European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 15, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes sunday february 15,1987 news updates soviet bad weather Moscow a avalanches landslides and flooding in the Mountain of Georgia have claimed More than 80 lives this Winter and have destroyed 2,700 Homes the communist party daily pravda reported saturday. Pravda gave few details on the disastrous weather but previous report have said that the heaviest snowfalls in 50 years hit the Cau Casian mountains last month. Assessing the damage and casually toll pravda said that the bad weather was blamed for More than so deaths and that the avalanches and flooding wiped 2,700 houses and 65q hospitals clinics schools and kindergartens off the face of the Earth Grain Deal protest Madrid Spain up Sev eral Hundred Farmers hurled bags of Corn Over the Fence of the Amer ican embassy Friday to protest a Grain Deal Between the United states and the european economic Community authorities said. The protesters also chanted slogans Agai iut the settlement that commits Spain to importing 2.3 million ions of Grain feed aver the next four years. After showering the embassy courtyard with com and other Grain the Farmers blocked traffic outside the building for an hour and then dispersed peacefully according to embassy officials and witnesses. Temperatures c cny27 33 6j 7735 41 s3 bal am0um � s4 bout 77 Baton 11 � Blumst 10 so Buffo 7 13 but gun ass 17 4j? u a tonne a � my. A s ska u n dhunnvtonh30 ii do to a my .49 a fun Riu is 32 of a 27 tort tool of 73 a Creme 79 Houma s Usi my 27 40 luhglon41 6t a mock h to a a 43 73 4q 70 s3 79 e 39 a u 45 7933 i a a n i 31w so 50 7017 i a in 34 a 57a is a tid a 64 it u 36 is 73 Taa la 71 m Jis .20 m to 4& to of Al 77 to Amrehn Hod Wiur  bin Juki 37 44 Uhn gun european weather do a Tutu Tor Sunder a oof my inn Rooming Tou a mom. Her Kiwitt a Muri wan raw. V Uwi. My Uttmi it of a by wept Fitsam m Ift 30v "  it set fief Urt of s-4j, Haj a Urett the a tax Tif Uretz Phirtu �1 a n Gurry Fri pm Moi by it agcy with tool. Iwatiw do the id c Iwatiw Wrin t off Cairo i. 32 u Munch. Cd mar we i u 43 rom m Pio tied by do 1 to Hen ld7& 55 4& 12. M k Otto. A 50 to world. Cd Pentagon will cancel out pre stamped official mail by Chuck Vii sch Washington Bureau Washington pre slam cd government envelopes with the familiar Eagle logo and the threat of a $300 line for misuse will pass into history in the next few years. Concerned about soaring mail costs the Pentagon has set a target Date of sept. 30, 1989, for All defense agencies to be using postage meters and special Stamps rather than the pro printed Enve Lopes. Most of the other 200 Federal agencies that use inc official indicia Are also changing Over. Many Federal employees see those pre Siam cd envelopes As free postage said James Stanford of the . Postal service s official mail accounting Divi Sion. But that mail has to be paid for somewhere Down the line. Direct accountability makes those who use official mail aware of the fact that it costs Money the meters and Stamps give an accurate account of How much Money is spent on official mail. The postal service Bills agencies using the pre printed Enve Lopes based on quarterly samples of 600 stateside Post office. The surveys an not always accurate and May cause some agencies to pay More than they should. The new system documents the exact amount of Money spent on postage for official mail Stanford said. You pay Only As much As you actually use rather than an estimate based on a  the air Force converted to direct accountability in late 1934, and has seen its postal costs drop from $40.3 million in 1982 to 138.9 million in 1985. Preliminary 1986 figure show a further drop to about $ 36.2 million. In contrast costs for the Navy and the army have soared. The army is three quarters of the Way through its conver Sion. The Navy has just begun the con version process and has Only about 10 percent of its mail monitored under the direct accountability system. The army s Bill jumped from $65.5 million in 1982 to slightly More than Sloo million in 1985 the Only Federal Agency to top the $100 million Mark. The Navy j costs Rose from j38.9 million in 1981 to 152,2 million in 1985. Postal rate increases of 27 percent since 1981 have been a Factor but the unreliability of the sampling system can also be blamed said Leonard barter official mail manager for the defense department we have metering equipment pro cured for All stateside units except a few Small Reserve units and All overseas commands except Usa eur. Equip ment for Panama Korea and Japan is being delivered right  one reason the army and Navy have lagged behind the air Force is the Start up costs. It costs Money to convert to direct accountability and Money is always tight Battels said. Another reason Hudson said is thai going to direct accountability is easier for Etc air Force because the service has Static bases with official mail managers and Mai rooms at each one. The army tends to be More Mobile and the Navy has ships to Deal with he said. Astronaut Colls for improved testing to determine Booster joints9 