European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 23, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes saturday september 23.1989 Rhein main faces fuel leak cleanup tainted ground wafer is costly problem by de Reavis staff writer ruin main a West Germany Rhein Mai will need As much As 58,8 million to clean up a 500.000-gallon fuel leak that contaminated ground water at the base officials said Friday. Although plans for removing the Jet fuel arc still in the design Stajgr the estimated time for the entire cleanup phase is three to five years base spokesman maj. Steve inc child said. Installation of the cleanup system alone is expected to take seven months he said. Roger Schmidt who works for Trischler & partner the company hired to design the cleanup plan said company engineers have submitted two plans to West German and . Air Force authorities. There Are a number of ways of dealing with the spill but we have narrowed it Down to the two that were most feasible said Schmidt. One method would involve digging trenches on the apron part of the Airfield the second digging a  however Schmidt said that both solutions have drawbacks. The former would disturb air traffic at the base the latter is a More expensive  if the second method is approved workers will dig a Tunnel under the apron of the Field to reach the polluted ground water he said. Schmidt said the decision is up to the City of Frank Furt s environmental office the Hussen state ministry of economics and the air Force. We expect a reply to our suggestions by the end of november Schmidt said. The project will involve sending the tainted water through a special filtering device to separate it fro the fuel. Afterwards the water will be returned to the Earth and the fuel taken away for disposal. The fuel was discovered in March when lest brings of soil were taken before construction began on an addition to the military Airlift come air passenger terminal. The discovery led to further testing by the Darm Stadt company to determine the extent of the contamination. On june 9, a test conducted on the West Side of the terminal found a 9-Inch layer of Jet fuel floating on the ground water at a depth of about 28 feet. Later testing determined that the Jet fuel on the surface was breaking apart and sinking deep into the ground water. An area measuring about 324,000 Square feet is polluted. The suspected source of the spill is a pipeline that leaked before it was taken out of service several year Sago. We won t be 100 percent sure until we uncover the old pipeline but everything seems to Point to it As the source Schmidt said. The leakage has not endangered the air base s drink ing water source or that of the nearby housing area officials have said. News updates sex minister indicted Bern Switzerland a for Mer Swiss Justice minister Elisa Beth Kopp was indicted wednes Day on criminal charges of leaking official secrets to her husband in an affair Over a drug Money investigation that led to her resignation last january. A special Federal prosecutor Joseph Daniel pillar said a preliminary probe into Kopp s conduct had compiled enough evidence to bring charges against her before Switzerland s supreme court. Kopp was forced to resign after she made a secret Telephone Call to her lawyer husband last october in which she urged him to Severtis with a Zurich based company lebanese controlled Shakarchi trading a. That had come under scrutiny in Switzerland s biggest drug Money laundering probe. Refugees cars Budapest Hungary a East German refugees who defected to the West through Hun Gary before that country opened its Borders to thousands of them 11 Days ago will be Able to claim their cars left behind the officialmt1 news Agency said thursday. Some 200 cars abandoned by refugees had already been returned to East Germany under a previous bilateral agreement Between East Ger Many and Hungary the report said. But Hungary has now suspended that agreement and about 600 East German cars stranded in Hungary would be returned to their owners in the West As of next monday if they can prove ownership at austrian or West German motor clubs where the cars will be transported by the Hun Garian Auto club. Root crash probe fort Lauderdale Fla a Federal investigators arc seeking a court order to Force Hospital to release any psychiatric records on the Pilot who crashed in the Atlantic Ocean after a mysterious 800-mile  petition filed in . District court said the National transportation safety Board wants All records related to the physical and mental condition of Thomas Root. Memorial Hospital in Holly Wood where Root was treated after his july 13 crash already re leased its medical records but Acourt order is needed for it to turn Over any psychiatric records. Probes of school bus tragedy studying role of truck s brakes Alton Texas a Federal an state investigators Friday focused on whether a delivery truck s brakes failed before it rolled past a Stop sign and rammed a school bus into a watery pit killing 19 students. At least 64 people were injured after the bus was struck by a or Pepper truck thurs Day morning. Four students remained in critical condition at hospitals Friday mom ing including one who was unconscious and on a Respirator officials said. The National transportation safely Board and the Texas department of Public safety planned to inspect the bus and the truck throughout the Day Dps sgt. Israel Pacheco said. They re checking the mechanical condition of the