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

July 25, 1999: Youth Movement for Vietnam cranks up the Bowers protest. SOCIAL ISSUES: The group printed up pamphlets outlining human-rights abuses. That's the message delivered Saturday by organizers of Youth Movement for Vietnam, who documented human-rights abuses in their country in their fight against what they call communist propaganda hidden behind a Bowers Museum of Cultural Art show. Rather than send the group's members out to demonstrate, youth leader Phuong Nguyen Le said he wanted to educate the public through another method of protest: data. So his group researched and printed 10,000 pamphlets, listing a litany of abuses in religion, labor and personal freedoms, and the names of 37 prominent political prisoners held in Thanh Hoa and Nam Ha camps. A second brochure, titled "Another Gallery Guide to the Exhibition," explains why the group opposes the Bowers exhibit, but not the museum itself. Full story OC. Register.

U.S., Hanoi seal historic trade accord. HANOI -- The United States and Vietnam, after three years of often-torturous negotiations, announced today that they had finally come to terms on a first-ever bilateral trade agreement. The announcement was made by Deputy Trade Representative Richard Fisher, head of the U.S. delegation, and Truong Dinh Tuyen, Vietnam's minister of trade. They initialed a draft of the trade agreement, with a formal signing expected in about a month. Meanwhile, two versions of the draft -- one in English, one in Vietnamese -- will be reviewed and scrutinized by lawyers and translators from both sides. Analysts said the agreement seems to indicate a new willingness by communist Vietnam to open up its highly protected economy to the outside world. Vietnam has been one of just six countries not to have a bilateral pact with the United States, and the other nations make up a kind of economic rogues' gallery -- Cuba, North Korea, Laos, Afghanistan, and Serbia and Montenegro. Two-way trade is currently about $1 billion, which in the global scheme of things is little more than pocket change to the United States. Key provisions: investment.trade and services, intellectual property rights,trade and goods. Full story SJMN.

July 24, 1999: U.S. Has Secretly Expanded Military Ties With Taiwan. Asia: Contact includes an exchange of ideas on armed forces strategy and Taipei's response in the event of invasion. Pentagon's moves may further upset U.S.-China relations. The secret expansion of military ties began after the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1996, in which China fired missiles into the waters near Taiwan and the United States countered by sending two aircraft carriers to help protect the island. A Pentagon review later concluded that the United States needed to broaden its contacts with Taiwan's armed forces. At the moment, the United States does not have any military relationship with China comparable to the one with Taiwan. Full story LA. Times.

July 23, 1999: THE KENNEDY TRAGEDY. Farewell at Sea. The ashes of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife and sister-in-law are committed to the deep in private ceremony on warship. n a private, closely guarded ceremony aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer, the ashes of Kennedy, 38, his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, 33, and Lauren Bessette, her 34-year-old sister, were cast into the choppy Atlantic Ocean about four miles off the southern shore of Martha's Vineyard. The 30-minute ceremony occurred in view of the shorefront estate of Kennedy's late mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and near where his small plane plunged into the sea last Friday night. Thursday, the grieving family members, one to three at a time, scattered the ashes onto the ocean waves. A Navy brass quintet played, but the familiar strains of taps was not heard at this non-military ceremony -- rarely allowed on a Navy ship for a civilian. The service began at 9:30 a.m. as the funeral party, led by Kennedy's uncle, U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, left the family compound at Hyannis Port for Woods Hole. There, the Briscoe, a guided-missile destroyer, transported them to the burial site. Full story SJMN.

July 22, 1999: Timing, intellectual-property rights remain issues in Vietnam trade talks. WASHINGTON — Negotiators trying to close a trade deal with Vietnam are hung up over when the agreement would take effect and how to protect U.S. intellectual property. While a bilateral trade agreement is within reach, administration officials said Wednesday, a key stumbling point is ensuring that pirating of items such as American music doesn't happen in Vietnam. Also remaining are issues relating to opening the Vietnam market to certain goods, services and investments. Vietnam is worried about opening up markets too fast because it doesn't want the U.S. to overpower the Vietnamese economy, said Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who opposes granting full trading status to Vietnam. Full story OC. Register.

Police Chief James Cook and Capt. Andrew Hall were honored Friday by the Orange County Human Relations Commission and the radio program Voice of Saigon for their role during the Little Saigon demonstrations that erupted in September when a video store owner displayed a communist flag. "We wanted to commend the Westminster Police Department for doing a tremendous job," said Alfonso Clarke, a mediation coordinator at the commission. "This is not a usual situation for a Police Department but . . . they did their best to be evenhanded, to secure peace and public safety, and at the same time protect the rights of each side in terms of their freedom of speech."  LOUISE ROUG of LA. Times reported.

