Banner Graphic, Volume 22, Number 64, Greencastle, Putnam County, 15 November 1991 — Page 2

THE BANNERGRAPHIC November 15,1991

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Government issues its warning on unsafe toys

WASHINGTON (AP) Nearly two dozen children suffered fatal injuries last year from playing with unsafe toys, a federal agency says in warning parents to look for potential hazards. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday that at least 23 children died last year from toy-related injuries and 129,000 were injured. The commission, which reported 33 deaths the year before, issues an annual warning before the Christmas buying season, when most toys are sold. “MANY PARENTS are not buying the appropriate types of toys for their children’s skills and ages,” said commission Chairwoman Jacqueline JonesSmith. She said youngsters should not be given toys with small removable parts. Consumer groups criticized the CPSC for not being tougher on toymakers. “The commission obviously needs to improve its regulations,” said Lucinda Sikes of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “They’re definitely not doing enough.” SIKES SAID the number of toy-related accidents increased 11 percent from 1989 to 1990. She said many injuries involved small balls that met federal standards designed to weed out objects that can lodge in a child’s throat CPSC’s warning came a day after Boston lawyer Edward Swartz, who has spent 20 years

Louisiana governor’s race is opening checkbooks around the hemisphere

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searching the country for dangerous playthings, issued his annual list of most dangerous toys. The commission doesn’t compile such a list, but it noted that it has recalled 165 toys this year, ranging from teddy bears and dolls to trucks and trains to tools and cooking utensils. Last year, 252 toys were recalled. NONE OF THE toys on Swartz’s list was recalled; some were no longer in production. Jones-Smith said the commission has “had to do a lot more digging and a lot more searching” this year to find unsafe items. Debbie Tinsworth of CPSC said the death figures were an estimate based on reports from consumers, lawyers and coroners. She said the injury figures were based on children treated in hospital emergency rooms nationwide. Jones-Smith said the commission has increased its efforts to keep foreign-made toys that don’t meet U.S. safety standards from entering the country. She said CPSC, cooperating with the U.S. Customs Service, had seized 1.7 million toys in the last year. SIKES SAID three-fourths of the toys that her public interest group considered dangerous were made overseas, and that foreign manufacturers are “not getting the message that there are these safety standards that they must meet.”

the nation and in Canada and Mexico. “The Duke people are sending him money because they like his philosophy, what he stands for,” said Silas Lee, a New Orleans pollster. “For Edwards, it’s business; they have something to protect. They have, or want to do business in the state and know he

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Congress poised to send Bush unemployment benefits bill

WASHINGTON (AP) Congress neared passage of a jobless benefits bill that could help the nation’s unemployed put food on the table at Thanksgiving. The House approved the $5.3 billion measure by a resounding 39630 vote on Thursday, and the Senate was expected to ship the bill to the White House for President Bush’s signature today. Enactment would provide up to 20 weeks of new benefits to people who use up the basic 26 weeks of coverage. “IT’S BEEN A long, hard road to get to this point,” Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, an author of the measure, said of the four months of political drama that saw Bush kill two earlier versions of the legislation. Completion of the bill today would get some checks in the mail by Thanksgiving, lawmakers said. It also would end a battle that began in July with Bush opposing a Democratic effort to extend unemployment benefits. The fight is concluding with his forces battling to preserve them. SEVERAL SENATORS from both parties were angry that their states would get fewer weeks of new benefits than others, and fewer than they would have under a version Bush vetoed last month. Their objections prevented the Senate from approving the bill Thursday night. But last-minute proposals to change the legislation seemed certain to be defeated today under pressure from the administration

has a proven track record.” SATURDAY’S election pits the Republican Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, against Edwards, a Democrat and former three-term governor whose administrations were tainted by scandal. Gov. Buddy Roemer, who defeated Edwards four years ago, finished third in the state’s Oct. 19 primary. Campaign reports for the 19-day period that ended Oct. 27 show Edwards raised nearly $1.2 million during that time, bringing his total to $2.3 million. Duke received $544,459, for a total of $1.4 million. “MY VIEWS ARE David Duke’s views,’ said Narcisus Roger Diaz of Florida, listed as a SSO contributor to Duke. “The man was a KKK member. Big deal. The KKK is no worse than being a Democrat or a Republican.” “It’s absolutely critical that Edwin Edwards be elected,” said New Orleans attorney Jack Pierce Brook, who contributed $5,000. “He’s the only one that has the skills and the ability to get us out of this mess in Louisiana.” A poll released Thursday by Louisiana Business 2000 showed 53.3 percent of those surveyed planning to vote for Edwards, with 'll percent supporting Duke. SOME 14.5 PERCENT said

Some may face more competition with free trade pact

WASHINGTON (AP) A free trade agreement with Mexico could expand markets for some U.S. growers while heightening the competition for feeder-cattle producers and some regional fruit and vegetable industries, the nation’s largest farm organization said today.

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SEN. LLOYD BENTSEN ‘A long, hard road*

and the Senate’s Democratic and Republican leaders. Some unhappy lawmakers all but conceded defeat in advance. “A fight knowing that you’re going to fail is better than no fight at all,” said Sen. Wendell Ford, DKy. THE MEASURE would cover most people who will have used up their basic coverage between last March 1 and next July 4. Sponsors expect 1 million Americans to be eligible for the extra help immediately, and 2 million others to qualify before the program expires. Americans who have used up

they were undecided, with 2.3 percent saying they were leaning toward Edwards and 2.9 percent leaning toward Duke. Marketing Research Institute of Mississippi, which conducted the poll of 800 voters, said it had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. In the battle for campaign contributions, Duke has collected from 49 states, Canada, Mexico, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Nebraska is the only holdout among the 50 states. PEOPLE, COMPANIES and political action committees in New York, Florida and Las Vegas are among Edwards’ financial backers. The record show Duke’s contributors are many but most make only small donations. Out of 20,000 contributions, 80 percent have amounted to SSO or less. Edwards’ 2,000 contributions have included checks from SI,OOO to $5,000 from New York brokerage and financial companies, oil companies, and vendors who do business in the state. One $5,000 contribution came from a Las Vegas hotel. Edwards also has received the maximum $50,000 he is allowed to take from political action committees. So far, Duke has no PAC money.

