FRIDAY Nov. 30,2001 1.102 No. 91 22 pages Anti-Taliban battle for last stronghold By Kathy Gannon ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER KABUL, Afghanistan Anti-Taliban fighters battled the hard-line militia yesterday on the outskirts of Kandahar, the ousted regime’s last bastion, a key commander said. The Taliban’s supreme leader declared the decisive battle “has now begun.” Witnesses described heavy bombing around the southern city over the past two days, and the Taliban reportedly hanged an Afghan man there yesterday after accusing him of helping Ameri cans call in airkrikes. The northern alliance’s deputy defense minister, Bismillah Khan, told The Associated Press anti-Taliban fight ers reached the eastern edge of Kanda har the Taliban’s birthplace and the only city still under their control and “there is heavy fighting going on.” In Washington, D.C., Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Stuffle beem said he could not confirm or deny that anti-Taliban fighters had entered Kandahar. He indicated northern alliance troops might be in the province of the same name, which covers a large area of southern Afghanistan. “I can accept that they have entered Quarterback Matt Senneca is taken down by Southern Mississippi defensive player, 45, Brian Evans Lions need win to By Adam Gomey COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | ajgl97@psu.edu It all comes down to this one game for the Penn State football team. A win makes the Nittany Lions (5- 5, 4-4 Big Ten) bowl eligible, but a loss ends their season , making it the second season in a row that Penn State hasn’t been to a bowl game. The Lions will travel to Virginia at noon tomorrow for a regular season finale with the 4-7 Cavaliers. This game was supposed to be played Sept. 13, a rare Thursday night game for Penn State, but because of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, it was postponed. Freshman quarterback Zack Mills, who was tabbed the starter by coach Joe Patemo on Riesday, said Deputy sheriff trainees put to the test By Mike Caggeso COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | mkcl4o@psu.edu Under the arms of two brave Mends, state deputy sheriff trainee Scott Kawich slowly walked across the sod den HUB-Robeson Center lawn yester day, cooling off. His bloodshot eyes were as red as the rest of his face and chest, which resembled a 12-hour sun bum. Kawich had just been pepper sprayed as a part of the deputy sheriff training program yesterday afternoon on the HUB lawn. After opening his eyes, Kawich screamed in pain. Minutes later, Kawich sat down in the White Building his face inches away from a fan, to chill the scorch he felt. “He lookHiSe'Rambo First Blood,” said Aaron Baker, deputy sheriff Baba; a recent Penn State graduate in admhustratiqnof justice, was fortu nate eOough. net to have been sprayed yesterdfagr. “We have our OC training today. Basi cally, that means they get pepper sprayed,” said’Jeff Helwig, primary instructor of the deputy sheriff training Marines of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit carry SMAWs, Shoulder Launched Multi-Purpose Assault Weapons. the province, but not in a large move ment,” he told reporters. Speaking from the capital of Kabul in a series of calls, Khan said his informa tion was based on radio communica tions with his commanders at the scene. He spoke in Dari and used the word “shahr,” which means city, in reporting on the location of the troops. Penn State at Virginia Tomorrow at noon Chariotlesvflle, Va. he’s happy the game wasn’t played earlier in the season. With Penn State playing its worst football of the year in its first four games, it would have been a huge risk to face the Cavaliers early on. “We weren’t playing very good football in the beginning of the year,” Mills said. “We’re better off piaying them now than we would earlier in the season.” The Lions are 5-1 in their last six games, a streak that started after a bye week following the 20-0 Michi gan loss at Beaver Stadium. program. “We do this four times a year. They all passed.” Helwig summed up this particular portion of the training. “Part of the training, they got sprayed and then had to call for help,” Helwig said. “Then they had to fight by striking a body shield, then take a per son down and handcuff them while their face is burning.” The purpose of the exercise is to dose the officers-to-be with some empa thy. The pain of the pepper spray was so intense, many of the “victims” ran around after ripping off their shirts try ing to soothe the