L2,1998
Scientist reaffirms vow to
WASHINGTON (AP) - Chicago physicist
Richard Seed shrugged off President Clinton’s
denunciation of his plans to clone humans and
reaffirmed his determination Sunday to do it
abroad if necessary.
Seed said he has receiveffan outpouring of
support from infertile couples.
“I have been enormously encouraged in just
one day by calls I have received from infertile
couples who are in tears,” Seed said on “Fox
News Sunday.” “They ... tell me things like
‘Don’t let them stop you.’”
Seed stood firm in his resolve to clone a
child within the next two years, saying he would
move his enterprise offshore to Tijuana,
Mexico, if Congress bans human cloning in the
United States.
“My target is to have a two-month pregnan
cy in a year and a half,” Seed said. “It’s not a dif
ficult project.”
The Chicago physicist is sure to face diffi
culty in the United States from scientists, ethi
cists and political leaders who oppose human
cloning and say they will work aggressively to
block his experiments.
“Dr. Seed will not do human cloning in this
country,” Health and Human Services
Secretary Donna Shalala vowed on CBS’ “Face
the Nation.”
After Scottish scientists cloned the adult
sheep Dolly last winter, Clinton sent Congress a
bill that would ban for at least five years the use
of similar procedures to replicate human
beings. Some congressional leaders were say
ing Sunday, 24 hours after Clinton demanded
quick action, that they will push to pass the leg
islation.
“I think this is a nasty business, something
that we should not be messing in,” House
Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Tex., said on
“Fox News Sunday.” “We already have that leg
islation before the House. And even last week, 1
made the point that we are going to move that
ban.”
Seed’s endeavor would involve removing
DNA from a woman’s egg and replacing it with
genetic material from the person being cloned.
The embryo would then be placed into the
woman.
Many scientists and officials involved with
science have expressed grave reservations
about both the safety and the ethics of human
«
Dr. Seed will not
do human cloning
in this country.”
Donna Shalala
Health and Human Services secretary
cloning.
“There are concerns about the freedom and
autonomy of die child that arises. There are con
cerns about treating children as objects rather
than as cherished beings,” Ezekiel Emanuel of
the National Bioethics Advisory Commission
said on Fox.
And many others, including Shalala, who
said the term “mad scientist” came to mind as
she listened to Seed, have cast serious doubt on
the physicist’s qualifications to undertake such
a project.
“I’m not even sure whether he is taking him
self seriously,” Dr. Thomas Murray, director of
the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Case
Western Reserve University, said on the CBS
program.
“The fact is he doesn’t have any of the abil
ities to do these procedures - he’s a physicist,
not a physician, and by no means an expert in
embryology or infertility treatment.”
Seed, who has a Ph.D. from Harvard* is
unaffiliated with any institution. He said
Sunday he has enough money to start his pro
ject but lacks the $2 million he estimates he will
need to complete it.
V
■" I
States vie for Ellis Island
■ New York and New
Jersey argue historical and
legal claims to the site.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
heart of the issue, really, is only
bragging rights.
But the long and sometimes bit
ter battle over Ellis Island enters its
final round Monday when lawyers
from New York and New Jersey go
before the Supreme Court to lay
claim to the landmark.
“We’re not at war with New
York, but we do have a strong dis
agreement,” New Jersey Attorney
General Peter Verniero said.
“This case is not unlike two
neighbors arguing over a bound
ary,” he said, “the difference being
the neighbors are sovereign states
and the dispute’s been over 160
years in the making.”
The U.S. government has
weighed in on New Jersey’s side.
Some historians and preservation
ists have added their 2 cents worth
that the island - where legions of
tum-of-the-century immigrants set
foot in America - lies within New
York’s boundaries.
Dennis Vacco, New York’s
attorney i general, calls New
Jersey’s effort a “Johnny-come
lately” attempt to rewrite tradition
and custom.
“There are millions of
Americans who can trace their
ancestral roots through Ellis
Island,” said Vacco.
“Those folks who came here
knew two things as they sailed into
New York Harbor: They knew they
were in America, and they knew
they were landing in New York.”
Everyone agrees the original
part of the island, three acres rising
above the high-watdr mark, is in
New York. In dispute is the rest of
the 25.5-acre island created
through years of filling in parts of
the harbor that New Jersey claims.
Last spring Paul Verkuil, a for
mer Columbia University law pro
fessor appointed as a special mas
ter in the case, recommended
awarding most of the island to New
Jersey. The island’s museum and
major monuments would remain in
New York.
However, both sides are urging
the court to reject many of
Verkuil’s recommendations.
New Jersey still wants the court
to recognize New York’s jurisdic
tion as extending only to the origi
nal highf-water mark. But that
would leave the island’s main his
toric building, which houses the
museum^ split between the two
states.
