The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 12, 1999 - 7 Former stripper speaks out on UF fraternity rape By Corinne Simon Independent Florida Alligator GAINESVILLE, Fla. (U-WIRE) - As the speaker slowly stepped up to the podium in front of the Downtown Community Plaza, about 75 men and women froze in their places, anticipat- ir>hat the 27-year-old expectant mother would say after more than seven months of silence. Brushing back a strand of her black, shoulder- length hair that fell out of place from the light breeze blowing Saturday afternoon, Lisa Gier King recounted what she called a "massive cover-up by the Alachua County law enforce- ment and judicial system." "On the night of Feb. 26, 1 was raped in the Delta Chi fraternity house on the University of Florida campus," she said, her voice faltering. "What happened to me that night was bad eri&h, but the events that followed almost ruined m lifec King, who said she became a stripper so she could have time to take rasses at Santa Fe Community Collnge aiid care for hcr two ehil- dren, reealledj the treatinent The received after COnlIActing Universityv police about the night. "1 was informed tmat the rapist had been ques- tioned and released," she said, her voice becon- ing more powerful. "No photos were taken of the rapist or his obvious iries " Delt Chi members hired King to be an exot- ic dancer for a Big Brothe rttle Brother initia- tion ritual, where she was videotaped dancing nude and simulating sex acts with fraternity brother. and ledes. King said she was frced later that night to have sex with 22-ycar-od Delta C'hi member Mike Yahraus whie cOiher brothers, specifically 22-year-old Anthony M arzu o, watched and videotaped. King continued her story as people gathered around, seemingly horrified by her memories. Yahraus "said I took drugs, and I was forced to take a dru- test, but he didn't" she said angrily. The detective "made it obvious that she believed the rapist. They said I wasted their time." King and her attorney Craig DeThomasis have maintained that the videotape, which even- tually was used as evidence against King, was directed and edited by the Delta Chi members. She said she was arrested too quickly for fil- ing a false police report after making her rape accusation. The charge was later dropped after she pleaded guilty to operating an escort service without a license. "The UPD's lack of training of how to handle a serious crime is evident," she said. "Law enforcement and the judicial system failed me and failed to do what was right and just" Candi Churchill, president of the UF and SFCC Campus NOW, said the rally was a culmi- nation of the seven-month process to bring the alleged rapists to justice. "Lisa was arrested because she came for- ward," said Churchill, who, with the support of other NOW members, has been protesting State Attorney Rod Smith's actions on crimes against women. They "know this kind of injustice hap- pens all of the time" Recently, Churchill said, NOW members sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stating Smith violated several ethical standards set by the American Bar Association and the Florida Bar Association, including prosecution misconduct, intimidation of a witness or victim, and selective prosecution and enforcement. Spencer Mlann, spokesperson for the State Attorney's Office. sai NOW'S allegations that Smith did not handle the case appropriately are not backed by facts. "This stuff about Rod Smith being a sexist is absolutely ludicrous," Mann said Sunday. "Before he got there, there was no sex crimes unit. There was no victim advocacy program in place." "The head of our sex crimes unit, Jeanne Singer, was awarded prosecutor of the year by the governor for her work," he said, and added that another employee received an award for excellence in victim advocacy. "You don't get that by being soft on sex crimes. The facts have to speak for themselves. Our main concern is that this misrepresentation of facts by NOW will give victims more hesitation in reporting their crimes to us." Internet plan (MUSCS concerns WASHINGTON (AP) - Engineers designing a new way to send informa- tion across the Internet want to include a unique serial number from each per- sonal computer within every parcel of da d tics warn that, if adopted, the move could potentially strip away nonymity and security enjoyed by tens f millions of home computer users ho dial into America Online Inc. and ther Internet providers via traditional elephone lines. The debate illustrates the unintended otential consequences of design deci- ions aimed at ensuring the Internet's 'tasty into the 21st Century. re proposal by the Internet ngineering Task Force, an internation- 1 standards body, would include the nique serial number for each comput- r's network connection hardware as art of its expanded new Internet pro- ocol address. These "IP" addresses, planted within -mails and all other information flow- ng across the Internet, must be as ni as telephone numbers to distin- uieach computer on the global net- ork and to guide the billions of bits nd bytes flowing among them. The IETF's top engineers acknow- dge some implications for online pri- acy, but "I think the privacy concerns re overrated," said Fred Baker, task orce's chair. But some privacy experts said they ere appalled that IETF engineers oi consider the idea. The new dd s scheme, called "IPv6," would ot become widely used for years but timately would affect every Internet er. Critics warned that commercial nternet sites, which already routinely ecord IP addresses, could begin to cor- elate these embedded serial numbers gainst a consumer's name, address and ther personal details, from clothing ize to political affiliation. A task force itself will ultimately :ci e whether to include the identi- ing numbers in the new IP address- s. The timing on that decision is nclear, Baker said the task force is also envi- ioning ways to configure Internet evices manually so addresses won't ontain the sensitive numbers. "Those folks concerned about the rivacy issue could use this (alternate) eclue" said Thomas Narten, an BM software engineer working with he IETF. Most home computer users current- ly are assigned a different IP address ach time they connect to the Internet hrough a telephone line, which ffords some extra security and nonymity. It's akin to a person using a different phone number every day to shield their identity and avoid prank phj calls. Tootinacontr assoon U. South Florida to challenge jury ruling By Joe Humphrey The Oracle TAMPA, Fla. (U-WIRE) - University of South Florida officials have challenged a federal jury's ruling to award a former university