European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday february 16, 1989 the stars and stripes Java military Hospital ties proposed would save Money improve care says Dav 1 to it n t541 a. 1 to a  a the disabled american veterans tuesday pro posed a closer Alliance Between hospitals run by the veterans administration and the military services to save Money an improve care. Some 300 installations in the a army Navy and air Force health sys tems have made 1,800 local agreements to share facilities under 1982 legislation. This represents just the tip of a Mam Moth Cost effective iceberg Dav National commander Billy e. Kirby told a joint hearing of the House and Senate veterans affairs committees. Both the military and the veterans sys tems Are in deep trouble Kirby said. Years of below inflation less than current service budgets combined with rising beneficiary demands Means that Beds go unused staff members quit and care is rationed he said. A officials testified last fall they will fall $600 million to $1 billion Short in their medical budget for the current Fis Cal year which is a Little Over $10 billion for 172 hospitals and hundreds of other facilities. The military services spend about $8 billion operating 130 hospitals the United states and hundreds of other facilities around the world plus $2 billion in paying civilian doctors an others. From the map is it not obvious to Al that from the standpoint of the proximity of a and military treatment facilities and their beneficiaries the two systems enjoy a potential to operate More efficiently through sharing of resources Mutual support and integration of planning and operations Kirby asked. Rather than settling for locally initiated and hoc agreements the More ambitious of which often encounter bureaucratic resistance we propose the creation of a new nationwide veterans administration department of defens health care Alliance he said. Two huge medical systems which presently go their own ways in Purchas ing everything from cat scans to Tongue depressors from laundry services to pub Lic utilities certainly could Benefit from single source contracting and  combining the patients of the two sys tems the older males of the a system with the Dod system serving younger men and women and their families should help staff recruiting he suggested. Firemen hand 4-year-old Lamar Bell to a Rescue worker after the child was taken from burning building. 5 saved from fire in daring Rescue new York a new York City firefighters pulled five people including two infants and a 4-year old child from a burning building in Brooklyn in daring Rescue tuesday officials said. One of those rescued was a Man trapped on the Roo of the three Story building the officials said. Three of those rescued were in critical condition in a local Hospital and one was in stable condition fire department spokesman John Mulligan said. The fifth was not injured he said. He said the fire began shortly after 10 30 . On the first floor of the building where several children were playing with matches. The flames spread to the upper floors where Melvin Bellsr. And three children were overcome by heavy smoke. Bell s 20-year-old son Melvin jr., fled to the build ing s roof where firefighters rescued him uninjured Mulligan said. Inside the building the elder Bell was found unconscious along with 4-year-old Lamar Bell 2 month old Tawana Bell and 4-month-old Tenora Cole Man he said. A four were brought outside revived and hospitalized with severe smoke inhalation. Melvin Bellsr. And Tawana Bell were in critical but stable condition at Kings county Hospital Lamar Bell was in critical condition and Tenora Coleman was in stable condition a Hospital spokeswoman said. Mulligan said five firefighters involved in the res cues would receive commendations for heroism. A fireman Gerard Guinn holds Lamar Bell As another fireman administers oxygen to the 4-year-old child. Air Force blames fire in left Wing for causing Texas crash of by b Washington a the crash Las november of a new by b bomber in Texas was caused by a fire in the left Wing that knocked out two of the plane s four engines and burned out critical control equipment the air Force said tuesday. The fire apparently was fed by a rup tured fuel line in that portion of the Wing that runs above the left engines. But the in flight fire and crash Impact destroyed evidence necessary to further isolate the cause of the fire and the exact location of the fuel leak the air Force said. All four crewmen ejected safely. A temporary grounding after the Acci Dent failed to locate any Wing fuel line problems involving other aircraft in the bib Fleet but More frequent inspections will continue to be performed the serv ice added. The investigation also confirmed ear Lier reports from witnesses that the Pilot of the stricken plane probably saved Sev eral lives on the ground. Capt. Michael e. Waters ordered his three crewmen to employ a manual ejection sequence so that he would be left behind after they bailed out and then flew the plane away from a populated area. Seeing that the aircraft was headed toward an inhabited area and observing an open Field to the left he pointed the aircraft in that direction nosed the air Craft Over 2 or 3 degrees and ejected the report states. The air Force s strategic air come which is responsible for the manned bomber Force said its investigation of the nov. 8 crash had ruled out any prob Lem with the plane s general electric  engines. A review of the maintenance person Nel and supervision records the remain ing aircraft records and the testimony of maintenance personnel revealed no fac tors contributing to the mishap the re port adds. The Accident report does not explicitly address the question of whether an As Sembly line problem could be responsible for the Accident. But an air Force official who declined to be identified said there was no evidence of any prob Lem involving initial production. The $280 million bomber went downcast november in a Field outside Abilene Texas while practising touch and go landings at Dyess fab Texas. The plane was consumed by fire after crashing an declared a total loss. All was Normal on the flight until just after a touch-and-g9 tending around 3 20 . Cost. At this Point the plane s Crew had been practising such landings and approaches for almost two hours without  the bomber climbed skyward though ground observers clearly spotted flames and puffs of smoke on the left Side of the plane. The report adds the Crew did t know there was a problem until the plane had flown about one half mile from the runway and suddenly heard a loud bang coming from tieback and left Side of the  using data from the plane s computerized monitoring system the investigators concluded the bang represented the Start of a massive fuel leak. Arisi iof Kimii in the stars and stripes 40 years ago today. Feb. 16, 1949 Secretary of the army Kenneth c. Royall told Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur supreme Allied commander in Japan that it would be impractical to Send More troops to that country. 30 years ago today. Feb. 16, 1959 legislation to raise the Federal minimum wage to $1.25 an hour and extend wage hour Protection Toan additional 7 million workers was to be introduced by Sens. John f. Kennedy d-mass., and Wayne Morse Dore. 20 years ago today. Feb. 16, 1969 in a move designed19 reassert their claims to broader Territo rial Waters peruvian torpedo boats fired on american tuna boats 26 Miles off the peruvian coast. To years ago today. Feb. 16, 1979 the . Embassy i Tehran Iran said it could not protect americans in the City and announced plans for an emergency one suitcase evacuation