European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 a a a the stars and stripes Friday March 9,1990 Dod accused of buying overpriced spare parts Washington pm the air Force spent ssi.397 on a c-5a cargo plane Pilot seat when a similar Model was As Ai Laboc for about $ 16.000. A lawmaker said wednesday in accusing the Pentagon of continuing to bus overpriced spare parts. Rep Barbara Boxer. A Calif. Also criticized the defense department s procurement chief. John Betti for his order to civilian auditors discouraging the withholding of program funds if they suspected waste fraud abuse or mismanagement by a contractor. I under the Jan. 2$ directive. Betti said he or his Deputy would have the authority to withhold payments to contractors to ensure that the step is taken Only w Hen absolutely necessary Quot it in no want indicates any reduction in my desire for disciplined and responsive management of our acquisition  Betti said in the order. Quot rather it signals my belief that self disciplined and responsible program managers Are a More responsive and Cost cafe Crisc control system than Are a series of hierarchical res  but Boxer told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference that Betti took away the a one main tool Quot that had been Given to civilian auditors. Quot i think he is bossing to the demands of the services As opposed to the civilian  she said. The congresses woman. In a letter released wednesday urged Betti to rescind his order saying his decision Quot sends the wrong signal to defense contractors and those in the Sers ices responsible for  by the associated press a snowstorm that buried Colorado and Wyoming under feet of Snow turned into freezing rain As it moved eastward snapping Power lines and turning roadways into ice rinks. Half the Homes in Des Moines. Iowa were without Power thursday. The Snow cleanup was expected to get easier thursday with temperatures expected to soar into the 50s. Quot when you step off the curb you re probably going to step into a slush  Craig Sanders forecaster for the National weather service said wednesday night in Cheyenne. Wyo. About 130 Miles of interstate Highway were still dosed in Wyoming late wednesday night. The storm dumped up to 50 inches of Snow in parts of Northern Colorado and shut Down travel from the Denver area to Southeastern w coming. The fierce storm driven by winds up to 50 Mph was blamed for at least one traffic death in Colorado and some highways were closed and littered with stuck and stalled vehicles wednesday. The freezing rain moved into Iowa. Nebraska. South Dakota and Minnesota coating Power lines roads and tree limbs and knocking out electricity. Quot its just like an ice skating rink on the interstate a said Bob Gantz. A Mechanic for Dave a Auto repair in Ankeny. Iowa. Quot the patrolmen  even stand up on the pavement to direct  hundreds of schools closed or opened late on thursday in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. Snow and sleet Boxer who in the mid-1980s disclosed the Pentagon paid $7,400 for a Coffee Brewer and $539 for Arm rests used the news conference to show that the Public and congressional outcry has forced the department to buy similar items at a cheaper Price. The air Force recently spent $283 on a commercial Coffee maker for its c-5 aircraft and is repairing damaged Arm rests for a Mere $25. However the Pentagon is Quot still blowing taxpayers Money on spare  Boxer said. Quot we have found other parts outside the Glare of publicity where the air Force had returned to its old ways of accepting overcharges on spare  she said. But defense department spokesman Glenn flood said that a across the Board the Pentagon was making Progress in keeping prices  in 1988. The air Force bought one Weber manufactured Pilot seat for $81,397 for the c-5a aircraft and eight More seats at $29,476 each. But for the c-5b aircraft the air Force bought $16,047 seats made by i Peco. Quot the air Force says the Weber and Dipeco seats Are  Boxer said. In addition the air Force purchased 4.000 eight Day clocks at a Cost of $596 each. But a supplier contacted by the project for government procurement said it could Supply clocks meeting the same specifications for s270 each. Boxer said. Became mixed with rain Early thursday with an Inch or two of Snow reported in parts of Central Minnesota the weather serv ice said. A definitely 1  want to travel today if i did no to have  said forecaster Bill Harrison of the National weather service in Minneapolis. Half of the Village of Hemingford in the Nebraska Panhandle lost