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Show An Ostertag-size contract What stresses cops most? Jazz center will be around a while PAGE B-1 Their chiefs, says columnist Kirby PAGE D-1 e n u b i r T e k a L t l a S Che Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871 Volume 254 Number 164 © 1997, The Salt Lake Tribune Russian Bill May Curb LDS Work LOVE CONNECTION Your Spouse’s Age Could Influence Your Baby’s Gender BY BRIGID SCHULTE KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE BY DAVID HOFFMAN WASHINGTON — Whichwillit be, a THE WASHINGTON POST MOSCOW — Theupperchamber of the boy or girl? The question has puzzled and delighted parents for generations. According to the laws of probability, your chancesof having either sex should be about 50-50. But biologists and social scientists are discovering that's not always the case. Today, a group of evolutionary biologists in Liverpool, England, trot out their Russian parliament unanimously ap- provedlegislation Wednesdayrestricting the rights andactivities of minority reli gions, brushing aside Western objections andsending thebill to President Boris Yeltsin, who is expectedto sign it TheFederation Council, which is made upof regional leaders. voted 137-0 for thelegislation, despite two days ofobjec- latest theory in the journal Nature. Their hypothesis? Theolder the husband is and the younger the wife, the morelikely the firstborn will be a boy. If the wife is older than the husband, they found the oppo- tions from Vice President Al Gore, who Wednesday completed avisit to Russia The U.S. Senatehadearlier threatenedto cut off U.S. aid to Russiaif thebill became law, The Kremlin signaled this week that Yeltsin, who vetoed an earlier version of site is true. Numbers Game: John T. Manning, a biologist and author of the study, and his colleagues looked at babies born to 301 couples in England and Wales from 1911 to 1952, during and after World WarsI and II. They found morefirstborn sons in that period than daughters. And those with more sons hadgreat gapsin age. Couples with wives one to nine years thelegislation on grounds that it wa constitutional, is preparedtosignthelatest draft, which his aides helped write The lower house. the State Duma, approvedthelegislation Friday If signed, the law will probablyfacea challenge in the Constitutional Court: Sought by the Russian Orthodox Church, which hasfelt threatenedbythe older than their husbands had 14 sons and 29 daughters. But couples with husbands either the same ageor five years older had 117 sons and 84 daughters. And those with husbandsfive to 15 years older had 37 sons and 20 daughters. Manning's studywasinspired by previ- ously documented trends in royalty and elites. American presidents, for instance, have moresons than daughters. (90 sons and 61 daughters, for a 60-40 ratio.) American settlers, European monarchs and aristocrats, likewise, have had boyheavy families. On theother hand, peasants and lowerranking families have been morelikely to have daughters. And in a phenomenon dubbed “the returning-soldier effect,’ more babies born during and after major wars are boys. No one, really, has any idea why Over the years, numerous theories have been advanced. It’s evolutionary hangover. It’s hormones. It depends on how dominantthe motheris. “Theevolutionary explanation forthis, it sounds a bit sexist, but in a species or society where rank is inherited through the male line, it pays for couples to pro- ters, because daughters can then marry upwards in termsof rank.” When Manning began to think about how elites could have moreboys, he no- which was addedtothefinal version. ticed that monarchs who married more than once tended to take increasingly younger womenas wives. Consequently, the greater the age gap, the more sons. Manningdecidedto test this theory in the more common population, studying the known “returning-soldier effect” in Britain, then looking at age gaps. He WhoHasthe Gold: For Manning, the reason why womentend to marry older men during war is not so much that all the young men are out atthe front fighting and dying, but has more to do with “resources.” “When times are bad, and times are really bad during major wars, with unpredictable food supplies and unrest, wo men may be looking to pair off with men who have high resource value to give them somekindof reassurancetheir children will be supplied with the necessary