European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 29, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 8 the stars and stripes . Thursday october 29, 1992 Congress tops retirees in Benefit boost new York times Washington members of con Gress will enjoy a Cost of living pay raise More generous than the boost going to 45 million recipients of social Security vet Erans benefits and Federal pensions. Lawmakers Are in line for a 3.2 percent jump in their $129,500 salary compared with a 3 percent increase for retirees drawing government checks. Both Cost of living adjustments Are automatic. But the congressional increase will be slightly larger because it is tied to a different economic Index than the one used to adjust social Security benefits. Though the difference of a few dollars a month is relatively Small critics said the disparity is added evidence that Congress treats itself differently from the Public at Large. What Congress has done one More time is take better care of itself than the people it represents said rep. Porter Goss a Southwest Florida Republican serving a District with thousands of Reti Rees. It in t the Money u is the percept Goss said the pay increase further erodes the credibility of Congress in a year during which the institution has been pummelled the House banking scandal the special privileges available on Capitol Hill and legislative gridlock. Officials of the National taxpayer Union which is challenging the congressional raise on the grounds that Congress cannot accept automatic adjustments agreed. You cannot deny the arrogance of an institution which not Only allows itself a pay raise without a vote but also allows the adjustment to be even larger than what is granted other Federal beneficiaries said Peter Sepp a spokesman for the organization. The 3.2 percent raise for members of Congress will bring their annual salary to $133,644 As of Jan. 1. A 3 percent raise inline with the social Security change would reduce the boost by about $259 to$133,385. Besides 40 million social Security beneficiaries the same Cost of living allow Ance is Given to about 2.3 million veterans receiving benefits and about 3 million re tired Federal workers. But the cola Gap is beginning to sur face in congressional campaigns. Pennsyl Vania Democrat Lynn Yeakel who is challenging Republican sen. Arlen spec Ter called the disparity an obscene Dis play of congressional Colas for Congress in times like these Are a slap in the face to people struggling to make ends meet she said. Boots and other items Are featured in the smithsonian exhibit on mementos left at the Vietnam memorial. Sleep my brother sleep co eco on of ferns left at Vietnam War memorial Washington a they Are the mementos of youth bittersweet because they speak of growth denied life incomplete a Detroit tigers Cap. A bicycle fender. A Teddy Bear. They Are among the More than 25,000 personal remembrances left at the Vietnam War memorial since that tribute to America s dead and missing from Southeast Asia was dedicated in 1982. More than 500 of these items were displayed tuesday in a new smithsonian institution exhibit personal legacy the Healing of a the Vietnam War memorial is a place within which an individual May come and find an Opportunity to state his feelings and thereby form a Community of feeling Roger Kennedy director of the smithsonian s National museum of american his tory said tuesday. That has never happened Inthis country the personal artefacts the Beer cans packs of cigarettes and eyeglasses convey a private Mes Sage Between the surviving and the fallen. But the notes both eloquent and awkward deliver their messages of loss with devastating Force. Sleep my brother sleep begins one Anonymous message left Only for your deeds will never die. I come to this Wall to make peace with you and myself. I have carried the pain of you death for 19 years now and to this Day the thought still saddens me. The last time i held you in my arms you were so Kennedy said War is always about loss. It is Al ways about things that can t happen that won t Hap pen. People respond in very liturgical ways. These Are sacred individual the exhibit will be on display at the american history museum through june 7. Unlike other museum exhibits it has Little guidance for visitors. These Are objects to contemplate not explain said smithsonian curator de Ezell. Most of them the explanation lies with the person who left them and would probably be understood by the person for whom they were once the Wall opened objects began to trickle in a pair of boots Here a note there. But As the me Morial became More popular so did the idea of leaving objects. The Wall s curator Duery Felton said More than 1,500 objects were placed in front of the Black Granite panels Between memorial Day an the fourth of july this year. The numbers Are increasing not decreasing Felton said. The collection is. A living memorial. People Are using that memorial to Register their feelings. It has become a bulletin beyond the Wall inc., a group that raised Money to finance the exhibit is seeking contributions of Memorabilia for the smithsonian exhibit. Contributions May be sent to beyond the Wall inc., p o Box 221616, Chantilly a. 22022. Air in old coffin May be unsuitable for scientific use St. Marys City my. A scientists said the May never know whether air drawn from a sealed Colo Nial Era coffin is old enough to be used to Analyse changes in the atmosphere since the 17th Century. Tests done on an air Sample drawn last week found an unusually High level of gases apparently created by decomposition. That made it impossible to detect freon a Man made chemical used since the 1940s Asa refrigerant and aerosol propellant. If the air does not contain freon then scientists will know it has been untouched by the Industrial age. More tests will be conducted they said. It is a distinct possibility that we May decide it is a Pristine Sample but we May not be Able to resolve it said Henry Miller chief investigator of the Lead coffins project. We May never be Able to preserved 17th Century air would give scientists a valuable research tool in determining How industrialization has affected the Earth s atmosphere. The Sample tested by Nasa showed High Levels of Carbon dioxide methane and nitrous oxide three of the so called greenhouse gases that trap heat in the Atmo sphere. Randy Cofer a senior research scientist at the space Agency s Langley research Center in Hampton va., said he believed the excess gases were caused by decomposition. He said he would try to determine what proportion was created that Way. The air was taken from one of three coffins believed to contain the remains of Maryland s founding family the culverts. The coffins were found beneath the ruins of the first Catholic Chapel built in the English Colo Nies. Scientists have tried to obtain preserved air from pyramids sunken ships and ancient wine bottles wit no Success. Joel s. Levine a research scientist at Lang Ley said Nasa has had an offer to examine the air in a coffin about 100 years older than the culverts. Officials expand list of aids symptoms Atlanta a Federal health officials on tuesday added three More diseases to a proposed new definition of aids bowing to demands from activist who had accused the government of ignoring symptoms Peculiar to women. The revised definition expected to be enacted next year could affect disability and other benefits for thou Sands of people infected with his the virus that causes aids. The government considers an aids diagnosis in calculating disability benefits and a diagnosis is needed to participate in drug trials or to qualify for Low Cost aids drugs. The centers for disease control proposed adding pulmonary tuberculosis recurrent pneumonia and invasive cervical cancer to the list of diseases that Indi Cate aids has fully developed in people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. We expect this expansion to result in More comprehensive monitoring of the epidemic of his infection and related disease in the United states or. Jame Scurran associate director for aids said in a letter announcing the proposal. The Atlanta based Agency will take Public comment on the proposal until nov. 16. Barring unusual developments the definition is expected to take effect Jan. 1
