THE BEHREND BEACON
Earthquake death toll rises in Turkey
by Amberin Zaman
and Richard Boudreaux
Los Angeles Times
DUZCE, Turkey -- The death toll
from Turkey's second massive earth
quake in three months swelled to 362
late Saturday as rescue teams spent a
second frigid night looking for people
trapped under scores of flattened apart
ment blocks.
Turkey's Health Ministry said that
1,800 people were injured as Friday
evening's magnitude 7.2 temblor
wrecked several towns in the country's
northwest. The number of confirmed
dead, which tripled during the day,
could rise, officials said, as search
crews with jackhammers strip away
the rubble of as many as 300 collapsed
buildings.
"The destruction is severe," said
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit.
The quake confined its damage
mainly to the Bolu province but spread
shock and dismay across an entire
country that thought it had recovered
from the worst of nature's fury.
Some of the victims had been liv
ing in tents after an Aug. 17 quake
damaged their apartments. hut, in re
cent days, had taken the risk of mov
ing hack home to escape cold autumn
Bolu, a hilly province 100 miles
east of Istanbul, is on the eastern edge
of a far larger industrial region ravaged
by the August temhlor, which mea
sured 7.4 and killed more than 17,000
people.
Much of Duzce. whose 100.000
people were caught at the epicenter,
lay in ruins Saturday. The quake tore
through a century-old mosque, leav
ing only the walls standing. Outside
the city's damaged hospital, evacuated
Scientists photograph planet outside
Earth's solar system
by Thomas H. Maugh
Los Angeles Times
The first direct photographic evi
dence of a planet circling another star
outside Earth's solar system has been
found by a team headquartered at the
University of California, Berkeley.
The planet is a bloated gas giant
half again as big as Jupiter, but with
only 63 percent of Jupiter's mass, as
tronomer Geoffrey Marcy and his
colleagues revealed Saturday.
Marcy, his collaborator Paul But
ler of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington and other astronomers
have previously produced a variety
of indirect evidence hinting at the ex
istence of at least 28 other planets cir
cling distant stars. But Saturday's
finding marks the first time a planet
itself has actually been photo-
graphed.
Planets are normally too dim to
be seen from Earth, even with the fin-
est telescopes. In this case, however,
astronomer Greg Henry of Tennes
see State University was able to pho
tograph the gas giant passing in front
of the star HD 209458, producing an
eclipse-like image.
The planet is scheduled to pass
in front of its star again Sunday, and
Henry hopes to capture further im
ages of the extraordinary find.
"This is the first independent
confirmation of a planet," Marcy
No funds for Russia's war
The Washington Post
No U.S. politician would propose
helping to pay for Russia's war in
Chechnya. Yet, that is what U.S. tax
payers, indirectly, are doing. The Inter
national Monetary Fund, which gets
about one-quarter of its money from the
United States, lends billions of dollars
to keep Russia's government afloat.
Now that Russia is spending money to
destroy villages and create refugees in
Chechnya, it seems fair to ask -- as
presidential candidate and Republican
Sen. John McCain did last week --
whether such assistance should con-
In principle, the IMF does not get
involved in "political" questions such
as the legitimacy of Russia's war against
its breakaway province of Chechnya.
WORLD AND NATION
as a safety precaution, surgeons oper
ated on injured victims in the open air.
Electricity was cut to most build
ings in the stricken area to reduce the
risk of sparks that could ignite leaking
gas.
As evening temperatures fell to 37
degrees, survivors either wandered the
streets, huddled in a park around fires
of wood and old tires, or they simply
packed up and hitchhiked out of town.
Dozens of soccer fans crammed into
a truck stop cafe, lighted by its own
generator, and exploded in cheers Sat-
"We were having
dinner, and before
we knew what was
happening, the
ceiling fell on us."
-Hatice Gusdil,
earthquake victim
urday night as Turkey's national team
came from behind to tic Ireland 1-1 in
a televised European championship
match from Dublin. But many of the
spectators raced for the door when the
cafe trembled from one of the after
shocks still rippling across the region.
Meanwhile, smoke from blazes ig
nited by the temblor hung over Duzce
and the settlement of Kaynasli, about
25 miles southeast of Duzce.
Among the dead were dozens of
said. "And it also gives us the first
ever measure of the size of one of
these planets. -
Although most cosmologists are
convinced that planetary systems are
common throughout the universe,
proving it has been difficult. The best
evidence to date has been provided by
observing "wobbles" in distant stars.
Although we generally think
about planets orbiting suns, a planet
"This planetary transit occurred at ex-
actly the time predicted from Marcy's
observation, confirming absolutely the
presence of a companion."
and a sun actually orbit a common
center of mass. Because the sun is so
much bigger than the planet, its or
bital motion is much smaller. None
theless, researchers have now ob
served many stars whose motion sug
gests that they are being orbited by a
large planet.
