The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 40

A18 faxes: Daschle says GOP must negotiate The Sacramento Bee Thursday Aprils 2001 Republicans said their proposal would lift the burden of estate taxes on the 2 percent of Americans whose estates are subject to taxes Under current law the tax bite starts when estates exceed $675000 an exempted amount that already is scheduled to rise to 1 million in 2006 GOP members said their proposal would be especially beneficial to owners of small businesses family farms and ranches Herger R-Marysville declared that many small-business owners leave estates that are "asset-rich and cash-poor" He said that in the case of about one-third of small-business owners who die their families are forced to sell the properties to pay what Republicans label taxes" House Minonty Leader Dick Gephardt D-Mo countered that the GOP plan would deny the government hundreds of billions of dollars in the decade after 2011 "This is a mistake we will pay for in years to come" he said Democrats offered their own $39 billion plan that would have increased the exemption to $2 million immediately rising to $25 million which would have eliminated taxes on all but the largest estates Matsui D-Sacramento said taxpayers should not have to wait until 201 1 to get a break on estate taxes offer immediate relief" said Matsui The House previously approved the request for a $958 billion reduction in income tax rates and $400 billion to limit the impact of the so-called marriage penalty In the next few weeks however House Republicans will seek to pass a few other tax provisions including one that would raise the allowable level of contributions to 401 (k) plans and individual retirement accounts The Bee's Lawrence O'Rourke can he reached at (202) 383-0012 or mcclatchydc com Idaho chairman of the GOP conference said Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have told key Republicans that passage of the tax plan may be the key to the success of Bush's presidency But Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said the statement by Jeffords and the defections by Chafee and Specter added up to exclamation point that the president must with "The president's original proposal as far as the Senate goes for all intents and purposes appears to be over" said Daschle Republicans continued to hold out hope with Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles calling defection temporary setback" Knight Ridder Newspaper reported The setbacks in the Senate came after Bush had a good day in the House By 274-154 the House voted to wipe out over the next decade all federal estate taxes is the official start of the funeral procession of the death said Rep Jennifer Dunn R- CONTINUED I ROM A1 waves through Republican ranks Since the Senate is divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats a no vote by Jeffords or Specter could tip the scale against the Bush tax cut plan Only two senators Democrat Zell Miller of Georgia and Republican Chalee have indicated they would vote against party leaders on the final tax vole Before the vote to scale back the tax cut Jeftords said he was inclined to vote against a $194 trillion budget for 2002 the Sen ate was debating that embraces Bush's tax cut Jeffords said the $1 6 trillion tax reduction would shortchange education spending for the mentally and physically disabled a miracle occurs I feai bending in that duection" Jelfords told reporters The stakes are high The $16 trillion tax cut proposal was the centerpiece of Bush's campaign for the White House and has become the core of his first-year agenda Sen Larry Craig of Associated PressStephen Boitano Sen Mary Landrleu D-La briefs reporters Wednesday on Senate action on the tax and budget plan She is flanked by Sens Ben Nelson D-Neb left Jim Jeffords R-Vt and John Breaux D-La Wash we repeal this tax and one independent Sacramen-to-area representatives voted along party lines with Republicans John Doolittle Doug Ose Richard Pombo and Wally Merger voting yes and Democrat Robert Matsut voting no entirely it will grow back" Voting for a repeal of all estate taxes by 201 1 were 215 Republicans 58 Democrats and one independent Voting no were 150 Democrats three Republicans Hapist: Officials plan meeting to share data Associated PressLindsay Semple James and Susan Coursen of Niles Ohio display the flag In honor of their son Shawn Coursen one of the 24 spy plane crew members being detained by China The flag covered the coffin of Susan father and usually is displayed only for patriotic holidays China: US ambassador berated At the time the DNA tests being done in Contra Costa and Orange counties were not very comparable because of different technologies Meanwhile Orange County authorities were doing their own tests In October they announced the murders were linked and developed a profile of the killer describing him as an intelligent methodical planner who scouted victims scrupulously choosing middle-class to affluent neighboi hoods Contra Costa authorities