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

Jan. 31, 2000: Vietnamese Democratic Leaders Chosen as Convention Delegates Dinh Kim Le and Mai Cong, supporters of Al Gore for president, get the nod at a caucus in Orange. Two members of the Garden Grove-based Vietnamese American Phoenix Democratic Club will represent the 46th Congressional District at the Democratic National Convention this summer in Los Angeles. The club's president, Dinh Kim Le, and vice president, Mai Cong, were selected last week at a caucus in Orange for presidential candidate Al Gore. Le said that hundreds of people turned out to support Gore, while a caucus for Sen. Bill Bradley at Santa Ana College drew 27 people. Delegates from the district--which includes Santa Ana and parts of Garden Grove, Orange and Anaheim--will attend a state meeting in April to be confirmed as part of the delegation from California. Details LA. Times.

Seniors celebrated Vietnamese New Year, the year of the Dragon in San Jose. Hundreds of Vietnamese seniors enjoyed Vietnamese foods and got gifts at Vietnamese American Council at noon last Saturday while watching Vietnamese video show. Each senior also contributed extra $ 5 for the gift exchanges in addition to the normal contribution to the program luncheon. Thanks to Bon Liquors on Santa Clara street at the corner of 7th street downtown, more than a dozen of seniors came home with a bottle of white and red wine for winning at the ticket draw. Last Saturday, was also according to the Lunar is the 23rd of December and Vietnamese culture, which the God Couple of the kitchen will go back to haven to report to the havenly god of what was happening in each household. The Saturday luncheon is funded by Santa Clara county for the several years as nutrition program. Nutrition program is operated across the country by each county in each state. HVM News.

Jan. 30, 2000: Tradition and Tet. HOLIDAY: Commerce and culture combine to attract more than 30,000 to festival. WESTMINSTER — At dawn, they arose, making their way by the dozens to the dew-touched grounds of the largest Tet gathering in this country. Hundreds of merchants set up their wares: a young man displaying his compact discs, an older woman lining up jars of jasmine tea. Within hours, people packed the lot behind City Hall on Saturday — the throng growing to more than 30,000 by nightfall — celebrating at the first of two festivals for the Vietnamese New Year.

On one side: Pac Bell, GTE and its competitors pushed their long-distance plans, with specials on calls to the home country. On the other: Buddhists sermonized while Scouts — boys and girls — sold snacks and sugar-cane drinks, chatting about how they are taught to obey their elders, to appreciate sacrifices that brought them to an adopted land. "Even though we look Vietnamese on the outside, we're truly American on the inside. That's why my Dad tells me it's important to speak Vietnamese, and I'm blessed that I do," said Karen Linh Nguyen, a junior at Westminster High School. Steps away stood the Tet village, with its depiction of the north, central and south regions of Vietnam. "We go to school or go to work in American society. But times like this, I look around me and I see that part of Vietnam is here," said Robert Phu Tran of Westminster, as his Korean wife held onto their son and baby daughter. "I want my children to grow up in a melting pot." Details OC. Register.

O.C. Veterans Open Group to Vietnamese. In a potentially historic union between soldiers who fought side by side but became aloof neighbors, an Orange County Vietnam veterans group has become the first chapter in the country to offer associate membership to former South Vietnamese soldiers, local veterans disclosed Saturday. The union would be an important development in Little Saigon, home to the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside Vietnam, and comes as the community kicks off its annual Tet celebration--an often fractious time for Southern California's Vietnamese Americans. The Orange County chapter would be the first of Vietnam Veterans of America's 525 local chapters to offer "associate" membership to former South Vietnamese soldiers, said John Lynch, an intelligence officer during the war and the president of the local chapter for the last year and a half.

Tet, which commemorates the lunar new year and is the most significant holiday in many Asian cultures, observes the arrival of spring and is seen as a new beginning. Some Asians paint their homes or wash their cars to signify a cleansing.

Vietnam Veterans of America, which has a national membership of about 50,000, bills itself as the only Vietnam veterans organization that is chartered by Congress and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans. But there was already evidence that the agreement between American veterans and South Vietnamese veterans was creating its own bout of tension. Nguyen Phuong Hung, a veteran of the South Vietnamese Army, said he would withdraw his membership to the associate veterans group following last week's election of the board of directors. He said the vote was flawed and his name inexplicably dropped from consideration at the last minute. Details LA. Times.

