Albany Democrat-Herald from Albany, Oregon • 1

I St 3U 9N jonj N0O33O dQ A1IS83AHO t66666 127th Year Number 222 Tuesday, September 15, 1902, Albany, Oregon 79 Parjos, 35 cents IH1 III rose; ssiDes drop; dteff iei'S stairs Consumer I i v. WASHINGTON (AP) Consumer prices rose a moderate 0.3 percent in August, pushed higher by the worst increase in the cost of fruit and vegetables In more than 24 years, the government said today. In another report, the Commerce Department said retail sales dropped an sharper than expected 05 percent in August, pulled down by a large decline In sales of big ticket items such as automobiles and furniture. And the nation's overall trade deficit soared to $17 8 billion from April through June, three times the first-quarter imbalance and the largest quarterly gap in l'i years, the Commerce Department said. A fourth report today said average weekly earnings, adjusted for inflation, rose 1.5 percent in August after dipping 0 2percent in July.

Tne latest batch of reports, only seven weeks before the election, portray the economy as virtually stagnant. Consumers, faced with a lousy job market and weak income growth, have shown little desire to increase their borrowing and spending. Businesses, meanwhile, have been unable to push up prices with demand so weak. According to the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index, an 8.6 percent rise in fruit and vegetable prices, the biggest since January 19ao, more than offset a 1.2 percent drop in gasoline costs. The various changes produced a seasonally adjusted increase in the index that was slightly bigger than the 0.2 percent expected in advance by economists.

If continued for 12 consecutive months, the August price Increase would produce a 3 5 percent Inflation rate. However, the July gain was a minuscule 01 percent, and for the year to date inflation shows no signs of accelerating in the face of weak economic demand President Bush shakes hands with workers at a lumber company in Medford Monday. DD Eugene. In an interview after his Portland speech, Clinton said he doesn't favor promotion of the homosexual lifestyle by government but Measure 9 goes too far. "There are all kinds of questions about whether it will be used to discriminate against people," Clinton said.

The Democratic contender was pelted with roses as he stepped onto the platform for his downtown rally, which drew an estimated 10.000 people. Early in Clinton's speech, two empty log trucks drove by the rally honking their horns. One carried a banner that said "Stop Core," and the other had one that read "Spotted Al." both references to the strong environmental stands of Clinton's running mate. More politics, Peg 10 1 i i i price index 0 0 4 To! it I .0 2 iiii HiiiiMfl -o -Of i ON JFMAMJJ A IWt 1W2 Aug. -91 July 2 Aug.

'92 10.31 0.1 0.3 AP For the first eight months of 1992, inflation was running at a 2.9 percent annual rate, compared with a 3.1 percent rate for all of 1991 and 6.1 percent in 1990. "Whether the economy is in recession or just a very slow growth phase is a game of scmanUcs," economist Samuel D. Kahan wrote in a recent newsletter for Fuji Securities Inc. in Chicago, "Inflation, already very low, shows little Indication of rising. Analysts said today's reports, coupled with a reduction in German Interest rates on Monday, are improving the chances for another cut in short term U.S.

interest rates. ning, feeling vindicated. The temperature at Hyslop slipped to 48 during the night. As far as he can tell, his data show no promise of wetter weather returning right away. Typically in this area, the weather doesn't get rainy until about November.

The long drought has been attributed to El Nino, a warming of the Pacific in the tropics. Taylor said indications are that conditions in the tropical Pacific now are back to normal However, what that means for the Northwest, in his words, is a "crap shoot." Normal conditions in the Pacific could mean normal weather elsewhere or not he said. "It can go in any direcuonhere." The long warm period in the 1930s ended in 1940-41 with a return to cooler temperatures and a wetter pattern. Taylor reiterated that there's no indication in Oregon readings of "global warming." the phenomenon that's supposed to raise temperatures slightly because of air pollution. Clouds brought some sprinkles to the valley this morning.

Hyslop recorded 0 04 inches of rain during the 24 hours that ended at 8 a m. Total rainfall for the year is 17.5 inches, 20 percent below last year and 25 percent less than the 30-year average. swindle owgd1 Clinton greets supporters at airport in By HASSO MERINO Albany Democrat Herald A state cltmatologist climbed out on a limb today and announced that summer's over. The mid-valley's second longest string of above-normal temperatures has snapped, George Taylor said He spoke in an interview from his of' fice in Corvallis Based on readings at Oregon State University's Hyslop Farm, the mid-valley had 14 months of above normal temperatures through August, Taylor said. In August the average temperature was 3 degrees above normal, and the average of all the highs was 4'i degrees above normal.

So far this month the average temperature is below normal, Taylor said. Looking back over the records, he found only one longer streak 20 months in a row back in the late 1930s -when the temperature averaged above normal. Officially summer continues until m. on Sept. 22.

