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Show !TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2000 STATE MORMON ACTRESS SUES UNIVERSITY OVER PROFANITY: A Mormon who wants to be an actress is suing the University of Utah, claiming she was drummed out of the drama program for refusing to deliver lines containing ; .,,..profanity. Christina Axson-fiynn, 20, says faculty members violated her right to religious freedom. Her lawsuit, 'filed Thursday, seeks unspecified damages. Ms. Axson-Flynn was asked during her audition whether she would be uncomfortable in any performing situations. She said she would feel uncomfortable "taking the Lord's name in vain" and · saying the F-word.• After she was accepted by the program. Ms. Axson-Flynn asked if she could substitute words in a scene that contained language she found inappropriate. According to the lawsuit, a faculty member told her to "get over" her inhibition and said she could use profanity and "still be a good Mormon." Ms. Axson-Flynn alleges she was eventually told to leave the program. University spokesman Fred Esplin said the theater department disputes the allegations. FEDS TO RETURN VAST· CHUNK OF LAND TO UTAH TRIBE: The Clinton administration is reportedly preparing to return 80,000 acres of federal land to the Northern Ute tribe in a deal also intended to help clean up tons of mining waste near the Colorado River and two national parks. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said Energy Secretary Bill Richardson was expected to detail the plan Monday during visits to Moab and Ute tribal headquarters at Fort Duchesne. "We consider this part of the ClintonGore environmental legacy,· Richardson said in today's New York Times. Just this week, Clinton signed declarations for two new national monuments in Arizona and another in California. In 1996, he created the 1.7 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. According to reports this week in The Salt Lake Tribune and the Times, the land swap will involve the 88,890-acre Naval · Oil Shale Reserve No. 2, about 150 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. TESTS OF SPACE PLANE DELAYED BY FUEL TANK TROUBLE: A summer test flight of the $1 .2 biMion X-33 space plane will be delayed because fuel tanks have defects and may be abandoned, the plane's manufacturer said. Jerry Rising, President of VentureStar LLC, the joint venture building the X-33, said July's scheduled flight from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to Utah's Dugway Proving Ground is "definitely going to be delayed." How long is unknown. NASA and Lockheed Martin Corp. paid more than $60 million to Utah's Alliant Techsystems for the graphite-epoxy composite tanks, which may be replaced by aluminum alternatives. Rising said a decision on whether to repair or replace the tanks depends on the outcome of an investigation by Lockheed Martin and NASA into last fall 's failure of one of the tanks during testing the second such defect in a year. PAGE 9 UNIVERSITY JOURNAL FOCUS: THE WEEKTHATWAS NATION ACTIVISTS, VOLUNTEERS CARRY ON DREAM OF MARTIN LUTHER KING: Americans celebrated the legacy of the late civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in parades, rallies and volunteer activities on Martin Luther Monday, the federal King Jr. observance of his birthday. In Atlanta, Vice President Al Gore spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church. where King served as pastor and organized civil rights campaigns. South African President Thabo Mbeki, Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes and Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell planed to lead a march honoring King. "The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members," King's widow Coretta Scott King said at the summit. To serve, she said, quoting her husband, all one needs is "a heart of grace and a soul generated by love.· The King holiday, which President Ronald Reagan signed into law in 1983, has become known as a. day of community service. The King family and President Bill Clinton have urged people to participate in service projects as the best way to continue the work of King, who won the 1964 Nobel Prize for Peace. THOUSANDS MARCH AGAINST CONFEDERATE FLAG IN SOUTH CAROLINA: As the nation honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, thousands of people gathered in Columbia to demand that lawmakers remove the Confederate battle flag from atop South Carolina's Statehouse. As many as 20,000 protesters were expected to converge in Columbia's downtown area for the event, organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League and more than 75 other civil rights groups, according to NAACP spokeswoman Sheila Douglas. King's eldest son, Martin Luther King Ill, opened the day at a related prayer breakfast at the University of South Carolina. "This is the kind of thing we need to be doing on Martin Luther King's birthday,· King said. "The flag is a terrible symbol that brings a lot of negative energy. And while we believe the flag has an . appropriate place, it just does not belong on top of the Capitol because it is not a sign of unification." King will not attend the rally itself because of prior engagements, organizers said. JPL GOES BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD FOR MARS MISSIONS: The smart people who run NASA's Mars exploration program are still, well, smarting after they went O for the '98 season. But there isn't much time for self-pity in their business. In little more than a year, the third and fourth rocks from the sun will once again be in the proper alignment for an Earth to Mars chip-shot. So, instead of hand wringing, the Jet Propulsion Lab braintrust is busy coming up with a Plan B (as in better). Forget about Cheaper and Faster for now. Plan A (as in Ashcan), you may recall, called for NASA to launch the Mars Surveyor 2001 Orbiter on March 30, '01 , and then, 11 days later, light a candle under its sister ship, the "Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander.