European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 31, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday March 31, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 3army prepares for Poison Gas move by Peggy Davidson Kaiserslautern Bureau Miessau West Germany a the army corps of engineers has inst led sophisticated lightning rods to protect chemical weapons when they Are transferred from military trucks to civilian trains at Miessau this summer. The lightning rods Are part of additional Security measures installed at the Railhead in preparation for the withdrawal of 100,000 artillery shells filled with chemical weapons. The engineers also have # enclosed the entire Railhead with nearly 5,000 feet of Security Fence. A installed a new Low pressure sodium lighting system for the shipments which will be done at night. A cleared huge areas of Trees creating a 33-foot Buffer zone Between the new Security fences and the tree line. The construction project which has been under Way for five months will be turned Over to the 59th Ord brigade on april 6. The weapons will be moved from Clausen army depot to Miessau in 70-vehicle convoys with 20 military trucks carrying the shells in each Convoy. The other vehicles will carry police medical and firefighting teams As Well As other emergency personnel. The shells will be mounted on specially built pallets. These in turn will be inserted in vapor proof steel containers. The cargo then will be packed in military shipping containers which will be carried by the trucks. At the Railhead the containers will be lifted from the trucks by military machines specially designed to move the atoll disposal facility being readied by Janet Howells Tierney Washington Bureau Washington a the chemical weapons being withdrawn from West Germany will be destroyed in special furnaces on a Pacific Island. The Johnston atoll chemical agent disposal system took four years to build. It is 700 Miles Southwest of Hawaii. It has Protection devices normally reserved for a maximum Security prison. The $140 million facility is the first full scale system designed solely for chemical agent disposal. The chemical weapons from Europe will join More than 200,000 munitions already stored on the Island in 54 Earth covered steel Arch Hunters. Beyond the compounds 7-foot-Hieh, Chain link Fence patrolled by Security police is the munitions demolitions building. Inside the plants sophisticated machinery is being tested. It should be operational by late april or mid May. Officials expect to destroy the chemical stockpile on the Island in three or four years. The two Story building has reinforced Concrete and steel explosion containment rooms and Remote controlled equipment operated by computers. Each room s treated with a special coating to resist toxic chemicals. Every Type of chemical weapon is taken apart in the protected rooms. The various parts of the weapons Are then incinerated in separate furnaces which can produce heat Between 1,500 and 2,000 degrees. One Furnace destroys explosive components fuses propellants residual agents and other combustible material. Another Furnace will destroy Metal parts and bum off residual Mustard agents which Are used in the weapons because of their extremely irritating blistering and disabling effects. A third incinerator will bum All chemicals drained from the munitions and bulk containers. And a fourth Furnace will incinerate All pallets packaging contaminated wastes and protective clothing used in transporting the agents. The Complex is protected by monitors and detectors that will warn the 800 workers of potentially hazardous conditions. Load. The machines will place the containers onto the trains. From there the weapons will be transported to the seaport of no Denham loaded on Navy ships and taken to the Johnston atoll in the Pacific Ocean where they will be destroyed. The exact routes Are classified. The Short trip from Clausen to Miessau a from 25 to 37 Miles depending on the route a is considered the most vulnerable portion of the entire Mission. A once a Convoy leaves Clausen everyone knows where its going a said it. Col. John c. Carson area Engineer for the Kaiserslautern area european Divi a thousands of slovaks demonstrate in front of the regional parliament in Bratislava Friday to protest the new name of the Republic. Nations new name draws slovak protest Prague Czechoslovakia apr thousands of slovaks gathered Friday outside the regional parliament in Bratislava o protest the new name of the nation the state news Agency ctr reported. Some protesters called for a separate slovak state ctr said. No czechoslovak federative after iwas a opted thursday night aider a Daylong discussion in the Federal via mint and weeks of growing tensions Between the czechs and slovaks. Vij Hplu is rom czech lands a apr Mai Nae czechoslovak federative a Hank a. Slovak deputies wanted Enin czechoslovak Republic a concti6 thee Ual status of the tw0 constituent republics. ?.ise was finally reached Al  ova t0 Hyphenate the Vak f2l writing As a Czecho so federative  Sion of the army corps