But Taylor said he predicted eight days ago I have witnesses!" -that cooling would continue and set a trend. "Fall's here," he announced this mor By BRAD CAIN The Associated Press MEDFORD the northern spotted owl took a turn at center stage in the presidential campaign when President Bush and Democrat Bill Clinton offered prescriptions for putting displaced loggers and millworkers back on the job. Bush, appearing Monday before about 3,000 timber workers and supporters at a Medford mill, said the Endangered Species Act must be changed to puce more emphasis on jobs than on preserving the spotted owl. Clinton, who attended a large outdoor rally in downtown Portland before meeting with timber families in Eugene, said more money should be spent to retool mills for second growth timber and to retrain workers. The comments came as the two contenders descended on a state where thousands of Umber workers have lost their jobs as a result of efforts to protect spotted ow habitat.

Vast tracts of Northwest forests are closed to logging because of court rulings requiring protection of the ow In his remarks at the Burrill Lumber Bush said he won't reauthorize the Endangered Species Act unless it is revamped to take into consideration the economic impact on people's jobs. The act was intended to be a shield for wildlife, he said, but now is being used by environmentalists "as a sword aimed at the jobs and families of the Pacific Northwest" "It is time to make people more important than owls," Bush said. He also urged Congress to approve a guaranteed timber harvest level of 26 billion board feet on S. Forest Service land in Oregon and Washington. He said federal law should be changed to speed up harvests of dead or dying trees.

"It is time we worried not only about endangered species but about endangered jobs, he said. Ine president drew cheers from the timber workers and their families as he fainted Clinton and his running mate, ennessee Sen. Al Core, as radical Jim (Die Classified ads 17-19 Comics 6 Crossword 19 Dear Abby 6 Editorial 8 Movie ads 7 Obituaries 9 People .11 Sports 12-14 Stocks, finance ....9 TV listings 16 Weather 2 The Democrat-Herald is printed on recycled paper future of their industry. "I want to change fields. I don't have much faith in it anymore.

There's too much, politics," said Ed Seiciniski of Coburg, who was laid off from the Willamette Industries mill there two months ago. After the meeting, hich took place in the back yard of a home owned by a retired Umber worker, Ginton shook hands with neighbors who milled around in the street. In Portland, Clinton criticized Bush for blocking Oregon's plan to make basic health services to more working poor people by reducing the number of medical services covered by Medicaid. "Don't kid yourselves, we are raUon-ing health care every day in this country," Clinton said. He also criticized Measure 9, the anti-gay rights initiative that will be on Oregon's ballot Nov.

3. environmentalists. Bush called Clinton "Gov. Doublespeak" and said the Arkansas governor changes his position on the Umber controversy to suit whatever audience he's addressing. Clinton, meanwhile, attacked Bush's record on Umber as well as his administration's refusal to allow Oregon's health rationing experiment to proceed.

In both Portland and Eugene, Clinton contended that the federal government is spending $100 million to subsidize raw log exports. Congress banned all log exports from federal lands in 1990 but Umber companies get a tax break for exporting logs from private lands. Clinton said he would take half that money and turn it into tax credits for retooling mills and for worker Timber workers who met with Clinton in Eugene said they feared for the 'Current Affair' to air Lebanon By CAROLYN SPANJER Albany Democrat-Herald after that and last talked to him on the phone on Aug. 19. She discovered later that no mobile home had been ordered in her name or the man's.

In another incidence allegedly involving the same man, a Denver woman lost more man $100,000, Lebanon police said. After Shanks learned about the Lebanon woman, he contacted Beaverton police and found the suspect was living there under another name. Jerome David Method, 45, has been held in the Washington County Jail in Beaverton for the past two weeks with no bail He is wanted in Colorado on several charges alleging theft, forgery, criminal impersonation and deception dating back to 1330. Police suspect there may be other women in Albany and Salem who got involved with the man but have not reported their losses. The Lebanon woman told police on Aug.

25 about a man calling himself Shawn Pelton, She had met him through "friendship" advertisement in the Salem newspaper and had a few dates with him. The man allegedly told the woman that he was a consultant to home builders and remodekrs and convinced her that he could get her a new mobile home for less than wholesale if she would let him handle the paperwork, according to Lebanon police. She gave the man $1,875 in cash on Aug. 7 as a partial payment. She met with him a few Umes One was the woman who reported that a nun conned her out of 11,175.

Hie other was Lebanon Police Detective Tim Shanks, who was instrumental ir. the investigation that tracked down the suspect. Shanks looked for the man, who was using several aliases, for about a week before finding him in Beaverton on Sept. 1. The interviews were shot in Lebanon and included scenes looking down Main Street, Police Chief Walt Richmond said.

"Although the program is a tabloid type show. I think it will provide some very important and valuable information," Richmond said, referring to women being cautious about some men and their moUves. LEBANON TV account of a man accused of swindling several women, including one from Lebanon, is headed for one of the TV versions of the tabloid papers. The story is tentatively scheduled to air on a program called "Current Afair Extra" on Saturday night, "Current Affair" producer Steve Langford interviewed two Lebanon people last weekend, according to Stuart Martjues, deputy managing editor for "Current Affair" in New York..