The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 5

The Pantagraph Tuesday, December 3, 2002 A5 OBITUARIES U.S.: Evidence links al-Qaida to attacks ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. American counterterror officials said Monday that evidence is mounting the al-Qaida network was behind last week's attacks in Kenya, pointing to missile launchers used in the attack and a claim of responsibility on an extremist Islamic Web site. U.S. authorities regard the al-Qaida claim, posted on the Web site www.azfalrasas.com, as credible, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They said the government has obtained other, unspecified information that suggests Osama bin Laden's organization was responsible for Thursday's attacks, which targeted Israelis on an airplane at an a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.

The Web site statement called the attacks a Ramadan greeting to the Palestinian people and referred to al-Qaida's deadly a attacks in 1998 against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. "At the same place where the 'Jewish Crusader coalition' was hit four years ago here the fighters of al-Qaida came back once again to strike heavily against that evil coalition. But this time, it was against Jews," the statement said in Arabic. Launchers found In addition, anti-aircraft missile launchers recovered after a failed attack on the airliner are from the same production batch as one that an al-Qaida operative fired in Saudi Arabia at a U.S.

military plane in May, officials said. The discovery suggests another al-Qaida link to the Kenya attacks, because the portable heat-seeking missiles probably were obtained as a group, the officials said. On Thursday, attackers launched two missiles at an Israeli charter airliner just after it took off from Mombasa for Tel Aviv, Israel, with 261 passengers and 10 cl crew members. Both missed, and the Arkia Airlines Boeing 757 landed safely at its destination. About the same time, a vehicle bomb exploded at an Israeliowned hotel in Mombasa, killing 10 Kenyans, three Israelis and the three bombers.

"There are suspicions" alQaida was behind the Kenya attacks, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday. Kenyan officials have detained at least 12 people in connection with them. U.S. officials have also suggested an affiliated Islamic extremist network from Somalia, al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, may have played a role. To make the missile connection, investigators compared the serial numbers on the two discarded launchers found with the number on the launch tube recovered outside Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia seven months ago.

Bush not encouraged by Iraq efforts ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. President Bush said Monday "the signs are not encouraging" that Saddam Hussein will cooperate with weapons inspectors and avoid a war threatened by the United States. As a Sunday deadline neared, the president said he won't tolerate "any act of delay, deception or defiance." Even as U.N. investigators reported progress in their first week of work, Bush said war may prove necessary. "The temporary peace of denial and looking away from danger would only be a prelude to broader war and greater horror," he said.

"America will confront gathering dangers early before our options become limited and desperate." Weapons inspectors are carrying out a United Nations resolution ordering Saddam to rid Iraq of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons or face the prospect of war. The lack of a confrontation thus far between Iraq and inspectors has the White House worried that the Iraqi president might be winning the early public relations battle by creating an impression that he is complying. Aides said those fears prompted the president and Vice President Dick Cheney to deliver separate speeches Monday casting doubt on Saddam's intentions. Bush also officially authorized $355.5 billion in military spending, approved earlier this year. The U.N.

resolution gives Iraq until Sunday to disclose its weapons of mass destruction, a deadline Bush and Cheney sought to cast as a major test of Saddam's will. Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammed Al-Douri, said the declaration could be ready as early as Wednesday. "There will be nothing surprising," Al-Douri said. "We have repeated our position several times that we have nothing hidden." President Bush, left, was introduced by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, right, at the Pentagon on Monday before officially authorizing $355.5 billion for the military. Court to weigh affirmative action question ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide if minorities can be given a boost to get into universities, a subject still heatedly contested a quarter century after the justices first addressed affirmative action in college admissions. The court will tell universities how much weight, if any, they may assign to an applicant's race. At stake are raceconscious admissions policies at many public and private colleges, law schools and medical schools. Prior case The only time the Supreme Court considered a college race case, the justices issued a split 1978 ruling that banned racial quotas but gave states little other direction. Both sides of the affirmative action debate wanted the court to try again.

Justices will consider whether some white applicants to the University of Michigan and its law school were rejected unconstitutionally because of their race, under the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection for all under the law. Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman said the outcome "will have a profound impact on our nation's higher education system and on our race relations broadly. Now is not the time to turn back the clock." "The color of your skin determines so many important things about your life experience where you live, where you go to work and with whom you work. Race still matters in our society. The ideal of colorblindness does not mean we can or should be blind to that reality," she said.

