The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

MR. MacNeil: Good evening. Leading the news this Monday, Poland's Communists were warned to cooperate with Solidarity or lose all power, Pres. Bush said new hostage threats won't change U.S. policy, Colombian police arrested more than 10,000 suspects in a crackdown on drug rings. We'll have details in our News Summary in a moment. Judy Woodruff is in Washington tonight. Judy.

MS. WOODRUFF: After the News Summary, we go first to the drug crisis that has Colombia in its grip. After a background report, Colombia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Enrique Penalosa, Sen. Joe Biden, former Federal Prosecutor Robert Merkle and author Guy Gugliotta join us. Then an update on the fires that have reeked havoc in Idaho and other Western states, and finally an Anne Taylor Fleming essay on the nostalgia of the '60s generation.NEWS SUMMARY

MR. MacNeil: Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity movement, now preparing to lead Poland's government, today warned the Communists to cooperate or risk losing all power. Walesa said the Communists were using blackmail by refusing to cooperate if they did not get more cabinet seats than the two Solidarity has offered them, defense and interior. Walesa said if the Communist Party does not draw proper conclusions, as so far it has not, then it will have no chances whatsoever in the future. At the same time, Solidarity officials said they were worried about a new wave of strikes reeling out of control just as the union was about to assume power. Workers are demanding compensation for price increases announced by the Communist authorities on August 1st. Young strike leaders rejected Solidarity pleas that they return to work. In Czechoslovakia, protesters hailed events in Poland during a demonstration marking the 21st anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Prague. We have a report from the capital by Gaby Rado of Independent Television News.

MR. RADO: It began at 5 o'clock at one end of Winchester Square when the underground opposition organizations had called for two minutes silence. When the police saw what was happening, they waded in to try to break up the mass of people. Then ironic cheering broke out as police tried to confiscate camera equipment, but within minutes, the crowd's mood turned to one of open defiance. Then came the first chant, "Long live freedom, long live freedom." It was then clear that a serious political demonstration was in progress. A man was lifted aloft and read out a statement and he called up the memory of Jan Palack, the young Czech who burned himself in protest of the Warsaw Pact invasion. At first, without anyone noticing it, riot police appeared for the first time, and they set up barricades in the streets leading off the square. For a while they waited and then they moved in. And that's when the first real violence is seen besides police buses. And tonight the confrontation has begun to spread to other parts of the town across the river which divides the Czech capital.

MR. MacNeil: The United States criticized Czech authorities for today's arrest. The State Department said despite positive change in other East bloch nations, Czechoslovakia has not made significant gestures in the area of reform and human rights. Judy.

MS. WOODRUFF: Pres. Bush today discussed with his top aides a new threat to U.S. hostages in Lebanon. White House Chief of Staff John Sununu said Mr. Bush was briefed at his Maine vacation home on a threat issued yesterday by the pro-Iranian Revolutionary Justice Organization, which said it would harm Edward Tracy and Josef Cicippio if France intervened in Lebanon. When the President was asked about the meeting later by reporters, he pointed out that French President Francois Mitterrand said France has no intention to intervene in U.S. policy.

MR. MacNeil: In Colombia, troops and police continued the massive crackdown on the drug trade sparked by the killing of presidential candidate Luise Carlos Galan. Police arrested, have arrested more than 10,000 drug suspects and troops have raided farms run by suspected leaders of the Medillin Cartel, the drug ring believed responsible for up to 80 percent of the cocaine smuggled into this country. Acting on direct orders of Pres. Verhilio Barco, police seized helicopters and other property belonging to the suspected cocaine traffickers. We'll have more on the Colombian drug anarchy after the News Summary.

MS. WOODRUFF: Police in London said today they are considering criminal charges in the Saturday night sinking of a pleasure boat on the River Timms. At least 25 people are known dead and at least 38 more are missing since a dredger smashed into the boat carrying about a 150 party goers. It wasn't until low tide today that the full extent of the damage became known. We have a report from London by Paul Davies of Independent Television News.

PAUL DAVIES: The super structure of the craft emerged from the muddy water, wreckage from the party still strapped in flooded cabins. The empty wheelhouse with the ship's radio that should have warned the crew of impending disaster. With the river reopened to traffic, early morning commuters could see that the Marchioness had not been sliced in two as earlier suggested. Her aft section with its dance floor is clearly visible, only the roof structure missing. Also clearly visible the damage to the hull caused by considerable impact. The search for wreckage and victims continued, police helicopters aided by boats fitted with sophisticated sonar devices. Port of London offices studying the screens for signs of anything unusual on the riverbed.

