THURSDAY,APRIL 10,2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 9A
Judge sets nuns' trial date in defaced missile silo case
The Associated Press
DENVER—The prosecutor who won a conviction against three Roman Catholic nuns for defacing a missile silo in a protest said he didn't enjoy convicting the women but said they must accept their fate.
"As a lawyer, when I go to trial, I go to succeed. I take no personal pleasure in achieving a conviction of these women," deputy U.S. attorney Robert Brown wrote in an e-mail made public Tuesday by a supporter of the nuns.
"However, I offered them a compromise of pleading to the
lesser count; they refused, apparently so they could make their point in open court," he wrote.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press Tuesday, Brown confirmed he sent the email to University of Illinois professor Francis Boyle, but he declined to comment further.
Boyle was barred from testifying at the trial by a ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn.
Sisters Ardeth Platte, 66, Jackie Hudson, 68, and Carol Gilbert, 55, were arrested for breaking into a Minuteman III missile silo site on Colorado's northeastern plains on Oct. 6.
The nuns claim the Minuteman is a first-strike weapon prohibited by international law.
They swing hammers at the silo and painting crosses on it with their own blood.
A jury convicted them Monday of interfering with the nation's defense and causing property damage of more than $1,000. They could face up to 30 years in prison, but prosecutors said they likely would get five to eight years. Sentencing will be July 25.
Since their arrest, all three have refused the government's offer to be released on their own recognizance.
Sue Tyburski, Gilbert's attorney, said the nuns rejected the prosecutor's offer of a plea agreement because they thought they had done nothing wrong.
"They're doing important work where they are now, counseling women who are incarcerated and responding to the hundreds of pieces of mail they're receiving," Tyburski said.
The nuns have said they were compelled to act as the possibility of war with Iraq moved closer and because the United States never promised not to use nuclear weapons. Their lawyers argued their actions were symbolic and
never jeopardized national security.
In a pretrial hearing, Blackburn refused to allow the nuns to defend themselves using principals established during the international war crimes tribunal at Nuremberg.
During the postwar trial of Nazi concentration camp guards, the tribunal said an individual has an obligation under international law to violate domestic law to prevent continuing crimes against humanity.
Brown's e-mail said he took to the streets of Denver to protest the U.S. bombing in Cambodia in
the 1970s and that the world would be better without nuclear weapons.
But he said he disagreed with the nuns' international defense.
Gilbert and Platte both lived at Jonah House, a communal residence for pacifists founded by Philip Berrigan in Baltimore. Hudson belongs to a similar group in Poulsbo, Wash. All joined the Dominican order in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The nuns were being held in Clear Creek County Jail because the Federal Detention Center in Englewood, Colo. cannot accommodate female prisoners.
STATE
Rice county jail bought, may be resold on eBay
LYONS — George Saling hasn't decided just what to do with his latest real estate acquisition: the old Rice County jail.
One idea circulating was to turn the 1920s jail into a bed and breakfast. Another, Saling said, was to put the property at the intersection of Kansas Highways 14 and 96 in downtown Lyons right back up for sale.
"I might even put it on eBay and sell it," Saling said. "I don't think they've had a jail on eBay vet."
Saling bought the jail for $47,000 during a public auction Monday. The county sold the building, and the former sheriff's
office annex next door, after opening a new $4.3 million facility on the western edge of town.
When the jail was built, the sheriff and his wife lived in the two-bedroom home on the lower floor.
Originally the sheriff was also the jailer, and his wife was the jail's matron, serving homecooked meals to the prisoners upstairs. The food trays were lifted via a dumb waiter and passed into the upstairs jail through a steel trap door.
The red-brick, two-story jail also boasts a Spanish tile roof and is landscaped with shrubs and a large maple shade tree on the south lawn.
"I didn't give it a lot of thought ahead of time," Saling said
about buying the jail. "But I checked the structure and it's well built. There's nothing there some money wouldn't take care of."
Turnpike plans to install cost-saving machines
TOPEKA — The Kansas Turnpike Authority plans to install machines to dispense tickets at 16 of its 21 toll plazas along the 236-mile highway. Humans will continue to collect the toll fees and will be available to help those who have questions about the cost-saving machines.
"They'll be up and down the turnpike, but not at every plaza, and they won't be in every lane at every plaza," said Lisa Callahan,
a. KTA representative
She said two ticket-issuing machines — one in Topeka and one in Wichita — have been successfully used on the turnpike during an experiment.
