Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

Inside: CLINTON TO SIGN BILL GIVING FOOD AO TO SUDANESE REBELS A3 TETON COUNTY URGES SHARING TAX TO SUBSIDIZE HOUSING A4 IbC'A If mmm Waiting for an invitationBl WYOMING'S STATF.U IDF NF.W SPAPKR MH MU IS IS Protesters could steal spotlight from WTO Future of U.S. children in jeopardy, report says By DM II) MRK UsocMfc I'rvss 'So many are upset with the WTO because of the expansiveness of its limits on government health and safety lORIKUMOl lltKTOROf PIRIH fllZI VM.I OR TMIX U( II China prepares to join world trade body ill) a tired wheeze, the diMirs slide open to reveal a long, shadow-filled corridor An escort takes you past doens of tiny ollices. occupied by Marxist si holars lost in thought The only sound is her stiletto heels hilling the bare concrete (loot lark Tack Tack Finally, she waves at a Please we CHINA. A 10 the excuse of the environment, consumer safety and workers' rights. The protest groups range from the well-known, like Friends of the Earth and the Humane Society, to the obscure, like the Ruckus Sx iety and Raging Grannies.

Several, including the Sierra Please see WTO, A 10 ire: the World Trade Organization. In hat is shaping up as one of the biggest protest efforts in years, people from more than T()0 organizations have poured into Seattle. They accuse the 13.Hiation. Geneva based world trade body, which is holding its ministerial meeting here this week, of favoring free trade at Russia to allow Chechen More than 500 organizations to demonstrate By STEVEN GRFJIMIOISE 77" Sew York Turn's SEATTLE Thorp will be hundreds of protesters in sea-turtle costumes and stilt walkers dressed as monarch but-terllies. Thousands of people will tie up the downtown during a giant demonstration, and protesters will chain themselves to buildings or scale walls to unfurl banners denouncing the target of their Pilot files lawsuit to get aircraft drawings Claims FAA violated Freedom of Information Act By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE A Jackson man who operates a flying museum filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to force the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to produce copies of mechanical blueprint drawings of a vintage aircraft last manufactured in'lMfi.

Greg derrick, who operates the Yellowstone Aviation Inc. and the Golden Wings Flying Museum in Jackson, claimed he has been trying to get copies of the drawings for two years so he can restore his Fairchild F-45 aircraft (or his personal use. The lawsuit said the drawings were submitted by the manufacturer of the Fairchild F-45 to the FAA in support of the application for a certificate before commercial production of the aircraft. The Fairchild aircraft Model F-45-A, commonly referred to as the received a certificate on April 29, 1936. from the CAA, predecessor of the FAA.

Herrick filed his request Nov. 14, 1997. and the FAA denied it Dec. 12, 1997, on grounds the requested drawings are exempt from public disclosure, because they concern "trade secrets and commercial or Please see DRAWINGS, A10 flee capital forces have relied heavily on during the last Checen war casualties i-minw-Mriiiiiiirrrr -turn-in miiiin irnimiii-winiiiiinii innmrriinf wTiriiiri mmnniimiTirimiini1 iii-iiiiiiiihiiw Maimn urn AP Grinding poverty, violent crime and absent parents are some uf the gravest threats lacing American children, according to a new report by children's advocacy groups and civic organizations "The problems confronting our children truly are challenges to all of America," said Mary F.llen Maxwell, president of the National School Hoards Association. "F.ither we meet these challenges or they will become obstacles to our future." The report is the result ol combined ellorts of the National Schoul Hoards Association, the National League of Cities, Hollywood.

Fla -based Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital and Youth Crime Watch of America, a national nonprofit organization. The report "Ten Critical Threats To America's Children: Warning Signs for the Next Millennium" will be presented today at the National Press Club in Washington during a news conference with representatives Irom each of the organizations. Among the most critical threats against the nation's children are abuse and neglect at home; substance abuse; teen pregnancy; inadequate child care; lack of health care; poor schools; and dangers in the environment. For each problem detailed in the document, there is an accompanying list of solutions. Some solutions prescribed in the report like raising the minimum wage and universal health care are potential political hot-button issues.

Ron Sachs, spokesman for the coalition which put together the report, said the purpose of the report was to bring awareness to the problems, not to advance specific legislation. "What these groups have done is to say there needs to be a national agenda on children's issues," Sachs said. "These problems are not new. They are chronic; they are pervasive." Clarence Anthony, president of the National League of Cities, and mayor of South Ray, said the report includes common sense solutions to problems. "This report is not about gloom and doom it's about the obstacles our children face and embracing a national agenda that will benefit them in the next millennium," Anthony said.