MR. MacNeil: Turkey today closed its border with Bulgaria, saying it wanted to force the Bulgarian Government to negotiate the future of 1 1/2 million ethnic Turks. More than 310,000 have fled from Bulgaria, saying they faced religious and cultural assimilation. Bulgaria has rejected Turkey's call for an accord to compensate refugees for property left behind and to protect the rights of Turks to remain. Bulgaria denies the existence of a Turkish minority, claiming they are Bulgarian Muslims. Turkey said it was acting to bring some sense and order to the haphazard way Bulgaria heaps people on the border.

MS. WOODRUFF: In Kenya, famed British conservationist George Adamson was shot and killed by a group of suspected bandits yesterday. The 83 year old Adamson died nine years after the violent death of his wife, Joy, who wrote the story of Elsa the lionness in Born Free. He was killed when Samali bandits opened fire on his vehicle after having attacked three of his assistants. The Adamsons were known for taking lions born in captivity and teaching them to survive in the wild. Violence had been feared ever since a major anti-poaching effort supported by Adamson began in Kenya's game preserves. That's it for our summary of the day's news. Just ahead on the Newshour, the drug crisis in Colombia, fires ravage the Western U.S., and an essay on Nostalgia. FOCUS - COLOMBIA - DRUG HIT

MR. MacNeil: We go first tonight to the Colombian drug story. As we reported, military and police forces continued their crackdown on suspected drug traffickers in Colombia. Drug related assassinations in recent days have claimed the lives of a leading politician, a national police colonel and a magistrate. On Friday, the president of Colombia declared a state of siege. Today in Kenneybunkport, Maine, White House Chief of Staff John Sununu said there are no plans to send U.S. troops to Colombia to fight the cocaine industry which is believed responsible for 80 percent of the cocaine available in the United States. We'll look at that industry and U.S. options, but first we have this background report from Kwame Holman.

MR. HOLMAN: Colombian Sen. Luise Carlos Galan knew he was a target. A leading candidate in presidential elections set for next year, Galan's campaign was a campaign against drugs and against the powerful international Medillin International Drug Cartel that controls cocaine's world market. In response, the Medillin Cartel reportedly put a price of $500,000 on Galan's head, and on Friday, at an open air rally in Bogota, someone cashed in. Galan was just the latest victim in the decade long war between the Colombian government and the country's drug lords. Earlier in the week, a magistrate was shot to death by killers riding motorcycles. And the local police chief was shot to death as he left his home. Within the past few weeks, the governor of the Medillin Province was killed by a car bomb, and a judge machine gunned to death. It's believed the Medillin Cartel was responsible for Colombia's attorney general last year and when guerrillas stormed the Palace of Justice in 1985 and murdered the Supreme Court's Chief Justice and two other judges, it was believed they acted on orders from the Medillin Cartel. Even as tens of thousands of Colombians took to the streets of Bogota this weekend to mourn the death of Luis Galan, the Medillin Cartel was promising more violence. Now the fight is with blood was the Cartel's message broadcast by a Colombian radio station. In response, Colombian police and military launched raids against the Cartel, seizing guns and property and rounding up thousands of suspected drug traffickers, but nowhere could they find anyone connected to Galan's murder, nowhere could they find anyone closely tied to the leadership of the Medillin Cartel. This is where the highly organized Medillin Cartel has it roots, in the quiet picturesque mountains of Colombia. Peasant farmers here cultivate and harvest the simple coca leaf just as they have for hundreds of years. They are paid a small price for their crop. Most are unaware of what happens to the coca leaf once it is taken away, unaware of the process that follows, the refining of the leaf into cocaine paste and ultimately powdered cocaine. Most are unaware that they are part of a multi-billion dollar industry. Most have never heard of the Medillin Cartel or of their notorious leaders, Pablo Escobar Gaviria, otherwise known as the "Godfather"; Jorge Ochoa Vasquez, known as "The Fat Man"; Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, also known as "The Mexican"; and Carlos Lehder Rivas, also known as "Joe Lehder". All have been indicted by the United States, but only Lehder has been brought to trial in this country and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Recently on the Newshour, the size and strength of the Medillin Cartel were subjects of a series of interviews conducted by Charlene Hunter-Gault, looking at causes of the drug problem in this country. Guy Gugliotta and Jeff Leen are authors of the book "Kings of Cocaine", detailing the evolution of the Medillin Cartel.

GUY GUGLIOTTA, Journalist: Most of them started as a premise to traditional smugglers. Smuggling has always been a big business in Colombia, smuggling of radios, tape recorders, cigarettes, liquor. And that's where they got their apprenticeship. They moved into drugs when they saw a potential market.

