European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 12, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 news briefs the stars and stripes Friday january 12. 1990 shuttle Columbia closes in on orbiting satellite Cape canaveral. Fla. A Colum Bia s astronauts mopped up water from a leak dehumidifier thursday As they closed in on the floating science Laboratory they plan to Pluck from space on Friday with the shuttle s robot . Commander Dan Brandenstein and Pilot  executed three engine firing Maneu vers thursday putting Columbia on a near Colli Sion course with the satellite they have been chasing since they were launched tuesday onto path 1.725 Miles behind their Quarry. Once the astronauts move in on the 11-Tontarget, they will Fly in formation 35 feet away while Mission specialist Bonnie Dunbar reaches out with Columbia s 50-foot mechanical  to snare the 30-foot satellite which is As Large As a Small school bus. If All goes Well she will make the catch at 9 48 . Friday. The shuttle thursday morning was reported to be within 300 Miles of the satellite known As the Long duration exposure facility. Registration deadline nears for Ivory owners Mannheim. West Germany is Aone time Ivory registration program to let some . Citizens import Ivory to the United state sin their household goods shipments will end feb. 6, according to military customs officials in  United states banned the importation of Ivory on june 9 to preserve the declining elephant population in Africa. All Ivory importation was halted because it is difficult to distinguish african elephant Ivory from other types. The Ivory can be registered at military police customs offices. . Citizens must have Bee overseas on june 9. 1989. And the Ivory must have been legally owned before that Date. The Ivory must not be intended for resale and must be shipped As part of the household goods or unaccompanied baggage of the . Citizen when shipped stateside. Photos household goods manifests and Simi Lar documents will be considered proof of own  owners should Contact their local Mili tary customs Field office for additional information. Northwest floods receding but the worst in t Over yet central1a. Wash. A a carpet of floodwaters Lay across Southwest Washington and Northern Oregon thursday closing part of a Busy interstate Highway and other roads and forcing about 3,000 peo ple from their  floodwaters. Which caused at least three deaths in southwestern Washington began receding on the Plains West of the Cascade mountains late wednesday. Bad weather also was blamed for two deaths in Oregon since a series of storms came ashore last weekend. Residents sandbagged riverbanks in some coastal Washington towns As they braced for the Rivers to Crest thursday and Friday. By mid morning flood warnings were called off for the Cedar Skookumchuck and Colwitz Rivers. Flood warnings remained for the Che Halis. White and Snohomish Rivers. About half the 600 residents downstream around Oakville and Porter left their Homes Grays Harbo county emergency services spokeswoman Lynn o Connor said thursday. This is potentially the worst flooding since the1930s," said sheriff Dennis Morrissette of Grays har Bor county. The deaths included a Man whose body was found floating in the Centralia floodwaters. A Man whose car was swamped on a flooded Section of interstate 5 South of town also died and a Man drowned in his car North of Tacoma authorities said. Twelve Miles of 1-5, the North South artery linking Portland ore., and Seattle were closed after floodwaters covered a two mile stretch near Centralia the department of emergency management reported. Rain also washed out the main North South rail route used by Burlington Northern and Amtrak trains. Motorists were Able to take a 60-mile Detour around the 1-5 closure but heavy trucks had to make a 100 mile Detour through Eastern Washington. The worst flooding was in Centralia a Community of about 11,000, where the Chehalis River crested 8.4feet above flood stage by noon wednesday and was not expected to fall below flood stage until noon Friday the National weather service said. Among the 3,000 Lewis county evacuees thursday were 400 who fled after a waterlogged Dike along the Skookumchuck River failed overnight authorities said. The Dike has been breached and they could t hold it Back with sandbags fire chief Chuck Newbury said wednesday morning. It s just threatening prop cry at the moment. We Don t foresee any life i threatening  gov. Booth Gardner said he planned to ask for fed Cral assistance to Deal with flood damage in Lewis county which surrounds Centralia. The state emergency services department said damage in King county around Seattle could run $4million. Damage estimates for other affected counties. Were not immediately available. The flooding followed four Days of winds and heavy rain. Rains cased or stopped wednesday and the weather service predicted Only scattered showers for the next few Days. In Oregon the swamped area West of Portland began to Drain and As floodwaters receded residents began cleaning up millions of dollars in damage. Trip from Page 1 other Baltic states Latvia and Estonia in 1940 under secret agreement with nazi Germany. Gorbachev shaking his personal prestige on Cooling the Calls for lithuanian Independence waded into a crowd of