THE KENNEDY TRAGEDY Divers recover victims'bodies. Burial at sea scheduled today by two families. WOODS HOLE, Mass. -- On the fifth day of a search that accompanied a great national wake, a red sonar blotch led searchers to the bodies of John F. Kennedy Jr. and his two passengers, trapped in the shattered fuselage of his plane on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Kennedy's remains were located about 2:30 a.m. by an underwater camera checking objects detected by sonar. Several hours later, Navy divers in heavy-duty gear moved the crumpled wreckage and found the passengers from his flight through black haze last Friday night -- his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, 33, and his sister-in-law, Lauren G. Bessette, 34. The three bodies were found at 116 feet, about seven miles southwest of Martha's Vineyard. At a news conference Wednesday night at the investigation's command center in nearby Bourne, Rear Adm. Richard Larrabee of the Coast Guard said all three victims were ``near and under'' the fuselage, still strapped in. Just after noon, Sen. Edward Kennedy boarded a Coast Guard helicopter at his compound in nearby Hyannis Port and was taken to the Navy salvage ship USS Grasp to witness the recovery. Kennedy was  joined by his two sons, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy Jr. The bodies were raised about 4:30 p.m. The senator and his sons accompanied the bodies Wednesday night to the Coast Guard station in this fishing village at the heel of Cape Cod.A Navy official said ``commitment at sea,'' as the ceremony is known, is typically performed for active or retired members of the service, their spouses and their dependent children. But Navy regulations allow for the service to be performed for ``notable service or outstanding contributions to the United States.'' Full story SJMN.

July 21, 1999: The wreckage of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane was located off the coast of Martha's Vineyard with Kennedy's body still aboard, and the Navy readied a recovery mission, goverment officials said today. ``They've got the fuselage and John Kennedy's in it,'' a government source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press. The White House confirmed that Kennedy's plane and a body had been found. Full story SJMN.

Landmark Trade Pact at Hand for U.S. and Vietnam Asia: The agreement could be signed within days and would eliminate the last commercial vestige of the war. The remaining issues are described as small. Twenty-four years after the end of the Vietnam War, an agreement establishing fully normalized trade relations between the United States and Vietnam is within reach and could be signed within days, officials on both sides say.

The accord, known as the Bilateral Trade Agreement, has been the subject of three years of negotiations in Washington and Hanoi. It appeared doomed to failure as recently as 10 months ago. But concessions on both sides led to a breakthrough last month, and negotiators meeting in Hanoi say major differences have been resolved. Only "small, knotty" issues remain, said one.  As such, it would open markets in this nation of 77 million people to U.S. businesses, particularly in the areas of comunications, banking, insurance and trade, by establishing trade and investment standards that are practiced in almost every country. Although the trade agreement's ultimate effect is difficult to quantify, it would sharply lower tariffs between the two nations and make it easier to invest and do business in Vietnam. This in turn could encourage U.S. manufacturers to open plants or increase their investments in existing facilities. By removing trade and investment barriers, it would enable Vietnam to increase its exports to the U.S. of manufactured goods such as shoes, garments and toys and agricultural products such as rice, coffee and cashew nuts.

The U.S. accounts for only 4% of foreign investment in Vietnam. Only about 1,000 Americans live here. Among the lost opportunities: The huge bicycle market is controlled by Taiwan and China; the hotels by France, Singapore, South Korea and other Asian countries; the oil industry by Russia; car manufacturing by South Korea and Japan; meat imports by Australia and New Zealand; the sale of jetliners to Vietnam Airlines by France. Vietnam's exports to the United States, now worth $470 million a year, would nearly double in the first year of a trade accord, the World Bank says. Within four years, 70% of Vietnam's exports could be destined for the U.S., according to the World Bank. Full story LA.Times.

July 20, 1999: HP breaks ranks in hiring new CEO Fiorina tapped to replace top exec Platt. Hewlett-Packard Co.'s naming of Carleton ``Carly'' Fiorina as president and chief executive officer Monday signaled the company's desire to embrace the timeliness of the Internet, broke its tradition of hiring from within and challenged the HP Way, its enshrined corporate culture. Fiorina's selection also broke high-tech's glass ceiling, as the former head of Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Global Services Division became the first woman to lead a top-tier Fortune 500 company. HP, of Palo Alto, is the 13th-largest Fortune 500 company with $47 billion in annual revenues. Fiorina (pronounced Fee-OR-ee-na), 44, will replace current CEO and president Lewis Platt. Platt will remain as chairman of the company until Dec. 31, when longtime HP executive and current board member Richard A. Hackborn, 60, -- the man who made HP the No. 1 printer company in the world -- will become chairman. Hackborn was instrumental in choosing Fiorina from the more than 100 candidates that HP interviewed. After being selected unanimously by the board Saturday, Fiorina made a personal plea to Hackborn that he take the chairman position. The decision, although largely a popular one, meant that Ann Livermore, 40, the head of HP's $15 billion Enterprise Computing Solutions and considered the strongest internal candidate lost out. That immediately sparked speculation that the popular creator of HP's current e-business strategy was likely to move on. Full story SJMN.

