THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2007
NEWS
>> NATURAL DISASTER
9A
Tropical storm nears Cuba, southern Florida
Residents struggle to cross a flooded river due to heavy rains caused by tropical storm Noel, in Leoan, southern Haiti, Monday.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Tropical Storm Noel brought heavy rain to the western Caribbean Tuesday as it pushed through Cuba and edged closer to Florida. Floods and mudslides across the region have killed at least 22 people.
BY RAMON ALMANZAR ASSOCIATED PRESS
Forecasters projected the storm would emerge over water Wednesday near Cuba's Cayo Coco resort area and head northeast toward the Bahamas. They also said a tropical storm watch might be issued for parts of southeastern Florida Tuesday.
The storm cut a destructive path across the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
At least six people died in Haiti, including two women who were washed away by flood waters near the city of Gantier and a child found dead in a slum in the capital, U.N. officials said.
Officials in the neighboring Dominican Republic, meanwhile, revised the death toll there downward to 16. The National Emergency Commission reported Monday that at least 20 had died as a result of the storm in that country, but on Tuesday, agency spokesman Luis Luna Paulino said they had miscalculated the earlier figure.
Almost 12,000 people were driven from their homes and nearly 3,000 homes were destroyed, while collapsed bridges and swollen rivers have isolated 36 towns, Luna said.
The dead included three people swept up by a fast-moving river in San Jose de Ocoa and three others buried in a mudslide in the port city of Haina, officials said.
In Haiti, about 2,000 people were evacuated from homes from the southern coastal city of Jacmel. Hundreds also were evacuated in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where the muddy water was so deep in some streets that people swam in it.
Rain was still pounding the two
countries Tuesday even as the center of the storm moved away.
At 5 p.m. EDT, Noel was centered about 30 miles south-southwest of Camaguey, Cuba, and it was moving toward the west at about 8 mph. Maximum sustained winds were down to 40 mph, down from 60 mph earlier.
Florida was just outside the storm's expected path, but forecasters said a tropical storm watch may
be issued for southeast portions of the state if Noel shifts west or its wind expands. A watch means tropical storm conditions are possible within 36 hours.
Forecasters had already issued warnings for rough surf for much of South Florida, including the Miami area, as waves were already pounding the region's beaches. But they said the storm's rains would likely miss drought-stricken Georgia,
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Alabama and other states in the Southeast.
In Cuba, the government said about 1,000 homes had suffered damage, 2,000 people had been evacuated from low-lying areas, and schools were closed for several thousand students.
Bahamian authorities closed most government offices, and lines formed at grocery stores and gas stations in Nassau, the capital. Rain
Carl Smith, Bahamian disaster coordinator, said the archipelago's power authority was considering temporarily shutting down the electrical system in various islands as a precautionary measure.
from the outer bands of the storm forced tourists to cover themselves in trash bags or huddle for shelter in doorways of the city's colonial downtown.
》 TAZING
Florida student receives 18-month probation
BY TRAVIS REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida student stunned by a police Taser and arrested after his fervent, videotaped outburst at an event with Sen. John Kerry won't go to court if he stays out
of trouble during 18 months of probation, prosecutors said Tuesday.
with resisting an officer without violence and interfering with a school function.
Andrew Meyer's shout of "Don't Tase me, brol" was ignored by campus police but helped video clips of the 21-year-old being dragged from
University police had recommended he be charged with resisting arrest with violence, which is a felony.
As a campus question-and-answer session with Kerry ended
"I now realize that in order to be heard, one must act within the appropriate time, place and manner."
a microphone become an Internet sensation.
ANDREW MEYER University of Florida student
The telecommunications major wrote apologies to the Gainesville school; its president, Bernie Machen; and the campus police department, defense attorney Robert Grisci said. Meyer recently decided to take the semester off because of the publicity, but he will return in January, Grisci said.
sept. 17, Meyer loudly demanded a chance to question the former Democratic presidential candidate. Officers approached but backed off when Kerry said he would answer Meyer's questions.
The student
"I stepped out of line at the Kerry forum," Meyer wrote. "I violated the rules of the forum and was disruptive. I now realize that in order to be heard, one must act within the appropriate time, place and manner."
State Attorney William Cervone said Meyer agreed to conduct himself "in a fashion that demonstrates his ability to behave appropriately and without violating the law" during 18 months of probation. If not, Cervone said, Meyer will be charged
launched into a diatribe about why Kerry didn't challenge his 2004 loss to President Bush, why the president hasn't been impeached and whether he and Bush were members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University. Event organizers cut Meyer's microphone when he said former President Clinton was impeached for oral sex.
Police grabbed Meyer to escort him out, but he flailed and slipped from their grasp. He allegedly grabbed an auditorium seat at one point so he couldn't be moved.
The police involved returned to work last week after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined it was an appropriate use of force.
Officers had him on the ground, but Meyer kept struggling. He was zapped with the Taser just after his "Don't Tase me, bro" plea.
Police said Meyer's tone changed
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instantly when he stepped into the patrol car. He was recorded telling the officers they didn't do anything wrong, according to the FDLE report, and sounded pleased about the arrest in a jailhouse phone call.
"I'm so sorry that I lost my control in that auditorium," he wrote. "I went there to ask an important question. The question of voter disenfranchisement in America cuts to the heart of our democracy, and my failure to act calmly resulted in this important town forum ending without the discourse intended. For that, I am truly sorry."
Meyer, however, denied suggestions that he intended to cause a scene.
The lawyer added that Meyer remains surprised by the continued attention.
Griscii said he and his client believe use of the Taser was unnecessary.
"It actually leaves a burn mark, and it did, and it hurts," Grciis said, applauding the school's decision to investigate Tasers on campus with a student and faculty committee.
"We have not been feeding this; it's got a life of its own" Grasti said.
NATION High schools introduce coffee shops in libraries
FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Even before the bell rings each morning, students at Centennial High School line up to get into the library. But they don't necessarily look for books.
They wait for a morning cup of Joe at the Cougar Cafe, a coffee shop run by students.
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Coffeehouses are springing up in high school libraries around the country, marking a departure from the days when librarians prohibited food, drinks and talking.
Some health advocates wonder
whether high school students really need more caffeine or calories.
"Once they have them in there, they have their eyes and hopefully have their minds for a little bit," said Doug Johnson, a school library consultant from Minnesota.
But school officials said the coffee shops promoted reading by attracting teenagers who might not otherwise hang out in a library.
The school library cafes are simplified versions of the coffee shops at bookstores. Centennial High's cafe, which has been open for a few months, has an espresso
machine and a milk frother, and sells coffee drinks, hot and iced teas and hot chocolate.
"School food reflects the larger culture, so if there's a proliferation of coffee shops in bookstores out in the world, it's going to happen in schools," said Jian Poppendieck, a sociology professor at Hunter College in New York who is writing a book on school meals.
Associated Press
Marketing students work as baristas in the Centennial cafe, which brings in about $200 a day. Profits after expenses will be turned into scholarships for the 10 to 15 student employees.
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