The grouch How nice allowing them to ee Irom their homes. Russian rocket launchers fire near Tolstoy-Yurt, 37 miles north of Grozny on Saturday. Russian air and artillery strikes to avoid the kind of ground and street battles that exacted heavy losses in 1994-1996. Officials say move intended to reduce civilian MIRO ERNEGKi Hi 111 I JING- The elevator lady, sitting mi a stool and duti lung a hot-water Inittle In ward off the Heijing thill, takes nut a long stick and hits the hnllon for a slnw ride up to the nth flour. Destination the i rm ible uf Marxist thought in Inn.

i civilians to of four said they help prevent juvenile crime and that parents want more money spent on open spaces. But then the agreement fades. Only 22 percent support subsidizing urban transit programs to limit air pollution. Only one out of four wants to spend money encourage re-use of pleted industrial areas brownfields). of 10 Americans would spend money to buy more park land.

The Republican pollsters concluded: "Congress can seize upon this moment to respond to the 'call of tin- wild' and deliver something tangible on conservation polic that resonates with deeply held American values Little opposition will he heard Irom any quarter of the population Parks, recreation and open conservation are a recipe for victury." But when Congress adjourned fur the year the week lied re Thanksgiving, bills to designate 'I million acres of wilder ness in I tali, pmtei I the Northern Rockies ecosystem and put the Arctic National Wildlife Refuse (iff limits to oil drilling all had lailed to pass or 266 0550. intention is meant that the of deadly in during the which ended secession. But such Russia is The ferocity has made is to bludgeon submission. military's war, sign of By MICHAEL R. GORDON The New York Times MOSCOW In a fresh sign that the Russian military plans to bombard Grozny into submission, the Russian government said Sunday that it would open a safe passage for desperate civilians to flee the Chechen capital, which has been under a withering assault for days.

While Russian officials said the move was intended to reduce civilian casualties, it also appeared designed to mute Western criticism that Russia was harming its own citizens in Chechnya more than the Islamic militants against whom it has been waging a war in the renegade republic for nine weeks. to "storm" the city. That pledge to reassure the Russian public military will try to avoid the sort street-to-street fighting that resulted thousands of Russian casualties 1994-1996 war in Chechnya, with the republic's de facto statements do not mean that not planning to retake the city. of the attacks in recent days clear that the military's strategy and squeeze the city into Grozny is a symbol of the Russian humiliation during the 1994-1996 and Russia's generals show every wanting it back. Please see CHECHNYA, A 10 It will also give the Russian military an even freer hand to conduct air and artillery strikes against the city after Russian authorities conclude that the civilians there have had their chance to leave.

Since last week, Russian forces have gradually tightened the noose around Grozny, pummeling the city from air with fighter jets as well as on the ground with rockets launched from helicopiers or artillery batteries. The attacks have been the worst on the Chechen capital since the campaign began, with Grozny's mayor asserting that at least 2li() people had been killed. Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev has repeatedly said that his forces have no Environmental debate heats up Uruguayan elections O. TWr 7U-itsfeiiPliIl i i i VT r. smm.

tt it rm VJ li JIM WW JULIO BARCEIOS AP KN ir mt The Community Open Space Bonds bill, defined by the Sierra Club as intended to (orm a federal partnership with local communities to help plan for smart growth and fight urban sprawl, also went nowhere. A highly touted bill to end commercial logging in national forests also faded into oblivion. Congress did appropriate money for the so-called land legacy program to help local, state and federal agencies preserve more open lands. But Congress appropriated only half of the $900 million the Clinton administration said was needed. Vice President Al Gore is eager to campaign against Texas Gov.

George W. Bush on environmental issues "Big polluters" have been "handing over big contributions" to some presidential candidates, he says. He-then suggests there might be a link Ix-tween pollution problems in Texas and political contributions. Texas is the number one state in America in rankings lor four major air pollutants car-lion monoxide, carlxm dioxide, nitrogen oxides and organic coniHunds and numler two Please aeeDl BATE. A 10 By ANN McFEATTERS Bhx'k News Alliance WASHINGTON Americans love the outdoors.

The love it so much that GOP pollsters Frank Luntz and Bob Castro found earlier this year that "unlike virtually every oth- er politi- ANA LYSIS cal issu( raised in Washington or outside the Beltway, parks, playgrounds and open spaces know no boundaries." But inside Washington, the ifs. why's and wherefores of the old argument protecting the environment versus lueling the economy are hotter issues than ever. Again next year they are likely to constitute one ol the sharpest debates among the presidential candidates and between the GOP-contrnlled Congress and the White House Americans tell pollsters of all stripes that they want the outdoors protected for future generations. Nine nut of 10 Americans surveyed told Luntz and Castro that conservation programs help children learn new skills and teamwork, three out Index CALENDAR A2 CLASSIFIED Bfj-10 COMICS 7 CROSSWORD C3 LANDERS BROVPTON 6 LETTERS MOVIES A6 OBITUARIES A5 OPINION AS SPORTS Bl A2 AMOVING 4 .1 A Uruguayan gaucho (cowboy) casts his vote for president at a polling station in Montevideo on Sunday. See story.

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