The Press Democrat from Santa Rosa, California • 2

A3 TNI MESS DEMOCRAT, TUESDAY, AUGUST 1 14 TTOEDAVS DGMUGnCDlTS Pleas to France. A U.N. official, who has A4 been in the thick of the misery of Rwandan refugee camps, pleads Monday for France to keep its troops in Rwanda to prevent a new exodus. Ill, I I I '4 'I Tf -TT V' 'V Israeli soldiers stand behind heavily fortified barbed wire Monday watching the ceremony opening the new Israeli-Jordanian "border crossing on the Red Sea. 1 V- Military recruits in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, participate in training exercises Monday.

Recruits parade. Haitian military leaders A4 keep up their scare-America campaign, parading 2,000 ragged paramilitary recruits to deter a possible U.S. invasion. iMidleast 'gate off hope' Border crossing links Jordan, Israel 't, if: i 5 i f'Sr 2 XV i I I TL ft T71 -vf'' the valley of trouble Into a gate of hope." Ehud Yaarl, an Israeli broadcaster, told TV viewers back home in Israel: "Beautiful, beautiful. The crown prince has surprised us.

This is the first time we have heard him speaking Hebrew, though he has studied it." Up to the last minute, mine fields were being cleared from the ceremony site north of the Red Sea and guests were cautioned not to stray from the new asphalt road. "Here, In the land of miracles, the rhetoric of peacemaking is being translated Into reality," said Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who met Sunday in Damascus with Assad and again was unable to close the negotiating gap between Syria and Israel. Later Monday, Christopher flew to Jerusalem where he reported to Israeli ASSOCMUDPHtSS Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and Sen. Richard Shelby, turn up the volume against Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell's health reform bill.

Health debate. After nearly a year of Al national confusion and anxiety over health care reform, the Senate begins a debate that may determine whether the centerpiece of Bill Clinton's presidency survives. Whitewater counsel.E ven as the White A 1 House endorses the naming of Kenneth Starr as the new Whitewater independent counsel, President Clinton's personal lawyer and congressional Democrats step up their criticism of the appointment. opeims Lebanon between Hezbollah and Lebanese militia and Israeli tanks. Syria, with 40,000 troops in Lebanon, Is the power broker there and controls arms supply routes from Iran to Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, in Washington, President Clinton, citing historic developments In the Middle East, is on a worldwide campaign to erase Jordan's $6.5 billion debt. He has already asked Congress to forgive the $650 million the Arab kingdom owes the United States. And he wants Congress to approve a new batch of military equipment for King Hussein's government. "I believe urgent International action to relieve Jordan's considerable debt burden Is a critical element in demonstrating such support for the peace process," Clinton wrote to 13 governments. Scientists urge use of new AIDS therapies By CHARLES A RADIN Boston Globe YOKOHAMA, Japan AIDS researchers and clinicians warned Monday that no major breakthrough is imminent In the hunt for a cure for the killer disease, but they said chances of prolonging the lives of people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS are Improving.

While assuring participants at the 10th International Conference on AIDS that efforts to find a cure will go forward, several scientists urged that more emphasis be placed on promising new therapies that could slow the pace at which HIV develops into AIDS. Jay Levy of the University of California at San Francisco, an early AIDS researcher, urged scientists to pay greater attention to long-term survivors some of whom have been known to have the disease for 16 years because "they're telling us a lot about what the human body can do." Thousands at presentation More than 10,000 people from 128 countries are attending the conference, and thousands of them attended Levy's presentation Monday of evidence that reinforcing the body's Immune system during early stages of HIV infection may prove highly effective. "We are killing off cells causing disease" by using drugs. Levy said after the presentation, "but we have not been saying put the immune system back in balance." Levy and other researchers noted that science has not produced cures to herpes and many other viruses, but has devised strategies to manage these diseases. They said this may well occur with AIDS, regardless of whether a preventive vaccine or other dramatic therapy is developed.

'Back to basics The expectation of "a dramatic announcement of a potential cure Is something that everyone bas gotten beyond," said Michael Saag. director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham AIDS Clinic. "We are getting back to basics." he said. Steady Improvement In understanding how the virus works, and experiments with combinations of anti-viral drugs, are creating "tremendous hope" that clinicians will be able to successfully treat Individual cases. Saag said.

Some major AIDS researchers chief among them Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute are pushing for large-scale trials of AIDS vaccines, a course recently rejected by VS. authorities on grounds that the best vaccines currently available did not offer sufficient hope of protection against Hospital layoffs. As many as 1 30 jobs may Al be eliminated at Community Hospital in Santa Rosa this year as a result of a $6 million deficit that is still growing. Casino. Federal authorities are still awaiting 1 official word from the Makahmo Porno tribe about its intent to include a casino in plans for a proposed reservation near Petaluma.

By BARRY SCHWEID Aoriatrd Prru AQABA, Jordan Israel and Jordan opened the first road linking the once-; warring nations Monday as old soldiers exchanged gifts where a mine field was only recently cleared. King Hussein of Jordan, who paved the way by signing a non-belligerency I pact with Israel two weeks ago, said he hoped the ceremony would advance peace between Syria and Israel, as well. Hussein, at a news conference, said President Hafez Assad was com- mltted to peace. "I hope what I know for a fact will translate Itself Into said the king, who shook off more than four decades of apprehension to help turn history in the Middle East on its head. His younger brother, Crown Prince 'Hassan, concluding his remarks at the ceremony in Hebrew, invoked the biblical prophet Hosea's vision of "turning Clinton honors Chavez By HERBERT A.

