European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 15, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a a the stars and stripes Friday june 15,1990 sobriety checkpoints fines on polluters oked by court Washington apr the privacy rights of motorists Are not violated when police try to curb Drunken driving by stopping them at sobriety checkpoints the supreme court ruled thursday. The 6-3 ruling upheld Michigan a sobriety checkpoint program and by Extension similar programs in most states. In another decision the court allowed the Bush and supreme court Roundup ministration to limit How much welfare Aid some needy families receive. By a 5-4 vote the court said social Security benefits paid to children must be considered in determining a family a eligibility for benefits under the governments Aid to families with dependent children program. The court also ruled the government May impose severe fines against air polluters even when Federal officials Are slow to decide on proposals for cleaning up the atmosphere. And it ruled that hospitals and nursing Homes May sue in Federal court to Challenge How a state run medicaid program reimburses their costs. Lower courts had split on the sobriety checkpoint Issue. Some had upheld the use of checkpoints at which All motorists Are pulled off the Road and checked for signs of intoxication. Other courts like those in Michigan had barred police from using checkpoints. A no one can seriously dispute the magnitude of the Drunken driving problem or the states interest in eradicating it a chief Justice William h. Rehnquist wrote for the court. A conversely the weight bearing on the other scale a the measure of the intrusion on motorists stopped briefly at sobriety checkpoints a is slight a he added. Drunken Drivers killed 23,000 people nationwide last year. President Bush called Drunken driving a problem a was crippling As crack cocaine and last december asked state and local governments to step up the fight against Drunken Drivers. A a it Sas crippling As crack As random As gang violence and its killing More kids than both combined a the president said when he noted that Federal Aid was being Given to promote the use of sobriety checkpoints. Thursdays ruling echoed the presidents concern. Joining Rehnquist were justices Byron r. White Sandra Day of Connor Antonin Scalia and Anthony m. Kennedy. Justice Harry a. Blackmun joined in the result but not in Rehnquist a majority opinion. Justices William j. Brennan Thurgood Marshall and John Paul Stevens dissented. A i do not dispute the immense social Cost caused by Drunken Drivers nor do i slight the governments efforts to prevent such tragic losses a Brennan wrote. But he added a in the face of the a momentary evil of Drunken driving the court today abdicates its role As the protector of a the fundamental right of individual  in the pollution Case the justices upheld by a 9-0 vote the environmental Protection Agency a Power to seek fines of up to $25,000 a Day against a general motors Plant in Massachusetts. However the Impact of the ruling for future cases May be limited. The House and Senate have passed separate Bills revising the Federal clean air act that establish new timetables to address the kind of problem at Issue in the general motors Case. In the medicaid Case the justices by a 5-4 vote let a Virginia Hospital association invoke a Federal civil rights Law in suing the state Over Virginia a medicaid reimbursement rates. Officials from most of the 50 states had urged the court to Rule against the association. They said allowing such lawsuits could affect hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal and state funding and Lead to a litigation  on the dog Tiffany Marie a Cocker Spaniel samples a French Fry shaped dog biscuit at Maggie Patterson a Doggie drive thru in Niles mich., while master Rodney Dokey watches. Patterson 33, opened the fast food Doggie diner amid much scepticism in april however she says As Many As 100 customers pull up to her window on a Busy  decides Beetle Bailey a not the enemy Washington apr Beetle Bailey the Lazy but lovable i who has stumbled through comic pages for the past 40 years finally won an admiring Salute thursday from the army. In a rag Day ceremony at the Pentagon cartoonist Mort Walker received a framed a certificate of appreciation for patriotic civilian services from Brig. Gen. Bill Mcclain who declared an armistice in the army a decades old hostilities against the slovenly Buck private. A through it All you have entertained us although sometimes we Haven to always liked it a said Mcclain the army a Public affairs chief. He observed a if you can to laugh at yourself something is intrinsically wrong with  Tongue in Cheek Walker replied that it was always a the dream of general Hal track and mine to hear from the Pentagon a and it took 40 years to get the Call. A i can to believe in a actually Here a Walker said. A was a was hard As it is to find anything in the Pentagon they finally found a sense of  a cartoonist Mort Walker hard As it is to find anything in the Pentagon they finally found a sense of  since Walker created the popular comic strip in 1950, based on his experiences As an army draftee in world War ii Beetle Bailey and his cartoon friends have annoyed Pentagon brass who complained they presented an unflattering image of army life. In 1954, the Tokyo edition of the stars and stripes military newspaper drummed Beetle off its pages because the strip poked fun at officers. The official explanation was that a Beetle Bailey had a Low interest value a but the move was denounced in newspaper editorials As silly. The stars and stripes banned the strip again in 1970, As did some Southern newspapers when Walker introduced it. Rap a feisty Black character. Miss Bux Ley the bosom Secretary to Gen. Hal track Drew protests from feminists. Putting the controversy behind it the army heaped Praise on Walker in its citation thursday. A this ingenuity in portraying army members in a humorous manner has contributed significantly to the morale of our soldiers As they provide for our National Security a it read. N a i read it and laugh at it and others do too a Mcclain said afterwards. Tankers spill slowing officials say Galveston Texas up a Crews have recovered More than 76.000 Gallons of the estimated 3 million Gallons of Light crude Oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from the burning Tanker Mega Borg and officials said thursday they were encouraged by the a slowing of  the officials said the vast majority of the spilled 3 million Gallons of Oil had either burned off or evaporated but 1,819 barrels or 76,398 Gallons had been recovered during cleanup operations. They estimated the actual amount of Oil remaining in the water ranged from 12.000 to 40,000 Gallons. A a we re seeing a slowing of the pollution a said coast guard capt. Tom Greene. A a we re probably just running out of product. We re getting closer to that magic Hole a he said referring to damage in the cargo tank closest to the Stern. Officials believe it was the Only one of 16 tanks that sustained damage. Coast guard Petty officer Gene Maestas said the amount of Oil spilling from the crippled norwegian owned Tanker thursday appeared to be half of what it was the previous Day. Firefighters were ready again to douse hot spots aboard the Tanker with chemical foam after Crews using the flame retardant triggered a Brief flare up of the fire aboard the ship wednesday afternoon. The team directing the firefighting and cleanup approved the use of Oil eating microbes to help reduce the spill. Greene said that the application would be a Small scale a but a anything that will help clean up the spill in a willing to  meanwhile a . Coast guard inspector thursday told a norwegian Board of inquiry that the Mega Borg was in Good condition during an april inspection with no apparent fire hazards. Ship inspector Richard Miles said he found Only four minor safety discrepancies during the inspection none of which had anything to do with the engine room or pump room where the fire is believed to have started. Also testifying during the inquiry a second Day was Lars Foyen of det Norske Veritas the norwegian shipping Bureau who said 14 of the ships More than 300 motors were overdue for repairs. He said that was not an unusual number. The Tanker was carrying about 38 million Gallons of Light crude. Two crewmen were killed and two were missing and presumed dead in the explosion that started the fire. Seventeen of the 41 crewmen aboard were  want . To of Gold Coin new York up a the soviet Union banned since 1985 from exporting its Gold coins to the United states said thursday it will Issue a a a glasnost collector Coin in october and called for the United states to lift the prohibition. The soviet finance ministry and  the marketing Arm of the soviet unions state Bank for foreign affairs issued a statement in new York saying sales in the West of the limited Issue Coin could reach $ 100 million. The 99.9 percent pure Gold Coin carries the name of soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev on one Side with the words a glasnost and  the other face carries the word a a peace in English russian French German and japanese