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Nation & World linton creates three national monuments by Kevin Galvin Associated Press o Canyon National Park, Are. ying he is continuing the “great jour of conservation started by Theodore svelt, President Clinton Tuesday xl the 92nd anniversary of the Grand 'on’s designation as a national iment by safeguarding other pic jue open spaces. he president spent an hour watch e sun rise over the canyon’s mul ■red ridges and plateaus, then took :opter tour of the canyon and hiked Tuweep Valley. He stood at Hopi , on the canyon’s South Rim, and ed three new national monuments <pansion of another, linton said it was fitting that he made declarations today, because on Jan. 908, Roosevelt made the Grand an a national monument, protect Erom mining or other activities that t would mar it. 9one of you who can see what is id me can doubt the wisdom of 3cision,” Clinton said. “On this day, this place, we continue that great journey.” The lands already belong to the fed eral government but Clinton’s action will protect the designated areas from mining and some other uses. Thd executive ac tion was being carried out, in some cas es, despite protests from local and state officials. Clinton acted on recommendations from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to name as national monuments a jagged 1,500-square-mile desert area dotted with junipers known as the Grand Canyon Parashant; Agua Fria, 71,000 acres en compassing two mesas filled with Indian ruins, petroglyphs and other prehistoric treasures north of Phoenix; and hundreds of rocks and small islands along the Cal ifornia coast. “If there is one thing that unites our fractious, argumentative country,... it is the love we have for our land,” Clinton said. “The only thing we can add to it is our protection.” The Pinnacles National Monument, located south of San Jose, Calif., which was named a national monument by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, was ex panded under the order Clinton was sign ing today. Roosevelt also declared Grand Canyon a monument in 1908. It later be came a national park. Although the president’s action was praised by environmentalists, some Ari zona state and local officials accused him of ignoring local interests. “We think it is totally disrespectful of the local community,” said Mohave County Supervisor Carol Anderson, whose district covers the monument area. The mayor of Fredonia, Ariz., a tiny community about 50 miles from the mon ument boundary, said local people resent federal mandates and are worried about effects on the ranching and timber in dustries. “They’ll declare this monument. They’ll go home, and we’ll be left to take care of it,” Mayor Joy Jordan said before Clinton’s declaration. Laurent Gaudreau, a 73-year-old out door-gear salesman at the Canyon's South Rim, disagreed. “Once land is gone, it is gone forever,” he said. Clinton was acting under the Antiq uities Act, passed by Congress in 1906 and used by several presidents to protect federal lands and, in the words of the act, “objects of historic and scientific inter est.” Clinton’s action does not affect ex isting water and grazing rights and min ing claims, but does bar new ones on the designated lands. Hunting is prohib ited on the expanded section of the Pin nacles site and a ban on olf-road veliicles at the two Arizona sites becomes per manent. ‘If there is one thing that unites our fractious, argu mentative country, ... it is the love we have for our land.’ Bill Clinton President of the United States Merger from page A5 day is the proposed $122 billion acqui sition of Sprint by MCI WorldCom. Worldwide, the biggest pending deal was the $150 billion hostile bid for German telecommunications company Man nesmannby Vodafone, the largest mobile phone company. The Time Warner-AOL transaction is sure to have major repercussions for both industries. Many big media com panies are struggling to figure out how to harness the power of the Internet, and Internet companies are seeking to put entertainment and other content on their Web sites to attract more customers. “This is a defining event for Time Warner and America Online as well as a pivotal moment in the unfolding of the Internet age,” Time Warner President Richard Parsons said. The deal is subject to certain condi tions, including regulatory approvals and the approval of AOL and Time Warner shareholders. The companies said the meiger was expected to be finalized by the end of the year. The Justice Department said Mon day it was unclear whether it or the Fed eral Trade Commission will be asked to approve the proposed