European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 29, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday february 29, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 5 Render unto Caesar blame for leap Day Washington a like olympiads and presidential elections. Leap Day comes but once in four years. Today s Calendar adjustment like setting a watch  in the fall to get an extra hour adds a Day in the year to keep things in tune with nature. Except for owners of some Day Date watches of course most people Don t have to make any actual Calendar adjustments. The printers have done that for them by adding a 29th Day to february. For folks born on feb. 29, it s an eagerly awaited Chance to celebrate what does t occur every year. For some aged 80. Perhaps having to list Only 20 birthdays is a Joy. Others anxious for adulthood struggle to prov that five birthdays make them old enough to Vole and drive a car. Indeed the problem was crucial for Frederick the hero of Gilbert and Sullivan s pirates of  a Young Man born feb. 29 and Inden tured until his 21sl birthday. For both the fun and frustration of this added Day Render unto Julius Caesar the blame that is his. Caesar wanted to make the Calendar accurate and it almost worked. The Day is designed to compensate for the fact that calendars count in whole Days. 365 or 366 de pending on the year while it lakes the Earth 365 Days 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds to get around the  an extra Day every fourth year helped compensate for that difference of about a Quarter Day but problems became obvious As the romans inaccurate Calendar got three months out of line with the seasons. So in 46 b.c., known Ever since As the year of confusion Caesar added 67 Days to the Calendar to set it right again. And to keep the Calendar accurate he instituted the system of slipping in one More Day on feb. 29. That Reform suggested by the roman astronomer Sosi Gancs became part of what is known As the Julian Calendar and remained in use for centuries. There was one Small problem so signes had done a Little too much rounding off explained Gail s. Csc arc of the . Naval Observatory. Sosi Gancs had estimated the year at 365.25 Days while it really was 365.2422 Days. That Means Sosi Gancs was about 11 minutes off Over the course of a  Caesar and his astronomer were Long gone before anyone noticed it some 1,500 years later 11 minutes per year had added up to a whop Ping 10 Days Csc arc said. And so the seasons were slipping backwards again Spring into Winter Winter into fall and so  that prompted the current Calendar instituted by Pope Gregory in 1582. Who dropped the offending 10 Days a change that look a while to be accepted in non Catholic countries. Indeed England and her colonies did t join in until 1752, by which time the error had grown to ii Days. Japan came Over in1873, China in 1911 and Russia held out until its bolshevik revolution in 1917. That s Why Many history books refer to dates Dur ing the transition period As either old style or new style depending on whether a country was following the Julian or Gregorian Calendar at the  addition to dropping the added Days. Pope Gregory ruled that not every fourth year would be a leap year. In the Gregorian Calendar Centennial years arc leap years Only if they can be divided evenly by 400. Thus the year 2000 will be somewhat unusual in being a leap year. The last Centennial leap year was 1600, the next will be 2400. The Calendar s still not perfect. Clerc admits with the Gregorian year still 26 seconds too Long. But that Only amounts to a bit Over a half hour per Cen Tury so it will be a Long time before any further adjustments need to be made. Letters reveal Gacy believes he will be paroled Chicago a serial killer John Wayne Gacy believes he will be paroled cried while watching the olympics and says it does t always pay to be Good to  according id idlers published sunday in the Chicago Sun times. The letters were written by Gacy to sue Terry. 43. Of Centralia. Iii. She says Gacy has proposed to her and she would marry him if he were to be released the Sun times said. Gacy 45. Now on death Row was convicted of killing 33 joining men and boys. 29 of whom were found buried under or near his Home outside Chicago. I Don t believe hardly any of it Terry told the Sun times "1 really Don t. He does t think he s guilty. To me he does t seem like he could Hurt any one. We re real close. 