Op-ed

This is our own Steve Rukavina's family. Ourcondolences Steve to you and your family.

NenadBach 

Editor-in-Chief &a friend

By The Associated Press

EVELETH, Minn. - Sen. Paul Wellstone, his wife, daughter and aides were flying here Friday to pay respects to the relatives of Martin "Benny" Rukavina, a longtime Democratic activist and union member who died Tuesday.

Relatives and friends who attended Rukavina's funeral learned a short time after it finished Friday afternoon that Wellstone's plane crashed just before it reached Eveleth.

"My family feels terrible about this," said Rukavina's son Thomas, a state representative.

He said he was stunned by the news delivered at an already emotional time. "It's a sad day for Minnesota. A sad day for the people of Minnesota," Rukavina said. "I knew I was trying to bury my dad and my mind was occupied with that tragedy too."

Later Friday, Rukavina went to the DFL campaign headquarters in Eveleth and spoke further about the Wellstones.

"Paul and Sheila really did love the Iron Range," he said. "I know he was going to get re-elected and work hard to make sure the injustices by corporate America would be addressed."

Iron Rangers mourn 'our champion'
Richard Meryhew and Randy Furst
Star Tribune

EVELETH, MINN. -- He wasn't one of them, but he might as well have been.

From the moment Paul Wellstone set foot on the Iron Range in his first racefor U.S. Senate in 1990 to the morning he died in a wooded marsh southeastof town, the people of this region embraced him.

"When Paul ran his first campaign, he was just adopted as a Ranger," saidJim Gorski, a DFL party coordinator in Eveleth. "Everybody liked him. He wasa fighter for the person who carried the lunch pail. He was our champion."

In the snow and drizzle of an overcast afternoon, the blue-collar miners andsteelworkers of the Iron Range mourned their loss of the U.S. senator whomthey viewed not only as their champion, but as their friend.

"It's just been a day of disbelief," said Jerry Fallos, who represents theformer union workers at the LTV steel plant, which shut down last year.

Wellstone and his wife, Sheila, and daughter, Marcia Markuson, were amongeight people who died Friday when their plane crashed within 2 miles of theEveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport. They were on their way to a funeral forthe father of state Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, a friend of Wellstone's.

Rukavina said that he was unaware of the tragedy until the funeral forBennie Rukavina was over and he was waiting in a limousine to take thefamily to the cemetery for a private burial. The priest asked him to stepout of the limousine and told him that there had been a plane crash and thatWellstone might be aboard. "It's kind of surreal," Rukavina said Fridaynight.

He said not only had his father, who had helped organize Iron Rangesteelworkers in the 1930s, died, but now Wellstone. "We lost two men ofintegrity," Rukavina said.

News at the airport

Lisa Pattni, northern Minnesota director for the Wellstone campaign, hadgone to the airport to pick up the Wellstone party for the funeral. When twopolice cars showed up after a long wait, she knew something was wrong. "Iwas thinking someone had a heart attack on the plane," she said.

It wasn't until a local fire chief and airport pilot who had flown over thecrash site told her what they had seen that she knew it was worse.

She called a friend, Ann Olson, who also worked on the Wellstone campaign.

"She said, 'Start praying,' " Olson said. "I said 'Why?' She said 'There's aplane down and it's burning and we think it's theirs.' "

Said Pattni, "We were hoping there was a chance that someone would come outof the plane, but the indications we got were it didn't look good."

Not long after, she called Wellstone's campaign manager in St. Paul to givehim the bad news.

Word quickly spread in the adjoining towns of Eveleth and Virginia, whichare about 175 miles from the Twin Cities. They talked about it at localbanks, at the coffee shops and down at J and M Mechanics, an auto repairshop in Eveleth.

"We can't replace Paul and Sheila," said Dennis Frazier, a social workerfrom nearby Zim, who had planned to help distribute Wellstone campaignliterature in Hibbing, Chisholm and Virginia this weekend.

Larry Asbach, retired publisher of the Mesabi Daily News, was eating dinnerat the Sawmill Saloon in Virginia. "It's almost like hearing that Kennedywas assassinated," he said. "This is really Wellstone country up here. He'sbeen up here often."

