European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 21, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday september 21, 1991 the stars and stripes c Page 5lawmakers can t balance their own Check books by the Washington Post Washington if members of the House can to balance the nations Check Book is it too much to ask them to balance their own apparently it is at least at their own private Bank. In the first half of last year according to a general accounting office study members of the House bounced 4,325 checks at the House Bank a private financial institution that is run almost solely for them. In the same period 134 members of the House bounced 581 checks of $1,000 or More according to the Gao report. And Why not unlike at commercial Banks the House Bank does not charge fees to depositors who write checks but done to have sufficient funds to cover them. Only House members Are allowed to have accounts at the Bank although others including House employees and members of the Media who cover Congress May Cash personal checks of up to $75 at the Bank. Furthermore House members apparently took plenty of time making Good on the bounced checks. A a few account holders took up to four weeks to redeem their checks of $1,000 or More said the Gao report. The average time was seven Days. The Gao report follows a critical review by the Agency in february 1990 revealing that the Bank had cashed $232,000 in bad checks during the preceding 12 months. They included one for More than $10,000 cashed by House sergeant at arms Jack Russ who oversees the Bank. After that Gao audit Russ instituted new Check cashing procedures to suspend the accounts or Check cashing privileges of account holders and no account holders who repeatedly Bounce checks. And what happened after the safeguards were put into place House members bounced even More checks. According to the Gao 4,006 checks were returned because of insufficient funds in the six month period before Russ cracked Down. In the six months after the new procedures were begun House members bounced 4,325 checks. Twenty four members of the House bounced at least one $1,000 Check each per month in the six month period covered by the Gao review. The Gao report did not list any of the names of members who bounced checks. Despite the continued problems according to the Gao a no account holders have had their accounts  however in response to the Gao report Russ said he is taking new Steps to tighten the Bank s operations including providing account holders a written copy of the Check cashing policy installing computers so tellers can instantly know the status of accounts and arranging with the Wright Patroan Federal credit Union for overdraft Protection Loans for account  hearings end panel votes within week Washington up confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas ended Friday after eight Days of testimony with opponents denouncing a process they say failed to uncover the True Thomas but May allow him to become the nations 106th Justice. A we Are about to lose the supreme court a said Eleanor seat president of the fund for the feminist majority. A i have no doubt where this Man stands on abortion and i done to think any other reasonable person  sen. Arlen Specter r-pa., a key swing vote in defeating Robert Bork in 1987, went to the Senate floor shortly after the hearings ended to announce that he would vote for Thomas. And Senate judiciary committee chairman Joseph Biden d-del., said the 14-member committee would vote by next Friday on whether to recommend Thomas be confirmed. A full vote on the Senate floor is expected before oct. 4, said Senate democratic Leader George Mitchell. If confirmed Thomas a Black conservative could replace retiring Justice Thurgood Marshall on the Bench in time for the opening of the courts 1991-92 term oct. 7. Sens. John Warner r-va., and William Roth r-del., also announced they would vote for Thomas. But Ralph Neas executive director of the leadership conference on civil rights who helped coordinate opposition to Thomas said there remains a a Good chances Thomas would be Defeated. A a it a a close vote a said Neas who predicted As Many As four of the 14 judiciary committee members a composed of eight democrats and six republicans a remain undecided. Smeal told the committee it made a a mockery of the process by accepting Thomas a statement during his own five Days of testimony that he had never discussed the 1973 Roe is. Wade ruling that legalized abortion and has no personal opinion on the Case. Leading abortion rights activists believe Thomas would vote to overturn Roe. Representatives of six Law enforcement organizations backed Thomas. Johnny Hughes of the National troopers coalition representing state troopers in 44 states called Thomas a a Tough Law enforcement judge who at the same time will protect the constitutional rights of the  and . Alvarez a corporate vice president who worked with Thomas at the equal employment Opportunity commission called him a a brutally honest Many and an a Independent thinker who is careful and deliberate in making  he a pulled out All the stops to help hispanics and the handicapped at Leoc testified Alvarez. Thomas 43, head of the Leoc for eight years under president Reagan before becoming a Federal judge earlier was criticized for his record in handling discrimination complaints from hispanics the elderly women and other minorities. Benjamin Hooks executive director of the a act said Many Blacks