1 like John and he trusts me. 1 guess i love  sunday s editions ranged from Gacy s thoughts on Freedom to his disdain for Queen Elizabeth ii. John Wayne Gacy he said he was moved by the performance of olympic Speed skater Dan Jan sen whose sister died while he was com Peting in Calgary. She wanted him to go on and skate for her. And in the first turn he lost his balance and fell. The tears just rolled Down my face. And i Don t even know  replying to a question about eventual release from prison he wrote you asked me what i la do when i get my Freedom. I Don t Deal in fantasy that much. It will be hard. Don t forget it May be As Long As 10 years before i get this Monkey off my . And that s a lot to make up for As i have eight years or More done  in another letter he wrote i have land in five states most of it is where 1 Don t want to live Florida Arizona Illinois Wisconsin and Minnesota. Hey you want to live on an Island i think that would be great. If you got mad at someone they could t get away from  in another letter quoted in sunday s editions. Gacy had More to say about what he would do if free. "1 am being sued for $697 million right now. Start paying that off he wrote. The numbers Don t mean a Jackson Choice splits Mich. St. Trustees East Lansing. Mich. A some Michigan state University trustees Are questioning plans for Jesse Jackson to deliver the University s Winter commencement address two weeks before the stale s democratic caucuses. Opponents have said that allowing Jackson to speak would break a 71 year old tradition. Since 1917, no candidate for Public office has addressed Michigan slate graduates. Joel Ferguson a trustee who also is Jackson s Michigan Campaign director said Jackson had been scheduled to de liver the March 12 address before Declar ing he would seek the democratic presidential nomination. Michigan democrats will hold their caucuses March 26. Ferguson said the speech would be non political something other trustees said they doubled. There s absolutely no Way he can write a speech that does t look an sound presidential trustee Thomas Reed said. Even when he comes her and talks about his grandmother it will have some political  stale president John Dibiaggio has supported Jackson s selection. We wanted to have the Rev. Jackson because he is a distinguished Leader a humanitarian. A positive role Mode for minorities and others Dibiaggio said. There s a great Deal of enthusiasm among inc student  birthday Celebration turned real explosive Syracuse. . A a woman celebrating her birthday was burned and temporarily blinded by a Snail Latex plodded on her plate at a cily restaurant police said saturday. Karen j. Prouty 36, of North Syra Cuse was about to take her second bite of a bubbling order of Escargot Friday night when one of the snails exploded burning her around her right Eye and blinding her for about 90 minutes police said. She was treated at University Hospital in Syracuse and released. I just immediately broke Down cry  i Rouly said saturday. I enjoy Escargot but i probably will be very hesitant to order it again she added. The dinner at Pascale s wine bar and restaurant was a birthday Surprise arranged by her husband and sister prouly said. The re Lauram s owner. Charles Pas Cale. Assured her he would pay for any medical expenses and for damage to her dress prouly said. He also offered her a free dinner. Pascal told police the Snail probably was blown apart by the pressure of steam building up in an air pocket. Thing As icy can have it All. Just give me my Freedom. I la make what i need so fasl anyway As i have a Knack for making Money. I already told you what kind of House i am going to build. I am going to make it a Halfway House for Horny girls and party my butt off in orgies. Can you dig it Many of the boys and Young men Gacy is convicted of killing had been sexually molested before they died. Gacy says he has no affection for Brit Ain s Queen Elizabeth. I can t stand Roy ally. When people arc starving we have i desc Sissy types wasting Money. Since when do you Bow to another human being they arc no belter than  in another letter Gacy writes it does t always pay to be Good to people even  Terry could not be reached for com ment by Telephone saturday. Marvin Ziporyn a Chicago forensic psychiatrist who Analysed the tellers for the newspaper said they give a Clear understanding of Gacy s personality. He does t discuss the Case in the letters but they show the mechanics of his personality like what makes a watch lick Ziporyn said. I think what s important is that he s John Wayne Gacy. John Wayne like the movie Star and his trying to live up to thai image is an important part of his personality Ziporyn said. Sands or time in the stars and stripes 40 years ago today. Feb. 29. 1948 soviet foreign min ister Vyacheslav Molotov appeared in the new who s who in America for the first Lime As did Frank Sinatra. Roy Rogers and the late Mohandas k. Chan i. 20 years ago today. Feb. 29. 1968 the . Court of appeals ruled that former rep. Adam Clayton Powell d-n.y., could not Chal Lenge his ouster from his congressional scat in the 90th Congress in the Federal courts. 1958 and 1978 were nut leap Yean