The Times Recorder from Zanesville, Ohio • 14

Tiie Times Recorder Tuesday, April 19, 1994 News Court to consider federal ban on guns near schools Earth Day creator still working to save the planet i i i i 'j mate educational reasons for refusing to let a girl show classmates a videotape of her singing a religious song. Agreed to decide in a California case whether statements made by defendants during failed plea negotiations with federal prosecutors may be used as trial evidence against them. The gun-control case asks whether Congress wrote the 1990 law correctly to comply with the Constitution's Commerce Clause, which allows Congress to regulate interstate commerce. The law carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine for anyone caught with a gun near a school Lopez, then a senior at Edison High School, was arrested after school authorities received an anonymous tip. He admitted carrying a handgun and five bullets, and was sentenced to six months in prison.

But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that in most cases the law was invalid under the Commerce Clause. Other federal gun control laws describe a link between the banned activity and interstate commerce, but the Gun-Free School Zones Act does not, the appeals court said. Because Lopez's indictment also did not describe such a connection, his conviction must be thrown out, the appeals court ruled. The 5th Circuit court suggested that Congress could enact a new law that might pass constitutional muster if it specified a link between guns at school and commerce.

The Senate passed such a measure last November as Eart of a massive crime package eing debated in Congress. In its high court appeal, the Clinton administration noted that the law has been upheld by another federal appeals court, the San Francisco-based 9th US. Circuit Court of Appeals. By CONNIE CASS The Associated Press WASHINGTON Gaylord Nelson hasn't ripped apart a telephone book in years. He did his final one-arm push-up on his 72nd birthday.

But still he gamely shoulders the weight of the world, an aging Atlas in reading glasses. It's his calling, to save the planet. More than two decades after he invented Earth Day, more than a dozen years after he was nudged off his environmental soapbox in the Senate, Nelson is still at it. "Over the years, it became a greater and greater preoccupation," he says. "The more I learned, the more I realized what it was the most important challenge that faces mankind." As counselor to the non-profit Wilderness Society, he still helps promote each April 22 as Earth Day.

He's planning a big blowout to mark the event's 25th anniversary next year. But Nelson, 77, is increasingly looking farther into the future. And he doesn't like what he sees: a world with too many people and too little food, water, clean air and living room. An overpopulation horror story. "I don't think most people understand where we're headed," Nelson says.

It's his mission to tell them. In speeches after speech at colleges and conferences, Nelson decries mankind's "war against the planet." The world's population has doubled since the 1950s, he notes. And it's growing even faster, eating up the earth's resources. "If you don't do anything about it, nature will," he tells listeners. "That will be a lot harsher." The fire-and-brimstone warnings are tempered by Nelson's easygoing style; he shifts his solid frame slowly, more like a cowboy than a doomsday prophet In the Senate, Nelson had a reputation for folksy anecdotes and cocktail party stunts, like ripping up a Milwaukee phone book (there's a trick to it) or doing one-arm push-ups (a feat of balance plus strength).

"Behind his humor and behind the sort of rough-cut, down-to-earth manner, there was always a person of sober conviction," said former Sen. George McGovern, who asked Nelson to be his running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket in 1972. Nelson wasn't interested. He continued to represent Wisconsin in the Senate until he was narrowly defeated in 1980 by Robert W. Kasten one of a raft of Republicans swept into office with Ronald Reagan.

Nelson took it in stride. It was about time anyway, he says, to leave politics and work full time for the environment. He joined The Wilderness Society. Now when he thinks back over his years in politics, the quickening drumbeat of human population seems to drown out everything eke. He hardly noticed it while working to preserve Lake Superior's Apostle Islands or the Appalachian Trail.