electricity wednesday As branches fell on Power lines. Quot it sounds like we have a lot of Lumberjacks  said Peggy Reynold administrator in the Village of 1,023. About 75,000 Iowa Power customers in Central Iowa were without electricity and company officials said it could be late thursday before Power is restored. Colorado commuters on thursday faced slush covered highways still strewn with abandoned vehicles. The Public transit system in Denver was Back on schedule thursday after cancellation of up to 30 bus routes wednesday. But at least two school districts decided to keep All their schools closed for another Day. Snow continued to fall wednesday night in Southern Wyoming Northern Colorado and Southwest Nebraska. Freezing rain extended from North Central Nebraska across parts of South Dakota the Southern half of Minnesota and parts of Iowa. Rain and a few thunderstorms reached from Western Wisconsin across Western Illinois and parts of Iowa. Missouri. Nebraska Kansas Arkansas Mississippi Alabama Tennessee and Kentucky. Stateside prayer in sign language opens session of Senate Washington apr the Senate opened business thursday with a prayer in sign language by two ministers from Gallaudet University the nation s Liberal arts College for the deaf. Sen. Robert w. Kasten jr., r-wis., introduced the ministers the revs. Jay Croft and Gerard a. Trancone and said the invocation w As the first in the history of the Senate Given in sign language. Kasten said their invocation was in recognition of Quot deaf awareness  which starts sunday. The first sign language interpreters on the Senate floor appeared last september during debate on the americans with disabilities act the wide ranging civil rights Bill for disabled americans. The Bill has passed the Senate and is awaiting House committee  on Malibu Cit Hood beached by opponents los Angeles apr county supervisors defied a judge s order and refused to schedule a june election on making Malibu a City. They instructed county attorneys to Challenge the judge s jurisdiction Over the Issue. Backers of Cit Hood for the Star studded Seaside enclave said their lawyers w Ould ask Superior court judge Dzintra Jan avs to cite the supervisors for contempt. Quot what we Are seeing is an unmitigated  Walt Keller co chairman of the Malibu committee for incorporation said of the county s move. Jan avs last week ordered supervisors to comply with an order she issued in january to set an election Date no later than March 9. The deadline to include the Cit Hood vote on the june 5 ballot. The Board of supervisors has opposed incorporation. Insisting that a sewer system be installed before Cit Hood is established. They contend that once elected a new Malibu government would try to Block the planned  May be jailed for bogus distress Call new Buffalo. Mich. Apr a phony distress Call that prompted an All night search of frosty Lake Michigan could Lead to a jail sentence for two teen agers. A caller told the coast guard station at Michigan City. Ind. That a Cabin Cruiser was sinking and that he and three other passengers were going into the Lake with life preservers. A coast guard Rescue boat two helicopters and private boats searched for about 12 hours before suspending the Mission. The coast guard received a tip that the Call was a hoax by two new Buffalo High school students. Under questioning they confessed and named a third student authorities said wednesday. John Yanz 17. And Scott Zygmuntowski. 18. Awaited arraignment on charges of making a false report an offence carrying up to a year m jail. The Case of their 16-year-old Friend was to be handled in juvenile . Louis reporters stage first a byline strike St. Louis apr reporters and columnists withheld their bylines from the pages of the St. Louis Post dispatch on wednesday one Day before contract negotiations were to resume Between the newspaper and its unions. About 600 members of local 47 of the by. Louis newspaper Guild have been working without a contract since their old pact expired at Midnight feb. 28. Herb Goodrick executive director of to. Local said he was pleased with the number o writers who had withheld their bylines in t Ltd first Quot byline strike in the papers history. Quot its been very effective a said Goodrick. It to show that they re embarrassed to put Tneia name on a paper that takes the bargaining to Tion that the Post has taken. They re ashamed it and done to want their name tied to  Chris Murdock of Lafayette colo., and a Friend dig Murdocks car out of a Snowbank along Denver Boulder Turnpike. Snow ice spread across nation