European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 a a a the stars and stripes saturday december 29,1990refuelers Busy reaching new limits by Rod Jagodzinski. Pacific stars and stripes Central saudi Arabia Aerial refuelling personnel say they be been flying double their Normal hours to keep . Warplanes refuelled and flying above the Gulf Region a a lot of limits have changed As to How far Well go to get the Job done a said staff sgt. Mike do Sorc who operates a refuelling Boom in the Tail of an air Force Kc-135 strato Tanker. Quot Here we re flying four to five Days in a Row a said de sore of the 909th Aerial refuelling so from Kaduna a Okinawa. T if War Breaks out the Squadron will Fly. Its unarmed tankers Well within the Range of hostile iraqi fighters and ground to air missiles members of the Squadron noted. Quot they re saying this is the first War for tankers to be shot Down a said the 35-. Year old from Warsaw . It Quot in Vietnam tankers flew outside of Sam surface to air missile Range and outside of fighter Range a said capt. Larry Palm 44, a Tanker Pilot from Austin Texas. Quot but Here a Etc going to be real close to Sams and anti aircraft artillery. And a Tanker has no defense a however Palm said he has Quot Complete Confidence because Bur fighters will be All Over the iraqi air  capt Tom Swideck who flies a Tanker with the Squadron also acknowledged that the unit s location is Quot close for tankers to be to a Battle  but the 28-year-old Chicago native believes there will be plenty of . Fighters jumping at the Chance to shoot the iraqis  Swiderek said he worries More about a midair collision with a Friendly aircraft. He and other pilots agree that air traffic Wilt saturate the skies during War and some aviators question the ability of news updates Marchais on mend Avignon France a Frances hard line communist party Leader Georges Marchais walked out of the Hospital Friday after two Days of treatment for a mild heart attack. A Pale Marchais 70, played Down the attack As a a Light problem and told reporters that Quot retirement Isnit for me Quot before beginning a journey to his Home in Paris. Marchais suffered the. Heart attack wednesday morning at his vacation Home in nearby Robion. He was rushed to Henri Duffaut Hospital in Avignon and underwent intensive medical care Fra to test milk Washington a the food and drug administration thursday said it will test raw milk weekly around the nation to determine if it contains certain antibiotics Given to cows the Agency said 250 locations across the country will be chosen for testing and raw milk samples will be collected randomly each week from five of these Sites. The samples will be tested for the presence of eight sulfa drugs and three tetracycline drugs the Fra said that when residues Are found the states will be told and the Agency will help track Down the source. Antibiotics Are often used by veterinarians to treat infections in Dairy cattle pc. Testing is conducted to determine if residues from the drugs Are present in the milk an f-15 Eagle is refuelled in midair by a Kc-135 strato Tanker As an f-16 fighting Falcon awaits its turn. Pacific a amps Rob a Godlin amp a saudi arabian air traffic controllers to keep All those planes paths from crossing. A i done to think they be Ever had this much traffic Here. They re Over tasked Quot said Tanker Pilot capt. Chuck Ruhl 34, from Richmond a. He said that american fliers and saudi air traffic controllers sometimes have difficulty understanding each other and that the saudis often use radios that Are not compatible with those in the refuelling jets. To make up for those shortcomings the saudis enforce safety guidelines that pilots find extreme by . Standards such As halting Tanker takeoffs if an incoming aircraft is within 30 Miles of Landing. However Ruhl said he knows from firsthand experience that the saudis Are competent and that they can work safely under pressure. Quot we had an inflight emergency the last flight., and the controllers got us in a he said. Quot they re capable and they were  economic forecasting Ines for 5th Washington api the governments chief economic forecasting gauge dropped for the fifth consecutive month. In november the government said Friday in a report that offered Little Hope the slumping Economy would recover soon. The 1.2 percent plunge in the Commerce departments Index of leading economic indicators followed an even worse. 1.3 percent drop in october. That decline revised from a previous estimate of 1.2 percent was the worst since november 1987. The latest Steep drop follows a spate of gloomy economic news for the month in chiding a jump in the unemployment rate and plunging orders for durable goods such As automobiles and appliances it was seen of a sign the Economy would continue to deteriorate. ,. Quot i think its consistent with the other evidence that the recession is clearly in place and clearly has further to go a said economist Robert g. De Crick of Northern Trust co. In Chicago Stock prices slipped Friday morning in Early trading following the release of the report Quot the november indicators leave no doubt that a serious and lengthy recession is under Way a said economist William k. Macreynolds of the . Chamber of Commerce. Quot the Only remaining questions Are just How far the Economy will  How Long it will stay  three consecutive declines in the Index a designed to predict economic activity six to nine months in Advance Are considered a fairly Good but not infallible sign a recession is approaching the Index Rose slightly As recently As june but most private economists believe the nation has already toppled into a recession. In november eight of the 11 Forward looking components of the Index fell. Pulling the Index Down in order of importance were a decline in hew orders to actorice for consumer goods a drop in rices of raw materials a decline in the backlog of unfilled orders at factories a fall in new orders for business investment equipment a jump in new claims for unemployment benefits a decline in the average workweek a contraction in the inflation adjusted Money Supply and a drop in building permits. The Only positive contributors were an increase in Stock prices a slowing in business delivery times and a slight improvement in consumer Confidence following a plunge after Iraq s August invasion of Kuwait. The various changes left the Index at 139.7 percent of its 1982 base of 100 Down 4,4 percent from its 146.2 Peak in corrections a military Roundup article this week incorrectly stated the amount of Money that will be received by winners of the army Community of excellence award. The recipient of the commander in chief award will get $1,5 million while $1 million will go to the six communities named for the chief of staff awards. Other awards Range from $250,000 to $75,000. A Safe award article earlier this month listed the wrong position for master sgt. Sandra a Lail. She is Deputy accounting and finance officer at Raf Ben Waters England. June. It has been the worst multiple month Retreat by the Index since 1981, at the Start of the last recession. The consensus of most analysts so far is that the current economic contraction will be a relatively mild one Shorter and less harsh than the 16-month 1981-82 recession which was the worst since the great depression a. An outbreak of War in the persian Gulf could change that by sending Oil prices soaring again thus squelching any tendency for the Economy to Start growing again. The Blue Chip economic indicators a consensus forecast of 52 top economists says the Economy already is in a recession in average it expects the Gross National product to decline 1,3 percent in the sep tember december Quarter and an additional 0.9 percent during the first three months of 1991, a recession is usually defined As at least two consecutive quarters of contraction the forecasters predict the Economy will begin growing again in the second Quarter next year. However a significant minority of analysts say the nation is heading for a protracted and deep recession they were further discouraged thursday when the Commerce department reported new orders for durable goods plunged 10.5 percent in november. That matched the sharpest decline on record set last january and depressed orders to the lowest level in 2 a years. A a efm in the pessimistic Camp. I think this recession will be one of the longer ones in the Post world War ii period said economist Sung won Sohn of nor West corp. In Minneapolis