The Republic from Columbus, Indiana • Page 2

News Wrap-up A2 The Republic, Columbus, Ind Thursday. January 6, 2005 Texas eyes g(f gig) MS MWM 11 fjOODD $7WJ3 Tsunami Roundup floated among the flotsam. The fresh outpouring of generosity appeared at times to be almost like a bidding war and raised questions about whether rich nations were using tragedy to jockey for influence on the world stage and with hardest-hit Indonesia, which has a wealth of natural resources. Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, urged donors not to engage in one-upsmanship. "We have to be careful and not participate in a beauty contest where we are competing to give higher figures, he said.

But U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, the man who riled Washington by complaining that wealthy nations were often "stingy," said Tuesday: "I'd rather see competitive compassion than no are missing. Nineteen of the newly listed victims were in Thailand and the 20th in Sri Lanka, two of the hardest-hit countries, deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said. Eyewitnesses and others on the scene provided the infor- A.V S- JHv mS't ff iV- it v-. m- KM Wire Reports JAKARTA, Indonesia ''Australia promised $764 million the largest government pledge to the tsunami relief effort, a $674 million German aid package on the eve of a crucial donors' conference today.

World leaders were competing to head the donors list as summit participants got firsthand looks at the apocalyptic landscapes carved out by south Asia's tsunami. Secretary of State Colin Powell, a battle-hardened veteran of the Vietnam War, was aghast at the devastation on Indonesia's Sumatra island. "I've never seen anything! like this," he said. India has politely turned down the unprecedented offers of money and military might, but many' Indonesians appeared to be putting pride aside: During Powell's visit, survivors expressed gratitude for American aid. "Thank God he's come.

Thank God," said Mohamed Bachid Madjid, peering from a bridge into the Aceh River, where two bloated corpses State DOC leader named INDIANAPOLIS Mitch Daniels named a prison official from Kentucky to lead Indiana's Department of Correction. J. David Donahue, the deputy commissioner for the Kentucky Department of Corrections, is the first person from outside Indiana whom Daniels has appointed to oversee a state agency. Daniels said Indiana's prison system had the second highest number of critical reports during a review of state government and that the agency has more managers than guards. 27-month sentence Former Indiana Democratic Party chairman Peter Manous arrived at a federal prison in Wisconsin to begin serving his 27-month sentence for defrauding a union pension fund in a $10 million land deal.

Defense attorney Mark Rotert said that Manous surrendered at the federal prison in Oxford, Wis. Manous pleaded guilty in April to eight federal charges, including conspiracy, lying to federal investigators and obstruction of justice. Police shooting EAST CHICAGO A police officer responding to a disturbance shot and killed a 44-year-old man whose sister said suffered from schizophrenia. Felix Mojica, of East Chicago, was shot in the back side of his left shoulder and was pronounced dead at St. Catherine Hospital after he was wounded, Lake County Coroner David Pastrick said.

East Chicago police Lt. Frank Smith would not say. whether Mojica had a weapon or tried to reach for the officer's gun. He said he could not release the officer's identity and that the Lake County sheriff's office was investigating the shooting. Drug overdose ANDERSON A 14-year-old Elwood boy who had been MEMORIAL SERVICE Buddhist monks chant prayers during a ceremony to remember the dead Wednesday in Phuket, Thailand.

Christians, Muslims and Buddhists gathered to mourn tsunami victims on Thailand's ravaged resort island of Phuket. Assoaaled Press mation that led the department to presume the 20 Americans had died, Ereli said. "In each of these cases there is a specific reason to believe that the individual was in harm's way at the time of the tsunami," he said. said he took items from the crime scene after killing Nancy Fox on Dec. 8, 1977.

Police are looking for a necklace described as a gold chain with two pearls. Authorities are asking anyone who might have seen the necklace or received a similar necklace as a gift in December 1977 or early 1978 to call the BTK tip line. Confirmation hearing WASHINGTON Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales plans to promise senators today that he would abide by treaties prohibiting torture of prisoners, despite deriding the restraints as outdated relics two years ago. In prepared testimony obtained by The Associated Press, Gonzales tells the Senate Judiciary Committee he will abide by all U.S. treaty obligations if he is confirmed.

