Longview Daily News from Longview, Washington • 17

The Daily News, Longview, Wash, Tuesday, August 20, 199 1 C3 Northwest Survey finds reasons for High court to consider term- limit lawsuit varying gasoline prices Republican U.S. Rep. Sid Morrison and Democratic Reps. Norm Dicks and Jim McDermott. That action brought immediate and angry reaction from Citizens For Congressional Reform, which aided in the gathering of signatures to put the initiative on the ballot.

Group Executive Director Ron St. John called the joining "an unprecedented act of political cowardice and an unequaled example of political cynicism "Shame on you Tom Foley. Shame on you Sid Morrison," St. John wrote in a letter to the congressmen. "When the third-highest number of signatures in Washington state's history are gathered for this issue and you act to prevent a vote on it, do you ever question why there is voter apathy?" Also lashing out at the congressmen was Sherry Bockwinkel, campaign director for the sponsoring organization.

"This is the most unbelievably self-serving and cowardly act by Washington state's most prominent career politicians," she said. "This court challenge just proves these politicians are only interested in saving their own careers." OLYMPIA (AP) Washington's nine Supreme Court justices will go behind closed doors Aug. 29 to decide whether to consider a lawsuit that asks them to keep a term-limits initiative off the November ballot. Foes of Initiative 553 contend the measure is an unconstitutional effort by some citizens to take lawmaking into their own hands by limiting the number of terms that politicians can hold some public offices. Such limits can be accomplished only by constitutional amendment, the opponents say.

The initiative would bar Gov. Booth Gardner from seeking a third term, limit the state's congressmen to 12 years of total service and state legislators to 10 years. It would allow only one more term for 109 of the 147 state legislators and all eight of the current congressmen. The suit was filed by the League of Women Voters, Washington State Grange, Common Cause and the Washington Environmental Council. However, last week several other officials joined the suit.

They included Gardner, U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley, state House Speaker Joe King, D-Vancouver, Also joining in the suit were state Sen. Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach, and state Reps. Cal Anderson, D-Seattle, Louise Miller, R-Woodinville, and Gene Prince, R-Thornton. The suit asks the high court to declare the measure illegal and unconstitutional and to bar Secretary of State Ralph Munro from putting it on the Nov.

5 ballot. Munro and Attorney General Ken Eikenberry earlier refused to back the move and said that unless the court orders otherwise, the vote will proceed. "In our judgment, this proposed initiative has met all of the constitutional and statutory requirements for placement on the state general election ballot," Munro said. Olympia attorney Edward Younglove III, who is handling the case for opponents, said he believes the measure is unconstitutional but that the point of the current challenge is only whether term limits require amendments to the state and federal constitutions and thus cannot be the subject of an initiative. If the measure is left on the ballot and passes, a full legal challenge will be mounted, Younglove said.

OLYMPIA (AP) Corner service stations are giving way to corner convenience stores with a gas pump out front just one of the forces behind widely different gasoline prices across Washington, a study has found. The study, released Monday, was ordered by the 1990 Legislature. It sought to determine why fuel costs vary, sometimes greatly, depending on the area. Some lawmakers, provoked by angry constituents, contended the industry might be engaged in a price conspiracy. The study, prepared by the state Energy Office, found more complicated reasons for price differences, which vary by nearly 13 cents a gallon depending on area.

"I think the study shows there are reasons why prices differ and they are fairly logical reasons," Energy Director Dick Watson said Monday. "I think the thing we saw overall is a market undergoing a lot of change." The study, which polled 750 gas stations, 10 refiners and 131 distributors in 51 cities, found several reasons for price variances. They are: Deregulation that has resulted in growth of "alternative services" such as convenience stores with gas pumps, which can sell gasoline at artificially low prices. "Half the gasoline sold in Washington is through stations with conve nience stores. This is a major marketplace change.

