European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 20, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday november 20, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 7 Aid for soviets to go directly to republics by the Washington Post Washington the Bush administration has decided to give the soviet Union about si.5 billion in additional food Aid and to Channel it directly to the 12 remaining republics rather than the Central government in Moscow . Officials said monday. The decision Marks a new. Stage in the evolution of .-soviet relations. Although president Bush has spoken of increasing ties with the soviet republics the food Aid package would represent the first formal economic agreement Between the . Government and the increasingly Independent republics. The decision underscores the administrations recognition of the disintegration of the soviet unions Central government. The Aid is significantly less than the soviets had requested disappointing farm state lawmakers on Capitol Hill who had hoped for a burgeoning new Market for their states products. The assistance a a combination of .-guaranteed Loans for the Purchase of american Grain direct shipments of food and technical assistance for food production and distribution a would go to the republics while the Kremlin would play a coordinating role officials said. Each of the republics will have to pledge to repay the Loans the officials said. An announcement of the program was not Likely to come before next week the officials said. The administration has sent medical supplies directly to republics but has never before entered into an economic agreement such As guaranteeing Loans officials said. As currently envisioned the bulk of the package would be $1.25 billion in .-backed Loans to allow the soviets to buy american Grain for people and livestock the officials said. The remainder would include the food shipments and technical help to create wholesale markets to establish Model farms and to improve food distribution. The Aid is separate from the $1 billion that the chairmen of the House and the Senate armed services committees a rep. Les Aspin d-wis., and sen. Sam Nunn a Gay unsuccessfully sought to shift from Pentagon funds to soviet assistance. Vows among the ruins Oakland residents Don Bryant and Kim Barnes tie the knot sunday amid the ashes of their one time Home. The House they had lived in for nearly 12 years was destroyed in the raging wildfires that swept out of the Oakland and Berkeley Foothills last  pets to laboratories May get tougher Washington apr the agriculture department wants to make it More difficult for stolen dogs and cats to be sold As Laboratory animals. Under proposed regulations announced monday pounds and shelters would be required to hold dogs and cats at least five Days before transferring them to dealers who Supply research laboratories. Joan m. Arnoldi of the agriculture department said the proposal is intended to keep stolen pets from being sold As research animals. According to an animal rights activist the animal welfare act first passed by Congress in 1966, has failed to keep pets from being stolen and sold to research labs. A the problem of pet theft is still pretty rampant. And a major portion of pet theft does involve trading animals through dealers into labs a said Lucy Kaplan Legal counsel to the research and investigation department at people for the ethical treatment of animals. About 200,000 dogs and cats Are used in experiments every year she said. Under the agriculture departments proposal pounds and animal shelters would be required to hold dogs and cats at least five Days plus an extra Day or two if needed to include one saturday before the animals lire sold or Given to dealers who Supply laboratories. Arnoldi Deputy administrator for regulatory enforcement and animal care at the agriculture departments animal and Plant health inspection service said she wanted the holding period to include one saturday to give pet owners who Are at work during the week a Chance to recover their dogs and cats. The proposal is required by amendments passed last year to the animal welfare act which mandated a five Day holding period. The amendments passed last year and the proposal also require documentation that the required holding period has been met. Democratic candidates endorse . Statehood Washington apr contenders for the democratic presidential nomination on monday endorsed the Long debated concept of statehood for the nations capital. A the failure to Grant statehood to the people of the District of Columbia undercuts americans greatest Promise a that the Power flows from the people and not the other Way around a Arkansas gov. Bill Clinton said. A meeting of the House District of Columbia committee to consider the idea brought endorsements from not Only Clinton but also sen. Tom har Kin of Iowa sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska former sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts and gov. L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia. District residents Are entitled to vote in presidential elections but they have no senators and their Delegate to the House May vote in committee but not on the floor. Wilder told the committee he supports immediately granting the District full voting representation a two . Senators and a congressman. But the question of whether the a state of new Columbia Quot would Levy a commuter tax to offset Federal funds that would be lost has to be resolved before granting statehood he said. Such a tax would land on Wilder a constituents who live across the Potomac River in Northern  agent leak posed no threat army says Newport ind. A a tiny drop of deadly vex nerve agent leaked from a storage tank at the Newport army ammunition Plant but Public health was not endangered the army said monday. Experts say the nerve agent is so lethal that one drop on the skin could kill a person in three to 10 minutes. Workers at the facility about 70 Miles West of Indianapolis detected condensation thursday during one of two weekly inspections. One ton Carbon steel storage canisters have held the aging nerve agent since 1908. A there was never any Hazard to anyone or anything a said maj. Janies e. Ewing the Plant commander. Ewing said the leak was the Lisl since the tanks were filled 23 years ago. About 4 million pounds of vex is stored at the facility which employs about 2h0 workers. The amount of agent that leaked from the valve was less than one if Lith of a Standard drop or of no greater volume than the amount of Lead at the tip of a sharpened Pencil said army spokesman Bob whist inc. Ewing said the brass and steel valve which is about 1.5 inches in diameter apparently had deteriorated. He said one other valve had to he replaced about five years ago a shut there was no agent leaking out of  vex was manufactured in the i9b0s. T he military has imposed a 1997 deadline to dispose of vex and other chemical weapons stored at Newport and seven other Sites. Noriega secured Safe passage of cocaine witness says Miami up1 a Manuel Noriega was paid $500,0 h apiece to protect 19 flights carrying a combined 22 tons of cocaine from Panama to Miami in shipments of electric appliances a former airline owner testified in the deposed dictators drug racketeering trial. Ricardo Bilonick said monday that the flights occurred Between december 1982 and june 1984 and were flown by the panamanian cargo Carrier Nair which he owned. He said the payments to Noriega secured Landing rights at Remote airstrips for planes bringing the cocaine to Panama Safe passage of the cocaine through the streets of Panama unimpeded transit through Panama s International Airport and Overall silence. But under Cross examination by Noriega a attorney. Bilonick admitted he had not personally seen anyone give Noriega any Money nor had he Ever discussed cocaine with Noriega. He said the payments were handled through a colombian representative of the Medellin Cartel. And he accepted the word of colombian drug lords Jorge Ochoa and Pablo Escobar that Noriega had agreed to protect the drug flights. Bilonick said the cocaine was repackaged either in the panamanian tree Trade  or in rented houses hidden inside Bulky crates of appliances and then loaded onto the Nair planes. The flights ended in 19n4, when . Customs inspectors found i,b00 pounds of cocaine inside a Load of electric freezers at the Lutr warehouse near Miami International Airport. Noriega is on trial on 10 counts of cocaine racketeering conspiracy and importing and distributing cocaine. Bilonick was charged with three counts in the same indictment and could have faced up to 00 years in prison it convicted. In Exchange for his testimony he was allowed to plead guilty to one count of cocaine racketeering