European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 19, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday May 19, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 7 �?~3 old Guys a ride old Man River to the finn ish line apr three old Guys from left Alvin Levenson 67 Stanley Herman 66 and Irving Gla or 70. Memphis Tenn. Apr three retirees who set out on the Huck finn adventure they missed in their youth got a Little More than they bargained for on a nine Day trip. They found out Why its called the a a mighty Mississippi. A a it a not a trip for the faint of heart a said Irving Glazer 70, who took on 900 Miles of the Mississippi River with Alvin Levenson 67, and Stanley Herman 66, All of Indianapolis. The three set out from Cairo 111., aboard not a raft but a 24-foot Pontoon boat. The Silver Fox. They ended up at Baton Rouge la., weary from struggling against currents sandbars and the giant work boats that ply the River. They had intended to continue on to new Orleans but took a look at the seagoing vessels docked at Baton Rouge and decided to finish the trip by car. In Mark Twain a 1884 novel. Huckleberry finn and Jim jump off their raft just before it is run Over by a paddle wheel Steamer. The Only steamboats the Indianapolis three saw were of the tourist variety but they got their fill of barges. Mississippi barges carry up to 1,500 tons and the lower River is their work Yard. That with the logs and other debris in the water made for Tough mane vering. A it was like Riding a bicycle on an interstate a Levenson said. The trip got off to a rough wet Start when the Fox left Cairo at the Confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers on May 2, fighting heavy head winds and pounding Waves. A none of us dreamed we would hit 4-foot Waves on a River but we did a Levenson said. The second Day out the travellers ran into a Sandbar Between Hickman ky., and Memphis and radioed the coast guard for help. A Rescue squad from reel foot Lake Tenn., freed the boat and cleaned the Sand out of its 60-horsepower outboard. A they said they really appreciated us calling them because it was the first Rescue they a had this year a said Levenson. The Indianapolis Trio Are retired businessmen who were expecting a leisurely trip. But they got Little use out of the Lawn chairs and Battery operated to they had packed. The River current changed often and the water was full of debris. A we had to keep a spotter up front the whole trip a Levenson said. The three spent four nights on the boat but found overnight accommodations ashore the rest of the time. Unlike Huck finn they never stumbled into a bloody feud Between two families and never got mixed up in a con game. No one nearly drowned. Still they found some of the same scenery Twain described in the 19th Century. Levenson said it was lonely amid the thick Woods lining the riverbanks. A there Wasny to a living soul for Miles. There is nothing along that Bank no Telephone poles or any sign of  Levenson said. Quot when we got to Memphis there were a few pleasure boats. Outside of that there was t another pleasure boat on the whole  below Memphis the travellers Hung up on another Sandbar and this time no help was around. Quot we took off our clothes and got into the water. There we were three old Guys in the Mississippi River pushing and pushing until we got Back into the deep water Quot Levenson said. While the trip was rougher than expected. Gla or said he a ready to do it again. Quot its the most exciting thing i think in be Ever done Quot he said. A it was a Challenge and there was an Clement of  president warns civil rights Bill must not impose hiring quotas Washington apr president Bush said thursday he wont tolerate Bias in hiring but also wont accept a civil rights Bill that imposes quotas on employers. Sens. Edward m. Kennedy d-mass., and John Dan Forth r-mo., quickly unveiled a Compromise amendment intended to Deal with his objections to the Bill that is at the top of Many civil rights organizations legislative lists for this year. But the White House and sen. Orrin Hatch a Utah both said it failed to remove their concerns about quotas. A i want to sign a civil rights Bill but i will not sign a quota Bill a Bush declared at a Rose Garden ceremony honouring the recently revived . Commission on civil rights. After unveiling the amended version Danforth said a after weeks of negotiating Over this change we Are now convinced that quotas will not be the unintended result of this  at the White House Deputy press Secretary Alixe Glen said a a it a a step in the right direction but it still does not eliminate our concern that employers would adopt  there is no mention of quotas a the hiring of a certain number or percentage of minority or other workers a in the Bill. But attorney general Dick Thornburgh and other critics have said the earlier versions Standard of proof for justifying exclusionary hiring practices was so Tough that employers would use quotas As a Way of avoiding lawsuits. The legislation would undo a series of 1989 supreme court decisions that made it harder for workers to prove they were victims of Job discrimination. A we will leave nothing to Chance and no Stone unturned As we work to Advance americans civil rights Agenda a Bush said to applause from the audience that included Many civil rights leaders. Last month Thornburgh said he might recommend a veto of the pending Bill which is at the top of Many civil rights organizations legislative lists for this year. But after Bush a comments thursday. Benjamin Hooks jr., executive director of the a act called it a a very Happy  Hooks said Bush had moved Quot right into the mainstream on the civil rights legislation although a a Little conflict still remains. Bush said that the Law must a obliterate Quot consideration of race color religion sex or National origin from hiring must protect Quot against harassment in the workplace based on race sex religion or disability and should ensure a speedy end to such discriminatory  Quot our civil rights Laws however should not be turned into some lawyers Bonanza encouraging litigation at the expense of conciliation mediation or settlement a the president said. The legislation would undo a supreme court decision that narrowed the ability of minorities to win monetary damages for Job discrimination and would restore the Burden of proof to defendants in cases where hiring practices allegedly had a discriminatory Impact. For 18 years employers had the Burden of proving a business necessity for any exclusionary hiring practices. The supreme court altered that in the 1989 wards Cove Case involving hiring at an alaskan Salmon Cannery. The original Senate Bill said employers would have to prove discrimination was essential to Job performance. The new version would require Only proof that such practices had a a substantial and demonstrable relationship to effective Job  a similar change was made in the House version recently. Bush also named Charles Pei Wang a new yorker who is president of the China Institute in America to the civil rights  sergeant accused of taking Star wars data Washington apr a Marine corps sergeant has been accused of taking two computers and 60 floppy disks of secret data from the Star wars office at the Pentagon the defense department said. A statement thursday from the department s inspector general identified the suspect As sgt. Robert Walter Rodgers 27, originally from upper Darby a. He is now based at Camp Lejeune. . Rodgers was indicted by a Federal grand jury in Alexandria va., on four counts charging theft of government and personal property depredation plundering of government properly and destruction of records the Ici said. The computers and disks have not been recovered. Investigators considered the possibility that they had been turned Over to a foreign Power. But Quot it is unlikely Quot said Michael j. Costello head of the Washington office of the defense criminal investigative service. Costello said the disks contained a some sensitive sd1  according to the inspector general a account. Rodgers was a part time employee of Polaris corp. A contractor providing Security services to the strategic defense initiative office in the Pentagon. On april 8. 1988, according to the statement. Rodgers disabled the computer controlling Access to the office entered a storage room and removed the two computers a one an officers personal machine a and the disks. Investigators took the built in disk of the disabled computer to its manufacturer and consulted writers of the programs it used to reconstruct events before the break in. This enabled them to bring Rodgers under suspicion costello said. A Rodgers apparently thought he could erase All incriminating activity. He is a very computer literate  costello said