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Show Local Monday, September 24, 1990 The Daily Herald, Provo, Utah Winds and rain blamed for local power outages Winds and rain are being blamed for a electrical power interruption throughout Utah County. Blackouts continued throughout the morning in the northern portion of the county. Edgemont and Grandview were blacked out for about hours this morning. A Provo City Power spokesman said electricity was restored at about 3 a.m. to those areas. "We think it was caused by trees in the wires, causing them to ground out," he said. The outage jumped from Edgemont where 32 homes were affected to Grandview where 50 homes were out. "Anytime you have wind and rain and lightning you're going to have a power failure," he said. According to a Utah Power and Light spokeswoman, there are "spotty outages" throughout the city-wid- e, State briefs Ogden man's killers sought the are SALT LAKE CITY Po(AP) in the lice suspects seeking slaying of an Ogden man, who was stabbed to death during a fight with a group of men in the down- town area. Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Ron Millard identified the victim as Lorenzo Thompson, 28. He was pronounced dead at Holy Cross Hospital following the fight about 2:28 a.m. Sunday. Millard said victim and two friends became involved in a verbal altercation with some other men at 125 S. West Temple. The dispute evolved into a physical confrontation and the victim was stabbed. Salt Lake City Police Detective Jerry Mendez is leading an investi- gation to determine the identity of the suspects, Millard said. Hopkinson execution stayed - State CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) attorneys planned to ask the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals today to allow the execution of condemned murderer Mark Hopkinson to proceed as scheduled. Karen Byrne, a senior assistant attorney general, said Sunday her office would ask the appeals court, meeting in Cheyenne today, to vacate a stay of the execution issued Sunday by a U.S. District Court judge. Byrne said she had expected the latest appeal filed in an effort to halt the execution to result in a hearing before the appeals court. P. "These stays and requests to vacate stays, as I understand, are very common in death penalty cases, judging from the experience of other states," she said. "We were expecting and the district court judge was expecting (the) side that did not prevail to file and appeal to the 10th Circuit Court." Matsch approved the stay sought by Hopkinson's attorney, Wyoming Public Defender Leonard Munker, agreeing that the jury which sentenced Hopkinson to die might have received improper instructions in reaching that verdict. Hopkinson has Leen sentenced to death on his conviction of ordering the death of Jeffrey Lynn Green, of Utah, in 1979. Byrne said she did not know what time the appeals court might hear the request. Matsch's ruling on Sunday came after three hours of arguments from the state and Hopkinson's public defenders. In issuing the stay, Matsch said there is a possibility that the death penalty decision "was made under an erroneous view of the law." District Judge Richard Bail denied in Watkins - NEW YORK (AP) Eight suspects in the subway knifing murder of a Utah tourist were denied bail today at their arraignment on mur- der and robbery charges. Attorneys for Yull Gary Morales, 18, and Luis Fernando Montero, 22, asked Acting Justice Herbert to set a "reasonable bail"; a motion the judge denied. The other lawyers did not request bail. Morales' attorney, Joel Lutwin, argued that his client had lived in Queens all his life and had '"no significant criminal record." Assistant District Attorney Tom Schiels argued that Morales made oral, written and videotaped statements about the Sept. 2 killing of case Brian Watkins, 22, of Provo, Utah. Watkins was knifed to death at a midtown subway station after the youths allegedly robbed Watkins' father of $200 and some credit cards, slashed his pants with a box cutter and then punched and kicked his mother. His murder touched off a wave of outrage among residents who are concerned at the growing number of murders and violent crimes in the city. The family, in town to attend the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Queens, had attended the tennis matches in the afternoon and were on their way to Tavern on the Green in Central Park for dinner when the robbery occurred. Minor flash flooding reported Colorado City, HURRICANE (AP) until it was cleared a Utah Department ushered in the start s Thunder-shower- to Ariz, of autumn in southwestern Utah, causing minor flash flooding before moving north today to pelt the Wasatch Front, the National Weather Service said. A flash-floo- d warning was issued for eastern Washington County most of Sunday after heavy rains sent water and debris over State Road 59 about five miles south of Hurricane. The warning was canceled Sunday evening. The debris blocked one lane of traffic on the road from Hurricane of by Transportation crew, the Washington County sheriff's office said. Additional flooding occurred in Hurricane and in the Kolob area near Zion National Park. Meteorologist William Alder said the storm, which moved about 20 miles per hour, dropped 0.73 inch of rain in 30 minutes in Hurricane, 0.80 in 40 minutes in LaVerkin. 