The Modesto Bee from Modesto, California • 1

Labor Day celebrations open grape harvest season Bathtubs head up festive weekend of good clean fun LivingF1 The Modesto Bee The Modesto Bee Thursday August 29 1991 Price 50d Prostitution sweep Russia forms new alliance with Ukraine ruling body is disbanded Page A-3 GORBACHEV moves to calm the West Page A-3 $1 BILLION in aid proposed Back Page Village I approval on hold County questions the cost of services By KARYN HUNT Bee staff writer Final approval of much heralded Village I plan was delayed for two months Wednesday night after Stanislaus County officials raised last-minute concerns that they afford to serve 20000 new residents By a 4-1 vote the Local Agency Formation Commission delayed for 60 days the approval of a 1700-acre annexation on the northeast border of the city That powerful five-person commission oversees boundary expansions It was a setback for the plan which has been heralded as the planning wave of the future Modesto City Manager Ed Tewes pleaded with the commission to approve the annexation anyway because the city has worked on it for three years and needs to move on Modesto Mayor Dick Lang and city staff members were angry that the county waited so long to raise their concerns The city held 36 public hearings over the past three years It carefully walked Village I through the planning and approval process which included a ballot initiative in November where voters approved a sewer extension to the village County officials agreed Village I is a great plan and they gave few excuses Wednesday for broaching the issue so late They said the full realization of the problem became increasingly evident only recently as they began to see the devastating effect state funding cutbacks had on the county budget They argued the timing was secondary to the importance of the issue Assistant County Administrator Reagan Wilson estimated the 20000 new residents Village I is projected to house would cost Stanislaus County an additional $21 million per year in additional services such as jails libraries and social services here tonight because the county is concerned it will not be able to meet its public service he said See Back Page VILLAGE I From Bee news services MOSCOW President Mikhail Gorbachev sent a delegation to the Ukraine to halt the disintegration of the Soviet Union but Russian and Ukrainian leaders early today worked out their own alliance that left the Kremlin on the sidelines The two republics the most populous in the Soviet Union announced a temporary economic and military alliance and invited other subjects of the to join them The announcement represented a snub of Gorbachev who amid moves to sack his Cabinet and drastically reform the KGB had sent his own Soviet delegation to negotiate with the Ukrainians After Russia the Ukraine is considered the most important to the survival of the Soviet Union with its agricultural and industrial bounty its warm-water ports and lengthy border with Europe The recent moves toward independence were considered a potential death blow to the union The agreement pledging Russia and the Ukraine undertake joint actions with the goal of preventing the uncontrolled disintegration of the did not mention any major role for Gorbachev It pressed instead for the creation of interstate while the 15 republics decide their future Gorbachev meanwhile took new steps to punish those who plotted his downfall and prosecutors charged 13 suspected ringleaders of the takeover with high treason Those charged with treason were the seven surviving members of the State Committee for the State of Emergency which seized power from Gorbachev and six others They could face the death penalty if convicted Betrayed by many top officials during last three-day coup Gorbachev put a premium on loyalty as he assembled a new inner circle He appointed a foreign minister Boris Pankin who as Soviet ambassador to Czechoslovakia denounced the coup leaders during the takeover Pankin replaced Alexander Bessmertnykh who was fired for supporting the coup In a nationally televised appearance at the Supreme Soviet legislature a visibly angry Gorbachev used strong language to condemn the close advisers who had turned against him He berated his Cabinet and the Supreme Soviet legislature asking why no one had stood up to the coup plotters He asked why no one had said bastards where are they pushing the Gorbachev urged the wholesale dismissal of his Cabinet of Ministers telling legislators cannot have any in See Back Page SOVIET Forrest Jackson JrThe Bee Deputies arrested 28 suspects over a two-day operation Of the arrests 22 took place Tuesday and six Wednesday See story Page B-1 A Stanislaus County deputy arrests April Marie Smith 19 of Modesto during a prostitution sweep on South Ninth Street Wednesday night Developer waves red flag at his racetrack proposal they heard that dream is dead just give Jack a said Daryl Weitl a planner for Stanislaus County and a longtime race fan hear the word racetrack and think: noise dirt and scum bags Jack would have developed a state-of-the-art facility that would have been a huge asset to this decision was not good news for See Back Page RACETRACK By DIANE NELSON Bee staff writer Jack McCoy has abandoned his plan to build a motorsports park near the banks of the Tuolumne River no sense going on with McCoy said Wednesday been buried by politics and really nothing we can do now to make it McCoy said he has been agonizing over the decision for the last two months ever since the Modesto City Council asked him to prepare a full environmental impact report on his plan to build a 40-acre racing complex between Seventh and Ninth streets just north of the river council added so many subjective things to the scope of the said McCoy a retired nationally known car racer knew the city was just looking for a way to kill the whole thing Why should I spend $200000 on an EIR just to learn that the project never had a chance in the first His decision was hailed by environmentalists who said a racetrack would chase away the wildlife pollute the air and kill all hopes for turning Tuolumne River Regional Park into the oasis they envision McCoy planned to build his complex on land that the Tuolumne River Regional Park Committee which includes representatives from Modesto Ceres and Stanislaus County hopes to one day add to the park Motorsports fans were crushed when Inside Spanish-language TV expanding KCSO owner will build Merced Eureka stations Stress may lead to cold By JANE BRODY The New York Times Medical researchers have confirmed what many people instinctively believe: You are more likely to catch a cold when you feel In the clearest demonstration yet of the relationship between emotions and infections researchers in Pittsburgh and Britain found that high levels of psychological stress could nearly double a chances of catching a cold by lowering resistance to viral infection Results of the carefully controlled study conducted among more than 400 volunteers at the Medical Research Common Cold Unit in Salisbury England are being published in issue of the New England Journal of Medicine In an accompanying editorial Dr Morton Swartz of Massachusetts General Hospital praised the study for avoiding the many deficiencies that have marred previous investiga- Sep Back Page COLD 1 slain 1 hurt in Hughson restaurant By DARYL FARNSWORTH Bee staff writer HUGHSON The co-owner of El Nopal Restaurant was shot and killed and an employee was wounded in the leg Wednesday night by a gunman who opened fire inside the Mexican restaurant police said The name of the dead man was not released because his family had not been notified and the name of the wounded woman was not immediately available The small restaurant where the shooting occurred at 8:20 pm is at 6901 Hughson Ave police Lt David Whiteside said He said the gunman fired several shots at the victims A motive had not been determined Whiteside said Hughson Ambulance jiaramed- See Back Page HUGHSON By STEPHEN FERRIS Bee staff writer A former country-western singer who speaks only a few words of Spanish but had a vision of its importance in California has parlayed that into a Spanish-language television empire Chester Smith and his wife Naomi are general partners in Sainte Limited of Modesto the company owns five television stations in Northern California and Nevada Four of the stations KCSO-TV Channel 19 in Modesto K07TA in Santa Maria and its satellite K09UF in Morro Bay and KREN-TV in Reno broadcast in Spanish The fifth station KBCP-TV in Chico-Redding broadcasts in English KCSO is available to television viewers using rooftop antennae and also is broadcast by area cable companies At a news conference Wednesday in the Sainte offices at 100 Sycamore Ave Smith announced plans to build new Spanish-language stations in Merced and Eureka The news conference also cee- See Back Page TELEVISION I Ted BensonThe Bee Smith tells of Spanish-language TV plans.