Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 1

SPORTS HEALTH Area pitchers picked Two local stars chosen in major league amateur draft, 1 Rekindling the flame Experts offer advice for couples whose sex lives have fizzled, 1 enoGa OURNAL KRT TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2004 FINAL EDITION WWW.RGJ.COM fifiPFMK "ay be higher JJ I outside metro; outside metro area Sundowner to rise again as condos Reno planners give initial OK for new 377-unit Belvedere Towers 3 it 5 VL I 1 StSi By Thomas J. Walsh lit iH DOWNTOWN: The prospective new owner of the former Sundowner hotel-casino, which closed last year, plans to turn the facility into 377 condominiums along with retail businesses. The Reno Planning Commission has approved the plan. Reno Gazette-Journal file 5f 5 slftl I IT- Wall's to "central business," and had to submit tentative plans for the project. CFA Architects of Reno helped represent Barmand and supply the plans.

Final approval must come from Reno City Council at its June 23 meeting. Angela Fuss, an associate planner for CFA, said only minor modifications will be made to the exterior of the buildings. Barmand said that he'd like to incorporate a belvedere an overhanging, open-air arbor into the roof of the existing porte-cochere on Arlington Avenue. The condominiums will be geared toward the price range See SUNDOWNER on 6A Siavash Barmand, the San Francisco-based developer who plans to close the purchase in July, said Monday he is in talks with restaurateurs, coffee shop owners and grocery operators to open a business on the first floor of the complex. He said he also spoke to representatives of nearby Saint Mary's Regional Medi cal Center for some sort of hospital use of the ground floor, but that seems unlikely.

The property's new name will be the Belvedere Towers, named after the Marin County town where Barmand lives. "We hope to be able to move people in within six to nine months," Barmand said. Barmand needed a zoning change from "hotel-casino" RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL The prospective new owner of the closed Sundowner Hotel Casino at Fourth Street and Arlington Avenue has won Reno Planning Commission approval to turn the building into 377 condominiums that could open within a year. p.r?h I -VI 'It was just her spirit and her joy She just really touched us. Lori Carpenter, who is adopting 5-year-old Shedelande of Haiti After more than a year of waiting, Haitian girl to join her new family iy.

(Hi fe limp. ODD 1 GtaBS) Provided by Lori Carpenter Reduction of one-third by 2005: Defense capabilities will remain strong, Pentagon officials say. RGJ.C0M POLL Is it a mistake to reduce U.S. troop strength in South Korea by a third? Vote at R6J.comnews. 1 V-W ill J' pCT; By Esther Schrader and Barbara Demick LOS ANGELES TIMES WASHINGTON The Pentagon said Monday it planned to withdraw a third of the 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea, auguring the biggest change to the U.S.

military presence in South Korea in three decades. The plan to pull out 12,500 troops by tne end of 2005 will force the South to shoulder more responsibility for defending itself against any aggressionby North Korea, U.S. defense officials said. A U.S. delegation in Seoul, led by Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Lawless, told South Koreans the troop reduction would not affect U.S.

defense capabilities in the region. Defense officials said the Pentagon's operational plan for the defense of South Korea has long relied on advanced air ana naval capabilities than on ground troops. The U.S. troop cut would include 3,600 soldiers from the 2nd Brigade of the Army's 2nd Infantry Division already earmarked for redeployment this summer from the Korean demilitarized zone to Iraq, Lawless said. The Pentagon is still working out what other units would move.

In a statement, Lawless said consultations were continuing with South Korea. But defense officials acknowledged privately that freeing up thousands of troops in South Korea could See KOREA on 6A Marirfi RnrtoaReno Gazette-Journal NEWEST SISTER: Lori Carpenter, right, poses in front of her children's playhouse last week with her adopted daughters Hannah, 1 5, center and Thuy, 8, who is holding a picture of Shedelande, a Haitian who is scheduled to arrive in the United States on Saturday. Adoption support group plans welcome at airport Car bombings kill U.S. soldier, Iraqis in northern cities tive mother of a 3-year-old girl from China and a 6-year-old girl from Vietnam. The group, which now has about 70 families in Northern Nevada, originally formed six years ago for the parents of children adopted from Asian countries, Cronan said.

"I guess it's becoming an international adoption group now," she said. "The more the merrier. We get together at least once a year to try to keep the cultures of these children alive." See HAITIAN on 6A obtained the needed paperwork from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Office in Reno. "You hardly ever hear anything good about government agencies, but Sen.

(Harry) Reid's office and the (immigration office) were super," she said. "They really went out of their way and expedited everything." Carpenter hopes to bring Shedelande home Saturday. A local support group of families who have adopted children from other countries plans to greet them at the Reno airport, said Patty Cronan, a member of the group and the adop By Lenlta Powers RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL After trying for more than a year to adopt the little girl who captured her heart in Haiti, Lori Carpenter plans to bring 5-year-old Shedelande home to Reno this week. She'll join the five other children Carpenter and her husband, Clay Cooper, already have: two grown sons and the three daughters ages 8 to 15 the couple adopted from Vietnam. The break came last week when Carpenter INSIDE U.N.

resolution: Revised U.S. document gains key support in Europe. Details, 2A 6-8 summit: Bush pushes effort to promote Middle East democracy. Details, 2A Al-Qaida cell warns of attacks on Western airlines By Robert H.Reid ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, Iraa Three car bombs shook the northern Iraqi cities of Baqouba and Mosul today, killing at least 14 Iraqis and one U.S. soldier.

At least 126 people were wounded, including 10 U.S. soldiers. The first blast occurred outside forward operating base War Horse, a U.S. outpost at the former al-Faris air force base 30 miles north of Baghdad. "At rush hour, a suicide bomber blew up his Mitsubishi," said Iraqi police Second Lt.

Ali Hussein. "The blast led to huge damage." The explosion killed at least four Iraqis and one American soldier, the U.S. military and police said. Sixteen Iraqis and 10 American soldiers were wounded. The soldiers were working at a checkpoint iust outside the base when the car blew up, said Maj.

Neal E. O'Brien. The wounded were taken to a U.S. combat hospitals. The explosion occurred yards from the base's main gate, Hussein said.

Hundreds of Iraqis who work at the base were standing in line awaiting security checks, said one of the injurea, Ahmed Abdul-Lanf. See IRAQ on 6A would be limited to Saudi Arabia but suggested that more attacks on Western targets in the kingdom were imminent. It warned that everything associated with "crusaders" the term used by militants for Americans and Europeans including "compounds, See AL-QAIDA on 6A The warning of attacks in "the near future" appeared on a Web site known for posting messages from militants, including the video in which a terror group with al-Qaida links executed Nicholas Berg, an American kidnapped in Iraq. The authenticity of the statement, signed "Al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula," By Mohamed Khalifa ASSOCIATED PRESS CAIRO, Egypt An Internet statement signed by an al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia warned Monday that the terror network will target Western airlines, military bases and residential compounds and told Muslims to stay away from Westerners. Westerners in the Arabian peninsula." "While al-Qaida has demonstrated its ability to attack Westerners, there is no indication from this information that al-Qaida is currently targeting airliners in the United States," Roehrkasse said.

The statement did not specify that airline attacks could not be confirmed. Al-Qaida uses the term "Arabian Peninsula" to refer to Saudi Arabia because it rejects the rule of the Al Saua dynasty, after whom the country is named. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Brian Roehrkasse, said "this particular threat appears to be focused on Weather 67 46 Downtown liquor Reno's City Council is mulling easing a downtown ban on new liquor licenses. Page 1C Life Reno festival Local groups help stage event that has a Christian message for modern times.

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