Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

WEATHER Mostly clear and warm FOREIGN 1 1 I I NATIONAL 1 --ii 1 Powell visits Gas prices 'not 1 lr the troops hi unreasonable B6 V1 -A6 If sports' 1 i Sizing up Arkansas St. -All I I Casper Souter will not discuss abortion Court sets Hopkinson hearing Defense, state to argue death order i AP judge in our republic can undertake." The court has been deeply divided in recent years with 5-4 rulings on abortion, civil rights and other contentious issues, and conservatives arc hoping Souter will help anchor the court firmly on the right. "If the Senate of the United States believes it is right to confirm my nomination, then I will accept those responsibilities as obligations to all of the people of the United States whose lives will be affected by my stewardship of the Constitution," Souter said. Committee chairman Joseph Bidcn, quickly introduced the topic of abortion as he enaged Souter in a dialogue about the right of privacy, which although not specifically mentioned in the Constitution has been recognized by the Supreme Court since a 1965 decision called Griswold vs. Connecticut.

Souter several limes refused to respond in ways that might give solid clues to how he would vote if asked to overturn Roc vs. Wade. But later in the day, he talked about the need for the Supreme Court to be consistent stating that past decisions should be overturned only after careful consider-Please see SOUTER, A18 Souter sworn in Supreme Court nominee David Souter is sworn in on the first day of his confirmation hearings Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. GOP proposes breaks for upper-income Democratic proposal would lower taxes for middle income WASHINGTON (AP) Supreme Court nominee David Souter firmly refused to discuss his views on abortion Thursday as his Senate confirmation hearings opened. He said he never told President Bush or anyone else in the administration how he would vote on that or.

any other issue. Souter, in the first of what could be three days of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it would be inappro- Eriate for him to discuss such a otly contested constitutional matter as abortion. But he said he accepted the constitutional right of privacy on which the Supreme Court based its abortion-legalizing 1973 decision, Roe vs. Wade. "My views on the right to privacy are taken as obviously a predicate toward the one case which has been on everyone's mind and everyone's lips since the moment of my nomination Roe vs.

Wade upon which the wisdom or the appropriate future of which it would be inappropriate for me to comment," Souter said. Souter, the New Hampshire judge nominated by President Bush to be the court 105th justice, spoke slowly and somberly in the crowded Senate hearing room of the position he called "the greatest responsibility that any fuels and higher alcohol taxes. It also contained a proposal to increase excise taxes, extend the soon-to-cxpire 3 percent tax on telephone calls and change the child care tax credit. The Democratic proposal included a 20 percent surtax on the income taxes paid by people earning more than $500,000 annually. It would double the beer tax of 16-ccnts-pcr-six-pack and the 3-ccnt-pcr bottle tax on wine, and boost the $12.50 per gallon levy on spirits by $2.

Arab nation and the insult it is directing to the Islamic shrines by occupying holy lands will undoubtedly produce a natural reaction from the Arab and Islamic masses," said the memorandum. INA said the U.S. claims were contained in a note delivered Wednesday to the Foreign Ministry in Baghdad. U.S. officials had no immediate comment.

In the past they have noted that two Palestinian leaders linked to terrorist acts George Habash and Mohammed Abbas now have their headquarters in Baghdad. U.S. Secretary of Stale James Baker flew to Damascus on Thursday to iry to reinforce U.S. coop may not be By KATHARINE COLLINS Star-Tribune staff writer CHEYENNE The Wyoming Supreme Court has scheduled a Sept. 19 hearing on last-minute defense efforts to block the execution of convicted killer Mark Hopkinson just six days before Hopkinson is due to die by lethal injection.

Judy Pachcco, deputy clerk for the Wyoming Supreme Court, said a hearing before the court is not an automatic step in death penalty appeals. The justices could have issued a ruling on the basis of reading the motions filed Sept. 10 by State Public Defender Leonard Munkcr, and responding motions due Monday from the Wyoming Attorney General, she said. But Pachcco said a Sept. 13 order signed by Justice Richard Thomas says the court finds a "hearing would be appropriate in these matters." Attorneys for both sides will be allowed one hour each to present oral arguments in the case, according to the order.