0.50 in 20 minutes in Orderville and 0.30 in Virgin in 10 minutes. The storm reached Salt Lake City Sunday night. Tax initiative support waning -- SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Utahns' support of the ballot initiative to remove the sales tax from food continues to slip, with more voters now opposing repeal than favoring it. a new poll indicates. A survey conducted by Dan Jones & Associates two weeks ago showed that if the November election were held today, 54 percent would vote against the initiative and s percent would approve it, with 4 percent undecided. In April. Jones found just the opposite. Sixty-eigpercent favored the measure, with 26 percent opposed. In June, the pollster found respondents evenly divided at 48 percent for and atainst. Merrill Cook, chairman of the Independent Party of Utah and chief advocate for removing the tax, said he's not surprised by the ht latest poll. "We've been out talking to people and found they are scared, scared what will happen if the tax is removed. Our job over the next several weeks is to unscare them, and we do that by talking surplus, surplus, surplus," he said. Cook maintains that removing the tax won't cost local and state governments as much as Gov. Norm Bangerter and other opponents say. And Cook argues that the cost can be absorbed through state surplus revenues and "cutting fat from state and local pro- grams."' Bangerter about a $50 says there will be million surplus for the year that ended June 30. In addi- rainy-da- y tion, there is a fund left over from past years' surpluses. 3 a code 3 billion characters long DNA northern portion of the county. "We have outages in American Fork, Highlands and Lehi. We are not sure where or why the outages are occurring," she said. About 60 homes were affected by the outaged which lasted about an hour, she said. In Springville, Superintendent Cal Baxter reported outages, but was uncertain of how long. Baxter said the outage was and was caused by a failure at the Strawberry Power Plant. "It was off long enough to cause the electrical clocks to go off," he said. A spokesman for the plant said the outage was a weather related failure, and that power was only disrupted momentarily. "As far as we know it tripped the breakers, and it came back on immediately," said Monte Taylor. "Evidently lightning hit the line and popped the breaker." A In the past few weeks, we have introduced the concepts that our genetic material is made of long of DNA. This chemical threads DNA, in turn, is composed of a long series of four chemical letters (A, C, G, T) whose precise the sequence forms a code code. genetic This code, expressed in humans as a sequence some three billion letters long, spells out all the geneticbiological information that makes up our bodies, minds, and personalities. The entire set of genetic material in each of our cells is called our "genome." If spelled out as letters the size of newsprint, the genome would make a series of letters about 28 miles long. Deciphering it is clearly a Herculean task. A big problem, we have seen, is that a large proportion of our genome appears to be pure junk. Some data suggest the "junk 7 DNA" makes up percent of the genome; other estimates are lower, i.e., that may be "only 85 percent" of it is junk! That exact figure hardly matters, at least within those limits. The more critical decision, given our present commitment to work out the exact sequence of the three billion bases, is how ' to how to break it approach it down into manageable chunks. And who is to make these decisions? The first large fundingcoordinating agency to get into the business was the U.S. Department 95-9- of Energy. Their rationale for involvement is a bit short of obvious. But since they control nuclear power, and nuclear energy has the ability to mutate (change, rearrange, deactivate, etc.) genetic material, they felt they ought to learn the human code sequence so as to better monitor possible damage being done by activities under their jurisdiction. But federal agencies are highly territorial. And the National Institutes of Health felt the DOE was treading on their turf. NIH finally worked out compromises that are claimed at times to make the two agencies "equal" in the "Human Genome Project," but NIH is clearly the more equal of the two. Further, NIH engineered the placement of one specific scientist to head the project a sort of "Supreme Allied Commander." Their chosen general is no less a personage than James D. Watson, who was awarded one of the three Nobel Prizes for working out the general chemical structure of DNA in the first place way back in 1953. No laboratory on earth has sufficient resources, human and otherwise, to decipher the entire at least not in human sequence any reasonable time. Nor is it merely a US. project. Every advanced country wants "in" on the effort. None of the other countries could possibly go it alone; the labs in the U.S. would quickly outstrip them. For there are to be two major centers that Videodisc provides will store and coordinate the sequence data as fast as it is produced. Both of these are in the United States. Any lab not connected into the central facilities and the associated network will find itself