European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 23, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday. December 23, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 7 everybody loses in this Santa contest by the associated press tis the season Tor human Tolly or As the sign in the new York City bus depot puts it the holidays Are Here. Please watch your  with that in mind we present our nominations for the 1989 Ebenezer Scrooge awards Given to those who Best exemplify the seamy underside of the Christmas spirit. These Are nominations Only there will be no win ners. As will become obvious everybody loses. For worst performance by a Santa the nominees arc the Santa in sunglasses who held up a Branch of Fidelity Bank in West Chester pa., while singing we wish you a merry Christmas we wish you a  Santa whose performance was captured by the Bank s surveillance camera pocketed $ 1,000. The Macho Santa who beat up a heckler in front of a crowd of children in Salvador Brazil. The heckler reportedly had shouted How about giving me your Mother As a present this Christmas Santa Santa was arrested after attacking him but proudly told police i court orders acquittal for former go Tallahassee Fla. A the Florida supreme court thursday or dered an innocent verdict for a former Soldier sentenced to die for the 1978 murder of a Walt Disney world worker. The court in a unanimous ruling said there was insufficient evidence to con vict Robert Craig Cox 30, a former army Ranger and ordered the trial court to acquit him. The state showed the possibility that he might have been one of several people who could have done it. That s not enough in a criminal Case said Larry , an assistant Public defender who handled Cox s Appeal. The slate attorney general s office said it was rare for the supreme court to order an innocent verdict. Usually the court sends such cases Back for new trials or sentencing hearings. Cox was convicted in 1988 of the kill ing 10 years earlier of Sharon pc Llars 19. She disappeared dec. 30. 1978, and her body was found several Days later. Police questioned Cox who was i Central Florida visiting his parents but brought no charges. In 1986, Cox ran into trouble in Cali fornia and pleaded guilty to kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to nine years in prison and Dis honorable discharged from the army. Florida authorities then charged him Wilh Zellor s murder and he was convicted in 1988. Gave that bum what he  the elderly Santa in Lowell ark., who made off with Cash from a convenience store after threatening to pour hot Coffee on the clerk. For worst treatment of a Santa the nominees arc either the employees the customers or both at the capital Plaza mall in suburban land Var my. A Black Santa at the mall quit after complaining of harassment by co workers who thought Santa had to be White. The mall management blamed customers Black and White who expressed concerns with having a Black Santa  the mall later issued a Public apology and asked Santa to come Back. Officials at the Marshalltown mall in marshal blown Iowa who fired a female Santa because she was you guessed it female. Parents Tell children that Santa Claus is a Man and the mall tries to get As close to that image As possible mall manager Scott Ball explained. The mall told is. Claus 28-year-old Tammy Medberry that she could go to work As an Elf. The boy from new zealand whose letter to Santa contained a bomb threat. Either Santa brings a com Puter the child wrote or the Chimney goes Kaboom. For the Best or worst performance by a Clinch depending on How you look at it the nominees arc whoever took the nativity scene from Ann Webb s front Yard in pin tops . The Only thing left was the North Star still hanging from a Pine tree. When i saw what happened Webb remarked later i said i Hope Santa Claus does t come to Sec them " she apparently had t heard about the Santa from Brazil. The burglar who stole More than $1.000 Worth of toys from the salvation army in Lufkin. Texas. The Man described Only As a wino who chopped Down the Hernandez family s live Christmas tree in front of their House in Ingi Wood Calif and sold it to an unsuspecting neighbor for $7. It s  said another neighbor Luis Frias. Especially at this time of year and to steal that kind of thing. Everybody around Here is real  the envelope Burn in please. Arctic temperatures that extended Over most of the nation s Middle thursday and Friday turned the Mississippi River near Alton Iii into a 2-mlle-Long Man River. Be cube plugging navigation and creating a traffic Jam of some 1,000 barges. Authorities said they did not know when the blockage which also extended 14 Miles Back on the nearby Missouri River would be cleared. The National weather service forecast moderating temperatures for the weekend. Former executive says Murphy was aware of Buchwald s script los Angeles a a former Paramount Pic Tures executive said Eddie Murphy was told in 1983 about an Art Buchwald script idea for Murphy to play an african King visiting America. We had just made a new Deal with Eddie to make four or five More movies David Kirkpatrick recalled wednesday at the trial of Buchwald s $5 million Law suit against Paramount. The purpose of the meeting was to Tell him what was ahead for  he said Murphy listened politely to several script ideas including the one by Buchwald then titled King for a  he did t react negatively to King for a Day but he did t jump up and Down about any of the projects said Kirkpatrick. Later he said. Murphy s manager Bob Wachs read five or 10 pages of a script written from Buchwald s treatment and did not like the script. Buchwald the pulitzer prize winning columnist claims Paramount stole his idea for Murphy s hit movie coming to  on Cross examination by Paramount lawyer Robert Draper Kirkpatrick sought to explain Why he and other executives generated a blizzard of memos in 1983 and 1984 about the anticipated production of King for a  he said a new studio chief Tanen had arrived recently and the memos were intended to show Tancun that projects were in the works for Murphy. He said the proposals included plans for Murphy to play a priest a prisoner a detective a Witch doctor and a schizophrenic with 10 personalities. In one 1984 memo Kirkpatrick said another executive had circled the King for a Day entry and scrib bled the word  but later that year Paramount dropped the idea which involved an african Prince coming to America in search of a Bride. Three years later Paramount produced coming to America starring Murphy. It grossed More than $300 million. Pilot attempting Landing sets Down on moving truck Rothsay Minn. A a Pilot attempting to make an emergency Landing on an interstate Highway landed instead on the Back of a moving truck the state patrol said thursday. There were no injuries in the incident which happened around 9 . Wednesday on interstate 94 about four Miles West of Rothsay said Highway patrol spokeswoman Roxanne in gum. In gum said the single engine Cessna piloted by Robert Russell of cottage Grove Minn., was in route from Minneapolis St. Paul to grand Forks n.d., when the plane s engine apparently iced up. In gum said Russell attempted an emergency Landing on 1-94, but the plane touched Down atop a Grain truck westbound on the freeway then Slid off the truck into the Center median. Russell and a passenger. Brad schirmers of St. Louis Park both attending the University of North Dakota flight school were unhurt. In gum said the truck Driver was shaken but also escaped injury