But it was always building in the background. When Nelson was born in 1916, the world population was roughly 1.8 billion; about 100 million people lived in the United States. Some 700 of them made up his hometown of Clear Lake, Wis. At the end of Main Street, kids splashed through cattails in a marsh flush with birds and turtles and muskrats. The young Nelson everybody called him "Happy" learned to love the outdoors "by osmosis." He learned frugality from his father, a country doctor who conserved paper by writing his patient profiles on the back of drug advertisements.

He learned politics at the family dinner table, where talk often turned admiringly to Robert La Follette Jr. and his Progressive Party. By DOUG MILLS The Associated Press Former Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson is shown in Washington in March. More than two decades after he invented Earth Day and more than a dozen years after he was nudged off his environmental soapbox in the Senate, Nelson is still at it, as a counselor to the non-profit Wilderness Society.

He still helps to promote each April 22 as Earth Day. University in Collegeville, Minn. "There were many within his party who thought he was crazy, that it really wasn't an issue," Huffman said. By the time Nelson launched Earth Day in 1970, the number of people in the world had doubled in his lifetime, to 3.7 billion. So had the U.S.

population, to 205 million. Nelson one of the first three senators to oppose the U.S. military buildup in Vietnam took his inspiration for Earth Day from the anti-war teach-ins on college campuses. "It suddenly occurred to me, why not have a nationwide teach-in on the environment," Nelson said. He announced his idea at a speech in Seattle in September 1969, and it "took off like gangbusters." By LAURIE ASSEO The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Supreme Court stepped into the national debate over gun control Monday, saying it will consider reviving a federal ban on posses-' sion of guns within 1,000 feet of any school The justices agreed to decide whether a federal appeals court erred when it essentially threw out the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act as unconstitutional.

The Clinton administration is asking the high court to reinstate both the law and the conviction of a former San Antonio, Texas, high school student who admitted he took a gun to school in March 1992. Alfonso Lopez Jr. told authorities he was to be paid $40 for delivering the gun to someone else to use in a gang war. Dennis Henigan of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence expressed hope Monday the court will reinstate the law. Gun violence at schools has become a national problem, Henigan said, adding that the 1990 law was a "sensible public safety measure." More than 200,000 children carry firearms to school every day, according to Sen.

Herb Kohl, sponsor of the invalidated law. But Larry Pratt of the Gun Owners of America said the lower court was correct in throwing out the law. Lopez's conduct already was banned by other state and federal laws, Pratt said, adding, "Once again, we are reminded that America does not need more gun laws." In other action Monday, the court: fl Said it will consider reinstating a ban on federal employees accepting pay for any outside speeches and articles. Lower courts said the ban violated executive branch employees' free-speech rights. Left intact a ruling that said a Michigan teacher had legiti 3 Good choice, tie up her affections with a ribbon.

Sunday, May 8 (average 4 Fighting leaves thousands dead, homeless in Rwanda You never call, you never write, you forget her birthday. Here's your golden opportunity to make up for it and be her favorite again. Write your own personal message to Mom and choose beautiful just for herl 2 She'll love being number one in your life. Not bad Hearts are always winners. a 4 Wow, you're such a good kid.

words per line) ESI When Nelson was drafted into the Army in 1942, the world population had topped 2 billion; the United States was at almost 135 million. Nelson met his wife, a military nurse, at Okinawa. He came home to Wisconsin, practiced law, then began 32 years in public office, the first 10 of them in the state Senate. It was the bipartisan appeal of conservation that helped Nelson become the first Democratic governor of Wisconsin in a quarter-' century in 1959, then propelled him to the US. Senate four years later.

"Almost every campaign speech he gave from 1960 on had an environmental component. Oftentimes that was the whole speech," said history professor Thomas Huffman of St. John's Rwanda li unrest ZAIRE (UGANDA Demilitarized zone taru I Gisenyi A HWANUAi I kY bft KiaalifSTTI BURUNDI Bujumbura J- Major i r3 roads Tartyanyfcs TANZANIA 40 mtios Developments in Rwanda: A Ghanaian peacekeeper was shot in cross-fire near Kigali airport Sunday and had to be evacuated from the city with serious leg wounds. Rebel fighters of ttie minority Tutsi tribe blew up a government radio station in Kigali that had incited Hutus to slaughter Tutsis. United Nations actions in Rwanda: The United Nations has warned both sides it wiH pull its 2,100 Ghanaian.

