Congress's Hidden Goodies

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Haste makes waste. Haste when the House and Senate are negotiating a catchall spending bill of half a trillion dollars for next year, as they were last week, also makes for some mighty curious appropriations of taxpayers' money. Among the more unusual:

The Turkey Shoot. More than $4 million was targeted for the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice. The organization, dating to the time when militias were essential to national security, now does little more than conduct shooting matches and conventions of gun buffs. Congress has been trying to kill this turkey, but it is backed by the powerful National Rifle Association.

The Killer Bee Barrier. $1 million was approved to prevent so-called African killer bees from continuing their migration north from Central America. The swarm is expected to reach the U.S.-Mexican border by 1991 and launch its assault on the domestic bee population. The money will be used to set up biological barriers to trap and kill them.

The Paul Laxalt Memorial. The Senate voted $5 million for a center to analyze the strategic-minerals stockpile. The center, likely to be situated at the University of Nevada at Reno, has been dubbed a "monument to Paul Laxalt," the Nevada Republican who is retiring this year.

The Civil War Ransom. When Confederate soldiers surrounded Frederick, Md., in 1864 and threatened to destroy federal stores unless a ransom was paid, townspeople rustled up $200,000. The victorious Union never repaid the money, and outgoing Maryland Senator Charles Mathias has been trying to collect it for a dozen years. Last week he finally succeeded.