Researchers have also seen stars
surrounded by large discs of dust --
the primordial material from which
The fund is neither equipped nor char
tered to make such judgments. To the ex
tent it deviates from its core economic
mission, it can only weaken itself. That
is why an IMF mission in Moscow last
week could approach this question only
obliquely, by asking whether Russia's
war would require a fiscally unaccept
able rise in military spending.
In Russia's case, there are especially
compelling reasons not to cut off aid.
The United States will not be well served
if the Russian economy spirals down
ward. U.S. officials rightly want to re
tain connections -- to stay engaged --
with Russian officials, to maintain some
leverage in favor of reform, to continue
a dialogue with a nuclear-armed and un
stable giant.
Yet there must be some behaviors
that are so repugnant that they override
people who were crushed in a single
apartment during a Muslim prayer ser
vice for a dead relative, passengers on
a bus flattened by a falling building and
20 people engulfed by fire when the
quake toppled a stove in a coffeehouse.
One of three lanes on a stretch of
the highway between Istanbul and the
capital, Ankara, slid off a hillside. Else
where on the highway, near Kaynasli,
reporters saw five large trucks on their
sides. One, carrying emergency medi
cal supplies, apparently was over
turned by an aftershock.
Friday's quake struck at 6:57 p.m.,
well after dark.
"We were having dinner, and be
fore we knew what was happening, the
ceiling fell on us," Hatice Gusdil said
as she lay on a stretcher outside
Duzce's hospital and wept. Her hus
band, Hakki, and their son, Cumhur,
14, were killed when their single-story
house collapsed.
The disaster added to a lingering
humanitarian emergency in the wider
area hit by the August quake.
Tens of thousatids of people made
homeless then are still living in flimsy,
makeshift tents, despite repeated gov
ernment pledges that they would be
shifted to winterized shelters before the
fall rainy season began. Many lack
access to clean running water.
In recent weeks, hundreds of
people left jobless by the August quake
have demonstrated near the governor's
office to protest their living conditions,
only to be dispersed by club-swinging
riot police. Hatice Colak and her hus
band, Ismael, a furniture store owner,
got fed up with living in a small tent
city behind Duzce's soccer field and
moved hack to their slightly damaged
second-floor apartment on Bul var Av
enue only days ago.
planets are formed. In some cases
researchers have even observed voids
in the dust that they believe have been
swept clean by newly forming plan
ets. But until now, they have never
been able to see a planet itself.
Marcy and Butler first detected a
wobble in HD 209458 on November
5. The star is 153 light-years from
Earth in the constellation Pegasus,
and is about the same age, color and
All of the data and observations
"hang together" to indicate the ex
istence of the planet, Marcy said.
"This is what we have been wait
-Greg Henry, astronomer ing for."
size as our own sun
Based on the star's wobble,
Marcy and Butler concluded that the
planet orbits its star once every 3.523
days. As they routinely do, they noti
fied Henry of their discovery and told
him the best chance of observing the
planet was Nov. 7.
Observing a planet is a hit and
miss proposition because it can only
be seen if its orbital plane brings it
all such sensible arguments, and it is
hard to view Russia's brutality against
the people of Chechnya in any other
light. Few would oppose a Russian cam
paign to eliminate terrorism, the stated
purpose of its military action. But
Russia's violence against Chechen ci
vilians has become so indiscriminate
and massive that no one can take seri
ously any longer the official justifica
tions. Just on Friday a Russian deputy
prime minister stated flatly that
Chechnya's capital will be destroyed.
Due to relentless bombing of cities
and towns, some 200,000 residents have
fled Chechnya, mostly to the neighbor
ing province of Ingushetia. Many are
subsisting on tea and bread and sleep
ing in unheated tents or even open fields
as temperatures plunge below freezing.
But these refugees are the fortunate
NOVEMBER 19, 1999
"Each time it rains, we get
soaked," she said. "It's so bitterly
cold, and we just miss our home so
much."
The couple escaped harm as their
five-story building fell Friday, but
the quake left them "with only the
clothes we are wearing and back in
this awful tent again," Colak said.
Others in Duzce expressed
amazement and gratitude that the
government, which was bitterly criti
cized for a slow response to the Au
gust quake, reacted so swiftly to this
one.
Six army battalions and 50 mem
bers of an anti-terrorist police squad
joined in the rescue efforts, while
three military helicopters ferried
badly wounded patients to hospitals
in Ankara. Government ambulances
stood outside most collapsed build
ings, along with backhoes and mo
bile generators.
President Suleyman Demirel
said he had sent a Cabinet minister
to each stricken town.
Friday's temblor rocked build
ings in Istanbul, where leaders of 54
countries, including President Clin
ton, are scheduled to convene
Wednesday for a two-day meeting of
the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe.
Ecevit said the summit would not
be canceled. "There was no such re
quest from our guests," he said.