· Take it from me (and this is not rocket science): The form.e r will happen. The latter: well, if there's any question in your mind, may I interest you in the deed to some layered terrain in Mars-arctica? WORLD U.S. SOLDIER CHARGED WITH KILLING KOSOVO GIRL: A U.S. soldier accused of indecent acts with a child and killing an 11-year-old ethnic Albanian girl in Kosovo has been transferred to a military confinement facility in Germany. The top U.S. military official in Kosovo sent his condolences to the girl's family on Monday, one day after charges were brought against Staff Sgt. Frank J. Rong hi. Ronghi, 35, is a weapons squad leader assigned to A Company, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was serving with KFOR, the 50,000 member international peacekeeping ,force sent into Kosovo - a province of Serbia - following the NATO bombing campaign last year that forced Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to halt his bloody crackdown against Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority. GUATEMALA VOLCANO INJURES DOZENS, FORCES EVACUATION OF THOUSANDS: Emergency workers on Sunday were evacuating residents from villages in the path of lava spewing from an erupting volcano near Guatemala's capital city. The volcano, known as Pacaya, is located close to the Aurora airport near the town of San Vicente, about 35 kilometers (21 .7 miles) from Guatemala City. Pacaya erupted Sunday, sending lava, fire and ash thousands of feet into the air, and forcing the evacuation of abou~2.000 nearby residents, according to freelance journalist Martin Asturias. Asturias said more than 50 people who were dose to the volcano when it erupted had been burned or otherwise injured. "Those people were evacuated immediately and were treated by firemen and emergency services,· Asturias said. ·we are evacuating people in local villages in case they get cut off," Adrian Rivera, a firefighter said. PUTIN ASKS FOR 'UNDERSTANDING' OVER CHECHEN WAR: Acting Russian President Vl.adimir Putin on Monday appealed to the West to understand his country's position over the war in Chechnya. Meanwhile, Russian forces launched heavy air strikes in what commanders said was a "decisive phase· in the battle to conquer the Chechen capital, Grozny. Putin, whose tough stance ~m Chechnya has made him Russia's most popular politician, took a softer line as he hosted a delegation from the Council of Europe, a 41-nation human rights organization that Russia joined in 1996. It was Putin's first meeting with Western leaders since he became acting president when Boris Yeltsin stepped down. SPORTS THE ROAD TO THE SUPER BOWL MOVES ON: Saturday's and Sunday's NFL playoff games brought four teams closer to the "big game" as the Jacksonville Jaguars pummeled the Miami Dolphins 62-7, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers edged the Washington Redskins 14-13, the St. Louis Rams ran over the Minnesota Vikings 49-37 and the Indianapolis Colts fell to the Tennessee Titans 16-19. The Jaguars will face the Titans in the AFC championship game, while the Rams and Bucs will face off for the NFC championship this Sunday. r:~ -- DOLPHINS' JOHNSON RETIRES; WANNSTEDT TAKES OVER: Jimmy Johnson's four-year tenure as coach of the ,, Miami Dolphins is over. Johnson resigned as ~ coach of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Jimmy one day after the worst Johnson loss in franchise history, and was replaced by Dave Wannstedt. Johnson will remain with the team in a limited role, helping with personnel decisions. Wannstedt, Miami's assistant head coach and former head coach of the Chicago Bears, signed a 3-year contract, team owner Wayne Huizenga said at a news conference. "This time it's final and forever,· Johnson said. "I really feel that this transition will be very smooth.· -- j.. LEISURE OPRAH GOES FOR 'A' AT NORTHWESTERN: Talk show host Oprah Winfrey plans to teach another semester at Northwestern University's graduate business school. She made her teaching debut last fall, with the class "Dynamics of Leadership" at the J.L. Kellogg School of . Management. Her student reviews were among the strongest of any professor, according to Assistant Dean Rich Honack. V\Jinfrey tells The Daily Northwestern that she wants to improve. · 1gave myself a B and I'm coming back to get an A because I now know how to get it," the newspaper quotes her as saying. MARGULIES, MARTIN TO LEAVE 'ER': ER is losing two staff members at the end of the season - Julianna Margulies and Kellie Martin. M argulies' character, nurse Carol Hathaway, gave birth to twins father~ by George Clooney's character, Dr. Doug Ross, this season. The characters split when Clooney left the show in February. Clooney says he doubts he'll return for one more .episode to help with Margulies' departure from the NBC drama. ·1don't know that it's n~cessarily smart for me to t:ome back for one scene and scoop Julicfnna up and walk out," Clooney says. . . Martin, who plays medical student Lucy Knight, announced her decision to leave on Thursday. "With all of the changes in the show and the direction of Lucy's character, it seems like a good time to move on and take advantage of other opportunities,· she says. ' I• |