JEFF LEEN: They live in a country in which they've been able to disable the justice system to a point where it no longer functions when it's applied to them.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: How?

JEFF LEEN, Author: Well, they've managed to wipe out members of the Supreme Court who favored extradition. They've managed to kill the most dynamic anti-drug law enforcement officer, Himey Ramirez. Anyone who has stood in their way, anyone who has tried to bring them to justice has been met with a Mac 10.

MR. HOLMAN: Andres Pastrana is Mayor of Bogota, Colombia.

MS. HUNTER-GAULT: But what happens in a situation like yours when everybody knows that the cartel will carry out threats, if they threaten your wife, your children, unless you do the right thing, they see evidence that they will kill them. How do you fight that? is it possible?

MAYOR ANDRES PASTRANA, Bogota, Colombia: It's courage. It's courage. You have responsibility. It's very hard. It's hard because a lot of people in Colombia are threatened in different -- judges, politicians, officials, elected officials, journalists, and it's very difficult because they have threats permanently. For example, I, myself, wake up with 14 body guards going to my office or my wife or my children, but I think we have a responsibility and I think we have to look for the future and that's why I think we have to redefine the problem in the communities.

MR. HOLMAN: In an attempt to combat the power and influence of the Medillin Cartel, Colombia's president, Virgilio Barco Bargas, reactivated a policy of direct extradition of drug traffickers, bypassing the Colombian courts. The Bush administration wholeheartedly supports the Colombian government's response.

RICHARD BOUCHER, State Department: The arrests over the weekend indicate the commitment of the Colombian government and of its leaders to firm action against drug traffickers. Should persons wanted in the United States be arrested, we are, as the president said in his statement Saturday, ready to coordinate their extradition as expeditiously as possible.

MR. HOLMAN: Just last week before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on international drug trafficking, a former Medillin connection turned government witness said extradition is what the Medillin Cartel fears most.

SEN. BIDEN: Being actually physically brought before an American Court?

MAX MERMELSTEIN, Former Drug Trafficker: That's correct, Senator, because it's something that they cannot control, something they cannot buy.

MR. MacNeil: We look at the Columbian Drug cartels now and what if any role the United States could play in curtailing their activities. With us are the Columbian Ambassador to the United Nations, Enrique Penalosa., Guy Gugliotta is a former reporter with the Miami Herald and as we just saw Co Author of Kings of Cocaine which explores the evolution of the Medillin Cartel. Joining us from Tampa Florida is Robert Merkle the former U.S. Attorney who successfully prosecutor Carlos Rivas one of the King Pins in the Medillin Cartel. And Democratic Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee joins us from the studios of the Public Station WHHY in Wilmington. Mr. Ambassador what is the meaning of this great sweep of people in Columbia but no arrests of the recognized and suspected leaders of the cartel. What is the purpose of this sweep.

AMB. ENRIQUE PENALOSA, Columbia: First of all to demonstrate that the Government is facing the war that has been declared by the drug traffickers. Second this is a clear warning to anyone connected directly or indirectly with the drug traffickers that the Government is speaking seriously and that the public opinion is supporting and backing the Government in all the measures taken by the Government.

MR. MacNeil: So what is going to happen to these 10,000 plus people?

AMB. PENALOSA: May be the Government is going to get some information, some indications of how to proceed and catch some of the big ones. Because of course the 10,000 are just suspects according with the new decree issued last Friday they can be put in Prison for up to 7 days and this is what is happening and they are being interrogated and may be we are optimistic that some thing is going to happen with the detention and integration of those 10,000 people.

MR. MacNeil: Guy Gugliotta does this make you optimistic that this assassination of the Presidential Candidate is going to precipitate real action.

GUY GUGLIOTTA, Author: Well I think that it is too early to tell. After significant assassinations in Columbia previously there were crack downs. There were massive arrests of 1000s of people. Most of the people are subsequently released and the organizations, drug organizations continue as before. I think that we are going to have to wait and see. It is clear that the Cartel by killing Louis Carlos Galan has escalated the struggle even more. They have killed Cabinet Ministers in the Past Supreme Court Justices now in a very real way they are trying to murder Columbia's future.

MR. MacNeil: Let us make one thing clear. From your knowledge just as a reporter. Do enough people know where the leaders of the Cartel are and hang out at any one time. That is the Authorities really wanted to go and arrest them they could. Or is that a naive idea?

MR. GUGLIOTTA: I think that there is no doubt that many many people know where the drug traffickers hang out in general. It is known that Paulo Escabar is most of the time in Medillin. It is known that Rodriguez Gotcha is for a great amount of time at his home in a town called Paca just north of Bogota. I have never although people say that it is possible I have never talked to any body who has said well Paulo Escabar is in X place right at this moment.

