European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 27, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes wednesday september 27,1989 42-Day kiss offers up ulcer spa prize Reno Nev. A three couples have Bee declared winners in the first annual great american kiss Oft but their lips Are scaled about what they la take Home for their efforts. The six contestants agreed to dewy up the$10.000 top prize after smooching Tor 42 Days then hiring a lawyer to legally unlock their lips. I m just glad it s  Fernando Gonzales said wednesday one Day after All panics embraced the pact. He and his wife Karen were declared the official first place finishers after they and two other couples outlasted 11 other pairs who entered the contest sponsored by a furniture company. The company agreed to let the three top couples split the $10,000as they pleased and without revealing How. We thought it was going to be a two week thing but it turned into a Marathon said Gonzales. I m recovered now. But it still feels like i m kissing. It s like when you be been wearing a hat for four or five weeks and then take it off. The hat still feels like it s  but Gonzales 39, said he still kissed his 36-year-old wife and Mother of their five children Good night. I m not tired of kissing her he said. "1 thin everyone decided we should be the winners because they realized we could go on the  Gonzales who is unemployed said he survive financially because he owned a tile fitting business in California before moving to Fernley ncv., in 1985. Reno attorney Pat Cashill said he was hired by parents of the other two Young couples to help end the contest so their children could get on with their lives. These people were really caught up in a horrible situation Cashill said. It was like they were i bondage. They would t quit $10,000 is a lot of  the agreement the Gonzales couple got the deed to an Idaho time share condominium which was the first place prize along with the Money. The declared second place finishers and winners of an expenses paid trip to Mexico were Lloyd an Laura Gubler of Reno. Bret Watson and Lori Block of Reno claimed the third place prize of new living room furniture. The pact to end the kiss off began developing Friday and the contest was suspended pending the outcome of negotiations. Butch Lynn a publicist for the kiss off said the furniture company was a bit disappointed in the outcome of the contest it was fairly Anticlimactic Lynn said. We were hoping there would be a big Winner and a ceremony with Champagne to hand out the $ 10,000  Gubler expects to go Back to his father s Auto Bod shop while Watson will resume his career As a Finan Cial planner and Block will look for a new Job hav ing lost hers at a Bank Lynn said. Contest organizers thought the Competition would last Only about two weeks but relatively easy rules allowed the contest to continue. Couples had to kiss for 12 hours each Day from 9a.m. To 9 p.m., in the furniture store s parking lot with five minute Breaks each hour. On aug. 26,three competing couples including the Gullers married in a triple wedding ceremony. Helms hires sex civil rights activist As adviser Washington a sen. Jesse Helms the conservative senator who often has been at Odds with the civil rights movement has hired former civil rights activist James Meredith As a Domestic policy adviser. The Man who in 1962 became the first Black toe Roll at the University of Mississippi called his new Job the most significant development in my Long Campaign to make the Black race full first class  Meredith 58, has changed his views in recent years at one time calling integration the biggest con Job Ever pulled on  one College cancelled a Mere Dith speech last year because it said it feared he would be unprofessional and  in a letter to acquaintances quoted in the Greensboro n.c., news & record Meredith wrote that Helms wants to provide the Best possible representation to them As Well As the entire Black  Helms , is up for re election in 1990. A senior aide to Helms said tuesday that Meredith and the senator struck up a relationship after Meredith began writing letters on various Public issues. When you get to know the Man it s not strange atall that he should hit it off Well with the senator said the aide who spoke on condition of  is a great consonance of political and philosophical thinking Between the senator and Meredith on matters like religious values abortion and development in  at least one civil rights Leader was nonetheless astonished at Meredith s decision to join Helms staff. The Only thing i can say about this is that either Meredith Helms something has happened to Jesse Helms that i Haven theard about or something has happened to James Meredith that i Haven t heard about the Rev. Joseph Lowery of Atlanta president of the Southern Christian leadership conference told the Greensboro newspaper which first reported that Meredith was joining Helms staff. Lowery said he was aware that Meredith s philosophy has changed somewhat but i thought it was curve and not a  while Meredith was battling segregation in the South during the 60s, the conservative Helms was