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World&Nation
Friday, Dec. 7, 2007
Today’sIssue
Celebs&People
Romney talks about religion
Today is Friday, Dec. 7, 2007. Today’s issue of The Utah Statesman is published especially for Richard Michelson, a soph. from Ogden Utah, marjoring in Mechanical/ Aerospace Engineering.
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Nat’lBriefs
Missing missionaries found by local farmer
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (AP) –Two missionaries missing since Monday on the tiny Caribbean island of Martinique have been found unharmed by a farmer. Church officials say Tyson Delmar Gray of Taylorsville, Utah, and Thomas Levi Swain, a British citizen from New Zealand, got disoriented in dense foliage and difficult terrain on a hike of 4,600-foot Mount Pelee. A local farmer found them at 8:30 a.m. local time Thursday. Swain has been on a mission for 18 months, and Gray for six months. The island of Martinique is part of the West Indies Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s one of 348 missions with over 53,000 full-time missionaries throughout the world. Mount Pelee is a popular attraction in the French Caribbean island. The volcano, which is still active, erupted in 1902, killing tens of thousands of people. The most recent serious eruption was in 1932.
Nebraska teen may have hidden rifle in sweatshirt
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The teenage gunman who went on a shooting rampage in a department store may have smuggled an assault rifle into the mall underneath clothing, police said Thursday. Police Chief Thomas Warren said the young man “appeared to be concealing something balled up in a hooded sweat shirt” he was carrying, according to a surveillance video. The teen entered the store Wednesday using an elevator, and moments later, gunfire pierced through the notes of Christmas music at the Westroads Mall’s Von Maur department store. People huddled in dressing rooms and barricaded themselves in offices as 19-year-old Robert A. Hawkins sprayed the floor with bullets. Six store employees and two customers were killed. When the shooting was over, Hawkins shot himself. The mall was closed Thursday as authorities continued to investigate what may have motivated the teen to go on the shooting spree. The shooting spree was Nebraska’s deadliest since January 1958, when Charles Starkweather killed 10 people in Nebraska and another in Wyoming. “We will not accept this evil action to occur in our community,” Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey said at a news conference.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) – His campaign at a crossroads, Republican Mitt Romney said Thursday his Mormon faith should neither help nor hinder his quest for the White House and vowed to serve the interests of the nation, not the church, if elected president. “When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God,” Romney said in a speech that explicitly recalled remarks John F. Kennedy made in 1960 in an effort to quell antiCatholic bias. After declining for months to address the issue of his Mormonism directly, Romney switched course as polls showed widespread unease about his religion — and showed him losing his once-sizable lead in the opening Iowa caucuses to Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas. Romney said some believe that a forthright embrace of his religion will “sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it. But I think they underestimate the American people.” “Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world,” he said. The Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses provide the first test of the race for the White House, followed closely by the Jan. 8 primary in New Hampshire. Romney has campaigned and spent energeti-
cally in both states in hopes of gaining unstoppable momentum for the rush of elections that will soon follow. A defeat in Iowa would be particularly difficult to absorb, given Huckabee’s shoestring operation. Polls show Romney’s religion is a political drag on his campaign, and Huckabee has risen in surveys by gaining the sup- Republican presidential hopeful, former port of evangelical Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, center, hugs Rev. Christians, who comprise an esti- Jeffrey Brown, center, of Boston, Thursday, Dec. 6, after mated 40 percent Romney’s speech at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas. Romney’s wife of likely caucus Ann is at left. AP photo goers in Iowa. “Let me assure no one interest. A president must serve you that no authorities of my church, only the common cause of the people of or of any other church for that matter, the United States.” will ever exert influence on presidential Mormons believe that authentic decisions,” he pledged. Christianity vanished a century after “Their authority is theirs, within the Jesus and was restored only through province of church affairs, and it ends Joseph Smith, who founded the religion where the affairs of the nation begin.” and is viewed as a prophet by its adherHe added: “If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one reli- See Romney, page 16 gion, no one group, no one cause and
