European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 21, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and stripes thursday november 21, 1991 housing project to ease Simonella crunch by j. King Cruger Mediterranean Bureau construction under Way on a 500-unit family housing project for Nas Simonella Sicily will help relieve the naval air stations acute housing shortage. A right now we have 700 fewer government housing units than we need. The new housing will go a Long Way toward solving our housing shortage. It will be a great help to us a it. Mark Mccaffrey is Gonella a spokesman said tuesday. The contract Calls for the project to be completed no later than March 31, 1993, but phased occupancy will take place sooner As the units Are completed. Currently Navy families qualifying for government quarters at Simonella face an 18-month waiting list before moving into one of the installations 309 leased or 129 on base units. One of the existing leased housing areas is located across from Nas i which houses support activities such As the commissary and schools. The other is 28 Miles away at Costanzo North of the City of Catania. There has been an acute housing shortage at Simonella for some years As the increasingly important base at the Crossroads of the Mediterranean experienced rapid growth. Simonella currently has an Active duty population of 3,251 men and women. Groundbreaking for the Blue Bay housing project started in february and construction of its primary roads and underground utilities is expected to be finished by the end of the year Mccaffrey said. The project is located outside the town of Brucoli about a 35-minute drive Southeast of Nas ii is Gonella a operational base. The Hillside site overlooks the ionian sea and is within walking distance of a Beach Mccaffrey said. Original plans called for the project to have Only 200 units but the installation received congressional approval in july to increase that number to 500 units Mccaffrey said. Half of the units will have two bedrooms 35 percent will have three bedrooms and the remainder will have four bedrooms Mccaffrey said. Ninety percent of the units will be for enlisted personnel and the rest for officers. Construction of the actual buildings a a mix of town houses duplexes and some single dwellings a is expected to Start in the new year. All the units in Blue Bay housing will have Central heating single car garages washers dryers and Kitchen appliances including dishwashers Mccaffrey said. The Navy has an option to add another 500 units to the project and to lease the housing area for As Long As 30 years. Its current contract with the projects sicilian builders Serman corp., specifies that the Navy will lease the quarters for 10 years at a fixed Price of $18,040 per unit per year Mccaffrey said. He added that the Cost is less than the ceiling of $20,000 per year set by Congress for such leased  ballots cast by military Rise in Louisiana by Chuck Vinch. Washington Bureau Washington a the bitterly contested and widely publicized gubernatorial election in Louisiana on saturday produced record voter turnouts within the state and prompted a marked increase in the number of military Absentee ballots cast officials say. No statistical breakdowns Are available yet but officials said 551 military Absentee ballots were cast in the general election pitting Democrat Edwin Edwards against Republican David Duke who has past associations Lmh the Kun flux klan and nazism. In comparison 208 military Absentee ballots were returned in 1990 a a congressional election year. In 1989, when elections were held for state and local offices 24 military Absentee ballots were cast. In the last state gubernatorial election in 1987, 341 military Absentee ballots were returned said Shine Domingue assistant commissioner of elections for Louisiana. Edwards who served in three previous scandal tainted terms As governor trounced Duke who was re mediated by president Bush and other National re pub ican leaders by a margin of 61 percent to 39 percent. Domingue said the a a unprecedented worldwide attention Given to the election was responsible for the High number of ballots cast among All segments of the states voter population. A no doubt about it a he said. A the publicity fuelled this turnout. We had Media covering the election from All Over a not just Here but from Japan England Germany you name  Many voters including some who cast Absentee ballots made it known that they weren to particularly Happy with either candidate he said. A we had a lot of people Contact us to ask if they had to vote for governor to validate their ballot which had five other statewide offices on it a Domingue said. A the answer is no a your votes for the other offices on the ballot still count even if you did no to pick one of the candidates for  status of forces talks called no threat to living standards by de Reavis staff writer High level talks involving american and european negotiators will produce minimal changes in the daily lives of americans attached to Allied forces in Europe a . Embassy spokesman says. A articles in the press have raised fears that the talks could have Adverse Impact on the living standards and Quality of life of United states military personnel in Germany a spokesman Neal Walsh said. A a but one Point made by participants in the talks is that the goal of the discussion jul be to maintain Quality of life for personnel stationed in  the latest talks were adjourned nov. 14 and Are scheduled to resume