European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 23, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                \ v a Iii so \ a a a s a y sunday june 23, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 5 Dod wants Epa guidelines changed for base cleanups Washington a environmental Laws that require the military to rid closed bases of hazardous waste must be changed if the land is to be sold de of Csc department officials said Friday. A if we mandate clean up before disposal we re going to have vacant communities a George Vest an air Force Deputy assistant Secretary told a Senate armed services subcommittee. A. Vest said the military is willing to clean up the facilities. But he said it would be a difficult if not impossible to convert bases to other uses under current Law requiring the military to clean up an entire base before it is transferred. The military wants to sell off parcels of land As they Are cleared of environmental waste Vest said a the air for he said has a buyer for a piece of land at the defunct Pease fab in new Hampshire. But that parcel can to be sold for an aircraft hangar until the entire base is free of waste he said. But sen. Alan Dixon  walked at the idea of Selling land before its cleaned up. A the. Government could expose the Public to serious hazards a he said. Thomas Baca Deputy assistant Secretary of defense told the panel it would Cost about $1 billion to clean up the 86 facilities already . Defense Secretary Dick Cheney has recommended another 43 bases be closed in a Cost cutting measure and a special commission will decide by july 1 which will be shut Down. A enormous environmental problems confront the department a Baca told the subcommittee on readiness sustainability and support. For  bases disposed of solvents dead batteries dirty Oil and other waste by dumping it in an out of the Way Corner. Baca said the cleanup would include getting rid of hazardous and toxic wastes / y y. Quot o one facility ordered shut Down three years ago a the army a Jefferson proving ground in Madison ind. A is in such bad shape environmentally that 50,000 acres will be turned into a wildlife Sanctuary because the area is unfit for humans officials said. The defense department wants $197 million to clean up the bases in fiscal 1992. Officials said the military would shoulder responsibility for the entire cleanup of Pease and other bases if it were allowed to sell off land by the chunk. Guard orders tougher fitness tests guarding the goods . Customs special agent Craig Thurber stands guard Over the More than a half a ton of pure heroin seized thursday at a warehouse in Hayward Calif., a suburb East of san Francisco Bay. Four people were arrested in the seizure the largest such haul in . History. One of the four arrested is from Thailand the other three Are from Taiwan. The seizure was valued at up to $4 billion. Sacramento Calif. A army National guard commanders in California have ordered tougher physical training for their troops because half those mobilized for War flunked fitness tests. Finding that out was a a shocker a said Brig. Gen. Daniel Brennan the state guards second in command. In one unit activated for the persian Gulf War 80 percent of troops initially failed the army Active duty physical fitness test Brennan said. The Overall Success rate of 50 percent was improved after drilling and retesting. Commanders said most of the 2,000 soldiers in 12 units activated for operation desert shield and desert storm were brought up to army standards. The army requires its youngest men Ages 17-21, to do a minimum of 42 push  and 52 sit  and run 2 Miles in 15 minutes 54 seconds. Males 52 or older must a do at least 16 push  and 26 sit  and run 2 Miles in 20 minutes. Requirements for women Are Les s stringent. In Washington National guard spokesman John White House once Sununu new travel Hoffman said there Are no National figures on the physical fitness of the 398 units mobilized for the War. But Brennan said he believes units activated in other states had the same difficulty. To solve californians problem commanders ordered the 22,000 guard members to Drill More during training sessions in preparation for tests in coming months. Those who done to meet standards will be dismissed Brennan said. A we have some soldiers in their 50s and they May not be Able to meet the requirements a he said. A quite frankly some of our people will get out when they realize they just can to do  troops complain unit As part time soldiers it is hard to slay in Good shape. Most guard members train one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer a an average of 39 Days a year. A what i do is take my Rucksack Home with me Anil i but loads in it and put it on my Back and i run. But its Aird a said 2nd it. Danell p. Guasp a Yuba City machinist. Y a in the stars and stripes by the Washington Post Washington a White House chief of staff John ii. Sununu was ordered Friday night to follow Tough new rules governing his use of corporate air planes after an internal inquiry by the White House counsels office determined he and his aides misinformed presidential . Boyden Gray about a trip he took to a political fund Raiser in Chicago on june 11, sources said. The new order to Sununu delivered by Gray with president Bush a knowledge is the latest of three rebukes dealt the chief of staff Over the past six weeks after questions were raised about his travel habits first on military jets then in his government limousine and now on corporate jets. Under fridays new rules All future air plane travel by Sununu must be requested and approved in Advance with an official travel authorization through the White House office of administration. Such flights can be arranged Only by the a Host organization sponsoring the trip and cannot be solicited by Sununu or his office. A one source characterized the Circum stances of the Chicago flight As a misunderstanding. This source said that the new a a rules were discussed after Sununu asked Gray on Friday night for clarification that would avoid any future confusion. Other sources said however that the incident went Well beyond a misunderstanding and had further strained already tense relations Between Sununu and other senior White House officials. According to these sources Sununu his wife Nancy Sununu and his top political aide Edward Rogers arranged with a Washington Developer and major gop donor Stuart a. Bernstein to arrange for a Jet a which he also paid for a to take him to Chicago for a Republican governors association fund raising event. Under earlier rules set last month on the use of corporate aircraft by the chief of staff and other officials Sununu a office was supposed to provide Gray a office with bernsteins name to Check for possible conflicts of interest before the flight was approved. Instead Sununu a office sent Gray a memorandum naming the planets owners Howard and Morton Bender and John Mason. The three prominent Washington businessmen who own a Jet charter company had leased the plane to Bernstein a whose name did not appear on the memorandum a at a regular commercial Cost of about $3,000 and apparently had no other involvement in the events. White House press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Friday night that Sununu told him Friday he was not aware that Bernstein in addition to arranging the flight had paid for  accounts of the Chicago trip by informed sources again differed. According to those critical of Sununu a actions Gray raised an immediate question about Howard Bender asking aide Rogers whether it was the Washington businessman. Bender has extensive government contracts and also is a director of the now defunct Madison National Bank Here that is being probed by several Federal agencies. These sources said Rogers told Gray it was a different Man a a Chicago Bender a who did no business with the government. The counsel having already rejected three other planes that had been offered for the Chicago trip because All three were owned by firms whose relations with the Federal government put them in conflict with Gray a guidelines approved the latest proposal partially because the flight was to occur that Day june 11, and the former governor was said to be desperate for approval. 10 years ago june 23,1981 a after bargaining All night an agreement was reached that temporarily settled a contract dispute with air traffic controllers just two hours before a threatened strike that could have grounded More than half the nations commercial flights. 20 years ago june 23,1971 a defense Secretary Melvin Laird ordered the Pentagon to begin reclassifying papers relating to the origins of the Vietnam War including previously top secret documents. 30 years ago june 23,1961 a Katanga now Shaba president Moise Tshombe announced he is free after two months imprisonment and plans to return immediately to his capital of Elizabethville. 40 years ago june 23,1951 a commercial and military planes and native tribesmen joined in a search for a pan american world airways plane with 40 people on Board that disappeared in an african swamp and Jungle area 500 Miles North of the Equator