Jan. 29, 2000: Tet Festival Fills 2 Days in Westminster. The Union of Vietnamese Student Assns. of Southern California presents its 18th annual Tet Festival to celebrate the new year today and Sunday at the Westminster Civic Center. Set in an old-style Vietnamese village, the festival offers a look at the north, central and southern regions of Vietnam, with arts, food, games and traditional music from each. The festival will include lion dancing and martial arts demonstrations. On both nights, for the first time in the festival's history, there will be fireworks displays. "We'd like to welcome in the new millennium, even though it's not the new millennium according to the lunar calendar," said Nhu-Ngoc Ong, cultural director of the festival. "We tried to bring in something special to make our festival more spectacular."  18th annual Tet Festival, Westminster Civic Center, 14100 Monroe St. today and Sunday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. $4 for adults, $2 for kids under 4 feet tall. Reported by LA. Times.

Self-Described Miser Leaves $9M. MEDFORD, Ore. — A self-described miser who drank outdated milk, lived in an unheated house and held up his secondhand pants with a bungee cord has left $9 million to social service agencies. Gordon Elwood, 79, of Medford died in October, leaving a legacy built on frugality and investments from 46 years as a self-taught TV technician. Board members of the Gordon Elwood Foundation said Thursday that $9 million of Elwood's $10 million estate will take the form of grants to agencies in southern Oregon, including the YMCA, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and nonprofit organizations that benefit cats. News of Elwood's fortune surprised people who knew him as a shabbily dressed figure pedaling a bicycle across Jackson County, collecting bottles and cans for deposits. He slept in a sleeping bag and ate free holiday meals. Details SF. Examiner.

Jan. 28, 2000: Big letdown in Little Saigon. EVENTS: Participants had invested their time and money in the Tet parade, now canceled. The Little Saigon Tet parade was canceled this week after organizers failed to post bond. On Thursday, the Vietnamese Community of Southern California, the group that failed to meet the deadline, publicly accepted some responsibility. "Partially, I'd admit that (group President Thang Ngoc Tran) doesn't have enough knowledgeable personnel," said organizer Jimmy Tong Nguyen, saying that he was summoned by Tran to deal with the city only last week. "I knew when he called me that something or someone screwed up. "In all fairness," Nguyen said, "he should take some responsibility for failure to pull off the parade." "It's a loss not only for the Vietnamese people but also for the city because it draws people ... and brings attention (to) the Little Saigon area," said Crystal Wadsworth, executive director of the Westminster Chamber of Commerce. Some say that the parade was a casualty of internal politics in the Vietnamese community, as three groups had originally vied for control. Members of the Tet Parade Foundation, which hosted the 1997 and 1998 Tet parades, said they gave up trying to work under Tran's leadership after he refused to include them in discussions or use their parade experience. Details OC. Register.

WESTMINSTER. Prominent Little Saigon developer Frank Jao on Wednesday withdrew plans for a 270-unit senior apartment complex behind Asian Village after city planners expressed concerns that it would increase traffic. About 100 residents who live near the proposed development off Bolsa Avenue gathered at Westminster City Hall on Wednesday evening to speak against the complex. They leaped for joy when it was announced the project was scrapped. Reported by LA. Times. Mr. Phat who also developed a landmark in Little Saigon called "Phuoc Loc Tho, in English as Lucky, Long live and Prosperity, where daily visited by thousands of Vietnamese locally and Vietnamese tourists from other parts of the country as well. San Pablo International Market place near San Francisco was aslo developed by his Bridgecreek company recently and in San Jose another property to be completed next year. HVM news.

