Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
August 25, 2000, Friday, Home Edition
SECTION: News; Pg. 10A
LENGTH: 678 words
HEADLINE:
NATION IN BRIEF
BYLINE: From our news services
SOURCE: CONSTITUTION
BODY:
Rancher, GOP call for repeal of estate tax
Taking a bright red tractor
Thursday through the busy streets of Washington, rancher Lynn Cornwell of
Montana sought to dramatize the estate tax's impact on some farmers and
businesses as he delivered to the White House a bill repealing the tax --- where
a certain veto awaits. "The threat of having a tax like this takes away all
incentive of growing your business," said Cornwell, a third-generation beef
producer from Glasgow, Mont., who is president-elect of the National Cattlemen's
Beef Association --- a group that long has lobbied for repeal.
Republican congressional leaders brought in Cornwell, who rode on a
tractor borrowed from a Virginia dealership, to increase public pressure on
President Clinton to sign the estate tax repeal measure, which
he has vowed to veto, and set the stage for a September veto override vote in
the House.
The estates of only about 2 percent of Americans who die each
year are forced to pay estate taxes, mainly because of a $ 675,000 individual
exemption that a married couple can double with simple planning steps. The
exemptions are even higher for farmers and small businesses, but many are still
forced to buy costly insurance policies and pay lawyers and accountants to
protect assets from a tax that reaches 55 percent.
New name includes
girls at Boys Town
It's now Girls and Boys Town. In a shower of confetti and
balloons, Boys Town officials announced Thursday that residents had approved a
name change for the home for troubled youth based in Boys Town, Neb. Nearly
seven of every 10 residents voted in favor of the change, intended to reflect
the growing role that girls now play at the home made famous by the
Oscar-winning 1938 Spencer Tracy movie. Ballots were distributed Wednesday to
the home's 1, 000 residents at all 18 sites from California to New England,
including the 500 youths ages 10 to 18 at the main Boys Town campus west of
Omaha.
Clinton legal fund raises $ 8 million
Supporters of President
Clinton have raised $ 8 million to help pay his legal bills from investigations
of Whitewater, the Paula Jones sexual harassment case and the Monica Lewinsky
affair. Organizers of the Clinton Legal Expense Trust gave their semiannual
update this week, saying the number of contributors is increasing as the end of
Clinton's presidency nears. Many people in the television and movie industry
gave to the Clinton fund, including producer Norman Lear, $ 10,000, and director
Rob Reiner, $ 1,000. Other contributors of $ 1,000 included Clinton friend
Vernon E. Jordan, former Sen. Lloyd M. Bentsen of Texas, and Caroline Kennedy
Schlossberg's husband, Edwin A. Schlossberg of New York.
Woman gets $ 11
million for plane crash injuries
A jury in Little Rock Thursday awarded an
aspiring opera singer $ 11 million for injuries she suffered when an American
Airlines jet went off a runway last year while landing in a thunderstorm. Eleven
people were killed and more than 80 were injured when the plane hit pylons
supporting runway approach lights at Little Rock National Airport and caught
fire. The plane stopped just short of the Arkansas River. The lawsuit brought by
Kristin Maddox was the first case dealing with the crash to go to trial. In it,
Maddox alleged the airline was negligent for allowing the plane to land during
the thunderstorm on June 1, 1999.
Man pleads no contest in girl's
kidnapping
A man accused of snatching a 10-year-old girl from her school bus
stop and holding her captive for three days pleaded no contest in Trenton, Fla.,
on Thursday to charges that will send him to prison for at least 30 years. "What
we have done is removed a sexual predator from the community without putting a
young girl and her family through a traumatic trial," said prosecutor Rod Smith.
Prosecutors said James Paul Johnson, 39, molested the girl before finally
dropping her off at a Wal-Mart. During the three days she was gone, her family
pleaded for her return, and law enforcement officers searched across the state.
LOAD-DATE: August 25, 2000 
