OCR Text |
Show Monday, Oct. 27, 2010 Page 2 World&NatiOn Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Clarify Correct The policy of The Utah Statesman is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find unfair, please contact the editor at 797-1762 or TSC 105. Activists: Mormon beliefs factor into LGBT struggle, church not safe place SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Ben Jarvis has heard a lot of coming out stories. For the past 15 years, the southern California-based urban planner has been answering a hotline number Mormons struggling with their Feds approve biggest for sexual identity. Jarvis, a volunteer for solar project in Calif. Affirmation, a support group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender WASHINGTON (AP) Mormons, estimates he's talked to as — The Obama administration has many as 3,000 people. approved a thousand-megawatt Many of them are "deathly afraid," solar project on federal land in their secret will be discovered by southern California, the largest friends, family, or members of their solar project ever planned on U.S. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day public lands. Saints congregations, he said. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar In a faith where the traditional family hailed the $6 billion Blythe Solar is deeply woven into theology and where Power Project, to be built in the there is seemingly no line between reliMojave Desert near Blythe, Calif, gion and culture, the potential losses for as the start of a boom in solar LGBT Mormons who come out can be power on federal lands. devastating, Jarvis and others say. "Today is a day that makes me "There are so many great things excited about the nation's future," about Mormon culture and the LDS Salazar said Monday at a news church, but it is not a safe place for gay conference. "This project shows and lesbian people," said Jarvis, 42, in a real way how harnessing our own renewable resources can create a seventh-generation Mormon who came out in 1993 and has since left the good jobs here at home." church. Some gay rights activists say the timing and content of an Oct. 3 sermon by Elder Boyd K. Packer, the second-highest ranking church leader, that denounced SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Billionaire financier George Soros homosexual attraction as unnatural and immoral only exacerbated the troubled has thrown his weight behind relationship. Packer suggested gays California's marijuana legalization measure with a $1 million donation could change their orientation with enough faith. a week before the vote. The contribution reported Tuesday by The Sacramento Bee is the single biggest donation from an individual other than Proposition 19's main sponsor, Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee. Soros, a high-profile liberal and philanthropist, has long backed drug law reform. He was one of the top financial backers of California's first-in-the-nation measure that legalized medical marijuana in the state in 1996. Nat'/Briefs Financier gives $1M to Calif pot legalization His remarks came in the wake of the national furor over a Rutgers University freshman jumping to his death off New York's George Washington Bridge after his roommate secretly filmed him during a "sexual encounter' in his dorm room and posted it live on the Internet. The student was not Mormon, but Utah's gay rights activists, some with roots in Mormonism, were quick to draw a connection to their own situation. They say the painful isolation that some LGBT individuals experience can lead to suicide. Anecdotes about the suicides of gay Mormons from Affirmation's website, posts on the PrideinUtah blog and other sites seem to support the contention. "It's an enormous problem, especially in Utah,"said Eric Ethington, who runs the PrideinUtah blog. Mormon church officials take issue with the characterizations made by gay rights activists. "It is disappointing when some try to use an emotional issue such as suicide to misrepresent the role of the church in the lives of its members," said Mormon church spokesperson Kim Farah, in response to Ethington. "The causes of suicide are many and complex and touch many levels of society. No one understands what ultimately leads someone to take this action but all can agree that even one loss of life is a tragedy." Ethington led some 4,500 black-clad activists in a silent protest of Packer's GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS lay on the sidewalk near The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' temple in Salt Lake City on Oct. 7. A sermon by a high-ranking church official on Oct. 3 denouncing homosexual attraction as unnatural and immoral exacerbated the troubled relationship with many LGTB Mormons. AP photo sermon outside the church's downtown Salt Lake City headquarters. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay civil rights organization, lobbied the church for a retraction of what it called inaccurate and hurtful remarks in a petition signed by 150,000 of its members and supporters. Some critics said Packer's words were dangerous in light of at least four known September suicides by young men across the country, including the New York case, following reported incidents of anti-gay bullying. In a rare response, church leaders called the deaths tragic and said the faith joins others "in unreserved condemnation of acts of cruelty, or attempts to belittle or mock any group or individual that is different." Speaking on behalf of church leaders, spokesman Michael Otterson also said "each Latter-day Saint family and individual should carefully reconsider whether their attitudes and actions toward others properly reflect Jesus Christ's second great commandment — to love one another." Indonesia tsunami kills 113, many missing `Plantations' in state's name may be dropped PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — This state's official name — The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations — is more than just a mouthful. To many, it evokes stinging reminders of Rhode Island's prime role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Voters next Tuesday will decide whether to change the name by dropping the words "and Providence Plantations." The issue has been debated for years, but lawmakers last year authorized a ballot question for the first time following an impassioned debate over race relations, ancestry and history. Supporters of the referendum see the ballot question as a chance to erase the state's links to slavery and remove a word they associate with human bondage. LateNiteHunior Top 10 Things Never Before Said by a NASCAR Driver — Sept. 13, 2006 10. Kasey Kahne: "Anyone know how to drive a stick?" 9. Jeff Gordon: "Does this gas taste funny to you?" 8. Jeff Burton: "I don't care much for country music or beer." 7. Mark Martin: "Switch the 'r' and 'c' in 'racing' and you get 'caring.'" 6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Wow, Letterman looks so young in person." 