European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 13, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday november 13, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 7 Navy civilian Yards in overhaul Competition by Norman Black Washington a month workers at a private shipyard in Portland ore., began to overhaul the Navy amphibious Dock Duluth. Next Spring n similar vessel the Cleveland will arrive at a Navy shipyard in Long Beach. Calif., for overhaul. The two ships arc roughly the same age about 20 years. Both Are of the same class and sport similar maintenance histories. They have one of her thing in common they arc the focus of an unusual Competition to determine whether private or Public employees do the Best work. Spurred by a congressional directive issued last year the Navy Hopes for the first time to document the benefits of competing ship repair and overhaul work Between Public and private shipyards looking beyond contract bids to Analyse throughout each overhaul the Navy intends to maintain tight control Over work order changes so thai the level of Effort for each ship will remain essentially audits will be conducted after each significant step in the work and a special Quality evaluation will be conducted after each overhaul is completed. When the Navy is done with the data Independent evaluators will be called in for their opinions. A similar Competition is being planned on the East coast in fiscal 19h7, with private and government Yards to compete against each other in overhauling two Frig ates the Bowen and the Aylwin. The Northwest Marine Iron works in Portland was selected to overhaul the Duluth. The Navy s schedule Calls for the work to be completed by next june. The Long Beach naval shipyard will overhaul the Cleve land. Like Northwest Marine it will be Given roughly nine months to Complete its overhaul from april 1986 to january 1987. Three months later or pm climb in april 1987, the Navy expects to Complete its analysis of How Well the two Yards performed. The Navy is going to great pains to stress that this first Ever Competition is merely a test refusing any predictions about How the results might affect its distribution of Over haul work. But much is at stake on both sides. The Navy already is cutting Back the number of work ers at the . Government s eight Public shipyards. And the private shipbuilding Industry is in even More dire Straits with Yard across the country closing As Commer Cial firms take their work to lower Cost foreign ports. The shipbuilding and repair Industry is at a Crossroads assistant Navy Secretary Everett Pyatt told a Senate panel oct. 24. It is not internally competitive and there is More capacity than can be sustained by peacetime Navy work and the modest amount of commercial work that remains. The Navy cannot itself support the ship construction excluding overhauls of nuclear powered ships the Navy expects to spend More than 50 percent of its Over haul and repair dollars this year with the private sector. But that provides Little Comfort to commercial shipyards because the number of Navy vessels coming into port for overhaul is declining. In fiscal 1977, there were 90 major overhauls. In fiscal 1984, the number dropped to 57. During the current fiscal year which began oct. I the number is expected to drop to 41. It s a buyer s Market and we re the buyer said one lop Navy official. I m sure that has t been lost on Northwest even though the commercial sector has the most at stake in the Competition the Navy will always have a need to maintain Public shipyards both for nuclear Over hauls As Well As wartime readiness one source noted. Agents in Medvid Case face punishment Washington not the commissioner of the immigration and naturalization service said monday that he expected disciplinary action to be taken against two Border patrol agents who forcibly returned a soviet Seaman to his ship last month. In an interview the commissioner Alan c. Nelson conceded there obviously were mis Lake he added our agents did make a Mil a in not my z the guideline " a fast to Sailor Miroslav Medvid who is a ukrainian jumped from the freighter into the missis Sippi i to near new Orleans. Nelsen said the Agency had submitted a report la the Justice department detailing the Mir takes made by the two agents who have rot been publicly identified. The re port hich is longer than 100 pages says the Border agents acted hastily and violated Agency regulations by returning Medvid to the soviet freighter without consulting immigration supervisors according to Reagan administration officials. Nelson said he would delay a decision on How to discipline the agents until after meet ing this week with the Agency s Southern regional director. Tin expecting disciplinary action will be recommended he said. A Justice department official who asked not to be identified said that punishments for the two Border agents could Range from letters of reprimand to dismissal. While the l would not speculate on the action to be taken against the agents he said we consider this a very very serious the state department subsequently arranged the removal of the Sailor from the ship and interviewed him. In those discussions the department said Medvid said repeatedly that he wanted to go Back to the soviet Union. He was permitted to Leboard the ship which left the american Waters Ever the Wec Kunu with him aboard. The department had requested Nelson s re port As part of an inquiry ordered by attorney general Edwin Meese Iii into the Medvid Epi Sode. Department officials said the immigration report would be reviewed by Meese and d. Lowell Jensen the Deputy attorney general. In the interview Nelson said that the incident had been an embarrassment to the immigration service and had some very significant impacts that would Lead to changes in the immigration procedures used for dealing with potential defectors. However he said we do think the existing procedures Are fundamentally sound and. If properly followed would have avoided Over his protests Medvid was returned to the ship at about Midnight oct. 25, Only a few hours after he jumped from the moving Grain freighter