European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 26, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 a a a the stars and stripes thursday april 26,1990colt draws fire for producing new Rifle Hartford Conn. Apr a year after Colt firearms Drew Praise for pulling its ar-15 semiautomatic Rifle off the civilian Market it is under fire for producing a new version that critics say is virtually the same weapon. The juror Over the weapon called the Sporter and produced by the newly created Colts manufacturing co., has renewed debate Over the Bush administrations policy on assault weapons. It also has become a political Issue for state officials in Connecticut which put up $25 million in state pension funds earlier this year to help buy Colt industries firearms division and end a bitter four year strike. The state now owns 47 percent of the new company. Late tuesday in Hartford the state House voted 9649 to approve a Bill requiring permits for assault weapons including the Sporter Rifle. The Bill imposes a 10-Ycar mandatory prison term on anyone convicted of using assault weapons in carrying out a violent crime. Supporters of the Bill say they re optimistic that it will be passed by the state Senate but opponents pledged to bring intense pressure on the upper chamber. A this is feel Good legislation a said Susan Misiora a . College Calls off speech by soviet Diplomat Amherst . Apr to protest the soviet unions pressure on Lithuania the president of Jacmen College has withdrawn his invitation to a soviet Diplomat to speak at the schools commencement. Igor Khripunov first Secretary of the soviet embassy in Washington d.c., had already agreed to speak at the private Liberal arts colleges May 13 commencement. A i know its not exactly the most genteel thing to do but i think in a right a Robert s. Marshall said of his decision to cancel the invitation. A i could not in Good conscience present to our graduating class a representative of a country which uses the Jackboot of tyranny to attempt to halt a movement toward Freedom a he  Arch collapses kills construction worker Minneapolis apr a freshly poured Concrete support Arch on a Bridge connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul fell into the Mississippi River killing a construction worker. Several employees of . Mccrossan construction inc. Were inspecting the Arch when a 200-foot piece gave Way tuesday dropping More than 100 tons of Concrete and debris authorities said. Robert a. Moser 45, suffered multiple injuries and May have died before he hit the water 90 feet below said Gary Kaldun an investigator with the Hennepin county medical examiners office. At least one other worker plunged into the water but was not seriously Hurt police said. The $15.7 million Bridge was being built to replace an adjacent Span about 100 years old. The two Bridges Are less than 20 feet apart. Lobbyist for the National Rifle association. A it Isnit going to do  rep. Robert Godfrey one of the Bill a chief backers said chances of getting the Bill through the Senate Are a pretty  other supporters said it is a first step in getting assault weapons often the gun of Choice for drug traffickers off the streets. A the Colt Sporter Rifle is no different from the ar-15, and it should be on the list a said rep. Christopher Burnham. Colt industries voluntarily stopped production of the ar-15, a version of the military m-16 assault Rifle for the civilian Market in March 1989, a Day after the Bush administration halted imports of similar weapons. At the time Bush administration drug Czar William j. Bennett called Colts decision a an act of civic  last week the new management of Colts started shipping the Sporter a modified version of the ar-15 that the company says is designed for sportsmen and is not an assault Rifle. There was no immediate comment from Richard Gamble president of Colts manufacturing he did not return a Telephone Call tuesday afternoon. In interviews last week he maintained that the new gun gift pc substantially from the ar-15. S but handgun control inc., a Washington based group charged that the Sporter is simply a cosmetically altered ar-15. A it is Clear that Colt is trying to bamboozle the Public with its claim of producing a a new gun a handgun control Leader Sarah Brady said last week. A there is no doubt that this gun is an assault weapon a said the wife of James Brady who was wounded in the assassination attempt on president Reagan. