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Mohawk language Akwesasne girl's book to be published. Page 6 •can The Hometown Newspaper of Hi Clinton, Essex, Franklin Counties Vol.103 - No. 129 ©C3o P yri^iti995,PreM-RepubUcan Plattsburah, NY 12901 , .Saturday, December 30,1995 Suggested Price: 50 c 24 Pages •i 'I want to make people aware of the dangers' Victim's dad touts detectors By MARY THILL Stoff Writer Scro-Placld Bureau SARANAC LAKE - After Paul Schlitt died in a fire early Halloween morning, Aubuchon Hardware and Ames both reported a sharp jump in smoke-deteqtor sales. \I want to keep that going. I don't want it to stop,\ Paul's father, Robert Schlitt, said Friday. The 16-year-old conservation student, who believed in protecting the environment and reintroducing the wolf to the Adiron- dacks, would probably be alive today if there had been a smoke detector in the apartment, Schlitt says. It took the death of a young man to im- press the importance of smoke detectors — and the responsibility of landlords to pro- vide them — up.on this village of 5,500. Campaigning for safety To help himself deal with the loss of his son, Schlitt is; creating a foundation in his mertlory to promote fire-safety inspections in all rental dwellings. \I want to make people aware of the dangers,\ Schlitt said. \It'll save others from going through what I'm going through and what his mother's going through.\ He also; plans to give free smoke detec- tors to anyone who doesn't have one, \even if he's a millionaire.\ And he wants to talk to children and civic groups about the price he paid for lack of a simple, $9 device. Didn't push for detector \My son and I wefe pretty close. We talked all the time. We talked about the fact that there were no smoke detectors in the house,\ he said. \The law said the landlord is supposed to take care of it, and he didn't.\ But like a lot of tenants, the Schlitts never pressed their landlord, Ed Dukett, to install one. And after the fire, Schlitt stayed with a friend for a month in a rented apartment that didn't have a smoke detector, either. Schlitt made his friend call the landlord • '':'•. '\••••/ • . . • Photo Provided Paul Schlitt (left), who died in a fire' Oct. 31, in happier times. Here he jokes with his sister, Yvonne, 19, in a family photo. idlord, still hadn't fflhSfiii&SSito call and request one. A month later, th.e;,;l installed it, and the' tel again. \He was afraid of making waves or hur- ting someone's feelings or something,\ Schlitt said. \If people don't want to con- tact the landlord and make their place safe, I'll give them a smoke detector.\ Fire spread quickly The Oct. 31 fire at 10 Depot St. was caused by an electrical malfunction in the living-room wall on the second floor. Flame caught the knotty-pine paneling and spread rapidly through, the house. Paul was believed to have been awaken- ed from his sleep in a third-floor bedroom, and then smoke overcame him; Schlitt was at work at the Federal Cor- rectional Institution in Ray Brook at the time. Paul's sister, Yvonne, was at St. Lawrence University, and his mother. Dianna, was living in Lake Placid. \I don't blame him (the landlord) for the Continued Page 12 \ liiaff Photo Robert Schlitt: \Paul's death could have been avoided if smoke detectors had been in place.\ Iii snow, U.S. troops begin building bridge to Bosnia By TERRENCE PETTY Associated Press Writer ZUPANJA, Croatia (AP) - The bridge over the river Sava began to take shape Friday as U.S. Army helicopters and engineers battled swirling snow to position pontoons that will convey most of the 20,000 GIs into Bosnia. After days of flooding and othei: delays, Maj. Gen. William Nash, the troops' commander, promised that soldiers and hardware would Jae rolling over the floating bridge within 24 hours. \We gotta make it happen,\ barked Nash. Dressed in battle fatigues, chomping on a cigar, he stood on the wreckage of a war- ruined bridge that the floating span will replace. Once placed in the swollen Sava River, the 20-foot-long alu- minum pontoons were anchored to the banks for, the night. Troops planned to push them across the river Saturday and link them Continued Page. 12 AP Photo A Bosnian man helps U.S. soldiers push a HUMVEE out of the ditch on an ic WEATHER Clouds will mix with some sun. High 30 to 35. South wind around 10 mph. SNDEX Business News 1. 6,9 Ann Landers 18 Classified /. ...19-24 Family A Comics., /. 18 Religion J Editorial 4 Public Record .....19 jrjtertdinment..,; • 1° Sports Hbroscope 18 Weather..^. ..... N.Y. Pick N.w * 182. Tick 4': 5383. toki 5:4,9,25,27, Hi .17,20,22,25», 33,39,43;47,48,49, 54,59,63,74 78,79. d: tick 3': 005. Pfek 4': 5262. Political revolution quiets down WASHINGTON; ^ • Itt the fall, the end seemed neat; foe the fed- erM safety net iftlaiayV !4^p^th Country milk producer^; ?l|alfe relied on for 60 years. ••/ Like much of the conservative Republican agenda this year, the idea was so radical it could be : called revolutionary. Eliminate regional price .'pro- tections tot- milk and,: csndb gov- errihient dairy ^ttba]dies,.4 The debate 1 was tfM^^^Mlj^mg Republican yst v^t^6W ^^Mlj^ ublican; •'•,, Rep. John McHuflh Rep. Gerald Solomon blast of trumpets and talk of rev- olution got bogged down in the predictable politics that often precedes an election year, Presi- dent Clinton and the (JOP-con- ttfolled Congress have spent the year outfitting their troops for Continued Page 12 Both parties optimistic on budget By LARRY MARGASAK Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House and Republican leaders expressed optimism Fri- day over balanced budget negotiations, but failed to agree\ to immediately return federal employees to work and reopen the government. The GOP congressional lead- ers met with President Clinton for 3 Vs; hours at the White House and scheduled another session for Saturday, as the Republicans sounded out key committee chairman on the talks. All sides agreed not to release any details. