UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, April 18, 1994
7
THE NEWS in brief
SINGAPORE
American youth could escape caning sentence on medical grounds
If his final appeal against being flogged is rejected, an 18-year-old American has a slim chance to escape a beating on medical grounds.
"The punishment of caring shall not be inflicted unless a medical officer is present and certifies that the offender is in a fit state of health to undergo such punishment," according to Singapore's Criminal Procedure Code.
Theodore Simon, a lawyer in Philadelphia who specializes in helping Americans who get in trouble in other countries, said that Michael Fay, who was sentenced to six lashes for vandalism, has attention deficit disorder, which often contributes to disruptive behavior.
An average of 1,000 people are sentenced to flogging each year, said a representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs. About six avoid the lash on medical grounds, and the caning is either caneled or committed to a jail term.
Defense attorney R. Palakrishnan submitted two psychiatric reports at the youth's trial in March showing that he suffered from the condition.
Lawyers have until Wednesday to file an appeal for clemency with President Ong Teng Cheong.
The London-based human rights organization Amnesty International condemns caning as a cruel, inhuman and degrading form of punishment, prohibited by the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
The caning is done with a 4-foot bamboo rod called a rotan. The last 6 inches of the rotan are soaked in water to prevent it from splitting and embedding splinters in the bare buttocks.
Prisoners are strapped tightly to an easel-like wooden frame, body bent forward at the waist. The lower spine and internal organs are protected by padding from the blows, administered by prison guards trained in martial arts.
WASHINGTON
Support lags for weapons ban
Supporters of a ban on assault weapons are 15 to 20 votes short in the House of Representatives, a key congressman said yesterday.
In the latest head count by House Democratic leaders, a bill banning assault-style weapons such as Uzis and AK-47s is shy of a majority, raising the prospect of a major disagreement between the House and Senate on anti-crime legislation.
"I find it very surprising, with all the mayhem going on in the streets," said Rep. Charles Schumer, D.N.Y. and chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime. "The House voted against an assault weapons ban two years ago, but a lot has changed since then."
The Senate last fall passed a $22 billion crime bill that included the weapons ban. The House version, scheduled for continued debate this week, has no ban.
Schumer said aggressive lobbying by the National Rifle Association was behind the soft support for the assault weapons ban in the House.
"Members kept coming to me and saying, 'Look, I voted for the Brady bill. I thought it was the right thing to do, and the gun lobby came down very hard on me, and I can't vote against them,'" Schumer said.
The Brady bill, signed into law last year, created a five-day waiting period and procedure for background checks on people seeking to buy a handgun.
Major elements of both the House and Senate crime bills include crime prevention programs, money to build more prisons and to put more police on the streets, and versions of a "three-strikes-and you're-out" provision that would imprison three-time violent felons for life.
VATICAN CITY
Pope criticizes U.N. meeting
Pope John Paul II criticized a planned United Nations conference on population growth yesterday as an attempt to promote birth control and abortion.
The pontiff said he has sent all world leaders a letter "expressing painful surprise" that religious points of view apparently will be excluded from the meeting, planned for September in Cairo, Egypt. About 170 nations are expected to attend.
The pope said the gathering, which will be led by economists, sociologists and political leaders, will reinforce the "presumed right of abortion."
The pope's voice rose with emotion as he denounced the meeting, which he called "a defeat for man."
"It is today more urgent than ever to react against models of behavior that are models for hedonism and permissiveness," he told the crowd in St. Peter's Square.
FRANKLIN PARK, ILL. Mailbox gets a big deposit
First-class mail sometimes doesn't get delivered at all in Chicago. Things are different in the suburbs. Even a bad of money secured with a rubber band gets to its rightful destination.
Franklin Park post worker Lamonica Lewis opened a mail collection box Friday and found about $16,000 in cash, secured with a rubber band, along with several checks and a deposit slip.
"She just brought it in and said, 'Look what I found,' said Sherman Carter, a customer-service supervisor in the western Chicago suburb.
The deposit slip indicated the money belonged to the village.
Mayor Jack Williams said a police officer who usually makes the village's daily bank deposit on Friday was busy on another assignment, so another village employee took the deposit along with the mail and apparently put everything in the postal box by mistake.
But in Chicago, inspectors have found nearly 70,000 pieces of undelivered mail since this year. Postal officials found two more stacks last week: 2,000 pieces of mail behind the home of a fired letter carrier, and as many as 3,000 pieces in another car's trunk.
LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!
Studio,1&2 bedroom apartments 11th & Mississippi 843-2116
Summer Is Almost Here!
Compiled from The Associated Press.
10
- Over 60 aerobics classes/ wk.
- Step aerobics offered
- Stairmasters & Treadmill
- Cross aerobic machine
- Nautilus & free weights
BODY
OUTIQUE
The Women's Fitness Facility
749-2424
9th & Iowa • Hillcrest Plaza
The Broadway Series...Ladysmith Black Mambazo ... The Kennedy Center's Alice in Wonderland...
It's all at the Lied Center during the 1994-1995 Season
THE BROADWAY SERIES
Evita October 17,1994
Oliver! February 5,1995
Cats May 5-7,1995
Season tickets for KU and Haskell students $75 and $61 for all three shows.
SPECIAL EVENTS
The Kennedy Center National Tour of
Alice in Wonderland February 26, 1995
KU and Haskell students: $6.00 and $5.00.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo February 28, 1995
KU and Haskell students: $15.00 and $12.50.
Special offer for KU and Haskell Indian Nations students...Season tickets to the Broadway Series and Special Events may be purchased through the Lied Center box office (913) 864-ARTS, and will go on sale April 18 to KU and Haskell students only. General public and KU faculty and staff may purchase season tickets beginning May 16. Current season ticket holders can renew any time from now until April 25 in order to retain their same seats. The Broadway Series and Special Events are not a part of the All-Arts package through Optional Fees during registration.
September will be here before you know it, so get your tickets now before you leave for the summer!
At Commerce Bank, we know it's tough to do your best in school if you're hassled by money problems. So we offer Money 101—a package of banking services especially for college students. Use any or all of them.
Money 101 is a Student Loan Program with a difference. All student loans are the same — same rates, same terms. Only the banks are different. And Commerce Bank can save you interest. While other banks capitalize interest as many as 16 times while you're in school, Commerce doesn't until you graduate meaning real interest savings.
Money 101 includes a Student VISA or MasterCard to help you get the things you need — and cash advances, too.
The low-cost Money 101 Checking Account helps you keep track of expenses with a complete monthly statement.
And for maximum convenience, sign up for Money 101's Connection 24 Card. It gives you access to your checking and savings accounts 24 hours a day at any Connection 24 ATM (Automated Teller Machine) in Kansas — and other CIRRUS and BankMate ATMs nationwide.
So call me or stop by today and sign up for Money 101 — find out how top performance banking can help your performance at school.
"If you want to save time and money at college the smartest course is Money 101."
Nicole D Kruse
NICOLE D. KRUSE BRANCH MANAGER
Lawrence
865-4700
955 Iowa
23rd Street (in Dillons)
61st Street (in Dillons)
(Formerly The Bank of Kansas)
9246SL
V