10 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 2, 1998 NATION/WORLD Guns are part of Arkansas culture Taking a gamble Gingrich proposes surplus transfers The Washington Post JONESBORO, Ark. - Freeman Brewer, a farmer who has owned guns most of his sixty-odd years, is per- plexed by news reports all but blaming last week's schoolyard killings here on the fact that the two young shooters had access to family guns. This is a state where 300,000 hunting licenses are issued and a region where guns seem as commonplace as cell phones. "It's not like what they're say- ing, said Brewer, standing by a pickup truck outside a local convenience store. "I raised two boys and taught them how to hunt and handle and respect a gun. We've got deer and turkey, and we've got hunting laws to be obeyed." This part of the country - which includes states such as Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas - has an attitude toward guns that is seldom seen, and even more rarely understood, in urban and more heavily populated areas. This is not a place where guns are normally associated with the incomprehensible violence that struck here a week ago. It is a place where guns are seen as point of pride, fellowship, fun and tradition. Last week, 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden - both raised around guns - opened fire on their schoolmates at Westside Middle School, killing four girls and a teacher. They used seven handguns and three high-powered hunt- ing rifles, mostly stolen from Golden's grandfather, an avid hunter. The tragedy focused attention once again on U.S. attitudes toward guns and their effect on the young. Conversations with people here, however, provided a reminder that those attitudes can differ radically depending on where people live and what tradition they spring from. Westside Middle School sits on the fringe of Jonesboro, on a rolling, rural road far from the crowded streets of Washington or New York. It is sur- rounded by brick ramblers and trailer homes on wide swaths of land separat- ed by acres of pastures and creeks. No liquor is served here - Craighead County is dry. Guns, parents here say, are neither a novelty nor something evil. It is not uncommon to see youngsters wearing camouflage T-shirts given to them by their daddies for hunting, guns sold in pawn shops and signs in restaurants windows politely asking patrons to leave their guns in their cars. Residents say that even those unset- tling photographs of young "Drew" Golden - barely past toddler age and holding a rifle - are not an uncommon sort of thing for those growing up in a culture where guns are a way of life. Los Angeles Times AP PHOTO Canadian auto worker and casino auditor John Ware makes his point yesterday in Windsor, Canada during a ratifica- tion meeting for a tentative agreement between the Casino WIndsor and CAW local 444. The agreement, reached Tuesday night, was rejected by the members and pickets were established around the gambling facility. Court to rle on embryo suit WASHINGTON - Stepping up th debate over Social Security's future House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga. proposed yesterday that federal budge surpluses should be divided among al American workers and deposited directl into new, personal retirement accounts,. The average worker might receive total of $3,500 or $4,000 over the r decade as a share of the federal govern ment's emerging surplus, Gingrich pre dicted in testimony before the Hous Ways and Means Committee. The "Socia Security Plus" account is the Republica political response to President Clinton call to "Save Social Security First." Clinton has urged Congress to hold o to the surpluses - rather than cut taxe or increase spending - until it deci what to do about the future of SoA Security. He wants a year of debate fol lowed by a White House conference yi December and a bipartisan deal next yea The Gingrich proposal, by contras would spread the projected budget str pluses among workers, who would b free to invest their accounts as they sav fit for their own retirement. The system could be a publicly fund ed version of private 401(k) retiremer plans, with workers selecting frol limited menu of investment choices Republican sources said. The new accounts would be separpt from the current Social Security prc gram, a pay-as-you-go system in whic today's workers support today retirees. "So even if a person makes terrible investment or the stock marke goes into a dive, that person will alway have Social Security to fall back on Gingrich told the committee. I CLINTON Continued from Page IA not been shown to have done much damage to Jones. The judge noted that Jones never filed a grievance, sought counseling or missed a day of work. Instead, Wright found that the evidence supported the Clinton team's defense that Jones received every merit raise she was due t over the next two years and produced no firm proof that Clinton ever ordered any retribution