European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday april 3, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 7 favouritism charged by unhappy astronauts Washington up some astronauts Are unhappy with the Way the elite astronaut office is run and charge that the program is marred by favouritism and suppression of safety concerns de spite its Glossy Public image. In interviews published tuesday in the Washington Post current and former astronauts said the talents of the 95 shuttle fliers now in Nasa s flight program of fice Are underutilized. There is certainly a lot of frustration and unhappiness said one astronaut. It s not quantitative. It s not something you could see on paper. It s qualitative. The program wastes people. It does t develop their careers. It does t develop peo ple  the Post Story came just two Days be fore the presidential commission investigating the challenger disaster  scheduled to hold a Public hearing to explore concerns about flight safety raised by the astronaut office. Among those expected to testify is chief astronaut John Young whose internal memos charging flight safety had been compromised by launch schedule pressure gained widespread attention. The astronauts told the Washington Post that George . Abbey director of flight Crew operations who runs the Astro naut office and makes Crew assignments is an autocratic Boss who tolerates Little  speaking on condition they remain unidentified the astronauts said the organization of the office sometimes prevents discussion of safety concerns. An Astro naut who disagrees with administrators sometimes runs the risk of losing or never receiving flight assignments they said. The most meaningful assignments go to an in group of about nine people including Sally ride and Robert Crippen favored by Abbey and Young both of whom refused to Grant interviews to answer the concerns raised by their co workers. In order to be promoted to get Good assignments you Learned to read the wind said a former astronaut. The peo ple who were Good at tracking the Boss s mood who told him what he wanted to hear those people got All the neat assign  the astronauts also said the scientists among them feel they imperil their chances for future flights if they make serious efforts to stay current in their specialities. This sounds like something that s Al ways been there for 25 years said for Mer astronaut Deke Slayton who ran the office until 1975. However others who have been affiliated with the office in both the Slayton and Abbey eras said the frustrations Are much wider now. Wisconsin City ends dry Era liquor is Legal Richland Center . A residents of Richland Center Wisconsin s last dry City voted tuesday to end the Community s 53-year prohibition on Sale of Al Coholic beverages. I think we woke the sleeping giant up said Jim Leyda a car dealer who sought the end of the Long drought. We can All get together now and push for economic growth and get some tourists in  but the Rev. Kenneth Brice a retired methodist minister and a Leader among the prohibitionists said it won t be Long until the City is Well saturated. It will be a great answer to a few businesses. Those empty stores will be taverns. A new generation has come in that thinks this is the Way of  the wets won in All four referendum questions. The vote with All 13 election wards unofficially reported  As follows Selling Beer for consumption on or off premises 1,576-942. Retail stores Selling Beer for consumption off premises 1,534-954. Selling liquor for consumption on or off premises 1,561-941. Retail stores Selling liquor for con sumption off premises 1,501-986. City clerk Ray Lawton said voter turn out  very heavy As  final step of deregulation lets Banks pay higher rates on personal accounts Washington up the Federal government now allows Banks and other financial institutions to offer any rate of interest they wish on All personal savings and checking accounts and most Commer Cial accounts. The april 1 interest rate deregulation expected to give depositors better rates of return on some accounts and a broader Choice of savings instruments is the final phase of a six year process that began in 1980 with an act of Congress. Deregulation already has Given Banks much wider latitude in the kinds of accounts they can offer allowing them to at tract customers through such instruments As Money Market savings accounts and in Terest bearing checking accounts. Penalties for Early withdrawal from institutional certificates of Deposit also will be Cut Back to a maximum of one month s interest. On personal certificates the penalty will be a seven Day loss of interest on certificates with drawn within the first week. Probably the most significant effect of the final phase of deregulation will be More competitive rates on passbook savings accounts though Banks and Thrift institutions Are not Likely to offer rates much higher than the current 5.5 percent in the near future. You May see gradations of passbook accounts. Where if you have a minimum balance of say $100 you get 5.5 percent and z top commercial Banks he ranked by assets c5=p in billions of dollars Citicorp 1i s 150.5 ban America corp. I $117.68 Chase Manhattan corp. I $86.881 manufacturers Hanover corp. 1 $75.711. . Morgan & co. 1 $64.131 chemical new York corp. I $524 Security Pacific corp. 1 $46.121 first interstate ban corp. I $45.541 Chicago Tribune graphic source consolidated capital communications group inc. If you