European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 28, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                4 sex officials being tried in Romania Bucharest. Romania a in a a nationally televised trial began saturday for four former associates of dictator Nicolas c  charged with participating in a crackdown that led to thousands of deaths during the revolution. One of those on trial former politburo member Ion Dinca. Testified he helped Caus Csc a put into practice the criminal measures to suffocate in blood the justified revolution of the  the four were being tried by a panel of five uniformed military judges in a Hall seating hundreds of people at the romanian military Academy in Bucharest. The trial is the first of top associates of Ceausescu. Whose brutal 24-year Rule ended in a popular revolution in december. Prosecuting Caus Csc loyalists is a key test of the provisional government. Which is struggling to gain the support of the people and has promised free elections in May. The trial opened one Day after the vice president of the provisional government resigned claiming that Quot stalinist in methods Quot arc being used by the nation s new leaders. Also on trial arc former parly Secretary Emil Bobu the no. 3 official under Caus Csc and his wife. Elena former Interior minister Tudor Postel Nicu. Who headed the hated secret police and cd politburo member Manca Manescu. If convicted they could receive 20-year prison sentences. The four sat together in a Box in the courtroom with two uniformed guards behind them. The trial began with each of the defendants asked to list his age background and education. The charges were then read As the four defendants listened impassively. Then the questioning began. The charges referred to Caus Csc and his wife As the Quot authors Quot of the genocide but said the four defendants did not act to Block the Ceausescu from taking illegal actions and therefore were guilty of complicity. The Ceausescu were found guilty of Quot grave crimes Quot and executed dec. 25. Among those charges was genocide which officials said referred to 60.000 people slain during the communist dictator s regime. The defendants were not asked at first to plead to the charges but were questioned about events leading to the orders for Security forces to open fire on unarmed demonstrators during the revolution. The order was Given by Caus Csc at a meeting of the political executive committee of the communist party or politburo on dec. 17 while demonstrators in the Western City of Timisoara were demanding the dictators ouster. Dinca said Caus Csc wanted soldiers to fire in the air Over the Heads of demonstrators and at the legs of those who broke into stores party Headquarters or other institutions. He said Caus Csc then asked if those at the meeting had other opinions. Quot nobody had any other  Dinca recalled. He did not make Clear How the orders Weie expanded to shots fired at the Heads and bodies of demonstrators but accepted responsibility Lor what he called Quot criminal  Quot i gave my help to Caus Csc to put into practice the criminal measures to suffocate in blood the justified revolution of the  he said. When asked Why the revolution was justified. Dinca said the people suffered Quot a Lack of constitutional rights. Human Freedom. A Lack of food and  the charge was read out As falling under the Section of the romanian penal code that says Quot genocide constitutes the action of destroying a nation a Community or an ethnic group by  Western diplomats in Bucharest citing witness accounts and their own assessments believe 10,000 people died in the uprising. When he resigned Friday vice president Dumi Truma Ilu said. Quot stalinist methods and practices Quot arc still being used by the provisional government and a the press is still directed to destroy some people and promote  Quot i am convinced that those who have carried out the revolution will never accept that it be taken Over by people who Haven t Given anything of themselves to it Quot he said after Reading his resignation on radio free  life harmful to hearing panel says by Cox news service Washington a millions of americans arc being injured by noise a their hearing impaired sometimes permanently by a storm of noise that destroys the microscopic hairs of the inner ear like a thunderstorm twists and flattens Prairie grass. Health experts say firefighters police officers military personnel construction and factory workers musicians Farmers and truck Drivers arc Only the most obvious victims of hazardous noise Levels. Off the Job. Amplified music recreational vehicles air planes Lawn mowers Chain saws and even Kitchen blenders make millions More the unwitting victims of the noisy world we live in. The repeated sustained exposure to loud noise often makes temporary damage permanent. An estimated 28 million americans now suffer some form of hearing loss a 10 million of them from overexposure to noise. Experts convened recently by the National institutes of health say there arc no reliable estimates of the costs of occupational noise induced hearing loss but total expenditures Over the last decade for Federal state and military personnel alone Are estimated at $2.5 despite the toll a and the fact that authorities know How hearing loss occurs and How to prevent it a the panel concluded that both government and Industry have been slow to implement solutions. As a result Many people have needlessly suffered hearing loss. The group found it Quot particularly unfortunate that the government chose in 1982 to dismantle the environmental Protection Agency s office of noise abatement and control. The panel called for re establishment of a Federal Agency with Central responsibility for noise issues. Or. Patrick e. Brookhouser director of the boys town National research Hospital in Omaha neb., and the director of the conference said the government needs to get More involved in noise abatement a and Start enforcing existing noise control regulations. Quot our increasingly noisy environment places More and More people at risk. Many of the individuals who arc losing their hearing Don t know it Quot he said. Quot everybody who has two cars has an interest in preserving their  Brookhouser also called for More research into the reasons that some people appear less susceptible to hearing damage than others a and How different types of noise can damage the hearing noise induced hearing loss is usually a function of loudness and duration. The noise from a pistol shot or explosion can cause permanent hearing loss in an instant. But decades of exposure to much lower Levels of noise a such As that found on most City streets a can also take a toll. Most of the damage results from the loss of microscopic hair cells found in the Cochlea a Small Structure that lies coiled like a Snail Shell in the inner ear. Vibrations of the hairs cause Subtle chemical changes in underlying cells which in turn set Oft minute electrical charges in auditory nerve cells. Since hairs at various locations in the Cochlea respond to sounds of different frequencies damage at one location can cause a hearing a notch Quot that makes sounds at those frequencies inaudible. Or. Charles Liberman of Harvard University medical school says Early noise related hearing loss involves Quot notches Quot at higher frequencies those that make up a Large part of the Range of human speech. Although the hearing capabilities of Small boys and girls arc the same boys begin to show hearing loss As Early As their 10th birthday and continue to diverge through adulthood a a trend that scientists attribute to the fact that boys and men tend to be exposed to More loud noise than girls and women. Hearing loss is not an inevitable consequence of age. Tests in Remote regions of Africa show that the ciders of some tribes often have hearing As keen As the younger individuals. In Modem societies however pervasive exposure to recreational noise May be accelerating hearing loss among the Young. Although the damage can be caused by any loud noise modern technology has helped make amplified music one of the most apparent threats. Portable stereo Cass Cylc players for instance can generate sound intensities As High As 120 decibels a equivalent to sound of a Jackhammer at close Range a for hours at a time. When sustained exposure causes temporary hearing loss the user simply turns up the volume