Section A · Page 6
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The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday. January 17, 2001
Bank challenges hall lawsuit
By Cássio Furtado
writer @kanson.com
Kansan staff write
Bank of America has appealed a lawsuit filed by 13 Watkins Scholarship Hall residents to the Kansas Supreme Court.
The Douglas County District Court had ruled the residents should be the beneficiaries of the Elizabeth Miller-Watkins trust fund, which partially supports Watkins and Miller Scholarship Halls.
The Kansas Court of Appeals refused to rule on the case, and the Kansas Supreme Court has yet to determine if it will rule on the appeal.
The decision on whether to hear the case will be made on Feb. 5, the
Kansas Supreme Court clerk's office said. The clerk's office also said the court would not hear arguments on the case. If the case is taken by the court, only written arguments will be considered.
Bank of America had been responsible for managing the trust fund that Elizabeth Miller-Watkins left in her will to establish the two women's scholarship halls, built in 1926 and 1937.
The original $250,000 trust fund has grown to approximately $3 million.
Residents and alumnae have questioned the management of the fund since 1984. They have said residents should have an active voice when decisions arose on how to invest and manage the trust. The University disagreed, according to Lynn Bretz,
interim director of University Relations.
Bretz said the lawsuit was filed by a small group of students, who didn't necessarily represent the feelings of those who lived in the scholarship halls.
Bank of America lawyer Jim Rankin agreed.
"The trust has been around for very, very long," Rankin said. "This controversy didn't start until very recently."
Rankin wouldn't comment further on specific details of the case.
"The trust has been managed according to Mrs. Watkins wishes," Bretz said.
Watkins residents also refused to comment on the case.
— Edited by Melinda Weaver
WATKINS TRUST FUND
What happened: Bank of
What happened: Bank of America appealed a Douglas County Court decision that Watkins and Miller Scholarship Hall residents should be recognized as beneficiaries of the Elizabeth Miller-Watkins trust fund.
What it means: The bank is challenging the residents' request to have access to financial records of the trust fund.
What's next: The Kansas Supreme Court will decide Feb. 5 whether it will hear the appeal.
Congo president reported dead
The Associated Press
KINSHASA, Congo — President Laurent Kabila died yesterday following reports he had been shot during a coup attempt, Belgian and French foreign ministry officials said regarding an event that could throw this vast Central African country into further turmoil.
"From two sources of whom we are 100 percent certain, we can confirm that Kabila has died," said Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koen Vervaeke. "He has probably been shot by one of his guards."
The Belgian officials gave no further information, and the report could not be confirmed. Belgium is Congo's former colonial ruler and retains close ties with the nation, formerly named Zaire.
French Foreign Ministry officials also said Kabila was dead, but gave no further details.
A member of Kabila's security entourage said on condition of anonymity the bodyguard had shot the president in the back and right leg. Kabila was alive and was
When asked about the report, Congolese Interior Minister Gaetan Kakudi said, "The Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs can say what he wants, but I will make my announcement tomorrow."
being treated by doctors, he said without elaborating.
Intelligence officers in Rwanda said they had unconfirmed reports that Kabila was killed in the intense half-hour shooting yesterday afternoon at the presidential palace. Rwanda supports rebels fighting to topple the Congolese strongman.
Kabila's government would not elaborate publicly on their president's condition, or even whether he'd been shot.
"President Kabila is alive and everything is OK," said Congolese Gen. Francois Olenga.
The conflicting reports came hours after witnesses described gunfire around the home of Kabila, who has been fighting multiple rebel armies for more than two years. It was unclear who was responsible for the shooting.
A presidential helicopter landed at Kinshasa's main hospital, a government official who witnessed the event said, adding there were unconfirmed reports that the aircraft was carrying Kabila's son, Joseph Kabila, who had apparently been injured. The younger Kabila is the head of Congo's military.
Presidential aide Eddy Kapend went on national television shortly after the firefight ended to appeal
for calm, but he made no mention of the incident.
The bleary-eyed Kapend ordered all airports and borders closed, appealing to the armed forces and civil society leaders to help maintain order.
Later, Kakudji announced an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew ordered by Kabila himself. Kakudji also put all fighting units in Kinshasa on alert until further notice.
In the neighboring Republic of Congo, a senior military official said it was unclear who was in control of the Kinshasa government. The official declined to be named.