Opponents contend that race-conscious policies hurt white college applicants by giving slots to less qualified minority prospects. "They're also unfair to minorities who are stigmatized and held to a demeaningly lower standard," said Curt Levey, a lawyer with the Washingtonbased Center for Individual Rights, which is representing white students in the challenge. Levey said black enrollment initially fell when race considerations were abandoned in public colleges in California, Florida, Texas and Washington state. But he said the numbers are increasing, proof that race 050 A Christmas (VERMONT) Open House CASTINGS The hearthside Shoppe December 5th, 6th, 7th 9 a.m. 5 p.m.

Corn Burning Stoves Wood and Gas Stoves Fireplaces A Experience Christmas in the Country at our 1920's Corn Crib Showroom "Gifts from the Hearth" Chestnut Roasters Ash Buckets Cast Iron Steamers Log Racks Fat Wood Candles Gifts Coffees www.hearthsideshoppe.com Matt. 6:33 815-998-2110 Rural Odell Isaiah 9:6 282293 FOLLEAR FOR FO CENTRAL ILLINOIS Christmas-tree cleaning Darwin Davis, of Wausau, reacted as he cleaned snow off of Christmas trees Monday on his lot on Clybourn Street in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. Davis, who will spend most of December living on the lot selling his fraser fir, balsam fir, and spruce trees, said he expected to have to clean the trees again in the evening as snow was expected to keep falling. New plans for WTC site to be released NEW YORK Seven new plans for the World Trade Center site will be unveiled Dec. 18, and a final plan will be chosen in February, the head of the agency charged with redeveloping ground zero said Monday.

The proposals each will preserve the footprints of the 110- story twin towers for a memorial, said Louis Tomson, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. A call for new designs came after six initial plans, released last summer, were widely criticized as unimaginative and too dense with office space. The new plans will be on view at the Winter Garden, directly across the street from the trade center site, and on the development corporation's Web site. The plans, developed by six teams of architects plus inhouse consultants will each block off space for a memorial but not specify a design. Once the acreage is designated, a competition will be held with a goal of choosing a memorial design by Sept.

11, 2003. NATION Governor apologizes for sterilizations SALEM, Ore. Gov. John Kitzhaber formally apologized Monday for Oregon's past eugenics law that led to the forced sterilization of hundreds of people. Girls in reform school, people in mental institutions and poor women selected by welfare workers were among the more than 2,500 Oregonians subjected to sterilizations under a law that stood from 1917 to 1983.

"To those who suffered, I say the people of Oregon are sorry," Kitzhaber said during a ceremony in the governor's office. "Our hearts are heavy for the pain you endured." He is the second governor to atone for state eugenics laws after Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who also erected a memorial in May to the first woman sterilized under the Lieutenant governor switches to GOP JACKSON, Miss. Mississippi Lt. Gov.

Amy Tuck switched to the Republican Party on Monday, confirming political rumors that had circulated for months. Tuck had run as a Democrat in four previous campaigns two for the state Senate and one each for secretary of state and lieutenant governor. "Today marks a new direction in my life," Tuck told a crowd of more than 200 at the state Capitol. Tuck said her Democratic Party support slipped when she declined to endorse Al Gore for president in 2000, when she supported a congressional redistricting plan she saw as more fair than that backed by Democrats and when she sided with the business community on tort reform. Tuck was elected lieutenant governor in 1999.

She defeated a Democratic opponent who had the backing of the education community and a Republican who spent much of his own money to run. Timetables set for removal of plutonium COLUMBIA, S.C. A provision included in a defense bill signed into law Monday by President Bush sets timetables for the removal of plutonium at the Savannah River Site near Aiken and fines for the U.S. Energy Department if plutonium processing programs fail to meet goals. The department plans to build a facility at SRS that will convert 34 tons of plutonium into a mixed-oxide fuel, or MOX, that can be used in commercial nuclear reactors.

Rep. Lindsey Graham, R- S.C. authored the plutonium provision and fought to have it inserted into the defense bill. "The legislation provides unprecedented protections for the state," Graham said. "It has a requirement that all plutonium leave the state at a date certain if the MOX program fails and those requirements are backed by unprecedented financial penalties for noncompliance." WORLD Child injured in Italian quake dies ROME A boy who was badly injured in the collapse of an elementary school during an Oct.

