Elko Daily Free Press from Elko, Nevada • 10

A10 ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS, Elko, Nevada Thursday, July 15, 1999 A oil 'h A vr.r;. v. (Frx Tnm Ilk photo) A.Yt III tllG DCirk east booths will offer fine art, handcrafted items and food this i year at Art in the Park, according to Karen Vollbrecht, a member of the Elko Art Club, the organization that sponsors the annual event. "Our spots filled up by the first of June this year, which is wonderful," Vollbrecht said. "The food booths will offer a wide variety.

Indian tacos are always good and there will be barbecued food and also lots of games for children." The show begins at 9 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m. on Saturday and lasts from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

for ipmn Wire news summary: China touts its nuclear program BELTING CAP) Defending itself against UJS. allegations that it stole American nuclear weapons technology, China said today that its scientists had long ago developed their own neutron bomb and other advances in nuclear weapons. The unusual announcement coincided with threats of military action against rival Taiwan, but Chinese officials would not say whether the two issues were linked. China exploded a neutron bomb 11 years ago, something widely known internationally. But China apparently did not announce the fact, in keeping with the secretive nature of its military.

Zhao Qizheng, the chief government spokesman, also denied that China stole U.S. technology to miniaturize nuclear warheads, saying Chinese scientists developed that on their own. In Washington today, White House press secretary Joe Lockhart declined to discuss how much the administration knows about advances in Chinese weaponry. The unprecedented disclosures were prompted by allegations made by a U.S. congressional panel that Beijing engaged in wholesale theft of American nuclear secrets.

The panel was headed by U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox. Zhao provided greater detail than before on China's programs to develop miniaturized nuclear warheads, anti-submarine microwave technology, design techniques for launching missiles under adverse wind conditions and "dispenser" design techniques for launching multiple satellites from a single rocket, as well as the neutron bomb. Reno suspect killed RENO (AP) A Reno man was shot and killed by police early today after threatening his girlfriend with a butcher knife and setting a fire in the kitchen of their home, Deputy Chief Ondra Berry said officers first responded to the residence at 2541 Orovada St around 2:30 a.m.

after dispatchers received a 911 hang-up call. When police arrived, they met with a man who said he had an argument with his girlfriend, but she had left with her 8-month-old child, Berry said. Officers returned to the residence about a half-hour later on a domestic violence dispute when the woman returned after leaving her child with a neighbor, he said. Berry said police saw the man inside carrying a large butcher knife and that he appeared to have several self-inflicted stab wounds. He said the man told officers he was taking the woman hostage and threatened to "cut off her head." Efforts to negotiate with the suspect ended around 5 a.m.

when he started a fire in the kitchen and police heard the woman screaming, Berry said. SWAT team members entered the borne and found the man holding a knife to the woman's throat Police opened fire when the man reportedly attempted to stab the woman in the head, Berry said. s. The woman suffered only minor wounds. The names of the man and victim were withheld pending notification of relatives.

Officers involved in the shooting also were not immediately identified. Reno bomb hoaxes RENO (AP) The FBI was assisting Reno police in an investigation of three extortion attempts involving bomb threats. The Albertson's store on Fifth Street was evacuated around 10 a.m, yesterday after the store received a call from a man who threatened to detonate a bomb if employees did not leave him the store's cash outside. A suspicious device found in a small box turned out to be an elaborate fake. "It was a hoax," said police Lt.

Hal Wood. "It was elaborately put together by someone to look like a bomb." Later in the day, a Longs Drug store and a 7-11 store received similar threats. Police have no suspects. Film revenue CARSON CITY (AP) Film production revenues to Nevada increased to $79 million in fiscal 1998-99, almost 55 percent more than the previous year, the state Film Office says. About 500 productions came to Nevada between July 1998 and June 30 of this year.

Film production revenues totaled $51 million in the 1997-98 fiscal year. GOP passes big tax cut measure WASHINGTON (AP) A tax deduction for the insurance that some Medicare recipients buy to cover prescription costs was added to an $864 billion tax relief bill by House Republicans. After fighting off Democratic attempts to add broader Medicare and Social Security measures, the House Ways and Means Committee then cleared the bill on a 23-13 vote last night for action by the full House, possibly as early as next week. The bill would cut income taxes 10 percent across the board, reduce capital gains taxes, eventually abolish estate and alternative minimum taxes and give people new breaks for education and long-term health care. The House panel's 11 hours of debate was the latest skirmish over how to divide $2.9 trillion in projected budget surpluses between tax cuts, safeguarding the two big retirement programs and new government spending.

