The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

JIM LEHRER: Good evening. I'm Jim Lehrer. On the NewsHour tonight, a Tom Bearden summary of the Kosovo peace proposal and related developments, with the reaction of Senators Warner, Lugar, Levin and Dodd, plus the going-home reflections of a leading Kosovo editor; then, Betty Ann Bowser tells the story of two Oklahoma tornado survivors; Terence Smith and Ken Auletta explain AT&T's big deals; and essayist Roger Rosenblatt notes the new prominence of women writers. It all follows our summary of the news this Thursday.

NEWS SUMMARY

JIM LEHRER: There was a major peace plan for Kosovo in play today. Russia joined with the United States and the six other major industrial nations in sponsoring the proposal. It calls for armed peacekeepers in Kosovo, a provision Russia had earlier opposed. The foreign ministers of the eight countries, meeting in Bonn, said they'd submit the plan to the United Nations for approval. Yugoslavia has not agreed to the terms. We'll have more on this and other Kosovo developments right after the News Summary. The House of Representatives debated today how much to spend on the Kosovo campaign. President Clinton requested $6 billion. The Republican majority wants to spend almost $13 billion. They said extra funds were needed to improve overall military readiness. Democrats say it is for pork barrel projects. AT&T and Microsoft announced a deal today. Microsoft will invest $5 billion in AT&T, which will increase its use of Microsoft's computer software. The alliance follows AT&T's acquisition yesterday of Media-One, the country's fourth largest cable company. That will make AT&T the nation's largest cable TV operator, with a reach of 25 million homes. We'll have more on the story later in the program tonight. Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan had high praise for the US economy today, but said it was still not immune to risks from overseas. He said foreign markets remained fragile. But he praised US productivity gains of the past seven years. He said they kept inflation in check despite a tight labor market. He spoke at a banking conference in Chicago.

ALAN GREENSPAN, Chairman, Federal Reserve: The performance of the American economy over the past seven years has been truly phenomenal. The breadth of technological advance and its applications has engendered a major upward revaluation of business assets, both real and intangible. Of most concern is how long this remarkable period of prosperity can be extended.

JIM LEHRER: Greenspan and his fellow Fed policy makers are to meet May 18 on interest rates. They're expected to leave them unchanged. Four people were killed by powerful storms in Western Tennessee last night. They came from the same weather system that spawned the tornadoes in the southern plains this week. There were no confirmed twisters in Tennessee, but funnel clouds were reported in eight counties. In Oklahoma, the death toll from the storms there rose to 41. Three seriously injured victims died last night. 54 people remained unaccounted for. We'll have a personal story from Oklahoma later in the program tonight. An anti-abortion activist was charged with murder today in the killing of a Buffalo, New York doctor. James Kopp had been wanted as a witness in the death of doctor Bernard Slepian, who was shot in his home by a sniper. Kopp's whereabouts are unknown, but police said his car was seen in Slepian's neighborhood before the shooting. Other evidence was linked to Kopp through DNA testing. And that's it for the news summary tonight. Now it's on to a Kosovo news summary; perspective on the proposed peace deal; an Oklahoma tornado story; AT&T's big deals; and a Roger Rosenblatt essay.

UPDATE - CAMPAIGN FOR KOSOVO

JIM LEHRER: Tom Bearden once again narrates our Kosovo summary.

TOM BEARDEN: The foreign ministers of the seven western powers and Russia met in Bonn for the first time since NATO launched its air war six weeks ago. The West and Russia agreed to present a plan to the United Nations in what some see as the beginning of a strategy to resolve the Kosovo conflict.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: The significance is that, as far as I know, this is the first time that the Russians have publicly said they would support an international security as well as a civilian force in Kosovo. This is a significant step forward and I was personally very pleased by it.

TOM BEARDEN: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright laid out the key points of the proposal.

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: Security forces must withdraw, permitting refugees to return. Belgrade must accept an international military presence, and the people of Kosovo must gain the democratic self- government they seek.

TOM BEARDEN: But both sides caution that many differences remain. The key sticking point is the composition of a post-war force inside Kosovo: Who will command it, what countries will participate, and how well-armed it will be. NATO insists that it be at the core of a powerful military force. Yugoslavia insists it must be lightly armed and that NATO countries not participate. Secretary of State Albright said the United States would not accept such a restriction.

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: When you ask whether other countries can represent NATO, or that the US and Great Britain cannot, that is not acceptable, not for reasons of theology, but because of practical facts, and that is that part of what has to happen is that the Kosovar refugees have to be comfortable enough to come home, and they have to be capable of -- or they have to be demilitarized, and that will not happen if the United States is not part of the operation. Plus, our leadership role in NATO requires us to be present in this kind of an operation, with NATO at its core.

TOM BEARDEN: The Secretary said the Russians would likely play a role in the force. Kosovo's leading ethnic Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova, met with the Italian prime minister in Rome today. Released from house arrest in Serbia, Rugova and his family were allowed to fly to Italy. President Clinton said Rugova's release might signal that Belgrade is coming closer to accepting NATO's terms for a settlement. NATO's bombing campaign continued despite the diplomatic maneuvering. At a briefing this morning in Brussels, General Walter Jertz said the air campaign has forced Serbian forces in Kosovo to hunker down.

