European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes report finds . Commissary prices a bargain by Chuck Vinc Washington Hur Tiu Washington military commissary patrons pay 34.7 per com less for groceries than civilians who use cumm Ceciul supermarkets in the United slates Accord ing 10 a report recently released by the defense depart ment. The Renuart which a is ordered by Congress is part of inc 1985 defense Aulhorn Filion act concluded hat commissary shoppers also save 15 percent Over Ware House stores. The Survey which was released by inc Pentagon dec. 19. Was conducted Over n him in ankh period in Laic 19s4 b inc firm or Penn find Schown associates at 30 commissaries in inc 48 Continental United states. Army commissaries offered inc most savings during the Survey with 25.3 percent while air Force commiss iry prices were 25 percent in is than supermarkets Una the Marine corps saving were 24.h percent. Nuvy commissaries offered the least savings Wilh 22.9 percent. Prices on about 1,200 commonly purchased line items were compared to prices in three stores near each com Tiwary. One of the three was a warehouse store if sued a facility was located within 15 Miles of the commissary. Warehouse stores offer a no frills approach with limited Brand selection no fancy shelving or packaging and limited amenities such As grocery bags and baggers. The Survey was conducted after the president s private sector Survey on Cost control informally known at us Grace commission issued its report on ways to trim government waste and reduce spending. One of the Grace commission s recommendations was to eliminate commissaries and have military personnel and their families use commercial stores. During congressional testimony in december chair Man j. Pelcer Grace said indirect subsidies to military commissaries Cost about $400 million a year. He said those subsidies arc chiefly for Security and maintenance of the commissaries. The Bill for those sen ices is charged to inc government because the commissaries Arlo Calvd in government buildings. Spaceflight postponed for 5th time Cape canaveral Fla. A the launching of hard Luck space shuttle Columbia on its first flight in More than two years was postponed for a fifth Lime tuesday because of bad weather Here and at emergency Landing Sites in Africa and Spain. Nasa rescheduled the launch for 7 05 . Thursday. Officials said n 48-hour delay is necessary to provide Lime to inspect engine compartment insulation which has been subjected to two straight Days of fueling. We have a bad habit going Here was the reaction of Mission cont under Robert Gibson to yet another delay. A launching attempt on monday was scrubbed after inc countdown had advanced o within 3f seconds the second Lime in 17 Days that a last minute technical glitch thwarted a launching Effort. Two other postponements dec. In and Jan. 4, were the result of the need for More Lime to ready Columbia and to give the seven member Crew additional training time. The disappointed astronauts including a Florida congressman and the first hispanic american astronaut were to return to Crew quarters to await another Day. It was the third Lime they had wailed hours in the cockpit far a launching that did not occur. The countdown for the first of a record is shuttle missions planned in 1986 was hailed Al the nine minute Mark because of Clouds both in the launching area and at emergency Landing Sites at Dakar Senegal and Moron Spain. Forecasters monitored the weather for More than two hours hoping for a break Here and at one of the overseas abort Sites. As the time passed conditions deteriorated at All three Sites and launching director Gene Thomas scrubbed the launching once again. Earlier Thomas had told the astronauts. It does not look particularly  the requirement to launch a communications satellite to achieve a proper orbit dictated the length of the launching window which extended from 7 05 . To 9 33 . Low Clouds would prevent the shuttle commander from spotting a three mile run Way Here in Case something went wrong after liftoff and he had to make an Emer gency Landing Back at the launch site. Visibility also was poor at both Dakar International Airport and at Moron a in Spain. The shuttle would land at one of these places if one or two engines failed under certain circumstance after four min utes of flight. During a five Day Mission the astronauts Are to release an Ria communications satellite perform More than a dozen experiments and make the first extensive observations from space of Hatley s Comet. It to the first of three consecutive shuttle flights that will study the Comet. A bad switch that blocked closure of a fuel valve halted monday s launching after the countdown had moved to 31 seconds before the planned liftoff. On dec. 19 it was even closer 14 seconds before a com Puter slopped the clock because of a defective electronic part. Well take another hard look at it Over night and come Back tomorrow prepared to do it right launching director Gene Thomas told the astronauts monday. We understand perfectly and Well look Forward to doing it Wilh you again Tomor Row replied Gibson. The Crew includes rep. Bill Nelson d Fla., who was mimed to the flight As a con Gressional observer because of his chairmanship of tic subcommittee on space science and applications the others Are Franklin Chang Diaz a Costa Rinn bom physicist who is a naturalized american citizen Pilot Charles Flodden Sieve Hawley George Nelson Anil Robert Cenker. Fires in ., Calif kill 7 children 1 adult by the associated Presse were injured As panic stricken tenants led a Blaze at a los Angeles apartment building plated by arsonists. Four children were killed and two adults were injured when tire gutted their two Story Home in Blairstown  Patricia