Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 1

What's the risk of dining out? Agassi, underdog in 1 Purex final Cloudy HIGH 63 LOW 45 Details, A24 Phoenix's fight for civil rights I Tax tips you can use I Heard Museum changes Best spots to see wildflowers Arizona clinches I UU IU i-- IT'" if 'l nu'll A Final Edition 'ME EPUK $1.50 Copyright 1993, The Arizona Republic Sunday, February 28, 1993 Phoenix, Arizona 103rd year, No. 287 ril 1 Flood's victims blaming bird lovers i' Ltkucc Conservationists fought '50s river-control plan By Mark Shaffer The Arizona Republic ROLL Lorraine Grover, in her homespun way, likes to call it the "clapper-rail flood." "Yep, those little birds sure are important," Grover said sarcastically, looking out her farmhouse's back window, past rows of romaine lettuce to the distant bank of the Gila River. The little brown birds with a touch of white on their sides an endangered species are on the tips of the tongues of most all farm folk in the lower Gila River Valley as the largest flood since before World War II closes in on them. "The environmentalists told us we'd be ruining their (birds') habitat if we tried to do something about flood control on this river," Grover said. "Now, we're the ones fighting for survival." Added John Klingenberg, a Roll farmer, "I hope all the birds and bunny people are happy.

We're sure not." Under a flood-protection plan authorized by Congress in the late 1950s, the construction of Painted Rock Dam was to have been accompanied by a $50 million flood-control channel project downstream. Environmental objections later were the key to a decision not to go ahead with the project, which upon completion would have handled a water flow of 50,000 See VICTIMS, page A2 M--fw- I. CO A flood-protection project in the lower Gila River Valley was scrapped in part because environmentalists feared it would threaten the clapper rail, an endangered species. John SamoraThe Arizona Republic As the Gila River rises, so rises the price of lettuce, a crop threatened by floodwaters. The Arizona Republic Bo mbim lakes U.So sense 7 -1 I i 4 til 1 I I Injection: The no-fuss executioner Death via medicine would be state's 1st By Abraham Kwok The Arizona Republic When triple murderer Don Eugene Harding was suffocated by a cloud of cyanide gas 1 1 months ago, he wasn't the only one who suffered.

A Tucson newspaper reporter who served as a witness sobbed afterward and fell into a weeks-long period of insomnia and illnesses. At least two other witnesses were rendered walking "vegetables" for days. Now, five months after Arizona voters gave lethal injection their stamp of approval, John George Brewer is scheduled to become the first state inmate to experience that form of death which is not expected to leave the same impact on observers. If all goes as planned early Wednesday, Brewer will not involuntarily thrash around, convulse, gasp or moan, all which are reactions to death in the gas chamber. Beyond bestowing a degree of finality and relief to the families of his victims, Harding's execution April 6 galvanized opposition to the harsh See INJECTION, page AW Lawmakers getting mail by the bale Constituent service takes piles of paper By Martin Van Der Werf Republic Washington Bureau WASHINGTON Three or four times a day, the mail is delivered to congressional offices avalanches of constituent supplication, suggestions and outrage.

It can overwhelm the workers assigned to shovel it through the system, but shovel they must. Every writer expects a response, and few offices disappoint them. Other congressional workers burrow into the federal bureaucracy in behalf of average Joes and Janes who had given up hope of ever getting answers to their problems. Nothing takes more time in a congressional office than constituent mail and casework. Most offices estimate that 60 percent or more of total staff time goes to constituent services.

The work ranges from tracking lost Social Security checks and providing See VOTER MAIL, page A2 of sec onty i Fear of terrorism resurfaces By John Aloysius Farrell The Boston Globe WASHINGTON It is too early to tell whether the bombing of the World Trade Center in Now York was a mad aberration or the first sign of a frightening new trend in international terrorism. But one thing was clear immediately: The United States' A J- 4 SA, sense of security seems as rattled by Friday afternoon's explosion as the damaged skyscrapers. Massive news coverage of the explosion left many Americans and their elected officials wondering whether the dangers faced by the residents of Belfast or Medellin might become a part of everyday-life in the United States. Gov. James Florio of New Jersey voiced the worst fears at a news conference in New York on Saturday.

