Daily Citizen from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin • 7

Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 1-Fcb. 2, 1997 Daily Citizen Page 7 Clinton's address is Tuesday night State of the nation? It's mostly upbeat By MIKE FEINSILBER Associated Press Writer executive director of the National Crime Prevention Council. He welcomes citizen-police partnerships and such trends as keeping schools open early and late. "Boston hasn't had a juvenile homicide in the last 14 months," he says.

LIBRARIES: "Libraries have come through those terrible days of the early 1980s when they were bashed and depleted of resources," says Elizabeth Martinez, executive director of the American Library Association in Chicago. "We've seen a 30 percent growth in circulation. We're involved with literacy, we do cultural programs, we're helping people understand the changing world and each other." AIR TRAVEL: "People are very confused about the safety of airlines as a result of the ValuJet situation and TWA 800," says David Stempler, president of AirTrav Advisors, an airline passenger consulting firm. "We're finding a lot of confusion about fares; people feel others are flying more cheaply than they are. And flights-are more full these days.

The planes are crowded, lavatories are crowded, onboard service of meals and drinks is slow." SMALL BUSINESS: It employs 63 percent of the adult population and is "in good shape," reports William Dunkelberg of Temple University, who conducts a quarterly survey of small business. "We like the stability on inflation. We've had continuous growth in this economy since 1983 except for three quarters. Think about that!" THE STATES: "In the past when revenue growth was good, states spent the money," reports Ray Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors' Association. "This time around they're really ratcheting it down.

And they're cutting taxes. Education is back as the No. 1 state issue. And there's a lot of focus on making government more efficient." NATIONAL WELL-BEING: From historian Hamby, this perspective: "It's not that material well-being has declined, it's that we have a much more expansive idea of what that standard should be. In the 1950s, people lived in smaller houses and thought one car was enough.

For the middle class, foreign travel is a lot more routine than it was 30 years ago. One other thing that made the 1950s not the good old days is that there were lots of people then who were segregationists and proud of it." to dip; over 18 years, 400,000 have vanished. Says Tom Rugg, legislative director for the National Grange: "It's difficult for the small dairy farmer in Wisconsin to compete with a major dairy corporation in Florida when his cost of production is so much greater and his capital is so much smaller." Still, Rugg adds, "Farmers are a tough bunch and somehow they find a way to survive." PUBLIC SCHOOLS. "I'm seeing a lot more optimism," says Carole Kennedy, president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals and herself a principal in Columbia, Mo. "The public is saying education is a priority.

At least we're being listened to." Still, she worries about "the equity gap" some public schools spend as much as $12,000 per some as little as $3,000. HOMELESSNESS: "More employed people are winding up in shelters," reports Mary Ann Gleason of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "Seventy-five percent of the nation is doing fine; 25 percent is not." PUBLIC HEALTH: Says Dr. Mohammad Akhtar of the American Public Health Association: "The infant mortality rate is lower than it's ever been, the number of HIV cases has started to go down, immunization rates among children have increased and there has been a decline in homicide cases. But the threats to public health have also increased.

Over 41 million people now have no health insurance." ANIMALS: "Attitudes are evolving," says Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States. In 1996, voters sided with animal advocates in six statewide initiatives restricting cruel methods of hunting and trapping. But millions of dogs and cats are still being killed for lack of homes. "And urban wildlife conflicts are increasing," Pacelle says. INFRASTRUCTURE: "We've seen a record highway program this last year $20 billion but the need is in the $55 billion range," says Tony Giancola of the National Association of County Engineers.

"Over 40 percent of our local bridges and roads need to be replaced sometimes rebuilt, sometimes starting all over again. We've been falling behind for years." CRIME: "People have accepted their responsibility for helping to improve neighborhoods," says Jack Calhoun, WASHINGTON Libraries: flourishing. Crime, from graffiti to murder: diminishing. Airplanes: more crowded but onboard service slow. Women: getting a better break from the corporate world.

