Editorials
Tuesday, October 27, 1998

Killer of abortion doctor
must be found

ONE man may have been responsible for a series of attacks on doctors who performed abortions in upstate New York and Eastern Canada since 1994, culminating in the killing Friday of Dr. Barnett Slepian in a suburb of Buffalo. That outrage took the violence to a new level and prompted demands for more police protection.

In each case, bullets were fired through windows of the physicians' homes. In the previous shootings, three Canadian doctors and one near Rochester, N.Y., were wounded by a sniper. The fifth shooting was fatal.

Melinda DuBois, director of a clinic in Buffalo, said, "The feeling is one man did the sniping. We believe this could be connected to the four other shootings." Even if this turns out to be true, the shootings could well be part of an organized campaign. There have been many other instances in which anti-abortion protesters have resorted to violence.

DuBois said Slepian had received vague threats over the years. Then in 1992 he was the target of large-scale protests by Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group. During the demonstrations he closed his office briefly, but vowed to continue performing abortions.

New York Gov. George Pataki, calling for the death penalty for the killer, said, "It's beyond a tragedy. It's really an act of terrorism and, in my mind, a cold-blooded assassination."

No reasonable person could disagree with President Clinton's statement that "the nation cannot tolerate violence directed at those providing a constitutionally protected medical service." The FBI and other federal investigative agencies have been ordered into the case. Every effort must be made to apprehend the killer.

Primakov’s power

DOUBTS about Boris Yeltsin's physical ability to perform his duties as president have been strengthened by his decision to cancel a visit to Austria on doctors' orders. Yeltsin's attempt to present himself as an active leader who is fully in command have been nullified by the latest in a long series of health-related absences from duty. Two weeks ago Yeltsin was forced to cut short a visit to Central Asia after he developed bronchitis and stumbled during a ceremony.

Although doctors say Yeltsin has shaken off his bronchitis, he has also been forced to cancel plans to go to Malaysia next month for a regional summit and his doctors are advising him to take a holiday because of exhaustion.

Meanwhile power is shifting to Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. He was designated to fill in for Yeltsin on the Vienna trip for a summit with the European Union -- an easy task for the former foreign minister.

Even though Primakov has yet to demonstrate since taking over as prime minister on Sept. 11 that he can cope with Russia's economic crisis, his stature seems to grow as Yeltsin's fades.

Liberal leader Grigory Yavlinsky said in a television interview Primakov "has become a sort of a vice president in Russia, a sort of political back-up for Boris Yeltsin. The political situation has stabilized in his presence. Today we don't fear the constitution will be violated. We have no fears that force will be used in violation of human and civil rights."

Unlike his predecessors as prime minister, Sergei Kiriyenko and Viktor Chernomyrdin, Primakov has broad support in the opposition-dominated lower house of parliament. Moreover, he is still trusted by the president. That puts him in a uniquely favorable position.

Even though Primakov's commitment to economic reform is doubtful, his political strength makes him an important asset in this period of uncertainty in Russia. Even more than reform, Russia needs stability and Primakov seems to offer that.

Japanese weddings

JAPAN's economy is ailing, but economic adversity is a relative matter. In the case of the Japanese, the deprivation is not severe -- for now, anyway. Take weddings.

A survey by Japan's largest travel agency found that many more couples are holding their weddings overseas. The good news is that Hawaii is the most popular choice.

The Japan Travel Bureau checked honeymoon bookings for October, November and December at 12 of its offices across Japan and found 387 couples planning to hold wedding ceremonies in foreign countries -- a huge increase of 65 percent over 1997. This is not a number one would expect in a country experiencing a recession.

Bookings for Hawaii are up 16.5 percent, enough to put the islands back in the top spot among the choices for foreign wedding sites. The bureau found that Hawaii accounted for 59 percent of overseas wedding bookings. Not too shabby.

The JTB said Hawaii's popularity was due to three factors: ease in obtaining bookings for airline seats, hotels and chapels; Hawaii's climate, safety and widespread understanding of the Japanese language; and discount prices for wedding groups.

This is very important business for Hawaii. Couples who get married in Hawaii are likely to come back to celebrate anniversaries. And they will spread the word to their friends, married and unmarried.

In addition, this market seems to be recession-proof. What more could you ask?

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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor