European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes monday october 29,1990 news update Council resigns Palma i Montechiare Sicily apr the entire town Council has resigned to protest accusations of involvement with the mafia. The Council members followed the Lead of Palma i Montechiare mayor Paolo Scarna who recently quit after one of his nephews was accused of killing a judge last month. The judge was ruling on whether suspected mafia members should be kept under House arrest news reports said. The resignations of the 32 Council members came amid reports that local politicians were being investigated by police for links with organized crime. The town of some 25,000 people near the coast in the province of Agrigento lies in a Region where there have been Many mob connected slayings including an attack on a cafe. Two anti mafia magistrates were among the  called off Barrow Alaska up a rescuers ended an extensive two week search for two government biologists and their Pilot who disappeared on a Bear tracking Mission Over the Polar ice North of Alaska. The . Fish and wildlife service specialists and their Pilot vanished oct. 11 during a Low Altitude Polar Bear Survey Over the ice 200 Miles North of Point Barrow the northernmost Point of land in the United states. The coast guard coordinated a massive search using three of its c-130s, three civilian aircraft and a sophisticated Canadian radar plane to cover a 60,000-Square-mile area. In repeat searches the planes actually covered a total of 305,000 Square Miles but the Effort ended in failure. The biologists John Bevins 35, and George Menkens 33, and their Pilot Clifford Minch 50, were All from Anchorage. They were tracking radio collared Polar bears in a study of female and cub population and survival. Bevins and Menkens were two of the five biologists specializing in Polar bears and were employed by the Federal wildlife Agency in  deaths Atlanta apr Federal health authorities reporting 45 hospitalizations and two deaths in police training in Massachusetts and firefighter fitness tests in new York have called for a balance Between training and safety. In its latest report the centers for disease control did no to criticize the programs or the Public safety officials involved. But the Atlanta based Agency did warn that the programs can be dangerous. A the need for physical performance testing must be balanced carefully with the safety of persons participating a the cd cautioned. Massachusetts cases came in a highly publicized episode in september 1988, when 13 of 50 trainees from local police departments became ill and were hospitalized during a 14-week a mental stress and physical training program at a state sponsored police Academy. One trainee died. In new York City 32 out of 16,506 firefighter candidates were hospitalized Between May 1988 and december 1989 after participating in fitness tests designed to simulate the Rigours of firefighting. Again one died. Neglect of insurance collecting costs military hospitals millions by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington a military hospitals will lose $500 million Over the next four years unless they collect More from insurance companies according to the Pentagon inspector general. The military is supposed to collect inpatient care costs a currently $554 per Day a when patients have private health insurance coverage. But an inspector general audit of 25 military hospitals found that Only the Eisenhower army medical Center at fort Gordon ga., had an effective third party collection program. Without changes military hospitals will lose out on an estimated $318 million in collections from private insurance companies and $192 million from medicare supplemental insurance policies through fiscal 1994, the report said. The auditors cited several reasons for the poor collection figures including inadequate guidance from the assistant Secretary of defense for health affairs. With a Lack of direction from the top military hospitals officials Are confused about the rights and obligations of third party payers and health care beneficiaries the report said. But Hospital officials also Are at fault specifically for not putting enough Effort into finding out whether patients have insurance coverage the report said. The 25 hospitals reviewed collected from insurance companies for 1.29 percent of the patients discharged in 1988. A Survey done in conjunction with the audit showed that More than 6 percent of inpatients questioned had private insurance. That figure excludes Eisenhower army medical Center which far outpaced the other facilities by collecting from insurance companies for 9.31 percent of its inpatients. The Only other hospitals to collect on More than 2 percent of the cases were at tinker fab okla., 3.05 percent and the naval base in Oakland calif., 2.29 Ner cent. F in addition Hospital administrators hindered their own collection efforts through such Basic errors As filling out insurance forms incorrectly the audit said. Fixing the problem must Start with Clear guidance from the defense department the in said. Enrique Mendez the Pentagon Stop health affairs official said in the report that his office will scrutinize quarterly reports submitted by military hospitals to make sure they Are forcefully pursuing insurance reimbursement. A defense department regulation