The stale has not yet entered responses to defense motions, and has until Monday to do so, Pachcco said. Hopkinson received the death penalty in 1979 for ordering the murder of Jeff Green, a Bridgcr Valley resident whose tortured body was found in May 1979 at a rest stop along Interstate 80. Hopkinson also received three life sentences for ordering the bombing deaths of Evanston attorney Vince Vehar and members of his family. Green had been scheduled to testify to a grand jury investigating the Vehar case. The latest appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court is the 12lh appeal of Hopkinson's conviction and death penalty.

Two appeals have been taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Munkcr called the latest development "positive." "I'm glad they've set it for hearing and that they'll hear all the legal arguments," Munker Said. "What they'll do beyond that is hard to say. If they hear it on the 19th they've got to have a decision that they'll have a decision by the 24th.

That's not many days." The court will hear arguments on two motions which Munkcr filed. One motion asks the court to hear arguments on "the propriety of its order and warrant for execution of death sentence." The other motion is a writ of habeas corpus, in which Munkcr and other lawyers ask for a review of the case against Hopkinson and the imposition of the death penalty. The habeas petition claims Hopkinson's execution would violate his civil and constitutional rights, and that his death sentence is "disproportionate to the penalties imposed under truly similar cases." In the petition Hopkinson's attorneys ask for "cumulative error review" to determine whether Please see HOPKINSON, A18 In the Republican plan, the biggest break, $7.4 billion, would go to people with incomes of more than $200,000. The estimated distribution of both tax proposals was calculated by Congress' nonpartisan Joint Tax Committee. The documents were made available on condition that the identity of the source be withheld.

The GOP plan included cutting the capital gains tax rate, limiting the deductability of stale and local income taxes, a tax on petroleum V''" MARY MEAD Afo comment on Hopkinson Mead, Sullivan support death penalty By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE Gov. Mike Sullivan and his Republican opponent Mary Mead both say that the execution of convicted murderer Mark Hopkinson, set for Sept. 25, is not a political issue and should not be allowed to become one. Both Sullivan, who is seeking a second term, and Mead support the death penalty in general. The Democratic chief executive has said he will not intervene to commute Hopkinson's sentence to life imprisonment unless some unusual circumstances crop up, a development he doesn't expect to happen.

Sullivan, a Catholic, said he has discussed the case and his views with Bishop Joseph Hart, head of the Wyoming Catholic Church, who opposes capital punishment. (See related story, 1 He said he would not oppose a decision by the Legislature to eliminate the death penalty. Mead said she had been advised not to comment on the Hopkinson case in particular. She said in an interview she sympathizes with Sullivan who is Please see PENALTY, AI8 Casper Area A3 Classified B9-18 Comics B7 Community B5 Crossword B3 Landers, Omarr B3 Letters A17 Markets B4 Movies B6 Obituaries, Diary B2 Opinion A16 Sports Al 1-15 Wyoming Rl Olrl i Aj Vjroucn The rich never do get poorer, do they? RESULTS You can find almost anything you want or need in the Star-Tribune from a couch to a new Job to a friend! You can also advertise anything you don't want or need from a coin collection to ranch equipment! And advertising with us is to easy to do! Just call 266-0555 or 1 -800-442-691 6 (WY toll free.) Don't forget to ask about our Guaranteed Results ads! of terror attacks against U.S forces Moslem clergy condemns Iraqi annexation of Kuwait It would increase the 9-ccnt-pcr-gallon federal gasoline tax by 1 1 cents, and put a 4 percent sales tax on other forms of energy. It also contemplates extending the 1.45 percent payroll tax people pay on their first $5 1 ,300 of wages each year to all of their additional income, if any.

The tax goes to the costs of hospital care provided by Medicare. The documents did not provide additional detail on the taxes in the Republican proposal. Please see BUDGET, A18 eration with Syria against Iraq, its longtime enemy. Baker voiced concern about the call from Iran's spiritual leader for a "holy war" against the U.S. troops deployed to Saudi Arabia.

