Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 1

ran ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL USth Year, No. 139 98 Pages in 8 Sections Friday Morning, May 19, 199S Copyright 1995, Journal Publishing Co. FINAL Tornado Country ionise 1 fVf 1 OIi Maid. On Deficit GOP's Budget Guts Spending, Cuts Taxes ft a 11 sJf.Wf;- By Alan Fram THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 1 1 iCurious House Jurors Weigh In Judge Permits Written Questions of Witnesses By Leslie Linthicum JOURNAL STAFF WRITER LAS CRUCES And now, the latest chapter in the Gordon House saga. Call this one "Jurisprudence According to Socrates" or "The Case of the Curious Jury." On the towering wooden desk in the front of the courtroom where state District Judge James Black-roer is hearing the third trial of House for vehicular homicide sits a tall stack of pieces of yellow note paper.

Each represents a question or several questions that one of the 17 jurors including five alternates hearing the case has had during the first four days of testimony. There have been fewer than two dozen witnesses, but jurors have sent forth 50 pieces of paper with a total of 66 questions. Since Blackmer took the somewhat uncommon step of telling jurors at the beginning of the trial that they could send questions to a witness via him if the witness did not answer them fully during the course of the lawyers' questioning, the process has swelled into an almost hourly ritual. The questions have ranged from the pedestrian: "If it was dark that night, how could witnesses know it was a red pickup?" To the arcane: "Does your plus or minus on the chart include the total range of values possible or two standard deviations from the mean?" MORE: See HOUSE on PAGE A2 JV III V- A- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Harrodsburg, firefighters check for victims inside a car that was tossed several hundred yards after a tornado hit McAfee on Thursday. At least 56 tornadoes hit the state, as storms moved across the nation's Midwest and South.

In Tennessee, a twister killed three people. Story, A4. WASHINGTON Triumphant Republicans pushed a historic budget through the House on Thursday that would halt decades of federal deficits, slash spending and bestow the biggest tax break since the Reagan era. By a near party-line vote of 238-193, lawmakers approved a plan they said would wring an unprecedented $1.4 trillion in savings from budgets over the next seven years. Medicare and Medicaid would take the biggest hits and hundreds of other programs would be eliminated, but the sting would be soothed for some by $350 billion worth of tax breaks for families, corporations and investors.

As a down payment, House Republicans later won passage of a bill paring $16.4 billion from previously enacted budgets. That bill to immediately cut $6 billion from housing programs, $2 billion from airport improvements, $1.5 billion from the Environmental Protection Agency and $875 million from school programs passed 235-189. Down the hall, the Senate commenced a weeklong debate on its own $961 billion seven-year budget-balancing measure that for now lacked tax reductions. Passage there was certain, too. But for the moment, the focus was on the House, whose more conservative members have propelled the Republican drive to transform federal priorities.

President Clinton issued a terse statement in which he said the House plan "fails to meet that test" of a disciplined budget that reduces the deficit and reflects American values. "It slashes Medicare to pay for tax cuts for the MORE: See GOP on PAGE A2 City Sues 6TAD' Taggers, Folks Parents of four of the men were named in the lawsuit because the defendants were under 18 when the crimes were committed. Chavez said he hoped the lawsuit would send a message to graffiti vandals and their parents in the case of juveniles that they will be held financially responsible for the damage that occurs. "If you destroy Albuquerque property, MORE: See CITY on PAGE A1 0 months' worth of graffiti cleanup. The lawsuit, which is the first graffiti damage-related case the city has filed in District Court, seeks to recover $56,000 the city spent cleaning up 351 sites.

It also asks for more than $100,000 in punitive costs. "Enough is enough," Mayor Martin Chavez said at a Thursday news conference at Civic Plaza. "We're going to go after everybody. This was just a particularly troublesome group." Suit Seeks $150,000 For Graffiti Cleanup By Andrea Schoellkopf JOURNAL STAFF WRITER The city of Albuquerque filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking more than $150,000 from five young men and most of their parents, hoping to get restitution for 14 Elderly May Feel Pinch GOP Underestimating Effects Of Medicare Plan, Groups Say By Richard Parker JOURNAL WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON Republicans can save more than $250 billion from Medicare in their bid to balance the budget, but it will be much more complicated and difficult for recipients than the GOP has acknowledged so far, accord Slain Mountainair Cop Finally Gets His Day Probe Shows Sandlin's '88 Death a Homicide By Colleen Heild JOURNAL STAFF WRITER it.r;., MV iff' I tfTTT, i N.M. Votes Local lawmakers toe party lines A2 ing to advocates for the elderly and independent health policy experts.

