MONDAY,DEC.3,2001
NATION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — In a sale that was limited under a compromise between the Bush administration and the president's brother, the federal government this week is selling petroleum drilling leases off Florida's Gulf Coast for the first time in more than a decade.
The Minerals Management Service will lease tracts for oil and gas exploration in a 1.5 million-acre area Wednesday. That's a reduction from the 5.9 million acres that President Bush initially proposed.
After President Bush made his proposal, environmentalists and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, fought to block the drilling.
The original lease area came as close as 17 miles to Pensacola in Florida's Panhandle, raising concern about potential damage an oil spill could cause to the state's tourist beaches.
The area being offered on Wednesday is at least 100 miles from the beaches of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, and the eastern edge is 285 miles from Tampa Bay.
When President Bush took office, the United States faced natural gas prices that had jumped above $10 per thousand
cubic feet and oil selling for around $36 per barrel.
But because of a sharply slower economy and increasing supplies, oil is selling today at $17 to $18 per barrel and natural gas goes for around $2.
The federal government has sold leases off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in two auctions since 1982.
When the scaled-back area was announced in July, Interior Secretary Gale Norton predicted that the auction would raise $136 million for the government. Though petroleum prices have dropped since then, the MMS said it still expected a strong sale because the area was close to proven deep-water reserves.
Oil companies refused to discuss their bidding plans before the sale.
"This is acreage that the industry has been most interested in for a number of years," said Barney Congdon, an MMS spokesman in New Orleans.
Officials estimate that the acreage being offered this week contains at least 185 million barrels of oil and 1.25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That's enough to run 1 million families' cars for six years and enough natural gas to heat the homes of 1 million families for 15 years.
Man admits abusing hundreds of children
HARRISONVILLE, Mo. — A man has admitted sexually abusing hundreds of young girls whose assaults he videotaped.
The Associated Press
Elza Terry, 55, pleaded guilty Friday to 16 charges against him and faces up to six life terms in prison for raping and sodomizing two girls who were 6 and 8 at the time.
Healso admitted inappropriately touching a girl he secretly videotaped in the aisle of a department store.
Police Sgt. Randy Scott said that Terry's homemade video library
totaled more than 200 tapes and showed more victims than investigators could identify.
"It will be our recommendation that he receive the maximum penalty," Prosecutor Chris Koster said.
Terry was arrested Dec. 19, 2000 after police received a tape found in a repossessed truck that once belonged to him. Police said the tape showed Terry touching children in various department stores.
Additional tapes of Terry's sexual assaults on children were found during a subsequent search of his trailer home
Houston mayor prevails in close race
The Associated Press
HOUSTON — Mayor Lee Brown held off City Councilman Orlando Sanchez in a tight race Saturday to win re-election to a third term and derail Sanchez's bid to become Houston's first Hispanic mayor.
With 100 percent of the precincts counted, Brown had 165,865 votes, or 52 percent, to Sanchez's 155,164, or 48 percent.
Overwhelming support to Brown in several late-reporting and predominantly Black Fort Bend County precincts put the incumbent on top after the two candidates to lead the nation's fourth-largest city swapped the vote advantage repeatedly throughout the evening Saturday.
"Let me commend Orlando for running a very tough campaign," Brown said in a victory speech. "I know he loves Houston and I hope he'll continue to work with us to make sure we will have one city with one future.
"We have built ... We have
"Most important to me, we have offered hope to those who are less fortunate than we are. That's what we're all about. So the next two years, we will work hard, we will work smart and most important we will work together. We will greet any conflict and challenge with courage and commitment."
refurbished," Brown said, reflecting on his previous two terms.
Sanchez took a conciliatory tone in his concession speech.
"They have counted up the votes and we've fallen a little short." Sanchez said.
"We want to congratulate Mayor Brown for a well-run, hard-fought campaign. Tomorrow we all wake up, we're all Houstonians, we're working together.
"I hope our message resonates," he added.
Brown,a Democrat and Houston's first Black mayor, had characterized Cuban-born Sanchez as inexperienced, unreliable and a political extremist who shouldn't be trusted to lead the city.
Brown, 64, cited his fouryears in office, his tenure as police chief in Atlanta, New York City and Houston and his stint as drug czar under President Clinton as reasons why he should be e-relected.
Republican Sanchez, 44, criticized Brown for fire department staffing shortages and deteriorating streets.
Sanchez warned of an impending financial crisis, saying he could better set priorities and spend city money more wisely.
While officially a nonpartisan race, the national political parties threw muscle and money behind their respective candidates.
Brown received assistance from the Democratic National Committee, including telephone messages to voters from former President Bill Clinton. Sanchez got the backing of top GOP figures, including President Bush and his father, along with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
sanchez did better than expected in the Nov. 6 election
by finishing a close second to Brown in a six-man field. Because no one took at least 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers meet in Saturday's runoff.
Sanchez, who said he would make public safety his top priority and work to unclog construction-mangled streets, said Brown's campaign tactics "threatened to tear the fabric of our community.