U.S.-Vietnam trade deal has problems. Washington rejects request to rework some provisions of July's draft agreement. HANOI -- It took three years of hard negotiating to bring Vietnam and the United States to the brink of a landmark trade agreement, but now that agreement is in danger of being completely derailed. In their first official comments since both sides initialed the deal in July, Vietnamese officials said Thursday that they wanted to sign the agreement, but not before reopening negotiations on some provisions -- the Jackson-Vanik Amendment and longer phase-in times. The granting of NTR status apparently would not be automatic, meaning Vietnam would have its trade status reviewed and renewed each year. That is the case now, with the president having to annually waive the 1974 Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which requires freedom of emigration in exchange for trading privileges. That generally keeps communist countries from receiving NTR status. Meanwhile, Vietnam remains one of just six countries not to have a bilateral deal with the United States, and the others make up quite a roster of economic backwaters: North Korea, Cuba, Laos, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia. Details SJMN.

Jan. 27, 2000: Vietnamese Emphasize Community. Spurred by last year's public infighting over display of a Communist flag, Little Saigon factions are uniting behind a single Tet celebration, leaders say. Over the years, different groups have staged their own Tet celebrations and have fought over bragging rights, with each group claiming to be the official festival of the new year. But this year, people in the Vietnamese community said, infighting that followed the flag protests last January has taught community leaders about the value of speaking with a unified voice. The student event, staged in Westminster for the first time last year, does not reflect any political division, organizers said. As in 1999, it will be held one week before Tet to avoid the appearance of a rivalry with the other festival and also so students can have the holiday free to celebrate with their families. "It doesn't conflict with the other festival," said Tram Thai, a festival organizer for the Union of Vietnamese Student Assns. "And doing it one week before, it is also an opportunity to celebrate it two times."Details LA. Times.

United Way seeks chief. Interim CEO wants out: Ex-S.J. official not looking for permanent job. The United Way Silicon Valley board has formed a search committee to begin looking for a new CEO to replace the giant charity's interim chief, who says he'd like to leave the post July 1. Les White, 60, a former San Jose city manager, was hired in June to help the agency out of its financial woes with the understanding that he would stay ``several months. '' White, who earns an annual salary of $151,000, has brought strong fiscal and management skills to the United Way job, working from the inside to repair an accounting system racked with problems left by former CEO Eleanor Jacobs. Details SJMN.

Jan. 25, 2000: German political scandal deepens Audit: Secret payments to Kohl topped $6.3 million, probe shows. As a result, the party faces a delicate political dilemma: It must assuage the anger of young party activists by showing determination to clear up the scandal while not vilifying the man at the root of it because he is revered by the party old guard. The sums identified Monday did not include about $7 million that the party branch in the state of Hesse has said it found in overseas bank accounts without being able to explain its source. In all, the Christian Democratic party has therefore admitted to the existence of more than $13 million in illicit funds. Last week, the party forced Kohl to give up his post as honorary chairman. But the former chancellor, who says his honor precludes him from identifying people to whom he promised anonymity, has since received an ecstatic reception at a party meeting in Bremen. His statement clearly reflected widespread concern that if this party of the moderate right that had governed for 33 postwar years should begin to disintegrate like the Christian Democratic party in Italy, more nationalist and extremist movements of the right would benefit. Details SJMN.

Jan. 22, 2000: Obstetrician carved his initials in mom's abdomen. Dr. Allan Zarkin — later dubbed "Dr. Zorro" by hospital staff members — "felt very close to this woman, but something clicked on and off in his brain," his lawyer, Kenneth Platzer, said Friday. Liana Gedz is now suing the 61-year-old obstetrician for $5 million, saying the 3-by-1 inch "A" and "Z" "makes me feel like a branded animal." Zarkin's lawyer said the doctor suffers from a "frontal lobe disorder" called Pick's disease — a progressive form of Alzheimer's-like dementia characterized by personality changes and inappropriate behavior. "I felt like I was raped," she told the Daily News. And now, with the scar that has turned into a welt, "I'm so embarrassed to get undressed in front of my husband because I have another man's initials on my stomach."Details SF. Examiner.

Rep. Royce shrugs off Hanoi rebuke. POLITICS: He goes off his Asia itinerary to visit a dissident. The Vietnamese government Thursday sharply criticized Rep. Ed Royce for deviating from their script and dropping in on a religious dissident during his Asian trip. Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Tranh told reporters in Hanoi. "If there really was such a visit, we feel it should not be done by an official visiting delegation." "I did not go to Vietnam to hear only the Politburo's side," Royce said. "We need to hear the voices calling for religious and political freedoms in Vietnam." "The government understands that on an ongoing basis the United States Congress attempts to meet with and hear all voices," Royce said. "We have done that in the past. We will continue to do that in the future." Details OC. Register.