vehicles particularly since the or Pepper truck Driver was claiming that the brakes failed Pacheco said. Both Drivers had records of traffic Vio lations the Dps said. Truck Driver Ruben Perez 25, was convicted of speeding in 1987. Bus Driver Gilberto Pena 46, was ticketed for running a red Light in March 1988, but records did t indicate whether he was driving a school bus at the Lime Perez was treated and released thurs Day and Pena remained hospitalized Friday in stable condition officials said. The Dps said Friday that 86 people including the Driver were on the bus rather than 81 As previously  said several students who escaped the bus with minor injuries walked away from the Accident and were no immediately counted. The bus was designed to carry 83 peo ple said Herman Light Quality Assur Ance director for the manufacturer Blue Bird body co. Of fort Valley a. Hidalgo county District attorney Rene Guerra who visited the scene said the Case will be presented to a grand jury. Presently there May be some Crimi Nal negligence Here he said. It might possibly be involuntary manslaughter if recklessness can be attributed to the Driver or the  the truck passed a state inspection this month according to officials at coca cola co., which owns the truck. David Rayburn a spokesman for the National transportation safety Board said the investigation would include weighing the truck and bus which was pushed More than 40 feet by the Impact. Investigators from the Texas attorney general s office also probed the Roadway and Edge of the caliche pit which had no Fence or railing. Caliche is the Spanish name for a construction material mad of gravel Sand and desert debris cemented by a porous Calcium Carbonate state geologist Bill Farr said. Alton population 3,000, and the larger neighbouring City of Mission prepared Fri Day to Bury the first of the  Junior High and High school students were headed for Mission when the crash occurred. All the dead were 12 to 18 Yean old police reported. A of co Pilot of jetliner that skidded into East River have licenses suspended new York a the Captain and first officer of the us air Jet that skidded into the East River had their pilots licenses suspended Friday and met with Federal investigators looking into reports of irrational cockpit behaviour. Federal aviation administration spokesman Fred Farrar announced the suspensions in Washington but provided no details a source who spoke to the associate press on condition of anonymity said the Only Way to explain License suspensions so Early in the investigation was that the Pilot and co Pilot left the scene of the Accident that killed two of the 61 Passen Gers on the Charlotte  flight. The flight s Captain Michael Martin and first officer Constantino Al Cissa met Friday with National transportation safety Board investigators to discus the crash acting Nosb chairman James Kohlstadt said. Koh Slad would not say where the questioning took place or what had been discussed. Martin s whereabouts were unknown the Day after the crash although Nosb spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said that that was not unusual in plane crash investigations. Kohlstadt said both pilots went to a Hospital for treatment on thursday which he said partially explained their absence. On thursday investigators arranged through the pilots Union and the airline to interview the pilots who appeared without being subpoenaed Lopatkiewicz said. After the Boeing 737 ran off a runway at Laguardia Airport late wednesday Al Cissa reportedly claimed Martin had been acting irrationally just before he or dered the Takeoff aborted. The Nosb has requested blood and urine tests for drugs and alcohol from the pilots but neither has said if he will pro vide them Lopatkiewicz said. They arc not required by Law to do so. In another Effort to determine what caused the crash investigators began re moving pieces of the plane from the East River on Friday morning port authority spokesman John Hughes said. The 11 29 . Crash cracked the plane into three pieces which were partly submerged. The Nosb said it Analysed the plane s flight data and cockpit voice recorders thursday. The data showed flight 5050 swerved slightly instead of moving straight Down the runway and indicated some deviations in rudder movement. But it was not immediately Clear How that May have affected Takeoff said Kohlstadt. Local Law enforcement officials were investigating reports that shortly after the crash Kleissas told port authority police that the Pilot was behaving oddly in the cockpit. Kleissas was quoted As saying that he was at the controls of the jetliner As it roared Down the runway when Martin started mumbling and acting irrationally newspapers reported thursday. The investigators also said Kleissas told them at the scene of the Accident that As the plane accelerated Martin shouted at him to abort then started screaming. The new York times reported that according to airline Industry officials the Captain had been flyingj37s for Only two months and the first officer was in a 737 cockpit Crew for the first time. Faa records show Kleissas received his commercial Pilot s License in october 1987 and an instructor s License six months later. His Faa record is completely clean said Faa spokesman Bob hoppers in Oklahoma City. Killed in the crash were Betsy Brogan 37, of Gray tenn., a nurse and Mother of a 5-year-old boy and her Mother in Law Alyce Brogan 69, of Hixton a. The deaths were us air s first in 17 years