strength Washington up chief astronaut John Young has expressed con Cern Over tests of the space shuttle boost or rockets it was reported Friday the tests measure the ability of the rockets to withstand tremendous stresses that occur during the Early stages of flight. The Washington Post said Young raised the Issue in an internal memo at the Johnson space Center in Houston. He recommended that testing be improved to More closely simulate the forces during night that put stress on the struts connecting the twin boosters to the shuttle s external fuel tank. A test Rig at the Marshall space flight denier in Hunt Vitle ala., is in place to conduct studies of How the Booster joints behave when internal pressure builds at launch. The Rig is equipped with simulated struts connected to a big Hydraulic sys tem that can push and pull on the joint As tic real struts do at launch to mimic the forces of wind and the dynamic movement of the vehicle. But because of the Rig s design Only two of the three rear struts Are tested. Astronaut Robert Gibson said recently he and Young were concerned that vital data might slip by. John Thomas manager of the joint redesign said in an interview with United press International that the National aeronautics and space administration is looking at the possibility of modifying the test stand to More accurately Simu late the strut Force on the joints. That is somewhat of subjective Call As to whether or not one needs that in there to understand the function of the joint he said. We believe that it s a very minor  the space shuttle challenger was buffeted by Strong scissor like winds in the seconds before it exploded last year. The Post said Nasa i studying new information indicating that wind stresses May have been stronger than initially believed. The Rogers commission which investigated the shuttle Accident said the Pri Mary problem was failure of of ring seals in the joint linking solid fuel propellant segments in the Craft s right Booster. But the commission said it is possible tresses created by the winds May have contributed to the joint failure Michael weeks a top Engineer at Nasa Headquarters said challenger s Booster nozzles swivelled up to it de Grees during the launch fighting to keep the ship on course compared to just a Naif degree which is Normal "1 Don t really understand what really happened to challenger he said. And i m a a retry Good  . Envoy denies leaving Colombia under threat of kidnapping Plott so ppm by Iha  duu0y, a run. I Toiv if Washington up the . Ambassador to Colombia said Friday that he received no new threats after the arrest and extradition to the United slates of an accused colombian drug Kingpin and that he came Home Only for routine consultations. Ambassador Charles Gillespie denied a report that he resumed to Washington after a plot was uncovered to Kidnap him and Trade him for Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas who was extradited feb. 4 and faces trial in Florida. I m up Here to do the Normal things that an ambassador does in any operational place like Bogota Gillespie said in a Telephone interview. It s pure coincidence that it occurs immediately after the Lender arrest and extradition. I know of no new plot any plot for trading me for anything. So that s pure  since the Lender arrest he said we have not received a single threat directed at me Oral the official .  state department spokeswoman Phyl Lis Oakley said Gillespie accompanied by his wife returned to Washington thursday for routine consultations that had been scheduled several weeks  Gillespie was working at the state department Friday and said he plans to return to the colombian capital of Bogota in about id Days Oakley said there have been a series of threats against ambassador ii Lispie and other members of the . Mission for some time but i m just not in a position to say whether those have  the fort Lauderdale fat news and Sun Sentinel reported Friday thai Gillespie led Bogota hastily thursday alter Intelli gence reports disclosed the plot against him. Gillespie said he docs not discuss Intelli gence reports but there s nothing new since the chd a arrest regarding the Security of the american ambassador or the american embassy the Sun Sentinel said Gillespie left so quickly that his staff was not notified the newspaper said intelligence re Pom indicated that drug traffickers planned Tallack Gillespie s armoured vehicle and hold him hostage Gillespie said he left under he usual heavy Security procedures. Lender accused of heading a drug Cartel responsible for 75 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United states was Cap Turt Delisl week along with 13 bodyguards in a shootout at his ranch hideout near me def in Northwest of Bogota. Gillespie said the Only threat he is aware of is one telephoned into the Al Tiempo newspaper in Colombia a few Days alter Lender s arrest the caller said that 100 missionaries would be kidnapped. A subsequent Call i think talked about 100 americans he said those Are the Only two threats that my embassy has on record at this time. There had been no threats new or old As of the Lime i left