The Senate Budget Committee, led by New Mexico Republican Pete Domenici, has recommended cutting the rate of growth of Medicare spending over the next seven years from 9 percent to 6 SANTA FE Thirteen members of Steve Sandlin's family held their heads high as honor guards seated them before a gray wall listing the names of New Mexico police officers killed in the line of duty. For seven years, they'd fought for this day. They'd railed against those who had discounted Sandlin's May 7, 1988, shooting death as a suicide. They'd pleaded with officials to say publicly what the investigation indicated shortly after the rookie Mountainair police officer was found in uniform, on duty, on the floor of the police station, with a single gunshot wound to the head. On Thursday, "Stephen A.

Sandlin" became the last of 105 names on the state's memorial to officers slain in the line of duty. The memorial is outside the state Law Enforcement Steve Sandlin: "His sacrifice was not in vain" percent, saving $256 billion. The House passed even greater Medicare savings in the budget plan it passed Thursday: about $280 billion. The Senate began debate Thursday and is expected to vote early next week. JANE BERNARD JOURNAL Retired Albuquerque Police Lt.

Tom Sandlin, the father of slain Mountainair patrolman Steve Sandlin, sits with grandson, Robbie, Steve's only child; and Steve's mother, Eileen Sandlin Martin, during Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Services Thursday in Santa Fe. MORE: See CEREMONY on PAGE A1 0 MORE: See ELDERLY on PAGE A2 Great Class' a Class Act 30 Years Later LC Good 'Bewitched' Star Dies Morning I. 1965 Highland Graduates Give '95 Students a Hand -Ml Elizabeth Montgomery, the suburban sorceress who cast spells with a twitch of her nose on TV's "Bewitched," has died of cancer. D14 Reunion Info For more information on the Highland Class of 1 965's reunion and scholarship activities, call Jane Bacchus at 823-6644. Congressional Republicans may find the budget ax is really a two-edged sword.

Weather Sunny. High 79, low 51. D15 Cops Run Wild While slain police officers were being mourned in Washington, D.C., visiting New York City cops went on a drunken rampage. D5 By Phill Casaus JOURNAL STAFF WRITER Albuquerque's Southeast Heights. In the past nine years, more than $4,000 has been raised for the school's newest graduates.

"Actually, I think we were a class like any other class," said Lloyd McPeters, a reunion committee member and, once upon a time, a star Highland athlete. "Quite frankly, the reason this worked was chat we asked (for contributions). Jane Bacchus and Janet Kahn have been instrumental and very interested in doing this from Day One. It speaks to their efforts. "It may sound corny, but when people are giv- en the opportunity not to do something, they won't do it.

But when you give them the opportunity to do something, they will." The idea came about several years ago. Every five years, the Class of '65 plans do-it-them-selves reunions without the help of private companies that handle much of the legwork for such events. Somehow, Bacchus said, Highland's MORE: See HIGHLAND on PAGE A2 High School, 1965: Montgomery other Highland students to follow. With that in mind, the Class of '65 is giving $750 scholarships to three Highland students who will graduate this month. This year's scholarship checks, presented to Marie May, Tu-Thach Ong and Aaron Morrow of the Class of '95, were handed out at an honors assembly Thursday morning.

"It's wonderful that they did it," said Highland Principal Evalynne Hunemuller. This is not the first time the Class of '65 has helped out at Highland, the only high school in It was a time of Ban-Lon shirts and Beatles albums; a seminal era that could be as simple as a first date at the Hiland Theater and as complex as a brewing storm called Vietnam. Jane Mullins Bacchus, Highland Class of '65, remembers it well. So do many of her classmates. "We just had a great class," Bacchus said.

If the graduates of the Class of '65 remember that time and one another with a tender fondness, they also never forgot there would be BRIDGE E35 HAPPENINGS D4 STOCKS B5 BUSINESS B4-7 HOROSCOPE E34 TV B8 CLASSIFIED D6-14 METROPOLITAN D1 VENUE E1-36 COMICS D16 NEW MEXICO 03 WEATHER PIS CROSSWORD E34 SPORTS C1-8 YES B1 DEAR ABBY B2 SPORTSLINE 821-1800 DEATHS D15 WEATHERLINE 821-1111 EDITORIALS A14-15 SF WEATHERLINE 9B8-51S1.