European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 13, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes sunday october 13, 1985 attack on pensions top concern Orr says by a int Swift h Ushi Glnn Hurcell Washington attacks on military pensions by lawmakers who Don t appreciate the value of the 20-year retirement Al 50 percent of base nay will have to be a top concern of the next Secretary of the air Force retiring Secretary Verne Orr said. President Reagan has nominated Russell Rourke assist ant Secretary of defense for legislative affairs to succeed Orr. Orr said the tampering w Ith retirement will be among he top two concerns he i avs behind when he Steps Down next month. Related Story on Page 5. I Don t think Congress Cali is the importance of the 20-year retirement at 50  he said. This kid who comes in i Don t think he thinks about Racli Rcman Al 18. I m not sure he thinks of retirement at 22. But i la Tell you he thinks of it at 26. Lie s got eight years in. Twelve years More gives him a Nice retirement. But he s Only 26. If you Start to Tell him we be got a Nice retirement when you re 62 or 65, he says forget it but if you can say just 12 More years and you got in made son that s when he becomes a careerist. And i Don t think Congress has any appreciation of  Orr said part of the problem stems from news reports that say the average  retires at 42 at half pay and the Cost of that is is 8 billion a year. Orr said Only one out of eight  about 13 percent stays to retirement. He said half of base pay Means retirees actually receive Only 37 percent of total pay and the budget highly overstates what that  the defense department is required to set aside 51k billion  year for its retirement obligations because it is Only allowed to assume that it will make 1.6 percent inter est above inflation on it. He said. However he said the department made 8 percent after inflation on such investments last year so that the amount Sel aside could be significantly smaller. Orr said the retirement Issue is particularly troubling because it strikes at the heart of the development during his tenure that gives him the most satisfaction the Quality of air Force people. He has noted that nearly 99 percent of air Force members Are High school graduates and 43 percent of the officers have graduate degrees. Sixty percent of the first term airmen the air Force wants to keep sign up for another enlistment Orr said. That is up from 36 percent in fiscal year 1980, but Down slightly from a year ago. Pay helps he said noting that the military won an ii percent raise in 1981 and a 14 sir cent increase in 1982. However he said pay has stayed roughly even with inflation since then. But he said surveys show that pay ranks in importance behind Job satisfaction relations with coworkers and work ing conditions. He said the air Force has budgeted for Quality of life  to help keep Job satisfaction High. The 1985 budget Lio cd the air Force to triple family housing construction starts from the previous year. The i9h6 request contains $148 million to build 1,880 housing units. That includes 1,830 units overseas where air Force figures show a deficit of 26,900 units Al 29 locations. Orr said that during the last four years without using fix dollars the air Force has Provie to members new commissaries 32 new base exchanges. 26 gyms six youth centers. 35 child care centers. 2k Bowling centers 10 Golf courses 12 new open . Six arts and crafts Cen ters and six recreation centers you see new hangars Headquarters buildings and lots and lots of maintenance and repair items on every base to make the work stations  he said. But he said the Job will be More difficult for his Succes i Don t think the pay Issue will be any harder. But obviously with the budget cuts it s going to be harder to do the kind of construction we be been Able to do the last five years there s not going to be As Many new dormitories and family housing  he noted the air Force has closed some squadrons and May face some base closings he said the expansion from 36 to 40 wings is no More than a dream we keep in from of  the ups and Downs of defense support arc Orr s second most worrisome concern. We get alarmed he said and have some fat defense budgets for a few years. Then the soviets Don t land on the beaches and people say a we re in pretty Good shape or some soviet Leader comes along who drinks scotch and listens to classical music and they say Well he s obviously a Friendly fellow. And his wife is a very attractive woman so the soviets can t be All bad a letdown follows am budgets  Orr was a successful businessman w to served As director of California s department of finance when Reagan was governor. Me became air Force Secretary shortly after Reagan was inaugurated in 1981. House votes to support gop plan to balance budget within 6 years news update Washington up the demo cratic dominated House voted overwhelmingly Friday to support in principle a re publican plan to balance the budget in 1991, but party leaders warned the proposal could starve key Domestic programs. The House on Back to Back votes agreed to negotiate with the Senate on de tails of 3 balanced budget and instructed conferees to return with a proposal to end Federal deficits in six years. The Senate approved the balanced Bud get proposal thursday which is tied to a Bill that would extend the Federal credit line from is .8 trillion to s2 trillion. By voting to go into conference with the Senate this week. Democratic House Lead ers recognised the groundswell of Public support for a balanced budget but hoped to shape the final package More to their Lik ing. The Senate passed Bill would take the deficit Down to Zero by fiscal 1991 in stages and mandate that if Congress exceeded the limits the president would have the Power to withhold funds from various Federal pro Grams. Social Security medicaid welfare and several other accounts would be exempt from cuts. House democratic Leader Jim Wright of Texas called on Congress to accept the responsibility to do something about the deficit. But expressing concern that the gop plan would unfairly hit n few areas Wright