"We can give tax relief. We can save Social Security. We can save Medicare," said Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, the House committee's chairman. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, are putting together a possible compromise proposal that would cut taxes by no more than $300 billion over 10 years.

The bill is expected to include an increase in the standard income tax deduction, relief from the "marriage penalty," tax breaks for health, the environment, agriculture and education and cuts in estate taxes, the sources said. City again increases sewer rate True to the promise she made two years ago, City Manager Linda Ritter yesterday asked for and got a $1 increase in the monthly residential sewer rate. For the third year in a row, Elko City Councilmen agreed to raise the rate, in keeping with the budget they adopted in May. The increase does not eliminate the sewage treatment plant's operating deficit, Ritter said, but will reduce it to $351,324 during the current fiscal year, from $413,072 last year. Unlike last year, however, Ritter offered the council hope that another $1 increase may not be necessary in the 2000-01 fiscal year.

"Creative" timing of payments on the $4 million in bonds the council issued in May 1998 for capital improvements at the sewage treatment plant may enable the city to avoid another increase next year, Ritter said. Also holding promise to head off another increase is the possibility of an increase in the number of users of the sewage system, Ritter told the council, By investing heavily in the sewage treatment system in the last two years $8.9 million by Ritter's figures the city has acquired the capacity to take on more users, she said. More users means more income for the plant's operating fund, a prospect made possible only by the increased capacity, Ritter said. Most cities can't offer that kind of capacity, which gives Elko a trump card in the competition to attract new industry, she explained. Although the residential rate for the sewage system's operating fund was increased from $10 to $11, the council did not raise the $13 capital improvement fund rate.

That fund also is operating at a deficit, projected to be $155,318 this year, Ritter said. geese, the economic value the marsh could have to Lander County, and 650 or 1,000 acres to me wouldn't cut it You've got to have something larger." Hodges said it would require six acre-feet of water to flood each acre of wetlands, meaning it could take 36,000 acre-feet to support a marsh. The original purchase agreement on the Aldous and Filippini ranches in 1934 to transfer water rights to Rye Patch Dam transferred only 22,998 acre-feet, he said. Title to the ranches was held by the BOR, but the PCWCD has long since repaid the government for the ranches and the cost of building Rye Patch dam and is now seeking title to the land and improvements. Deputy District Attorney Leon Aberasturi reminded commissioners that Lander County voters in 1996 voted against another recreational water project after the failure of the Rock Creek Dam project.

He added there was no guarantee an Argenta Marsh wouldn't give the county problems with mosquitos, restrictions on neighboring development and possibly more federal environmental regulations. "Are they going to use this marsh 10 years from now to tell us we need another sewer treatment plant because of what we're putting in the river?" Aberasturi asked. "Most people that have let this happen have been hit with increased regulation," But Yarbro said ifthe county doesn't have language in the agreement helping to create the marshes, "then we're not doing what people of Lander County want us to do." The Lander County Commission was previously neutral on the Argenta Marsh. Commissioners were presented with a petition with 100 signatures asking that NDOW and Lander County be named joint recipients of title to the entire community pasture. The petition also suggested a marsh.

Lyngar questioned whether water rights could be obtained for the Argenta Marsh. She said some people mistakenly think the community pasture belongs to the county because it's in Lander County. The PCWCD also isn't affiliated with the Pershing County Commission, but is a private entity that provides water to 102 farmers who irrigate 40,738 acres in the Lovelock Valley. Lander County Commission Chairman Cheryl Lyngar said when she talked to members of the Nevada congressional delegation about the title transfer, "They said it will not go forward unless the parties are on the same page." Hodges said his board didn't want to spend any more money pursuing the title transfer if it didn't get Lander County's support at yesterday's meet-ing. Shropshire said the district has a policy of allowing public access to the community pasture, although he suggested residents call the pasture manager first during the summer grazing season.

