The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • 18

i B-4 Wednesday November 23 1988 The Modesto Be The State Quakers balk at firing undocumented aliens By UNDA DEUTSCH The Associated Press LOS ANGELES The American Friends Service Committee sued the US government Tuesday seeking a religious exemption to immigration laws that require employers to fire undocumented aliens Steven Cary chairman of the board of directors said the group commonly known as Quakers "cannot in conscience be an agent (of the government) forcing these people who have fled poverty and war to leave the country" Cary said AFSC was acting on behalf of "the dispossessed and the undocumented" "We find ourselves ordered by the government to cast out those we have tried for so long to help" said Cary The effort of a parent to feed his or her children is criminalized The demand that we fire those we cannot document is repugnant to us" The lawsuit seeks to exempt the AFSC as an employer from the employer sanction provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 The act contains the threat of fines up to $10000 for employers who fail to verify documents or faU to fire employees who do not produce documentation A spokesman for the US Immigration and Naturalization Service said the agency did not immediately have a comment on the lawsuit Attorney General Richard Thornburgh also is a defendant Attorney Peter Schey executive director of the National Center for Immigrants Rights said the law violates the freedom of religion sections of the First Amendment He said the lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles because it has the largest population of immigrant refugees affected by the documentation law This is where the largest number of refugees are being driven to hunger and homeless ness due to employer sanctions" he said If the AFSC prevails Schey said other religious groups as well as individuals with personal religious objections could be exempted from obeying the provision Cary said that the AFSC which employs 450 people nationwide so far has refused to comply with the documentation provision but has made no final decision on what it would do if an exemption is not granted Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer attorney for 14 religious groups seeking to enter the case as friends of the court issued a statement in Los Angeles saying "No principle of ethics makes honest work immoral" and said a forced inquiry into immigration documentation violates the religious beliefs of numerous denominations Vim'" VI Letter is home for the holiday Soldier's words in mail since '44 In Brief 1 i-r VJ- '-J I -J-? '-v M- i i The Associated Press FRESNO Thanksgiving is a time for memories and the children of Morris and Roberta Johnson may have some teary moments Thursday when they read a long-lost letter their father wrote to their mother when he was in the Army during World Warll It could be likened to opening a time capsule because the letter Master Sgt Morris Arthur Johnson wrote in May 1944 never reached his wife Roberta who lived in San Francisco then A careless crew member on the USS Caleb Strong which was taking Johnson and other servicemen overseas was supposed to mail 235 letters from the crew when he got back to the United States Instead he stuck the duffel bag full of letters in his aunt's attic in Raleigh NC where they si r- i A X) V' f'-' '-ivVi the family should only know" she said "I'm very interested in it because I miss my parents a lot" Morris Johnson became a pharmacist in Fresno after the war and died in 1966 His wife died in 1984 Johnson wrote the letter while aboard the Caleb Strong en route from Newport News Va to Algeria The letter was addressed in pencil and contained his service serial number 39337906 After the duffel bag was found the effort to forward the letters to their rightful recipients was spearheaded by James Althoff president of the 781st Bomb Squadron Association which had men on the Caleb Strong Tracking down the Johnsons was difficult because a forwarding address had not been filed in San Francisco Althoff finally teamed from the Veterans Administration that Johnson had died the death certificate listed a Fresno address Althoff called the mortuary that had handled Johnson's funeral and learned Karan Johnson's whereabouts The letter was delivered by postman Fred Myrie who said he had a "duty to deliver it" Johnson said she really isnt sure what the letter will say "Deep down my father was a romantic" she recalled 'He was always giving my mot her gifts "I honestly don't know what to expect to find in the letter" Not Brown backers LOS ANGELES Thirty-one state Democratic leaders have asked former Gov Jerry Brown not to run for chairman of the state Democratic party it was reported Tuesday In a letter released Monday by Greg Larson the manager of Menlo Park lawyer Steve Westly's campaign to win the party chairmanship Brown was criticized for ignoring party affairs and