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SACRAMENTO - In a landmark decision for the media, the California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the media cannot be excluded from civil trials except in rare cases.
The decision is the first in which the court has recognized that the public as well as the newspapers and television have the same constitutional right to attend a civil trial as they enjoy in criminal cases.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the news journalist's right of access to criminal trials, there has been no clear cut ruling for theor right to be present in civil cases. As a consequence, judges have often taken the prerogative to excluse the media from civil trials where trial publicity might influence jurors.
The decision on Wednesday was a unanimous blow for freedom of the press. The California Court struck down a Los Angeles County judge's order barring the news journalists from portions of the 1996 trial between Clint Eastwood and his former live-in companion, Sondra Locke.
In a lengthy opinion, Chief Justice Ronald George, cleared the matter up, once and for all. He wrote that "... public access is important to ensure that justice is fairly rendered, to promote public confidence in the system and to see that judges do not abuse their powers....The First Amendment right of access applies to civil proceedings as well as to criminal proceedings....The public has an interest, in all civil cases, in observing and assessing the performance of its public judicial system."
Fresno Republican Newspaper editor, Dr. Howard Hobbs told reporters yesterday, he expects the decision to influence what other states will allow in civil cases. For excample, Dr. Hobbs pointed out, "The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1980 that the First Amendment guarantees the media a right to attend criminal cases, but it has never ruled on whether a similar privilege exists in civil cases."
The case was heavily covered by the media because it involved two prominent figures in the entertainment industry. Clionton Eastwood and Sandra Locke became entangled in a messy legal fight after they ended their 13-year relationship. Locke sued the actor-director, claiming that he tried to sabotage her directorial career by arranging a sham contract for her in exchange for her dropping a palimony suit.
The 1996 trial was heldjust after O.J. Simpson's criminal trial, and Fred Bennett, the lawyer who defended the judge's ban, said the media frenzy over that trial influenced the court's decision to exclude the media from the courtroom.
As a result of the decision, the press was excluded from a number of hearings, including a request by Eastwood's lawyer for a mistrial and a dispute over Locke's testimony. Eastwood later agreed to pay Locke an undisclosed settlement, ending the dispute.
Several news organizations, including the Los Angeles Times and NBC, went to court challenging Schacter's order. They won a major victory when a state Court of Appeal said the First Amendment guarantees the media a right to attend civil proceedings. But the County of Los Angeles then appealed. The California Supreme Court then issued its stunning decision supporting the news journalist's rights in the public interest.
The court said that the judge's ban on the media violated California statutes which recognize that every [civil and criminal] court proceeding is open to the public.
``This is one of the great decisions out of this court,'' said Kelli Sager, a Los Angeles lawyer representing two media organizations challenging the judge's ban. ``Reporters now have a clear articulation of their rights in civil cases as well as criminal cases.''
Chief Justice George noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed judges to bar reporters from criminal cases only where there is an overriding interest such as ensuring a fair trial, protecting minors who are victims of sex crimes, ensuring the anonymity of juvenile offenders and guarding trade secrets.
He outlined specific guidelines that judges must follow before they can close a courtroom or seal a transcript. A judge must hold a hearing and then expressly find an overriding interest to justify closing the courtroom, he said.
He concluded,"...there must be substantial probability that the interest would be jeopardized if the media are allowed." George said the order must be narrowly tailored to address that interest and that it be the least restrictive option available.
In the Eastwood case, he said, "...there was no evidence that the jury was ignoring the judge's admonitions not to read or watch any stories about the case."
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FRESNO - An El Portal motel handyman who had been dismissed as a suspect in the deaths of three sightseers last February near Yosemite National Park has confessed to the decapitation of park naturalist Joie Ruth Armstrong, 26, last week. Surprisingly, he has also admitted to three previously unsolved murders in the El Portal area, according to FBI documents on file in Fresno according to reliable information obtained from officials in the case.
Cary Stayner, 37, confessed to the killing of Armstrong, and has provided significant details about the murders according to sworn statements filed on Monday with the Federal District in Sacramento. Reliable sources indicate Stayner has now confessed to the other slayings.
Stayner worked as a janitor at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal, two miles from the Arch Rock entrance to Yosemite National Park. Three sightseers staying overnight at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal were last seen alive at the Lodge. An unnamed FBI official told reporters on Sunday that evidence obtained after Armstrong's death linked Stayner to the slayings of the three sightseers. The official said the bureau was looking for evidence to corroborate the confession.
The sightseers' disappearance from the Cedar Lodge in February set off an extensive search, national headlines and numerous arrests.
