Rutland Daily Herald from Rutland, Vermont • 3

Rutland Daily Herald Notion Monday, December 30, 19 3 1 Congress Resists Paying U.N. Debt iSl ml mh a By STEVEN LEE MYERS The New York Times WASHINGTON Having orchestrated the ouster of Boutros Boutros-Ghali as secretary general of the United Nations, the Clinton administration is facing increased diplomatic pressure to pay America's outstanding UN. dues. But the Republicans who control Congress are resisting. As the administration worked to block Boutros-Ghali's re-election this month, it argued that only the presence of a new secretary general could persuade Congress to pay the hundreds of millions of dollars that the United States has owed for three years.

But Republicans insist that they have no intention of repaying the debt until they are convinced that the newly elected secretary general, Kofi Annan, will make a difference. Annan, they say, must persuade them in a way his predecessor never did that he is determined to streamline the organization's budget and bureaucracy. As Marc Thiessen, the spokesman for Jesse Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, put it: They thought if they just brought us Boutros-Ghalis head on a platter, that it would satiate us and wed pay up. Our concern is not Boutros-Ghali, but whether the United Nations reforms itself." For the United States, the back dues have become a nagging diplomatic embarrassment. Even administration officials acknowledge that the issue has undercut American credibility at the United Nations, while pushing the organization to the brink of fiscal disarray.

In a farewell speech to the General Assembly this month, Boutros-Ghali scolded the United States for not paying up as has been promised so often." Delegates have delivered rebukes on the Assembly floor. And last month, the United States was thrown off the committee that oversees the organization's budget A senior administration official said that although the United States had withheld dues as a way to encourage reforms, the unpaid balance had created a backlash, provoking resistance to American proposals and eroding support for the very changes that Washington hopes to see. It has caused significant problems in the last several years," the official said. And it has intensified. As President Clinton prepared to submit his budget recommendations to Congress next month, officials said the administration would propose paying the debt in installments.

This proposal is similar to one that Congress rejected last year, to pay over five years. Difficult negotiations remain, not only with Congress but also with the United Nations. Even the extent of the debt remains in dispute, with the United Nations insisting that the United States owes $1.3 billion and the administration arguing that the amount is less than $1 billion. We remain optimistic that were going to square this problem away within the next 12 months," said Princeton Lyman, the acting assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs. Its not going to be easy, though." The administration's handling of the search for a secretary general, which many diplomats considered unabashed bullying, has Btoked a bitterness that has been simmering at the United Nations for years.

And it has created a feeling that now more than ever, the United States is obliged to pay its full dues. One U.N. official said, I think it will be extremely damaging to the Clinton administration if they ousted Boutros-Ghali and supported Kofi Annan, then were unable to deliver the goods on payments. "The official spoke on condition of anonymity. The organization's budget officials say the American debt constitutes more than half of its $2.3 billion in outstanding dues.

Nearly half of the 185 members owe at least some money, but the United States, the largest contributor, owes the most by far. The next-largest debtors are Russia, which owes $266 million, and Ukraine, which owes $252 million. AP Photo Christal Larson (right) directs a van driver helping to push a car out of a snow bank on a Seattle street Sunday. The van failed to push the car out, but did break a tail light oh the vehicle. Roofs collapsed, freeways were closed, cars were abandoned, boats sank and police spun their wheels as another snow storm howled across the Northwest early Sunday.

New Storm Blasts Pacific Northwest Jose Sharks. Puget Sound Power Light, western Washington's largest private utility, reported 131,450 outages Sunday afternoon, and the number was rising, said spokeswoman Kristen Wappler. It was as low as 65,000 before the new storm hit. Workers were called back from vacation and crews were summoned from other utilities as far away as Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Denver. Seattle City Light had 1,000 customers without electricity Sunday afternoon and Portland General Electric said it had 20,000 without service.

doning their cars in Whatcom County, and police in Everett 25 miles north of Seattle had to make their patrols in four-wheel-drive vehicles borrowed from the Public Works Department. We've had to basically abandon our patrol cars," said police spokesman Elliott Woodall. We put chains on them and they still can't maneuver on the side streets." A few miles north of the border, about 100 cars with an unknown number of people were snowbound at Abbotsford, British Columbia, police Sgt. George Lukefeld said. One family took in 40 stranded motorists, he said.

