Southwest Journalist May 28, 2008

Southwest Journalist Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The University of Texas at Austin

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McCain and Bush campaign in private

Tornadoes deadliest in decade

In public, senator wants distance with president

2008 set to be record-breaking year for twisters

By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer

PHOEN I X — Sen. Joh n McCain’s complex relationship with President Bush can be summed up with a simple saying: can’t live with him, can’t live without him.

The president’s own popularity is low. Even allies fret that he’s an albatross for the Republican looking to succeed him. Voters are crying out for cha nge a mid a p r o l on g e d Iraq war and a wea kened economy.

But Bush also is loved by GOP loyalists.

He’s a proven campaigner Sen. John who can raise McCain serious money.

Those are assets as the Arizona senator works to rally the Republican base and fill his coffers while facing the Democrats’ unrivaled enthusiasm and record fundraising.

The president and his wouldbe successor appeared together Tuesday for the first time in nearly three months at an event that epitomized both elements of their tricky alliance — they were holding a fundraiser with GOP faithful at a private home, without the media to document it.

By the McCain campaign’s own planning, the only time Bush and McCain would be captured on camera would be after the event — too late to make most evening newscasts — on the Phoenix airport tarmac in the shadow of Air Force One, just before the president departed. McCain’s fundraisers typically are closed to the media; the White House deferred to the campaign. No statements were expected.

Democrat ic opponent Barack Obama, an Illinois senator poised to become the Democratic nominee, said: “No cameras. No reporters. And we all know why. Senator McCain doesn’t want to be seen, hatin-hand, with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years.

“But the question for the American people is: Do we want to continue George Bush’s policies?”

For months, Democrats have portrayed McCain as an extension of Bush. They have argued

A DAY AT THE BEACH

By SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — Another week, another rumbling train of tornadoes that obliterates entire city blocks, smashing homes to their foundations and killing people even as they hide in their basements.

Wit h t he yea r not even half done, 2008 is already the deadliest tornado year in the United States since 1998 and seems on track to break the U.S. record for the number of twisters in a year, according to the National Weather Service.

Also, this year’s storms seem to be unusually powerful.

Me t e or olo g i s t s c a n not explain exactly why this is happening.

“There are active years, and we don’t particularly understand why,” said research

meteorologist Harold Brooks at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

O ver t he we ekend, a n extraordinarily powerful twister ripped apart Parkersburg, Iowa, destroying more than 350 homes in the town of about 1,000 residents, said Iowa Gov. Chet Culver. At least four people were killed there. Among the buildings destroyed were City Hall, the high school, and the lone grocery store and gas station. Some of those killed were in basements.

The brutal numbers for the U.S. so far this year: at least 110 dead, 30 killer tornadoes, and a preliminary count of 1,191 twisters (which, after duplicate sightings are removed, is likely to go down to around 800). The record for the most tornadoes in a year is 1,817 in 2004. The average yearly number of tornadoes for the past 10 years has been 1,254.

“Right now we’re on track to break all previous counts Please see STORMS, Page 2

Study: Obesity In China, 80,000 flee in kids levels off The Associated Press / Kyodo News

People in Mianyang, China, packed up belongings and left before the dam collapsed.

Residents from more than 30 villages were sent to government-made camps.

potential floodwaters Troops try to divert water from earthquake-created dam

By AUDRA ANG

place for us to stay if the dam of the lake crashes,” said Liu Yuhua, whose village of Huangshi was one of those emptied. “But we IANYANG, China — About 80,000 will have to move farther uphill if the situapeople downstream from an unsta- tion turns out to be worse.” ble earthquake-created dam that Troops on Tuesday used explosives to is threatening to collapse were evacuated blow up tree stumps hampering heavy-duty Tuesday, and troops rushed to carve a trench excavators that were airlifted by helicopter to drain the water before it in recent days to the newly floods the valley. formed Tangjiashan lake near RUSSIA The threat of f looding the town of Beichuan, the from dozens of lakes swelling official Xinhua News Agency MONGOLIA behind walls of mud and rubreported. ble that have plugged narrow The 7.9-magnitude quake Beijing valleys in parts of the disaster that struck Sichuan Province CHINA zone is adding a new worry on May 12 sent a mass of dirt Quake for millions of survivors. and rocks tumbling into the More than 30 villages were valley about two miles above emptied, and the people were INDIA the town in a spot not reached MYANMAR being sent to camps like the by roads, plugging a river that one outside Jiangyou, where is now forming the lake. an Associated Press reporter saw 12-15 people Elsewhere in the region, workers also used crammed into each of about 40 government- explosives to level buildings left teetering by issued tents pitched on a hillside overlooking the quake — a further sign that officials have the river.

“We were told that so far, it is the safest Please see CHINA, Page 2 Associated Press Writer

M

Please see McCAIN, Page 2

By LINDSEY TANNER

soon to know if this really means we’re beginning to make meaningful inroads into this epidemic. It may simply be CHICAGO — The percentage a statistical fluke.” of American children who are Nevertheless, new figures overweight or obese appears to offer a glimmer of hope. have leveled off after a 25-year “Maybe there is some reaincrease, according to a study son for a little bit of optimism,” by t he fedsaid CDC eral Centers resea rcher for Di sea se C y nt h i a “(This) is a first Control and Ogden, t he encouraging P re vent ion . study’s lead finding in In 2003-04 author. what has been a nd 2005S o m e unremittingly 06, roug h ly experts said bad news.”

32 percent t h at i f t he of ch i ld ren leveling-off is Dr. David Ludwig w e r e o v e rreal, it could Children’s weig ht but be because Hospital Boston not obese, 16 more schools percent were and parents obese and 11 a re emphapercent were extremely obese, sizing better eating habits according to the study. Those and more exercise. Even so, levels held steady after rising they and Ogden stressed that without interruption since it would be premature to cel1980. ebrate.

“That is a first encourag“W it hout a subst a nt ia l ing finding in what has been decline in prevalence, the full unremittingly bad news,” said impact of the childhood epiDr. David Ludwig, director of demic will continue to mount an obesity clinic at Children’s Please see KIDS, Page 2 Hospital Boston. “But it’s too Associated Press Writer

Mexico increases investments in Texas and U.S. companies

Revolutionary statue

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press Writer

Natacha Pisarenko / The Associated Press

A man hangs an Argentine flag around the neck of a statue of Cuba’s Argentine-born revolutionary hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara on Tuesday. Argentine artist Andres Zerneri made the bronze statue out of 75,000 keys that Argentines donated. The statue will be placed in Rosario, the city where Guevara was born on June 14, 1928.

McALLEN, Texas — While low-income Mexicans cross the border to take advantage of higher wages and a social safety net, their wealthy countrymen are seizing on the slowing U.S. economy to achieve their own American corporate dream.

Anyone unfamiliar w ith the U.S.-Mexico border region might expect t hat private investment only f lows from north to south. The Mexican side of the border in south Texas is loaded with factories that American companies have opened since NAFTA cleared the way for them to take advantage of inexpensive labor.

But between the two countries, billions of dollars are moving in both directions

each year. In South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, Mexicans and their corporations are pouring their money into real estate, businesses and retail shopping on the U.S. side.

Factors at work in the money streaming north include valuable real estate at reasonable prices, a desire to access American consumers, opportunities created by a cooling economy and weaker dollar, as well as amenities such as shopping, South Padre Island and putting distance between their businesses and the kidnappings and drug cartel violence.

“They prefer to purchase land in the U.S. because they consider it good as gold,” said Gilberto Salinas, director of marketing and communications for the Brownsville Economic Development Council.

