European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 8, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday january 1989 the stars and stripes Page 7 Reagan defends congressional pay boost Washington a president Reagan on Fri Day enthusiastically endorsed a proposed 50 percent pay raise for members of Congress and other top Feder Al officials. The door to service in the nation s government must be open to americans regardless of their Finan Cial status the president said. Reagan tossed the politically sensitive pay plan to Congress after writing lawmakers that government jobs should not be the province Only of the  he also urged lawmakers to abolish the much criticized Honor aria system that permits them to earn appearance fees from special interest groups. Under the system senators can pocket the equivalent of up to 40 percent of their salaries in Honor aria $35,800 for the rank and file members while House members can hold on to 30 percent or $26,850 for the rank and file. Fees Over that amount go to Char Ity. The pay increase will become Law automatically unless each House of Congress rejects it by feb. 8. House speaker Jim Wright a Texas who normally sets the chamber s Agenda said he would neither encourage nor prevent a vote on the pay Issue. He added that if the pay raise takes effect there will be a ban on speaking fees and certain other forms of outside  in the Senate majority Leader George j. Mitchell a Maine has promised a vote. In mane vering two years ago Congress allowed a 15.6 percent pay raise to take effect. That time the Senate voted 88-6 to reject the increase. The House permitted enactment then took a meaningless voice vote against the increase. Rep. Tom Tauke a Iowa has said he thinks Wright is committed to making sure there is no  Tauke has proposed legislation requiring Congress to vote on any pay raise while delaying enactment until the next Congress. Sen. Gordon j. Humphrey r-n.h., called the pay raise preposterous. The founding fathers meant for members to vote affirmatively for pay raises As a Means of ensuring accountability Humphrey said. Reagan chose not to modify a presidential commis Sion s recommendation that members of Congress and Federal District judges who now make $89,500 a year be paid $135,000. The speaker s annual salary would go from $ 115,000 to $175,000, and salaries of majority and minority leaders from $99,500 to $155,000. Top executive Branch officials including Cabinet members would get raises from $99,500 to $155,000. The proposal would raise a president s annual pay to about $350,000 from the current $200,000, where it has stood since 1969. However such an increase would not take effect until 1993 because of a constitutional prohibition on raising a president s pay during his term. President elect George Bush said Friday he supported Reagan s decision but May take another look at the Issue when he becomes president. Asked if the nation could afford the big pay increase at a time when it is grappling with huge budget deficits Bush said Well i Don t know whether we can afford anything than to get this deficit under  on thursday the non partisan National taxpayers Union delivered petitions to the White House bearing the names of 13,000 people who oppose the raise. The group s executive vice president David keat ing said Congress is hoping to Batten Down the hatches and weather a 30-Day storm of opposition. The Public is not going to give up after 30 Days. They will just get More angry at congressional double dealing on the pay raise  Keating also said Reagan has a personal stake in his recommendation because his pension would Rise by 56 percent if the pay raise is approved. The pension increase from $99,500 to $155,000 annually also would apply to former presidents Ford Carter and Nixon Keating said. Lawyer claims Hudson hid disease from his Lover los Angeles a Rock Hud son s Young homosexual Lover did not learn that the movie Star had aids until Hudson collapsed in Paris and told Mark Miller his Secretary take care of the kid. I May have killed him a lawyer told jurors Friday. In his opening statement in an $11 million lawsuit against Hudson s estate attorney Harold Rhoden said Miller hid Hudson s disease from Marc Christian until the whole world heard about it. Marc Christian got a Call from Mark Miller in France said Rhoden. He said i m sorry. The movie Star told me not to Tell you i know it s not fair. But i was Only following orders " then Rhoden said Miller said Hud son wanted Christian to Fly to Paris and see a doctor. He quoted Miller As say ing Rock told me take care of the kid. I May have killed him " Rhoden s version is disputed by attorneys for Miller and the Hudson estate. They contend that the affair Between Hudson and Christian soured in Early 1984 because Christian told Hudson he had sold sex for Money. They allege that Hudson stopped haying sex with Christian and allowed him to stay in his Home for the next year and a half Only because Christian