GENERAL WALTER JERTZ: Essentially, as of today, we have pinned, pretty much, them down. We have pretty much largely cut them off and are about to begin to take them out. We have achieved that by regularly and relentlessly harrying them in the field. As of today, with the exception of the Danube Bridge in Belgrade, all but two Danube bridges are destroyed, and this within a total of 31 bridges attacked throughout the area of operations.

TOM BEARDEN: But NATO Spokesman Jamie Shea conceded that the air campaign has not been able to meet its original goal: To halt the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Kosovar Albanians.

JAMIE SHEA: Milosevic has gone on with his campaign of ethnic sectarianism and expulsions, so that's true. So which conclusion do you draw? Well, you could say, yes, we haven't succeeded there, but then it's all the more reason to go for the next logical objective, which is to say, fine, we couldn't stop it happening, but, my God, we are going to make that man pay a price for what he's done, a very heavy price. And every day that he continues, that price is going to become heavier and heavier.

TOM BEARDEN: People continue to flee Kosovo in large numbers. At the main crossing in Blace, thousands of refugees were stranded when Macedonian authorities closed the border in an apparent effort to force more international assistance. Macedonia said it would only accept new refugees in the same number as NATO moves people out of the country.

KRIS JANOWSKI, UNHCR Spokesman: We were told by the refugees who arrived that there were thousands more on their way, so we have to assume that on the other side, on the Serbian side of the border, we've got thousands of terrified people waiting to get into Macedonia and at the moment being unable to do so.

TOM BEARDEN: One refugee estimated that 10,000 people may be waiting to cross. More than 200,000 Kosovars have flooded into Macedonia, and the government of this country of about two million is concerned that their presence will upset a delicate ethnic balance. On a visit to refugee camps in Albania, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said she would tell Serb leaders face to face when she visits Belgrade next week that they will be held accountable for ethnic cleansing. Mary Robinson said she would be looking specifically at abuses directed against women and families.

MARY ROBINSON: Meeting a number of families who have suffered terrible violations, families who have lost family members, who have witnessed directly family members being taken away, and they've not seen them again, their homes destroyed, their papers taken from them -

TOM BEARDEN: This morning, President Clinton had an emotional discussion with Kosovar refugees who are temporarily living in Germany. He urged them not to be bitter about their treatment.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: You will go home again in safety and in freedom. [Applause] When you have gone through something as awful as this, it is very easy to have your spirit broken, to spend the rest of your life obsessed with anger and resentment, but if you do that, you have already given those who oppress you a victory.

TOM BEARDEN: The President concluded his visit to Germany and returns to Washington tonight. The three former prisoners of war received purple hearts for the injuries they suffered during their capture last month. And late this afternoon, the Pentagon officially concluded that the soldiers were abducted from Macedonia, and had not strayed into Yugoslavia, as the Serbian government had claimed. In Fort Dix, New Jersey, one of the 453 refugees who landed last night gave birth to a brand-new American citizen today. The father says he wants to name the seven pound eight ounce boy, "America," but said he had to check with his wife first.

FOCUS - PURSUIT OF PEACE

JIM LEHRER: And to four US Senators: Republicans John Warner of Virginia, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Richard Lugar of Indiana, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Democrats Carl Levin of Michigan, the ranking Democratic member of the Armed Services Committee, and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Warner, what do you think of the new peace plan?

SEN. JOHN WARNER: It's a constructive first start of a diplomatic process. I have it right here: Eight points written in the customary vague language, so each side can place their interpretations. And now, after a period, and I hope it is short, that Milosevic will issue his equally vague response to it and then let's hope some hard bargaining can take place. But in the meantime, we should not let up one bit, either on the air campaign -- and let us pause for a moment to say how grateful we are to the men and women of the armed forces, wherever they may be, either in the cockpits or supporting those in flight. What they -- they brought about this. They brought about this. And they've got to keep it up and keep a stiff upper lip until there is absolute clarity that the basic goals that NATO has been unified on, these many weeks are met.

JIM LEHRER: Senator Levin, do you think that it's a very good first step?

SEN. CARL LEVIN: This is a very important step towards achieving NATO's goals. Some of the language is subject perhaps to interpretation, but the key language here is absolutely crystal clear, "the safe and free return of all refugees and displaced persons to their homes." And that is the goal of NATO. That is what this commitment is. And unless the forces are there that will guarantee their security, they're not going to go home. So this deal that was worked out here, including Russia, and it's very important that Russia be involved, as it is, in this agreement, is going to be proven by the return of all the refugees. And in order for that to happen, I agree with Senator Warner, we must continue to keep the bombing campaign going at full strength and indeed, even fuller.

JIM LEHRER: Senator Lugar, how would you characterize this proposal?

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR: Well, essentially the proposal is a working out of our compromises with the Russians. At this point, it really doesn't get to the heart of the matter, whether President Milosevic has any intent of being a party to this. And the President, when he said it was a step forward, is talking about our relations with the Russians. The dilemma of this agreement, and my colleagues are correct, the language is vague, does not mention that all of the Serbians have to get out. And that -- it is a basic point for us. Nor does it mention that NATO has to come in. It talks about an international force, but NATO is not mentioned. Secretary Albright on your show was indicating that the United States is going to be there, but that's currently not a part of this agreement, and the President was telling these people that are in wretched circumstances, they're going to come back and go back in freedom. That's our objective. But in order for that to happen, the Serbs have to get out. The conditions that have NATO there as a core of an international force, have to be clear. And somebody's got to spend a lot of money building houses and infrastructure so there'll be something to come home to -- because if the refugees stay in Macedonia and Albania, this situation collapses.

