The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 1

i i I it the Salina Journal Serving Kansas since 1871 IN SPORTS Chiefs blitz The Redskins go hard the Kansas City Chiefs, Page 9 Salina, Kansas Monday, November 16, 1992 Back burner Clinton urged to go slow on overturning military's ban on gays By The Associated Press WASHINGTON Congressional leaders urged President-elect Clinton Sunday to go slow on overturning the military's ban on homosexuals, arguing that sudden action would create a furor in Congress and could endanger lives in the armed forces. "He ought to put it on the back burner," Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas said on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press." "I can't give him any advice except to go slow," Dole said. "There are other things you can do by executive order that wouldn't blow the lid off the Capitol. I think this one might come close." Sen. Sam Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, appearing on CBS- TV's "Face the Nation," said, "I think we ought to proceed very cautiously." "If you did it overnight, I'd fear for the lives of people in the military themselves," Nunn said.

"I think there could be some very emotional feelings. So I would prefer that it be stretched out over a period of time." Nunn, Dole and Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell of Maine, who appeared with Dole on the NBC panel show, said congressional action would be required to amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice even if Clinton did issue an executive order changing the policy. "I'd be surprised if he won that vote," Dole said. However, Mitchell said "I think the governor will be supported in that because I think he will do it in a sensible and prudent The Arkansas governor said Wednesday in Little Rock that he intends to consult military leaders about "the mechanics" of a change. "I don't think (homosexual) status alone, in the absence of some destructive behavior, should disqualify people" from serving in the military, the president-elect said.

A federal judge in Los Angeles reaffirmed on Tuesday his order that the Navy reinstate a homosexual sailor, but he did not rule on whether the military ban is constitutional. The sailor, Petty Officer 1st Class Keith Meinhold, who has returned to duty, said the effect of a change in policy on the behavior of gays in the military would be "a big fat nothing." Lincoln romances mystery stone Historians ponder writing on stone By LINDA MOWERY-DENNING Salina Journal Neel was a child when a neighbor unearthed what would come to be known as the "Kansas mystery stone" on his farm near Beverly. Neel, now 86, doesn't remember much about the discovery. 'I remember when it happened, and I remember going over to see the stone," she said. "But you don't mark these things down and you forget the details.

It just didn't seem like a big deal. It was a rock with some drawings on it." But 90 years after the stone was is speculation it might be much more. After being stored in the basement of the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka for literally stone has been returned to Lincoln County. Amateur who study the stone could unlock the story of ancient central Kansas. And they suspect there will be some surprises.

"It's some good stuff, and it's a shame it had to lay there all those years," said Dean Jeffries of Leoti, who with his brother, Keith of Russell, has studied the 'I have to wonder why there wasn't more work done on it in the 1920s and 1930s." According to a 1948 article in the Kansas City Times, historians and archaeologists "puzzled over it and ended by shaking their heads in defeat. You can't unravel a mystery without a clue, and in this case there appears to be no clue." The stone was discovered by Maurice Briand, who grew tired of plowing around a flat limestone slab, eight feet long and four feet wide, buried in the ground. One day, out of frustration, he armed himself with a heavy hammer, a pick and shovel and started to remove the slab. The farmer found the mystery stone as he cleared away the debris. "Mr.

Briand's first impression was that the place was a grave," according to the Kansas City Times article by Paul Jones, the former See HISTORICAL, Page 7 Penny Andreson and Marilyn Helmer, Lincoln County historical society members, show the Ben Journal stone with mysterious writings that was found on a Lincoln County farm almost 90 years ago. Changing combat sparks quest for land Military groups compete for space By FRED BAYLES Associated Press YAKIMA FIRING CENTER, Wash. As the helicopter crested a ridge along the high desert plateau, Col. John Nelson leaned out the open door and pointed to a subtle change in landscape. "See where it changes from green to gray," he shouted.

"That's the old boundary." The green hue, a thin cover of bluebunch wheat grass, color codes the Yakima Firing Center, a major Army training area in central Washington. The land beyond, grazed to volcanic gray, is part of a addition recently approved for the Army. In a way, the line also marks the boundary between the Army of the Military lands undergo change along with forces SECOND OF THREE PARTS past and that of the future. Despite plans to shrink the military at least 25 percent and close about 70 installations, the armed services want more land. But opposition groups and congressional pressure have forced a temporary moratorium on new land acquisitions, and hard questions are being asked about adding land to a huge military inventory.