“There’s money there (in Mexico). We’re the ones going to

TEXAS INVESTMENTS ✓ Mexico-based Grupo

Famsa will purchase Edelstein’s Better Furniture chain, which has nine stores in the Rio Grande Valley. ✓ PIASA, a Monterrey spice company, will break ground on a $6 million plant in Brownsville. ✓ Ciudad Victoria developer Grupo Mianca announced an 80-unit luxury condominium project in McAllen.

them.”

There is no regional data on how much Mexicans are investing in South Texas, but

Please see MEXICO, Page 2

Southwest Journalist

Page 2 — Wednesday, May 28, 2008

International/National

McCAIN: Shared views with Bush have mixed effects on campaign — Continued from Page 1 McCain offers the same policies, despite his willingness to break with the Republican Party on issues. Ads have shown footage of Bush and McCain embracing each other in 2004, including one that said: “If all he offers is more of the same, is John McCain the right choice for America’s future?”

Mindful of the risks Bush br i ngs, McCa i n ha s been aggressive about separating himself from the president.

He has been laying out his own vision for the future with speeches on issues such as the U.S. posture in the world, climate change and the response

KIDS: More than 8,000 participants in study — Continued from Page 1 in coming years,” Ludwig said.

That is because it can take many years for obesity-related complications to translate into life-threatening events, including heart attacks and kidney failure.

The results are based on 8,165 people ages 2 to 19 who participated in nationally representative government health surveys in 2003-04 and 2005-06.

The surveys are considered the most accurate reflection of obesity because they are based on in-person measurements, not on people’s own reporting of their height and weight.

CDC data reported last year showed obesity rates for men also held steady from 2003-04 to 2005-06 at about 33 percent after two decades of increases.

The rate for women, 35 percent, remained at a plateau reached in 2003-04.

The CDC’s analysis of data for 2007-08, due next year, may be the best evidence for determining what direction children’s rates are heading, Ludwig said.

Dr. Reginald Washington, a children’s heart specialist in Denver and member of an American Academy of Pediatrics obesity committee, said “the country should be congratulated” if the rates have in fact peaked.

“There are a lot of people trying to do good things to try to stem the tide,” Washington said. Some schools are providing better meals and increasing physical education, and Americans in general “are more aware of the importance of fruits and vegetables,” he said.

On the other hand, he noted that he recently treated an obese young patient “who in three days did not have a single piece of fresh fruit.”

“We still have a long ways to go,” he said.

to Hurricane Katrina.

During one such address Tuesday in Denver, McCain sought to contrast what he portrayed as a bipartisan vision on nuclear nonproliferation with that of Bush, who critics contend has engaged in partisan go-it-alone cowboy diplomacy that has strained U.S. relations across the globe.

In a way, even the White House is aiding in McCain’s effort to chart his own course.

“President Bush isn’t on the ticket,” Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday in what has become a familiar refrain for characterizing Bush’s campaigning on behalf of McCain. “At the end of the day, any candidate

who’s running for office has to stand on their own two feet.

They have to chart a course for themselves. Every election is about change.”

Still, a W hite House has delicately tried to deal with McCain’s not-so-subtle efforts to distance himself. When the president isn’t by McCain’s side, the White House offers lots of reasons: Bush is busy abroad, he’s the commander in chief.

McCain has struggled to break from Bush on two key issues — the Iraq war and the economy.

Both men support continued military involvement in Iraq, and they both seemingly back the same free-market economic principles. And that has

given Democrats plenty to talk about, and led some of McCain’s supporters to worry that he is carrying Bush’s water and endangering his own presidential prospects.

To be sure, Bush seems aware that he could be a drag on McCain. In March, the president said: “If my showing up and endorsing him helps him — or if I’m against him and it helps him — either way, I want him to win.”

In 2000, the two squared off for the GOP nomination. Bush won but the scars for McCain lingered for a while, and, to this day, GOP operatives can be divided into Bush and McCain loyalists.

Storms: Mobile homes hit the hardest — Continued from Page 1

activity — but it can’t explain what is happening now, Carbin said.

Carbin explained the most recent tornadoes with just one word: “May.” May is typically the busiest tornado month of the year.

A short-term answer is that the nation’s heartland is stuck in a tornado rut with usually temporary weather conditions that can lead to tornadoes parked over the Great Plains, said Adam Houston, a professor of meteorology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Cooler air at high altitudes and warmer moist air coming from the Gulf of Mexico are combining and settling over the region.

“You get day after day of severe weather and day after day of tornadoes until the pattern changes,” Houston said.

But why that happens, Houston doesn’t know. While scientists can forecast hurricane seasons, predicting their landbound cousins is much harder, Brooks said. While tornadoes, like hurricanes, rely on largescale weather phenomena, the crucial triggers are extremely local weather conditions.

To make a tornado, the conditions have to be just right. For example, wind shear — when upper and lower winds are at different speeds or coming from different directions — is crucial to create a funnel cloud.

Too little, and there is no spin.

Too much, and the tornado falls apart.

And tornadoes form most often in late afternoon, between 5 and 9 p.m., so if a thunderstorm starts up early in the morning, it’s far less likely to throw off a tornado, Brooks said.

As for why so many people are getting killed, Brooks suggests thinking of the landscape as a dartboard: “We’re throwing more darts and throwing bigger darts than normal.”

through the end of the year,” said warning meteorologist Greg Carbin at the Storm Prediction Center, also in Norman.

And there are not just more storms. The strongest of those storms — those in the 136-to200 mph range — have been more frequent than normal, and lately they seem to be hitting populated areas more, Carbin said. At least 22 tornadoes this year have been in the top part of the new Enhanced Fujita Scale, rating a 3 (for “severe”) or a 4 (“devastating”) on the 1-to-5 scale.

The twister that devastated Parkersburg was a 5 — the first in the U.S. since a tornado nearly obliterated Greensburg, Kan., just over a year ago. The Parkersburg tornado was the strongest to hit Iowa in 32 years.

So far, more than 50 of the deaths this year have been in mobile homes — bad places to be during a tornado. They have been a factor in nearly half of all tornado fatalities in recent years.

And if that’s not bad enough, computer models show that the conditions that make tornadoes ripe are going to stick around Tornado Alley for about another week, according to Brooks.

The nagging question is why.

Globa l wa r m i ng ca n not really explain what is happening, Carbin said. While higher AP Photo/Xinhua , Zhu We temperatures could increase Mountain rubble collapsed and blocked part of Tangjiashan lake. A buildup of water threatened to the number of thunderstorms, flood nearby villages. People were forced to leave with as many belongings as they could carry. which are needed to trigger tornadoes, they also would tend to push the storm systems too far north to form some twisters, he said.

La Nina, the cooling of parts of the Central Pacific that is the flip side El Nino, was a factor in the increased activity earlier this year — especially in Febru— Continued from Page 1 a.m. EDT) and one 5.7-magniAt Tangjiashan lake, hun- ary, a record month for tornado tude aftershock about a half- dreds of troops were working stopped rescue and recovery hour later. around the clock to dig a chanefforts in some places.

In a live broadcast, state nel that would divert the rising The number of deaths from television showed heavy earth- waters before they breached Tornado season for the Southern Plains, often referred to as the quake climbed toward an moving equipment being used the top of the rubble wall.

‘Tornado Alley,’ usually peaks during May into early June. expected toll of 80,000 or more. to carve a 200-yard channel Officials fear the loose soil Tornado frequency in May China’s Cabinet said Tuesday to drain the water from the and debris wall could crumble Unlikely Rare Occasional Common Frequent that 67,183 people were con- Tangjiashan lake. easily if the water starts casfirmed killed, with 20,790 still “We are prepared to get cading over the top, sending missing. rid of the trees by chopping a torrent flooding down into Aftershocks continued to and explosion. After that, the the valley. rattle the region, causing more second batch of equipment The lake now holds 34-bildamage and injuries and jan- will be moved in,” Liu Ning, lion gallons of water and was gling the already-frayed nerves chief engineer at the Ministry rising by more than 3 feet every of survivors. of Water Resources, said on 24 hours, Xinhua reported.