Travel agents report a record number of people going to Vietnam for Tet. Kim Bui was desperate for tickets to Vietnam, hoping to spend a last Tet New Year's holiday with her ailing grandfather. "I need to go soon," Bui, a student who left Vietnam in 1996, pleaded with the travel agent. "My grandfather is very sick." People have paid fares topping $1,000 roundtrip, compared with tickets to and from Vietnam advertised as low as $599. But many local travel agents sold their last tickets for Tet weeks ago.

The Vietnamese Consulate in San Francisco reports visa applications surged to 5,000 a month in November and December, with many travelers planning on spending the lunar New Year holiday in Vietnam. The consulate issued about 3,000 visas a month in 1999, up from 2,000 a month in 1998. Vietnam's tourism industry has suffered in the past two years amid Asia's economic crisis, but the number of visitors with U.S. passports has seen a steady increase since the two countries formalized relations in 1995. In 1998, the latest year figures are available, 176,000 Americans visited Vietnam. During Tet last year, more than 267,000 of the 2.5 million Vietnamese living abroad passed through the international airport in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, said Nguyen Viet Thuan, deputy chief of the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese.

No numbers were available on arrivals in other ports. The 1999 Ho Chi Minh City figure was up 17 percent from 1998. Anthony Nguyen, a  elecommunications consultant from Fountain Valley, scheduled a business trip to his native Vietnam to coincide with Tet because he wants to relive the traditions he remembers from his childhood. Details OC. Register.

Jan. 20, 2000:Police: Slurs Weren't Made by Officers. Huntington Beach and Westminster departments say racial insults over radios may have come from a hacker. Internal affairs investigators in Westminster and Huntington Beach have concluded that racial insults overheard on a police radio frequency during a bank heist were not likely made by officers, authorities said Wednesday. Detectives from both departments pored over tapes of last month's slurs and quizzed more than 100 officers, dispatchers and supervisors in a search of the person who made the offensive remarks, officials said.  Westminster's probe cleared its department's personnel of any wrongdoing. But Huntington Beach officials cautioned that without a prime suspect they are unable to rule out that an officer made the offensive remarks. Officers came under fire last year when scanner operators overheard racial insults during the Little Saigon protests. Westminster police said they found an amateur radio operator they suspected of making the slurs but did not have enough evidence to charge him. Details LA. Times.

Jan. 19, 2000: DMV to go online for short lines. The DMV announced a new program Tuesday that will let drivers use their computers at home to renew their vehicle's registration with a few key strokes and mouse clicks. The Internet Vehicle Registration program, which is being developed with IBM, is expected to go online sometime in April. But not all of the 27 million cars, trucks, motorcycles, trailers and vessels registered in California will be eligible. Initially, the owners of about 7.5 million vehicles will be able to renew their registrations over the Internet. Those insurance companies are Mercury Insurance, the California State Automobile Association, or AAA, and its sister organization, the Automobile Club of Southern California. http://www.dmv.ca.gov. Details SJMN.

Royce finds Vietnam's leaders afraid to face a modern world. "I think there's a great deal of fear, a kind of reactionary view of the world," Royce said Sunday in a telephone interview from Ho Chi Minh City. Royce, R-Fullerton, is leading a two-week congressional Asian tour. "They haven't come to grips with how quickly the world is changing." Royce said he came away believing the Vietnamese government fears losing control in a more open trading environment, despite its public statements to the contrary. So, mixed into his meetings with finance ministers and entrepreneurs, Royce took time to steal away one morning and meet with the Venerable Thich Quang Do, second-highest official in the Unified Buddhist Church. Do is under house arrest, unable to leave his compound. Details OC. Register.

