UND committee partly done with choir director's case

GRAND FORKS (AP) - A five-member faculty rights committee at the University of North Dakota says its choir director misused a school credit card and didn't adequately supervise students on a trip to Europe.

The director, Anthony Reeves, walked out of the deliberations and collapsed of a seizure Friday night.

A nursing supervisor at Altru Hospital in Grand Forks said Reeves had checked into the hospital but was no longer a patient there Saturday night.

Telephone calls to his home were not returned Saturday.

Reeves, who has been on administrative leave since the fall semester started, contends his homosexuality is an undercurrent in UND's attempt to fire him.

The university says that has nothing to do with it. The school alleges unprofessional conduct - including getting drunk on an overseas choir trip.

Hearings for Reeves hearing started early last month. The committee planned to resume deliberations Sunday.

Recommendations will be sent to UND President Charles Kupchella when the panel is done deliberating.

The committee is considering seven pages of charges against Reeves.

On Friday, the committee couldn't agree on allegations that Reeves hurt recruiting through his treatment of students at UND's annual high school honor choir program and that he misused department funds by purchasing a suit coat for himself and another student. Those issues will be revisited later.

The panel said enough evidence exists to indicate Reeves didn't provide enough guidance and medical attention when a number of students became ill while in Europe.

The committee also said Reeves didn't adequately help a student who'd lost her passport in Europe.

During closing arguments, Reeves' lawyer, Henry Howe, said UND failed to meet its burden of proof and that its evidence is based on "innuendo, hearsay and embellished reporting from someone with an ax to grind."

Police say Minot woman missing nearly three weeks was not abducted

MINOT (AP) - A woman missing nearly three weeks returned home to her family Friday, and officers said she told them she had not been abducted or mistreated.

Sariah Olsen, 27, of Minot, was found Wednesday in Grand Rapids, Minn., after she placed a call to relatives, police said.

Police Lt. Steve Kukowski said Olsen had developed a phone relationship with two men in their early 20s, who drove to Minot to get her on Nov. 25. They took her to Grand Rapids, Minn., he said, and she was found Wednesday with a woman who was a friend of theirs.

Police said Olsen has a learning disability and they worried that she would be vulnerable and confused. They tracked her down in Grand Rapids after she called family members, and interviewed her Friday after she returned home.

"She wasn't restrained," Kukowski said.

The novelty of being away from home may have worn off "like any teenagers that live together," he said.

Police said Olsen was not aware that she was listed as a missing person.

Information in the case is being turned over to the Ward County state's attorney's office for review, Kukowski said. He said Olsen went home Friday with her husband.

Because Olsen was found after she called her family, a $10,000 reward offered for locating her will go back to those who contributed to it, Kukowski said.