hopelessly outdistanced in a big hurry. Not only would it be forced to duplicate expensive and laborious work already finished by others, but it would miss out on numerous new insights, details, and techniques that will drastically simplify and speed the work. And since considerable economic benefit is likely to accrue to the winners' in this race, there is no real alternative but to become part of the Watson team. Japan, as seems its wont these days, is apparently angling for maximum national benefit at minimum price. Details are not available, but Watson is known to have served on the Japanese a pretty blunt missive suggesting that science should be and WILL be, when a matter of under his direction good-fait- h cooperation rather than competition, and that Japan may well find herself an involuntary outsider if a better spirit is not quickly evidenced. I am not aware that this issue is yet resolved. France, Britain, and Italy, among others, want 'in', too, of course. But whereas the U.S.' prevailing approach is to sequence the entire genome, junk and all, the smaller countries still-fram- j III IMIIJjQl,ilMP Duane Jeffrey SCIENCE SOCIETY & would prefer to work on only those small sections of the genome bit by bit that comprise specific known genes. Of particular interest are those genes that cause specific diseases such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia, albinism, or cancers. But it was also recognized that,, while knowing the human genome would be useful, it wculd be infinitely more so if we also knew the sequences of other representative organisms. It is a fundamental principle of biology and that living things biochemistry share common ancestry and hence comparable genetic systems. Comparing the sequences of representative organisms with our own will thus permit identification of sequences critical to being a human being rather than a fruitfly or a nematode. So several other organisms, all n genetically, have been chosen. They too become part of the pot of fascinating research goodies that must be doled out to various laboratories for study. well-know- art technology e Discs have many advantages over videotape By KAYLENE NELSEN Herald Senior Reporter It looks like a P record with hole in the middle. The a rainbow colors that flash off the silvery surface assure one that this is no ordinary record. Indeed, it is not a record at all. It's a videodisc and it's something teachers in Provo School District are using more and more to supplement their teaching. Karl Barksdale, secondary curriculum specialist for Provo School District, becomes animated when he talks about using the discs in the classroom. He is excited about the latest art project the district has been involved in. Provo has worked with Alpine District in the creation of a disc for use in an classes. North Sanpete and Cache districts have also been a part of the project. Dr. Larrie E. Gale, associate professor of communication at Brigham Young University, worked to produce the disc that includes from the BYU art col33-L- still-fram- lection, clips of Ririe-Woodbur- y Dance Company to illustrate the elements of dance, a lesson on mixing colors, lessons on photography and music. the disc is popped into a disc player and students then watch the scenes on a television set. Disc has numerous advantages Patiefit critical after suicide try patient at the Utah State Hosptial reportedly tried to hang himself in his room Sundav night. The patient was in the hospital's youth dorm. He reportedly wasn't feeling well and went to his room to lie down. At about 7:30 p.m. an employee made a periodic check and found the patient had hung himself from a closet door with a bedsheet, in a suicide attempt, said hospital spokeswoman Janina Chilton. The patient was listed in critical condition at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. A motorcycle stolen THEFT late Friday from a Sance club in Provo was recovered a short time later when a suspect crashed the motorcycle and fled the scene. The owner of the $300 Kawasaki motorcycle left it parked with the keys in the ignition in front of The Palace, 501 N. 900 East, said Lt. Keith Teuscher of the Provo Police Department. According to witnesses, the suspect crashed in the area of 350 N. 900 East and ran from the scene, said Teuscher. ACCIDENT Three juveniles from Sandy were involved in a one-caccident early Saturday when the driver attempted to avoid a deer. The accident occurred westbound on State Road 6 in Eureka Canvon. Gregory T. Harrawood. 