employee $1.5 million for racial discrimination and retaliation. The university asked U.S. Magistrate Thomas Wilson to overturn the ruling Friday, a day after a jury ruled former student recruiter and counselor Sharon Starkes was denied a pay raise because of her race. The jury also ruled USF was retaliating for her complaints when it fired her in 1997. Both parties agreed that Starkes is not eligible to receive $1.5 million, due to federal regulations that limit liability to $300,000 per count. That means USF could still be accountable for S600,000 in damages, according to Starkes' attorney Howard Shifke. But USF spokesperson Todd Simmons said no money should be due. "There was no discrimination in this case and no retaliation," he said. "This was a case of a raise being requested and not being granted, and subsequent to that, an employee abandoning her job." Not so, Shifke said. According to him, Starkes, an African-American, took on extra duties at work and unsuccessfully lobbied for a raise. "She was told there's no money in the budget" Shifke said. "But three other people in student affairs, none of them black, all got special pay rais- es." Starkes began work at USF in June 1990 as an academic counselor. By mid-1995. according to Shifke, Starkes bi taken on extra duties and asked for the raise, which was denied. In October 1995, Starkes filed a com- plaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 'claiming racial dis- crimination. She filed another EEOC compliant in April 1998. Wilson is expected to render a ruling in the next several weeks, and both parties said they are con- fident of a win. GUATEMALA Continued from Page 1 The accomplishment was bittersweet, Bartow said, because people continue to suffer from "institutionalized violence" and a non-exis- tence justice system. The speech was sponsored jointly by the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, the cam- pus chapter of Amnesty International -the Latino Task Force, and the Native American Students Association. Maryanne Perrone, a member of the' Interfaith Council, said the speech was a fitting event for Indigenous People's Day. "Most of the people who suffered from the civil war in Guatemala were indigenous people - Mayan people," Perrone said, adding that after seeing Bartow speak at the National Action Day in Washington D.C. last May, she knew students should hear Bartow's story. LSA first-year student Jen Richardson attended the event and said she became interested in human rights after a trip to South America that exposed some of the horrible conditions people lived in. "I've heard a lot of personal stories and I want- ed to hear hers," Richardson said. "It was really incredible." MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily David Schall, a University aum sits oside the School of Music on North Campus yesterday afternoon and pr #tices his ntrabassoon. f 1 10en Frenchcef restaurn tax. The Washington Post PARIS - Riot police teargassed a mob of egg-throwing French chefs yesterday in a singng reply o demands that the government lift the onerous 20.6 pere tax on restaurant meals. More than a thousand protesters wearing white aprons and the tall white toque hats o t he classc French kitchen marched to the French National Assembly t o pr:s their case with French legislators. Well-provisioned chefs immediately began pClting helmet- clad security forces with eggs and assorted vegetables. After sustaining seven or eight minutes of messy abuse, police calmly fired teargas ito te prously jolly crowd. Coughing and crying as he stumbled from the melee, a chef from Brittany named Victor spluttered: "See what their answer is? See bow much they care about the little guys?" In a season of mounting European anger at the eco- nomic power and genetic m nAme of th e Amrican food industry, many of the protestig cos carried signs denouncing the inequality ol the rearant tax code: 20.6 for classic French rsauran , ut5.5 percent for fast-food and take-oout estalishments such as McDonald's - today's vorldwide symbol o choice for American commercial imperilsm. r 't AP PHOTO/Oa iy French Chefs and restaurant owners demonstrate to demand lower value taxes on prepared food yesterday in Paris Restaurant owners and kitchen chefs argue that the tax pol- icy subsidizes massive global food businesses and under- mines the traditional French restaurateur. A restaurant tab in France is swollen by more than a third when the tax and obligatory service charge are included. Some of the protesters yesterday claimed that a reduc- tion in the tax, to 10 or 12 percent, could create thou- sands of jobs in the hurting restaurant business. The finance ministry has said such a move could cost the government more than $3 billion in lost revenue. After they were dispersed, the demonstrating chefs regrouped a few blocks away to select representatives to deliver petitions to the French parliament, which is due to begin debating the 2000 budget next week. "Tell them thanks for the welcome," shouted one man wearing a toque. DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHERS WANTED * WE'RE LOOKING FOR AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO WANT TO TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES! . $25 FOR EVERY PHOTO THAT IS ACCEPTED AND OTHER GREAT INCENTIVES " DIGITAL CAMERA PROVIDED FOR NON-OWNERS FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT ANNA AT (734) 395-9905 OR VIA EMAIL TO ANNAQLIGHTSURF.COM. EARN $1 O.OO$20.OO/hr Do you have a car? Jimmy John'S, WVe wont t e st ana weeo te 9estr Apply at 600 Packard St. Call 741-9200 Ask for Todd or Brad! Or 929 E. Ann St. Call 913-9200 Ask for Dan or Mike! City, federal goverr ments to spend more on AIDS stricken inority communities I a Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES - With an unprecedented gather- ing of women infected by the AIDS virus under way in Los Angeles, city and federal officials said yester- day that millions of additional dollars will be spent in minority communities fighting AIDS. Los Angeles Times story reporting that the city was sitting on S 17 milion while minority communities are being hit hard by an AIDS epidemic that has created, among other problems. a shortage of housing for HIV- positive patiens. Wanda Jones depmy assistant secretary for health HIV data, that in many communities, particularly among young people, the cases are almost evenly distributed between men and women." Cathy Elliott-Lopez said she got tested when she became suspicious about symptoms she saw in her boyfriend, including a chronic cough, sores, skin rash- The University of Michigan Department of Dermatology is currently offering a new