European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 10, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday october 10, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 7 Savannah nuclear project on hold production delayed until safety problems resolved Washington a a troubled reactor Al the Savannah River Plant won t resume producing nuclear weapons material until engineers Are sure longtime safely problem have been corrected an Energy department spokes Man said saturday. Think we arc Alt disturbed by what we have seen said John Ahearne chair Man of the advisory committee for nuclear facilities safety one of to Energy department bodies investigating the sprawling facility near Aikin . Richard w. Starostecki Deputy assist ant Energy Secretary for safety health and Quality Assurance also has started anew review of events at the Savannah River Plant said department spokeswoman Chris Sankey. Plant managers have been rocked Over the past week by disclosure that up to 30 significant mishaps occurred at the facility Over the past three decades and thai Many had not been reported to washing ton or disclosed to the Public. All three reactors Al the Plant have been shut Down since August when a mishap idled the a re actor. Spokesman Doug elects said the department will not restart the reactor until we Are completely satisfied with All the safety  said Friday the department had set a nov. 1 target Date for restarting the a reactor but elects said saturday that Sankey was in error and thai no timetable has been set. The Plant produces two materials use Din nuclear weapons plutonium which the government has in adequate Supply and tritium which decays More quickly. Officials say the amount of tritium on hand and the Date by which they must resume production Are classified. The new York times in its sunday editions said senior administration officials believe the Savannah reactors May be out of service so Long the United states might have to Start deactivating nuclear warheads to recover radioactive elements for use in higher priority  said the primary concern was the sup ply of tritium. It is very important that we restore the reactors to Safe operation soon said Robert b. Barker the top Pentagon official for atomic Energy matters. If Wedon to there will be very serious consequences for our ability to maintain our nuclear  Sankey also had said that if the Savan nah River Plant cannot resume production in time the department might restart then reactor at the Hanford nuclear Reser vation in Washington state in order to Gua Rantee an adequate Supply of tritium. Concern has been mounting within the government Over procedures Al the Savan nah River Plait which is operated by . Dupont Nemours & co. Under contract from the Energy department. We have been trying to change the mind set Sankey  we have been enhancing procedures As part of a Long term  a re actor was closed after a mishap caused in part by a miscalculation of xenon and iridium Levels and involving a unorthodox method to manipulate control rods according to an internal report re leased thursday. No Dale has been set for restarting the other two reactors at Savannah River which were shut Down for Long term maintenance. Ahe ame said his committee which was established As an Independent Board to advise Energy Secretary John Herrington has noticed some changes in reporting proce dures at Savannah River but still has con  what we have seen it seems that there has grown up a sense of complacency at Savannah River which is a dangerous attitude when dealing with nuclear re actors he said. Mercedes wooing Low income $70,000 buyers Detroit up Mercedes Benz North America inc., in an Effort to attract lower income buyers Fri Day announced More details of a lest program under which it will sell used Mercedes Benz cars with a bumper to bumper warranty for the first year. Company spokesman . Shuman said Mana Hopes the program will attract buyers with average annual household incomes of about $70,000. The aver age household income of a new Mercedes buyer is now about s100,000, he said. Mana which previewed its 1989 models in the Detroit area last week and hinted about the program said it is now in effect at 21 . Dealers and stated to run until the end of this year. If successful mbna1 422 . Dealers will adopt the program in january. First year sates could amount Loas Many As 9,000 cars Shuman said. The program offers two warranties on can up to eight Model years old the marketer of the West Ger Man luxury models said. One is a 12-month unlimited mileage warranty. The other runs for 24 months add ing a year of Power train coverage to the 12-month warranty to qualify for the warranty each car must go through an 84-Point inspection by an Mana dealer. The car also must have been originally distributed and sold through the company. Any warranty repairs would be done by an authorized Mercedes dealer of the buyer s