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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 19, 2001)
News Digest Page 2 Daily Nebraskan Monday, March 19,2001 A young girl is silhouetted in front of a pic ture of flying seagulls and an intense sky at the National Aquarium on Thursday in Baltimore. 'Papa'Phillips dies from heart attack THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES — Songwriter John Phillips, who as a member of the Mamas and the Papas penned “California Dreamin”’ and other hits by the 1960s pop group, died Sunday morning. He was 65. Phillips died of heart failure at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, a spokesman for the hospital said “His personality is going to be sorely missed,” said Harvey Goldberg, a longtime friend and producer. “His music is going to be sorely missed." Phillips was the principal songwriter for the Mamas and the Papas, writing hits including “I Saw Her Again Last Night” and “Creeque Alley.” In 1966, the band won a Grammy for best contemporary group performance for the single “Monday, Monday.” He also helped organize 1%7’s seminal Monterey Pop Festival, which introduced Jimi Hendrix and The Who to American audiences. Phillips also wrote for other groups, including the Grateful Dead Beach Boys and Scott MacKenzie, who debuted his “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)” at Monterey. Goldberg said that just before entering the hospi tal, Phillips had completed work on a solo album, ten tatively titled “Sow Starter.” An album he began work on 25 years ago with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards called “Pay, Pack and Follow” is set for release in May. Phillips was bom John Edmund Andrew Phillips on Aug. 30,1935, in Parris Island, S.C. In high school, he played in several bands. He later moved to New York City, where he formed The Journeymen. When Cass Elliot joined the group now known as the Mamas and the Papas, the band moved to Los Angeles, where they were signed in 1965. Editor: Sarah Baker Managing Editor: Bradley Davis Associate News Editor Kimberly Sweet Assignment Editor: Jill Zeman Opinion Editor: Jake Glazeski Sports Editor: Matthew Hansen Assistant Sports Editor David Diehl Arts Editor Samuel McKewon Copy Desk Chief: Danell McCoy Copy Desk Chief: Jeff Bloom Art Director Melanie Falk Art Director: Delan Lonowski Photo Chief: Scott McClurg Design Coordinator Bradley Davis Web Editor: Gregg Sterns Assistant Web Editor Tanner Graham General Manager Daniel Shattil Publications Board Russell Willbanks l Chairman: (402)484-7226 Professional Adviser Don Walton (402) 473-7248 Advertising Manager Nick Partsch (402) 472-2589 Assistant Ad Manager: Nicole Woita Classified Ad Manager Nikki Bruner Circulation Manager: Imtiyaz Khan Fax number: (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: www.dailyneb.com The Daily Nebraskan (USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board,20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year, weekly during the summer sessions.The public has access to the Publications Board. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling (402) 472-2588. Subscriptions are $60 for one year. Postmaster Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln NE 68588-0448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. All MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 2001 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Questions? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at (402) 472-2588 or e-mail dn@unl.edu. Student was unhappydays before shooting THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN DIEGO — Andy Williams, the 15-year-old accused of killing two classmates at his high school, grew increasingly depressed in the days before the shootings, according to a friend. Bullying from classmates, the loss of his girlfriend and homesickness over his move from a small Maryland town left him more and more distraught, according to a report in Sunday’s edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune. “You could clearly tell he was getting progressive ly unhappy,” Kathleen Seek, 16, the former girlfriend from Brunswick, Md., told the newspaper. “It was getting worse and worse.” Seek had traded chat room messages with Williams over the Internet four days prior to the March 5 shooting at Santana High School in Santee. The topic of the 20-minute exchange - Williams’ unhappiness - was not unusual. But Seek noted his deepening despair. He hated his school and California. He was sad dened to see that his friends in Maryland were mov ing on. Seek was dating someone new. “His world was going on without him,” Seek said. “I know that was hard for him. “He said he just wanted to disappear. He was real ly down - more than I had ever known him to be. He sounded suicidal. That scared me.... I just got offline because I didn’t want to hear any more.” Authorities say Williams planned to kill himself after the shooting but was caught before he could do so. The rampage left two students dead and 13 people wounded. When Williams was captured in a school bathroom, his handgun was loaded with eight bullets. In the two weeks since his arrest, the slightly built teen-ager has settled into a routine in Juvenile Hall, where he occupies Room 11 of “Super Max,” a 30 room wing for boys charged with the most serious crimes. He still has wide eyes and isn’t quite sure of what’s going on,” said a probation officer who super vises boys at Juvenile Hall, the newspaper reported. “He tries to stay out of the limelight. He hasn’t