European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 17, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday april 17, 1991 the stars and strikes Page 7 Nome Alaska up As the first Slid dog race spanning the Bering Strait entered its second full week monday there was a new concern to teams along the soviet Bering coast a Polar bears. First visa problems stopped the teams in their tracks. Later the race was stalled because of weather. Now with the Mush ers on the soviet Side of the Bering Strait Polar bears posed the latest threat race organizers reported. A this Isnit going to be a race. This is going to be a survival trip a race spokeswoman Sandra Medearis said of the Many Miles to travel the soviet Chukoski Peninsula where roaming Polar bears search for food. The 900-mile Hope �?T91 International intercontinental sled dog race began april 6 in Nome and took eight mushers less than two Days to cover the 146 Miles of Trail in Alaska and reach the final . Checkpoint in Wales where teams had to wait nearly a week for red tape to get Cut and bad weather to end so the race could resume. Soviet visas for mushers and face officials were delayed stalling the race. But when those visas finally arrived in Wales the race remained on hold because soviet helicopter Crews had no american visas permitting them to Fly to Alaska to Airlift the racers across the 55-mile Strait where treacherous ice conditions prevented a crossing by dog team. Finally the .-soviet visas problems were solved and the last of the mushers were in the Village of Uelen the first soviet checkpoint on sunday ready to resume the race with about 750 Miles to go. In Alaska mushers carry guns for Protection during the 1,160-mile Anchorage to Nome id Tarod sled dog race but the soviets ordered that no guns be brought into the country for this race despite the Polar Bear danger. The mushers Medearis said a Marc afraid of Polar  a a Polar Bear could gobble up a Man in a Flash a she said recalling an incident this Winter in Point Lay Alaska in which a Polar Bear stalked attacked and ate a villager. A they re unpredictable and  a a a a j. A. A a. A alas Karls wanted the soviets to Issue firearms to mushers in Polar Bear com iry. A a a a a a a ,. Soviet race official Nadia ulasse Vieh said a Lyon an meet the White Bear. Only at Oie beginning near Uelen. Only 40 Kilometres of area is a  Quot a. Race judge Barbara Moore said the soviets had agreed to Send tracked vehicles with guards in front of the mushers and behind them on the Trail for Protection a to make sure everyone. Makes it from one checkpoint to  she said there were Bear tracks along the Trail Between the Teller and Wales checkpoints in Alaska. Less was known about Polar Bear movements on the soviet Side raising concerns. A race marshal Earl Norris said the Trail on the soviet Side had been Well marked with 12,000 stakes and fluorescent ribbons. A a a a. Quot a a a it a going to he an adventure Quot Norris said a no one has seen anything Oyer there since 1930. 1 to san entirely new world. We re going to an unknown area unknown . Mushers had tentatively agreed to travel together in groups during the Day camping at night until the final 200 Miles Medearis said thus ensuring their safety and  mushers from six countries a Canada Japan Norway Switzerland the soviet Union and the United states including two women from Alaska started the race and were to be joined by six More soviets in Uelen. Each Nisher had about 10 dogs in his or her team. One Nusher Mary Shields of Fairbanks had Large male mutes used for hauling Laden sleds. The malamutes Are bigger Titan the Alaska huskies in the other teams that started front Nome. Soviet mushers starting in Uelen had Sib Efi an  Oscar Winner David lean Dies London apr sir David lean the Academy award winning director of a Lawrence of arabian Ana a abridge on the River kwai Quot died tuesday with one last epic production beyond his reach. Lean 83, fell ill in january after announcing a Date for the filming of a nos promo a based on Joseph Conradus novel. The project absorbed his final years. A when you get Over 80 the pressures Are worse than they Ever were a lean said in an interview last year. He died tuesday As his Home in London said his attorney Tony Reeves the cause of death was not immediately made Public. _ a the Wasny to a Man to rest on his laurels Quot said Christopher Hampton who wrote half a dozen versions of a no Stromon that fell Short of lean s exacting standards. The novel a tale of revolution greed and misplaced Honor in a fictional latin american nation is considered among some critics As Conradus greatest work. A a a a the worked right up to the end did no the and what an achievement that was a said Dame Peggy Ashcroft who won an Oscar in leans a a passage to India and remembered the director As a an absolute  a. Quot. A a v. A the was Britain a master filmmaker no question about it a said actor director sir Richard Attenborough who made his first film performance in a in which we serve a which lean co directed with Noel Coward. A. A a a a a a a -. A a a a a my a Gandhi was in fact my tribute to David lean As much As it was to Gandhi. He had a profound Impact on my desire to want to make films Attenborough said in a Telephone interview from California. Lean was bom March 25, 1908, in Croydon South of London and got into the movie business in 1928 As a number Board boy at Gaumont studios he displayed an aptitude for editing and was put in charge of Daumont sound news for which he also wrote scripts and provided narration. Lean edited Gabriel pascals production of George Bernard shawls a pygmalion Quot in 1938, and shawls a major Barbara three years later. In 1942, his reputation As a technician led to his partnership with Coward directing a in which we serve Quot an award winning drama of the Royal Navy in world War ii. Coward was so pleased that he gave lean permission to film his plays. A this Happy Breed was filmed in 1944, followed a year later by a Blithe spirit and a Brief encounter.