Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

In Sports: Cowboy makes a comeback, Dl InCASPERf 'is WYOMING'S STATEWIDE NEWSPAPER FOUNDED IN 1891 3 rim i r1'" -1 "I L-Tree-leveling winds, CI cluool finance Islamic summit opens decision today Iran says meeting rebuffs U.S. Judge says whatever his ruling, it will be appealed By KERRY DRAKE Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE Without calling a sin gle witness, attorneys for 31 Wyoming was time to get it to the judge." "This is a way to cut through a lot of the issues and get down to the nitty gritty," added Tat Hacker, the WEA's attorney. The state presented its case first because it had the burden of proving to the court that the school finance plan approved by the Legislature in June met school districts and a teachers' union the Wyoming Supreme Court's rested their case Monday in a November 1995 order to create an equitable funding system for the scnooi nnance lawsuit against kk the "state. A Judicial District Education public schools. Jack Speight, special counsel for the state, said he is Judge Nicholas Kalokathis p0fArm ItVIVIIII said he will announce his deci confident the defense met that 61 sion on the case and the plain burden last week before it rested tiffs' motions to declare key compo By DOUGLAS JEIIL The New York Times TEHRAN Leaders representing the world's 1 billion Muslims poured into Tehran on Monday for a conference that Iran is hailing as evidence that it has overcome U.S.-led attempts to isolate it as an international pariah.

The gathering is the largest in Iran since the 1979 revolution, with a turnout that is expected to include nearly three dozen heads of state. Among those countries whose delegates arrived Monday are close allies of the United States, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which pointedly stayed away from a U.S.-backed conference last month in Qatar that had been designed to promote economic ties between Israel and Arab nations. The meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference remains unlikely to produce any kind of wholesale realignment Please see SUMMIT, A10 Friday afternoon. "We put on all the evidence we had nents of the state's new school finance system unconstitutional at 10 a.m. today.

Ford Bussart, lead attorney for the plaintiff's, said the Wyoming Education Association and the small and large school districts that joined the suit reached a collective decision Sunday not to call any witnesses. We've made our case through cross-examination (of the state's witnesses)," Bussart explained. "There was nothing to be gained by continuing the trial. It and it went exceptionally well," he said. Speight predicted that if the plaintiffs had continued the trial by calling additional witnesses, including school superintendents, "On cross-examination our case would have become even stronger." The plaintiffs collectively asked Kalokathis last Friday to declare several elements of the state's school finance Please see SUIT, A10 ENRIC MART) AP Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, right, escorts Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the Tehran airport Monday.

1 Jil Boxed in Energy talks energized by Gore Mayor wants citizen input Dixon sees meaningful role for Casper residents By JASON MARSDEN Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER Ordinary citizens should have a meaningful role in crafting the standards for Amo-co's cleanup of its former refinery, Casper Mayor Kathleen Dixon said Monday. Dixon and other city leaders met here Nov. 21 with visiting state and federal environmental regulators who are overseeing an Amoco cleanup that all sides agree is still very much in Its infancy. meeting was only the first of several Dixon hopes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold with citizens and community leaders in the months to come.

Joining Dixon, Vice Mayor Ed Opella and City Manager Tom Forslund in attending were EPA Region VIII Director Bill Please see MAYOR, A10 By CHARLES J. HANLEY Associated Press KYOTO, Japan American negotiators, given a freer hand by the White House, plunged into final talks Monday to piece together a historic accord to control energy use and protect the planet against global warming in the 21st century. In a one-day visit, Vice President Al Gore announced he was giving Ihe U.S. team "increased negotiating flexibility" to end a standoff with Europe over how deeply to cut fuel emissions. After meeting with Gore, Britain's deputy prime minister sounded optimistic that the 150-nation Climate Change Treaty conference will conclude successfully Wednesday.

"It leads me to believe the flexibility and political will is there to reach an agreement," John Prescott said. Gore said he thought his visit "generated momentum." But even if the U.S.-European differences are bridged, the U.S. team must still nail down another major feature commitments by developing countries to limit emissions to improve chances the agreement will be ratified in the U.S. Senate. Please see KYOTO, A10 I 1- DAVE GREWEAP Parkside YMCA helper Jim Gillespie, 12, of Ballston Lake, N.Y., peers from the Magical Maze on Sunday night during the Holiday on the Avenue in Scotia, N.Y.

