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Page 7 » Thursday, December 2, 1999
You’ve got the EDUCATION.
in.
jBush’s tax-cut plan
oins mainstream
BUSH
WASHINGTON (AP) — George
Bush’s five-year, $483 billion tax
|cut places the Re-
3ublican presiden-
Itial front-runner in
Ithe mainstream of
IGOP tax cutters —
Ifar less aggressive
Ithan flat-tax
lacolytes such as
ISteve Forbes.
“You’re going
Ito get a big debate
Inow — do you go with a flat tax ap-
[proach or do you go with the tax cut
approach?” Stephen Moore of the
llibertarian Cato Institute said.
Democrats A1 Gore and Bill
iBradley, meanwhile, continue Pres-
lident Clinton’s approach of using
Imodest tax breaks to accomplish so-
jcial goals, such as protecting land
[from overdevelopment or helping
[the poor.
In a speech yesterday in Iowa,
[Bush never mentioned the flat tax
[but labeled his own plan to use
[projected budget surpluses to
gradually reduce income tax
rates, abolish estate taxes, double
the $500 per-child tax credit and
enact other tax breaks as “realis
tic and responsible.”
“For me, tax cutting is not some ab
stract cause,” the Texas governor said.
Bush emphasized his plan’s
benefits for the working poor and
middle class, maintaining half of
his income-tax cuts will benefit
people trying to work themselves
out of poverty.
He said 6 million people would
no longer pay any income taxes, eas
ing the burden on one in every five
families with children.
“We will take down the tollgate
on the road to the middle class,”
Bush said, adding no middle-class
family would face a federal income-
tax rate higher than 25 percent.
An analysis by the labor-funded
Citizens for Tax Justice, however, es
timated the plan’s cost at $1.7 tril
lion over 10 years and projected
people earning $89,000 or more
would get 61 percent of the benefits,
compared with 11 percent for those
earning less than $38,200.
Families wait
for information
of mass graves
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico
(AP) — It has been years since
they disappeared. Leticia Lucero
de Medina’s husband. Ivan Ki-
hara’s brother. Saul O. Sanchez
Sr.’s son and daughter-in-law.
For now, the families of as
many as 100 missing people
from Ciudad Juarez are left to
closely watch the news as the
FBI and Mexican officials search
desert ranches for bodies.
“I hope they don’t find his re
mains there, because I have
faith that he might be living
somewhere else,” Sanchez, 73,
of Laredo, said of his son.
With so many people van
ishing from this border city
since 1993, and with the police
providing little or no informa
tion about the cases, relatives
of “los desaparecidos” — “the
disappeared” — formed a
group in 1997 and bombarded
Attorney General Jorge Madra-
zo with letters.
But Do You Know How to Build a
SUCCESSFUL CAREER?
Get insights from successful women in Information Technology
in an informal workshop specifically designed for female INFO seniors
Plan NOW to attend the
Women in Information Xechnology
Career Building Workshop
Tuesday afternoon, February 15, 2000 George Bush Presidential Conference Center
for more information: cmis.tamu.edu
Newspaper article sparks lawsuit
*e Wednesday J
DENTON (AP) — A weekly Dallas newspaper is be-
[ing sued for a satirical article two elected Denton Coun
ity officials allege defamed them.
The Dallas Observer's Nov. 11 edition included an ar
ticle that attributed fictitious quotes to District Attorney
Bruce Isaacks and Juvenile Judge Darlene Whitten, but
was not clearly labeled as satire and was published in
an area of the Observer usually reserved for news sto
ries, the lawsuit alleges.
The article was identified as a parody in subsequent
editions of the newspaper.
The story was a takeoff on a real story about a
Ponder boy who was jailed for nearly a week after
writing a Halloween story in which he shoots his
teacher and other students.
Judge Whitten ordered 13-year-old Christopher Bea
mon jailed. Isaacks ultimately dropped the case, and the
youth was released.
The Observer story had a fictitious section about a 6-
year-old Ponder girl jailed for writing a book report on
the children’s story Where the Wild Things Are
It contained quotations from the judge, who accord
ing to the story, ordered the girl’s detention, and from
Isaacks, who was quoted as saying officials were trying
to decide whether to file charges against her.
A Dallas radio station and the student newspaper
at the University of North Texas reported the story to
be true.
“As a direct result of this story, there has been harm
to my reputation,” Isaacks said.
Mike Whitten, Judge Whitten’s husband and attor
ney, said he asked the Observer for a retraction.
When the newspaper refused, he sued Tuesday on
behalf of his wife and Isaacks, who are seeking un
specified damages.
Observer editor Julie Lyons acknowledged the news
paper received correspondence from readers who be
lieved the article was true but said the paper will fight
the lawsuit on the. grounds any reasonable reader
“would have known tlie story was not true.”
The article was “a legitimate editorial on an actual
news event,” she said. “It is not libelous.”
Listen up, Ags...
Draw your tickets now for the biggest basketball games of
the season—Men’s games like Texas (Jan. 12) and Kansas
(Jan. 17) and Women’s games like Oklahoma (Jan. 26) and
Texas Tech (Jan. 29).
In fact, all Men’s and Women’s December and January
games are available now. Reed Arena’s Box Office is open
10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., with 30-minute free parking. You can
also get tickets at G. Rollie White and MSC Box Offices.
Take your friends’ all sports passes for group seating.
The Men’s Kansas game will be on ESPN. Fill every seat and
Reed will rock on national television.
Remember Reed’s First Law: Get your tickets early and
avoid the lines.
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