SOLOMON RETIRES

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) -- Rep. Gerald Solomon, a staunch conservative
known for his efforts to outlaw flag burning, will retire from Congress
after this term.

The 67-year-old chairman of the House Rules Committee has represented
upstate New York's generally conservative district since 1978. Solomon
planned to announce his retirement today, aide Bill Teator said. Last year,
Solomon proposed a constitutional amendment on flag burning. "In a society
as pluralistic and diverse as our own ... it is all the more important to
protect the most important symbol of unity in our country," he said.

He also has been an outspoken opponent of gun control, and in 1996 got into
a battle on the House floor with Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., during debate
on the possible repeal of the federal ban on assault weapons. "My wife lives
alone five days a week in a rural area in upstate New York," he told Kennedy
in the nationally televised exchange. "She has a right to defend herself
when I'm not there, son. And don't you ever forget it. Don't you ever forget
it."

Last month, Solomon apologized for saying on the House floor that U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan "ought to be horsewhipped" for siding with
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein over the interests of the United States.
Solomon said had never been told that the word "horsewhipped" is a racially
insensitive term.

Solomon has easily won re-election during his years in Congress, collecting
about 160,000 votes in 1994 to his opponent's less than 60,000.