European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 03, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stmfandvstripes5ue285 vol. 51, no. 290 35c wednesday february 3,1993 b h  Johh Tammi Nar  a 8693 a big Navy cuts possible report says 125,000 to go san Diego a Navy plane shave proposed cutting 125,000 personnel from the service and eliminating 140warships and scores of older aircraft by 1999, a newspaper has reported. The cuts would leave Tjie Navy wit about 375,000 uniformed personnel and about 320 warships including 12 aircraft carriers the san Diego Union Tribune reported monday. X the newspaper did not identify it sources for the report on the six year Bud get plan called re capitalizing the  the Navy refused to comment. Such cuts in manpower and equipment would take the Navy Down to pre cold War Levels and save billions of dollars said Lawrence Korb an assistant Secre tary of defense for manpower in the Rea Gan administration. Manpower is your biggest part of the budget said Korb a former aviator who now works for the Brookings institution Washington based research Center. You re talking big Bucks $5 billion a year every year just from the personnel cuts. The Union Tribune said the personnel exits would be in addition to those in a plan adopted under the Bush administration. Under that plan the Navy will go from about 585,000 service members Las year to 500,000 by 1997. Services Stirt adjusting to Homos Xoai guidelines Washington a the head of the Marine corps urged his troops to remain on watch and not quit Over the Issue of homosexuals and the air Force and army ordered recruiters to Stop asking applicants their sexual status officials said  moves which were not publicly announced were. The first Concrete indications that the armed service were beginning an adjustment however uneasy to president Clinton s initial Steps to end the ban on homosexuals in the military last Friday Clinton temporarily suspended the for Mal discharge of homosexuals from the military and announced that new recruits would no longer be asked i they Are homosexuals. Clinton ordered the defence department to produce a draft executive order by july15 that would formally end the ban on Gays. Defense Secretary Les Aspin has not yet implemented Clinton s interim policy but spokesman Bob Hall said tuesday he expected Aspin to act by the endow the week. At this Point i Don t know what will be in those particular instructions beyond telling recruiters not to ask applicants about their sexual status and suspending the permanent discharge of troops found to be Homo sexual Hall  chiefs of the four armed services plus Gen. Colin l. Powell chairman of the joint chiefs of staff strongly oppose Clinton s intention to permit Gays to serve openly but the leaders Are taking the first Steps to conform with Clinton s changes. In a message sent last Friday night Gen. Carl  jr., the Marine corps commandant urged his forces to put their allegiance to the corps above their personal feelings and to remain in the service no mat Ter How they feel about the Gay Issue. It is not characteristic of marines to quit their posts either under fire or when things Are not to their liking Mundy wrote in his message to All marines. Those of you whose Pride in the corps sense of duty Honor and personal moral values run so deep arc exactly the one needed to remain on watch to provide a steady  Mundy wrote that if Gays eventually arc permitted to serve openly in the military they would be held to standards of Good order and discipline and Stan Dards of Public behaviour expected of marines on or off  As in the past All individuals who enter the military must be prepared to accept necessary restrictions on. Behaviour Many of which would be intolerable in civil Ian society Mundy wrote. He seemed to be referring to military rules that prohibit fraternization. A Marine corps spokesman capt. Steve Manuel said corps recruiters will continue to ask applicants about their sexual orientation until Aspin issues his regulations putting Clinton s interim changes into effect. The Navy said it too was still asking the sexual status question. The army and air Force already have ordered recruiters to Stop asking the question officials said. Phil s report 6 More weeks of Winter from wire reports Punxsutawney a. Punxsutawney Phil dragged from his Burrow into subzero tempera Tures reportedly saw his Shadow tuesday morning which Accord ing to legend Means six More weeks of Winter. Actually Phil did t Likely see his Shadow. The event is a Public Ity stunt in which members of the town s inner Circle club deliver Phil s message to the news Media. But the cloudless sky just after Dawn tuesday would have guaranteed a Shadow if the in had been High enough. Folklore says a groundhog see ing its Shadow Means six More weeks of Winter. No Shadow Means an Early Spring. Some 4,000 people showed up at gobblers Knob outside Punxsutawney to take part in the affair despite the temperature of 6 below Zero. Phil had to be dragged from his year round Burrow an indoor Glass enclosure at the local Library he shares with groundhogs Phi Lomena and Barney and was taken to nearby gobblers Knob. Over the years Phil and his predecessors have predicted six More weeks of Winter 97 times in the 107-year tradition of this Small Central Pennsylvania town. The current Phil made his prognostication in a nose to nose Chat with inner Circle president Jim Means it was read to the see report on Page 2 crack Pridgen leaves the offices of . Gov. Jim Hunt s representatives in Raleigh on monday. Beaten Gay Man wants to meet with president Wilmington . A a Gay Man who said three marines beat him because of president Clinton s push to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military is seeking a meeting with the president. He says he is willing to listen to american people crae Pridgen said on the to Cluny show tuesday morning. And i m an american person who has something to say. And i m a victim who does t want to go  Pridgen 28, said that he wants to Tell the presi Dent about attacks on homosexuals and that he Hopes Clinton will establish a task Force on Gay bashing. Clinton has begun Steps to end the military s nearly 50-year ban on homosexuals. Pridgen said the marines shouted Clinton s going to pay during the fight saturday outside a Gay bar. Pridgen lost a tooth and suffered a Black Eye a swollen lip and a Cut ear. I was brutally beaten because 1 was Gay he said. I Felt like my civil lights had been Vio  three Camp Lejeune Lance corporals Colin see Man on Page 2