Section A·Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, April 20, 1998
OKC remembers victims of blast
The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — Michael Hinton grimaced and succumbed to tears Sunday when the names of his slain co-workers were read aloud during the third anniversary of the federal building bombing.
"You have to move on with life, but at the same time, you never forget," said Hinton, a Secret Service agent.
Survivors, relatives of victims and others gathered Sunday at the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where a truck bomb killed 168 people on April 19, 1995.
Hundreds of people rang small bells after 168 seconds of silence — one second for each of the dead — and placed flowers and mementos on the grass-covered site.
Across the street, a grassy field served as a playground for young Rebecca and Brandon Denny, who were in a second-floor day care center in the federal building when the bomb exploded.
The children still remember being in the "bad building with thunder and fire," Denny said. "But unlike adults, kids can talk about it and go on with their lives."
Their father, Jim Denny, said facial scars were the only physical problems that remained for 5-year-old Rebecca, but 6-year-old Brandon has brain damage and can't hold anything with his right hand.
Actor
"I think time helps with healing if you use the time well," said Paul Heath, a Veterans Administration psychologist who was in the building at the time of the blast.
President Clinton observed the bombing anniversary by saluting the courage and resilience of the people of Oklahoma City.
"It was an attack not just on the people, a city, a state, a nation, but on what we stand for, how we govern ourselves
"We can never know the pain of your loss, the depths of your despair or the heights of your courage. What we can do, what we will do, is to be inspired by you."
Gerald McRaney
and the values we live by." Clinton said in statement from Santiago, Chile, where he was attending the Summit of the
Among those participating in the observance were cast members from the CBS series "Promised Land," who are in Oklahoma City to film scenes for upcoming episodes and to draw attention to efforts to build a permanent memorial.
Actor Gerald McRaney told the relatives that the bombers failed in their goal of damaging the morale of the American people.
"The people of Oklahoma demonstrate to the world what the United States stands for." McRaney said. "People of every color, ethnicity and religion displayed compassion, sacrifice, courage and love not for notoriously or credit, but simply because it needed doing."
"We can never know the terror that you felt," McRaney said. "We can never know the pain of your loss, the depths of your despair or the heights of your courage. What we can do, what we will do, is to be inspired by you."
Officials of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation said $11.8 million has been raised for the estimated cost of $24.1 million for a permanent memorial at the site. Ground-breaking is scheduled for this fall.
China frees pro-democracy leader
Feared brain tumor prompts release of Wang Dan to U.S.
DETROIT — Wang Dan, a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in Beijing, arrived in the United States on Sunday after being freed from a Chinese jail.
The Associated Press
Wang's release came two months before a planned visit to China by President Clinton. In the past, China has tried to use such releases to improve the atmosphere before high-level contacts, prompting human rights groups to accuse it of playing hostage politics.
Wang arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a flight from Beijing shortly before 10 a.m. He was led from the plane onto the tarmac and was taken away with a police escort.
"It's very welcome news," said White House national security rep
Airport spokesman Mike Conway said Wang was to head to New York from Detroit but did not know how long Wang would be in Detroit.
respective Eric Rubin, who is with Clinton in Santiago, Chile. "This is something we've raised repeatedly with the Chinese, and we consider it a very positive step."
Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit issued a statement saying Wang had arrived at the hospital at 10:45 a.m., was admitted and was being evaluated. His condition was not immediately available.
rospital representative Dwight Angell said Wang walked into the hospital under his own power. It was not immediately known whether Wang would be released or would remain overnight.
Wang, 29, is the second leading Chinese dissident released for medical reasons in the past six months. Wei Jingsheng, the most prominent government critic, was sent to the United States in November.
Such releases suit China's recent policies of encouraging dissidents to
leave, in hopes they will lose their political effectiveness in exile.
"It is good news for Wang Dan as an individual, except that once again, it appears to be a release conditional on exile," said Catherine Baber, representative for Amnesty International in Hong Kong.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Wang was released on medical parole but did not give details. Wang has suffered for months with a throat infection and headaches that his family thought might indicate a brain tumor.
His mother, Wang Linyun, said she saw her son briefly before he boarded the airplane in Beijing.
"He's ill. He looked the same as he has for a while," she said in a telephone interview before he arrived in Detroit.
Wang was imprisoned for 3 1/2 years after the government crushed the Tiananmen Square movement. Emerging unrepentant in 1993, he resumed pro-democracy activities, leading to his arrest again in 1995 and an 11-year prison sentence on
subversion charges.
Wang's parents have been asking the government for months to have him examined by specialists and to transfer him from a prison in northeastern China back to his hometown of Beijing.
In April, the Chinese government denied that it made a deal with Washington to release Wang after the Clinton administration refrained from criticizing Beijing's human rights record in a U.N. resolution.
As with other releases, China's state-run press did not announce Wang's departure in the Chinese language press. Few Chinese appeared to be aware he had been freed.
"It's good news, but I wish he'd stay in China and work for the sake of democracy. People like Wang and Wei are unselfish and concerned about the people and the nation," said a man who gave only his surname, Li — like most Chinese, fearing possible government retaliation.
Bug devotees swarm at Purdue event
The Associated Press
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Parents usually discourage their children from putting bugs in their mouths.
