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From earlier in the day 4/14/03.

Mon Jul 14, 2:21 PM ET

BASTIA, Corsica - A bomb ripped through a post office on the troubled French island of Corsica on Monday, injuring three bystanders and badly damaging the building, police said.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack in the northern town of Folelli, but such bombings are often the work of Corsican nationalists fighting for more independence from Paris.

Monday's attack was unusual, however, because it was carried out in the middle of the day and coincided with France's Bastille Day celebrations. Most attacks target empty buildings overnight, and injuries are rare.

"It was made to kill, it's not possible, it makes no sense, it's scandalous," the mayor of Folelli, Jospeh Castelli, told French radio.

The bombing came after a Paris court on Friday handed eight Corsican separatists prison sentences ranging from 15 years to life for their roles in the 1998 killing of the highest official in Corsica.

Nationalist political parties said the tough prison terms signaled vengeance, not justice, and one human rights observer predicted the verdict would set off new violence.

Successive French governments have struggled unsuccessfully to end nearly two decades of low-level separatist violence. In the most recent attempt, the center-right government pitched a proposal that would have granted the Mediterranean island slightly more autonomy.

But the measure, judged by many to be inadequate, was rejected in a referendum a week ago.

A Message from the Principal

The July 14th edition of the Mercury News contains an article reprinted from the Contra Costa Times concerning a member of our faculty, Ms. Kathy Eder. I would like to add some context to this article so we are all clear on Bellarmine’s position and on the project that Ms. Eder is promoting this summer.

Bellarmine College Preparatory has a long history educating young men of conscience, competence, and compassion—men for others. Not by chance, the men and women who work indefatigably with our young men are passionate about their work, competent in their craft, and devout in their faith. In fact, in The Ratio Studiorum of 1599, our founder Saint Ignatius of Loyola makes a point of mentioning his intentions for those who are a part of our schools—“ . . . in their deeds and all actions, let them so conduct themselves that anyone may easily see that they are no less eager in the pursuit of virtue and the integrity of life than on literature and learning.”

Ms. Kathy Eder, a member of our Religious Studies department, is a woman of strong faith and conviction. After much personal reflection and prayer, Ms. Eder decided to embark upon a project during her current summer vacation that has afforded her several opportunities to speak to the news media candidly about her very personal motives for this work. Ms. Eder, as with any other teacher at Bellarmine, does not present her personal opinions as dogma. Rather, she views her current project as something supportive of the recent publications of the U.S. Bishops and the words of the Holy Father concerning the war in Iraq. While we can argue about whether what she has done is respectful of our political leaders or prudent for someone to undertake while our troops are still in danger, she is certainly within her right to express herself as she feels called at this point in her spiritual and political journey. However, she does not express these personal opinions as a spokesperson for Bellarmine; she does so as a person of great faith who feels called to challenge our current political stance. Her message is geared solely toward adults—and as adults we have every right to support her in this cause or politely challenge her perspective. As Ms. Eder states in the article and to me on many occasions, what takes place in the classroom is a separate matter. We are in agreement that these cards and other projects like them would not be appropriate for an academic discussion with adolescents at Bellarmine. The call of the US Bishops for balanced and objective educational programs is one we support wholeheartedly.

As a Catholic Jesuit school, Bellarmine educates our young men in the Catholic faith, a responsibility we take very seriously. However, we cannot spoon feed the gift of faith—we pray for faith, we teach faith, we model faith, we are challenged by faith, we celebrate faith, and we support one another in living faith. We value the words of our founder; we live the Word of God.

Thank you for reading this statement.

Mark L. Pierotti
Principal
mpierotti@bcp.org

U.S. to Pay North Korea for MIA Search

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - The United States will pay North Korea $2.1 million to conduct four searches this summer and fall for remains of American servicemen missing from the Korean War, the Pentagon said Monday.

The deal was struck Saturday after three days of talks in Bangkok, Thailand, between North Korean Col. Gen. Li Chan Bok and an American delegation led by Jerry Jennings, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW-MIA affairs, according to Jennings' spokesman, Larry Greer.

The $2.1 million is reimbursement for services provided by the North Korean government, including the provision of aircraft for potential medical evacuation of U.S. search personnel, Greer said.

The sides agreed that the Americans would conduct two searches, each for a month's duration, at two sites: in the vicinity of the Chongchon River, north of Pyongyang, and in the Chosin Reservoir area, scene of some of the most savage fighting of the war in late November and early December 1950.

The first effort, which would include excavation and repatriation to the United States of any remains found, is to be conducted Aug. 23 to Sept. 23; the second, from Sept. 28 to Oct. 28.

The United States had wanted to get an earlier start, but talks on arrangements broke off after North Korea revealed to a State Department envoy last October that it has a nuclear weapons program.

Several days after that revelation became public, North Korea accused the United States of pursuing a hostile policy that "seriously impedes the exhumation of remains of the war dead, including the investigation and confirmation of the burial places."

More than 8,000 U.S. servicemen are listed as unaccounted for from the Korean War, which ended 50 years ago this month.

North Korea for the first time allowed U.S. forensics experts to search for U.S. remains in 1996. Since then, there have been 25 recovery operations on North Korean territory, resulting in the recovery of 178 remains believed to be those of American servicemen. Of the 178, only 14 have been positively identified as Americans.

Last year, three recovery operations resulted in the recovery of 26 sets of remains. That compares with 45 recovered in 2001 and 65 in 2000.

Greer, the spokesman, said that in addition to working out arrangements for excavations at battlefield sites, the American delegation in Bangkok repeated its request for access to four American servicemen who the Army says deserted their U.S. units in South Korea in the 1960s and are living in North Korea. In the past the North Koreans have said the four do not want to talk to U.S. authorities, and no agreement was reached during last week's talks, Greer said.

On the Net:

Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/