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Thousands protest Diallo verdict by Beth Gardiner Associated Press New York — Thousands of angry and frustrated New Yorkers took to the streets Saturday to protest the acquittal of four white police officers who killed an unarmed African immigrant in a barrage of 41 bullets. “Killer cops have got to go! ” shouted a crowd of more than 2,500 people who marched down Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan to criticize the ver dict in the Amadou Diallo murder trial. About 40 people were arrested when they sat down in the street near St. Patrick’s Cathedral and blocked traffic. Hours earlier, Diallo’s mother told a crowd in Harlem she hoped her son’s death would inspire peo ple to fight against police brutality and improve un derstanding between police and civilians. “It’s about justice,” Kadiatou Diallo said a day after the verdicts. “Nothing can replace Amadou, ... but if his cause can help clarify this situation,... so that the people can live in peace, I think that would be a great honor for us.” In Newark, N.J., about 150 people protested the verdicts. About 50 gathered outside Diallo’s Bronx home, where several hundred had demon strated after the verdicts were announced Friday. The same indignation was evident in many of the 350 people who crammed into the Rev. A1 Sharp ton’s National Action Network headquarters in Harlem for an emotional rally. “Murderers! ” they shouted. “Racist cops! ” “We want justice!” But a hush fell over the packed room when Diallo’s mother approached the podium. As she thanked the audi ence in a soft voice for the support they had given her family, listeners cried out, “Thank you!” and “We love you!” Diallo said that after sitting rnrougn nearly a month or trial testimony and ar guments, she still could not understand why her son died. The defense argument that her son’s actions had drawn the officers’ attention and led them to believe he had a gun caused her particular anguish, she said. “The crime that they committed is to consider my son suspicious,” she said. “That was the first crime.... Uur whole lamily are wondering why they said that everything that happened was Amadou’s fault. Because we know he was a nice kid.” Jurors have avoided the media since the verdict, but juror Thomas Knowles, who answered the door at his upstate home, said the group was consider ing issuing a statement or speaking publicly on Sun ~ Protests seepage 4 ‘Nothing can replace Amadou ... but if his cause can help clarify this situation ... so that the people can live in peace, I think that would be a great honor for us.’ Kadiatou Diallo mother of Amadou Diallo Bush 'regrets' BJU visit by Glen Johnson Associated Press Austin, Texas — In a letter to the leader of New York’s Catholics, Gov. George W. Bush says his campaign ap pearance at a South Carolina school with anti-Catholic views was a “missed op portunity causing needless offense, which I deeply regret.” Bush has come under steady criticism for his Feb. 2 visit to Bob Jones Uni versity, a Christian school whose leaders have criticized the Pope and labeled the Catholic church a “Satanic cult.” Opponents have assailed Bush for not using the appearance to denounce those views and the school’s ban on interracial dating. Bush spoke about his conservatism. In a Feb. 25 letter to Cardinal John O’Connor of New York, leader of the archdiocese’s 2.4 million Roman Catholics, Bush stated his “profound re spect” for the Catholic Church and said the criticism of him is unfair and un founded. “On reflection, I should have been more clear in disassociating myself from < anti-Catholic sentiments and racial prej udice,” Bush said in the letter, which his campaign released Sunday. “It was a missed opportunity causing needless of fense, which I deeply regret.” The letter marked an abrupt reversal for Bush, who only last week said: “I don’t make any apologies for what I do in the campaign.” At a news conference before departing for Seattle, Bush said he had a change of heart after thinking about impressions of himself as an anti-Catholic “that just are not true.” “I regret not using the opportunity to speak out against the policies,” he said. “My job is to lead the nation. My job is to convince people to follow me. This was a missed opportunity and I regret it.” Bush faced questions about the speech almost as soon as he finished it. In re sponse, he has repeatedly stated his op position to the ban on interracial dating and the comments of the school’s lead ers. Bush also has noted that a brother and sister-in-law are Catholic. Bush’s appearance also was the sub ject of telephone calls that GOP presi dential rival Sen. John McCain now ac knowledges his campaign placed to Michi gan voters before the primary there last Tuesday. But McCain stood by past as sertions that the calls did not say Bush was a bigot. That didn’t satisfy Bush, however, who contended that McCain did not speak the truth when he initially denied knowl edge of the calls that informing voters about the university visit. “This is a man who says he talks the straight talk. This is a man who talks the parsed talked,” Bush said. “The cam paign of pitting one religion against an other has got to end. Senator McCain, when given the chance to set the record straight on who