Bangladeshi, Senegalese and Polish peacekeepers from Rwanda "if the two sides continue to follow the logic of U.N. officials are trying to convince them to cease their fire, at least temporarily, so joint U.N., rebel and army patrols can stop the looting and killing by marauding gangs. APWm undi, who were returning from a meeting aimed at solving ethnic problems in their countries. Hutus and Tutsis have slaughtered each other periodically for centuries. EOT 2 KibUVO Aiment I i I om mm Tell us what number you want and write the message! Only $5.00 for five lines, add $1.00 for each additional 10 words plus the charge for whichever artwork you select; or the message alone for $5.00.

Now fill out the information below, she'll be so happy you remembered her on Mother's Day! 1 I think Mom would like art 2. I'd like to send Mom this message: By ARTHUR ALLEN The Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya Ethnic massacres have spread throughout Rwanda, and aid officials reported Monday that tens of thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands uprooted from their homes. "The situation is catastrophic, not just in Kigali but in the rest of Rwanda," said Jean-Luc The-voz, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva. He reported "tens and tens of thousands of dead" and said at least 400,000 of Rwanda's 8.5 million people had been driven from their homes in the outbreak of fighting that started after Rwanda's president died in a suspicious plane crash April 6. The massacres began in the capital the next day, and two days later rebels began an offensive into Kigali, the capital.

The rebels, mostly members of the minority Tutsi tribe, had been in a demilitarized zone in the north since last year, but have now moved to take much of the capital. They say they'll continue to fight until the Hutu-dominated government stops gangs from killing Tutsis in areas it controls. A Ghanaian peacekeeper was shot in cross-fire near Kigali airport Sunday and was evacuated with serious leg wounds, said Abdul Kabia, executive director of the U.N. force in Rwanda. Rebels blew up a government radio station in Kigali that had incited Hutus to slaughter Tutsis, Kabia said.

An official of the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front met Sunday in Kampala, Uganda, with Rwanda's ambassador. The two sides agreed on the need for a cease-fire, but didn't sign one. "My impression is that the fighting is dying down in the capital," said Moctar Gueye, U.N. spokesman in Kigali. "Un fortunately, we have no ceasefire agreement for the time being." About 26,000 Rwandans have fled to Zaire, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi, according to the CARE aid agency, while hundreds of thousands are displaced within Rwanda.

About 6,000 Rwandans were camped Monday on the Ugandan side of the mountainous border, and hundreds more mostly women, children and old people stream across from Rwanda every day, said relief officials in Kampala, the Ugandan capital. "Authorities are in a dilemma, as the Tutsis and Hutus cannot be settled together," said Chris Kanzig, a logistics officer with the U.N. World Food Program. "We are meeting to decide how to settle them." A cease-fire would allow joint U.N., rebel and army patrols to stop the looting and killing by marauding gangs, Gueye said. It also would permit officials to bury thousands of corpses littering the streets.

"We are heading straight into an epidemic if something isn't done soon," Gueye said. U.N. flights brought in some supplies over the weekend but a major airlift of food and medicine has been held up because the warring sides won't guarantee the security of U.N. deliveries, Gueye said. Both sides have been warned the United Nations will pull its 2,100 Ghanaian, Bangladeshi, Senegalese and Polish peacekeepers from Rwanda, Kabia said.

An additional 420 U.N. troops from Belgium are leaving and have turned over their duties to the 500-member Ghanaian U.N. force at the airport. The fighting began after a plane crash killed the presidents of Rwanda and neighboring Bur- To Be Published 5 6 7 8 9 10. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18.

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