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Show Rally to urge ouster By Chuck Squatriglia Knight-Riddcr Newspapers BERKELEY, Calif. -UC-Berke-ley administrators and police are keeping close watch on a Cal student threatened by those outraged that he did nothing to prevent the killing of a 7-ycar-old girl. The announcement, by university Chancellor Robert Berdahl and others, came in the wake of a fiery protest described by some as a lynch mob where scores of people demanded the expulsion of David Thomas Cash Jr. While expressing his "heartfelt sympathy" to the girl's family and calling the killing "a brutal and senseless act of violence," Berdahl said UC cannot punish Cash because the sophomore nuclear engineering major has not been charged with a crime. "We cannot set aside due process based upon our outrage over a particular instance," Berdahl said in a hastily called news conference that marked the first time Cal administrators have spoken out on the issue since it erupted last month. But those who want Cash punished for doing nothing while Sherrice Iverson was strangled may yet see him driven from campus by his peers. The protesters urged Cal students to ostracize Cash at every turn, and many said they Campus briefs ;;;-:;;;;" Texas A&M researchers say dog-cloning project is serious AUSTIN, Texas - Is this a joke? That's the question that researchers who want to clone a dog say they get more than any other. They even pose and answer it on their Internet Web site. "We are quite serious and fully intend to see this project through," write organizers of the Missyplicity Project, which was announced this week. "Cloning a dog is simply a matter of the right talent which we've assembled combined with sufficient time and money, both of which we have." The right talent is at Texas A&M University, three other schools and a nonprofit scientific organization, organizers said. It has been assembled by San Francisco-based Bio Arts and Research Corp., a start-up biotechnology company. The time is two years; the price, $2.3 million. The goal is to clone Missy, an 1 1 -year-old spayed border collie mix, for whom the project is named. The dog's wealthy owner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, is footing the bill. The project, approved by the research arm of Texas A&M, offers a light-hearted Web page, with tail-wagging doggies and Missy photos. The company behind the project's acronym is BARC. If all goes well, the study could open the door to commercial pet cloning and new contraceptive methods for canines, organizers said. Dr. Mark Wcsthusin, an associate professor of veterinary medicine at A&M said the research may lead to the cloning of special canines such as Seeing Eye dogs and police dogs, as well as reproducing endangered animals. Students Can Register To Vote On Web CHICAGO (CPX) - Thanks to NctVotc '98, students can register to vote without ever leaving home. The Web site sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), MCI and Rock the Vote can be found at www.nctvote98.mci.com. The site states that the cyber-rcgistration is a joint effort "linking generations, young and old, through the powerful combination of civic participation and our latest technology." Using the site to register is simple. Just follow the directions that apply to your state. Two to three weeks after completing the online application, you will receive a card already addressed to your state's Secretary of State via snail-mail. Check it for accuracy, sign it, and drop it in the mail. There's no reason to even lick a stamp: the postage is paid for. The process is a direct result of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, commonly known as Motor Voter, w hich allows people to register at their department of motor vehicles or at various public assistance agencies. The Act also required the Federal Election Commission to create one uniform application that can be used to register voters in all 50 states. will do so. "I think we should all unify, and I think we should shun him," said Kie Roberts, a freshman who lives in Cash's dormitory.Some apparently are doing more than that. Police could not confirm reports that Cash has been threatened, but they're taking undisclosed precautions to protect him. "We've definitely got his security in mind," saidUC-Berke-ley police Capt. Bill Cooper. "It's something we're definitely keeping an eye on." If Cash was on campus Wednesday, he kept a low profile. He hung up on a reporter seeking comment, and students who know him said he skipped classes. Cash, 19, did not participate in the May 27, 1997, killing of Sherrice and has not been charged in connection with it. But he was there and, according to police and his own grand jury testimony, did nothing to prevent it. What's more, police said, he did not notify the authorities, even after his best friend, Jeremy Strohmeyer, confessed to the crime. Strohmeyer, 20, of Long Beach has been charged in the killing that occurred in a Nevada casino. His trial is slated to begin next week in Las Vegas.Cash, whose hometown is La Palma, has expressed little re of UC student spurs warning Most people seem to be under the impression that I was in a position to stop the heinous crime I did not witness the alleged molestation and murder. David Thomas Cash, Jr. morse for keeping quiet about the killing and told the Los Angeles Times his notoriety has helped him meet women. He has denied any wrongdoing in Sherrice's death. In an e-mail sent to the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday, Cash said he was "completely ignorant" of the circumstances surrounding the Los Angeles girl's death. "Most people seem to be under the impression that I was in a position to stop the heinous crime," he wrote. "I did not witness the alleged molestation and murder." Cash has been thrown into the center of a growing debate over the legality, and morality, of his decision to protect his best friend instead of a little girl. The debate came to the Cal campus Wednesday with a busload of Los Angeles residents led by two talk radio personalities who have made Sherrice's death a hot topic. fMwuv.'. J. ;;mw WVJ Joining them was Marc Klaas, whose daughter, Polly, was abducted from her Petaluma home five ago and killed by Richard Allen Davis. The protesters, many carrying signs emblazoned with slogans such as, "Cash is trash!" seethed with rage. They vowed to force Cash to answer for his actions. "David, I want you to know you are an accessory to my child's murder," Yolanda Manuel, Sherrice's 28-year-old mother, said, her voice rising in anger. "I will not give up. I want UC-Berkeley and the world to hear me." During a march toward California Hall to confront Berdahl, some protesters chanted, "Who do we want? David Cash! How do we want him? Dead!" While many students agreed that Cash should be kicked out of Cal, some were turned off by the confrontational tone of the protest and worried that vigilan- ' ""'" S W mtMmtmKm .,..a,a Residence Halls Students Freshman Orientation WEDNESDAY, SEPT, 2 3:30 P.M. PT Lobby tism may consume the campus. "I think what the guy did is wrong, and I don't want him at this school," said Jason Manning, a senior political economics major. "But it's a lynch mob atmosphere. If David Cash were to walk into this crowd, they'd tear him apart. They're just as bloodthirsty as anyone I've seen." University administrators denounced the threats toward Cash and promised to punish anyone who threatens or harasses Cash. "We need to operate under the rule of law," Berdahl said. "I'm concerned that someone would take individual action, and we will do everything we can to prevent that.". The protesters also promised to pressure lawmakers in California and Nevada to pass a law making it illegal to witness a crime and look the other way. Currently, failing to help a victim or report a crime is notillegal. |