did it, couldn’t come to the truth.” In a television interview Sunday, Mc Cain acknowledged approving the calls. He said he and members of his staff originally denied they were being made because the questions they were asked about them mischaracterized the calls as labeling Bush a bigot. o A Corner of Gervais St. 2 ^ iiQ and Gadsden o J B ^ Across from Jillians o o Gets you: 715 Gervais St. § o 799-2020 o 0 0 § *an eye exam & 0 0 *2 six packs of disposables 0 0 Of Dr. C. Earl Loftis Jr. 2 0 *an eye exam & Office hours: M-Th 9am-6pm 0 j * 1 pair of daily wear lenses Fri. 9am-4pm | >afe Spring Break Week 200Q Happy Hour at the Blatt presents: Learn how to... r} . w ujs 4 esday, February 29 in the Aerobic StudfeB 5:30-7:00pm ^4 1^ ^The workshop will be open to all students, facjmffi and staff with a USC-Columbia ID. c x Sponsored by Campus Recreation Fitness Programs Duke president admits error in keeping quiet about death Associated Press Durham — Duke University Presi dent Nan Keohane said she erred by not speaking out sooner about the al cohol-related death of a student in No vember and pledged to work harder to change the campus perception of drink ing. Raheem Bath died Nov. 27, fol lowing a drinking binge that led to a form of pneumonia, officials said. But the university didn’t publicly ac knowledge the cause until Feb. 17, which was wrong, she said. “In retrospect, we should liave been more aggressive in our response at the outset,” Keohane said Friday in an emotional speech to the Duke Board ofTrustees. “We should have talked openly about this in December, bringing home the shocking import of this death as a cautionary tale for others, while the emotional wounds were still veiy fresh, if we wanted the death to have maxi mum impact as a lesson for others,” she said. Bath, 20, of Narberth, Pa., con tracted “aspiration pneumonia” days after drinking heavily, passing out and inhaling his own vomit. A second stu dent was hospitalized recently for the , same condition, but survived. The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper, fitst reported the cause of Bath’s death. Keohane said Bath’s death'has brought her and the Duke communi ty to a painful conclusion: “Wfe have a serious problem at Duke around binge drinking, and we need to do something serious about it” Keohane did begin speaking about the death to groups of parents and alum ni in early January, but she did not men tion Bath by name at that time. “I still think that was the right ap proach,” she said. Keohane added that she missed an opportunity to use Iter office as a “bul ly pulpit” for students. News Briefs ■ U.S. Pacific commander arrives in Beijing BEIJING (AP)—The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific will discuss the sensi tive issue of Taiwan and work on repair ing ties with the Chinese military during a visit to China that began Sunday. ' Adm. Dennis Blair’s five-day visit comes amid rising tensions over Taiwan following Beijing’s threat to use force against the island if it continues to put off negotiations about reunification. China issued the threat in a govern ment policy paper on Feb. 21 and cre ated a stir in Taiwan, which has resisted communist rule since the two sides split amid civil war 51 years ago. Blair’s trip, which includes three days of meetings with Chinese officials, also is part of efforts to restore military ties that China severed in May, after U.S. war planes hit the Chinese Embassy in Yu goslavia during the war over Kosovo. Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai, a deputy chief of the general staff of the People’s Liberation Army, will be among the Chi nese representatives that Blair will meet in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday. He then travels south to meet with Chinese military officials Wednesday in the cen tral city of Nanjing and visit a military fa cility. ■ Colorado governor says S.C. must decide flag issue DENVER (AP) - Colorado Gov. Bill Owens says South Carolina residents, not outsiders, should decide if the Confed erate flag flies over their state’s Capitol. The Republican governor told high school students Thursday that South Car olina residents might not like the mon ument Colorado has honoring Union sol diers either, but that is something for Colorado residents to decide, not those in South Carolina. Owens said he agreed with Texas Gov. George W. Bush on the flag issue. Owens is backing Bush for president. Owens said South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges came up with a good compro mise proposal to take the flag off the Capi tol and put it on a Civil War monument. 0 Carolina Student Judicial Council is accepting applications for new members. ^ ^ Applications are available in the Student Government Office, Office of Student Judicial Programs, and the University Housing Office. =—Applications are due March 3 to the Student Government Office. CSJC consists of graduate and undergraduate students whose purpose is to uphold the ideals of the Carolina Creed by hearing and deciding outcomes for students alleged with violations of the Student Code of Conduct. - - i Unique Design with Lofts! Fully Furnished Apartment Homes! Individual Leases Available! Lots of Free Parking! Awesome Location! Walk to Campus! ms? WHmillY’S AT USC w . (803) 254-7801