for projecting an image harmful to the party the Los Angeles Daily News reported Brown 50 was also criticized for renting an apartment in Northern California to qualify under party rules to run for chairman this year The letter was signed by 16 of the party's 80 Assembly District committee chairmen and 15 of the 58 County Central Committee chairs 'Day of Remembrance SAN FRANCISCO Mayor Art Agnos on Tuesday proclaimed Sunday a "Day of Remembrance" in honor of former Mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk who were fatally shot 10 years ago Agnos also said he would participate in a candlelight march scheduled Sunday night in commemoration of Moscone and Milk the nation's first openly gay elected official Agnos was joined by religious leaders from about a dozen San Francisco denominations Progress in trouble SAN FRANCISCO The fate of the troubled San Francisco Progress newspaper which is distributed free three times a week is in limbo following a threatened walkout by employees who last week received paychecks that bounced In a compromise deal union workers postponed a noon Monday walkout until after 5 pm Tuesday when employees were to discuss their options if the publisher fails to meet the payroll No kidnapping leads HAYWARD A "small army" of police and support personnel are tracking down tips in the kidnapping of 9-year-old Michaels Garecht but Hayward police said Tuesday they have no solid leads in the case On the fourth day of Michaela's disappearance Sgt Craig Calhoun said about 25 people were working full time on the investigation and FBI agents were also working on the case Michaela vanished Saturday morning after being were discovered by a pest exterminator in 1986 After much searching to find the Johnsons or their relatives Morris Johnson's letter was delivered Monday to a daughter Karen John son of Fresno Her parents are dead "It's probably a love letter" Johnson speculated But she refused to open it right away saying that will be reserved for a reunion she will have on Thanksgiving Day with her two broth ers and sister And Johnson doesn't in tend to make the contents public Its private something The Assoc tatsd Press Karan Johnson with photo of her late parents shows letter delivered 44 years late Proposition 1 03 backers demand enforcement Insurers ask for exemptions from rate cuts Tha Associated Prtss LOS ANGELES Eleven insurance companies have requested exemptions from rate cuts mandated by Proposition 103 State Department of Insurance officials reported Officials identified the 11 companies which include five ef the state's 10 biggest auto insurers but declined to release copies of requests filed Proposition 103 mandates that such copies be made public but Reid McClaran staff attorney for the State Department of Insurance said Monday the law is not in effect because it has been stayed by the state Supreme Court pending a review The 1 1 companies filing for exemptions include Farmers Insurance Group Co Northern California Automobile Gub (California State Auto As sodation) Automobile Club of Southern California (Interinsurance Exchange) 20th Century and Mercury Insurance which are five of the state's 10 biggest auto insurers The other six companies are Wil-liamsburg National Insurance Co National Automobile and Casualty Insurance Co California Casualty Group Contractors' Surety Co Surety Co of the Pacific and Wawanesa Mutual The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Sponsors of Proposition 103 asked the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow enforcement of the voter-approved 20 percent cut in insurance rates that "have been so high for so long" In papers filed with the court lawyers for consumer advocate Ralph Nader and affiliated California groups that backed the Nov 8 ballot measure accused insurance companies of conjuring up "scenarios of persecution" to support their lawsuits challenging the measure "The people have spoken Now predictably those who have lost the election are looking for and where necessary inventing potential problems with Proposition 103" said the team of volunteer attorneys and law professors "Their requests amount to choruses of gloom and doom scenarios of persecution based upon highly debatable factual assertions The people of California want the price of their insurance set fairly and they demand that the sun be allowed to shine upon the accounting books of the insurance companies" Commissioner Roxani Gillespie that the would withhold details of requests by II insurance companies for exemptions from the rate rollback The court blocked implementation of Proposition 101 two days after it wan narrow voter approval after insurance companies filed a suit contending the rate rollback and other provisions violate their constitutional right to make a fair return on their investment The justices may decide next week how they wilt handle the lawsuits and whether any part of the initiative will take effect in the meantime