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Around the Nation
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Around the Nation
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Several likely GOP candidates, including former Vice President Dan Quayle, millionaire Steve Forbes and religious activist Gary Bauer, could pick up support abandoned yesterday by Ashcroft. Other less conservative prospects - such as George Bush - may not benefit directly, but could find lessons in Ashcroft's aborted bid.
Like the senator from Missouri, all these Republicans hope to pay allegiance to the religious right without appearing too conservative for the general election. Yet, as Ashcroft now knows, this is no easy task.
After spending a year laying the groundwork for a presidential bid, picking up endorsements of key social conservative leaders, Ashcroft decided not to run but to focus on re-election to the Senate instead. His decision left many social conservatives in the lurch.
"A number of us had put ourselves on the line for him and we had hoped he would run," said Paul Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation.
"I'm very disappointed," said conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly. "He has a record of electability that no one can match."
"The social conservative movement had gravitated toward Ashcroft and there was not an easy second choice," said Michael Farris, president of the Home School Legal Defense Associations in Purcellville, Va. "There's a lot of head-scratching about what to do next."
Tired of watching conservative votes diluted in a large pool of right-wing candidates, Farris and Weyrich had tried with some success to rally support behind Ashcroft - the conservative they felt had the best chance to get elected.
Farris now plans to organize a meeting of about 20 social conservative leaders in the next month. They hope to interview prospective GOP candidates and pick a new standard-bearer.
"I think the conservative movement learned a lesson in 1996: If we get fractured, we get rolled," Farris said.
But there is no obvious choice.
Forbes has shifted toward the right since his 1996 campaign, but is still not trusted by some social conservatives. "His views are newly acquired, which is always problematic," Farris said.
Bauer is little-known and has never run for public office. "I'm a big fan of his," Weyrich said, "but some judgment has to be made: Can he be elected?" Another social conservative leader, Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association, told Bauer on Monday that he would support him now that Ashcroft is out.
Still, even Wildmon said Bauer is a long shot. "I know that. Gary knows that. Anybody with a half-brain knows that," Wildmon said.
Quayle is popular among conservatives, but still carries the stigma of political miscues from his days as George Bush's vice president. "I think it remains to be seen whether at this stage he can run a serious campaign," Weyrich said.
Broadcaster Pat Buchanan, who did surprisingly well in 1996, is considering another run and could benefit from having one less social conservative in the race. Supporters of Bush, the Texas governor, believe he would benefit if he gets in the race and certifies his conservative credentials.
The same could be said of Elizabeth Dole, who hinted at her presidential ambitions Monday, and Sen. John McCain of Arizona. At a minimum, both establishment Republicans need to avoid stiff opposition from social conservatives during the presidential primaries.
That's where Ashcroft's experience offers a lesson of caution.
Even with his conservative credentials, Ashcroft was stung by criticism from the right when he tried last month to moderate his image. "The things that are dividing us are defining us," he said in a Detroit speech. "We must never confuse politics and piety."
In hindsight, some Ashcroft advisers believe he was leaning against running for president by the time he delivered the December speech and was addressing mainstream voters in Missouri. Others believe he was trying to prove he had a message that would carry him beyond social conservative circles and to the White House.
Either way, the reaction underscores how difficult it can be to simultaneously court conservatives who dominate primaries and moderates who hold sway in general elections.
"I think it's a case study in the difficulty of balancing both ends against the middle," said Ralph Reed, a GOP consultant and former director oe Christian Coalition.
Under the proposed deal, which would end a racial discrimination lawsuit filed in 1997, the farmers would get tax-free payments of $50,000 each, and their government debts would be forgiven.
Negotiators for both sides were meeting with a federal judge in Washington yesterday afternoon to work out the final details.
One of the farmers who would benefit is Willie Head, who grows tobacco and vegetables on his 150-acre farm about 200 miles south of Atlanta. In 1992, he complained that the government had discriminated by denying him loans.
He plans to use his share of the settlement to pay off a $42,000 lien on his land and buy seed and supplies, but that means the money will be gone by the time he plants his 1999 crops.
"I am happy to see this come to a conclusion, but I am not happy about the way it concluded," Head said. "It's not going to solve our problems."
Head said his situation is typical among black farmers, many of whom have been "farming with the tips of our fingernails." The average debt for farmers involved in the lawsuit is $75,000 to $100,000.
The lawsuit was filed by 1,000 farmers. As many as 2,000 other farmers are expected to join in the settlement.
The case, which was supposed to go to trial Feb. 1, covers claims from 1983 - the year the Reagan administration disbanded the department's office of civil rights - to 1997, the year after the office was restored.