Choice. Top 10 models ranked according to a Survey of 25,200 motorists one year Attar buying the cars rank Model 1acura 2_mercbdes-Benz 138 Honda 135 4 tall Lac 126 5 Toyota 122 6 Lincoln 121 Gerard Jauss Mana vice president of operations said the Mercedes program is designed to attract first time buyers Many of whom might be considering a new car of a different make. Mercedes prices for 1989 after a mandatory $1,500 Federal Gas guzzler tax is added Range fromj30,9sq for the Small 190 Sedan powered by a 2.5-Litcr five Cylinder diesel engine to s81,340 for the 560  Coupe. Those prices arc up an average 1.7 percent from 1988. Mana s 1989 sales Are expected to remain at about 80000 units compared with about 90,000 units in 1987. Many other european luxury car makers such As Bow and Jaguar already have factory approved used car programs largely designed to attract first Lime buy ers who cannot afford a new Model. Britain s Jaguar has a select edition program under which pre owned models Are Given substantial overhauls using factory approved refurbishing kits be fore offering a comprehensive 12-month, 12,000-mile warranty. However Jaguar spokesman Mike Cook said the program announced in late 19bs, has been More difficult than expected to implement. People Are keeping cars longer he said. And de Mand for used ones was High enough so that a car would come in and be sold right away. The program was not necessarily  poll shows Bush leading in 15 Southern states Atlanta a Republican presidential nominee George Bush holds a 12 Point Lead Over Democrat Michael Dukakis among Southern voters according to a poll conducted by the Atlanta Jour Nal and the Atlanta Constitution. The poll of 2,102 registered voters Inis Southern and Border states published in the newspapers combined sunday editions showed Bush leading in every state. He held a 26-Poinl Lead in Florida and a 14-Point Lead in Texas both considered key states in the presidential election. Overall it gave Bush a 49 percent to 37 percent Lead Over Dukakis in the 15 slates included in the surveyed. The poll conducted through random Telephone interviews last week had a margin for error of 2 percentage Points. According to the poll. Bush leads Dukakis among Independent voters by nearly a 2-to-l margin and has the support of 15 percent of Black and hispanic voters. The poll showed women supporting Bush Over Dukakis by 46 percent to 37percent, and men supporting Bush by 53 percent to 37 percent. Twelve percent of registered voters polled said they had t decided for whom they will Vole. Forty percent said they have an unfavourable opinion of Dukakis while 29 per Ecol Laid their impression of Bush was unfavourable. The slates in which the poll was con ducted Are Alabama Arkansas Dela Ware Florida Georgia Kentucky Loui Siana Maryland Mississippi North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina Texas Virginia and West Virginia. Block Feen Ager Brawley says rape was no hoax Chicago a a Black teen Ager who claimed she was raped by six White men stood by her Story saturday and said she has evidence to Back it up despite a new York grand jury s conclusion that she made the whole thing up. This is no hoax. It s the ugly truth that some Don t want to Deal with but i have to live with it Tawana Brawley 16, said during a news conference. A dazed Brawley was found nov. 28, 1987, in a garbage bag outside an apartment her family had recently vacated in Wapp ingers Falls 75 Miles North of new York City. Her body was smeared with dog faces and marked with racial epithets. She said she had been held captive for four Days and raped by several while men including one who earned a police Type badge. She implicated several Law enforcement officials in the attack. Brawley and her Mother refused to cooperate Wanh the investigation on the recommendation of their advisers who had accused authorities of a racially motivated  appeared at saturday s news conference with her Mother Glenda Brawley and her advisers the Rev. Al Sharpton c. Vernon Mason and Alton mad Dox  have a Story to Tell and evidence to Back it up Tawana Brawley said. I am a Good student but 1 am not smart enough to fool doctors."1 have suffered greatly in these last few months. This report confirms my worst  in past appearances Sharpton Mason and mad Dox did not allow the teen to answer questions from  thursday a grand jury issued its report which was based on a seven month investigation of the teen Ager s  panel said it found no evidence that Tawana Brawley had been sexually assaulted and said the teen Ager herself was responsible for the condition in which she was found after a four Day disappearance last no vember. Tawana Brawley her Mother and their advisers were in Chicago to attend a convention of the nation of islam headed by Louis Farrakhan. Farrakhan has supported the teen throughout the ordeal and Sharpton called him the Only credible National Leader left in Black