�?�. V \ leans film of Charles Dickens a great expectations a released in 1946, lean won three Academy awards plus leans first nomination As Best director. A the Bridge on the River Kwait in 1957 was lean s first great Success the. Film won seven Academy awards including Best director. A Lawrence of Arabia a in 1962, won seven oscars including Best director and made Peter of Toole a film Star. But lean disavowed the final version and it was Only in 1989 that leans own version 20 minutes longer appeared in Heaters. �?o1  be Here today if it weren to for a Lawrence of Arabia a a Omar Sharif once said. A if it Hadnot been made id still be in Cairo doing egyptian  a Lawrence Quot was leans favorite of his own films but his greatest commercial Success came three years later with a Cdr. Zhivago a based on Boris Pasternak a novel. The film won three oscars and a Best director nomination for  a a Ryan a daughter in 1970 was a critical disaster and something of a personal disaster As Well. Lean could t find the backing for a film about the Mutiny on the has Bounty and it was 14 years before he directed again. He returned to the screen in 1984 with a a passage to India Quot based on . Forster a novel. Lean and the picture were both nominated for Academy awards. Lean was knighted in 1984, and was honoured with a life achievement award from the american film Institute in 1990. A a a. A a a the was very mischievous a wonderful old gossip and of course he knew everybody so for me that was All very very entertaining a said Christopher Hampton who ultimately surrendered his a no Stromon script to longtime lean Collaborator Robert Bolt. / a a the was intensely British there was an intensely patrician colonial kind of ruling class thing about him but his world View was International a said James Fox who acted in a a passage to  a a in a much More proud of him As an International than As a purely British director a he was one of very few who aspired to greatness a Fox said. Dilys Powell film critic for punch and an observer of the Industry since 1939, qualified leans greatness. A the had a passion for the Cinema but i think a passion for living which is one of the qualities of a great Cinema director i done to think he had that a she said in an interview with Independent television news. Lean is survived by his wife Sandra Cooke whom he married in december and a son by a previous marriage. V. A Warsaw Poland a Poland a decision to buy american helicopters to carry Pope John Paul ii during his june pilgrimage has infuriated the polish aviation Industry which says it can make a Model just As Safe. A the Interior ministry announced last month that it would buy two 14-seat helicopters designed to transport vips and two smaller versions for police use from Bell helicopter. The soviet made Mi-8 helicopter that the Pope used during his 1987 visit to his Homeland is 13 years old. It has been overhauled too Many times to be used again for an important guest said Interior ministry spokesman Wojciech Wroblewski. The order from Bell will Cost More than $10.5 million and includes the planned Purchase of 100 More helicopters for the police and military the a Zeta web orca newspaper said monday. But Poland a helicopter company the state owned ask Enterprise in Swinik is miffed at being bypassed altogether especially since its one time guaranteed Market in the soviet Union has All but disappeared. According to gazeta web orca the polish made Sokol helicopter lacks certain International certificates showing adequate design for civil aviation. However representatives of the polish firm protesting to the Interior ministry contend it would be relatively easy to bring the Sokol up to then quire standards. Beijing apr a former president Carter said monday that chinese officials were less than truthful in their response to his appeals for the freeing of some jailed dissidents. Carters comments came at a news conference at the end of his three Day visit which included meetings with communist party chief Jiang Zemin and Premier i Peng. He said that in response to his amnesty Appeal communist officials told him they wielded Little influence on the judges who jailed pro democracy activists. A a a their Basic reaction is that the judiciary of China is Independent of the administrative leaders and that the past trials that have been conducted were not conducted on the expression of opinion but on Active crimes of violence or subversion a Carter told reporters. A i done to accept this statement As being completely True. But that a their explanation to me a he said. In China the judiciary like other government institutions takes direction from the communist party Carter urged chinese officials to Issue a Quot Blanket forgiveness for people jailed for their involvement in the democracy movement who were innocent of violent or subversive acts the United states and other industrialized countries banned High level exchanges and military cooperation with China to protest the violence. Many of those sanctions have eroded in the past several months