5. Denny Hamlin: "You're looking at a guy who can drive 500 miles without taking a leak." 4. Kyle Busch: "A truly great driver doesn't mind asking for directions, am I right, ladies?" 3. Kevin Harvick: "It would be nice if the guys in the pits occasionally surprised me with a piece of carrot cake or something." 2. Jimmie Johnson: "The Nextel Cup is great, but what I'm really excited for is Late Show Ventriloquist Week." 1. Matt Kenseth: "If you think I'm fast in my car, you should see me in the bedroom." RESIDENTS FLEE THEIR homes Oct. 25 to higher ground after a strong earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia. The powerful quake hit off western Indonesia late Monday, briefly triggering a tsunami warning that sent thousands of panicked residents fleeing to high ground. AP photo PADANG, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers battled rough seas Tuesday to reach remote Indonesian islands pounded by a 10-foot (three-meter) tsunami that swept away homes, killing at least 113 people. Scores more were missing and information was only beginning to trickle in from the sparsely populated surfing destination, so casualties were expected to rise. With few able to get to the islands to help with searches, fisherman were left to find the dead and look for the living. Corpses were strewn about since there were not enough people to dig graves, according to the Mentawai district chief, Edison Salelo Baja. More than 4,000 people expected to spend the night without shelter because tents and other supplies had also not arrived. The fault that ruptured Monday on Sumatra island's coast also caused the 2004 quake and monster Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries. Though hundreds of disaster officials were unable to get to many of the villages on the Mentawai islands — reachable only by a 12-hour boat ride — they were preparing for the worst. "We have 200 body bags on the way, just in case," said Mujiharto, who heads the Health Ministry's crisis center, shortly before announcing a five-fold increase in the death toll. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity due to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia. The country's most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, 800 miles to the east, started to erupt at dusk Tuesday as scientists warned that pressure building beneath its lava dome could trigger one of the most powerful blasts in years. U.S.: Enemies searching Iraqi WikiLeaks papers BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. enemies already are combing through data released last week in a trove of Iraq war documents for ways to harm the American military, the Pentagon's No. 2 official said Tuesday. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn called the documents "stolen material" and said they give adversaries key insight on how the U.S. military operates. He did not say which groups, or how the Pentagon knew they were researching the documents. "There are groups out there that have said they are indeed mining this data to turn around and use against us," Lynn told a small group of reporters during a brief visit to Baghdad. "We think this is problematic." The Pentagon furiously opposed the documents' release Saturday by the whistle-blower WikiLeaks web- site. Lynn's remarks came a day after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told CNN that the nearly 400,000 papers did not put troops at risk because the names of any soldiers or Iraqi civilians have been redacted. The U.S. has said that the WikiLeaks release of secret Afghan and Iraq war documents threatens national security. WikiLeaks posted about 77,000 Afghanistan war logs on its site in July, and the Pentagon concluded that no U.S. intelligence sources or practices were cornpromised by the posting. A few weeks later, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was not yet aware of any Afghan people who were killed as the result of the leak, "but I put emphasis on the word 'yet."' Lynn said the leaked information would not change the way the estimated 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq operate. But he said he is mulling ways to keep more documents from leaking in the future, such as having computer systems monitor for irregular data searches. "It does seem like commonsense, and I don't think we're doing enough of it, frankly," Lynn said. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Marine Col. David Lapan said WikiLeaks may have even more classified material than U.S. officials previously believed. He declined to characterize it, but WikiLeaks already has posted half a million secret Iraq and Afghanistan war files since July. The group is also believed to have another 15,000 Afghan war field reports, 260,000 diplomatic cables and U.S. video of casualties in Afghanistan. Animal lovers mourn giant stag killed in Britain LONDON (AP) — It's a photo of animal majesty that has turned into a murder mystery: Who shot the Emperor? Nature lovers on Tuesday were mourning a red stag dubbed the Emperor of Exmoor — a 9-foot giant reported to be the biggest wild animal in the British Isles. He was found dead days after his picture appeared in the national press. The Emperor's size set him apart from the herd, but may also have made him prize prey for hunters willing to pay handsomely for such a majestic trophy. "With a set of antlers such as this deer had, it was basically going to kill him in the end," said Richard Austin, the photographer whose images appeared in newspapers — inevitably accompanied by the word "majestic." "He was his own worst enemy, I suppose," Austin told the BBC. "Growing that big and that huge and that magnificent, he was a definite target." For the 12 years of his life, the Emperor roamed Exmoor in southwest England, a wild swath of heath and woodland that has drawn hunters for 1,000 years. At 300 pounds (135 kilograms), he towered over the other stags around him, and during the autumn mating season he easily kept them at bay as he attracted a harem of female deer. Austin photographed the stag during last year's mating season and again this year, publishing photos that 11 ;10P *), AI.LOIKIV/LI‘illar In i'arl .%Vt'l I a Claltirat SeC*11 4 1- memo ,11.)1 1:.111%->urc)r „„ puts Labour on back foot over economy Eno me• Praep weer./ WR:Mg ti SOW oath* /maid 113■1 ".217="'! rra..3 ZTArd ux1 dtrestnee. barren Meow:on', .41= Varel=V 1ig W ! 7 ex wou41 7ne.a . to 7 yolve art' In 07 '"'" ,,,tr 1, . :7 1' :.7 '' tute d"' " ="" % for : n' :"' :: 7 7 :: e: r ticised 7 ca)ns 5;dic, 711: 47,71.ilth, , re; it 2,7,nf„Zr Gehan. "Alf :evrisom m,.n me „. ..star W hang our already hare the mama Wyn ,,,n, 017 September at itr peoples pre Vaght?" penoe and dertroyrw olo at • pace bibaM he private aertor rant. mabremate or no..” Pao,' gown. mow olma, ■ The • wawarencen1 *ann. t. and wan a A BRITISH NEWSPAPER published a photo of the stag "the Emperor of Exmoor" on Oct. 26. Nature lovers are mourning the death of the red stag, reported to be the biggest wild animal in the British Isles. AP photo |