JIM LEHRER: All right. Senator Dodd, what do you think of this thing?

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD: Well, I agree with -- I think basically there seems to be a lot of agreement here. One thing has changed this evening that wasn't true 24 hours ago. And at this juncture, it's Mr. Milosevic against the world, and that was not the case prior to today. So I'm very hopeful here in light of the decision to let these three servicemen out under the auspices of Reverend Jackson the decision to have Ibraham Rugova now and his family be able to leave Serbia and go to Italy, those are two indications that this bombing effort, the political efforts, the diplomatic efforts, the resolve of NATO over the last 45 days during this air attack have I think proven to be valuable and worthwhile. And again, I think some vague language here, but the basic principles, as I read them-- and obviously, we'll get a lot of different interpretations-- but that is, I read it as Serbian forces police and military would have to leave Kosovo, that a security force of which the only security force that I know of at its core that could do the job would be NATO forces. Now, maybe under some UN auspices here, but I know of no UN force that could probably keep the peace that would be essential here if this agreement is to work, would be a part of this, an autonomous relationship for Kosovo here that would have to be worked out, an international group that would provide some sort of governmental operation in the interim. And then, as I've understood it, as well, here, we've borne much of the burden on the air campaign, because frankly, we have the technology and the capability, as Senator Warner and Carl Levin and Dick Lugar would certainly verify, as experts in this area. But I think it's going to be fair now for us to expect that Europe would pick up the sizable burden on the humanitarian efforts. This is their neighborhood, it's their backyard, and certainly we can be helpful, but I think it would be not unfair to expect them now to pick up the lion's share of this part of the equation.

JIM LEHRER: Now, Senator Warner, Senator Lugar pointed out, too, that this is with a deal, basically with Russia at this point. Does the fact that Russia has made this deal, is that a signal, a significant signal that probably Milosevic will buy it, as well?

SEN. JOHN WARNER: First, let's drop the word deal.

JIM LEHRER: Okay.

SEN. JOHN WARNER: I don't say that critically. This is just an initial start, a positive and a constructive one, and Russia has played an important role. Russia was not agreed to these points here 72 hours ago, 24 hours ago. And so I think the Secretary of State and others have, indeed the President's presence in Europe, I think was a clear sign that Russia felt now is the time to indicate they would move with the G-8 in adopting these eight principles. But we're a long way from a deal. And we will get there if NATO can hold together 19 nations with the same strength they showed throughout this conflict.

JIM LEHRER: But do you believe that Russia can now influence Milosevic? In other words, how important is it that Russia signed on, Senator Warner?

SEN. JOHN WARNER: I think it's quite important. And that's key. But the Russians want to go back up on the high stage of world diplomacy. And they see this as an opportunity to once again say, "we're up ranking with the superpower certainly as it relates to affecting diplomacy." But we're a long way -- and the Russians have got to hang tough and back eventually the basic principles that NATO has laid down and which so much risk of men and women have taken to bring this about. That's the important thing. We cannot abandon that.

JIM LEHRER: Senator Levin, how do you read Russia's ability now to bring Milosevic in on this -- I won't call it a deal -- on this proposal?

SEN. CARL LEVIN: It's very important that Russia be part of this agreement. They are now. Milosevic is just totally isolated. He was all but isolated before this agreement because Russia had not joined with the rest of Europe until today. But now Russia and all of Europe is there. Milosevic is completely isolated. And these terms are really quite specific in a lot of ways. For instance, it says, and I'm quoting, withdrawal from Kosovo of military, police and paramilitary forces. Well, there are Serbian forces there in Kosovo, so there's no other possible reference but Serbia. But this is a very significant step to include Russia now in the world community, and I think it just isolates Milosevic more than ever. He's got no place to turn --diplomatically and militarily -- I think he's taking a very severe beating.

JIM LEHRER: Have you, Senator Levin, or any of you Senators, had any kind of indirect word that Milosevic is on board, I mean that the Russians would not have done this if Milosevic had -

SEN. CARL LEVIN: I made inquiry to the appropriate officials just before I entered your studio, and the answer I got, no indication whatsoever from Milosevic. And frankly, he's going to take his time. He's not going to leap at this. He has been very clever in the way he has managed to achieve, I think, a number of his goals. And now, remember, this says what Milosevic must do. He's going to come back and say, "Well, this is what you must do." And there's going to be quite a wide gap, and that's why the unity of NATO is important. And we must always remember the risk of the men and women of the armed forces of many nations that brought this together. We cannot sell those people short -- nor can we sell the Kosovars. Now, mind you, the Kosovars-- I don't know to the extent they've been consulted, and it's important that this force going in have the credibility, which I believe a US contingent must provide, for them to do the basic disarmament and to agree to return to their villages and renew their lives.

JIM LEHRER: Senator Lugar, how do see this gap between what is in this proposal and what Milosevic may want, and how do we bridge that?

