European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 10, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes Friday february 10, 1989 new party chief says democrats must define positions on key issues Washington a Ronald h. Brown preparing to take Over As democratic party chairman told party officials thursday they face Tough adversaries and must work to define party positions More Force fully on issues such As defense crime and drugs. Brown who will become the first Black to chair Amajor political party told the association of state democratic chairs i am going to be a common sense pragmatic  he told the state party leaders we be got a difficult Job ahead we be got Tough adversaries. They Don t care much about truth or about  taking Over amid concern about erosion of the party s Southern base Brown said i Don t want to be chairman of a party that writes off any Region of the country. We have to be willing to define ourselves As party. You can t possibly win if you let your adversary your opponent define  Brown said that 30 and 40 years ago people could always say what we stood for and whom we stood  citing defense crime and drugs As issues of primary concern to voters Brown said democrats have got to be willing to speak forcefully on those  ending his four year term As party chairman Paul g. Kirk or. Told the democratic executive commit tee on wednesday Pecan t afford for a moment to write off the South and expect to win presidential elections. We have had our clock cleaned in the South in the past several presidential elections he said. Pollster Peter Hart told the group that in the 1988 election Republica Brown George Bush won All 155 electoral votes in the South against Democrat Michae Dukakis you can t Start out any game behind 155-0 and be competitive Hart said blaming the loss in Large part on the democrats preference for programs Over values. Kirk said he believed the South could be won by the right messenger with the right  those assessments of the party s failure to attract support in the South came As the democrats gathered to elect Brown As Kirk s successor. He easily Defeated four rivals for the Post. Despite the ease of Brown s Victory in the chairmanship race there were lingering questions about the Impact his election will have on the party inthe South. Will it help asked Atlanta based pollster Clai Bourne Darden. The answer is no. What can Ron Brown do to help the democratic party bring the Liberal vote to it it s already there. Bring the Black vote to it it s already  Merle Black professor of political science at the University of North Carolina said republicans would use Brown s election to put out the message to South Ern Whites that the democratic party now is the part of  still another analyst of Southern politics Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia said Brown s elec Tion could cause problems for democrats in the Region not so much because he s Black but that he s tied to the twin devils Ted Kennedy and Jesse  Brown is a former aide to sen. Edward m. Kenned of Massachusetts and was a top adviser to Jackson in the closing stages of his 1988 Campaign. Hart told the democrats they also must learn to Appeal to White protestant voters and the Middle class. We have to be Able to talk to them he said. Family of Navy recruit who drowned files claim Pensacola Fla. A the family of a Navy recruit who panicked and drowned during Rescue train ing has filed a $20 million claim against the Navy. The death of Lee Mirecki 19, of Appleton wis., i March led to charges against instructors and Reform of training practices at the Navy Rescue swimmer schooling Pensacola. The claim accuses the Navy of negligence in allow ing Mirecki Back into the class after he had been diag nosed As having a phobia about being held underwater. It also charges the Navy of intentionally inflict ing emotional distress on the family by first reporting Mirecki s death As an Accident. The family dissatisfied with the initial report Gothelp from congressmen which led to an investigation. Ross Goodman an attorney for Mirecki s family said the claim was sent wednesday to the commander of Nas Pensacola. He said the Navy has six months to respond. If it does not respond the family can file a lawsuit he said. Cmdr. Dennis Hessler said the claim would be for warded to the base s Legal services office. He would not comment further. Witnesses said Mirecki was dragged Back into the water despite his pleas to quit the training. A pathologist concluded that he was literally scared to death suffering heart failure and drowning. An instructor was convicted by court martial of negligent homicide. Four other instructors received administrative punishments of fines or demotions. The officer in charge was acquitted of dereliction of duty. As a result of the Case instructors Are no longer allowed to come into physical Contact with students and must immediately cease drilling trainees who panic ask to quit or show signs of excessive fatigue the Navy said. So rescues halted until Congress bolsters fund Washington a the Federal Deposit insurance corp. Says it is temporarily halting savings and loan rescues unti Congress comes up with More Money for the so Deposit insurance  a statement wednesday the Odic said it will halt All deals until it is finished taking control of 224 insolvent institutions Over the next month under or Ders from president Bush. After that it will Only Deal with cases that can be sup ported by the Cash of the Federal savings and loan insurance corp. On tuesday folic officials said that perhaps three or four liquidations would be completed this Quarter but Rescue deals would not go Forward. The Odic s statement on wednesday confirmed those comments. The Odic typically insures deposits a commercial Banks but was ordered tuesday by the White House to oversee the ailing a is until the government can decide whether to sell the institutions or close them and pay off depositors. So regulators rescued or propped up223 institutions last year mostly by issuing promissory notes to investors buying failing folic Federal savings and loan insurance corp. Fund balance $10 in billions of dollars 5 0 -5 -10 -"15 1900 8182 83 84 85 86 87 in ska  / sources a general accounting office be s s i 0 1980 8182 83 85 86 87 s8 As of june 30 thrifts and by pledging to cover future  deals have been criticized As More expensive to taxpayers in the Long , no notes or loss guarantees will be considered. All investors who had been negotiating to buy ailing savings and Loans from the folic will have to Deal with the Dic the announcement said. In another development the president of a quasi Public Agency created to sell Loans and property from failed saving institutions announced his resignation. Gerald p. Carmen former head of the general services administration and a political ally of former president Reagan re signed effective next month As head of the Federal asset disposition , established in 1985, had been severely criticized for conflicts of inter stand mismanagement. In a statement Carmen said he had turned the Agency around in his year As its president. The Agency manages about 2,500 asset Worth $3.8 billion spokesman Dave Bunton said. He said John wills executive vice president will serve As acting president. Fada s Fate under Bush s so reorganization plan is unclear he said. Computer error to delay thousands of tax refunds Washington a an estimated 450,000 tax refund checks will be delayed a week because of a computer programming error the internal Revenue service said thursday. The Agency said the error already has been corrected. The irs added that the problem was nothing like the massive snafu that delayed millions of Check sin 1985. People Are going to get their refund checks in the four to six week time Frame that is typical at this time of the year said Ellen Murphy irs director of Public affairs. But checks for those who filed in the second or third week of january will be mailed feb. 17, rather than feb. 10 As planned. Murphy disclosed the programming error while presenting a routine report on the return filing season so far. Through feb. 3, she said 8.45 million returns had been filed Down 7.6 percent from the same time last year and 2.75 million had been processed an in crease of almost 14 percent. The figures Are in line with recent years where the number of taxpayers filing Early in the season have declined each year. Through Jan. 27, the irs had certified 95,000 re funds totalling $72 million an average of about $751 per Check. The number of refunds was Down 12.6 per cent and the average refund was up 4.2 percent. A Check of Early returns shows Many taxpayers Whoso not itemize deductions Are failing to claim the Stan Dard deduction. The Agency will Correct that error botany refund will be delayed. Another common error is a failure by a file usually a Young person with a part time Job to Check a Box indicating whether he or she can reclaimed As a dependent by another. Also near the top of the mistake list Are mathematics errors and failure by Low income working families to claim the earned income credit