What's Happening in San Jose Vietnamese Community & Interested News:

Oct. 28, 1999: Census drive for Hispanics to stress community good. Ads across U.S. will be aimed at encouraging them to be counted. One in 20 Hispanics were missed in 1990. For Census 2000 to be successful, that has to change, said officials who unveiled the ad campaign Wednesday. How $185 billion in public money is spent each year is determined by census-based formulas. An undercount in one community means money that should go there might go elsewhere. Particularly in the Hispanic community there's a built-in fear that filing the form could lead to a visit from a federal agent questioning the resident's immigration status.

Citizen or not, Uncle Sam wants to count you. If you're not going to do it for yourself, do it for your children and grandchildren, says Fernando Fernandez of the Bravo Group, the agency that created the Hispanic media campaign. One ad designed to motivate people to fill out the census form takes place in a hospital nursery. For every 1 percent of the population that does not mail in the form, it costs $25 million for an army of census takers to go door to door and track people down. So to minimize that expense, the Census Bureau will be fighting this war on several fronts. Full story OC Register.

ILLegal immigrants given job protections. Critics contend laws encourage wrongful entry into the U.S. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has announced that it will extend broad anti-discrimination rights to illegal immigrants for the first time, a policy that some critics said could be hard to enforce and others contended would encourage illegal immigration. The EEOC said Tuesday that illegal immigrants who are dismissed or discriminated against because of their race, sex, age or religion should enjoy the same remedies as legal workers -- back pay, punitive damages and even reinstatement, but reinstatement coming only if they have first obtained legal work papers.

The new policy faces several enforcement problems, among them that illegal immigrants might be too scared to file discrimination complaints with the EEOC and are likely to have difficulty obtaining official work documents. The EEOC said it issued the new policy because it wanted to ensure that employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants were not free to discriminate against them without facing any penalties. The AFL-CIO, which endorsed Gore two weeks ago, has pushed hard for the EEOC to adopt this policy, arguing that failure to enforce discrimination laws for illegal immigrants encouraged employers to hire them and undercut workplace conditions for all workers. Full story SJMN.

Oct. 21, 1999: Seniors stuck for six hours on OCTA bus. SOCIAL ISSUES: The county transit agency says it is trying to correct such problems. Seven frail elderly people were stuck on a county bus for six hours Tuesday as the driver roamed south county looking for an address that doesn't exist. Several seniors wet themselves, threw up and complained of back pain from being confined for so long, said Bill White, program director at Leo Fessenden Adult Day Health Care Center in San Clemente, where the seniors are patients. One woman managed to get the driver to stop at a bank, where she used a rest room to relieve herself. "It's terrible, the abuse these people are suffering," White said. "It's just incredible." The seniors were riding an Access bus, the Orange County Transportation Authority's door-to-door service for people with disabilities who can't use regular buses.

"The incident looks to certainly be an error on our part," said OCTA spokesman John Standiford. "It looks like we had the person's address wrong, and this person was older and couldn't communicate well where he lived." But this isn't the first problem. Earlier this year, an elderly man was on a bus for about four hours and needed to urinate, White said. The driver wouldn't stop and made the elderly man urinate in a tin can. This summer, an Alzheimer's patient arrived home with a bloody nose. When the patient's daughter asked the driver what happened, the driver became defensive and threatened her, White said. Full story OC. Register.

Oct. 20, 1999: Encyclopedia's Web site jammed. CHICAGO (AP) -- Worldwide visitors swamped Encyclopaedia Britannica's Web site on the first day the reference was made available for free, leaving the site still blocked today for most users. The retooled site, www.britannica.com, received millions of hits Tuesday after the Chicago-based publisher said it was putting all 32 volumes and 44 million words on the Internet, gratis. The site also includes daily news and links to related sites. ``We're a victim of our own success,'' said Jorge Cauz, senior vice president for sales and marketing of Britannica.com Inc. After the initial rush tied up the site, it functioned normally overnight but became clogged again early today as Americans woke up and sat down at their computers, Cauz said. Extra staff and computer hardware were being deployed and the problem was expected to be cleared up by day's end, he said. Full story SJMN.