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR: Well, I think there are two significant disconnects. The first is that, in the same dispatches from Reuters that say the Russians are aboard, it points out that President Boris Yeltsin was giving a speech and said the world is on the brink of war. Now, there's a disconnect --

JIM LEHRER: I saw that. It was almost at the same time.

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR: Yes. Surely a disconnect between the president of the country and whoever was out there representing him - the foreign minister, I gather, with Secretary Albright. The other disconnect reports that generals have come to President Milosevic - the New York Times reported on Tuesday that they came and said, you know, Mr. President, we've achieved the mission, essentially we have rejected KLA, the Kosovo Liberation Army, we've kept NATO at bay, and we by and large we've cleansed the country, and Milosevic accepted that and congratulated them and in essence said we've achieved victory -- I don't see anything in this news that's very happy for us. The only happy people are those reported in Belgrade whose lights came on and are very cheerful about life. Now, that's not the way it was supposed to be reading, I think, tonight. And the fact is Milosevic is no closer to doing anything about this, nor have the Russians demonstrated an ability to deliver. Now, clearly Chernomyrdin or somebody will go to Belgrade and try to get them onboard, but I would just say best of luck for a deal that I've already characterized as vague.

JIM LEHRER: So you don't think that the fact that the Russians are onboard means anything in terms of whether Milosevic will buy this or not?

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR: No, I don't think it does make any difference. We have our own problem with the Russians. And the President, from the beginning, has said, in addition to solidarity of the alliance, the importance of the Russian relationship came sort of right after that, as well as apparently minimizing the expense of this war, both in lives and in money. Now, with those objectives in mind, we have some constraints.

JIM LEHRER: So Senator Dodd, we keep bombing, right?

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD: Well yes. I think what Senator Warner said is accurate here. We've been down this road with Mr. Milosevic in the past where we've been on the brink of maybe some agreement, and we found out later that it was only the mill tear pressure that ultimately brought him to an agreement on Bosnia Herzegovina. Let me just say I have tremendous respect for Dick Lugar and he's one of the real experts in the Senate on foreign policy. But I don't think we ought to underestimate this decision by the foreign minister. Whether there's some disagreement between Boris Yeltsin, that's a legitimate point to look at. But let's work off the facts as we know them. The fact that Russia has agreed with the G-8 on these points, that Japan has signed on, that all members but China of the Security Council has now agreed with these provisions, Vegas they may, although Senator Levin is correct, a number of them seem rather specific, I think is significant. Now, we don't have a deal yet. But Mr. Milosevic had really only one ally, and that was Russia. And without that ally, it's going to be very difficult for them now to proceed, looking as though they've got any support anywhere. So we're a long way from an agreement, but this is a major step forward. It's a significant achievement, and I'm hopeful now that Mr. Milosevic may see that the resolve is there in NATO, that the G-8 and the UN Security Council will have resolve, and that the further isolated he is leaves him no alternative but to respond with some offer here that would allow us to achieve a diplomatic result.

JIM LEHRER: And Senator Levin, you share that optimism, do you not?

SEN. CARL LEVIN: Well, it's not a matter of optimism. It's a matter of realism here, that the only way Milosevic will bend is if we keep the military pressure on. And if he's totally isolated diplomatically, we've got to keep the NATO military pressure on. That is what will produce diplomatic results. But today's step, including Russian now with the rest of Europe, it seems to me is a very significant step.

JIM LEHRER: Gentlemen, thank you all four very much.

CONVERSATION

JIM LEHRER: Now, a Kosovar view of what it will take to persuade his people to return home. Phil Ponce taped this interview yesterday.

PHIL PONCE: With us is Blerim Shala, editor-in-chief of the Kosovo weekly, Zette. He also served on the Kosovo delegation to the Rambouillet peace talks. He escaped from Kosovo to Macedonia days after the Serbs began moving Kosovars from Pristina. He was invited to the United States by the International Crisis Group - a private organization - and he's been meeting with US officials.

Welcome, sir. NATO is claiming that its campaign has been a success. Do you consider it a success?

BLERIM SHALA: I think that NATO chose the right track when they launched the air strikes, especially when they intensified the air strikes two weeks ago. It is obviously the first result on our appealing - why - because Milosevic is now giving signals that he is in deep trouble, and he's ready to compromise, but I don't see any chance to have compromise with him, at least aboutthe five key points of NATO. As you know, NATO has very clear package, which must be accepted by Mr. Milosevic. In that package there are five demands: First of all, he must withdrawal all of Serbian forces from Kosovo. Secondly, we must have NATO deployment there, and finally, if these two principles would be accomplished, in that case, we can have safe return of Albanian deported by the Serbian forces.

PHIL PONCE: So you think now is the time to take up those points, take up negotiations?

BLERIM SHALA: I am not speaking about negotiations. Those five principles, according to me, are not negotiable principles - they must be accepted as they are by the Serbian side. Russia can persuade Mr. Milosevic that he must accept those principles. We can have discussion on composition of the NATO forces -- the composition of international forces in Kosovo, but we can't discuss if NATO must leave forces there. And again in my experience in Bosnia and in Croatia and elsewhere, only NATO is capable to take in his hand security and peace of one region concretely now of Kosovo. We are not against Russian presence there, or Ukrainian presence in these forces, but definitely we must have forces provided by NATO.

PHIL PONCE: And are you concerned that some of those five points, are you concerned that some of those five points might be waived, might not be insisted upon?

