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Show A10 ___ The SaltLakeTribune UTAH/WORLD Saturday, July 12, 1997 NAFTA Gains Only Modest, Report Says NAFTA Adds Boost to U.S. Economy The Clinton Administration has reported to Congress that the North American Free Trade Agreement hascauseda slight growth in exports and U.S. jogs. U.S. exports to NAFTA partners (in billions) $134.2 @ Continued from A-1 candid evaluation of NAFTA's costs and benefits,it's a sales-job Job increases Jobs supported by U.S. exports to NAFTAcountries totaled itle more than 2.3 milion in 1996. Here is a breakdown: $100.4 1.6 million again,” Jeff Faux, president of the labor-backed Economic Poli- $56.8 cy Institute, said in an interview. $41.6 Hecalled the review “disappoint- & 750,000 Canada Mexico ing.” dards in all three countries, and weakened power. workers’ bargaining ‘The opponents’ report charged that NAFTA has resulted in the loss of 420,000 U.S. jobs — figure most analysts consider over- stated, The Labor Department CearekSokolowski/The Associated Press Jozef Dunaj from Jelcz, Poland,tried to take some bread to a daughter living down the road, but wasforced to return due to deadly floodshitting there and in the Czech Republic. public. A week of heavy rain has caused the worstflood- ing in decades in the region, putting hundreds of villages under water, destroying farmland and con- taminating water supplies. Czech news media report the floods have caused 500 tons of crudeoi! to leak from anoil companyin Ostrava into the Oder River, which runsinto Poland. The two governments haveeach allocated about $150 million for flood relief and rescue workers were handing out clothing, blankets and food to the victims. President Clinton, before ending his one-dayvisit to Warsaw, promised $100,000 in immediate U.S. aid. The death toll has risen to 23 in Poland and 26 in the Czech Republic. Heavy rains have caused less serious flooding in Austria and Slovakia A mile from the Oder’s banksin Jelcz,a village in southwest Poland, Maria and Ryszard Lesniewski had ankle-deep waterin their living room Friday. It was rising fast, but they would not leave. “Thisis all our life. This is all we have,” Ryszard Lesniewski said in despair. They worked frantically to save their valuables — a new bookshelf, potatoes dug up in the last minute from their field — and movetheir six cows, a dozen hens, a horse and a bull to their neighbors. ‘The water was rising a half-inch every 10 minutes in Jelez. Hopeful villagers were piling sand bags at the river bank even though soldiers told them it was pointless, “The water will break it in five minutes,” soldier Rafal Czarnysaid. “It would make much moresense if people agreed to evacuate.” But desperate villagers would not listen. “We have to do something,” Genowefa Chmurzynskasaid. “We cannot just wait and lookat all our lives being destroyed.” Rise in Black Suicides Puzzles Experts CHICAGOTRIBUNE NEW YORK — In hindsight, Les Franklin said, the signs of trouble were quite visible. Shaka, his 16-year-old son, had become moody, sullen and detached. At school, a_ biology course gave him fits and failing grade; at home, the teen ruminated about his parents’ messy 9- year-old divorce and developed an eating disorder. Still, Franklin had noidea that the youngerof his two sons found it too difficult a time to live through. One night, the highschool football star found a gun that his father, who at that time was an IBMexecutive, had hidden in a closet of their upscale Denver home. Shaka then wentinto his bedroom andshothimself in the head. “I never thoughtof suicide [as one of Shaka’s alternatives],” Franklin said. “Like manyblacks, I thought that suicide was a white person’s disease; it wasn’t something that blacks did. I have come according to CDCstatistics. By 1994, the rate had more than qua- searchers nationwide are docu- drupled to 2.1 deaths per menting staggering increases in the suicide rates of young black males, particularly adolescents. Although no one can easily explain the rise in the number of 100,000, closing in on the white rate, which experienced a jump from 14 to 2.5 deaths per 100,000. Experts indicate that young Af- Americans are living and dying. While the overall rates of adolescentsuicide rose between 1980 and 1994, the increases among young black males far outpaced thoseof anyother racial group. In the process, suicide became the third-leading killer of African- American males between 15 and 24, behind homicide and acci- dents, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 1980, African-American males 10 to 14 had a suicide rate of 0.5 death per 100,000 people, sored the critical study include Faux’ EPI, the International Labor Rights Fund, Publie Citizen, the U.S. Business and Industrial Council Educational Foundation and the Sierra Club, an environ- Land-Use War May Be Fought In the Schools @ Continued from A-1 erty rights, countering the Endan- gered Species Act, and howto get Uncle Sam out of Westerners’ lives. But the mostintriguing topic of the day was environmental education. Keynote presenter on that topic was Kathleen deBettencourt, director of the Independent Com- of African Americanssignificantlytrailed those of whites. But re- black suicides, experts say it may signal a changein the way African fits under NAFTA,butrelatively few were affected by the pact. The organizations that spon- Heavy Flooding Hits Eastern Europe THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JELCZ, Poland — Risingriver waters reachedthis village Friday, but many residents refused to abandon their homes and seek safety from the floods blamed for 49 deaths in Poland and the Czech Re- has declared some 125,000 U.S. workerseligible for job-loss bene- rican-Americans males suffer from many of the same societal ills that ail their white counterparts, including family disruption and disintegration, drug abuse, and child abuse and neglect. But researchers and sociologists note that some black males also are buffeted by pressures some male white teens may not necessarily experience: unusually high rates of and exposureto ho- micide, imprisonment and poverty, and the pressure to excel in a mission on Environmental Education, a Washington, D.C.