Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

i n't- 'I i in rr- flai- jC A Rf NDA Finals coverageDl if ir Oil WYOMING'S STATEWIDE NEWSPAPER FOUNDED IN 1891 IF in ff Greenspan upbeat about economy Report: Sullivan tops Irish ambassador list By CHRIS TOLLEFSON Washington, DC bureau WASHINGTON Months after he was first reported to be under consideration to replace Jean Kennedy Smith as U.S. ambassador to Ire The current economic performance, with its combination of strong growth and low inflation, is as impressive as any I have witnessed in my near half century of daily FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN ALAN GREENSPAN By MARY DEIBEL Scripps Howard News Service WASHINGTON From Wall Street to Main Street, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told them what they wanted to hear when he testified Wednesday that the U.S. economy is the healthiest It's been in the 50 years he's been taking its pulse. "The current economic performance, with its combination of strong growth and low inflation, is as impressive as any I have witnessed in my near half century of daily observation," Greenspan told Congress' Joint Economic Committee. U.S.

financial markets went on a roller coaster ride, opening down after the overnight sell-off on Asian markets, rising in response to Greenspan's remarks, then falling after his finish. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 50 points, then rose 50 points, ended the day off 78 points at 8,971 while broader stock indexes finished down as well, but the inflation-wary bond market liked what Greenspan had to say with the yield on benchmark 30-year Treasury bills falling to 5.69 percent from 5.78 percent on Tuesday. But, as usual with Greenspan, the message depended less on what America's inscrutable central banker actually said than Please see ECONOMY, A10 land, former Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan has now been tabbed as the front runner for the Job. The Washington Post re-ported Wednesday that Sullivan is counts.

Sullivan did yeoman work for Clinton In the 1992 campaign and may be one of the few campaign types who has yet to get any reward," the Post's A Kamen reported In his "In the Loop" column. Sullivan acknowledged Wednesday that administration officials contacted him earlier this spring to ask if he had any interest in the Job. As he told the White House then, Sullivan reiterated that as a Catholic of Irish descent he'd welcome the prestigious posting to Dublin. But beyond that initial contact, he said he's heard nothing from the White House and can't comment on the Post's report. "I learned about (the news re port) the same way everyone else did.

I don't know how they make these decisions," he said. Representatives of the White House and State Department re fused to comment on the report Wednesday. Kamen reported, however; that Sullivan "probably doesn't stand a chance" of being con; firmed by the Senate by September, which is when first Hillary Rodham Clinton is said to be making a trip to Ireland. SULLIVAN Happy landings the leading candidate for the job, which has routinely been given to prominent Irish Americans. President Clinton, the Post reported, still wants to reward Sullivan for his help during the 1992 presidential election.

Sullivan's name also came up as a candidate for ambassador to the Vatican, a post that ultimately went to Democratic stalwart Lindy Boggs of Louisiana. "Irish Americans may not have a clue who he is, but Bill Clinton does, and that's what House OKs overhaul of bankruptcy law major overhaul of the nation's bankruptcy system. "We must halt the practice of allowing people to -spend money they don't have," said Rep. Scott Mclnnis, R-Colo. "No longer can bankruptcy be the last resort of those who won't pay their bills.

It is time to end the destruction of personal re sponsibility." The measure was approved, 306-118. It was supported by 222 Republicans and 84 Democrats Please see BANKRUPTCY, A10 Credit card debt could no longer be written off By LAWRENCE M. 0R0URKE McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON Trying to crack down on millions of Americans who run up enormous credit-card debt and then fail to pay it, the House on Wednesday took the first step toward a RICtWRD ALAN tWNNOtyStar-Tribum Children from a week-long bible school sponsored by the First Presbyterian Church and Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church spend their recreation time inside a parachute at City Park in Casper on Wednesday. Natrona County IN OPEN SPACES: Anemic funding plagues health department The city has a lot more money to appropriate and a lot more demand for DONNA OBERT, NATRONA COUNTY COMMISSIONER Yellowstone fires 10 years afterCl The department has been dipping into its cash reserves for the past three years to support itself, he said. This year, the department has requested $388,398 from the city and $367,398 from Natrona County.

The county and city used to equally! share funding for the health department; but in the last three years the county has re-; duced its contributions. In 1996, the county; scaled down its contributions from $336,022 to $165,692. In 1997, that contribution! dropped to $100,000 and $125,000 In fiscal year 1998, according to city budget The city has given the health department $351,317 each year since 1991. "We're asking that it be about at the lev-; el as before," Harrington said. Brauer threw cold water on that however.