BLERIM SHALA: I'm sure if Mr. Milosevic is trying through his channels, maybe at least Russians, to change at least two or three demands of the NATO -- for example, supposing that he is trying to convince Russians and through Russians, the West, that means that Serbian police must be further present in Kosovo, that VJ must still be present in Kosovo - Yugoslavian army - and that the composition of the forces must be according to his opinion. It is very strange, because Mr. Milosevic is not leading the NATO, he is not in NATO headquarters, so he can't decide about composition of NATO. Secondly, we can't expect from Albanians - from any single Albanian - that he will cross the checkpoint and the border, he will go inside Kosovo, if the Serbia policemen will wait for him there. There is no coexistence between Serbian forces and Albanian civilians in Kosovo anymore.

PHIL PONCE: I'm sorry. I didn't understand the last point you made. There is no what?

BLERIM SHALA: Coexistence.

PHIL PONCE: There is no coexistence.

BLERIM SHALA: Yes.

PHIL PONCE: In other words, there is no way that Kosovar Albanians would go back to Kosovo if the Serbian police are still there?

BLERIM SHALA: Absolutely.

PHIL PONCE: You've been meeting with US officials.

BLERIM SHALA: Yes.

PHIL PONCE: What have you been telling them?

BLERIM SHALA: First of all, I am telling to very important US officials that I'm supporting - and we as Albanians are supporting the NATO strikes in Kosovo. We are absolutely behind this fight, key fight, point, plan of the NATO pact. We are just thinking that we must speak in this plan; we must support this plan; and we must accomplish this plan. So generally speaking, we are also delivering the message that NATO must use all possible means in order to achieve its own goals, its main targets.

PHIL PONCE: Including the use of ground forces?

BLERIM SHALA: It is if necessary. I'm speaking of is it necessary because I am supportive of NATO - planners are carefully trying to see that maybe they can achieve their goals only by those strikes - but I know that there is now a dilemma in the State Department or elsewhere regarding fulfillment of those five demands. Nobody is disputing them.We are thinking that we can't negotiate on these five key plans.

PHIL PONCE: And, Mr. Shala, how many Kosovars do you think would actually wind up going back, even if those five demands were, were met?

BLERIM SHALA: I think that there is a fear, as well, among us to go back immediately. But we're going to have to right to go back immediately, as you know.

PHIL PONCE: You personally would want to go back?

BLERIM SHALA: Absolutely. There is no dilemma between us regarding turning back in Kosovo. We are all counting days and weeks for returning back in Kosovo. First of all, I know that plenty of Western officials are trying to convince us it would be very difficult - not because they are thinking that the Serbian forces will destroy most of us Kosovo - houses will be burned - but our building will be destroyed, but first of all, I must emphasize one thing, first is the key thing, safety. If we are safe there, if there is no policeman there, if there is no Serbian forces there, and if NATO is together with us, assuring our safety, I'm absolutely sure that all we will go back. Without safety, if Serbian policemen - as I told you before - will wait for us at the border checkpoint, nobody is ready to go back.

PHIL PONCE: And if those conditions were met, if there were no Serbian police, no Serbian forces, can you see yourself living peacefully with Serbian people?

BLERIM SHALA: Absolutely. I'm thinking that we can do it, of course. In other circumstances, I'm convinced that the bridges between us are burned or have been destroyed, not by us, by Serbian regime.

But I am thinking that the national presence there - international military and political and economic presence there will serve as a bridge, so international community will bridge the gaps between two nationalities there, and in that order, I am sure that the NATO, first of all it protects Albanian but also will protect Serbian civilians there.

PHIL PONCE: Mr. Shala, I thank you very much for joining us.

BLERIM SHALA: Thank you very much.

FOCUS - DEALING WITH DISASTER

JIM LEHRER: In the aftermath of Monday's deadly tornadoes, Betty Ann Bowser visited a community in Oklahoma.

MAN: Nails, nails, be careful of rusty nails.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: At 80 years of age, Genny McLane went home yesterday to start over. She and her husband, Bob, have been married for 57 years.

GENNY McLANE: Well, let's go in and see what we got left. Not very much of anything. But we've got to look for what we can find.

BOB McLANE: Okay.

GENNY McLANE:I can get through here. Just leave me be.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Two days before the killer tornadoes hit, the McLanes had just spent $2,100 redecorating what was once their three- bedroom home in Del City, a few miles southeast of Oklahoma

City.

GENNY McLANE: Had my drapes all cleaned, and just got them hung up, and we was raring back in our chairs. And we looked on the TV and that storm was coming.

BOB McLANE: We followed it all the way up here.

GENNY McLANE: No wonder we had mortar. Our fireplace is still -- we had a corner fireplace there. We had so much sand in our hair and down my skin.

BOB McLANE: Yeah, and glass.

GENNY McLANE: Oh, our refrigerator's still there in the garage.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: The McLanes had help. Joe and Linda Zalanowski are Good Samaritans who found the couple four nights ago, dazed, sitting in a shelter the elderly couple had walked nearly a half a mile to get to.