"Most people sort of stay home, stoke up the fire but there are those who feel they can brave the elements and just dont make it, Lukefeld said. The weight of a weeks worth of snow and frozen rain also took its toll. In suburban Seattle, police reported roof cave-ins at a Drug Emporium outlet and a Kmart Btore. The roof at the new Entiat High School gym ip the central Washington town also collapsed Sunday. No injuries were reported.

Roofs also collapsed at 17 of the 19 structures at the Port of Edmonds marina north of Seattle, sinking about 270 of the 400 boats moored inside. Three live-aboard boats were evacuated before they sank. Its as if no boats were there," said Tim Whitman, an assistant Edmonds fire chief. Ironically, snow and ice problems outside the arena in Vancouver canceled the professional ice hockey game between the Canucks and the San Ron Scheele of the Oregon Department of Transportation. Once we scoop it up to get it out of there, more snow replaces it." One man was feared dead on the Oregon side of the gorge when the backhoe he was using to clear away ice jams at the foot of the 620-foot Multnomah Falls slid into the water.

The man apparently was working as a private contractor to clear the jams away from nearby railroad tracks. The cab of the backhoe remained submerged late Sunday. Service was drastically curtailed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Several hundred passengers had to spend the night there because airline crews couldn't reach the airport on snow- and ice-covered streets, said Anita Risdon, a Port of Seattle spokeswoman. In Oregon, ice caused a two-hour power outage at Portland International Airport's southern terminal during the morning, delaying flights for half the airports passengers.

Another power outage darkened the airport Thursday. Most Amtrak passenger routes between Washington and Oregon, and into Vancouver, British Columbia were canceled. And the westbound train from Chicago was held up in Spokane until the tracks could be cleared. Interstate 5 was closed around Seattle when clogged drains caused water to rise as high as car doors. High winds along the Oregon coast toppled dozens of trees, closing several highways.

The wind hit 98 mph at the coastal town of Netarts. Washingtons Whatcom County and neighboring parts of Canadas British Columbia were hardest hit. Whatcom County got more than 2 feet of snow overnight, and the 90 mph gusts dropped the wind-chill factor past 50 degrees below zero. State Patrol officers were aban By DIANE TARGOVNIK The Associated Press SEATTLE The Northwest was pommeled by its second mjor storm in less than a week Sunday as 2 feet of snow, heavy rain and high winds blocked mqor highways, collapsed roofs and closed the Space Needle. Blizzard warnings were posted for northwestern Washington, where snow was piled by bone-chilling gusts as powerful as 90 mph.

Compounding the problems was heavy rain, which created an icy glaze and led to flood warnings for parts of Oregon and the rtst of western Washington. Basically were paralyzed," said Neil Clement, director of emergency management in northwest Washington's Whatcom County. Even the snow plows are getting stuck. Thats how bad it is." 'Washington Gov. Mike Lowry declared a disaster in 11 western counties and mobilized the National Guard.

And a symbol of Seattle, the 610-foot Space Needle, was closed because heavy, wet opw and ice was falling in "something resembling missiles," said ipokeswoman Lynn Brack pool. Travel ground to a halt throughout the region. Seven to 10 inches of snow fell on Seattle overnight on top of 6 W12 already on the ground. Transit officials canceled bus service when m6st of the vehicles were stuck in the snow or just frozen to the ground. Most taxicabs would carry only people with medical emergencies.

AH three main routes across the Cascade Range in Washington Interstate 90 over Snoqualmie Pass, U.S. 2 over Stevens Pass and U.S. 12 ovtir White Pass were closed by multiple avalanches. Officials said thfere was little chance they could be reopened before Monday. Avalanches also closed a 45-mile sthetch of Interstate 84 on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge, and one just west of Cascade I trapped a pickup truck.

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