SAMPLE NlcClatchy New Service PI If ASHINGTON Cesar I I Chavez, the controversial XmJ champion of farm workers whose union has experienced a resurgence since his death last year, was awarded the nation's highest civilian honor Monday. President Clinton, lamenting Chavez's passing 14 months ago, presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Chavez's wife, Helen, In an East Room ceremony. "He was for his own people a Moses figure," Clinton said. "The farm workers who labored In the fields and yearned for respect and self-sufficiency pinned their hopes on this remarkable man who with faith and discipline, with soft-spoken humility and amazing inner strength, led a very courageous life." The medal awarded for public or private work on behalf of the national Interests of the United States, world peace or cultural and social endeavors was presented to eight others as well, including former Rep. Barbara Jordan, cartoonist Herbert Block and House Republican leader Bob Michel of Illinois.

Chavez, a World War II veteran and community organizer, founded the United Farm Workers In 1 962. Thus began a lengthy and sometimes popularly supported effort to improve the pay and working conditions of farm workers, most of them In California. The union, or UFW, won many victories, and Chavez became a cause celebre for many Democratic Party and liberal activists even as he was Firefighters Officials tote up damage in foothills "By JOHN HOWARD r.iRnEN VALLEY A 21.000-volt power line touched an oak tree and Ignited a blaze that scorched hundreds of acres near Rough and Ready In the Sierra Nevada foothills. But the cause of a larger fire near Kelsey remained under investigation Monday. The 860-acre Kelsey fire started Sunday afternoon and destroyed 17 buildings by mid-day Monday.

Including five tomes and 12 other buildings. State forestry spokeswoman Pat Burger estimated the total damages at SS.2 million. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on the five-hour meeting with Assad. "We have accomplished all we wanted to accomplish here," Christopher said at the end of the day. He said he would fly homejoday, canceling a planned return trip to Damascus.

Peres, flying to Jerusalem with Christopher, told reporters that Syria had arranged for a halt in Hezbollah attacks on Israel and for a security zone within the Lebanese border maintained by a Lebanese militia supported by Israel. "They are trying to create the conditions that are necessary to continue the negotiations," Peres said, adding that Syria is motivated by trying to please the United States. But even as he spoke, there were reports of renewed fighting in southern 9 ASSUCIAItUHRtSS The president lauded Michel, who retires In a few months after a 37-year House career, as a pragmatic conciliator who eschews confrontation. Lane Kirkland, another honoree and the president of the AFL-CIO for 15 years, "has helped teach us that solidarity is a powerful word In any language," Clinton said. Also honored were Block, a Washington Post cartoonist since 1946; Dorothy Height, a veteran advocate for civil and women's rights and leader of the National Council of Negro Women; Arthur Flemming, a long-time adviser to Democratic and Republican presidents, and James Grant, the general director of the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF.

upper hand town, had been scheduled for renovation, local residents said. The fire was started when an oak tree came In contact with a major power line, the CDF reported In Grass Valley. Full containment of the fire was expected late Monday. Temperatures In the Sierra Nevada foothills have ranged from the low- to mld-90s, with gusty winds. Together, the two fires have burned more than 1.300 acres.

The drought-weakened brush and timber is extremely dry, and fire conditions in the foothills region are critical. Hundreds of firefighters from state, federal and local agencies fought the blazes. The crews Included inmates from the state prison camps and the California Youth Authority. A President Clinton awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the widow of Cesar Chavez on Monday as cartoonist Herbert Block, left, applauds. OPINION A chance for voters.

Do California voters have better judgment than their lawmakers? In November, voters will decide the fate of Proposition 1 84, which is similar to the "three strikes" bill that steamed through the Legislature earlier this year. SPORTS Giants win. Rod Beck and Todd Bcnzingcr 1 perform their specialties to help the Giants secure a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs. LIFE Back roads traveler. Jerry Graham, with his wife, 1 Catherine, and daughter, Lillian, still explores the back roads of the Bay Area.

BUSINESS Study of options. North American Mortgage Co. i a r. El loathed by Republicans and farmers. Looking on as Clinton presented the medal to Helen Chavez was U.S.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, the brother of the late Robert Kennedy who during his 1968 presidential campaign called Cesar Chavez "one of the heroic figures of our times." Kennedy was there for a second reason. His brother-in-law, Robert Sargent Shrlver, received a Medal of Freedom for his work on behalf of the Peace Corps, Head Start, Foster Grandparents, the Job Corps and many other programs. Jordan.the first black elected to the Texas state Senate and the first elected to Congress from the Deep South, "has been the most outspoken moral voice of the American political system" for 20 years, Clinton said. in Sierra gain largely lost timber, and said the cost of fighting the fire would reach $1 million.

Kelsey Is about 110 miles east of San Francisco. "There Is no know cause and it Is under Investigation now," Burger said. The fire was expected to be fully contained by this evening. Since Friday, at least a half-dozen fires erupted In the Kelsey-Placerville area. All were small and all were out by the next day.

CDF officials said arson was suspected in those blazes. Near Rough and Ready, a blaze burned about 500 acres and destroyed 18 buildings, including six homes and the 19th century Rough and Ready school-house, a one-story building that served students from 1868 to the early 1950s. The historic building, on private property at Uie edge of discloses nas nirca Morgan sianicy a. o. io advise it on "strategic altcrnati vcv" leading one Wall Street analyst to predict the Santa Rosa mortgage bank will be sold within a month.

California Lottery If Inning Decco cards picked Monday: Inning Daily 3 numbers picked Monday: 7,7,3 It Inning Fantasy 5 numbers picked Monday: 6,8,17,18,21 After wocftinQ M5a4080.gt CftMOVTM L0tt PrMotnfo by punching 6622..