Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 19

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC tMIWK! -ilUBWWtM IMHWtlHHWlHilJ LOW BIRTH RATE A newborn's risk is higher if his mother is in her late 30s or older. B2. BOLLES CASE Defendant James Robison testifies he took no part in the bomb murder. B5. WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 1, 1993 Editor, Laurie Roberts 271-8222 west service cniet i.i-.i,.

111 in TT TTl oder fire Environmentalists also seek ouster of his assistant E.J.MTI Republic Columnist timber industry. Created "hostile relations" with the environmental community by making "inflammatory and offensive remarks about the environmental community," resulting in "no meaningful contact between the agency and the many environmental groups dedicated to improving conditions." "Alienated" state and federal agencies that have jurisdiction over wildlife on national-forest lands, including Game and Fish departments in Arizona and New Mexico, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Allowed the "theft" of "thousands of board-feet" of timber in the Kaibab National Forest north of the Grand Canyon. A See FOREST SERVICE, pageB4 By Steve Yozwiak The Arizona Republic Environmentalists across Arizona and New Mexico have called for the ouster of the regional head of the U.S.

Forest Service and his assistant, alleging that the two men have allowed timber thefts, racism against Indian firefighters and that the men will block the Clinton administration's planned logging reforms. Thirteen environmental groups representing 30,000 environmentalists in Arizona and New Mexico on Tuesday called for the firing of Regional Forester Larry Henson and Deputy Regional Forester Forest Carpenter. "For many years, Henson and Carpenter Henson said he will meet with Thomas today in Washington, D.C., and request an "impartial evaluation," which he said would show he is following Forest Service policies. Carpenter could not be reached for comment, but Henson said he was disappointed that his assistant also was challenged by the environmentalists. Among the assertions leveled against Henson and Carpenter are that they: Undermined the Endangered Species Act by trying to prevent the listing of the Mexican spotted owl as threatened with extinction.

Environmentalists said Henson suppressed scientific information, furnished misleading data and leaked confidential information to the have conducted a systematic campaign of eliminating old-growth forests, destroying wildlife habitat and punishing their own employees who have dared to speak out," said Charlie Babbitt, president of the Maricopa Audubon Society. Henson, contacted in Albuquerque, denied all of the environmentalists' charges. "You might expect that out of a group of environmentalists," he said. The request was made in a letter to the new chief of the Forest Service, Jack Ward Thomas, a career Forest Service biologist who has played a key role in the protection of the northern spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest. Thomas replaced Dale Robertson last month.

You're right, Brady Bill won't work Town No snow, no fun no way! MA i on stadium tax plan County supervisor seeks public input By David Schwartz The Arizona Republic A Maricopa County supervisor will conduct a Town Hall in Mesa next Tuesday to discuss a controversial proposal to tax residents for a proposed major-league baseball stadium. Supervisor Tom Rawles said the meeting at 7 p.m. at the Dobson Ranch Inn, 1666 S. Dobson Road, will be the first formal opportunity for the public to bat around the idea. 1 "This will give me a chance to educate people on what's going on and let me hear what they have to say about it," Rawles said.

A Rawles aide said about 200 telephone calls and letters have filtered into the office since early November, when Phoenix Suns President Jerry Colan-gelo announced he had in PITCH Paul F. GeroThe Arizona Republic Mike Eddy doesn't let a lack of snow get in the way of fun with his 5, and Tyler Parkinson, 1 3, flying down a hill at Kiwanis Park in "Arizona sled" a piece of cardboard. Eddy sends sons Nicholas, Tempe. Behind them is daughter Kristin Eddy, 8. I've got a confession to make to the many intelligent, gifted and, of course, heavily armed individuals who were opposed to the Brady Bill.

The main argument against the bill, which I've seen hundreds of times on television, heard more times over the telephone, had screamed at me once on the street and received in typed, printed and scribbled form via the U.S. mail including a particularly colorful rendition produced on butcher paper with crayons is: "THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL THE BRADY BILL WILL Now that the shouting, screaming, scribbling and scratching opponents of a national five-day waiting period on the purchase of a handgun have been silenced (temporarily), now that those who said such a law won't work have lost the argument, now that the Brady Bill is law, there's something I'd like to say to the bill's most vociferous opponents: You were absolutely correct. There's no way in hell it will work. I know it. You know it.

President Bill Clinton knows it. Sarah and James Brady know it. Birds know it. Bees know it. Even educated fleas know it.

And not only that, we've known it all along. A great idea The Brady Bill, with its waiting period and background check, is designed to keep criminals, hotheads and mentally unstable persons from being able to pick up a weapon, legally, on the spur of the moment. It's a great idea. I've supported it all along. I've taken every opportunity I had to promote it, as well as to mock those who opposed it.

I did so because the Brady Bill is a common-sense approach to the nation's dangerous obsession with guns. It's straightforward. It's vitally important. And, as I said, it won't work. Not here, anyway.

Not yet. The Brady Bill will become law in 90 days. But let's say it had taken effect immediately after President Clinton signed it Tuesday. And let's say a mentally disturbed individual, an angry husband or a gangbanger was looking for a cash-and-carry place in Phoenix to buy a gun. Would he need to connect with some criminal underground to pick up the weapon the same day he wanted it? No.

Would he have to wait five days or go through a background check to own a gun legally? No. What would he have to do, then? How to buy a gun Exactly what you're doing. He'd have to read the newspaper. Not the whole paper, either. Just the classifieds.

