European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 16, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Inside Strines d Baltic nationalists demand economic Independence Page 2 d Argentine voters return Peron its to Power Page 3 d help others mrs. Bush urges graduates Page 5 d Mears grabs pole position for indy 500 sports Page 26 the stars and stripes authorized unofficial publication for the . Armed forces Good morning vol. 48. No. 28 tuesday. May 16, 1989 a 2m Only and d 8693 a 2 die in Carrier America fire fatal ship Accident Navy s 3rd in month Norfolk a. A an explosion and fire killed two crewmen on the air Craft Carrier America the Navy said Sun Day in the third fatal fire aboard a . Warship in less than a month. The Norfolk based Carrier was in the Atlantic several Hundred Miles off North Carolina when the explosion occurred in a fuel pump room about 7 . Not saturday according toll. Cmdr. Mike John a Navy spokesman. John said a team of investigators including structural and fuel experts is being flown to the ship to assess the damage and determine the cause of the explosion. He would not speculate on possible causes of the blast. The ship which left Norfolk on thurs Day with a Crew of about 5.000, continued on its Mission a six month deployment to the Mediterranean sea and Indian Ocean. At this time we Sec no reason to Cut the Mission Short John said. On april 19, an explosion and fire in a gun Turret killed 47 sailors aboard the Norfolk based battleship Iowa off puerto Rico. On May 9, six sailors died in an engine room fire on the Supply ship White Plains in the South China sea. It. Paul Jenkins a Navy spokesman said it is highly unusual for inc Navy to have three fatal shipboard fires in a month but there s no evidence to link these three isolated incidents. The Navy s Overall safety record is it. Cmdr Steve Burnett an Atlantic Fleet spokesman said he did t know How frequently shipboard fires occurred on an average victims of saturday s fire apparently were working in the fuel pump room at in time of the explosion Jenkins said. Aircraft carriers have Miles and Miles of piping through which Jet fuel is circulated by Sev eral pumps he said. Shipboard firefighters successfully extinguished the fire with no additional casualties said a statement issued by the Atlantic Fleet s Headquarters. The dead were identified As Petty see Carrier on Back Page keep Panama canal treaty Baker urges by hi1 associated press As nearly 2,000 fresh american troops ordered into Panama by president Bush settled into Camps along the Panal canal sunday. Secretary of stale James a. Baker Iii said it would he a mistake for the United slates to attempt to abrogate the Panama in a treaty. "1 Don t think that s the appropriate response Baker said on lbs s face the under the treaty which was negotiated during the car Ter administration full control of the waterway is to be turned Over to Panama at the end of this Century. Over the next decade panamanian officials Are to gradually assume a greater role in administering the canal. Some members of Congress have called for abrogating the treaty in View of the intransigence of Panama s Mili tary ruler. Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega who last week sought to nullify the results of an election that went against his handpicked candidates by a 3-10-1 margin. Asked whether the United states should consider void ing the treaty. Baker said what you do when you Start talking about that is turn this Imo a United states Panama contest. That would be a mistake i the Secretary of stale said measures taken by the Bush administration to support the panamanian Polit opposition and encourage Noriega s departure from Panama need some Lime to i think it s very important that the will of the Panama Nian people be Given effect Baker said. We had an election there Hal s been stolen. We have the will of the people being subverted and perverted. So we ought to do everything within reason that we can to encourage this Man to leave to bring pressure on him to president hush has called on the panamanian peo ple to drive Noriega from Power. The panamanian government which has issued few see Panama on Back Page for Kif ask pfc. John Bennett of the 5th inf div from fort Polk i.a., cleans an m-60 machine nun at a base in a Gorbachev arrives in protest plagued China Beijing a Mikhail Gorbachev a new Symbol of tolerance in the communist world arrived monday for a historic Summit meeting overshadowed by the spectacle of thousands of chinese Stu dents fasting for democratic Reform. In a statement issued at a welcoming ceremony at Beijing s Airport Gorba Chev noted he was arriving in the Spring time a season of renewal and Hope and expressed a wish that the first soviet chinese Summit in 30 years would Mark a watershed in relations Between the two communist giants. We in the soviet Union follow with keen interest the transformations that arc unfolding in China the 58-year-old Leader said. But that was apparently a reference to China s decade old economic Reform rather than to the students demands for greater openness and a voice in official welcoming ceremony traditionally staged in Beijing s Tiana men Square was abruptly ordered moved to the Airport because tens of thousands of students including about 2,000 hunger strikers and their supporters continued 10 occupy the Square Lor a third straight Day the students defied authorities who set several deadlines for Clearing the Broad Plaza and insisted they would carry on their month Long Campaign. Out of respect for Gorbachev the Stu dents moved to a far Side of the Fame Square to leave room in front of the great Hall of the people where the Mili tary ceremony had been planned. They even used their banners to sweep up some of the litter from the officials moved the ceremony on two hours notice and Gorbachev s motor Cade into the City was rerouted to avoid the demonstration. However several thousand people most of them apparently not Stu dents charged into the Street in front of the Square where the motorcade was to have passed on its Way to the official guest House where Gorbachev is staying. Police shoved the people Back Clearing half of the Broad Boulevard. Soviet officials said Gorbachev reached the House without incident taking a different soviet Leader accompanied by his wife Raisa arrived at noon for a four Day visit to Beijing and Shanghai. He was greeted by president Yang Shang Kun reviewed the military Honor guard and received a 21-gun left Moscow sunday and stopped overnight in the siberian City of Irkutsk before lying to Beijing to restore tics that broke off in 1959. The main business of the visit is expected to take place tuesday when Gorbachev holds talks with senior Leader Deng Xiaoping and other lop party and government officials. Deng 84, now frail and Semi retired has steered his country through a period of economic Reform that brought growth and westernization. But along with the reforms came inflation and dislocation see China on Back Page