MR. MacNeil: What do you feel about that Mr. Merkle do enough people know where these people are that they could be found if the authorities were serious about finding them?

ROBERT MERKLE, Former Federal Prosecutor: Well history has demonstrated that certainly has been the case in the past. Ochoa has been arrested no less than twice and has had been actually in custody and yet our efforts to get him extradited to this country have been to no avail. Paulo Escabar has made a habit of walking about freely and socializing in Columbia and there was recently reported an aborted effort to arrest one of the Gentleman I believe in Venezuela this past fall. So as a practical matter the location of these gentleman if I can use that term advisedly is not an insurmountable problem.

MR. MacNeil: So if they have not been arrested in this massive crack down what does that say to you about the seriousness of the effort?

MR. MERKLE: Well I don't want to denigrate the legitimacy of this because obviously from my own experience the Columbian people are very much opposed to the Cartel. The problem is that the Cartel has subverted legitimate Columbian Government to the point where the judiciary is virtually impotent and the Executive branch also has been impaired. The announcement that the extradition process will circumvent the Columbian Courts I think represents a great opportunity. The question is does Columbia have the muscle, the Executive muscle and the man power to actually confront the Cartel where they live and that question remains to be answered.

MR. MacNeil: What kind of answer do you have to that Senator Biden?

SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN, [D] Delaware: Well I think that all has been said is true so far it is clear that the Columbian Authorities are obviously in dire circumstances in terms of not only their own safety but there seems to be a general break down in their Government particularly in the Courts. It is also true I think at least up to now that the leaders of the Cartels, I say Cartels not just the Medillin Carte, they have ranches, they know where those ranches are, they like to attend bull fights in Spain, they have modus operandi that people know, the like to spend those billions of dollars they have both in their country and outside their country and we and as well as the Columbian Officials Authorities know where they are not all the time but enough times that in the next month or two if they wanted to apprehend any or all of them it seems to me that it would be able to be done in terms of physically be able to be done whether or not their is the political will to do it an again like the Former U.S. Attorney I am not denigrating the efforts nor am I in any way denigrating the danger that any public official in Columbia comes under if and when they attempt to apply the resolve that they are now feeling.

MR. MacNeil: Is there the political will to do Mr. Ambassador.

AMB. PENALOSA: Definitely.

MR. MacNeil: And would you include in your answer a comment about what everybody here has said that there appears to be a general breakdown in the judiciary and government, that the judiciary in impotent to deal with this.

AMB. PENALOSA: I would prefer to refer to the point that it is so easy to know where they are. You meet frequently people that say to you that they had been here that they had been there but never you meet a person who can say to you that I have seen him I have met him. There is a lot of rumors but of course you can be sure that now more than ever before the executive branch of the Government is going to put all its strength and effort and I think that is enough to catch them if they are in Columbia.

MR. MacNeil: Guy Gugliotta the President has by decree reinstated the extradition treaty which the columbia Judiciary had thrown out under the pressure from the Cartel as you have documented in your book. What hope do you have that he is going to get away with this that the rest of the Columbian institutions will support him in this and the extradition can be made to work?

MR. GUGLIOTTA: Well clearly President Barco is forcing the hand of the Executive Branch here. He has done what he did early on this struggle that is to Unilaterally say that we have a state of siege I am putting the extradition treaty back in force and we will summarily extradite people when we catch them. I can tell you that from past experience shows that the Cartel will not take this lying down and they will fight legally and with all the means they have in reach. Once again whether or not it is effective. Well first they have to capture somebody and then we will see if they extradict.

MR. MacNeil: The Cartel has successfully defeated and beaten down the extradition process before as we have just heard. What will stop them from doing that this time. How can the President get away with it this time?

AMB. PENALOSA: I think that one of the good consequences if we can call good consequences of the killing of my good friend Mr. Gallan is that now the whole public opinion of the country is backing the President and I don't imagine that a judge in Columbia now would dare to try to stop the decree.

MR. MacNeil: How do you fell about that Senator Biden do you think that the extradition is now going to work and be a realistic option.

SEN. BIDEN: Well I want to hope that it will work but it is interesting to note, isn't it, that the greatest option to bring any of these thugs these narco terrorists to justice in an American Court room. Isn't it kind of interesting that we are talking about not arresting these people in Columbia trying them in Columbia and putting them to death if that we available and or life sentences with no parole in Columbia. We are talking about apprehending these people who have turned Columbian Society upside down and extraditing them to the United States where they have been indicted to face an American jury. The one thing that Mr. Mermillstein who testified before us in a witness protection program last said. In his experience of importing 56 tons of cocaine through the Medillin Cartel in the United States he said there is only one thing they fear, only one and that is American Justice and I hope that the extradition treaty will be invoked and will not be thrown out indirectly or directly but it is a kind of an interesting comment that with all the assassinations taking place the place we are looking and we are welcoming it occurs to send these thugs to a United States Court Room.