July 19, 1999: Vietnamese emcee protested.Protesters say star narrated music video supporting communism. About 100 Vietnamese on Saturday night staged a repeat performance outside the San Jose Arena, protesting the popular writer and music video host, Nguyen Ngoc Ngan. As 9,000 concertgoers entered the arena to see their favorite Vietnamese pop stars at the fourth annual Summer Concert, the protesters waved the South Vietnam flag and shouted at the audience to go home, calling Ngan, the concert's master of ceremonies, a communist. Protesters' grudge remained unchanged. They say Ngan supports Vietnam's communist regime because he narrated a music video two years ago containing what they believe to be communist propaganda. In one scene, there is a white bird pecking at a red rice stalk, said Vo Van Si, a former South Vietnam major. ``There is no such thing as red rice,'' said Si, who said he believes red is the color of communists. ``It began two years ago as a political protest, but now it's just personal,'' said Ngan, a prolific writer who criticizes Vietnam's communist government in his fiction. Full story SJMN.

Coast Guard now searching for bodies in JFK accident. President Kennedy's son. No hope. Prayers unanswered after Kennedy accident Officials will continue to search for airplane, and now, victims' bodies Island's mood saddens as second day passes without a conclusion. MARTHA'S VINEYARD, Mass. -- Through a thickening haze that seemed to drag Sunday's search for John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane into slow motion, pilots, skippers and even tourists scoured the surf  and beaches of this place Indians once called ``land amid the waters,'' suddenly a haunted speck amid so much sea.Full story SJMN.

Planned Vietnam Soldier Memorial Brings. Westminster's Fighting Factions Together.Indeed, the proposed memorial has bridged. differences in this torn community, where the most recent clash was in April over the joint display of American and South Vietnamese flags from city light poles. Though different from the kind of war memorial that American towns embraced in the simpler times after earlier wars, it draws support from the same well of patriotism, ommunity observers say. Spearheaded by Mayor Frank Fry Jr., the privately funded monument depicts two young soldiers--one American, the other Vietnamese--standing side by side. Made of bronze, it would stand 12 feet high from a three-foot concrete base. "It's my hope that it will . . . bring the Vietnamese and American communities closer together," Fry said. Ironically, the Communist government of Vietnam helped create that unity: A letter from the Vietnamese consulate in San Francisco complaining about the planned monument has only served to fuel local support. "It's an issue that unifies both peoples. It gives credit that's long overdue to veterans on both sides," said community observer Jeffrey Brody, a communications professor at Cal State Fullerton. "Any objection is political suicide."  The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to accept the memorial upon its completion. Though it is to be built with private funds, the memorial will stand on public property, most likely at the Civic Center, and will be maintained by the city. Full story LA. Times.

July 16, 1999: Vietnam, U.S. close to trade accords. Timing is last hurdle to long-sought pact. HANOI -- After nearly three years of painstaking and often frustrating negotiations, senior Vietnamese and U.S. diplomats said Thursday that they are agonizingly close to a first-ever trade agreement between the two countries.The voluminous and complex trade agreement would finally open Vietnam's highly protected economy to American investors while giving Hanoi greater access to huge U.S. markets. It's also a necessity for Washington to grant ``normal trade relations'' status, formerly known as most-favored-nation status. Vietnam, whose stagnating economy is just now bearing the full brunt of the Asian economic crisis, is one of only six countries not to have a trade agreement with the United States. The others are Cuba; North Korea; Afghanistan; Laos; and Serbia and Montenegro, which make up what remains of Yugoslavia.Said one American official close to the talks: ``They tell us, `OK, we'll agree to open up this sector and that industry, but we want eight years to phase it in.' We say no, it has to be done in four years. That's where we are now -- the timetable.  ``Are we close? Yes. Do we have a deal? No.''If talks continue to languish, the reasoning goes, the U.S. campaign season will make congressional approval ever more difficult. Full story SJMN.