-based group that recently studied how the environment is taught in publie schools. The commission concluded that although the environment is an important concern to schoolchildren, the education system gener- allyis ill-equippedto teachit correctly. “The issue kids are most concerned aboutis the environment, butthey really do not know much aboutit,” said deBettencourt. Course materials often are designed more for advocacy and increasing awareness than they are for teaching good science, she claimed. As a result, most high school graduates cannottell the difference between global warm- society many African Americans still deem racist or resistant to- ing and changes in the ozonelayer, she asserted. ward accepting or acknowledging Textbooks not only contain fac- blacks and their achi ‘ Canada Mexico Gannett mental group. The administration's own report sayslittle about labor rights and environmental protection — issues addressed in side-agreements that were part of the NAFTAaccord. In both cases,all three governments arestill setting up the machinery to carry them out. The White House report makes these points: @ Thetotal volumeoftrade between the United States and its two majortrading partners, Canada and Mexico, has surged by 44 percent since NAFTAwassigned, compared to a 33 percentgain in trade between the United States CRAFTERS WANTED FOR A NEW BOUTIQUE IN VALLEY FAIR MALL with superficially or with exces- sive romanticism, she said. One textbook the commission says it found not only urged students to write to their congres- sional representatives but also told them whatto say abouta particularissue. DeBettencourt said schools should better screen their environmental textbooks to assure they are based onscienceand not emotion, that they are accurate, and that they distinguish between fact and theory. “Children should understand the environment before they are askedto saveit,” she said. All of this prompted Childers and his Wyoming colleagues to urge other Westernleadersto in- vestigate how the environmentis being taught. “We have to reach far beyond preaching to the choir,” he said. Childers acknowledged that muchofhis concern is that the environmentalist movement already has gained a strong foothold in the minds of the young people. “The preservation groups are fall affects every one of you, if not now then sometime in the future,’ Brown said. Clinton abused his powerby setting aside far too “Tt takes in some very beautiful , ¥ Distinctive furniture for every lifestyle WickerWiklow Salt Lake City, Usih as national monuments, “What transpired in Utah last redrock country, but it also con- dressed environmental education. And mininginterests have teamed with an elementary school in Henderson, Nev., to establish the McCaw Schoolof Mines, which in- Save 25-30%on cusTOM ORDERS. Monday thew Saturday 4869307 the West for possible designation and Arizona, already have ad- Lexington, Lloyd Flanders & Lane/Venture. Hurry! Sale ends July 31. A.M. tw 6 P.M. In discussions of other issues, Utah took center stage ‘when House Speaker Mel Brown, RUnion, outlined the state’s opposition to the new 1.7 million-acre Grand Stairease-Escalante’ National Monument, which President Clinton designated last September. ‘. Brown warned otherstates that the Clinton administration’ also has looked at other lands around much land in the new national Choose the finish & fabric of your choice. 2903 South Highland Drve the matter rather than assignit to a legislative task force. mn Somestates, such as Oklahoma Special Order Sale DESIGN As Childers left the podium, a county commissioner from Utah handed him business card. State Sen. Lorin Jones, R-St. George, said he would like to ensure Utah teachers are properly trained in environmental education. “There is so much emofional material being played up in the media and by environmental groups that is unscientifically based,” said Jones, who chairs the Senate Standing Committde on Education. But he said he fould prefer to encourage the State Board of Education to look into far ahead and weneedto catch up and catch up in a hurry,” he said. SUMMER FURNITURE and 160,000 — less than half the numberof new jobs that the U.S. economy has been creating in a single month. about the state’s mining industry. etsereeae| UNIQUE been in effect by between 90,000 structs teachers and students court. For example, she said students are not taught how totell the difference between correlation and causation. Controversial environmental issues are dealt Crafter's Show Room -Fri 10:00 am - 9 pm, Sat 10:00 - 7 pm Clo: Sinday nancial crisis, with imports grow- ing by $5 billion. Mexican businesses also invested about $5 billion in ventures in the United States. @ The impact of the trade pact has boosted the number of jobs associated with exports to Mexico during the time that NAFTA has analytical skills, said deBatten- Inquire in person - we're located In the oid Stuart's clothing space 1 @U-S. exports to Mexico grew ata “modest” pace,rising $12 billion in 1996, after factoring out the impact of Mexico's 1995 fi- tual errors, but they fail to teach WRRABMACGREHMD to find outthat’s not the case.” For decades, the suicide rates and therest of the world. Per Family appa ei posed to NAFTAissued their own study concluding the accord has reduced wages and living-stan- monument, the speaker said. tains a whole bunchof nothing,” Brown said, arguing that the large acreage was really meant to thwart plans to mine coal on the Kaiparowits Plateau. thtin a Last month, Faux's EPI and a coalition of five other groups op- |
