The Billings Gazette from Billings, Montana • 1

i BILLINGS FORECAST MClRURflDQ IlklUIIMWIIW l-vrv Bozeman 40 WARMING 1 I lr 1713,1 eXCelS UP 32 Cloudy TUESDAY December 12, 1995 For your area forecast, see back page of section 110th year, No. 223 1995 Billings Gazette, a Lee Newspaper, 401 N. Broadway, Billings, Montana 59101. THE WEATHER SOURCE: (406) 657-1333 SURPRISE WINDFALL Government budget crunchers locate $135 billion We've got a long, long way to go." Sen. James Exon D-Neb.

WASHINGTON (AP) In a boost for budget talks, Republicans in Congress and the White House were handed a $135 billion windfall Monday, newfound money available within the framework of a seven-year balanced budget. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, suggested some of the money could be allocated to Medicare, agriculture and other programs that Democrats claim were short changed in legislation that President Clinton vetoed last week. The $135 billion was identified by Congressional Budget Office analysts, who said the outlook for inflation and interest rates had improved since their last forecast, while the prediction for economic growth had worsened somewhat. Negotiators have "got something to work with," Sen.

Pete V. Domenici, chairman of night, and House Speaker Newt Gingrich has said he won't advance legislation to restore the money unless there are serious talks with the White House on the issue of balancing the budget. Optimism over the $135 billion was tempered by a CBO finding that most of the impact on the deficit would be felt in the next five years; only $12 billion in the sixth year and a negligible amount in the seventh. As a result, any changes must be crafted to avoid throwing the entire plan out of balance in the seventh year. Democrats said that would complicate compromise efforts.

"We've got a long, long way to go." said Sen. James Exon, who cautioned against believing that the CBO report was the economic equivalent of "sugar plums" at Christmas time. the Senate Budget Committee, said after he and other lawmakers met with CBO officials. "This gives us an opportunity to do some hard negotiations and avoid a government shutdown by Friday," said White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. Spending authority for several agencies expires on Friday at mid DOLL IN DEMAND 6 liffil mV 1 tl 1 1 i I Collectors clamor for holiday Barbie ill; ULJUVJ 1.1 I 1 "4.

ft i.w rim, ii fir jft jJU Barbie: Mattel's billion-dollar baby The first Barbie doll was sold in 1959. More than 800 million dolls, 900 million fashion items and a billion pair of shoes later, Barbies are a billion-dollar business. Barbie revenues worldwide 1959 $1.1 million 1987 $430 million 1993 More than $1 billion 4 Average number of Barbies owned by a typical girl between the ages of three and 10: 1 -t 13 u.s. By NANCY NOTTINGHAM Of The Gazette Staff She's the best-dressed, most sought-after blonde of the season. But people searching for her from Miles City to Havre to Billings seem to be looking in vain.

"Happy Holidays Barbie" is an elusive, and valuable, collector's item, and she's almost nowhere to be found. "We've had a couple in here and there, but nothing in quantities since Thanksgiving," said Dave Polkow, store director at Toys Us in Billings. "We have over 100 people on a waiting list I know that nationally at one point, there must have been 24,000 people on waiting lists. A lot of people want her." Polkow said the rush for the dolls and the prices people are willing to pay off-market remind him of the mid-1980s rush for Cabbage Patch dolls. "Holiday Barbie is the dominant item that you can't get this year.

You just can't get it and won't be able to get it before Christmas," Polkow said. Mattel will begin this week selling vouchers for the Happy Holidays Barbie through some of their bigger toy distributors including Toys Us, Kmart and other area discounters. With the voucher comes a photograph of the doll and a promise that the dolls will be delivered by April 30. But the vouchers will be in demand, too. Although Mattel is manufacturing more of the dolls, they don't want to make too many, thus reducing the collectibility of the toy.

Polkow said any dolls that come in to Toys Us now will go to people on the waiting list. The story is the same at other Billings area retailers. "We don't have any in," said a store clerk at Best. "We got them in twice and they went out right away." I ''Villi IV--1 Italy France Germany 33 Total number of countries where Barbie is sold: More than 140 -v--- Knight-Ridder SOURCE: Mattel Toys Gazene pnotos Dy Dawa Grubbs Ranchers Keith and Kathryn Martin, who raise cattle and horses near Dean, are concerned about the wolves. A wolf print, top photo, was found on a county road in the area where a dog was killed Saturday.

