The Star Press from Muncie, Indiana • Page 6

I Page designer: Jeff Ward, 213-5850 6A Saturday, June 5, 2004 www.thestarpress.com Former senator named new U.N. ambassador nate Danforth in a statement released while he was in Rome on a three-day European trip. The U.N.'s role in post-occupation Iraq will be a ma jor topic in Bush discussions with European leaders this weekend. A lawyer with a practice in St. Louis, Danforth, 67, is a former attorney general of looking for summer jobs.

The average duration of unemployment rose to 20 weeks last month, up from 19.7 weeks in April. Almost 22 percent of jobless workers have been without work for 27 weeks or more. "The economy is not yet creating enough jobs to keep pace with workers entering the labor force, and we're still way behind the employment levels of 3V2 years ago," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "The painfully slow recovery has left far too many people out." Last month, construction employment rose by 32,000 in May, with 91,000 new jobs added since January. In the services sector, professional and business services added 64,000 jobs, fueled by hiring increases in temporary employment firms.

Hiring at such firms has grown by 14 percent since April 2003. Hotels and restaurants added 33,000 jobs over the month, and financial services boosted payrolls by 15,000. Some industries lost jobs, including telecommunications, which shed 5,000 positions last month. Also, there were fewer government jobs last month as employment in that sector fell by 27,000. "The economy is not yet creating enough jobs to keep pace with workers entering the labor force, and we're still way behind the employment levels of 3h years ago.

The painfully slow recovery has left far too many people out" John Sweeney AFL-CIO president payroll increases of about 200,000 for several months. "The jobs market is back," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard Poor's in New York. Still, the economy is far from the booming 1990s. Last month, 8.2 million people were unemployed. While the overall jobless rate stayed at 5.6 percent, it was much higher among blacks, at 9.9 percent, and Hispanics, at 7 percent.

Unemployment was at a 17.2-percent rate among teenagers growing. His Democratic presidential opponent, John Kerry, said it was terrific that the economy had created more than 240,000 new jobs, but there remained "too many people struggling, while at the top end people get ahead." "I think it ought to be the reverse," he said at a rally at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "I think we need to make it possible for every American to get ahead, for the economy of this country to work for all people." Despite the nine-month ing spree, more than 1.2 million jobs have been lost since Bush took office in January 2001. The losses, however, are shrinking. "I'm pleased to see strong job growth, and that's what I am concerned about," Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said in an interview.

"Every month of strong job growth is good news to me, and it's good news for America." The Bush administration was criticized widely for an overly optimistic forecast that 2.6 million jobs would be created this year. Economists now say the chugging economy could approach that mark. David Wyss, chief economist at Standard Poor's in New York, said he expects continued Construction leads hiring Continued from 1A Hiring last month was widespread, with the biggest gains in construction, health care, professional and business services hotels and restaurants. "What is really key is that every major sector had "improvements," said John Silvia, chief economist for Wachovia Securities. "That suggests these gains are sustainable." The struggling manufacturing sector also is reawakening, adding 32,000 new jobs last month.

Based on revised figures, it was the fourth straight month of payroll increases after almost three years of continuous losses. Friday's report was good news for President Bush, who has been counting on continued employment growth to boost his re-election prospects. His campaign rushed out a new television ad praising the new job-creation numbers. Bush, in Rome, said: "Today's job report shows that the American economy is strong, and it's getting stronger 248,000 jobs for last month is good for the American workers. It shows that our economy is vital and Danforth THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ROME President Bush is turning to former Missouri Sen.

John Danforth to make the ad-, ministration's Iraq case in the United Nations, choosing a Republican who was a Senate ally of his father and has been a trou-bleshooter for both Democratic and Republican presidents. If confirmed by the Senate, as seems virtually certain, Danforth will succeed the current U.N. ambassador, John Negroponte, who will be moving to Iraq as Bush's ambassador to the new government there this summer. Since 2001, Danforth has been Bush's special envoy to war-torn Sudan, where he has tried to mediate a peace agreement. He served in the Senate for 18 years and was on Bush's short list as a possible vice presidential choice in 2000.

