Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • 15

SEST AVAILABLE COPY ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL WI SUSPECT CAPTURED Police say El Llano man killed Santa Fe attorney It. CO Business Weather 8 Deaths 8 B3 Eterlioi. U.S. Attorney Named. JIM BELSHAW Metros New Me Chinese-American Highly Regarded The announcement ended weeks of speculation about who would replace U.S.

Attorney John J. Kelly, a Democrat who stepped down in January to seek his party's nomination in the 1st Congressional District. Bay will replace acting U.S. Attorney Bob Gorence, a Republican and Domenici's son-in-law, who was first assistant U.S. attorney under Kelly.

Bingaman asked President Bill Clinton to formally nominate Bay by sending his name to the Senate for confirmation. Bay's father, the late Tony Bay, left a small Chinese farming village to acquire literature degrees, first at Beijing University, then the universities of Wisconsin and Tennessee. He and his-wife, Ancilla, moved the family to Albuquerque in 1972, where he became prominent in the city's tight-knit Chinese-American community, now estimated at less than 3,000. The Bays instilled in their eight children a deep value for education. "They believed it was the way to get ahead in the U.S.," Norman Bay told a reporter after his father's death a year ago.

Norman Bay speaks little Chinese, acquaintances said, but he was active in Asian-American associations while an undergraduate history student at Dartmouth College and at Harvard Law School. He joined the Asian Pacific American Bar Association for the District of Columbia in the early 1990s. His appointment coincides with the high-profile criminal prosecution of Chinese-born weapons scientist Wen Ho Lee. Gorence, however, is expected to remain as lead prosecutor in the criminal case against Lee. The former Los Alamos scientist is charged with copying nuclear-weapons secrets to portable data tapes with intent to injure the United States.

"I've been informed by the Attorney General that I'll be lead prosecutor (in the Lee case) so I expect that to be the case," Gorence said Tuesday. Bay is roundly described as quiet and intelligent. A tournament chess player in college, he now runs marathons, plays duplicate bridge and recently trekked nearly 200 miles on the El Camino de Santiago in northern Spam. Federal Public Defender Steve McCue said Bay is "tough but a pleasure to work with." "I've learned not to question his scholarship," McCue said. "He's very bright, very thorough, very well-prepared.

The quality of his written work is unsurpassed. It's exhaustive." McCue said that while Bay's ethnicity probably "didn't hurt" in getting the appointment given the high-profile nature of the Lee case, Bay already was high in the chain of command at the U.S. Attorney's Office. The head of the FBI in New Mexico also said he was pleased with the appointment. See INTERIM on PAGE B2 MARCH SNOWS Bv Scott Sandi.in and Ian Hoffman Journal Staff Writers A highly regarded Chinese-American prosecutor is to take the helm of the U.S.

Attorney's Office in New Mexico, which has been under fire from Asian-Americans over the prosecution of Wen Ho Lee. Norman C. Bay, a Harvard-educated lawyer and 11-year federal prosecutor, was named interim U.S. attorney Tuesday night by Attorney General Janet Reno. Bay was returning from Washington, D.C., after two days of meetings with U.S.

Sens. Pete Domenici, and Jeff Bingaman, and top Justice Department officials, and couldn't be reached for comment at his Albuquerque home. i toft Dave Braudaway of Sandia Park walks days a week. "I need my exercise, and i Or I iu'' fl "1 home Tuesday after checking his mall. Braudaway some blowing snow and hall Is Just a part of It." Of the Journal Conviction Begets Action Judy Bierbaum flies to Georgia today.

She may return in a few days or she may not. She doesn't know. She may be in a federal prison by Friday afternoon or she may have to report to prison in a month or two. Or she might get probation and come back home to stay. She doesn't know.

All of it is up to the judge, and he is new. He doesn't have a track record of dealing with people like her. His predecessor always gave the defendants the maximum six months and a fine up to $5,000. Three years ago, she decided to go somewhere few of us go the confluence of beliefs and action. When she began, she knew that in the end she could wind up in prison, and the prospect frightened her.