against her. "While the Court will certainly agree that (Jones's) allegations describe offen- sive conduct, the Court ... has found that the Governor's alleged conduct does not constitute sexual assault," Wright wrote. "Rather, the conduct as alleged by (Jones) describes a mere sexual proposi- tion or encounter, albeit an odious one, that was relatively brief in duration, did not involve any coercion or threats of reprisal, and was abandoned as soon as (Jones) made clear that the advance was not welcome." Wright was unpersuaded by reams of documents submitted by the Jones team in recent weeks alleging a pattern of extramarital sexual encounters by Clinton, dismissing the significance of it in a single paragraph. "Whether other women may have been subjected to workplace harassment, and whether such evidence has allegedly been suppressed, does not change the fact that (Jones) has failed to demonstrate that she has a case worthy of submitting to a jury," the judge ruled. Robert Bennett, Clinton's chief attor- ney, praised Wright for "her courage to make the right decision .... She is right on the law, she is right on the facts and the opinion speaks for itself." At the White House and in Clinton's traveling party in Africa, officials main- tained a consciously subdued tone, in part out of concern for appearing to gloat and in part out of recognition of the great toll the Jones case has wrought on his presidency. The Washington Post ALBANY, N.Y. - Soon after they were married, Maureen and Steven Kass failed to conceive naturally and began trying to make babies the high-tech way. Technology failed, however, and so did their marriage. What remains of their union and their dreams for children are five frozen embryos - described as "21st century difficulties" by a judge on the New York State Court of Appeals. The seven-judge panel heard arguments Tuesday in a poten- tially precedent-setting dispute over the fate of the embryos. The case is part of minefield of legal and ethical dilemmas created by breakthroughs in artificial reproduction, a branch of medicine racing far ahead of attempts by legislatures and courts to regulate or even understand the consequences of science that is altering some of the most private and emotion-laden of human choices. Maureen Kass, a 40-year-old secretary from Long Island, N.Y., regards the embryos, which have been frozen since her marriage collapsed in 1993, as her last best chance at being a mother. "She had them with the man she loved, her husband, and he was healthy. She didn't want to go out and take sperm from an anonymous donor. She didn't feel that adoption with donor eggs was a viable alternative, because it is a non-genetic child. She wants her own children," said her lawyer, Vincent. Stempel. Steven Kass, a 37-year-old engineer, demands that the embryos be destroyed because he does not want to raise chil- dren with his ex-wife and because the mere existence of the embryos is "paralyzing" his relationships with other women. "I don't want to have children raised with Maureen. It is going to create a very strained, dysfunctional family situation," Kass said Tuesday outside the courtroom. "It is difficult to get on with another marriage, knowing that you have something still hanging around, lingering from a past marriage." The legal status of frozen embryos has not been defined. The embryos exist, according to scholars of reproductive technology, in a kind of legal limbo, far less protected by the law than a fetus and yet, to a vague degree, more protected than mere property. "What makes this very confusing is that we are asking the courts to decide what is the status of the embryo in and of itself," says R. Alta Charo, associate professor of law and med- ical ethics at the University of Wisconsin. The five frozen embryos in question - scientifically called pre-zygotes - remain stored in liquid nitrogen in a Long Island, hospital. No larger than a grain of sand, they each con- sist of four to six cells. Besides raising questions about the degree to which these frozen specks may or may not represent human life, the Kass case is pushing New York's highest court, and may end up tak- ing the U.S. Supreme Court, into a legal no-man's land. So far, there is no guiding precedent from federal courts. Tennessee had a similar case three years ago, ruling for a man's right not to procreate. But a ruling by the New York court, generally regarded as one of the most important and influential state pan- els, is likely to resonate in courts around the country. I T I I Without The Inside Scoop on I ed School Admissions, you're just another applicant. When your goal is med school, you need advice from an expert. Kaplan's MCAT prep course now includes four "Inside Scoop" admissions lectures featuring the former Asst. Dean of Admissions at a top med school. Attend a FREE sneak preview. FREE SEMINAR: Med School Admissions A to Z Monday, April 6th Time: 6pm Iw A 1 £ww 0 I 2_____ AAA I Y