Hodges said the water district has shown integrity in working with Lander County on the sewage treatment plant and rodeo grounds, which sit in the community pasture. Yarbro noted the county wouldn't have title to those facilities if the title transfer doesn't go through. ByMarkWaite Lander County Commissioners Monday approved the concept of trans- ferring title to the community pasture from the S. Bureau of Reclamation to the Pershing County Water Conservation District (PCWCD), but made their decision contingent upon resolution of issues over an Argenta Marsh. Lander County would receive title to 1,098 acres in the transfer which includes 30 acres for a recreation area, 135 acres for the livestock events center, a one-acre parking area with access to the Humboldt River and 932 acres northwest of the Battle Mountain Indian Colony.

In addition, PCWCD proposes to donate land for the Argenta Marsh, although the acreage is still in dispute. "Currently in front of Nevada Division of Wildlife! Commissioner Terry Crawforth's desk now is a proposal where the district is offering NDOW 1280 to 1300 acres up near Argenta, where the marsh was after the river flooded," said Bennie Hodges, director of the PCWCD. Frank Dimick, a consultant for the water district, said after the two-hour county commission discussion the district and the Argenta Marsh committee don't have to reach an agreement everyone is happy with, only one the BOR is happy with. Water district attorney Steve Shropshire said the title transfer can't go through until all outstanding issues have been "reasonably addressed," While NDOW Fisheries Staff Biologist Doug Hunt said NDOW found an 1869 railroad map that showed the Argenta Marsh with 3,000 acres of open water, Hodges countered that his district has state engineer's maps from 1910 and 1933 that show themarsh was between 600 and 1,200 acres. The marsh dried up after the government ordered the rechanneling of the Humboldt River through the pasture.

Lander County Commissioner Mickey Yarbro, who was appointed to represent the county in negotiations on the Argenta Marsh, said, "We're looking at the fishing, the ducks, the National weather MOlion-dollai fund set up for Ely miners The AccuWeather forecast for noon, Friday, July 16. 3 I I I -10s -0 0 10s 20 30 40 SO SOs 70 SOS 90s 100 110 Nevada schools receive 85 3 million for Internet ject plan. The Robinson mine and the 400-employee Ely State Prison are the county's biggest employers. The closure will lead to the layoffs of more than 400 employees, the most since the 1,200 layoffs caused by the 1979 departure of Kennecott Copper Corp. from the county, officials said.

The 1997 opening of the Ely-area mine helped spur an economic recovery in rural White Pine County, whose economy has struggled since Kenne-cott's pullout two decades ago. Clarence Ray dies at age 68 Clarence Ray, a resident of Wells, died Tuesday at Elko General Hospital. He was 68 years old. He was born Jan. 3, 1931, and had been a veteran of service with the U.S.

Air Force. Funeral arrangements are pending at Burns Funeral Home. RENO (AP) Nevada's congressional delegation announced yesterday that a $1 million grant will be set up to assist nearly 400 miners facing unemployment due to the closure of the Robinson copper mine. Broken Hill Proprietary announced in June that they would be closing their mines in Nevada be- cause of low copper prices. "The closure of the BHP mine affected nearly one-fifth of the workforce in Ely and its impact can be felt across White Pine County," Sen.

Harry Reid, said in a written statement. "This funding will aid hundreds of local miners by providing them with assistance and training to re-enter the job market" Sen. Richard Bryan, and Congressman Jim Gibbons, also worked towards setting up the emergency Department of Labor grant One-third of the grant will be released to the state Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation, with the rest available once the department has developed a pro FRONTS: 6 1SM AceuWeether, loo. COLD WARM STATIONARY CARSON CITY State libraries and schools received $5.3 million through a federal program that subsidizes Internet access and other communications costs. The Schools and Libraries Universal Service Program was established as part of the U.S.

Telecommunications Act of 1996. Applicants must submit a plan to show how the money will be spent. In addition to Internet access and internal connections, the money also can be used to upgrade wiring in buildings. Elko County School District received $1 million, which had already been spent to upgrade wiring in libraries at Owyhee and Jackpot combined Schools, Northside, Southside, Wells and Wendover elementary schools, said Superintendent Marcia Bandera. Funds for other Nevada counties are: Clark schools, $3.2 million; libraries, $98,120.