Stayner was arrested Saturday at a nudist resort near Sacramento, Calif., and charged with one count of murder in the death of Armstrong this afternoon in Federal court in Sacramento. During Stayner's arraignment he nodded in response to the Federal magistrate, Judge Peter Nowinski, asked him if he understood the charge and read him his rights. Stayner noded in the affirmative.
Stayner lived in a rented room next to the motel. He was questioned at the time of the sightseers' disappearance. Apparently Stayner was not considered a suspect because the FBI believed the slayings could not have been committed by only one person.
Stayneris believed to be ditrectly involved in the deaths of Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli Sund,15, and their friend Silvina Pelosso,16 according to James M. Maddock, the bureau's Special Agent in charge of of the case.
The bodies of Carole Sund and Pelosso were found in the trunk of their burned out rental car more than a month after they disappeared. Juli Sund's body was found a few days later, off a side road.
Ms. Armstrong's body was found on Thursday, one day after she was last seen near the cabin where she lived with her boyfriend and another roommate, both of whom were away. Until then, the FBI had previopusly said that all the people responsible for the Sund Pelosso deaths were in custody on unrelated charges.
Stayner was questioned about the grisley Armstrong murder on Thursday, one day after his sport utility vehicle was spotted near her cabin about the time she disappeared.
A federal hearing in the Armstrong case has been set for next week in in Fresno. Stayner's arrest has prompted sheriff's detectives in Merced County, where Stayner lived until moving to El Portal in 1997, to announce that they were looking into the 1990 death of Stayner's uncle, Jerry Stayner, who was shot to death under suspicious circumstances.
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YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - Cary Stayner, a member of a family traumatized years ago by the sensational kidnapping of his brother Steven -- is expected to be charged today in the decapitation slaying of a naturalist and has been named by the FBI as the prime suspect in the February slayings of three Yosemite tourists.
In a dramatic press conference yesterday, FBI Special Agent in Charge James Maddock announced that Stayner, a 37-year-old maintenance man, was arrested Saturday at a nudist camp near Sacramento. He is scheduled to appear today in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on charges that he killed Joie Ruth Armstrong, 26, an environmental educator whose decapitated body was found Thursday at Yosemite National Park.
Yesterday marked the first time that the FBI had officially named anyone as a suspect in the disappearance of Carole Sund, her 15- year-old daughter Julie and their 16-year-old friend Silvina Pelosso. Until now, authorities have said that the key participants in their killings were all behind bars on unrelated charges.
``During the last 24 hours, we have developed specific information linking Stayner to the Sund-Pelosso murders,'' said Maddock, who declined to elaborate. ``With Stayner's arrest, we believe that no other people in any of these murders are still on the loose.''
The FBI's belated naming of Stayner seemed to bring a sense of finality to the Sund family, which has endured months of waiting for answers.
``We're happy that the case is coming to a close,'' said Carole Sund's mother, Carole Carrington. Her husband, Francis, said, ``I feel so sad for the Armstrong family. I'm so sad that we could not have resolved this sooner and saved someone.''
Stayner was questioned early in the Sund-Pelosso investigation, but was excluded as a suspect. He worked as a maintenance man at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal, where the three slain sightseers were last seen alive February 15.
The lodge is about four miles from the spot where Armstrong's body was discovered Thursday afternoon near her small home at the western edge of the park. Armstrong was reported missing Thursday morning after failing to arrive at a friend's house in Sausalito.
A tip eventually led FBI agents to Stayner in connection with Armstrong's killing. Investigators then later found undisclosed evidence and information that linked Stayner to the Sund-Pelosso killings, Maddock said.
Yesterday, Maddock appeared to be trying to head off potential criticism that the FBI had made a mistake by initially overlooking Stayner.
``I ask myself if we could have done anything differently that would have prevented the death of Joie Armstrong,'' he said reflectively. ``I've struggled with that over the last 24 hours, and I continue to do so . . . (but) I'm confident that we've done everything that reasonably could have been done.``
Stayner was arrested Saturday morning at Laguna del Sol, a ``clothing-optional resort'' in Wilton, about 25 miles southeast of Sacramento. A woman he met there notified the FBI of his whereabouts after seeing a television report that authorities wanted to question him about Armstrong's death.
Stayner's arrest is the latest blow to a family that has already suffered much tragedy. Stayner is the older brother of Steven Stayner, who was kidnapped from a Merced street in December 1972 and sexually abused by his kidnapper for more than seven years. He escaped in March 1980 and was reunited with his family, only to be killed nine years later in a motorcycle crash at the age of 24.
``I'd say the whole Stayner family was pretty well traumatized by the Steven kidnapping,'' Bill Bailey, the now-retired Merced chief of detectives who supervised the Steven Stayner kidnapping case, said yesterday. crash at the age of 24.
