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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 10, 1995)
Rally combats attacks on women’s bodies, issues NATIONAL AS!UNf, t ON (AP} — Under the banner of coot bating violwu against women. a broad coalition of interest groups rallied Sunday on fhi* National Mail. «mbra< mg a wide range of causes. from nhortion rights to affirmative a< tion Phi* rally, organized bv the National Organization for Women, was endorsed by more than 700 groups, including abortion-rights advocates, labor unions, gat and lesbian orga nizations. environmentalists, socialists and victims' rights advocates 1 he rally was meant to "make the connection among the physical attacks on women, the anti-abortion terrorist attacks at clinics and the political a 11 a t ks were facing in Congress ’ said NOW President Patrh ia Ireland Eleanor Smeal. president of the Feminist Majority. related domestic abuse to violence nt abotiion clinic s and other forms of violence against women "Be it personal terror or politic «J terror, it has |ust one put pose — control." Smeal told the crowd We are the maturity Our rights will only he taken away if we allow the terrorists to reign." Coming at the end of the first too days of the new OOP tec) Congress, the rally fin.used heavily on the conservative agen da of House Speaker Newt Oingrii it R Oa and fears that ( on gross would end abortion rights, curtail spending on welfare programs lor women and . hildren, and t ut funding ' domestic violence. Gulf War syndrome researched DURHAM. NC (AJ') Ami nerve gas pills combined with anti insect compounds mny t«« the cause of a mysterious cluster of ailments known <is Gulf War syndrome. researcher* said. Duke l 'Diversity Medii il ( on ter researchers tested nerve gas pills. ins« t repellents and uua ■ tickles given to U S troops dur ing the Gulf War and dist oveted nervous system damage in labo ratory animal*. The Herald-Sun of Durham reported Stmdav The team's lead scientist warned that no undisputed link has been established Imtween the chemicals and intetlicidtH and the ailments reported by about 37.IKM! veterans of the war But that's where the preliminary find mgs point, said Mohaiiii d Abou Damn, deputy dins tor of Duke's toxicology program "I'm confident we have more than a hypothesis," he said "We have very solid ilata to demon strate ivi! have a plausible si e nario of what could have hap pened tn the Gulf War In every case the lab animals — chickens exposed to the combination of chemicals suf fared nervous system damage like that suffered by veterans. Ia»*t month, the lVntagon's top doctor said no single cause of Gulf War syndrome had been found Dr Stephen Joseph released updated figures of a Pen tagon medical eyaluation pro gram of Gulf War veteran* show ing that m H4 percent of rases a t'.loar diagnosis of health prob lem* could be found Of the 2,() '-t cases analyzed. Pentagon doctors were unable to diagnose afamt 1 ♦» percent in the study complaining of fatigue, headaches and sleep distur bances Alwit tS.OOt) veterans are par tn ipating in the program, Ross Perot, a longtime veterans advocate, gave the Duke researchers $ 150,090 for the study that began last July Abou Donta said the Depart ment of Veterans Affairs has invited him to Washington to pn* sent his data. We're not saying this is w hat happened in the C.ulf War. ’ Abou-Donia said I lia navi step, he said under standing how tt happens government may restructure Social Security WASHINGTON (AP) The White House is drafting plans to streamline Social Set urtty bv turning some work over to pri vate business and by staggering the monthly mailing of retire ment and disability checks. Some critics snv tho blueprint overlooks Social Security's most pressing problem: looming insolvency for the national retirement system. Others say giving for-profit companies a piece of Social Security s $381 billion budget is a privacy risk 'Hu1 proposed reforms are part of the Clinton administration's push to "reinvent government." The changes, which could save as much as St billion over five years, are to be announced Wednesday. According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, the Social Security Administration is considering letting large employers file a retiring worker's claims for ben efits directly with the agency, by computer. However, an employ ee of a participating company could still chose to file for ben efits directly with Social Securi ty The agency acknowledges that several privacy issues must be resolved, but says the changes would reduce its workload. Social Security keeps records on the earnings of almost 140 million working Ament ans. and i hr. i n format ion i> co\ tied! by collection agencies, private investigators and information brokers M&K Block Tax Services Iru the nation's largest income tax return preparation service, is already trying to get in on the action Social Security has promised to consider using the i ompany and Others like it to assist people