Shorts: U.S.

Flier blasted for drawing of Jewish foe

richmond, va. (ap) | Senate candidate James H. Webb, President Reagan's former Navy secretary, was criticized by his Jewish opponent last week over a campaign flier that depicted the opponent with a hooked nose and cash spilling from his pockets.

The flier was intended for distribution among labor groups. It was titled "Miller the Job Killer," referring to Webb's opponent, businessman Harris Miller.

The flier, drawn in comic-book cartoon style, depicts Miller with a grotesquely hooked nose and cash overflowing from his suit pockets as he orders an underling to find ways to export U.S. jobs overseas. The flier refers to Miller as the "anti-Christ of outsourcing."

Miller called it "despicable."

Webb said the flier was not intended to disparage Miller's religion or heritage and apologized if it was perceived that way.

Webb won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday's primary.




Wisconsin farmer plans Hitler memorial

millard, wis. (ap) | Ted Junker, 87, is turning some of his property into a memorial to Adolf Hitler. Junker is a retired farmer who served in a branch of a German paramilitary unit in World War II. His goal is to clear up what he says are inaccuracies about the war and Hitler's role in it.

Kathy Heilbronner, assistant director of the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations, described Junker as a classic Holocaust denier. She said he chooses to ignore the ample evidence of the Holocaust.

Sugar Creek Town Chairman Loren Waite said Junker told local officials he was going to build a tractor shed, not a Hitler memorial, and he hasn't applied for the conditional-use permit he would need for the venture.




Compromise on circumcision procedure

new york (jta) | New York state health officials and Orthodox rabbis reached an agreement on a controversial circumcision ritual.

According to the compromise signed Monday, June 12, mohels who perform the procedure known as metzitzah b'peh must sanitize their hands like a surgeon. They also must clean their mouths with a sterile alcohol wipe and rinse with a mouthwash that contains at least 25 percent alcohol before performing the ritual.

A controversy erupted after a mohel's use of metzitzah b'peh, in which blood is sucked from the wound, allegedly led to the death of a baby who contracted the herpes virus.




New York asks for cemetery cleanup

new york (jta) | New York City instructed an Israeli-owned firm to repair damage its workers allegedly caused to a historic Jewish cemetery.

The cemetery in Chelsea, owned by Congregation Shearith Israel, was used from 1829-1851 and includes the remains of three Jews who fought in the Revolutionary War.

Preservation officials say construction workers from Elad Properties who were converting a neighboring department store into condominiums splattered mortar on the gravestones. New York's Landmark Preservations Commissions instructed the firm to clean up the mess.