2A
The Inside Front
Tuesday November 11,1997
News
from campus, the state,the nation and the world
NATIONAL
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.: A judge reduced Louise Woodward's murder conviction to manslaughter and set the English au pair free yesterday in hopes of bringing a compassionate conclusion to the case.
ORLANDO, Fla.: Lowering your cholesterol to prevent a heart attack might also dull your edge mentally, a study suggests.
NEW YORK: WorldCom Inc., an upstart Mississippi company led by a former high school basketball coach, beat the telecommunications giants yesterday to win a takeover battle for MCI with a $37 billion deal — the biggest merger in U.S. history.
VERO BEACH, Fla. For the first time in 51 years, there will be no Veterans Day parade in Vero Beach. The World War II veterans are simply too old to walk the route, which is a little more than a mile long.
INTERNATIONAL
UNITED NATIONS: The United States asked the Security Council yesterday to condemn Iraq and threaten it with serious consequences unless Baghdad backs down from its refusal to cooperate with Americans on U.N. weapons inspection teams.
33 6-28
NATIONAL
Woodward goes free after sentence shrunk
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A judge reduced Louise Woodward's murder conviction to manslaughter and set the English au pair free yesterday in hopes of bringing a compassionate conclusion to a case that threw a spotlight on everything from working moms to the American legal system.
As the world watched, Judge Hiller B. Zobel sentenced Woodward to the 279 days served since her arrest last February in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.
The 19-year-old showed no reaction in court. Her lawyers said she would have no comment.
Hours earlier, the judge ruled that she killed the baby by shaking him violently but that her actions did not constitute second-degree murder because she did not act with malice. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
"In selecting the sentence here I do not denigrate Matthew Eappen's death nor his family's grief," Zobel said. But he added, "It is, in my judgment, time to bring the judicial part of this extraordinary matter to a compassionate conclusion."
Cheers went up outside the courthouse and inside a pub in her village of Elton, England. "Thank you Judge Zobel — Elton," said one sign held by a supporter. Others drank champagne.
The baby's parents, Sunil and Deborah Eappen, were out of state, but in suburban Chicago, the child's grandmother said the decision upheld the essence of the jury's finding.
"It still proves that she's guilty," Achamma Eappen said from her home in Hinsdale, Ill. "All that we wanted was for us to know what has really happened, and this still shows that she's guilty."
Prosecutors immediately said they would appeal the reduction of the conviction, and Zobel ordered Woodward to stay in Massachusetts until a court decides she can leave.
Anti-cholesterol drugs may impinge intellect
The study raised the possibility that cholesterol-lowering drugs slightly reduce dexterity and attention.
Cholesterol-lowering drugs have become mainstays over the past five years after several studies showed they significantly reduced the risk of dying from heart attacks. An estimated 4 million Americans now take the most popular of these medicines, a class of drugs known as statins.
While the drugs save lives, some doctors have wondered whether they have subtle effects on people's mental and physical
Researchers say their new study, presented yesterday at a meeting of the American Heart Association, is the first to give psychological tests to people taking cholesterol-lowering drugs in an attempt to sort this out.
performance. Some studies have found that those who lower their cholesterol seem more likely to die in tragedies such as car accidents and suicides, while other research has found no such link.
They emphasized that while their discovery of small decreases in ability were worthy of further study, people should not stop taking the drugs.
Even if the medicines truly do impair performance — and this is not yet proven beyond doubt — their benefits for the heart are still likely to outweigh any possible risks.
"We don't know if this affects people in the way they conduct their lives," said Matthew F. Muldoon of the University of Pittsburgh, who led the study.
However, even though people might not notice the difference during their daily routine, a slight decrease in alertness or coordination could be hazardous at times when people need all their abilities, such as when driving. Muldoon said.
WorldCom acquires telecom giant MCI
NEW YORK — WorldCom Inc., an upstart Mississippi company led by a former high school basketball coach, beat the telecommunications giants yesterday to win a takeover battle for MCI with a $37 billion deal — the biggest merger in U.S. history.
The combined company, which would be called MCI WorldCom, would sell a full range of services — from local and long-distance phone service to Internet connections — to 22 million customers in more than 200 countries. The new company expects to have $32 billion in revenue next year.
The deal, which is subject to approval by regulators, would transform the landscape of the telecommunications industry. It could also speed up merger talks by other companies trying to take advantage of changes in federal rules governing competition.
WorldCom's bid, made up mostly of stock, leaptfrogged a $28 billion cash offer from GTE Corp. and also thwarted a $24 billion merger agreement MCI had reached with British Telecommunications PLC.
MCI already is the nation's second-largest long-distance company, behind AT&T, and would remain so after the merger with No. 4 WorldCom.
"GTE is a fine company. We didn't dismiss it lightly." MCI chairman Bert Roberts Jr. said, "MCI has made the best possible choice with this alignment with WorldCom. The two companies have complementary strengths."
GTE said it was reviewing the situation and would not comment on whether it planned to sweeten its bid.
The boards of both MCI and WorldCom unanimously approved the agreement after WorldCom sweetened its offer by more than 20 percent.
