The Michigan Daity - Tuesday, November 9, 1993 - 7 Supreme Court Justice Blackmun celebrates age 85 Judge who authored Roe vs. Wade decision not ready to retire, will be fourth oldest justice WASHINGTON (AP) - Su- preme Court Justice Harry Blackmun's eyes grew wide with sur- prise, and he hurried to his desk to rtrieveachartwith information about brmer justices. A quick scan confirmed that, in- deed, the author of the 1973 decision legalizing abortion is the fourth old- est person ever to serve on the nation's highest court. He'll become the third oldest be- fore the current court term ends in June. "Holysmokes.I hadn' tbeen aware of that," said a chuckling Blackmun, Two seized from U.N. evacuation convoy SARAJEVO, Bosnia- Herzegovina (AP) - Bosnian Serb. soldiers seized two Croats from a U.N. armored vehicle yesterday when they left Sarajevo on a peace mission to a central Bosnian war zone. Four buses ofthe firstmajorevacu- wtian convoy since May began leav- ing Sarajevo with Serb women, chil- dren and elderly men going to Belgrade, the capital of Serb-domi- nated Yugoslavia. The abduction of the Croats in the Serb-held suburb of Rajlovac under- scored the disdain many of Bosnia's combatants hold for U.N. troops and thedifficultiesfacing the lightlyarmied eacekeepers. Six Croats and their U.N. escorts in three armored personnel carriers were stopped at a checkpoint as they headed to Vares. A U.N. spokesperson, Cmdr. Idesbald van Biesebroeck, said about 50 Serb soldiers surrounded the ve- hicles and "abducted two of the Bosnians, saying they were warcrimi- nals." ' The two -Jozo Andjic andFerdo Dejanovic - were taken to the Rajlovac police station, van Biesebroeck said. The other Croats, who included Monsignor Vinko Puljic, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Bosnia, and the U.N. escorts returned to Sarevo, he said. Earlier in the day, Jarle Thorgersen, a U.N. logistics officer, d 642 Serb civilians were being evacuated from Sarajevo in stages. As night fell, four buses had reached Serb territory and two more of a planned total of 12 were being loaded at the Sarajevo bus depot. Officials said the evacuation was behind schedule because of searches by Bosnian police of evacuees' lug- Sgage, delays at government check- oints, and chaos at the departure point. ElvedinKantardzic,agovernment liaison officer with U.N. peacekeep- ers, blamed much of the confusion on ethnic Serb authorities. He said they initially offered to let the buses take a direct route between Sarajavo and Pale, their headquarters outside the capital, but then decided the buses nust follow a more circuitous route. U.N. spokesperson Ray Wilkinson clarified a previous U.N. report that the first two buses were fired on near the airport. He said he did not believe the fire was directed at the buses, and added that no shots came near the vehicles. The Serbs who were leaving said Boasnian police would not let them take letters, large amounts of foreign *currency, TVs or stereos. Dragan Mihajlovic and Marina and their two young daughters stood near one of buses hoping someone on the listwould notshow up. The names zf the wife and daughters were not on the list of evacuees, and Mihajlovic was not permitted to leave because he :s of military age. We want to leave this town for- ver,' he said. "We don't want to live here any- nore." Asked if he had been mis- :reated or harassed, he nodded yes, autadded, "It'sveryhardtosay some- thing now." Germany and France sought to who turns 85 Friday. "I may have to start packing my things." But his mood turned more serious before he answered the next question: Will this term become Blackmun's last? "I prefer not to comment on that yet," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I know how old I am. One is as old as he feels, and I feel pretty well." Blackmun is best known for Roe vs. Wade and for his role in subse- quentSupreme Courtrulings on abor- tion. It's made him the most vilified Supreme Court member in history, the recipient of more than 60,000 pieces of hate mail in the past two decades. For years, the court appeared on the verge ofoverturning Roe vs. Wade and letting states outlaw abortion once again. But a ruling last year reaffirmed women's constitutional right to end their pregnancies should they choose to do so. "I think it's now a settled issue with this court," Blackmun said of the abortion controversy. "There isn't the same emotional reaction there once was among the justices. We've weathered the storm." Ruth Bader Ginsburg, considered a strong supporter of a right to abor- tion, has joined the court since last year's ruling. And any successor to Blackmun chosen by President Clinton is likely to hold similar views. Blackmun, the court's seniormem- ber, hascontemplatedand talkedabout retiring before. Now his three daughters are lob- bying him to leave the life-tenure job he's held since 1970 and move to Florida. He returns to Rochester, Minn., for a physical examination each sum- mer at the Mayo Clinic, where he served as general counsel in the 1950s. "These days,"Blackmun said, "the final report always begins, 'Well, considering your age....' Oliver Wendell Holmes didn't re- tire until he was 90, in 1932. Chief Justice Roger Taney died in office in 1864 at 87. Blackmun SM There's no lower price for a collect calls" For long distance calls from public phones. You don't have to be an Economics major to see that AT&T's new 1 800-OPERATOR service is lower priced than anyone else's standard operator service rates for long distance collect calls. Use it from any phone on or off campus. 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