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Show - NMI0N&WORLD A4 THE DAILY HERALD (wwuilarkTheHerald.com) SUNDAY, JULY 2, 2000 c MIDDLE BASS ISLAND, Ohio A concrete terrace loaded (AP) with tourists collapsed at an island winery in Lake Erie on Saturday, killing one person and injuring about 80, authorities said. hieard a crack and I just dropped. It was like.sliding down a hill,' said Wade Weaver, 23, of Gibsonburg. "I kept thinking it was lijce an earthquake hit." The floor apparently collapsed under the weight of the people on it, s'aid John Blatt, mayor of the nearby island resort village of Associated Press Writer master of crotchety comedy who won an Oscar for The Fortune Cookie" and cemented his stardom as the sloppy Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple," died Saturday of a heart attack. He was 79. Matthau was pronounced dead at 1:42 a.m. foghorn-voice- fl . Health Center in Santa Monica, said hospital spokeswoman Lindi Funston. , "I have lost someone I loved as a brother, as a closest friend and a remarkable human being," Columbus man died at the scene, Police Chief Jim Lang said. Earlier police and Coast Guard reports incorrectly stated that two people had died. A y said frequent Commandments go up PAOLI, Ind. (AP) Shrugging off the threat of lawsuits, Orange County officials became the first in the state to take advantage of a new Indiana law that allows government entities to post the Ten Commandments. Renditions of "God Bless America" and scripture readings echoed from the steps of the county courthouse Saturday as nearly 300 people who began gathering just before midnight watched officials unveil a plaque with the religious tenets the moment the new law went into effect. . "You talk about being moved. Those people were really full of spirit they were just so excited that it was happening," said County Commissioner Charles W. Hall. DOE was d at St. John's Put-In-Ba- Put-In-Ba- But he was absolutely per- fect, always," Wilder added. The Odd Couple" pro- the role that SANTA MONICA, Calif. "Walter walks like a established Matthau's Walter Matthau, the child's toy," stardom. In 1965 ihe windup ; . lowed complaints against his tormentors and moved frame in his lean, surprising ways. By BOB THOMAS terrace collapses Ohio JULIE MARKESThc Associated Press Farewell: Actor Walter Matthau, seen here in Beverly Hills, Calif., in 1990, died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, Calif., on Saturday morning. He was 79. co-st- ar Jack Lemmon. "We have also lost one of the best damn actors well ever see." Flowers were placed on Matthau's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Saturday. Often cast as a would-b- e con man foiled by life's travails, Matthau bel Lemmon once said. Matthau's performance as Lemmon's shyster law in The Fortune Cookie," directed by Billy Wilder, won him the Academy Award as best supporting actor of 1966. He was twice nominated for best acton as the cantankerous oldster in "Kotch," 1971 (directed by Lemmon); and as the feuding vaudeville partner of George Burns in The Sunshine Boys," 1975. "He was so natural. He was himself, with all the quirks that a human being has," Wilder said Saturday. "He was a guy who made great friends. Whether you played cards with him or whether you talked football bets with him, he was a n man." "He was good in everything he did." Sometimes I messed it up as a director. j brother-in-- full-blow- vided appeared in New Yorkjas the 6lobby sportswrjter Oscar Madison in Neil Simon's play. Art Carney was the fastidious photographer, Felix Unger, who shared an apartment with Madison after both had been divorced. Matthau repeated the role in the 1968 film, with Lemmon as Felix. They reprised their roles 30 years later in the 1 998 film "Odd Couple II." "Every actor looks all his life for a part that will com- bine his talents with his personality," Matthau told Time magazine in 197jC Odd Couple' waJ mine. That was the plutonium I needed. It all started happening after that." Matthau had survived; several serious health set- backs, including an earlier; heart attack, but he was growing increasingly sicEli The ', ; Relentless crowd turns concert fatal By JAN M. OLSEN Associated Press Writer ROSKILDE, Denmark The Pearl Jam concert was raging along as 50,000 young fans danced and "things were really sang great," one concertgoer said. ready for fire RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) Preparation was crucial to the battle against the fire that raced across the Hanford nuclear reservation, storage site for some of the most lethal wastes on the planet. Radiation releases and the spread of hazardous contamination are big risks, but the Department of Energy has been exhaustive in getting ready for possible emergencies on the site, established during World War II to make plutonium for the atomic bomb, said Larry Olguin, site emergency director. "I would not want to ever try to downplay the significance of the danger of a range fire," he said. "But the fact that it burned over 190,000 acres and no known radiation releases occurred didn't happen by chance." Gay couples wed SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. In ceremonies simple and (AP) elaborate, gay couples around Vermont stood before justices of the peace and clergy Saturday to be legally joined as spouses. wasn't quite marriage, but Vermont's new civil unions law, which took effect Saturday, granted them all the rights, benefits and, responsibilities of marriage in the state. And they were thrilled. "I think it's about time after 27 12 years," said Lois Farnham, her arm around partner Holly Puterbaugh after they got their civil union license. "It's nice after all this time to say Holly is my But then fans caught up in the enthusiasm began pushing forward, leaving some up front screaming and climbing on top of each other to get air. By theVtime Friday night's crush at the Roskilde festival subsided, eight fans were trampled to death and 25 more injured. On Saturday, only hours later, the main stage here was starkly silent as knots of concertgoers gazed at flowers covering the muddy ground where their fellow fans died. This is so painful. I think we are all waiting