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Show | A SPURIN THEIR SIDE Jazzfall to San Antonio, 83-69 B-1 MEGA WAL-MART Huge warehouse planned for Utah C-1 | | CHEFS IN CONCERT Performance pieces on a plate D-1 CheS tLake Cri http://www.sltrib.com une Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871 Volume 258 Number 7 © 1999, The Salt LakeTribune 143 South 3 Salt Lake WEDNESDAY,APRIL 21, 1999 THE BIG TURNOFF As Families Grow Remote, Control 01237-2800 City Utah 84111 Slaughter at Colorado School Upto 25 believed killed by two youths roaming with guns Of TV Is Urged BY MARTINRENZHOFER THESALT LAKETRIBUNE Children between ages 2 and 11 watch BY TODD BENSMAN and JASON SICKLES 1,197 minutes of TV a week. Parents spend, on average, 38 minutes a week in meaningful conversation with their chil- ‘THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS dren. Turn off the television? Cold turkey? Goodgrief. LITTLETON, Colo, — Twoheavily armedstudents dressed in black stormedthrough a suburban Denver highschool Tuesday in abloody rampagethatleft as many as 25 students Thursday marks the start of the sixth National TV-Turnoff Week. More than 6 million Americans expectto fight the and teachers dead If the death toll holds. it would be the worst attack ever on an American school. The gunmen woundedat least 20 beast and spend a TV-less week TV-Free America, a national nonprofit nonpartisan organization that encourages reduced TV viewing, sponsorsthe event. “Our primary supportis through educators,” said program director Mimi Noorani. “They feel strongly about the issue. Children watch too much and can't effectively communicate.” In Utah, Clinton Elementary School others, manycritically, and laughed and joked as they fired and threw pipe bombs, students said. Policelater found theattackers’ bodies in the library of Columbine High School TheDenver Post identified the two students are throwinga television off the shooters as Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, juniors at Columbine. They apparentlykilled them school's roof. TV-Free America’s goal is to cut TV watching in half by the year 2005 selves at the end of what Jefferson County Sheriff John Stone described “We're morerealistic than our name as “a suicide mission. implies,” said Noorani. ‘When people turn off the television for a week, the But they left behind scenes of in- comments we hear arethat it is neat to see families out together, talking together, planning activities.” Howdidit all start? Well, how does any addiction begin? Saturday morning cartoons may have started it. They created cravings. “I Love Lucy,” “The Honeymooners. “All in the Family,” “M*A*S*H,” “Cosby Show,” “The Simpsons.” The television is a babysitter. The television rules family activities. “Whenchildren watch too much TV. they become passive learners instead of active,” said Sharla Fillmore, principal at Washington Elementary in Bountiful. “We found that some kids spend a work week — 40 hours — watchingtelevision,” said Jim Mueller, a third- and fourth-grade teacher at Syracuse Ele- mentaryin Davis County. Syracusewill hold an “Expand Your Mind Night,” to kick off TV-Free Week. During the first TV-Free Week, five years ago, Noorani estimates that more than 1 million Americans turned off their TVs. The second year saw 3 million spendtimein activities other than watching television “It grows everyyear,” Noorani said National TV-Turnoff Week is en- dorsed by 31 governors (Gov. Mike Leavitt is not among them) and 60national organizations, including the American Medical Association. “We expect to get attacked,” said Noorani. “We're moresurprised when we get support Photos by George Kochaniec/Denver Rocky Mountain News Students at Columbine High Schoolin Littleton, Colo., were traumatized after two fellow students openedfire. Suspects described as outcasts involved in violent subculture stairwells in the cafe- teria and CLICK HERE the library. FOR MORE DETAILS . the Stone said And ww.eltrib.com. shaken students who survived the late-morning attack spoke of the BY MARCFISHER THE credible carnage, with bodies draped one atop another in the school’s gunmen’s savage and casual cruelty. “There was a girl crouched beneath a desk, and the guy came over \SHINGTON POST The shooters who turned ColumbineHigh School into an unspeakable landscape of carnage Tuesday were members and said, ‘Peek-a-boo!’ and shot her coats and spent their entire adolescence deep inside the morosesubculture of Gothic fantasy their fellow students Kirland, 15. Aaron Cohn, a 17-year-old junior, said hewasin the library when the in the neck,” said sophomore Bryon of a small clique of outcasts who always woreblack trench two gunmen — oneof them a youth said Students at the Colorado school said the gunmen, two of whom police say mayhave turned their weapons on themselves after killing as many as 25 of their schoolmates, were who lived three doors down from See STUDENTS, Page A-8 a constanttarget of derision They're basically outcasts, Gothic people,” said Peter Maher,a junior whohadaconfrontationlast July4 with the shooters and several of their fellow membersof the “Trench Coat Mafia, the black-clad teens’ name for their clique. “They're into anarchy. They're white supremacists and they're into Nostradamus stuff and Doomsday.” @ UtahStatistics During the 1997-98 school year, there were 581 instances in which Utah students were caught bringing Several students saidthe shooters — identified by a Denvertelevision