Tw o t e m b l or s Tu e s d a y CCTV. Tangjiashan is the largest Tornado caused more t han 420,000 D o w n s t r e a m , o f f i c i a l s of 35 lakes created by rubble Alley houses to collapse in Qingch- rushed to evacuate people in blocking rivers in the quake uan County, Xinhua report- the path of potential floodwa- zone. ed. Sixty-three people were ters. Xinhua said emergency Some rising f loodwaters injured, including six who workers labored into the night have already swallowed villagwere critically hurt. to try to get 80,000 people out. es, though only Tangjiashan The U.S. Geological Survey Another group of about 80,000 was posing a risk of another measured a 5.2-magnitude have already been moved out catastrophe.

SOURCES: NOAA; The Department of Atmospheric AP aftershock just after 4 p.m. (4 of the valley, it said.

Sciences of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

CHINA: Aftermath of shocks and quakes still taking a toll

Frequent twisters in Tornado Alley

MEXICO: Some Mexican investors moving their families to the U.S. — Continued from Page 1 Keith Patridge, president and chief executive of the McAllen Economic Development Corporation, said “the No. 1 misconception is that there’s no money in Mexico.”

Patridge said he senses “a marked increase in investment moving north from Mexico.”

National data ref lect that trend.

In 2006, Mexican companies’ investment in the U.S. grew by 60 percent to $6.1 billion. U.S. companies’ investment in Mexico is far larger, but grew only 13 percent to

$84.7 billion during the same year, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. In 1999, Mexican companies’ direct investment in the U.S. was $1.7 billion.

In Texas, Mexican companies’ affiliates held $1.6 billion in property, plant and equipment in 2005, the most recent year for which state-level data is available from the Commerce Department. That was up from $1.4 billion in 2002, putting Texas second only to California in Mexican direct investment.

Mexican companies operat-

Citizens of Mexico who can afford to are saying, ‘I’m going to move my family out.’

— Keith Patridge ing in the U.S. also account for 4 percent of the jobs attributed to foreign direct investment in Texas, compared to 1 percent for the country overall. An article published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in November attributed that to “Mexico’s proximity to Texas and the market opening under the North American Free Trade Agreement.”

Economic development offi-

cials, real estate consultants and bankers in the Valley say the U.S. is simply a better place to invest.

“With the downturn in the U.S. economy, we get calls e ver y d ay f rom Me x ic a n nationals wanting to know where the opportunities (for investment) are,” said Carlos Garza, Inter National’s president and chief executive. With a weaker dollar and the Val-

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Bank of Commerce-Brownsv ille. “People from Mex ico City are looking for safe environments for their families to relax,” he said.

In 2007, the U.S. approved 806 investor v isas — t hat i n c l u d e d i n v e s t or s f r om around the world and their family members — according to the Department of Homeland Security’s Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. That was a marked increase from the 64 investor visas approved five years earlier.

“Citizens of Mexico who can afford to are saying, ‘I’m going to move my family out,’” said Patridge of the McAllen EDC.

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ley’s relatively stable real estate market, “we’re seeing tremendous interest from Mexico.”

Besides Mexicans buying first and second homes in the area, Garza sees growth in “average-size” investments of $1 million to $5 million.

Familiarity with attractions on the U.S. side of the border is a factor, too, whether it’s shopping in McAllen or vacationing on South Padre Island.

“I think there’s been a trend over the last several years of Mexican nationals purchasing second homes — vacation homes — in the Valley,” said Fred Rusteberg, president and chief executive of International

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National / International

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 — Page 3

U.N. to investigate abuse

Study outlines claims of aid workers sexually exploiting kids

By EDITH LEDERER Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretar y-General Ban KiMoon said Tuesday the United Nations will pursue allegations by a leading children’s charity that U.N. peacekeepers are involved in widespread sexual abuse of children.

The report by Save the Children UK, based on research in southern Sudan, Ivory Coast and Haiti, describes a litany of sexual crimes committed by peacekeepers and international relief workers against children as young as 6.

It said some children were denied food aid unless they

granted sexual favors, others sent to protect. It ranges from were forced to have sex or to sex for food to coerced sex. It’s take part in child pornography, despicable.” and many more were subjected Calling the sexual exploito improper tation of touch i ng or minors a “It ranges from kissing. “very serious sex for food to “The report issue,” Ba n coerced sex. It’s shows sexual reiterated despicable.” abuse has to reporters been w idely that he has a — Jasmine underreport“zero tolerWhitbread, e d b e c au s e ance” policy Save the children are for such acts Children UK afraid to come

by U.N. perforward,” said sonnel.

Jasmine Whitbread, chief exec“I think that the report is utive of Save the Children UK. very valuable and does give us “A tiny proportion of peace- some good points to which the keepers and aid workers are United Nations should conabusing the children they were tinue to address this issue,”

Ban said. “On all these cases which have been raised, we will very carefully investigate” and will take “necessary measures” where appropriate.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas noted the report states the United Nations has already undertaken steps designed to tackle the problem, from establishing conduct and discipline units in all U.N. missions to strengthening training for all categories of U.N. personnel.

The study was based on research, confidential interviews and focus groups conducted last year.

The charity emphasized it did not produce comprehensive statistics about the scale

of abuse but did gather enough information to indicate the problem is severe.

The report said that more than half the children interviewed knew of cases of sexual abuse and that in many instances children knew of 10 or more such incidents carried out by aid workers or peacekeepers.

The Save the Children UK researchers, who met with 129 girls and 121 boys between the ages of 10 and 17, and also with a number of adults, found an “overwhelming” majority of the people interviewed would never report a case of abuse and had never heard of a case being reported.

Regime adds year to Nobel laureate’s detention

Myanmar activist urging democracy The Associated Press

Hadi Mizban / The Associated Press

An Iraqi guard closes the door of the entrance of the Olympic Com- by Iraq’s government, which led to outcries from sports governing mittee in central Baghdad. The committee was recently shut down bodies like FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.

Iraq closes Olympic committee

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD — Sports has been one of the few things unifying Iraqis in recent years — with soccer victories bringing Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds alike into the streets cheering.

But a bitter fight between the government and the country’s Olympic committee and sports federations is putting Iraq at risk of being banned from World Cup qualifying matches and this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

The feud is mired in politics. The government accuses the National Olympic Committee of corruption, while supporters of the group charge that officials want to control the independent sports groups so they can install their own people in lucrative and prestigious posts.

But there is also an underlying layer of Iraq’s sectarian bitterness: The Youth and Sports Ministry is dominated by Shiites, while the Olympic committee includes four holdovers from the Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein.

Four other members of the National Olympic Committee, including its chief,

were kidnapped nearly two years ago and there has been no word on their fate. At the time, some accused Shiite militiamen, though there is no public evidence the abduction was connected to the dispute.

“Sports is the only way left for Iraqis to communicate with others. We don’t care who leads it.”

— Jalal Mahdi The power struggle came to a head last week when Iraq’s government ordered the dissolution of the National Olympic Committee, arguing it was illegitimate because it could not reach a quorum since the kidnappings and was involved in financial wrongdoing.

The International Olympic Committee denounced the order and demanded the government respect the Iraqi committee’s autonomy.

FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, banned the Iraqi soccer federation from international play for a year unless

Memorial honors Nazis’ gay victims

By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press Writer

BER L IN — G er ma ny unveiled a memorial Tuesday to the Nazis’ long-ignored gay victims, a monument that also aims to address ongoing discrimination by confronting visitors with an image of a same-sex couple kissing.

The memorial — a sloping gray concrete slab on the edge of Berlin’s Tiergarten park — echoes the vast field of smaller slabs that make up Germany’s memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust that opened three years ago just across the road.