Jan. 14, 2000: Where cultures mix Vietnamese, Mexican emigres find common ground at checkout stand. Since the late 1970s, San Jose's two most visible ethnic communities, the Mexican-Americans and the Vietnamese immigrants, have been living, working and shopping in the same neighborhoods. Still, the communities remain apart -- with little conflict, but little intermingling either. Today, however, there are some signs of change. As their population surges and competition grows fiercer inside their community, many Vietnamese-American business owners have ventured into the Latino market. Of the 46 existing businesses in Tropicana, 13 are owned by Vietnamese emigres. Many said they appreciate not being treated differently than Latino-owned businesses. According the U.S. Census, Vietnamese-American-owned businesses have more than doubled from 1987 to 1992 in the metropolitan area of San Jose, growing from 2,026 to 4,716. Mexican-American-owned businesses grew at a slower pace, from 4,487 in 1987 to 6,491 in 1992. The most recent statistics place Vietnamese-American-owned businesses in San Jose at more than 5,000, but the latest official estimates from the Census Bureau are due in February.Details SJMN.

Freed by Vietnam, protester vows return . SOCIAL ISSUES: Orange County resident has no regrets after an eight-month stint in prison for an airport   demonstration. WESTMINSTER — He spent eight months in an 8-by-10-foot Vietnamese prison cell, sleeping on a straw mat on a concrete floor, losing more than 20 pounds on a diet of rice and gruel. He missed his two daughters' birthdays, Christmas and New Year's Eve. His wife has not forgiven him. He has no job. Duong, who flew to his native Vietnam on May 15, was arrested at Tan Son Nhut International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) before passing through customs. He was waving the red, white and gold rising-sun flag of the Freedom Movement, an anti-communist group, while shouting slogans and distributing leaflets calling for democracy in communist Vietnam. The attorney persuaded Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, and Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, to lobby for Duong's release. But U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson wrote that he was powerless to get information from the Vietnamese government because, while Duong is a permanent resident, he is not a U.S. citizen. Duong credits political pressure for his release, which he said came without warning. Guards came to his cell on Jan. 11 and drove him to Than Son Nhut International Airport, where he was detained eight months ago. Details OC. Register.

Jan 13, 2000 Vietnamese Newspaper sued Mainstream San Jose Mercury News. According to SJMN at Community in Brief, The copyright infringement suit, filed in US District court in San Jose by Mr. Tam Nguyen of Saigon USA on January 7, alleges that Viet Mercury "copied 28 words" and paraphrased another portion of an articles titled " New Joy for Vietnamese Catholics." that was published on Nov. 1, 1999. Saigon USA publishes twice weekly and based in San Jose.

Vietnam Memorial Hits Snag in Little Saigon. Council raises questions about its enthusiasm for the proposal by asking backers to see if it needs an environmental report. Despite having raised $140,000, a private committee hoping to build a Vietnam War memorial in Westminster was told at Tuesday's City Council meeting that it must take yet another step before the city's final approval. The committee, led by Mayor Frank Fry Jr., was told it must have a consultant determine whether an environmental impact report is needed.  The request by City Council members for a possible impact report requirement came after an estimated 200 memorial supporters showed up at the meeting. Backers had hoped to move the project forward with a site selection by the council, said Joey Nguyen, a memorial committee member.  "There's a lot of unnecessary stuff being asked of [the committee]," Fry said. "They seem to be taking a 'wait until $500,000 is raised, then we'll talk attitude.' "  Details LA. Times.

Jan 12, 2000: The strategy, the game, the application of the strategist, the ends game, the control of the Net: The play to see CNET news.com.

Merger drops a bomb on Microsoft. America Online's surprise acquisition of Time Warner was a frontal assault on Microsoft's ambitions to become a major content player, capping a year-long series of battles between the two technology companies. Details.

AOL buys Time Warner in historic merger. The new company will be called AOL Time Warner and will combine AOL's online services with Time Warner's vast media and cable assets. In a world where online services, media and entertainment are rapidly converging, the new company could have almost unparalleled resources. Employees more than 80,000 combined, Annual sales: more than $140 billion combined, Market capitalization: approximately $350 billion, Ticker: AOL. Details.