LINDA ZALANOWSKI:I walked in and they were sitting there. Something drew me to these two people. I walked over to them. I was terrified. I didn't know -- you know, I didn't want them to think I was, you know, trying to hurt them in any way because they looked terrified. They were covered with soot and dirt and insulation. They were just a mess. And they had nothing but this purse she was holding onto, and they were holding each other. And I walked up to Jenny and I said, "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not here to take any of your money, but will you come home with me?" And I didn't know what else to say to them.

GENNY McLANE: I remember I said, "I can't go home with you. I'm too dirty to go to your house. " And she said, "oh, no, you're not."

BETTY ANN BOWSER: So just before midnight on Monday evening, a few hours after the monster tornadoes killed at least 41 people and injured more than 600 others the Zalanowskis took two total strangers home with them.

JOE ZALANOWSKI: This tornado came within four or five blocks of us and you sit there and say, "why them and not us?" And then you feel for people. We're in Oklahoma, that's the way we do things. So we just need today do something; you just can't sit here knowing people are put out and not do anything.

SPOKESMAN: And it widened again to between.

SPOKESPERSON: That much more and we would be doing the same thing because the house is right across from us.

SPOKESPERSON: Four or five blocks right down there.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: The Zalanowkskis have taken the McLanes to the doctor, they've made certain the insurance man was notified, they've fed them, and yesterday with Bob McLane wearing Joe's clothing, they helped the elderly couple pick through what was left of the 31 years they've spent here.

BOB McLANE: There it is. Wonderful. Thank you, Joe.

JOE ZALANOWSKI: You got a lot of clothes that are still good, but we're going to have to come up with a system.

BOB McLANE: Well, the first thing I want to do is give you your own back that you gave to me when I first got to your house. I'll give them back to you, then.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: There was so little left that whatever they found seemed significant.

BOB McLANE: Well, let me see here, see what I got here. There's my checkbook.

JOE ZALANOWSKI: Great.

BOB McLANE: There's my checks right there. I was worried about them. See there?

JOE ZALANOWSKI: Well, what we'll do is we'll bring a box in and just dump everything in a box and then go through it when we get back.

BOB McLANE: Here's my estimated income tax for the year.

JOE ZALANOWSKI: There you go.

BOB McLANE: That I send in every four months.

JOE ZALANOWSKI: All your papers.

BOB McLANE: Yeah, these are some papers, special.

JOE ZALANOWSKI: See, we're going to get a lot of the personal stuff I think, and that's the important stuff.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: What was most important to Genny was this 50th wedding anniversary portrait. She could hardly believe it was still hanging on what was left of the living room wall.

LINDA ZALANOWSKI: This is all Gen wants. This is what I'm getting for her, okay?

JOE ZALANOWSKI: Not a scratch.

GENNY McLANE: Isn't that funny? It had mud on it the other day.

JOE ZALANOWSKI: Oh, boy.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: All over the neighborhood, people told stories of survival. Most of them rode out the tornado in their homes and were amazed they were still alive. Rachel Smith hovered in a closet as the 318-mile-an-hour winds collapsed the walls of her house around her.

RACHEL SMITH: My camera. Oh, my God.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Her five children helped her look through the debris. Are you all surprised she is alive?

CHILDREN: Yeah, very. We all know why she's alive.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: And as the McLanes picked through the destruction of 4016 Angela Drive, Bob remembered the horror of Monday night.

BOB McLANE: Yes, right here, laying down. And she was right over there on the other side of that door. We just laid down and covered ourselves with these blankets, let it shake, rattle and roll. We're just fortunate to be alive. I'll never forget the terrific sound of the -- of about three freight trains coming over at that time. It was unbelievable -- unbelievable. And I just knew the next minute, with all this heavy thundering going on around us and the heavy noise, that maybe, just maybe it would be our last go-around.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Many of those who did die lived in nearby Moore, Oklahoma, today a virtual wasteland. Residents made one last stab at finding anything they could salvage before the bulldozers come in to clear the land.

NITA KINMAN: We still have a lot to be thankful for. That's what matters. You know, I've got my own little baby girl right here. That's all that matters. We wanted to come say good-bye to you.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Nita Kinman said good-bye to her neighbors. Some of them said they were leaving for good. But Kinman is staying.

NITA KINMAN: We're going to pick up and rebuild. Life's going on. We'll be happy here once again. We've lived here for 20 years, and we'll live here for 20 more. And God's going to continue to take care of us.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: The good-byes are being said at a time when there is still much anxiety.

NITA KINMAN: It's just so hard because we don't know where everybody is. You know, I don't know how to get ahold of Bob and Sue, and I didn't know how to get a hold of you guys.

WOMAN: I know.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Not only is there worry about the missing, estimates on the damage are still incomplete, but it could go as high as $1 billion.

FOCUS - MEGA DEALS

JIM LEHRER: The AT&T's story and to Terence Smith.

TERENCE SMITH: There is a battle underway to control the cable lines coming in to the American home. And the biggest player in that battle, AT&T, won at least a skirmish yesterday when it announced its $58 billion acquisition of the Media-One Group, the nation's fourth largest cable company. The deal gives AT&T ownership of all or part of the cables reaching into 60 percent of American homes. Through its ownership of Liberty Media, AT&T is an owner of MacNeil-Lehrer Productions, the co-producer of this program. Today, Microsoft announced it is investing $5 billion in AT&T, a move that gives the software manufacturer a strong position in the market for operating systems used in set-top boxes for cable television. Now, to help us sort through this blur of billion-dollar deals, we are joined by Ken Auletta, author and media correspondent for the "New Yorker" magazine. Last year he published "The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Superhighway." Ken, welcome. You know, years ago we used to call AT&T Ma Bell. Is she morphing that Ma Cable?