July 15, 1999: Little Saigon,Westminster. The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to accept a proposed Vietnam memorial upon its completion. Mayor Frank Fry initiated the $500,000 project; it will be paid for with private funds but will stand on city property and will be maintained by the city. "I'm giving the monument to the city tonight," Fry said. "It will come to the city completely paid for, and all you folks would have to do is find a place for it."  Fry said the monument will be finished by July 2000. Reported by LA. Times.

Activist's wife says his mission hurt family. SOCIAL ISSUES: The spouse of Cu Ngoc Duong, reportedly detained in Vietnam, says his protest should not have been his first priority. PLACENTIA — Thuy Do is numb. She's bitter. She's angry. Do, 47, learned that her husband had left for Vietnam, leaving her and their two daughters behind, on a mission for democracy only after he was already en route. And instantly, she went from being a woman married happily for 13 years to a single mother of two daughters whose questions about their father's sudden disappearance she still doesn't fully know how to answer. Full story OC. Register.

July 14, 1999: U.S. queries Hanoi about inmates' fate. Vietnam is asked to track down victims of '70s `re-education'. HANOI -- A visiting U.S. diplomat has pressed a number of human rights issues with senior Vietnamese officials, including a request for information on numerous people who apparently disappeared after being sent to communist ``re-education camps'' after the Vietnam War. The U.S. official, Bennett Freeman, said Tuesday night that he had presented his Vietnamese counterparts with a lengthy list of names ``given to us by their relatives in the United States, people who went into re-education camps in the mid-'70s and haven't been heard from or seen since.'' The camps were set up by the communist government after the end of the war in 1975. Tens of thousands of officials, army officers, political leaders and others associated with the former South Vietnamese government were sent to the camps for what communist officials referred to as ``re-education.'' Human-rights issues. He said he raised a number of labor, religious, political and human rights issues with the Vietnamese side, which was led by Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Chau, director of the Department of International Organizations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Freeman was accompanied by Robert Seiple, the new U.S. ambassador at large for religious freedom. "These issues are very important to Vietnamese-Americans -- and to all Americans -- given our special and tragic history with Vietnam.'' Full story SJMN.

July 13, 1999: Vietnam Memorial in City of Westminster, Calif. Mayor Frank Fry Jr. will unveil a model of his proposed Vietnam memorial after Tuesday's City Council meeting. The memorial, which features a Vietnamese and an American soldier, was recently criticized by the Vietnamese consul general. Volunteers and the Westminster Foundation for the Arts are raising funds for the $500,000 monument. No city money is involved, but the city will be asked to donate public property for the monument and to maintain it as one of the city's Millennium projects.

'I have an obligation ... to the nation' POLITICS: Cu Ngoc Duong, now jailed in Vietnam, wanted to make a simple gesture, a backer says. A Vietnamese consular official in San Francisco said his government is trying to confirm claims from friends and family that Duong, 42, has been detained. A Cathay Pacific Airlines official confirmed that Duong was in seat 36G on the plane that arrived in Vietnam on May 15. A longtime activist with ties to Little Saigon's anti-communist groups, Duong left without telling his wife, Thuy, and their two daughters, 9 and 11, about his plans. Full story OC.Register.

July 12, 1999: Activist from O.C. jailed in Vietnam. RIGHTS: Friends say Cu Ngoc Duong returned to the country to canvass for free speech. Cu Ngoc Duong, 42, who fled Vietnam 18 years ago, returned there May 13 knowing he would be imprisoned, supporters said. He left his wife and two daughters behind in Anaheim. Some 50 friends and supporters staged a vigil for him at the Westminster Senior Center on Sunday afternoon. The official purpose of his trip was to visit family, but friends say he really planned to pass out handbills calling for free elections and a multiparty system in Vietnam."All my life ... I have cherished the ideal of a strong, free and democratic Vietnam," Duong wrote in the flier. "It is an ideal that I live for and hope to achieve. But, if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. "No one answered phones Sunday at the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in Washington, D.C., or at the consulate in San Francisco. Full story OC. Register.

July 9, 1999: Group submits petition to curb Vietnam trade. POLITICS: The activists demand human rights before the communist nation gets a waiver from standing policies. Vietnamese-American activists handed 8,000 signatures over to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, on Thursday in an attempt to quash trade relations with Vietnam. Congress is expected to vote later this month on whether to rescind the waiver to the Jackson-Vanik amendment.
Jackson-Vanik is a Cold War-era law that restricts commerce with communist regimes that keep people from freely emigrating or traveling abroad. The group also got some encouragement from Jesse Jackson, who told them: "They (the Vietnamese government) use human rights as a rationale — not a goal or a policy. I support your cause." Full story OC. Register. For further details, please see below July 7, 1999 on this page.

