European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 27, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday february 27, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 7 we by the Baltimore Sun Washington As his wife wiped tears from her eyes a Maryland Man last week opened and quietly read a letter written by his brother on a world War ii troop ship and not delivered until 48years later. He signed it buddy that was his nickname said Norman t. Smith 70, of Henderson As he finished the one Page letter from staff sgt. Clarence f. Smith. Two months after the letter was written the 26-year-old Tail gunner was killed in a bombing run Over Italy. The a mail letter was meant for Webster Street in Philadelphia and another was destined for a girl Friend in nearby Darby a. But a shipmate who promised to mail those and 233 other letters forgot and stored them in his aunt s North Carolina attic where they Lay hidden in a Duffel bag until their discovery in 1986, 45 years after they were first writ ten. When the . Postal service turned the letters Over to Smith wednesday postal officials completed their 30-month quest to find the soldiers or their relatives. The Gray haired Smith continued to read the words of a Young Man heading off to War. The sergeant told of playing cards As the troop ship Caleb Strong steamed toward Algeria. Take Good care of yourselves. I sure Hope there Smail by the time i  Smith Tore open the Girlfriend s letter and scanned it silently. All it says is i love you he said As he read on. A Little too personal he said softly so Idon t think i la read  he remembered the Young woman As a pretty blonde but he declined to disclose her name because she May be married. They were very much in love. I know he wrote More to her than me he said with a chuckle. I Don t know where she is  Smith said he would try to locate her. Postal officials found All but three of the 92 sol Diers families last Spring when they turned to the 781st bomb Squadron association a world War ii veterans organization for help. Letters from two of the soldiers were recently delivered to their families in Ohio and California. But the Smith letters were the most difficult to return since the name was so common and Only the initials  were used on the envelope. Using records from the National archives and old phone books postal officials tracked the Smith family to Philadelphia and soon Learned that there was brother living in Maryland. It does Hurt a Little bit Smith said after receiving the letters. He was my brother and we were  poll shows Mondale Strong Senate candidate Minneapolis a former vice president Walter Mondale has t decided whether to run against Republican sen. Rudy Boschwitz in 1990, but minnesotans give him a Good Chance of defeating the incumbent a Survey shows. The poll conducted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune feb. 15-20, found 49 percent of the 701 minnesotans surveyed believed Mondale 62, would defeat Boschwitz 58, in a head to head race. Forty percent said they thought Bosch Witz would win. Spokesmen for both men describe the results As  it a too Early for these numbers to be very in Aning Ful said Mondale s son Ted v to has been urging his father Torun. Mondale Boschwitz Boschwitz s Campaign director Tom Mason said the poll confirms what everybody thinks. It would be a close competitive  president in 1984, has said repeatedly he does not intend to run for office again. He is now a lawyer in Minneapolis. Mondale has led Boschwitz in every published poll in the last 18 months. An August 1987 poll of 757 Minnesota adults showed Mondale leading Bosch Witz by 15 percentage Points. The latest poll for which no margin of error was cited showed a slight erosion in Boschwitz s Job approval rating. Those who approve strongly of his performance fell to 22 percent the Low est since mid-1985. But his Overall approval rating which includes Strong and weak approval held fairly steady at 62 percent. He has never been below 60 per cent during his second term. Mondale who ran unsuccessfully for the percentage of people who said they had no opinion about Boschwitz s performance or who refused to answer the question Rose to its highest level at 20 percent. For Mondale the fact that fewer than half the respondents considered him the front runner cannot be entirely encouraging. Next to the late Hubert h. Humphrey Mondale has been the biggest name in Minnesota politics in the last three dec Ades. He was the state s attorney general a . Senator and vice president under then president Carter and was the 1984 democratic presidential candidate. Since moving Back to the state in 1987, he s been in the news As much As or More than Boschwitz. Gives Bush High rating for first month new York a a majority of americans approve of the Job president Bush is doing according to a new York times lbs news poll. Bush received a 61 percent approval rating for his first month in office compared with the 55 percent rating former president