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
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l Chairman: (402)484-7226
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All MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 2001
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
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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.
