European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 stateside the stars and stripes wednesday april 2, 1986 Yuppie tax7 on health clubs scrapped by Chicago judge Chicago a the so called Yuppie tax levied against Chicago s health clubs has been declared unconstitutional by a circuit judge who called it an illegal tax on a business rather than an amusement tax As the City con tended. Cook county circuit judge George Higgins in barring collection of the lax approved dec. 23 by the City Council also ruled that the Levy violates due process. The 2 percent tax on membership fees at health racquetball Tennis and other clubs became known As a yup Pic tax because yuppies Young Urban professionals frequent Many such clubs. The tax was intended to raise $4 million a year. Higgins found the Yuppie tax to be an illegal occupation tax or an illegal tax on the ownership and operation of a business. 2 teen stargazers injured in fall through skylight at school Independence to. A two teen agers who were stargazing from the roof of a Junior High school fell through a skylight and Lay injured for nearly a Day before they were discovered police said. Steven Rao 19, was in serious condition at Truman medical Center with a broken Pelvis facial injuries and a possible broken Collarbone and neck said police maj. Shannon Craven. A 16-year-old girl found with Rao was listed in Good condition at Independence sanitarium and Hospital a Hospital official said. Neither police nor Hospital officials would identify the girl. With plywood and corrugated tin anti apartheid pro testers erect shanties blockading entrances to califor Nia Hall on the University of California Campus in Shantytown at Berkeley a photo Berkeley. The protesters said the shanties Are symbolic of Blacks living conditions in the slums of South Africa. Scientific american for Sale Reagan backs panel s Call to limit payments in personal injury suits Parent company announces new York a the privately held company that publishes scientific american the respected and authoritative Magazine of science is for Sale the company chairman said. The chairman Gerald Piel said the company had retained Salomon Bros As its financial adviser but he declined to say if any substantive offers had been received or what Price the company was seeking. Piel said that the company had cherished the Independence that has sustained the integrity of scientific Ameri can and its associated enterprises in service to the wider understanding of  he said however that our private ownership can no longer secure that  health officials discontinuing regular checks of cruise ships Atlanta a Federal health authorities Are discontinuing a 10-year-old program of regularly inspecting International cruise ships that Call at . Ports officials said. The program designed to minimize the potential for gastrointestinal disease outbreaks on passenger cruise ships will cease april 30, the National centers for disease control said. Vessels will remain subject to inspection the cd said in an undated summary of health information for International travel issued in mid March. The cd will work with the cruise line Industry to initiate an inspection program the Industry can carry out on its own the cd said. Santa Barbara Calif. A president Rea Gan concerned about skyrocketing awards in personal in jury lawsuits has endorsed an administration task Force Call for limiting payments for pain and suffering a White House official said monday. The proposed legislation is the product of an administration working group headed by assistant attorney Gen eral Richard k. Willard. In a report submitted to the president March 17, the panel said that a veritable explosion in the definition of liability is causing skyrocketing damage awards escalating premiums and insurance shortages. The proposed legislation is designed to help Cope with those problems the White House official said. Another contributing Factor said the report is under priced insurance coverage sold in the 1970s. The crisis has sparked intense debate in Washington and in state capitals throughout the country As legislators seek a solution. One of the report s most controversial recommendations is cutting attorneys fees by 50 percent or More and limit ing to $100,000 damage awards for pain and  Willard s working group did not urge specific legis lation but it did provide a list of eight recommendations that could be carried out in a variety of ways through both state and Federal legislation and in state and Federal courts. Willard told a news conference that much of the Battle Over liability Reform would come at the state legislative level. The recommendations limit attorneys fees currently sometimes As High As 50 percent of an award. Adopt a sliding scale giving attorneys 25 percent of the first $100,000 of an award 20 percent of the next $100,000, 15 percent of the next $100,000 and 10 percent of the remainder. Limit non economic damages to a fair and reason Able amount with $100,000 a reasonable limitation. Limit the theory of product liability to traditional areas of product injuries. Theories that would apply strict product liability to landlords or professionals providing services such As pharmacists and architects should be rejected. Reject findings based on fringe scientific or medical opinions Well outside the mainstream of accepted scientific or medical  eliminate joint and several liability which has made it easier for plaintiffs to obtain compensation from defendants Only found to be minimally at  allow defendants who lose to pay for economic dam Ages Over time instead of in a Lump sum. Reduce awards by taking into account compensation for the injury from different defendants. Develop alternative Legal mechanisms to solving Dis Putes such As non binding arbitration and mediation. The administration task Force did not draft  step May come later. Many murderers treed in 83 served less than 7 years Washington a More than half the convicted murderers released from state prisons in 1983 served less than seven years behind bars says a government study released monday. Half of the rapists released that year served less than four years in prison and the median time served by All offenders in state prisons was 19 months according to the study of prison terms in 30 states. The Survey of More than 300,000 Crimi Nal cases released by the Bureau of Justice statistics also found that 18 percent of those sentenced to a term of life imprison ment served three years or less before being released. The median time served on a life sen tence is eight years and seven months said the report by the Bureau a research Arm of the Justice department. Convicted murderers accounted for three quarters of those released from a life sentence while rapists and robbers accounted for an additional 18 percent. Nearly 30 percent of1 those released with life sentences had previously served time in prison for a felony conviction. The study found that in 1983, 768 people with life sentences were released from Pris on in the states that reported figures for the Survey. Georgia released the most people with life sentences 239, followed by California 117, and Ohio 113. According to the study More than 93 percent of those admitted or released from state prisons three years ago were men. Male offenders were More Likely than females to have violated parole to have committed a violent crime to have received a longer sentence and to have served longer imprison. More than 40 percent of the women entering prison had been convicted of larceny forgery or fraud compared with 50 percent of the men. Nearly 12 percent of the women were admitted to prison for drug offences compared with slightly More than 8 percent of the men. Nearly 15 percent of the men were admitted for robbery while just Over 8 percent of the women were sentenced for that crime. Fifty four percent of the offenders who entered or left one of the 30 state prison systems in 1983 were White and 45 percent were Black. Whites and Blacks entering prison that year received the same average sentences once differences in geographical and offence distributions were taken into account. Considering All offences together the median and mean sentence lengths for Blacks were 12 months longer than for Whites said the Survey by Bureau statisticians Allen j. Beck and Thomas Hester. A higher proportion of Blacks than Whites had been convicted of violent crime especially robbery. There also was a concentration of Blacks in states that gave longer average sentences resulting in the 12-month differ ence. Among offenders released from prison in 1983, there was no consistent difference be tween Blacks and Whites in the amount of time served for 20 categories of offences. The study also found that nearly a fifth of those admitted to prison were parole violators. About half of those admitted to prison had been convicted of burglary robbery or larceny. About one third of the inmates re leased from prison in 1983 previously had served time for a felony