MR. MacNeil: What is your expectation Mr. Merkle that it will result in people actually being extradited to jurisdictions like yours.

MR. MERKLE: Well I can only say that I consider this to be a great opportunity. The author has previously noted that there have been similar crack downs in the past with little practical effect. I agree with the assessment of the Ambassador to the United Nations that the Columbian people are sick and tired of these thugs but once again I would reiterate it is a question of a degree to which this country can utilize this particular opportunity to gather hemispheric support for Columbia in this moment of crisis and to actively assist President Barco if it is invited. I am dubious of the Executive Branch of Government no matter how courageous to actually go to battle with these drug cartels given the present level of strength and I would hope that we would see an initiative from our Government from the President and Secretary of State which would make it clear that the apprehension of the leaders which is critical to the Cartels destruction not the mules because they can always replace the mules but the leaders is a vital importance to our foreign policy in this Hemisphere. With that kind of assistance and encouragement I think we might well see it happen this time.

MR. MacNeil: Senator Biden should the United States help the Columbian or with Columbian invitation go in and try to apprehend these people?

SEN. BIDEN: I wouldn't discount either but I think the first is more appropriate. I think we should help. It seems to me that the Columbia Government is prepared to not only invite but accept that help. I think that we should treat it as the single most urgent thing in our foreign policy in all of Latin America including the Contra's and including Communism and every other thing that we face in the region and we talk so much about.

MR. MacNeil: What kind of help would be practical?

SEN. BIDEN: Well I think that two kinds of help would be practical. One we could provide help in terms of training which we have already done and reinforcements of their para miliary operations and two if need be we can actually go in and assist on a limited basis for a particular project they may be undertaking assuming them have located the Ochoa Brothers or Escabar or anyone else. There is al sorts of forms that it can take but I think the former U.S. Attorney is correct when he says this is the times that we should begin to attempt to rally Latin American support so whatever help we provide when invited if invited is not viewed as the gringo from the North coming south to try to impose his view on the region but it is single most important policy question for the United States in Latin America. It is killing thousands and thousands of Americans every year and 80 percent of it is coming from there and so it is a big deal.

MR. MacNeil: Mr. Ambassador does your Government want that kind of help?

AMB. PENALOSA: Let me tell you first something. Listening to your interview tonight we get the impression that nothing has happened before and I think this is a big mistake. We have extradited a lot of traffickers to the states. We have combated within Columbia the drug traffickers losing a lot of policemen, army officers and we have destroyed dozens of laboratories in very difficult operations dismissing the possibility of production. It is a very risky operation. The war is not starting today. This is just a critical point.

MR. MacNeil: Well does your Government want the kind of help that Senator Biden is talking about?

AMB. PENALOSA: We don't need U.S. Soldiers. Our Army and our police is one of the most professionals in the whole of Latin America. As had been mentioned. Of course we need equipment, sophisticated equipment, we need training and with that I think that we can successfully face the challenge of the drug traffickers.

MR. MacNeil: What do you think the role is the appropriate role is for the United States in this situation. You have the President saying I am going to declare extradition is on again but whether for political will reasons or the skill of these leaders in staying out of sight they can't catch them to extradict them. What is the role for the United States.

MR. GUGLIOTTA: I think the long term role for the United States would probably to help Columbia to its own business because essentially extradition is nothing more than the United States substituting its justice system for Columbia's Justice System. I think that the United States wants to look for short terms means to help. There are two things to do. Capture the big drug traffickers or dismembers some of their organizations. This is the way that you can hurt them in the sort term. Seize their property, seize their money arrest them extradict them. I think that I agree with Senator Biden if the United States is going to get involved in some sort of military help the type of surgical raid or something very short term at Columbia's behest might be effective but I do submit that if the United States wants to get involved in Columbia in a long term military way that is exactly what is going to be. You don't get involved in something like this and suddenly pull out.

MR. MacNeil: Mr. Merkle what do you think would be practical for the Bush Administration to do?

