European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 12, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 b the stars and stripes . Saturday december 12, 1992 nearly 7 million May face stringent alcohol testing Washington apr six million truck Drivers and almost a million other airline Railroad and mass transit workers would be subject to random tests for alcohol under proposed Federal regulations. The transportation department unveiled the proposal thursday and estimated its deterrent effect on drinking would save 1,200 lives Over the next decade and prevent at least 21,000 traffic injuries. Anyone with a blood alcohol level of 0.02 a one and a half glasses of Beer or wine for a 160-Pound Man a or greater would be removed from safety sensitive duties for eight hours or until another breath test showed that the level had fallen below 0.02. In addition random drug tests that now cover 4 million interstate transportation workers would be expanded to include 3 million other truck school bus and commercial bus Drivers who done to Cross state lines. The regulations were required by a Law enacted in 1991 and were due to be completed in october. The issues however proved More Complex than envisioned said transportation Secretary Andrew h. Card. A we wanted to design a system that was a deterrent but that was not Overly intrusive and that would not be a burdensome Cost to Industry a he said acknowledging that the final version wont emerge until after the Clinton administration takes office Jan. 20. Still unresolved is How much to test. Enough random drug tests for transportation workers in safety sensitive jobs Are performed to assure that covered workers stand a 50-50 Chance of being tested at least once a year. The proposal thursday said the alcohol testing could Range from that level to As few tests As Are needed to assure that a worker stands Only a l-in-5 Chance of being required to blow into a breath analyser in any year. Another undecided Issue is whether employers should conduct All tests or state agencies should do some possibly at truck weigh stations along highways. The regulations Are expected to Cost Industry Between $1.5 billion and $3 billion Over Loy cars including leasing or buying the breath testing machines which Cost $1,000 to $8,000 each. An airlines spokesman said no commercial aviation Accident has Ever been caused by employee drinking and complained that the proposed rules would Force their workers a to Wear a Scarlet letter because of the problems of other transportation  a your pilots do not drink in the cockpit and the implication of the proposal will Only serve to frighten passengers a said air transportation association president Jim Landry. The teamsters Union which represents hundreds of thousands of truck Drivers said it would not have a reaction until it had examined the proposed rules. Joel Dandrea assistant safety director for the Industry a american trucking association said it supports the rules in general but prefers random Roadside testing by state agencies Over employer testing As a More effective deterrent. The swedish x2000 speeds around a curve in Gap pa., during a test run on thursday. Amtrak Hopes new swedish train can help derail air shuttle advantage aboard the x2000 a the train rocketed around a curve at 100 Mph blowing past Amish farms in a swirling snowstorm. Inside All was Calm. The cup stayed on the smooth Pear Wood table. The Coffee stayed in the cup. T he trip t thursday was a glimpse into Amtrak a future a a demonstration of a swedish train that americans National passenger Railroad Hopes can become competitive with jetliner shuttles without billion Dollar track improvements. T he x2000 train has wheels in a flexible Frame that turn with the tracks unlike conventional rigid Frame wheels. The cars tilt during turns to keep riders comfortable. Amtrak wants a train that can handle its existing curvy tracks a far cheaper alternative to building new straighter track for the Type of High Speed trains found in Japan and France. For the past several weeks Amtrak has been running the six car x2000 Between Philadelphia and Lancaster and elsewhere. T he train is made by the swedish and Swiss company Asca Brown Boveri. The x2000 has been used for two years Between Stockholm and Goteborg. Sweden. The curvy tracks there Are virtually identical to the route Between new York and Boston said Lutz Eisner president of american subsidiary Abb traction inc., which would build Amtrak strains if it wins the bid. With the train swedish state railways said it Cut from 41/2 hours to under three hours and boosted its share of the air and rail Market from 38 percent to 52 percent. Amtrak officials eager to Speed up the four hour trip Between new York and Boston said they think an x2000-Type train could make the trip in less than three hours once the lines North of new Haven conn., Are electrified due in 1997. Amtrak has about 12 percent of the air and rail Market Between the cities. It Hopes a three hour trip would boost that share to the 42 percent it enjoys Between new York and Washington a relatively straight three hour shot. In february Amtrak plans to Start running the test x2000 Between Washington and new York extending in april to new Haven and in May to Boston using a diesel engine. Amtrak plans to spend $400 million on 26 trains by 1997. Priest convicted for molesting 15-year-old baby Sitter from wire reports Minneapolis a former priest James r. Porter was convicted saturday on charges he sexually molested a 15-year-old baby Sitter in 1987. The verdict ended the first trial of Porter a former roman Catholic priest who has been accused of molesting dozens of children in three states since the 1960s. Porter 57, showed no emotion when a jury announced its verdict after 12 hours of deliberation Over three Days. Porter was convicted on six counts of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct. Each carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a $10,000 Fine but state sentencing guidelines recommend probation for someone such As Porter who has no previous convictions. Sentencing was set for Jan. 28. He also faces criminal charges involving 32 people in Massachusetts As Well As civil lawsuits by alleged victims in Minnesota and new Mexico. According to court documents porters sexual contacts with children were reported to Church officials on numerous occasions and he was treated twice for the problem at a Church run Center in new Mexico before he left the Priesthood in 1974. Porter later married and now has four children magical Santa stops thief los Angeles a a shopping Center Santa has saved a woman from a would be car thief. Gloria Margolis 36, was getting out of her car wednesday when a Man came up and demanded her keys threatening to slash her. The Santa Claus Daniel Hobbit ran to the scene said los Angeles police sgt. Bill Thomas. The attacker a had this look of terror on his face and All of a sudden he dropped my purse and let go and took off a Margolis said. A the was totally in Shock to see Santa  Hobbit said a i must have looked like quite a sight. I had my Bells jingling and  three years ago while playing Santa Claus Hobbit saved the life of an 11-year-old boy who was choking on chewing gum. A a there a something very magical about putting on that red suit a he  buried standing up grand Junction Colo. A a Cowboy who was in a wheelchair for the last six years of his life received his dying wish he was buried standing up with his boots on. Jimmy Dale Struble 49, died dec. 3 of lung problems. He was paralysed from the neck Down in 1986, during what friends said was a fight with another Cowboy Over who was the better Roper. A the hated lying Flat on his butt for six years and he did no to want to be buried that Way a said Glenn younger one of several dozen mourners. In a funeral procession tuesday tailored to Strubles last requests mourners followed his Saddle draped casket As it was hauled to the graveyard in a pickup truck. Strubles friends then lowered his casket feet first into the ground with their lariats. Struble was buried in a Cowboy hat jeans a Western shirt and boots. He had his favorite pocketknife. A the was a hard headed country boy a make that heavy on the country boy a younger  engine mounts probed Arlington Texas a All airlines May be asked to replace engine mounts on Boeing 737-200 jetliners partly because of an incident 11 months ago at Dallas fort Worth International Airport an official said. Hector Casanova said that stressed bolts sheared Jan. 7 on the right engine of Delta flight 1581, causing the engine to fall off on Takeoff. The Pilot was Able to turn the plane around and land. Casanova an investigator for the National transportation safety Board said the incident was the fourth in the past five or six years of an engines loosening or dropping off a 737-200 because of a Taulty Bolt or the failure of hardware that holds the engine to the Wing of the plane. The Agency does not View the hardware As unsafe but Casanova said investigators Learned in its Delta probe that a a there a ways to make it  he said that airlines probably will be asked to change some of the attachment hardware and that new bolts Likely will be made larger