Gonzales had a hand in much of the White House's post-Sept. 11 terrorism policies as President Bush's top lawyer. Herfaces criticism from Democrats at today's confirmation hearing, especially concerning a January 2002 memo he wrote arguing that the war on terrorism "renders obsolete" the Geneva Conventions' strict prohibitions against torture. World Bombing kills 20 BAGHDAD, Iraq A suicide attacker blew up an explosives-laden car outside a police academy south of Baghdad, killing 20 people, and another car bomb left five Iraqi policemen dead. Despite the surge of violence aimed at derailing this month's elections, Iraq's interim leader again insisted the ballot would go ahead as planned.

will not allow the terrorists to stop the political process in Iraq," Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said as the death toll from insurgent attacks topped 90 over four days this week. "The elections process is the basis for the deepening of the national unity in Iraq." Wire Reports Need some help? Susan Tener Director of Customer Relations Have a problem with The Republic that you can seem to get solved? Have a sugges- tion and not sure who you should talk to? Susan will get an answer for you. Call her at 379-5644 ore-mail at stener I l( Associated Press SNOWY WAIT A woman peers through a snow-covered bus shelter as she waits for her ride on Chicago's north side Wednesday. The snow moving across the northern part of the state is just the beginning of a larger storm, with the possibility of 10 inches of snow and ice by today, according to forecasters. awesome road plan By Jim Vertuno Associated Press AUSTIN.

Texas In what sounds like another tall tale told by a Texan, the Lone Star State has embarked on an audacious project to build superhighways so big, so complex, that they will make ordinary interstates look like cowpaths. Trans' Behind the Texas Corridor. headlines project, as envisioned by Republican Gov. Rick Perry in 2002, would be a transportation network costing an awesome $175 billion over 50 years, financed mostly if not entirely with private The builders would then charge motorists tolls. But these would not be mere highways.

Proving anew that everything's big in Texas, they would be megahighways corridors up to a quarter-mile across, eonsistine of as manv as six lanes for cars and four for trucks, plus railroad tracks, oil and gas pipelines, water and other utility lines, even broadband transmission cables. Supporters' say the corridors, are needed to handle the expected NAFTA-driven boom in the flow of goods to and from Mexico and to enable freight haulers to bypass heavily populated urban centers on straight-shot highways that cut across the countryside. Negotiations begin The number of corridors and exactly where they would run have yet to be worked out. But the Texas Transportation Commission has opened tiations with the Spain-based consortium Cintra to start the 1 first phase of the project, a $7.5 billion, 800-mile corridor that would stretch from Okla- homa to Mexico and run paral- lei to Interstate J5. As the plan rumbles along in the fast lane, some have called it a Texas-size boondoggle.

Environmentalists are worried about what it will do to the countryside. Ranchers and farmers who stand to lose their land through eminent domain are mobilizing against it. Small towns and big cities alike fear a loss of business when traffic is diverted around them. Even the governor's Own party opposes the plan. The GOP platform drafted at last summer's state convention rejected it because of its effect on property rights.

Perry is undeterred. "I think it will be a model for future infrastructure construction in the world," he predicted. Dramatic departure The tolls would represent a dramatic departure for Texas, which has traditionally relied on federal highway funding from gasoline taxes to build roads. But supporters say the combination of tolls and pri vate money wouia aiiow lexas to pour cpnerete at a rate that would not be possible through gasoline taxes alone. Texas economist Ray Perry- i man said the corridors could generate about $135 billion for the state over the 50-year span I and lure new industry by offer-; ing efficient shipping routes for goods and utilities.

The new rail lines could also lower the risk of chemical spills in urban areas, said Perry spokesman Robert 1 Black. For the Oklahoma-Mexico corridor, Cintra plans to spend $6 billion for about 300 miles of four-lane highway from Dallas to San Antonio and give the state an additional $1.2 billion for improvements along the route. In return, Cintra wants to maintain and operate the toll road for 50 years. Other potential corridors could stretch east-west from; Orange to El Paso, and north- south from Amarillo to Laredo. Officials (promise owners will be fairly compensated for any land seized.