said let us make Sturc that this mechanism will not be used to shrink shrivel starve and suffocate the Domestic Arm of  rep. Dan Romankowski d-lll., chair map of the ways and Means committee who will Lead the 48-Mcmbcr House negotiating team said members of the House need to understand this proposal and its ramifications. Both bodies want a serious fair real and responsible reduction of the  Senate majority Leader Robert Dole r kan., who had pushed prodded negotiated and modified the Senate s balanced budget proposal to get it approved clearly enjoyed putting the democratic leadership on the spot. We be lighted the fuse he told report ers. Roll that Little bomb Over there to the House and see How Long it ticks. It s going to have the democrats climbing the Wall i  Dole appeared in the Back of the i Louse chamber Friday morning As the lawmakers engaged in boisterous debate filled with cheers applause hisses and Boos attributable both to the Issue and desires to gel out of town for a four Day Columbus Day Holiday. At one Point democrats charged presi Dent Ria an s tax cuts in 1981 were responsible for the current deficit situation. Rep. Robert Walker r-pa., did not verbally respond just held his nose. Convicted san Diego mayor to resign san Diego a two Days after he was convicted of perjury and conspiracy in a Campaign financing Case the mayor of the nation i eighth largest City said Friday be will step Down in one week. Roger Hedgecock 39, faced automatic ouster from office Whir he is sentenced on the felony convictions. Sentencing i set for nov. 6, a year to the Day after he won overwhelming re election to the ceremonial office despite being under indictment. I have concluded thai in the Best inter ests of the City i should resign As mayor. I believe it is most important that san Diggans refocus their attention on the is sues and the real opportunities facing our City he said in a statement Al City Hall. Hedgecock took no questions from reporters. He said he will remain in office until oct. 18 to provide an or Urty transition of Power to councilman Bill Mitchell the Deputy mayor. Mitchell and at least two other coun film embers said Hedgecock should step Down before he was sentenced. "1 respect fully want him to consider resigning to save the City from this Long wait Mitchell said. Hedgecock was found guilty wednesday in a retrial on 13 counts stemming from a plot with political backers including Finan Cier j. David Dominelli to illegally finance his 1983 election. He also was convicted of covering up the scheme by lying on state mandated political disclosure forms. The mayor serves simply As one of nine members of the City Council which has 30 Days from the time the office is vacant to appoint a permanent replacement or to Call a special election. The Field to replace Hedgecock would Likely be crowded with police chief Bill Kolender and Hedgecock s past political opponents considered potential candidates. Now that this is Over i m going to con Sider it Kolender said. I will seriously give it some  Hedgecock has been mayor since 1983 when he was elected to succeed Pete Wil son who was elected to the us. Senate after 11 years As mayor. Hedgecock faces a maximum prison term of eight years. Prosecutors would not Dis cuss what if any sentencing recommendation they would make to Superior court judge William Todd. The Case began with the bankruptcy Early in 1984 of j. David t co., the foreign currency trading firm operated by Dominelli. Prosecutors charged that Dominelli and his business associate Nancy Hoover bought the 1983 election for Hedgecock by tunnelling More than $350,000 in illegal contributions to his Campaign through a political consulting firm operated by a former Hedgecock aide. The mayor s Legal problems coincided with the collapse of j. David & co., which was forced into bankruptcy in february 1984 by investors. Dominelli is serving a 20-year Federal prison term for defrauding investors of s80 million and failing to Patmore than s2 million in taxes. The original indictment in september 1984 named Hedgecock Dominelli. Hoover and political consultant Tom Shepard. Hedgecock s trial was separated from the others whose preliminary hearings arc scheduled for mid november. In february the jury in Hedgecock s first trial deadlocked 11-1 for conviction on 13 charges. By the time the retrial began in charges and a Misdemeanour conflict of in Terest count. Hedgecock was acquitted onto of the new counts. Schroeder to go Home Louisville. By. A artificial heart recipient William Schroeder has regained enough strength for a permanent move Home to Jasper. Ind., possibly As Early As thanksgiving his chief surgeon says. Schroeder. 53, has been a patient of or. William c. Duvries since receiving a Jarvik-7 mechanical pump nov. 25 at Humana Hospital Audubon. Nea s views on aids Wash inc Ion a the nation s largest teachers organization says Young aids victims should t be ordered out of schools without agreement from Broad based panels of health experts school officials and the children s parents. Recommendations issued by the 1.7 million member National Educa Tion association did say schools ought to be Able to require medical tests for students or teachers who Are considered possible victims or carriers of the disease. However the association said suspicion that someone was homosexual would t be a Good enough reason for ordering a test for acquired immune deficiency syndrome which mostly strikes homosexual or bisexual men. Bomb suspect held London a a Northern Ireland Man has been ordered held for another week on charges of bombing a Southern England hotel last october during the ruling conservative party s annual conference. The blast killed five people. Patrick magic 34, of Belfast has also been charged in connection with an alleged Irish Republican army plot to bomb a dozen English resorts at the height of this past summer s tourist season. Photo credit corrected the photo credit on Page 9 of the sat urday edition erroneously named Tony Nauroth As the photographer of a launch in Crete Greece. The photographer was pvt. Burl foot of Btry a 2nd in 377lh Fie Dart