that we can do” to
prevent such tragedies, “we have a deep
obligation, all of us, to try.”
“This is not some Washington commis-
sion. This is not something where folks are
going to be studying the issue for six
months and publishing a report that gets
read and then pushed aside. This is a team
that has a very specific task to pull together
real reforms right now.”
No single law or set of laws can prevent
gun violence, the president said.
But the complexity of the issue “can no
longer be an excuse for doing nothing,” he
said.
The “complex” issue demands action on
gun laws and work in making “access to
mental health care at least as easy as access
to a gun,” he said.
The country also needs to tackle a “culture
See GUN VIOLENCE on page 3