European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday. May 10, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 5 rules on agent Orange Are voided judge orders review of Over 31,000 claims san Francisco a a Federal judge threw out the department of vet Erans affairs rules on agent Orange health benefits and ordered the Agency to reconsider claims by More than 31,000 Vietnam War veterans. In a decision made Public monday . District judge Thelton Henderson said the Agency wrongly required proof that agent Orange causes various Dis eases in denying most claims for benefits related to the herbicide. Henderson ruling on a nationwide lawsuit brought on behalf of agent Orange claimants said the Federal Agency failed to give veterans the Benefit of the doubt. Henderson struck Down Agency regulations denying agent Orange service connected benefits for cancers and All other diseases except Chlorace. A non fatal skin condition. He also ordered the Agency to reopen All claims denied under those rules. This is a major Victory with far reaching implications Mary Stout president of the 35,000-member Vietnam veterans of America said in a statement. The Agency was represented by the Justice department whose spokeswoman Amy Brown declined to comment on the ruling saying department lawyers had not seen it. The Agency relying on a review by an 11-member scientific committee ruled in 1985 that Only Chlorace could be considered a service connected effect of exposure to agent Orange. Henderson rejected a Challenge by the veterans group to the scientific commit tee s review of studies on agent Orange s effects but said the standards the Agency used in making its rules violated a 1984 Federal Law that was supposed to help Vietnam veterans gel health benefits due them. Henderson said the Agency improperly required proof of a cause and effect relationship Between the herbicide and a Dis ease for which benefits would be granted. Instead he said the Agency should have required Only that statistics show a significant correlation Between exposure to agent s Orange and a disease or an in creased risk of  the Federal Law docs not spell out the proper Standard but comments by Mem Bers of Congress involved in passing the Law showed they opposed an Overly Strin gent Standard and Felt cause and effect proof was unnecessary Henderson said. He noted that the Agency had relied on statistical relationships without requiring proof of the cause in granting Bene fits to veterans who were amputees and developed heart disease. Congress did the same thing in granting benefits to former prisoners of War who suffered various diseases Henderson said. The judge found a second error in the Agency s refusal to apply to its agent Orange regulations the same bin fit of theol out policy it uses for review of individual Benefit cases which favors the Veteran in close questions. Although the Law s language is unclear its remedial purpose favors a lenient Standard Henderson said. Noting that veterans would be entitled to a favourable Standard if they made individual claims he said Congress would not have in tended to put them in a worse position through collective regulation. Vietnam veterans of America spokes Man Barry Kasinitz said the group will again sponsor agent Orange legislation. The measure would require agent Orange benefits for two kinds of cancer soft tissue Sarcoma and non Hodg Kins Lymphoma and to establish a new scientific panel Independent of the a to study the herbicide s health effects. The Senate passed a similar Bill last year but it died in the House Kasinitz said. Record lows follow deadly weekend storms by the associated press temperatures dropped to record lows monday As far South As Florida following a weekend of storms that killed 23 people and included a very unusual May snowfall storm thai dumped 10 inches of Snow on Rochester . Temperatures As Low As the 20s in South Carolina prompted worry about crops. We be never had Frost in May before said Johnny Nobles of the soil conservation service in Bamberg. We do not know what effect it will have. I be never seen it happen this time of year so i can t Tell  South Carolina Civ. Carroll Campbell declared a slate of emergency monday in Sparta Burgand Chero Kee counties both hit hard by tornadoes. Since thursday thunderstorms tornadoes and floods have been blamed for seven deaths in Texas five in Virginia five in North Carolina three in Loui Siana two in South Carolina and one in Oklahoma. More than 100 people were injured. Low temperature records were broken or tied monday in at least 21 cities following record lows sunday in More than 30 cities. Monday s records included 36 at Augusta. A 30 at Bristol,tcnn.4x at Jacksonville Fla. And 42 at Tallahassee Fla. Ashville. N.c., had its lowest Cvar May tempera  28 degrees. Light Snow continued to fall monday in parts of Western new York stale after breaking 80-year-old