The pav i lion-si zed slab includes a small window where visitors can view a video clip of two men kissing.

Berlin’s openly gay mayor, Klaus Wowereit, said the mon-

ument was a reminder of the ongoing struggles that still confront gays.

“This memorial is important from two points of view — to commemorate the victims, but also to make clear that even today, after we have achieved so much in terms of equal treatment, discrimination still exists daily,” Wowereit said as he inaugurated the memorial alongside Culture Minister Bernd Neumann.

Na zi Germa ny decla red homosexuality a threat to the German race and convicted some 50,000 homosexuals as criminals. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 gay men were deported to concentration camps, where few survived.

Not until 2002 did the German parliament issue a formal pardon for homosexuals convicted under the Nazis.

the Olympic committee’s dissolution is rescinded by Thursday. If it stands, the ban will keep Iraq’s national team out of qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup. The IOC’s executive board is to discuss the situation when it meets in Athens, Greece, next week but has not said what steps it might take if Iraq doesn’t give in.

The disbanded committee’s head, Bashar Mustafa, said the government order makes it unlikely Iraq will be able to participate in the Beijing Olympics this August or the World Cup in two years.

Last July, Iraqis erupted with joy when the national soccer team — the Lions of the Two Rivers — won the Asia Cup. Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds poured into blast wall-lined streets to celebrate, shooting guns in the air and talking about a common Iraqi pride.

Now many worry they may be robbed of one of their few diversions, one that makes them feel connected with the outside world.

“Sports is the only way left for Iraqis to communicate with others. We don’t care who leads it,” said Jalal Mahdi, a 30-yearold in Baghdad’s Baladiyat district.

YA NG ON, My a n ma r — Myanmar’s military regime on Tuesday extended the house arrest of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, refusing to bow to international pressure of the sort that persuaded the generals to let in foreign help for cyclone victims.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years, had her detention extended by one year, said a government official who spoke on condition of a nony mity because he was not autho- Suu Kyi rized to speak to the media.

Her detention has long been the symbol of the regime’s heavy-handed intolerance of democratic opposition to its rule, and there is a worldwide campaign lobbying for her release.

President Bush said he was “deeply troubled” by the extension of Suu Kyi’s house arrest but stressed that the U.S. would continue to provide aid for Myanmar’s cyclone survivors.

The extension of Suu Kyi’s detention came as Myanmar, also known as Burma, was still fending off worldwide criticism for its inadequate aid effort after Cyclone Nargis.

The storm left an estimated 2.4 million people in desperate need of food, shelter and medical care, according to the United Nations. The government says the deluge killed 78,000 people.

Suu Kyi’s latest period of detent ion sta r ted in May 2003 after her motorcade was attacked by a pro-government mob.

Palestinian protesters dispersed

Kevin Freyer / The Associated Press

Palestinian protesters take cover as they get caught in a barrage of tear gas fired by Israeli troops during a demonstration against Israel’s separation barrier in the West Bank village of Nilin, near Modin. Israel says the barrier is necessary for security while Palestinians call it a land grab.

International

Expro weighs offers of Halliburton, competitor LONDON — European oil field contractor Expro postponed a shareholder meeting to consider approval of a takeover bid from a private equity consortium after it raised its offer to $3.43 billion to block a rival approach from Halliburton Co. Expro found itself at the center of a bidding contest on Friday when Houston-based Halliburton tried to sour a deal with the Candover-backed Umbrellastream Ltd., which last month made a 1,435 pence ($28.36) per share offer.

Halliburton topped that offer Friday with an all-cash bid of $3.36 billion, or 1,525 pence ($30.14) per share.

Umbrellastream quickly countered with its own sweetened offer of 1,550 pence ($30.63) per share.

Shares of Halliburton, which said it was reviewing its options, rose 35 cents to $48.12 Tuesday.

McCain proposes new nuclear plan DENVER — Republican presidential candidate John McCain called Tuesday for talks with China to negotiate a temporary halt to production of nuclear weapons-grade material and with Russia on a new treaty to destroy more nuclear weapons.

“Today we deploy thousands of nuclear warheads,” McCain said. “It is my hope to move as rapidly as possible to a significantly smaller force.” He did not set a specific goal but said the number would be consistent with U.S. commitments.

Cautioning against relying solely on force or merely on talks, McCain proposed a bipartisan push to strengthen a broad array of international arms treaties and nuclear monitoring.

King of Nepal faces likely removal

KATMANDU, Nepal — Nepal stood on the brink of becoming the world’s newest republic Tuesday as an assembly charged with ending 239 years of royal rule was sworn in.

But with the world’s last Hindu king still in the concrete palace that dominates central Katmandu, political leaders were threatening to remove him by force.

“He has no choice, but if he refuses to leave the palace, we will use the law to force him out of there,” Baburam Bhattarai, the deputy leader of the Maoists, Nepal’s former rebels.

Getting rid of the king, however, is in many ways the least of the new government’s problems, as evidenced by a string of bombings that hit Katmandu over the past two days — all apparently aimed at pro-republic politicians and activists.

Tuesday’s swearing in of 575 lawmakers — another 26 are to be appointed later — marked a major step in the peace process that ended the insurgency and the culmination of the Maoists’ transformation from a rebel army into a political force.

Separated twins sue after reunion MADRID, Spain — Spanish twins who were separated at birth through a hospital error and reunited as adult women through a fluke are suing for millions in damages, a lawyer said Tuesday.

The women finally met each other in 2001. The case has been working its way through the courts since 2004 and a court ruling on possible damages is expected soon, said Sebastian Socorro Perdomo, a lawyer for one of the twins.

He would not give the names of the women, who are 35.

Socorro Perdomo said in an interview that his client is seeking $4.7 million from the government of the Canary Islands, where the error occurred in 1973 in a staterun hospital in Las Palmas.

He said his client was taken out of her crib as her twin sister lay in one right next to her, mistakenly replaced by another baby girl, and ultimately raised by the family of that child.

The other two girls were brought up in the mistaken belief they were twin sisters. Both of those two, including the one who was not actually a twin, are suing — making three lawsuits in all.

He said his client — taken away from her twin sister and family — is the most devastated.

­— The Associated Press

Southwest Journalist

Page 4 — Wednesday, May 28, 2008

National

Trauma stays with troops

PTSD diagnoses on the rise, government says

believe many more are hiding their illness.

“I don’t think right now we ... have good numbers,” Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker said Tuesday.

Officials have been encouraging troops to get help even if it means they go to private civilian therapists and don’t report it to the military. The 40,000 cases are those the More than 28,000 Army that soldiers military hasintracked. who served Iraq or Afghanistan have been diagnosed with Officials have estimated that roughly 50 percent of Soldiers with PTSD troops 10,000 with mental health problems don’t get treatment.

Army Marines An accounting of diagnosed Navy AirSchoomaker Force cases released by to reporters Tuesday shows the hardest hit last year were Marines and Army soldiers.

The Army reported more than 5,000 10,000 new cases last year,

By PAULINE JELINEK

The stress of The stress of WASHINGTON ­— The numwar war ber of troops diagnosed with Associated Press Writer

More than 28,000 Army soldiers

post-traumatic stress disorder who served in Iraq or Afghanijumped bybeen roughly 50 percent stan have diagnosed with in 2007, the most violent year Soldiers with conflicts PTSD so far in the in Iraq 10,000 and Afghanistan, Pentagon Army Marines records show.