on the rights and obligations of third party payers and health care beneficiaries was issued in May and a companion directive on the Basic guidelines for third party collection programs will be published soon Mendez said. A palestinians allowed to return to jobs in Israel amid tight checks Jerusalem up after a four Day closure of the West Bank and Gaza strip Israel reopened the occupied territories sunday allowing tens of thousands of palestinian workers to return to their jobs in Israel. Defense minister Moshe Arens ordered stricter checks on Arab workers to prevent those who represented a Security or criminal risk from entering Israel. Chief of staff it. Gen. Dan Shimron said no plans were being considered for issuing magnetic identification cards to West Bank arabs. Gazan workers received the cards last year. Shimron said employers would be asked to Check that their workers had proper identification papers. More than 110,000 palestinians work in Israel primarily in construction agriculture and menial service positions. Palestinian sources reported that some Arab workers who returned to their jobs sunday were informed they had been dismissed. With the lifting of the closure order thousands of workers streamed into Israel and work was resumed at construction Sites. Authorities closed the territories to halt a wave of attacks on jews by arabs and anti Arab reprisals. The abrupt closure caused immediate turmoil in the israeli Economy where palestinians make up about 20 percent of the Industrial work Force. Many employers said they would hire newly arrived russian jewish immigrants to replace the arabs but others said no jews wanted menial Low paying jobs such As dishwashers in restaurants. Bishop Calls Ira followers of satan Londonderry Northern Ireland apr a roman Catholic Bishop speaking saturday at the funeral of a Man who was forced to drive a massive bomb into a military checkpoint condemned the Irish Republican army As followers of satan. Bishop Edward Daly said the Ira and its supporters were a the Complete contradiction of  a they May say they Are followers of Christ some of them May even still engage in the hypocrisy of coming to Church but their lives and their works proclaim clearly that they follow satan a Daly said. Daly spoke at the funeral of Patsy Gillespie 42, who was forced to drive a Van loaded with explosives into a military checkpoint outside Londonderry. The explosion wednesday morning killed Gillespie and five British soldiers. Gillespie a wife Kathleen said the family a Home had been taken Over by armed men tuesday night and her husband was taken away while the rest of the family was held hostage. The Ira used similar tactics in setting off a bomb the same morning at a checkpoint in Newry. One Soldier was killed. A third attack in Omagh failed and the Driver escaped injury. At the funeral of the Soldier killed in Newry the Rev. Anthony Doran said that 21-year-old Cyril Smith died because he had helped the Driver and then ran Back to warn his comrades. Smith a gave his life by running Back into danger for his friends a the Catholic priest said. All three Drivers were catholics and the Ira claimed they had been doing work for the Security forces. The Ira regards such workers As a legitimate  Gillespie was a civilian Kitchen assistant in the army a fort George Camp in Londonderry. Daly for years a Stem critic of the Ira said the outlawed organization had a descended a step lower to use Peoples lives to launch their vile  a everyone is now at risk from these evil people with their foul and obscene actions. They corrupt everything and every person they touch a Daly said. Daly added a Jesus Christ said a by their fruits you shall know them a and the fruits of the Ira Are strewn All Over Europe a from a murdered infant in West Germany to murdered australian tourists in Holland to murdered pensioners in Enniskillen to murdered Good Samaritans in our own City. A and on last wednesday morning they attempted to do to two other men what they did to Patsy Gillespie a an act of unspeakable cruelty. These Are the fruits of the provisional Ira. By their fruits you shall know  Thatcher trailing in latest polls London apr the opposition labor party swept to a 16-Point Lead Over the conservatives in two new opinion polls bringing yet More gloom to the government of prime minister Margaret Thatcher. A Survey by the respected Mori firm published in the sunday times and a new Harris poll in the observer on sunday show the conservatives have slumped badly Over the past month. Thatchers own personal popularity in the sunday times poll slumped by seven Points to 29 percent. Sixty six percent of those polled expressed a a dissatisfaction with the prime minister. In contrast labor party Leader Neil Kin Nock a popularity rating increased by four Points to 45 percent with his a a dissatisfaction count standing at Only 42 percent. Conservative party leaders Are painfully aware of the massive task they face in fighting to regain ground before the next general election expected to be called by Thatcher sometime next year. Labor has been leading the conservatives in the polls for months. Recently the government regained a Little ground after it announced entry into the european Exchange rate mechanism and interest rates were Cut 1 percent. But the recent polls indicate the gains were temporary