The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, October 20, 2011 - 5A

Ohio man sets
wild animals
loose from park


48 animals killed,
6 captured in
overnight hunt
ZANESVILLE, Ohio (AP) -
Sheriff's deputies shot nearly 50
wild animals - including 18 rare
Bengal tigers and 17 lions - in a
big-game hunt across the Ohio
countryside yesterday after the
owner of an exotic-animal park
threw their cages open and com-
mitted suicide in what appeared
to be one last act of spite against
his neighbors and police.
As homeowners nervously hid
indoors, officers equipped with
high-powered rifles and shoot-
to-kill orders spread out through
fields and woods to hunt down
about 56 animals that had been
set loose from the Muskingum
County Animal Farm by its
owner, Terry Thompson, before
he shot himself to death Tues-
day.
After an all-night hunt that
t extended into Wednesday after-
noon, 48 animals had been killed
and six captured alive and taken
to the Columbus Zoo, authorities
said. The only animals believed
still on the loose were a wolf and
a monkey.
Those destroyed included
six black bears, two grizzlies,
a baboon and three mountain
lions.
Jack Hanna, TV personal-
ity and former director of the
Columbus Zoo, defended the
sheriff's decision to kill the ani-
mals, but said the deaths of the
Bengal tigers were especially
tragic. There are only about
1,400 of the endangered cats left
in the world, he said.
"When I heard 18 I was still
in disbelief," Hanna said. "The
most magnificent creature in the
entire world, the tiger is."

As the hunt dragged on out-
side of Zanesville, population
25,000, schools closed in the
mostly rural area of farms and
widely spaced homes 55 miles
east of Columbus. Parents were
warned to keep children and
pets indoors. And flashing signs
along highways told motorists,
"Caution exotic animals" and
"Stay in vehicle."
Officers were ordered to kill
the animals instead of trying to
bring them down with tranquil-
izers for fear that those hit with
darts would escape in the dark-
ness and soon regain conscious-
"These animals were on
the move, they were showing
aggressive behavior," Sheriff
Matt Lutz said. "Once the night-
fall hit, our biggest concern was
having these animals roaming."
Lutz said at an afternoon
news conference that the dan-
ger had passed and that people
could move around freely again,
but that the monkey would
probably be shot because it was
believed to be carrying a herpes
disease.
The sheriff would not specu-
late why Thompson killed him-
self and why he left open the
cages and fences at his 73-acre
preserve, dooming the animals
he seemed to love so much.
But Thompson, 62, had had
repeated run-ins with the law
and his neighbors. Lutz said
that the sheriff's office had
received numerous complaints
since 2004 about animals escap-
ing onto neighbors' property,
and that Thompson had been
charged with animal-related
offenses.
John Ellenberger, a neighbor,
speculated that Thompson freed
the animals to get back at neigh-
bors and police. "Nobody much
cared for him," Ellenberger said.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington June 23, 2011 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee..
Cinton visits Kabul to foster
Afghan, Taliban cooperation

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of State to also Afghanistan to its neighbors,
a consideration for a regional
Afghanistan's conference in Istanbul in early
November, U.S. officials said.
ationship with The U.S. sees a political settle-
ment with the Taliban as key to
neighbors ending the war and is pushing
Karzai to lead and expand a rec-
UL, Afghanistan (AP) - onciliation drive, although the
'cretary of State Hillary Taliban has indicated no public
m Clinton is encouraging interest in such a deal. A secret
istan's wary leadership U.S. effort to spark negotiations
p up Taliban reconcilia- earlier this year angered Karzai.
forts and boosting coun- The goal of reconciling fight-
orism cooperation with ers who renounce al-Qaida and
n as the Obama adminis- violence and embrace Afghani-
presses ahead with troop stan's constitution was dealt a
awal plans. major blow with the assassina-
ton arrived in Kabul late tion last month of elder states-
ay on an unannounced man Burhanuddin Rabbani, who
nd was scheduled to see was leading Karzai's outreach.
nt Hamid Karzai, other Rabbani was killed when he
ghan officials and civic greeted a suicide bomber posing
today. Her trip came after as a Taliban emissary bearing a
expressed frustration reconciliation message.
ttempts to woo Taliban A senior U.S. official said
s away from the insurgen- Clinton would emphasize that
lincreasing attacks by the the U.S. remains committed
s-allied, Pakistan-based to Afghan reconciliation and
ni network. understands the difficulties that
:on was also to under- that process has undergone since
he importance of linking the assassination. The official

spoke on condition of anonymity
to preview Clinton's meetings.
Karzai has cited the killing
as a reason why peace efforts
are futile. He lamented recently
that although he wants to con=
tinue, neighboring Pakistan
should be in the lead since the
Taliban high command lives
there. In addition, spectacular
attacks - like one last month on
the U.S. Embassy compound and
the headquarters of the US-led
NATO forces in Kabul - by the
Haqqani network have dented
enthusiasm for the push.
The U.S. official said the
Obama administration is sympa-
thetic to Karzai's desire for Paki-
stan to do more and that Clinton
would talk with Karzai about the
need for Pakistan to put addi-
tional pressure on the Haqqani
network.
Over the weekend, militants
tried but failed to blast their way
into an American base in east-.
ern Afghanistan, striking before
dawn with rocket-propelled gre-
nades and a car bomb. The Tali-
ban claimed responsibility for
the attack in a text message sent

to The Associated Press.
NATO says such spectacular
strikes, many of them perpe-
trated by the Haqqani network,
are actually down from past
years. But assassinations have
increased 60 percent for the
same period with 131 people
killed so far this year.Y
In addition to reconcilia-
tion, Clinton will also be press-
ing the Afghans on reaching a
binding security agreement that
will govern U.S.-Afghanistan
relations after American troops
leave. The U.S. plans to bring
most forces home by 2015 and
intends withdraw the 33,000
additional troops that President
Barack Obama sent to Afghani-
stan in late 2009 by the end of the
fighting season in 2012, 10,000 of
them by the end of this year.
The U.S. hopes to have the
security agreement ready before
an international conference on
Afghanistan's future in early
December. That will be meant as
a signal to Afghanistan and the
region that the U.S. will remain
engaged and involved, according
to the U.S. official.