16, was driving a 1990 Nissan pickup about 4:45 a.m. when he swerved to miss a deer. He went off the side of the road, overcorrected and crashed, said Lt. Jim Utley of the Utah Highway Patrol. Harrawood and his two passengers, Ryan D. Stark, 15 and Jody D. Sturdy, 17, were treated for minor injuries, said Utley. A - ar si" Manful .4- -r - ... . n imi J nu Herald PhotosDavid Dahl Karl Barksdale shows the videodisc Provo schools are using to show over videotape, Barksdale ex- plained. More information can be put on the disc. There are more options available and more control over the material. A disc can hold up to 108,000 still frames or about one hour of running video. It can also have two sound tracks making it possible to have English and Spanish versions on the same disc or speaking on one grade level on one track and another grade level on another track. The disc can be controlled with the use of a computer or a bar code wand. The wand, like those in stores that read prices, interprets a bar code and within three seconds has the disc at the ed designated place. When using videotape, a teacher ends up spending time fast forwarding or rewinding, trying to find the exact spot needed. The bar code wand can be used from anywhere in the classroom. By using the disc, teachers can take a small segment of what would be video tape and slow it down so, for instance, students can watch the webbed feet of the lizard as it skips across a pond. On regular film, the segment may take only a few seconds. Barksdale said more teachers are designing lessons around the use of the discs. For example, a science teacher is able to incorporate bits and pieces of a film about art to students. still-fram- e the rain forest into several science lessons by easily moving to the needed information on the disc. He said the disc has the potential to revolutionize teaching foreign languages. Children learn to speak a language by mimicking it, not reading it. Foreign languages can be taught in the' schools the same way, with the use of the disc, he said. "When used right, it's absolutely unbelieveable how fast these kids learn." A $65,000 grant will be used to d produce a foreign language disc that will give students an introduction to four languages so they can decide which language they would like to study further.two-side- - Schools take different spending roads By KAYLENE NELSEN Herald Senior Reporter Faculty and staff members at Provo and Timpview High Schools have been deciding how to spend the $50,000 each school received for technology. Each has a different approach and different plans. Provo High School will work on networking the computers they have while expanding the curriculum computer lab to 30. Timpview will have monitors and VCRs in each classroom and network those together. Gary Ashton, the computer expert at Provo High school, said nearly half the money allotted there will be used to purchase 17 work stations, eight of which will go into the computer lab. The rest will go to teachers and administration. In networking, all the computers are tied together and can access the same information from a central file server. Each can also operate as a personal computer from discs inserted at the machine. Ashton said this allows each person with a computer on the network to use "the latest and greatest software available." The school started getting set up last year with a $60,000 grant from the state. The district has designated $50,000 for each high school to use. "It's been heaven sent for us." Ashton said. After completing networking of existing computers and adding 17, Provo High officials will purchase printers and additional instructional devices such as the liquid crystal display. This box is placed on an overhead projector and anything in the computer the teacher has designated can be transferred to the display and then is projected onto a screen or wall. Next year, two-thirof the teachers will have computers in their rooms and will be linked together in the network. Within four years the school will be fully networked. Ashton said he thinks it is important to get the computer into the hands of the teachers. "Give the teacher the computer and the technology comes alive for the entire class." He said three criteria are used to determine the viability of a piece of technology: teacher control, flexability and accessibility. Many things such as film strips and 16 mm film have not been able to meet these three criteria and have disappeared from the classroom. The computer, however, will not be one of these things if it is used properly, he said. That means and training will be essential. Dave Creer, drafting teacher at Timpview who has chaired a school techology committee, said each classroom will have access to a monitor and VCR. These will all be networked together and can be accessed in the media center for schoolwide broadcasts. Depending on the best deals available and how much the Friends of Timpview organization will spend about half the $50,000 on this networking project. Another $17,000 will be used to network the busi- donates, the school ness department's 51 keyboards and set up a central file server. For the next three years the school will be assessing needs around the school and will make decisions on where to go. One such decision may be to network the computers in the vocational building. A curriculum lab is the most likely option for the second year, he said. "Rather than getting all this technology spread out, we'd like to have one lab." During the third year, the school at addressing individual disciplines and their needs. "We're trying to keep our purhcases global so they'll help the whole school," Creer said. Teachers are generally excited about moving into computers, he said although "we're proceeding cautiously." The decision for the monitors and VCRs was made after most of the teachers said that would be the best thing for their classrooms. Creer said an committee has been studying the technology issues and makes recommendations to the administration on what to do. will look eight-memb- er |