31 earthquake in southern Italy died Monday, raising to 27 the number of children killed in the tiny town. Bambino Gesu pediatrics hospital in Rome confirmed Italian news reports that the nine-year-old boy died. Citing privacy reasons, the hospital declined to identify the child. The boy was pulled out of the rubble of the school in San Giuliano di Puglia, in the south-central Molise region, a few hours after the collapse. From Pantagraph wire services On the Net: For updates on news before tomorrow morning, log on to The Pantagraph online at: www.pantagraph.com OVER 50 LIFT CHAIRS IN STOCK LIFT CHAIRS We Featuring Electric Lift and Power Recliners Guarantee Price! $599 Special Delivery, ADVANCED NIL New Medical Homecare Supply, Inc.

2 Location! 1407 N. Veterans Parkway Lakewood Plaza Shopping Center 664-1100 Attorney at Law J. Michael Grosso Real Estate Closing residential $195 minimum I Divorce no property, no children or uncontested $750 plus costs I Wills single $250 husband wife $300 1400 S. Morris Bloomington IL (309) 828-0083 278780 Ruth Bruns PAXTON Ruth A. Bruns, 68, of Paxton died 1:15 p.m.

Sunday (Dec. 1, 2002) at Gibson Area Hospital, Gibson City. Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Ford-Baier Funeral Home, Paxton. Rev.

Sally Meyer will officiate. Burial will be in Glen Cemetery, Paxton. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home. Survivors include one brother, Elmer Bruns, Lake Charles, four sisters, Bernice Bruns, Gertrude Decker and Mari Hitz, all of Paxton; and Jeanette Tibaka, Madison, and eight nephews.

Betty Carter FORREST The funeral of Betty J. Carter, 75, of Forrest, will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Faith Fellow- ship Church, Fairbury. The Rev. Kim Ernest will officiate.

Burial will be in Brenton Cemetery, Piper City. Visitation will be from 10 to 11 Betty a.m. Wednesday church. Carter at the Duffy-Pils Memorial Home, Fairbury, is in charge of arrangements. She died at 3:50 a.m.

Sunday (Dec. 1, 2002) at Gibson Area Hospital, Gibson City. Memorials may be made to Faith Fellowship Church. She was born March 1, 1927, in Dowagiac, a daughter of Leon D. and Gladys D.

Cotrell Lee. She married Cleao W. Carter on Dec. 5, 1953, in Dowagiac. He died March 25, 1982.

Surviving are one son, Daniel L. Carter, Forrest; four grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, one brother and one daughter-in-law. She was a homemaker and a graduate of Dowagiac High School. She was a member of Faith Fellowship Church, Fairbury.

Dorothy Cooper METAMORA Dorothy Adaline Cooper, 75, of Lot 22, Lake Wildwood, Metamora, died at 6:35 a.m. Monday (Dec. 2, 2002) at her residence. Her funeral will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Preston-Hanley Funeral Home, Pekin Chapel.

The Rev. Robert N. Brite Jr. will officiate. Burial will be in Glendale Memorial Gardens, Pekin.

Visitation will be one hour before the service Thursday at the funeral home. Survivors include a daughter, Barbara (Rick) Pollard, Deer Creek. does not have to be a factor in admissions in the rest of the country. The Supreme Court announced separately Monday that it would resurrect another controversial issue: whether states can punish homosexuals for having sex. The court ruled in 1986 that consenting adults have no constitutional right to private homosexual sex.

Justices will reconsider that in an appeal filed by two men prosecuted under a Texas law that makes it a crime to engage in same-sex intercourse. The court will hear arguments in the cases next year, and its decisions will be made public before July, just as some justices may be contemplating announcing retirements from the court. Daniel Drapp STREATOR Daniel Drapp, 85, of Streator, died 10:40 p.m. Saturday (Nov. 30, 2002) at St.

Mary's Hospital, Streator. His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Streator. Burial will be in Hillcrest Memorial Park, Streator. Visitation will be from 4to 7p.m.

Wednesday at Hagi Funeral Home Streator. Survivors include one son, Daniel (Andrea) Drapp, Sagniaw, five grandchildren; four great and one great-great-granddaughter. MORE OBITUARIES PAGE A7 CELEBRATING 130 Years Since of 1872 Service Thank you Bloomington-Normal area families for 130 years of confidence in our funeral services. Carmody-Flynn Bloomington-Normals's oldest continuing funeral service. Serving all faiths since 1872 Facilities Carmody-Flynn Serving from the area's newest funeral home facilities, including an on-site crematory.

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Hall Kenneth L. Robertson -Planning Counselor Joyce M. Cleary CARMODY FLYNN WILLIAMSBURG FUNERAL HOME Bloomington Normal's Newest Facility 1800 Eastland Dr. Bloomington, IL. 61704 663-1968 282375.