European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 1, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 1,1988 the stars and stripes Page 5 Guatemala first Stop on Shultz tour Washington a Secretary of state George Shultz is setting put monday on a 10-Day visit to nine latin american countries intending to discuss ways of bringing pressure on Nicaragua and to Call attention to democratic gains in the Region. The first Stop is Guatemala where Shultz will meet with the foreign ministers of four Central american countries in an attempt to come up with a common strategy for exerting diplomatic pressure on Nicaragua to establish democracy. A senior administration official who briefed reporters on the trip said it is unclear whether the Guatemala meeting will result in a joint statement of principles de signed to prod Nicaragua into complying with its stated commitment to move toward democracy. The special . Envoy to Central Ameri Ca Morris Busby has been consulting on that Issue with officials from the four Cen trial american democracies Guatemala Al Salvador Costa Rica and Honduras. But the administration official who insisted on anonymity suggested that a consensus on a policy toward Nicaragua has been difficult to reach. A fragile cease fire remains in place in Nicaragua but there has been no Progress on a final settlement Between the Sandinia tas and the Contra rebels. The impasse has produced Calls by conservative members of Congress for a renewal of military Aid to the rebels. In Public statements this past week rebel leaders have maintained that the truce has helped the sandinista by enabling them to strengthen their Overall military position at a time when the contras have been denied military Aid from the United states. The administration has contended that the sandinista also have stepped up inter Nal repression since the truce went into effect four months ago. In a commentary last week in the new York times assistant Secretary of stale Elliott Abrams said the situation in Nicara Gua deteriorated after Congress rejected a Contra military Aid request in february. Since then the predictable has happened the communists have increased re pression and mocked the democratic promises they made. And Why not when our military support for the fighters has been halted while soviet arms deliveries continue much of Shultz s trip will be devoted to highlighting the democratic trend in the hemisphere. All of the nations on his itinerary have elected governments and All with the exception of Costa Rica became demo cratic Over the past nine years. After Guatemala Shultz will travel to Argentina Uruguay Brazil and Bolivia before a return Stop in Central America lasting 24 hours on aug. 8 for talks in Costa Rica Al Salvador and  trip ends on aug. 10, when Shultz will attend the inaugural ceremony of ecuadoran president elect Rodrigo Borja. While in Quito Shultz also will Confer wit Venezuela s president Jaime Lusinchi and president Virgilio Barco of  has visited every country on his schedule before except Bolivia. Official give Bolivia s president Victor Paz Estens Soro High Marks for revitalizing the econ omy and moving decisively against drug smugglers. In la Paz Shultz will deliver a speech on the drug  believes the focus on administration setbacks in Nicaragua and Panama have deflected attention from the democratic Progress made elsewhere in latin Ameri  his times commentary Abrams wrote that throughout the 7 /2 years of the Reagan presidency no latin american democracy has been replaced by a dictatorship. Iowa derailment freight cars Are scattered along the tracks after two trains collided near Altoona Iowa saturday. Two Crew members of one locomotive were killed but the other Crew members jumped before the collision and Only suffered injuries. Officials decided sunday to let blazing tank cars of denatured alcohol Burn themselves out an they said valves on the cars were tight and would not cause an explosion As was feared earlier. Repairs made countdown for shuttle resumes Cape canaveral Fla. A technicians stopped a Hydrogen leak and fixed a Balky oxygen pump saturday and Nasa said it would resume a countdown on sunday leading to the test firing of space shuttle discovery s main engines. A countdown leading to the critical test was halted Early Friday when the problems developed and the firing was postponed three Days from monday until thursday. Officials believe the engine test delays combined with an unresolved leak in discovery s steering thruster system will move the launch Date from mid sep tember into  spokeswoman Lisa Malone reported sat urday that technicians traced the Hydrogen leak to Anut on a pressure Monitor Hose repaired it and detected no further leakage. She said the pump problem was caused by two corroded control switches that were  said tests would continue to verify the changes and that the launch team planned on sunday to re sume a countdown demonstration test in which Dis covery s external fuel tank will be loaded with half million Gallons of liquid Hydrogen and liquid oxygen. That count was to continue until 7 . Monday when a mock liftoff will be scrubbed with 10 seconds to go because of a simulated problem. The launch Tea then will empty the tank restart the count and refill the tank leading to the 20-second ignition of the three main engines on thursday. Sands of time in the stars and stripes 40 years ago today. Aug. 1, 1948 Russia made another bid to gain economic control of Berlin by cutting off Western businesses from their funds in East Germany. 30 years ago today. Aug. 1, 1958 Secretary of state John Foster Dulles said the United states would withdraw its troops from Lebanon if asked to do so by a duly constituted lebanese government. 20 years ago today. Aug. 1, 1968 French president Charles de Gaulle crushed moves to free the state run radio and television networks and fired 40 percent of the journalists. 10 years ago today. Aug. 1, 1978 heavy Rains eased drought conditions in South Texas but brought havoc to Gulf of Mexico fishermen. The coast guard rescued the Crew of a shrimp boat that Sank after the tropical storm Amelia swept along the Texas coast with 50-Mph winds. Pot using cancer patient fined $ 1 Paintsville by. A a cancer patient who said he must smoke marijuana to avoid starvation was convicted Friday of possessing 7 /2 ounces of marijuana but jurors fined him Only $ 1 and ordered no jail. The Johnson District court jury followed the recommendation of assistant county attorney Tom Blaha who had urged them to show compassion. The trial was the first time a cancer patient has mounted a medical defense against a marijuana charge although people suffering from glaucoma and other disorders have done so a lawyer for the drug policy foundation based in Washington said. Rick Morris 31, was a truck Driver who weighed nearly 200 pounds in March 1987 when doctors detected a Large tumor wrapped around his brain Stem said Ned Pillersdorf morris1 attorney. His weight dropped below 125 pounds by the time therapy concluded he said. Until Morris began smok ing marijuana even the smell of food would cause him to vomit Pillersdorf said. After the radiation and chemotherapy stopped things were getting worse instead of better Pillersdorf told jurors. When he made a decision to smoke Mari Juana he made a decision to save his  screenwriters strike talks collapse los Angeles a contract talks Between scriptwriters and movie and television producers col lapsed saturday erasing earlier optimism that week end talks might end the 21-week-old Industry crippling strike. Striking scriptwriters immediately pledged to picket Heaters showing the hit film who framed Roger Rabbit a move to target Walt Disney studios. Representatives from the writers Guild of America and the Alliance of motion picture and television producers left the bargaining table Early saturday without a settlement. The strike which has halted most Hollywood production began when More than 9,000 Guild members walked off the Job March 7. Despite some internal dissension the Union rank and file has Over whelming by rejected each proposal offered by producers. With the fall to network schedules in a shambles producers say they will re shoot old scripts from can celeb shows using new actors