European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 10, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes tuesday january 10, 1989 whistle Blower is absolved 10 at naval base face action Corpus Christi Texas a Navy official shave reversed the court martial of a helicopter Crew Man who complained of safety lapses and disciplinary action has been started against 10 people at the naval station where he worked. The Corpus Christi naval air station s commander and his predecessor Are among those targeted. This says that what i was saying All along was True said the exonerated whistle Blower Bryan , the Only Justice i want to see next is the maintenance practices  Sims was convicted in october of lying to superiors disobeying orders and losing gear. He claimed the charges were trumped up to punish him for Raisin questions about helicopter safety. Sims a 27-year-old helicopter crewman and Rescue swimmer served a 30-Day detention on the base and his Petty officer rank was reduced. But on Friday vice adm. John Disher chief of naval education and training dismissed the charge against Sims and restored his rank with pay. They be Hurt me but i be withstood it Sims  guess i m stronger than they thought i  he had accused his superiors of harassing him since 1986,when he refused to Transfer crucial untested parts to search and Rescue helicopters from a Huey helicopter that crashed in 1985, killing three crewmen. Navy regulations forbid recycling of parts without testing. Vice adm. Vernon Smith Disher s top assistant apologized to Sims. Your allegations have substance Smith said. Regret this whole Damn thing or.  Disher ordered disciplinary hearings for 10 current and former base personnel accused of involvement in improper parts procurement and maintenance practices at the base operations and maintenance depart ment. Navy officials would not identify the individuals but said the current commander a former commander and the base maintenance officer were among those being charged. Capt. Craig l. Reynolds is the current commander. Reynolds was unavailable for comment. Sims said saturday that although he did t want Tosee anyone ruined he believed action should be taken against those involved in the alleged maintenance practices. He also said he was surprised by the number of people the Navy is taking action against. I expected two or three but i did t expect 10,even though it s True and needs to be done Sims said. The Navy said nine of the individuals including the two base commanders have the option of non judicial hearings in which they would report to a Superior for discipline. Otherwise they could face a court martial a hearing before a military jury. The maintenance officer the Navy said will be subject to a special court martial on a charge of dereliction of duty. Stateside mild earthquake scares Las vegas residents Las vegas Nev. A a mild Earth quake rattled this desert gambling resort sunday night breaking windows in some Homes an prompting hundreds of Telephone Calls to authorities by jittery residents. There were no reports of major damage or serious injuries officials said. The tremor measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale struck at 9 08 . And was entered 10 Miles Northeast of Las vegas said Russ Needham of the National earthquake information Center in Golden Colo. Firefighters save woman evacuate apartment units san Francisco a firefighters using 50-foot Extension ladder rescued a woman trapped in a Blaze sunday and directed the evacuation of residents from 32 units. No injuries were reported. The Blaze burned in four buildings in a residential neighbourhood causing More than $800,000 damage fire chief Fred Postel  cause was not determined but officials believed it started on the ground floor of a four Story apartment building. The woman rescued by firefighters was on the fourth floor. Nine people were displaced by the fire according to. The red Cross which offered them temporary shelter. Youngsters Riding homemade skate boards plunge Down the Mulhollan Highway in Agoura calif., to the consternation of motorists and police. The land lugers daredevil skateboarders who dress like the olympic luge racers have taken to zipping Down Steep Hillside roads a speeds reaching 70 Miles per hour. Tobacco ads Coll for curb on smoking bans Washington a the tobacco Industry bidding to Stem the tide of anti smoking rules monday took out newspaper ads around the country declaring enough is enough and touted a Survey indicating three of four americans do not support smoking bans in workplace Sand restaurants. The Industry s  its lobbying organization the tobacco Institute comes daring the week marking the 25th anniversary of the first of the surgeon generals reports to declare smoking a health Hazard. A spokesman for the Institute Bren Nan Dawson noted some anti smoking groups Are pushing for a smoke free society. To achieve their purposes he said anti smokers Are turning to censorship harassment punitive taxes and intrusion into personal and  the majority of americans Accord ing to objective polling do not support these anti smoking efforts he said. The Institute s poll was conducted by the Washington firm of Hamilton Fred Erick & schneiders which said it randomly telephoned 1,500 americans overage 18 Between nov. 23 and dec. 6, 1988. The respondents included 1,099 non smokers and 401 smokers the fir said. An overwhelming number of those polled indicated they Are satisfied with current Levels of smoking restrictions and opposed outright bans in the work place or Public areas. The Survey has margin of error of plus or minus three Points. Among the findings eight out of 10 people believe i should be left to employers and their employees to determine work place smoking rules without government  among non smokers More than 70 percent supported that approach. About 74 percent believe restau rants should be allowed to offer both smoking and non smoking sections to customers. More than 60 percent of the non smokers agreed. Fifty three percent said they believed that excise taxes amounting to about a third of the Price of a pack of cigarettes should stay the same 38 percent or be reduced 15 percent. Fifty seven percent said they believe cigarette advertising restrictions should remain the same 38 percent or be lifted entirely 23 percents opposed to ban Ning All advertising. The Institute s newspaper ads declared enough is enough and said that meant enough taxation. Enough legislation enough control. Enough censorship. En9ugh harassment. Enough discrimination against smokers. There was no answer Over the week end at the offices of various anti smok ing groups that were called for comment on the Campaign and Survey. 2 sky divers fall to deaths Miami a a sky diving instructor and his student plunged More than 9,000 feet to their deaths after their parachutes failed to open sunday authorities said. Authorities were investigating the deaths of Donald Batchelor 34, and his student Zaine Oiler whose age was no available. Batchelor a sky diving instructor with 10 years experience was strapped to Oiler s Back in a formation in which the instructor holds the controls to their common harness and Parachute metro Jade police spokeswoman Lucy Fitts said. 3 a Reserve Parachute also failed to open authorities said. The victims were the last of five peo ple to jump from a plane that took off trom Homestead general aviation air port m Southwest Dade county Fitts said