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Show MISSING THE MARK HELP FOR STREET KIDS | | CONSUMER SNAPSHOT Medical care for homeless teens B-1 NATOhits Belgrade hospital A-3 A quarterly look at Utah economy C-1 CheSalt LakeCri http://www.sltrib.com une Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871 Volume 258 Number 37 143South MainStreet (801)237-2800 FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1999 © 1999, The Salt Lake Tribune LIVING ON BOTHSIDES Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Senate Passes Gun Controls GAME TWO: BLAZERS 84, JAZZ 81 The Ball Wouldn’t Fall For Many Mexicans, Crossing the Border Is Part of DailyLife Bill would strengthen background checks BYBEN FOX ‘THE ASSOCIATEDPRESS The cliffhanging vote was the BY JANET HOOK SAN DIEGO — Each morning, Pedro LaFarga leaveshis tidy Southern Cali- LOS ANG! fornia suburb, crosses the world’s busi- 'S TIMES WASHINGTON — Responding est border, drives through the squalid fringe of Mexico's sixth-largest city and arrives for work at a factory as modern as any in the world. “I’m probably as binational and bicultural as you get,” said LaFarga, 22, a to the spate of recent school results a sign of the waning power shootings, the Senate on Thurs- of the National Rifle Association (NRA), long considered one ofthe Capitol’s most formidable lobbies. day passed a bill that would impose new gun-control measures forthe first timein five years, try to curb violencein popular enter- dual national wholives in Chula Vista, tainmentand take other steps to erack down on youth violence. Calif., and works at an electronics assembly plant a half-hour awayin Tijuana, Mexico. He is also increasingly common. Thebill was approved, Earlier Thursday, the Senate dealt a blow to the gun lobby and Socialscientists call them transnation- als or, in Spanish, transfronterizos. They are the millions of Mexicans and Ameri- cans who traverse the borderso fre- quently and casually that they have cross-pollinated the cultures into a region with its own identity, The growing interdependence — highZedillo's visit Thursday to businessesin San Diego — is a phenomenon that started 150 years ago. But it received a powerful boost from the 1994 North Ameri. can Free Trade Agreement, said Oscar Martinez, a history professor at the University of Arizona. The value of goods and services traded between the two countries has more than doubled to $173.7 billion since 1993. Mexico ranks as the UnitedStates’ third-largest trading partner, behind States Senate,” said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, DS.D. The gun-control debate, which had already been dominated by the blood-soaked images of last of urgency Thursday with a new breaking vote. shooting Thursday morning at a planted a GOP-backed measure passed last week that President Clinton and other Democratic Cleland, D-Ga., to changehis po: critics charged was riddled with loopholes. turning point for the y,” said Gore, whosepivot- month’s massacre at a Colorado high school, took on a fresh sense school in Conyers, Ga. That episode helped persuade Sen. Max tion on the gun-show amendment and cast a crucial votefor it. ‘What really cinched it for me was when I heard about theshoot- ings literally in my own back yard,” Cleland said checks likely will become a key he surprising vote on the amendment was another signal United States Senate. is turn- sition itself on thevolatile gun- ing the corner and helping to pro: tect the children.” See SENATE, Page A-11 al role in thevoteon the gun-show issue in his presidential campaign. “Finally a majority of the Canada and Japan, accordingto the U.S. Commerce Department. “There's no place else in the world Whatyoujust saw is the NRA losing its grip on the United agreed to imposestrict new background-check requirements on all firearm transactions at gun shows andpawn shops with Vice Pres ident Al Gore casting the tie The gun-show amendment, opposed by most Republicans. sup- lighted by Mexican President Ernesto emotional climax of a week of steadygains in the Senate for guncontrol advocates, who hailed the that powerful political cross-cur- rents areforcing the GOPto repo- Shooter in Georgia High School Upset by Breakup, Friends Say that has as manypeople participatingin a transnational society,” Martinez said Nearly 94 million peoplelegally crossed the border into California in 1998, up from 91 million a year earlier, the U.S. CustomsService said. They come to shop, work, visit relatives, atiend business meetingsor just to BY RICHARD JONES scared,” hesaid Of thevictims, one girlwaslist go to the movies. And they comedespite KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE the well-publicized U.S. effort to stanch CONYERS, Ga. — Once again. there werebullets. Andblood ta hospital with gunshot wounds to the lower back and abdomen Theother five were treated for book bags. Onceagain, there was a teen- tocks and were expectedto recov er fully ing but whohad a ragebottled so ripple in a waveof schoolviolence the flow ofillegal immigrants and drug smugglers bytightening its border “T almost feel like I'm in Mexico here,” Silvia Castillo, a high school Anda trail of hastily discarded teacher from the Mexican state of Naya- rit, said at a Kmart in San