merger. Each agency has its own group of antitrust ex perts, and they typically split regulatory reviews after deciding among themselves whose experts are most appropriate to decide the questions that such a megametger might raise. AOL Time Warner’s brands would include CompuServe, Netscape, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, AOL Movie Fone, TBS, TNT, Girtoon Network, Dig ital City, Warner Music Group, Spinner, Winamp, Fortune, AOL.COM, Enter tainment Weekly and Looney Tunes. Tune Wuner vice chairman Ted Turn er, who will retain the title in the new company, backs the meiger. Turner holds about 9 percent of Time Warner’s out standing common stock. Under the deal, Time Wuner share holders will receive 1.5 shares of AOL Time Warner for each of share of Time Warner stock, and AOL shareholders will receive one share of AOL Tune Wimer stock for each share of AOL stock. [cCain outlines 5-year, 137 billion tax cut plan y Curt Anderson Associated Press 1INGTON — John McCain today led a five-year, $237 billion tax plan that also would set aside more 1700 billion to prote.ct Social Se and create new all-purpose tax ving accounts for the middle class, a lunchtime speech to the Cham Commerce in Concord, N.H., Mc uggested it would be irresponsible most of projected budget surplus :ut taxes — as Republican presi 1 rival George W. Bush would do hout planning for the retirement big baby boom generation, which ush Social Security toward insol thers suggest that we should use jenny for tax cuts, forgetting we -omises to keep and a fleeting op ity to keep our word without im ; the economic future of our chil idgenerations to come,” McCain 2 Arizona senator said his plan provide a significant tax cut while aside 62 percent of the budget sur it is not already earmarked for So :urity to help keep the retirement n afloat. The proposal would al side 10 percent of the non-Social y surplus for Medicare and 5 per reduce the national debt. To help pay for the changes, McCain said he would raise some $ 150 billion by closing a long list of corporate tax loop holes and shelters. “ Every tax dollar now wasted on spe cial breaks for oil companies, ethanol gi ants, insurance companies and the mul titude of other special interests with their armies of lobbyists, is now at risk,” he said. The Republican presidential front runner, Texas Gov. Bush, is pushing a five-year, $483 billion tax relief plan that, among other things, would gradually cut all income tax rates, abolish estate taxes and double the $500 per-child tax cred it. Critics say it would leave precious lit tle for Social Security or Medicare. In a statement today, Bush said he and McCain “have a fundamental disagree ment” over taxes and how to use pro jected surpluses. “I believe surpluses should be passed back to hardworking Americans,” Bush said. “Senator McCain’s plan would leave more money in Washington to be spent on more government.” rz IAN page A5 nd harm to Iris physical and nren lth and emotional well-being.” er the ruling, Elian’s great-uncle a copy of the ruling and yelled ry for Elian!” in Spanish outside lily’s home in Little Havana, rday is a great day for Elian,” Eig rnday. “(The ruling) will provide ■onzalez his day in court.” in was rescued front an inner tube coast of Florida on Thanksgiv ', after a slripwreck that killed Iris , stepfather and others fleeing Cu rrard Perlnrutter, director of the ity of Miami's Children and Youth linic, called the judge’s decision rally popular” but legally incor said the federal government has ■ authority to decide inunigration matters and a state court can only inter cede if Reno gives her permission. She has not done that. He also said the INS has the power to return Elian at any time. The case has touched off' protests in Miami and in Cuba, where the Castro government condemned the ruling. At a rally in Havana on Monday, demonstra tors likened Cuban exiles in the United States to “beasts.” Elian’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has demanded that his son be returned. Elian’s relatives in Miami say they can give him a better life off the com munist island. The judge has ordered the father to be at the March hearing, saying Iris “fail ure to appear may result in a decision ad verse to his interests.” Gonzalez has said he would not travel to the United States to retrieve his son. d_ :ga tanning salons ILD'S MOST POWERFUL TANNING BEDS Of The Art Giant Mega Beds • High/Medium Pressure Beds Super 10 Minute Beds • Giant 20 And 30 Minute Beds Ruva Beds And Stand Up VHR Booths :EN AS ONE OF THE TOP TEN SALONS IN THE COUNTRY! 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