Gas prices decline again. But survey shows cost per gallon still higher than 1998. After peaking in April, the cost of a gallon of gas has dropped for the second straight month in the Bay Area. But that gallon still costs about 30 cents more than it did last year at this time. On average, Bay Area motorists now pay $1.53 at the pump for a gallon of self-serve, regular unleaded gasoline, according to the California State Automobile Association, which released its October gas price survey Tuesday. That's down seven cents from $1.60 in September, and 13 cents from $1.66 in August. But it's still more than the $1.23 drivers were shelling out in October 1998, the survey shows. While prices dropped in the Bay Area, they continued to climb nationally. Still, at an average of $1.29 a gallon, gas remains cheaper nationwide. Reported by SJMN.

Muslim leader is first elected president of Indonesia. JAKARTA -- Abdurrahman Wahid was elected today as Indonesia's new president, inheriting the daunting tasks of restoring national unity and leading the world's fourth-biggest country out of its worst economic crisis in a generation. Key remaining questions include how people in a country prone to street violence will react to the decision; who will be vice president, a position that is expected to be filled Thursday in another assembly election; and how the ruling Golkar Party will accept going into opposition for the first time. It was the first free and contested election for a head of state in Indonesia's 54 years of independence. There never has been more than one candidate in past presidential ballots.

B.J. Habibie was appointed, not elected, in May 1998 when President Suharto stepped down after more than three decades of iron-fisted rule amid bloody riots and pro-democracy protests. For decades, the assembly has been largely a rubber-stamp operation, playing its role in well-orchestrated elections and legislative actions but unable to show independence. Also today, the MPR agreed to ratify the independence vote in East Timor. The former Portuguese colony, which was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed the following year, voted overwhelmingly Aug. 30 to break away from Indonesian rule.Full story SJMN.

Dole quits presidential race citing lack of funds. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Elizabeth Dole, who had hoped to make history as the nation's first female president, dropped out of the rapidly shrinking Republican presidential race today. She said a lack of money doomed her spirited candidacy. ``The bottom line is money,'' she said. ``It would be futile to continue.'' Her departure leaves front-runner George W. Bush, Arizona Sen. John McCain and conservative millionaire Steve Forbes in the top tier of the GOP field -- a trio of candidates likely to carry their fight well into the primary season. She is the fifth GOP candidate to drop out this year.Full story SJMN.

Oct., 18. 1999: Rock-N-Vote drums up Vietnamese voters. POLITICS: Voter-registration event at UCI attracts 5,000. More than 1,000 of the 5,000 people who attended the daylong gig signed up with political parties inside the University of California, Irvine, arena. That's in addition to the nearly 600 people who have filled out registration cards since the campaign began weeks ago. Rock-N-Vote's lure? More than 180 big-name performers in the largest gathering of Vietnamese entertainers outside of Vietnam. Their star power helped spread the message: Your vote is your voice. Polls show that only 3 percent of youths ages 18 to 25 voted in the last national election. Full story OC. Register.

A Vote for Involvement. After two months and the distribution of 18,000 voter registration kits, a drive to increase the political power of the Southern California's Vietnamese American community ended Sunday with a final push to register voters during a free concert celebration at UC Irvine's Bren Events Center.  Featuring nearly 150 entertainers, the daylong event, dubbed Rock-N-Vote, drew about 4,500 people--from senior citizens to small children--with a blend of traditional Vietnamese music and old-time rock 'n' roll.  Seventeen-year-old Khiem Nguyen is not yet old enough to vote. But as president of the Vietnamese Club at Western High School in Anaheim, she said the campaign could be an important factor in shaping her community's future. The campaign, centered in Little Saigon and heavily promoted in the Vietnamese-language media, began in late August with the distribution of voter registration papers at local businesses.