the marshal Konev. According to Nelson the Border agents should have retained or. Medvid at least the agents have said that they did not believe med Vid was seeking political Asylum. Nelson would not discuss Many details of the report provided to the Justice depart ment but he said that its conclusions were similar to those made last week in his Testi Mony before a Senate immigration panel. In that testimony Nelson said that the Border agents had violated immigration regulations when they failed to inform their superiors immediately that med if Barf jumped ship. Under those regulations Medvid because he was a soviet citizen was entitled to special consideration before being returned to his ship Nelson said. These existing procedures were not Fol he testified. No supervisory review of the decision to return the crewman was sought and neither the ins Central office nor the department of slate was if that had been done he added we be Lieve or. Medvid would not have been sum Marily returned to the shipping agent and hence to the soviet vessel without a thorough interview and determination of his a senior White House official said he was not Sui prised that the internal investigation was critical of the Border agents. "1 think there was a lot of ineptitude in the initial handling of Medvid he said. But Edward Djerejian a Deputy White House press Secretary said he could not comment on the initial investigation until president Reagan had received the formal report from Meese. It would be premature to comment on the substance of the re re at this Point Djerejian said. Nelson said monday that the report contained copies of sworn statements from the Border agents and from a ukrainian Lan Guage interpreter. Irene Padoch who participated in an interview with Mcdavid shortly before he was ordered Back to the ship. Padoch has insisted that she told the agents that Mcdavid was seeking political Asylum in the United slates. The statements from the agents show that they returned the Sailor to the ship because they believed he did not want Asylum according to the immigration service. In the interview Nelson said he believed that the procedures for dealing with potential defectors arc fundamentally sound but could be tightened. He said that a task Force would report two within a few weeks on possible changes in the procedures. The report prepared for the Justice department found that Medvid s Case was Well handled of tar he was removed from the ship for additional interviews with american officials. Nelson said. That was very Well handled he said. He was kept for 24 hours and Given a very thorough exam concerning his intentions. It was a very honest fair Board will probe possible damage to shuttle engine Cape canaveral Fla. A a Section of a rocket engine intended to boost a teacher and six others into orbit aboard the space shuttle challenger in january May have Bee damaged in an Industrial Accident Nasa said monday. Workers heard a Sharp cracking sound when an overhead Crane was being used Toifl a handling ring attached to . The operation was stopped immediately. Young said. Engineers did not know what caused the sound or whether there was any damage he said. A Board will investigate what happened. Among the passengers assigned to the Mission is Christa Mcaullife. A High school social studies teacher from con Cord n h who was selected in a nationwide Competition to be the nation s first teacher in space. The rocket segment being handled is one of eight that make up the two solid fuel rockets that help boost shuttles it orbit in another development the challenger which returned from Sec nov. 6, suffered possible Landing gear damage win a stuck in the mud temporarily Whie it was being towed during the weekend at Edwards fab Ca if. The Accident occurred while the shuttle was being transported to a special Boeing 747 jetliner that returned the spacecraft to Cape canaveral on monday. Voters defeat anti porn ordinance that would have of d lawsuits Cambridge mass. A an ordinance that would have allowed women who believed they had been Hurt by pornography to sue and collect damages has been Defeated according to final results released Mon Day. There were 13,031 votes cast nov. 5 against the measure and 9,419 votes for it. There were 1,931 Blank votes said Alfred Gerardin supervising auditor of the election commission. Terrific said John Roberts executive director of the civil liberties Union of Massachusetts. It s a very emotional Issue. In Many ways it s difficult to vote but he said it would really have created a pall of censorship. There would be a real caution Over caution perhaps on the part of people who sell books. In the history of censorship it s not always what the creators of such ordinances think they Are targeting that be comes the actual target. It s not necessarily Hustler Magazine. It could become our bodies ourselves " in order for the anti pornography ordinance to pass one third of the City s 47,000 registered voters had to cast ballots on the question and the majority of them had to have been in the affirmative. We re disappointed that the new Law is not going to be in effect said Barbara Findlen a member of the women s Alliance against pornography but we re very pleased that the Campaign itself focused attention on the Issue As Well As it she said the group will continue its educational work concerning pornography and investigate potential remedies for those whom it considers have been victims of pornography. I m glad that it did t pass. I feel that it s a positive thing for Cambridge that the ordinance was Defeated said sue Hyde a member of the feminist anti censorship taskforce a group of 30 lawyers writers and artists that fought the referendum question. Supporters of the measure said an Avalanche of expensive lawsuits brought on by the measure would put poring Raphers out of business and make the streets Safe for those opposed to the ordinance including several City councillors and the Clu of Massachusetts had called the measure censorship and argued that it could be used by conservative groups such As the moral majority to ban homosexual literature and frankly worded health guides