Clinton was due to arrive in An
kara Sunday for a two-day state visit
to Turkey before the Istanbul sum
mit. First lady Hillary Rodham Clin
ton and the couple's daughter,
Chelsea, arrived Saturday in the
capital, which also felt the shock
waves of Friday night's temblor.
between the star and a telescope on
Earth. With previously discovered
wobbling stars, that has not hap-
In this case, however, the as
tronomers were lucky and the
planet was captured on film. Henry
observed a 1.7 percent dip in the
star's brightness as the planet
passed in front of it.
"This planetary transit occurred
at exactly the time predicted from
Marcy's observation, confirming
absolutely the presence of a corn
panion," Henry said. "We've es
sentially seen the shadow of the
planet and used it to measure the
planet's size."
The short orbital period indi
cates that the planet is very close
to HD 209458, and that closeness
suggests that the planet is also very
hot and unlikely to have any life
on it.
The team hopes to be able to
learn more about the planet. Be
cause the planet passes in front of
the star, some of the star's light will
pass through its atmosphere. Tele
scopes on Earth thus should be able
to learn a great deal about its com
position.
ones. Those left behind -- mostly the
elderly and infirm -- are cowering in
basements, without water or electric
ity, short on food and in constant dan
ger of bombardments. Red Cross con
voys have been attacked. Russia has
rejected efforts by the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Eu
rope to gather information or help
those at risk. Judging by the very pub
lic divisions and recriminations
among officials in Moscow, Russia
may not have any defined strategy in
Chechnya. To the extent that the mili
tary is pursuing a plan, however, it
appears to be aimed at the destruction
of an entire population. U.S. ability
to influence Russia now may be lim
ited; but, at a minimum, the United
States should not be complicit in the
crime.
Charges filed against
expelled students
by Flynn Mcßoberts
and Jimmy Greenfield
Chicago Tribune
November 09, 1999
Charges of' mob action were filed
Tuesday, Nov. 9, against four of
seven youths expelled after a fight
at a football game at a Decatur high
school, but no further details on the
charges were immediately available.
Meanwhile, a showdown between
Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Decatur
school board over the expulsion of
the students never materialized to
day, though classes in Decatur's
three high schools were closed for a
second straight day.
Jackson brought six of the young
men to Eisenhower High School, the
scene of the brawl that resulted in
their being kicked out, hut chose not
to test the police officers surround
ing the school.
Jackson said his Rainbow/Push
Coalition would file a lawsuit at 2
p.m. on Nov. 9 in federal court in
Clu:mpaign, challenging the expul-
sions, which the board on Monday
night, Nov. 8, reduced from two
years to one year. The hoard also al
lowed the students to enroll in alter
native programs where they could
earn academic credit.
Jackson sail his group also would
ask a federal court I :in emergency
injunction hlocking hoard's de
cision and allowing the students hack
into classes immediately. He said
that, depending on the iudge's re
sponse, he would decide whether to
attend a school hoard i(weting on
Nov. 9 and return to 1.1! school
Wednesday morning, Nov. 10.
While neither Jackson no any of
the students was arrested. the !noro
ing air was thick with tension and
one white man. who had warned a
reporter that Jackson faced "bodily
harm," was taken away in a squad
car. The man. 39-year-old Mark
Reynolds, said Jackson's efforts in
Decatur had further strained race re
lations.
- Racial tension in this town is a
firecracker waiting to explode, - said
Reynolds, whose 15-year-old daugh
ter, Amber, is a sophomore at
Eisenhower. "I want her to get an
education and him to get back to Chi
cago."
Later, after Jackson addressed re-
porters with two white students at
his side, a white parent and biack
parent got into a shouting match
over the fairness of the expulsions.
But nearby there were signs of
reconciliation. A young black high
school student stood watching the
scene and chatting amiably with an
elderly white couple. The white
man, 81-year-old Kenneth Crouch,
"Racial tension
in this town is a
firecracker
waiting to ex
plode."
-Mark Reynolds,
gather of Eisenhower
student
a lifelong Decatur resident, said he
was glad to see Jackson come to his
hometown.
"I think it's helped to awaken the
community out of a lazy, drowsy
sleep," he said. "Decatur is contra
dicting itself. We have signs at the
entrance of town that say, 'Racism,
not in our town.' To me [the board's
handling of the expulsions] is a clear
sign of racism, though they categori
cally deny it."
Attorney Lewis Myers, who rep
resents six of the expelled students,
said he would accompany Jackson
and the boys to Champaign to file
the suit. A seventh student moved
tk , Tennessee before he was expelled,
according to Myers, and is not part
of the lawsuit.
There has been no attempt by
Myers or Jackson to absolve the
boys from their part in the Sept. 17
melee, but Myers said each boy
played a different role, and he was
outraged that they were all lumped
together when the punishments were
handed out.
Myers said one of the boys has al
most a dozen scholarship offers to
play college basketball, but can't
qualify for them under the expul
sion.
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