Daniel Do-Chanh, a Garden Grove attorney and one of the key organizers of the drive, said that an additional 3,000 voter registration packets were handed out at the show and that 1,000 completed forms were turned in on the spot. But, Do-Chanh said, Sunday's focus was not really on numbers. "Our main goal was to get people to think about registering and voting," he said.  Orange County's Vietnamese American community is the largest in the country, with an estimated 200,000 Vietnamese immigrants. While about half are citizens, organizers said, only 35,000 are registered to vote. Tran Nguyen of Irvine, a local activist who left Vietnam for the United States 30 years ago, said he feels that until now, Vietnamese organizations have not been taken seriously. The drive was important, Nguyen said, "because without an organized voting block, the needs of the Vietnamese community might not be served properly." Indeed, the event did draw attention from several local politicians. Officials including Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Buena Park), state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana), and U.S. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) were on hand to court the newest voters. Full story LA. Times.

Viet-U.S. trade pact appears to be dead. Officials are mystified by Hanoi's about-face. ``We simply have no idea what's going on,'' said a source close to the negotiations. ``We all thought it was a `go.' Everybody is mystified, and frustrated. Now, who knows when it will be signed? Or even if it will be signed.'' One U.S. official said American negotiators will ``absolutely not'' go back to the table if the Vietnamese want to reopen talks or ask for new concessions. Vietnamese officials declined to comment on the treaty. But sometime Sept. 11 -- the 11th hour as these things go -- the Vietnamese called and said that they weren't ready to go ahead, that they needed more time to study the provisions of the deal they had already initialed. The move was all the more curious because Clinton and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai apparently had hit it off during the summit. Two-way trade between the countries is only about  $1 billion a year, although U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson has called the agreement ``incredibly important.'' ``Clearly the tilt is in the conservatives' favor. Even though there are a few reformers, they're young and don't have too much political capital.'' Full story SJMN.

Oct. 16, 1999: VIETNAM NOTEBOOK. Hanoi's day-off law is expected to create jobs. A new government decree mandates that workers in all government agencies and Communist Party offices now will be off on Saturdays, thus reducing their normal workweek from 48 hours to 40. Their salaries, by law, will remain the same. The decree gives private businesses the option of giving their employees a two-day weekend. One Western economist said the government's new plan was a thinly disguised scheme to create more jobs in an economy that adds about 1.3 million young people to its workforce each year. He expects the plan to conjure up some 240,000 new positions. Streets were relatively busy in Hanoi, but merchants saw no marked increase in sales. Recreation centers were less crowded and traffic moved smoothly.

In Ho Chi Minh City, supermarkets were jammed -- hardly a surprise in Vietnam's most densely populated city -- and tours to the Phan Thiet and Vung Tau resort areas were busier than normal. Figures from the national census, which was conducted in April, put the official population of Vietnam at 76,324,755. The new total also falls far short of the estimate of 78.7 million made by United Nations population experts. Nationwide, the population is 50.8 percent female and 49.2 percent male. Almost 18 million people (23.5 percent) live in urban areas, while more than 58 million (76.5 percent) are classified as rural. There are 3,695 people over 100 years old -- at least  there were as the Mercury News went to press -- and 17 people are between 120 and 130.

Rules limit judges' contact with those involved in cases The Ministry of Justice has drafted the first-ever set of regulations governing the conduct of judges. One of the most dramatic changes is a prohibition against judges meeting with defendants, plaintiffs or their attorneys ``at home or in restaurants.'' Also newly prohibited: shopping trips and business deals with anyone involved in a court case, including plaintiffs and defendants. About 15 million workers -- half the rural workforce -- are either unemployed or underemployed, according to statistics from the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture. The government's Central Mental Institution says up to 20 percent of Vietnamese are suffering from some sort of psychological disorder. Full story SJMN.

