Friday, October 15, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
Nation
Buchanan might seek third-party nomination
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON— Pat Buchanan's pitchfork brigade may be moving.
Officials close to the Republican presidential candidate, speaking on condition of anonymity, said yesterday that the conservative commentator was preparing to leave the GOP and seek the Reform Party's presidential nomination Oct. 25.
Two officials said plans were being made for Buchanan to make announcements in suburban Washington, New Hampshire and perhaps other key states.
They cautioned, however, that Buchanan still could reverse course and avoid the increasingly fractious third-party bid. But they said he intended to bolt the GOP.
In the clearest signal yet of his intentions.
Buchanan: May seek Reform Party bid on Oct. 25
Buchanan's campaign mailed hundreds of invitations to supporters Tuesday night inviting them to a major announcement Oct. 25 at a Falls Church, Va., hotel, the officials said. As many as 3,000 invitations also were being sent out for a New Hampshire stop, they said.
However, representative Joanne Hansen said no final decision had been made
Lagging in GOP polls, Buchanan has said he believes the party's nomination battle is rigged in favor of Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who he thinks is too moderate.
Buchanan, however, would not be assured the Reform Party nomination. A parade of celebrities and politicians are mentioned as potential candidates, including New York tycoon Donald Trump, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, former Connecticut Gov. Lowell Weicker, actress Cybill Shepherd, actor Warren Beatty and party founder Ross Perot.
A new CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll shows limited support for the third-party alternatives. Buchanan had the backing of 9 percent of those surveyed in a three-way matchup with Bush and Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic front-runner. Trump had 10 percent in a similar three-way matchup.
Ventura, the party's highest ranking elected official, has ruled out a 2000 presidential campaign, though the speculation continues. He is urging Trump to seek the nomination, saying Buchanan is too conservative on social issues for the party.
Trump himself has called Buchanan's views prehistoric. Buchanan, who is drawing support from the Perot wing of the Reform Party, is a staunch, anti-abortion conservative who drew criticism for questioning whether Nazi Germany was a threat to America.
Man wanted for questioning in KC kidnapping case found
Police still searching for missing 9-year-old
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Police said yesterday they found the man they want to question in the disappearance of a 10-year-old girl.
Keith B. Nelson, 24, was found early yesterday afternoon at the south side of the Kansas River, FBI Special Agent Larry McCormick said. He was taken to University of Kansas Medical Center with some type of leg injury, McCormick said.
However, there was no sign of the girl. Pamela Butler, McCormick would not comment on whether Nelson said anything to police. FBI agents were interviewing him at the Med Center yesterday afternoon.
Ron Burke, a railroad worker, helped officers hold Nelson down near the river.
"I saw him trying to swim across the river," he said.
Authorities had been searching for Nelson since Tuesday night. Witnesses said the fifth-grader was abducted while she was skating Tuesday night by
a man in a pickup that sped away. People who saw it happen reported a license number after they tried to chase the truck, but couldn't keep up.
Nancy Nelson, who said she was Nelson's mother, called both the Kansas City Star and KMBC-TV and said she did not believe her son abducted the girl.
Nelson was wanted in Butler, Mo., on suspicion of obstruction and assault on an officer and had served prison time for second-degree burglary, authorities said.
"He has never hurt nobody," she said. She said she'd seen her son at home late Tuesday night.
The truck was found Wednesday morning in Kansas City, Mo. McCormick said there was reason to believe Nelson was driving the truck.
Nelson's employer said Nelson had access to the company truck that police believe was used in the abduction.
The child's mother, Cherry West, said all she was asking the kidnapper to do was to call and tell the family where the kidnapper dropped her daughter off so they could pick her up.
"I'm just hoping and praying for the best," said the child's father, Paul Butler. "My main concern is that she's still alive."
Governor orders execution of former journalist, Black Panther
The Associated Press
Philadelphia police officer.
HARRISBURG. Pa.- Gov. Tom Ridge has signed another death warrant for Mumia Abu-Jamal, one that orders the execution of the former journalist and Black Panther in fewer than two months. Ridge's action on Wednesday came fewer than two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Abu-Jamal's request for a new trial in the killing of $e$
The warrant called for Abu-Jamal to be executed by injection Dec. 2. It was the second time Ridge had signed a death warrant for Abu-Jamal, whose case has prompted worldwide protests from death-penalty opponents who have challenged the fairness of his trial. The previous warrant was staved.
Abu-Jamal, 45, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1981
shooting of police officer Daniel Faulkner.
When they arrived at the scene, police found the dying officer, who was Caucasian, and a wounded Abu-Jamal lying near his own gun. Several witnesses identified him as the shooter, and two people testified that Abu-Jamal confessed at the hospital. Abu-Jamal has denied making any confession.
Abu-Jamal's legal team announced plans to file an appeal
Despite the new warrant, Abu-Jamal is not likely to be executed soon, and the process of federal appeals eventually could lead back to the Supreme Court.
Ridge for signing the execution warrant while they were contemplating another appeal.
today in federal court in Philadelphia. All of Abu-Jamal's previous appeals have been in state courts, with the final rejection by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court being appealed to the nation's highest court.
"Ridge is rushing to execute before all the evidence has been presented," said Abu-Jamal attorney Leonard Weissling.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson also issued a statement condemning the decision, "I am disappointed that Gov. Ridge would seek revenge through capital punishment," he said.
Abu-Jamal's lawyers criticized
Copies of video from Columbine to be confiscated
"It's an embarrassment for me and the agency to have that out there," Sheriff John P. Stone said Wednesday.
According to the department, the grainy, jerky footage shown on national television Tuesday came from an unauthorized copy of a CD-ROM. The unauthorized copy was used in a presentation at a conference sponsored by the National Sheriffs' Association in Fort McClellan Ala.
The Associated Press
undersheriff John A. Dunaway said it had not been determined who copied the CD-ROM.
The CBS Evening News and some of the network's affiliates Tuesday aired snippets of the tape that documented a few terrifying seconds of the April 20 rampage that left 15 people dead, including the two gunmen, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
The footage was videotaped off a large projection screen at a training seminar for law enforcement and emergency workers by KRQE-TV, a CBS affiliate in Albuquerque, N.M. No bodies are seen on the tape.
The fire department made copies on CD-ROMs and passed them out to fire and police departments at a conference in Kansas City in August. The CD-ROM that was copied was being used by the Arapahoe County, Colo., sheriff's office in a presentation at an Alabama conference.
DENVER — The Jefferson County sheriff's department is calling for the return of all copies of a surveillance videotape from the Columbine High School shootings.
The footage, originally used by Jefferson County sheriff's deputies in their investigation of the shooting, had been given to the Littleton Fire Department. The sheriff's office also provided the footage to police and emergency agencies to help with training.
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