European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 12, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday. September 12, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 7 Navy cancels port Call Over aids dispute Washington a a Navy warship cancelled a port Vijit 10 Cosla Rica because authorities there insisted thai the Navy certify the Crew was free of aids according to sources who called it a troubling development. Pentagon officials say the inc Idem May be lied to a Long running disinformation Campaign by the soviet Union aimed Al blaming the United Stales for creating the aids virus. This is the kind of thing the soviets Are trying to stir up around the world with their propaganda one official said thursday and this was quite an irrational reaction on the part of Costa Rica.1 it can give ideas to others and so it s clearly troubling said another official Cosla rican reportedly demanded thai the Navy provide a roster of Crew men on the destroyer Luce and certification that every Sailor was free of aids a deadly ailment that destroys the body s immunity to disease. The Navy tried to explain ils testing procedures for aids to the Cosla i cans but to no Avail so the port Call was cancelled one official said we Wren l going to hand Over the ship s roster and you can t make that kind of certification in any event he said. Publicly the Pentagon refused to Dis my tank slated for live tests Washington a after buy ing 4,000 my Al tanks the army is finally going to try the weapons in a realistic lest to see what would Likely happen to the tank if it were hit in combat the Pentagon says. The weapon also known As the a bran is Lank has been the army s main Battle tank since 1981, and while its components have gone through thou Sands of tests no live fire test has Ever been done on the full tank according to James o Bryon assistant Deputy under Secretary of defense o Bryon used the tank As an example thursday when he told a House armed services subcommittee thai the Penta gon is trying to comply with a 4-year-old congressional requirement for live fire tests of new weapons. The my lest program will involve a total of 48 shots at full up vehicles said o Bryon. Thousands of shots had been con ducted at various Armor plates Ballis tic hulls and turrets he said but not one shot had been made into a full up combat configured Abrams tank As it would appear on he Field of combat with All combustibles on Board and All systems up to tempera lure and pressure these tests Are critical and will provide essential data on the vulnerability of this system and future sys tems in combat he said. Another example he cited was the Stark the Navy guided missile frigate that was attacked May 17 by an iraqi Jet and hit with two missiles. The effects of such a hit were not fully appreciated before the Inci Dent o Bryon admitted As evidenced by the vulnerability reduction improvements now being considered for the Fig 7" class of ships which includes the Stark. Before the live fire tests the serv ices had done either computer Simu lation tests or had tested components m1a1 Crew combat weight 63 Loos Unith Hull 25.sh. Height 9.5 overs Mil Tum pm 41.5m.p.h, Road 30 nip h Cross county Itati Murn rang 289 Tea fwd Yapi Tyi 504 Don Mubi pm Mem 120 my gun equipped with Tomt Starr Tang ammunition 40 rounds 1mnm main 1,000 rounds1 2.7 my 1 1,400 round 7.62mm oth a comb 6 Rmer Side d Turret and integral engine smote generators 24 smoke grenades Csc to to fun a Rapatt source pm i whom Syi Wra of various weapons but that method often misses what he called the cascading phenomenon o Bryon said explaining thai he was referring id damage that was t directly caused by being in the line of fire much Lukca Row of dominoes. The tests Are particularly needed because in the past decade the United Stales has fielded a variety of new weapons such As the Abrams and the army s Bradley fighting vehicle thai Haven t been combat tested since the nation has t been in any extended overseas eights he noted. For Many of them we have Little or no data As to How they la respond when placed in a realistic combat situation he said. The panel received a report from he general accounting office thai said implementation of the live fire program has been hampered by Pentagon opponents mainly by support ers of a particular weapon who have a vested interest in having it pass tests with flying colors. O Bryon s comments seconded the report by the Gao the congressional watchdog Agency. He noted that the to cols must be viewed an an integral part of the acquisition cuss the Mailer. In san Jose. Costa Rica . Embassy spokesman Mark Krischik said the Luce s visit was postponed Only because the Navy discovered the proper Type of fuel for the ship was unavailable Al the Caribbean port of Limon. That s an interesting cover Story one of the Pentagon sources responded. It s also Flat wrong. We were fighting the Costa Picans on this one and we weren t fighting Over aids or acquired immune deficiency syndrome can be spread through sexual Contact the transfusion of tainted blood and the sharing of Needles by drug Abus ers. No cure has been found. According to the sources Cosla Rica is nol the first country to Challenge the visit of a Navy ship because of a ear of aids. They said the Philippines As Well As other unidentified nations had moved in thai direction. In the other instances however we easily resolved he matter and the visits were made said one official. This time we could t resolve Cosla