European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 5, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 a the stars and stripes wednesday february 5,1992 ruling preserves benefits for mentally deficient vets by the new York times new York a the elimination of Federal income benefits to 13,500 veterans who Are considered mentally incompetent was overturned monday by a Federal District judge on the grounds that the cuts violated their rights or equal Protection. Judge Shirley Wohl Kram of . District court in Manhattan issued an injunction that bars further withholding of the benefits. They had been eliminated As part of the cuts enacted in the omnibus budget reconciliation act of 1990. The cuts were directed at 13,500 of 37,000 mentally incompetent veterans or those who have no dependents and whose personal financial assets totalled $25,000 or More excluding their Homes. Once assets were reduced to 110,000, the Law permits benefits to be restored. Quot a statute that diminishes the testamentary Freedom of mentally incompetent veterans with no dependents while preserving the testamentary Freedom or similarly situated competent veterans produces incongruous and inconsistent results a the judge said. A spokesman for the disabled american veterans which sought the injunction in a class action suit said the ruling would restore $125 million in benefits that fall River mass. Apr almost a Century after Lizzie Borden was accused in the a murders of her parents a forensics expert scanned their Graves with radar monday for clues in one of americans most celebrated mysteries. Borden was acquitted in court but convicted in verse 44 Lizzie Borden took an a and gave her Mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done she gave her father 41.�?� James e. Starrs used the ground penetrating radar to search the Hill at Oak Grove cemetery where Borden her father Stepmother and Sisters Are buried. His first task was to find the parents skulls which were removed from the bodies and displayed by the prosecutor in the trial. If the skulls Are there Starrs Hopes to win permission from a court and Bordensr relatives to exhume them hoping Modem science might shed Light on the Case. Starrs also has exhumed the body of Alfred Packer a Colorado prospector suspected of resorting to cannibalism to keep alive during a snowstorm and of or. Carl Austin Weiss accused of assassinating Louisiana gov. Huey Long. The radar found evidence of two burial Sites where the skulls might lie but Starrs said it will take at least a month to Analyse the findings. Were Cut off in 1991. There was no indication whether the department of veterans affairs would Appeal the ruling. A department spokesman declined to comment saying the ruling was being studied. Constitutional lawyers said the ruling while affecting Only 13,500 of the 2.2 million veterans who receive benefits was significant because Federal courts rarely Challenge a congressional statute unless an overriding constitutional right is involved. In arguing for the injunction the veterans organization said the equal rights of the mentally incompetent veterans were being violated because other veterans of similar financial status were not having their benefits Cut. In its argument to the court the veterans department contended that Congress approved the cuts because of its concern Over Quot misconduct by people seeking to gain Access to the Money of incompetent veterans. Kram rejected the argument ruling that the Law resulted in Quot the impermissible discrimination against mentally incompetent disabled  a was such a she said a the statute violates equal  Starrs said he wants to see among other things if wounds in the skulls match the Blade of a singling Hatchet found at the Borden Home and believed to be the murder weapon. Many theories have emerged about the crime that has inspired 17 books a movie and even a Ballet. This year a local author added an illegitimate brother to the suspects. A i love a Good mystery like everyone else a said Starrs a professor of Law and forensics science at George Washington University in Washington. A a we re trying to give the bordens a Chance to say what really happened. Its like having a whole new jury in the  Andrew Borden and his second wife Abby Gray were killed on aug. 4, 1892 a Abby in an upstairs room and her husband on a sofa where he stretched out to Nap. Lizzie Borden a 32-year-old sunday school teacher was acquitted on june 30,1893. Starrs said he Hopes to have Concrete findings in time for an aug. 4 conference marking the 100th anniversary of the crime. Community reaction to Starrs search was mixed although dozens of people turned out monday to watch. U.s.2 children of sex convict focus of custody fight from wire reports Dallas a a woman May have fled with her two children rather than return them to her former husband a killer and rapist who has custody his lawyer says. Janet Hefley 38, failed to return the children Ages 5 and 3, to Charles Hefley As she was supposed to saturday attorney Allen Boswell alleged. Charles Hefley 44, was committed to a mental Hospital at 16 after he raped a woman and drowned her two infant children. He was released about 10 years later. In june a judge awarded Hefley custody of his own two children after he contended his former wife was mentally incapable of caring for them. Janet Hefley maintained that her emotional disorders stemmed from her husbands abuse. Boswell filed a complaint sunday accusing her of violating custody  of Texas homicides Dallas a the year 1992 is off to a bloody Start in some Texas cities. Houston logged 61 homicides in january up from 42 a year earlier. San Antonio recorded 24, up from 11, and Elpaso saw six up from two. A a it a frightening when you see the kind of homicides we re having a said Ruth Post statistician for the Houston police department. In one slaying in Houston a bomb killed a Man when he started his Van. Dallas police said 10 homicides were committed Over the past  recalling cars Washington Mitsubishi motors of America is recalling about 40,000 automobiles equipped with catalytic converters that exceed Federal and California Carbon monoxide emission standards the environmental Protection Agency announced monday. The Epa said the affected vehicles Are 1987, 1988 and 1989 Mitsubishi stations and Chrysler conquests with 2.6-liter turbocharged fuel injection engines. Approximately 5,000 California vehicles arc included in the  costs challenged Houston a moving expenses for 25 Nasa employees transferred to space station Headquarters included More than $180,000 in questionable charges for such items As pet transportation according to an internal review. According to an aug. 20 audit obtained by the Houston Post under the Freedom of information act the costs Are a a insignificant compared with the total anticipated costs of the $30 billion space station project. Items charged to taxpayers included $45,513 in temporary lodging fees Over two years for a couple who already had purchased a new House and More than $2,300 to ship two cats and three  claims settled Newark . A a British based company has paid the . Government nearly $1 million to Settle claims that it stole 190,000 ounces a More than 5.9 tons a of Silver Bullion from the . Department of defense. The government contracted in 1984 with Crown Bullion amp refining co. Of South Plainfield to melt Down 250,000 pounds of scrap . Navy torpedo batteries extract the Silver and fashion it into Silver bars assistant . Attorney Michael Chagares said. In mid july 1985, Crown Bullion a Parent company Berisford International pc of London ordered that More than 180 bars of government Silver be taken from the vault at the South Plainfield Plant and deposited with another Berisford controlled entity Chagares said. In december 1985, after the government demanded its Silver from Crown Bullion the company filed for bankruptcy and the Silver was never returned to the defense department Chagares said. Professor James e. Starrs operates radar equipment monday at the Borden family a grave site in fall River mass. Grave site radar takes whack at mystery of Lizzie Borden