In a report, the American 1-arm Bureau Federation said a free trade agreement could benefit U.S. dairy products, grains and oilseeds, fed cattle and hogs, and seasonal fresh vegetables and fruits such as apples and pears. BUT LIFTING tariffs along the border could increase Mexico’s

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PRESIDENT BUSH Wants to avoid defeat

their regular benefits would be eligible for six, 13 or 20 weeks of extra checks. The exact amount would depend on how bad unemployment was in each state and how many people there had exhausted their regular benefits. Workers in 23 states and the Virgin Islands would get six weeks of help under the latest jobless figures. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia would get 13 weeks, and nine states plus Puerto Rico would get 20 weeks. FINAL ACTION was occurring a day after the Labor Department announced that 454,000 people filed for jobless claims in the week

Exotic dance performed in motel room not obscene

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) A hired escort’s semi-nude dance in a Carmel motel room wasn’t an obscene performance because it occurred in a private setting, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled. A three-member panel concluded Thursday that Indiana’s obscene performance law bars lewd behavior in public performances, but it doesn’t apply when the conduct occurs in a private setting, WITH THE RULING, the court threw out the obscene performance conviction of Rose A. Low, 24, of Greenfield. Last November, she was sentenced to spend a year’s worth of weekends in jail and to serve one year’s probation. According to court records, she was arrested during a Carmel Police Department investigation of suspected prostitution Officers rented adjoining rooms at the Courtyard Marriott motel and called the “Yes, We Do” escort service to request a companion for an officer. Low and her driver showed up and had the undercover officer sign a service agreement that stated the services wouldn’t include sexual activity, massage or lewd or obscene performances. AFTER THE DRIVER left, the officer gave Low SIOO and

competition with U.S. feeder-cattle producers and regional industries such as asparagus and frozen vegetables in California and avocados in California and Florida, the study said. Some other U.S. farm industries such as poultry, cotton, and most citrus fruits and horticultural crops may not even feel the effects of a North American free trade agreement, the study said. The study was the result of work by private consultants and several universities. PRESIDENT DEAN Kleckner said the Farm Bureau would use the study’s findings to represent U.S. producers in the trade negotiations. “These findings will help America’s farmers and ranchers determine how to position themselves in the talks currently under way,” said Kleckner, a soybean and hog farmer from Rudd, lowa. “The idea of creating a free trade zone in North America is exciting because of the increased opportunities it offers much of U.S. agriculture, but as our study indicates, this will also bring increased competition for some producers,” he said. GRAINS AND oilseeds could be one of the biggest winners, the study said. Under the accord,

ending Nov. 2, the highest figure in six months. With those numbers in mind, Democrats lambasted Bush for not addressing the weak economy and for ignoring the jobless until his drooping public opinion polls forced him to respond. “Our message to the president is simple,” said House Majority Whip David Bonior, D-Mich. “Welcome aboard.” BUT BUSH AND his GOP allies said the two Democratic bills the president killed were political traps. Both measures would have been financed by emergency government borrowing, which would have driven up the federal deficit and forced Bush to concede that the nation was in a recession. “We could have had it last sum-. mer if certain leaders up there hadn’t tried to inflict a political defeat on me,” Bush said of the legislation. The final version of the bill would be paid for largely by requiring people with high, quickly rising incomes who pay estimated taxes to make their payments faster. It would raise other sums by stepping up government collections of overdue student loans, and by keeping the 0.8 percent tax employers pay to support the unemployment system from shrinking as scheduled to 0.6 percent in 1996.

she changed into a G-string and skimpy top and performed a dance, including a partial striptease, on the bed. The officer later gave her an additional S2OO to have her masturbate. While watching that performance, the officer used the code words “you have beautiful eyes,” which alerted his colleagues in the adjoining room to come in and arrest Low. At her trial in Hamilton County Court and on appeal, Low argued that her behavior didn’t fit the legal definition of performance because it wasn’t a theatrical or entertainment display for a public audience. IF HER ACTIONS were considered an obscene performance, similar activity involving consenting, married adults could also be proscribed by the law, she contended. The state replied that the nature of the activity, not the setting, determined whether the behavior violated the law. The fact that the behavior was performed in exchange for money should also be considered, the state said. The appeals court agreed with Low that to rule her conduct obscene “might allow the extension of the proscriptive reach of the statute to conduct which is constitutionally protected.”

Mexico’s production of grain crops would decline as high guaranteed prices gave way to lower marketbased prices. Consumption would increase more rapidly, resulting in substantial increases in imports. The study said average grain and oilseed exports could increase by 25 percent to 35 percent, with com and wheat exports showing increases ranging from 44 percent to 75 percent. The study also said demand for dairy products by Mexico’s large, young and growing population is expected to increase and that the United States would be in a competitive position to capture some of the market. REFORMS UNDER the trade agreement could also support moderate increases in U.S. exports of low-cost processed meats, edible offal and high-quality beef and pork, the study said. More fed cattle and hogs could be shipped to Mexico, but U.S. cow-calf producers could face lower feeder cattle prices and losses in revenues since their operations could experience additional import competition from Mexican feeder cattle, the study suggested.