He came to Fourth of July parades and local high school graduations.

He campaigned for local politicians and shook hands with local steelworkers.

Along the way he won their trust, and their vote.

Hugs, tears and pizza

Fallos and about a dozen former LTV steelworkers had planned to put up about250 lawn signs for Wellstone this weekend. Friday night, they had planned towork the phones on the senator's behalf.

But all that changed Friday morning.

That he'd take time out of a tight and tense Senate campaign to attendBennie Rukavina's funeral was typical Wellstone.

"This probably wouldn't have happened to a less compassionate man," Fallossaid. "In the middle of a campaign, he took the time to attend the funeralof the father of one of his friends."

By early afternoon, 35 to 40 people gathered at the DFL headquarters at theOld Rustic Rock restaurant in Eveleth to console one another and share intheir grief.

They hugged, they cried, they tried to laugh. By late in the day, exhaustionset in, and the numbers dwindled.

A single red rose was placed atop several pizza boxes, most of which stayedunopened.

When prime-time TV news flashed scenes of a younger Wellstone campaigning in1990, they giggled.

When the TV flashed footage of the senator next to his wife, they gasped andcried some more.

With crumpled tissues, they wiped away tears. By late in the day, theyslowly made their way home.

Fallos, of Gilbert, Minn., and Gorski were among the few to stay, answeringcalls and talking about better days.

Fallos met Wellstone when LTV management announced in May 2000 that theplant was going to close. That afternoon, Wellstone called and talked withFallos on the phone.

Two days later, Wellstone was on the Range talking to the workers whose jobs and incomes were in jeopardy.

"We spent a lot of time together," Fallos said. "Whenever he was in the area he'd call me to see what I was doing. Or he'd call me to see if I'd be interested in picking him up at the airport."

Added Gorski, "He'll always be there for us. And he'll always be a Ranger."

By DAVE ANDERSON

READING a book is seldom associated with the leisure activities of a National Basketball Association player, or any professional athlete for that matter. Some surely curl up with a good book occasionally, but for too many others, the only thing they ever seem to read is a stat sheet, a road-trip itinerary or instructions on how to play a new video game.But before their season begins in 10 days, every N.B.A. player, if not every pro athlete, should be required to read "The Punch" (Little Brown, $29.95), John Feinstein's chilling book about how a 1977 fight in a Lakers-Rockets game changed the lives of Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich.

If current N.B.A. players read this book, maybe they'll realize the potential physical and psychological consequences of the fights that occur in N.B.A. games every so often between these huge, powerful athletes. Maybe they'll realize that they could be haunted for the rest of their lives by one punch, as Washington and Tomjanovich have been.

"I began to think," Washington said, "my actual name was Kermit Washington, who in December of 1977 threw the punch that almost killed Rudy Tomjanovich."

Tomjanovich's face was so disfigured that he wasn't allowed to look at himself in a mirror until three days after he arrived in Centinela Hospital in Los Angeles.

"I really did look like the Elephant Man," Tomjanovich said, referring to a motion picture character. "My face was swollen like a melon, about twice its normal size."

In the N.B.A. last season, eight fights prompted fines and suspensions. Eight too many. In one, Shaquille O'Neal, the 7-foot-1 center who is listed by the Lakers at 325 pounds, swung at 7-foot, 261-pound Brad Miller, now with the Pacers. Fortunately, Shaq missed. Even so, he was fined $15,000 and suspended for three games.

But suppose Shaq had connected? Suppose any of the huge players in those fights had connected as solidly as Washington did with Tomjanovich?

On Dec. 9, 1977, the 6-8, 220-pound All-Star forward known as Rudy T, who is now the Rockets' coach, wasn't even part of the original scuffle between Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the Rockets' 7-foot center, Kevin Kunnert. As the Lakers' enforcer, the 6-8, 222-pound Washington threw a punch at Kunnert while Tomjanovich, who had been upcourt on a fast break, turned and hurried to break up the fight, his hands at his side.

"I saw a blur of red," Washington said, alluding to Tomjanovich's uniform. "I grew up in the streets. You learn there that if you're in a fight and someone is coming up behind you, you swing first and ask questions later."

