Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 1

Music appreciation goes by name of 'Fred' see spotlight Santa Cruz County rcj Friday FrIv 9. 1996 '-'-U''j't')') oi iooi 111? A Jl A Vi I mm Serving the community since 1856 soaps t-V; I tt Regulatory barriers knocked down i By EDMUND ANDREWS The New York Times WASHINGTON President Clinton on Thursday signed a sweeping bill to overhaul the telecommunications industry, starting a new round of warfare between the giant media and communications companies even before the ink was dry. Scores of industry executives, from Ted Turner to the chairman of crowded into the signing ceremony along with politicians of both parties and the lobbyists, law Highlights of the bill B5 Anti cyber-porn law challenged B5 Look out, here comes the blitz for your dollars By EVAN RAMSTAD The Associated Press NEW YORK Getting through dinner without a call from a phone or cable company could get tougher now that the telecommunications overhaul is law. There are plenty more calls ahead, along with mail offers, broadcast and print ads as local phone, long-distance and cable companies muscle into each other's business. Even though you won't be able to take phone calls on your TV set for years, the advertising blitz has begun.

One ad already says, "the telephone wars are heating up." Other campaigns begin Friday. "It is a nuisance at times." said David Rua. an insurance agent in Pittsburg, Kan. "But that's free American enterprise. If you try to cut that down, that's saying they can't compete." And the driving purpose for the biggest com- Please see THE BLITZ a-tcx MCE Dan CoyroSentinel photos Autumn and friend hang out near 'the cage' in downtown Santa Cruz.

Professional Deadheads find their stock has fallen yers and regulators who will be the foot soldiers in the struggles ahead. "Today, with the stroke of a pen, our laws will catch up with the future," Clinton said, signing a bill that knocks down regulatory barriers and opens up local telephone, long-distance service and cable television to new competition. Within hours of the signing at the Library of Congress, however, civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit challenging provisions that block indecent sexual material from being transmitted over computer networks. Television broadcasters began bracing for a new battle with the Clinton administration over provisions aimed at reducing violence on television. And top executives at local and long-distance telephone companies immediately vowed to start attacking each other's markets within the next 12 months.

chairman and chief executive Robert E. Allen Please see TELECOM BACK PAGE 'People would try to make money just to get into the show or for gas to get to the next spot. Tens of thousands of people lost their Local farmworkers protest methyl bromide legislation ms1 -itt, MEMORIAL: Deadheads, left, hold a memorial for Jerry Garcia in August. By ERIN K. QUIRK Sentinel Staff Writer SIX MONTHS AGO today, the heart of a barefoot, dread-locked and love-lit community stopped beating in a drug-rehab center in Marin County.

For the traveling disciples of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead band, the fat man's death meant much more than the end of a good ride. Garcia's death was a massive layoff for thousands who listed their occupation: Deadhead. Left without a livelihood and too much time on their hands, those patchouli-scented nomads have been forced to ask themselves: What now? Santa Cruz has long provided "the family" with majestic open-air bedrooms at Greyhound Rock; grassy patches in Laurel Park to barter for food, marijuana and clothing; and a reasonably tolerant arena to commune with the patchwork brothers and sisters met along the way. "I didn't care about money. I never needed money in Grateful Dead Land." said a blue-eyed 20-year-old who calls himself Mumbles.

Things have changed in Grateful Dead Land. "It's gettin sick," Mumbles said, sitting on his skateboard in front of "the cage" (also knows as the Hippie Corner at Cathcart and Pacific streets) "I see a lot of kids getting frustrated. I think they are scared about what they are going to do." Mark Anthony Saldana may have been one of those frustrated kids. Arrested last month on charges of armed robbery, Saldana told reporters he did it because By KATHY KREIGER Sentinel staff writer SANTA CRUZ Chanting, sign-carrying farmworkers upset over state Sen. Henry Mello's two methyl bromide bills briefly took over his Santa Cruz office Thursday.

Mello's bills would extend the deadline to study a widely used farm chemical set to be phased out eventually. The bill cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 7-4 vote Thursday. Three dozen demonstrators bearing red United Farm Worker flags took to the streets in protest Thursday afternoon. "Boycott Mello!" they yelled as they marched down Ocean Street and then headed up to Mello's third floor offices in the County Government Center. "Keep methyl bromide out of fields!" read their signs.

Mello staffers set out extra chairs. Several other county offices locked their doors. "You're here to talk to us about methyl bromide and we're here to listen." said Mello aide Dan Haifley as the demonstrators crammed into the office. Allowing farmers to keep using methyl bromide would protect farmers' profits over workers' health, demonstrators said. "So how many people have to die?" asked UFW representative Jorge Rivera.

"How many people have to get sick and go to the hospital?" Haifley told the group he used to work in agriculture and he understands what they're saying. He argued that we need more information about the chemical and extending the deadline is a way to find it out. Opponents say the soil fumigant pokes holes in the earth's protective ozone layer as well as poisoning sive vending scene," said Harchis, a florist who was turned on to the Grateful Dead by her son. "People would try to make money just to get into the show or for gas to get to the next spot. Tens of thousands of people lost their jobs," she said.

