The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • 1

FOOD ft LIFE SPORTS Cl Freezer fruit Freezer jams jellies preserve warm-weather taste year-round No sympathy Criticism of Darryl return extends to White House County crop toll Winners losers still being tallied following last hailstorm 1 FINAL WEDNESDAY The Fresno Bee 50C 1995 The Fresno Bee June 21 1995 Mostly sunny High 90 low 56 Details Page B6 Radanovich has a reply for everyone House of fUprcsentanocs TDastirngtaii Dear Constituent Let me say please right off the bat: This IS a form letter May I explain move is so revolutionary that it is not only the talk of Washington legislators in Sacramento have taken notice Some say Radanovich is taking a big political risk by answering most mail with form letters There is no indication Radanovich will reduce the size or overall cost of his office operation with the new tactic And while more experienced congressional offices sympathize with plight some Please see Radanovich back paqe Through acknowledf ments instead of individually crafted replies Radanovich staff hopes to escape from beneath the hundreds of letters received each week Radanovich said his switch to form letters for about 80 percent of his constituent correspondence is part of the way Congress does came here to help cut the cost of Radanovich writes in a recent form letter want to be remembered as the congressman who had a fantastic communications operation because the only work done by staff was turning around mail and Constituents who write asking Radanovich specific questions will still get personal replies That amounts to about 20 percent of the constituent mail received The rest of the letters expressing a point of view will get the form letters in return They may be accompanied by related material like an item from the Congressional Record Representative responds to mail with form letters By Michael Doyle and Jim Boren The Fresno Bee WASHINGTON Write freshman Rep George Radanovich and the odds are you will now get a form letter in response The Mariposa Republican in an unusual and possibly risky move is reinventing the way his office responds to the rising tide of public mail Communication from constituents is absolutely critical I again encourage you to make me aware of where you stand read it and remember it Sincerely A PEACEFUL REST FOR THE PENNILESS Budget plan keeps trash collections Gravestone Number 53 is all that marks the final resting place of 293 people buried in the indigent cemetery west of Fresno ROLL CALL Southwest Fresno will not get funds for a shopping center By Anne Dudley The Fresno Bee The Fresno City Council forged a balanced-budget plan Tuesday that adds 18 new police officers cuts 50 city jobs and keeps garbage collection at twice a week The budget required $25 million in cuts to be balanced but city officials said they do not expect the average citizen to notice much change in how Fresno operates Final approval of the budget is scheduled for Friday The budget is made up of an overall spending plan of $5755 million which includes $1425 million in the general fund the pot of money over which the council has the most discretion and that pays for most basic city services The overall budget was down Motion: To keep garbage collection at twice a week Passed 6-1 Yes: Mayor Jim Patterson and Council Members Bob Lung Michael Erin Woody Dan Ronquillo Sal Quintero and Mike Briggs No: Council Member Linda Cal-andra from the current budget of $5945 million although the general fund is up about $1 million Because the council agreed to hold the budget hearing at 6 pm council chambers were overflowing and dozens of speakers took their turn at the podium Resident David Howard arrived at City Hall at 2 pm four hours early Nine hours later when the council finally finished he left defeated in his attempt to get money for a veterans shelter Please see Budget back page People who died without resources are buried without services By Jeanie Borba The Fresno Bee It was a beautiful day for a burial if there is such a thing Burial is the correct word here for this was no funeral It was the simple cost-effective no-frills burial Tuesday of 293 of Fresno poorest people They were buried in a single grave in a corner of what looks like a plowed field Seven babies with surnames one Baby Doe and 35 adult John Does were buried They are sharing the same grave with Phouangkeo Bounpan Willie Lee Mitchell Eula Mae Laws Manuel Quintero Saldivar and Darrel McCullock With Ernest Peterson and Joan Denita Singh And with Danny Nichols Victoria Louise Heller and Jack Michelettii among dozens of penniless people along the line people fall through the cracks They have any said Dave Caglia who supervised this first county burial of indigents since 1987 Nearby are other cemeteries beautifully kept shaded by trees and marked by signs that show where Roman Catholic or Armenian or Jewish or military veterans or Evangelicals are buried Here in this field which is the cemetery there is no sign to mark a final resting place where poverty is the common denominator There are only long rows of narrow concrete curbing with numbers at each grave Row 37 Section Grave No 53 Caglia said he is sensitive to his responsibility He worries people will think he is somehow being disrespectful of the dead He is following established county procedure he said It would be nice if there were a Photos by Mark Crosse The Fresno Bee Simplicity- Tim Gavrilis left and Joe Branum prepare a vault filled with remains of poor people Senate votes to allow higher speed limits Surrounding cemeteries 1 Holy Cross 2 Ararat 3 Liberty 4 Beth Israel 5 10 0F 6 Chinese 7 Calvary 8 Mountain View 9 Belmont Memorial proper service for these men women and babies if you figured a minimum $2000 per person for a regular service a lot of I looked at this box this morning I thought how much pain and suffering did these people go through? And given the circumstances it may have been more than what a lot of people go said Caglia the parks and grounds operations coordinator The procedure includes holding the cremated remains of indigents for at Please see Burial back page on most roads and 85 on rural interstates The measure returning to the states the power to set their own speed limits for YOUR cars was aP-m proved by the A LL Senate 65-35 Tell us what you Taking on other safety issues senators rejected 52-45 an attempt to eliminate federal requirements for states to impose seat belt and motorcycle helmet laws But supporters of the measure said they would try again today with each Please see Senate back page Attempt to end seat belt motorcycle helmet requirement loses By Lawrence Bee Washington bureau WASHINGTON The Senate voted Tuesday to allow states to raise speed limits on the highways for the first time since 1973 despite warnings that repealing the current law would lead to more carnage on the road But the speed limit for buses and large trucks would remain unchanged generally 55 mph The Fresno Bee Chechens return home free remaining hostages INSIDE THE BEE LOCAL NEWS Amtrak's new line of double-decked passenger rail cars is scheduled to begin service in the Valley Page B1 CALIFORNIA OJ Simpson prosecutors drop plans to present more evidence of domestic violence between Simpson and his slain ex-wife racing to wrap up their case Page A3 than 1000 captives The tense situation reached a peaceful conclusion near the Chechen village of Zandak where the Chechens reportedly asked forgiveness from the hostages they had taken back to their war-ravaged homeland as protection against Russian retaliation along the way Guerrilla leader Shamil Basay-ev who masterminded the killing rampage that left about 100 dead in Budennovsk was given a welcome in Zandak The released captives Please see Chechens back page By Margaret Shapiro Washington Post MOSCOW Chechen guerrillas who held hundreds of people and Kremlin policy hostage for a week returned to their homeland and freed the last of their captives Tuesday while President Boris Yeltsin and other Russian officials came under sharp attack for their handling of the crisis The hostage drama began last Wednesday when heavily armed Chechen rebels invaded the southern Russia town of Buden-novsk gunned down scores of people then barricaded themselves in the hospital with more No peace Svetlana Andreyev right and her mother grieve for their father and husband Yuri Andreyev who died of a heart attack after seeing his daughter released Associated Press NATION The only person to face a court-martial in last year's shooting of two Army helicopters over Iraq is acquitted Page A10 7 mi 00006.