food and shelter,” Manning said. “And men with resourcestend to be older.”” Manning admits his research supports the theory that “Sugar Daddies’ sometimeslike their young “trophy wives.” “I don't want to get into a First Wives Club kind of thing,” he said. “I make no moral comment. I'm just making an ob- servation.” Monique Borgerhoff-Mulder, an an- thropologist at the University of California at Davis finds his study intriguing “Age difference seems like such a weird mechanism," she said. “In primates, women of higher rank or more resources tend tobe betterfed, have higher fat and less stress and thus, tend to pro- duce sons. I wonder if it's the sameeffect in humans?” Ann Landers. ©Business D4 Classifieds £2 Comics C4 Editorials... A42 Movies cs Obituaries... A40 Puzzles 3 Star Gazer M TVPrograms. ©-7 WEATHER: Thunderstorms. Details: B-6 oll 00}, 34945 01234 hovah’s Witnesses and many smaller and cults. The Vatican also has ob- jected to thelegislation ‘it's clearly disappointing to anyone who lived through the events of August 1991 and sawthe great break from the past,” said Donald K. Jarvis, president of the Moscowmission of The LDS Church. Park Service and a consortium of envi- ronmental groups. The conservation groups sued the Interior Department in May, saying the snow machines unlawfully pollute air and water and havean adverse impact on the park's wildlife and vegetation. As part of the agreement announced Tuesday, an environmental-impactstate- ment (BIS) will he prepared over the next three winterson theeffects of recreation in Yellowstone and Grand Tetonnational See SNOWMOBILERS, Page A-6 @ Senate OKs overhaulof FDA 3TON — AnIRS agent from in Yellowstone National Park will face restrictions for three years as part of a lawsuit settlement between the National testifying publicly rather than anonymous! planned, told the Senate on Wednesdaythat low-income taxpayers are being singled out for audits while agentsaretold to steerclear of friends of agency higher-ups. “I have witnessed IRS management manipulate income-tax-return figures just to increase their office or division collection statistics,” said Jennifer Long, a 15-year IRS employee nowworking as a revenue agent in the Houston office A3 particular taxpayers who happen to be personal friends of someone in IRS management Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, said he wanted the agent’s allegations investigated. “That's criminal activity and someUting should be done about it,” he said IRS spokesman Frank Keith said he couldn't discuss Long’s specific allega- tions, but added that the alleged conduct “would be improper. That behavior shouldbereported to theinspectors. Long's appearancecame onthes: Senate Finance Committee that someof IRS management not to conduct audits of See IRS, Page A-6 her colleagues “havebeeninstructed by things quite difficult for our people. It would send a number of our could ownproperty but that was all. There was no waywecould about send any missionaries in, and there was no distributionof literature. The Mormon Church has 7 000 mem- bers in Russia and about 500-peopledoing missionary work, hesaid. “If it’s im plementedthe way it’s written, we would haveno missionaries fromoutsideof Rus- sia,” he added. Kremlinofficials, bracing for protest fromabroad, recently have suggested the law mightnotberigidly implemented Hatch Wrote a Jewel, Says Kennedy — But Will Star Record It? dayof hearingsinto IRS collection pi tices and taxpayer abuses. Earlier in the Testifying under oath, Long told the would make BY JUDY FAHYS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE You thought Orrin Hatch and Sen. Ted Kennedy made an odd couple? Imaginethis: Utah's starchy senior senator stroking a piano ac companiment for thesultry rock croonerJewel. It maynot be so far out afterall Kennedy wants the grammywinning singer to record one of the Utah songsmith’s tunes See HATCH, Page A-4 Hatch waxes romantic Ad House Won’t Back Down, Votes to Ratchet UpIts Pay COMBINED NEWSSERVICES WASHINGTON — Membersof the House of Representatives voted 229-199 Wednesday to grant themselves a cost-of-living pay raise of about $3,000, heeding pleas from Democratic and Republican leaders to have the courage to withstand any criticism. If the pay raise survives through the congressional pro- cess, it would bringsalaries of or- INDEX restricted by the new law