New York maintains that histo
ry, tradition and the law entitle it to
sovereignty, citing an 1834 com
pact awarding Ellis Island to New
York “with no limitation on the
size of the island.”
In August, the federal govern
ment filed papers siding with New
Jersey and asking the justices to
reject Verkuil’s proposals. The gov
ernment argues that while the court
has authority to decide boundary
disputes, it lacks the “historical
power” to adjust a boundary, as
Verkuil recommends.
The matter is largely symbolic,
although some state sales tax rev
enue is at issue. The island is feder
al land and will remain under con
trol of the National Park Service.
Some preservationists fear New
Jersey politicians plan to push for a
bridge from New Jersey to the
island and want a hotel-conference
center built there.
Splitting sovereignty, they say,
would be impractical. They con
tend New York’s “well-established
and consistently enforced” land
marks laws would better protect the
island’s historic character.
“In a historical sense, New York
has long exercised attentive stew
ardship toward the historic
resources of Ellis Island,” said
Edward Norton, a lawyer with the
Washington-based National Trust
for Historic Preservation.
.■*'tSSl| **r.w s3j
•action editor at
Fax number (402) 472-1761
World Wide Web: aww.uni.edu/DailyNeb
The Daly Nebraskan (USPS144400) is pubfshed^the UNLRjbtobons Board, Nebraska Union 34,
1400 R St, lincoin, Nfc 685884448, Monday through Friday doming the academic year weekly during
the summer sess»ns.The public has access to the Pubfications Board.
Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by caSng
(402)472-2588.
Subscriptions are $56 for one year.
Postmaster Send address changes to the Daly Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St, Lincoln NE
685884448. Periodical postagepaidat Lincoln, NE.
ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1996
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
. ....'VS XvX. -x -• > •*'; * - -N- • -•*' '/
___-X
i
•..V* " ' % •:*,} . <*9
Pakistani gunmen kill 22
in graveyard massacre
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -
Gunmen opened fire on a memorial
service in a Shiite Muslim grave
yard in Lahore on Sunday, killing
as many as 22 people and injuring
more than 30 others, police said.
Several of the wounded were in
critical condition, hospital officials
said.
The shooting in the heart of
Pakistan’s eastern Punjab capital
may have been religiously motivat
ed. Police believe the gunmen
belong to a militant Sunni group
known as Friends of the Guardians
of the Prophet. However, nojone
has taken responsibility for the
killing.
Nearly 100 Shiite Muslim wor
shipers had gathered at the grave
yard to honor dead relatives when
two gunmen on a motorcycle drove
up and opened fire with automatic
weapons, police said.
People scrambled for cover, but
before the shooting stopped several
minutes later, 22 people were dead
and another 30 wounded.
“We were in the middle of dur (
prayers,” said a trembling Imam |
Hassan, 52. “Two men with kalash- ;
nikovs just walked up and started
firing. Everyone started screaming •
and trying to find a place to hide, >
but they just kept on firing.”
Worshipers stopped rickshaws,
motorcycles and passing cars to
take the wounded to the hospital,
Hassan said.
“Even the ambulance didn’t f
arrive for a long time,” he said.
Police didn’t reach the scene for an
hour. J I
Nearly 300 people have been
killed in religiously motivated vio
lence in Pakistan, mainly in
Punjab, in the past year.
Most of Pakistan’s 140 million
people are Sunnis who hold no i
grudge against Shiites. However, ^
small militant groups have
emerged and they routinely clash. \
Domestic violence
down in Columbus
COLUMBUS (AP) - The number
of domestic violence calls seems to
be down slightly in the Columbus
area, a criminal justice advocate with
the city’s sexual assault and domestic
violence center said. v
Law enforcement and battered
women’s groups have teamed up
since mid-1996*0$p&ttaitifea cbdidi-}
nated response to domestic violence
complaints.
Beth Freeman, a member of the
coordinated response team, said she
is not sure if the program is responsi
ble for the (hop in domestic violence
calls, but it shows batterers that such
incidents will not be ignored.
“It at least is working in the sense
they know other people will get
involved” Freeman said.
The team issues referrals every
time officers respond to a domestic
violence call. The victim’s name is
given to the Center for Survivors, and
the victim is contacted and given
information about how to get help.
Many people don’t know where to
go when they need help, so the refer
ral helps them take action, said Platte
County Sheriff Jon Zavadil.
Frustration at the lack of prosecu- f
tion of domestic violence complaints
bemgpfosecutodMoffKMtemftbfm ?
the coordinated response team.
“Law enforcement goes back to j
the same homes over and over again,” ■
Center for Survivors Director Jamie ;;
Snyder said. “Prosecution is frustrat
ed because the woman doesn’t want
to testify. The idea is to get the word
out this won’t be tolerated in this
conummity.”
Response team members include i
the Platte County sheriff’s depart
ment, Columbus police, Platte j
County attorney’s office, Catholic
Charities and the Department of
Health and Human Services.