Years later, the family suffered the effects of another violent crime when the boys' uncle, Jerry Stayner, was killed in his home in December 1990 in Merced.
The FBI is reopening its investigatigation into the uncle's death and looking at Cary Stayner. ``We are looking at him to see if there is any connection with him and his uncle's death,'' Strength said. ``Any time we get information on an open homicide, we need to take a look at that.''
He said he could not comment as to whether Cary Stayner had been a suspect at the time his uncle was killed.
Federal authorities, meanwhile, are being very secretive about why they think Stayner was involved with the sightseers' slayings. They did say, however, that there was no known connection between Stayner and a number of people who are currently in jail and are unofficially considered suspects in the case.
Investigators had found fibers and other physical evidence that connected a loose-knit group of Central Valley ex-convicts to the February abductions. But law enforcement officials were still working on the entire puzzle and had not charged anyone with the slayings.
``I do look forward to the day when I can share the details,'' Maddock said. ``I can't, unfortunately, discuss specific steps that were taken or not taken.''
Stayner was hired in August 1997 as a maintenance worker at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal, the same hotel where the three tourists had been staying on their sightseeing trip to the Yosemite area in February.
Stayner was laid off in January of this year, when business slowed down. He was rehired on March 20, a day after the bodies of Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso were found in their rental car's badly burned trunk in nearby Tuolumne County. Federal agents discovered Julie Sund's body a few days later.
The Yosemite Institute, which employed Armstrong as a naturalist, maintains its main office in El Portal and has some housing there for employees.
Maddock said yesterday that there was no evidence that Stayner and Armstrong had a relationship.
From his drawn and haggard look, as well as his clipped tone, it appeared that Maddock was disturbed by the most recent twist in the Sund-Pelosso murders, the high- profile case he has been supervising for the past five months.
He said that earlier in the long investigation, agents had publicly said they thought they had the key players in the sightseers' slayings behind bars. ``That was my sincere belief at the time,'' he said. ``But in light of (Saturday's) arrest, that's been re-evaluated.''
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YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) -- A motel maintenance man was detained for questioning Saturday in the decapitation of a naturalist in Yosemite National Park, and the FBI hinted at a possible link with the slaying of three park sightseers earlier this year.
Cary Stayner, 38, was taken into custody by federal authorities Saturday morning at a nudist colony in Wilton, Calif., near Sacramento, said a Sacramento County source who spoke on condition of anonymity. Stayner was last seen Thursday night by friends and coworkers at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal, a community at the western edge of the park where he works as a handyman.
Park rangers on Thursday found the body of 26-year-old Joie Ruth Armstrong about four miles from Cedar Lodge.
James Maddock, FBI agent in charge, confirmed at a news conference Saturday that someone had been detained in connection with the case, but would not identify who it was or provide further details.
Maddock said no arrests had been made but he anticipated a ``significant announcement'' to be made at a news conference Sunday at Sacramento's FBI headquarters.
He also backed off of a statement he made Friday that there was no evidence linking this case the slayings earlier this year.
``I am not going to comment on whether there is a link at this time,'' he said. ``In the last 24 hours I have received additional information that may cause me to modify my statement.''
He would not comment on the matter further.
Patty Sailors, whose husband manages the Laguna Del Sol clothing-optional resort, said a man identifying himself as Stayner checked in Friday night.
A visitor recognized Stayner from news reports and called the FBI, Mrs. Sailors said. Stayner, who was not a member of the resort but had visited there several times, was taken into custody about 9 a.m., she said.
Stayner is the brother of Steven Stayner, a kidnap victim who made national headlines in 1980 after he escaped from Kenneth Parnell, a convicted child molester. Steven Stayner, who was held and sexually abused for seven years, died in a 1989 motorcycle crash.
Delbert Stayner, Steven and Cary's father, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he's sure his son was not directly involved in the woman's death, but worries that he may have been a witness.
``My little boy Stevie Stayner went missing for seven and a half years. ... Now my oldest son is missing. I'm kind of torn up over that,'' he said.
The body of Armstrong was discovered a few hundred yards from the park housing she shared with a man and woman, who were away at the time. A park official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Associated Press the woman had been decapitated.
Armstrong was initially reported overdue by a friend she was driving to visit in Sausalito, just north of San Francisco. She was last seen alive Wednesday at the park offices of Yosemite Institute, where she worked.
Armstrong was a dedicated educator who was beloved among children, said institute director Mike Lee.
``Joie was a bright light to all who knew her,'' Lee said at the FBI's news conference Saturday.
Maddock said there was no indication that the victim knew the person who was detained.
Eric Hanson, who works rents bicycles in Yosemite's Curry Village, said Armstrong was concerned about someone stalking her.