threatened to expose the Star s homosexuality. Rhoden said Hudson hid his disease from Christian and was abetted in his lies by Miller who told Christian that the actor suffered from anorexia not aids. Marc Christian studies papers while awaiting Start of his suit against Rock Hudson. Rock Hudson who was 58 at the time he was dying wanted to continue enjoying sex with then 29-year-old Marc Christian Rhoden said. Mark Miller to please his Boss conspired to put this Young Man s life at  Rhoden said the trial s key Issue would be whether Hudson had a duty to warn his sexual partner that he had aids and whether Christian should be compensated for emotional distress and enhanced fear that he had Bee infected. Attorneys for the estate argue that Christian s fear is unwarranted because he has tested negative for the aids virus and has no symptoms of the Dis ease. Rhoden described for jurors a 2 /2-Yearlove affair which began when the actor and Christian met in october 1982 when Chris Tian was 28 and Hudson was 56. He said the actor called Christian and soon they were meeting regularly for lunch. In Early 1983, he said Hudson said he was falling in love with Christian and that he had t Felt that Way since he was in High  in april Rhoden said the two men went away together for a weekend and the sexual affair began Andy november Christian had moved into Hudson s Home. Rhoden said the two men engaged in sex three to five times a week with Nei ther using a condom. In 1984, he said Hudson developed symptoms of aids rashes and sores on his body profuse sweating at night and rapid weight loss. In june 1984, Hudson was diagnosed As having aids Rhoden said but decided not to Tell Christian. Miller said to him Are you going to Tell the kid " Rhoden said. And Hud son said no and under no circumstances Are you to Tell Christian. It is my Dis ease and i la handle it my Way " shortly before his death on oct. 5, 1985, Rhoden said Christian confronted the actor at Urcla medical Center. In the Hospital Marc said to Hudson i had a right to know Hudson s Only response was yeah you did " flying 10 times safer than in 1960s, study says Boston a deregulation has compromised air traffic safety but Domestic air travel is still so Safe that Odds Are a person could take a flight every Day for More than 29,000 years before being involved in a fatal crash according to a Massachusetts Institute of technology study. The 1977-86 figures for Domestic non Stop flights with established carriers indicate travellers Are at 10 times less risk today than they were during the 1960s, but the skies could be safer according to the study released Friday. One can come up with a very Long list of things that make one nervous about flying but the Good news is that very rarely have these horrible genies really come out of the bottle said Mit professor Arnold Barnett who compiled the fatality statistics with Pentagon analyst Mary k. Higgins. But Barnett said lax air traffic control substandard maintenance under framed cockpit Crews and aging equipment were All liabilities associated with airline deregulation. The death risk per flight in the absence of deregulation would have been about 35 percent lower than that actually recorded according to the study which appears in management science s january 1989 Issue. Barnett also said the record among the approximately 20 carriers established after the 1978 airline deregulation act was relatively weak. The new carriers that came about after deregulation As a group did not do As Well As the More established airlines Barnett said. The new entrants pushed the Overall risk level for Domestic Jet flights up by More than 50  the majority of the upstart airlines which make up 5 percent of All Domestic flights have never had a passenger fatality. But the study showed the new carriers death risk per flight Between 1979-86 was 12 times that of their established counterparts. The Survey which included passenger deaths caused by criminal or terrorist acts also found inter National Jet flights have become statistically less risky among industrialized nations. About 700 of 3 billion to 4 billion travellers died in Domestic air crashes Between 1979-86, Barnett said. Internationally he estimated 300 died during the same period in accidents involving Western carriers while 1,000 were killed on airlines from less devel oped nations. With International flights there is a pattern in the numbers Barnett said in a Telephone interview from los Angeles. If you talk about westernized regions the International safety records of their Lead ing Flag carriers have been quite Good but when you talk about carriers in other parts of the world. They have pretty consistently been about eight times More risky per  he suggested the prognosis for frequent fliers was Good. People seem More nervous about flying these Days and i myself have anxieties but it is Worth noting that it s four or five times As Safe to Fly now As it was a decade ago when no one was worrying atall he said