Calif. prepares for mudslides LOS ANGELES (AP) – Southern California residents stacked sandbags Thursday ahead of possible flash flooding and mudslides in areas burned bare by recent wildfires. Meanwhile, thousands in the Pacific Northwest remained without power or clean drinking water after a deadly wave of storms there. In California, Orange County sheriff’s patrol cars broadcast warnings through loudspeakers urging about 2,000 people to get out of three canyons because some of the heaviest rainfall in more than a year was expected to hit the area overnight. The evacuations could become mandatory later in the day as the storm approached, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said. “It’s much better to do it early than wait for the slides to start,” he said. “The canyons are narrow; the roads are narrow. Sometimes if you wait too long, it’s potentially dangerous.” In the Northwest, rescue and evacuation work ended as floodwaters continued to recede. Six people died in Washington, and another two died in Oregon. An elderly man was missing after he was believed to have fallen into a raging creek behind his house in rural Winlock, Wash. About 640 people were still in shelters, 33,000 customers lacked power and about 18,900 had no safe drinking water, Gov. Chris Gregoire said. Fourteen water systems were shut down and people served by nine others were
under orders to boil water. Some areas requested vaccines, especially for tetanus. Helicopters took flood-stranded residents to safety at the height of the storm. By the time helicopter operations ended Wednesday evening, at least 300 people had been taken to safety in what Gregoire described as Washington state’s largest aerial search-and-rescue operation in a decade. “Those folks who are literally homeless today still have a spirit in them,” the governor said. “They are determined to get back to their homes and get their lives back together again.” Recalling scenes of blown-down trees, Gregoire said, “The visual is nothing like I’ve ever seen other than my recollection of Mount St. Helens” after the volcano’s devastating 1980 eruption. Interstate 5, closed since Monday about 30 miles south of the Washington capital of Olympia, could reopen as early as Thursday night with one lane of traffic in each direction, state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said. Officials had earlier said it might take until next week to reopen the West Coast’s main north-south route. Amtrak service between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, resumed, and service to Portland, Ore., was expected Friday or Saturday, Gregoire said. Damage is likely to reach into the billions of dollars but remains to be tallied.
The governor filed a formal request for a White House emergency declaration in two counties, with other counties to be added as damage assessments come in. An emergency declaration would trigger money for temporary lodging, rental assistance, money for home repairs and crisis counseling, and small-business loans. An aide to Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said that state would also seek a federal disaster declaration. In California, the National Weather Service issued a flash-flood watch for coastal and mountain areas through Friday afternoon. As much as an inch of rain in urban areas and as much as 3 inches in the mountains was predicted, said Stuart Seto, a Weather Service specialist. Southern California has had a very dry rainy season, and it will be the first time since April 2006 that so much rain has fallen from a single storm, Seto predicted. Areas denuded by fires were a special concern. Wildfires this year have stripped vegetation from thousands of acres of land. That land is now susceptible to excessive runoff and erosion. “It doesn’t take much to set off those mud and debris flows,” Seto said. In Los Angeles County, crews sandbagged hillsides in Griffith Park, where about 1,200 acres were scorched in May. Work was also under way in Malibu, where a wildfire destroyed 53 homes in November.
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LateNiteHumor Top 10 things a department store Santa doesn’t want to hear from a kids, from Dec. 22, 1999 — 10: “Are you really jolly or is it the Prozac?” 9: “I can see what you had for lunch in your beard.” 8: “My mommy says that you’re my real daddy.” 7: “Red is not your color, fat man.” 6: “I see dead people.” 5: “All I want for Christmas is some gamblin’ money.” 4: “The lady over there said you’re drunk.” 3: “What’s your policy on giving cigarettes to kids?” 2: “I’m Jewish–what are you gonna do about it?” 1: “If I see one Teletubby–I’m coming after you.”
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NEW YORK (AP) – Billy Joel has released a new pop single, the anti-war “Christmas in Fallujah.” Just don’t expect to hear his voice on it. At 58, Joel felt he was too old to sing the song, which was inspired by letters the Piano Man received from soldiers in Iraq. So he gave it to Cass Dillon, a 21-year-old singer-songwriter Joel from Long Island. “I thought it should be somebody young, about a soldier’s age,” Joel said in a statement on his Web site. “I wanted to help somebody else’s career. I’ve had plenty of hits. I’ve had plenty of airplay. I’ve had my time in the sun. I think it’s time for somebody else, maybe, to benefit from my own experience.” Dillon said he was thrilled to be asked. “When someone of that stature, with that history of great songs behind him with such a huge catalog asks you to sing something he’s written, there’s nothing you can do but be completely honored to perform,” Dillon said in a statement. “Christmas in Fallujah” went on sale Tuesday on Apple Inc.’s iTunes. Net proceeds will be donated to Homes for Our Troops, which builds homes for severely wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Jessica Sierra has pleaded not guilty to charges in a weekend fracas with three Tampa police officers outside a nightclub. Sierra, a former “American Idol” finalist, is charged with disorderly intoxication, resisting arrest and violating conditions of her parole on earlier felony battery and possession charges. Attorney John Fitzgibbons said Thursday he is consulting with doctors to plan a comprehensive drug and alcohol program for Sierra. She is being held without bail and will remain in jail at least until her next hearing, scheduled Dec. 20.
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