European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday january 19, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 7 new Jersey Iowa reportedly to be mothballed by Susanne m. Schafer a Mil tiry writer Washington the Navy plans to Moth Ball the battleships Iowa and new Jersey a defense department official said wednesday. The Ucac Lvalion of the two battleships which has been widely expected amid budget cutbacks would leave the Navy with two Active battleships the Missouri and the Wisconsin. The official providing the first confirmation of which two ships had been picked for deactivation said. It s As Good As  the huge extravagantly armoured ships were brought out of Mothballs beginning in i982. But. Speaking on condition of anonymity the offi Cial conceded that political pressure from new York City where the Navy had planned to base the Iowa could cause another ship to be thrown into the pot for the new base there now about 70 percent Complete. The Iowa entered the Norfolk va., Navy Yard ear Lier this week for a 14-week refit that will Cost $26 million and restore a crippled Turret to full operation. Forty seven sailors were killed last april 19 when the Middle 16-Inch gun in the Iowa s three gun no. 2 Turret exploded during firing practice in the Atlantic. The Navy has said the explosion was most probably the work of a suicidal member of the gun Crew but the conclusion has been strongly opposed As unsupported by Many members of Congress. In addition to the structural electrical and equip ment repairs needed in the Turret the Navy also plans to overhaul pumps fresh water and Salt water piping gunfire control equipment electronic equipment and steam fuel and water valves. Under a plan announced in 1988 to disperse the battleships attacked by critics As pure pork barrel poli tics the Navy planned to base the Iowa and its four or five escorting frigates and destroyers at a new base on Staten Island in new York City and the new Jersey at Long Beach Calif. Commenting earlier this week on the possibility that the Iowa would be mothballed Guy Molinari Borough president of Staten Island who has just resigned As the area s Republican congressman said it is my educated guess that we probably will not have the Iowa. But we will have a surface action group coming to Stalin  if the Mothball plan is carried out the Navy would retain one battleship the Wisconsin in the Atlantic Fleet and the Missouri in the Pacific. Current plans Call for the Wisconsin to be based at Corpus Chris Texas and the Missouri s group of ships to be split Between Hawaii and Long Beach. The new Jersey and the Iowa arc the two older ships. Both were launched in 1942 and entered service the following year. All four ships saw action in world War ii served through the korean War years and were mothballed in the 1950s. If the new Jersey which fired at targets in Lebanon in 1982, is returned to the inactive Fleet it would be for the third time. The ship also was activated during the Vietnam War. The ships arc 887 feet Long and displace 58.000 tons. In addition to nine 16-Inch guns they carry Tomahawk cruise missiles Harpoon anti ship missiles 12 5-Inch guns and four rapid firing 20mm anti air Craft guns for close in defense. In Coriaty of fall River mass., takes advantage of Spring like temperatures a walk in the Sun that reached into the mid sos to take his 18-month-old son Justin for a stroll along an Overlook in the City s Kennedy Park. Murderer executed in Missouri Potosi to. A convicted Mur Derer Gerald Smith was executed by lethal injection Early thursday. It was Missouri s second execution since 1965, and the nation s 121st execution since a supreme court ruling in 1976 Al Lowed states to restore the death penalty. Smith 31, of St. Louis Smith was Origi Nally sentenced to death for the beating death of Karen Roberts in St. Louis. A additional death sentence was imposed for the slaying in 1985 of a fellow death Row inmate. Smith had no last words and refused to write a final statement prison spokesman Dale Riley said. Among the witnesses were his wife Lynn his court appointed attorney c. John pleban and an unidentified female acquaintance. After the injection of sodium pc Talool. Paulon and potassium Chloride. Smith looked at his wife who mouthed i  he appeared to respond then closed his eyes. Death penalty opponents made a last ditch Effort to save Smith s life by filing a motion wednesday afternoon with the . Supreme court but the court voted 7 2 to reject the Appeal by the Missouri Capi Tal punishment resource Center in Kansas City. Another group asked gov. John Ash Croft for a reprieve to Block the execution but Ashcroft declined his spokesman said. Kemp kills Hud insurance mortgage program Washington a housing Secretary Jack Kemp on wednesday killed a program that allows Pri vate lenders to commit the government to insuring mortgages. The program has Cost taxpayers nearly $ 1 billion because of sour Loans. Because of projects in the approval pipeline Kemp said the program would have to be phased out a period department of housing and Urban development officials said was Likely to last several months or per haps longer because of necessary regulatory approvals. In the interim. Kemp ordered effective immediately that private lenders preparing to approve a co insured loan first submit All documentation to Hud for approval. Kemp s decision comes four months after Hud officials said the co insurance program would be reformed and revived. It was one of Many Hud programs investigated during last year s allegations of mismanagement and influence peddling at Hud during the Reagan administration. The co insurance program created in 1983, was part of the Reagan administration s Effort to reduce the Federal bureaucracy by turning Over work to the Pri vate sector. The program allows private lenders to process Mort gages for multifamily housing developments and uni laterally commit Hud to insuring roughly 80 percent of them in the event of default. Audits by Hud s inspector general have criticized Many of the co insurance lenders for approving bloated mortgages that far exceeded the value of the property. The general accounting office has estimated that defaults and other related losses have Cost taxpayers at least $960 million. The most notorious Case which Kemp cited in his statement announcing the decision was the Hud backed loan for the colonial House apartment com plex in Houston. The development was co insured for $47.2 million and ultimately defaulted because of vacancy problems blamed on rents that were too High for the depressed Houston real estate Market but necessary to cover the mortgage. Hud was forced to take Over colonial House and recovered just $8.9 million when it auctioned inc development last year. Kemp suspended the program last summer As Evi Dence of shoddy mortgage underwriting mounted and he has suspended six participating lenders and placed seven More on probation. Kemp had placed a moratorium on admitting new lenders into the program Pend ing a re structuring. In september Hud officials said privately that the department was on the verge of announcing reforms to the co insurance program. They then said the announcement was on hold because of delays in drafting the necessary regulations. But in his statement wednesday Kemp said Exten Sive reviews of the program by Hud staff and outside auditors had convinced him to kill it. The co insurance method is structurally flawed and fundamentally unsound As Well As administratively in fixable Kemp said