Baker, here for talks Friday with Syrian President Hafez Assad on the campaign againsl Iraq, said Wednesday's comments by Aya-lollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian spiritual leader, were "obviously of deep concern." "We arc not indifferent to threats against our forces," the secretary said. Baker noted that Arab forces were also part of the Persian Gulf operation intended to guard Please see GULF, AI8 better paid The Iraqi warning was contained in a memorandum handed to the U.S. charge d'affaires in Baghdad, according to the Iraqi News Agency, monitored in Nicosia, Cyprus. It said Iraq was responding to a U.S. claim that Iraq-based terrorists were preparing to attack U.S.

targets. The United Stales is creating a "pretext" for aggression, the memorandum was quoted as saying, and "Iraq reserves its legitimate right to sclf-dcfcnsc, to reciprocate and to retaliate firmly against these parties if it becomes a target." "President Bush should expect that the crimes the United States of America is committing against the WASHINGTON (AP) New taxes proposed by Republicans at the budget summit would cost low- and moderate-income Americans $4.1 billion next year while slashing taxes by $11 billion for those better off, according to documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. A Democratic offer would lower by $4 billion the taxes paid by people with incomes below $20,000, while boosting them by $26.8 billion for everyone else, the papers show. Iraq warns Convocation of By the Associated Press Iraq warned Thursday of possible terrorist attacks against U.S. forces, again sounding the theme of Arab feelings wounded by the presence of non-Moslem soldiers massed in the holy lands of Saudi Arabia.

But a convocation of Moslem clergy in Mecca, Saudi HUSSEIN Arabia, condemned the Iraqi annexation of Kuwait and said the U.S. -led multinational force's presence was justified by Iraq's invasion. University officials are reluctant to call the proposed program a five-year program. "(W)e've discouraged that language for a long time, Associate Dean Tim Rush said. The proposal for elementary education would expand the degree requirements from the present 130 credit hours to 150-156 hours, Rush said.

That increase requiring up to 20 percent more courscwork to get the same degree will require students to spend more semesters on campus or take heavier loads to get done in four years. Rush, College of Education Dean Richard Andrews, and others were in Casper Monday to explain the new program to educators and 0 Official: Better teachers from UW ByTOMREA Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER Future elementary school teachers will get much better training but probably won't get paid more because of it under the University of Wyoming's proposed longer teacher education Erogram, university officials said ere this week. Next March, UW College of Education officials will bring to the university trustees a proposal to expand the bachelor's degree program in elementary education so that it will take most students more than four years to complete. A similar expansion is expected for the secondary education others here. "Who's going to pay these kids for this extra, fifth year?" Don Wolcott, president of the Natrona County Education Association, asked the university officials.

The NCEA is the local branch of the slate's teachers union. "We're increasing our requirements of kids coming into our profession," without offering any "remuneration incentive" in return, Wolcott said. Wolcott said that his daughter, a graduate of the university's five-year engineering program, is looking at starting salary offers of $33,000 per year. Teachers entering the Natrona County schools are paid $19,600, he said. "We can go and ask" school boards to pay graduates of the expanded program more, Rush said.

But there is no guarantee they will do so, he said. "I was hoping for more school board members to be here" to hear about the new program, he said. Rush and Andrews said that the univcrsty's sole purpose in revamping and expanding the program is to make UW education graduates better teachers. Arnold Willems of the UW education faculty said the new program was designed by a committee of 17 faculty members from the College of Education, six from the College of Arts and Sciences, and six public school educators from around Wyoming. But, Rush said, despite the fact that many UW education students transfer in from the state's seven community colleges, there were no representatives of the community colleges on the committee.

Representatives of the colleges were left off the committee due to "pure oversight" and "kind of historical attitudes stuff," a result of the fact that the university and the colleges have in the past too often tended to "forget about" each other, he said. Community college students may now transfer a maximum of 70 hours toward a UW degree, according to longstanding agreements, Rush said. He said it would be reasonable if, once the program is expanded, Please see TEACHERS, A18 i-.