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Food stamp caseloads decline by Phillip Brasher Associated Press BALTIMORE— A heart attack knocked Lorraine Smith out of work in June, making her more dependent than ever on food stamps. The benefits are fast becoming more trouble than they are worth. Meager allowances — Smith was getting just $35 in stamps per month — plus state regulations intended to cut down on fraud and errors are the reasons enrollment in the program has declined by one-third since 1996, hunger relief groups say. Slightly more than 17 million people were on food stamps nationwide in May, the latest month for which data are avail able, compared to 17.9 million in May 1999 and 25.5 million in May 1996. Seven states, led by Delaware, Texas and Maryland, have seen their caseloads drop by more than 40 percent. The decline is due partly to the booming economy and a ban imposed in 1996 on benefits to immigrants, but federal offi cials say many poor people don’t realize they’re eligible for ben efits or have dropped out of the program because of bureaucratic red tape. The government estimates that 37 percent of people eligible for food stamps aren’t getting them. “We need to do as much as we can at the federal and state levels to ensure that working families have easy access to nu tritional assistance that they need,” said Andy Solomon, a spokesman for the Agriculture Department, which administers the program. USDA analysts say that the good economy can only ac count for 28 percent to 35 percent of the decline in participa tion since 1996. Some 935,000 legal immigrants, less than 5 per cent of the total caseload in 1996, lost their eligibility for food stamps under an overhaul of the federal welfare system that year. Congress later restored benefits to 250,000 elderly, disabled and minor immigrants. Food banks report that demand is as strong as ever, and the government estimates that 10 million families, or about one in 10 U.S. households, don’t get enough to eat. Smith was told recently that her benefits were about to be cut off entirely because she hadn’t gone to the local welfare of fice to have her benefits recalculated, a step that Maryland re quires food-stamp recipients to go through every four months. “I have no income, no nothing right now. On top of that I have a special diet,” Smith said as she waited recently in a church food pantry for a bag of free groceries. State officials say they have been forced to expand their ap plications and recalcuate benefits more often to prevent pay ment errors and satisfy USDA auditors. Error rates last year ran as high as 17.6 percent in Michigan. Twenty-two other states had rates that exceeded 10 percent. Maryland’s was 13.6 percent. “On one hand it’s a top-down, overregulated program fo cused on correct benefit delivery. On the other hand, it tries to be an accessible customer-oriented delivery program. Neither the Congress nor the Department of Agriculture has determined what it wants it to be,” said Richard Larson, a policy director at the Maryland Department of Human Resources. More than half the states and the District of Columbia have applications between 10 to 36 pages along, demanding infor mation about burial plots and income from blood donations, and nearly all require a 12th-grade reading level, according to a study by America’s Second Harvest, a hunger relief group. North Carolina is the only state with an application that a fifth-grader could understand, the level of simplicity that the av erage recipient would need to fill out the form, the group said. Larson also said that benefits are so meager, as low as $10 in some cases, that some people don’t bother to fill out the pa perwork. The average benefit is about $70. Smith, a 45-year-old grandmother, said the $35 in food stamps she got were all but gone in one trip to the store, where she spent $33 for some fish, beef, liver, oil, flour and fruit. “You used to be able to into a store and buy anything you wanted without going over the limit,” she said. The Clinton administration has relaxed eligibility rules for the program over the past year and initiated a public education campaign to encourage poor people to sign up for the program. The administration has asked Congress for $10 million to spend on additional outreach efforts. USDA officials"also held public meetings in seven cities this summer to find out what the government could do to get more people enrolled in the program. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glick man wrote the nation’s governors this summer, uiging them to ' identify poor people who are eligible for food stamps but not getting them. States could help by cutting back on paperwork and keeping their offices open longer hours, according to advocacy groups. “There does tend to be a feeling on the part of state admin istrators that the most important thing to get right is the pay ment accuracy,” said Ellen Vollinger of the Food Research and Action Center. Next test of missile defense likely put off until January by Robert Burns Associated Press WASHINGTON - The Pentagon probably will postpone the next test of its national missile defense by a month or two so that officials can more fully analyze the last test’s failure, officials said Tuesday. The expected delay, to January, is not directly linked to President Clinton’s decision last week to abandon a 2005 taiget date for deploying a national missile defense, Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Lehner said. He is spokesman for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, the Penta gon office in cliaige of the project. Clinton said he wasn’t sufficiently confident of the technical feasi bility of a national missile defense to commit the United States to de ploying the weapon system now, but he ordered the Pentagon to “con tinue a robust program of development and testing.” His decision effectively removed 2005 as a taiget date for deploying a missile defense, although ’ Clinton said he believed it was still possible by 2007. The key to determining the feasibility of missile defense is a series of flight tests of the missile interceptor — a booster rocket and a “kill vehicle” it carries into space to collide with an incoming warhead. Each flight test costs about $100 million. The last two tests, in January and July, were unsuccessful. The Pen tagon was planning another try in October or November, although short ly after the July failure Defense Secretary William Cohen told Congress that it might slip to December. No firm date has yet been set, Lehner said, but “more than likely” the next flight test will be in January. He said the missile range on Kwajalein Atoll in the central Pacific is closed much of December. Of ficials do not expect to finish analyzing the reasons for the July test failure until October, he said. Clinton’s decision means the Pentagon will not award contracts this year for initial construction work on a new missile-tracking radar in the Aleutians. That would have put the United States on a path to missile de fense deployment in the face of stem opposition from Russia and China > and doubts among U.S. allies. Aside from deferring work on the radar, Clinton’s decision had lit tle immediate impact on the technical work under way or on the en thusiasm of those involved in the project, Lehner said. “There is no real sense of disappointment,” Lehner said. “This was the president's decision. We’ll keep pressing forward with the test pro gram.” Research questions benefits, risks of hormone supplements for women with menopause byLindsey Tanner Associated Press Marjorie Sharpe takes a mys tery pill every morning. What it does, she can only guess. It could be a dummy pill. Or it could contain powerful hormones that can ward off ailments common in the last third of a woman’s life. Sharpe is among more than 27,000 participants in one of the laigest medical studies ever to ex amine the benefits and risks of hor mone supplements at menopause. Do they cause breast cancer? Do they help — or harm — the heart? Do they protect against memo ry loss or prevent broken bones — even tooth loss and wrinkles? Existing research has only deep ened the dilemma. Meanwliile, Pre marin, one brand of synthetic es trogen, remains the world’s most commonly prescribed drug. “Everything that people believe about hormones has never been proven” conclusively, said Marcia Stefanick, head of the steering com mittee for the federally funded Women’s Health Initiative, which is being conducted at 40 centers na tionwide. “It’s collapsed on obser vational data.” The 83-year-old Sharpe, one of Stefanick’s subjects, says she didn’t need hormones when she went through menopause decades ago. Now, amid much research ques tioning their potential risks and ben efits, Sharpe is philosophical about the chance her morning pill contains them. “Life is a risk,” Sharpe said. “Somebody needs to find out what we believe may be helpful for women’s health.” As women age, their ovaries stop making estrogen and progesterone, sex hormones that regulate the men strual cycle and prepare the body for pregnancy. As hormone levels decline, some women experience hot flashes, night sweats, depression and memory loss. Cholesterol lev els can rise, and bone can become brittle because estrogen helps bones hold onto calcium. The Food and Drug Adminis tration approved replacement hor mones for menopausal women more than 50 years ago, and experts have debated the benefits and risks ever since. In the last several months, nu merous studies have raised troubling questions. Reports have questioned the belief that hormones lower risk of heart attack, bolstered research linking estrogen to breast cancer, and suggested the breast cancer dan ger increases in combination with progestin, the synthetic version of the hormone progesterone, which menopausal women take to reduce the risk of uterine cancer. “The whole thing is a lot more confusing than I think we’ve been recognizing,” said Ste fanick, an associate professor in med icine at Stanford University, one of the 40 centers for the study. “We really do need to tease apart who benefits and who’s at risk from going on these hormones.” The Women’s Health Initiative is investigating major causes of ill ness and death in postmenopausal women who were aged 50 to 79 at the time the project began in 1991. Some 160,000 women are involved in its various research studies. The 12-year hormone clinical trial began in 1993 and involves 27,348 jvomen nationwide. Half take a placebo, and half take hor mones. The women receiving the hormones are further divided: Those who’ve had their uteruses removed get estrogen, and those with their uteruses intact get a pill containing estrogen and progestin. Study results are expected in 2005. That’s a long way off for the more than 10 million American women already in their mid to late 40s and nearing the average age of menopause — 51. Dr. Eric Bieber, a reproductive endocrinologist at the University of Chicago’s Britzker School of Med icine, hears the questions daily from menopausal patients. “Asking someone who has significant hot flashes to hold on is really an unreasonable thing to ask,” Bieber said. So he explains estrogen’s known short-term benefits as well as the HORMONES SEE MGE 6 Leaders gather for summit with peace, prosperity in mind by Edith M. LedBrer Associated Press UNITED NATIONS — Kings, gen erals, presidents and prime ministers are assembling in New York with the lofty goal of turning the 21st century into an epoch free of war, poverty, ignorance and disease. They are also using the U.N. Mil lennium Summit as a soapbox for is sues in their homelands. Tight security around the United Nations inconvenienced New York ers and netted several arrests over the weekend. At least 91 demonstrations are planned during the gathering of more than 150 heads of state, which runs from Wednesday through Friday. Cuba’s Fidel Castro, one of 18 » dignitaries deemed “high risk” and * given extra police security, arrived in t ' New York at noon Tuesday. He was expected to build on his career of bat tling U.S. influence. At the summit’s conclusion, world leaders are expected to adopt the so called Millennium Declaration, which commits to eradicating poverty, pro moting education and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Noting that more than 5 million people have lost their lives in wars during the last decade, the document says, “we will spare no effort to free our peoples from the scourge of war.” A nine-pgge draft circulated Mon day also vows to promote democra cy and strengthen respect for hu man rights and fundamental freedoms, “including the right to development.” While the overall declaration was being drafted, individual leaders were stating their own goals. Pakistan’s military ruler Gen. Per vez Musharraf plans to highlight a simmering dispute with India over the Kashmir region. Vietnamese Presi dent Tran Due Luong might use the summit to invite President Clinton to visit. South Korean President Kim Dae-jung will discuss thawing rela tions with North Korea. He was to meet with the North’s No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam, but the North Ko rean turned back after chaiging Amer ican Airlines officials with trying to strip search him at an airport in Frank furt. All the world’s problems are go ing to be thrown on the table for discussion. Africa is in turmoil, with Congo’s I peace unraveling and the Sierra Leone government fighting rebels. In Asia, Afghanistan is still engulfed in civil war and East Timor is still threatened by pro-Indonesian militias intent on undermining its move toward inde pendence. In Europe, Serbia’s Koso vo province is beset by continuing vi olence between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority. For the Mideast Peace talks, the Millennium Summit is seen as a make or-break moment. Clinton was to hold separate talks Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Pales tinian leader Yasser Arafat. Barak, who arrived Monday for a meeting with U.N. Secretary-Gener al Kofi Annan, seemed cautious about making the Sept. 13 deadline for a Mideast peace treaty. Barak said a crossroad has been reached in talks, and while opportunities were great, time for concluding a deal was run ning short. New York police are confident the 41,000-strong department can handle any situation, and there won’t be a repeat of last November’s World Trade Oiganization gathering in Seat tle, where police were overwhelmed by protesters. There were peaceful protests Monday against Iranian President Mo hammad Khatami, who spoke at the United Nations. But four Iranians were arrested over the weekend for throw ing yellow paint, police said. Yellow is “the color of dismay, the color of disapproval,” according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which bills itself as Iran’s par 5UMMIIT SEE FACE 6 News Briefs ■ 13-year-old boy questioned in Maryland blast TEMPLE HILLS, Md. (AP) - An explosion shattered windows and dam aged a parked truck, and authorities found mo® than a dozen pipe bombs in an apart ment. A13-year-old boy was being ques tioned. No one was injured in the Monday night blast, which forced the evacuation of 24 apartments. Bomb squad members were called to the apartment complex around 9:30 p.m. Monday. By late Tuesday morning, a total of 20 explosive devices had been taken from the home. A remote control robot was used to transport the cylinders onto the complex’s parking lot where they were disabled. ■ Report: Watch eating habits of female athletes CHICAGO (AP) - Girl athletes should be watched closely to make sure that their training doesn’t include poor eat ing habits that could result in damaging bone loss, the American Academy of Pe diatrics says. Doctors, coaches and parents also should be alert for missed or delayed menstrual periods, which may result from inadequate food intake, the academy said. Treatment to solve such problems may involve taking a break from sports, the academy said in the September issue of the journal Pediatrics. ■ Rebels won’t swap hostage for guerilla ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) - Muslim rebels holding an American hostage in a southern Philippine jungle refused Tuesday to exchange him for a suspected guerrilla. Jeffrey Schilling, 24, of Oakland, Calif., ended a hunger strike and is be ing held in a heavily guarded bamboo hut, said a government envoy who visited the rebel camp. Schilling’s legs are tied be cause he tried to escape, the envoy said. On Monday, police said they had ar rested a 73-year-old man suspected of belonging to the Abu Sayyaf rebels and accused him of taking part in kidnappings on Basilan island. ■ Syria might have final say in Lebanese election BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s chances of regaining his old job rose with his land slide re-election to parliament, but neigh boring Syria might have final say over whether he takes back the post. Hariri, a billionaire who made his fortune in construction in Saudi Arabia, said Tuesday he has not made up his mind whether he wants to be prime minister again. ■ Germany’s defense minister injured in accident WASHINGTON (AP) - Germany’s defense minister suffered cuts on his fore head and foot Tuesday when the car he was in was hit by a deploying security barrier as his entourage entered the Pen tagon grounds. Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Ba con said Defense Minister Rudolf Sharp ing and Germany’s defense attache in Washington, Army Brig. Gen. Peter Goebel, were taken to a local hospital for precautionary tests. ■ Democrat party cleared of illegal campaign actions WASHINGTON (AP) - The gov ernment has cleared the Democratic Par ty and labor unions of illegally coordi nating their 1996 campaign activities, and the firm that played a key role in that investigation is back to buying TV ads for both unions and candidates, records show. 1