Washoe schools, libraries, $19,259. Carson City schools, libraries, $0. Churchill schools, libraries, $1,529. Douglas schools, libraries, $3,157. Humboldt schools, libraries, $2,578.

White Pine schools, libraries. from staff and Associated Press reports to Showtft Rain T-Morm FlurrlM snow If tunny It. Cloudy Cloudy NATIONAL SUMMARY: Unseasonably cold air wM cool the northern Rockies tomorrow, wrtti tamperaturss more than 20 degrees betow normal. In contrast, steamy weather wi prevail from Texas to Massachusetts. Strong thunderstorms win erupt ahead ot a cold front from Kansas to Wisconsin, while thunderstorms trigger flooding in parts of the southern Rockies.

Elko FORECAST Dow Jones No fmiornl smnrWs Livestock Low Local summary A weak front will remain nearly stationary over the central Nevada through Friday. A weak disturbance off the central California coast will move along this front, helping to bring a threat of thunderstorms across east-central Nevada through Friday. Low pressure will remain just off the West Coast through the weekend. This wilkjeep temperatures slightly below normal through Monday. set for Paul Shinton (AP) Closing Dow-Jones stock averages for Thursday, July 15.

Open High Low Close Chg 45 High 85 Sunny 11149.3 113113 11072.7 11186.4 38.31 30Ind 20 Tin 34210 3461.9 3363.4 3397.0 15 1 tl 320.5 0.21 320.4 323.4 3191 3305.0 3348.7 3277.4 320.4 323.4 3192 3305.0 3348.7 3277.4 Yesterday high, today's tow and precipitation for tht 24-hour period tnd-ing at midnight Livestock prices from the Wednesday, July 14, sale at Magic Valley's Livestock Marketing Center. Prices provided by Twin Falls Livestock Commission Company. Steers 800 lbs. and up Steers 70O800 lbs Steers 600-700 lbs. Steers lbs Steers 400-500 lbs.

480.01W8.00 Steers under 400 lbs Heifers 500600 lbs. 471.60-75.00 Heifers 400-500 lbs. Heifers under 400 lbs. t.t-. 476.0&83.50 Cows, utl-comm 434.004150 .429.003400 Butcher bulls $45.0032.25 Horses 435.00-52.00 Elko Statistics Record high- 104,1979 Record low- 37,1993 Month's preclpttatlon trace Water year TofTiorrow'i sunrise 525 Tornorrow'i sunset 8:13 charge from the service, he continued to live in southern California, where he was a sheet metal worker.

He was a field superintendent running several crews when he retired. He moved to Spring Creek in 1975. Survivors include his wife, Lorna Shinton of Spring Creek; son, Edwin Shinton of Weaverville, daughter, Mary Corta of Twin Bridges; brother, Charles Shinton of Bullhead City, Ariz4 and three grandchildren. In his memory, contributions are suggested to the American Cancer Society or the charity of the donor's choice. No funeral services are scheduled for Paul "Spud" Shinton who died Tuesday at his home in Spring Creek at age 76.

Cremation will be at Sunset Crematory. He was born Jan. 12, 1923, in Youngstown, Ohio, and moved to the Los Angeles area when he was 5 years old. He met his wife, Lorna, when they were students at John C. Fremont High School.

They married on July 4, 1941. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, with Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd Army.

Following his dis 65Stk 33072 2.24 Indus 83288.400 Tran 9.135,000 Utils 7,382,400 65Stk 99,805,800 Big Board volume at 4 p.m. EST totaled 796.79 million shares, against 745.53 million last session. The 500 rose 9.84 to 1,408.01, the Nasdaq composite rose 21.18 to 2,839.31. the NYSE composite index rose 5.85 to 660.75 and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 8.73 to 821.73. Elko- 8445 Austin- 8448 Ely- 7044 Las Vegas 9776 Reno- 9460 Tonopah- 8858 WiWhorse- 76740 Wrtnemucca- 9747 Salt Lake Crty- 7864 San Francisco- 8055 Boise- 8951 NDOT road conditions 738-8888.