European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 25, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes . Sunday july 25,1993 budget conferees to study i 9-cent increase in Gas tax Washington apr Senate bar gainers trying to write a Compromise Bill on deficit reduction say they will consider a House offer to boost the gasoline tax by 9 cents a gallon. The House ways and Means committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski d-ill., made the offer Friday in of feet jettisoning the Broad Energy tax proposed by president Clinton that the House approved in May. A that will be subject to some discussion of course a said Senate majority Leader George Mitchell a Maine of the House proposal. The Senate adopted a 4.3-cent increase in the Gaso Tine Levy As part of its budget cutting Bill in june. The shape and size of the Energy tax is one of the chief unresolved issues As bar gainers from the two Chambers race to reach a Compromise plan by thursday. Democrats want Congress to move the measure to Clinton a desk by Early August when they begin their summer break. Rostenkowski also offered to reduce the $28 billion increase the House proposed in the tax credit for Low income workers and to limit to $20,000 the Money Small companies May write off each year for equipment purchases. Such businesses can currently write off $10,000/go Well my Friend emotional Clinton says at packed rites by  times Little Rock Arlu president Clinton came Home Friday to Bury a boyhood Friend and the mystery surrounding his apparent suicide. Speaking in a Cathedral packed with the states political and Legal elite the president described Vincent w. Foster jr., the Deputy White House counsel As a lifelong protector whose failure to protect himself is beyond human understanding. A we could never remember a time when he Ever asked us to protect him a it was always the other Way around a Clinton said. A if there is a sadness to the Day of tribute he said it is that a sometimes Vince ignored his own  Foster 48, was found dead tuesday night in a Northern Virginia Park after apparently putting the barrel of a gun inside his Mouth and pulling the trigger. He was a childhood Friend of the presidents and a longtime confidant and Law partner of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton s. There is no known motive for the apparent suicide. Clinton spoke at the service in Little Rock then travelled 10s Miles Southwest for the burial in Hope Ark., where he and Foster As children had shared neighbouring Back Yards. He was joined by the first lady Ana their daughter Chelsea. The 4s0 seats at St. Andrewes Cathedral were filled to overflowing and scores of Fosters friends and acquaintances were turned away milling about on sidewalks As temperatures climbed to 100 degrees. At the service Clinton spoke in a Raspy emotional voice and described four decades of Friendship that began in part with a game of throwing knives at the ground. A the knives did t stick but the Friendship did a he said. A year. The House had voted to boost that amount to $25,000, while the Senate approved a level of $20,500. Tie proposal is expected to be considered tuesday the next time the full complement of House Senate negotiators plans a formal meeting. The plan was discussed Friday at a 90-minute, closed door session involving Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen White House budget director Leone Panetta and House and Senate leaders. Under the House offer the current 14.1 cent per gallon Federal gasoline tax would Rise 6 cents oct. 1. It would go up another Penny in october 1995, another Penny in october 1996 Ana still another Penny a to the full 9-cent increase a in october 1997. Over the next five years the House proposed Levy would bring the government about $4u billion. The lower Senate approved tax would raise. $23 billion while the much broader tax the House adopted would raise $72 billion. The tax is an important part of a plan Clinton says would trim $500 billion from budget shortfalls Over the next five years. The package relies mostly on higher taxes on the wealthy and businesses and on cuts in medicare and defense. President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clin ton leave a funeral service for Vincent w. Foster or held Friday in Little Rock Ark. Drought takes toll on crops in South Columbia . Apr As one hot Day Day follows another this summer Southern growers Are watching everything from tobacco to peaches Wilt in the Fields and they Are taking a beating at the Market for it. A a it a the worst year in be seen in a Long time Quot said Junior Zimmerman who was trying with Little Success to sell baskets of Bell banana and Jalapeno peppers at the state Farmers Market on Friday. Growers of melons Beans peppers Corn soybeans tobacco and other produce also Are in trouble