European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 25, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes monday july 25,1988 Navy begins probe into racial issues Washington not the Navy has begun a intensive inquiry to find out Why its recruiting and promotion of Black and hispanic personnel As office Sand senior noncommissioned officers lags behind that of Whites and of minority officers in the other  study team of Black hispanic and White officers and senior noncommissioned officers some of whom Are women has been instructed to report to the chief of naval operations adm. Carlisle . Trost within two month with recommendations for corrective actions. The Navy s Levels of Black and hispanic members Are lower than those of the armed forces As a whole and the Navy has the smallest percentage of Black officers of the four services. Although the number of Black naval officers has doubled in the last 10 years the Navy has so far failed to reach the goal it has set for , the Navy s action is an Effort prompted by experience to resolve a problem before it  year a stinging report on sexual harassment and discrimination against women in the Navy dismayed top leaders and forced them to order new rules of behaviour and to open More assignments to  chief of naval personnel vice adm. Leon a. Edney told a gathering of Black officers in atlant earlier this month the numbers of minority officers have increased through the years but our Progress has not been  3.5 percent of the Navy s officers Are Black it has set a goal of 6 percent by 1996, the same percent age of All . College graduates who Are Black. For the most part Only College graduates Are commissioned As officers in the  Navy has also been unable to recruit the num ber of hispanic officers it has sought. The goal there is3 percent by 1992, also based on College graduation statistics. While reaching both goals is several years off naval officers said they must Start now to succeed. In his Atlanta speech Edney said officers in com Mand positions the vast majority of whom Are White and male have a natural tendency to be less sensitive to the perceptions and human needs of minorities Bethey minorities of race religi9n or  top leaders Edney said must recognize this tendency and not tolerate such  the inquiry into racial issues which began tuesday will take what Edney called a hard introspective  part of the problem is that promotions of Black and hispanic officers have not kept up with those of White  64 percent of the White officers up for pro motion to commander made it last year Only 45 per cent of the hispanic officers were selected. And whereas 48 percent of the White officers eligible Tobe promoted to Captain last year were selected Only 33 percent of the eligible Black officers were  said selection boards which Are instructed to be impartial May not select some Black and hispanic candidates because they have not been Given the Choice assignments that qualify them for promotion. That can be corrected he said by making officers who make the assignments More aware of the need to give minority officers positions that selection boards favor especially command at  the other hand because members of the Selec Tion boards Are mostly White there May be Subtle discrimination and that is among the issues the inquiry was assigned to address Edney said. Robertson vows to support Bush Charleston . A sex Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson says democrats will be disappointed if they Are hoping for friction at the Republican National convention Between his supporters and backers of vice president George Bush. We got what we wanted Robertson said. Like the 1984 platform am we re in agreement to stick with  Robertson who pledged to Campa _ j. 1 a. A m to _ 4 my Onca Bush s behalf attended a Unity 88 rep rally saturday in Charleston along with  a. Campbelljr. And Secretary of the Interior Donald Model. Shuttle astronauts in training White suited shuttle astronauts in above photo attached to hoses and tanks Are put through underwater paces with the assistance of scuba divers. The huge swimming Pool at the Lyn Don b. Johnson space Center in Houston is designed for training in weightlessness under Simu lated space conditions. At left astronaut David Hilmers takes a ride Down a mock shuttle slides he practices emergency escape training. Hilmers is a Mem ber of the five Man team scheduled to be launched into space nearly september aboard the shuttle. Up new Orleans seeking donations new Orleans a hosting the Republican National convention will Cost the City of new Orleans roughly $5.5 million in Cash and the Effort to raise that Money through donations apparently will go right Down to the wire. We be raised $4.2 million As of last tuesday said Ron Jones president of the Louisiana coca cola bottling co. And head of the fund drive. That puts us pretty much on target. Maybe a Little behind he added we wanted to finish up aug. 1 i think we re More Likely to finish up that first or second week of  the convention begins the third week of August running aug. 15-18 in the Louisiana super dome. Raising Money in a City still beset by hard economic times has t been easy Jones concedes. But he insist the Money is being scraped together with a minimum of Arm twisting. In a Community like new Orleans said Jones the private sector and individuals in the Community Are prepared to come to the table to help out the  without question the City needed help. Reeling from 10 percent unemployment and declining tax Rev Enue mayor Sidney Barthelemy and the City Council tirelessly pursued the gop in 1986, luring the party tothe Louisiana super dome with the Promise of $8 Mil lion in financial support for the convention. Barthelemy and company Are banking on the convention being a huge economic Boon to the Community not Only because of it will Spur a projected $137million in spending but also because All the publicity could attract new business. The City s prospects for coming up with the Money looked dim for a time earlier this year. The greater new Orleans convention fund headed by Oil million Aire Pat Taylor was struggling. After raising about $2 million in contributions Taylor publicly complained in May that donations were lagging