``She was very uncomfortable,'' Hanson said. ``I didn't know the guy. She just said there was this person.''
The Yosemite Institute's main offices are in El Portal.
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YOSEMITE VALLLEY - A Yosemite ranger naturalist was found dead Thursday. Park officials are treating the suspicious death as a homicide.
The name of the female ranger has not been released at this time, according to Yosemite Park officials.
When the FBI was contacted by reporters from The Fresno Republican Newspaper they declined to discuss circumstances surrounding the ranger's death. However it has been learned that the woman ranger had been reported missing yesterday by a friend.
The friend, a resident of Fort Baker,Calif. told police that the woman called from Yosemite at 5:50 p.m. Wednesday and was about to leave for the drive to Sausalito, but never arrived.
The Yosemite NPS began a search of Yosemite Valley for the woman at dawn Thursday. They discoverd her body at 1 p.m. in an employee housing area near El Portal just outside Yosemite near Big Oak Flat Road, according to a press release from NPS spokesman, Kendall Thompson.
The woman was last seen alive leaving work in Yosemite around 5 p.m. Wednesday.
FBI investigators told reporters that an autopsy will be conducted by the Mariposa County coroner's office.
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WASHINGTON - The wreckage of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s airplane was located on Wednesday. A source close to the scene said federal officials had tentatively identitified the badly mangled partial remains of John F. Kennedy still strapped into the pilot seat. There was no immediate word on his wife and her sister.
Beneath all of the media "frenzy" and "hype" this nation is plagued with yet another Kennedy public tragedy. The Kennedy family awaited news of the plight of their beloved John F. Kennedy, Jr. enroute to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port to attend his cousin Rory Kennedy's wedding, John Jr 38, his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy 33; and her sister Lauren Bessette 35, apparently went down in the chilly waters of Martha's Vineyard aboard a 300 horsepower, single engine Piper Saratoga 32, piloted by John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Since July 16th when the trio failed to show up at the expected arrival time, the United States Coast Guard after being alerted later started an extensive search and rescue effort to attempt to locate survivors. Other rescue and search groups joined in. No expenses have been spared in the all-out effort to locate the plane's wreckage in hopes of finding answers, as to why the ill-fated plane plummeted in a nose-dive, into the Atlantic Ocean.
As the nation and world were glued to their television sets, most sensed an impending disaster and hope continued to dwindle as the minutes, hours, and finally days began to fade into history with no encouraging words to indicate a miraculous rescue recovery, was underway.
Wedding days are suppose to be filled with happiness and wonderful memories, but this will not be the case for the Kennedy family. Etched forever in their minds... will be the "horror" that replaced the festivities associated with a large gathering united to extend best wishes and toasts for a long and happy life to a beaming, newlywed couple.
The political dynasty of the Kennedy family spans well over 30 years. Americans have shared the family's triumphs and grieved with them in the midst of their sorrows. While the Kennedy family is not the only family to endure hardships and tragedies, their plights are certainly the most publicized. CNN has devoted 24 hour non-stop coverage to the fallen hero. John Jr. was eulogized by news correspondents, friends, and the public long before a confirmation of his death was announced.
From the moment of his birth John F. Kennedy, Jr. was destined to be in the public eye. Many view the Kennedys' love-hate relationship with the news media as a curse. Wherever they go... whatever they do... this is considered newsworthy. Living in a fishbowl is not the most desirable place to be, but when one makes a decision and choice to enter politics or reach for stardom, that goes with the territory and goes withoutsaying.
Flight instructors are saying John Jr. lacked complete flight knowledg eand training. He was still recovering from a broken ankle experienced earlier this month when he crashed his power driven parachute hang-glider.
New information describes how the Piper Saratoga 32 dropped 1,100 feet in 14 seconds, Friday evening as it approached the airport on Martha's Vineyard. A pilot shoots within the ratio of 500 to 700 feet per minute while descending... for passengers safety and comfort. Some aviation experts agree that a Piper cannot handle a descent faster than 1,500 feet per minute, although the planes gauge has a maximum of 2,000 feet capability per minute.
Taking off in the midst of hazy skies and a fast approaching sunset is not a safe and practical endeavor for an inexperienced pilot unaccustomed to handling aircraft under these conditions.
During an interview conducted by Dan Rather via phone with Mike Wallace, Wallace made the comment that almost everyone was commenting on the coincidence that the weekend marked the thirtieth anniversary of the infamous death of Mary Jo Kopechne, who perished when the automobile being driven by Ted Kennedy drove off the Chappaquiddick Bridge. Many unanswered questions "remain" surrounding the incident involving the death of the senator's campaign aid.