and Dairy Farmers Are running Low on Hay. On Virginia a Eastern Shore stunted vegetable growth has Farmers expecting to Harvest about two thirds of what they normally pick said Toni Radler a Virginia agriculture department spokeswoman. But shoppers probably will see Little change at the supermarket Cash Register. That is because the drought appears Only to be badly hurting a few states from Vir Ginia to Georgia and stores Stock produce from across the country said Bob Rogers assistant commissioner for marketing at the South Carolina agriculture department. Among the hardest hit states is South Carolina where gov. Carrol a. Campbell asked Federal officials earlier last week to Issue an agricultural disaster declaration. Crops have sustained an estimated $200 million in damage and the state has received Only about 40 percent of its Normal rainfall since june. Also hurting South Carolinas Melon growers this year was unexpected Competition from Florida a condition also brought about by weather. Florida had a late Frost forcing Melon growers to Plant late. The result is that Melon crops from both states Are hitting the Market about the same time holding prices  of Navy a-6 plane kills two near w. Virginia from wire reports paint Bank a. A a Navy a-6 intruder attack aircraft crashed Friday on a Mountain near West Virginia killing the Pilot and a co Pilot authorities said. The Jet was with an attack Squadron flying a routine training Mission from Nas Oceana in Virginia Beach it. Kevin Wensing said. Hie crash occurred about 11 30 . In the shavers run wilderness area of Craig county. Twenty eight firefighters worked to contain a 10-acre fire ignited by the crash said a spokesman for Jefferson National Forest where the plane crashed. The Navy was investigating and said it would release the names of the victims after their families were  lottery Cash for sex wife Annapolis my. A a Man who won a $1.1 million lottery Jackpot not Long after his wife filed for divorce does not have to share it with her Maryland a highest court said Friday. The 6-1 ruling by the state court of appeals overturned a circuit court order that Herman Alston Divide the Money with his former wife Viola. Alston receives $44,000.a year after taxes in lottery payments. Viola Alston was a clerk with the Federal government and her husband was a prison guard with the District of Columbia when she filed for divorce in 1987, two years after the couple separated. She did not seek Alimony or a share of marital property in her original divorce petition. When Alston won the District of Columbia lottery less than 30 Days later she refiled and demanded Alimony. It the divorce was granted without Alimony in 1989.thief took hot wings to go Greer . A a burglar with a hankering for a spicy late night snack broke into a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant fired up the deep flyer and whipped up a Batch of hot wings. A utne Guy just wanted hot wings a detective Greg Parris said a the had one Type of cuisine in mind and he followed through with that although the thief cooked and took most of a 40-count bag of the spicy Chicken wings there were no Bones a or Clear fingerprints a left behind Parris said. Nothing else was missing in the after hours theft discovered wednesday  missiles prompt Alert Martinez Calif. A hurled potatoes Are an unlikely source of concern for most people but police say a new fad potato guns can fire a Spud 1,000 feet per second and Are nearly As dangerous As real firearms. During a test Martinez police officer Mike Marchiano shattered a Windshield and dented a car taking the paint off a door. A if it hit someone on the head it would break their Skull Quot he said. A if it hit someone aver their heart it would crush the tissue. It would be like taking a sledgehammer to  the guns have shown up in a few California towns. Carrying them is a felony in Martinez though no one has been arrested Marchiano said. Last weekend a group of adults was seen playing with one in a bar parking lot. A few teen agers also have been seen with a gun he said. To fire a Spud gun a potato is put in a pipe 28 inches to s feet Long and a flammable substance on one end is  sued for ruined trip Pittsburgh a a Pittsburgh family has sued Walt Disney world alleging its vacation was ruined when bad cheeseburgers made the four of them sick. George and Diann Solomon and their children Nicole and Mark Are seeking More than $50,000 in the suit filed wednesday in . District court the suit contends the family became ill for four Days in May 1992 after eating cheeseburgers served at Disney worlds grand floridian Beach resort the family claims Disney world refused to pay the $174 Hospital Bill although the resort did pay for prescriptions gatorade and pesto Bis Mol and sent fruit juices crackers and a Minnie mouse doll to Nicole. O