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole called the meeting a \con- structive session.\ Presidential spokesman Mike McCurry said it ended \amicably adding that Clinton was optimistic a com- promise would be reached. But'there was a sour note for furloUghed federal workers, passport applicants and visitors to national parks and Smithso- nian museums. Parts of the gov- ernment, closed since Dec. 16, will remain so for now. Republicans tied a back-to- work plan for federal employees to their demand that a balanced budget deal be considered under an expedited Senate procedure that would allow 10 hours of debate. All amendments would have to be discussed within that limited time period. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt,. said Democrats objected to a shorten- ed debate because \I don't think we can get members to waive the Senate rules on a piece of legisla- tion we have not yet seen.\ \We ought to be able to reach some agreement on how we would be able to handle the bill,\ Dole countered in an exchange on the Senate floor. He said the issue would be discussed again Saturday when negotiations resume. Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking to reporters as the meeting began, said negotiators — in addition to sending employees back , — were trying \to find a way to possibly get everyone paid.\ Gingrich noted that the Senate last week passed a back-to-work plan sponsored by Dole, who also was at the White House meeting. It would declare all federal workers essential, and guarantee that they would be paid when ( appropriations were passed. Lawrence Haas, spokesman Continued Page 12 ^Shutdown threatens Indian funds ST. REGIS (AP) - The failure of Congress and President Clinton to reach a budget agreement is spelling trouble for the St. Regis Mohawk Nation. The tribe, which is dependent on federal money for approximately 85 percent of its operating budget, will run out of funds for certain programs on Sunday, the last day of the Mohawk government's fiscal year. \They're at odds over where to cut and we're in the middle,\ said Dean A. White, Bureau of Indian Af- fairs field, representative Cor the agency'B state office in Syracuse. Nearly $1 million in pro- grams at the tribal gov- ernment office are in danger of becoming,^un- funded burdens at the end of the year, s4id Joseph D. Gray, a tribal government ' spokesman. ! - Although the tribal gov- ernment relies heavily on federal aid, not all of the money it receives- comes from the BIA. Some of the programs are paid through other federal agencies and others are operating on money appropriated under old budgets, Gray said. But the Mohawks are not unprepared. Directors of af- fected federal programs were asked to prepare budgets cut by 17 percent over this year's plan. Each director decided where to make the cuts and'none in- cludes layoffs, he said. The St. Begit Mohawk Tribal Policy which has been expanding to include more officers a%d a detec- tive unit, ;woulav lose tfce most. Nonerttf the«$2W) ? 000 the department, iseic^iyed last year will be coxSc^g on Jan. 1 unless the Prispent and Congress make a %al, temporary or otherwise. \ Officials are hoping Con- gress wilt agree to a com- promise that includes cuts that are not as drastic as the proposed 30 percent. Some hospitals still struggle By KENNETH LOVETT Ottaway News Service ALBANY - Faced with greater competition in medical services and cuts in government funding, two out of five North Country hospitals lost money last year. Moses-Ludington Hospital in Ticonderoga bled the most, and according to officials at the facili- ty, the bleeding continued in 1995. According to the state's annual report on hospital finances, Moses-Ludington lost about $1.1 million 1994. Hospital ad- \ ministrators say that the hospi- tal expects to lose another mil- lion or so in 1995. The result may be layoffs for the First time in several years, said Moses-Ludington Hospital Administrator H. Rudolph Wirth. The hospital, with a budget of about $7 million, currently has 165 full-time positions. \The future is very dim for health care in the state of New York,\ said Wirth. \We're en- dangered, as many of the hospi : tals in New York are.\ Despite financial problems dating back several years, Moses-Ludington actually managed a $1.3 million surplus in 1993, before the $2.3 million turnaround in 1994. That's because the hospital received several state grants that were not renewed this year. Wirth and hospital officials have argued for years that the Medicaid and Medicare rates paid to hospitals by the state and federal governments are not enough to cover the actual costs of services. The hospital over the last sev- eral years has tried to drum up more business by going after private patients and hiring surgeons and local doctors so pa- tients don't have to go to other area hospitals. Currently, there are no talks about closing the facility or merging it with another area hospital, Wirth said. Among other North Country hospitals: Continued Page 12 .1.1
