----
Is
By Dave Ivey
Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A 19
year-old woman with a Mohawk hair
cut spread out a tarp in the middle of
the Penn State University campus
Tuesday and opened fire with a rifle,
killing one student and wounding an
other before she was tackled while try
ing to reload.
Jillian Robbins was hospitalized in
serious condition with a stab wound
suffered in a struggle with the student
who came to the rescue and knocked
her down after she began shooting.
No immediate charges were filed
against Robbins, who is a longtime
resident of State College but not a stu
dent.
Police gave no motive for the shoot
ing and said Robbins did not know her
victims.
4 Robbins positioned herself in front
of the student union and fired off at
least five shots from her rifle, a Mauser
with a telescopic sight, around 9:30
a.m., police said. Hundreds of fright
ened students and teachers scattered
across the lawn outside the Hetzel
Union Building, one of the campus’
busiest areas.
A book in one student’s backpack
stopped a bullet.
Aerospace engineering student
Brendon Malovrh noticed smoke, ran
over and tackled Robbins as she was
putting in a second ammunition clip,
police said.
As the two struggled, Robbins
pulled a knife from her purse and tried
to stab Malovrh, stabbing herself in the
leg instead, police said. Malovrh
quickly took off his belt and fashioned
a tourniquet on Robbins.
In front of them lay a dead Melanie
Spalla, 19, of Altoona. Nicholas
Mensah, 27, of Philadelphia, had been
shot once in the abdomen. He was in
stable condition.
“This is a higb-traffic area, where
lots of people ride their bikes. It’s
freaky to know this happened here. But
I guess this is where you want to do it
if you want to kill someone,” said Jes
sica Ohrum, 20, of East Berlin.
Acquaintances who spoke on the
condition of anonymity said Robbins
had a history of mental problems, once
spending time in a mental hospital.
They said she had been married and
divorced in the past year and had tried
to commit suicide last month. Friends
said she hoped to become an artist.
Fellow employees at a diner-bak
l--- '
ery where she had worked a year ago
called her “Crazy Jill*” an acquaintance
said.
Campus Police Chief David
Steamer said Robbins had Army Re
serve training, and a friend said she
liked to hunt.
About 40,000 students attend the
university in State College, a town of
about 40,000 permanent residents in
the center of the state.
There has been only one other slay
ing on campus in the school’s 186-year
history: In 1969, a graduate student was
stabbed in a library. Her killer was
never found.
——— -1
U.S. troops headed for Kuwait
Clinton says warnings, pressure on Hussein necessary to keep peace
WASHINGTON (AP)—In moves
designed to “keep Saddam Hussein in
a box,” President Clinton dispatched
3,500 Army soldiers to Kuwait and
warned the Iraqi leader of new attacks
should he threaten his neighbors or
U.S. forces.
The warning to Saddam will remain
in effect indefinitely, the State Depart
ment said.
“It’s obvious that he’s always push
ing the envelope,” Clinton said Tues
day. “We didn’t want to.create a pre
cedent that would lead him to believe
he could take further action. We didn’t
want there to be any ambiguity at all.”
After congressional leaders met
with Clinton at the White House,
Democratic senators said Clinton had
not hesitated in sending the troops to
Kuwait.
Although plans to send 5,000 sol
diers were announced on Friday, re
ports emerged Monday the decision
was being reviewed.
“We’re doing it because the Ku
waiti government feelsthreatened,”
Defense Secretary Wiliam Perry said
of thedeployment. The 3,500 soldiers
from Fort Hood, Texas, would join
1,200 others conducting exercises in
Kuwait by the end of the week, he said.
Perry flatly rejected speculation the
Kuwaiti government initially was un
willing to accept additional U.S. faces,
or that the U.S.-led coalition that
mounted the 1991 war against Iraq had
been fractured during the past two
weeks of confrontation with Saddam.
“The bottom line is, the coalition
is alive and well,” Perry said. He had
returned early Tuesday from two days
ofconsultations with Gulf and Euro
pean allies.
Senate Republican leader Trent
Lott of Mississippi expressed satisfac
tion after attending the meeting with
Clinton, although he termed it “some
what belated.”
He said he hoped “there will be no
basis” for the troops to go into action,
but added that would depend on
whether Saddam threatens U.S. forces
or his neighbors.
Before departing for a three-day
campaign swing in the Midwest and
West, Clinton said his actions were
“designed to improve the strategic po
sition of the United States and our al
lies to keep Saddam Hussein in a box
and limit his ability to threaten his
neighbors.”
The actions are designed to tell
Saddam “the box you are in is now a
tighter box,” Clinton said.
Perry, asked at a Pentagon briefing
what Iraqi steps actions would prompt
renewed U.S. strikes, replied: “We will
not tolerate any threatening actions
against our air crews.” Should any be
taken, he pledged, “we will respond
very sharply.”
Interviewed later on PBS’ “The
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” Perry said
the Iraqis also have to deploy their
ground forces differently from how
they’re situated now.
“They understand very clearly what
they have to do and what they have to
refrain from doing, and we wiil be
watching very, very carefully to see that
they follow those,” he said.
Agency says air bags kill children
WASHINGTON (AP) — Passen
ger-side air bags are killing children,
federal safety experts said Tuesday.
They recommend children ride in the
back seat and say air bags triggered at
higher car speeds and with less power
may help those up front.
“Unfortunately, sometimes with the
best intentions, you get unintended
consequences,” National Transporta
tion Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall
said of the 26 child deaths in recent
years attributed to passenger-side air
bags.
His agency issued a score of rec
ommendations addressing the prob
lems of air bags and child restraint sys
terns. The recommendations went to
local, state and federal agencies, auto
manufacturers and the makers of child
restraint systems.