Rica issued a health decree in july specifying Hal the Crews of ships visiting the country would have Lopre sent the results of aids tests a fore they came ashore. Colonel s pension idea rejected by irs courts Washington a after col. James e. Mahon re lived he directed the air Force to include his wife s name on his pension checks As a Way to recognize her role in his career the sole purpose to be served is to make a symbolic recognition of the serv ice which she has rendered alongside me As a partner and Comrade in arms for More than 30 years Mahon of Alexan Dria va., wrote the air Force. The air Force had no problem with the pan. But trouble developed at lax time. Mahon filed a 1981 return report ing half the pension income half his in come from running two corporations and half his wife s retirement pay. His wife Mary filed a separate return with the other half of their combined income. Although both spouses paid the tines due on each half the total apparently fell Short of what would have been owed had they combined the income on one joint return. That was due to the marriage penalty under which Many married couples lace higher to is on their joint income than they would if they were single and filing separately. The chief reason was the Federal tax me Structure. Thai Struc Ture was modified considerably by the 1986 tax overhaul although some marriage penalty remains. The internal Revenue service suspicious of anything thai resembles a tax Dodge would have none of Marion s plan. The iks concluded that Mahon had failed to report half his income and sent him a Bill for taxes on that amount. He appealed to . To court which in a decision made Public thursday agreed will he irs one of the primary principles of our income lax system is that income should be taxed to the one who earns it the court wrote. Attempts to subvert this principle by deflecting income away from the True earner to another entity by Means of contractual agreements arc generally not recognized for Federal income tax purposes despite i hair Validity under stale Law according to rial testimony he a hons decided on the separate returns idea after several months of wrangling with the irs Over mrs. Mahon s name. Mrs. Mahon decided in 1977 that she would no longer use her husband s last name on grounds that the custom was built on slavery. Although she never had her name changed legally she attempted to have the irs refer to her As Mary . Sunny even trying to take her Case directly to the commissioner. The tax court did nol Settle that Issue. However the court noted the a hens frustration and confusion Over the name Issue in refusing to allow the irs to penalize Mahon for intentionally Dis regarding lax regulations by reporting Only half his income. New Orleans fire Burns out new Orleans a a Chemi Cal fire in a Railroad tank car apparently burned itself out thursday about 36 hours after it forced 800 people to flee their Homes and balled traffic on two interstate highways authorities said. Authorities had feared that the fire would cause an explosion of the Tanker loaded with some 34,000 Gallons of the volatile chemical butadiene. There also was fear that the fire might Burn for Days and perhaps Force cancellation of a saturday afternoon mass to be presided Over by Pope John Paul ii. However mayor Sidney Barthelemy at Midal croon lifted the evacuation order. The emergency began shortly before 2 . Wednesday when residents of the Gen Lilly area of the City reported hearing an explosion and seeing flames. People living within a mile of the Tanker were evacuated. The fire forced the shutdown of interstate 10 and 610, causing traffic tie for commuters wednesday and thursday and threatened to do the same before the mass of be held at the University of new Orleans a few Miles away from the fire site. Lyons quits Navy Pacific command amid uproar Washington a . James a Ace Lyons jr., who is in charge of the Pacific Heel has Losi an internal bal lie for More Independence for his com Mand and will retire according to Penta gon sources. The sources demanding anonymity said four men played key roles in easing Lyons into retirement Navy Secretary James h. Webb . Carlisle . Troll chief of naval operations . Ronald j. Hays head of the Pacific come and . William j. Crowe jr., chairman of the joint chiefs of Stait. The handwriting was put very clearly on the Wall said one. It was l his decision. It was made Clear his Job was t going 10 be much fun any sources agreed to discuss in after a Pentagon announcement thursday Ihal Lyons decided to retire oct. I after More than Ujj years on Active duly. The Pentagon said vice . David e. Jeremiah director of Navy program planning was nominated by president Reagan to receive a fourth Star and to replace Lyons Jeremiah helped direct the capture of terrorists who hijacked the italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985. He was also the Battle Force commander during a Mil itary conform Ion with Libya in the Gulf ofsidrainl986. Lyons who turns 60 sept. 28, is a close fiend and protege of former Navy Secretary John f. Lehman. Sources said Lyons relationship with Hays was increasingly a Stormy one. Recently they added Lyons began complaining about How the Navy s Tanker escort operations were being conducted in the persian Gulf. Many of the ships came from the Pacific reel and Lyons wanted to Urcise More Ofa role in the Way they were being deployed said one official. L Oris As Vitilini South Korea on thursday and unavailable for comment