several Hundred people after laying a Wreath at a Monu ment to soviet founder Vladimir i. Lenin in downtown Vilnius and talked to people for almost an hour. We have been tied together for these 50 years whether we like it or not Gorbachev said. One Man in the crowd called out people must decide their own  will be decided without you Gorbachev replied. We will decide everything , the soviet Leader added the following warn ing remember if someone succeeds in pitting us against each other in a clash there will be a  Gorbachev was not explicit about what such a trag Edy might be but one of his closest political allies fellow politburo member Alexander n. Yakovlev was quoted monday in an interview with inter fax a news service of radio Moscow As saying the Lithuania party s move might cause a Domino effect encouraging communists in the country s other 14 republics to break off from  officials have Given a virtual guarantee they will not use Force to keep Lithuania and its 3.7 million residents in the soviet Union. Foreign ministry spokesman Gennady i. Gerasimov told the British Cheney from Page 1 said the savings would be achieved primarily through streamlining each service s purchasing system. Reducing the use of consultants and outside advisers. Creating a full time acquisition corps in each service that would report through a streamlined Chain of command to top civilian department officials. Eliminating unnecessary paperwork. The management improvements will generate $2.3 billion in savings for by fiscal year 91 and an estimated $39 billion through by 95," the statement said. The improvements make it possible to trim the logistics and management work Force of 580,000 civilians and military personnel and by As Many As 8.000 civilians and 8,000 military personnel in by 91 and by 18.000 civilian and 24,000 military personnel by the end of by 95." when Cheney first undertook the study some members of Congress complained that the Effort was t deep enough to radically Reform the system. Meanwhile defense department sources said Cheney has ordered other reviews of strategic poli cies and major aircraft programs to help plan Long Range spending As the department faces near certain budget cuts sources said wednesday. Cheney seeking advice on the Pentagon s Long term strategy and budgets directed Paul Wolfowitz the undersecretary of defense for policy to reassess the Overall defense strategy. He asked John Belli the undersecretary of defense for acquisition to re View the Pentagon s most expensive aircraft projects the sources said. In part it s because of what s happening in East Ern Europe said one Pentagon official who spoke on condition he not be identified by name. It really puts on paper what people were asked to do months ago said a military source who also spoke on condition of anonymity. The first official said although such studies Are usually done continuously at the Pentagon the events in Eastern Europe and the Prospect of de Clines in the military s projected budget increases added impetus to Cheney s request. Much of the military s planning and budgets Are focused on fighting a .-sovict War primarily in Europe with nato and Warsaw pact troops and airlifting . Troops overseas for protracted Bat Les. Bush s 1991 budget to be delivered to Congress later this month is expected to include some weapons cutbacks and Calls for a 2 percent real drop in Pentagon spending. But because of the Complex Pentagon budget building process it is not expected to reflect a major adjustment in the . Military response to the sweeping changes in the soviet Union and Europe the source said. So the studies expected to be sent to Cheney by March will be used As officials begin deliberations for the fiscal 1992 budget Cycle and for Long Range planning the official added. The military source said Cheney s memorandum dated mid december says the review should begin from Basic  mov who also accompanied Gorbachev to  also spoke of possible National repercussions when he told the Vilnius crowd the rights of Al minorities in the soviet Union whether it is the lithuanians or Small non lithuanian groups in their Republic must be respected or the entire polyglot nation of More than 100 ethnic groups May fall  even the slightest suppression occurs or misunderstanding somewhere in Estonia or Moldavia i spills Over into the rest of the country he said. Review from Page 1 Dersco Claries of defense for policy and acquisition Paul Wolfowitz and John Belli will have responsibility for conducting the review. Officials cautioned against overplaying the significance of the review with one calling it the kind of budgetary exercise that goes on All the time in this building. He said the review process for the next five Yea plan will cover Many other weapons systems As Well Ai the Basic tenets of . Defense strategy. He added that none of the four aircraft on the re View Agenda Are in imminent danger of being Cut Al though the los Angeles times reported wednesday that Cheney has decided to reduce the number of c 17s from 10 to six in the fiscal 1991 budget that will go to Congress later this month. Cheney also has said recently that while he strongly supports the b-2 stealth bomber program the Penta 1 gon May not be Able to afford All of the 132 aircraft the air Force would like to have in its Fleet