European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 19, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday november 19, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 7 meaner than a junkyard snowfall Snow covers cars in a Pueblo colo., junkyard As the record snowfall of he Day before begins to melt. The Pueblo area took the Brunt of a major storm that began dumping Snow thursday and matched the area record in a 24-hour period at 16 inches. Pentagon purges contract fraud staff newspaper reports St. Louis up the Pentagon s office of inspector general has replaced its entire contract fraud staff Over the past two months in what sources suspect was a purge of agents who favor More aggressive action on defense fraud investigations a copyright report says. The abrupt personnel changes have left the inspector general s Headquarters with sharply reduced expertise on fraud at a time when senior Pentagon officials say they arc cracking Down on overcharges false statements and other fraudulent activities said a report in the St. Louis Post dispatch. The contract fraud division is part of the defense criminal investigative service the Branch of the inspector general s office that specializes in the investigation of fraud. One member of the contract fraud staff resigned two were transferred to Headquarters positions in non fraud areas and two others were reassigned to the defense criminal investigative service s Field offices. All five had accused the departments of defense and Justice of soft peddling the investigation and prosecution of fraud. In a related development. Bertrand g. Truxell director of the defense criminal investigative service told a dozen regional managers of Dis on nov. I that he would tolerate no news leaks about the Agency s operations the newspaper said. Truxell also instructed the regional Man agers to sign an agreement giving him Blan Ket authority to Transfer them to any other Cis location. In an interview with the newspaper Friday Truxell said that he was appalled by contentions that his actions were a move to intimidate employees. He said the changes at the contract fraud sections were coincidental. Truxell replaced Brian Bruh As head of the Dis in december. Many Dis agents say Bruh was forced out because he insisted on investigating cases thai senior Pentagon officials Ana Justice department prosecutors preferred to drop. Pentagon officials have acknowledged that differences in management philosophy played a part in his departure. Sen. Charles e. Grassly a Iowa whose inquiry into the handling of defense fraud cases May have triggered some of the staff changes has written a letter to inspector general Joseph h. Sherick and demanded an explanation for the shake up in the con tract fraud division. In the letter Friday Grassly said the division had oversight responsibilities for nearly All Pentagon investigations of procurement fraud. He voiced concern that the sudden Transfer of All its agents May adversely affect the government s efforts again  rep. John d. Dingell d-mich., who also has investigated Sherick s office said the staff changes raised questions about the Pentagon s commitment to combating fraud. The replacement of the inspector Gener Al s criminal investigations team shows that the Pentagon s talk of aggressively investigating wrongdoing on the part of the major defense contractors is More talk thar. Sub stance Dingell told the newspaper. The five former members of the Sci s contract fraud Section declined to be inter viewed. Sources at the Agency said some feared that comments on the staff shake up would adversely affect their careers. Dis sources who spoke on the Condi Tion that Thev not be identified said the personnel shifts and Truxell s comments to the regional managers were attempts to suppress criticism within the Agency. Truxell said on Friday that he had philosophical disagreements with som agents on the handling of fraud cases. He said those differences had nothing to do with the staff changes. Those who want to be paranoid be my  Truxell said. A Dis official who works at the head quarters office but not in the contract fraud division said that there were a lot of rumours floating around about the staff shake up. I Don t think it s accurate to say it was a purge he said. But it s a pretty Touchy subject. When you walk in and no one is Here who was Here a week earlier it s kind of  panel agrees to hearing on air safety Hackensack no. A the House aviation subcommittee will hold a hearing on safety in the new York metro Politan area s crowded skies because of a collision Between two planes that killed six people an aide to rep. Robert Torricelli d-n.j., said sunday. The decision to hold the hearing was made by rep. Norman Mineta d-calif., the subcommittee chairman at the request of Torricelli in whose District the private planes collided nov. 10 Over Eastern Bergen county. When a corporate Jet and Piper Chero Kee collided the Jet smashed into Cliffside Park leveling two buildings and leaving 35 people homeless. The smaller plane landed on a Fairview sidewalk. Torricelli said he wanted the hearing to focus in part on plans by the port authority of new York and new Jersey to expand Teterboro Airport to accommodate More flights. The Jet owned by Nabisco corp. Was heading for Teterboro. Vandals thieves hit Chicago company it you Tow cars you make enemies Chicago a immortalized As the Lincoln Park pirates in a Steve Goodman song Lincoln towing service is under siege by vandals who have plundered its truck Sand stolen employees cars. Tires have been slashed windows broken and car hoods ripped off at the private North Side company for the past several months. Workers say the attacks must be the work of Drivers disgruntled because the company towed away illegally parked cars. It s got to be because every employee hashed something done to him said dispatcher Michael Wood of the service s 17-Man work Force. Goodman s tune about the company s activities was popular in the 1970s, but a lot of people still Call us the Lincoln Park pirates Wood said. The latest incident happened Friday when company workers in six Tow trucks chased a car with two men they said tried to break into an employee s ear parked in front of his far North Side Home. The trucks caught the car after a 10-mile Chase holding the two men until police arrived Wood said. Officers released them saying there was no evidence to link the two with the crime. Customers can Park their cars out front for a week and nothing happens Wood said. Some people say it s an everyday thing but it s kind of strange it happens just to Lincoln towing employees. One Driver had his truck with Lincoln towing on it right outside his House next to his car. The car got stolen and it s never been  Wood said his own car has been vandalized three times in the past five months. The first Lime they popped the trunk. The second time 1 found it with the ignition out and the third Lime the whole car was stolen out in front of my House he had three trucks outside his House bearing the company name he said. 49 arrested in anti soviet rally in . Washington a anti soviet protests in the nation s capital led to the arrests of 49 people at the soviet embassy while about 1,200 demonstrators held a rally near the White House to criticize soviet restrictions on jewish emigration. The sunday demonstrations were the latest such actions preceding the Summit meeting that begins tuesday in Geneva Between president Reagan and soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. During a Small protest at the soviet embassy District of Columbia police arrested 49 people who were charged with demonstrating within 500 feet of an embassy. Later a rally sponsored by the jewish Community Council of greater Washington preceded a March from Lafayette Park across the Street from the White House through the downtown area. The demonstrators demanded that the soviets permit More jewish emigration from the soviet Union