Oct. 15, 1999: Pakistani Army Tightens Grip. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 15 (Friday)-Pakistan's armed forces chief declared a state of emergency today, suspending parliament and the constitution and naming himself the country's chief executive as the military formalized its control over Pakistan two days after it overthrew the democratically elected government. "The whole of Pakistan will come under the control of the armed forces of Pakistan," Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, the army chief of staff, declared in a written statement. The military's announcement seemed likely to provoke strong international condemnation and further isolate Pakistan, an impoverished nation that depends largely on Western aid and loans. U.S. officials said Milam was to meet with Musharraf later today, the first contact between the administration and the military leadership since Tuesday's bloodless takeover.

Administration officials had studiously avoided describing the army move as a "coup"-a legal designation that requires the cutoff of economic aid under legislation aimed at discouraging military leaders from toppling democratic governments. But a senior administration official said that as a result of this morning's army statement, the United States was now "regarding it as a military takeover." As a result, the official said, "we are going to invoke" the legal requirements to cut off remaining foreign assistance to Pakistan. In practice there is little U.S. aid to suspend: Washington has already severed most economic and military ties with Pakistan as a consequence of the country's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The 1 a.m. statement issued by Musharraf set no time limit for the state of emergency. It said that all government officials would "cease to hold office." The National Assembly and all provincial legislatures were suspended and provincial governments and governors were dismissed. The statement said the Supreme Court and other courts would continue to function as long as they do not contradict military orders. The statement said that President Rafiq Tarar, who holds a largely ceremonial post, will remain in office but will act "in accordance with the advice" of Musharraf, effectively becoming a subordinate of the general. Full story Newsweek.

Oct. 14, 1999: AEA seeks role in probe. Task force: Industry group asks to join inquiry into piecework practices of area firms, including group members. Representatives of the American Electronics Association, made up of the most powerful high-tech companies in Silicon Valley, are pressing to get a seat on the state and federal task force that is investigating the practice of paying workers by the piece to assemble electronic components at home. The state Senate Industrial Relations Committee, which oversees policy issues covering work place conditions and labor practices, plans to hold hearing in early December in San Jose to investigate issues surrounding piecework. The Mercury News series last June found at least a dozen Silicon Valley contract manufacturers, which make products for such well-known leaders as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc., involved in piecework arrangements within the last year. Many workers, often from the Vietnamese emigre community, have barely earned the equivalent of the $5.75-per-hour state minimum wage and none has received the overtime to which they may be entitled by state and federal labor laws. Some companies, such as Atmel Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc., that hire contract manufacturers have paid assemblers directly to build components at home for testing equipment used internally. Full story SJMN.

Canadian wins Nobel Prize for economics. STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Robert A. Mundell of Columbia University, whose theories helped create a common currency for the European Union, won the Nobel Prize for economic sciences today for his analysis of exchange rates and how they affect monetary policies. The Canadian-born economist's work has made contributions far outside esoteric academic circles by clarifying how exchange rates fluctuate when a government shifts from a flexible to a fixed monetary policy. Mundell's most important work was done in the 1960s, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. He served in the research department of the International Monetary Fund from 1961 to 1963, and published a pioneering article in 1963 on the short-term effects of monetary and fiscal policy in an open economy, the citation said. ``His work on monetary dynamics and optimum currency areas has inspired generations of researchers. Mundell's contributions remain outstanding and constitute the core of teaching in international macroeconomics,'' the academy said. Full story SJMN.