And a special provision put in for the benefit of rural Texas would allow some to negotiate for a share of the revenue generated by traffic on the corn-: dor. On the Set: Texas Department of Transportation: dot.stale.tx.ua keeptexasmoving.com U.S. toll at 36 WASHINGTON The death toll of Americans from the tsunami more than doubled Wednesday, to 36, as the State Department announced 20 other U.S. citizens were presumed dead. Thousands more Cooper, 40, suffered from heart problems, said attorney George Hoffman.

Chief Deputy Coroner John Linehan said there was not enough data on the effects of stun guns to draw firm conclusions, but the two instances in which officers used a stun gun on Cooper were "absolutely" a consideration. Nation Part-time return WASHINGTON Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is back at work part time at the Supreme Court, but there is no word that he is ready to return to the bench. Rehnquist missed about 25 court arguments in November and December while receiving chemotherapy and radiation. A Supreme Court spokeswoman said that the 80-year-old chief justice returned to the building late last month.

Legislation pushed COLLINSVILLE, III. -President jush pressured Congress to pass legislation limiting jury awards for med ADVERTISING Classifieds Line Ads 379-5600 Display Advertising and Preprints 379-5652 ore-mail adverbsetherepublic.com PRODUCTION AND COMMERCIAL PRINTING HNE Printers 3330 W. International Court 342-1056 7 mile south of Columbus at 1-65 and SR 58 Woodside South Industrial Park ical malpractice, saying the legal system favors attorneys who file baseless cases that drive up the cost of health care. "What I'm here to do is say as clearly as I can the United States Congress needs to pass real medical liability reform this year Bush said, "standing on stage in front of dozens of doctors in white lab coats. In his first speechmaking trip of the new year and the first ever of a sitting president to Collinsville, Bush said that large malpractice awards have increased the cost of business so much that doctors have to close their businesses or scale back services.

He said it also drives up the cost of personal health insurance. Jewelry linked to killer WICHITA, Kan. A serial killer known as BTK is believed to have taken a necklace from one of his victims in 1977 and given it to a woman he was dating at the time, authorities said. The killer has sent several letters to police since resurfacing last March after years of silence. Police said that in one recent communication, he in juvenile detention died from an overdose of a drug that authorities said he probably took at school.

Tyler Dellinger.who was placed in the custody of the Madison County juvenile detention facility in September as a runaway, had been on life support since he was brought to St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis, Detective Terry Sollars said. Another teen whose name was not disclosed was treated at an Anderson hospital and released. Sollars said the boys overdosed on methadone, which is used to treat people addicted to heroin, morphine and other drugs, but authorities have not determined how they obtained it. Stun guns eyed INDIANAPOLIS The Marion County coroner is trying to determine if stun guns might have contributed to the death of a man accused of killing a Whiteland minister.

Police and jailers twice used Taser stun guns to shock David J. Cooper, who died last week while in state custody at Wishard Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis. Relatives say NEWSROOM News tips, corrections and comments 379-5665 -AROUND TOWN" Orchids: 375-5280 Anniversaries: 375-5281 Birthdays: 375-5282 Onions: 375-5283 or e-mail editorial therepublic.com POSTMASTER, SEND ADDRESS CHANGE TO: the Ftepubdc, 333 Second Street Columbus. IN 47201 HOW TO REACH Offices located at 333 Second Street, downtown Columbus PUBLISHER Howard Herron. 379-5606 bherronetherepublic.com EDITOR 7 John Harmon 379-5621 jharmon therepublic.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Lynne Klamo 375-2801 lklamotherepublic.com DIRECTOR SALESMARKETING Pamela Wells-Lego 379-5649 i wellslegoStnerepublic.com PRODUCTION GENERAL MANAGER Neil Thompson 342-8025 nthompsonOhneprinters.com Published Dally by Homa News Enterprises, LCt Jeffrey Brown President, Chief Executive Officer NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTIONS 379-5601 OR TOLL FREE 1-800-435-5601 6 a.m.-4 p.m.

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