MR. MERKLE: Well first of all I think you have to realize that the attack on the extradition agreement in the past has been couched in terms of the United States being a neo colonial empire that is attempting to subgegate the Columbia people. I think that it would be a mistake for us to attempt to act unilaterally. I hear and understand what the Ambassador is saying to the effect that he doesn't need United States soldiers the litney of success he has recounted, however, are largely ineffective against the Cartel. Drug processing labs are replaceable quite easily, foot soldiers are replaceable quite easily. These cartels however have operated as aristocracies for years and these families have been in total and absolute control. It is only throughremoval of those individuals and bringing them to effective justice whether in Columbia or in the United States that they are going to be impaired. So I would just respectfully submit that Columbia has got to recognize this is not just their problem this is a hemispheric problem. The dimensions of drug trafficking is basically opposed to Hemispheric Stability. I think that we ought to offer whatever assistance whether it be DEA, law enforcement, technical, equipment or military if that becomes necessary in the view of the Columbian people and we ought to make that pitch within the hemispheric community.

MR. MacNeil: Alright thank you Mr. Merkle, Mr. Gugliotta, Ambassador Penalosa, Senator Biden. Judy.

MS. WOODRUFF: STill to come on the Newshour tonight, an update on some fire sweeping the Western United States and an essay on nostalgia. But first, this is pledge week on public television. We're taking a short break now so that your public television station can ask for your support. That support helps keep programs like this on the air. UPDATE - LYME DISEASE

MS. WOODRUFF: For those stations not taking a pledge break, the Newshour continues with a look a Lyme Disease. Just last Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency warned consumers that their fear of contracting Lyme Disease was causing them to overuse or misuse pesticides, and that was resulting in harmful side effects. Kwame Holman has our report on this disease that is taking the fun out of summer.

BETTY GROSS, Middle Aged Lyme Disease Victim: Had a rash after a bite, went to a doctor who took a look and said here is some ointment, go home and put this on, it'll get better. Go home and put it on, didn't get better. The next thing that happened is a knee started to swell.

NORA NORTH, Lyme Disease Victim: I had one eye popped out like this and I had terrible flu and I had completely lost my memory.

BETTY GROSS: I was getting worse, limping, unable to walk.

NORA NORTH: For two years, I was on eighteen to twenty aspirin a day because I couldn't walk without two canes.

BETTY GROSS: I could not lift my cup to my mouth to have a cup of coffee.

NORA NORTH: Every symptom that I had, the doctor kept saying well that could be rheumatoid arthritis, your blood doesn't show anything but it's delayed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, sero negative, and it just kept on going until people convinced me in actually, people in Westchester who had had it, and said, you know, you can't work, that's Lyme Disease, and you know, your memory, that's Lyme Disease, that's not rheumatoid arthritis.

KWAME HOLMAN: Nora North and Betty Gross of Westchester County, New York, both have something new. It's called Lyme Disease. Its symptoms can mimic arthritis, meningitis, multiple sclerosis and other diseases. It was first documented in 1975 in Lyme, Connecticut. Mothers in this heavily wooded area noticed that an unusually large number of their children were diagnosed as having juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Alan Steere shared their concern.

DR. ALLEN STEERE New England Medical Center: In a community the size of Lyme, if you had one child who had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis that maybe would be what you would expect, but instead we were able to find thirty-nine children in this small community who seemed to have the same type of arthritis. Also, some of their parents seemed to have the same illness.

MR. HOLMAN: After much research, Dr. Steere realized he was facing a new illness transmitted by a pinhead sized tick that feeds on mice and deer. The tick passes on a spirochete, a corkscrew-shaped bacterium that can lodge in the joints, the lymphnodes and the brain lining of its victims. The worst symptoms seem to occur when the body tries to fight off the infection.

DR. ALLEN STEERE: The problem is that the body recognizes that it is foreign, that it shouldn't be there, and seems to be trying to eradicate it by mounting all of this immune response, but at least in some people is not able to eradicate it very effectively. And the immune response, itself, is what probably causes more of the tissue damage and the symptoms that the patient experiences.

MR. HOLMAN: About half the people who get Lyme Disease will get only a rash and the flu, but for the other 50 percent, especially those who don't get early treatment with antibiotics, Lyme Disease can cause arthritic, neurological and cardiac problems. In fact, the spirochetes that cause Lyme Disease may hide out in the body for years, as does the spirochete that causes syphilis. The test for Lyme Disease is tricky since it depends on ready antibody levels in the blood. Those levels may not register for six weeks after the tick bite. The test also may show a false negative if a person has taken antibiotics. Better testing methods are being developed, but in general, doctors must rely on clinical judgment rather than blood tests. For those who fear getting Lyme, the only effective strategy is to dress in long pants, tuck pants into socks, and remove any ticks that attach to the body. Insect sprays that contain the chemical DEET are effective in repelling ticks, but since prolonged use of that chemical can cause side effects, it should only be used on clothing. Dr. Steere hopes that in the future, the diagnosis, prevention, and cure of Lyme Disease will not be as frustrating for doctors and patients alike.

