Ledger-Enquirer from Columbus, Georgia • 1

tESKlJsSPMra ftlf jjk A 4 LOCAL INITIATIVE BUILDING UTURE LEADERS Program combines service academics and mentoring LOCAL Cl Tipoff Spencer and Central post tourney wins SPORTS B3 Drowsy driving Over the counter medicines found to impair drivers STORY A7 Consumer gripes Internet shopping and services have become a leading source of consumer complaints joining grievances about auto repair and telemarketing a survey finds BUSINESS C4 lame begins trek The Olympic flame began its journey to Salt Lake City on Monday carrying hopes that the Winter Games can bring solace to a nation in mourning and at war The flame was displayed in a traditional ceremony among the ruins of the ancient birthplace of the Olympics SPORTS B2 Powell urges Israel to end occupation Secretary of State Colin Powell accused Israel of crippling chances for peace with the Palestinians by building homes for Jews on the West Bank and in Gaza Reflecting a long held Arab view Powell said Monday that Israel was occupying land on which Palestinians were entitled to build their own state He also called the Arab Israeli conflict the central problem in the region Unlike his predecessors in the past 28 years Powell did not say he would go there himself to push his program with Israeli and Palestinian leaders He is sending Assistant Secretary of State William Burns this week in his place and retired Marine Corps Gen Anthony Zinni will be sent as special adviser STORY A12 TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2 02 0 0 1 COLUMBUS Let) uircr WWWLEDGER ENQUIRERCOM COLU P' '1 GEORGIA 50 CENTS SOA WATCH PROTEST I Organizers city officials work together to prevent violence Shared objective Event peaceful despite Sunday night arrests By Richard Hyatt Staff Writer The people on the street want ed to talk Bobby Peters wanted them to move Carefully planned and careful ly built the 31 residents of the self named Global Village had assembled a cardboard city on Benning Road and the mayor of Columbus the only man there in a starched white shirt and tie was in the middle of them late Sunday night He wanted to talk about home They wanted to talk foreign policy have tired police officers here We just want to go Peters told the protesters many of them college students this is our one of them said about to give you an other Peters said ready to make reservations for them in Muscogee County Jail A crisis was building and an unexpected coalition would try to solve it Before the night would end two adversaries from a Columbus courtroom would have their arms around each other on a city street lit by TV lights instead of the moon and the city would have made the first arrests in the 11 year history of the SOA Watch protest RICHARD THOMASON Ledger Enquirer nwo i JI ataol Columbus Police Major Julius Graham talks with protesters Sunday night trying to convince them to leave peacefully rather than be arrested The city had a dilemma They want a show of force but they did want to open the road way They needed to get the area cleared of protest debris The protesters their arms locked budging Nor were they listening to this man in the suit or to police Maj Ju lius Graham who also had been pleading with them protest had been over since 5 pm nearly four hours before A police presence had been recalled from home With them came a gaggle of protest ers including some of the pup pet people who had danced along Benning Road that RICHARD THOMASON Ledger Enquirer iVVK1 Defendants negotiate in court Monday after spending the night in jail after refusing to See SOA Page disperse after the protest at ort Benning Most SOA protesters continue disobedience STATE CHARGES Thirty one protesters were arrested Sunday by Muscogee County deputies and charged with misdemeanor unlawful assembly obstruction of a police officer and obstructing a public highway Twenty nine remain jailed Lynn Robinson and Daniel McKinley pleaded not guilty and were released on their own recognizance until summoned to State Court to answer the charges EDERAL CHARGES The 14 protesters arrested Sunday on ort Benning Military Reservation: Douglas Ian Spielman 18 of New York City Jessica Brackett 19 of Iowa City Iowa Brigid Conarchy 22 of Goodland Va Peter Dumott 54 of Ithaca NY Linda Jean Holzbaur 45 of Philadelphia Benjamin Horst 23 of Evanston III Scott Kerr 25 of Chicago Abigail Marie Miller 22 of Hayes Va 29 of 31 refuse to give names or enter pleas By Jim Houston Staff Writer Twenty nine of 31 demonstra tors arrested Sunday night at the gates of ort Benning continued their protest Monday refusing to give their names or addresses to jailers or to enter pleas to the misdemeanor charges in Musco gee County Municipal Court Judge Haywood Turner who stepped down from the bench to stand before the 18 handcuffed women seated in one corner of Columbus Court of fered to release all the protesters