Reagan was Given in his first month in office in a 1981 Gallup poll the times re ported in sunday s editions. In the poll of 1,223 adults Only 9 percent of those surveyed disapproved of the Bush administration while 30 percent said they did t know enough about Bush to form an opinion. The feb. 18-19 Survey was completed before the Senate armed services committee voted against the nomination of John Tower to be Secretary of defense and did not include any questions about the Tower nomination. But in follow up interviews Many respondents expressed Relief that the committee had voted against Tower though they also said that they did not think the vote would Hurt the president the times said. Bush scored High in All geographic areas and with All age groups the times said. He got his highest approval rating 67 percent in the South. His lowest 54 percent was inthe West. Buffalo Hunt termed disgraceful Slaughter Livingston Mont. A Hunters say the nation s first Large scale Buffalo Hunt in a Century is the thrill of a lifetime while critics Call it disgraceful Slaughter. Recent mild Winters have allowed the Buffalo herds in Yellowstone National Park to increase forcing the animals to wander farther afield for food. Once they get outside the Park s boundaries they Are fair game for licensed Hunters. The herds Are so Large that the state is licensing 250 More Hunters than usual and up to 500 Buffalo Are expected to be killed this year com pared with just 39 last year. The shaggy beasts which can reach a height of 5 feet at the shoulder and weigh up to 2,500 pounds once roamed America s West by the Mil Lions but were no  Hunters who slaughtered them for their meat and hides. Their numbers dwindled almost to Zero before they were put under Protection of the Law. It s such stupidity that i can t be Lieve it Cleveland Amory president of the fund for animals in new York said of the Hunt animal rights activists Are not the Only critics. Ellery Merrell a 73-year old rancher who has lived All his life in Tom. Miner Basin North of Yellowstone said it was sickening to watch the Buffalo fall. They re about As smart As an old milk cow he said. Rep. Ron Marlenee a Mont said he had looked Forward to killing a Buffalo with his .44-caliber magnum pistol but was unable to get away forthe Hunt. I think that both the National Park service and the state Are acting in a responsible manner Marlenee said. There Are too Many Buffalo in the Park. The Harvest of those Buffalo is a humane Harvest of animals that would otherwise starve to  for Montana however it s an eco nomic Issue. About half of Yellowstone s Buffalo carry brucellosis a disease which causes cows to spontaneously abort their calves and which some scientists say could be transmitted to cattle herds. Thornburgh to reopen Case of Ira Deportee Washington not attorney general Dick Thornburgh has decided not to support a Reagan administration decision to Deport an Irish Republican army member convicted of murder in great Britain. Instead Thornburgh has asked the immigration and naturalization service which supports the deportation order and lawyers for the Ira member Joseph Pat Rick Thomas Doherty to resubmit their arguments to him beginning next month. This is a procedure by which the deportation order can be overturned and Doherty s request for political Asylum reviewed said sen. Orrin g. Hatch a Utah Republican who had asked Thornburgh to recon Sider the Case. The attorney general is going to make his own determination and i have Confidence that when he sees the evidence hell Grant  convicted in the killing of a British army Captain in a 1980 ambush Doherty escaped from a maximum Security Pris on in Belfast Northern Ireland the next year. He has been in a Federal jail in new York since his arrest there in 1983. A group of House members most of them from new York Are drafting a let ter to Thornburgh asking that Doherty 34, be set free on bail while his Case spending. The British government has Long been seeking Doherty s return and has linked the Case to other cooperative efforts against terrorism. Doherty and his sup porters maintain that he is a political dissident and that the slaying for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment was not a criminal act but a political offence. Last year the Justice department called Doherty a convicted terrorist and in june then attorney general Edwin Meese ruled that he should be deported to Britain. In London a foreign office spokes Man said Britain was aware of Thorn Burgh s decision but said at this Point it s basically just a procedural matter be tween the ins and Doherty. The attorney general has said the lawyers should submit briefs on the question of whether this Man is entitled to apply for political Asylum. He has t even decided whether the proceedings should be reopened or not so we re obviously extremely inter ested spectators at this  British officials said they hoped do Herty would ultimately be handed Over to them to serve out his sentence