Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • Page 2

2ATuesday, April 4, 2000 From Page 1A Tallahassee Democrat Monday Health in Features i For information, contact Jane Parrish at jparishtaldern.ccmj or (850) 599-2349. 1 Tuesday Families in Features Wednesday Datebook in Business i Thursday Things to Do in Neighbors Friday Entertainment in Limelight Outdoors in Sports Saturday Religion in Features Sunday Government calendar in Local State I Style, first Sunday I Monthly calendar, last Saturday I Support groups, first Monday He will speak at the Colorado rally press the case with the public that they ought to do it. And in the meantime, I think the president is going to try to use his efforts and his bully pulpit to go out and deal with of the shooting rampage by two students at Columbine High School last year. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the time and place have not been set. SAFE Colorado was created after the Columbine massacre, in which two seniors at the school in Littleton, outside Denver, fatally shot 12 students and a teacher voters would be asked to approve a requirement that all gun-show gun sales be subject to background checks, including those by unlicensed dealers.

The group needs 62,000 voter signatures to get the issue on the November ballot and will begin gathering signatures soon, the official said. A month after the Columbine shootings, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would have required background checks for gun show purchases, but the measure failed in the House an outcome Clinton at the time called "unacceptable." before killing themselves. Authorities sav the shooters. Eric Harris and Dylan Heboid, used guns bought by other people at gun shows.

The organization is proposing ballot initiative in which Colorado The regulations also ban cheap handguns known as Saturday Night Specials. A Superior Court judge struck down Harshbarger's rules in 1998. But the Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court, ruled last June that Harshbarger had acted within his authority when he "sought to take preventative action as to defective handguns." The court returned the case to Superior Court for further proceedings, and in December it, too, ruled in favor of the regulations. The court battle ended March 20, when the gun industry failed to meet a deadline for further appeals. Rosenthal, the gun-control advocate who said he owns a handgun and shoots skeet, said By Steve Gutterman THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DENVER President Clinton will visit Colorado on April 12 just days before the Columbine school massacre anniversary support a proposed ballot initiative to require background checks for all gun sales at gun shows, the White House said today.

Chief of Staff John Podesta said Sunday on "Face the Nation" that Clinton will make the visit, but he didn't specify a date at GUNS From page 1A Reilly said he is applying consumer protection standards to guns, just as the state already does with toys, automobiles and other products. The Gun Owners' Action League said that educational pro- grams sponsored by gun owners have succeeded in significantly reducing firearms accidents, despite an increase in gun ownership. 'r: League spokesman Kevin yrda accused the attorney general of exploiting the issue to increase his own popularity." "This is an assault on veterans and an assault on gun HURRICANE From page 1A The report identifies seven roadways which could be developed for "reverse lane" use. That includes Interstate 10 eastbound from Pensacola to Tallahassee, and the same road westbound from Jacksonville to Tallahassee. Other roads include 1-75 northbound from Charlotte County to 1-275 in Tampa, and Florida's Turnpike from Fort Pierce to Orlando.

The state Department of Transportation will run computer models to determine if reverse lanes would significantly improve evacuation speed. The DOT is expected to make that determination before June 1. If the plan is implemented, it could have significant impactson Tallahassee which would be the terminus of any reverse lane strategy on 1-10. According to early estimates, as many as 200 additional people per hour would be needed to handle traffic control at interstate exits and throughout city roadways. The additional staffing would come from local law-enforcement agencies and public works departments.

"This plan would really impact us," said Richard Smith, Leon Country Director of Emergency Management. "In the past, we've always been able to handle (evacuation traffic) with our normal patrols; this would really force us to go up with our manpower." But Smith added that state officials began discussing evacuation improvements last fall, and that local officials have been holding planning sessions since January. "It all depends on the (DOT models report)," Smith said. "But we'll be ready to go if they go with (the reverse lane plan)." I flill mi Clinton state initiatives that are dealing with said. this," he An official of SAFE Colorado, a gun-control group that invited the president, said Clinton will speak at a public rally April 12.

That's eight days before the anniversary if we were talking about hamburgers killing 90 people a year, do you think we would allow the meatpacking industry to go unregulated? No way." John Rosenthal Stop Handgun Violence Inc. infrared detector. Another requirement is that the gun have a lock, such as an attached key-operated lock or a combination lock built into the gun. Another is that semiautomatic handguns have a so-called load indicator, a device already installed in some guns, that tells if a bullet is in the chamber. 0 JOHN MOORE The Associated Press Cuban President Fidel Castro greets Hianny Gonzalez, the 6-month-old brother of Elian Gonzalez, as father Juan Miguel Gonzalez watches in Havana on Monday.

ELIAN From page 1A the Miami relatives and immigration authorities. Those talks adjourned without resolution Monday after nearly nine hours. The only subject of discussion in the talks, which will resume today, is whether the Miami family will agree to turn over Elian to his father peacefully, a Justice Department official said. If they do, the official said, the government and an attorney representing Juan Miguel Gonzalez have agreed not to return the boy to Cuba immediately, but to await the outcome of the relatives' federal court battle to keep the boy here. "Our goal is to do this in the most cooperative way possible," the official said, requesting anonymity.

have made it clear that we have to talk about the voluntary transfer to Elian's dad when he comes." The relatives and their lawyers had no comment as they emerged from negotiations at the U.S. Attorney's office in downtown Miami just after 6:30 p.m. Monday. The Justice Department official declined to discuss what the government would do if the Miami relatives refuse to turn over Elian. The family's attorneys have said they would do so if ordered to by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which has sought a transfer at a neutral site.