Coup Leaders Proceed With Caution. A day after they overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and placed him and his top aides under house arrest, Pakistan's military leaders searched today for a way to form a new government that would not be seen as unconstitutional. Top military officials met with senior civilian politicians and legal experts--including the head of the Supreme Court and the president, whose post is largely ceremonial--but by late tonight they had made no new announcements and gave no indication of what they may be planning. The International Monetary Fund said it will suspend a $1.5 billion loan for Pakistan and would provide no new aid until democracy is restored. The European Union announced it would not sign a cooperative accord with the country and threatened to sever ties if a civilian government is not reestablished. Pakistan is deeply in debt and heavily dependent on Western loans for economic survival.

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright said the coup made it "difficult to carry on business as usual" with the longtime U.S. ally. "We expect them to return to democratic rule and want to hear what their plans are," Albright said at the University of Maine. Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who began a new term in office today, expressed concern about the takeover but said he sees no immediate cause for alarm. "We remain committed to developing friendly and cooperative ties with Pakistan based on mutual trust and confidence, for which the government of Pakistan needs to create the right environment," Vajpayee said, according to news services.

One possibility would be to form an interim civilian-led government; another would be to hold new elections. However, it was unclear whether military officials would be able to reach agreement with key civilian leaders, including members of the National Assembly and the Supreme Court. The National Assembly is scheduled to meet Thursday, and military officials were said to be hoping to preempt the legislature from passing a resolution condemning the takeover. A second key meeting, between a senior military commander and Supreme Court Chief Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqi, apparently made no headway toward a constitutional solution, official sources said. Military authorities reportedly contacted Siddiqi before Musharraf announced the coup. Some leading dissidents in the party, however, reportedly have been included in meetings with military officials, along with leaders of opposition parties and other groups. "For the last 10 years the army has not interfered in democracy, but Nawaz has interfered so many times  with the army, and they are angry. A general should be treated with respect," said Ashezai Khan, 55, a corporate personnel officer. "This is not good for the country, but I do not believe they will bring martial law. I hope Musharraf will try to settle things in a constitutional way." Full story Washington Post.

Oct. 13, 1999: Apparent coup in Pakistan; army announces it has taken control. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- In an apparent coup, Pakistani troops took over state-run media today, closed airports and announced the democratically elected government had been removed after the prime minister tried to fire the powerful army chief. A message that scrolled across the television screen said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government had been ousted. It said army chief of staff Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, who had been fired hours before by Sharif, would address the nation in a broadcast speech. Troops cordoned off the prime minister in his residence in Islamabad, took over the houses of several other top ministers and seized other government buildings. Sharif fired Musharraf while the military leader was on a visit to Sri Lanka. Musharraf flew back to Pakistan and was met by a large contingent of soldiers at the airport in the southern city of Karachi. Full story SJMN.

Oct. 11, 1999: COUNTYWIDE MINORITY MAJORITY NEARS. Many Orange County cities are catching up with Garden Grove. Santa Ana, Stanton and La Palma already are minority-majority, and others are not far behind, according to estimates from the Center for Demographic Research at California State University, Fullerton. Anaheim, for example, has an equal percentage of whites and minorities, while Westminster, La Habra and Tustin are 51 percent, 55 percent and 59 percent white respectively. Orange County grew by 311,000 people this decade, virtually all of them Hispanic or Asian, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released in September. Whites are still a majority among Orange County's 2.7 million people, but that majority has declined from 64 percent in 1990 to about 57 percent in 1998. The county now has more than 1.1 million Hispanic and Asian residents, and demographers predict that by 2005 the county will have a minority majority. Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Seal Beach are about 90 percent white. Full Story OC. Register.

First one outside of Vietnam. WESTMINSTER (AP) S. Viet vets cemetery dedicated. About 150 people gathered at Westminster Memorial Park on Saturday to dedicate the first cemetery for South Vietnamese veterans outside of Vietnam. ``The dead have one wish -- to be remembered by the living,'' Gen. Dang Cao Thang said. ``It's especially true for us soldiers. If our valor, our sacrifices are forgotten, we will die a second time.'' When the dedication was over, three graves were dug, for two lieutenants and a captain's wife. Since 1975, more than 8,000 South Vietnamese servicemen have settled in Southern California. They had no military burial grounds -- until now. Last year, the Coalition of Veteran Associations of the Republic of Vietnam in Southern California was formed, and plans for a cemetery became a priority. ``We fought battles together; we should die in peace together,'' said Dang Thanh Long, who oversaw the project. The coalition borrowed money and bought enough land for 300 graves. More land is available if they need it. About 170 graves have been sold. Full Story SJMN.

