Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 1

LEADING NKWSFAPKR ALBUQUERQ OURI 108th Year, No. 366 74 Pages In 7 Sections Saturday Morning, December 31, 1988 Copyright 1988, Journal Publishing Co. Daily 350 Sunday SI resident Federal Budget Robs Future Fewer will work as more retire MAL 1 Ji I fj Number of workers par Social Security beneficiarv 0 Resist To Pay for Excess of Past In 1960: 5.1 workers By Charles Green KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS In 2030: 2.0 workers ubpoena i I-7OT" 1 -1 1 1 Reagan, Bush Named As North Witnesses quately preparing for the spending strains that will occur when the baby boom generation retires and qualifies for Social Security and Medicare. Some analysts estimate that the burdens future taxpayers will shoulder to keep those programs operating could be more than double the present level. "Unless we exert leadership today, we face the equivalent of a real political revolution in this country in terms of these issues," said Rep.

Leon Panetta, new chairman of the House Budget Committee. "There will be a backlash to the elderly. There will be a backlash to where our resources have gone. And unless we're wise enough now to try to redistribute some of those resources, I think the country is going to pay a heavy price in the future." Instead of dealing with the issues MORE: See BUDGET on PAGE A3 Spending Policies May Shortchange Nation's Youth Analysis ment is only partially paying for children's programs that are recognized as cost-effective. The result may be a generation ill-equipped to enter adulthood.

The government is piling up debt that will sap the resources of today's children when they become taxpayers. Upwards of 15 percent of their tax dollars may go toward paying the interest on the unpaid bills of their elders. Government leaders are not ade WASHINGTON There is a dirty little secret about the federal budget that will be released Jan. 9: It robs the piggy banks of the nation's children to pay for the excesses of their parents and grandparents. In ways that even some political leaders don't fully understand, the government's spending policies are shortchanging a generation of children and jeopardizing their future.

The problem isn't unique to the new budget; it has been developing for years. But government officials are just beginning to grasp the dangers of burdening one generation with the liabilities of its predecessors. Here are some of the dimensions of the problem: Despite persistently high rates of childhood poverty, the federal govern- THE WASHINGTON POST WASHINGTON President Reagan and Presidentelect George Bush were subpoenaed Friday by lawyers for former White House aide Oliver North to testify as defense witnesses at his trial on criminal charges stemming from the Iran-Contra affair. Justice Department and White House officials said they will fight the subpoenas, which the White House said raise "significant legal and constitutional ques 1960 1980 2000 2020 SOURCE: Social Security Administration records and projections Knight-Ridder Tribune NewsJUDY TREIBLE tions." "There's no question in my mind that there will be resistance to them (subpoenas)," said one senior Justice Department official. "There is a fairly extensive body of law that indicates that sitting presidents are not available for personal testimony in a courtroom." No sitting president ever has testified in court in a criminal trial.

Justice De v--. ij lJi Mailboxes Explode In NE Area Postal Service, Police Seek Help in Catching Bombers By Johanna King Wiv partment officials said I wn i imiMira nriw i Reaaan's legal situation may JOURNAL STAFF WRITER -9 be weaker because he will be Oliver North a former president by the time of the scheduled start of North's trial Jan. 31. "Bush would have a stronger claim to avoid testifying personally but an ex-president's claim would be strong also but for different reasons," possibly executive privilege and national security, one official said. A White House official said that Reagan, who had been informed in advance of the subpoena, viewed the effort as an attempt to prod him into pardoning North before he leaves office.

The official, speaking under conditions of anonymity, said that Reagan's view that the legal process should run its course has not changed. North, charged with conspiracy to defraud the government, theft and several other felonies for his role in the Iran-Contra affair, is scheduled to stand trial 11 days after Reagan leaves office and Bush succeeds him. But significant pretrial legal hurdles involving the use of classified government documents remain to be cleared, and could delay the start of the trial. Sources said that officials from the State Department and the National Security Agency also have received subpoenas from North's attorneys. Robert Ross executive assistant to Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, said North's lawyers contacted White House Counsel Arthur Culvahouse this week to inform him that they planned to subpoena Reagan and Bush.

"It was agreed that the attorney MORE: See PRESIDENT on PAGE A5 Melvyn Vinyard was watching television one night last week when he heard a tremendous explosion outside his Northeast Heights home. He stuck his head out the front door, but saw nothing unusual. When he went to fetch his newspaper the next morning, however, he discovered chunks of his custom-made mailbox scattered on the sidewalk and street. A scorched pipe bomb lay about four feet from the rubble. Vinyard had become the latest victim in a recent string of mailbox bombings.

Five sturdy, expensive mailboxes in the upper middle-class far Northeast Heights were blown up in December, triggering a campaign by the Postal Inspector's Office and Albuquerque police to find the culprits responsible. Postal inspector Robert Stephens said so far no one has been near the mailboxes when the bombs, detonated by lighted fuses, have gone off late at night. The makeshift bombs have been cartridges filled with carbon dioxide gas JIM THOMPSON JOURNAL Melvyn Vinyard retrieves mail from what is left of his mailbox. and pipe bombs. Although no one has generated by the explosives," Stephens the street.

