<a href=www.zwire.com>By: John Martin, Staff Writer March 30, 2003

Joyce Simmons of Greenwood pumps gas into her car Saturday at a Greenwood Double Quick on the U.S. 82-49 bypass. She said the $1.56 a gallon she paid was still too much.Weeklong respite from climbing prices coming to end Don't let the lower prices at the pump fool you.

After a weeklong respite from climbing gasoline rates, American motorists should expect the cost of filling their cars to jump again as uncertainties in the war against Iraq continue to emerge, industry officials say.

Greenwood drivers saw gas prices dip below the state average of $1.60 a gallon for regular unleaded Friday. Before fighting began in Iraq, local rates were pushing $1.65 or more.

That decline corresponded with international oil prices, which as U.S. and British forces flexed their muscle at the war's outset dropped on March 21 to a three-month low of $26.91 a barrel.

Joyce Simmons, a Milwaukee Electric Tool Co. employee from Greenwood, was filling up her car at a Double Quick for $1.56 a gallon Saturday. That still isn't low enough, she said.

"Let them go all the way down, and we'll appreciate it," she said.

Simmons said she doesn't trust the prices to keep going down as long as war continues. She might be right.

Since oil prices closed so low two weeks ago, the war situation and the market's response have changed, says Tom Gresham, spokesman for Double Quick and Gresham Petroleum in Indianola.

"I think the oil traders initially felt the war was going to be quick, and prices started coming back down," Gresham said. "But as it looks like this is going to be a prolonged engagement, we should start seeing prices head back up."

That reaction from oil prices has already begun. They jumped again this week, closing Friday at just over $30 a barrel, the biggest one-week leap in almost a year.

Gresham said this trend has nothing to do with burning oil wells in southern Iraq. Only two of the seven wells that were set on fire in the now-secured Rumailah oil field are still burning. In the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi forces damaged or destroyed more than 700.

But after that experience, speculators are hyper-sensitive to images of flames spouting hundreds of feet above oil fields, says Don Redmond, a spokesman for the American Automobile Association's regional headquarters in New Orleans.

"We're in a tense situation," he said. "Shortly after the onset of war, oil prices on the open market dropped down in some cases by almost $10 a barrel. Once reports came in that oil wells were on fire in the south, they went back up. Then when we found out there were only three burning, it went back down. Then, it went up again."

While oil prices are cowed by constantly evolving news reports from the war, the well fires could have a longer lasting impact. Industry officials had predicted oil shipments from southern Iraq would resume in as early as three months. But this week, a British commander said that's contingent on a $1 billion investment in the Rumailah field.

The United States has in recent years received about 9 percent of its crude oil from Iraq, according to Redmond.

He said oil prices will be helped by an OPEC promise to make up for any production shortfall that results from the war. "That appears to be easing the effect of the war."

Still, Redmond said, few predictions are reliable in a market that has been hit with an onslaught of unpredictable setbacks recently.

Contributing to the earlier uncertainty over Iraq were a strike among Venezuela oil workers, a bitter winter in the Northeast and Midwest, cuts in 2002 OPEC production and a depletion of U.S. oil inventories, he said. Now, civil unrest in Nigeria, the United State's sixth-largest oil supplier, is threatening imports on another front.

Despite all the uncertainty and volatility in the oil market, Americans don't appear moved by higher gasoline prices. If anything, they are buying more gas than usual, Redmond said.

"Analysts at the Department of Energy were surprised by the high level of demand for gasoline products during the months of January and February, which is traditionally one of the down times," he said.

The Energy Department did note a sag in consumption the week the war began. That, however, corresponded with a jump in the hours Americans spent glued to their television sets, watching the war, said Redmond.

Posted on Sun, Mar. 30, 2003 By BOB DUTTON The Kansas City Star

Anyone who has ever tried to impose their advice on a skeptical boss can identify with a baseball scout. He believes he can see something no one else does.

That was the case three years ago when Albert Gonzalez tried to persuade Royals general manager Allard Baird to shell out a few thousand bucks on a slow, small, skinny kid from Urama, Venezuela, named Andres Blanco.

"Allard, I really like this kid," Gonzalez said. "He can't run a lick, but he's got great hands. Get ready. Because when he's eligible to sign, I'm going to need a little money."