But not at Purdue University's annual Bug Bowl, where you cannot compete in the cricket spitting contest without popping a few of the chirpers.
Gayle Seals watched proudly Saturday as her 12-year-old son, Dan, made it into the Junior Men's Cricket Spitting Championship Round by spiting a dead cricket nearly 14 feet.
"He has more guts than I do," she said.
"One of our goals is to get people to better appreciate the roles of insects in nature."
"They're our recyclers. If it wasn't
The purpose of this yearly entomological extravaganza is to foster a world where people embrace insects rather than step on them.
Tom Turpin
Entomology professor
"One of our goals is to get people to better appreciate the roles of insects in nature," said Tom Turpin, a Purdue entomology professor and cofounder of the Bug Bowl.
This year's Bug Bowl was expected to match last year's attendance mark
Nine years ago, he decided to have an out-of-class activity where his students could actually see, touch and enjoy insects. A radio station got wind of the bug day and about 200 people showed up. Since then, it's been an annual event.
for these things, we'd have dead trees all over, dead animals on the sides of the road, all sorts of problems."
Dressed in coattails with ladybug buttons and a top hat covered with colorful insects, Turpin is a man who stands by his bugs.
of 12,000 people. Cricket spitting is a crowd favorite, but there is more.
A step inside a sprawling yellow tent brings the welcoming smell of melting chocolate and cooking oil. A closer look reveals samples of odd delicacies such as caterpillar-laced chocolate chip cookies.
A student-c chef dumps some rice and vegetables into a skillet. To the side is a cup of writhing, half-inch-long mealworms. How does one know when the mealworms are done? "They quit moving," the chef said without cracking a smile.
A sign near the chocolate-covered cricket stand offers reasons for eating bugs, including "tastes like chicken" and "50 million lizards can't be wrong."
People line up to see displays of insect-oriented art, cockroach races and cockroach tractor pulls. There is even an insect petting zoo, which includes a 3-inch long Madagascar Hissing Cockroach and a 4-inch long, unsavory-looking New Guinea Stick Insect.
Then there is the cricket spitting. Turpin said that the crickets are flown in from a California company that supplies insects to bait shops. The live crickets are frozen and then thawed out before the contest, giving contestants the true feel of a cricket in their mouth.
"We don't wash them or brush their teeth or anything," Turpin said. "This is another misconception. Insects themselves are not dirty or filthy in any way."
When Dan Seals stepped up to the designated cricket-spitting circle for the championship round, he picked up a clean, dead cricket, placed it on his tongue, closed his mouth and sent it flying.
He came up a bit short, placing last out of four finalists.
"Watermelon seeds are a lot easier," Dan said. "They're not as big."
His mother patted him on the shoulder.
"We'll have to set up a course in the backyard for you to practice," she said.
Tuesday 3&5 p.m.
STAFF APPRECIATION DAY SHOW YOUR STAFF ID AND GET A FREE BAG OF POPCORN
ATTENTION GRADUATE STUDENTS
**positions available**
GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION
If you have a genuine interest in improving the quality of graduate student life across the University, The Graduate and Professional Students Association (GPA) has 3 staff positions you should consider:
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Duties include serving as liaison between the GPA and other University offices, including the Chancellor, Provost, and Deans, as well as Student Senate. Incumbent must be willing to actively advocate for a variety of graduate student concerns. Knowledge of University governance and campus programs helpful. Experience in directing meetings preferred.
FINANCIAL DIRECTOR
Duties include managing the GPA budget and handling all disbursements for the organization. Also, processing spending allocation requests for 40 graduate student organizations (GSOs). Must plan and deliver training workshop for GO S treasurers. Must have budgeting/accounting experience. Familiarity with State Purchasing rules desirable.
Duties include compiling and editing the Graduate News Paper (GNP), maintaining the GPA homepage on the WWW, taking and distributing meeting minutes, maintaining e-mail distribution lists for various graduate student constituencies, and sending electronic and surface mail communiques. Layout experience required, as well as knowledge of PageMaker and HTML.
ALL POSITIONS REQUIRE EXCELLENT VERBAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS,
AS WELL AS THE ABILITY TO WORK WITH DIVERSE GROUPS OF PEOPLE
ACROSS A VARIETY OF CONTEXTS. ALL POSITIONS ARE 12 MONTH (7/1/98-6/30/99),
50% APPOINTMENTS WITH STAFF RATES. EOE.
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR
Applicants should submit a resume and cover letter plus three letters of recommendation to Bill Stuart, Position Search Chair, Graduate Executive Committee, 400 Kansas Union, Lawrence, KS 66045. Deadline for applications is 5pm, Friday, April 24, 1998.
If you have any questions about the application process, call 785-864-9895, or inquire via e-mail at bstuart@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
BATTLE OF THE
BANDS
Final Battle:
Friday April 24
9:30 pm
Monday April 20 & Tuesday April 21
Monday 4/20
at the Bottleneck
1. Solar Moth
2. Angrius
3. Two Player Option
4. Vosotros
Tuesday 4/21
1. Icarus
2. The Playthings
3. Norman 360
3. Norman 360
4. The Anniversary
Winner of Final Battle opens for
DAY ON THE HILL
Come vote for your favorite band!