The president made the announcement that he would nomi- Missouri. An heir to the Ralston Purina fortune, he is also a licensed Episcopal priest and a graduate of Princeton University and Yale University's law school. Bush nominated Negroponte in April to be the ambassador to Iraq's interim government, which is to gain sovereignty on June 30. Danforth has been tapped before to tackle complex issues since his 1995 retirement from the Senate. Is 4 TTAffi1 on vacation and 1 fL my mommy I.

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In the film, Jon takes Garfield to visit vet Liz Wilson. She convinces Jon to give a dog, Odie, a new home. Odie turns Garfield's world upside down. He is no longer King of the Castle and wants the dog out. But when Odie disappears into the evil clutches of local celebrity Happy Chapman (played by Stephen Tobolowsky), Garfield feels responsible and sets out on a mission to save the dim-witted dog.

Marketing blitz Orange will be the color in the coming weeks. Garfield movie merchandise will be popping up in our supermarkets in the form of Pepperidge Farms products, our department stores as clothing items, books, posters and fur niture, and in our fast food joints as kid's meal giveaways. According to Paws, Twentieth Century Fox is handling the marketing, but Paws has control of the products. In other words, Paws picks out the items to peddle say, a Garfield lasagna dish and Fox handles the rest. TV specials also are scheduled to air, including a one-hour TV special Animal Icons: Garfield at 8 p.m.

June 10 on Animal Planet, and exclusive trailers for the movie have been running during other films (such as Cats Dogs) on Fox networks. Fan reaction With all the cat-nipped buzz about Garfield, you'd think all fans would be giddy with anticipation about the release. But Davis said reactions have been meow mixed. "It's been interesting to check in to chat rooms where fans are talking about the movie," Jim Davis said. "There are a few who are purists who just think it's awful that Hollywood got their greedy little hands on Garfield.

I couldn't disagree more. Finally, Garfield's got a medium that's as big as his ego." I Contact features writer Michelle Kinsey at 213-5822. Work went into right look Continued from 1A "You can't out-Disney Disney. Once Who Framed Roger Rabbit? came out, I started getting excited about the possibilities of live-action and animation. Now, with Computer Generated Imaging, it's even more realistic.

Garfield is real, living in a real world." Davis said he had plenty of input on Garfield's look. "Rhythm Hues did the work you'll see in the film, but leading up to that, we must have exchanged about a million drawings before we got to a model that everyone was happy with," he said. Producer John Davis (no relation) got the hairball rolling about two years ago. "Comically enough, our legal counsel, Bob Beasley, got a voice mail from a 'kid' asking if the Garfield movie rights were available," Jim Davis recalled. "This young voice said he worked for Davis Entertainment, and it all sounded very suspect.

Bob didn't call him back right away, but one day this 'kid' managed to get him on the phone. "Bob said, 'OK, Brian, just tell me a little bit about this Davis Entertainment. Brian started reciting a laundry list of hit films that Davis Entertainment had produced: Grumpy Old Men, Dr. Doolittle, Predator, Heartbreak-ers, Daddy Day Care. Finally, Bob, feeling humbled, interrupted and said, 'Well yes, Brian, as a matter of fact, the rights are John Davis made an offer Garfield's owner couldn't refuse.

"It's about time that Garfield becomes a big movie star," John Davis said in the movie's production notes. "He's lazy, funny, crotchety and he has attitude. It doesn't matter if you're five years old or 50, everyone can relate to him on some level." Writing with attitude With the rights secured, John Davis approached the screen-writing team of Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow. "I was fortunate enough to be involved in the scripting of the movie, which meant I spent a few days with Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, the writers of Toy Story," Jim Davis said. "They're funny guys and great writers, and they put up with my suggestions with great patience." The screenwriters said they took a neurotic approach.

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