European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 15, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday August 15, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 7texan seeks to turn Panhandle into state Austin Texas up a a state lawmaker disgruntled Over rising taxes and government spending proposes that 26 Northern Panhandle counties secede and create a new state called a old  state Republican rep. David Swinford said the new state with its capital in Amarillo would be the richest in the nation per capita because of the regions vast Oil Gas and agriculture production. He said gov. Ann Richards a new Texas a a slogan for the Lone Star state a is facing a $2.1 billion tax and fee Bill to help pay for a record $59.4 billion budget for the 1992-93 biennium. A the people of the Panhandle Are not impressed with the new Texas. It simply costs too touch a Swinford said. A for years the people of the Texas Panhandle have been sending their hard earned tax dollars to Austin where big government has squandered every  Swinford said business owners in his Region Are fed up with what he called exorbitant workers compensation insurance rates High taxes and government regulation. Old Texas he said would not have a state income tax or redistribution of wealth among school districts. But with its Energy and agricultural wealth he said All children would be provided a tree education. The Region currently produces 44 percent of the wheat grown in Texas 76 percent of the cattle and 33 percent of the Corn along with its Oil and Gas reserves. Swinford said his proposed state would have the lowest crime rate and the cleanest environment of any state in the nation. He conceded however that there is Little Chance it will happen. A i m not a total idiot Quot he said. A a Maize rising on Broadway amazes new York new York a there a a new mystery running on Broadway who planted the 131 stalks of Corn that Are growing in the boulevards median strip at 153rd Street a it looks Odd. It looks very Odd a Mildred Duran said tuesday. She is one of Many who have been stopped in their tracks by the sight of two neat rows of 6-foot stalks rising in the Middle of one of the City a busiest streets. Duran director of the Community planning Board said she did not think the crop was a prank a political statement or a work of Art. A someone just said a in a going to Plant some Corn and see if it  and it has. The Cornstalk flank a group of Bushes in the median for about half a Block. Some of the ears nearing maturity Are 6 inches Long. The unknown Farmer chose an unlikely spot for a Cornfield. Broadway at 153rd is part of a poor largely hispanic upper West Side neighbourhood that is plagued by crime. Among the neighbors Are those from a boarded up apartment building an Auto shop and a grocery store. The neighbourhood is More than five Miles up Broadway from the theater District where Emlyn Williams the Corn is Green starring Ethel Barrymore opened in 1940. The area does have an agricultural tradition. In the 19th Century it was part of the farm of naturalist John James Audubon who is buried two blocks away. Among the first to note the corns incongruous presence was Jeanette Boyd of the City Parks department whose Job it is to beautify the malls and median strips on Manhattan streets. When Boyd noticed the Corn Early this summer she recalled an encounter that Spring. She had seen a thin hispanic Man in his late 30s or Early 40s picking up trash from the median. Boyd said she thinks the Man told her in broken English that he wanted to Plant something. She urged him to Register As an official Parks department Volunteer but never saw him again. Meanwhile Harvest time is nigh and people along upper Broadway Are waiting eagerly to see what happens to fresh Corn in an area not unfamiliar with larceny. A a we be had plants and Bushes stolen from medians a Boyd said. A but so far no ones bothered that Corn. Maybe its so unusual no one knows what to do with  Irving Lawton a student at City College inspects one of the nearly Ripe ears of  plead guilty in nuclear sabotage plot Prescott Ariz. Apr five environmental activists pleaded guilty tuesday to Federal charges in an alleged plot to sabotage nuclear facilities in three states but the judge did no to immediately accept the plea bargain. The defendants including the co founder of the Radical environmental group Earth first entered the pleas in the Middle of their Federal court trial. . District judge Robert Broomfield continued the trial until sept. 10, saying he would decide before then whether to accept the Deal. Prosecutor Roslyn Moore Silver said the agreement called for All the pleas to be accepted As a package or they would be withdrawn and the trial would resume. The government had accused the defendants of conspiring in january 1989 to damage Power lines and transmission towers serving the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons Plant outside Denver the Diablo Canyon nuclear generating facility near san Luis Obispo Calif. And the Palo verde nuclear generating station West of Phoenix. The acts never were carried out. Defense attorneys argued that their clients were entrapped As part of a government plan to silence Dave Foreman 44, of Tucson who helped found the 11-year old group Earth first Foreman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy. Under the agreement sentencing on the felony charge would be delayed five years. Then he would enter into an alternative plea agreement or plead guilty to a Misdemeanour for deprivation of government  other defendants pleas involved an alleged attempt to Cut 12 pylons holding up a ski lift at the Snow bowl ski resort near Flagstaff. They Are Mark Davis 40 Margaret Millett 37 use Asplund 37 and Mare Baker 39. They re All from Prescott. La. Leader apologizes for calling Black curly los Angeles a a White City councilman has apologized for calling a Black colleague a a curly during a debate. Councilman Ernani Bernardi made the remark to councilman Mark rid Ley Thomas during a committee meeting on police Reform monday. A wait a minute will you curly a Bernardi angrily replied to a query from Ridley Thomas who had interrupted Bernardi. A what you said just now has very serious implications a Ridley Thomas said. A my name is Mark Ridley Thomas. Done to Ever make that mistake with me  the committee was debating proposals to select a new police chief. Reforms had been suggested by an Independent panel that found racism and brutality in the los Angeles police department. Police chief Daryl f. Gates has said he will retire next year. Bernardi apologized. He told reporters he meant no offence to Ridley Thomas and would never Call anyone a a curly again. A i categorically reject racial comments a said Ridley Thomas who was elected in june and is one of three Blacks on the 15-member Council. Councilwoman Joy Picus described the remark As a put Down and said Ridley Thomas demonstrated a incredible  rare White Rhino Dies during treatment at zoo Toledo Ohio up Bernadine the Rhinoceros whose fall and injury at the Toledo zoo captured the attention of animal lovers died while zoo keepers Werg placing her Back in a Moat. Spokeswoman Betsy Warner said the 4,500-Pound animal stopped breathing at 12 34 . Tuesday. The Rhino was injured last week when she fell from a 4-foot Wall. Zoo curators had taken Bernadine out of the therapeutic warm water of a makeshift Moat sunday to make adjustments to her Sling which was used to suspend her in the water and take the weight off her feet. On monday she rested on foam pads. A your vets feel we would have lost her sooner if we were unable to put her in water. The water therapy was the Best thing for her a Warner said. The White Rhinoceros was one of three at the zoo and was among an estimated 3,000 of the endangered species worldwide Warner said. During the weekend two chiropractors made adjustments to the Rhino s lower Back where they believed she injured her spine. One of the chiropractors Daphine Moree of Sand Lake mich., said last week that making adjustments on a Rhino differed Little from her work on farm animals that suffered spinal injuries. Warner said the body would be examined to learn More about the rhinos death. She said stress caused by the injury and the ensuing attention were Likely contributing factors. The Rhino was 22 years old and had been in Captivity since 1971. A Rhino s life expectancy is in the 30s, zoo officials said. Two other rhinos at the zoo a male and a female Are both in their 20s, Warner said