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A daily dose of online news from beyond the Beltway.
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Lawmaker Wants $50M Rice, Bean Stockpile for Y2K
By Ryan Thornburg
Washingtonpost.com Staff
Friday, March 19, 1999
Even if she wanted to fly on Jan. 1, Belinda Gerry may not have time. If the worst fears of the Maine state legislator are realized – and if her plan is approved – she could be too busy handing out a $50-million stockpile of rice and beans from an abandoned armory. Perhaps the most ambitious state proposal for dealing with computers that confuse the year 2000 for 1900, Gerry's mountain of staple foods would tower 36 stories high if spread out on a football field.
"Mr. Vice President, with all due respect, you're shoveling a lot more of it right now than you ever did back then."
– RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson, on Gore's childhood farm story about how his father taught him to "clean out hog waste with a shovel and a hose." (The Des Moines Register,
March 19)
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• Maine Wants to Stockpile for Y2K (Wired News, March 18)
• State Y2K News (Stateline.org)
• Post Series: The Millenium Bug (washingtonpost.com)
Man Claims Looper's Lawyer Was
Looking for a Fall Guy
A former associate of Byron (Low Tax) Looper – the former Tennessee state Senate candidate accused of killing his incumbent opponent last fall – alleged in court documents that Looper's attorney tried to hire him to take responsibility for the fatal shooting.
• Man Alleges Looper's Attorney Asked Him To Be Scapegoat (The Tennessean, Nashville, March 18)
Kentucky Coalition Wants Power
To Stop Pistol-Packing Preachers
A year after the Kentucky state legislature approved a law allowing ministers to carry concealed weapons in church, the Kentucky Council of Churches is trying to get the law amended so that each church could set its own rules on clerics packing heat.
• Armed-Preacher Law to Be Revisited in 2000 (Lexington Herald-Leader, March 11)
Trademark Doesn't Protect Slogans of Iowa Politician
The former Iowa secretary of state – who didn't want his successor using his trademarked program slogans – lost a battle with the state attorney general's office last week. Chet Culver, the new secretary of state, should have no problem using slogans like "Iowa Kids Caucus" and "Generation Vote," which Paul Pate trademarked before he left office.
• Opinion Says Pate Doesn't Own Slogans (The Des Moines Register, March 12)
Ryan Thornburg can be reached at ryan.thornburg@washingtonpost.com
© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company
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