Tutty 23. And her Boyfriend Fred Kopi 22, suffered smoke inhalation in the fire and were listed in fair condition it Newton memorial Hospital said Nurs ing supervisor Isa Belle Duvid on. Tutty s father Robert Feltwater said the dead children were his son and grand children who ranged in age from 2 to 15. He said his daughter and Kopi escape through a second floor window. Neighbor John Sidorek said the adults came to his door for help. It was a Complete inferno every thing was ablaze from the Bottom to the top Sid Rock said. Dan Gardner an investigator in the Warren county prosecutor s office said the names of the victims would not be released until relative were notified. He would not discuss details of the fire a woman and three children died when fire destroyed their Wood Frame in Glt Story House in Nipomo Calif. It appears right now that we have a Mother and three children said Don nines a san Luis Obispo county Deputy Coroner. Identities of the victims were being withheld pending notification of relatives and further investigation. A neighbor saw the flames and called firefighters while her husband tried unsuccessfully to enter the House authorities said. Firefighters said they found the bodies of a woman in her 20s and three children a boy and two girls about 2,3 and 4 years old. The cause of the fire was also under investigation. In los Angeles panicked residents ran through flames As firefighters tried to extinguish an arson fire in their apartment building fire officials said. Seven people including four members of one family and two children were injured. If they had staved in their apartments they would have been All right police detective John Duncan said of the injured. He said that the fire would have been confined to the third floor hallway but that flames spread inside two unit when the doors were opened. The flames were doused within 10 min utes after the fire was reported just after Midnight but some residents panicked and ran through the flames to reach a fire escape said fire department spokesman Groci a Credo. He said the fire was arson. One Man got his child and went to the window and dropped it out and somebody caught it with a Blanket said resident Igna Cio roman speaking through an interpreter. Four people who suffered Burns were listed in critical condition at area Hospi a Isla ild a 7-Twtn-old girl and 2w-Yci a old boy also were in critical condition new program enables couple to buy House Mckeesport a. A a couple who thought they d never be Able to afford a Home will soon own the House they be been renting Lor three years becoming the first in the nation to take advantage of a new Federal housing program officials say. Under a . Department of housing and Urban development Pilot project Mer Rian and Mary Snyder will own the Home they have been renting from the Mckee port housing authority the authority which Wilt sell 10 houses was the first in the nation to receive Permis Sion from Hud to sell houses to their occupants said Michael g. Zerega special assistant to the manager at the Hud office i Pittsburgh. The project allows tenants of Public housing to buy their Homes by making in Terest free mortgage payments similar to their rental payments. In the Snyders Case tee mortgage payment Bijj be about s400for the tidy two Story House. This is a second Chance for us said mrs. Snyder. I m 56, and i never dreamed of awning a Home. The Down payments were Loo expensive two thousand Homes owned by Munici pal housing authorities nationwide will be Gram a  und the or people who were selected for the arc 8Tm. A re tied for their ability maintain the houses Zerega said. Evening classes on Basic Home news update officers reassigned Brussels Belgium a the state police have reassigned senior officers whose actions were blamed for aggravating a soccer riot in Brussels in which 39 people died. However a report has called the changes routine rather than disciplinary a department statement said the reshuffle of top jobs in the 15,241 Stronn police Force was part of the periodic cycles of change caused b promotions and retirements. It did not identify the officers re assigned. A parliamentary inquiry after the riot Bat May 29 found police employed poor Security measures thai allowed British fans to riot at inc european champions cup final be tween and Liverpool England and Juventud Italy politician begins tour grand Junction cob. A rep. Tim Wirth who to Gary Hart s endorsement for lie Senate scat Hart is vacating has begun a statewide fund raising tour but has not announced formally that he wit run. Wirth a Coio. Kicked off the we Klong tour in grand Junction saying he will schedule a formal announcement in about two Weela about whether he will seek Hart s seat. This trip gives me the Chance to think of the Senate race much More seriously Wirth said. Hart announced in Evergreen that he will not seek a third Senate term hinting strongly that he will seek nil party s presidential nomination in 1988. Trial Date set new York up a judge has set feb. I g for the trial of former labor Secretary Raymond Donovan accused with nine other men and two firms of bilking new York City of $7.4 million in a Tunnel construction project Donovan the first Silling Cabinet member indicted for a crime was not in the Bronx courtroom when stale supreme court Justice John Collins set the Date for jury selection to begin. Collins also announced that Dono Van co defendant and construction executive Ronald Schiavoni whose Secaucus  Construction firm it at the Center of the fraud scandal had dismissed his lawyer and would represent himself at the trial. Donovan Schiavone a state sen Ator seven others and two corporations Are accused in a 137-count indictment of grand larceny falsifying records and filing false documents