On Tuesday night, President Clinton gives his broad view of the State of the Union. In advance, people from scattered segments of the American mosaic gave The Associated Press their views from close up. On many fronts, the news is upbeat. Prosperity has trickled through much of society. Of course, it's not all sunshine.

Roads, bridges, waterways are deteriorating. Homelessness is spreading. Many people feel their living standard has fallen. Alonzo Hamby, an Ohio University historian, speaks of a national "malaise or morale problem, or whatever you want to call it." A look at the country from a variety of perspectives: RIVERS: "Our rivers have cleaned up a lot in 25 years," says Tom Cassidy of American Rivers, an environmental group. "Rivers no longer burn and they are no longer clogged with raw waste and untreated sewage.

But if you're a fish, a river is still a dangerous place, and if you drink water from a river there are still human health concerns." WOMEN: "Ten or 15 years ago you would not have found public discussion of domestic violence, acquaintance rape, sexual harassment," says Leslie Wolfe, president of theiCenter for Women's Policy Studies. "Remarkably, some of the best strides for women have been in corporate America," PREJUDICE: "What makes things different today from 15 or 20 years ago is that all ethnic groups are in tension with each other, in terms of white and black, black and Korean, Anglo and Hispanic. We even see the redevelopment of religious conflicts," says Howard J. Ehrlich, director of the Prejudice Institute in Baltimore, a research outfit. FAMILY FARMING: The number of farms continues No more cars a possiblity at park GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz.

(AP) The flood of cars at Grand Canyon National Park would be trimmed to a trickle under a government plan to solve the traffic crunch with mass transit. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt was at the canyon today to unveil options that include diesel-powered light rail cars and buses that run on electricity or methanol. The National Park Service wants to ban nearly all cars from the park by the summer of 2000. People staying at hotels or camping inside the park and those traveling along state Route 64 still could drive in. Other visitors would have to leave their cars in nearby towns or at a massive lot to be built outside the park, then shuttle in by bus or rail.

The plan would eliminate 80 percent of the 1.5 million tourist-filled cars that enter the park each year. "The park's roads and facilities in the developed areas were never designed to handle the current volume of vehicles, said Robert Arnberger, park superintendent. The transportation proposal is part of a $350 million Park Service plan to improve the park for visitors, which numbered about 5 million last year. It includes building a central bus station and information center, improving employee housing and constructing an 1 1-mile bike trail. "The goal is to give people relief from the current problem, which is you're driving around looking for a parking place all day," said Susan Finley, sales director for the Grand Canyon National Park Lodges, the park's concessionaire.

Officials must complete an environmental impact assessment for buses and trains before they can finalize plans. And questions remain about funding. While the Park Service has access to income from a recent hike in park fees as well as fund-raising money, it is depending on finding private contractors for much of the project. Investigation of blood pinnings begins WASHINGTON (AP) The Marine Corps has opened an investigation of two hazing incidents known as "blood pinnings" in which elite paratroopers have golden jump pins beaten into their chests. The incidents, in 1991 and 1993, were videotaped by participants.

The service says the hazing was brought to its attention by NBC's "Dateline NBC," which was planning to broadcast portions of the tapes tonight. CNN broadcast portions Thursday night. However, news of the incidents leaked out Thursday at the Pentagon. The events involve an elite unit of Marine Corps paratroopers, who primarily are trained for reconnaissance and scouting duty, i -r, Gene discovery points to glaucoma WASHINGTON (AP) Thousands of Americans may soon be able to learn if they are at risk of glaucoma in time to save their eyesight, thanks to a new gene discovery that also points toward new therapies for the blinding disease. The gene causes a particularly virulent form of glaucoma that strikes young people, often under age 20, Iowa scientists report today in the journal Science.

But it also appears to cause at least 3 percent of the most common form of glaucoma, which blinds Americans after age 40. The first application of this discovery will be to test relatives of juvenile glaucoma patients, and eventually others at risk, so the disease could be diagnosed early enough to provide sight-saving treatment. "If someone comes into my office who's 15 years old and has glaucoma, I immediately will want to examine all their siblings, cousins," explained Dr. Carl Kupfer, director of the National Eye Institute. Treating those with the gene means "they would never go blind." Mexican drug lord gets 11 life terms Rio funeral home earns recognition RIO, Wis.