In the Navy first time Defense Air the Force Department has disclosed a number for PTSD cases from the two wars, officials said nearly 40,000 troops have 5,000diagnosed with the illbeen ness since 2003, though they

Court OKs 2 suits on workplace retaliation 0

2003

’04

’05

’06

25,000 20,000

Soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, cumulative, 2003-07

15,000

Army

10,000 5,000 0

2003

Marines

Navy

Air Force

’07

2003

’07

2003

2003

’04

’05

’06

SOURCE: Office of the Surgeon General

AP

’07 AP

Bearing the stress of war

0

’07

2003

compared with more than started an electronic records 6,800 the previous year. The system in 2004 that captures Marine Corps hadArmy more thanwhomore and to the More than 28,000 soldiers servedinformation, in Iraq or Afghanistan have beenin diagnosed with post-traumatic stressthe disorder sincekeeping 2003.

2,100 cases 2007, compared fact that people with 1,366 in 2006. records are more knowledge25,000 Schoomaker attributed the able about the illness. rise20,000 to the Soldiers fact thatwith officials He stress also blamed increased post-traumatic

5,000 0

’07

SOURCE: Office of the Surgeon General

exposure of troops to combat. Factors increasing combat exposure in 2007 included President Bush’s troops buildup, increased violence in both wars, and the fact that a number of troops are serving their second, third or fourth tours of duty.

Officials also extended tour lengths to 15 months from 12, another factor that caused emotional strain.

Schoomaker said he believes PTSD is misunderstood — and that often, normal post-traumatic anxiety is mistaken for full-blown PTSD cases.

The Pentagon had previously only given a percentage of troops believed to be affected by stress and similar problems, saying up to 20 percent return home with such symptoms.

disorder, cumulative, 2003-07

Army

10,000

AP

Justices set trend with decisions favoring workers

More than 28,000 Army soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder since 2003.

15,000

’07

SOURCE: Office of the Surgeon General

Bearing the stress of war

2003

’07

Marines

Navy

Air Force 2003

’07

2003

’07

2003

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SOURCE: Office of the Surgeon General

AP

<AP> TROOPS PTSD 052708: Chart shows number of soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder who served in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003; two sizes; 1c x 3 3/4 inches; 46.5 mm x 95 mm; 2c x 2 1/4 inches; 96.3 mm x 57 mm; with BC-Troops-Post Traumatic; DGM; <AP>

Associated Press Writer

RETALIATION CASES The Supreme Court on Tuesday made two rulings seen as friendly to workers.

✓ CBOCS West, Inc. v.

Humphries A 7-2 ruling involving race and a private employer.

✓ G o m e z - P e r e z v.

Potter A 6-3 ruling involving age and a federal office.

Matt Rourke / AP Photo

John Mould, center, plays cards with his sons Zachary Jordan, 17, changes suggested in the report released Tuesday could make the left, and Eric Jones, 15, at their home in Ambler, Pa. Mould said that, process too rigid and discourage families from adopting children although transracial adoption can be challenging, he worries that of other races.

Race matters, report says

By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer

NEW YORK — Several leading child welfare groups Tuesday urged an overhaul of federal laws on transracial adoption, arguing that black children in foster care are ill-served by a “colorblind” approach meant to encourage their adoption by white families.

Recommendations for changes in the policy came in a report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.

“Color consciousness — not ‘colorblindness’ — should help to shape policy development,” the report said.

Groups endorsing the proposals included the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the Child Welfare League of America, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and the National Association of Black Social Workers.

At issue is the 1994 Multi-Ethnic Placement Act — and revisions made to it in 1996 — governing the adoption of children from foster care.

The law directs state agencies to recruit more adoptive parents of the same race as the children. The report says the provision hasn’t been adequately enforced and calls for better-funded efforts to recruit minority parents.

Matt Rourke / AP Photo

Margaret Geiger and daughter Asia Handy, 16, talk at their Ambler, Pa., home. Handy is one of five children adopted by Geiger and John Mould.

A more contentious part of the legislation prohibits race from being taken into consideration in most decisions about adoption from foster care.

The report calls for amending the law so race could be a factor in selecting parents for children. The change would allow raceoriented pre-adoption training, “We tried to assess what was working

and what wasn’t, and came to the conclusion that preparing parents who adopt transracially benefits everyone, especially the children,” said Adam Pertman, the Donaldson Institute’s executive director.

The foster care system has a high number of black children; on average they stay there nine months longer than white children before moving to permanent homes.

The report said federal law deters child welfare agencies from preparing families to adopt transracially.

Pertman said his institute and its allies were not against transracial adoption.

Professor Elizabeth Bartholet, who directs the Child Advocacy Program at Harvard Law School, believes the concept of colorblindness is sound. Current policy allows standardized pre-adoption training, but prohibits screening for parents seeking to adopt transracially, she said.

John Mould and Margaret Geiger, an Ambler, Pa., couple, have two white biological children and five black adopted children, now ages 15 to 23. Mould said the process is challenging but worries changes could make the process too rigid.

“There are so many kids who need homes,” Mould said. “The idea of trying to find the perfect matches — you’re not going to find them.”

His youngest son, Eric Jones, 15, said the family’s makeup can complicate his life, but he believes transracial adoption can succeed.

“What counts is whether the parents are ready to take responsibility,” he said.

CIA considers what’s next for al-Qaida

By PAMELA HESS Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is making “a big and continual push” to capture or kill al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, but that won’t end the organization’s menace, CIA Director Michael Hayden told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

The CIA is equally interested in those jockeying to replace bin Laden in what Hayden predicted will be a “succession crisis.”

“It will be really interesting to see how that plays out.

The organization is a lot more networked than it is ruthlessly hierarchical,” he said. “How do you pick the next overall

leader?”

Taking out bin Laden would be a psychological blow to alQaida, Hayden said.

“If there ever was a sense of invulnerability, I think killing or capturing him would shatter it once and for all,” he said.

Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the lawless tribal areas of western Pakistan. The Pakistani government is negotiating a peace agreement with the tribes that would have them expel extremists and police the region on their own.

The CIA has been using armed drones to attack alleged terrorists inside the tribal area, as U.S. forces are barred from pursuing al-Qaida and Taliban fighters across the Afghan border.

A tactic that has caused concern is the CIA’s holding of prisoners outside the reach of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“We were kind of turning into the nation’s jailer, a wholly inappropriate role for us,” Hayden said. The CIA is still holding prisoners but for less time. It recently turned over two detainees to the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after a few months.

Hayden said he authorizes only activities that meet several tests, including whether the activity can withstand political shifts.

“We can’t stand an American counterterrorism program with an on/off switch every other November,” he said.

WASHINGTON — Sales of new homes rose in April for the first time in six months, although activity was near its lowest in 17 years.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new homes rose 3.3 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000 units.

But the government revised March activity lower to show an even bigger drop of 11 percent to an annual rate of 509,000, which was the weakest pace for sales since April 1991.

Economists believe that new home sales will remain weak for some time as the housing industry struggles with falling prices and rising mortgage foreclosures, which are dumping even more homes on an already glutted market.

Many analysts don’t expect to see a rebound in prices until sometime next year.

SAN FRANCISCO — Samesex couples in some California counties will be able to marry as soon as June 14, the president of the California’s county clerks association said.

Stephen Weir, who heads the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said Monday he was told by the Office of Vital Records that clerks would be authorized to hand out marriage licenses as soon as that date, exactly 30 days after the California Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage should be legal.

An effort is under way to stay the Supreme Court’s decision until an initiative on the November ballot. The measure would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage.

Editor’s Note: It is mandatory to include all sources that accompany this graphic when repurposing or editing it for publication

Adoptive parents would learn cultural issues

Home sales rise, but still weak overall

Calif. gay marriage possible by June 14

By MARK SHERMAN WASHINGTON — Business groups are complaining that the Supreme Court has become too friendly to workers.

In two employment decisions Tuesday, conservative and liberal justices joined to make it easier for workers to sue when they face retaliation after complaining about discrimination.

One case involved a private employer and race. The other focused on a federal worker and age. The court took a wide view of workers’ rights in both, ducking the ideology-based decisions that marked its previous term. Rulings favorable to workers in employment discrimination cases and the absence of 5-4 decisions seem to be new trends.

