THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2006
NEWS
POLITICS
7A
Bush rides motorcycle, campaigns in Pennsylvania
BY DEB RIECHMANN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YORK, Pa. — President Bush hopped on a Harley-Davidson at a motorcycle factory Wednesday as he made an election-year pitch for Republican stewardship of the economy.
The president was in Pennsylvania to raise cash for a GOP hopeful in the state's gubernatorial campaign.
Cheers and applause erupted inside the Harley-Davidson Inc. vehicle operations plant here when
Bush straddled a high-end model painted blue and white and revved its engine again and again. Climbing down, he ripped off blue-tinted safety glasses that he insisted made him look like rock star Bono and jokingly struck a pose intended to show a hip side.
"I'm just looking so far" Bush said during a tour of the plant where 3,200 employees work around the clock on shiny motorcycles that move slowly around the assembly floor on tracks. "I'll let Josh Bolten ride these things," Bush said of his chief of staff, a motorcycle enthusiast.
"The more Harleys sold in a place like Vietnam or China or India, the more likely that somebody is going to be able to find work."
PRESIDENT BUSH
After the tour, Bush held a round-table discussion with Harley-Davidson workers about the economy, which has showed signs of slowing. The president said he discussed with the workers the need for government to open up markets for U.S. products around the world.
"The more Harleys sold in a place like Vietnam or China or India, the more likely that somebody is going to be able to find work," Bush said.
An AP-Ipsos poll in early August showed about 37 percent supported Bush's handling of the economy. That matches his lowest level in May 2006 and November 2005, but not that different from the last few months.
Later, Bush flew by helicopter
to Lancaster to raise an estimated $650,000 in much-needed cash for former Pittsburgh Steelers star Lynn Swann, who is carrying GOP hopes for an upset over incumbent Gov Ed Rendell, a Democrat. Swann trails Rendell in fundraising and in the poll.
When Bush landed in Lancaster, he was greeted by about four dozen Amish men in straw hats and women wearing traditional white head coverings who were holding babies. After being windblown by the president's helicopter, they rushed toward him to shake his hand and pose for
pictures.
At the fundraiser, Bush said Swann was running for governor for the right reasons.
"He's had plenty of accolades. Just ask the Dallas Cowboys." Bush said of the football star. "He's not running for his ego. He's running because he wants to serve the people of this state and he's got a platform that makes a lot of sense."
Swann, who was co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign's African-American steering committee in 2004, says he's not worried about Bush's lukewarm popularity.
NATIONAL SECURITY
Woman on plane causes panic Flight diverted to Boston for emergency landing
BY BROOKE DONALD ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BOSTON — Two fighter jets were scrambled Wednesday to escort a London-to-Washington flight to an emergency landing in Boston after a disturbance in which passengers said a woman in a jogging suit paced up and down the aisle, peppering her incoherent mutterings with the word "Pakistan."
The federal official for Boston's Logan International Airport said there was no indication of terrorism, but passengers said they were unnerved by the woman and by the military response, just a week after authorities in London said they foiled a terror plot to blow up flights to the U.S.
"It was a harrowing two hours," said Antony Nash, 31, who was on his way home to San Diego and was seated near the woman.
"I noticed F-15s next to the plane. I said, 'Oh my God.' And then we saw the emergency vehicles"waiting on the tarmac, Nash said.
Gov. Mitt Romney said the 59-year-old woman was from Vermont and became so claustrophobic and upset that she needed to be restrained. The FBI in Boston said the woman, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on charges of interfering with a flight crew.
Passengers said two plainclothes men on board and flight attendants ran up the aisle and tackled the
petite woman, slamming her into the bathroom door, throwing her to the ground and putting her in hand-cuffs, passengers said.
The disturbance was enough of a concern that the pilot declared an emergency, which activated two fighter jets to escort the plane into Logan, said George Nocara, security director for the Transportation Security Administration for Massachusetts' airports.
Two F-15s were sent from Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod to escort the airline, said Master Sgt. Anthony Hill, spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colo. He said the fighter pilots can intercept, shadow or escort commercial aircraft and, if ordered, shoot down an aircraft deemed to be a threat.
State police and federal agencies took control of the plane after it landed.
Passengers were taken off the plane, put on a bus and taken to a terminal to be interviewed, Naccara said. Their luggage was spread out on the tarmac, where it was rechecked by security officials and trained dogs.
Joan Bartko, of Manassas, Va. said everyone on the plane did as they were told.
Officials expected the passengers would be allowed onto another flight to Washington later Wednesday.
"It was sort of surreal" she said. "You just know the best thing to do is stay calm."
Nash said he noticed the woman's oversized handbag appeared to contain items such as lotion that he believed should not have been allowed on the plane since the new safety regulations were put in place after last week's terror plot revelations.
Romney said a search of the woman's bag turned up matches and a gelatin-like substance, which he did not define, but there was no indication the items were related to terrorism. Naccara said he did not believe any items she was carrying were the cause of the emergency.
An airport spokesman, Phil Orlandella, previously confirmed broadcast reports that the woman was carrying Vaseline, a screwdriver and a note referring to al-Qaida, but later backed off the statement. Naccara said it was not true.
CRIME
The woman was to remain in federal custody overnight and was expected to be charged in a federal criminal complaint early Thursday, the U.S. attorney and FBI said in a joint statement. The statement did not elaborate on specific charges expected, except to say there was no evidence the incident was related to terrorism.
Ramsey suspect apprehended Police may have cracked 10-year-old murder case
BOULDER, Colo. — A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey — a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her parents.
BY CATHERINE TSAI ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Wood said the arrest vindicated JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer June 24.
Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, 41. Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the name, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online.
U. S. authorities said Karr was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges, but Thai police Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul said he was unaware of any criminal charges the suspect faced in Thailand.
"John and Patsy lived their lives
Wood would not say how the Ramseys knew Karr. But JonBenet was born in Atlanta in 1990, and the Ramseys lived in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody for several years before moving to Colorado in 1991.
knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furor around them," Lin Wood said. "The story of this family is a story of courage, and story of an American injustice and tragedy that ultimately people will have to look back on and hopefully learn from."
Karr was a teacher who once lived in Conyers, Ga., according to Wood. The attorney said the Ramseys gave police information about Karr before he was identified as a suspect.
The attorney said the Ramsseys learned about the suspect a least a month before Patsy Ramssey's death. "It's been a very long 10 years, and I'm just sorry Patsy isn't here for me to hug her neck," Wood said.
said Karr confessed to elements of the crime. Also, a law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP that Karr had been communicating periodically with somebody in Boulder who had been following the case and cooperating with law enforcement officials.
District Attorney Mary Lacy said the arrest followed several months of work, but she said no details would be released until Thursday.
A source close to the investigation
Karr was arrested in his apartment in downtown Bangkok at the request of U.S. officials, and was being held until they arrived in the country, Thai police said. Suwat said he expected U.S. officials to bring Karr back to America soon.