records for this Lime of year. Sunday s 10 inches at Rochester also was the largest single Day snowfall Ever for May and three times the High est total Ever recorded for the whole month forecasters said. The previous High in Rochester both for a single Day and the month was 3.3 inches on May 2, 1909. Until sunday Rochester s biggest snowfall this year was 6 inches. But by monday morning the Snow had just about disappeared. In Pittsburgh sunday s Snow flurries rain and wind and a temperature of 38 degrees look a toll on the second Ted wed in left and Carl Carswell top off their Snow sculpture with a Daffodil in i i Lilon . Consecutive Pittsburgh Marathon. Officials said 10 run ners were taken to hospitals for treatment and about 150 were treated at on site medical tents most for Hyp other  Ohio a bus overturned and Slid Down an embankment in Snow and sleet near Sandusky on saturday injuring 16 people. In Cincinnati Snow fell for the first Tinie in May in nearly a Century As temperatures overnight dipped into the Low 30s.behind the cold weather warm air surged into the Central part of the nation. Manhattan kan., climbed from a Low of 30 degrees sunday morning to 88 in the afternoon. On monday in Texas. Lubbock hit a record High of 99 and Midland tied its record of 103. In North Carolina hardest hit by Friday s Thunder storms and tornadoes claims for insured losses totalled an estimated $35 million monday according to the insurance news service which represents 32 insurance companies serving North Carolina. Schools were closed monday in Winslon Salem and Forsyth county because some buildings had no Power. Officials said it could be several Days before electricity is restored. About 20,000 people remained without Power in the Winston Salem area monday half As Many As Origi Nally lost  Man said he and his pickup apparently were sucked up inside a Tornado and then dropped several Hundred feel away. I remember the truck lining off the ground and i knew that was it i was gone said detective sgt. Lark Plyler 31, of the Union county sheriffs department. "1 have no idea How far up. It was Jet Black. And 1 Don t know How High off the ground i was two feel or 200  credited his scat Bell Wilh keeping him inside the truck As inc windows burst. I was just being thrown around. I was still conscious and i could Sec i was in the air he said. At first Plyler said the noise was extremely loud but it grew deathly quiet once he was inside the Tornado s Eye. Then it Laid me Back Down on Airport Road about 125 Yards from where it first picked me up he said. Oral Roberts ministries debt Down to $2.2 million Tulsa okla. A contributors have whittled the is i million debt of the Oral Roberts ministries Down to $2.2 million with the rest expected to be raised by wednesday Roberts son Richard a fellow evangelist said on his daily television show monday. Oral Roberts said on March 28 that the $11 million was owed to 4.000 Ven Dors and suppliers of the Oral Roberts ministry Oral Roberts University and the City of Faith medical Center. He said at that time if the Money was t raised by May 6, graduation Day at the University creditors could begin to Dis Mantle the University and Hospital. He later said the deadline was extended until monday because May 6 was a saturday. Mark Swadener the ministry s chief financial officer issued a statement saying that while All vendors have not been paid we have attempted to make some pay ment to virtually All of them since april i Roberts has blamed a spirit of Skepi cism from scandals involving to evangelists Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart for a decline in monthly contributions from $5 million to $2.7 million Over the past two years. Both Roberts and his son have made pleas for Money on their television shows since March 28. Some Cost cutting moves have been initiated by the ministry. Roberts announced last week that the 4,000-Studcnl University is dropping out of Mcaa Competition to save $500,000to$l million year. Sands of time in the stars and stripes 40 years ago today. May 10, 1949 copies of the new Constitution adopted by the German provisional government the Day before were delivered to the Western zone military Gover nors for their approval. 30 years ago foday. May 10, 1959 following a soviet refusal to accept a previous proposal. Presi Dent Eisenhower sent soviet Premier Nikita s. Khrushchev a new Appeal for an agreement on at least a limited ban on atmospheric nuclear testing. 20 years ago foday. May 10, 1969 Federal marshals swept through Howard University in washing ton arresting at least 24 persons and ending a student occupation which had forced the school to close three Days earlier. 10 years ago foday. May 10, 1979 a severe weather front that produced tornadoes and Flash floods left seven people dead in Florida. Meanwhile snows swept the Western mountains and an Early heat wave surprised the upper Midwest