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in a 7-2 ruling that previous decisions and congressional action make clear that retaliation is covered.

Justices Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy joined their more liberal colleagues in both rulings Tuesday. Alito wrote the opinion allowing a federal employee to pursue retaliation claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The vote in that case was 6-3.

Roberts dissented in the age case but was part of the majority in the race retaliation case.

Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented in both cases.

O ne c a s e be g a n w hen Hedrick Humphries claimed he was fired from a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Illinois after he complained about race discrimination by other supervisors.

Humphries filed a lawsuit claiming discrimination and retaliation. Both were dismissed by a federal judge, and only the retaliation claim was appealed.

The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Humphries could pursue his retaliation claim. The high court agreed.

The age case involves Myrna Gomez-Perez, a postal worker in Puerto Rico who alleged she was being discriminated against because of her age.

Gomez-Perez, then 45, said that after she complained, she suffered reprisals from supervisors. Gomez-Perez sued, and the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld a lower court’s dismissal. The Supreme Court ruled that she may pursue her lawsuit.

National

“We were kind of turning into the nation’s jailer, a wholly inappropriate role for us.”

— Michael Hayden

Radio glitch delays Mars rover’s work TUCSON, Ariz. — A glitch with a Mars orbiter relaying commands from Earth delayed plans for the Phoenix Mars Lander’s second day of activities on Tuesday, NASA officials said.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter turned its UHF radio off, possibly because of a cosmic ray, cutting off communications with the lander, said Fuk Li, manager of the Mars exploration program for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Li said the orbiter was programmed to respond as it did but that orbiter team members were trying to get the radio back on. It has a second radio aboard that might be used instead, though reprogramming would be needed.

Union’s proposal rejected by airline

ATLANTA — American Airlines, facing the possibility of a future cash crunch amid high fuel prices, said Tuesday it has rejected its pilot union’s contract proposals.

The airline said the proposals would have a “serious detrimental impact on the company’s economic stability.”

Union spokesman Scott Shankland said the union is aware that American faces an uncertain financial future but the company should be fair to employees.

Jeffrey J. Brundage, American’s senior vice president of human resources, said there is still hope for finding common ground.

Man must return shoplifters’ shoes DURANGO, Colo. — Police are telling a Durango liquor store owner to give shoplifters the boot — literally.

Tired of losing what he says was about $1,000 worth of merchandise a month in thefts, Gabe Fidanque started giving shoplifters two choices: Give him one of their shoes or he’d call the police. Durango police told Fidanque on Friday to stop it or risk facing charges of felony robbery.

Shoplifting is a misdemeanor.

Fidanque was ordered to return the shoes to their owners if he can.

He agreed, though he stands by his tactic’s effectiveness. “But it’s not worth jeopardizing my business,” he said.

— The Associated Press

Southwest Journalist

Texas / Southwest

Texas

American rejects pilots’ contract bid

ATLANTA ­— American Airlines, facing the possibility of a future cash crunch amid soaring fuel prices, said Tuesday it has rejected its pilot union’s contract proposals after determining the cost to the nation’s largest carrier would be too high if it accepted them.

American said in an internal negotiations update that it informed Allied Pilots Association negotiators that the union’s proposals, including a 50 percent pay raise to return to 1992 pay levels and changes to pensions, “are not in the best long-term interests of either our company or our pilots.”

But union spokesman Scott Shankland said the company is not acting in good faith.

He said the airline rewarded top management when the airline’s performance improved, but hasn’t given pilots back what the pilots gave up when American teetered on the verge of bankruptcy five years ago. American has about 9,600 active pilots, according to the union.

Exxon Mobil CEO fights for job Shareholders propose separate CEO, chair roles

By JOHN PORRETTO AP Business Writer

HOUSTON ­— Exxon Mobil Corp. chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson will have a fight on his hands Wednesday to keep the two top jobs at the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company, as some members of the Rockefeller family and other shareholders push to separate the roles.

In what’s likely to be a raucous shareholder meeting in Dallas, much of the advance focus has been on a shareholder resolution to name an independent director as company chairman, essentially prohibit-

ing Tillerson from holding that job and that of chief executive officer.

Tillerson, who received a compensation package last year valued at about $21.7 million, has served in both roles since 2006.

Descendants of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Exxon Mobil predecessor Standard Oil Corp., and a variety of institutional investors in the U.S. and abroad have lined up behind the proposal, which garnered the support of 40 percent of shareholders at last year’s meeting.

Rockefeller family members and others have said they’re concerned Irving-based Exxon Mobil is too focused on shortterm gains from soaring oil prices and should do more to invest in cleaner technology for the future. Separating the lead-

Pilot spots model rocket at 5,000 feet HOUSTON — The FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration said they are investigating a report from a Continental Airlines pilot, who told air traffic controllers that a possible model rocket with a flaming tail and a trail of smoke was flying ahead of the plane shortly after takeoff Monday.

Although the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved in the investigation, officials said they believe the object was a model rocket.

The FAA said it does not yet know how high the rocket flew or how close it came to the plane, spokesman Rowland Herwig said.

The pilot spotted the object flying at 5,000 feet about 11 miles east of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Flight 1544 continued its trip from Houston to Cleveland after reporting the object to air traffic controllers.

Seattle boy tries another getaway SEATTLE — The boy who talked his way onto airline flights to Texas last year has attempted another getaway.

A Seattle TV station, KING, reports Semaj Booker was stopped Tuesday by the Transportation Security Administration at a Sea-Tac Airport gate after he failed to show a boarding pass. His mother had reported him missing to Tacoma police at 3 a.m.

In January 2007 when he was 9, Semaj got through airport security and made it to San Antonio with a stop in Phoenix.

Days before he had stolen and crashed a car.

His mother told authorities he was unhappy living in Lakewood and wanted to be with his grandfather in Dallas.

—THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ership roles, they argue, would better position the company for challenges to come.

Foreign oil giants BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have separate board chairs and CEOs. But Exxon Mobil has maintained the most effective leadership structure for the company is for Tillerson to serve in both roles.

In its proxy, Exxon Mobil lists 17 shareholder proposals expected to be voted on at Wednesday’s meeting, several of which pertain to environmental issues such as greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Some are proposals that have been introduced at past meetings and failed to gain a majority of shareholder support.

Some shareholders in favor of splitting the two top jobs

acknowledge the company’s track record of generating good returns. Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $40.6 billion — in 2007. Boosted by record crude prices to start 2008, it earned another $10.9 billion in the first three months of the year — the second-biggest U.S. quarterly corporate profit ever.

The Rockefellers and their allies, however, have said they believe future energy will come from sources other than oil and natural gas and that the company needs to move more quickly into sustainable technology to secure its long-term viability.

Tillerson has maintained Exxon Mobil will continue to spend the bulk of its profits on finding and producing new supplies of crude oil.

Richard Drew / Associated Press

Rex Tillerson will face a shareholder proposal to separate his CEO and chairman jobs.

Roosevelt items on Dallas auction block

Collector upset over FDR memorabilia sale

By LINDA STEWART BALL Associated Press Writer

Oil prices drop as demand declines NEW YORK — Oil prices dropped below $129 a barrel Tuesday, falling sharply on a growing sense that soaring gas and oil prices have cut demand for fuel during the normally busy summer driving season. At the pump, meanwhile, retail gasoline prices rose, but only slightly, leading to renewed speculation that gas may follow the normal seasonal pattern of peaking around Memorial Day and then declining over the summer.

Tuesday’s oil price decline was notable in that it came in the face of news of supply problems in Mexico and Nigeria that could have driven oil prices higher. That’s an indication that demand concerns are weighing on the market, giving investors reason to pull back from record high oil prices set last week, said Stephen Schork, an analyst and trader.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery fell $3.34 to settle at $128.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but fell as low as $128.18 in afterhours electronic trading. It was oil’s biggest one-day decline since March 31. Prices peaked at $135.09 a barrel Thursday.