gaining a following As a Raleigh television editorialist who criticized the movement to bring about racial change. Since his election to the Senate in 1972, Helms has opposed some Domestic programs favored by Many Blacks. He has defended the White minority govern ment of South Africa opposed making the late Martin Luther King or s birthday a National Holiday and criticized some Black leaders including Jesse Jackson. Meredith however told the Greensboro paper he does t believe Helms is hostile to Blacks. I have never seen anyone sustain that charge or give the first Iota of evidence Meredith said. In an editorial on Helms re election Campaign. The news & observer of Raleigh two weeks ago declared that Helms repeatedly has injected North Carolina election campaigns with the divisive politics of  the newspaper charged that Helms personally tells after dinner jokes that rely on humor grounded in racial  Meredith entered the All White University of missis Sippi after spending nine years in the air Force. His arrival on Campus caused rioting and two people died after president Kennedy sent in troops and Federal marshals. Since then Meredith who was wounded during Freedom March in Mississippi in 1965, has held numerous jobs in various parts of the country. He has made Many trips to Africa and in 1980 promoted his african development and reunification association. Meredith most recently lived in Cincinnati where he worked As a financial planner and tree Farmer. In Cincinnati he made an unsuccessful run for the state school Board. Low Oil pressure wind shorten b-2 flight tests Washington up the controversial b-2 stealth bomber had its fourth and fifth lest flights Cut Short be cause of Low Oil pressure and High wind the Pentagon announced tuesday. The bomber will not be flown again for at least five weeks while it under goes planned modifications and ground vibration tests defense department spokesman Pete Williams said. The radar evading bomber which at $530 million apiece is the most expensive warplane Ever built is under close scrutiny by members of Congress upset about its big Price tag. The shortened Tea flights probably will not help. Williams said two test pilots at Edwards fab calif., ended the fourth flight of the bomber Ivi hours Earl thursday after getting readings of Low Oil pressure the same problem that Cut Short the second flight on aug. 16. As with the second flight the b-2 was landed Early As a precaution the spokesman said. The flight Crew was inno  Williams and air Force officials said the problem was a crack in a Gearbox attached to the engine that Powers part of the b-2hydraulic and electrical generating system. New gearboxes were produced and in stalled in the plane for saturday s fifth test flight but that flight also was ended As precaution after about an hour and 17 min utes because of Gusty winds Al the Altitude at which the plane was  Williams said. He did not know How Long the flight was supposed to last. Air Force Mai. Dick Cole said the decision to end the test Early came after monitors showed that High winds combined with the Maneu vers and Steep Banks the plane was undertaking had raised the stress level on the b-2 air Frame to 80 percent of maximum Capac Ity. During the fifth lest Williams said the b-2 accomplished a mock refuelling with a Kc-10 Tanker plane. Williams said the b-2 has flown More than 12 hours in tests and the air Force says it has performed better than expected in. Handling and especially. In the refuelling  32 French marines train with Flo. Guard members Camp Blanding Fla a the marching cadence at Cam Blanding has a French accent this week As 32 French marines train with the Florida army National guard As part of an Exchange pro Gram. The uniforms immediately distinguish the guests from their hosts. The Florida guard wears Multics lored camouflage while the French arc wearing solid Khaki. Both the French speaking marines and the English speaking guardsmen have one thing in com Mon the language of War. Master sgt. Mike Collis said that by sharing combat tactics both the americans and French might learn new ways of solving problems an become More familiar with each other s weapons thereby Gainin Confidence in their allies. Training like this instills Confidence that the people fighting Withus Are As professional and compe tent As we Are said Collis with the 53rd brigade which coordinated the French visit. The French unit normally stationed on the Caribbean Island of Martinique arrived at Camp Blanding last week to began infantry training with a Mission to engage and destroy the enemy. The . Training is very similar to what the French army teaches several of the marines said adding that there Are a few notable differences such As the . Emphasis on upper body strength in physical  Between the French and americans have Bee fairly smooth thanks in part to two Utah based army interpreters an the fact that several or the French marines speak English. But sometimes when americans Are unable to get their Point across to the French they Rind themselves speaking English louder with a French accent As if that would help sgt. John Dice said