European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 29, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday april 29, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 7 Snake jeopardizes $66 million dam pro eco Washington a a shy nocturnal Snake and a dam in arid West Texas Are posing the first major congressional Challenge to the endangered species act since the classic 1970s Battle Between a tiny fish and the Jellico dam. In one Corner is the Concho water Snake a 35-Inch no poisonous Serpent that the Interior department s fish and wildlife service is proposing to list As a threat ened species needing Legal Protection from humans. In the other Corner is the proposed Stacy dam a $66 million locally financed water storage and delivery project that Texas interests say is vital to the future of towns such As Odessa san Angelo and Abilene. The service says that while the Snake is found along a 200-mile stretch of the Colorado River the dam and its Reservoir would adversely affect about 74 percent of the Concho s critical habitat. But sen. Lloyd Bentsen a Texas saying concern for the Snake is a serious Case of misplaced priorities has introduced legislation to exempt Stacy dam from the jaw s provisions giving creatures precedence Over projects that threaten them with extinction. There is a certain deja you to the situation which fish and wildlife service officials say is the first time since 1979 that anyone on Capitol Hill has mounted a frontal attack to carve out an exemption for a project. That Effort came Over the Snail Darter an Inch Long minnow that halted the $130 million Jellico dam in Tennessee in its tracks and produced a supreme court decision upholding the Tough environmental Law. The Jellico dam about 90 percent Complete when the Darter was discovered nearby in 1973, won an exemption from Congress in 1979. In the Early 1980s, Darter populations were found elsewhere and the min now s status was downgraded from endangered to threatened. Jim Johnson chief of the endangered species Section at the service s new Mexico office says the Concho exists in the second smallest geographic area of any . Snake. He said that obtaining a population count on the Gray and Brown creature is difficult because the species is very secretive. It hides under rocks and comes out at night to  Johnson said he has no doubt that the majority of the critical habitat would be  but he said that whether the dam s construction would threaten the Snake with eventual extinction has not been decided. John Fitzgerald a lawyer for the defenders of wild life said his organization believes the dam spells doom for the Concho which was discovered in 1944. If you flood the Snake out it can t reproduce he said. The Young snakes need shallow running water and rocks. Clearly there would be some snakes left but the dam would jeopardize the existence of the  Fitzgerald says there Are alternatives to Stacy dam although they would raise the Cost of the water project anywhere from 10 percent to 40 percent. Construction of the dam is not automatically blocked while the service decides whether to formally protect a species. But Johnson said the army corps of engineers has agreed to withhold the necessary permit until the service makes a decision sometime Between now and january. Bentsen whose legislation would require the corps to Issue the permit by nov. 30, said in a floor speech that the fish and wildlife service does t know for certain what damage the dam will cause the Snake. Because of this speculation the real or imagined threat to some unknown percentage of snakes in the water the Stacy project is threatened and More than a Snake is jeopardized he said. The Only certainties Are that water is a critical necessity to people in the area and that delays Are penal ties in the form of extra expenditures of local funds Bentsen said. I Don t think there is any evidence that the Snake would be made extinct or even any hard evidence that they Don t exist outside the Large 200-mile Range he said. I believe that reasonable efforts to mitigate the effects of the dam on the Snake habitat should be under  he said the service has been unwilling to discuss moving some of the Conchas elsewhere or modifying the Reservoir to make it More like the Brazos River Reservoir where a Snake related to the Concho is Able to live without  court deluged with claims against Dalton shield Richmond a. A the letters and postcards for damage claims from use of the Dalton shield have been arriving from All Over the United states and 81 nations creating a Nightmare of paperwork. After wednesday s deadline has passed for filing claims against the seller of the intrauterine birth control device officials estimate the list will include More than 300,000 names. The . Robins co., which distributed the Dalton shield in the Early 1970s, began an International advertising Campaign in january to notify women who used the de vice that they had until april 30 to file a damage claim in . Bankruptcy court in Richmond. The Richmond based pharmaceutical company was ordered to conduct the Campaign after it filed for Protection from creditors under chapter 11 of the . Bankruptcy code last August. Robins sought Protection from creditors after settling some 9,450 of the 15,000 Law suits brought by women claiming injury from using the id. The settlements had Cost Robins