"I doubt we would go back to where we were before," he said in a sepa-i rate interview. The department can survive with its rei serve fund for the next few years, Harrington said. Although Harrington said he isn't Please see HEALTH, A 10 Commission says it can't split costs equally with the city BySONJALEE Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER If the county doesn't dish out more money to support the Casper-Natrona County Health Department, services are in danger of being slashed, according to city officials. "The health department is living off reserves," City Manager Tom Forslund told the Casper City Council during its first budget review Monday. "If the county doesn't decide to allocate more money, the health department may have to make a decision to cut services." Commissioner Donna Obert questioned whether services are equally shared between county and city residents.

"The city has a lot more money to appropriate and a lot more demand for services," Obert said. "We're not opposed to funding the services our citizens need." Commission Chairman Bill Brauer said he doubts that the county will fund fully the department's request for nearly $370,000 from the county. The county appropriated only $125,000 for the department in the current fiscal year. Bob Harrington, health department director, said it's speculative to start saying which services could be trimmed away. "I don't want to get into threatening projections," he said.

"If we don't get the amount of revenues we requested, from whatever source, we have to go back and reevaluate." The grouch Senate weds tax cuts, tobacco bill Democrats: Measure robs needed programs By BENNETT ROTH Houston Chronicle WASHINGTON The Senate on Wednesday wedded tax cuts to anti-smoking legislation with the expectation that the unlikely marriage will eventually break an impasse over the issue. Lawmakers agreed to include a tax break for married couples who earn under $50,000 a year, after Republicans narrowly beat back a Democratic effort to kill the proposal by a vote of 50-48. The amendment was then formally approved on a voice vote. The measure was sponsored by Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, who argued that the tax cut was the only way conservatives could accept the cigarette price increases included in the overall tobacco package.

The tax cut will be paid for by a portion of the revenue raised from the tobacco tax increase. Gramm said that because the cigarette levy would largely hit lower and moderate income people, they should get some money back. "We will give a substantial tax cut to very Americans who are bearing the burden of this increase in the price of cigarettes," he said. Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that 73 percent of people hit by the cigarette price increase earn less than $50,000 per year. The Gramm amendment would also allow self-employed individuals to deduct the entire cost of health insurance.

Flraw see TOBACCO, A10 For richer and lor pnttrer. in sickness and in health. 1997 logging in national forests lost $88 million Wyo travelers wait for Nevada Winners refunds Washington state conducting investigation Index CALENDAR A2 CASPER AREA B6 CLASSJFCD C410 COMICS D5 CROSSWORD C7 LANDERS. BROMPTON A7 LETTERS A9 MARKETS B4 MOVES A7 OBITUWtS EG OPEN SPACE C13 OPINION A8 SPORTS Dl-4 WLATtCR A2 WYOMING Bl vironmental groups have pressured the Forest Service to include such costs, but until now the expenses were defrayed over 99 years. Under the new method of accounting, the losses skyrocketed from $15 million in 1996 the first year a loss was ever reported to $88.6 million in 1997.

The report comes as the Clinton administration, buoyed by environmental allies, is moving the Forest Service slowly away from its traditional policy of considering logging the paramount mission of the national forests. National forests account for only about 5 percent of the nation's logging, but because they are public lands they provoke Please ee LOGGING, A10 New method of accounting includes road building costs By CURT ANDERSON Asscxiated Press WASHINGTON After years of ignoring many costs of logging in the nation's 192 million acres of national forests, the government is now admitting timber sales lost more than $88 million last year. The report provides fresh ammunition to critics of the logging program. In the report to Congress, the Forest Service for the first time included as expenses the upfront cost of building logging roads in figuring out the balance sheet for timber sales. For more than 20 years, en By TOM MORTON Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER For Wyoming customers of Nevada Winners, the check is still not in the mail.

Most of the 118 tourists from around the state who paid a total of $23,000 for the April 3 charter flight to Laughlin, have not recovered their money after the trip was canceled the day of departure, many of them say. "I called them 15 or 20 times," said Carol Keyser of Centennial. "What we heard is if you bug them, you'll get your money back well, I bugged, and I didn't get Keyser said. Calls by the Star-Tribune to Nevada Winners' office in Yakima, Wash, were not returned. Keyser's not alone In her frustration with the Nevada Winners.

The Washington State Attorney General's Office is conducting an investigation of the travel service, which an- flease aee REFUNDS, A10 i i if nil in.