bum. “The pain is so great, they don’t care,” Helwig said. Deputy Joe Gizzi from Bucks County paced around the lawn with his col leagues, cooling off in the humid, but cool, air. “This is it. The worst is over,” Gizzi said. “We’ve been here since Sept. 9. Only two weeks and one day left” Before going through “hell,” as he described it, Gizzi had yet to see the pepper spray portion of the training. Supervising officers having already gone through the program were laugh- PUBLISHED INDEPENDENTLY BY STUDENTS AT PENN STATE Alliance supports By Anwar Faruqi ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER KOENIGSWINTER, Germany Talks on Afghanistan’s political future gained momentum yesterday, with the northern alliance dropping its rejection of international security forces and mov ing closer to a power-sharing agreement to end Afghan suffering. Both the northern alliance and the United Nations, which is sponsoring the talks among four Afghan factions, struck a positive note on the third day of bar gaining. With the international commu nity seeking an end to two decades of war, the Afghans are under pressure to decide by the weekend on security and an interim authority that would run the country until March, when a national council would convene. “If we had not turned our back on Afghanistan 10 years ago, we would not be sitting here today,” U.N. spokesman Ahmad Eawzi said. “But nevertheless, weare here.” “The Afghan problem has never had so much attention and will never again have such great attention. If we don’t advance The run began at Northwestern, a 38-35 come from behind victory, and its only stumbling block was at Illi nois, when the Fighting Illinj came back in the final minutes to win the game. But the four game losing streak beginning the season and the 5-1 record afterwards means very little to Penn State now. The team has only one game in mind and that is the one game play off with Virginia, a very winnable game. The Lions’ postseason hopes all come to the game tomorrow against the Cavaliers, who have two ACC wins at home, a one-point upset of Georgia Tech and against See LIONS, Page 12. ■ Joe Paterno has once again proven his brilliance during this football sea son. I LIONS PREVIEW, Page 13 Scott Kawich, a deputy sheriff trainee of Bedford County, reacts to pepper spray. ing while watching the painful, yet com ical display. “We have an idea of what they are through after getting sprayed,” Helwig said. “Everybody reacts differently.” international Bi Pligrt of Afghan women not result' of Islam, btitofcutture, | Page 6 ■ Son of convicted terrorist cap-' tured by northern alliance. | /%ge 7 seize this opportunity, it will be a very grave mistake.” The talks in the luxury Petersberg hotel gained new urgency with reports that the northern alliance forces were moving into Kandahar, the last strong hold of the Taliban, which ruled most of Afghanistan until they were pushed out by the northern alliance, backed by U.S.- led forces. There were reports of U.S. bombardment of the cily to drive out or crush the Taliban. In a reversal that prompted new opti mism, the northern alliance dropped its rejection of outside forces, but said they could arrive only after an interim authority was in place. “Our official stand is that once a tran- Students brainstorm, support Song’s family By Sarah Rothman and Lynne Funk COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITERS serl74@psu.edu | lafunk@psu.edu Tear-filled eyes of family members, friends and concerned Penn State stu dents filled the library at the Paul Robeson Center’s Cultural Lounge. The group gathered last night to collect ideas in the effort to help find missing Penn State student Cindy Song, who disappeared more than a month ago. After seeing and hearing the crowd in support of her family and the dedica tion to find her daughter, mother Ban soon Song said she was grateMforthe efforts of the students who came together in the family’s time of need. Through Lisa Kim, a close friend of Cindy Song’s, the words of the dis tressed mother, Bansoon Song, were translated. “She thought Cindy was just her daughter, but she’s found that Cindy is eveiyone’s daughter,” Em said. Black Caucus decided to organize the event after what it saw as a lack of attention toward Cindy Song’s disap pearance. “Finding Cindy needs to be a priority, and right now I don’t think that it is,” said Black Caucus member Assata Richards. “If Cindy is going to be found, there has to be a buzz.” Richards led the discussion with suggestions about how to generate this