European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes Friday. September 16,1988 army vows fair fight in pistols bids Washington up army officials pledged to a congressional panel thursday they will conduct a straightforward compact Tlam for the next contract for 9mm military pistols. The Promise came at a hearing of the National Security subcommittee of the House government operations commit tee which spent much of the Day rehash ing a Long running feud Over the Selec Tion of a . Subsidiary of the italian handgun maker Beretta to build a re placement for the venerable Colt .45 sidearm used in the . Military since 1911. In addition to complaints by . Manufacturers particularly Smith & Wesson and two influential congressmen who represent districts where the firm is located that they were unfairly knocked out of tarty Competition the first of the Beretta delivered to the Pentagon have encountered problems with Frame cracks and operating slides thai sometimes fail. General accounting office officials testified thai Beretta has moved to Cor rect the mechanical problems with the pistol but were unable to say whether Beretta or the government would have to assume the si3.2 million the fix is expected to Cost. The army the chief customer additionally has put a 3,000-round restriction on the weapons so thai the slides will be changed Well before they might fail. Congress largely at the urging of in flu Enlal reps. Edward Boland d-mass., and Silvio Conle r-mass., ordered the army to conduct a new Competition for the next Batch of guns. Smith & Wes son s Headquarters is in Boland s District and Conte s District is nearby. Both Are among the most powerful members of the influential appropriation commit tee. Smith & Wesson s bid in the first Competition was not opened by the army. The Cao later concluded Smith & Wesson was wrongly knocked out of the running. In a later Competition All competitor dropped out larg Lcy because Beretta was allowed by the army to by a testing and go right to the Price Competition phase. Smith & Wesson already has raised complaints about the newest Competition because it and others must add change Over costs to their bids and be Rolla need not. A protest is considered Likely if the award again goes to Beretta. At the hearing Navy officials whose special warfare scat teams use the weapon said they would like a More specialized weapon because their unit often fire More rounds in a Day in training that army soldiers tire in years of use of the weapon. Cont and Boland urged the subcommittee to explore taking the project away from the army and letting the defens department supervise the weapon con  Pentagon decided to change Over to a 9mm handgun so in sidearms an ammunition were compatible with those carried by nato allies. The first contract was for 321,260 units at a Cost of s77.3 million. By an gus133,830 or about 42 percent had been delivered. . Satellite hunched by Arione misses its orbit Mclean a. A a communications satellite launched for an american company aboard the Eiro Pean Arian rocket has failed to achieve a usable orbit and efforts will be made to nudge it into its proper place. We Are trying to move the satellite Inlo its Orbital location said Barbara Foelber spokeswoman forget space net corp., which owns the Star 3 Sai Elliec. The spacecraft was to have been used for private Busi Ness common i cations. She said engineers Don t know the cause of the prob Lem. The satellite reached the 22,300-mile Altitude required and the rocket motor fired to put it into a circular Orbil the firing apparently was not Lon enough and the satellite was put into an egg shaped course around the Earth. The spokeswoman said engineers will attempt to fire Smalt thrusters normally used to keep the satellite from drilling out of position to gently push the satellite into a path where its Speed matches the rotation of Earth. That Man Euver has been performed Success fully before notably with the tracking and data relay satellite launched by Nasa in i9b3, the satellite which Cost $85 million to Jisoo million to build and launch was insured for $60 million Foel Ber said. We currently have five satellites in orbit the said. We will be Able to provide. Services needed by the company s customers she added. Get has another in the series of be Astro satellites scheduled for launching in april 1991 and Foelber Taid the company will try to move its launch Date ahead. A rays show wishbones in Birds serve As Springs Boston a the first a Ray mov ies of Birds in night have revealed the function of the Wishbone it s a Spring. Scientists who made the discovery suspect that the flexible a shaped Bon helps Birds breathe while they Fly. Bird experts had assumed that the Bone was simply a strut Between the shoulders. The idea thai this Bone is springy Proba Bly won t come As a Surprise to anyone who has made a wish after thanksgiving dinner and tried to snap a Turkey s Wishbone be fore it s had time to dry. This is Well known to everybody in the world said Parish a. Jenkins or. Of Harvard University. It s Only scientists who discover the  Jenkins made his observation by Cou pling two common research tools the wind Tunnel and the a Ray movie Simi Lar to those used by doctors to study heart disease. He and two colleagues Kenneth p. Dial of Harvard and George e. Coslow or. Of Northern Arizona University took a Ray films of starlings flying in place against 20-4 