July 8, 1999: Appeals Court Backs Westminster Councilman Lam. Law: Three-judge panel upholds dismissal of defamation suit, citing his right to opinion about who set fire to his restaurant. In a ruling issued Thursday, the state 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana ruled that Lam was exercising his constitutional rights in telling a Los Angeles Times reporter in 1996 that he believed a fire at his Little Saigon restaurant was set by "opponents of Westminster's Tet Festival." "Under the 1st Amendment, an opinion, no matter how pernicious, is not actionable," the panel ruled. "The statements in no way suggested that [the community group] directly started the fire; rather, they carried with them Lam's opinion that the hostile political climate created by his opponents in the controversy . . . had led to this kind of violent result." The community group also was ordered to pay for Lam's attorney fees and costs. Neither representatives of the group or Lam could be reached Tuesday to comment on the appellate ruling. Full story LA. Times.

NEW POLITICS OF PROTEST. SOCIAL ISSUES: Vietnamese-American youth leaders get involved in art exhibit controversy. In the battle between sensitivity and artistic freedom, organizers of the youth movement have seen conspicuously absent. Museum officials did not invite them — unlike other activists — to previews of a contemporary Vietnamese painting exhibit. Last month, when about 150 protesters picketed its debut, the members, in their early 20s to mid-30s, left the county on a camping retreat. Full story OC. Register.

Viet envoy could work as a stand-up. Communists have never been known for having great senses of humor — for obvious reasons. Make one little wisecrack about a commissar, and the next thing you know you're being stood up against a wall and shot. But apparently there are some exceptions. Consider, for example, Phong Xuan Nguyen, the San Francisco-based consul general of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Now there's a commie with a funny bone. In the letter, Nguyen said such a statue would not be consistent with the new, friendlier ties between the U.S. and Vietnam, and would "only dredge up a bitter past." But that's not the funny part. The funny part was when Nguyen suggested in an interview with a Register reporter that instead of a statue of an American soldier with a South Vietnamese soldier, the memorial should feature a statue of an American soldier with — get this — a communist North Vietnamese soldier. Haw! Haw! Haw! Cut it out, Phong! You're cracking me up! I guess next you'll suggest a memorial to Admiral Yamamoto at Pearl Harbor! Or a statue at the General Patton Military Museum of Old Blood and Guts shaking hands with Hitler! Of course, I'm assuming Nguyen is kidding. If not, if he's actually serious, it makes me wonder where this guy went to diplomat school. Now, reasonable people can disagree on how close our ties to the communist government of Vietnam should be.But that's our business, not Vietnam's. They should butt out. Full story OC. Register.

July 7, 1999: List of Witness appeared before Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade On: US-Vietnam Trade Relations. Here they are: John F. Kerry, U.S.S., Massachusetts- Dana Rohrabacher, M.C., California- Earl Blumenauer, M.C., Oregon- Douglas "Pete" Peterson, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam,(former Member of Congress). Next are:
Nguyen Dinh Thang, Ph.D., Executive Director, Boat People S.O.S., Merrifield, Virginia- Virginia B. Foote, President, U.S.-Vietnam Trade Council- Y Tin Hwing, Member, Montagnard Human Rights Organization, Greensboro, North Carolina- Lionel C. Johnson, Vice President and Director, International Government Relations, Citigroup Incorporated- Ernest Z. Bower, President, U.S.-ASEAN Business Council- Trung Trinh, Executive Director, Vietnamese American Business Council- Diem H. Do, Co-Chairman, Coalition Against the Jackson-Vanik Waiver, Westminster, California- L. Craig Johnstone, Senior Vice President, International, Economic and National Security Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce- Lynn O'Shea, New York State Director, National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen, Bellevue, Washington- Greig Craft, President, Craft Corporation; Vice Chairman, Asia-Pacific Council of American Chambers, Hanoi, Vietnam; and Member, Board of Governors, American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi.

Please be notice whence click on the person's name testified you will see their submission statements including names of their supporters before the congress. You would find a lot of supprises here, enjoy! Details. Also here are all the emails off 22 members of the House Ways and Means(including Trade) which would vote on US-Vietnam Trade Relations- Details.