When Blanco turned 16 in 2000, Gonzalez renewed his plea. He wanted $4,000 to land the kid on a free-agent contract. Now, $4,000 is not just peanuts -- it's peanut shells in terms of a top American draft pick.

But it's big money for an unknown player along the back roads of Latin America, where talent is abundant but so raw that even the keenest of scouting eyes often resorts to simple gut instinct.

Gonzalez had that instinct about Blanco, having made a first-hand assessment in following up on the recommendation of Venezuelan scouting supervisor Juan Indriago.

Baird took a closer look and saw a kid who was maybe 5-feet-8 and not even 140 pounds. OK, he figured, kids fill out. But when he heard that Blanco's speed was 7.3 seconds for 60 yards, Baird threw up his hands.

"Albert, I can't have a shortstop for the Kansas City Royals who runs 7.3," Baird said. "There's no way."

But Gonzalez, then in his second year as the club's scouting director for Latin America, kept pushing.

"Allard, I'm telling you," Gonzalez said, "I think he's going to get quicker."

Baird couldn't get past that ponderous 7.3 time for the 60.

"Allard, I'm telling you," Gonzalez persisted, "I have a good feeling about this kid. I think he's going to be a player."

A former scout himself, Baird knew that feeling, how a certain helplessness engulfs you when you see something special slipping away because you can't find the right words to make your case.

"Albert, tell me when he's going to be ready to play in the big leagues and help us win ballgames," Baird challenged. "And that must mean that his speed is better."

Gonzalez swallowed and said, "Allard, he'll be there by 2004."

Baird nodded. "OK, you've got your money."

III

Venezuela has long been a hotbed for talent in the Caribbean.

Blanco is one of roughly 20 Venezuelans in the Royals' minor-league system. The list includes infielders Alejandro Machado and Luis Ordaz, each of whom spent time this spring in the major-league camp.

"If you make a comparison of numbers," Royals scouting director Deric Ladnier said, "the Dominican Republic is still the top place in Latin America. But Venezuela is No. 2."

But Venezuela also has always been a dangerous place to search for talent.

"When I was with the Braves," Ladnier recalled, "we had a kid, named Blanco, ironically. I saw him pitch one day, and the next day he was dead. Got shot in the back of the head over a gold chain when he got mugged.

"You hear about (Astros outfielder Richard) Hidalgo and the car-jacking. It's just a volatile situation. But we're still scouting Venezuela."

The U.S. State Department now advises Americans to avoid Venezuela because of the civil unrest created by opposition to the leftist government of President Hugo Chavez.

The Royals, accordingly, no longer send scouts into Venezuela. Even Gonzalez doesn't venture into the country from his base at the Royals' academy in the Dominican Republic.

"When the government sends out a memo saying it's not safe for Americans," Ladnier said, "then, obviously, we have to take heed of that."

But Indriago is still in Caracas. Two other part-time scouts, Maracay Aragua and Estado Anzuategui, continue to search for talent.

"We now have to rely on our local people," Ladnier said, "but it's even more challenging for them because of the gas shortage (caused by an oil workers' strike against the government)."

It's also difficult just to get supplies into Venezuela.

"FedEx stopped delivering down there," Ladnier said. "We brought one of our Venezuelan scouts in to spring training and loaded him down with equipment because we didn't know if we could get equipment down to him."

But ask Ladnier if the added effort is worth it, and he doesn't hesitate.

"Talent is talent," he said. "It's far more challenging than it used to be, but you're still intrigued by wanting to get the talent."

III

Andres Blanco won't turn 19 until next month, but at 5-feet-10 and 155 pounds, he now shows clear signs of starting to fill out. His speed is down to 6.8 for the 60 -- still slow, but acceptable.

And those marvelously soft hands that so intrigued Gonzalez? Blanco's defensive skills are now being likened to Cleveland's Omar Vizquel, a nine-time Gold Glove winner.

"Let's be honest," Baird said. "I didn't know if Blanco was going to get faster. But that scout believed, and that scout was the key because Blanco did get faster.

"At 7.3, almost nobody is going to sign him. But if we wait until he's running a 6.8 to sign him, we've got no chance."