He was helping youngsters find their way through the 35-by-24-foot maze of cubicles. Fund-raising flap White House belatedly turns over notes 5 The grouch sure could use same energy. WASHINGTON (AP) The White House on Monday belatedly turned over to Congress a new round of documents that detail President Clinton's meetings with figures in the fund-raising controversy and discussions about the investigation with aides. The White House said the notes were written by an Oval Office aide who began keeping such records in 1995 and 1996 as an "informal supplement" to the official records kept by the presidential diarist. The notes describe Clinton's discussions about news reports on the fund-raising probe, staff meetings in which the investigation was discussed, and several fund-raising events such as coffees with donors, White House special counsel Lanny Davis said.

Earlier this year, Congress subpoenaed all abuses in the 1996 election were given the notes Monday. He said the Justice Department, which is conducting a criminal investigation, had the material before Attorney General Janet Reno made her decision last week not to name an independent prosecutor to investigate Clinton's fund-raising activities. The belated delivery of the notes comes on the eve of a congressional hearing in which Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh are to be grilled about their differences over her decision not to seek an independent prosecutor. Officials have said Freeh argued for an outside investigation of a broad range of allegations as part of a possible conspiracy and that top Justice officials had the appearance of a conflict of interest. White House documents that might be relevant to the fund-raising investigation.

Despite the long delay in producing the records, Davis argued they shed little light on the fund-raising matter, mostly providing records of events that have long since been known by investigators. "The information we provided to the congressional committees contains nothing new, has generally already been reported and contains little of substantive value," Davis said. "Our production of this information is the result of our ongoing effort to continue to look for and find all the information the committees have requested in order to complete the inquiries on campaign finance," he said. Davis said the Senate and House committees investigating allegations of fund-raising Index CALENDAR A2 CASPER AREA B4 CLASSIFIED C610 COMICS 04 CROSSWORD C8 LANDERS, BROMPTON C3 LETTERS A9 MARKETS C4 MOVIES C3 OBITUARIES B3 OPINION A8 SCIENCE 4 TECHNOLOGY SPORTS DU WEATHER A2 WYOMING Bl Enzi: Senate positions get hostile response By CHRIS TOLLEFSON Washington, D.C. bureau WASHINGTON The position on global climate change staked out by the U.S.

Senate wasn't very popular among most participants at the Kyoto conference, Sen. Mike Enzi, conceded Monday on his return to Washington. Enzi reiterated that neither he nor most other members of the Senate will vote to approve any treaty restricting U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" unless developing nations are also included in those reductions. The Senate must ratify a treaty negotiated by the Clinton administration before it can take effect.

But China, in particular, Please see ENZI, A10 Housing department launches homeless hot line By Scripps-McClatchy Western Service WASHINGTON Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo Monday announced the nation's first ever toll free hot line to help the homeless. Homeless advocates said the number, 1 (800) HUD-1010, will come in especially handy because El Nino is expected to make winter more severe this year. Here's how it works: A person calling the toll-free number is connected to an operator in Washington, D.C. The operator automatically connects the caller to a homeless provider in the requested community. Cuomo said the caller should report any homeless person in dire need of shelter, food or services.

The community provider can then seek out the homeless person to offer help. Callers can also volunteer their time to help provide solutions to the nation. The 800-number will be answered by operators from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST on weekdays.

On evenings and weekends, the call will get an automated service that will give them a toll-free number to call in major cities. According to Cuomo, each caller will have the option to receive written material detailing steps on how they can help homeless people obtain housing, jobs, health care and other services. the homeless problem in their communities, he said. "Millions of Americans have walked by homeless people, wanting to help, but not knowing how," Cuomo said. "This will give Americans a quick and easy way to get information on how to help homeless people in their own community." Cuomo made his announcement in a satellite TV hook-up involving more than 5,000 homeless assistance providers around Wyoming's news source: The Casper Star-Tribune.

Subscribe today: 1-800442-6916 or 266-0550..