High profile cases bring out the skeptics and speculative minds looking for answers, but usually they are not steered in the right direction. John F. Kennedy, Jr. seemed to be unspoiled and carried himself with poise, dignity and decency... befitting an aristocratic heritage.
Friends say he may have entered the race for the U.S. Senate from New York but cooled somewhat toward such a move after First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the formation of her own exploratory committee for that Senate seat.
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- OBITUARY -
NEW YORK - John F. Kennedy Jr., a scion of the nation's most
celebrated political dynasty, was reported lost and presumed dead
in an accident that resounded this weekend with echoes of the
family's many misfortunes.
©The New York Times.
John F. Kennedy Jr., 38
Heir to a Formidable Dynasty.
By Katherine Q. Seelye
John F. Kennedy Jr. was present during a ceremony at the JFK Presidential Library in
Boston last year.
Kennedy, 38, has been missing since Friday night after the plane
he was flying to a cousin's wedding on Cape Cod failed to arrive on
Martha's Vineyard. His disappearance in the prime of his life, like
the deaths of his father, two uncles, an aunt and two cousins
before him, only added to the perception that his larger-than-life
family has been besieged by a near-biblical blight.
Kennedy, son of the 35th president, was touched by both the
Kennedy charisma and its curse. The public ached in 1963 as it
watched him, in his blue dresscoat and short pants, salute his
slain father. It cheered as he emerged with his dazzling bride from
their secret wedding in 1996. And as he sought a measure of privacy
even while forsaking a career in law or government for a role in
publishing, the public never ceased dwelling on his future and the
swings of his family's fortunes between triumph and disaster.
Guiding his life was a scriptural passage, Luke 12:48, that was
voiced frequently by his grandmother Rose and paraphrased by his
father: "Of those to whom much is given, much is required."
Kennedy taught English to underprivileged children, aided people
who were homeless and disabled, and was a patron of the arts.
But like many sons of famous fathers, Kennedy still seemed to be
searching for his place in the public constellation, the
expectations for him as great as his father's legend was gripping.
And he was conscious of his burden as an American icon.
"It's hard for me to talk about a legacy or a mystique,"
Kennedy said in a 1993 interview. "It's my family. The fact that
there have been difficulties and hardships, or obstacles, makes us
closer."
He was most recently founder and editor of George, a glossy
journal of politics, but some of his family's admirers still hoped
his venture into publishing was merely a prologue to a career in
politics.
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New York - U.S. stocks fell for a second day, led by Microsoft Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc. While all three beat earnings forecasts, each has risen more than 40 percent in 1999 and investors are concerned the big gains are over for now. ``We've anticipated all of these good earnings already,'' said Robert Finch, a money manager with Aeltus Investment Management Inc., which oversees $60 billion in Hartford, Connecticut. ``Now we need to have a mega-surprise to have a good jump (in the market.)''
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 98.78, or 0.9 percent, to 11,088.90 in late morning trading, with IBM accounting for 32 points of the loss. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 21.95, or 1.6 percent, to 1385.70. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 82.62, or 2.9 percent, to 2747.67, the biggest loss in eight weeks. Two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
This is the busiest week for second-quarter earnings, with more than 1,000 companies reporting. General Motors Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Philip Morris Cos. and United Technologies Corp., all companies in the Dow average, reported today.
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SACRAMENTO - I am a person who pays health insurance premiums. I've been watching closely as Congress decides about the issue of patients' rights. My conclusion is that the government's solution is wrong.
Bureaucracy that isn't directly concerned with what it controls is inefficient. It has been known for years that big government is an inefficient monetary sponge. Why? Congressmen don't live with the people affected by the laws they pass. Why should they care? For them, it is more important to do what is popular than what is right. Since they live off taxes, efficiency is not a concern.
Big business is another matter. Inefficiency means profit loss, so business can't afford it. The CEO loses money if the company is run poorly, so there is a large personal stake in the matter. It is also probable that the top bureaucrats of any business have worked at the lower levels of the company, so they know what concerns their employees.
The problem with most HMO's is that although they are usually headed by businessmen, the heads of the organizations simply don't know what it means to be a doctor, and don't care. They streamline the HMO with an eye on profits, no matter what that means for patients or doctors. A doctor paid a little less means more money in a bureaucrats pocket. Who cares if the doctor is happy or rested enough to do the job right. Expensive treatment for a patient can cut into the Christmas bonus. It's easier to let the patient die, and deny benefits on technical grounds.
HMO's then, are the worst thing that could have happened to health care. They combine the worst attributes of government, with the worst attributes of business. That is, like government, most HMO directors don't care about their employees or customers. They aren't doctors, and don't know what it's like to be denied necessary treatment, since they only get the best care. Like business, they are focused on profits, and are willing to sacrifice employee and customer benefits to make money.
