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®1 ff Satly (Tar Uppl wu FROM PAGE 1 title of human-rights activist,” he said. “In China, I am a convicted criminal.” A Duke student criticized Wu, asking him why he thought he could break Chi nese law when he was in China. Wu re sponded that although he knowingly broke Chinese law on his fact-gathering trip, his actions amounted to civil disobedience, because the Communist laws are unjust. “Yes, I broke Chinese law, I admit it,” Wu said. “I broke the law like Martin Luther King broke the law. Laws written by the government could be changed and should be changed." Wu claimed that the outcome ofhis trial was arranged because it was only four hours long, and he didn’t get to present his evidence. He said he was told if he did not appear at the sentencing, he would be expelled from the country. Wu called the decision an easy one. “I nod my head and keep a straight face,” Wu said. Wu said he was released because he is a U.S. citizen, but said he wasn’t sure how much the controversy over Hillary Rodham ClintonattendingtheU.N.’sFourth World Conference on Women in Beijing factored into his release. “I do not know if there was a deal,” Wu said. “One day, I am released and the next day, (Clinton) announces she will go.” Wu spoke out to his critics in his speech, especially those who said he was crazy to go back to China in the first place. “I love life, but life without freedom is onlyhalfalife,”Wusaid. “I have a respon sibility to help those who are living only a half-life.” Driven by that responsibility, Wu has made four trips to China since 1985, gath ering information about the conditions of the Chinese prison labor camps. “While I was held in China for 66 days, my family and friends were worried,” he said. “They knew about the cruelties I had suffered from 1960 to 1979.” Wu and his researchers estimate that there are I,oooprison labor camps in China and approximately 8 million people cur Congress Considers Cuts in Funding For Death Row Defense Organization THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COLUMBIA, S.C. Defense attor ney David Brack leaned forward and said softly, “I’ll see you. Take care, man.” Strapped to the prison gurney, condemned killer Sylvester Adams began to call out and sing to Jesus. Poison then flowed into the veins of the mentally retarded black man, ending a 16- year straggle to prevent his Aug. 18 execu tion. The battle’s last five weeks were fought by Brack and a staff of federally funded lawyers. From a crowded Columbia of fice, they frantically tried to overturn Adams’ sentence for strangling a teenage neighbor in 1979. Those lawyers—South Carolina’s Post Conviction Defender Organization are under attack from death penalty support jj “The best plays aren’t always on our court!”- Dean Smith Get your Incredible Student Pass now for just $54 and see six great plays this year including Shakespeare’s shocking tragedy, Othello, which opens September 13! For information, call 962-PLAY . HLDMAKERS Paul Green Theatre, next to Cobb Dorm repertory company Bpfc M v ’ \\\ '' |§ , I ■■r 1 m - nrt%y ll DTH/ ERIK PEREL Wu, who was even-tempered and calm during his speech, gets angry and emotional during a question-and-answer session afterwards. Many members of the audience, most of whom were students, grilled Wu about his experience. rently being held in the camps today. This speech was one of several that Wu will make to thank the people who lobbied for his release. After that, his research will resume. “My research is not only me,” Wu said in response to a question about how he could conduct his work without goingback toChina. “I don’t think that I can never go back to China.” The conditions of Chinese prison came as no surprise to Wu but was different than the time he spent in Communist labor camps. ers. Frustrated at long delays in carrying out executions, they are targeting 20 such defender groups nationwide. Congress is listening. The House has voted to cut all S2O million in federal money for the groups, which represent death row inmates or assist appointed lawyers with final appeals. The Senate has not voted, but even supporters of the defender groups say poli ticians of both parties are against them. The average wait between conviction and execution is a little less than eight years, according to a Justice Department study. Prosecutors partly blame the cen ters, calling them “philosophical think tanks” trying only to stall executions. “The leading cause of death on death row is natural causes.... We’ve got 3,000 people on death row. We are adding 250 STATE & NATIONAL “Was I tortured? Not in a sense that I was not kicked or beaten. I was a special prisoner. But what ifyou were held against your will in a 9-by-12 room? What if you had no privacy? What if you were watched 24 hours a day?” The daily routine involved twice-a-day questionings. “To a point, the interroga tions made life more interesting, deciding how much to tell them,” he said. “The most agonizing was the uncertainty, not knowing what charges the police had against me.” He was not allowed to talkto the guards, people a year, and we’re only executing 30,” says S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon. He sent 11 men to death row when he was a Charleston prosecutor. None has been executed. But supporters of the defender groups including some judges, civil rights orga nizations and the American Bar Associa tion —say appeals may actually take longer and cost more without them. Supporters also say weaker attorneys will be easy prey for prosecutors intent on capital punishment. The lawyers argued unsuccessfully that jurors never learned of Adams’ mental retardation but did hear graphic testimony ofhow Adams, in a bungled 1979 robbery