European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 18, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse The stars and stripes a a a Page 7ired Trio awarded $45.3 million los Angeles apr jurors on urday ordered Lockheed corp. To pay 53 million in damages to three former olo yees who claimed they were wrongly fired for questioning the safety of the it c-5b military cargo plane. The Superior court jury announced the Ard after a six week trial and six Days of liberation. Lockheed said it will Appeal. A we believe the punitive damages Are injustice and come As a result of a Aling to the passions and prejudice of e jury a said Lockheed attorney Gordon Ischer. A the evidence does no to warrant is the plaintiffs asserted that four c-5bs lit with defective mainframes continue to and Are currently transporting troops to udi Arabia said Herbert Hafif a lawyer r two of the battling fire n Montana Helena Mont. Apr helicopters Ade repeated water drops thursday on 34,000-acre wildfire near the Missouri Iver in rugged Mountain Timber consid de too dangerous for fire Crews to oper the on the ground. A a it a not a Safe situation to try to put Ople in so we re going to try to drown at stuff out a said Bob Krepps of the a. Forest service. The Aerial assault concentrated on the them flank of the fire near the bound Between the Gates of the mountains wilderness and adjacent Bea tooth ame Range in the Western Montana Rockies. Stiff Westerly winds fanned flames on e fires Eastern flank As Well and Crews Ere sent in to Battle flare ups said Dave Urner a fire information officer at the Ter Agency dispatch Center near Hele a. Officials expressed satisfaction at Prog Ess being made toward containing the the season Blaze. About 400 firefighters were called in to meat the Blaze which broke out tues a in the rugged big Belt mountains bout 35 Miles Northeast of Helena. Authorities said it appeared to have tarted accidentally at a Hunting Unn inghamm seat san Diego apr election officials led on thursday that Republican Andy a a Duke Cunningham Defeated in unbent Democrat Jim Bates in their Ace for the House of representative. A late tally of Absentee ballots gave Gingham a former Navy Pilot a total votes or 46.3 percent to Bates <w6 votes or 44.8 percent the officials the decision gives California 19 re duh can representatives and the demo Tats 26, a gain of one seat for the gop. The results of the nov. 6 election had Een delayed while officials counted Osands of Absentee ballots. Bates 49, the Only democratic con Ressman South of the los Angeles area at refused to concede defeat. Our next move is to ask the Congress to investigate this a Hafif said asserting that evidence introduced in the trial proved the planes Are seriously flawed. �?otj1� verdict Speaks for itself a Hafif said. A it is the first Opportunity that regular citizens have had to speak to the faulty inspections violations specifications and other transgressions that permeate this Industry and consume so much of the taxpayers Clyde w. Jones jr., 62, now of Tennessee Terrence f. Schielke 40, of Lancaster and Thomas e. Benecke 48, of thousand Oaks said in their lawsuit that they were fired in 1985 after they wrote letters to Lockheed a second highest ranking official demanding that the c-5b be grounded until tests could be made. The three said they were concerned about deficiencies in the mainframe of the cargo plane. Krischer claimed that Jones had already elected to retire before Lockheed officials Learned of the trios concerns. Schielke and Benecke were dismissed for circumventing company policies and audit procedures he said. Schielke an auditing supervisor on the project said he repeatedly tried to warn the company that flawed parts were being used. A the frames were cracked warped twisted a he said thursday. A and instead of scrapping them they went ahead and used them because it would have put them so far behind schedule to scrap them that the defense department would not have bought the each plaintiff was awarded $15 million in punitive damages. Awards for compensatory damages and emotional distress totalled $202,065 for Benecke $91,660 for Jones and $82,789 for Schielke. A the amount of punitive damages is grossly disproportionate to the actual damages found by the jury and is insupportable factually and legally a a Lockheed statement said. Eric Julber who represented Benecke said the award sends a a message that you fire people for raising safety he said Lockheed had informed the plaintiffs they will move for a new trial and failing that will Appeal the Case. A this could go All the Way to the supreme court because of the size of the punitive damages a Julber said. However Hafif noted that the jury a award on actual damages was far less than what the plaintiffs had requested. They had asked for about $1.5 million and were Given a total of about $376,000. A Mike Rodriguez a Codex Delegate works the controls of a flight simulator at the worlds largest computer show. Computer show opens in Las vegas Las vegas apr fax machines big enough to Send blueprints computers that fit into a pocket and gizmos of every size in Between line Miles of aisles at the worlds largest computer show. And if the machines done to catch your Eye the displays and exhibitors probably will. At one Booth at the Codex show a company a representatives play Ping Pong. At another they pretend they re football players and cheerleaders. And across the Hall exhibitors Wear gangster get ups. Despite the circus atmosphere Many of the 120,000 attendees appear to be doing business. Technical specifications Are traded As freely As business cards. Conventioneers arms Are Laden with shopping bags emblazoned with company logos that brim with Glossy brochures on new products. Here is a sampling of some of the products displayed at Codex a the video toaster this $1,595-device fits inside a Commodore j Ynigas personal computer converting it into a video editing device. Neztek the com Pany that developed it says video toaster can do the same things professional to studio gear costing $20,000 can do. It can Cut from one video to another with various special effects add titles and logos and colonize Black and White images. A a desktop offices canons $2,495 navigator combines a Small personal computer phone answering machine fax and Printer into one unit designed for the Home office Market. A a portable offices this category includes such machines As Kodak a 3.75-Pound Battery operated Printer which is aimed at Laptop computer users and i Coho a 3-Pound portable copier into which you also can plug a 1-Pound adapter that converts it into a fax machine. A portable computers with improved color screens Dolch computer systems showed its new Model based on a technology called Active matrix in which each Pixel or Dot on the screen is connected to a separate transistor. That produces crisper deeper colors that can be viewed from any Angle unlike Many portable computer screens that Only can be viewed from directly in front. But it comes at a High Price a about $12,000. A a a palmtop computers a number of companies Are displaying models so Small they fit in a coat pocket. Probably the most sophisticated one is the $1,995 Model from poet computer. It runs most programs written for the popular Dos operating system used by International business machines corp. Computers and ism compatibles. Among cheaper palmtops atari offers its portfolio for $299, but it does no to run Dos programs although it contains a calculator address and phone Book word processor work organizer and diary. The major drawback of the palmtops is their tiny keyboards which could be awkward for Many adult hands and make their word processing programs of limited use. A car adaptors for portable devices several companies Are offering products that plug into the cigarette lighter socket to provide current for laptops faxes and other machines while on the go
