The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • 2

Dirty Secrets In The Home Berlin Germans Work At Unity MJC exchange student relives tumbling Wall 10 years ago COMMUNITIES B1 New movie will fuel video trading card Who doing housework Not me say more women HOME GARDEN G1 ENTERTAINMENT H2 The Modesto Bee Merced County Edition SECOND EDITION 1999 THE MODESTO BEE PRICE 50 FRIDAY pifc NOVEMBER 12 1999 Thanks Veterans Public content 4 restless wm vT- Economy has people feeling good but GOP Congress Democrat Gore hurting in national poll By RONALD BROWNSTEIN LOS ANGELES TIMES ADRIAN MENDOZATHE BEE Veteran Charles Piggott of Merced holds the hand of his cousin Christina Piggott as they watch the Veterans Day parade Thursday at Courthouse Park in Merced WASHINGTON Economic satisfaction has softened the anti-government sentiments of the early 1990s and left the electorate increasingly centrist and content with the direction as campaign 2000 approaches a major survey of public attitudes has found In a massive national poll the Pew Research Center for the People the Press found that economic contentment has increased hostility toward government has diminished and the demand for sweeping political change has receded since the political turmoil of the decade's first half Yet the survey also found significant discontent with current cast of characters The approval rating for Republicans in Congress has dropped to a near-record low and while President approval rating remains near 60 percent seven of 10 Americans said they are tired of the problems associated with his administration With those sentiments as the backdrop the poll found the Republican front-runner Texas Gov George Bush leading the favorite in the Democratic race Vice President A1 Gore for president by 54 percent to 39 percent Democrats meanwhile led the GOP when voters were asked which party they will support in the congressional elections The survey is one in a series the independent Pew Research Center has conducted over the past dozen years to map the shape of the US electorate Based on a detailed analysis of views about government social issues and foreign affairs the report divides the electorate into 10 distinct groups: three that lean toward the GOP four that favor Democrats and three that are independent Andrew Kohut the director said the most dominant trend in the survey parts of which are based on nearly 5000 interviews over a three-month period is a rise in moderation across the electorate as the economy remains strong and other social indicators such as welfare and crime show progress as well Fifty-six percent of those polled said they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country a level of contentment reached only twice before in this decade and a figure substantially higher than the level in the fall of 1988 when then-Vice President George Bush successfully ran to succeed President Reagan The GOP Congress receives strikingly negative reviews Only one-third of those polled gave positive marks to the job performance of Republican congressional leaders the lowest number in two years Against that backdrop Democrats hold a 49 percent to 43 percent advantage when voters were asked which party they will support in next congressional elections emotions still come through for vets By PATTY GUERRA BEE STAFF WRITER and served as master of ceremonies said small evertts like are just as meaningful for veterans as parades and big crowds used to be a parade and now turned it into a band review (set for this Abasta said of events planned to commemorate Veterans Day we do it now because this is the day this is the time" ceremony was small SEE BACK PAGE VETS to get those years back but you get them Begley joined about 20 other veterans at the ceremony He was not the only one who got emotional one can ever duplicate what you have Bob Abasta another Vietnam veteran told former members of the military as he struggled through tears one can understand what you have Abasta who put together the ceremony for American Legion Post 83 rest of the crowd was right in the middle of Begley said afterward could have meant Begley was a Marine and fought in the Vietnam War in 1967-68 A part of him remains there still feel like 19 because how old I was when I went over Begley said been trying MERCED Jack Begley was doing fine until the 21-gun salute He listened solemnly during the first part of Veterans Day ceremonies at Courthouse Park But when the honor guard members raised their rifles to the sky and fired Begley lost it Crying quietly but intensely the 52-year-old Merced man knelt hunched over in the grass a few feet away from the Amtrak finally pulls into Modesto station By STEVE ELLIOTT BEE STAFF WRITER ing with him was like the ones you see in old The $3 million Modesto station is at the east end of Briggsmore Avenue past Claus-Road It has a large parking lot a covered platform bicycle lockers and an open airy lobby really nice and a lot closer what I like about said Lora Drescher on her way to Jack London SEE BACK PAGE AMTRAK day with each new arrival and departure For 25 years these stories unfolded at the Amtrak station in River-bank Now made in Modesto Even though the ribbons be cut until Saturday sparkling new Amtrak station is already open for business Last-minute preparations continued Thursday Workers bolted MODESTO signs onto the platform and Pacific Bell employees installed pay phones inside and outside the station Passengers waiting for the northbound 1:20 pm train liked the new accommodations modern said Robert Gonzalez heading to San Francisco for his 18th birthday other one seemed like in the said Hana McKinstry travel One couple leaves for Oakland to celebrate their 21st anniversary A young couple leaves for San Francisco to mark his 18th birthday A mother waits for her son on leave from the Marines A husband waits for his wife coming home from Fresno These are a stories the moments and memories made 10 times a Fighting divorce in Bible Belt Melting pot diversity in US hold in next century Classified E6 Obituaries F6 Crossword F4 Wheels By LOUINN LOTA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Weather Today Cloudy Highs in the upper 60s Lows in the lower 50s Thursday: High 74 low 48 Complete weather on Page B6 TipsLine at 575-7500 TIPS (8477) The Modesto Bee Online: marriage course the statistics are sobering scares me personally for our own says Carroll makes me realize how much hard work there is to No state has been more embarrassed by the divorce problem or more willing to confront it than Oklahoma The civic leaders so often outspoken in promoting family values see an irony in the statistics but find no easy explanations Over the past few months Gov Frank Keating has pushed the issue high onto the public agenda enlisting clergymen ac- SEE BACK PAGE JV0RCE marriage preparation class in northwest Oklahoma City takes place along the front lines of the battle against pervasive divorce Aside from the quickie-divorce mecca of Nevada no region of the United States has a higher divorce rate than the Bible Belt Tennessee Arkansas Alabama and Oklahoma round out the top five in frequency of divorce In a country where nearly half of all marriages break up the divorce rates in these conservative states are roughly 50 percent above the nationalaverage For Michelle Carroll and fiance David Kouts two 22-year-olds taking layier Jim pre Rate of breakups 50 percent above national average By DAVID CRARY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OKLAHOMA CITY In a back room at the First Church of the Nazarene eight couples young and engaged rise beside their metal chairs lift their right hands and repeat their weekly pledge will never get The ton' vs stout almost soldierly so because their perts said Thursday New York City will still attract the most new immigrants with Los Angeles a close second Other immigrant-entry cities will be San Francisco third Miami Chicago Washington DC Houston Dallas-Fort Worth San Diego and Boston new demographic divide will not be between who lives in the cities and who lives in the suburbs or who lives in the rural areas and who lives in the urban areas It will be the numbers of people of a particular race and SEE BACK PAGE DIVERSITY LOS ANGELES The picture of America as one giant melting pot hold in the next century demographic experts say Only 10 states will be racially and ethnically diverse providing economic growth with a younger more educated population A nationwide conference on the future of American cities showed Arizona California Florida Hawaii Illinois Nevada New Jersey New Mexico New York and Texas as oyr future mul-lple melting pots the ex 36 55555 6.