When there were Happy Holidays Barbies in stock at Best, word got out quickly and customers lined up at the doors to buy them, she said. "We've been out since October," said Doris Mills, manager of LeBoutique, 2818 Second Ave. N. "We've called the company and (More on Doll, Page 14A) Tracking the wolves jAf Yellowstone Park biologists did not Area ranchers furious over wolf incident Vf realize a pack of park wolves had moved if nonn rowara popuiaiea areas near Nye and Fishtail until after the pack apparently kijled a hunting dog there. Billing Late Fishtail Nye, Novemoer: Airborne biologists following signals from the wolves' radio collars locate the Soda Butte pack of wolves in the park's Lamar Valley.

'Roscoe fRed Lodge Cooke City a few miles of many ranches. Wildlife managers said they can watch wolves transplanted to Yellowstone under a federal program to restore the endangered species only as closely as is practical. But angry ranchers said they are obliged to do better. "It's really a blatant breach of trust," said J.O. Miller, president of the Beartooth Stockgrowers Association, which has 260 members in and around Nye, Fishtail, Absarokee and Roscoe.

"They didn't live up to the agreement they made with us. In the past three days. Miller estimated, more than 100 people have telephoned him wanting to know why the agencies responsible for the federal wolf recovery program had not kept their word. He said the bottom line is that the agencies "don't have much credibility around here anymore." Federal authorities acknowledged on Monday that they had not warned local (More on Wolf, Page 14A) By MICHAEL MILSTEIN Gazette Wyoming Bureau NYE Early last summer, Keith Martin recalls, federal biologists promised a standing-room-only crowd at the Nye Fire Hall that if wolves from Yellowstone National Park approached local ranches, ranchers like Martin would be alerted. But the wolves have, and the ranchers were not.

"We put our names on a piece of paper and they said we would be the first to know if the wolves came around," Martin remembers. "Now the wolves are here and nobody's heard a word." Local residents learned that a pack of wolves from Yellowstone had followed the Stillwater River toward Nye and Fishtail only after word spread that the wolves had killed a hunting dog just west of Fishtail on Friday. The run-in put the wolves previously 20 to 30 miles or more away, deep inside a federal wilderness area to the north of Yellowstone Park within Dec 6: A tracking flight finds the wolf pack in the Upper Stillwater River drainage, where the pack had spent time last summer before returning to Yellowstone Park. A 7 A k. Fishing Pahaska Undg Dec 8: Unable to locate the pack in the Upper Stillwater, biologists assume the wolves have retreated south, back toward the national park.

The same day, the pack apparently kills a hunting dog to the north, near Fishtail. Dec 9: A tacking flight pinpoints the wolf pack within roughtly a mile of where the hunting dog was killed the day before. Gazette pnoto oy Ken BiacKOird Dolly Fansler earned some extra Christmas money by selling these special holiday edition Barbie dolls for $95. These dolls have been selling for about $200 in the eastern part of the United States, Fansler said. Gazette map 1 IMDE DETECTING CANCER Powerful ultrasound may reduce number of biopsies How to make a great snowman1 OA Four sections Fumes detected in downtown building 7A Dodge Bodacious retires from rodeo1 to get rechecked in a few months.

However, most doctors to be safe order a biopsy, an outpatient procedure where a surgeon cuts a tiny portion of breast tissue to check for cancerous cells. But doctors want to reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies performed each year to spare women anxiety, pain ana expense. A biopsy costs about $2,500 while ultrasound costs between $75 and $300. while the rest of the growths surgically examined are benign. A mammogram, or special type of X-ray, is good at spotting lumps in most breasts, displaying them as blurry white spots against normal tissue.

But mammograms don't tell if the lump is cancerous or benign. When doctors get a particularly clear mammogram, they may feel comfortable telling the woman decide which women need a biopsy and which can skip the surgery. The FDA isn't bound by advisory panel decisions but usually follows them. The manufacturer. Advanced Technology Laboratories, predicts the HDI ultrasound will cut by 40 percent the 700.000 biopsies performed annually in America.

Of those, 182.000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year. GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) A powerful ultrasound can reduce the number of American women who undergo surgery to tell if their breast lumps are cancerous or benign, government scientists said Monday. The scientific panel unanimously urged the Food and Drug Administration to approve the High-Definition Imaging, or HDI. ultrasound as a test to help doctors CityState 7A Movies 10A Classified 9B Neighbors 6A Comics 7B Opinion 4A Deaths 13A People 2A Landers 7B Sports 1D Living 10A TV 7B Markets 58 Weather 14A 111.