Washington's straight right hand crashed under Tomjanovich's nose. Falling backward, his head bounced off the Forum's hardwood floor. He was unconscious for two to three minutes. Walking off the court, he remembered seeing Jerry West, then the Lakers coach, staring at his bloodied face.

"It was the kind of look you see when someone can't believe what they're seeing," Tomjanovich recalled. "I remember thinking I must look pretty bad, but I had no idea how bad."

At Centinela Hospital, Dr. Paul Toffel, a head-trauma specialist, realized that the top of Tomjanovich's skull was actually an inch off-line from the lower portion. Tomjanovich also had a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Spinal fluid," Toffel told him. "You're leaking spinal fluid from your brain. We're going to get you up to the intensive care unit and we're going to hope your brain capsule seals very soon."

It did, but Tomjanovich didn't play again until the next season. Washington was fined $10,000, then the maximum, and suspended for 60 days. Traded to Boston, he moved on to San Diego and Portland, where he thrived as a popular rebounder. He retired with career averages of 9.3 points and 8.4 rebounds.

Washington has tried coaching, done a sports radio talk show, opened and closed a restaurant, and created Project Contact to help African youngsters, but he lost some $500,000. And his marriage broke up.

"He needed so much reinforcement," his ex-wife, Pat Carter, said. "He needed to know he was someone, that he wasn't the little kid who grew up homeless in his own home. Then later he needed to know that he wasn't just the guy who threw the awful punch."

Tomjanovich stopped playing with career averages of 17.4 points and 8 rebounds. As a coach, he guided the Rockets to both the 1994 and 1995 N.B.A. titles; he also coached the gold-medal United States Olympic team at the 2000 Summer Games in Australia.

He collected $2 million from the Lakers in a lawsuit settlement. But soon after the punch, he began having the same nightmare every so often: in the gradual darkness of trying to go to sleep, he felt he was dying, then he would wake up with a start.

Almost always, his wife, Sophie, realized, the nightmare occurred after he had been drinking. In 1997, he entered an alcohol-abuse treatment center in Arizona. Now in his 12th season as the Rockets' coach, he's a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

But every so often, a stranger will look at Rudy T and say, "You're the guy that got nailed with the punch."

Maybe if enough N.B.A. players read "The Punch," there won't be another punch like it. Maybe there won't be a little girl somewhere saying what 4-year-old Nichole Tomjanovich did in 1977 when her father finally got home from the hospital.

"Daddy," she asked, "why did the man do that to your face?"

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) -- Bruno Planinsek, one of Croatia's early industrial designers, has died. He was 72.

Planinsek began designing industrial products in early 1950s and was one of Croatia's most prominent designers at the time.

His coffee mixer, ``MAKI,'' designed in 1956, is among the holdings of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Planinsek received several Croatian awards for his detergent boxes, lamps and interior designs. His designs also were presented across Europe at the time.

The state-run news agency, HINA, reported that Planinsek died Sunday and was buried Friday. No cause of death was given.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

EVELETH, Minn. (AP) -- Sen. Paul Wellstone, an outspoken liberal Democrat locked in a re-election battle considered key to control of the Senate, was killed in a plane crash Friday in northern Minnesota along with his wife, daughter and five others.

The twin-engine private plane went down in freezing rain and light snow near the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, about 175 miles north of Minneapolis. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Wellstone, a 58-year-old former college professor and one of the foremost liberals on Capitol Hill, was on his way to the funeral of the father of a state lawmaker.

"It's just terrible. Say a prayer," said Lisa Pattni, an aide who was at the crash site.

All eight people aboard the 11-seat King Air A-100 were killed, said Greg Martin, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Campaign officials confirmed the victims also included Wellstone's wife, Sheila, and daughter, Marcia; three campaign staff members; and two pilots.

Wellstone's death just 11 days before Election Day threw the battle for the Senate into uncharted territory. Before Friday, Democrats held control by a single seat.

State officials were researching whether Wellstone's name would remain on the ballot, or whether independent Gov. Jesse Ventura or state Democrats could appoint a replacement to serve in the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress between Election Day and the arrival of new members.