Ysidro, Calif age boy who appeared unassum- Evidenceof this trend is everywhere in the four U.S. states — California, Ari- tightly, police say, that he thought it could be vented only through “Everyone speaks Spanish zona, New Mexico and Texas — andsix the barrel of a gun Mexican states along the 2,000-mile bor- ents, an anguished suburban com: der. Billboards in Spanishurgeresidents of the northeastern Mexicancity of Monter- rey to shopat malls in Texas. Signs in English along the highway of Mexico's Baja peninsula hawk beachfrontget aways, Radioandtelevision stations on both sides of the border includethe wait time at checkpointsin their traffic reports Spanish-language pop musicis increas ingly heard in the United States, and American pop music, as always, perme Andthere were distraught par Trent Nelsoa/The Salt Lake Tribune Late in Thursday's game, John Stockton drovethe lane and put up the layup, butthe ball rolled in and out andthe Blazers got the rebound — andthe win Thousands of Tijuana residents are ex pected to cross the border this week just to see “Star Wars: Episode | — The Phantom Menace,” said Kevin Cottrell whostudies relations between the two countries as associate director of San Diego Dialogue, a public-policy organiza tion. The mixing extends to high culture. Howard Cohen, president of an Ameri can furniture manufacturer with a plant in Mexico, said heoften sees acquaint ances at the San Diego Symphony one The Blazers got smart, says Tribune columnist Dick Rosetta. Page D-1 > Hawks, Knicks, bricks: a combined 25 first-quarter points. Page D-3 > Karl not happy with $10,000 fine for Game One elbow. F BY MIKE GORRELL 7» owner Earl Holding is building cross the streetfrom his present Asimov/Bridge 627 Movies 2 Obituaries C7 Births meen 66 G4 Pumin ports sas Av) Classifieds Comics G2 F410 Star Gener TV Programs 626 FAA WEATHER: Above normal temperatures Thundershowers north a NT Details: A-18 T mii \l ll ll | ORNS 045 01234 FNP ‘ School in Littleton, Colo., and then turned their guns on them selves Thursday's shooting — the eighth attack in the past 20 months — occurred hours before the Senate debated sweepingleg. islation, prompted in part by the a boy who minutes after the at Columbine massacre, that would tack with a rifle and a handgun toughen background checks for reportedly fell to his knees, put a gun into his mouth and burst into tears as he was restrained by an administrator: “Oh, God, I'm so potential gun buyers. The measure passed, after Vice President GUNMAN, Page A-11 WSLOC releases tax retums A-10 | Bobsied gives women a shot D-4 THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE operation FS recent years. It came one month to the day after two students killed 13 people during a murder- ous rampage at Columbine High Are Added to Games Roster preparations for the 2002 Winter Ann Landers The shootings were the latest that has torn across the nation in Tocut costs, IOC memberswill payfor hotel rooms and nearby Otay Mesa checkpoints INDEX woundsto thefeet, legs and but Skeleton, Women’s Bobsled Talk of scandal was virtually one: ent Tl is the [OC eae ee chided four days of reviewing Northbound traffic snaris in the morn Again, Thursday, violencevisit tion's schools, this time Heritage High School, wherepolicesay six students wereshot by a classmate night at and at a Tijuana art exhibit the Each day, 58,000 vehicles enter San Diego Countythroughthe San Ysidro ing, southbound in the afternoon. horrified nation, all repeating the same edthe hallways of one of the na > ates the airwaves to the south. The San Diego Padres sold 40,000tickets in Ti juana during the 1998 season munity and a baffled, question: “Why? ed in stable conditionat an Atlan Brana. ee Instead, the emphasis was squarely on the future @ Thereareplansto add wom en's bobsled and skeletonto the sports schedule @ Planners will present figure skating at the Delta Center and men’s hockey at the E Center. WSponsorship categories will bedivvied upand organizerswill start aggressively pursuing companies to assemble tion-technology systeman informaAndthe Salt Lake Organizing Commanlstaa ‘Waals ta Gut Coit ta accommodating the “Olympic Family” during the Games. Suchcutting has already begun 10C_ members likely will pay their entire hotel bills and will tar in the existing Little America hotel, not the five-star towe that , All of these matters must be kicked upstairs for final approval by the IOC executive board when it meets next month in Seoul South Korea. But judging by the tenor of Thursday's news confer ence, such approval would appear to be a mere formality The Olympics are about com- petition, and I had expected com: petition,” said SLOC President Mitt Romney of thefour days of meetings the 18-member commissionwith of experts on Olym _Pi¢ preparations But I found we'reon the same team. Our process has been very collaborative and coopera tive. All matters we raised were considered favorably by the coor dination commission vee — ee A GrandFlight But a Lousy Landing | See 10C, Page A40 ‘ Robbie Knievel flies across a side channel of the Grand Canyon on Thursday during a world-record 228-foot motorcycle leap Knievel crashed in a cloud of dust after landing, but ws not seriously injured. See story on Page A 5 i |
