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BETHEL UNIVERSITY . Thursday, September 8, 2005 Volume 81 • Number 2 In the eye: an inside look at Hurricane Katrina By Christina Erbach A voluntary evacuation for all U.S. residents residing below Highway 1-10 was issued on Friday, Aug. 27, just three days before Category 4 Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. It started in New Orleans, La. and then made a surprise change and headed up through Biloxi, Miss, and Mobile, Ala. Karissa Knutson, resident of Mobile, Ala,, didn't respond to the voluntary evacuation decree and decided to stay at the home of her boyfriend's parents. She said, "I was sick of packing up and leaving for simply a power outage." Hurricanes have passed through Mobile before, but usually just turn into bad thunderstorms before reaching that far. At the point of interview, Knutson was in line at a gas station with an estimated 150 cars in front and 200 cars behind her. She stated that gas ranged anywhere from $4.50 -$6.00 per gallon and is only available at the one in five gas stations actually open in Mobile. Gas prices are not even listed on the outside of gas stations, and it may run out by the time vehicles make it to the front of the line. A S50 limit was also placed on all gas purchases, providing only enough to fill up a small car part way On the morning that Katrina hit Mobile, Knutson said there were three foot waves seen on a bay that is usually as calm as a lake with no one on it. The sky was dark and the wind was strong, but the rain was very light. By late afternoon, the waves had reached 20 feet high and the water kept rising. Piers that were securely docked in the bay were detaching and crashing into neighbors' houses. A 12 foot brick wall in the backyard was almost covered and had started to fall apart. Two walls of their pool house were caved in and four feet of water was seen in the basement. Knutson said, however, that it never rained that hard. "It was like a tornado with huge waves," she said, and called it a "storm surge." Around 6 p.m. on the same night, Knutson said the wind shifted directions and the water level started to slowly lower. The next day, a Coke machine was found in the backyard that belonged at a hotel located five miles away. After a claim had been filed, the insurance agent said the house incurred over $500,000 worth of damage. Knutson said the power has since come on, bui there are still no phone lines or cable. The lights on the interstates are, as of yet, non-functioning, and the city still has a curfew of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in effect. Most schools and universities are closed indefinitely and the students are being shuffled around to different schools that can be opened. Chris Bums, St. Paul American Red Cross Communications Manager, said that the St. Paul chapter of the Red Cross was sending down 11 volunteers to be dispersed where needed in the affected areas. The American Red Cross is also performing something called "mass care," according to Burns. This includes opening a food shelter and also helping disaster victims in whatever shelters they are housed in. Burns had heard there were at least 40,000 victims in the shelters operated by the American Red Cross and at least 500,000 meals were served each day. In respect to other volunteering and ways for the St. Paul/Minneapolis area residents to get involved, Burns said donations are readily accepted and also very much needed. He also said there are many other organizations that are in need of volunteers, but they most likely won't be sending anyone else down from outside the current list of volunteers. Donations/Help Relief Operations : toll-free 1-800-HELP- NOW Online at www.stpaulredcross. com ■& """l ourtes'y photos Roberts nominated for Chief Justice By David Miller The death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist on Saturday evening (Sept. 9) has opened another front in the political battle for control of the nation's highest court. With John Roberts, the current nominee originally set to fill the spot of departing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and still awaiting Senate confirmation, the Bush administration will face an ideological battle of epic proportions on Capital Hill over the next weeks and possibly months. President Bush spoke publicly Sunday afternoon, saying that he would quickly appoint a nominee to replace the Chief Justice, although there were no specifics as to who he had in mind. Not only does the current situation allow the Republican president to add two new justices to the court, but it also allows for a new Chief Justice to be promoted as well. On Monday, Bush made the decision to nominate John Roberts, who was currently awaiting Senate confirmation as an Associate Justice, for Rehnquist's position. In addition to the push to fill the Chief Justice's spot, there is also the question of gender in the next coming appointment. The First Lady had strongly encouraged the President to fill Justice O'Connor's vacancy with another woman, and 6 out of 10 American's polled by the Washington Post agreed that a woman should succeed O'Connor's spot. The last President to face such a historically rare and politically decisive decision was Richard Nixon in 1971. Many other Presidents have appointed more than one Justice, with Reagan appointing three and both Clinton and George H.W Bush appointing two. However, this current situation is exceptionally important because of the immense amount of power the life-time tenure justices have over constitutional issues. The decisions made by the Supreme Court have the influ ence to shape American law and society for decades to come. From abortion to civil rights