Oct. 7, 1999: Tet festival stirs discord. Merger questioned: An attempt to unify the event leads to dissension. San Jose's Tet festival was supposed to be different in the new millennium. To ring in the Year of the Dragon and to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam, organizers of two competing Tet festivals decided in late August to merge. According to the plan, the 17-year-old Tet Festival -- held at the beginning of each lunar new year at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds -- no longer would have to compete for celebrants with the younger Spring Festival. Although the exhibition space at the fairgrounds would be expanded, the downtown parade and cultural performances formerly organized by the Spring Festival would continue. One group, the Committee Representing the Vietnamese Community of Northern California, is talking about forming its own festival for those who don't want anything to do with the fairgrounds event, which they feel is too commercialized. Full story SJMN.

Oct. 6, 1999: China's Control of Panama Canal Feared. Politics: Group asks for congressional inquiry. Clinton administration says worries are unfounded. Americans will not stand for Chinese control of the Panama Canal, a group that includes retired military officers said today. Dumping a 4-foot-high pile of 250,000 petitions near the Capitol Building, the group opposed to a Hong Kong business' lease on canal ports appealed to Congress to ensure the canal stays open to U.S. shipping. Under a 1977 agreement, the last U.S. forces are pulling out of Panama on Dec. 31, turning over the canal to Panama. The petitions call upon Congress to investigate claims that the Clinton administration has allowed China to become the canal's "gatekeeper" after U.S. forces leave.  "We built it, we paid for it, we use it," said retired Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs. "We want to make sure the Chinese communists don't gain control of it." Moorer spoke at a news conference on the Capitol lawn with other members of the National Security Center and several members of Congress concerned about the canal's future. The center, which includes 80 retired military officers on its advisory board, has been stirring concern about U.S. turnover of the canal to Panama.  Panamanian officials have also dismissed fears that the 20-year arrangement with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. will give China control over the waterway. The company will manage access to ports at the Pacific and Atlantic entrances to the canal.Full story LA Times.

Oct 5, 1999: Warning by INS pays off: No rush. Expiring green cards don't swell office lines. Of the 1,000 people who stepped up to the information windows at the San Jose office, only about 60 needed new green cards, said Kathy Redman, acting benefits director. Cards began expiring Friday, a decade after the INS started putting expiration dates on the documents. But INS officials emphasize that there is no penalty for late renewals and that temporary documents will be issued immediately. Most important: Having an expired card does not make you an illegal U.S. resident and will not prevent you from returning to the United States if you travel, officials say. When the year began, the wait in San Jose to become a citizen was nearly three years. Now it's down to about a year and a half, Redman said. She said the office met its goal of swearing in more than 38,000 new citizens in the fiscal year that ended last Thursday -- more than 20,000 in the last four months alone. Full story SJMN.

Oct. 3, 1999: Viet fishermen battle discrimination by U.S. crews. With seven years of experience on a U.S. fishing trawler, Pham Thanh Liem was used to the hard work at sea. But when he started working on the Ocean Rover for American Seafood at the beginning of 1996, he endured another misery: the white crew's discrimination against fishermen of Vietnamese descent. Liem and other Vietnamese workers were constantly harassed. They perform the basest tasks without chances for advancement or raises. They were assigned bunks at the bow, where it was most difficult to sleep. Their white foreman even cursed them with the few Vietnamese obscenities he had picked up. Then in February 1998, an incident occurred that compelled them to speak out. A virulent flu had spread on the boat, ailing many crew members. While the white crew members were allowed to rest, the Vietnamese fishermen were forced to work as scheduled. When they couldn't work, they were fired on the spot and forced to pay for room and board until the boat docked.