are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Seyenth-Day Adventists, Pentecostalists, Jesects BY ROBB WELLS being they have been operating in Russiaforat Agent: IRS Favors Friends, Targets Poorer Taxpayers Snowmobiling and other winter sports faiths are were in East Germany under the Soviet regime. We had a presence there and Among denominations that might be From Yellowstone minority try’s economic pain and turbulence If taken literally, he said. the legislation “looks very repressive indeed. and congregations back to the way things least 15 years. Snowmobilers Away He said turned into “scapegoats” for the coun- But the text of the legislation plac limits on those groups tht cannot prove Park Service Orders ‘moldandfilth” and advised outlawing them. referringto the failed 1991 coup that precededthecollapseof Soviet power Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, which werein theoriginal version, and “Christianity FAREWELL TO A FRIEND The family later was dispersedby the Russian Rev- the fall of communism, thele; would create separatecategories of religions, and place legal, financial and oper- ditional faiths are Russian Orthodoxy Idaho policeofficers leave the coffin of Boise Officer Mark Stall after paying their last respects Wednesday.Stall, the first Boise officer killed in theline of duty, died in a shootout early Saturday. See A-5. June 44, 1895 — Johan M, Lindelof family wos baptized, becomingthe first LDS family in Russia. olution 1959 — Former LDS PresidentEzra Taft Benson, thenan apostle and US. secretary of agriculture Visited the Central Baptist Church in Moscow wherehe wasinvited to preach a sermon. 1989 — Missionary work resumedin Leningrad andfirst LOS branch was established. MFeb. 3, 1990 — Anton Skripko became first member baptizedin Russia in modem times. HM May28, 1994 — The Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints officially recognized byRussia. Feb. 3, 1992 — LDSmissions were established in MoscowandSt, Petersburg with Russian membership numbering about750 MJuly 1993 — third Russian mission is created, July 1995 — Iwo more missions were created June 27, 1996 — Alexander Lebed,then Russia’s national security adviser, called Mormons July 4, 1996 — The sixth Russian mission was cre “traditional.” Under the preamble tothebill, the tra- KaraBrown/TheAssociated Press. LDS MILESTONES Here's a briefhistory of LDS Church activity in the formerSovietUnion: growth of minority faiths andse ational restrictions on those not deemed duce sons so the sons can inherit rank,” Manningsaid. ‘‘Whereas on the other end of the system, with low-ranking couples, it tends to favor the production of daugh- 148 South Main Street (801/237-2800 LT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84111 THURSDAY/SEPTEMBER25, 1997 © dinary House members to $136,673; leaders make more. Theraise would not yet apply to their conferees not to accept the Senate's rejection of the pay raise Utah RepublicanRep. Jim Hansen voted for the measure that would result in a pay raise; Utah Reps. Merrill Cook and Chris Cannon, also Republicans, voted against it. “The fact is, there’s no logical argument to be made against the COLA[cost-of-living adjustment], other than for those people who self-flagellation,” Rep. Pe. ter King, R-N.Y., said in a floor senators, who voted in July to deny themselves a similar raise. However, because of the way the speech. But Rep. Mike Forbes, R-N.Y., mittee, it eventually could include 1¢ split Republican from Republican, and Democrat from issue wasstructured, if it survives a House-Senate conference comsenators as well. There have been recent indications that the Senate whovoted against thecost-of-liv said hedidn’t come to raise his own pay. Democrat as each member Rick Egaa/The Salt Lake Tribune will go along. The 2.3 percent cost-of-living weighedhis or her political situa A YOUNG PUP AND HIS PONY ey. On the Republican side, 114 Jan. 1, was attachedto the Trea. voted for the increase, while 110 Marcus Gebel DelMoral, 2, grandson of famed animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Wil liams, greets Lou before the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey elephant parade Wednesdayat the Delta Center, The circus is in town through Sunday. payraise, which would take effect tion against the valueof the mon sury-Postal appropriations bill House membersvoted to instruct See PAY RAISE, Page A-4 ' [POORCOPY |