immediately if they pleaded guilty or to free them on their own recognizance if they pleaded not guilty During the unprecedented ne gotiations between the judge the women and their lawyers one protester said they would plead See COURT Page A3 McKinley Robinson David O'Neill 27 of Harrisonburg Va Leone Reinbold 24 of Oakland Calif Jennifer Sturgis 26 of Exmore Va Summer Lisa Nelson 25 of West Yellowstone Mont Peter Alan Gelderloos 19 of Vienna Va Jessica Stewart 22 of Ithaca NY All were charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest except Spielman who was charged with criminal trespass and possession of marijuana INSIDE Protesters return to Oberlin College A3 Pressure bearing down on Taliban Afghan gunmen kill four journalists By Drew Brown Mark Johnson and Martin Merzer Knight Ridder Newspapers TALOQAN Afghanistan In bloody desperation Osama bin Laden loyalists and other foreign members of a besieged Taliban force in Konduz are executing Afghan Taliban fighters who advocate surrendering US and anti Taliban leaders said Monday have been found with bul lets in their heads and not in the said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Some 500 Afghan Taliban fighters tried to surrender Sunday but foreign Taliban fighters killed 200 of them ac cording to Zubair a spokesman for the opposition northern alliance The oth er 300 managed to defect said Zubair who like many Afghans uses only one name He said northern alliance leaders would try one last time to negotiate the surrender of the estimated 30000 Taliban fighters trapped in Konduz be fore taking the enclave by force that jf they do not accept then we will be obliged to fight with he said In other developments unidentified gunmen killed four journalists in an ambush none from the United States as they traveled from Paki stan to the Afghan capital of Kabul and negotiations continued on forming a new Afghan government Afghans cannot expect inter national assistance so long as they fight among Pakistani oreign Minister Abdul Sattar said As the showdown drew near for thousands of encircled Taliban hold outs in Konduz and Kandahar Rums feld warned that American forces would not honor any agreement that See ATTACK Page A4 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS Northern alliance tightened its siege on last Taliban bastion in north Konduz where Osama bin Laden loyalists were preventing Taliban surrender our international journalists feared dead after gunmen ambush their convoy in eastern Afghanistan Pakistani diplomatic source said conference of Afghan factions set for Nov 24 in Germany most likely Berlin President Bush signed legislation to put airport baggage screeners on federal payroll The Pentagon said more US commandos deployed in southern Afghanistan to help hunt for Osama bin Laden The Pentagon hopes Taliban collapse and millions in US reward money will motivate Afghans to help find Osama bin Laden INSIDE BUSINESS C4 CLASSIIED C8 COMICS D4 DEATHS C2 3 EDITORIAL A10 HEALTH DI LEGALS B6 LOCAL Cl MOVIES D3 PEOPLE A2 SPORTS Bl TELEVISION D3 orecast Mostly cloudy cooler slight chance of rain High: 62 Overnight low: 35 WEATHER B6 50482'00001 1 Staggering numbers still drive solo to work Associated Press ATLANTA It Betty fault that Atlanta traffic can get tied up in knots almost any hour of the day or night The 46 year old warehouse worker rises in her public housing apartment near the Capitol most days at 5:30 am A little while later she walks several blocks to a rapid rail station and boards a train that will take her to her job on the south side Like an estimated 240000 other Georgians Jones own a car But vastly out numbered by those who do and a staggering percentage of them still drive alone to work every day A new survey by the Census See CENSUS Page A3 GEORGIA STATISTICS Selected statistics from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey released today The figures are subject to sampling errors and are kept separately from the actual 2000 Census head count Median age: 336 years with 27 percent of the population under 18 and 9 percent 65 and older Birth place: Seven percent were foreign born and 93 percent were native including 64 percent who were born in Georgia Language: Among people at least 5 years old 9 percent spoke a language other than English at home Of those speaking another language 57 percent spoke Spanish Education: Of those 25 and older 78 percent had at least graduated from high school and 23 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher Among people 16 to 19 years old 16 percent were dropouts Commute: Of Georgia workers 79 percent drove to work alone 13 percent carpooled and 3 percent took public transportation The average commute time: 27 minutes Income: Median household income was $40666 Poverty: 13 percent of Georgians and 11 percent of families were below the poverty level Source: US Census Bureau.