station as Columbinejuniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold — weredeeplyinto death, talking, reading weapons to school, according and dreaming about it Black trench coats are a consistent themein the Gothic to statistics compiled by the UtahStateOffice of Education, Morethan70percent of subculturethat has attracted many teen-agersto the poetry, music and costumes of a scene that ranges from benign those cases occurred in mid- fantasyto violent reality. Inspired by fantasy games such as dle andjunior high schools. The previous year, there were 507 weapons found The state defines a weapon as ny instrument — not just gun —that can inflict harm onanotherperson, Dungeons and Dragons, Gothic has becomea fascination of TV-Free America (www.TVFA.org) recommends someyear-round ways to See SHOOTERS, Page A-8 break free of TV: @ Movethe television set(s) to a less prominentlocation in the household W Removethe TV set from your For parents outside andstudentsin, a terrifying wait child's bedroom @ Keep the TV off during dinner. Until Tuesday, school violence was declining Shooting revives nightmarefor other schools Meals areagreat timefor conversation @Tryto restrict viewingto a half-hour a day or one hour every other evening Replace “You can atch TV" with “Let's turnoff the so we can @ Avoid using TVas a babysitter. In. volve children in householdactivities and chores. @ Designatecertain days of the week as TV-free days. Don't use TVas a reward or punish ment @ Listen to your music or theradio in stead of using TV background noise. Cancel your cable subscription. Use the monthly savings to buy a gameor good book Geologists Muzzled OnSalt Palace Fault Scientists faced pressure frompoliticians to keep quiet on assessmentof quake risk @ Don't fret if children claim “I'm bored!" For kids, boredom oftenleads to @ Consider living without television Onceyou're TV-free you'll wonder how you ever had time to watch so much. Political pressure from Salt Lake Count Mike Leavitt's top aide muzzled government geolo. gists from publicly discussing whether an active earthquakefault runs beneath the Salt Palace and a planned $47.5 million expansion of the convention center. tate Geologist LeeAllison and Salt Lake County plogist DarleneBatatian have been conspicuously silent ontheissuefor thepast three monthsas private consultants developed conflicting reports ontheis sue. A Salt Lake Tribune investigation found. Allison andhis agency were told to “back off" on Ann Landers Asimov/Bridge 3 €9 o £4 D4 Comics Editorials At Movies Obituaries Puzzles De BS Ld TV Programe 7 Sports Star Gazer a ss WEATHER: Cooler; somerain. Details; C-6 ll 34045 mi 4 | o Editor's Note This is thefourth installment of Kemal Mehinovic's trek to find his family after 2! years in a Serbprison. In thethird chapter, Kemal, a Bosnian Mus: lim, began his escapefromthe besieg crawling into a dangerous tunnel beneath the airport BY BRENT ISRAELSEN and KARL CATES 1999, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE BY LEESIEGEL © 1999, THE SALT LAKETRIBUNE Creativity, One Last Look Back as Kemal Escapes Sarajevo theissue after county Commissioner Brent Overson complained to Ted Stewart, Leavitt's chief of staff, that Allison's early comments ontheissue wereun: professional. Stewart, a candidate for a federal judgeship, and Overson insisted Tuesday that they did not intend tosilence Allison and his agency, the Utah Geological Survey (UGS @ Batatian wastold to stay out of the Salt Palace matter by county Planning Director Cal Schneller who said he was relaying instructions from Public Works Director J.D, Johnson, who was out of town Tuesday, Overson said Batatian and Allison have no See GEOLOGISTS, Page A-4 } Within 15 minutes, Kemal emerges from the tun. nel, gasping for fresh air Atongue-in-cheek sign outside greets him: Paris: 3,765 km. Paris will have to wait, he muses, as he scurries up a trench that runs parallel to Sarajevo International Airport's main runway Heclimbs to groundlevel and walks quickly south ward, protected on each side by rows of overturned vehicles, freight containers and concrete blocks in tendedto stopsniper fire from Serb positions onboth sides of this narrowstripof land Here, on the outskirts of Sarajevo, the Bosnian government maintains only a tenuous hold, control ling a small access that links thecity withother parts of government-controlledlandin Bosnia’s interior It is Oct, 12, 1994, six days since Kemal was re leasedin Sarajevo by his Serbian captors, who had held himprisoner in concentration and labor camps in northeastern Bosnia for 24% years Tonight, the 38-year-old Kemal is bound for Gra dacac, a town about 90 miles north of Sarajevo, to find his mother and his twin sister. His ultimate goal however, is to reunited withhis wife and children whomhebelieves are in thevillage of Bazik just 15 miles north of Gradacac but across a battleground held by the Serbs. First, he must get over Mount Igman, whichrises { iu CAMA 2,000 feet above Sarajevo. Kemal quickenshis pace Thoughnight is failing he fears he may bepick off at any time by Serb snipers. In 10 minutes, heis at the base of Igman, heavily defendedby the Bosnian army but with Serb gunners in thehills a mile or two to the left Feeling the evening's chill, Kemalputs on the jack et he has been carrying sinceheleft Sarajevoearlier in the The jacket, his pants, a shirt, sweater, a sturdy pair of shoes he got from the Red Cross, a See SARAJEVO, Page A-4 ; \ |