Congress forms deal
to fix No Child Left

* Behind, then stalls talk Indigenous march reaches Bolivia's capital

Obama frustrated
by delay to overhaul
parts of law
WASHINGTON (AP) - A rare
show of bipartisanship in a divid-
ed Congress produced a deal to
fix an education law long consid-
ered flawed, until a single senator
stalled progress yesterday.
The delay would be short and
would not deter the commit-
tee working on one of the most
significant overhauls of the No
Child Left Behind law since it
was passed in 2002, the chair-
man said.
A little more than an hour into
the hearing by the Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee, Sen. Rand Paul,
R-Ky., used a procedural maneu-
ver to put the brakes on the dis-
cussion.
The renewed focus in Wash-
ington on education comes as the
2012 campaign begins to unfold.
President Barack Obama has
chided Congress for not acting to
revise the law and has told states
they can seek waivers from some
unpopular requirements. He also
has made saving teachers' jobs
an essential part of his $447 bil-
lion jobs plan.
The Senate committee chair-
man, Iowa Democrat Tom
Harkin, and the top Republi-
can, Wyoming's Mike Enzi,
announced a bipartisan bill on
Monday that seeks to give more
control over education to states
and local districts.
At the hearing, Harkin and
Enzi said they were unhappy
with parts of the measure, but
pleased they could achieve a con-
sensus on the issue.
Paul complained that he
wasn't given enough time to
review the more than 800-page
bill and said there haven't been
hearings on the bill this year.
He saidthefederalgovernment
would retain too much control

over education and that students
still would be tested every year.
Paul used a procedural
maneuver to put a halt on the
hearing, citing a rule that says
a committee cannot meet when
the Senate is in session. That rule
typically is waived.
"I think it's a mistake to con-
tinue No Child Left Behind in
any form or fashion," Paul told
the committee.
Harkin said the commit-
tee had hearings last year on
the issue, and that Paul's move
would not deter the committee's
work. The committee is sched-
uled to resume debating the bill
Thursday morning. Harkin said
that the committee will debate
the more than 70 amendments
Paul has indicated he will file.
A coalition of 20 civil rights,
disability rights and business
groups, including the NAACP
and the U.S. Chamber of Com-
merce, expressed criticism of the
overhaul.
They said "states would not
have to set any measurable
achievement and progress targets
or even graduation rate goals"
and huge numbers of low-achiev-
ing kids would slip through the
cracks.
Earlier, the administration
said it wasn't pleased that the bill
left out a requirement on teacher
and principal evaluations.
Obama said last month that
he was so frustrated that Con-
gress hadn't fixed No Child Left
Behind that he was allowing
states that met certain condi-
tions to get around some parts
of the law. At least 39 states,
in addition to the District of
Columbia and Puerto Rico, have
told the Education Department
they intend to seek a waiver.
A GOP-led House committee
has forwarded three bills that
would revise the law. But some of
the more contentious issues, such
as teacher accountability and
effectiveness, have not yet been
addressed.

Indians protest
against highway
through Amazon
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - More
than 1,000 Indians opposing a
jungle highway that they say
will spoil their lands in Boliv-
ia's Amazon drew cheers today
when they paraded into the
world's highest capital after a
63-day protest march.
Their trek, including a failed
attempt by baton-swinging
police to break up the march
two weeks ago, has won wide-
spread sympathy and fueled
charges that leftist President
Evo Morales discriminates
against Bolivia's Amazon-based
MIKI
JAPANESE
RESTAURANT

indigenous groups in favor of the
highland Indians who dominate
his government and the National
Assembly.
"He doesn't care about his
brothers from the lowlands,"
said Fernando Najera, a 35-year-
old Siriono Indian with tattered
sandals who met the protesters
who walked to La Paz from the
Isiboro-Secure nature preserve
that would be crossed by the
proposed highway.
Najera's sentiments are
shared by many lowlands Indi-
ans who believe this, poor
Andean nation's first indigenous
president considers them sec-
ond-class citizens and favors his
own people, the Aymara, and the
other highland group, the Que-
chua.

But after the march ended at
a plaza in central La Paz, march
leader Fernando Vargas and,
Indian legislator Pedro Nuni
said the intent was not to topple
Morales but to find a solution to
their complaints. Communica-
tions Minister Ivan Canelas said
indigenous leaders were con-
sidering meeting with Morales
today.
F Morales has said the highway
is needed to help Bolivia's poorer
regions develop and has accused
the marchers of being dupes of
right-wing groups. Protesters
say the 190-mile (300-kilome-
ter) highway would despoil the
Isiboro-Secure preserve, a park
that is home to 15,000 indig-
enous people.
Frictions among indigenous

communities have been a prob-
lem in Bolivia. About 62 percent
of Bolivians identify them-
selves as indigenous, and the
majority of these are Aymara or
Quechua.
Quechuas and Aymaras have
long migrated from their home
grounds in the arid, wind-swept
highland plains in search of
opportunity in the eastern low-
lands where the earth is fertile
and life is easier.
"The president doesn't respect
the 'Plurinational State' that he
himself promoted, and he wants
to impose on lowlands Indi-
ans the culture and customs of
the Aymara and Quechua," said
Pedro Moye, leaders of CIDOB,
Bolivia's main lowlands indig-
enous federation.

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