of engineers. Although the weapons Arentt scheduled to be moved until sometime Between july and september the army needed the Railhead completed Early so that it can train soldiers to move the military shipping containers bring convoys to the Railhead and perform Security drills. Construction began in october 1989, even before the design for All segments of the project were completed. One of the bigger design problems for the 6970th civilian support group Kaiserslautern was the lightning system. A no one had Ever done it Here a said 1st it. Jeffrey Kuhl project officer for the 94th engineers combat in the unit doing the construction at Miessau. The lightning rods Are mounted atop 66-foot poles which also hold the new lighting system. Wire is Strung Between the poles to form a protected area. If lightning strikes it will hit either the poles or the wires dissipating its Energy through the grounded lightning system missing anything on the ground below. The rails themselves Are already grounded said capt. Bill Reichert construction management Engineer european division of the army corps of engineers Kaiserslautern. The project was budgeted to Cost $970,000. Reichert said the actual costs Are about $ 130,000 less. S. Africa lifts bans on autobiography by Mandela film the protesters who gathered outside the slovak parliament in the Southern City of Bratislava expressed their discontent with the Compromise solution and called for the declaration of a Sovereign slovak state ctr reported. It said the slovak parliamentary chairman Rudolf schuster and Deputy Jan Zelenay assured the protesters that their representatives had sought to Settle the problem which has dominated internal politics in recent weeks. Protesters read a petition to the slovak regional parliament calling on the legislature to begin negotiations with the National parliament on the full recognition of slovak sovereignty and autonomy ctr reported. The petition claimed that the government does not recognize the existence of Slovakia one of the country a two constituent republics. About one third of the country a 15.5 million people Are slovaks. Johannesburg South Africa apr the government censorship Board on Friday lifted bans on the autobiography of Black Leader Nelson Mandela and the anti apartheid movie a a dry White  the publication appeals Board said Mandela a Book a the struggle is my life now is a part of the accepted political rhetoric in South Africa. The Board had banned the Book three years ago. Mandela was released feb. 11 after 27 years in prison for his role in launching the bombing and sabotage Campaign of the african National Congress. He continues to support the Ancus armed struggle which has been largely dormant in the past year. A was far As the principle of armed violence is concerned Mandela a standpoint is so Well known that it is unlikely it will change the Outlook of the Reader toward political violence a the appeals Board said in its judgment. Other books about Mandela and the Anc have been available in South Africa for several years. A a dry White season is a  film based on the anti apartheid novel by South african author Andre Brink. The film featuring Donald Sutherland and Marlon Brando was screened at a South african film festival last year but was banned from general circulation. The movie concerns a series of injustices suffered by a Black family at the hands of White authorities. A White teacher played by Sutherland becomes involved and unsuccessfully seeks redress through the courts. A the Board believes this film is a serious one which addresses the sensitive relations Between White and Black in South Africa a the Board said in a statement. A in the boards opinion it attempts to improve these relations. Sadly it often loses its effect by falling into  another anti apartheid film a cry Freedom a is scheduled to reopen in South Africa on april 27. The Board approved the film in july 1988, by police used their Powers under the National state of emergency to confiscate it from Heaters the Day it opened saying it posed a threat to Public safety. The distributors said police returned the copies of the film recently. A cry Freedom is about Black activist Steve Biko who died in police custody in 1977, and Donald Woods a White newspaper editor who had befriended him. Also Friday a Nephew of Anc Leader Walter Sisulu was released 14 months Early from prison along with six other men convicted of politically motivated crimes. Since the end of an 11-Day hunger strike in Early March the government has granted Early release to 42 prisoners at the Robben Island prison. The hunger strike ended after lawyers for the 346 hunger strikers met with government officials. Details of their agreement have never been made Public but the Pace of releases has increased. Walter Sisulu was freed from Robben Island prison last october after serving 25 years of a life term for plotting sabotage to end White Rule. His Nephew Jom Guzi 31, was sentenced May 21, 1986, to five years for treason. He said he was shocked when prison authorities told him thursday he would be freed