Mumbles, who plans to leave Santa Cruz soon for Mardi Gras said, "I could make more money on tour than with some jive-ass turkey telling me to make $7 an hour." Other Deadheads told stories about making hundreds of dollars in the lot, skipping into the show where they would dance for hours with their trademark Please see DEADHEADS A4 "Jerry's dead there ain't nothing for us to do." Saldana is not alone. Since Garcia's death and the demise of the bazaar-like parking lot scene outside the shows, Deadheads who survived selling vegan burritos, tie-died baby clothes and patchwork dresses have had no market for their wares. "Their entire income depended on the Dead," said Mary Lou Harchis, 55. of Aptos. Harchis never climbed "on the bus" (traveling Deadhead) but has been to over 100 shows since the mid-70's.

"People would walk around and sell bracelets or hair ties or anklets or jewelry. It was a mas Dan Coyro Sentinel Workers protest Henry Mello's vote at the County Government Center. farmworkers and others exposed to it. Farmers argue they will suffer catastrophic losses if they have to stop using methyl bromide before scientists find something that will work as well. Under current law.

methyl bromide studies must be finished by March 30. After that date, the chemical can be used but not sold in California. Mello's bill would extend the deadline until the end of 1997. Legislators are now weighing five bills to extend Please see FAR-WORKERS RACK PAGE Oregon flooding I tj Highway 1 shooting leaves body, no clues IS Willamatta Rlvar -v levels arjova or i oeiow nooa tiag as of Thursday. ML I.

Portland Cotumbli Pegon Flooding swamps Oregon By DAVID FOSTER The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. A mountainside moaned, then gave way in a rush of mud. Highways vanished beneath stinking, caramel-colored floodwaters swirling with uprooted trees and raw sewage. Two people died, one was missing, and thousands of Oregonians were driven from their homes. And the rain kept falling.

As the state's worst flooding in more than three decades threatened to swamp downtown Portland, sandbags and concrete highway dividers formed a thin defense Thursday against the wide Willamette River. "Water's going everywhere," said Trase Myers, as he and oth- i Hartisb'urg: Jugene: lOOmUas iwip.t.ll.rM WASH' rfaiw an was bludgeoned to death outside the Capitola Mall in 1990. Foster, a Summit area resident, was a self-employed software engineer consultant who worked most recently for Alamar, a high-tech firm in Campbell. Police know he left work at about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, but said they did not know where he went from there.

Employees at Alamar said they did not know Foster well. He did not work regular hours and often kept to himself, working on projects. Nonetheless. employees were stunned by the news of his death. "It's just odd and very sad," said Frank Alioto.

the company's chief operating officer. "I don't think anyone here really knew much about his personal life, but everyone was really shocked and surprised." When paramedics discovered Foster, he smelled of alcohol and Please see SHOOTING A4 By MAY WONG Sentinel staff writer CAPITOLA A midnight killing on a freeway shoulder has left authorities scratching their heads. Rick Edwin Foster. 39. was killed bv a single bullet to his chest Thursday.

Paramedics who were en route to Dominican Hospital with a patient spotted his body at 12:23 a.m. He was lying on the ground on the northbound shoulder of Highway 1 between the Bay Avenue and 41st Avenue exits. He was face up, about 35 feet behind his car. They believe he was shot there, not long before. "He could have been in an altercation with a second driver, or he could have been in a fight at a bar before.

We don't know what happened," said Capitola Police Chief Don Braunton. "He had been drinking, so if anyone saw him that evening, we'd like them to call us." The shooting was Capitola's first homicide since a 78-year-old wom Employees David MacKenzie and Jim Burke rescue Public Works Department equipment in Corvallis. terstate 84 through the Columbia River Gorge, were closed by high water or mudslides. Amtrak trains were halted. Gov.

John Kitzhaber declared 18 counties disaster areas. Kitzhaber asked President Please see OREGON BACK PAGE ers hurried to stack 40-pound sandbags against a building downtown. "I can't believe the destruction the water has caused." In the nation's latest extreme weather in a winter of extremes, hundreds of roads, including In OREGON ivr CALIR -1 jyjuij iy nr.T iyaa'i miiiiiii Areas of morning fog, otherwise partly cloudy. Spotlight Tabloid State news AS Stocks B7 TV listings B8 Traffic alert A3 World news BIO Ann Landers A8 Astrograph B9 Business B6 Classified B11 Comics B9 Crossword B9 Local news A2 Lottery A8 National news B5 Obituaries A8 Opinion A9 Sports B1 i Highs in the mid -60s to Teen found, reunited with family Cheryl Ann Barnes was reunited with her family in Florida Thursday. She disappeared Jan.

3 and was found in a New York hospital Wednesday apparently suffering from amnesia. Page B5 Apple not talking With takeover rumors scaring off buyere, Apple Computer Inc. declared Thursday it is not discussing a merger with anyone. Page B6 near 70. Page A10 Printed on recycled paper -r 1 1 ORIGINAL A.