-NATION/WORLD
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 9, 1998 - 5A
'Americans
help to slowly
reduce the
national debt
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's mostly checks for
$10 or $15, but one man sent real gold, and an 84-
year-old Minnesota woman chipped in $15,235 to
help pay off the national debt. A few benevolent
souls even tucked a little something extra in with
their tax returns.
The Minnesotan, retired librarian Gudrun
Hertsgaard of Minneapolis, makes $5,000 in charita-
ble donations each year, of which $3,000 goes to the
U.S. Treasury.
"I work on all my friends to do it, only they kind of
laugh at me" she said. "When it gets to their pocket-
book, they won't cough it up."
Since 1961, Americans have sent the Treasury
$56.8 million to help put the nation back into the
black. That sounds generous, but it would cover the
interest on the $5.5 trillion national debt for about an
hour and a half.
And contributions have been waning in recent
years. Some worry that expectations of a balanced
federal budget this year for the first time in nearly
three decades have caused people to mistakenly
believe the national debt has been erased.
Not only is the debt still here, it's growing.
People have always been able to send the govern-
ment money, but not until 1961 did Congress allow
them to earmark contributions for the national debt.
Since the 1982 tax year, the Internal Revenue Service
has included instructions in its tax booklet on how to
do it.
On page 29 of this year's tax guide, taxpayers are
advised to write separate checks payable to the
"Bureau of the Public Debt." Even if taxpayers simply
want to forfeit their refunds, they need to write sepa-
rate checks.
In fiscal 1996, 366 Americans slipped checks total-
ing $85,378 to reduce the federal debt inside their tax
returns. That was down from the 3,570 taxpayers who
sent in $347,700 in fiscal 1983.
Most contributions to the debt come in separately
Black farmers
reimbursed for
discrimination
AP PHOTO
Eighty-four-year-old Gudrun Hertsgaard holds cancelled copies of some of the checks that she has sent to the
Bureau of Public Debt to help reduce the national debt.
WASHIINGTON (P) The Justice
Departmem tont uded yesterday that
hundreds of black rmers are ineligi ble
for cash paymens for past government
discrimination because they filed their
complaints too late.
But Clinton administration officials
said they are neot iaing with Congress
on lecislation that wolld waive the two-
year statute of limitations for many of
the farmers, enablin<g them to receive
money if their claims against the
Agriculture Deparmlent prove true.
"We're trying to deal with a compli-
cated situation as bst we can," said
Charlie Rawls, acting general counsel
for the Agriculture Department.
The Justice Department, in a memo
circulating in Congress, formalized its
position that even i1'. discrimination
claims involving denial of farm loans
and other benefits are proved, current
law prevents all but a handful of the
estimated 2,.000 farmers from collect-
ing damages.
The same question is before a federal
judge in a lawsuit filed by 350 of the
farmers seeking to represent the entire
class and asking for S2 billion in dam-
ages. In court briefs due yesterday, the
Justice Department made the same case
for the statute of limitations, Rawls said.
"We're constrained legally in what
we can do," he said.
The Clinton administration's position
on the statute of limitations produced
sharp criticism from Rep. Cynthia
McKinney (D-Ga), who has champi-
oned the farmers' cause.
The farmers, she said, shouldn't strf-
fer because previous administrations
ignored their claims.
"The administration is hiding behind
a legal fig leaf to prevent black farmers
with legitimate grievances from receiv-
ing justice," McKinney said. "It is time
for President Clinton to show soroe
moral fortitude and put his money
where his mouth is."
The administration, however,
believes that Congress must pass legi-
lation before farmers with provable
claims can collect money. A draft of the
bill would waive the statute of limita-
tions for complaints brought from 1983
to 1996 - the period covered by the
lawsuit - but only if farmers submit to
an administrative review process.
from tax forms.
"A couple years ago, somebody actually sent in
some gold. We went to a metals dealer, got it
appraised and sold it. It was a couple hundred dol-
lars' worth," said Peter H ollenbach, a spokesper-
son for the Bureau of the Public Debt in
Washington.
A Lithuanian immigrant sent in a five-figure check.
"The man just wanted to show his appreciation for
the freedom and democracy he's appreciated since he
was living here," Hollenbach said.
Many letters sent with contributions ooze with
patriotism. Others lament the governments stack of
promissory notes.
One from Arizona said: "I know it's only a drop
in the bucket, but every little bit helps." Another
from New Hampshire said: "I would like my first
month's Social Security check to be applied to
reduce the national debt."
When Minnie Vogel died in 1984, she left $153,000
to retire the debt to "show my appreciation and love in
helping my country in this small way." After a four-
year legal battle over whether her home state of
Kentucky was entitled to inheritance taxes, the state
got $30,000, the Treasury a little more than $100,000.
The government never knows how much in contri-
butions to expect.
From 1961 to 1983, annual contributions ranged
from about $3,000 to $900,000.
The total topped $1 million for the first time in 1984
and shot up to $4.5 million in 1992, when independent
presidential candidate Ross Perot was wielding his
charts and graphs about the budget and the debt.