Ventura declined comment on what he would do about the ballot, saying only that he would not appoint himself to serve the rest of Wellstone's term.

State law allows the governor to fill a vacant Senate seat, but also allows a political party to appoint a replacement in the event of a death of a nominee. The name must be offered within seven days of the death and at least four days before an election.

Shaken Democratic officials wouldn't immediately comment on possible replacements, though party spokesman Bill Amberg said he was confident the party would be allowed to offer a replacement. Rebecca Yanisch, the state trade commissioner who ran for Senate in 2000, indicated she might be interested.

Two years ago, when Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan was killed in a plane crash three weeks before Election Day while running for the Senate, his name remained on the ballot and beat Republican Sen. John Ashcroft.

Carnahan's widow, Jean, was appointed to serve in his place and is now seeking election.

Wellstone was up against Republican Norm Coleman, a former mayor of St. Paul and President Bush's choice to challenge the two-term incumbent.

A Coleman spokesman, Ben Whitney, said Friday: "Our prayers are with the Wellstone family. That's all I'm going to say."

Wellstone was flying to Virginia, Minn., to attend the funeral of Martin Rukavina, father of Minnesota state Sen. Tom Rukavina.

The plane's pilots called the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport to get clearance for landing when they were about seven miles out, and they reported no problems, said Gary Ulman, who was on duty at the small airport at the time.

When the plane didn't land, Ulman said he took off in another plane to search for it. About two miles southeast of the airport, he saw smoke.

"The wreckage was scattered and fully engulfed in flames. Just looking at it, it would take a miracle to survive it," he said.

Ventura said flags at state buildings would be flown at half-staff through Nov. 5. In Texas, Bush called Wellstone "a man of deep convictions."

"He was a plainspoken fellow who did his best for his state and for his country," the president said. "May the good Lord bless those who grieve."

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., called Wellstone the "soul of the Senate. He was one of the most noble and courageous men I have ever known."

Before running for office, Wellstone was a professor and community organizer who fused the two passions in a course he taught at Carleton College in Northfield called "Social Movements and Grassroots Organizing."

He stunned the political establishment by knocking off Republican Sen. Rudy Boschwitz with a longshot bid for office in 1990. Afterward, left-leaning Mother Jones magazine called him "the first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. Senate."

Wellstone had pledged to stay for no more than two terms, but last year, he announced he would be running again. In February, he announced he had been diagnosed with a mild form of multiple sclerosis but he said it wouldn't stop his campaign.

"For me, no stress would be stress," Wellstone said at the time. "The stress of this campaign is what I want to do, to be perfectly honest. And the stress of being a senator is what I want to do."

State Democratic Party chairman Mike Erlandson said Wellstone for years had been "the heartbeat" of the party.

"He took pride every day in fighting on behalf of the people of Minnesota," he said.

Liberal to the end, Wellstone cast his vote earlier this month against legislation to authorize the use of force in Iraq -- the only Democrat in a competitive race to go against Bush on the issue.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan both called Wellstone a champion of peace.

"He was a profoundly decent man, a man of principle, a man of conscience," Annan said.

"Wellstone stood up for the little guy," added AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "He was tireless and unapologetic for championing the rights of working men and women -- even when he stood alone, and he often did."

Wellstone also had two sons, David and Mark, and six grandchildren.

The King Air turboprop was made by Raytheon Corp. with Pratt & Whitney engines, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The owner was listed as Beech Transportation Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn., and the plane had been leased by Wellstone.

By Mohira Suyarkulova

I saw the barren land of Vrlika, white rocks and the houses made of those white stones among which snakes and lizards dwell. I saw men and women dancing. . . in silence. There was no sound of music, no singing, just the rhythm created by people's stepping on the ground heavily. The moment was magic and mystical, for I have never seen anything as gracious and festive in my life?I saw that image as I was listening to Andrea describing the home village of her mother.

Andrea Rutnik is 22 years old. She was born in Osijek, Croatia. Andrea studies philosophy and religion at UVM on the Open Society Institute Undergraduate Exchange Program.