maintain $1,000 you get a Little higher rate said Mark Clark senior vice presi Dent of the . League of savings institutions which represents most of the nation s savings and Loans. The Battle lines Haven t been formed but with More than $300 billion up for grabs i Don t see this As the non event some have been calling it said Robert Heady publisher of the Bank rate Monitor. It has enormous implications for Banks be cause of the Market share of consumer Money that is at  predicting that Banks will impose new charges and fees to counter the costs of higher rates of return Heady said come late april or Early May you la see Banks and thrifts begin a High wire act trying to at tract new Money without endangering their own Low Cost passbook  but Clark and other Industry observers said a Sharp Rise in interest rates is not Likely because the Money Market rate is currently not much1 higher than the conventional savings rate. Money Market accounts have hovered in the 7 percent Range in recent weeks the lowest in about six years. The bulk of the Impact took place with the earlier lifting of rate ceilings on All the other accounts Clark said. From our Reading there is going to be fairly Little change in the makeup of passbook  perhaps the most significant past step in the deregulation process came on dec. 14, 1982, when the government authorized he creation of Money Market accounts for Small savers who maintained a balance of$2,500 or More. Many foreign products lose favored import status a acut motrin. I a m r. A Washington a president Reagan ended favored import treatment on tuesday for millions of dollars in goods that developing countries Hope to sell the unite states in the coming year. They included South korean pianos mexi can Beer taiwanese sewing machines and calculators Hong Kong jewelry and toy animals argentinian leather and telephones and radios from several East asian countries. Reagan s spokesman said in Santa bar Bara calif., that the action  taken in accordance with . Law requiring annual review of product coverage under the generalized system of preferences. The system exempts goods shipped by poor countries from Normal . Customs duties until they capture specified proportions of the american Market. While 149 items imported for $2.4 billion last year graduated from the program and were ruled ineligible for the Concession after july 1, five products regained eligibility Accord ing to announcements in Washington Anat Santa Barbara. In a separate proclamation Reagan re moved certain ethanol mixtures produced by countries such As Brazil from the list of products eligible for duty free treatment making them subject to duty of 3 percent of value plus 60 cents a gallon. Taiwan South Korea Hong Kong mex Ico and Singapore the countries most affected by tuesday s changes were among the top beneficiaries of the Gap in 1985, when Taiwan accounted for nearly one fourth of the year s total of $13.3 billion Worth of duty free Gap imports. These changes reflect the dynamic nature of the . Gap program . Trade representative Clayton Yeutter said. As the advanced beneficiary countries become competitive enough in particular products to compete in the . Market without Gap benefits we Are graduating their products from the  Yeutter s office said taiwanese products that sold in the United states last year for $972 million were graduated or denied re designation for duty free eligibility. They included sewing machines $70 million Worth of which were sold to americans last year and machine tools calculators and broadcast equipment. Other top graduates included Hong Kong goods that sold for $515 million last year South korean products that sold for $316 million mexican goods that sold for $279 million and Singapore goods that sold for $131 million. Meese sees dedication abroad to combat drug crops a Aci Jimr trim / a a a. ,. Washington a attorney general Edwin Meese just Back from a trip to four drug producing countries said wednesday that the foreign leaders he talked with showed a renewed dedication to destroying the opium poppy and other narcotic plants that often end up in the hands of . Drug users. I think there s an understanding that not Only is the drug problem a problem related to terrorism and related to government instability Meese said on Abc to s today show but also it s causing a source problem in the countries  during his two week trip Meese said he discussed giving Aid to the countries for fighting drug production and trafficking As Well As replacing the countries narcotics crops with legitimate crops. Asked whether he expected his visits to Thailand Pakistan India and Italy would have More effect than previous . Efforts to Stem International drug trafficking Meese said he believed it would. I think one of the reasons the presi Dent set up this Mission  to Deal directly with the Heads of state the Heads of government the top officials of these governments plus the police officials said Meese who returned from his trip sat urday night. In an interview on Abc to s Good morning America Meese said that in the Pas the . Anti drug Campaign had been hampered by the Gap Between the leadership at the lop of a country and the people that Are actually doing the enforcing but i think that we observed a renewed Dedica Tion perhaps greater than we be seen  As to reports of drugs coming out of so Viet controlled Afghanistan Meese said on the today show that it appeared the government is doing nothing to control