The action concluded two years of
analysis in which safety board staffers
studied 120 accidents involving 207
children.
It found two major problems —
youngsters being injured and killed by
passenger-side air bags and while
riding in improperly attached child re
straint systems.
“What we’re finding is a majority
of children are in the wrong restraint
for their age, height and weight—and
the majority of restraints are being used
improperly,” said Elaine Weinstein of
die safety board staff.
There are more than 50 types of
child seat, booster seat and cither re
straint systems c» the market, each with
its own attachment system, and many
are so comply that many permits can
not install them properly.
One recommendation called for
simplified restraint systems “so it
doesn’t take a Harvard degree to un
derstand how to get the seat into and
out of a car ” said Hall. Board
member John Hammerschmidt noted
that a traffic check by the Fairfax
County, Va., police found 138 child
restraint seats improperly installed,
among 149 checked.
Commission denies Perot,
parties argue his inclusion
WASHINGTON (AP) —* In a
decision cheered by Republicans, a
nonpartisan commission recom
mended Ibesday that Ross Perot be
denied a spot in this frill’s presiden
tial debates.
An outraged Perot vowed to sue,
and the Democrats continued to ar
gue that he. should share the stage.
The Commission on Presidential
Debates said Perot should be ex
cluded because he had no realistic
chance of winning the White House.
Its non-binding recommenda
tions are now the subject
ofnegotiations between the Dole
and Clinton campaigns, which met
for three hours Tuesday without
reaching agreement.
The Clinton campaign sug
gested two two-hour presidential
debates, with Perot to be invited to
one. Republican Bob Dole wants
four debates—all without Perot.
The gulfbetween the two camps
made it appear certain that the first
debate would not occur next week
as proposed by the commission.
The panel said its purpose in
recommending the exclusion of
Perot and Reform Party running
mate Pat Choate was to provide a
forum for candidates “from whom
the American people actually will
choose the next president.
“Participation is not extended to
candidates because they might
prove interesting or entertaining,”
said the panel of five Democrats and
five Republicans, which has played
host to the fall debates since 1987.
Choate denounced the commis
sion process as a “corrupt little
game.”
Dole’s campaign, pinning its
come-from-behind strategy on a
boost from the debates, hailed the
decision.
“They assume there was no re
alistic chance that anyone but my
self or the president would be
elected,” said Dole, campaigning in
Arizona. “I’m prepared. We’re
ready to go.”
The Clinton campaign, which
thinks including Perot would help
its cause, called the ruling regret
table and pledged to continue to
push for Perot’s inclusion.
“I enjoyed having him in there
in 1992,” Clinton, campaigning in
Michigan, said of Perot. “I’m not
afraid of any debate.”
The commission’s non-binding
recommendations in recent elec
tions have served as the starting
point for negotiations between the
presidential campaigns. Negotiators
forthe Clinton and Dole campaigns
met inprivate Tuesday afternoon to
discuss the number, timing and for
mat of the debates.
Emerging from the meeting,
Dole’s lead debate negotiator,
former South Carolina Gov. Carroll
Campbell, said the two sides were
“a few days away from agreeing.”
Talks were to resume Wednes
day morning.
Russell Vemey, national coordi
nator of Perot’s Reform Party, re
jected the commission vote as a
“very subjective decision that was
made by the Republicans and
Democrats to protect the two-party
system.”
Some White House aides pre
dicted that decision could anger
voters and trigger a backlash against
Dole for advocating Perot’s exclu
sion. More than 60 percent of
Americans in public opinion polls
say they favor his inclusion.
“Martyrdom is not what we’re
seeking,” Choate said. “Office is
what we’re seeking.”
Editor: Doug Kouma
472-1766
Managing Editor: Doug Peters
Asaoc. News Editors: Paula Lavigne
Jeff Randall
Opinion Editor: Anne Hjersman
AP Wire Editor: Joshua GHKn
Copy Desk Chief: Julie Sobczyk
Sports Editor: Mitch Sherman
AAE Editor: Alexis Thomas
Photo Director: Tanna Kinnaman
Web Editor: Michelle Collins
Night Edttor: Beth Narans
Night News Editors: Kelly Johnson
Jennifer Milke
AntoneOseka
Nancy Zywiec
Art Director: Aaron Steckelberg
General Manager: Dan Shattil
Advertising Manager: Amy Struthers
Asst Advertising Manager: Tracy Welshans
Claeeifled Ad Manager Tiffiny Clifton
PubNcations Board Chairman:
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473-7301
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1996 DAILY NEBRASKAN
Child molesters face new penalty
■A
California passes chemical
castration law for repeat
sex offenders.
LOS ANGELES (AP)—Gov. Pete Wil
son signed a law Tuesday making California
the first state to require chemical castration
of repeat child molesters.
Similar efforts this year failed to become
law in Texas, Massachusetts and Wisconsin.
California's bill won final legislative ap
proval last month.
Under the measure, molesters who com
mit a second crime against a child under 13
must receive weekly injections of the drug
Depo-Provera, which dampens sexual desire,
Offenders could choose to be surgically
castrated instead under the law, which goes
into effect Jan. 1. Unlike surgical castration,
the injections wear off.
“As long as it prevents one predator,”
Wilson said, “then keeping it cm the bodes is
worth every ounce of criticism its opponents
can muster.”
Backers cited the experience of European
countries where the procedure is used, say
ing the repeat-offender rate dropped from
almost 100 percent to just 2 percent.
The American Civil Liberties Union has
called the procedure barbaric, and therapists
and other experts have questioned its effec
tiveness, saying that some child mdesters are
driven not by sexual desire but by a need for
power and control.
