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Show A4 THE DAILY HERALD (www.hereldextn.com) JANUARY 7. 2000 GLOBAL BRIEFING t Utah man leaps to death off Stratosphere ; ;. . Utah man scaled two security barriers and jumped to his death from the observation deck of the 1,149-foo- t LAS VEGAS (AP) Three cops shot V A man suspected DETROIT (AP) of shooting three police officers and killing a man at a house early A Stratosphere Tower late Wednesday, police said. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Lt. Wayne Petersen said the man had to overcome several obstacles to jump off the observation deck at the 1,100-foo- t level of hotel-casin- Thursday was arrested trying to sneak out after a standoff, police said. One man was found dead inside the house and another was injured. Two officers responding to the scene were shot in the face, and a third, wearing a bulletproof vest, was shot in the chest. Police had" approached the house because there were children inside, said Officer Claude Fox. When they heard yelling and screaming, the o tower midthe jspace needle-shapeLas between the Vegas Strip way and downtown. "You have to go over two fences to get off of that," Petersen said of the public observation area near the top d of the tower. "So you really have to be fairly determined to jump off of it." The jumper bounced off a observation deck that juts out from beneath the outdoor deck, Tom to Wilier, according vice president of marStratosphere glass-enclose- d keting. The man's body landed in some bushes about 30 feet from workers in a valet parking area. No one on the ground was injured. The Clark County Coroner's office identified the man as Mitchell M. Mayfield of Tooele, Utah. Wilier said the first barrier is five said. At least five people have jumped from the tower with parachutes in Base jumping incident, ; Wilier added. Wilier said the hotel will reviey the latest incident but doubts security measures will be changed. "After any of these incidents, we carefully undergo examination as to what we can do, better," Wilier said. "However, in this particular case, this gentleman was unwavering in his resolve to end his life quickly. And in those cases, no matter wher you are, it is very difficult to somebody from taking their feet high and the second about 10 feet high. In addition to the barriers, an alarm is triggered as soon as the first barrier is cleared. At least one security guard is always on duty on the observation deck, Wilier said. About six seconds elapsed from the time the man cleared the first barrier until he jumped, Wilier said, "If you were 10 feet away, you couldn't have got this guy," Wilier said. Three people who may have been contemplating suicide have previously cleared both barriers, but none jumped from the tower, Wilier pr8-ve- life." three retreated to retrieve shotguns, he said. SUDS Sn Christmas celebrated . BETHLEH EM, West Dank (AP) Leaders of the world's 15 Orthodox churches led Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat through a candlelit Christmas Mass in Bethlehem, the town of Jesus' birth. The midnight gathering Thursday marked an extraordinary bid for unity among the world's sometimes fractious Eastern Orthodox held their first synod in 60 years a day earlier in Jerusalem, and their first ever in the Holy Land. Due to differences in the calendar, Orthodox Christmas falls on Jan. 7. Orthodoxy's traditional domain includes more than 200 million worshippers and encompasses Russia, much of Eastern Europe, the Balkans and some regions around the Black Sea. two-ma- .7 break the statistical tie that currently binds them in the e Abortions drop The number of abortions in the United States fell in 1997 to the lowest level in two decades, despite new drugs that make it easier to terminate a pregnancy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that 20 of every 1,000 women of reproductive age (15 to 44) had abortions in 1997, the same rate as the previous two years and the lowest since 1975. The number of abortions for every 1,000 live births dropped from 314 in also the lowest 1996 to 305 in 1997 since 1975, the CDC said. The preliminary estimate of 1,184,758 legal abortions in 1997 was 3 percent less than the 1,221,585 abortions in 1996 and was the lowest number performed since 1978. ATI ANTA (AP) Washington that says if there's extra money, let's create more government. That's not the way I think." McCain, who is expected to unveil his own tax plan next Tuesday, disagreed. He argued that Bush would needlessly use the 4- - v 7 five-yea- ! h li f Associated Preti 15 from Durham who attended the debate, "I don't know any more about tax plans. . .than I did when I walked in here tonight." The other major issue of the evening was campaign which finance reform, McCain has made the hallmark of his campaign and with which Bush takes pointed exception. McCain, however, came to the University of New Hampshire debate at a disad- vantage: Questions have been raised about his intervention on behalf of a major surplus r, tax-cu- . 1 six-wa- y "This is not only no new taxes, this is tax cuts. So help me God." ; intervention on behalf of Paxson represented, poor judgement, McCain maintained that he simply asked ,. the agency to decide a issue it had considered for more than 700 days. "I wrote to them and said, Make a decision.' My job as chairman of the Commerce Committee is to mdke the bureaucrats work for the people. I would make the same decision again,' When pressed by debate moderator Tim Russert to explain why he had cancelled a fundraiser to be hosted by George W. Bush ". hurt Republicans and our causes," Bush said. "He's asking us to unilaterally disarm, which I refuse to do." McCain said Bush did not comprehend the importance of campaign finance reform, "or you'd get on board, the way most Americans want us to." . . At one point, Bush was avowed asked if his Christianity might be to and if he would take the expression "What would Jesus do?" , into the White decision-makinHouse off-putti- g k process. Bush laughed and said, "I would take an expression into the Oval. Office: 'Dear God, help me." "So would we, governor," s quipped Bauer, activist. of t k candidate Gary a ' conservative More seriously, Bush said