But in interviews last week the relatives insisted 3 1 that time. Podesta said the Clinton administration is frustrated that Congress has not closed the "gun show loophole" and accused Republican leaders of foot-dragging. Under current law, federally licensed gun dealers who sell firearms at gun shows must conduct background checks on prospective buyers, while unlicensed dealers are not required to. "We're going to continue to he said. The National Rifle Association declined to comment.

Also Monday, the Maryland House was expected to take up legislation requiring built-in locks on all new guns sold. The bill has already passed the Senate, and the governor is eager to sign it. The new Massachusetts regulations go further than changes announced last month by gun-maker Smith Wesson. The company, under threat of a federal lawsuit, agreed to provide external safety locks on all of its handguns within 60 days and built-in locks within two years. One of the Massachusetts requirements is that serial numbers be tamper-resistant, either placed inside the gun, such as in the barrel, or imprinted so that they can only be read with an Yet opening both sides of a road could potentially put more people in danger, if they are sitting in the middle of a storm on a clogged highway, said Walter Revell, a Coral Gables business-' man and former Department of Transportation secretary.

Unlike South Carolina and Georgia, where people can drive hundreds of miles inland, no point in Florida is more than 100 miles from the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean, he said. "If you can't move more people in a short amount of time, don't create the logistical management problems," Revell said. Anyway, not everybody is able to get in their car and drive away at a moment's notice, says the report. Because of "the number or retirees and people with special needs living in storm surge areas, one can begin to appreciate our vulnerability, and the critical need to have effective emergency management plans and procedures in place," says the report. The evacuation proposal is the latest preparation by the state for the upcoming hurricane season.

Three weeks ago, Bush and the Florida Cabinet approved an emergency shelter plan that includes building more hurricane-proof Bush has included $18 million from state, federal and local sources in his proposed state budget to pay for 184 potential projects and create 88,679 new shelter spaces. A recent study showed that 62 of Florida's 67 counties need more shelter space. Smith said Leon County has adequate shelter space. But he said the county will seek shelter improvement money to retrofit shelters (schools, churches and county buildings) that do not meet current standards for emergency power and exterior shutters. Democrat senior writer Gerald Ensley contributed to this story.

and towns. In West Feliciana Parish north of Baton Rouge, Fire Chief Tommy Boyett said a tornado toppled trees onto 25 to 30 houses. In the apparent plane crash, the pilot was the only person on board the single-engine Bonanza which disappeared off southwestern Louisiana about 6 a.m., the Coast Guard said. In Piedmont, a 90-year-old woman was killed when one of the storms hit a mobile home park, authorities said. LOTTO: 41 21216-20-27-37 6 of 6: $5 million 5 of 6: $3,670.50 4 of 6: $58 3 of 6: $4 3 plus Mega Ball: $419.50 or 900-737-7777 5, tee page 7B CASH 3 (Noon): 43-4-4-4 GEORGIA LOTTO: 41: 6 of 6: no winner BIG GAME: 331: 6 of 6: $no winner i guns rightly should be regulated.

"If we were talking about hamburgers killing 90 people a year, do you think we would allow the meatpacking industry to go unregulated? No way," he said. But Edward L. Veduccio, the owner of Guns in Newton, said enforcement would make guns more expensive and cut into the profits of his four-person business. "Do you know how many gun companies won't sell here? They're boycotting the state, and that's hurting business," he said. "If a customer wants a particular firearm, I can't get it for them." Veduccio said he knows of a few Massachusetts gun store owners who have already moved their shops to New Hampshire.

He said he has already scouted out sites for his own shop, after 33 years in Newton. 1 2U Monday evening, protest leaders issued a call over Spanish-language radio for people to come to the house. Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, who ignited controversy last week, with a vow not to cooperate with federal efforts to remove Elian, met with exile leaders and urged calm. "We're commending people for the way they acted at the prayer vigil Wednesday night and saying that's the kind of activity we need should something happen," Penelas said on the Radio Unica network, referring to peaceful demonstration last week by thousands of Cuban Americans in Little Havana. 5153) TODAY IN HISTORY 1968 Civil rights leader Martin Luther King 39, was shot to death in Memphis, Tenn.

1850 The city of Los Angeles was incorporated. 1983 The space shuttle Challenger roared into orbit on its maiden voyage. rfr I I ll jr'" x' I i ,1 I CARL JUSTE The Associated Press Elian Gonzalez, left, gives a kiss to Donato Dalrymple, one of the two fishermen who rescued him last November, while they play on the slide at his Miami relatives' home Monday. At right Is Lazaro Martel. Storms rip through the South THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW ORLEANS Hail, heavy high winds and tornadoes tore through the South early Monday, ripping off roofs, tossing trees into power lines and apparently forcing a small plane into the Gulf of Mexico.

The storms struck from Texas to Georgia, with at least two storm-related deaths reported in Alabama. Damage was widespread. Roofs and power lines broke in or near dozens of cities "Our goal is to do this in the most cooperative way possible' a Justice Department spokesman Gonzalez would have to come to their house. Demonstrators, who have been camping out around the clock in front of the relatives' Little Havana home, Monday renewed vows to form a human chain around the house to prevent Elian's though they reiterated they would comply with the family's wishes. On (USPS 533-120) (ISSN 0738 5 21 23 33 Big Ball: $5,000 POSTMASTER: Send address changes P.O.

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