Last week’s surge in oil prices drove gasoline prices sharply higher just before the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 — Page 5

donna mcwilliam / associated press

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fedora is among more than 500 items that will be available for auction at the Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas on June 7. The hat along with hundreds of other items from the Plaud Collection became available when a museum was forced to close.

DALLAS — President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s trademark fedora, the last check he ever signed and watercolor sketches for the unfinished portrait he sat for on the day he died are among hundreds of historic artifacts and documents headed for the auction block.

The memorabilia and other items from the life and times of the nation’s 32nd president come from the private collection of Joseph and Deborah Plaud of Whitinsville, Mass.

“This has been my life’s passion, and I just hope whoever becomes the owners of these special pieces treasures them and preser ves them,” said Joseph Plaud, 43.

He acquired his first piece — an autographed photo of Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR Jr. — while in junior high school.

Some ex per t s con sider Plaud’s collection to be the largest in private hands. It’s so vast that it’s being sold in two

UP FOR BIDS__________________________ FDR memorabilia included in the June 7 auction: ✓ Tiffany wristwatch worn at Yalta Conference; value $4,000 to $6,000. ✓ FDR’s 1934 Christmas gift to Eleanor Roosevelt, an 18K gold and diamond compact with engraved message; value $4,000 to $6,000. ✓ FDR’s check register. One entry notes a deposit of his monthly salary for $4,866.65. installments, with the first — 568 lots — set for auction on June 7 by Heritage Auction Galleries. A second auction will be held in the fall.

“Most collections tend to be kind of accumulations of whatever comes someone’s way,” said Tom Slater, director of Americana Auctions for Heritage. “This collection was systematically put together with the intention that it would be a museum display collection and a resource for scholars.

Items up for auction include an original land deed signed in 1696 in which five Native American chiefs gave their land to early Dutch settlers. The

Judge: Dell engaged in false advertising Few qualified for advertised credit rate, warranties

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York judge concluded Tuesday that Dell Inc. engaged in repeated false and deceptive advertising of its promotional credit financing and warranties.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi ordered the computer retailer to more clearly

Polygamists could flee Texas with children

disclose that most customers don’t qualify for free financing or get “next day” repair service.

“It appears likely that there are many more New York consumers who are entitled to restitution who are not included in the complaints,” Teresi wrote.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Dell last year. The attorney general’s office had 700 complaints against Dell when the lawsuit was filed in May 2007 and has received more than 1,000 since, spokesman John Milgrim said.

Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn said the Round Rock, Texas-based company disagreed with the judge’s decision and would be putting up a vigorous defense of its position, although it had not decided yet whether it would appeal.

The company noted earlier that it had 6 million transactions in New York between 2003 and 2006, with alleged complaints representing only a tiny fraction.

According to the judge, Dell ads offered promotions like free flat-panel monitors, additional memory, rebates, instant

discounts and financing with no interest or no payments for a period to “well qualified” or “best qualified” customers.

However, Cuomo’s submissions indicated as few as 7 percent of New York applicants qualified for some promotions.

Many customers applied for credit thinking they would get the promotional rate, Teresi wrote. He enjoined Dell from advertising promotional rates without prominently disclosing how many applicants are likely to qualify, as well as the usual credit terms.

Birds and Bicycles: The “Big Year”

By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press Writer

Families of children seized from their polygamist sect’s ranch could flee Texas if they regain custody, child welfare authorities said Tuesday as they urged the state Supreme Court to block a ruling that found the massive removals to be improper.

Updating an earlier appeal, Texas Child Protective Services lawyers argued that if the custody orders are rescinded, parents could take the children out of the state and “no Texas court would have any authority to enter any orders to protect these children.”

The Third District Court of Appeals ruled last week that the state failed to show that the children were in any immediate danger, the only grounds under Texas law for taking them from their parents without court action.

The state filed its initial appeal Friday, arguing that Texas law gave a lower-court judge discretion on whether to remove the children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Sa ints’ Yea rning for Zion Ranch.

Brad Doherty /Brownsville Herald

Ken Madsen, 16, looks for birds in Brownsville during his “Big Year,” a quest to see as many birds as possible in a year. Madsen and parents Wendy and Malkolm Boothroyd committed to completing their journey from their home in the Yukon Territory, Canda, without using fossil fuels, so they rode bicycles.

The family saw 520 species by mid May. Their journey will be 13,000 miles by the end of the year.

land later became the president’s estate at Hyde Park, N.Y. A signed copy of the D-Day Prayer the president gave from the White House for the Allies’ landing in Europe on June 6, 1944 also will be available..

Plaud said his grandmother sparked his interest in Roosevelt.

He collected so many items that he and his wife opened their own museum in Worcester, Mass.

The city later took over the space for private offices, forcing them to close sell the collection.

“This is really killing me,” Plaud said.

Next move for Abbott unclear The Associated Press

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has more campaign cash than fellow Republicans Gov. Rick Perry and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick combined, but he’s not ready to discuss his next move.

With almost $7.3 million at his disposal, Abbott’s options range from running for re-election in 2010 to possible pursuits of lieutenant governor, governor or the U.S. senator.

“It’s too early to get into the prediction game, but (the money) is to be ready to wage a vigorous campaign to ensure that I get elected in this next go-round,” Abbott said in an interview published Tuesday by the Houston Chronicle.

Abbott’s work as attorney general has won praise in areas of open government, child support enforcement and crackdowns on Internet child sex predators. But he’s been under attack from those who think he’s cozy with rich homebuilding donors and Democrats who say he has intimidated minority voters in their party.

Abbott briefly looked at running for lieutenant governor in 2001 but shifted to attorney general because millionaire David Dewhurst jumped into the contest. Now, Dewhurst is looking at a possible governor’s race in 2010, as is Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Perry has said he will run for re-election.

Abbott’s top donors since 2001 have included an array of Republican businessmen.

Although there is no evidence that Abbott has done anything for homebuilders, representatives of irate homeowner groups say Abbott hasn’t acted aggressively enough to protect consumers.

D emo c r at s s a y A bb ot t aggressively pursued minorities who help others vote by mail. A federal lawsuit challenging the state law that he used in the prosecutions is scheduled for trial Wednesday in Marshall.

fun on

Beach

Page 6 — Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Southwest Journalist

Features

Entertainment

the

‘Sex’ movie hopes to win over all ages

NEW YORK — Can a pure chick flick become a hit? Yes, if it draws a diverse enough swath of female moviegoers. For “Sex and the City,” that will be the big question.

There are indications that the film, which opens Friday, is attracting a lot of interest from women of all ages — not just the age of the four lead actresses, who range from their early 40s to just over 50.

“We can’t remember the last time a movie has created so much anticipation among female moviegoers from their 20s through their 40s,” said Harry Medved, a spokesperson for Fandango, the online movie ticket site.

Martin Sheen opens up about son’s drug abuse

Craig Litten / Associated Press

Vacationers flock to beaches across the country each year — such as the main beach at Caladesi Island, above — to hunt for gold and coins. Caladesi Island State Park, a barrier island along the Gulf of Mexico in Dunedin, Fla., has been

named the No. 1 beach in the continental United States for the last two years, but the No. 2 beach overall. It’s in the running for the No. 1 spot overall for 2008.

Going for the gold: Beach-goers hunt for treasure

By EMILY ZEUGNER Associated Press Writer

L

ast summer, history buff, outdoorsman and “amateur treasure hunter” Roy Evans set off in search of buried riches.

Five hours a day, he scoured the fine, white sands of Georgia’s Tybee Island and within a week he’d struck gold: 23 separate pieces including two crosses, 12 rings, a handful of medallions and broaches and one chain necklace — a bounty worth several thousand dollars at least.