Kan Vmt Ctanhanc coiH tho hnmhc arc coiM "Tn nno inctanrp hrirlf U7Piphin(J dangerous, especially when planted in more than 200 pounds were hurled Te mailboxes have been made of rial such as bricks. Vinyard found pieces of his $500 MORE: See MAILBOX on PAGE A5 "A tremendous amount of force can be mailbox in his neighbor's yard across 1 i -VjV A'- 4 Report Says Bomb Loaded in Frankfurt Investigators Pinpoint Explosion Location THE ASSOCIATED PRESS village of Lockerbie on Dec. 21 less than an hour after taking off from Heathrow, killing all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground. The account said the hunt for those responsible is now centered in Frankfurt "where a Palestinian LONDON Investigators have told Scottish police that the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 was put aboard in Frankfurt, West Germany, The Times of London reported today. terrorist cell is known to have been The report said investigators are .4 Legislative Pensions 'Did Help' By John Yaeger OF THE JOURNAL'S CAPITOL BUREAU SANTA FE W.C.

Wheatley, who served 18 years in the New Mexico Legislature, learned Friday that his relatively small pension would stop coming each month to his Clayton home. "It doesn't look so good this morning," Wheatley said. "It was such a small amount, but it did help every month when it came." The money, S200 to $300 each month, might not seem like much to a lot of people, including some of the former legislators who receive similar payments. However, for Wheatley, 86, every dollar helps. A District Court judge ruled Thursday that the retirement plan legislators established for themselves in the early 1960s is unconstitutional.

Attorney General Hal Stratton filed a lawsuit to halt the practice. The last retirement checks were mailed to former legislators Thursday. The Public Employees' Retirement Association, which manages the fund, may appeal the court ruling. Still undecided is whether retired lawmakers will be required to pay back the money they already have received something Wheatley and some of his collegues said MORE: See EX-LEGISLATOR on PAGE A2 JIM THOMPSON JOURNAL operating for more than 18 months." It said the cell is known to be part of Ahmed Jibril's hardline Popular Front for the Liberation of Command and to have carried out two bombing attacks on U.S. military trains that serve Frankfurt.

The paper did not identify by name the source of its information. It said Scottish police officers MORE: See HEPORT on PAGE A5 certain that luggage loaded on Flight 103 in Frankfurt and flown to London's Heathrow airport was transferred on arrival at Heathrow to the forward cargo hold of the doomed Boeing 747. It said scientists have established that the bomb exploded in that hold, causing the jumbo jet to disintegrate. Flight 103 originated in Frankfurt, changed planes at Heathrow and continued to New York. The jet crashed in the Scottish Wlio's the Loudest? Troy Rakes, 5, and Travis Berger, 8, roar back at a vocal Dimetrodon Friday at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.

The animated beast sometimes startles visitors to the museum's lobby when it lets loose with a primitive bellow. The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Admission is free on New Year's Day.

SATURDAY Arts Center Draws Worldwide Interest tali i.fo-iif By Ellen Marks Good Morning Ollie North subpoenaed Reagan and Bush. What if they contra-dict his story? Weather Fair and a little warmer. Winds southwest 15 mph or JOURNAL STAFF WRITER less. High lower 40s. Low near 19.

F7. quarter-cent sales tax that began a year ago. Large out-of-town architectural firms have started contacting local companies to create teams that can submit proposals to design the performing arts center, said Susan Benjamin, a marketing consultant to three Albuquerque engineering firms. Both parties could benefit from a team approach because the national firm gets credit for local affiliation and the Albu- MORE; See ARTS on PAGE A3 deputy chief administrative officer. "They're people who have either contacted us directly or through local firms," Weaks said Friday.

Alan Clark, director of the city's Library and Cultural Affairs Department, said he has fielded dozens of calls from firms across the United States. The New Mexico Performing Arts Center is expected to include two small theaters and a large auditorium that can seat up to 2,000. It will be built mostly with proceeds from a special "quality-of-life" News of Albuquerque's proposed performing arts center has spread around the world, with architects from Europe and South America seeking information about the $64 million building. Inquiries have come in from as far away as Belgium, the Netherlands and South America, even though the city will not be ready to accept proposals until next summer, said Dan Weaks, the city's ACTION LINE C2 DEATHS F7 NEW MEXICO B3 BRIDGE C2 EDITORIALS A10-11 RELIGION A4 BI GNESS D8-12 HAPPENINGS B4 SPORTS D1-7 CloIFIED E4-F6 HOROSCOPE C2 TRENDS C1-a COMICS F8 METROPOLITAN B1 TV C7 CROSSWORD C2 MOVIES D6-7 WEATHER F7.