HMO's were ostensibly organized to cut medical costs, which were ridiculously high. Unfortunately, any actual medical costs that are saved are never seen by the patient. The savings go to the bureaucrats, who make sure there's plenty in their bank accounts. In effect, patients are paying about the same for medical care, but now the doctors they see are tired, frustrated and overworked, and a substantial portion of the money paid by the patient goes to a bureaucracy whose main job it is to deny him benefits so that it can make money.
To this losing situation the Government wants to add more bureaucracy to make sure HMO's don't deny benefits. That means more people to pay, more money and time lost in lawsuits, and more care cut for patients (as well as fee hikes) so that the heads of HMO's don't lose any of their salary.
The only real solution is to put doctors back in charge. Under their care, those who could afford coverage got whatever care and time they needed. Now those who can afford care are getting shorted time, tests and health to pay for an unnecessary bureaucracy. HMO's have accomplished nothing. There's not a substantial savings (if any) for patients and there's no substantial increase in the number of people covered.
It's time to throw the bums out!
©Copyright, 1999 The Fresno Republican Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.
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Saturday July 10, 1999 FREMONT - The numbers have just
been released. San Mateo County Assessor Warren Slocum said the rise in property
values began in the southern end of the county and is spreading northward, following
the northward spread of Silicon Valley. ©Copyright, 1999 The Fresno Republican Newspaper.
All Rights Reserved.
Silicon chips = rising property values
Boom in San Mateo, Santa Clara counties
By Laurie Kobliska, Staff Writer
This hardly comes as surprising news, but here goes:
Property tax rolls in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties are up an astonishing
amount this year, driven up by the exploding high-tech industry.
In Santa Clara County, the net local value is $157.5
billion, up slightly over ten percent.
Santa Clara County's net local value is slightly
lower than that reported for San Diego County, even though San Diego County has
a million more people.
The skyrocketing property values are a stark contrast
to five years ago, when property values were declining, and can be traced directly
to demand created by the growth of the technology industry.
Demand for residential property is up as is all
other forms of real estate in the entire region county officials told reporters
Friday.
``The boom by high-tech companies has created a
ripple effect that has touched many Silicon Valley employees,'' said Santa Clara
County Assessor Larry Stone.
``The result is more people and money chasing an
inadequate supply of homes and condominiums. Invariably that leads to a significant
number of properties changing hands and causing reassessment,'' Stone said.
In East Palo Alto, property values peaked at a
growth rate of 14.7 percent over last year to this.
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PALO ALTO -- When WebPortal Inc. created a digital version of the Palo Alto based, Daily Republican Newspaper in the year 1995, the skeptics all laughed. Soon, WebPortal Inc. had a series of what they called newsportals online with some of their oldest and best properties, like the Bulldog News,,at Fresno State, the historic San Francisco California Star, the Fresno Republican, Fresno's Tower District News the Clovis Free Press and Mother Wire Magazine in Silicon Valley.
The conservative news agency, instead of striking out solely to establish its online newspaper brand, chose to create a regional online site and offered to let all its readers have it for free. This ran against the prevailing thinking among newspaper companies adventurous enough to be creating Web sites in those days.
The rest, of course, is history. WebPortal Inc. now links to virtually every media company in the world, including TV and radio stations and digital magazines. The WebPortal site serves up millions of page views a month to its loyal surfers, according to its media tracking software.
At the Milllennium, some of the biggest players in newspaper Web sites have changed their minds and now want to emulate proven the WebPortal Inc. market strategy.
The world has beaten a path to WebPortal and its "Hitch-Hiker's Guide To Cyberspace" and listing their own starting points guides for web surfing.
Most all online sister news sites like Dow Jones & Co., the New York Times Co., Washington Post Co. and Knight Ridder have announced their intentions to move to portal town, as well.
Adopting the WebPortal Inc. marketing strategy, they want a news portal that offers services a host of options so its online audience will grow, convincing advertisers to buy more space.
Alan G. Spoon, CEO of the Washington Post Co. told his staff "Consumers want and need a convenient entry into the entire local online information and commercial marketplace." He said "We want to be the first stop on everyone's electronic journey to Washington. " In response to Spoon's leadership, the Post's Web site has been redesigned to make it easier to find its portal features such as online retailing, entertainment listings, neighborhood news, classifieds and Post its varied news content.
The New York Times' new portal will do a similar function. It has been redesigned to allow the audience to use the Internet to obtain information in a variety of content areas.The New York Times Co. CEO Russell T. Lewis said he is excited about the portal format.
Following the introduction of WebPortal's sleek model in 1995, most agancies have or are moving to construct a portal of their own to offer e-mail, shopping, and directories of categorized links to other sites.