"It isn't peaceniks who are oppos- ing this. It's ranchers and farmers asking why is this happening in my back yard," said Grace Bukowski, coordinator for Citizen Alert, a Nevada-based coalition that monitors government land use. "We're saying if you need a place to train, tell us what you need. Until you prove you don't have enough, you're not going to get anymore," she said. Expanded combat The military justifies its hunger for more land with one simple argument: The increased speed and mobility of the high-tech combat that- won the Persian Gulf War requires realistic training on huge amounts of real estate.

Indeed, troops fresh from fighting Iraq's Republican Guard said combat was easier than the grueling exercises at the National Training Center outside Fort Irwin, Calif. "People believe the Army trains by marching in quadrangles and somehow magically acquires skill on the spot when it goes to fight," said Gen. Paul Schwartz, the former deputy corps commander at nearby Fort Lewis who led the charge for the Yakima land. "That's not how it works," he said. "You train your butt off for long periods of time.

War is a science where you pass or fail depending on the standards of training." The average World War I battlefield was about 1,630 acres, or 2.5 square miles; by World War II, air power, motorized infantry and accurate long-range artillery nearly tripled the size of a Today's smart munitions, supersonic aircraft and tanks that fire twice the distance have stretched See MILITARY 5 50 centsi Gays in the military "I can't give him any advice except to go slow. There are other things you can do by executive order that wouldn't blow the lid off the Capitol. I think this one might come close." Bob Dole, R-Kan. Journal file photo Clinton meets with Democrats on '93 agenda Dole says GOP won't be a bunch of patsies By The Associated Press LITTLE ROCK, Ark. President- elect Clinton and Democratic congressional leaders held their first meeting over dinner Sunday night, hoping to forge agreement on how to break Washington gridlock and push through a quick-action agenda.

"We've got a big job to do and we've got to do it together," Clinton said earlier in the day awaiting the arrival of Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, House Speaker Tom Foley and House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt. Clinton and his wife, Hillary, greeted their dinner guests in the driveway of the governor's mansion Sunday evening. Their meeting was expected to last at least three hours. It was their first meeting since Clinton's victory; the opportunities were big, since this marks the first time in 12 years the Democrats will have control over both the White House and Congress. Clinton, out for his morning jog, declined to outline specific priorities he planned to map out with Democratic congressional leaders, instead he promised a full report today at news conference with them.

Clinton and his aides have talked of a 100-day agenda for economic and social matters they felt went neglected over the past decade, but even before Sunday night's dinner, Mitchell downplayed expectations for how quickly Congress might move. "I am not one to subscribe to this The Associated Press President-elect Bill Clinton signs an autograph Sunday as he leaves church in Little Rock, Ark. 100-day deadline business," Mitchell said on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press." "I think it's an artificial deadline established for no purpose other than See DEMOCRATS, Page 7 Deficit battle President-elect Bill Clinton's first real fight may be over the federal deficit, Page 5 Salinans warn of dubious charities By DAN HESS The Salina Journal When Neil Ericson was told he'd make a good volunteer, he didn't bite. Ericson was notified by mail last week that he was selected as someone in the Millview Road area who might want to volunteer for the 1993 Saline County Area Door- Ascher to-Door Cancer Drive. All Ericson had to do was visit five neighbors and friends in the area and ask for donations to help fight cancer, said the letter from the Pacific West Cancer Fund.

But Ericson, 208 Millview, thought it was strange that a company in Seattle was soliciting funds in Salina, and he didn't see how anyone in Salina would benefit. It's that edge of skepticism that kept Ericson from sending money to Pacific West, which has come under national scrutiny in the past few months. "I think it's just a rip-off," Ericson said. "I'd rather give to American Cancer Society. I'd like to warn people." That's also what Ruth Ascher, Sa- lina United Way director, would like to do.

"Salinans have been besieged this year," said Ascher, whose agency keeps a list of charitable organizations that have been checked by the National Charities Information Bureau. Ascher suggests that before giving, you should ask questions about the company's policies, programs, services and how much of the donation goes to the cause versus fund-raising and administration. "The bottom line is the person has to make their own decision, but I'll clue them in about what we know," Ascher said. Several companies are flooding the mail with similar requests in the final two months of the year, traditionally the time of year when people are most giving. The Kansas attorney general's office recently released a statewide press release on the dangers of giving to unscrupulous charitable solicitors.

The Better Business Bureau in Topeka, whose business it is to check such organizations, gave Pacific West Cancer Fund a less than ringing endorsement. Pacific West is on the bureau's See SEVERAL, Page 7 Sunny and warmer today, highs 65 to 70. Increasing cloudiness tonight, lows in the mid-30s..