KEN AULETTA: Ma Cable, Ma Bell, Ma Internet. They are basically a company that is trying to have real or partial control over the wire to your television, your computer, your telephone and your wireless telephone.

TERENCE SMITH: So it's a huge package. Take it one by one. The Media-One deal. What's the significance and logic and rationale of that?

KEN AULETTA: Well, the rationale of that is that, as you've said, it's the fourth largest cable company. And with that, AT&T either owns or has partial ownership of roughly 60 percent or two-thirds of all the cable companies. Their aim is to provide telephone service, local telephone service competing with the Baby Bells, using the cable wire as their means of doing that.

TERENCE SMITH: And of course high-speed Internet access at some point?

KEN AULETTA: They also own -- one of the things they purchased majority control of when they acquired the nation's first largest cable company, Telecommunications, Inc., or TCI, which owned Liberty, which is spun off, is a company called At Home. At Home is a high-speed cable modem which would allow AT&T potentially to become the gate keeper over the Internet, which is one of the reasons why company like AOL and other Internet service providers are very nervous about it.

TERENCE SMITH: So all of this is leading, I gather, to that one-wire approach into the home that can bundle all these services and provide it under one umbrella?

KEN AULETTA: One of the reasons why people in Washington say, or many of them are ambivalent about this deal is that, on the one hand, it provides something that people have long aspired to, which is to have -- to introduce local telephone service competition. By using the cable wire, AT&T is fulfilling that promise, which everyone has talked about for many, many years, and that pleases people immensely. On the other hand, Terry, the problem is that Americans have never much liked large companies bigness. And AT&T has just gotten bigger.

TERENCE SMITH: And does the monopoly word start to come up?

KEN AULETTA: Well, it does by people, and obviously it's being voiced within the Congress. AT&T is going to come back and say, "this is not a monopoly. We are introducing competition to telephone service. You've still got the Baby Bells, you've still got many different providers of information and data over the Internet and in local telephone service." But nevertheless, no question, consumer groups have raised some real questions about that.

TERENCE SMITH: And in fact it's true, this will lead, I suppose, to more competition in terms of telephone service, but perhaps less for cable?

KEN AULETTA: Less -- there is less. There's more concentration of ownership in the cable industry due to this. There is more competition due to this, as you say in local telephone service potentially. Don't forget, one of the things we ought to remember here is that, under Mr. Armstrong, who's the CEO, over the last 18 months or so of AT&T, they have done a blizzard of deals worth well over $100 billion in that period of time. But those deals, as potentially promising and potent as they are, they're just press releases. They're announcements. They actually have to manage and make these deals work, and that's a much more difficult thing to do than to make an announcement.

TERENCE SMITH: And, in fact, AT&T has to introduce this technology and get it working, up and running and functioning and will do so, I gather, community by community?

KEN AULETTA: And they will have to spend a fair amount of billions of dollars to upgrade the cable wire in order to be able to do that. This will not roll out instantaneously. This will roll out over a period of time.

TERENCE SMITH: But it is a huge gamble, is it not, for Michael Armstrong, the head of AT&T? He's betting the farm on this?

KEN AULETTA: He's betting the farm. And it's a very bold move. I mean we've tended over the years to think of the telephone companies as regulated monopolies with all the sins of a regulated monopoly caution, bureaucracy. We don't think of them as entrepreneurial companies. He is acting like an entrepreneur.

TERENCE SMITH: Explain to us, also, Ken, the logic of the Microsoft involvement. Now, they're interested, they've come along and said, "we'll pay $5 billion, approximately, for 2 percent to 3 percent of AT&T."

KEN AULETTA: Microsoft has tried to get a seat at the cable table. Several years ago, they invested $1 billion in Com Cast, which is now the fourth largest cable company, to try and do that. And their hope was to have the kind of position in the cable box, which is basically a microprocessor, a computer sitting atop your television set to have the operating system be in that cable box the way they have the operating system in your computer box. They were spurned in their effort to do that by the cable industry. They just got a little toe hold in there. This is an attempt to increase that toe hold and maybe get their whole foot in there. But they wish to -- as these instruments in the home merge or converge, as you can watch television on your computer or watch the Internet or work on the Internet on your television set, the hope for a company like Microsoft is to be able to do the operating system for both of these boxes.

TERENCE SMITH: Explain to us in the simplest of terms, Ken, why the consumer should care about this, what his or her stake is in this.

KEN AULETTA: Well, the consumer has, again reasons for some ambivalence, but also a huge stake. The reason for ambivalence is, on the one hand, the consumer wants to have one telephone bill, one cable bill, one Internet bill, one wireless service bill that you could look at and know what things are going to cost you. And the ease of dealing with one service provider for all of these services is very attractive potentially to consumers. On the other hand, we worry if it lessens competition, say, on the Internet be able to jack up our prices? Will they be able to not improve our services? These are always the tensions that a consumer feels when you're dealing with these contradictory issues of, on the one hand, ease of use and on the other hand, a large company that has less incentive potentially to drop prices and to improve services.