-Vangen Funeral Home, 215 Lincoln Rio, recently accepted an invitation into membership in National Selected Morticians, an international association of leading privately owned and independently operated funeral homes and mortuaries. Vangen Funeral Home has been serving the public since 1903. The present owner, Alan D. Vangen, has been associated with the firm since 1979. The Vangen Funeral Home has been recognized by National Selected Morticians as meeting its high standards of invitational membership, and in providing responsible funeral service for those it is called upon to serve.

As a member of National Selected Morticians, the Vangen Funeral Home has pledged itself to strict adherence to the NSM Code of Good Funeral Practice. This document is a clear statement of obligations, responsibilities and high standards of professional conduct which must be observed by the members. HOUSTON (AP) The. Mexican drug lord convicted of smuggling tons of cocaine into the United States and laundering millions of dollars was sentenced today to 11 life terms in prison and fined $128 million. Juan Garcia Abrego, 52, wore a headset to hear the sentence from U.S.

District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. translated into Spanish. The judge did not indicate where Garcia Abrego would be imprisoned. Garcia Abrego was convicted by a jury in October of 22 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering involving about $10.5 million. The panel authorized U.S.

officials to seize up to $350 million of Garcia Abrego's assets, bringing his total financial penalty, including today's fine, to $478 million. Defense attorneys have said they will appeal the conviction. Investigators believe Garcia Abrego transformed Mexico's, backwoods marijuana trade into a cocaine business that included his Gulf Cartel Authorities say he started out floating bundles of marijuana across the Rio Grande River near the border town of La Paloma, Texas, where the government claims he was born. The defense said he was born in Mexico. Prosecutors trace Garcia Abrego's rise to power to 1984, when he ordered the killing of a former associate, whose lieutenants joined Garcia Abrego.

They used their Colombian connections to propel the man nicknamed, "La Muneca," or "The Doll," for his baby face, into large-scale cocaine trafficking. For 10 years, federal drug agents tracked his progress. In 1995, Garcia Abrego became the first international drug lord added to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list. Prosecutors said Garcia Abrego was making $2 billion a year before Mexican police captured him in January 1996, sedated him and hustled him onto a plane to Houston. The defense had branded the government's case an electibri-year "show trial" and ridiculed some of the prosecution's 50 witnesses as "star rats" who spoke from scripted testimony in return for reduced sentences.

"I like the word prosecutor Jesse Rodriguez said during closing arguments. "Who else can lead you to the big cheese?" Delivery Setup Buy ijour bed from me folks mho build if and SAVE! Soldier sixth to be charged with sexual assault ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. (AP) A call to the hot line that was set up after the Army sex scandal broke last fall has led to sexual misconduct charges against a sixth soldier at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Sgt. Isiah Chestnut, a 26-year-old vehicle-maintenance instructor, was charged with indecent assault against four women trainees.

The Army said Friday that the charges were the first to result from the new hot line established by the Army to field sexual harassment complaints. 60-Day Comfort Guarantee 90-Day Financing (With Approved Credit) ftX THE SIMPLE THINGS IN "ft I I ICC arC Markets Choose from more than 15 models! TWIN FULL Cheese GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) The trading level on barrels increased 1 34 cents to $1.26 while the trading level on blocks was unchanged at $1 .27 12 in active trading Friday at the National Cheese Exchange. Sales were 22 cars of barrels at $1.26 and 9 cars of blocks at $1,2712. There no bids unfilled.

Offers not covered were 6 cars of blocks at $1,2712. Eggs DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Wisconsin's egg market Friday was unchanged. Demand into retail channels remained mixed from light to good. Movement of loose eggs was moderate to good into food service and institutional accounts. Supplies were generally in balance for current needs.

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