Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 1

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EA'tona 4 4-17 £fxxtsTI-24 FRIDAY MAY 4 2001 Vol 81 NO 266 Daily 50 Sunday $125 JOHNSON CITY TENNESSEE Tax rebates or this year ikelv Staff Photo by Lee Talbert A tentative August date has been projected for completion of the 1-181 overpass project at State of Franklin Road By Curt Anderson AP Ta Writer WASHINGTON Congress is unlikely to approve tax rebate checks this year seeing less of a need to stimulate the economy Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said Thursday He also said the votes there to lower the highest income tax rates to 33 percent as President Bush wants Grassley in an interview with Associated Press reporters and editors said the Bush administration still trying to find a to give taxpayers some of the budget surplus through rebate checks But he said enthusiasm for it in Congress has waned amid evidence that the US economy grew 2 percent in the first quarter and questions about how the program would work a feeling that maybe that is not needed Grassley said even hear the Democrats talking about The Finance Committee evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats is searching for com promise on the tax cut elements that would fit into an 11-year $135 trillion package that is much lower than Bush proposed In the interview Grassley laid out an ambitious agenda beyond taxes for the committee this year including action on Medicare prescription drugs and a comprehensive trade bill going to find me and my committee right in the middle of the things the president wants to said Grassley who travels home to Iowa every weekend and still lends a hand at his 1400-acre com and soybean farm On income tax cuts Bush has repeatedly insisted that no taxpayer should pay the federal government more than a third of his income But Grassley said 12 of the 20 Finance Committee members now oppose reducing the current 396 percent and 36 percent rates to 33 percent as part of the 11-year $135 trillion tax cut compromise hope we can get a consensus Please see TAX Page 8 1-181 overpass project nearing finish chronized lighting and also through more lanes This is the second widening of State of Franklin under 1-181 since the road was built Initially it was a two-lane road that was widened to four lanes leaving one lane for left-turning traffic from State of Franklin and only one lane for passing traffic Please see PROJECT Page 8 Related2 describes as an interchange with a limited right of way Northbound motorists on 1-181 will have two left-turn lanes if they are headed toward Kmart and those traveling southbound will also have two left-turn lanes to move them in the direction of Wal-Mart Thanks to the longer and wider transitions traffic will be able to use the four lanes passing to the side of each other under one traffic light rotation The effect is partly achieved through syn By James Brooks Press Stall Writer An all-night paving project from 10 tonight until 6 am Saturday will bring the State of Franklin Road overpass project on Interstate 181 nearer to completion State Department of Transportation Project Engineer Carroll Boone is looking for completion of the project in August When completed this will be! the second point interchange in the state which Boone i TK 4 -s 'hjrBffii I "A fit A u-s Class to serve as 1000th graduate of medical school 5 i 4 -i AJ If A si 4 I AS 1 1 A-- 1- Vf 1': "'f graduated its first class of physicians in 1982 Over the 20-class history about 65 percent of graduates have completed their training in primary care and about 40 percent are practicing in rural communities at least twice if not more than the national Dr Franks said So reaching 1000 graduates goes a long way toward fulfilling the mission and it is even more satisfying for ETSU considering the tumultuous origins and efforts to stay alive over the last 27 years were willing to take a risk on Dr Franks said were periods in the past when the outlook as clear as it is now Those involved intimately with the school never lost Having defeated Gov Winfield efforts to kill the school before it was ever established Please see CLASS Page 8 By Sam Watson Press Stall Writer As milestones go this one counts a thousand times over for the James Quillen College of Medicine When East Tennessee State University conducts commencement Saturday the medical 1000th graduate will cross the stage whole class like the classes before them have been rather remarkable in that they have helped us fulfill our mission of graduating primary care physicians and in particular those headed for rural said Dr Ronald Franks ETSU vice president for health affairs and medical dean really is a tribute to the faculty and the staff and I just feel very honored that I can be a part of he said Founded in 1974 with the goal of bringing doctors to underserved areas the medical school began educating students in 1978 and Day of Prayer About 200 boycott state exam in protest By Jim Fitzgerald Associated Press Writer SCARSDALE NY Nearly 200 eighth-graders boycotted a state science exam with their blessing Thursday in this well-to-do community of doctors corporate executives and other high-achievers The school district in this New York City suburb said 195 of its 290 eighth-graders skipped the test to protest standardized exams and the increasing amount of classroom time spent preparing for them now the state will listen to said Deborah Rapaport one of the parent organizers The students in one of the top-ranked school districts will not face any punishment though they will likely be offered another chance to take the exam The boycott is part of a nationwide movement against the tests and there have been boycotts in Michigan and Massachusetts Critics say test preparation is interfering with the curriculum and costing students in-depth instruction in broader subjects Teachers and principals are increasingly being evaluated on how well their students perform on the exams States insist that schools need not revamp their curricula to meet the standards But test scores are often published in local newspapers giving residents and prospective residents a guide to evaluate schools All states now require students to take math and reading tests in at least two grades and 38 reward Please see EXAM Page 8 Deaths JOHNSON CITY Earl Mitchell Michael Montgomery Thomas Payne Stephen Thompson EATONTON Ga Mrs Louise Green ELIZABETHTON Clayton Slagle ERWIN Mrs Dorothy Wilson PELZER SC -Robbie" Wise theme was Nation Under The event included a number of speakers and musical selections (Staff Photo by Ron Campbell) The Providence Academy Singers perform Thursday during a National Day of Prayer program outside the Sherrod Library at East Tennessee State University This national Farewells insurance issue occupy commission By James Watson Press Stall Writer Mayor Vance Cheek Jr and longtime Commissioner Dan Mahoney gave their farewells to fellow commissioners and the city Thursday night as the two ended their terms on the Johnson City City Commission think the commission is in good hands with its new Mahoney said of Commissioners-elect Steve Darden and CH Charlton who won the two seats in the April 24 election He said the new board will have to face difficult problems in the future but nothing the city faced before new commission is going to have to pull some rabbits out of its said Mahoney who has served on the panel for the last 12 years Cheek told the commission he hopes it will continue with a policy of growth grow or you die" he said the growth Both Cheek and Mahoney declined to run for re-election At the beginning of the meeting Commissioner Pete Paduch asked the panel how the city was going to fill its obligation to meet an estimated $800000 shortfall in the city Board of insurance claims The school claims stood at $19 million in 1998-99 and grew to $22 million in 1999-2000 Administrators have projected the current fiscal claims will be about $800000 more than budgeted by law have to take care of Commissioner Duffie Jones Please see FAREWELLS Page 8 Mahoney third from left and Cheek third from right attend their last meeting I.