Blanco is rated by Baseball America as the club's best minor-league infield prospect. He could indeed be ready for the majors by 2004.

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, March 30, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel

VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: In 1981 I was put in charge of MENEVEN, a State owned petroleum company with a production of some 400,000 barrels per day and with about 5,000 employees. Our manager of Human Resources was Nelson Olmedillo, a very talented individual who would eventually become a member of PDVSA's Board.

Today, Nelson is an independent Human Resources consultant and is of the opinion that we should choose our next President in a more rational, less emotional manner. He says we have made the same mistakes over and over again because we do the choosing as if we were dealing with a beauty contest, almost on pure emotion.  He says we should establish a desired profile and match each potential candidate against that profile. The main problem, adds Olmedillo, is to agree on the desired profile, on the components of that profile. Sometimes, when looking for a manager, dozens of components of the profile are proposed.

Obviously this makes the search very difficult. In the case of the Presidential candidates Olmedillo suggests seven components for the profile. I have added my comments to each one of these desired qualities:

1. Leadership.

Understood as the ability to inspire people to do their best to attain the public good, to improve the society where they live. In this sense leadership is not to be confused with power or with rhetoric. Many pages have been written about this quality but I specially like the ideas of Robert Tucker, contained in his book "Politics as Leadership" (Univ. Missouri Press,1981). Tucker adopts the Platonic concept of Politics as an exercise in leadership, in contrast to politics as an exercise in power. This fundamental distinction illustrates the basic difference between democracy and authoritarianism.

2. Role Model.

The importance of preaching by example. Coherence between what is said and what is done. Ray Bradbury said, in an interview for PLAYBOY, that what he did not like about Carl Sagan is that "For some time now, he thinks he is Carl Sagan," meaning that we are what we do and not who we say we are. Personal credibility and identity have all to do with doing what we say.

3. Honesty.

The quality of being materially and intellectually honest, of behaving as "if God was looking constantly over our shoulder". Abiding by our inner voice, to do the right thing on behalf of the public good, not on our behalf.

4. Spirit of Service.

The desire to be of help to others. Altruism or, exceptionally, heroism. In Venezuela many feel that to serve is to be servile. This confusion is typical of people with low self esteem.

5. Management Skills.

The capacity to plan, organize, choose the proper collaborators, utilize resources sensibly, motivating people.  In error, rapidly rectifying. Always taking full responsibility for his, her actions.

6. Helicopter Vision.

The ability to see the whole and not only parts of the whole, as if the person was looking down from a helicopter in flight. To consider all angles of an issue before decisions are taken.

7. Life Record.

A pristine life. This quality is not easy to find as few people are "chemically" pure. But we would looking for some one who has led an exemplary life in the eyes of society.

I have listed below 20 potential candidates for President, chosen in a partially subjective manner, although they are all leaders of the community. The list is restricted to opposition leaders, as we all know that the government already has a candidate: Hugo Chavez. You are, of course, invited to rank him together with the persons in my list. The idea would be to give a grade in each component of the profile, from 1 to 10, to each candidate and add to a total. The minimum ranking would be 7 and the maximum would be 70. The list is as follows, in alphabetical order:

NAME. ROLE PLAYED. ARIAS CARDENAS, F. Former Chavez Comrade ALFONZO, R. Business Leader BORGES, J. Leader Primero Justicia CISNEROS, I. Businesswoman, altruist COVA, M. Labor Leader FERMIN, C. Former Presidential cand. FERNANDEZ, C. president Fedecamaras FERNANDEZ, E. president COPEI party FERNANDEZ, J. Petroleum Manager, rebel LEDEZMA, A. Political party leader KRIVOY, R.  Ex- pres. Central Bank MARTIN, A. Political leader MENDOZA, E. Governor of Miranda State MUNOZ, A. vice president Fedecamaras. ORTEGA, C. president CTV PENA, A. Mayor, Greater Caracas. QUIROS, A. Petroleum and civic leader SALAS ROMER, H. Political leader SALAS FEO, H. Governor of Carabobo State SOSA, C. ex-pres. Supreme Court

I already did this exercise but I will not include my results here, in order not to influence your own opinions. You are invited to add some other candidates and rank them as well. I can tell you that, in my own exercise, only 5 members of the list got more than 50 points. Eleven candidates got between 45 and 50 points and four candidates obtained less than 45 points.