But she went. In November, at Sunday Mass at the Newman Center on the University of New Mexico campus, she said she suddenly knew that not even the certainty of prison would change her mind. "The minute it came through and I knew what I had to do, I felt a peace and I haven't wavered from it," she said. Faith I met her in 1997. She was going to Fort Benning, to protest against an Army school that trained Latin American officers.

"Something became more congruent when I match my conviction with my action," she said then. "There have been times in my life when I've stood at a door and I know if I walk through that door, my life will never be the same." She said walking through these doors may have been "the most liberating thing I've ever done in my life." She is 42, a clinical therapist working with sexually abused children at the All -Faiths Receiving Home. Three years ago, she protested at the School of the Americas, a training facility that works with Latin American soldiers. In 1996, after years of accusations that the school taught lessons in torture and other human rights violations, the Department of Defense confirmed the school had training materials on those subjects. When she crossed the line into Fort Benning in 1997, she was arrested and let off with a warning.

In 1998, she crossed again, knowing she faced a possible prison sentence, a punishment already given to others who crossed before her. That year, more than 7,000 protesters showed up, overwhelming the authorities. Protesters who crossed the line into the Army post were loaded onto buses and instead of being taken to jail, were driven about a mile away from the post. In November 1999, she returned for the annual protest. She was arrested.

Friday morning, she will be tried. "Initially, they said they were prosecuting 23 people," she said. "Then (in December) a decision was made to prosecute only 10. How am I one of the 10? I don't know." A squeaky little voice Her husband, schoolteacher Keith Bierbaum, took the call informing them that she would be among those prosecuted. "He looked like something out the 'Body she said.

"He was shocked." They have been married for 23 years. If she receives the maximum prison sentence six months it will be the longest they have been apart since they met. "I have great admiration for her," he said. "We've been close friends for so long, and we've enjoyed being together. It's always been exciting to encourage someone to pursue her dream, but this one has been difficult.

It's hard to picture her in prison." Her religious faith drives her. She says making her actions congruent with her beliefs has taken her to a place she can't describe. She says it is spiritual, almost like prayer. She says even prison will be a "gift," something that gives her a "voice." "I'll tell you, it's empowering to feel like you have a voice against these huge powers that be," she said. "Not that it changes anything.

It's just the fact of finding my squeaky, tiny, measly little voice and finding ways to speak it. I cry a lot. But it's not an awful scary thing. It's more like I'm so grateful to be on this journey. I'm grateful to have a voice.

It's knowing that I am doing what I need to do in order to be faithful to what I feel strongly about." Write to Jim Belshaw at The Albuquerque Journal, P.O. Drawer Albuquerque, NM 87103; telephone 823-3930; e-mail JbelthawOabqloumal.com; listen to the Jim Belshaw Show from 4 to 5 p.m., every Monday on KBTK-AM (1310), City Talk. 0 Mayor Says Air Quality May Suffer By Tania Soussan And Michael Ti rnbei.i. Journal Staff Writers The massive Big I reconstruction project may put Bernalillo County on the road to violating federal air quality standards, Mayor Jim Baca said Tuesday. But highway officials say pollution levels at city monitors are below federal limits and have actually gone down over the last 10 years.

"We don't see any indication this project is going to reverse that trend," said Greg Rawlings, environmental coordinator with the Federal Highway Administration's New Mexico office. City environmental health officials, how ever, say gains in the past came from clear er cars, an emissions testing program an seven warm winters in a row. The region can't rely on those factors to keep pollution low, particularly because people are driving more, they say. Baca faulted the state Highway and Transportation Department for not committing enough money to getting people out of their cars when the two-year reconstruction begins June 30. "Even at its best, it's not going to be easy," he said.

But project development engineer Allan Whitesel said the state has spent "a considerable amount of time, energy and resources" on various measures to make! the project more efficient and keep traffic moving. For example, cameras and variable message boards -will be used to warn people about slowdowns and accidents. Specially equipped trucks will also be deployed to move away disabled vehicles. The construction will be staged so 80 percent of the rush-hour traffic that now goes through the Big I can stay on the inter-states. "The whole area won't be shut down all at one time," Rawlings said.