who support Thomas Are misinformed. A those in the african american Community who know Little of his record often respond to judge Thomas a nomination with an understandable measure of racial Pride that obscures other considerations a testified Hooks. In the stars and stripes10 years ago sept. 21,1981 a one time singing duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel joined voices again and thrilled thousands in a free open air concert in new Yorkus Central Park. It was their first whole concert together since 1970.20 years ago sept. 21,1971 a As the Dollar plunged to a record Low close of 3.33 Marks members of the six european common Market nations met to discuss president Nixon s protectionist Trade measures. However the ministers declined to take any measures that would escalate into a Trade War with the United states.30 years ago sept. 21,1961 a dozens of families were hauled away from their Homes along the Wall in the Center of East Berlin in a mass forced evacuation aimed at preventing houses on the sector Border from being used for escapes to the West. 40 Casey shielded Gates senators told Washington a Cia director William Casey ran the spy Agency in a tightly compartment de Way that could Well have excluded Robert Gates from knowledge of the Iran Contra affair a former top Agency official testified Friday. Retired adm. Bobby Inman who for two years was Casey a Deputy said Casey May Well have been trying to protect Gates to preserve what he saw As a Bright future at the Cia. Gates is undergoing confirmation hearings before the Senate intelligence committee As president Bush a nominee to head the spy Agency. The hearings have been recessed until next week. Casey who died in 1987, a made a conscious decision to keep Bob Gates out of areas he thought might be troublesome a Inman told the committee As it opened a fourth Day of hearings. Inman said he himself was screened from knowledge of sensitive operations during the 18 months he held the Deputy a Post in 1981-82. Even Clair George then the assistant to the director of the Cia operations Branch once asked Inman to plead with Casey to share More information with his top subordinates Inman testified. Inman also sought to explain the memory lapses claimed by Gates about conversations in which subordinates contend they told him about the Iran Contra operations. He described the Cia Deputy a Job As hectic and demanding and said it would be a entirely plausible that he could fail to recall certain discussions. Inman attributed some of the criticism of Gates at the Agency to his rapid Rise in the bureaucracy. A from the Point of View of interpersonal skills in managing people we moved him along faster than we should have a he said a the broke some  the argument that Casey jealously guarded information and ran a tightly compartment de Agency is at the Core of Gates defense against accusations that he knew More than he has admitted about the Covert plan in the mid-1980s to sell arms to Iran and Send the profits to the Contra rebels. But the intelligence panel was told thursday by Thomas Polgar a former career Cia operative that Quot Gates was in the  Polgar who retired in 1981, served on the staff of the Senate Iran Contra investigating committee in 1987, he contended the evidence developed by that and other probes showed the nominee a was not compartment de out of sensitive  Senate opposes funding for offensive7 Art years ago sept. 21, 1951 a president Truman asserted that the United states would continue to seek agreements with the soviet Union but would build up american armed strength to see that the agreements Are enforced. By the new York times Washington a the Senate voted overwhelmingly on thursday to prohibit the National endowment for the arts from awarding Grants that would be used to promote materials that depict a sexual or excretory activities or organs in an a offensive  the amendment attached to an Interior department appropriations Bill was sponsored by sen. Jesse Helms . It passed by a vote of 68 to 28. Sen. Terry Sanford d-n.c., predicted the Helms measure would not survive joint House Senate negotiations on the full appropriations Bill which would include $174 million for Nea Grants. The House has so far adamantly opposed efforts to limit the Nea s Grant making authority. The Nea has become a favorite target for Helms and other conservative senators who have objected to the work some artists have made under Federal Grants. In 1989, an uproar arose after the endowment awarded Grants for a retrospective of Robert Mapplethorpe a photographs some of them with homosexual themes and to a museum in Winston Salem n.c., that supported an exhibition including a photograph by Andres Serrano of a Crucifix suspended in urine. The House and Senate rejected attempts to regulate the Content of Art receiving Nea Grants last year but agreed to a Compromise that would require the arts endowment to take into consideration a general standards of decency Quot in making Grants. But sen. Nancy l. Kassebaum r-kan., opened the door to reconsidering last years agreement when she introduced the amendment thursday that would Cut the endowments budget. A Many americans have legitimate concerns about the Way in which their tax dollars Are being used with respect to arts funding Quot said Kassebaum who voted against the Helms amendment. Helms tapped into that concern with his amendment saying that much of the Art sanctioned by the Nea a turns the stomach of any Normal