"He has pitted nationality against nationality, ethnic group against ethnic group, racial group against racial group" Sanchez said. "That doesn't serve our community."
Race had become an issue in the election in Houston, where Hispanics account for more than a third of the city's 1.95 million residents and Blacks make up 25 percent.
State election inspectors were monitoring several precincts Saturday after some voters in predominantly Black and Democratic precincts said they feared possible intimidation by Sanchez-hired poll watchers.
Yates murder case set for pretrial hearing
The Associated Press
HOUSTON — Attorneys for Andrea Yates, the woman police say drowned her five children, are accusing prosecutors of seeking the death penalty in bad faith as a play to ensure a conviction.
The accusation is part of a defense motion, one of 34 to be considered at a pretrial hearing today, that seeks to keep potential jurors who oppose or question the death penalty from being removed from the jury pool.
Yates, 37, faces two capital murder charges for drowning her children in the family's bathtub in June. She called 911, and police found four of the children's bodies still wet under a sheet on a bed. The oldest, 7-year-old Noah, was still in the bathtub. Her trial is set for Jan. 7.
says she suffered from severe depression after the births of her children.
In Texas, people selected for a jury in a death penalty case must be willing to consider death as an option during sentencing. Potential jurors who say they wouldn't sentence someone to death typically are removed from consideration.
She has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. Her family
Defense attorney George Parnham argues that if the state is allowed to challenge potential jurors unwilling to consider death, Yates would be denied her constitutional right to a jury of her peers in a county where 30 to 50 percent of the population have some opposition to the death penalty.
He said it also would produce a jury that already leans toward conviction.
Prosecutors say excluding jurors unable to follow the law doesn't result in "a jury that is unduly disposed to convict."
To sentence a defendant to death, a Texas jury must determine that the defendant poses a continuing threat to society, and that his or her character and background, the circumstances of the crime and moral culpability of the defendant warrant death.
Parnham said those standards can't be met because Yates had no criminal record and was a model citizen before she was diagnosed with postpartum depression.
Parnham also wrote: "The state knows that there is no evidence of the defendant being a future danger to society if she is found guilty and sentenced to life."
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said only his office knows what evidence it has against Yates, and doesn't have to explain his decision to seek the death penalty.
that Parnham faces an uphill battle on the jury issue.
"Yes, they would get a skewed panel, but the Supreme Court has said that is OK because it is a panel that is skewed toward those people that would follow the rules, even though everybody doesn't like those rules," said Daniel Shuman, a law professor at Southern Methodist University.
Legal experts said they expect
Defense motions seeking to exclude the death penalty as a possible punishment and to suppress statements Yates made during her 911 call are among those being considered today by State District Judge Belinda Hill.
Prosecutors filed motion asking that defense identify its expert witnesses. The state already has received permission to have its mental health expert conduct a three-day evaluation to determine if Yates was insane at the time of the killings.
SUNFLOWER OUTDOOR BIKE
3 Jackets For the Price of 1!
What do you get when you combine a warm fleece jacket with a water resistant outer shell? You get the Double Whammy from Columbia! Come in and try one on today!
Columbia Sporting Goods The Double Whammy $185.98
804 Massachusetts St. •Downtown Lawrence•(785) 843-5000
Book lines giving you The Blues? Preorder Online
www.jayhawkbookstore.com
It's Easy! Browse to our website or pick up a form in our store.
Avoid those lines; save an extra 5%!
Jayhawk Bookstore
www.jayhawkbookstore.com
(785)843-3826
1420 Crescent Rd.
Lawrence, Kansas 66044
...at the top of Naismith Hill
We Buy, Sell & Trade
USED & NEW
Sports
Equipment
841-PLAY
1029 Massachusetts
Going Out of Business Sale Everything is 30-50% off
- Paints/Brushes
- Easels
- Crafts/Stamps
- Children's Art Supplies/Crafts
- Christmas Gifts
- Hand made Papers
- Art Books
- Canvas
- Craft Paper
- Portfolios
- Calligraphy
- Many other supplies
- Pastels
Store Fixtures for Sale!!
BASIC
Hours: M-F 10-6 Sat 10-5 Sun 12-5
ART
CORNERSTONE
Where the Artist Shops
925 Iowa Suite A · Lawrence, KS 66044 · www.artcornerstone.com · (785) 843-4750
Terms: Cash, Check, MC/Visa
No returns or other discounts may apply
LAWRENCE AUTOMOTIVE DIAGNOSTICS INC.
842-8665 2858 2858 Four Wheel Dr.
Attention Undergraduate Students The Graduate and Professional Association and the Graduate School visit nominations for
Outstanding Graduate Teaching
the information and nomination forms available in
300 Strong Hall or on-line at
http://www.ukans.edu/~graduate Nomination deadline: December 19,2001
CAUTION jayHAWK CROSSING
Wednesdays $I Anything,$I Big Beers,
$1 Drinks: Captain Morgan,Jack,Crown,
Southern Comfort,Stoli & More
$ I SHOTS:Rumplemitz,Goldrush,
Tequila Rose & More