General News

Matis Remembered In Newsweek This week's issue of Newsweek recounts the tragic story of LDS Church member Stuart Matis, who struggled with homosexual feelings until his suicide February 25th on the steps of his LDS stake center in California. His suicide came just two weeks before the vote on California's Proposition 22. Matis had, by all accounts, remained celibate, refusing to yield to his homosexual urges.

Gay Marriage Target Of Proposed Nevada Amendment Richard Ziser, chairman of the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage, is hard at work to amend the Nevada Constitution to prove that religion and politics are inseparable bedfellows. Ziser is actively circulating petitions that will amend the constitution during the November vote to include the wording: "Only a marriage between a male and a female person shall be recognized and given effect in this state."

New Zealand Paper Reports Assault Charges Against LDS Missionary Details are not clear in this report that an LDS missionary is accused of assaulting a Levin, New Zealand man on his back doorstep. Peter Munro claims that an LDS missionary that he had earlier turned away from his door returned and assaulted him, claiming that he tried to run them down in his car.

Methodists declare Mormonism outside the Christian tradition The United Methodist Church approved a new policy Wednesday that says Mormonism is not a Christian religion, and requiring converts from the LDS Church to be treated like non-Christians and re-baptized. The body cited the LDS Church's doctrines, saying that its teachings were "radically differing doctrine" in several areas.

Local News

Judge Orders Vandals Of LDS Chapels To Write Book Of Mormon Essay A California Judge has sought to make the punishment for vandalism of an LDS chapel fit the crime. Judge Vilia Sherman, after deciding that the crime was due to the defendant's religious hatred, added a condition to a plea-bargain requiring two men convicted of vandalizing an LDS chapel to write a 2,000 word essay on the Book of Mormon after reading it.

U.S. Gun Zealot Alters U.K. Law More than 25 years after earning a notorious spot in LDS history for the murder of two LDS missionaries, Robert Elmer Kleasen has earned a spot in English history, inducing the country to strengthen its already stringent gun laws. English officals will now do an Interpol background check on any foreign national that wishes to purchase firearms there.

Mormon Indians Denied Catawba Membership The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs turned down the appeal from the Western Catawbas to be included on the Catawba Indian Nation's membership roll. The Western Catawbas are descended from a group of five Catawba families that joined the LDS Church and moved to Utah in the late 1880s.

Sports

LDS BBall All-American Chooses BYU LDS high school basketball sensation Garner Meads has decided to play for BYU, turning down offers from Utah and Stanford, schools which have also hosted star LDS basketball players. Meads, who is 6-foot-9, told the Associated Press that he plans to sign a national letter of intent today. He also said that BYU coach Steve Cleveland "let out a whoop" when Meads told him the news.

RM Returns To NCAA Championship, Maybe Olympics Less than a year after returning from an LDS mission to Argentina, olympic-class diver Tyce Routson is back in top form. Routson, currently a senior at the University of Miami, won his first NCAA championship since returning, and is back in contention for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

LDS Jockey Gets New Honor Russell Baze, one of the winningest jockeys in U.S. history, will be inducted into the San Mateo County Sports Hall of Fame on June 7.

People

LDS Princeton Student To Give Annual Student Sermon LDS student Daniel Holt will give the annual Student Sermon this coming Sunday in the historic Princeton University Chapel. Holt was chosen from among the students that submitted sermons to the office of the University's Dean of Religious Life. Students have been giving the annual sermon in the chapel for more than 10 years.

LDS Mother's Struggle Remembered Carolyn McMurrin, 57, lost her seven-year battle to cancer on May 7, after courageously accepting the drug Herceptin to battle metastatic breast cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in 1998 after Mrs. McMurrin began treatment. Dr. Juliet M. Kral, McMurrin's oncologist, believes the drug extended her life as well as helping many other women. "She was a pioneer in getting on Herceptin trial before it was approved," said Dr. Kral. "Now millions of women around the world are benefiting from the research generated with this new drug."

Profile of LDS Woman Shows Her Courage This article is the moving story of Concord, California, special education assistant Pat Parscal. A busy mom of five children and grandmother of 14, Sister Parscal began working at Ygnacio Valley High School ten years ago.

Arts & Entertainment

'Standing' sales are outstanding The strong sales of President Gordon B. Hinckley's book "Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Your Hearts and Homes," are coming principally from LDS Church members, sales seem to indicate. Random House, which published the book under its Times Books imprint, says it has now printed more than 470,000 copies, more than three times what it initially printed, a clear indication of the unexpected success the title has enjoyed.

'Two-Headed' Opens For Three-Week Run In New York City In "Two-Headed," her first play about Mormons, playwright Julie Jensen takes on horrors within the community in Southern Utah, where her two characters grow up in the wake of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and amid the practice and persecution of polygamy. The play opened yesterday off-Broadway in New York City at the Women's Project Theatre.

LDS Theater Producer's Festival Wins Tony Award LDS theater producer Fred Adams' Utah Shakespearean Festival was awarded a Tony award for the best regional theater in the U.S. for 1999. The award, which will be presented June 4th, validates the 39 years of effort put into making the Festival one of the top Shakespearean festivals worldwide and a major tourist attraction for Southern Utah.

Business

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