The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 1

ANNE ARUNDEL Wednesday, September 26, 2001 Baltimore, Maryland 50 cents 'Thank God they died together. Because Colleen would have never left Erin. 9 AM iai rased Or! Lost sisters, best Mends aeiy lairoan i Close family: Colleen Marlatt, 23, (left) and Erin Marlatt, 20, had visited, their father just before the tornado hit. 1 IX I r' (f j'' Victims: Storm ended promising lives, sag family members of two UM students killed Monday. By Lisa Goldberg 8UN STAFF With storms bearing down Monday evening, F.

Patrick Marlatt hustled his daughters out the doors at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute on the University of Maryland, College Park campus, urging them to leave before the torrential rains and 7 1 ASSOCIATED PRESS White House: With Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at his side, President Bush talks to the news media. Bush calls on them to help rout terrorists harbored by regime 'Not into nation-building' Powell says handover of bin Laden might keep aid flowing By David L. Greene BUNNATIONALSTAFF WASHINGTON President Bush urged the citizens of Afghanistan yesterday to turn against the Taliban and help the United States root out the terrorists being harbored by their government. "The mission," the president said, "is to rout terrorists, to find them and bring them to justice. "And one way to do that is to ask for the cooperation of citizens within Afghanistan, who may be tired of having the Taliban in place, or tired of having Osama bin Laden, people from foreign soils in their own land, willing to finance this repressive government." Busji stopped short of calling explicitly for the ouster of the Taliban as a way to punish them for harboring bin Laden, the prime suspect in the attacks in New York and Washington on Sept.

11, and other terrorists. But he made it clear that he regards the Taliban as an enemy in the war on terrorism he is seeking to wage. "We're not into nation-building," Bush said at the White House after meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan. His goal, the president said, is to send a "clear signal" that "if you harbor a terrorist, if you aid a terrorist, if you hide terrorists, you're just as guilty as the terrorists." Bush's comments underscored the delicacy with which the administration must navigate as it seeks to build an international coalition for a war on terrorism and plans what is expected to be an initial strike against Afghanistan. The president has been making it clear for days that he will retaliate against the ferocious winds hit.

Within minutes, Marlatt would be buried under the rubble of the trailers that housed the institute, and his daughters, both students at College Park, would be dead, victims of a swirling wind that grabbed their car as they drove away. Even before the College Park fire chief came to Washington Hospital Center to tell him the news, "I knew," Marlatt, his face scarred, said yesterday. The tornado that raced through Prince George's and Howard counties just before dinnertime Monday, blowing roofs off buildings and felling More inside Tornado: unusually powerful, deadly and possibly most costly. PagellA College Park: institute that teaches disaster response hit with one of its own. Page 12a 1 meant yanking a toppled tree from a front yard or replacing a windshield.

For others along a relatively narrow path from Northern Virginia Inside YomKippur prayers resonate for all Yom Kippur's themes of life and death are on the minds of all people, after the Sept 1 1 attacks. The holiest of Jewish holidays begins at sundown tonight. Page 1b Jordan coming back Basketball star Michael Jordan says he will sign a two-year deal with the Wizards and donate his salary to terror attack victims. Page Id trees with wflids that gusted to more than 200 mph, destroyed two promising lives one dedicated to safeguarding nature, the other to helping others, family and friends said yesterday. Colleen and Erin Marlatt were more than sisters, they were best friends, they said.

As the older sister, 23-year-old Colleen looked to College Park to Laurel the impact of Monday evening's storm was far greater. The Marlatt family of Clarksville was coping with the loss of sisters Colleen, 23, and Erin, 20 killed in a car on the University of Maryland, College Park campus just moments after separating from their father, F. Patrick Marlatt, a Howard County fire chief also injured in the storm. A third death was attributed to the tornado. Clarence Kreitzer, 78, a Bowie volunteer firefighter for 60 years, died while driving home from the station Monday night, possibly of a heart attack, authorities said.

He had spent A year later, intifada still engulfs region. Page 9a Consumer confidence plummets. Page lc Cottle beats out G. Gait for Terps lacrosse job. Page Id Rookies talk about sharing field with Ripken.

Page 1e Julia Child's kitchen bound for Smithsoniaa Page If SimSpot out for her baby sister. As the younger sister, Erin, 20, looked up to Colleen. "My son, Michael, said, 'Thank God they died Because Colleen would have never left Erin," Patricia Marlatt, their mother, her face tear-stained, said yesterday at the family's home in Clarksville. "It's a See Sisters, 12a 7 T-. 1 1 JERRY JACKSON SUN STAFF several hours erecting floodlights used for rescue work in College Park.

A damaged off-campus apartment complex was closed to many of the 700 students who live there, but virtually all university buildings were in good shape. A few miles away, in downtown Laurel, a 19th-century structure that once served as city hall had to be razed after its roof peeled away. In a North Laurel townhouse development where the twister's northerly path ended, 43 homes were damaged. But overall, state and local officials expressed relief that a storm that flung cars like toys and shredded trailers and lamp posts did not exact a larger human toll. "The devastation is just stunning," said Gov.