again heard about the case and asked for a DNA profile this time using comparable technologies Holes said The DNA from the East Bay rapes matched the DNA from Orange County "We knew he was potentially violent from the first rape he Selby said He was investigating sexual assaults for the department when the East Area Rapist first struck in Rancho Cordova Selby believes he was looking for a teenager who was more lucky than smart but who was cunning enough to plan his escape when he entered homes and chose victims after studying their habits When Selby lived in Rancho Cordova he said his son saw someone shining a flashlight into his house and believes it was the man he spent months trying to capture "I have no doubt it was said Selby though he know if he was being watched because of his investigation or as a potential victim The serial rapist who was armed with a gun or knife used a flashlight to keep his victims blinded which caused a range of suspect descriptions One of the last connections Selby had is a call the rapist made to one of his victims in 1991 The suspect said 'Do you know who this She recognized his voice" Selby said The woman heard children crying in the background leaving authorities to wonder if he has a family The hunt for the rapist amassed huge overtime burdens on the department and involved more than a dozen investigators "We were all over the Selby said were like a day behind him" The MS Enkoji can be reached at (916) 321-1 106 or sacbeecom The pilot whose jet fighter collided with the US spy plane was Identified by the Chinese government Wednesday as Wang Wei The pilot shown In an Image taken from a television broadcast bailed out of his damaged aircraft but has not been found and is presumed dead Associated Press CONTINUED FROM At string of killings in Southern Cali-I fornia and has renewed the hunt for a killer-rapist The killings some involving couples began in 1979 and ended in 1986 Anelabo-i rate chain has linked the same murder suspect to three Contra Costa County rapes which have long been linked to the East Area Rapist by the similarities Anyone behind a badge in Sacramento County then had hoped one day to see the East Area Rapist in jail and the newest discovery rekindles that possibility would love it" said Richard Selby who investigated sexual assaults as a Sacramento County deputy before he retired in 1993 Though DNA evidence has produced a biological profile of a sus- pect no match has been found among the hundieds of thousands in the state databank though the state has lagged in putting in criminals' DNA profiles i said Frank Fitzpatrick director of i Orange County's Forensic Labo-1 ratory His lab discovered a link 1 among three murder cases a couple and two women he said The other murders were a couple Ventura County also linked by DNA and two couples in Santa Barbara County linked by similar patterns in the crimes Authorities said all law enforcement agencies with linked cases are going to meet later this month to discuss evidence The hope is that together they can find a key that will lead them to a suspect "We are going to see what we can do to assist with their investigations" said Sacramento County spokesman Sgt Janies Lewis Lewis said evidence from the Sacramento County cases has never been tested for DNA because the statute of limitations had expired meaning no charges could be filed if a suspect is caught The state time limit to charge someone with rape was six years "We may try to do it now" Lewis said of the DNA part of what we will discuss in the Recent changes in the law extend the time limit for rape cases when DNA evidence is available Lewis said in light of new developments investigators are looking for what may have been the rapist's first murder On Feb 2 1978 Sgt Brian Maggiore a 21-year-old administrative specialist at Mather Air Force Base and his wife Katie 20 were walking their dog on a quiet residential street in Rancho Cordova They were attacked and fatally shot but no apparent motive has ever been found kind of a long-shot" Lewis said but the timing of the shooting and because it involved a couple has left deputies with the suspicion that the killing might be linked to the rapist Efforts to link serial murder cases in Orange County with rapes in Northern California began four years ago officials said Paul Holes a criminalist at the Contra Costa County crime lab said a local detective noticed a similarity to the Orange County murders many involving couples and asked the lab to check out the hunch 1 7 CONTINUED FROM A1 monetl Ambassador Joseph Prueher in Belling for a pointed dressing-down The United States "did not face up to the reality or take responsibility" for the collision Tang told Piueher according to the New China News Agency On the contrary Washington has "taken a stance of rule by force used lame arguments confounded right and wrong and made gtoundless accusations against China" Tang said Before leaving for a previously scheduled tour o( Latin America Chinese President Jiang Zemin stipulated