Liem and 17 other Vietnamese crew members sued. On Sept. 22, after their case was picked up by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, American Seafood settled out of court and agreed to pay the men $1.25 million. Scott E. Collins, lawyer for the 18 plaintiffs, said that after legal fees, each fisherman would receive about $45,000, about two to three years' salary for the men. One Vietnamese fisherman was so seriously ill that an emergency boat was sent to pick him up for treatment, Liem said. Another employee, Tran Giau, had pneumonia but was forced to work until he lost consciousness. Those refused to work were fired on the spot, with the crew command docking $25 a day for``rent.'' ``Mr. Hyde can call it whatever he wants for insurance purposes,'' said Scott Collins, the fishermen's private attorney. ``All these claims were on the basis of discrimination practices.'' The suit is the latest of many challenges facing Vietnamese fishermen in the United States. In the 1980s, many newcomers faced racism in the South, from Mississippi to Texas, including boat burnings and other violence involving the Ku Klux Klan. In the Bay Area in the early 1990s, Vietnamese fishermen had to lobby Congress to waive a law requiring U.S. citizenship of boat owners.

The EEOC hopes its victory will encourage other Asian-Americans, especially Vietnamese-Americans, to complain when they're
faced with discrimination. ``We want to make sure that anyone suffering from discrimination to come forward,'' said Paul Igasaki, vice chairman of the EEOC. ``If you come forward and your employer retaliates, the law will protect you.'' Full story SJMN.

Oct. 2, 1999: INS rush expected as green cards expire. WASHINGTON (AP) -- About 660,000 immigrants will need to begin renewing their green cards during the next year, and advocates worry that the onslaught could overwhelm federal officials. Green cards started expiring Friday because in 1989 the INS started issuing the documents that expire after 10 years. Immigrants' permanent-resident status does not change because of the expiration, but they may have trouble getting jobs, obtaining government benefits or returning to the United States from abroad without a green card. Another concern is that 900,000 immigrants are waiting to get their first green cards. Processing time has dropped from 27 months to 12 months, agency officials said. But advocates worry that renewals will get a lower priority than first-time applicants. Full Story SJMN.

Oct. 1, 1999: Your Social Security status is in the mail. All U.S. workers to get contribution, benefits statement. Starting Friday, the Social Security Administration is mailing annual contribution and benefit statements to 125 million workers, offering help to Americans who are preparing for retirement -- and a nudge to those who aren't. Now, the personalized letters will be mailed automatically, in batches of 500,000 a day, timed so that every worker over age 25 will receive an updated one each year about three months before his or her birthday.

Congress voted in 1989 to require the mailings, which at 56 cents a letter will cost about $70 million a year. The statements have been simplified during the course of the test to a four-page format that includes: • A two-column chart showing annual earnings for each year subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes from a person's first job to 1998. These numbers are significant because the amount of future Social Security benefits depend, in part, on a person's past earnings and tax contributions. In 1998, all earnings were subject to a 1.45 percent Medicare payroll tax, and earnings up to $68,400 were subject to a 6.2 percent Social Security tax. • The total amount of taxes a person has paid into the retirement system over the years, and separately, what his or her employers have paid. Employers must match employees' Social Security and Medicare contributions. • Estimates of monthly retirement benefits assuming a person continued earning at his or her current salary level until retiring early at age 62; on time at 65, 66 or 67; or late at age 70. The age of eligibility for full Social Security benefits is scheduled to rise incrementally to 67 from 65. Those who choose to retire even later get higher monthly benefits. • Estimates of monthly disability benefits if a worker became
disabled today. • Estimates of survivor benefits a worker's family would receive if the worker died this year. Full story CNN.