Callahan said toll collector positions have been left open from retirements and turnover in anticipation of adding the machines.
"It's a project we've been working on for a long time, and we've anticipated these machines for a long time so we wouldn't have to lay anyone off," Callahan said. "There may be some part-time employees who have reduced schedules, but there will be no full-time employees who will be laid off."
Suspect dead after running over officer
MISSION — A sheriff's sergeant fatally shot a suspected car burglar at an apartment complex in this Kansas City, Kan. suburb, authorities said.
Samuel E. Byers, 26, was driving over the sergeant early Tuesday when he was shot and killed. The sergeant, identified only as a 15-year veteran of the Johnson County Sheriff's Department, was treated at a hospital for a broken leg and sent home.
Johnson County Sheriff's deputies were watching the parking lot because auto burglars have repeatedly struck apartment complexes in the area.
Lenexa police detectives were investigating the shooting.
Authorities said deputies saw Byers break into a car around 2 a.m. Tuesday and get back into his car. One deputy followed Byers while another blocked the exits. Seeing he was trapped, Byers then drove into two parked cars and a deputy's vehicle, said Lenexa police Capt. John Meier.
Deputies got out of their cars with guns drawn when Byers backed up and stopped his car as though he was giving up, officials said. But Byers then sped forward, running into the sergeant who fired a single shot through the windshield of Byers' car.
The Associated Press
2003-04 CCO Staff Applications Are Out!
The Center For Community Outreach is now accepting applications for student positions for the 2003-04 school year.
Administrative Staff Positions (May 2003-April 2004):
Two Co-Directors (20 hours/week, paid)
Financial Director (15 hours/week,paid)
Communications Director (15 hours/week,paid)
Two volunteer co-coordinator positions for each of the following programs: Community Resources Engaging in the Arts Through Education (CREATE), Concerned, Active & Aware Students (CAAS), Environmental Action to Revitalize the Heartland (EARTH), GROW Community Garden Project, Hawks for Health, Helping Unite Generations (HUG), Into the Streets Week, The Jubilee Cafe, Lifeline, Mentors In The Lives of Kids (MILK), Music Mentors, Natural Ties, Students Tutoring for Literacy (STL)
Applications are available at 405 Kansas Union. For more information stop by or call (785) 864-4073
All Applications Dué On April 11th.
Applicants will be considered regardless of education level, race, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or ethnic origin.
International Student Association presents... International Awareness Week
SUNDAY, APRIL 6
-Flavors of the World
-Kick-off Dinner 6pm
Lawrence Catholic Center
MONDAY, APRIL 7
-Open Game Night
6-9pm, Hawk's Nest
TUESDAY, APRIL 8
-Muslim Women in America
Dr. Saadia Malik
11:30-1pm, Alderson
-Picture the World
6-9pm, Auditorium
Lawrence Public Library
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9
THURSDAY, APRIL 10
WEDNESDAY.
-Salsa Workshop
6-7:30pm, Ballroom
THURSDAY, APRIL 1
-Fashion Show & Dance
3pm, 4th Floor Lobby
-Firsthand Experience in Iraq
Prof. Scott Harding
6-7pm Big 12 Rm
FRIDAY, APRIL 11
12-5pm, Ballroom
- Rhythm of the World
10pm-2am
$5 admission
SATURDAY, APRIL 12
-KU Soccer Mania
9am-5pm, Robinson Field
$5 per team
-Festival of Nations
7pm, Woodruff Auditorium
Applied English
introduction
International Student
and Scholar Services
Coca-Cola
All events are free and in the Kansas Union unless otherwise stated.
unique student apartments
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Updated Fitness Center
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Lighted Basketball Court
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Amenities, Rents and Incentives are subject to change.
2511 West 31st Street Lawrence, KS 66047
www.jeffersoncommons-lawrence.com 785-842-0032
Call for more information
785-842-0032
SUNDAY, APRIL 13TH
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Feature Film Series
WOODRUFF auQIrtiom
kangos union, LEWIS, 5
TEXT ONLY OBLIGATORY
BOSS WORKSHOP CHAPEL
IN THE ISLAND SCHOOL WORKSHOP
IN THE ISLAND SCHOOL WORKSHOP
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- On-site Manager
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(785) 841-1212
Hours:
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EHO
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