MAYOR'S REPORT CARD. Gonzales falling short on promises. Gonzales' initiatives have yet to bear fruit. Ron Gonzales' first year as mayor of San Jose was long on promise, short on production. A year ago tonight Gonzales was ceremonially sworn in as the city's 63rd mayor, after having campaigned to reduce traffic congestion, improve schools and refurbish neighborhoods. While the mayor is credited with bringing greater financial discipline to City Hall, his initiatives have been either so modest that they have touched few people or so big that they may not bear fruit until well into, or even well after, his term in office. Full story SJMN.

Jan 11, 2000:Showdown looms after judge says Cuban boy should stay. MIAMI -- In a blockbuster decision that reverberated through Miami, Washington and Havana on Monday, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Rosa Rodriguez granted emergency custody of Elian Gonzalez to his great-uncle on grounds the 6-year-old would face irreversible harm if the federal government sends him back to his father in Cuba. ``INS can legally ignore the judge's decision because state court has no jurisdiction over a federal agency or over immigration matters,'' Ting said. ``If the agency does not want to go that route, it can go to federal court and have a federal judge take over the case and vacate the state court ruling.'' ``Federal court would have jurisdiction over immigration matters, but not family matters,'' attorney Richard Milstein said. ``So, that's where the tug of war would come into play. We have a true federalism issue here.''Full story SJMN.

Cash, Vehicle Stolen in Santa Ana Home-Invasion Robbery. Several robbers wearing bandannas and ski masks forced their way into a Santa Ana home Monday morning, terrorizing a family and stealing several thousand dollars in cash, as well as the family's sport utility vehicle, police said. About 7:30 a.m., a woman was forced from her parked car in the driveway of a residence in the 1200 block of South Broadway, Police Sgt. Raul Luna said.  Three robbers, each armed with a handgun, pushed the woman into the home, gathered the rest of the residents into the living room and demanded drugs and money.  Luna said it was unusual for the family, which owns a wholesale produce market in Santa Ana, to have so large a sum of money at home, and that they had not made their regular night deposit. Full story LA. Times.

Jan. 9, 2000: Defying pope, China names its own bishops. BEIJING -- In a move that the Vatican says will damage efforts to mend its relations with Beijing, China's state-sanctioned Catholic Church consecrated five new bishops yesterday just hours before Pope John Paul II consecrated 12 bishops at St. Peter's Basilica. The two-hour ceremony, on a wintry morning in an unheated Beijing cathedral, adhered closely to the rites of a traditional Roman Catholic consecration. But the bishops, who range in age from 35 to 73, were named by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association -- a sort of parallel church that answers to the Chinese government -- and not by the Vatican. Church officials said the Vatican and Beijing have held secret talks in the last year about improving relations. But the negotiations seem to be going nowhere.Full story Seattle P-I.

Courting Latino voters. Candidates acknowledge group's growing clout. In the early 1990s, political candidates shaped their messages to win over soccer moms, then the popular image of the independent-minded voter who could swing elections. Today's ``soccer mom'' is the Latino voter.  From New Hampshire to California, voters of Latino descent are being targeted like never before: Presidential hopefuls hold fiestas in Iowa, blast tunes sung by Puerto Rican pop star Ricky Martin and utter Spanish phrases.

Latinos are just 14 percent of the electorate in California and far less in most other states, but will soon be the nation's largest minority. Their enormous potential to decide the elections of the future has made courting them a national political priority in 2000. Nearly three-quarters of Latinos over 18 -- most of whom are potential voters -- live in five states that control 60 percent of the electoral votes: California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois. Full story SJMN.

Jan. 8, 2000: Census Bureau Kicks Off 2000 Campaign. Federal money and equal political representation are cited as goals in campaign to encourage participation. In Garden Grove, 100 community activists and civic leaders vowed to form an alliance with census workers from Newport  Beach to Cypress. Similar promises were made in the Fullerton, Irvine and Santa Ana offices as census workers mingled with ommunity leaders to highlight the need for outreach programs. Such dire predictions have led to the largest effort to date to increase awareness about the census. An unprecedented number of civic leaders, school districts and grass-roots organizations have banded together with government to boost participation under the bureau's partnership program.