his religious beliefs, "It doesn't make me better than you or anyone else. It's how I live my life." e County. In Washington, Attorney General Janet Reno essentially ruled out any chance she will reverse Wednesday's decision by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to send the boy back to the communist island. ' i Gov. Jeb Bush wrote to on Clinton President a reversal Thursday seeking of the INS decision. "Fidel Castro has maje Elian a poster child for his communist dictatorship, and has turned what should be determination as to the child's best interest into way to advance his own political tyranny," Bush wrote. For the past six weeks, Elian has been the subject of protests in Florida and Cuba and in the middle of an international debate over where he belongs. Fidej Castro kept up the pressure with another government-orchestratedemonstration Thursday in Havana. The boy was founi Thanksgiving Day clinging to an inner tube at sea after hie mother, stepfather and eight other people drowned while trying to reach Florida by boat. He has been living in Miami with his paternal i great-uncland great-aun- 'i ! e , rs mph Friday throughoiji Miami-Dad- . Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba. Police arrested about 100 people, including two prominent Cuban exile leaders, for refusing to disperse. , Roaming groups of disrupted traffic on streets major during evening rush hour, angering drivers trying to escape the gridlock. A motorist plowed through a group of protesters blocking an intersection near Miami International Airport, knocking a man and a woman'to the ground. Their conditions were not immediately known. One police officer working crowd contol suffered broken bones when he was hit by a motorist trying to get home. The situation was expected to continue Friday. Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-baseexile group that searches the waters off Florida for Cubans trying to make it to the United Statej called for supporters to dria d Fired up: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Orrin Hatch, of Utah, points his finger as he answers a question on Thursday during the Republican candidates debate at the University of New Hampshire. d 14-pag- e chanting pr6-teste- to .campaign donor with a gov$483 ernment agency. The senator, billion t plan. McCain who heads the Commerce proposes using 63 percent of Committee overseeing the Communications the budget surplus to shore Federal Commission, sent letters to up the Social Security system, using some of the the FCC last month, pressing remainder to reduce the tax the agency to rule on a Paxson later this month,' Paxson McCain said, "I thought I burden on working families request ' by for would have to spend a lot of Communications in the lowest tax brackets. of of the purchase a time on the issue" and Despite their efforts, the approval , sue-television station. detract from his campaigning candidates may have Pittsburgh The Florida-basePaxson before the Feb. 1 New ceeded more, in confusing law firm a Hampshire primary. its contributed in and than illuminating their total of about $20,000 to the Bush said he had no prob- audience. Given the nature of the debate, it was presidential campaign of lem with McCain's conduct in difficult for anyone to McCain, who also made use the Paxson case and trusted advance anything of sub-- , of the Paxson corporate the senator's integrity and stance. plane. judgement. "My objection is Asked by one of the panel his Said Frank Windsor, a proposed campaign public television executive of journalists whether his finance reform, which will entire budget finance his Couple wants visit through tubes. (y if civilly, to polls here. The duel on tax proposals included a vow by Bush never to raise taxes. Asked if he would swear to that, Bush said, "This is not only no new taxes, this is tax cuts. So help me God." It was a deliberate echo of the infamous "Read my lips. No new taxes" pledge his father made while president, an utterance that "came back to haunt the elder Bush when he had to renege on it during his presidency. George W. Bush defended his stance, saying that in a recession, a tax cut helps the economy grow, and in a period of prosperity insures that growth continues. Referring to the federal budget surplus, Bush said: "There's a mindset in of dreds return f n gled mightily, (AP)-Hun- "Liberty! Liberty!" blocked intersections and cut off access to the Port of Miami on Thursday to protest the U.S. government's decision 6) n area." The carcasses were found in three different locations in a half-milradius near scenic Mount Charleston, 40 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Forest Service issued an appeal for help from the public in identifying the shooters. Wild horses and burros are protected under both federal and Nevada law. ' MIAMI Cuban-American- s this state's primary, Republican presidential rivals George W. Bush and John McCain jousted over taxes and campaign reform finance here Thursday night. At a debate ',. that did little to change the dynamic of the GOP race, the Texas governor and the Arizona senator strug-- . our wild horses and two wild burros have been shot to death in the past month in a scenic area northwest of here and some suffered agonizing deaths, a federal investigator said. "It was pretty graphic, and cruel," Melody Stehwien, a law officer with the U.S. Forest Service, said Thursday. "It appears they did not die instantly. The could have suffered. There was some ground disturbance, indications they pawed the ground in pain and tried to flee the I V N.H. DURHAM, lines for the battle Drawing LAS VEGAS (AP) ' f " Chicago Tribune Horses, burros shot I decision rocks Miami A campaign reform are hot topics es, which ' 9 Taxes and church- A couWILMINGTON, Del. (AP) ple accused of abandoning their severely disabled son in a hospital emergency room are seeking permis-- ' sion to visit him. Richard and Dawn Kelso, who are barred from contacting their son as a condition of their bail, filed a petition in Delaware Family Court, saying they never intended to aban-- ! don their son, Steven Kelso, who has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair, and breathes and eats affle Ion die We Cuba tj T |