European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 16, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 4 the stars and stripes August 1985 army Seffo order combat phone system by Norman Black Washington a in the midst of a Mili tary buildup planes and the army is about to break new ground with a huge contract for a combat Telephone guaranteed to become one of the largest military orders Ever placed with a foreign the Worth billion Over the next five is expected to be awarded within the two teams of contractors have been formally com Peting for the contract since last when the army decided to equip 25 divisions with a High capacity communications system that would offer much More than simple two Way radio while both of the competing teams Are headed by american they Are competing on behalf of sys tems already developed and fielded in one team consists of the pc secy a leading British electronics which is offering a system known As Ptarmigan in partnership with the Rockwell International and the itt the other consists of Frances nationalized electronics which is offering a system known As Rita in partnership with the get named for an Alpine has been deployed with Britain first an acro nym for Roseau Inte Gree Des transmissions automatic is being used by units of the French and belgian both teams have spent millions to conduct major demonstration exercises in Europe Over the past allowing army brass and congressional staffers to scrutinize their army officials at the Penta gon refuse to discuss the results of those beyond saying both systems Are Strong and a final selection will be the army contract envisions a huge network of Mobile subscriber equipment that would be portable and secure yet built with technology that would guarantee huge amounts of the network would consist of travelling Telephone exchanges capable of handling satellite and regular landline Telephone Calls at the same the system could accommodate everything from voice conversations to computer data to facsimile co pies of maps drawn by frontline reconnaissance sol the switching and computer equipment would be carried inside trucks capable of moving around a Bat the portable units could be carried by hand or on jeeps and once tied in to the any unit could be dialled directly with a seven digit num just like a conventional weve got major allies who have fielded these sys says Craig an army spokes this int Wishful we know they both while Macnab says the army didst intentionally freeze out firms from the it does believe it already has saved american taxpayers Bil Lions of according to the army undersecretary James Ambrose first was exposed to the Rita system in 1982 and soon rejected the Normal Pentagon procedure of launching a program for its own the army decided to demand an of the shelf the bid request specifies that no research funding will be provided and Only fixed Price con tract negotiated that extensive warranties must be and that contractor payments will be made Only when working hardware is actually the army estimates that by buying a read made it will save As much As billion and shave up to nine years off the deployment the army decision to proceed is also being touted within Penta gon circles As a tangible response to complaints by nato allies that their firms have been Frozen out of the american arms the army Effort to upgrade Field communications during comes on the heels of an other program to improve the Backbone communications system that links military bases around the world to the that program moved a major step Forward wednes Day when the air acting on behalf of the de sense awarded try an Mil lion design try was selected Over two competitors to design a replacement for the so called Auto Din a system of secure phone links and switching centers created in the 1960s to handle message traffic and computer assuming try successfully designs and tests the new it would be in line for contracts Over the next 20 years that would exceed schools increase censorship group says Washington up a series of contemporary books on teenagers prob lems and an old Walt Disney Christmas were among the targets last year of rising censorship efforts in americas a new study people for the american a private group formed to protect constitutional found that there were 95 censorship attempts during the 198485 school with 27 resulting in a ban or that represents an increase of about 40 percent Over when there were 69 censorship 21 of them at least partially in 17 of 57 complaints brought the group said in its third annual Survey of the attacks on Freedom to released it found that about 25 percent of the attempted censorship were initiated by local groups aligned with new right organizations such As the Jerry Falwell moral majority and Phyllis Schlafly Eagle i thin they Are maliciously misrepresenting our Schlafly her she is not interested in Banning great american works but is push ing to make sure parental consent is obtained before children in value courses Are asked a Bunch of Nosey questions such How did you feel when your last relative died Barbara education policy director of people for the american said the rising censorship numbers were seeing a concerted Effort to rid schools of everything but the three Parker said the 95 reported censorship incidents last school year May not seem like Many but weve found that for every one reported by the news Media another 25 go a lot of school officials or librarians figure if they dont report the problem will go and it never she Parker said among the most frequently challenged books last year were several by Judy Blume dealing with problems facing teenagers such As Tiger eyes and then maybe i other targets were classics a lingers the Catcher in the Rye for hav ing offensive language and Mark trains Huckleberry finn for racial the study Christmas Story and two other Romeo and Juliet and the horror movie watcher in the Drew objections in Iowa Bettendorf school system because of swear nudity and the complaints about Christmas Story dealt with one line by a youngster after getting a decoder that urges be sure to drink your son of a a Crummy the school Board declined to ban the movie but did impose a tighter review pro Cess for future Parker said in addition to classics and other Well known censorship targets also included instructional material and courses dealing with evolution and sex Edu judge orders separate trials in Walker spy cases Baltimore a a Federal judge thursday or dered separate espionage trials for John Walker accused of leading a family spy ring that sold Navy secrets to the soviet and his when the walkers were arrested last Federal prosecutors said they planned to try them but the two later requested separate and the attorneys office did not District judge Alexander Harvey ii granted the request at the Start of a today hearing on dozens of pretrial he said John Walker would be tried the Date previously set for a joint and Michael walkers trial follow no specific Date was nor was Herp an estimate of How Long the first trial would in a five Day non jury trial last week in John walkers 50yearold was convicted of John of was arrested May 20 after being accused of dropping about 120 secret or confidential Navy documents in the Maryland country Side outside his 22yearold a Sailor aboard the was charged two Days later with espionage after investigators allegedly found a 15pound Box of classified documents next to his Michael Walker was accused of passing such documents to his nyc says aids was main 84 killer of men in their 30s new York a aids was the 1 killer of new York City men Between the Ages of 30 and 39 last and the second leading cause of death among women aged 30 to health officials said statistics gathered by the City health depart ment show that More men in both the 3034 and 35 39 age groups died last year from acquired immune deficiency syndrome than from suicide and Stephen Deputy commissioner of the departments office of epidemic logic surveillance and said for men Between Ages 30 and aids accounted for 17 percent of deaths while homicide accounted for 13 percent and 11 in the 3539 which destroys the body ability to defend itself from topped the list at 13 followed by homicide at 12 percent and cirrhosis 11 the leading cause of death among men in the 20 24 age group was homicide at 40 Schultz in the 4044 heart disease topped the list at 25 elderly husband cleared of charges in mercy killing new York up a Man who suffocated his cancer stricken wife after she begged him to end her life was cleared of charges in the mercy Queens criminal court judge Wayne Scarborough ruled prosecutors had failed to prove the murder and Man Slaughter Case against Kurt of charged with the july 13 slaying of his Semel did not appear during the today which ended wednesday in Queens criminal court in Kew Gar because he remains hospitalized from an unsuccessful suicide attempt earlier this the judge has rendered his decision and we shall study a spokesman for Queens District attorney John san Tucci the spokesman that Santucci had sought a Public hearing rather than a grand jury hearing because rhe recognized there were certain questions concerning the cause of death he Felt would be better resolved through an open Semel had told police he suffocated his wife with a plastic food bag after she repeatedly begged him to kill her and end the pain of her lung although at first he told authorities he could not go through with the mercy he said his wife later told him she herself had taken a heavy dose of sleeping it was following this admission that Semel placed the food bag Over his wife head to suffocate he