MR. HOLMAN: What do you see in Lyme Disease five years from now?

DR. ALLEN STEERE: I think that we will know more clinical manifestations of the disease. I also think the treatment regimens will be improved. I think that considerably more than five years may be needed to try to really understand how this disease works.

MR. HOLMAN: The good news is that research on Lyme Disease may give scientists a model for understanding more about rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other puzzling diseases. UPDATE - FIRE FIGHT

MS. WOODRUFF: Next, forest fires in the West. While Yellowstone Park has been spared this year other areas have been hit hard. Some 10,000 firefighters are now battling 11 major fires in Idaho. We have a report from Joan Cartan of public station KAID in Boise.

MS. CARTAN: For the third year in a row, this part of the country is in the midst of another recordbreaking fire season. Lightning strikes have set off hundreds of blazes fueled by a continuing drought and a massive build-up of dead trees. Last year, the nation's attention was riveted on Yellowstone National Park. More than a million acres were burned there, dramatically changing part of the park's landscape. This year firefighters have faced different challenges. There have been more fires and they've been spread out over several Western states and they've not been as accessible. Many of the Idaho fires are in remote terrain where there are no roads and no campgrounds. Last year's Yellowstone fires were fought under the 16 year old natural burn policy, letting naturally caused blazes burn themselves out. That approach was quickly abandoned after fires began overwhelming the park. This year the policy is to stop fires, no matter what the cause, no matter what the cost.

DAVE RITTERSBACHER, Superintendent, Boise National Forest: We fight fires aggressively, each one of them, and we make decisions in each particular case as to what the strategy should be.

MS. CARTAN: This is the Boise Interagency Fire Center. It's from this complex that representatives of six federal agencies coordinate the support system for all of the nation's firefighters. The center houses a massive warehouse, communications center, state of the art weather station, training facilities, and an infrastructure capable of sustaining a small city. When called, firefighters from throughout the United States and Canada, are dispatched by the center out onto the fire lines.

DICK STAUBER, Interagency Fire Center: We help people find resources, so we're sort of a broker, you might say. If a particular area of the country runs out of firefighters, then they come to us.

MS. CARTAN: Lives and property are the biggest concern. The decision process is complicated by the increasing construction of homes and businesses in remote locations.

DICK STAUBER: As people have moved their housing into the woods and now they're actually becoming part of the fuel for the fire, this urban interface we talk about where fires and people, houses mixed together, is a pressing problem for firemen, for two reasons, one the loss of life, possible loss of life but more difficult for the firemen is it takes quite a few resources to protect each house, and if a big wildfire is going in a place where houses are scattered through the years, you spend your time protecting the houses instead of putting out the fire.

MS. CARTAN: While resources are assigned at the center, decisions on how to battle a particular fire are made on the front lines. The commanders huddle together each morning after the cooler nighttime temperatures have slowed the burning to plan their strategy. Then the crews load up and move out to their assigned locations. The fight to control the fires is intense, exhausting and diverse. This is a back burning, setting a controlled fire to wipe out most of the fuel supply in a particular area. When the main fire reaches this point, hopefully they'll be nothing left to feed it and move it along. This effort failed. The fire came over the ridge, down the hill and kept on going. As the temperatures increased in the afternoon and early evening, and the humidity drops, the fires begin to move. Bombers now drop more than 100,000 gallons of retardant a day. Helicopters drop water. And as night approaches, the fire slows. Crews continue working, using snow plows to clear roads of snags and burning trees. Firefighters spend the night standing 50 yards apart, seldom talking, intent on keeping the flames from jumping over the fire line. On this night, they succeeded. The next day they start all over again. It's frustrating for the firefighters and for residents in the path of the flame.

DALE HOLCOLM, Lowman, Idaho Resident: When they give you five minutes' notice, there's nothing you can do. We hauled hoses up on the roof and turned them on and left.

MS. CARTAN: A fire storm destroyed more than 25 buildings in Lowman, Idaho, a small community locked away in the mountains Northeast of Boise. Structural loss was minimal in Yellowstone. Here people lost their homes, their businesses, most everything.

DALE HOLCOLM: They did not do us justice. I do know that. Had we had four hours' warning, we could have saved this building and probably a few others.

MS. CARTAN: Crews believed they couldn't save the homes. Nothing stops the walls of flames. Still, that answer doesn't satisfy those who lost everything. There is frustration too about the Park Service's new burn policy. Ron Mitchell of the Wilderness Society believes that suppressing naturally burning fires only leaves more fuel and will cost more in the long run.