Making people aware of the census is only half the battle, local leaders said. Many residents who hear about the head count are often reluctant to take part, fearing they'll be deported, audited by the IRS or arrested, or hearing wild rumors about what is actually asked on the form.  Federal laws guarantee that respondents are not identified for 72 years to anyone other than census workers, a mantra recited by government officials and community leaders at every turn. The anonymous data, however, become public record.

In addition, the federal government has spent $167 million on a 17-language television, radio and print ad campaign launched in November. The state is spending an additional $8.7 million on its own ads.  Some community leaders worry that efforts to publicize the census are too late. As of Friday, no state money had been forwarded to the counties or school or grass-roots groups, all charged with boosting participation. "It's great that the state has come up with $25 million to spend on the census. But the greatest challenge is that it's a slow process with layers of bureaucracy," said Louisa Ollague, who heads the census effort for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Los Angeles. Full story LA. Times.

Jan. 7, 2000: Police say homeowners should avoid drawing attention to their wealth. ONE LATE night last January, a resident answered a knock at the door of a home on San Bruno Avenue in Morgan Hill. A ``deliveryman'' on the porch announced he had flowers for someone inside. Once the door was opened a crack, five masked men with pistols, walkie-talkies and rifles burst inside and quickly took over -- binding their victims with duct tape and looting the house of cash and valuables. The delivery ruse is a favorite of robbery gangs that have plagued households -- largely Asian-American -- in the Bay Area for years. Generally, police caution against trying to take on intruders, even with a weapon. San Jose police robbery detective Khanh Nguyen, a former member of the department's gang task force, said few victims have been killed during home-invasion robberies, especially when there is no resistance. ``But if you feel you must defend yourself in this way, you need to be trained and have your family educated on the danger (of firearms) and requirements for safety.''

While home-invasion robberies aren't as frequent as they were in the mid-1990s, police offer suggestions for homeowners to reduce the risk:
* Don't keep large amounts of cash in the house, and don't carry or display large sums in public. Expensive jewelry should be kept in a safe that cannot be readily carried away. Better yet, store it in a safe-deposit box at a bank.
* Do not open door to strangers -- especially after dark -- unless they can identify themselves, through the door, to your satisfaction.
* Install case-hardened dead-bolt locks on all exterior doors, as well as connecting garage doors. If possible, install an alarm system, with automatic outdoor motion-detection lights.
* In the event a suspicious car trails you, contact police on a cell phone or drive to the nearest populated area and call from there with the vehicle's description and as much more detail as possible.
* Take care not to divulge personal information, especially financial information, to strangers. Join with others to set up a Neighborhood Watch Program.
* Be alert to vehicles on the street that ordinarily are not there, to the occupant who appears suspicious. Call police to check out suspect cars. Full story SJMN.

Jan. 6, 2000: Home invasion: High risk, high yield. It's one of the more terrifying crimes. Suppose a group of masked men burst into your home, points a gun to your loved one's head and demands money. What would you do? Even if you survive unharmed, you'll probably be left mentally scarred. Most victims are, their lives forever changed. Many of the victims are fast asleep in bed or halfway there on the sofa when the bad guys strike. Others are caught totally by surprise in those seconds as they walk up the last couple steps to their front door or step out of a parked car in their driveway.

Home invasion is a crime that has long been associated with gangs that terrorize Southeast Asian immigrants. The methods vary. Occasionally, the robbers burst through a door or an unlocked window. But often, one of the crooks will ring the door bell posing as a repair worker or delivery person. Last month, the owner of a Mexican restaurant in San Jose was robbed at home when a gunman posed as a cable TV employee. "This guy had taken precautions — he has a metal security door," Aguilar said. "But (the robber) was dressed like a workman, had a notebook and drove up in what looked like a repair vehicle."

Once the door was open, the "cable guy" pulled out a gun and let in his three accomplices, who quickly ransacked the home, police said. That story is strikingly similar to one in San Francisco in December — except the robber came dressed from head to toe in dark brown and claimed he was a UPS driver, police said. Cops say there are three common features among criminals who do home invasions. "They're young, they've got a gun, and they are little crazy," said Marovich of the SFPD robbery unit. Why only young guns? "The older guys, who have already been to prison, learn — you don't do homes," Marovich said. "It's usually teenagers or early 20s who do homes." Full story SF. Examiner.