to Presidential elections, the Supreme Court wields a tremendous amount of judiciary power that affects every American. Given the departure of the moderate O'Connor and the new vacancy left by Rehnquist's death, President Bush has an unusual opportunity to restructure the ideological dynamics of the court. Besides the late Rehnquist, the court of nine members has two other standing conservatives: the libertarian-leaning Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas. Both the departing Justice O'Connor and the Reagan appointee Justice Kennedy have historically been the decisive vote of moderation in the court. In recent years, the court has proved to be divided along the lines of liberal and conservative over many major constitutional issues. Undoubtedly, the new appointments will have a powerful impact as the upcoming docket unfolds with cases lhat deal with assisted suicide and parental notification for minors having abortions. Given the current political climate in Washington, it is highly unlikely that this rare opportunity for fulfilling two court vacancies will go without a war for the records. The White House is already all but completely preoccupied with the disaster relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which will complicate the timing of a vacancy nomination. Additionally Bush is facing heavy political fire from House and Senate Democrats regarding federal response to Katrina, which may prove to be a great hindrance to the President's credibility during nomination and confirmation of another new Justice. Senate Democrats have called for the John Roberts appointment hearings to be delayed until later so that Congress can focus on the hurricane relief efforts. Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told the New York Times that, "out of respect for the memory of Chief Justice Rehnquist and in fairness to those whose lives continue to be devastated by Katrina, the Senate should not commence a Supreme Court confirmation hearing this Tuesday" Many Senate Democrats have been exceptionally outspoken against Roberts on claims that his views on women's rights and abortion are ideologically extreme and could push America backwards in terms of the progress it has made on these issues. Roberts, a Harvard Law graduate who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals, was a legal council to President Regan in the 1980s. It was during this time that Roberts wrote countless papers which are being used by the Senate Judiciary Commitiee to evaluate his judicial philosophy and viewpoints. Until the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina last week, the nomination process appeared to be progressing smoothly, despite some attempts by pro-choice and civil liberty lobby groups to discredit him. The discovery of thousands of documents written by Roberts on Tuesday, August 30"' in lhe Reagan Presidential library will also most certainly compound the delay in his appointment. Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy lambasted the administration for trying to conceal the documents while Texas Republican Senator John Corryn told the New York Times the discovery of the documents "only reinforces the fact that the archives' efforts to be thorough in the production of documents are unprecedented." Even if the new documents fail to turn up anything of question on Roberts, Washington and the entire nation is about to face a tremendous political battle. Whatever the outcome is, the effects of it will reverberate for years to come. Response to shooting flawless By Cara Patton It was "all the stuff you'd see on CSI," explained junior Ryan Schott. Dozens of police officers filled la Ave by Fountain Terrace in the early hours of August 24, while yellow crime scene tape was draped across the road and detectives searched for clues. Bethel security and staff had unexpectedly played a major role in a mystery straight out of a television show. Schott and at least one other student, junior Amanda Fol- kestad, heard "two loud bangs that ended up being gunshots" on the road west of Fountain building 799 at approximately 12:40 a.m. They both went out onto their second floor balconies, tossing questions back and forth and wondering uneasily what might be happening. Meanwhile, Fountain Resident Director Brad Dykstra knew that those sounds were most likely gunfire. He "grabbed a sweatshirt and a flashlight and went outside" immediately, circling the buildings in search of anything unusual. At this moment, a 28-year- old man named Bobby Heflin Jr. was struggling away from his alleged kidnappers, Kevin and Antonio Gale, while suffering from three gunshot wounds. He had just been released from the trunk of the suspects' car outside Fountain Terrace, after allegedly going to a back alley somewhere in north Minneapolis to try to sell his car. The Gales allegedly accosted him, shot him once, and shoved him into the trunk of their car. Ramsey County and New Brighton police were closing in on the car using cell phone towers to triangulate Helfins position as he called 911, but the suspects stopped the car and pulled him from the trunk before the police could locate his exact position. Each suspect shot him once, one with a 9mm pistol and the other with a 380 calibre handgun. Helfin called 911 again from his cell phone minutes later, but at this point in the story, details begin to conflict. According to New Brighton Detective Steven Bomus, Heflin ran through the east Fountain parking lot, over a fence, and ended up in a ditch next to northbound highway 35W Smudges of blood were found on the car of another Fountain resident, adding a "crucial piece of evidence" to the timeline by proving that Helfin had been in the parking lot