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum a Ohio agreed with the gun control group. He said the appearance of the new gun on the Market highlights the need for a ban on Domestic assault style weapons. In a letter last week Brady urged gov. William a of Neill to Force Colt to Stop production of the gun. The characterization of Sporter As an assault weapon is particularly troubling for of Neill and state treasurer Francisco l. Borges supporters of a Domestic ban on assault weapons. A the Colt management has represented to me that the Sporter is not an assault weapon a Borges said. �?o1 am currently taking every step to ascertain the  apparently kills wife self Spokane Wash. Apr Albert Salmi who made a career out of portraying cowboys in television westerns such As a gun smoke a and his wife were found shot to death in an apparent murder suicide police said tuesday. Salmi 62, apparently shot his 55-year-old wife Roberta g. Salmi and then killed himself said police spokesman it. Robert Van Leven. A Friend who had gone to Check on mrs. Salmi on monday night peered through a window and saw her legs said it. Jim Hill. Officers forced their Way into the Home and found mrs. Salmi dead on the Kitchen floor. Albert Salmi a body was found in an upstairs Den. Police also found two guns they believe were used late saturday night or Early sunday Van Leven said. He said the couple had been separated and that mrs. Salmi had been living in the House alone. A i done to know whether they were in the process of a divorce or not but it appears there had been some Domestic problems a he said. Salmi had roles in several Broadway plays at least 20 feature films and More than 150 television dramas. His portrayal of to Decker the Montana Romeo in the 1955 Broadway production of a bus Stop helped launch his professional acting career. It earned him several major awards and led to his being offered the part of to in the film version. Salmi turned it Down because a like most of his friends in Lee Strasberg a actors studio a he thought Hollywood actors were turncoat who sold out for fast Money. A new yorker born in the Coney Island Section of Brooklyn Salmi cherished most the Western heritage award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for his portrayal of a cowpoke on televisions  Salmi sought out Western character roles and played them with gusto. He appeared on to shows such As a general electric theater a a Wagon train a a Man called Shenandoah a a Bonanza a a the virginian a and a have gun will  Salmi moved to Spokane in the 1980s. A Albert Salmi drug abusers blood Sale called a troubling Chicago apr nearly a Quarter of drug abusers contacted in a study said they sold blood plasma to collection centers raising questions about whether the nations blood Supply is adequately protected against the aids virus. A the continued donation of plasma and occasionally blood by intravenous drug users. Is troubling and warrants further attention a said the study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins school of Hygiene and Public health in Baltimore. The study was published in wednesday journal of the american medical association. The aids virus is believed to be spread mainly through sexual Intercourse and shared Needles and from infected mothers to their babies. A spokesman for plasma collection centers says they Are doing a Good Job of excluding infected drug users and keeping the aids virus out of blood products. These products include clotting Factor used by Haemophiliacs and immune globulin taken by people who need Protection against hepatitis. A the current products that Are out there Are considered to be 100 percent Safe a said James Reilly spokesman for the american blood resources association the Trade group representing the approximately 400 . For profit plasma collection centers. A there Are no known cases of aids transmission from products currently on the Market a he said in a Telephone interview from Annapolis my. The study found that More than 23 percent of 2,921 intravenous drug Abus ers contacted in the Baltimore area in 1988 and 1989 said they had sold plasma or donated blood after they began injecting drugs. Tests revealed 24.1 percent of those contacted were infected with the aids virus researchers said. The centers for disease control says 126,127 adult aids cases had been reported As of March 31, including 26,883 cases among intravenous drug users and 8,711 cases among homosexual intravenous drug users. Transfusion associated aids cases total 3,040. Since March 1985, All . Blood and blood components have been screened to detect aids antibodies which indicate the presence of the virus the researchers noted. In addition plasma from commercial centers is subjected to processing de signed to kill the aids virus although in isolated cases in other countries the virus has survived in treated plasma products said or. Kenrad e. Nelson chief researcher a this does not mean the blood Supply is unsafe a Nelson said in a Telephone interview. A but the fact is that there have been cases where Haemophiliacs have gotten infected despite screening and heat treatment. I think donor exclusion is  so far have paid off the study found the prevalence of aids infection among blood or plasma donors fell from 17.1 percent in 1985 to 3.6 percent 1988-89 most of the subjects said they were paid $10 to $15 for giving plasma Ana about 10 percent said they had Donat blood at non profit blood Banks