European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday. October 16. 1987 the stars and stripes Page 7 Navy says training Luck saved Stark by Norman Black a Mill try writer Washington the Stark was saved from sink ing after an iraqi missile attack last May thanks to Crew training and simple Good Luck particularly since the ship s design limited its  equipment the Navy said. The Stark Crew initially faced the threat of mass detonation of the Forward missile Magazine i he re port disclosed. At the same time the sailors were grappling with a fisc that was "uniqui1" in . Navy experience a fire so hoi thai instead of spreading horizon All 1, i spread vertically by cooking equipment on he deck above to the Flash Point of ignition the Repon adds. The report was written by an investigative pane created by Navy Secretary James h. Webb last june. Copies of it were made available late wednesday in Advance of a hearing thursday morning of the House armed services sea Power subcommittee. The Navy also planned to provide the subcommittee with a second report the findings of a military Board of inquiry that investigated the May 17 incident and the Slark s failure to defend itself. Thirty seven seamen died in the attack. The Navy declined to release that report in Advance. But sources who spoke Only if not named said most of its findings already have been publicly detailed. That inquiry conducted by rear adm. Grant a. Sharp resulted in disciplinary action against three top officers of the Stark. The ship s skipper Cap. Glenn a Brindel Ulli Macly accepted responsibility for he Start s failure to defend itself. He was reprimanded but then allowed to retire Al the lower rank of commander Israel aiding South Africa says Jackson new York not in yet another Effort to refine his position on jews Israel and the Middle East the Rev. Jesse Jackson has taken Israel to task for Selling arms to South Africa accusing the israeli government in a Magazine article of being in complicity with the South african  every moral and ethical imperative that made us say no to Hitler and the third Reich should make us say no to Botha and the fourth Reich Jackson said referring to South Africa s prime minister , Botha. His remarks in the forthcoming Issue of Tikiun a jew ish Magazine with a Liberal perspective were clearly in tended to heal wounds but Are Likely to touch off Contro Versy As Well. The 10-Page interview is followed by critiques by members of the Magazine s editorial Board and others. The Issue is scheduled to appear on sunday. One of Board members _ David Twersky criticized Jackson for comparing nazi Germany to South Africa. Although South Africa has abhorrent racist policies Twersky wrote there is no planned systematic pro Gram of race extermination in South Africa Jackson s comparison is not a novel one however. Mayor Edward i. Koch of new York who is jewish has repeat edly likened South Africa to nazi Germany of 1933. Israel while making efforts to loosen its lies with South Africa continues a Trade relationship with that country including the Sale of arms. In the wide ranging article which is As much a de Bale As it is an interview with the Magazine s editor Michael Lemer the democratic presidential contender discussed Black jewish relations and his Post prob lems with the jewish Community. As he has repeated Many limes before Jackson said he is sensitive to jewish needs and concerns and that he Hada history of supporting jews when they were under attack. For example he said he travelled 10 Skokie Iii to stand with jews when american nazis held a March there and Fie confronted Mikhail s. Gorbachev the soviet communist party general Secretary Over the plight of jews seek ing to leave the soviet Union. At the same time when pressed to explain Why he had nol disassociated himself Mare clearly from he Rev. Louis Farra Chan. The Black Muslim Leader who has called Judaism a Gutter religion and praised hit Ler Jackson disavowed what Farrakhan said but he did not disassociate himself from Farrakhan Hitler was wicked to the world wicked Immo ral sinful Jackson said calling Judaism a Gutter religion is  he also said there had been an overreaction to Farrakhan whose political support he will nol accept in this Campaign. The inquiry concludes the Crew and officers did not respond appropriately to the Threal one source said it was t a problem of malfunctioning equip ment the weaponry was t  the Stark was attacked at night by a Lone iraqi Jet fighter that had been presumed to be Friendly Iraq has admitted its culpability describing the attack As a Case of mistaken identity. The United states has accepted the iraqi explanation. The investigative panel rather than focusing on the events thai led up to the attack looted at what happened after two exec cd mis Siles slammed through the ship s Hull. It also reviewed the safely features on All such guided missile frigates and the lessons Learned that should be applied when building new warships. On that latter score the panel concluded the Navy should never again design a warship the Way it did the so called Oliver Hazard i Perry class of frigates of which the Stark is one. The i Navy has purchased roughly Brindel 50 of the ships Anc docs nol plan to buy any More the ships were designed in the Early 1970s and the Navy was so concerned about cosi it limited the size of the Hull and filled it to its maximum Load the report states. As a result it is extremely difficult to add safety equipment to Cope with new weapons such As the exo Cal As they emerge the report continues. The severe displacement limit placed on the Ffg-7 class design resulted in compromises that reduced Slark s ability to respond to a conflagration of the magnitude that  in the future growth margins by ship class should be established in contract design and maintained in