The advantage of the exercise is to force us to think about these candidates, against the background of the desired profile.

Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983.  In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort.  You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email ppcvicep@telcel.net.ve

Posted on Sun, Mar. 30, 2003 BY MIKE BERARDINO South Florida Sun-Sentinel

PHOENIX - (KRT) - Francisco Rodriguez stands tall, tucks his glove over his heart, looks in for the sign and prepares to make his pitch.

Only that's not a baseball in his right hand, it's a two-liter bottle of Pepsi. And this isn't the pitcher's mound at Edison International Field but a cavernous sound studio of high wood beams and cold concrete floors.

A hard midafternoon rain is falling outside, but the man-child who helped pitch the Anaheim Angels to their first World Series title can't hope for a rainout to spring him from this assignment.

K-Rod is stuck here for the next four hours shilling for a soft-drink company that is paying him handsomely for the right to slap his image on cans and cardboard cutouts from Southern California to his native Caracas, Venezuela.

This is just one of the endorsement deals Rodriguez, 21, has signed in the wake of his staggering rise to prominence last October. There's also a two-year contract with Nike, and his marketing representative, Scott Becher of Miami Beach-based Sports & Sponsorships, is still sifting through numerous other offers.

"His appeal is so special for somebody his age," Becher says during a break. "Frankie has the poise of a veteran. He's very comfortable with himself."

On the field, that much is obvious. Here, however, nothing comes naturally, especially with his two young daughters crying in the next room, but K-Rod gamely fights on.

He stands before a bright green background, clutches the big bottle of fizz, turns on his megawatt smile and tries to concentrate. Speaking in Spanish, he repeatedly invites potential viewers to "look for the Pepsi promotion at a store near you."

Three takes go by, then six, then a dozen. The kid who turned the World Series on its ear is growing frustrated.

"Lots of excitement, K-Rod," the director says. "Big smile, now. This is exciting!"

Finally, on Take No. 19, everybody is happy. Rodriguez then moves on to the English-language spot and nails it in two takes.

Ninety minutes of still photos follow.

"That was boring, man," Rodriguez says a few days later at Angels camp. "It was, `Stand up, do this, do that, go over here, stand right there, put your arm like this. Smile, don't smile.' Damn."

Endorsement work may bore K-Rod, but he is nothing short of fascinating when it comes to his primary profession. As compelling as Rodriguez's story was last season, when he began the year at Double-A Arkansas and wound up blowing away Barry Bonds on the sport's ultimate stage, he bears even greater attention now.

He remains a rookie, for starters, thanks to the technicality that landed him on the postseason roster with just two weeks of big-league experience. What's more, the baseball world will be watching to see if this former bonus baby with the high-90s fastball can keep his roll going or if he'll fade into the pack.

No one with the Angels is expecting any backsliding.

"He's got things in the proper perspective," Angels General Manager Bill Stoneman says. "He understands you've got to prove yourself. He's more mature than his age. That's what we've got here."

Rodriguez spent the winter in his troubled Venezuela but didn't go out much for fear of being robbed or worse. The political strife kept him from seeing his fiancee, Andrea Harvey, or their two daughters for more than one week all winter, but their bond is clear on that rainy afternoon in Phoenix.

When Rodriguez is able to break away between sessions, 2-year-old Adriana runs up to her Papi with a hug. Destiny, born last May while her daddy was pitching in Little Rock, watches the proceedings intently between afternoon feedings.

"It's kind of funny how everybody wants to do something with him now," Harvey says. "A year ago, they could care less."

They met three years ago at minor league spring training but didn't start dating until he was pitching during the 2000 season for Class A Lake Elsinore in the California desert. Harvey, the daughter of a Southern California police officer, was best friends with the wife of Rodriguez's roommate, Nelson Castro, but it wasn't love at first sight.

"I knew (Rodriguez) was young, and I knew he had signed for something ($950,000) because he was kind of, like, macho and driving around in his white Mustang convertible," she says, smiling. "He had his friends in the back and he was just screeching all over the place. I just thought he was some young kid that was just, like, a troublemaker, really."

