European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 23, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday july 23,1988 the stars and stripes Page 5 of admits first report on spill incomplete but claims arc Fine of Ohio base unwarranted Washington a the air Force has acknowledged that its initial report on a 1986 radioactive spill at an Ohio military base was incomplete but is protesting a proposed Fine As Unwar ranted according to documents released thursday. The documents made Public by the nuclear regulatory commission were prepared by the air Force in response to a proposed Fine of $102,500 by the arc in connection with the incident at Wright Patterson a near Dayton. The arc said the proposed Fine is for wilful failure to report the spill within 24 hours and for the internal exposure of an individual to the radioactive powder. However in its response to the arc the air Force argued that under the facts of the incident the requirements do not clearly mandate a report within 24 hours. Through a Chain of errors but with out any intent to withold information or deceive the subsequent report from the air Force was neither full nor com plete Gary Vest Deputy air Force assistant Secretary told the arc. In Addi Tion the reporting regulation itself is  the air Force said that miscommunication within the staff of the air Force s radioisotope committee in re laying information from Wright Patter son resulted in the arc not being initially provided with full information on the spill. No one was injured in the spill of ame Ricium-241, but a radiological safety offi cer at the base said tests showed that he inhaled a Small Quantity of the powder. The arc said the spill occurred on sept. 18, 1986, and was not reported to the arc until sept. 26, at which time it was described As leakage from Low level radioactive waste Drums and not As a significant spill of americium. The air Force did not formally notify the arc of the americium spill until nov. 7, 1986, the arc said. Prosecutors in Ohio have been investigating an alleged attempt to cover up the spill and a former radiation safety offi cer at the base was indicted by a grand jury last May for his role in the incident. 3 hospitals in study performed unneeded heart operations Chicago a nearly half of the patients who had heart bypass operations in three hospitals either should not have had the procedures or could have done without them a new study says. Eliminating unnecessary coronary bypass operations could Lead to reduced health care costs and improved patient care said the study published in Friday s edition of the journal of the american medical association. Only 56 percent of the 386 coronary bypass operations performed in the three randomly chosen hospitals from a Western state in 1979, 1980 and 1982 were justified meaning the benefits outweighed the risks the study said. Ann Shoben a spokeswoman for Rand corp., whose researchers did the study declined to identify the Hospi tals. It found that 14 percent of the operations were per formed for inappropriate reasons and 30 percent for equivocal reasons meaning they could be argued either Way. Bypass operations first performed 20 years ago numbered about 230,000 last year in the United states at an estimated Cost of $6 billion according to National figures. This is More than double the number performed in 1980. The study certainly Points up some problem areas As we sit Here watching the Cost of health care Rise so quickly said or. Constance Monroe Winslow who conducted the study with four colleagues at the University of califor Nia los Angeles Center for the health sciences. While doctors May disagree on whether bypass surgery should be performed in the equivocal cases the authors concluded that few would argue with the proposition that the services should go first of All to patients with clearly appropriate reasons for their  when confronted with scarce resources planners May wish to use this Type of information to help make difficult allocation  a typical bypass operation can Cost about $30,000. In the surgical procedure doctors take a vein from somewhere else in the body and use it to reroute blood around a blockage in the coronary arteries. The authors cautioned that although the study is representative of patients undergoing bypass surgery in Western states further work is needed to generalize these results to the rest of the United  or. Jack Copeland a University of Arizona heart sur Geon who Heads the school s nationally known heart transplant program said i m not aware of too Many instances where there has been an abuse of this kind of surgery. I Don t doubt there Are some abuses but i would doubt that it s As significant As one might think looking at such an article he added. At to halts hiring shuffles managers new York a american Telephone & Telegraph co. Has announced its first com pan wide hiring freeze since the 1984 breakup of the Bell system and says it is moving 3,000 managers into sales and marketing jobs. The freeze to last indefinitely is total except for some College recruiting and jobs that Are strategic to marketing efforts Here and abroad spokesman Burke Stinson said thursday. At to chairman Robert e. Allen who announced the plan to employees in a closed Cir Cuit television broadcast wednesday said administrative costs were rising too rapidly and he wanted to emphasize increasing sales. On wednesday the company reported an unusually Large 14 percent second Quarter increase in its Selling general and administrative expenses. That Rise contributed to a 0.3 percent slippage in profits. At to is recruiting volunteers for the sales jobs from among its 95,000 entry level and second level managers although All managers Are eligible. At to continues to lose Money in the com Puter business and has been hard pressed by competitors in Long distance Telephone service. Its bread and butter business. Marine honoured members of a Marine Honor guard Salute the alias Harry Fisher was awarded the the grave of Franklin Phillips a Marine medal of Honor under his assumed killed in 1900 during China s Boxer re name. The medal was reissued with the Bellion. Phillips who was discharged by Correct name in ceremonies this week in the army and enlisted in the corps under Mckeesport a. In the stars and stripes 40 years ago today. July 23, 1948 president Truman declared his belief that chances for world peace were excellent despite the crisis caused by the russian blockade of Berlin. 30 years ago foe a. July 23, 1958 the first negro Ever appointed a judge of the Massachusetts Superior court Edward o. Gourdin was sworn in by gov. Foster Furcolo in a crowded Senate chamber. 20 years ago today. July 23, 1968 the bolivian government declared a state of siege after Disord ers set off by the flight of a Cabinet minister who had passed a copy of Che Guevara s diary to Cuba. 10 years ago today. July 23, 1978 the United states and Britain pulled their military teams out of the world helicopter championships in the soviet Union because of the controversial trials of soviet dissidents. Navy court martial set for officer involved in water death of recruit Pensacola Fla. A a military judge thursday set trial for aug. 22 in the court martial of it. Thomas a. Tor Chia officer in charge of the Navy res Cue swimmer school when a recruit died during a training exercise. Airman recruit Lee Mirecki 19, of Appleton wis., died in March when he was forced Back into a swimming Pool after he panicked climbed out and screamed that he was quitting the school at Pensacola Nas. Torchia who was on the Telephone in his office overlooking the Pool when Mirecki was pushed into the water is charged with dereliction of duty. The Navy had offered Torchia a Chance to accept non judicial punish ment but he opted for the court mar tial. Though a trial gives him a Chance of being exonerated he risks up to three months imprisonment and re Moval from the Navy if convicted. Four instructors agreed to take non judicial punishment of loss of pay and rank after being charged with conspiracy to commit Battery