construction the report adds. Among the panel s other findings the most significant new lesson Learned from the Stark incident is in the area of fire Protection against a missile propellant fire the tire on inc Stark became a conflagration because in fed on the unused solid rocket fuel inside the exec cd missiles. Future warships should be designed with a sprinkler system in the Crew berthing areas where inc m Issi is hit inc Stark and fire Rel Ardam insulation should be used on inc underside of decks supporting vital  after inc rocket fuel had burned the fire was fed primarily by polyvinyl Chloride Jackering on electrical cables. The Navy has now developed a Low smoke Type of Cable for installation in new ships. While it was no Accident the Stark was saved Luck was with the ship. Among the examples the close proximity of other Navy ships and a commercial Sal Vage tug thai raced to he Stark Aid a Cairn sea at the Lime which allowed inc ship to remain relatively Sta ble despite a 16 percent Lisl and narrow aversion of an explosion in inc Forward missile Magazine. The ship lost its primary fire water main on the port Side As a result of inc missiles1 Impact denying water to the sprinkler system in inc Magazine. The Crew had to Cool and eventually Hood inc Magazine using a fire  the Navy must continue an existing program aimed at reducing the amount of flammable materials stored on its ships to should also Speed the delivery of new Fin fighting gear to deployed ships. Safety investigators can t figure cause of Kansas City air crash Washington a a private plane and a Mil Ilary aircraft were both tracked by air traffic control radar before they collided near Kansas City last Jan uary bul controllers failed to notice the planes were converging investigators said wednesday four members of the National transportation Safe s Board could not however agree where to Lay theme for the Jan. 20 Accident in which All six people aboard the two planes including army Brig Gen David h. Stem Deputy commander of fort Mcclellan ala., were killed. The Nosb put off voting on a probable cause for the Accident after debating details of the collision for nearly four hours. Suit investigators told the Board however that an examination of radar and computer tape showed Boih planes were being tracked by radar and on the control Ler s screen. A controller trainee and an instructor both have told investigators they never saw the private plane on their screen. The private plane a Piper Navajo was flying under visual Light rules and had nol requested air traffic control direction after taking off from Kansas City s downtown Airport for a flight to St. Louis. Bul because us transponder was working its location and Altitude were being tracked by the a a system investigators said. The army u-21 aircraft was flying from Anniston ala., and had been Given clearance to begin its descent for a Landing Al Leavenworth kan., shortly before the collision occurred Over the Lake Coly army ammunition plan cast of Kansas City to. The safety Board in ill discussion of a final report on the Accident raised Many of he same questions thai in raised earlier this year in the investigation of the i9a6 collision of in Aero Mexico jetliner and a private plane Over Cerritos Calif. The Board members said thai like the Cerritos Colli Sion the Accident near Kansas City raises questions about the adequacy of the Long standing see and avoid concept in which pilots Are expected to avoid a collision by scanning the skies for other aircraft. The see and avoid system does nol always give the Protection thai it  said Board member Joe Nail 35-year-old murder Case dismissed Christiansburg. A. A a judge wednes Day dismissed a murder charge brought 35 years after the fact saying the deaths of key witnesses and destruction of evidence would deny the defendant a fair trial "1 expected it lawyer Max Jenkins said after Montgomery county circuit court judge Kenneth do Vore issued a six Page opinion dismissing the charge against Clovis Lee Duncan 59. This was an Ideal Case for this kind of motion Jenkins said from his office in Radford. I be never seen one like  what am 1 to say asked Commonwealth s attorney j. Patrick Graybeal thai s inc court s  Duncan was indicted april 1 on a first degree Mur Der charge in the shooting death of Billie Jean Turpin 19, whose body was found outside Radford in april 1952, Jenkins said late wednesday afternoon that he had not Cyl reached Duncan with the news. Duncan had predicted in a recent interview that the Case would be resolved in his favor. It ought to Duncan said. "1 Haven t done any thing. In my heart i know i m innocent. When you know something you know  authorities reopened the Case last year after receiving a phone Call from a woman who said she had information on it. Graybeal declined to discuss his evidence in detail but Jenkins said the prosecutor apparently would have called a woman who would testify she heard Duncan say in 1952 he had killed mrs. Turpin As Well As three people who would have said they saw Duncan and mrs. Turpin in a cafe the night before her body was found. Police arrested mrs tur Pirts estranged husband a co worker of Duncan a shortly after the killing but he was Able to prove he had been at work when the death occurred Jenkins said that the Case could never be solved because key witnesses had died including a woman Duncan said he was with at inc time of the shooting. In his ruling Revore agreed and also pointed out thai the deaths of three investigating police officers and inc medical examiner who performed the autopsy As Well is the destruction of the victim s clothing made the Case against Duncan unfair because it Vio lated his right to due process. The judge also said Law enforcement offi Tab had Given no Good reason for the delay in bringing inc Cue to court