The deal would eclipse the largest U.S. merger so far, a $25.6 billion marriage between Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex Corp. completed in August.
VERO BEACH, Fla. — For the first time in 51 years, there will be no Veterans Day parade in Vero Beach.
No veterans' parade participants too old
There will be no men marching in the streets with heavy rifles cradled in their arms, no old soldiers walking stoically under the weight of their nation's flag strapped at their belts.
The parade has become a casualty of the battle against age.
The World War II veterans are simply too old to walk the route, which is a little more than a mile long.
"We have people who are somewhere around 80 years old, and they can't carry the big heavy flags they carried 20 years ago," said Gibbs, 74, a former prisoner of war and vice president of Indian River County's Veterans Council. "We would be foolish to think we do that, any more than we could play baseball like we used to."
Instead, a celebration is planned for today at Memorial Island, eight acres in the Intracoastal Waterway. Golf carts will take the older participants the 100 yards or so from the mainland parking lot to the island.
The experience in Indian River County — a citrus region of about 100,000 people nearly a third of them over 65 — is becoming increasingly common in communities around the country.
During the past two years, the number of surviving World War II veterans fell below the number of Vietnam veterans for the first time.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 6.7 million veterans of World War II are still alive, with an average age of 77. There are 8.2 million Vietnam War veterans, with an average age of 51.
"What we're seeing broadly across the country is — in a word — life," said Phil Budahn, spokesman for the American Legion. "One generation passes from the scene and other generations come forward."
INTERNATIONAL
U.S. officials call for tough message to Iraq
UNITED NATIONS — The United States asked the Security Council yesterday to condemn Iraq and threaten it with serious consequences unless Baghdad backed down from its refusal to cooperate with Americans on U.N. weapons inspection teams.
U. S. Ambassador Bill Richardson also said the United States opposed a request by Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, who wants to appear before the council to argue his government's case that the Americans are manipulating the U.N. inspection teams.
Richardson said he would ask the 15 member council to adopt a strong resolution to condemn Iraq, demand full compliance with U.N. orders, impose a travel ban on Iraqi officials who interfere with inspections and warn of serious consequences to follow.
Washington is furious at Iraq for refusing to cooperate with American weapons inspectors and threatening to fire on U.S. piloted U-2 surveillance planes flying U.N. missions.
France, China and Russia have joined the United States in demanding that President Saddam Hussein rescind his decision to expel the six American inspectors from Iraq.
A U.S.-British proposal imposing an automatic travel ban failed last month to gain support of five of the 15 council members. But U.S. and British officials were hopeful that those countries ultimately would agree to back it this time because of the Iraqi defiance.
Before the council session, Aziz said Iraq wanted a reduction in the number of Americans in the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq, which conducts the weapons inspections. Iraq also wants a timetable for ending the inspections and lifting economic sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which led to the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The Associated Press
ON THE RECORD
A KU student's Nintendo 64, Nintendo Starfox game and other items were stolen between 4 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday from the 1700 block of West 24th Street, Lawrence police said. The items were valued at $410.
A KU student's Pioneer graphic equalizer was stolen and driver's side window and dashboard damaged between 11:30 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday in the 1600 block of Louisiana Street, Lawrence police said. The items and damage were estimated at $300.
A statue was damaged between 4 and 5 p.m. Saturday in Lippincott Hall, KU police said. The damage was estimated at $20.
A KU student's tire was damaged between 7:45 p.m. Nov. 4 and 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, KU police said. The vehicle was parked on campus. The damage was estimated at $75.
A KU student's tire was damaged between 8:15 p.m. Nov. 4 and 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, KU police said. The vehicle was parked on campus. The damage was estimated at $75.
A KU student's parking permit was stolen between 6:45 and 7:20 p.m. Nov. 3, KU police said. The vehicle was parked on campus. The item was valued at $75.
A KU student's parking permit was stolen between 2:30 a.m. Nov. 2 and 2:45 a.m. Nov. 3, KU police said. The item was valued at $75.
A KU student's brown leather wallet was stolen between B:30 and 10 p.m. Oct. 29 from the third floor of Bailey Hall, KU police said. The items were valued at $94.
A KU student's 1992 Pontiac Grand Am was damaged between 8 p.m. Nov. 4 and 5 p.m. Wednesday, KU police said. The vehicle was parked on campus. The damage was estimated at $200.
A KU student's blue leather KU wallet and its contents were stolen between 1.10 and 1.15 p.m. Saturday from the Computer Center, KU police said. The items were valued at $5.55.
ET CETERA
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This delightful Richard Strauss operetta has been rescheduled for
originally scheduled for mid-November in the Crafton Preyer Theatre at the University of Kansas
Thursday - Sunday February 5-8,1998 Crafton-Preyer Theatre
It wasn't bats in the belfry. . . but the ceiling caved in on us so we've had to postpone
8:00 p.m.
Die Fledermaus
Presented by The University Theatre and the KU Department of Music and Dance
If you have tickets for the November performances of Die Fledermaus and wish to exchange them for the February performances, please call the Murphy Hall Box Office at 864-3982.
We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by this postponement. It was the hats!
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