closest to the fence and 35W However, no one connected to Bethel, including the security officer sitting in the parking lot, actually saw anyone involved in the incident. Schott and Folkestad heard the harsh sound of screeching Photo by Danica Myers tires as a vehicle tore away from Fountain Terrace; they contacted their resident assistant, who called Bethel security. Dykstra, Schott, Folkestad, the R.A., and security officer/Bethel junior Jody Rodrigues converged on the lawn, considering what to do. Then more than a dozen wailing police cars flooded 35W from both directions, followed soon after by three ambulances. So the Bethel students and staff decided to "sweep the area for anything out of the ordinary," said Dykstra. Armed with flashlights, the makeshift crime scene investigators combed lsl Ave., and discovered two shell casings. Dykstra "sent [the students] into the building and we contacted the police." Rodrigues made the call from his dispatch radio, which had been blaring police conversations about the incident. Within three minutes, according to Schott, squad cars arrived and the crime scene was set. "The partnership between the police and Bethel couldn't have gone any smoother," explained Dykstra. Each witness gave written statements, and all evidence of the incident was cleared away by six a.m. Helfin was taken to the hospital and has survived the injuries he sustained. After a high-speed chase ending when the suspects' car crashed into a squad car at 5,h Ave. SE and SE 4lh Street in south Minneapolis, both alleged kidnappers were been taken into custody. The Gales have been charged with kidnapping and second degree assault. Without the efforts of Bethel students, staff, and security together, said Schott, "[the police] wouldn't have known about the crime scene." Detective Bomus emphasized, "It was the result of diligent and attentive security that became very helpful to this ■M
Object Description
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Alternative Title | The Bethel Clarion |
Edition (Vol. No.) | Vol. 81 No. 02 |
Date Published | September 08 2005 |
Decade | 2000 |
Academic Year | 2005 - 2006 |
Frequency | Weekly |
Notes | This project has been financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota through the Minnesota Historical Society from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. |
Digital Collection | The Clarion: Bethel University's Student Newspaper |
Digital Publisher | Bethel University |
Editor | Lee, Cara |
Contributors | Feltmann, Pamela (News Editor); Patton, Cara (Views Editor); Walters, Brett (Variety Editor); Richmann, Christopher (A&E Editor); Sveen, Tom (Sports Editor); Wolfe, Melissa (Layout Editor); Myers, Danica (Photo Editor); Baumgarten, Sherah (Copy Editor); Armbrester, Lindsay (Copy Editor); Kelly, Aaron (Business and Advertising Manager); Martin, Barb (Administrative Advisor); Alsdurf, Phyllis (Academic Advisor) |
Location |
United States Minnesota Saint Paul |
Time Span of Publication | Newspaper published from 1921 through present day |
Copyright | Reproduction or distribution of these files is permitted for educational and research purposes with proper attribution to the Bethel Digital Library. No commercial reproduction or distribution of these files is permitted under copyright law without the written permission of Bethel University Digital Library. For questions or further information on this collection, contact digital-library@bethel.edu. |
Type | text |
Format | image/jpeg |
Physical Dimensions | 12.5 x 23 |
Original Collection | Printed paper copies of original newspaper in the collections of the Bethel University Library and the History Center: Archives of the Baptist General Conference and Bethel University. |
Original Publisher | Bethel University |
Transcript | BETHEL UNIVERSITY . Thursday, September 8, 2005 Volume 81 • Number 2 In the eye: an inside look at Hurricane Katrina By Christina Erbach A voluntary evacuation for all U.S. residents residing below Highway 1-10 was issued on Friday, Aug. 27, just three days before Category 4 Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. It started in New Orleans, La. and then made a surprise change and headed up through Biloxi, Miss, and Mobile, Ala. Karissa Knutson, resident of Mobile, Ala,, didn't respond to the voluntary evacuation decree and decided to stay at the home of her boyfriend's parents. She said, "I was sick of packing up and leaving for simply a power outage." Hurricanes have passed through Mobile before, but usually just turn into bad thunderstorms before reaching that far. At the point of interview, Knutson was in line at a gas station with an estimated 150 cars in front and 200 cars behind her. She stated that gas ranged anywhere from $4.50 -$6.00 per gallon and is only available at the one in five gas stations actually open in Mobile. Gas prices are not even listed on the outside of gas stations, and it may run out by the time vehicles make it to the front of the line. A S50 limit was also placed on all gas purchases, providing only enough to fill up a small car part way On the morning that Katrina hit Mobile, Knutson said there were three foot waves seen on a bay that is usually as calm as a lake with no one on it. The sky was dark and the wind was strong, but the rain was very light. By late afternoon, the waves had reached 20 feet high and the water kept rising. Piers that were securely docked in the bay were detaching and crashing into neighbors' houses. A 12 foot brick wall in the backyard was almost covered and had started to fall apart. Two walls of their pool house were caved in and four feet of water was seen in the basement. Knutson said, however, that it never rained that hard. "It was like a tornado