Vietnam Hoa Hao members mass for rare celebration. HANOI, July 2 (Reuters) - About a million believers from a long-frowned upon Buddhist sect in Vietnam have flocked to a remote Mekong Delta township for their first permitted major festival in 24 years. Local officials said on Friday that Hoa Hao Buddhists had massed at Phu My town in An Giang province over the past five days for the 60th anniversary of the founding of their indigenous sect on July 1.  ``It was very crowded on (June 30 and July 1), there were 300,000 to 400,000 people each day,'' an official from the local district people's committee told Reuters. ``This was the biggest ceremony here since before liberation day (April 30, 1975).''

Hoa Hao -- which counts three to four million adherents in Vietnam -- is a neo-Buddhist sect which emphasises home worship, and amalgamates Buddhism, animism, Confucian doctrine and other indigenous practices. Since the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975, communist authorities have confiscated thousands of Hoa Hao properties, abolished its management structure and banned its major celebrations, including the annual Founder's Day festival. Permission for the gathering came after Hoa Hao was finally given official status in May and authorities appointed the 11-person so-called Hoa Hao Buddhism Representative Committee, which includes a number of communist party members but excluded Le Quang Liem, the sect's chosen leader. An official with the OHHBA told Reuters his organisation estimated at least seven Hoa Hao Buddhist clergy were in jail for crimes related to illegal religious activities. Details.

July 6, 1999: Tips on Dealing With Fire Ant Encounters. With the discovery of fire ants in Orange County, Here are some safety tips: * Fire ant sting reactions range from localized itching and swelling to severe, life-threatening anaphylaxis. * Almost all people stung by fire ants develop an  itchy, localized hive at the sting site that usually subsides within 30 to 60 minutes. This is followed by a small blister at the sting within four hours. A sterile sore with pus forms in eight to 24 hours. It then ruptures and crusts in 48 to 72 hours. * Treatment is aimed at preventing secondary bacterial infection, which may occur if the wound is scratched or broken. Scarring may also occur. Diabetics and others with circulatory disorders, including varicose veins and phlebitis, are at special risk for complications. Full story LA.Times.

July 5, 1999: After the 4th of July holiday and now back to news. Bowers protest becomes heated. "Burn in hell, burn in hell!" protesters chanted outside the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art on Saturday. In the middle of their circle, two communist Vietnam flags hung from plumbing pipes. At 12:30 p.m., the flags were soaked with lighter fluid and set ablaze. Flames quickly consumed their yellow stars and red backdrops. Full story OC. Register.

July 2, 1999: Vietnam upset by plan for statue. MONUMENTS: The proposed Westminster memorial would feature South Vietnamese and American soldiers. WESTMINSTER. The consul general of Vietnam has written a letter of protest to Mayor Frank Fry, saying a proposed $500,000 monument of an American soldier and a South Vietnamese soldier will help "prolong the hatred" toward the current Vietnamese government. "We should have a statue that represents our relationship today," Consul General Phong Xuan Nguyen said Thursday in a telephone interview. The 15-foot bronze sculpture, still to be created, would be displayed in Little Saigon. Fry said the memorial would represent the friendship and cooperation among American and South Vietnamese military personnel. "They were allies during the war," said Fry, who conceived the idea for the statue about two years ago. "We're not allies with the North (Vietnamese soldiers). "Fry unveiled a 3-foot-high prototype of the monument in May and has begun raising money to pay for it. The statue is to be created by local artist  Tuan Nguyen. Full story OC. Register.

Vietnam War documentary strikes chord. Even non-veterans feel the pain, resilience of captured Americans.It's been more than a quarter-century since the Vietnam War ended, but for many Americans the pain lingers. The war remains a stinging symbol of a misguided mission, of body bags and of defeat. Because of that, there has never been a full appreciation of the sacrifices and courage of the 2 1/2 million who fought and the hundreds who endured years in North Vietnamese prisons. Until now, perhaps. A powerful new documentary offers a forceful and valuable look at a period many have wanted to forget. Like the war's famous memorial wall in Washington, experts suggest the film may mark a turn in the long Vietnam healing process.Its 102 minutes are in turns chilling, heartbreaking, humorous and inspiring. After seeing the documentary, Slavet said, ``I felt embarrassed and ashamed that all of this was happening around me. I lived through that period, but I wasn't awake about it.''Of course it tells of torture. Harrowing, endless torture. Despite all this, the former POWs interviewed for the film showed no anger, no bitterness. If anything, they seemed at peace with themselves and to have gained a unique perspective on life. Full story SJMN.

July 1, 1999: $80,000 for arts groups. FUNDING: Grants from the county's arts council target education partnerships. Arts Orange County has awarded $80,000 to 19 county arts organizations to pay for arts-education programs. The grants, the second round from the county's private nonprofit arts council, ranged from a $10,000 grant to Aman Folk Ensemble to $1,000 for an after-school program at Kidseum, the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art's children's museum. Nearly all this year's successful applications involved partnerships between nonprofit arts groups and educational institutions, and this was purposeful, Arts Orange County executive director Bonnie Brittain Hall said. Full story OC. Register.