The United States may be "entering into a new chapter" of terrorist activities. Florio said, "one 6 Until now, we were invulnerable. (Since Friday,) we all have that feeling of being violated. New York Gov. Mario Cuomo Richard Drew Reuters The World Trade Center blast left a crater 1 00 feet wide.

Officials on Saturday said they were stunned at the massive destruction. FBI chief hints at link to Balkans Safety concerns slow probe as officials speculate about terrorism PHOENIX HIGH-RISES: Emergency plans in place, A20. we've been free from in the past." "Until now, we were invulnerable," said New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. But after Friday's attack, he said, "we all have that feeling of being violated." "Fear is another weapon that is aimed against you.

That's what terrorists are all about. What they're trying to do is deny you normalcy," Cuomo said. U.S. officials have issued repeated warnings in the past two years that acts of random violence may be regular symptoms of the chaotic post-Cold War era. Secretary of State Warren Christopher told the Senate as much during See NY BOMBING, page A16 Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

However, unsafe conditions, also delaying the search for additional victims, could stymie investigators through the weekend. "Our best guess is there is a high probability it was a bombing, possibly terrorist-related," said James Fox, director of the FBI's Manhattan office. Gov. Mario Cuomo was more blunt: "It looks like a bomb, it smells like a bomb, it probably is a bomb." See WHO'S, page A20 Republic Wire Services NEW YORK Terrorists might have been responsible for a deadly explosion at the World Trade Center, authorities said Saturday, with the FBI director suggesting the blast might be related to troubles in the former Yugoslavia. Officials who reached the point of the explosion Saturday all but confirmed that a bomb caused the huge blast that left five people dead and two missing.

Friday's blast, which rocked the world's second-tallest buildings from their foundations to their sky-high observation decks, also injured more than 1,000 people. Traces of nitrate found at the scene, combined with the amount of heat and damage caused by the noontime blast, strengthened the bomb theory, Police Inside Symington: 'We're fighting for children' i sc His support of innovative programs praised, but stand on spending criticized Saving Arizona's 44 There's absolutely no way the state or government will ever take the place of the family. Gov. Fife Symington ArtsPlus El Astrology H5 Bombeck H5 Books E8 Business Fl Chuckle A2 Clancy Co. A24 Classified CL1 Cook H2 Dear Abby H5 Editorial C4 Gazette 1 Life HI Montini Bl Movies E9 Obituaries B4 Outdoors D9 Perspective CI Prayer A2 Puzzles H4 Real Estate CL1 Sports Dl Sun Living SL1 Travel Tl Weather A24 Willey CI by children's advocates.

"We're not doing well enough for the state in this area (children)," Symington said. But he added, "There's a real danger of a discussion to talk about the state, the state, the state. I like to talk about the family, the family, the family, because there's absolutely no way the state or government will ever take the place of the family. 1 "Money is not a panacea in these things." Politically, Symington is trying to have his cake and eat it, too, critics say. He supports spending more money on some children's programs, saying it would help thousands.

But if anyone accuses him of giving only slight relief See GOVERNOR, page A4 By David Frltze and Mary Jo Pitzl The Arizona Republic Arizona may lie near the bottom of the heap for children's welfare, but Gov. Fife Symington isn't raising his voice in heated concern. Instead of kids, he focuses on lowering taxes, containing government spending and reinforcing the economy. If aiding Arizona's kids particularly the 22 percent who live in poverty is a major motive in these policies, the governor rarely articulates it, preferring to stress the need for shared sacrifice and government diets. But Symington says he is a children's advocate.

The problem is that his message doesn't The Arizona Republic is "adopting" the state's children in a yearlong effort to improve their quality of life. For more information about the project, phone 271-5656 and press access code 7000. You can also write to us at Saving Arizona's Children co The Artona Republic P.O. Box 1950 Phoenix, AZ 85001 always get translated as pro-child because it contradicts the aims of "social-welfare advocates," he said in a recent interview. He has pushed for expanding some social programs over the objections of more conservative legislators and fought for tax cuts opposed Tom StoryThe Arizona Republic The Children's Action Alliance praises Gov.

Fife Symington for opposing Republicans who seek deep cuts in state aid..