with huge waves," she said, and called it a "storm surge." Around 6 p.m. on the same night, Knutson said the wind shifted directions and the water level started to slowly lower. The next day, a Coke machine was found in the backyard that belonged at a hotel located five miles away. After a claim had been filed, the insurance agent said the house incurred over $500,000 worth of damage. Knutson said the power has since come on, bui there are still no phone lines or cable. The lights on the interstates are, as of yet, non-functioning, and the city still has a curfew of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in effect. Most schools and universities are closed indefinitely and the students are being shuffled around to different schools that can be opened. Chris Bums, St. Paul American Red Cross Communications Manager, said that the St. Paul chapter of the Red Cross was sending down 11 volunteers to be dispersed where needed in the affected areas. The American Red Cross is also performing something called "mass care," according to Burns. This includes opening a food shelter and also helping disaster victims in whatever shelters they are housed in. Burns had heard there were at least 40,000 victims in the shelters operated by the American Red Cross and at least 500,000 meals were served each day. In respect to other volunteering and ways for the St. Paul/Minneapolis area residents to get involved, Burns said donations are readily accepted and also very much needed. He also said there are many other organizations that are in need of volunteers, but they most likely won't be sending anyone else down from outside the current list of volunteers. Donations/Help Relief Operations : toll-free 1-800-HELP- NOW Online at www.stpaulredcross. com ■& """l ourtes'y photos Roberts nominated for Chief Justice By David Miller The death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist on Saturday evening (Sept. 9) has opened another front in the political battle for control of the nation's highest court. With John Roberts, the current nominee originally set to fill the spot of departing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and still awaiting Senate confirmation, the Bush administration will face an ideological battle of epic proportions on Capital Hill over the next weeks and possibly months. President Bush spoke publicly Sunday afternoon, saying that he would quickly appoint a nominee to replace the Chief Justice, although there were no specifics as to who he had in mind. Not only does the current situation allow the Republican president to add two new justices to the court, but it also allows for a new Chief Justice to be promoted as well. On Monday, Bush made the decision to nominate John Roberts, who was currently awaiting Senate confirmation as an Associate Justice, for Rehnquist's position. In addition to the push to fill the Chief Justice's spot, there is also the question of gender in the next coming appointment. The First Lady had strongly encouraged the President to fill Justice O'Connor's vacancy with another woman, and 6 out of 10 American's polled by the Washington Post agreed that a woman should succeed O'Connor's spot. The last President to face such a historically rare and politically decisive decision was Richard Nixon in 1971. Many other Presidents have appointed more than one Justice, with Reagan appointing three and both Clinton and George H.W Bush appointing two. However, this current situation is exceptionally important because of the immense amount of power the life-time tenure justices have over constitutional issues. The decisions made by the Supreme Court have the influ ence to shape American law and society for decades to come. From abortion to civil rights to Presidential elections, the Supreme Court wields a tremendous amount of judiciary power that affects every American. Given the departure of the moderate O'Connor and the new vacancy left by Rehnquist's death, President Bush has an unusual opportunity to restructure the ideological dynamics of the court. Besides the late Rehnquist, the court of nine members has two other standing conservatives: the libertarian-leaning Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas. Both the departing Justice O'Connor and the Reagan appointee Justice Kennedy have historically been the decisive vote of moderation in the court. In recent years, the court has proved to be divided along the lines of liberal and conservative over many major constitutional issues. Undoubtedly, the new appointments will have a powerful impact as the upcoming docket unfolds with cases lhat deal with assisted suicide and parental notification for minors having abortions. Given the current political climate in Washington, it is highly unlikely that this rare opportunity for fulfilling two court vacancies will go without a war for the records. The White House is already all but completely preoccupied with the disaster relief efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which will complicate the timing of a vacancy nomination. Additionally Bush is facing heavy political fire from House and Senate Democrats regarding federal response to Katrina, which may prove to be a great hindrance to the President's credibility during nomination and confirmation of another new Justice. Senate Democrats have called for the John Roberts appointment hearings to be delayed until later so that Congress can focus on the hurricane relief efforts. Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told the New York Times that, "out of respect for the memory of Chief Justice Rehnquist and in fairness to those whose lives continue to be devastated by Katrina, the Senate should not commence a Supreme Court confirmation hearing this Tuesday" Many Senate Democrats have been exceptionally outspoken against Roberts on claims that his views on women's rights and abortion are ideologically extreme and could push America backwards in terms of the progress it has made on these issues. Roberts, a Harvard Law graduate who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals, was a legal council to President Regan in the 1980s. It was during this time that Roberts wrote countless papers which are being used by the Senate Judiciary Commitiee to evaluate his judicial philosophy and viewpoints. Until the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina last week, the nomination process appeared to be progressing smoothly, despite some attempts by pro-choice and civil liberty lobby groups to discredit him. The discovery of thousands of documents written by Roberts on Tuesday, August 30"' in lhe Reagan Presidential library will also most certainly compound the delay in his appointment. Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy lambasted the administration for trying to conceal the documents while Texas Republican Senator John Corryn told the New York Times the discovery of the documents "only reinforces the fact that the archives' efforts to be thorough in the production of documents are unprecedented." Even if the new documents fail to turn up anything of question on Roberts, Washington and the entire nation is about to face a tremendous political battle. Whatever the outcome is, the effects of it will reverberate for years to come. Response to shooting flawless By Cara Patton It was "all the stuff you'd see on CSI," explained junior Ryan Schott. Dozens of police officers filled la Ave by Fountain Terrace in the early hours of August 24, while yellow crime scene tape was draped across the road and detectives searched for clues. Bethel security and staff had unexpectedly played a major role in a mystery straight out of a television show. Schott and at least one other student, junior Amanda Fol- kestad, heard "two loud bangs that ended up being gunshots" on the road west of Fountain building 799 at approximately 12:40 a.m. They both went out onto their second floor balconies, tossing questions back and forth and wondering uneasily what might be happening. Meanwhile, Fountain Resident Director Brad Dykstra knew that those sounds were most likely gunfire. He "grabbed a sweatshirt and a flashlight and went outside" immediately, circling the buildings in search of anything unusual. At this moment, a 28-year- old man named Bobby Heflin Jr. was struggling away from his alleged kidnappers, Kevin and Antonio Gale, while suffering from three gunshot wounds. He had just been released from the trunk of the suspects' car outside Fountain Terrace, after allegedly going to a back alley somewhere in north Minneapolis to try to sell his car. The Gales allegedly accosted him, shot him once, and shoved him into the trunk of their car. Ramsey County and New Brighton police were closing in on the car using cell phone towers to triangulate Helfins position as he called 911, but the suspects stopped the car and pulled him from the trunk before the police could locate his exact position. Each suspect shot him once, one with a 9mm pistol and the other with a 380 calibre handgun. Helfin called 911 again from his cell phone minutes later, but at this point in the story, details begin to conflict. According to New Brighton Detective Steven Bomus, Heflin ran through the east Fountain parking lot, over a fence, and ended up in a ditch next to northbound highway 35W Smudges of blood were found on the car of another Fountain resident, adding a "crucial piece of evidence" to the timeline by proving that Helfin had been in the parking lot closest to the fence and 35W However, no one connected to Bethel, including the security officer sitting in the parking lot, actually saw anyone involved in the incident. Schott and Folkestad heard the harsh sound of screeching Photo by Danica Myers tires as a vehicle tore away from Fountain Terrace; they contacted their resident assistant, who called Bethel security. Dykstra, Schott, Folkestad, the R.A., and security officer/Bethel junior Jody Rodrigues converged on the lawn, considering what to do. Then more than a dozen wailing police cars flooded 35W from both directions, followed soon after by three ambulances. So the Bethel students and staff decided to "sweep the area for anything out of the ordinary," said Dykstra. Armed with flashlights, the makeshift crime scene investigators combed lsl Ave., and discovered two shell casings. Dykstra "sent [the students] into the building and we contacted the police." Rodrigues made the call from his dispatch radio, which had been blaring police conversations about the incident. Within three minutes, according to Schott, squad cars arrived and the crime scene was set. "The partnership between the police and Bethel couldn't have gone any smoother," explained Dykstra. Each witness gave written statements, and all evidence of the incident was cleared away by six a.m. Helfin was taken to the hospital and has survived the injuries he sustained. After a high-speed chase ending when the suspects' car crashed into a squad car at 5,h Ave. SE and SE 4lh Street in south Minneapolis, both alleged kidnappers were been taken into custody. The Gales have been charged with kidnapping and second degree assault. Without the efforts of Bethel students, staff, and security together, said Schott, "[the police] wouldn't have known about the crime scene." Detective Bomus emphasized, "It was the result of diligent and attentive security that became very helpful to this ■M |
Language | English |
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