shown interest in anything.” Guards check on Williams, the youngest inmate on the row, every 15 minutes. He spends his mornings talking with attorneys and a psychologist before heading to school inside Juvenile Hall. So far, he is a model prisoner who responds well to commands and keeps to himself, said the probation officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Other kids here are still pretty much in awe of him,” the probation officer said. But "he’s pretty much isolated Within himself.... He’s not making any friends.” Williams’ father, Jeff, said Friday he was confused by the shootings and was scared for his son, who must be tried as an adult under California law. Public defender Randy Mize said the defense team planned to challenge the law, which voters approved last year. Given the juvenile system’s focus on rehabilitation, Mize said it would offer “the best justice in this case.” TODAY TOMORROW Partly cloudy Partly cloudy high 48, low 35 high 60, low 36 / Amtrak train derails in Iowa THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NODAWAY, Iowa — An Amtrak train carrying 210 people from Chicago to California derailed in rural Iowa early Sunday, killing one passenger, injuring about 90 others and leav ing a zigzagging trail of silver cars along a muddy embankment At least seven of the injured passengers were hospitalized, and dozens of others were treated and released from area hospitals after suffering minor injuries. The cause of the crash about 70 miles southwest of Des Moines was unknown. Terry’Williams, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said investigators were gathering details on the scene. The California Zephyr’s two locomotives and 15 cars were car rying 195 passengers and 15 crew members, Amtrak spokeswoman Debra Hare said. Amtrak officials did not immediately release a list of passengers. Exhausted survivors on the train huddled on chairs and sofas in several Omaha hotels after being bused 60 miles from the wreck. Amtrak arranged to have them reach their destinations by whatever means they chose - from airplane flights to bus rides to perhaps even getting on anoth er train. The train had been bound for California, with its route running through southerp Nebraska with stops in Om'aha, Lincoln, Hastings, Holdrege and McCook. The scene of the wreckage stretched about one-fourth of a mile. Workers began picking up debris near the tipped-over cars, some of which formed a V-shape along the tracks. “I think everybody was amazed that there weren’t more fatalities and injuries,” said Nodaway Fire Chief Larry Pond. Aerial photographs showed two silver cars lying across the railroad, with an overturned car lying parallel to the track in a muddy bank. Other cars teetered along the track near the snow-covered ground. Of the seven passengers hos pitalized, at least two were listed in serious condition. Shaheda Ula, 47, of Laramie, Wyo., was being treated for a bro ken hip at University of Nebraska 7 think everybody was amazed that there weren’t more fatalities and injuries." Larry Pond Nodaway fire chief Medical Center in Omaha. “It just shook and shook again, and everybody screamed,” she said from her hospital bed. “I don’t remember anything after that” Her husband, Sadrul, was not injured, nor was her daughter, 14 year-old Nafisa. Four of the more seriously injured were sent to Omaha hos pitals. Others were taken to hos pitals in Iowa. The train was headed to Emeryville, Calif., when the derailment occurred just before midnight. Passenger loseph Conn of Hobart, Ind., said one of the front train cars overturned and another was dangling from a 20-foot-high embankment One of the coach cars went off to the left, and it’s sitting basi cally on its roof. Its wheels are sticking up into the air. They car ried a number of people out of that one,” said Conn, who was sit ting near the back of the train. • “There was maybe more than 100 feet of shredded ties, shred ded rails, torn-up ballast on the roadway, just a torn-up mess,” Conn said. Jim Anderson, who lives off a winding gravel road less than a mile from the crash site, said he was in bed when the derailment startled him and his dog. “I thought my furnace blowed up. I heard a bunch of grinding and then boom,” he said. “That dog of mine jumped out of bed and started growling at the window.” Bryan Kannas, emergency management coordinator for the Adams County Sheriff's depart ment, said the derailment hap pened on a straightway located between the communities of Brooks and Nodaway. That sec tion of track is owned and main tained by Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad. Steve Forsberg, a spokesman for Burlington Northern, did not know whether other train derail ments had occurred along the stretch of tracks. Senate split on usage of campaign finances THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Senators predicted “free-for-all” and “freewheeling” discussions this week on campaign finance, but suggested Sunday there was no consensus yet on what the legis lation ultimately would do. The evenly split Senate was set to begin debate today, seek ing to balance concerns about freedom of speech, fund-raising advantages and other issues in the long-running standoff on campaign finance. “It’s going to be a free-for all,” said Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma, the second-ranking Republican. "We don’t often leg islate like that.” Nickles said on “Fox News Sunday” that he expected a compromise to emerge from the two-week debate on two plans. A plan by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz.( and Russell Feingold, D-Wis., would ban soft money donations and restrict other political spending. An alternative from Sen. Chuck Hagel would limit but not prohibit those loosely regu lated donations to political par ties from corporations, labor unions and individuals. “This is very difficult to know exactly how all this is going to turn out because of two reasons, really, very simply. One, were asking incumbents to vote to change a system to keep incumbents in office,” McCain said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The second thing is every special interest that uses money to gain access and influence in Washington is opposed to this TN bill.” Hagel, R-Neb., said his pro posal was designed to draw more support and protect cort tributors’ constitutional rights. He said it was not intended to help President Bush at the expense of McCain, whose pres idential bid last year focused on campaign finance. Bush signaled his support last week for Hagel's plan. “The Shakespearean drama and intrigue of me somehow being the point of the spear being used by George Bush to get to John McCain is just a complete fabrication,” Hagel said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Hagel said McCain should get credit for generating public support that forced the Senate into opening “two weeks of transparent debate” on the way campaigns are funded. Even opponents of the McCain-Feingold bill such as Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., predicted “fascinating” floor action. We re going to have two weeks of freewheeling debate,” McConnell, who believes a soft money ban would be unconsti tutional, said on "Meet the Press.” Republicans took in $244 million and Democrats $243 million in soft money in the 2000 election, according to the Federal Election Commission. Feingold said it was no sur prise the debate would be diffi cult. "When you’re going to take $500 million out of the system in one cycle, it is going to cause some anxiety,” Feingold said on “Face the Nation.” The Associated Press ■ New York FBI finds link between Cole bombing and terror suspect NEW YORK — The FBI has uncovered a possible link between the main suspect in the Cole bombing and the No. 1 U.S. terror suspect, Osama bin Laden, according to a report appearing in this week’s Newsweek. FBI documents show a link between Jamal al-Badawi, the key Yemeni suspect in custody, and a top security adviser to bin Laden, Tawfiq al-Atash, Newsweek said in editions appearing on news stands today. The bombing killed 17 American sailors during a refuel ing stop in Aden on Oct. 12. Al-Badawi allegedly helped buy the boat used by the suicide bombers. He reportedly told investigators he was led to believe - but never directly told - that bin Laden was giving the orders. Bin Laden, a Saudi-born mil lionaire, allegedly directs a global terrorism network. U.S. prosecu tors have indicted him for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people. ■ England Livestock slaughtered to battle against disease LONDON — Battling more than 300 separate outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, British authorities said Sunday they had slaughtered 1,800 apparently healthy sheep as part of a massive preemptive cull of livestock that may have come into contact with the infection. The slaughter took place Saturday on two Scottish farms that had links to a livestock mar ket where the highly contagious virus was found. Similar preemp tive culls are to take place at four farms in the Highlands next week. Many farmers have com plained about the plan to kill tens of thousands of healthy-appear ing animals on the mere suspi cion that they could have been exposed to foot-and-mouth dis ease. But Agriculture Minister Nick Brown defended the tactic. “The purpose is to take out animals that have been exposed to infectivity but are not yet show ing symptoms,” he told the British Broadcasting Corp. ■ Washington, D.C. Attorney General Ashcroft takes public oath of office Attorney General John Ashcroft took his oath of office for the first time in public at a cere mony Sunday and said the Justice Department would be dedicated to diversity under his tenure. The program included a black gospel chorus, black speakers and a black pastor singing a song Ashcroft wrote. A group of friends and sup porters administered the oath, each person in turn reading a line of the official language. The group consisted mostly of minorities. “I have asked a variety of peo ple to administer the oath to sym bolize that we serve a variety of people in the United States of America," Ashcroft said. Ashcroft became attorney general after surviving a bruising Senate confirmation process in which his positions on civil rights were attacked by Democrats. It was the third time Ashcroft had recited the oath since sworn in privately by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Feb. 1. He took the oath a second time in a closed event with President Bush on Tuesday. ■ Washington Starbucks changes milk after customer complaints SEATTLE — Starbucks Coffee Co. has begun efforts to serve only milk, which is free of genetically modified ingredients, such as bovine growth hormone, the company president said Friday. The Food and Drug Administration has said the milk was safe to consume. But the company was more concerned about public percep tion than health concerns, said Orin Smith, Starbucks’ president and chief executive. Starbucks, a coffee and spe cialty drink maker, is one of the largest milk users in the country, with 2,758 stores nationwide.