M: Andrea, why did you decide to apply for this program and spend a year of your life living and studying in the US?

A: I wanted to come here to have a different experience. There is so much stuff that you hear about America, both good and bad. So, I wanted to give it a shot and see how I will fit in this big country. I am also trying to get more whole picture of the world. In order to do this it is good to have as many experiences as you can possibly get, so that you can have more knowledge when choosing paths you are going to take in your life.

M: What were the differences, if any, in ways of life that surprised or even shocked you that you found in the US?

A: I was actually more surprised about how many similarities I have found. When you make this big trip to the other part of the world, you expect some kind of shock. So I was looking out for some striking differences but there weren't any! I was surprised about that. The only thing that really shocked me was the washing machines. I am sorry but I have to say this: they suck. Clothes do not get properly washed in them.

M: Then what do you like best about America?

A: I feel that diversity here is more allowed than in Croatia. You can choose your own way and don't have to be anxious whether people will accept it or not. That's what I like.

M: Tell me more about your hometown, please.

A: Osijek is a town of about 100,000 in population, situated in the plain, on the right side of River Drava. There was a settlement there in Roman times and part of the town goes back to Middle Ages. Many old buildings that are preserved make the atmosphere of Osijek romantic. People there are kind-hearted and somewhat melancholic.

Even when they are having fun they like to add some heartbreaking songs that draw tears to one's face. I think that it is a place where you can experience the beauty and the depth of sorrow. There is something in that surroundings that make it perfect for the times when you want to open your heart and cry on someone's shoulder. (Chuckle)

M: There was a war in Croatia; what was your experience of it?

A: The war began in summer 1991. I was 11 years old then.

My hometown Osijek was besieged from three sides and because of the constant bombarding, people had to live for many months in the basements of their houses and buildings. During that time I was in Osijek only for month or two.

My parents did not want my brother and me to be there so my father brought us to Germany and we stayed there with relatives for two months. Later we went with my mother to Slovenia and then to the seaside of Croatia, because there wasn't any shooting there. It was hard to understand why these things were happening.

I feared, not for my life, but for my parents' lives, because at that stage of your life the parents are really important to you and losing them was the worst thing I could imagine. I just wanted this nightmare to end as soon as possible so that we could return to our normal life. I wished I could go to school and see my friends again.

The most appalling thing I remember about that time is the fall of Vukovar, the town nearby to Osijek. It was completely surrounded for several months and bombed constantly.

There were only civilians in the city, many of them children, woman and old people that haven't seen the daylight for a long time. Its citizens, not skilled solders, were defending it and Vukovar wouldn't surrender. This gave hope to everyone. Sitting down in the basement we would regularly listen to a radio reports from the surrounded city. There was one reporter in the basement of Vukovars hospital who was sending out news, telling us every day that even though the things are really tough, the city stands. All counted that help from the outside will be coming soon.

People expected UN to intervene and save innocent civilians' lives. It was in November and I was in exile in Slovenia when I have heard that Vukovar had fallen.

First pictures from the hero city after months of bombarding came - Vukovar ruined completely, not a single building left standing, pale sad faces of people, walking in the rows surrounded only by gray ruins. I cried the whole day after I have seen it in the news. I was a child so disappointed in the world community who did nothing to stop this from happening?

M: To what extent do you think things have improved so far? Is there still inter-ethnic hostility?

A: No. People realized that we have to move on, learn to compromise.

We were friends before and I believe that we'll be friends again. The hearts of the people everywhere are the same. They all basically wish just to have a nice place under the sky that they can call a home, and loving people around them.

It is politics that divide them, putting in their minds prejudges and ideas about all this differences.

People are nad(ve and often more willing to listen what the politicians say, than what their heart is saying.

The war is an ugly thing and those who try to convince you that it can bring good are liars. It brings so much destruction, pain and sadness that it is better to have decades of negotiations if necessary, than few months of the war.

We should all decide for our self whether we want to live in the world of peace, and if so we should demand from our leaders to be the peacemakers, and not the warriors.

I have read somewhere recently "When warriors are leaders, then you will have war". We must raise leaders of peace.