Joining the chorus of news vendors emulating WebPortal's latest e-classifieds innovation [linking several regional nespape's Classifieds on a single e-page], the Dallas Morning News, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, announced this week they are joining forces to create a regional classified ads portal. Like the WebPortal templete the site would have the classifieds displayed on the same page for both newspapers, offer links to local Web sites so they can be better "...positioned as the one-stop-shop resource for the area," the companies said. It will be hosted on Knight Ridder's Real Cities Network, which aims to have regional portals in the top 25 U.S. markets.
Tom Hobbs, CEO of WebPortal Inc. told reporters Wednesday, "Today, the most popular Web sites are all knock-offs of the original programming codes created by Web Portal Inc."
To paraphrase a well respected bit of common knowledge, "Rip offs are the most insincere form of appreciation!" This fact, perhaps is best attested to by the weekly reports of the amazing increase in portal Web usage published by the likes of Nielsen//NetRatings and Media Metrix, the premiere Internet measurement services.
Copyright 1999 The Fresno Republican Newspaper. All rights reserved.
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FRESNO - John D. Welty, Ed.D., President of Fresno State University along with 51 other university and college presidents celebrated July Fourth by calling for their campuses to examine their commitment to civic responsibility and to become more deeply involved in their communities. The educators said they were responding to a growing cynicism among students about government.
The presidents want to inspire more students to participate in their communities by voting and by influencing policy, said Elizabeth Hollander, executive director of Campus Compact. They can do this by participating in political campaigns or trying to influence city councils, she said. The compact, which is a coalition of colleges promoting community service, issued the statement as part of a three-day conference in Aspen, Colo.
"These students grew up thinking that government didn't do things for people," Ms. Hollander said. "They believed people helped people, and that government had stepped way back from helping people."
"Engagement," she added, "means 'I am responsible for this democracy. It was made by people. If it is in trouble, it needs to be remade by me.'"
The Report by university and college presidents "Fourth of July Declaration" states, "We challenge higher education to become engaged, through actions and teaching, with its communities."
The report notes that while many students participate in volunteer projects, "this service is not leading students to embrace the active duties of citizenship and civic participation."
Ms. Hollander said students were most likely to ask penetrating questions about social problems, such as homelessness, that they encountered doing volunteer work if colleges tied the service work to a curriculum that encouraged thinking, writing, and reflection.
She said colleges also needed to set positive examples by being good citizens in their communities. "If they are in a disadvantaged community, they are figuring out how to work with the community to improve the quality of life," Ms. Hollander said.
She said colleges also could take into account community service performed by faculty members when deciding whether to grant them tenure.
Ms. Hollander said participants in the meeting would reach out to colleagues on other campuses to encourage similar discussions.
Campus leaders are invited to examine college and university involvement in practicing informed civic responsibility through such activities as faculty orientation, administrative leadership, and an college and university relationship with local community functions and civic activities.
[Editor's Note: CSU FRESNO is located at 5241 North Maple Avenue Fresno, California 93740, Phone number for General Information: 209-278-4240 Accreditation: Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the California State Board of Education, and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. In addition, 21 school, departmental and professional programs have earned national accreditation in their fields. Faculty size: 756 full-time, 258 part-time Support staff: 869 full- and part-time, Student enrollment: Fall 1994 - 17, 277 Undergraduates: 14,283 Graduates: 2,944; Degree programs offered: 58 bachelor's programs, 41 master's programs, 1 doctorate program, Degree/gradstudies/commencement: Total degrees: 3,732 Bachelor's degrees: 3,088 Master's degrees: 642 Doctoral degrees: 2 Fees per semester: California resident, Full-time (7 units or more) - $901 Financial aid: $95,518,666 Library holdings: Books, bound periodicals and scores: 916,418 Government publications (federal, state, and foreign): 231,546 Map collection: 146,302 Microforms: 1,132,357 Periodical subscriptions: 2,613 Music records, cassettes and CDs: 60,309]
©Copyright, 1999 The Bulldog Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.
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Thursday July 1, 1999
WASHINGTON - The Canadian government
has for the first time acknowledged that U.S. prison blood sold to Canada in the
early 1980s Arkansas Governor, William Jefferson Clinton directly led to more
Canadians being infected with hepatitus C infections. ©Copyright, 1999 The Daily Republican Newspaper.
All Rights Reserved.
Sale of Arkansas prisoners' bad blood
Documents show for the first time Canadians knew
about risk of using Arkansas prison blood supply
purchased from Gov. Bill Clinton in 1981.
Amy Williams, Staff Writer
The BulldogNews.Net
at Fresno State University was the first U. S. newspaper to break this story on
Sunday November 15, 1998.