Jun 30, 1999: Demonstration moves inside Bowers. ART: Protesters pass out fliers and talk to museum-goers at the exhibit of Vietnamese work. They purchased $8 tickets to the show, joining the roughly 200 patrons representing double the typical weekday crowd. Some protesters inside the museum passed out fliers depicting the art as communist propaganda. Others engaged in a dialogue with visitors.Pham, an architect from Santa Ana, pulled out a piece of paper showing two images. One was "Country Girl," a 1989 silk painting by Thu Nguyen that is part of the exhibit. The painting depicts a girl holding what Bowers Asian art curator Janet Baker had described as a musical instrument. The other was a highly publicized photo of a woman and a man, each pointing a gun at a prisoner of war. "Don't you see the resemblance?" Pham asked Starkweather, pointing to the gun barrels in the photo and the object Baker said was an instrument. Pham believes that the object in the painting is a gun, and that a band around the girl's waist represents an ammunition belt. "I'm just not sure what that is," Starkweather said of the object the girl carried."The barrel is round but the instrument here has a flat look," she replied. "I just don't know. Can I take this paper home to show my son?" Pham said later that he thought he made his point. "I was very satisfied," he said. "I just wanted her to understand why I say it's communist and why I spend my time demonstrating. She can judge for herself." As many as 150 protesters have been demonstrating each day in front of the museum since Friday, the preview day for contributors and members. Full story OC. Register.

S.J. No. 6 in growth. Census figures: List ranks fastest-growing large cities in the nation over 500,000 people. San Jose ranks sixth among the fastest-growing large cities in the nation, expanding faster than such areas as San Diego, Houston and Dallas, according to new U.S. Census numbers released today. Among cities of 500,000 or more, San Jose is one of only five places that has seen double-digit growth between 1990 and 1998. By adding nearly 80,000 people, San Jose grew more than 10 percent.But if your morning commute tells you it's more crowded than that, you're probably right. More than 909,000 people now live in Silicon Valley's high-tech hub, according to the state Department of Finance, which uses driver's licenses and other state information to supplement and update census data. ``With Silicon Valley, it's no surprise to us (that) we have you growing by 16 percent,'' Gage said. ``It's really the births that are contributing. So a lot of your new residents are still wearing diapers or are in grade school.'' Since the 1990 census, more than 111,000 people have migrated to Santa Clara County from foreign countries, while 60,000 residents left for elsewhere in California or the United States, Gage said.Full story SJMN.

Jun 29, 1999: Vietnamese trying to recall City Council. Having failed twice already because of paperwork mistakes, a Newport Beach man is back for the third time in four months trying to recall the City Council. Long Kim Pham, an engineer and onetime congressional candidate, recently served papers on all five council members declaring his intent to start a recall petition against them.Full story LA. Times.

Jun 28, 1999:VIETNAMESE ENRICHES SILICON VALLEY BUT WHO CARES? Amid political protests against perceived Communist leaning in little Saigon over the so called art exhibition: Winding River, Who is looking after the welfare of Vietnamese in San Jose Silicon Valley?. Read below reported by San Jose Mercury News.

Protest at Bowers continues for third day. BOWERS: A Vietnamese art exhibit has been perceived as communist propaganda. Sunday was the third day of protest over "Winding River," a show that has angered some Vietnamese emigres who perceive the artwork as communist propaganda. They say it must be opposed or it will give Hanoi the impression that the refugees have become ambivalent toward the past. The protest "probably doesn't have a significant impact, but it'll raise some awareness," said Vo, of Irvine, a patron of Bowers who saw the exhibition Friday at a private reception and decided that it did not reflect the truth about Vietnam. And in another painting, Nguyen said rats in front of Buddha were a mockery of religion. Susan Doane of Long Beach, who came to the museum with her husband because she likes Asian art and in part, admittedly, because of the controversy, said she agreed that the Buddha portrait might be blasphemous. Full story OC. Register.

