TUESDAY,OCT.2,2001
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Thousands of mourners assemble to honor murdered Irish reporter
The Associated Press
LURGAN, Northern Ireland Protestant and Catholic politicians united in silence yesterday as more than 2,000 mourners walked behind the casket of one of Northern Ireland's most courageous journalists — and the first to be slain in three decades of violence there.
A harsh rain fell as journalists from both parts of Ireland took turns helping to carry the coffin of Martin O'Hagan, 51, from his home in Lurgan to the city cemetery.
The investigative reporter for the Sunday World, Ireland's best-selling tabloid newspaper, died by his wife's side Friday night after Protestant extremists shot him several times in the back near his home.
"Martin was gunned down because he got nearer the truth than the rest of us," said the Rev. Brian d'Arcy, a Roman Catholic priest and columnist for the Sunday World, who gave the graveside oration. "The best honor we could pay his memory is to carry on that quest for truth unde-terred."
The killers cited O'Hagan's investigation about their activities as the reason.
For more than a decade, the Sunday World featured O'Hagan's reports on Northern Ireland's paramilitary underworld
the Irish Republican Army and its many anti-British groups on
the Catholic side and the pro-British Protestant extremists who frequently killed Catholic civilians in retaliation. Between them, the two armed camps have claimed more than 3,000 lives, violence that persists despite prevailing cease-fires.
O'Hagan's reporting made him a particularly hated figure for members of one Protestant gang, the Loyalist Volunteer Force, which is based in Lurgan's neighboring town of Portadown. He also said he was once abducted and interrogated by IRA members who wanted to know his sources.
In Belfast, members of Northern Ireland's cross-community government offered a minute's silence yesterday in honor of O'Hagan. Press freedom organizations worldwide appealed to Britain to devote extra resources to imprisoning the killers that O'Hagan spent his career trying to unmask.
In Vienna, Austria, the International Press Institute said Britain must "bring to justice those responsible for this heinous act" and "ensure the safety of journalists covering events in Northern Ireland."
Although police have yet to arrest anybody, Northern Ireland police chief Ronnie Flanagan said the most likely culprits were Loyalist Volunteer Force members, whose intimidation rackets and drug-dealing O'Hagan investigated.
O'Hagan had told his wife that a senior Loyalist Volunteer figure had recently threatened him. But yesterday the group's alleged commander, Mark "Swinger" Fulton, issued a statement denying any involvement in the attack.
The journalist fled Northern Ireland in 1993 after Wright told other reporters he'd like to see O'Hagan killed — a threat followed up by a bomb that wrecked the Sunday World's Belfast office.
Responsibility for the killing was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, which police and politicians consider a cover name for members of the Loyalist Volunteers and other illegal Protestant groups. In a statement, the group said O'Hagan's reports on them were "crimes."
O'Hagan returned to Northern Ireland in 1995 after most paramilitary groups had called cease-fires. Wright was killed in prison in 1997, and the Loyalist Volunteers called a cease-fire after the Good Friday peace accord of 1998.
O'Hagan had dubbed Loyalist Volunteers founder Billy Wright "King Rat" in his reports. The rest of the media eventually adopted the nickname.
Many compared O'Hagan's slaying with the 1996 assassination in Dublin of Veronica Guerin, a reporter for the Sunday Independent newspaper, who was killed by a Dublin drug-dealing gang she had highlighted in
her reports. That killing — the first of a reporter in the Republic of Ireland — provoked lawmakers and police to crack down on organized crime, and inspired two Hollywood films.
Even though other journalists frequently sought O'Hagan's help in contacting paramilitary figures, some also viewed him with suspicion. In recent years, he said he felt isolated from the mainstream press, breaking stories about dangerous individuals that others feared to mention in print.
O'Hagan was imprisoned in 1972 for possessing weapons as part of his admitted involvement in the "Official" Irish Republican Army, a Marxism-influenced branch of the IRA that called a cease-fire that year. His IRA background made him a suspect in many Protestant eyes.
He was paroled in 1975 and, saying he no longer supported violence for political purposes, gradually worked his way into the media. The Sunday World didn't flinch from naming criminals, a rarity in Northern Ireland media.
"No other journalist that I know of had the bravery to write the way he did in the face of everpresent danger," said Jim Cusack, security editor of The Irish Times newspaper. "Marty didn't just break the big terrorism stories, he exposed all the dirt."
Analysts predict big savings on heating could continue through December
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - With the mercury dropping, and the home heating season getting under way, customers can expect big savings compared with last winter, analysts say.
Because of weak demand from industrial users and a glut in supply, natural gas is 57 percent less expensive than a year ago. Crude oil, from which heating oil is refined, is about 30 percent cheaper per barrel.
With no quick turnaround in sight for the U.S. economy, experts think the downward pressure on energy prices could last through December.
"Natural gas prices are a fraction of what they were last year and, on average, consumers
should expect tremendous savings," said Fadel Gheit, an energy analyst at Fahnestock & Co. in New York.
Last winter, Americans paid dearly to heat their homes because natural gas supplies were extremely tight and demand from industrial users was strong. The wholesale price, which traded around $2.50 per 1,000 cubic feet in the late 1990s, soared above $10 in January.