5 Mph winds. The movies allowed a look inside the Birds at How the various Bones work Dur ing Light. Until now researchers have tend to figure out such functions by looking at the skeletons of dead Birds or the outsides of live ones it s a pioneering new method of studying Birds said Robert Raikow of the University of Pil Isburgh. We can actually see the movement of the skeletal elements during night. That s pretty  in a report in Friday s Issue of the journal science the team described the Way the Wishbone bends each time a Bird flaps its wings. The Wishbone turns put to be Spring Jenkins said in an interview at rest the upper ends of the Starling s Wishbone Are 11 or 12 Millimetres apart. But when the wings descend hat Dis Tance stretches to is to 20 Millimetres. Just Why it bends this Way is Nolen tirely Clear. Jenkins said the Spring does t seem to help the Bird beat its wings More efficiently. Instead he Theo Rizes that it helps the Bird breathe in More air during flight so it can bum the Energy it needs to stay aloft. When a Bird breathes air flows first Inlo air sacs scattered throughout its body and then into its lungs. Amon these sacs is one Between the iwo arms of the Wishbone. The researchers speculate that As the Bird beats its wings downward the wish Bone spreads apart opening the air sacs it fills with air. Then on the upswing the Bird s sternum squeezes the air out again. Nol Alt Birds have wishbones hummingbirds and some parrots Are among the exceptions by Jenkins believe the Starling s Wishbone Spring is typical of most weathered creatures including the thanksgiving Turkey. Life in the fast Lane gets Pittsburgh Man arrested Pittsburgh a John Thiry says he was doing motorists Lafavor when he held up a sign telling them to slow Down but police on the Lookout for speeders nearby weren t impressed with his citizenship. They arrested him. I stopped & lot of people from having a miserable Day,11 said Thiry who acknowledges racking up 12,000 in traffic fines Over the years. People were beeping at me. They were waving. It s about time somebody did  Thiry 22, of Pittsburgh was arrested wednesday for obstructing traffic after he stood in Schenley Park Plaza with a sign saying slow Down. Police ahead with  Thiry was just ahead of where police were using a Vascar device to catch speeders the device Akin to a Stop watch calculates a car s Speed by measuring the time it takes for a car to travel Between two lines painted across the Street. I stood there for about 20 min utes Thiry said. That would have been about a total of 13,000 they would have gotten people  Thiry said Pittsburgh police often Imp motorists with Vascar de vices. They make you go 25 mob where they know 25 is an unreasonably slow Speed he said. Try and go the Speed limit and just see what  How Many people pass  police chief Ralph parapet mid signs posted throughout the City say police use Vascar device Loen Force Speed limits. The signs Are very Clear he tid if the signs Are posted As 25 Miles per hour then that s the Speed we expect people to  Thiry said he was upset because he had been issued Many tickets and recently lost his License Tor the third Tun and had to leave a Job As a Salesman. The tickets included at least five in the past two years from Pittsburgh police using Vascar devices plus others for speeding on the interstate he said. Police sol Leo Mccafferty and offi cer William o Rourke said they noticed that motorists were suddenly driving slower As they waited for speeders. They said they arrested Thiry after a Motorist informed them about his sign. Thiry who was frisked by police said he will Appeal the charge of obstructing traffic which came a line ofj48.so. I was t blocking traffic Thiry Taid thursday. "1 Don t think they had the right to arrest me because 1 wanted to warn people. What if was just Yelling that s Freedom of speech. Clause makes Concho owner lust a guest9 Monroe . A a 46-year-old woman barred from living in a retirement Community with her Husbandman now be a guest in her own Home but Only for 60 Days a year according to a court settlement. An agreement signed by Middlesex county Superior court judge John e. Bachman allows Mary Ann Romer to be treated As an owner and non resident of the Rossmoor condominium association. The agreement allows mrs. Romer to buy property with her 60-year-old husband Theodore but restricts her from living with him for More than 60 Days a year until she reaches the Community s minimum residency age of48, said her attorney Samuel a Davis she is entitled to All the rights and privileges of any person who is not a resident Davis said wednesday. Leonard j. Coates an attorney for the association said the settlement Means she can be a guest in her own  dispute began in november when the romers decided to buy a unit at the 3,500-Residenl Complex. Mrs. Romer was dented membership because of her age. Her husband who is Sera retired was denied membership because he was married to a woman younger than 48, Coates said. Coates said the couple bought the unit anyway Lead ing the association to sue them charging that the Pur Chase violated is rules. A township ordinance Man dates that residents of retirement communities be 48years of age or older Coates said. The romers will use the apartment on weekends since they maintain a permanent residence in Newyork City Davis said. They be made Many mends Over there and they enjoy the place he said