Early next year. Walsh said the negotiators Are revising the supplement to the nato status of forces agreement Between Germany and nations with troops stationed there. Germany requested the revision in Light of the recent political changes in Europe including German unification. The supplement with Germany was signed aug. 3, 1959, Ana does not affect . Forces stationed in other european countries Walsh said. The supplement details 83 areas regulating everyday life of the Allied forces in Germany. These areas include taxes vehicle registration gasoline prices Low level flying labor Laws postal rates telecommunications and building codes. Working groups representing the United states Britain Canada France Belgium and the Netherlands Are working with German officials to redefine the statutes. Nelson Ledsky of the state department is heading the . Delegation. Representatives from the state department defense department european come . Army Europe and . Air forces Europe Are attending the sessions. Talks began sept. 5, and discussions focused on Maneu vers property rights and traffic control said a German foreign ministry official who asked to remain Anonymous. He gave no other details. He said the november meetings involved other areas but he declined to be More specific. The discussions Are being held in Bonn Germany under the auspices of the foreign ministry. Iraqi rights violations called Gross Bern Switzerland apr iraqi troops committed a Gross violations of human rights during their occupation of Kuwait a . Investigator says. Walter Kaelin a Swiss International Law expert selected by the United nations said he received reports that a hundreds of kuwaiti nationals died in executions and from torture at the hands of iraqi occupiers. Kuwait lists 2,100 missing in iraqis aug. 2, 1990, invasion and the subsequent seven month occupation of the neighbouring Gulf emirate Kaelin said this week. He was being asked about the conclusions of a fac finding Mission to Kuwait As a special . Human rights commission envoy. His mandate does not include human rights in Iraq. Kaelin is due to present an interim report during the general Assembly a fall session in new York. His final report is to be Given the Geneva based commission Early next year. Thus far Only estimates have been made about How Many kuwaitis were sentenced to death died in iraqi Captivity or Are still held. Anyone whom Iraq considered to be part of kuwaiti resistance a including women and youths a was systematically tortured and executions were used to terrorize other parts of the population Kaelin  backing non nuclear defense system Washington a Congress is giving the Pentagon a go ahead to build the worlds first non nuclear defense against Long Range missiles a High tech system of rockets and radars that would Cost $20 billion or More to Complete. The decision is a turning Point in the debate Over missile defense. It comes ironically at a time when the threat of ballistic missile attack on the United states is the smallest since the outset of the cold War. The $4.15 billion plan is included in the $291 billion 1992 defense authorization Bill which the House passed monday and the Senate is expected to approve this week. The defense departments marching orders Are to develop a limited anti ballistic missile system for deployment As Early As 1996 or by a the earliest Date when the technology is available. That is Congress Way of fuzzing the schedule to give opponents a Chance to delay the deployment. It is a vastly scaled Down version of the Star wars idea that then president Ronald Reagan introduced in a March 1983 speech in which he called on american scientists to develop an impenetrable shield against nuclear missile attack. Reagan a plan was for largely a space based system a thus the Star wars nickname a whereas Congress wants the new system based almost entirely on the ground. This is the first time Congress has Given its explicit approval to building a non nuclear defense against Long Range missiles. A i think we have crossed a significant psychological threshold that puts the nation on a course of strategic defense it abandoned 15 years ago said rep. Ronald Dellums d-calif., who strongly opposes deploying any anti missile system. Even so it is not certain the system actually will be completed. The biggest doubt is Money. Critics say the nation cannot afford the $20 billion or More it is Likely to Cost. Opponents also question the usefulness of such a system arguing that the Prospect of a missile attack on . Soil is highly doubtful with the breaking apart of the soviet Union. The Only . Missile defense now in existence is the Patriot air defense system which is not capable of shooting Down missiles of intercontinental Range. The nation once had 100 nuclear tipped spartan and sprint missile interceptors in silos at grand Forks n.d., As Protection against a soviet strike on a nearby minuteman nuclear missile Field. That system was discarded in 1976. The new system As outlined in the missile defense act of 1991, would include up to 100 anti missile interceptors based at a single site probably the abandoned grand Forks site plus a land based radar for coordinating the missile intercepts and space based sensors for curing the interceptor rockets to their targets. This would be a the initial step toward eventual creation of a larger system a possibly including space based interceptors a that could provide a a highly effective defense of the entire United states against limited missile attacks