The deal would be significantly higher than the $15,000-per-farmer offer the agency made this summer. But it still is far less than the $3 billion farmers initially sought.
Some plaintiffs, hoping for a larger settlement, wanted the case to go to trial but didn't press the issue because they feared the Agriculture Department would appeal and delay the case for years.
As it is, many young, rural blacks have given up on farming, said Head, a third-generation farmer who has a business degree.
"It has devastated me in my career and also the younger generation like my son," he said. "He does not want to farm now, so it means there won't be anyone to carry on the legacy."
Charles Harris a plaintiff from Leesburg, 10 miles north of Albany, said one of his five sons was interested in farming until Harris tried to get a loan after filing for bankruptcy.
"He's disillusioned," Harris said. "Now he's having doubts. The others don't seem to want to be on the farm on account of what I go through, and I don't blame them."
Harris had to leave much of his cotton crop in the field last winter because of excessive rain that made it too wet to pick. He was able to plant his 1998 cotton and soybean crops only because his neighbors, who own most of the land he farms, let him postpone his rent payments.
Harris, who has been farming for 16 years, said white farmers always seem to be able to get government help when they have similar troubles.
"White farmers who started when I did are well off. They've done well," he said. "They went through the same steps as me and a lot of them wondered why I wasn't progressing. I know how to farm. Every time a tractor rolls, I'm on it."
Most plaintiffs are expected to take the $50,000 payment option, but those who have well-documented cases of discrimination could have their cases settled by an arbitrator.
Others were close to reaching independent settlements with the Agriculture Department and could opt out of the class-action settlement.
Canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome, or CDS, is a newly recognized disease - veterinarians once simply told dog lovers that acting senile was a normal part of a dog's aging.
Now they look for a number of specific symptoms: Older dogs get confused, stop interacting with family members, stay awake all night, pace, or lose their house training and inappropriately urinate.
As many as 62 percent of dogs over age 10 may experience at least one of the symptoms, said Dr. Edward Kanara of Pfizer Animal Health.
Vets have had little to offer except behavior therapy. But now the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug treatment, Pfizer's Anipryl.
Anipryl is the chemical selegiline, which is used by humans to treat Parkinson's disease. But when researchers tried it in a study of 199 dogs with severe cognitive dysfunction, 69 percent showed improvement in at least one of the symptoms.
It's not a cure. And the dogs would need to take Anipryl pills daily for the rest of their lives to stifle symptoms. But Dr. Ilana Reisner, an Ithaca, N.Y., researcher who helped test the drug, said dog owners in the trials described their pooches as dramatically improving and enjoying life again.
"The message we'd like to take to dog owners is when they see these behavioral signs, it's really important they take the dog to the vet," because now they may get treated, said Kanara.
The FDA approved Anipryl last month, but Pfizer salesmen will begin telling veterinarians about it next week. It should cost about $1.50 to $2.50 a day, depending on the dog's size and dose.
There's also good news for the thousands of dogs who suffer separation anxiety - their owners leave the house and the dogs get so upset that they chew up the sofa and urinate on the rug. It's one of the most common reasons dogs are euthanized.
The FDA approved the first treatment, an antidepressant called Clomicalm that, when used together with canine therapy, promises to improve Fido's behavior.
"This is a very difficult syndrome to treat," said FDA veterinary chief Dr. Stephen Sundlof. "Oftentimes ... (success) can mean the difference between having to put their animal to sleep or being able to live with their pet. ... Having tools like this available can really make a tremendous difference."
The FDA approved the sale of Clomicalm, known chemically as clomipramine, on Dec. 10, but made the approval public late Monday. Manufacturer Novartis Animal Health said the pills will cost dog owners about $1 a day.
Dogs are pack animals, so the stress of being left alone even for short pes can prove overwhelming for some. In addition to chewing or ripping furniture, they may salivate excessively and urinate or defecate inappropriately.
Separation anxiety accounts for 20 percent to 40 percent of all dog visits to vets for behavior problems. Behavior therapy can help, but it can be lengthy and complicated as pet owners even have to practice leaving home for progressively more minutes each day so the dog learns that its "family" will come back.
About 160 dogs were given either Clomicalm or a dummy pill in addition to their behavior therapy. After a week, 47 percent of the Clomicalm dogs had improved, compared with just 29 percent of the dogs getting behavior therapy alone.
By the end of two months, 65 percent of the Clomicalm dogs had improved, compared with 55 percent of the placebo dogs.
Both drugs caused mild side effects, including vomiting and diarrhea.