"That should reduce impacts on traffic and build-up of emissions in the area." Environmental Health Director Sarah Kotchian said the burden will fall to the community to embrace car-pooling, telecommuting and other ways to reduce traffic. "Those are things that have to happen because we're too close at the monitors and I think we're due for a cold winter," she said. "There is no short-term solution except not driving." Air quality officials credit warm weather in recent winters for keeping the region from exceeding the federal carbon monoxide standard. On colder days, a temperature inversion between the mountains and mesas traps air near the ground, allowing pollutants to build. Angel Martinez, manager of the city's" Air Pollution Control Division, said he is worried increased traffic congestion, paired with dust kicked up by construction activity, could cause the region to violate federal carbon monoxide or particulate standards.

"It's a high possibility," he said. The city is working with the state and with Big I contractor Twin Mountain Construction II Co. on permits that will set limits for the amount of dust and other pollutants the contractors' equipment can send into the air. Martinez said it's important the city and the state do everything they can. That way, if the region does violate the carbon monoxide standard, the penalties would be less severe or the city could get a variance, he said.

To Martinez, that means having mandate ry regulations on the books to minimize traffic. "You can't enforce a voluntary program It doesn't mean anything to (the Environmental Protection Agency)," he said. A winter storm visited the Albuquerque area Tuesday, dumping between a half-inch and an inch of rain and snow in various parts of the city. The National Weather Service predicts milder weather today, with fair to partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the upper 50s to lower 60s. On Thursday, it will be partly cloudy and breezy with temperatures again expected to be in the upper 50s to low 60s.

MIKE STEWARTJOURNAL makes the three-mile journey six MARK HOLMJOURNAL on his Cessna rather than fly because of Zla, were doing their maintenance work Dan Telfair was forced to do some work Tuesday's foul weather. He and his wife, at Coronado Airport. Spiritual Leaders Call for Refocusing parked in the garage and seek "an island of stillness." She said finding that island is vital to avoid getting "sucked into this culture." She said only a portion of the world is celebrating the Christian year 2000, noting the Jewish year is 5761, the Chinese year is 4698 and the Muslim year is 1421. "Isn't that wonderful? A couple of thousand years off," Hobday said. Citrin said Judaism's jubilee is celebrated every 50 years.

During a jubilee year, the land is left fallow, debts are eliminated and things are restored to their original owner. And the special year is spent in reconciliation, forgiveness and restoration of relationships. He said the Hebrew word for work is the same word for worship. "Everything you do is uplifted to God," Citrin said. Societal stress has caused a spiritual isolation in people, Hobday said, and spiritual consciousness in America's culture needs to be restored.

daylong colloquium also tapped into the biblical roots of Jews and Christians for insights and meaning for the historic year. Citrin, rabbi at Temple Sinai of Palm Desert, said the Book of Isaiah calls upon everyone to go up to the house of the lord. He said the verse means that the whole world can become "attuned to what God wants of us and what we are capable of." He said there are a number of ways to accomplish that, including doing something different from the social norm and taking personal responsibility for one's own actions. "The disease in our society: It's the other person's fault," said Citrin, adding that out of individual responsibility must come activism. Citrin led Congregation Albert synagogue in Albuquerque from 1978 through 1996 and was a co-founder of the colloquium.

Hobday, a missionary at large in the Gallup diocese, said people need to step away from their fast-paced world one day a week, leave the car By Paul Logan Journal Staff Writer Jews and Christians were challenged Tuesday to wake up, become activists and make a difference in the new millennium. Rabbi Paul Citrin said the United States is one of the most materialistic societies in world history so "part of being jubilee people is we were called upon to be countercultural people." Sister Jose' Hobday said America's sleepy-headed society needs to snap out of its apathy so the opportunities of this jubilee year won't "slip away from us." The two religious leaders directed their spiritual pep talk to about 200 people at the seventh annual Jewish-Christian Spring Colloquium at Congregation B'nai Israel. Pope John Paul II has challenged the world to promote ecumenism and collaboration among faiths for peace, human rights and other worthy causes during the 2000 Jubilee Year. The CITRIN: "Everything you do Is uplifted to God" HOBDAY: Take time to seek "Island of stillness" UUimMJUtJUU lUIUUill 111-Hill.