TERENCE SMITH: Where does this leave independent companies like AOL, which provides Internet service to 17 million subscribers, or to the other telephone companies, you know, MCI, Sprint, et cetera?

KEN AULETTA: Well, you see, the cable modem wire, that At Home piece that AOL -- that-- I'm sorry-- AT&T dominates, their hope is to be able to provide your access. You will pay them a monthly fee for Internet access -- and potentially what AOL worries about is that AT&T will knock them off, will basically say, "You pay us $20 a month, rather than paying AOL the $20 a month for your basic Internet access service, including E-mail and news services, et cetera. AOL is terrified by that. On the other hand, AOL has gone to the Baby Bells and said, "Look, instead of using the cable modem, I'll use your telephone modem." So the local telephone companies are competing with AT&T, and the winner of that is the one that hopes to provide Internet service and become basically a gatekeeper over the Internet.

TERENCE SMITH: Very briefly, the reaction from government regulators, what do you predict?

KEN AULETTA: Confusion. And let some time go by and we're studying the matter, I think you'll find.

TERENCE SMITH: Okay, thanks Ken Auletta, very much.

FINALLY - MOTHERS OF INVENTION

JIM LEHRER: Finally tonight, Essayist Roger Rosenblatt considers some women of distinction.

ROGER ROSENBLATT: The occasion of Mother's Day presents an excuse for celebrating women who may or may not be mothers in the strict definition, but who are mothers of invention, women writers, mothers of us all, who are doing most of the best writing in America these days. Time was when women writers, serious writers, were hard to find. In the beginning, they survived as local curiosities. Emily Dickinson hid out in Western Massachusetts. Sarah Orne Jewett stayed close to the country of the pointed firs in Maine. Marianne Moore played the Brooklyn card, Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty the song of the South. Edith Wharton, and later Willa Cather, made deservedly wide reputations, and by the 1960's, one could detect a growing line of women writers in American literature, especially with poets such as Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Adrienne Rich. But even then, women seemed to be given a small, decorated chair in a corner of monumental libraries built by monumental men: Hawthorne, Melville, Poe, Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman; who were later joined by TS Eliot and Henry James, and then by Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe. And then the male line of succession began to thin out. There was Bellow, Malamud, Ellison, Lowell, Baldwin, Updike, Snodgrass, and some others, but nothing that promised a new age of kings. As the male royal line wore thin, however, women began taking over the palaces, until now -- with the exceptions of Tim O'Brien, Russell Banks, and a few others -- the most interesting writing in America is done by the ladies. Among writers of fiction, the ruling class consists of Anne Tyler, Joyce Carol Oates, Bobbie Ann Mason, Bharati Mukerjee, Cynthia Ozick, Toni Morrison, Alice McDermott, Jane Smiley, Sue Miller, Rosellen Brown, Amy Tan, Kate Lehrer, Judith Rosner, Alice Adams, Anne Beattie, and on and on. The essay shines in the imaginative hands of Annie Dillard, Gayle Pemberton, Susan Sontag, Molly Haskell and others. The best American poetry is produced by Rita Dove, Rachel Hadas, Jane Shore, Maxine Kumin. So, what has happened, one might ask - how did the mamas take over the papas? Of course, women have taken over a lot of male territory in the past 30 years, but I don't think that's the reason for their literary ascendancy; nor do I think the male talent gene pool has simply dried up. Apart from individual gifts, the reason that American women writers have come to power is their subject matter. They deal in manageable worlds. Men are used to writing about big deals, wars, and whale hunts, all of which have today been assumed by nonfiction. If you want to read about a war, try a TV docudrama, or better yet, try the news itself. Want a hero? Try a Steven Spielberg movie. What used to be the province of male creativity has been taken over by reality; whereas the microcosmic life, the life of the family, dialogue and detail, always the province of women, has now become the life we want to dream about and understand. It may be that we know the big deal stories a bit too well and that we never adequately grasped the life of the village, the street and the kitchen. Maybe American literature, like much of the rest of the country, has joined the Communitarian movement. It is no longer interested in big, creative government. In any case, it was no fluke that the jurors for this year's National Book Award found Alice McDermott's "Charming Billy" more appealing than Tom Wolfe's "A Man in Full." People have had their fill of men in full. The women give us things that we appear to know, yet yearn to imagine: The demi-smile, the word unsaid, the bed. Another recent successful novel by a woman is Arundhati Roy's "The God of Small Things." Women writers seem to know that these days, the God of small things is the deity who counts. In a life that explodes with scientific breakthroughs, tyrannical breakthroughs, refugees in the rain, hurricanes, floods, big trouble, the small things are the reeds we cling to, to try to learn how to live in the world. American women writers are telling us how to live in the world. I'm Roger Rosenblatt.

RECAP

JIM LEHRER: Again, the major stories of this Thursday: Russia joined the U.S. And other nations in a Kosovo peace plan. It has not been accepted yet by Yugoslavia. Four people were killed by storms in western Tennessee last night, and the death toll in the Oklahoma tornadoes rose by three to 41. We had planned to have a second of Elizabeth Farnsworth's discussions about responsibility tonight. We'll broadcast it tomorrow night instead. It's with a group of Denver parents and teachers. Shields & Gigot will also be here tomorrow, and we'll see you on line. I'm Jim Lehrer. Thank you and good night.