Convenience stores can add to volume and stability, and may allow managers to set gasoline price artificially low (while) store sales may make up for poor gasoline sales." Environmental regulations, especially a requirement to replace and ensure gasoline storage tanks against leakage, is driving "marginal" stations out of business, especially those unable to compete against alternative service stations. Transportation costs, dealer margins and retail sales volume are variables that together account for about 60 percent of the variations in price, the study said. The study found that the Seattle area posted the lowest prices in the study because of lower transportation costs, lower dealer margins and the highest sales volumes. Vancouver prices were the second lowest, followed by Spokane and Aberdeen, which tied for third. Port Angeles had the highest prices among cities involved in the study.

Researchers said several factors contributed, including high transportation costs, low sales volume, and the "city's proximity to Canada," where prices are higher. Ellensburg had the second highest and Tri-Cities the third highest, the study found. Seattle rally protests free trade agreement talks shrift to their concerns. Among the coalition's worries is that a free-trade agreement would bleed jobs from the United States and Canada to Mexico, where wages are far lower and environmental regulations less stringent. Coalition members cite the rapid growth of macquiladoras, foreign-owned factories in Mexico that import raw materials and parts for assembly and ship the finished goods back to the United States, paying duty only on the value of the cheap Mexican labor.

Groups worry pact would hurt workers SEATTLE (AP) Negotiators of the North America Free Trade Agreement aren't paying enough attention to labor, environmental and human rights issues, speakers at a rally said. "Yes, we want fair trade, but our goal is economic fairness for all people," former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower told about 300 people gathered Monday in a plaza below the 76-story Columbia Tower, where the trade negotiations were taking place. U.S. Trade Representative Carta Hills, Canadian Trade Minister Michael Wilson and Mexican Trade' Minister Jaime Serra Puche are here this week to conduct the second round of negotiations to create a North American free-trade zone. Monday's rally was the latest in a series of events staged by a loose-knit coalition of labor, environmental, church and human rights organizations that is speaking out against problems they see in the proposed agreement.

The rally outside Seattle's Public Safety Building began with a Salsa band and concluded with a march to the Columbia Tower, kitty-corner from the plaza. Among participants were Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Washington Association of Churches, and representatives of about a dozen labor unions. Coalition organizers say they aren't necessarily against a free-trade agreement, but feel the negotiators are giving short Pesky weed may invade Western Washington I WESTERN FAMILY "1 WESTERN 12-12 oz. Cans BUD, BUD LIGHT, BUD iBIK Mrs. Butterworth Reg.

or Lite 24 oz. SYRUP Western Family 7 14 oz. MACARONI CHEESE the Spokane County Weed Control Board, spotted the spurge on Snoqualmie Pass. "I was just driving westbound on the freeway, and I thought I caught a glimpse of some in the median," he said. A perennial, leafy spurge can have roots that spread more than 15 feet below the surface and dozens of feet laterally.

Chopping off the plant at ground level does no good: The roots are capable of sprouting new plants and contain enough nutrients to live for years. The plant has light green, linear leaves and grows 18 to 24 inches high. Nielsen said herbicides, especially picloram, provide the best method of control. But even that potent chemical is only partly effective. "The plant actually takes a portion of that herbicide, a small percentage, and metabolizes it into usable sugars," Nielsen said.

"It's a classic example of a weed that the west side should keep its eye on," he said. "It would probably thrive over there, and once it got started it could threaten almost any type of ground." DRY BEER SEATTLE (AP) A patch of leafy spurge has been spotted at Snoqualmie Pass, and plant experts fear the destructive weed may be about to invade Western Washington. Leafy spurge, or Euphobia esula, contains an irritant that can cause blisters in both humans and cattle. The weed crowds out native plants and grasses and is resistant to chemical control. "We're not sure if anybody, once they've gotten it, has eradicated it," said Catherine Hovanic, executive secretary of the state Noxious Weed Control Board.

Leafy spurge is widespread in Montana and North Dakota, where it is believed to have infested more than 1.4 million acres. In Eastern Washington, it's been found in at least nine counties, growing on about 3,200 acres. It's classified by the state as one of 42 non-native destructive weeds that needs to be eradicated. Cattle won't eat it. But sheep and goats will, at certain times of the year, and have been used to help control it.

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