European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 11, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday november 11, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 5 a veterans on disability pay working full time Washington up the Veter ans administration is making disability payments for mental disorders to  who earn As much As $63,000 working full time for the Federal government internal auditors say. Auditors estimated $400 million May be paid each year to veterans who Are ineligible for disability payments because of poor monitoring by the a. A veterans group said the a inspector general s audit findings Are penalizing veterans who Rise above their disabilities to responsible Well paid positions. Nearly 300,000 veterans nationwide receive payments from the mental disability programs for disorders such As psychosis and psycho neurotic diseases judged by the a to be service related and impairments to Job performance. Urban Gregory a a audit official told United press International he Agency has difficulty checking income eligibility be cause of restrictive policies on disclosure of internal Revenue service records. In a sampling of 2,500 veterans working for the Federal government and receiving disability payments 80 percent were earn ing $10.000 to $63,000 in Federal manag Erial technical and clerical positions the audit said. Earnings of is magnitude raise questions the auditors said there May be mule or no measurable. Impairment for individuals with significant  Jerry Atchison a spokesman for the disabled american veterans in Washington said. We think the auditors conclusion failed to take into consideration the Basic interest of the compensation program. You arc never penalized for rising above your  said a auditors erred by sing Ling out one year of Veteran employment and not examining How the former service members perform throughout their  disabled Veteran s employment career will be much Shorter Over his life Span Atchison said. To determine eligibility for payments Veteran is first examined by a doctor and a psychiatrist who submit to a four person a rating Board a report describing How a Veteran s daily life is impaired. Auditors said they found no requests from the rating Board for information on How much veterans were earning. There is no requirement to include salary inform tinn in rating examinations they said. Auditors said they found the federally employed veterans drawing disability pay ments by Matching a files with records from the office of personnel management and the department of defense. Gary Hickman a a benefits official said the wages a Veteran earns Are not a sole determinant of mental  in reviewing any mental disability evaluation we must consider both the medical status and employment status said re. Vogel. The a s chief benefits  rating Board must not under evaluate the emotionally sick Veteran with a Good work  snowstorm sends some states into deep freeze by the associated pres the first widespread snowstorm of the season sent temperatures diving and dumped half a foot or More of Snow saturday from the Dakotas to Michigan cancelling some sports events and turning roads into skating  also was reported from Northern California to Washington state. Parts of Colorado got 3 feet of  least one death was attributed to the storm. We re going to retain most of what we get out of this storm Laid John Graff chief National weather service meteorologist at Minneapolis St. Paul International air port. We re setting in for Winter now. We finally have made that  winds blowing at 17 Mph dropped the wind chill Factor to 12 degrees below Zero during the morning at Alexandria in West Central Minnesota. As cold air pressed southward Wichita kan., had a afternoon temperature of 36 degrees while less than 100 Miles away Bartlesville okla., had a warm 76 degrees the weather service said. More Snow covered parts of the Rockies and the Northwest and Winter storm watches and travellers advisories were posted from Washington state to coloradoan Utah and eastward to Michigan. Vail colo., recorded As much As 3 feet of new Snow saturday while the Echo Lake area West of Denver had 26 inches the weather service said. In the mountains Winter Park reported 19 inches and Leadville had 9. In Denver which had 7 inches High winds Force Airport officials to close two of Staple Lon International Airport s four runways delaying flights up to 90 min utes said Airport spokesman Richard Boulware. Air traffic had returned to near Normal by  Slid into ditches and into fender Bender Acci dents across the upper Midwest two would hit and pretty soon another would come into the pile. 1 Haven t seen a mess like that in Tow for quite a while said Davison county . Deputy Doug Kirkus. People Are driving like it was july. I never ceases to amaze  one traffic death was blamed on Snow packed Road sat Chamberlain ., late Friday. At Oreen Bay wis., where about 6 inches fell sat urday morning the weather service said it appeared to be the earliest heavy snowfall since 1916.weather service forecaster Bruce Barnes said the 6.2 inches that fell at Rochester minn., overnight was the heaviest november snowstorm in that area in at least is volunteers help a Motorist Back onto the Road during the first snowstorm to hit Sioux Falls . This season. If the forecast for up to 8 More inches by sunday held the weekend could be a contender for the greatest single november storm in Rochester on record he said. That occurred in 1952, when 14.6 inches fell. You re never ready for it said Jan Tilkens Dis Patcher for the Brown county sheriffs department at Green Bay. The Snow postponed a state private High school soccer championship game at Milwaukee which was hit by rain followed by wet Snow. At least one game of Wisconsin s Public High school football playoffs also was postponed. In southwestern Minnesota Crews slowed away a half foot of Snow before firefighters battled a Blaze that destroyed a Grain elevator in the Small town of Lona said Darrel Bruns owner of the elevator Complex. Operation big sweep Calls on . To clean up its act los Angeles up some 1,000high school students pushed the worlds largest Broom a Quarter of a mile up downtown Street saturday in a message to City Hall that area residents and store own in wont their streets cleaned up. The event called operation big sweep spotlighted the beginning of a monthlong cleanup Effort by residents to reclaim a Section of downtown from Graffitti and trash David Encinas a spokesman for the sweepers  3,500-Pound, 105-foot Broom de signed by engineering students at the University of Southern California and patterned after an Ordinary Broom is made Offir studs and about 700 pounds of bristles. Its 40-foot-wide Brush can clean a Stree from curb to curb in one sweep. A group of High school students built the Gigantic Broom As a class project and pushed it up 7th Street. Encinas said organizers were upset at the City s neglect of the area and had developed the Broom As a City Hall attention getter. Senate confirms judge Washington up the Senate has confirmed Alex Kozinski to the 9th . Circuit court of appeals making him at 35, the youngest Federal appeals judge in the country. Sands of time in the stars and stripes 40 years ago foday. Nov. 11,1945 the stars and stripes was not published on this Date. 30 years ago foday. Nov. 11, 1955 Rock Hudson eloped with his agent s Secretary and they we remarried in Santa Barbara calif., his studio announced. Phyllis Gates 25, and Hudson 29, met a year ago and had dated frequently. 20 years ago foday. Nov. 11,1965 one of the worst Power failures on record blacked out new York Cit Yand most other areas of the Northeast. Nearly 30 million people were affected before the lights went on again 10 hours later. 10 years ago foday. Nov. 11, 1975 Portugal handed Over War torn Angola to the angolan people in Brief declaration ending 500 years of portuguese Rule in Black Africa