and its insurer $520 million. Michael m. Sheppard clerk of the bankruptcy court said officials estimated when the notification Campaign began that about 50,000 claims would be filed. The total reached 270,000 late last week and More than 5,000 new claims were coming in each Day he said. To handle the claims the court has hired 48 temporary workers to open mail enter names and addresses into a computer and file the paperwork. The operation which took Over most of the third floor of a Down town building where the court previously occupied Only a Corner office runs seven Days a week 24 hours a Day. The biggest problems involve foreign claims he said. We be hired interpreters for some let ters Sheppard said. Some of the gals have gotten into stamp  some claimants give an address but do not identify their country he said. Others forget to include their names. Robins sold the Dalton shield overseas until mid-1975. Sales in the United states stopped in 1974. Sheppard said most of the claims arriving As the deadline nears Are from overseas. The heaviest of the late contributors were Canada and Taiwan he said but he also pointed to a postcard from to Chi Minh City formerly Saigon in Vietnam. Only a few claimants have hired lawyers he said although 500 or More notices have been filed for women by attorneys. Everyone who submits a claim will be sent a questionnaire asking when the id was inserted when it was removed and what injury resulted. Deadline for returning questionnaires is june 30 for . Claimants and july 30 for people living in foreign countries. Since the court has not yet approved a reorganization plan for Robins it is not known How the information will be used Sheppard said. It s up to the judges he said referring to . District judge Robert r. Merhige or. And bankruptcy judge Blackwell n. Shelley who Are handling the Case jointly. Robins will pay for the claims program including the salaries of the temporary workers rent for the additional space and mailing costs for the questionnaires. But those costs do not include the time Sheppard s regular staff has spent on the Case. We re getting a lot of Calls right now As the deadline approaches he said. Some of them ask How much Money they re going to get he said. That s something we just Don t  a Phot change in weather Marty Bass Weatherman and feature reporter for Wiz to in Baltimore shocked viewers by appearing without the Hairpiece he had worn for nine years. Al though hundreds of viewers called the station to applaud his action Bass says the television Industry As a whole still looks Down on Bald men on camera. Read those flying directions again kid fort Lauderdale Fla. A a 16-year-old boy broke into a private plane read some directions in the cockpit and flew the Craft for a few seconds sunday before crashing police said. Fort Lauderdale police officer Ronald Fuchs said he saw the boy who fell out of the door and escaped serious injury walking some distance from the crash at the fort Lauderdale executive Airport. The officer said the youth told him boy there s a real bad crash Over  a Little later however the boy said he was responsible for the crash Fuchs said. That s when he told me that people should t Fly with out lessons Fuchs said. Then the Young Man ran. Fuchs chased and tackled him. The boy was treated at Broward general medical Cen Ter. At the Hospital he wrestled with fort Lauderdale police detective Steve Roberts whose foot was broken in the scuffle police said. The boy who is from Chicago and had been living with a sister in fort Lauderdale for about a week was charged with burglary and grand theft and taken to a juvenile detention Center. Donald Windeler 56, the owner of the plane said he was pretty close to crying when he found it crumpled on the taxiway. Nude cruise could be burning experience san Leandro Calif. Up nudists Are going to sea in luxury but they better bring plenty of suntan lotion. Nudists Are for the first time booking an exclusive Caribbean cruise aboard a luxury italian registered liner from dec. 13 to dec. 20. There will be space for 400 people. The idea for fun in the Sun in the Caribbean came from Randy Sweezy 36, and his wife Vickie 30, who met on a Sacramento san Joaquin Delta Houseboat cruise exclusively for nudists several years ago. We were thinking about cruises Sweezy a contractor said but we never Felt Good about them because we would have to swim with suits. So we decided Why not try one for  he said the initial response to an advertisement Campaign targeted to members of the american sunbathing association was  he declined to identify the cruise ship saying Only that it was a Well known one and its accommodations were luxurious. He explained that the name of the ship would be announced in about two weeks. And he said the president of the cruise line himself is a  the cruise starts and ends at san Juan puerto Rico with stops at Antigua Martinique Guadalupe St. Lucia St. Maarten and St. Thomas. The vacationers will be Able to roam the decks nude sunbathe and do whatever they want to Sweezy said. There will also be a body awareness clinic conducted by a chiropractor and his female Massage therapist Friend. They can even dance in the nude if they  clothing will be required in the dining rooms however. It s a Courtesy for other people Sweezy said. The Crew will not perform its duties in the Buff he said