CULTURE: Local expatriate artists say artistic freedom in Vietnam is a myth. Curators of the show maintain that the collection was selected without interference from Hanoi. "They're well-intentioned but naive," Nguyen said Sunday, sitting among his books in a friend's office. "Don't buy it. "I wrote a single anti-communist essay in 1975, and it landed me in prison for nearly 12 years. This notion of artistic freedom under the Vietnamese regime is baloney."Other Vietnamese painters, writers, poets and sculptors living in Orange County faced similar communist persecution. But like Nguyen, they have not reacted publicly to the new display or participated in demonstrations against it. Many legendary names in Vietnam now toil in relative obscurity here. They don't have big-name sponsors to fund their projects. They lost their teaching jobs at prestigious universities in Saigon. Some now pursue their passions part time or as a hobby. They search for rare space at a handful of galleries in Little Saigon and print their work with vanity publishers. By contrast, each new book published in Hanoi contains an introduction by a communist official, said literary critic Cuc Ta Nguyen, whose work appears in magazines and newspapers. Section 99 of Vietnam's Penal Code states that circulating objectionable cultural materials is a crime punishable with prison sentences of six months to 12 years. Communist doctrine maintains that individuals must put the state's needs before their own. Becoming secure in one's creative identity, then, is hardly possible under socialist rule, expatriate artists say. Full story OC.Register.

Art, Politics and Dialogue at the Bowers. Culture: The second day of the Vietnamese exhibit draws a bigger crowd as protests stir interest and debate. Santa Ana City Councilwoman Alberta D. Christy stood Sunday before a painting entitled "Mother's Heart." In the brightly colored work, a mother and daughter are praying at what appears to be a family altar decorated with pictures of lost loved ones, soldiers--some wearing Communist caps. To Christy's right, Nancy Pham, 19, argued that the 1994 painting is nothing more than "propaganda." "This is an inaccurate portrayal showing a daughter and a mother revering Communist soldiers," said Pham, a recent graduate of Garden Grove High School. But despite--or perhaps because of--the protesters, the exhibit has drawn people who may not ordinarily have come.

And some have found a much more interactive viewing experience. Instead of shuffling from painting to painting in silence, or listening to an automated voice talk about a work's history, viewers at the Bowers found themselves engaged in discussions of each work's meanings with young Vietnamese students. In front of one work, an older Vietnamese man argued with a young woman that in America he should be free to view whatever piece of artwork he wanted--Communist or not. Some museum patrons Sunday said they felt compelled to see the exhibit after hearing about the protests. "I had no desire to see this until I heard about the protests," she said, as demonstrators collected on the sidewalk in front of the museum, carrying signs that read "Human Rights for Vietnam," and "Winding River Is Propaganda."  "There's no such thing as bad press," Simmons added.  Bowers Museum officials chose the exhibit partly to serve Orange County's Vietnamese emigre population of 200,000, the largest in the country. Full story LA. Times.

VIETNAMESE ENRICHES SILICON VALLEY BUT WHO CARES? PAID BY THE PIECE. High tech's hidden labor. A Mercury News investigation, detailed in a two-part series beginning June 27, 1999, has found that workers, many of whom are Vietnamese immigrants, are paid by the piece to build electronic parts at home for major local companies, in apparent violation of labor, tax and safety laws. At least a dozen local electronics contract manufacturers, ranging from small firms such as Compass Components Inc. of Fremont to multibillion-dollar giants such as Solectron Corp. of Milpitas, have been involved in piecework arrangements within the past year.

Of the 14 local companies that the Mercury News confirmed are involved in piecework arrangements, 12 acknowledged the activity, one denied it and one called such work ``unacceptable. Among the laws that could be violate:

OVERTIME PAY: Full-time employees whose companies give them work to take home should be paid at rates of time-and-a-half for such work, not by the piece, says federal official Glyder.

HOURLY WAGE: Often, family members help with the work and never show up on company books, making it impossible to calculate if an individual worker is earning the equivalent of California's minimum wage.

EMPLOYEE STATUS: Companies frequently hire outsiders to handle jobs on a piece-rate basis. But often, such ``independent contractors'' work predominantly for one company, which essentially controls the work.

In such cases, labor officials say, the contractor isn't all that independent and the companies are probably legally responsible for overtime wages and safety standards associated with the work, as well as taxes. ``They've tried to put an independent contractor label over things to avoid paying OT,'' Fine says.

CHILD LABOR: Despite laws barring children under the age of 14 from industrial work, youngsters often help with electronic assembly done at home.

HEALTH AND SAFETY: Employers are responsible for ensuring that workplaces meet industrial safety standards under Occupational Safety and Health Administration laws, even if the work is taking place at home.

LEGAL PROTECTION. ``The laws apply to everyone, citizens and immigrants both,'' says Locker of the labor commission. ``Whoever they are they are entitled to the protection of the laws. If you don't protect the people who are most easily exploited you guarantee everyone will be dragged down.'' Full story San Jose Mercury News.