with filing for all types of bene fits, according to correspon dence between HAR Blea k and the agency. Discussions with specifu companies, however, are beyond the scope of the overall policy changes lieing pushed as part of White House streamlin ing efforts Another proposed change involves staggering the sending of checks to retired and disabled recipients. The change would apply only to futon* retirees, and current beneficiaries who volun teer to switch payment dates Checks now go out on the third of the month to 4‘l million Americans, prompting more than 2 million calls during the first week of the month to the agency's toll-free phone number Thu crush of callers ties up the lines and keeps some people from getting through with ques tions about their fienefits. Add impact to your presentations. Computer Services • Transparencies Color Copies • Binding Options i Finishing Services M kinko's the copy center 1765 WiRametlc • 344 3SSS • fm 344 0870 Staggering the distribution of ohecke could even out the impact on financial institutions as well a% Social Security's workload, particularly .i\ tin* number of recipients grows to 7fi million by the year 2020 Under Social So( uritv's pro posol. three additional payment dates could be added, such ns the second, third, and fourth Wednesdays of the month The later dates would cost some recipients a little interest on their benefits: less than 25 cents a month by Social Securi ty's estimates So< ml Security also wants to require recipients who have bank accounts to have their che« ks automatically deposited, instead of mailed Among the other proposals lining considered closing five of the agency's It) regional offices and assigning half of the 7(H) employees who would lie affect ed to front-line operations deal ing with the public. The rest of the jobs would be lost as the agency cuts its work force by 4,500 over the next four years As of September. Social Secu rity had fift.207 employees work ing in its vast network of offices, including 1,301 field offices and 37 service centers. Ten regional offices provide support services for local offices, but do not deal directly with the public. Ttw purpose of these promts a Is is to provide better puiilk .«' r vitati at less cot! to the taxpayer." said spokesman I’hil (>umhim>. Hut some Social Security experts say the agent \ should U focuskng its efforts instead on the system's long-range sol sen IV David M Walker, who was one of two public trustees over seeing Social Security's funds for the past five years, said it appears that the agent v has "got the i art fie fore the horse." " 1 his might he looked on as a smokescreen, when the real prole lorn is how do you protect the financial integrity of the trust funds,' added Warren I- ref well, executive vice president of an American Federation of Govern ment Employees lot at that rep resents field office workers in upstate and t entral New York "We should be paying more attention to that, instead of tin kering with service delivery when the maturity of people are very satisfied with the service." Fretwell said John Rot Iter, legislative direc tor for the American Association of Retired Persons, said the steps taring outlined by Social Sec.uri* ty "are designed to make the agency run better. Clearly. Con gress's job is to figure out long term solvency. That's not the commissioner’s job." . & — Think pring For Easter April 16 Send the HD* Joy of Spring'" Bouquet Order early to send,> basketful of flowers home Our Hands Move Hearts ■ Eugene’s Flower Home THK UNIVERSITY I LORIST ^1^ 1 'lh ill l^lllcfson • *4K.!S - 1{SSS • Ownrrti anr t uf O ilunmi One possible region some vet or.'ins not su k and others didn’t is that each person's ability to deaI with toxic chemicals vanes Also, some veterans may have 1***0 exposed to higher doses of c hemicals. Ahou-Donia said Another tnxu ologist said the Duke team's rescan h will |w hard to prove "It s a kind of scenario that is fairly easy to construct but dif fie nit to prove." said Ernest Hodgson, head of the toxicolo gy department at North Carol! n« State University in Raleigh He isn't involved in the study "( hemic .ils do interne t. and there are cases where the toxic i ly of two i hemic ais is far greater than when given swpamtfily So it s i redihle, but that's a long yvnv from proof." Hodgson said The Duke researc hers have c ompared the animals' blood samples with blcxxl samples from about ic dozen Gulf kV.tr veterans If thc> researc hers c an uncover a "biological fingerprint" in the blood samples, that c ould lie uses! to diagnose veterans with Gulf War illness. Ahem Donut said Good only at those locations Broadway • Gateway 14S-9976 • 747-1024 py«rw*r t UC> :* MX > t’ **.* .a««l *Jks» I fct# • t) t -mh>r <•- .> UNI COUNTY'S *1 FITNESS & AEROBIC CENTER A 1 k.enter OF (ioM'i Ciytn Knirrpriici In. FIRST 6 MONTHS too NO INITIATION FEE OPENING SOON 25,000 SO. FT. LOCATION. 3rd t LAWRENCE DOWNTOWN EUGENE 86'G 3EI CURRENT LOCATION 2370 WEST 11 tli AYE. EUGENE 686-2633
