State and National News
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President Clinton says Mideast peace possible
U i n l\ I U v. I I " I L/
Associated Press
Washington (AP) - On the eve of a
Mideast summit, President Clinton said
Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak can make peace with Yasser Arafat
despite Barak's political woes at home.
A solid majority of Israelis “want him
to come and want him to pursue peace,'”
■Clinton said.
Acknowledging that formidable ob
stacles lie ahead, Clinton said the Mideast
poses “perhaps tlje most difficult of all
peace problems in the world.”
He added, “Both Prime Minister
Barak and Chairman Arafat have the vi
sion. the knowledge, the experience and
the ability and sheer guts to do what it
takes... to reach an agreement and then
to take it back to their people and see if
they can sell it.”
In the Israeli Knesset, Barak survived
a no-confidence vote prompted by his
negotiations policy.
The opposition Likud party failed to
muster the 61 votes that would have oust
c-u min.
Fifty-four members voted for the mo
tion of no confidence; 52 opposed it, and
seven members abstained.
Barak and Arafat are to join Clinton
at Camp David, Md, for a summit open
ing yesterday.
The president plans to leave the Unit
ed States eight days later for the annual
summit of industrialized nations, being
held in Okinawa, Japan.
“I don't want to set an artificial dead
line for these talks,” Clinton said, “but I
think that they need to listen to each oth
er and I need to listen to them and we
need to get right after it, because it's not
as if we don't know what's out there to
be done. And this has been simmering on
the stove for some years now.”
Before leaving Washington to address
the National Governors' Association meet
ing in Pennsylvania, Clinton talked with
Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone
about the Mideast summit and the Oki
nawa meeting.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
told The Associated Press that Barak's
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and that the Israeli people have shown in
a new poll that they still back him
while aware of some of the concessions
he is ready to offer the Palestinian leader.
“He is not going to make an agree
ment that jeopardizes his people,” Al
bright said.
At home, though, three political par
ties, including Barak's biggest coalition
partner, Shas, have announced they would
leave the government.
They are concerned about his plan
to relinquish most of the West Bank
and to give the Palestinian Authority a
foothold in Jerusalem.
And Foreign Minister David Levy, a
moderate who has served in both Likud
and Labor governments as a kind of swing
man, will not accompany Barak to the
summit.
Likud Chairman Ariel Sharon said in
Jerusalem that Barak did not have the na
tion's support and urged him not to go to
Camp David.
In a poll published Sunday by the
Yediot Ahronot newspaper, 52 percent
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Barak in going to the summit despite po
litical developments, while 45 percent
thought he should stay home.
Objections in Israel are based partly
on security concerns and also on the Jew
ish religious view that the land belongs
to the Jewish people.
Albright said she is confident Barak
has the support he needs to come to terms
at the summit.
His election was “a mandate to make
peace,” Albright told a reporter.
With Jerusalem and other core issues
in hot dispute, both in Israel and in pre
summit negotiations with the Palestini
ans, some observers have suggested the
two sides will agree where they can and
then set a second summit meeting, per
haps in August.
Albright said “that is not our plan.”
The gap between Israel and the Pales
tinians is a wide one.
Clinton described the two sides as
deadlocked when he announced the sum
mit last week.
Talley
t
from page 1
-t
i
help ensure that senior citizens get the i
medical care that they need, but often a
can’t afford. c
He hopes to look into setting up a ^
trust fund for senior citizens with mon
y that is being paid to the state by the
abacco industry over a 20-year period.
The money would, in turn, be used
) help seniors with the cost of medicine.
. would be a gradual plan, but Talley be
eves it could be successful, and it would
llow seniors to get more of the medical
are they need without sacrificing other
asic needs, such as food.
Talley also hopes to work towards a
consumption-based tax system in South
Carolina, meaning that South Carolina
would chaige no income tax, but instead
increase sales tax.
Talley believes this is a much more
fair system because people are taxed on
ly on what they choose to buy, not on
what they make.
It might take awhile, but he would
like to see the state investigate the pos
sibility of this type of tax system.
He said he has always had in interest
in politics, and if he enjoys his term in
office as much as he thinks he will, he
would like to run for re-election in two
years.
If he continues to be successful, he
might eventually consider running for
the office of governor or senator.
Poker
from page 1
Nearly 50 former video gambling
business employees went to the Lan
caster National Guard armory Saturday
to file unemployment claims with the
state Employment Security Commission.
Commission officials said people had
positive attitudes Saturday, despite los
ing their jobs.
“Their attitudes are excellent, but
they are worried if they are going to find
other jobs,” said commission employee
Beverly Horton.
There are no precise figures on the
number of people who were employed
by the video gambling industry statewide.
Operators have said their industry
employs as many as 30,000, but the state
Employment Security Commission puts
the number closer to 3,500.
Employment Security Commis
sion spokesman Claris Newsom said about
850 unemployment claims had been filed
by Friday for former gambling machine
workers in South Carolina. An additional
200 claims were filed for out-of-state
workers.
Newsom said 500 more appointments
were scheduled for next week and more
special sessions will be held at the Fort
Mill National Guard Armory.
Write for The Gamecock
this summer!
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State Briefs
■ Four-year-old boy
drowns in pool
Lake Wylie (AP) - A 4-year-old boy
has drowned in a swimming pool after
apparently wandering off from a house.
Ryan Michael Kirby, of Tega Cay,
was pronounced dead at Piedmont Med
ical Center on Saturday night.
Ryan's mother, Jenny Kirby, had
taken him swimming at a Lake Wylie
home, according to the York County
Sheriff s Office. They two had gone next
door to eat. After dinner, Kirby real
ized Ryan was not with the other chil
dren who were playing in the house.
Investigators still are trying to de
termine how Ryan got into the pool,
which is surrounded by a fence and
latched gate. An autopsy is scheduled
for Monday.
■ Police shoot and
kill suspect, ex-con
Seteca (AP) - The man shot and killed
by a Seneca police officer Saturday was
hiding at a friend's house because he did
not want to return to prison, family
members say.
Christopher Michael Jordan, 29,
died Saturday from multiple gunshot
wounds, Oconee County Coroner Karl
Addis said. An autopsy was planned to
determine how many times Jordan was
shot.
Seneca police Sgt. Malcolm Pur
dessy has been placed on administra
tive leave while the State Law En
forcement Division investigates the
shooting.
Jordan had spent five years in prison
and was being sought on drug and pa
role violation charges, Jordan's aunt
Pam Patterson said.
"He said he was afraid of going back
to prison," said his sister, Chasity Brany
on of Anderson.
■ Investments yield
state $73.6 million
CoilMSA (AP) - South Carolina earned
$73.6 million on its investments in the
just-completed fiscal year, which was
more than expected, says state Trea
surer Grady L. Patterson Jr.
The earnings for the fiscal year that
ended June 30 were 5 percent above
expectations, Patterson said Monday.
The state took advantage of an im
proving market for short-term, fixed
income securities, generally those with
maturities of less than a year, Treasury
Spokesman David A. Adams said.
Aviators
Are Back!
(Summer Sale Now In Progress?)
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