The "Merchandise for sale" category. Under G. Only a phone call away, according to Tuesday's paper, were a Colt Python .357 Magnum an Abilene .44 Magnum a Ruger and plenty of other items that would provide your typical criminal or madman with plenty of bang for his buck. The Brady Bill will do nothing to prevent Arizona residents from selling guns to one another. And they'll be able to do so, legally, with no waiting period, no background check, no registration.

No nothing. The truth is, a single piece of legislation like the Brady Bill is no match for years of legislated insanity. We've known it all along. That's why it won't work. Not well, anyway.

The law will not fail completely. The waiting period will keep some people from buying guns at times when they shouldn't have them. Others will figure out the quick, easy and legal way around the restrictions, though. Let's get real Unless we do something about it. Unless we get the state Legislature and Gov.

J. Fife Symington III to actually back up their promises to curb violence, perhaps ki; frtrninfF tliAtnWrt finVitpn tn.ctatA AREA CODE SPLIT Increasing telephone demand" in Arizona has forced the creation of a new area code. New area code coming Demand for numbers to force phone division in 1995 put together a group to bring a baseball franchise to the Valley. Most callers and writers have said they are opposed to the tax. Colangelo is asking that the five-member Board of Supervisors approve by Dec.

15 a quarter-cent sales tax to fund the $300 million project. However, it would not take effect until a franchise was awarded by major-league owners. Colangelo has said he wants the stadium downtown adjacent to the Suns' America West Arena. Rawles, who took office in January, has said he will vote no on any agreement unless the county gets a fair share of revenues and other considerations in return for levying the tax. To date, there has been no hard bargaining on the proposal as the county gets up to speed on the intricacies of such a deal.

County officials took another step Tuesday by rounding out its negotiating team with the addition of two more attorneys. They ate Thomas Irvine, who will help with land acquisition and environmental issues, and Scott Ruby, who will work on financing. The additions of Irvine and Ruby means that the county has brought in four outside consultants for stadium negotiations. They will be paid by $250,000 put up by Colangelo to defray costs to the county. 520 jFlagstad Prscolt NewRlnt CawCrek Phoenix Buckey Supcistition ft Higley By Frank Turco The Arizona Republic "520" Mark it down.

It's a number you'll need to know, especially if you make many telephone calls in Arizona. West Communications said Tuesday that 520 will become the state's second area code in March 1995. The new area code will serve the state outside metropolitan Phoenix, which will retain Arizona's current "602" designation. The addition of a second area code has become necessary because the telephone company is getting close to running out of prefixes for new telephone numbers. "If we do nothing, we'll run out of assignable prefixes in less than five years," said Jack Ott, administrator of West's numbering plan.

By adding an area code, the company will be able to use all of the existing prefixes, the first three numbers of a customer's seven-digit telephone number, a second time. "Assigning one code to Phoenix and the other to the remainder of the state allows us about 20 more years before we will need to add another area code," Ott said. He said metropolitan Phoenix was chosen to SeeNEW.paeW Yuma 602 The Arizona Republic sued for kee Ding baliDl AS ayer off team JL JL 66 It's just hard to concentrate on your studies when you want to play the game that you came here to play. Steve Hagins By Brent Whiting The Arizona Republic In a different kind of hardball, a blue-chip baseball prospect has sued Arizona State University over its refusal to allow him on the team because of a heart-valve problem. Steve Hagins, 18, claims in his lawsuit that the refusal by ASU athletic officials to let him play constitutes handicap discrimination that's illegal under a 1973 federal law.

Hagins said Tuesday that he filed the suit because he wants to start playing ball. "It's just hard to concentrate on your studies when you want to play the game that you came here to play," he said. The lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court, seeks unspecified monetary damages and an injunction directing ASU to make Hagins "a participating member of its baseball team." Paul Ward, ASU general counsel, said Tuesday that school officials are aware that a lawsuit has been filed but that they have not been served with it. The action also was filed against the Arizona Board of Regents, which directs the state's university system. Hagins, a freshman catcher from Irvine, was one of the most highly regarded recruits nationwide when he signed this year with ASU.

In signing with ASU, Hagins turned down a lucrative offer by the major-league Cleveland Indians, the suit says. The lawsuit claims that the university recruited Hagins with full knowledge of his heart-valve condition. It says he has offered to sign waivers excluding the university and team doctors from any legal liability if he is allowed to play. Attached to the lawsuit is a copy of a Nov. 8 letter by Daniel Dowd, a Phoenix lawyer for ASU, rejecting demands by Joseph Rocco, Hagins' attorney, that Hagins be allowed to participate in the ASU program.

"Refusing to permit Mr. Hagins to needlessly expose himself to the very risk of serious or even fatal injury is clearly more important than winning baseball games," Dowd said. He also said ASU is continuing to honor the financial-aid commitments it made to Hagins when he signed a national letter of intent April 16 to attend ASU. Dowd said that before Hagins signed with the school, ASU officials were informed by Richard LeVine, a California physician who has treated Hagins for 12 years, that Hagins had a moderate problem with an aortic valve, but that he should be allowed to play. However, Dowd said, three other doctors later examined Hagins and determined that because of the severity of the heart-valve problem, Hagins should not engage in competitive athletics.

When informed of the findings by the other doctors, LeVine concluded that Hagins should not participate in baseball and passed his recommendation on to Brent Rich, the ASU team physician, Dowd said. uu gun aqua anu gun jjvijavaaiuu. Until that happens, there really is no way the Brady Bill will work. No way in Hell or in any other place that perpetually sanctions violence and insanity and death. Like, for instance, Arizona.

Suzanne StarrThe Arizona Republic.