For a while, natural gas companies raked in huge profits as they cranked up production. But their aggressive drilling eventually bumped up against a sharp drop in demand as the U.S.economy faltered.
The country had 2.84 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in storage
for the week that ended on Sept. 21, compared with 2.40 trillion cubic feet during the same period in 2000.
The wholesale price is now slightly above $2.15 per 1,000 cubic feet, compared with $5 per 1,000 cubic feet at the beginning of last year's home heating season.
Electricity could also be cheaper because more than 15 percent of the nation's power is derived from natural gas.
Half of all homes in the United States are heated with natural gas, according to the American Gas Association. Thirty-two percent use electricity, 9 percent rely on heating oil and the remainder use wood, alternative fuels or have no heat at all.
When it comes to heating oil, which is primarily used in the Northeast, analysts say homeowners could save an average of 30 cents a gallon compared with last year's prices. A household using 600 gallons of heating oil during the October-March season could save $180.
The driving force behind these savings is cheap crude, which traded at $23.28 a barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, compared with $33 a year ago.
Heating oil for November delivery sold yesterday for about 66 cents a gallon, about 20 cents below last year's levels.
Tough base security hurts taxis
New safety rules keep taxis from shuttling soldiers from Fort Riley
The Associated Press
JUNCTION CITY — New security rules that restrict nearly all civilian access to defense installations have left Junction City taxi companies reeling and caused disruptions for travelers trying to get from Fort Riley to airports in other cities.
Owners of the A-One Cab Co. and Bell Taxi Transportation Inc. say their business has been cut in half since the restrictions were imposed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"I think Fort Riley's hands are tied by instructions coming from some place beyond Fort Riley," said Glenn Puett, owner of Bell Taxi.
Since access was restricted on Sept. 11, Puett has been unable to honor tickets owned by Fort Riley residents who bought tickets to get to Kansas City.
Bell also operates Road Runner Express, which shuttles travelers to and from Kansas City International Airport.
Soldiers who want rides to Kansas City can meet the shuttle in Junction City or Manhattan.
"As to how they get there,
they're going to have to figure that out," said Fort Riley representative Deb Skidmore "Being soldiers, they may have to catch a ride with a friend, whatever."
Soldiers who want to return to Fort Riley after visiting Junction City are left to their own devices. Puett said his drivers have dropped off soldiers at the edge of post who have had to wait up to two hours for military police to drive them to their quarters.
Before Sept. 11, Bell's taxis picked up Fort Riley travelers at their door and got them to the shuttle terminal on time. Now, Puett said his shuttles often run late when drivers wait for Fort Riley passengers to arrive at the terminal in Junction City.
"There basically is not a shuttle service on post," Skidmore said. She knew of no plans to improve public transit for soldiers or their families on post. An Army taxi service is available but only for official business.
Puett said he had contacted Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., to discuss the situation. He said an officer from the post Provost Marshall's Office had called him to collect information about cab drivers who might be allowed on post.
But Kim Hamilton, manager of A-One Cab, said the senator's office had been unable to assist her company.
Retired soldiers who otherwise are allowed on Fort Riley are
"I think Fort Riley's hands are tied by instructions coming from some place beyond Fort Riley,"
Glenn Puett owner of Bell Taxi
not allowed to drive taxis on post. Of A-O-one's normal eight or nine drivers, only four are now working and business is slow for them, Hamilton said. Without access to Fort Riley, the business could fold, she said.
not allowed to drive taxis on post.
"If it stays this way, I'm sure it's a possibility," Hamilton said.
The post also is wrestling with parcel deliveries to residence.
Last Wednesday, the post announced that parcel companies would not be allowed to deliver packages to residential quarters because searching the truckloads of packages was taking too much time from guards at the gate.
Two days later, Skidmore said the policy had been revised to allow parcel companies to deliver packages to soldiers' quarters.
Ohio doctor pleads guilty in assault
The Associated Press
DAYTON, Ohio — A doctor accused of spiking his ex-girlfriend's drinks in an attempt to cause a miscarriage pleaded guilty yesterday to reduced charges in a deal that will send him to prison for five years.
Maynard Muntzing II, 35, pleaded guilty to attempted felonious assault and contaminating a substance for human consumption.
Muntzing had been charged with four counts of attempted aggravated murder under a 1996 Ohio law that lets prosecutors seek a maximum of 10 years in prison on each count for trying to terminate a viable pregnancy.
Baker reported her suspicions to police, and Muntzing was arrested after police said they observed him, via a pinhole video camera, tamper with Baker's drink in her kitchen.
Muntzing was accused of spiking the drinks of Michelle Baker with Cytotec, a stomach treatment drug that can trigger miscarriages. Baker said she was pregnant with Muntzing's child.
She later miscarried. The coroner's office said the cause of the miscarriage could not be determined.
Red Lyon Tavern
Under the deal with prosecutors, Muntzing also agreed to give up his medical license.
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7:30 p.m.
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WELL HERE'S WHAT YOU MISSED FROM YESTERDAY'S ISSUE OF THE KANSAN:
- FBI solicits student records from universities
- Burge Union opens fitness center with expanded hours
- Free for All
- Video game tournament raises $300 for charity
- Gordon speeds to victory at Speedway's inaugural race
Get up to speed in the kansan.corn archives
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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