European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 22, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a the stars and stripes sunday december 22, 1991doctor fathered 70 babies prosecutors think by the Washington Post a former Fairfax county va., Fertility doctor accused of impregnating at least seven patients May have fathered More than 70 children through what he had described As an Anonymous sperm donor program a prosecutor said Friday. Assistant . Attorney Randy i. Bellows said the number was based on reviews of or. Cecil b. Jacobson a records and interviews with former employees. The prosecutor said that a according to employees there never was another donor used at Jacobson a reproductive genetics Center Ltd. Clinic in Vienna a. Jacobson 55, has told the Washington Post that on a a few occasions he was a donor at his clinic. James r. Tate one of Jacobson a attorneys said that though More than 70 insemination patients conceived children he knew of no evidence that they were impregnated by his client. The Case which revolves around the sensitive and private affairs of couples who were desperate to have children began last month when Jacobson was named in a 53-count indictment charging him with mail wire and travel fraud As Well As perjury. The prosecutions revelation came during a hearing in which a Federal judge in Alexandria va., invoked the first amendment to reject the governments request to close the courtroom during Jacobson s trial set for feb. 10. Under the request the courtroom would have been closed at times to protect the identity of 11 parents whose children were allegedly fathered by Jacobson. . District judge James c. Cacheris added however that he will allow prosecutors to use pseudonyms for those parents. He noted that a significant psychological harm May result Quot if those parents children Learned who their biological father was through press reports. The governments Case is based essentially on two schemes a Jacobson a alleged attempts to trick parents into believing they were pregnant when he knew they were not. A and his supposed practice of lying to patients who came to him because he claimed to use an Anonymous sperm donor program. You better not cry the Only thing Rachel Marita Hurley 2, wants for Christmas is her Mother Rochelle Harley who had just handed her child Over to Santa Cecil Howsen for a Brief visit. However the squirming child grabbed for her mom while Santa held on wednesday at new Yorkus Abraham amp Straus department stove. Howsen who has a Black Belt in Kung fun is uniquely adept at holding on to unruly children. Families give new tone to Yule by the new York times ii will be a different kind of Christmas for the car Dull family of Salt Lake City. All last week they were Down in the basement packing clothes shoes Kitchen utensils blankets and toys donated by friends and neighbors for two orphanages in Mexico. On saturday the Cardall planned to pile into a big Chevy Beauville  and a pickup truck and begin the 2.500-mile round trip to Chihuahua. Quot we decided to spend the Money we would normally spend for gifts and traditional trappings to pay for Gas and motels and food Quot said Duane Cardall a correspondent for isl television news the lbs affiliate in Salt Lake City. Though nobody keeps figures there Are undoubtedly thousands of people like the Cardall determined to keep Christmas in their own Way regardless of what the culture urges on them. Increasing their number is the aim of an organization called alternatives. The problem that alternatives assails is that a when Christmas does come it often finds us spiritually emotionally and financially exhausted Quot the Joy of the season shadowed with a vague feelings of guilt about misspent Energy and  with three full time and two part time employees alternatives operates out of an old general store in Al Inwood a Hamlet 20 Miles South of Atlanta. The sagging Economy has been bad for Christmas sales but Good for alternatives. Kathryn Munnell the organization s director said she had met Many people who had wanted to change their commercial emphasis on Christmas but did not feel they could do it. A the hard times give them a practical reason a she said. Mary Bertram who lives with her family in an old schoolhouse in a Cornfield near Palmyra mich., said the question goes beyond a celebrating an alternative kind of Christmas. Its a question of a whole View of How you  the bertrams found their Way of living change food line longer this year san Francisco up a a crowd estimated at 20,000 waited Friday in a line six blocks Long for a Chance at a free bag of Holiday food. The Rev. Cecil Williams whose Glide memorial Church sponsors the 10-year-old program said he was unprepared for the turnout. A a in be never seen anything like this a Williams said. A people were lining up at 3 30 this  Many in line were the victims of the nation s slumping Economy. A i never thought i d be in a food line but i lost my Job last year a said Mary who asked that her last name not be used. A i m not proud of this but without it my children would not have a  unfortunately some in line went away empty handed As the group had Only 10,000 bags to hand out. When they volunteered to work two years in Costa Rica building houses with habitat for humanity. Now Bob Bertram who resigned from the roman Catholic Priesthood manages housing Loans As an officer of the Farmers Home administration. The bertrams have four children. Holiday gift giving is important in their household. But the gifts Are Small often Given throughout the 12 Days of Christmas from dec. 25 to the Jan. 6 feast of the Epiphany. They include Many coupons promising personal favors like washing the dishes for someone. In october after much discussion the family bought a computer system for $1,900. A was it a Christmas present or not a Mary Bertram wondered. She approves of the Purchase but cannot quite forget that it Cost As much As two houses would in Central  nut halts restart at nuke site by Cox news service Washington a a broken piece of Metal scarcely larger than a Nickel has stalled the Energy departments $2 billion Effort to restart the k reactor at the Savannah River site. The Metal part a nut about a half Inch across broke during a pre Start test and fell to the top of the reactor Core jamming a 16-foot-Long safety Rod and keeping it from falling freely into the Core officials said Friday. The nut reportedly was removed with a Remote control manipulator but it was not Clear whether the safety Rod could be moved Back to its starting position. An Energy department spokesman said Friday engineers at the sprawling nuclear weapons Plant near Aiken s.c., were still studying the problem. The spokesman James Gaver refused to answer any questions about the location of the Rod whether it was still stuck in the reactor or the implications the problem might have for the controversial Effort to restart the 37-year-old reactor previously idled for safety reasons. Other officials said the failure of the safety Rod one of 66 Energy absorbing shafts that arc used to shut Down the reactor in an emergency raised questions about whether the reactor can be safely started before Alt of the rods and the mechanisms that control them Are replaced. The department had announced it would Start the reactor Ana run it at about 30 percent of full Power for several months before shutting it Down again to replace the rods. Now it appears the restart might have to be postponed until All the safety rods Are replaced. The problem provides another argument for critics of the department s next two goals for the nuclear weapons Industry re opening the Rocky Flats Plant a plutonium processing factory near Denver and opening a nuclear waste repository in new Mexico. Environmentalists and others have questioned Watkins determination to go ahead with restarting the reactor which will be used to produce tritium a Gas that enhances the explosive Force of a nuclear warhead. In a letter to Watkins last month. Sen. Sam Nunn d-ga., chairman of the committee questioned whether a continued expenditure on obsolete facilities was in the taxpayers interest. The reliability of the 66 safety rods is critical to Safe operation of the reactor. By absorbing neutrons inside the reactor the rods keep nuclear fission from racing out of control in a split second. If the reactor operators needed to shut Down in an emergency they could activate switches in the control room and the rods Are supposed to fall into the reactor Core. The rods which contain the element cadmium would absorb neutrons and halt the nuclear reaction. Watkins said monday at a news conference that during restart tests several of the 66 rods failed to drop smoothly through Metal slots leading into the Core of the reactor. After adjustments most of them began functioning smoothly. However the 66th Rod repeatedly stuck partway in Watkins said. By Friday one Day of engineering review had become a whole week and was continuing. Sources said officials were concerned about a phenomenon nuclear engineers Call a a common Mode failure a a term that Means that if one component of a reactor fails to function properly other similar or identical parts May also fail under the same conditions. Many of the safety rods As Well As devices called a a actuators which control them were part of the original reactor when it was built in 1955