European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 2, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday March 2, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 7 defending Champion Rick Swenson the Only five time Winner of the id Tarod Waves to the crowd As he starts the race. Humans huskies set off to face Alaska s grueling id Tarod Trail Anchorage Alaska apr a record number of mushers and dog teams hit the Trail saturday through More than a foot of fresh Snow As thousands of fans watched the Start of the 20th annual id Tarod Trail sled dog race. Ten time id Tarod Veteran Lavon Barve led 76 mushers and More than 1,200 dogs out of Anchorage and headed for Nome 1,159 Miles away on the Frozen Bering sea coast. The race usually takes the leaders 11 to 14 Days. Defending Champion Rick Swenson the Only five time Winner of the id Tarod was fifth out of the Chute. He ran despite his fathers death Only Days before. Mushers draw starting numbers and leave at two minute intervals. Each sled team has up to 20 dogs. Racers pass through 24 checkpoints before reaching the finish line at the Gold Rush town of Nome. The 1992 purse is $375,000, with the top five finishers receiving $50,000, $40,000, $35,000, $30,000 and $25,000, respectively. Susan Butcher four time id Tarod Winner left Anchorage in seventh position. She holds the races record time 11 Days 1 hour 53 minutes and 23 seconds set in 1990. Last year she led most of the Way but turned Back in a blizzard near the end As Swenson and second place finisher Martin Buser pushed on to the finish. Debbie Corral a Rookie Drew the last place starting position. The teams race through downtown to Eagle River then truck their dogs and sleds Over the Busy Glenn Highway 50 Miles Northeast to Wasilla for an official restart saturday afternoon. The id Tarod known As the a last great race on Earth a is a grueling test of humans and animals. Teams Cross Snow filled Mountain passes vast windswept expanses of Tundra and Frozen Rivers. They May face temperatures As Low As 60 degrees below Zero fatigue angry Moose treacherous ice and whiteout snowstorms. Once they leave the third checkpoint at Knik the race crosses no roads passing Only through tiny Eskimo Vil Anchorage \ i Canada 200 into 200 inn. A a v a Pacific Ocean Juneau or v4. 5 n a inn Otaw Lages. Officials said that since recent Rule changes ban outside help from villagers Force mushers to sleep in tents and keep their dogs in corrals it is anyone a guess who might win. But there Are favourites. Eighteen of last years top 20 finishers re entered. Nearly half the mushers this year Are id Tarod rookies though some a a rookies have vast experience in other races. Other mushers come from France Switzerland England Canada and several lower 48 states. The oldest Musher in the race is Norman Vaughan 86, who in the late 1920s mushed dogs on adm. Richard Byrds expedition to Antarctica. The race also includes a stockbroker from Chicago a Maytag appliance repairman from Ontario and Bob Hickel a son of Alaska gov. Walter . The id Tarod commemorates the historic id Tarod Trail part of which was used in 1925 to take lifesaving diphtheria serum to Nome. Sex joke gets Man demotion pay Cut new York apr a Man who made a sexual joke about two female employees was punished with a demotion and pay Cut a and one of the women got his Job. Velva Edwards was an assistant to Ron Contino a senior vice president for surface transit at the new York City transit authority the Agency that runs the City a subways and buses. Contino was recuperating from triple bypass heart surgery last month when he spoke with Edwards in a conversation heard by 28 other employees on a speaker  said he Felt so Well he wanted a an auditorium that will fit All the surface  Edwards asked Why. Contino replied a so you me and Pat can have sex on  a a path referred to Patricia of Brien another manager. Transit authority president Alan Kiepper who called Continos remark a demeaning a reassigned him to executive vice president a Job that pays $10,000 less at $105,000. Edwards got Continos old Job. Kiepper said he Hopes the Job switch announced Friday sends a message. . Police dog taking break catches whiff of drugs from wire reports san Diego a a police officer and his drug sniffing dog making a rest Stop wound up seizing 654 pounds of marijuana from a parked car. Faustus a 7-year-old drug detection dog was on patrol in Southern san Diego on Friday night when officer Steve Sloan allowed the dog to take a Brief Roadside Stop. A there were plenty of Trees and Bushes for faustus to Check but he was More interested in a 1984 Buick parked nearby Quot it. Tom Ordyn said. Faustus followed his nose to the trunk of the car and indicated to Sloan that there was something inside other than the spare tire. When the car was searched police found the marijuana Worth an estimated $700,000 in the trunk. A the car was registered in Alameda and the police department is interested in speaking to the owner a Orden said. 100 Bones uncovered Austin Texas a police have found More than 100 Bones in a woman a apartment and charged her with breaking into a mausoleum. Investigators had not determined whether the Bones in boxes and suitcases were human or animal police sgt. Chester Johnson said. Claire Lavaye 36, of Austin was charged Friday with burglary in a november break in at a mausoleum at Oal Wood cemetery Johnson said. A Man also was arrested but not immediately charged. In addition to the Bones police recovered what they called satanic cult paraphernalia including paintings Metal crosses and candles. Apartment takes plunge san Francisco a a Hillside apartment building undercut by recent heavy Rains was hauled Down saturday tumbling Down in a slide that ended a favorite local Cliffhanger. Demolition workers exchanged a High fives and cheered As about two thirds of the wooden building came crashing Down the 150-foot slope. The remaining Structure was to be wrecked monday. The Fate of the Telegraph Hill building had become a hot Issue with newspaper columnists calling it the a House luge a in a joking reference to olympic sleds. The building bit the dust after Crews wrapped it with three cables and then yanked twice a once to loosen the foundation and a second time to bring it Down. Aid bound for Russia Pittsburgh a c-5 Galaxy lifted off from Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday evening on a humanitarian Mission to Russia. The plane was loaded with More than 75 tons of donated food Medicine and medical equipment for residents of the former soviet Union. The flight was organized by brother a brother foundation of Pittsburgh and John Rangos president of Chambers development co. Inc. Of Pittsburgh. The project was begun at the request of russian and greek orthodox churches. Rangos is a Lay Leader in the greek orthodox Church. Rep John p. Murtha d-pa., arranged for the cargo plane which came from the 911th tac Airlift group a Reserve unit based in Pittsburgh. Crash kills 6 in . Ramseur . A a Man who allegedly was driving with a revoked License lost control of his Van saturday and slammed head on into another Van killing himself his passenger and four people in the second vehicle. Rodney Steven Ellison 23, was southbound on . 49 when he lost control of the Van saturday night the North Carolina Highway patrol said. The Van slammed into a northbound Van and both vehicles were thrown Down an embankment. Dead at the scene were Ellison a 24-year-old Man who was a passenger in his Van and three men who were passengers in the second Van. The Driver of the second Van a woman died in route to the Hospital. Ellison a License had been revoked since 1988 for two convictions on driving while impaired the patrol said