for someone to wake us and say it was just nightmare," Pearl Jam said in a statement. There are absolutely no words to express our anguish in regard to the parents and loved ones of those precious lives that were lost." The popular Seattle-baseband canceled its July 2 and July 3 concerts, according to its official Web site. The shows had been scheduled for Werchter, Belgium and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The tragedy began at .about midnight Friday in this town 25 miles west of Copenhagen. As Pearl Jam played, fans began pushing forward to get closer to the 1 - d action. "People were laughing while pushing each other said Colleen around," Gould, 26, of Australia. "I just wanted to try and get a photo. Then I got caught in it." The members of Pearl Jam shouted to the crowd KASPAR WENSTRUPThe Associated Press In memory of: Young people grieve and pray during a memorial service Saturday for eight young men who were trampled to death during a Pearl Jam concert Friday at the Roskilde Festival, 25 miles outside of Copenhagen. of about 50,000 to move back, and halted when that didn't happen. "People didn't understand" said Gould, who escaped the tightening pack by swinging her elbows. They thought they were cheering up the theper-formanc- e , crowd.". The grounds at Jthe annual festival, which this about year attracted 100,000 fans, were muddy y from an rain. The all-da- victims, all men, slipped or fell in front of the stage and were trampled to death. Victims included a Dutch man; a German; three Swedes aged 20, 21 and 22; and three Danes, two of whom were 17 and 22, respectively. Police with held other identification details pending notification-orelatives. "Once you were down in the mud you couldn't get up. It was impossible," said Thomas Daun, 18, of Sweden, who was up front ' Friday night. On Saturday, Daun stood with his friends in the silent crowd before the scene that was littered with plastic cups, paper and bottles. As afternoon turned to evening under heavy clouds and a" gray sky, the Protestant bishop of Roskilde, Jan Lindhardt, prayed and led a commemorative moment of silence at the stage. "It was a terrible and tragic "accident," Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Ras ;ussen said in an earli f er televised interview. "It is very difficult to put words on the fact that so many young people have lost their lives in such sinister circumstances." First held in 1971, Roskilde was inspired by Woodstock 1969 the Festival in upstate New York. The event attracts visitors from most of north-erEurope. In front of Roskilde's performing stages are barriers intended to prevent spectators up front from being pressed by those behind. Dozens of security staff also were positioned to help squeezed spectators escape, if necessary. It was unclear what n went wrong. The Roskilde Festival (organizers) always have said that they wanted it to be the safest festival, arid that is very visible," said Carsten Iversen, who has supervised concert security in recent years. "). Meanwhile, the 30th edi tion of the festival continued Saturday on the festi' val's other stages. Event ' spokesman Leif Skov sakf it went on because "life is ' '" stronger than death." But British bands Oasis' and the Pet Shop Boyd pulled out of their schedJ ' uled Saturday, night appearances. "Oasis and Pet Shop Boys felt that ouf, of respect for those who; have died and their fanii-- ' lies, it is inappropriate to go ahead with tonight's performances," the two grodps said in a joint statement. spouse." Suicide mission approved " : A PASADENA, Calif. (AP) tentative plan to send NASA's Galileo spacecraft on a suicide plunge into Jupiter's atmosphere to avoid any chance of. contaminating the planet's potentially moons, has gained the support of a panel of independent scienlife-harbori- tists. . The Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration, which is part of the National Acadeniy of Sciences' Space Studies Board, also agreed Friday with the agency's plan to get as much work as possible out of the s probe before Jtg jnayigation fail. , Galileo has been orbiting the solar system's largest planet since l95, but is running low on fuel. sys-tem- Confederate flag taken off S.C. Statehouse By JIM DAVENPORT Associated Press Writer But protests over the flag continued even as it was being lowered: Civil raised War another Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds, in rs COLUMBIA, S.C. After decades of debate and . mounting pressure from an NAACP boycott, South Carolina finally removed the Confederate from flag atop its Statehouse on Saturday in a somber ceremony that paid tribute to its Civil War roots. The flag, seen as a reminder of slavery for some " and a tribute to' Southern heritage for others, flew atop the Statehouse dome for 38 years. front of a Confederate soldier's monument. The new location was part of the comproinise reached the by Legislature in May. of Hundreds flag te d'emon-strator- s held bright yellow signs reading "Shame" and blew whis-"tie- s asthe "flagwas hoist-- " ed atop the flagpole. "We're blowing the whistle on racism," Brett . Bursey, South director of the Carolina Progressive Network, said. The crowd on hand ceremony swelled to at one point, 3,000 for-th- e authorities said. Many were flag supporters, including state Sen. Bill Branton. He called the compromise "the biggest mistake we've ever made in this General Assembly." He vowed to lead efforts to put the flag back on the dome. Flag supporters gathered in the street in front of the CapitoL chanting, "off the dome and in your el face," as some of the dreds of police officers kept the two factions from more than throwing words. One person was arrested for assault. South Carolina was the last state to fly the Confederate flag from its Capitol dome. Raised over the Statehouse in 1962, many thought the flag was a symbol of Southern heritage. Others said it is a defiant sign against blacks and the civil rights movement. .; On Saturday, two Citadel cadets r one white, one black removed the flag. - V . P. nXINGWORTHThe Associated Pn Dixie waves no more: For; the first time in 38 years, tftf j Confederate flag does not the S.C. Stajehouse fly above |