A double date at a dance club helped change that perception, and soon they became inseparable, the cop's little girl and the baseball prodigy from Venezuela.

"He used to tell me all the time he was going to send me to jail," says Harvey, who at 23 is two years older. "I told him, `You're over 18.""

He helped her learn Spanish, which she speaks constantly to their daughters. She helped him with his English, which he has picked up remarkably well, although he remains self-conscious, especially around strangers.

"He knows perfect (English)," she says. "Sometimes he doesn't think he knows something and he doesn't want people to laugh at him. He doesn't want to be embarrassed."

When the Angels were having trouble reaching Rodriguez during the offseason, they went through Harvey. She would track him down through friends or family and could relay messages back to the Angels, often within an hour or two.

When visas were scarce, there was talk of using a Canadian work visa or sending Rodriguez through the Dominican Republic on his way to spring training. Eventually he was able to land on these shores the conventional way, thanks to Harvey letting him know he needed to get to the U.S. embassy in Caracas.

She's a good influence on him, everybody says. Helps keep him grounded. Helps keep the K-Rod part of his personality from forcing plain old Francisco clear out of the picture.

"It's been kind of crazy for both of us," she says. "I'm not used to being in the spotlight. It's funny, you'll see people that didn't want to go to his games when he was in the minor leagues. Now, all of a sudden, he's such a good guy and they want to go see him."

Nobody's laughing at K-Rod now.

By James Toedtman - Newsday

WASHINGTON -- Hopes for a quick postwar recovery by the U.S. economy have hit a snag as the war in Iraq continues.

As the timetable for a successful war has been sharply extended by surprise resistance and unexpected attacks in southern Iraq, war nerves have shaken consumer confidence and the already unsteady stock market. A war premium on energy prices persists, and business is nervous and reluctant to push sales in an increasingly anti-Yankee global marketplace, economists say.

''I think we will win the war. But the question is: How do we feel about winning the war and when do we win the war?'' said Martin Regalia, chief economist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Like military commanders, consumers, economists and business leaders hunt for clues to the length and difficulty of the conflict. ''We're going to know where we're headed in a very short time,'' said Kevin Hassett, economist at the American Enterprise Institute. But, he added, the war ''could drive us into a deep recession.''

As television images of powerful explosions over Baghdad gave way to pictures of hollowed tanks and wounded soldiers, there were new signs that U.S. economic activity was creeping to a halt.

The prewar rally on Wall Street two weeks ago collapsed Monday and the markets slumped for the rest of the week, with the Dow Jones industrials dropping 376 points, or 4.4 percent, in five days. The week's economic data also indicated flat consumer spending for the second consecutive month, lower consumer confidence for the third consecutive month and the dollar at its lowest value in four years.

''A weak dollar may translate into greater exports as it makes our goods more competitive,'' said Chris Rupkey, senior financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. ''That's all good, given economic growth in the U.S. seems to be on life support.''

Conversely, of course, a weaker dollar makes imported goods more expensive for American consumers.

History dictates a preoccupation with energy prices, since the six recessions in the past 33 years have followed energy price spikes. Although crude oil prices reached $40 per barrel three weeks ago, they declined below $30 after the fighting began until rising 10 percent last week.

Still, said Sung won Sohn, economist for Wells Fargo Bank in Minneapolis, prices should be in the $22-$24 range based on current supply and demand, reflecting a war premium of more than $5.

Price pressure has eased in part because disruptions in Venezuela have ended and the demands of a cold winter have passed. But the deeper the Iraq conflict lasts into the summer driving season, the sooner energy prices will increase. War costs are another unknown. The administration's initial estimate of $75 billion is regarded as modest in a $2.2-trillion budget. But by the end of the week, the Pentagon was planning to deploy an additional 100,000 troops.

Further, the estimate includes $3 billion for reconstruction costs. The Congressional Budget Office estimates rebuilding costs at $12 billion to $40 billion a year, while a recent study directed by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger projected a $20-billion annual cost for a stabilizing and rebuilding effort that would last many years.

Figures like those contributed to growing angst over what Senate budget analyst William Hoagland referred to as the ''shock and awe deficits'' in the federal budget, which have soared from $118 billion to more than $400 billion this year alone.