buzz. A canvassing campaign to dis tribute flyers with Cindy Song’s picture and a police contact was planned for tomorrow morning. The students planned to ask local businesses to donate some of the flyers. Richards also expressed hope that the flyer be included as an insert in local newspa pers. “This place should be covered top to bottom with Cindy’s face that’s one thing that has to change,” Richards said. The possibility of offering a reward for information of Cindy Song’s where abouts was also discussed. Police investigators present at the meeting Inside Ships serve as classrooms After long hours fixing airframes on F/A-18C Hornets bombing Afghanistan, Marine Cpl. Scott Gordon has just enough energy left to wash the grease off his arms and take his seat in a class now discussing Alexan der Hamilton, an American statesman in the 18th century. | OPERATION ENDUR ING FREEDOM, Page 7 Future federal deficits likely Congressional Democrats blamed President Bush and his tax cut yester day for the return of federal deficits, a day after the White House budget chief said he expects shortfalls for at least the next three years. The administra tion’s budget director the recession and the war. | NATIONAL, Page 8 Suicide bomber kills three An explosion tore through a bus on a main highway in Israel’s north yester day, and police said three passengers and a Palestinian suicide bomber were killed. An eyewitness told Army Radio he saw the blast “rip the bus into pieces.” | INTERNATIONAL, Page 9 * V WEATHER Pag^t TODAY: Breezy with showed 30 cents off campus ©2061 Collegian Inc. security forces sitional mechanism is established, and the need for international forces is felt, we are not opposed to the arrival of an international force,” Qanooni said, speaking to reporters in Dari, one of the main Afghan languages. Such a force was not needed at pres ent because northern alliance forces were safeguarding the peace, he said, adding that foreign forces could come only “when it is seriously required.” The northern alliance prefers a force drawn from Islamic nations. On Wednesday, he said the northern alliance rejected an outside force. Qanooni’s turnaround brought the position of the northern alliance closer to the three other groups at the confer ence, representing the former King Mohammed Zaher Shah and two small er exile groups. All three favor neutral forces to keep peace. Qanooni said delegates were making progress on drawing up an interim administration. “We have held more talks and made more progress,” Qanooni said “Today, 1 am more optimistic than yesterday about the outcome of this meeting.” warned about the difficulties of word ing reward notices and suggested that the police should be consulted before anything is posted. Special Agent for the FBI Stephen Coffins felt the meeting was helpfuL “Keeping this in themews ... will assist in tracking down new leads,” Coffins said. Kiho Song, Cindy Song’s brother, said through translator Scott Shi, a cousin of Song’s, that police are “doing what they need to do but they’re not doing it fast enough.” Bansoon Song said she wished more -involvement by the universily communi ty would have hap- pened earlier, but she was still appre- dative of the efforts. “It could have happened sooner, but she’s grateful,” Kim said. “They wanted to do all of this stuff on their own, but it wasn’t possible with so few family members here.” Since the 21-year-old woman has been missing, her family members arrived in the United States to work with police and talk to Cindy Song’s Mends. They both hold faith in Cindy Song’s reappearance. “He knows she’ll survive, she’s strong,” Shi said of the brother’s faith. “It’s been a long time but he’s holding a lot of faith and a lot of prayers.” “She’s praying day and night, hoping that she’ll come home,” Kim said for Bansoon Song. Bansoon Song will be leaving to go back to Korea tomorrow because Cindy Song’s father is still there, but she will return a few days later, Kim said. When asked how long the missing woman’s brother will stay in the U.S., he said, “Until she comes back.” Richards told the family that the stu dents of Penn State plan to persist with the efforts of finding Cindy Song. See SONG, Page 12. TABLE OF CONTENTS Calendar 2 National. Classifieds H Opinion*. Comics 2l Scoreboard IS ...21 Sports 13 ...17 TVUstfaift .19&20 9 Weather 2 Crossword... Horoscope... International. CONTACT US Newsroom: (814) 865-1828 Ads/Business: (814) 865-2531 ON THE WEB www.coHeoan.psu.edu 10&11
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