“It was amazing, what I found that week,” said Evans, of Greer, S.C. “It might have been a new record for me.”

The jewelry, like countless other valuables all over the country, was lost by distracted and forgetful sunbathers, tucked into a shoe or under a corner of a beach blanket before a swim only to be misplaced in the confusion at the end of the day. To cash in, Evans needed only luck, a little patience and his trusty

Beach books for kids Turn to tales of island ponies, a girl who dares a wave or a very sad fish if you’re looking to avoid the summer reading slump for your kids.

Lots of books cover shells, sand and sun, but young readers are easily distracted by the real thing once school lets out.

Try to dazzle, entice and educate by adding these to your I-wish-they’d-read list when you head off to the beach: • “Wave” by Suzy Lee, $15.99.

• “The Pout-Pout Fish”

by Deborah Diesen and illustrated by Dan Hanna, $16.00.

• “My Chincoteague Pony”

by Susan Jeffers, $16.99.

• “Carl’s Summer Vacation”

by Alexandra Day, $12.95.

• “Fabulous Fishes” by Susan Stockdale, $15.95.

• “Beach Bugs: A Sunny Pop-up Book” by David A. Carter, $11.99.

MineLab metal detector. sensitive enough to tell the difference This summer, amateur treasure between gold and platinum, nickel and hunters predict the beaches will be quarter, necklace and kabob skewer. filled with people just like Evans. Lured The detectors run from $800 to sevby the skyrocketing price of gold — eral thousand dollars, but unlike other now more than $900 specia li zed hobby an ounce — and the equ ipment, meta l “If you don’t want thrill of serendipity, detectors “a l most to lose it, never, new would-be treaalways pay for themever wear your sure diggers are joinselves,” Copperwheat jewelry to the ing the ranks of expesaid. beach. You think it’s rienced beach “metal W hile most serinot going to happen detectionists,” as they ou s dete c t ion i st s to you but it can call themselves, in aren’t primarily gold and it will. In fact, what might be a modseekers — the most ern-day gold rush. prized finds are hisit’s happened to me.

Gone are the days torical relics like 18th — Matt Smechler when most of t he century coins or Civil beep-beep-beeps War uniform buttons meant digging a big pit only to pull buried in the woods and fields of forout a penny or crushed soda pop can, mer battlegrounds — beaches do hold said Stu Copperwheat, president of the a particular appeal, Copperwheat said.

Electronic Archaeological Recovery A detectionist might search and dig all Treasure Hunters club of central New day on a buggy, hot field and find nothYork state. Metal detection technology ing but rocks, but rarely do beach hunthas improved considerably over the ers come away empty-handed. past decade and today’s machines are “The goal is always to try to return

something,” said Ross Soderberg, of the Great Lakes Metal Detector Group. “But stuff with no name on it, well, that’s just too tough to find the owner.”

Evans divides the nicest jewelry between his wife and two daughters and displays the prettiest rings with precious stones in a glass case in his living room. The rest he sells by the ounce, money that’s served to fund vacations and supplement his income.

And when the wedding band pickings are slim, there’s still money to be made in “clad,” a detectionist term for coins minted after 1964. They may not be collectibles, but pailfuls of nickels and dimes still add up to serious cash.

“Or at least, I used to pay for gas with it,” said Matt Smechler, president of the Cascade Treasure Club in Seattle.

And any advice for the beach-going public?

“If you don’t want to lose it, never, ever wear your jewelry to the beach,” Soderberg said. “You think it’s not going to happen to you, but it can and it will.

In fact, it’s happened to me.”

Associated Press Writer

The tankini bathing suit is a gift to mothers.

T here have been ot her design innovations in recent years that have made family outings to the beach less of a hassle — continuous-spray sunscreen, soft coolers and collapsible ca mping-st yle chairs among them — but it’s the tankini that really turned the tide.

With a tankini, there’s less skin exposed to the sun, no shifting of the top and, above all, no sticky, wet one-piece to struggle with when the girls have to go to the bathroom.

“I completely agree about separates being the solution for kids,” says Michele Casper, spokeswoman for Lands’ End. The traditional tankini is essentially a one-piece bathing suit split into two pieces around the hip.

“There’s coverage, comfort, practicality — and what’s really fun that the kids like is

Courtesy/landsend.com

For more on summer fashions, visit swjournalist.com.

the mix-and-match appeal,” Casper says.

Casper says Lands’ End does sell tankinis as a matching set but that it’s quite common to buy two or more in complementary colors and come up with different combinations.

The popularity of those fullcoverage, bathing-suit shirts has even turned boys onto at least the idea of a top-andbottom combination even if it doesn’t fit the classic tankini

definition.

Casper says rash g uard shirts are the “hottest trend” in kids’ swimwear.

Rash guards got their name because surfers originally wore them to protect their bellies from becoming irritated by their surf boards when they were paddling out, explains Rhonda Sparks, founder of UV Skinz, a California-based company that specializes in sun-protection gear.

They come in short- and long-sleeve versions, and are made of quick-dry fabric.

Sparks started making miniature versions of the shirts t hree years ago after her 32-year-old husband died from skin cancer.

“Usually kids like them because it means less sunscreen and fewer times being pulled away from their activities to reapply sunscreen,” she says. “If you say you need to come back every 90 minutes to mom or you can wear this, they’re off and running in their rash guard.”

Critics: LaBeouf channels Brando LOS ANGELES — Whether critics walked out of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” loving or hating it, most had something to say about Shia LaBeouf’s dramatic entrance.

The 21-year-old actor plays Harrison Ford’s sidekick in this fourth installment in the Indy franchise, and when he first appears on screen, critics agree: he’s a dead ringer for Marlon Brando’s young punk in 1953’s “The Wild One.” We’re not talking a kinda-sorta resemblance. He’s got the same off-kilter cap, same black leather jacket and he rides up on a motorcycle, full of ‘tude. Brando played the leader of a biker gang.

In a rare pan of the movie, Chicago Tribune critic Michael Phillips said LaBeouf’s entrance “rips off Brando.”

Weather, dark films make Cannes dreary for fans

Tankinis make beach life a breeze

By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL

LOS ANGELES — Martin Sheen became “fanatic” when his son Charlie was using drugs.

“When a life is at stake and it’s your child, you become fearless in a lot of ways. I mean, you just become fanatic,” the 67-year-old actor said in the July/August issue of AARP The Magazine.

Sheen, who starred in “The West Wing,” told the magazine how he intervened to save his son.

“The only way I got to Charlie, frankly, was because he’d skipped out of the hospital. I had to pay the bill,” Sheen said. “In paying the bill, I got to see why he was in there. He’d consumed an illegal substance; he was on probation.”

The veteran TV and film star, who battled alcoholism himself, turned to Alcoholics Anonymous to help his son.

South Padre Island • The world’s longest barrier island.

• Located on Texas’ southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico • Named after Padre José Nicolás Ballí, who served as collector of finances for all the churches in the Rio Grande Valley • 130 miles long, stretching from Corpus Christi in the north to the resort community of South Padre Island in the south.

CANNES, France — Indy made his comeback at Cannes, and Woody came back as usual.

Angelina showed off her baby bump on the red carpet, and Madonna sold off everything in her handbag at a charity auction.

This year’s Cannes Film Festival, which ended Sunday, had plenty of celebrities to please the star-watchers — but moviegoers were more disappointed.

There were few real favorites in the lineup of Cannes’ showcase competition, and the films were mostly dark and gloomy.

Set in locations such as a prison, a slum and a porno theater, the films tackled subjects from murder to angst to hopelessness.

As the festival drew to a close, jury president Sean Penn admitted to Le Monde newspaper he wished there had been more comedies in the bunch.

— The Associated Press