Jan. 4, 2000: Immigrant leads high-tech firm. Nearly 25 years ago, Pham Van A's ship was anchored off Subic Bay in the Philippines, its sailors seeking safe harbor. Before allowing the South Vietnamese to come ashore, Filipino officials required them to strip off their naval uniforms, paint over the ship's decals and lower their red-and-gold flag for the last time. The Vietnam War was over, and the Philippines had already recognized the Communist government in Hanoi. Pham Van A was a 21-year-old man without a country. Today, everyone calls A (pronounced AH) by his American name, John Pham, and he's one of the most successful Vietnamese emigres in Silicon Valley. Pham, the 46-year-old president and chief executive officer of Acropolis Systems Inc., a Milpitas firm that designs computer systems that minimize downtime, also is a rarity. Although tens of thousands of Vietnamese-Americans work in the valley as assembly workers, technicians and engineers, few have climbed to lofty corporate heights or own high-tech firms. Full story SJMN.

Jan. 3, 2000:  Happy New Year Vietnamese American Council
New lives for the new year. Santa Clara County's first born is son of Vietnamese immigrants. The first son of Vietnamese refugees Tam Duong and Khanh Pham of Hayward greeted 2000 with hale and hearty howls, announcing his arrival 45 seconds after midnight in San Jose's O'Connor Hospital. He is named Timothy, a name as American as the dream his parents hold for him. Full story SJMN.

The New Faces of O.C.'s Future. Within the first few minutes of the new year, the future of Orange County could be heard in the cries of newborns. The first boy and first girl of 2000 were born to immigrant couples--one from Cambodia, one from Mexico. The arrivals brought new year joy to their families and provided ringing reminders of the changing demographics that will shape the county in the early years of the century.  Nearly 60% of current Orange County residents are white, but demographers predict that within 20 years white residents will account for only 41% of the population, with the majority made up primarily of Latinos and Asians. The large number of immigrants in the county also was reflected in the first twins born Saturday, daughters of a Belgian-born father and U.S.-born mother.  At 12:02 a.m., Nearyroth Lach, 38, greeted the new year not  with the pop of a Champagne cork and the buzz of noisemakers, but with a final push and baby James' first gasp and cry. He wasn't due for another nine days. Full story LA. Times.

Daring pilot plans more leaflet raids. For years, his dream has been to spread his political message to the world's last remaining communist countries. On New Year's Day, former San Jose resident Ly Tong -- the same man who hijacked a plane and dropped anti-communist leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City in 1992 -- piloted a rented aircraft on a similar mission over Havana. And Sunday, the man some call the Vietnamese James Bond vowed that North Korea and China are next in his one-man crusade against Marxist regimes. Tong's daring -- some may call it foolhardy -- flight over Cuba in a single-engine Cessna 172 aircraft was closely monitored. Two Cuban MiG jet fighters and an American F-16 trailed him as both governments were cooperating to avoid an international incident similar to one in 1996. That year, two of three planes flown from an exile group in Florida were shot down and four people died; a third plane made it back safely.

When Tong landed at a suburban Miami airport, a Black Hawk helicopter swooped down and set down in front of him. Detained and questioned for five hours, he voluntarily surrendered his license; Federal Aviation Administration officials Sunday were still investigating whether Tong broke any rules in flying over Cuba.  For Tong, the New Year's Day flight is the latest in an adventure-filled life that has taken on near-legendary status. The 51-year-old former Vietnamese air force pilot was released from a Hanoi prison in 1998 after serving six years for using a knife to hijack an Air Vietnam Airbus jetliner and then dropping 50,000 leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City. At 7:15 a.m. Saturday, dressed in a blue flight cap, brown leather dress shoes and a size-too-small orange flight suit with four patches, Tong took off for Cuba. Tong flew between 10 to 15 feet above the water in an effort to avoid radar detection. But the U.S. Customs Service in Long Beach and the military tracked him the entire way. Once over Havana, he flew just above rooftop level and scattered the pink, orange and yellow leaflets over the city. Full story SJMN.