Parris N. Glendening, shortly after a Maryland State Police helicopter tour of the twister's path. "It is a miracle that more people weren't killed or injured. Our goal is to return people to normal as quickly as possible." Students at College Park and in Prince George's County public schools will resume classes today. The Terrapins will play their home football game against West Virginia on Saturday.

More than a few noted yesterday that the recovery expected to cost well over $10 million and last for weeks seems manageable in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World See Storm, 10a No rescue for Office: Steven Edwards, director of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, makes a call amid the wreckage ofthe institute on the University of Maryland, College Park campus. The devastation is just stunning' Saudis further! isolate Taliban Afghan Embassy in Pakistan is sole link to outside world ILN. boosts aid for refugees By John Murphy SUN FOREIGN STAFF ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Afghanistan yesterday, further isolating the fiercely independent Taliban government that has sheltered the accused terrorist Osama bin Laden. A Saudi government statement said the kingdom was severing diplomatic relations because the ruling Taliban have rebuffed Saudi efforts "to persuade them to stop harboring criminals and terrorists, and training them and inciting them." Bin Laden, who was born in Saudi Arabia, was stripped of Saudi citizenship in 1994. Since 1996, bin Laden has lived in Afghanistan as a "guest" of the Taliban government, which has refused demands to hand him over to the United States.

The United Arab Emirates broke diplomatic relations with the Taliban. over the weekend, and Pakistan withdrew its diplomatic staff from Kabul, the Afghan capital. That has left the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, as the Taliban's only link to the outside world. Pakistan said It had no plans to cut ties with the Taliban. "As the only country that has contacts with the government of Afghanistan, maybe we can serve a role for communication between the world community and the government of Afghanistan," said Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar.

Bin Laden's associates meanwhile continued a war of invective, calling on Muslims to wage a holy war against Americans and Jews ifthe, See Diplomacy, 8a More inside Terror attacks: Much of planning was done overseas, U.S. attorney general says. Page 4a Dan Eodiicks: Local firefighters lose newfound N.Y, friends. PagelB District: With airport closed, tourism down, Washington struggles to feel normal. Page 6a On the Net: For updates, visit The Sun 's Web site i atwww.sunspot.net Taliban and other governments for harboring or supporting terrorists such as bin Laden.

Increasingly, however, he and his top advisers want to avoid inflaming any potential Muslim allies of the United States in the Persian Gulf region by seeming to push for the overthrow of a Muslim government. As Bush sought to stoke anti-Taliban fervor in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell seemed to send a softer message. If the Afghan government hands over bin Laden and helps tear apart his Al Qaeda network See Bush, 4a Boulevard. The proprietor of the 98 Cent Plus store, Masood Ha-roon, 37, is an Afghan immigrant who has lived in the United States for 14 years.

He resents the Taliban, the Islamic extremists who have taken over his homeland and are believed to be shielding bin Laden, the exiled Saudi terrorist accused of orchestrating the attacks Sept. 11 on New York and Washington that left nearly 7,000 dead or missing. Haroon, like many others here, is quick to point out that bin Laden is an Arab not an Afghan and that much of the Taliban leadership received its religious and political training at Islamic schools in Pakistan. -Neither the Taliban nor bin Laden has the support of most Afghans, he says. Haroon wants the United States to take decisive action to neutralize bin Laden, but h'swor- See Fremont, 7a In 'Little love of country, homeland Tornado damage put at over $10 million; three people die By David Nitkin and Alec MacGillis BUN STAFF Shortly after dawn's light revealed the full impact ofthe most devastating Maryland tornado in 75 years, wood-chippers buzzed and brooms whisked across Prince George's and Howard counties yesterday as residents and officials pledged a rapid recovery.

For the fortunate, cleanup Weather Becoming partly cloudy. High, 67; low, 48. Yesterday's high, 67; low, 58. Page 26b) Bridge 25b Classified 13b Comics 6e Xword 25b, 7e Deaths 12b Editorials 14a Horoscope 5b Lottery 2b Movies 4b Television 5e i Afghans in California display allegiance to all tilings American By Mike Adams SUN NATIONAL STAFF FREMONT, Calif. A poster of Osama bin Laden with an across his face sits near the counter of the 98 Cent Plus store.

The words under the photo say: "The Afghan community wants bin Laden out of their country and will not take the blame for terrorism." The poster sums up the way many people feel here in "Little Kabul." About 40,000 Afghans live in the San Francisco Bay area, about a quarter of them in Fremont. Little Kabul, which takes its name from Afghanistan's capital, is a strip of small stores, restaurants and businesses on the city's main street, Fremont The Sun on the Internet: http:www.sunspot.net The Sun's 165th Yean Number 269 v..