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Around the World
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The four-man crew began its journey in Ecuador, stopped for emergency repairs in Colombia after sea worms feasted on the raft's hull, and now plans to cross the Pacific to Hawaii.
The sea worms forced the 20-ton raft to stop for emergency repairs at the coastal town of Bahia Solano on Oct. 30, two weeks after it began its journey. Its damaged trunks replaced and covered with seven coats of worm-proof tar, "La Manten" went back to sea this weekend.
The crew hopes to reach Acapulco, Mexico, before March, then head to Hawaii, a 3,300-mile Pacific crossing that could take three more months.
Led by 34-year-old John Haslett, a former newspaper distributor from Dallas, the raft is a meticulous replica of those used by the Mantenos of what is now northern Ecuador. The pre-Columbian civilization dates back to 500 A.D.
Haslett was inspired by Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian ethnographer who described his 1947 raft crossing of the South Pacific in the book, "Kon Tiki."
Heyerdahl drifted from Peru to Polynesia, bolstering the theory that South Pacific islanders descended from people who migrated there from South America.
Haslett said "Kon Tiki" changed his life. Heyerdahl, now in his 80s and living in the Canary Islands, offered him advice both on steering with the Manteno's system of moveable centerboards and on crossing the difficult equatorial countercurrent.
Some scholars believe the Manteno ran a vast maritime empire, trading by ocean with people as far north as the Aztecs in what is now Mexico.
"These people were making voyages of 3,000 or 4,000 miles, perhaps as many as 600 or 700 years before Columbus arrived. The Greeks weren't doing that," Haslett said in a telephone interview from Bahia Solano.
Yet the Manteno's history is largely ignored, said Haslett, who is determined to correct the slight.
Working with archaeologist Cameron McPherson Smith, a 31-year-old from San Diego, Calif., Haslett and crew built their raft according to records preserved by Manteno ancestors living in Ecuador.
By sailing his raft from Ecuador to Mexico, Haslett hopes to experience life as a Manteno sea mariner and settle any doubts of their long-distance voyages. "The trading route now is strictly a hypothesis, we want to find out how long it takes, what happens," he said.
The second-leg of the journey, from Mexico to Hawaii, is to correct another perceived historical slight. "If we can strike that tiny little point in the middle of the ocean, I think we've proven that the raft is a real oceangoing ship," said Haslett.
This is Haslett's second attempt. He got as far as Costa Rica in a 1995 voyage but was forced to shore by the voracious sea worms.
The new raft was put together in the Ecuadorean village of Salango, once the seat of the Manteno civilization. Seven men worked 12-hour shifts for 28 days, roping together the balsa and bamboo foundations with hemp strands.
The two canvas sails, spanning 742 square feet, were stitched out of Indian cotton by a tent-maker in Guayaquil, Ecuador. A small bamboo cabin provides shelter.
After leaving Colombia on Saturday, La Manten faces more dangers: unpredictable winds, testy currents, jagged rocks, and modern-day pirates known to board boats, kill their inhabitants and steal their wares along a lawless stretch of coastline from Colombia to Panama.
The raft has been stocked with five months of water and rations, including 400 pounds of rice, 300 pounds of flour and plenty of marmalade, hot chocolate and coffee. The main staple, however, will be fish, which the men plan to catch and cook on gas stoves.
The 5,500-mile voyage will cost $75,000, most from donations.
Along with a ham radio and an inflatable life raft, the stoves are the only items not available to the Manteno mariners.
Alejandro Martinez is one of two Colombian crew members along with 28-year-old documentary filmmaker Tyler Young, from Bethel Park, Penn. Martinez joined the expedition after walking across the raft.
"It looks fragile. But once you get up on top, you realize it's a solid ship, well-designed, with resistant masts and well-designed sails. That gives you cdence," said Martinez, 28.
Enough confidence to ride a wood raft to Hawaii with a guy who had an epiphany reading "Kon Tiki?"
"There are opportunities you only get once in a lifetime. You have to take them," he said.
More than 350 rescuers worked day and night to pull survivors from the Qi River since the accident Monday evening, but the frigid waters left little chance that the missing would survive, the Xinhua News Agency said.
Those not yet accounted for included 11 members of a paramilitary armed police unit and two civilians, it said.
The steel bridge built less than three years ago collapsed as 23 armed policemen ran across, the news agency said.
Investigators in Qi River county outside Chongqing, 900 miles southwest of Beijing, are looking into the quality of the bridge's construction, Xinhua reported.
The Qi county government ordered inspections of all public facilities following the bridge's collapse.
01-06-99
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