i O B S E R V E R Wednesday, March 1, 1995 • Vol. XXVI No. 97 THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING NOTRE DAME AND SAINT MARY'S ND professor advisor to Senate committee H o l y By ETHAN HAYWARD cent of violent crimes are pros­ Assistant News Editor ecuted on the state and local level, and that these crimes are C r o s s Despite the miles that sepa­ “by and large a stale problem.” rate South Bend and Washing­ “We need to refrain from fed­ ton, D C., Notre Dame Associate eralizing a state problem,” says B r o t h e r Professor of Law Jimmy Gurule Gurule, who added that the will be dis­ federal government involving pensing itself in state affairs is “the r e s p e c t s advice to the height of arrogance.” Senate Gurule is also concerned with J u d i c i a r y the possible revision of legisla­ f l a g Committee. tion regarding habeas corpus, Gurule has which currently allows convic­ l i k e been asked tions to be appealed without by Senator lim its on time or number of ap­ Orrin Hatch, Gurule peals. n o n e the co m ­ “This process needs to be re­ mittee chair, to serve as a stricted,” he says. If Gurule had member of an advisory panel his way, there would be a time o t h e r which w ill focus mainly on the limit on filing an appeal, and all Republican crime bill, recently appeals would have to be filed passed by the House of Repre­ simultaneously. sentatives. If enacted, the bill As for the issue of gun con­ The Observer/John Lucas would give $10 billion to local trol, Gurule says he is torn. He governments for appropriation states that the Brady Bill may By PEGGY LENCZEWSKI something very special to every veteran in related to crime prevention or have been “oversold” by the News Writer this country. In addition, it represents all that law enforcement. Democratic Congress that Americans have done, and it is the one sym­ Gurule supports the bill be­ passed it. He says the bill “ may H e’s a familiar sight to those who trav­ bol that does not touch merely one person or cause, he says, it provides more be worth it, but it is not el on Route 33. He sits among any one specific group. It floats over all of us flexibility for the states then the panacea.” American flags and waves at passing and brings people together,” Courtney said. law passed by the Democrati­ Gurule also has plans to cars for a few hours every day, regardless of In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that cally-controlled Congress, reevaluate federal laws con­ the weather, and has done so for the last six burning an American flag is a form of expres­ which stipulates the hiring of cerning civil forfeiture, which years. sive conduct and is therefore protected by the 100,000 more police officers allows the government to seize Brother Edward Courtney, a brother of the First Amendment. Laws forbidding the burn­ nationwide. With the Republi­ property used in the commis­ Congregation of the Holy Cross, lives in ing of the flag and any other potential acts of can version, the states can tai­ sion of a narcotics felony. He Columba Hall on the Notre Dame campus. He desecration against it were accordingly nulli­ lor the funds according to the states that the current statute holds his vigil on Route 33 in silent protest of fied. specific needs of their jurisdic­ is “ deficient on two extremes.” the Supreme Court decision that protects flag The decision stunned Courtney, who feels tions, Gurule says. These extremes regard the burning. that it was simply “a bad decision.” Gurule also says that by de­ “innocent owner” provision, “The flag represents our best selves, and it He said th a fth e Supreme Court is not the termining their own needs, which can render property is the most important symbol that represents highest authority in the land. The people are states w ill be able to formulate immune to seizure if the owner our people,” Courtney said. the highest authority. Eighty percent of the a more comprehensive is unaware or unconsenting of Courtney’s deep respect for the flag stems poeple in this country feel that burning the approach to violent crime, the crimes committed on or from his military service in Europe during flag is wrong, and when the people lose their addressing the areas of with his or her property. World War II, which included participation in voice (in government), something is wrong. ” enforcement, prevention, and The first deficiency is that the invasion of Normandy. education. “ I’ve seen people die for our flag. It means see FLAG / page 4 He pointed out that 90 per­ see GURULE/ page 4 Minority Engineering Program grant to spur curiosity By CHRIS CORRENTE ies show that if students are to computer programming lan­ News Writer become interested in pursuing guage designed by the Mas­ an engineering-related profes­ sachusetts Institute of Tech­ As a young kid, did you ever sion, they must be introduced nology. imagine building a dinosaur out to the field prior to high school. Five undergradute engineer­ of Legos, then watching it come “Fifht and sixth graders have ing students will work at the to life, or building your very a genuine curiosity,” she said. program as group leaders and own rocket and launching it on “It’s not too late to peak their research assistants. Jay an enemy? interest.” Brockman, department of com­ Those dreams will now be­ To be eligible for the pro­ puter science and engineering, come reality for 35 minority gram, students must have and Mark Herro, department of fifth and sixth graders in the scored sixty-five or above on electrical engineering, will also South Bend Community School the Indiana Statewide Testing work with the young students. Corporation (SBCSC), thanks to for Educational Process (ISTEP) The program will be com­ Kent Lebherz, president of or have a ‘B’ average. Also re­ plemented by “Saturday Ameritech Indiana, who pre­ quired is a nomination and let­ Acadamies,” follow-up pro­ sented Notre Dame with a ter of reccommendation by the grams to help build on what the $50,000 check last week to school princpal or a math or students learned over the sum­ fund a summer engineering science teacher. mer. program to excite interest in The four-week program will For Vann-Hamilton, the engineering field. familiarize students w ith seven Ameritech Indiana’s grant Notre Dame was awarded the engineering fields consisting of came after three years of at­ grant after the Minority Engi­ interdicsiplinary lectures and tempts to implement a local neering Program submitted a demonstrations. The students program to introduce young proposal to Ameritech Indiana will also work on two scheduled minority students to engineer­ asking for support to fund a projects: rocket building and ing. She said that the program summer pre-college program. “Lego-Logo.” is the also the culmination of Joy Vann-Hamilton, director The rocket building project the efforts of Virginia Calvin, of the Minority Engineering will require the students to use superintendent of the SBCSC, Program, said she hopes the a computer to guide a rocket and Rosalind Ellison, director summer program will increase along its proper path. They of student service of the SBCSC, the young students’ options in will then use a computer to who have worked with her to­ choosing a future profession. construct and launch their own wards reaching her goal. She wants the students “to rockets. “ I’m an avid supporter of the have familiarity with the (engi­ The second project will have program,” she stated. “I’m neering) field so they can make the students build different excited and grateful to Kent Lebherz, the president of Ameritech Indiana, demonstrates one of a more informed choice.” stuctures with Lego blocks and Ameritech for making a dream the computers that 35 minority grade schoolers can learn about in the Vann-Hamilton claimed stud­ animate them through Logo, a come true.” coming summers at Notre Dame. page 2 The Observer • INSIDE Wednesday, March 1, 1995 » INSIDE COLUMN WORLD AT A GLANCE Flashback Scientists said to have found the ‘Top Quark’ CHICAGO Less than a year after announcing they’d found evi­ to dence of the missing piece of matter essential to under­ The missing link standing the universe, scientists this week are expected Researchers are expected to announce to proclaim the discovery of the elusive “ top quark.” Thursday that they have found the top quark, an Chicago elusive subatomic particle that existed for a The top quark is the name given to the subatomic parti­ billionth of a second at the beginning of time. Recently, thanks to — — cle scientists believe is a basic building block of nature Scientists sought the top quark for 17 years, the generosity of my Cicsely Elliott from the time of the “ big bang.” Scientists’ understand­ believing it was the missing link in the Standard rectress, I was unex- Assistant Viewpoint ing of time and matter would fall apart if the top quark Model, a framework of 12 particles thought to i didn’t exist. form all matter. pectedly blessed w ith a Editor A proton and antiproton collide in the Saturday trip to ----------------------------- If confirmed, the discovery “ would close the loophole, STRUCTURE OF MATTER Fermilab accelerator. Atop quark is the remaining missing link in the standard model,” Particles such as protons and neutrons are Chicago and tickets to see Victor Bikel in the composed of triplets of quarks.