St. Cloud Times from Saint Cloud, Minnesota • Page 1

0m Apollo teacher helps students see stars Labonte learning jp cteNun shares craft of palm weaving Mfm teammate 7 10 ST. CLOUD SATURDAY March 27, 1999 A Gannett Newspaper 50 cents HEATHER Today: PM rain High: 53 Low: 32 Details: 6B 1MIH YEAR. NO. 284 3 -TTrrg 1999 ST. CLOUD NEWSPAPERS INC.

Classic Country Getting Radio Revival NATO forces shoot down 2 MG fighters in VAi i it I -si. fer--C AP PHOTO A Bosnian Muslim eyewitness pointed to the place where parts of a Yugoslav MiG fighter fell Friday night after being shot down near the village of Seljublje, northeast of Tuzla. 7 Weather helping maple sap flow Warm days, chilly nights make for optimum conditions By Patty Mattem TIMES STAFF WRITER It is a sweet spring for maple sugaring. Warm days and cool nights are making for good sap collecting across Central Minnesota. "We've probably have more sap collected this year than we ever have.

It's a real good year," said Mark Crawford, park manager at Lake Maria State Park. So far they have captured about 90 to 100 gallons of sap, Crawford said. On average during a season, they collect about 150 gallons of sap, he said. Today and Sunday, park officials will teach about maple sugaring. From 11 am to 3 p.m each day, visitors can learn about the sap collecting process, Crawford said.

Visitors will learn how to identify trees, how to tap the trees for sap and then how to cook the sap down, Crawford said. Everyone is invited to learn more about sap collecting at Lake Maria. There is no charge for informal program. However, people must have a park permit for their vehicles. The sap at Lake Maria has been running since about March 12 and the season usually lasts about four to five weeks, so there should be two good weeks left, Crawford said.

Of course, it all depends on the weather. "It has to be the right temperature freezing nights and temperatures in the 40s or 50s during the day," Crawford said. For the most part, the the National Weather Service forecast for the weekend is good for people and for sap collecting as well Today, the temperature is expected to climb into the mid-50s. The day will start off sunny, but it will become cloudy in the afternoon, bringing in a chance of rain. The chance for rain today and Sunday is good news because St Cloud hasnt received much precipitation since February, said Bob Weisman, meteorologist for the earth science department at St Cloud State University.

"At least we'll have a shot at some rain," Weisman said. Forecasters say the temperature will rise into the high 50s and there will be a chance for rain again. Many people are cheering for even warmer temperatures, but those into maple sugaring like things just the way they are. Still, they hurry to collect the sap before time runs out "When the trees start budding, the sap stops flowing," Crawford said. 1 BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Allied forces battered Yugoslavia's capital Friday as explosions sent fireballs into the sky, shook the earth and shattered windows in suburbs of Belgrade.

In Kosovo, Yugoslav forces were reportedly targeting ethnic Albanians in retaliation for the NATO airstrikes. NATO said Friday its forces shot down two Yugoslav MiG-29 jet fighters in neighboring Bosnia, a dangerous broadening of the showdown between the Western alliance and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic over Kosovo. Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said it was not immediately clear why the planes had crossed into Bosnia, but he said it was possible they had intended to attack NATO peacekeeping troops. "Whatever they say, it is not true," said Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic, denying the NATO claim. Washington expressed alarm Friday over the deepening conflict as President Clinton sent 100 combat-ready Marines to protect the besieged U.S.

Embassy in Macedonia. Clinton also officially invoked the War Powers Act, notifying Congress of U.S. participation in the NATO action. In Belgrade's suburbs, Friday's targets included the military airport at Batajnica and other loca- Bill would for sexual Kleis sponsoring law that would force state to pay commitment costs By John Hoogesteger TIMES STAFF WRITER ST. PAUL When it comes to keeping sexual predators locked up after they have served prison sentences, most agree it is a good idea for public safety.

But the issue of who will pay to do it, or who can even afford to pay for it is central to the debate going on for a second year at the Legislature. Now, counties must pay the commitment tab. A bill being carried by Sea Dave Kleis, R-St Cloud, and Rep. Dave Bishop, R-Rochester, would transfer that financial burden to the state. Steams County Administrator George Rindelaub offered specific examples of the money problem this week in his testimony before the House Crime Prevention Committee.

The committee laid the bill over and will take it up again. "We spent $170,000 we didnt have budgeted to deal with civil HI TIMES PHOTO BY JASON WACHTER Herb Hoppe (center) is reviving WVAL-AM the help of program director Al Neff (left) as a classic country music station with and his son Gary Hoppe. After 16 year absence, WVAL-AM returning tions, said Avram Izrael of the Belgrade air raid center, speaking to Studio radio. "The enemy has fired numerous missiles, hit several he said. A large fire was reported raging south of Belgrade toward Avala mountain.

A missile fuel "depot-was hit, the center said, and the suburb of Batajnica was without power because a transformer station was hit There were conflicting reports of leaks of toxic substances because shift tab predators LEGISLATURE '99 commitment of two individuals," Rindelaub said. To keep inmates identified as sexual predators locked up after they have served their Sen. Dave Kleis CO-AUTHOR OF LEGISLATION criminal sentences, a county must petition in civil court to have that person declared a threat to society because of the likelihood they will commit another sex offense. They request the inmate be placed in a secure mental facility. For most sexual predators, that is the equivalent of receiving a life sentence to the state mental institution in St Peter.