Interest died down after President Clinton's elec-
tion, and contributions slipped to $1.84 million in
1993. An anonymous large donation sent the 1994
total shooting up to $20.7 million, but by last year
contributions had dropped to $956,000.
Some worry that contributions could drop off even
more if Americans continue to confuse the debt with
the deficit. The national debt primarily represents the
mountain of budget deficits that have stacked up over
the years. The deficit is the difference between gov-
ernment revenues and spending in a given year.
States: don't eat
Great Lakes fish
I
Confronting authority
Pop singer MiChaelc
arrested for lewd aCt
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -
Pop star George Michael, the British-
born heartthrob whose hit songs
include the too-hot-for-radio "I Want
Your Sex," was arrested on suspicion
of committing a lewd act in a park
restroom.
The 34-year-old singer was alone
in a restroom in Will Rogers Park
when an undercover officer saw him
commit the act Tuesday, police Lt.
Edward Kreins said. Kreins would
not identify the act and said only that
Michael did not proposition the offi-
cer.
The park, on Sunset Boulevard
across from the Beverly Hills Hotel,
has a reputation as a homosexual
cruising ground.
Michael was handcuffed. taken to
the police station and booked for
investigation of misdemeanor lewd
conduct. He was released on $500
bail.
Michael's manager in London,
Andy Stevens, did not immediately
return a call yesterday. His publicity
agency had no comment.
Michael was one of Princess
Diana's favorite singers and attended
her funeral in September. He and
Andrew Ridgeley shot to stardom in
the 1980s as the duo Wham! Their hits
included "Wake Me Up Before You
Go-Go"
After the duo split up in 1986,
Michael went solo. His debut solo
album, "Faith," sold more than 10 mil-
lion copies. A 1987 single, "I Want
Your Sex," topped the charts even
though many U.S. radio stations
refused to air it.
The arresting officers did not
immediately recognize Michael. who
initially gave his real name. Georgios
Kyriacos Panayiotou, and only later
identified himself as singer George
Michael, Kreins said.
Kreins said complaints of lewd con-
duct at the park prompted a police
crackdown. On the day of Michael's
arrest, another man was arrested for
investigation of lewd conduct at the
same restroom, the lieutenant said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Advisories
against eating the fish you catch have
been on the increase in six out of eight
Great Lakes states -- all but Illinois
and Pennsylvania, an environmental
;roup said yesterday.
But the increased warnings don't
mean fish are more contaminated or the
water's more polluted. Monitoring for
toxic chemicals in sportfish --includ-
ing some, such as PCBs, that have been
banned for years varies widely from
state to state and therefore is difficult to
compare. the Natural Resources
Defense Council said in its report.
Tracking fish consumption advi-
sories in 1993 and again in 1996, the
report found the number unchanged at
18 in Illinois.
Ohio had advisories for 25 bodies of
water, up from 18; Michigan had 67, up
from 60; New York, 73, up from 51;
Indiana, 167, up from 20: Wisconsin.
333, up from 243; and Minnesota, 709,
up from 481.
Minnesota's waters are not dirtier
than the other Great Lakes states, but it
has about 5.000 lakes that are actively
fished and is very aggressive about
monitoring them, said Amy Kyle, the
report's author.
The Great Lakes region is one of
the nation's most polluted; every
part of the Great ILakes and their
connecting waters are under some
kind of advisory.
Ohio has issued a general warning
for young children and women of
child-bearing age advising them jo
limit how many meals they eat using
fish caught anywhere in the state. For
women, the suggested limit is a half-
pound a week. For children under the
ae of 6, the suggested limit is a qur-
ter-pound a week because of wide-
spread mercury contamination.
Other advisories apply to everyone:
for example, the Ohio Health
Department suggests that no one eat a
big Lake Erie carp, channel catfish or
lake trout more than once every other
month.
Different advice applies to individual
lakes, rivers, or portions of rivers, as
well to differing fish species.
In Illinois, there are no statewide
advisories. But there are a total of 18
different advisories just for Lake
Michigan fish, with 42 more advisories
covering 12 other lakes, including
Cedar Lake, Lake Decatur, Lake
Springfield and Lake Vermilion. Four
rivers - the Illinois, Mississippi, Des
Plaines, and Sangamon - have 11
advisories.
One of the goals of the environmen-
tal group's report was to encourage peo-
ple to heed those advisories.
One 1997 study found that only 50
percent of those surveyed in Great
Lakes states said they were aware of
contamination advisories, according.tc
the report.
Health officials have been vexed by
people who are aware and still eat toc
many contaminated catches.
Researching the Fahif-I
Faith?w
Refer to Internet
http://vvww.rt66.com/-obtusa
for documentation proving
incontestably that Shoghi
Effendi appointed a successor.
E-Mail:
OBFUSA@RT66.CON
1-800-689-1842
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AP PHOTO
An urban teacher is confronted by a police officer during protests between
teachers and police officers yesterday in La Paz, Bolivia. The Bolivian
Workers' Confederation is demanding a hike in wages.
a a/ "'
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