Proposition 103 requires rales in new and renewed auto and property insurance policies to be cut 20 percent below November I9H7 levels and then frozen until November 198!) The initiative also requires a further 20 percent auto insurance discount for defined "good drivers" after November HW! subjects future insurance rate increases to slate review restricts insurers' authority to refuse lo renew auto policies and makes the state insurance commissioner an elective office in 19110 Endorsing a position taken last week by Attorney General John Van de Kamp Proposition 103 sponsors asked the court to remove its order halting enforcement of the measure or as a fallback position to suspend only the 20 percent rate rollback and one-year freeze while allow-ing the rest of the measure to take effect during the lawsuit In another development the measure's sponsors and a state legislator criticized an announcement by slate Insurance aoauctea rrom ine parking lot or a market Murder trial LOS ANGELES A purported street gang member who surrendered to a television newsman to face charges of murdering a police officer was ordered Tuesday to stand trial Evidence against Kirkton Phenor Moore 27 supports one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder Municipal Judge David Morwiu ruled at the end of a 1 today preliminary hearing Superior Court arraignmrnt was set for Nov 30 Moore Is accused of killing Officer Daniel Pratt and trying to kill Pratt's partner Officer Veronica DeLao as the pair sought the gunmen in a drive-by shooting Sept 3 De Lao was uninjured but Pratt was struck in the head by a bullet and died In the pair's unmarked police car Record war chests SACRAMENTO Candidates for 100 seats up for grabs this year in (he California Legislature raised $41 2 million during the 12 month period before the 1IKH June primary election the state Fair Political Practices Commission reported Tuesday The amount of money gathered for war chests in the primary campaign was 40 6 percent more than the $1078 million raised for the primary election in IPM5 the FPI'C said Firo cause unknown SACRAMENTO Arson Investigators say the cause of the SI million blae that destroyed nearly half of the historic Bom house in the Delta town of ltk last month may never he known "Most of the evidence is floating down the river' said Fred Strayhom chief Invrstigator for the state fire marshal's arson and bomb division which has completed its investigation of the Oct 22 blae i Boardinghouse victim was mutilated Vets want to build medical clinic in Vietnam Burns police spokesman The only identified victim 55-year-old Benjamin Fink was described by his family as a chronic alcoholic and transient who moved into Puente home earlier this year According to court documents another boarder told police that Fink disappeared fter he became drunk and "Dorothea told him that she would take him upstairs and make him feel better" There was no Indication of a cause of death for any of the victims but toxicology and chemical tests were continuing Simmons said Th Associated Prtss SACRAMENTO One of seven bodies unearthed by detectives in the yard of a boardinghouse was beheaded and Its hands and feet were cut off the Sacramento County coroner said Tuesday "We don't know if the mutilation occurred before or after drath" said Giro-ner Charles Simmons He said the mutilated body was that of a woman 50 to B0 years old and was the only body discov-ered on the grounds of the rooming house that suffered "obvious physical trauma" Dorothea Montalvo Puente 59 the grandmotherly landlady who ran the two-alorv diiwninwn ham has hnnanrii4 Th AMoewtad Press SAN FRANCISCO Partly from a sense of guilt i group of US Vietnam veterans Tuesday asked Americans for money to build a medical clinic outside Ho Chi Minn City formerly Saigon "We just frrl like this Is an unfinished legacy of the Vietnam War" Army veteran Fredy Champagne 41 told a crowded news conference as several other vets looked on "No one has ever attempted to address thia issue In re gard to the Vietnam War" Champagne whose changed his name from Fred tticdon drscrihrd (he veterans who participated In the destruction of the country and we are Ihe veterans who will be the laborers on this construction project" Looking pale and tense Champagne laid he has suffered for over (wo decades and was looking for this way to make him well again All permissions for the project including "clearance from Ihe US State Department have been received by his "Vietnam Veterans Restoration Project" he said He displayed a letter from Nguyen Co Thach Vietnam minister of foreign affairs eivlntf "official permission lo Jamea firede a toxicologic with the VMS i win tne project as "war reparations a ir reparations 6(bn4 count of murder Proscrutoi wtW we bring a 1 2 -nun team of veterans to rbetynsJMoUfre hflild a medical clinic" at Vng Tu- jrnvt tiiii mat Jawing (of evidence of poison must put tnts issue -dMisiornnF! luemiay nauwo to ucrre.