Given the severity of the outcome, those facing a civil commitment fight it aggressively, Rindelaub said. Please see PREDATORS, 8A Mx neighboring Bosnia More Coverage Inside Serbs protest in Chicago5A 1 Track the conflict online5A Ground troops may be needecV5A Plan to arm rebels rejected5A Russia ousts NATO reps1 Milosevic power growing2D of bomb damage. The air raid center reported toxic discharges in two suburbs: Sremcica to the south, and near the Galenika chemical plant to the northwest Ventura requests additional security $1.4 million would fund 6 new guards, command post for governor's ranch 1 ST. PAUL (AP)-Gov. Jesse Ventura has requested nearly $1.4 million to boost his security detail and put guards at his 32-acre Maple Grove ranch, state of ficials said Friday.

"It's just to provide basic security for the governor," Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver said. "This is not at all a Cadillac security force we're asking for. It's what we think is necessary." The bulk of the request would go toward six new guards, an additional state trooper and construction of some sort of command post outside Ventura's family home. Most of the new staff would be assigned to guarding Ventura, his wife and teen-age children at the family's home. Weaver said the extra troopers are needed because those assigned to guard the governor are putting in 18-hour days.

At least one guard is with the governor at all times, with more added for public events. On Thursday night, someone apparently aiming at Ventura hit one of his bodyguards with a banana cream pie as the governor mingled with people outside a Minneapolis community center. "I think the incident frankly, is proof of how vulnerable our public figures are and is good evidence of the need for adequate protection," Weaver said. The request preceded the pie incident, he said. The governor's celebrity, size, frankness and affability all make him a bigger security concern than previous governors, Weaver said.

9998 will sign-on the air at 800 on the AM dial. The music will be of a time long ago when Patsy Cline, Tex Ritter and Merle Haggard ruled the air waves and names like Garth, Shania and Travis were oddities at best Hoppe, who is president of Tri-County Broadcasting, is one of the people behind the rebirth of the station. But he's not alone. His son, Gary, will serve as the station's vice president of engineering. Gary Hoppe, who was born a year before WVAL initially launched, literally grew up in the studio with the disc jockeys, who more than once told him to go outside and mow the lawn.

And Al Neff, who has ties to St Cloud's music scene about as long as his shoulder length hair, 'r will be the station's program director. The station "To our knowledge, what we're doing is unique," Neff said of not only WVAL's new format but the station's approach. While some stations allocate some time to playing country classic, few play 100 percent classic country from the 1950s, '60s and 70s, Neff said. "We're going to be music intensive. The music will come first and the listeners will guide us.

It's an interesting process." According to Katz Radio Group, a radio resource center, country stations today program Please see WVAL-AM, 8A life in prison without parole. But they rejected his claim that some acts "by sheer common sense are not crimes." Kevorkian, 70, still could get a life term at sentencing April 14 for the death of 52-year-old Thomas Youk, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. Prosecutor David Gorcyca said he believes sentencing guidelines call for a minimum of 10 to 25 years on the murder charge. Kevorkian also was convicted of delivery of a controlled sub stance, which carries up to seven years. Icsttoysrerra Father-son team, local DJ will begin broadcasting unique style Monday By Mike Nistler TIMES SENIOR WRITER Back in 1963, Herb Hoppe started one of the few country western radio stations in the nation in a red house he built in a cow pasture on the edge of Sauk Rapids.

Today, 36 years later, WVAL-AM is making a comeback and so is the classic country music the original station played. Bright and early Monday morning, WVAL, which Hoppe named after his wife, Valerie, Today Coming Sunday PS I II I ICO iov Steams County is testing -n rAnnrrts nil nun a meaiauvn a Loan rniln custody issues out of the courts. Obituaries On Page 4A: Blanche DeBlols, Paynesville Eldon Johnson, South Dakota Reynold Meyer, Fort Ripley Bryan Simon, Almelund More Inside Body found near Yosemite identified as sightseert Kevorkian convicted of 2nd-degree murder Complete weather forecast6B Times Advice 2B Births 4 A Comics 6C Lifestyle. IB Local 3A Motor Times.lE NASCAR Nation ID Opinion 13A People 6B Sports. 1C State 2A Stocks.

10A Television Lottery Cash4Life: 21-25-39-88 Daily 3: 5-4-3 Gopher 5: 6-9-13-21-33 (3) rwes! Doctor could get life sentence PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) Dr. Jack Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder Friday for giving an ailing man a lethal injection and putting it on a videotape that aired on "60 Minutes." The right-to-die advocate had escaped a guilty verdict in four previous assisted suicide trials. The jury took 12 hours over two days to clear him of first-degree murder, which would have meant a mandatory sentence of At AP PHOTO Dr. Jack Kevorkian was held by Sarah Holmes, a jury consultant (left) and Mike Morganroth, one of his legal advisers after he was convicted Friday of second-degree murder In Oakland County Circuit Court Ckzck Cjs Site pajyEnr.

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