Amid the confusion of the shooting, Kinshasa residents hurried home as many streets were quickly deserted. Truckloads of armed soldiers patrolled the streets in Congo's capital city.
Large numbers of troops blocked off roads near Kabila's hilltop residence, not far from downtown Kinshasa. The presidential residence, known as the Marble Palace, is usually heavily guarded by troops and a North Korean-made tank.
stages, the rebels reached the outskirts of Kinshasa before being turned back by Kabila's army, which is now supported by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Kabila has been fighting a civil war since August 1998, when rebel forces backed by his former allies, Rwanda and Uganda, turned against him. In the war's early
Speaking from Brussels, Kinkie Mulumba, a representative for one of the main rebel movements, insisted Kabila was dead.
"It was a palace coup. Mulumba said. "Soldiers from Kabila's escort fired at him. He took bullets directly. Immediately, the doctors took him to the main hospital, but he died."
Mulumba said the shooting proved the Congolese people wanted a change, but he denied rebels had anything to do with it.
Kabila came to power in May 1997 following a Uganda- and Rwandasponsored rebellion against former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the nation then called Zaire.
The world community initially welcomed Kabila, who many hoped would be a vast improvement over Mobutu's decades-long rule, which left his nation desperately broke and with an infrastructure that barely functioned.
But Kabila quickly alienated himself, inviting close friends and relatives into the government, angering investors and obstructing a United Nations investigation of reports that his rebel army had slaughtered thousands of Hutu refugees.
Feds set May date to execute McVeigh
The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — The government set a May 16 execution date yesterday for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who has dropped his appeals and is apparently pinning all his hopes on winning clemency from the president.
The execution date was set by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Representative Dan Dunne said the agency would try to meet the needs of victims' relatives and survivors, some of whom had expressed interest in watching McVeigh die by lethal injection.
McVeigh, 32, who is on death row at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., has said he didn't plan any more appeals and last Thursday allowed a deadline for resuming that process to expire. However, he has reserved the right to seek executive clemency.
"That's something Mr. McVeigh has under consideration," said his attorney, Nathan Chambers.
McVeigh has 30 days to file a petition for clemency with the Justice Department, which would make a recommendation to the president.
George W. Bush, who will be inaugurated Saturday, is a firm death penalty supporter: 152 inmates were put to death during his tenure as Texas governor, and only once during nearly six years in office did he ever use his power to stop an execution.
McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy for the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people and injured hundreds of others. It was the deadliest act of terrorism ever committed on U.S. soil.
Prosecutors said McVeigh, a decorated Gulf War veteran, was motivated by hatred of the U.S. government and a desire for revenge for the April 19, 1993, deaths of about 80 people in the culd disaster near Waco, Texas.
Terry Nichols was convicted separately and sentenced to life in prison.
The federal government has
not put a prisoner to death since 1963, when it executed Victor Feguer for murder and kidnapping.
There is one federal execution set before May 16 - that of David Paul Hammer, who is scheduled to die by injection on Feb. 21 for strangling his cellmate. But he is pursuing appeals.
"If there is any individual who deserves the ultimate punishment, it is Timothy McVeigh, who forfeited his life the moment he detonated that deadly cargo he had brought to downtown Oklahoma City." Gov. Frank Keating said.
But Kevin Acers, president of the Oklahoma City Chapter of Amnesty International, said: "I don't believe that granting an execution date for Timothy McVeigh in any way compensates for the tragedy of his violent act."
Betty Robins, who was working in the Murrah building at the time of the bombing, said the execution date was fine with her.
"He can be forgiven, but he must pay restitution, and his death will be that restitution," she said. "I just wish he would tell people why before he dies and what he wanted to accomplish."
Oklahoma City Attorney Karen Howick said she was pursuing an effort to get a closed circuit television hookup for families to watch the execution.
McVeigh has never publicly explained why he wanted to drop his appeals and get a prompt execution date.
McVeigh's father, retired Pendleton, N.Y., factory worker William McVeigh, has said his son explained his decision to drop appeals to the family. He told The Buffalo News: "I guess his feeling is, he knows he's going to die — it might as well be sooner than later."
Others speculated McVeigh wants to become a martyr for anti-government causes, or wants to mock the government with his petition for clemency, knowing federal authorities haven't put anyone to death in nearly 40 years.