The statement is in a briefing note prepared for
Health Minister Allan Rock and obtained by The Daily Republican Newspaper on Wednesday
under a freedon of information request. It is on the subject of blood imported
into Canada in the early 1980s from an Arkansas prison and made into products
that were used by hemophiliacs.
Plasma from such high-risk populations may indeed
have contributed to the transmission of blood diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis
C," said the document, requested by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin.
Lawyers representing tainted-blood victims say this
is significant, because Ottawa and the provinces have refused to compensate Canadians
infected with hepatitus C before 1986, arguing that there was no government
negligence. They have admitted liability from 1986 to 1990, because during that
period Canada was not using a test that was in use in the United States that might
have screened for the virus.
Canadians infected with the potentially debilitating
liver virus between those dates have been offered more than $1.1-billion in compensation.
Those infected before 1986 have been left out.
"It puts the lie to the government's statement
that there was no negligence prior to 1986," said David Harvey, a lawyer representing
a group of Ontario hemophiliacs who have launched a $1-billion lawsuit, saying
they contracted hepatitus C because blood products they used were manufactured
with the plasma of high-risk U.S. prisoners.
But a senior Health Canada official argued yesterday
there is nothing new in the document and nothing that deals with the issue of
negligence.
The controversy came to public attention in 1998
as questions were raised about how a U.S. firm collected tainted blood from Arkansas
prison inmates and shipped it to Canada has spread to Vince Foster - U.S. President
Bill Clinton's personal confidant who committed suicide in 1993.
Vincent Foster, a boyhood friend of Mr. Clinton's,
was one of the president's most trusted advisers. As a corporate lawyer in Arkansas,
he worked in the same law office as Hillary Rodham Clinton and became a close
colleague of hers.
Back then, Mr. Clinton was governor of Arkansas,
and the state contracted with Health Management Associates, to provide medical
care for prisoners. Mr. Clinton permitted the Health Maganeement company to collect
blood and to pay the Clinton administration in Arkanas $7 for every unit of blood
obtained from Arkansas prison convicts.
Barbara Benning, associate director of the bureau
of biologics, said the note is a reflection of the facts as documented by Mr.
Justice Horace Krever in his inquiry into the tainted-blood tragedy.
Canada stopped collecting prison blood in 1971 because
the majority of prisoners were infected with hepatitus C.
It was Ottowa judge Krever who first brought the
sordid story of U.S. prison blood to light.
But he did not conclude that more Canadians got
hepatitis C because of the prison blood.
The class-action lawsuit claims that a Toronto pharmaceutical
company, a Montreal blood broker and Health Canada were all negligent in allowing
the importation of prison blood when its use was discontinued in the United States.
The lawsuit targets Connaught Laboratories Ltd.,
a venerable pharmaceutical company that manufactured blood products until 1987,
Continental Pharma Cryosan Ltd., a blood broker that bought plasma from U.S. sources,
including prisons, and the Bureau of Biologics of Health Canada, which was responsible
for monitoring the safety of the blood supply.
Connaught sold blood products to the Canadian Red
Cross Society, which in turn provided them to hemophiliacs. While most of the
plasma used in the manufacture of the products came from volunteers, Connaught
made up for shortfalls with regular purchases from Continental Pharma.
Over the period of years 1981 to 1984 it was widely
known that there was contamination of the blood supply with the AIDS virus and
hepatitis C was likely to have been in blood plasma collected under the
direction of then Arkansas Governor, William Jeffrson Clinton from Arkansas prisoners.
Mr. Clinton was collecting and selling the tainted blood despite the fact that
the United States had stopped using prison blood in 1982 because inmates are far
more likely to engage in high-risk sex and drug use.
In his final report, Judge Krever quoted the testimony
of senior Connaught officials who said the system they set up to inspect and improve
the places they bought blood from had failed.
His report also stressed that the distribution of
contaminated products was largely avoidable, and that the only reason Connaught
had to buy plasma on the open market was because the domestic supply was poorly
managed.
When it was purchasing prison blood, Connaught was
a wholly owned unit of CDC Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Canada Development Corp.,
which was in turn 47-per-cent owned by the federal government. Because the Ontario
government was a big booster of Connaught, it insisted that its products be distributed
in the province.
Canadian hemophiliacs paid the price, and many were
covered by the government's offer of compensation. But as many as 150 who are
still alive were not, said Mike McCarthy, who is an Ontario hemophiliac who was
left out of the legal action.
"The onus is on the government to stand up and
do what they said they would always do if there was any indications of wrongdoing
before 1986...You shouldn't have at this point innocent Canadians having to battle
through the courts to be treated with dignity and respect.
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