that an apology was required to open the way for any resolution of the incident which forced the EP-3E to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island in soulhei China Prueher refused to give the apology But Powell later took the tentative and subtly diplomatic step of expiessmg regret The secretaiy ol state appeared to be seeking to ease tensions and find a middle ground on the language Similar language was echoed at the White House The United States is concerned about missing Chinese pilot Wang Wei and expressed regrets about the midair incident press secretary Ari Fleischer said Wednesday comment was "a step in the right direction said Zhang Yuan Yuan Chinese Embassy press counselor But Yang Jie-chi the Chinese ambassador to the United States said further steps were required In addition Tang gave the first sign that China may be ready to make a move "China attaches importance to China-US relations and hopes the plane collision i incident can be quickly and appropriately resolved" he said The detention of the crew including Navy Cryptologic Technician pretive 1st Class Josef Edmunds of Davis has angered Congress and may make it politically harder for President Bush to keep the incident from influencing other issues in relations with China On Wednesday members of Congress expressed growing sentiment for selling advanced weapons to Tai wan and an emboldened anti-China coalition began talking about the more remote possibility of denying China normal trade relations On the other side Chinese escalating war of words seemed at least partly prompted by the widespread feeling in Beijing that Bush had been dismissive of China's concerns in his comments since the collision US officials refused to get into a seman tic debate over whether expressing regret was tantamount to an apology And the White House insists it does not believe there is reason for an apology airplanes are operating in international airspace and the United States did nothing wrong" Fleischer said The Bush administration scrambled during the day to get the message across in as many ways as possible Powell formalized his expression of regret for the apparent loss of the Chinese pilot in a letter to Vice Premier Qian Qichen which he gave to Chinese Ambassador Yang during a 30-minute meeting late Wednesday at the State Department The letter also discusses the need to find ways to resolve the issue The Washington Post quoting Western sources reported in editions that the midair collision occurred after the Chinese F-8 interceptor started to fly directly below the Navy plane and the American aircraft executed a banking maneuver to the left The new details of Sunday's accident provided by sources briefed by US officials did not make clear who was to blame But they seemed to explain the rationale behind Chinese assertions that the American plane moved suddenly and thereby triggered the accident causing the Chinese fighter to crash with the apparent loss of its pilot Although it was known that the EP-3E was being shadowed by two Chinese F-8s neither Chinese nor US officials have publicly revealed the American turn to the left or the Chinese jet position just under the EP-3E before the maneuver began Pentagon officials have insisted that the lumbering US aircraft about the size of a Boeing 737 could not have been responsible for hitting the Chinese plane which was almost twice as fast Following the collision which occurred in international airspace 60 nautical miles southeast of Hainan Island the American plane plummeted 8000 feet before the pilot succeeded in righting it At that point the Western sources told the Post the American crew began destroying top-secret software and data in the technology-laden aircraft When the plane landed at Lingshui air base on Hainan armed Chinese guards surrounded it and boarded it escorting the Americans out at gunpoint a Western source said A day after the crash the sources said the Liberation Army dispatched a cargo plane loaded with men and technical equipment from Beijing to the base The men and equipment were sent to study the aircraft the sources said adding that Chinese soldiers later were seen by US intelligence satellites removing equipment from the plane US officials have told allies they are "fairly confident that the most sensitive data was during the 26 minutes between the accident and an emergency landing on Hainan one source said Pictures of the EP-3E in state newspapers showed damage to its far-left propeller and the underside of its left wing The nose cone was missing Knight Ridder Newspapers and the New i York Timers contributed to this report Setting Straight An obituary of George Yonehiro on page B5 March 27 should have listed the cause of death as complications of a chronic illness after surgery In Taste section information was missing from two recipes on page F4 Barbara Morgan's Stuffed Chicken serves six prep time is 35 minutes cooking time is 40 minutes Dipper's Nuggets Chicken serves four prep time is 20 minutes cooking time is 4 minutes.