RON MITCHELL, Wilderness Society: I think that the ultimate absurdity of the situation is that the taxpayers are being asked to spend their tax dollars to put out fires and thereby ensure that they'll have to spend more tax dollars to put out even bigger fires next year, while simultaneously reducing their recreational or their hunting and fishing opportunities, because fires create fertility and variety in the forest and forge for big game animals and actually help grow larger trout in the streams. It's a crazy, self-destructive action that the forest service is going through this year.

DAVE RITTERSBACHER, Superintendent, Boise National Forest: I don't feel that way. I feel that the money that will be spent in total if properly directed does, in fact, lower the cost and lower the values that are lost. It costs money but we are going to be doing rehabilitation, watershed work, trying to do what's necessary to restore some of the burned areas in such a way that it doesn't cause additional damage when the rains come this fall. Those are the kinds of things that go on. They're very very expensive and yet, without that expenditure, I believe that the outcome would be far worse.

MS. CARTAN: So far, fires have burned over a million and a half acres nationwide, about half of last year's totals, but the fire season is only half over. The burning is not expected to die down until it snows. What is likely not to diminish in this region, however, is the questioning of this year's fire management policy, the legacy from last year's Yellowstone fires. ESSAY - PAST IMPERFECT?

MR. MacNeil: Finally tonight we have an essay from Anne Taylor Fleming who is having some second thoughts about her generation's memories.

ANNE TAYLOR FLEMING: Have you had enough yet, you non baby boomers? We've been coming at you all summer with another orgy of nostalgia, most recently with our most treasured memory of all, Woodstock, what else, our 20 year ago collective coming out party at that meadow in Upstate, New York, a bacchanal of hope, dope, rain and romance. Even those of us who weren't were there, were there. We can't be done with it, try as we might. And truth to tell we haven't tried very hard at all. No, what we are, I'm afraid, is a generation having a permanent flashback. The national magazines turned into our personal photo albums, page after page of then and now pictures, Woodstock nymphs and nymphettes transformed over the 20 years into respectable bespectacled citizens. That's us all right. We're your moms and dads and sons and daughters. We drive volvos and carry briefcases and belong to any number of groups anonymous, having given up our bad habits along the way. But above all, in our heart of hearts, we're the Woodstock generation, the '60s kids, that's how we'll go to our graves. Have we made fools of ourselves with our excessive wistfulness, doesn't every generation? Up to a point, yes. Even the allegedly bland '50s folks have seen their sweet natured sitcoms and poodle skirts come back, but '60s nostalgia is heavier than that. After all, we just didn't have Woodstock. We had the war. If that New York meadow is the ultimate '60s playground, then the Vietnam Memorial is the baby boomers' wailing wall, a place to go to shed our tears and to flex our moral superiority. Yes, that's in there too, a kind of smugness with which we've bludgeoned successive generations. Brandishing our own heady memories, we never gave them a chance to have their own moment, to find their own moral legs. We didn't exactly stop the nostalgia express and invite them to get on. In effect, our over weaning nostalgia for the '60s has caused us to violate some of that decade's sweetest values, those of community, compassion, and inclusion. The nostalgia has done other costly things, kept us trapped in the stale '60s vocabulary that didn't evolve with the times. We couldn't seem to update it or the values that went with it. Our nostalgia also kept us from being honest about Vietnam. Somebody else, somebody poorer fought that war, while we in part made a party out of protest, and if we weren't willing to talk gut honestly about the economic divisions in America, how could we expect anybody else to? And our nostalgia for Woodstock, itself, and the martyring of cultural heroes like Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix has kept us in the position of at least tacitly endorsing the use of drugs. All of this made us Woodstockians a sitting target for our critics, the kids in their 20s whom we've alienated, the ex '60s left wing radicals turned radical right wingers who in angry repentance in books like this have wiped out the '60s in toto. We nostalgia freaks made that possible. So what should we do, ignore our memories, turn away from the old footage and refuse to hear Joanne Biaz's sweet soprano as it once more sails out over that meadow? Impossible. That song will no doubt haunt us forever. But maybe it's time to realize that by investing so much nostalgia, we blinded ourselves to all that is possible in the present. RECAP

MS. WOODRUFF: Again, the main stories of this Monday, Lech Walesa warned Poland's Communist Party to cooperate with a new Solidarity government or risk losing more power. Pres. Bush said there would be no change in U.S. policy regarding hostages in Lebanon, following a new threat against two American hostages. And Colombian police arrested more than 10,000 suspects in a crackdown on drug rings. Good night, Robin.

MR. MacNeil: Good night, Judy. That's the Newshour tonight and we'll be back tomorrow night. I'm Robert MacNeil. Good night.