tumed-kidnapping, wrapped a tablecloth around 16-year-old Bryan Chambers’ neck and twisted it until he died. buthetold them stories aboutO.J. Simpson and Rodney King to show them how po lice brutality is not tolerated in the United States. He sang songs like “Love Me Ten der” and read aloud from “The Old Man and the Sea, ” a book by Ernest Hemingway that describes an old man successfully bat tling the elements. “Man is not made for defeat,” Wu said. “Man can be destroyed, but he cannot be defeated,” solutions from your branch office... killko’S. 4JU9 uHIUr ’ WBK Trying to work your schedule around the computer lab on campus can seriously cut into what little free time you have. Of course, you could always buy your own computer... but you’ll be kicking yourself in six months when a new model comes out cheaper. At Kinko’s, we’ve got plenty of computers, software and output devices just waiting for you. And low hourly rental rates. Come in at your convenience, and roll through your projects. 114 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill • (919)967-0790 Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call I -800-743-COPY for locations. Bagel ivith Cream Cheese FREE^ ivith your UNC 1.D.! This Wednesday and Thursday, September 13 & 14, between 6:30 and 10:00 a.m., when you present your current college I.D. card -student, faculty or staff at any Triangle loca- ) tion of Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery, you’ll receive a bagel of your choice with i* ( cream cheese for FREE! It’s our way of in- Rs* * Jj* traducing you to the deliciousness of Bruegger’s Bagel \ Bakery. Ten bagel varieties, baked fresh, everyday. sV, Offer valid 6:30 -10:00 a.m., September 13 & 14 ONLY. Not valid in combination with any other offers. BAKERY* 1 The Bestlhing Round NOW OPEN: Commons at University Place (1831MLK Pkwy. at University Drive) behind South Square Mall, Durham 104 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill 967-5248 • Eastgate Shopping Center, Chapel Hill 968-9507 OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK Fitness Not an Issue for Female Gtadel Applicant BY JENNIFER BRYAN STAFF WRITER While many people believe the physical challenges of The Citadel contributed to Shannon Faulkner’s inability to survive at the military institution, Nancy Mellette, The Citadel’s newest female applicant, is not expected to have those problems. Colonel Frederick J. Kennedy, a Cita del alumnus and president of Oak Ridge Military Academy, where Mellette is cur rently in her senior year, says Mellette is in prime physical condition. “She not only meets the qualifications, she far exceeds them. She is the type of young lady I’d like to see go (to The Citadel),” he said. “The only concern I have is the push-ups.” She is currently training with her school’s athletic department to prepare for the rig ors of The Citadel. According to Mellette’s attorney, Mel issa Burnette, Mellette’s application has been sent to The Citadel. College officials say that it will initially be rejected by the college because Mellette is a woman. Whether Mellette will be considered for admission depends on the resolution of the legal battle she is now initiating. A motion to intervene in the Faulkner v. The Citadel case has been filed by Burnette and, if successful, it will put Mellette’s name on the record as another plaintiff in the case or as a substitute plaintiff for Faulkner. The hearing on the motion is scheduled for Sept. 13. The motion to classify the case as a class-action lawsuit has been heard and argued, but not yet decided. “We hope it (the case) will be decided in time for Nancy to enter her freshman year in the fall of 1996,” Burnette said. “The fight now is over whether the alternative Monday, September 11,1995 program at Converse will be an acceptable substitute for the program at The Citadel. ” Mellette held a press conference Sept. 5. The Associated Press quoted Mellette as saying, “Converse doesn’t offer electrical engineering courses, and I don’t believe that the military instruction they have at Converse would be equal to The Citadel.” Burnette feels the legal precedent set by this case is important. “It was certainly a very successful case. We just need to finish it. She (Faulkner) won. The decision is made. Faulkner now passes the baton on to Mellette like in a relay race,” she said. David Abrams of the public relations office at The Citadel said: “The only rea son why they are filing this motion is to collect legal fees. We’re talking about $4 million inlegal costs here. They will collect about 30 percent of that.” Another issue that has concerned many people is Mellette’s physical condition, considering the controversy over whether Faulkner met The Citadel’s physical re quirements. According to Gary Blackburn, a repre sentative from the Office of Public Affairs at Oak Ridge Military Academy, Mellette is in excellent shape physically. Mellette has received military training at Oak Ridge through the JROTC program. “She is phe nomenal. She’s very tiny, but she’s one tough little lady,” Blackburn said. “I don’t think there is any question that she will be able to meet the physical standards re quired of the males. If she does get in, we’re sure she’ll succeed.” “We ought to have the option if people wantto receive a single-gender education,” Kennedy said. “If it is ruled that single gender education is no longer an option, the people who lose out are the women.” the only time available at the campus computer iab was all day Saturday, there goes the weekend. ■ instead, you went 1 - iT? thursday night and skated through the kinko'r ~— r — tt? —■ Your branch ofhce 5
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 11, 1995, edition 1
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