European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 24, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                I us. The a tarts and a twee no m in Nii Nwart Jln a King jury set with 2 Blacks 1 hispanic opening statements scheduled for today los Angeles of a a my that includes two Blacks my a hispanic was chosen monday Tor the Federal n rights trial in the police beating of Rodney o. King attorneys for both sides agreed on the jury s makeup after a Day of wrangling that included an unsuccessful bid by defense attorneys to dismiss a Black Man from the panel. The jury has eight men and four women. Six of the men and three of the women Are White. . District judge John g. Davies ordered the jurors sworn in than released them to return Home and. Collect their belongings before being sequestered at a hotel. The trial is expected to take As Long As eight weeks. Davies set opening statements for today and said selection of alternate jurors was to continue tuesday. The jury will try three police officers and a former officer All White for allegedly violating the Black motorists civil rights in 1991. The jury that acquitted the officers on most charges in last years state trial included no Blacks one asian and one hispanic. That panels verdict set off three Days of rioting in the los Angeles area in May 1992, killing 54 people and causing More than $1 billion in damage. A a in a pleased with the jury Quot defense attorney Ira holocaust survivors bring soil of sorrow to . Memorial Washington Apas the names of the a places of martyrdom Quot were intoned the holocaust survivors came Forward one by one holding Small jars of soil As if they were made of eggshells. Auschwitz Birkenas. Babi Yar. Burgen Belsen. Buchenwald. Dachau. Kovno. Lidice. Sob ibor. Treblinka. From 39 Sites most of them concentration Camps came dirt to be mingled inside the base of the eternal flame that will Burn in the holocaust museum when it opens in april. A each particle of soil was collected from a place of unspeakable human tragedy Quot said Harvey m. Meyerhof chairman of the . Holocaust memorial coun cil. A this Hall of remembrance this National memorial to the victims of the holocaust is not Complete without the soil which we Bury  the contents of each Small urn were poured into the base each by a holocaust survivor. The dirt was gathered during the last nine months not Only from concentration Camp Sites but also from the beaches of Normandy and from american military cemeteries to Honor a the Young men and women who fell in Battle to restore dignity and Freedom to the human  a so when a visitor comes to pay homage to the victims of nazi brutality he will pay tribute and express his eternal gratitude to those who died to put an end to the nazi evil Quot said Miles Lerman chairman of International relations of the memorial Council. A it is our main objective to sensitize the museum visitor to the fact that decent society cannot stand by idly when atrocities take place Quot Lerman said. Satan an said of the new panel a i think they re fair consider Fig Public opinion and the Way it stands the last Man seated a Young hispanic said he knew Little about the Case and Nad never seen the videotape of King being beaten by police officers after a traffic Stop. Ail of the other Jumrat said they had seen the videotape. Among those seated were a welder a woman who teaches insurance agents How to sett a woman postal worker a Man who Sells real estate and two men who were retail clerks. Written jury questionnaires describing the jurors occupations were sealed by the judge who promised the panel anonymity. On trial Are police sgt. Stacey c. Koon officers Theodore j. Briseno and Laurence m. Powell and fired officer Timothy e. Wind. They Are charged with violating Kings civil rights. Both sides accepted the jury after a last minute Legal dispute Over its racial composition. The defense lost its Challenge of a Black Man from the los Angeles Watts area after government pros ecu ton argued that it was based on nothing but race and the judge agreed. But an unusual defense bid to Block a government Challenge of a White former National guardsman on similar grounds of racial Bias was rejected by the judge. Davie read there was a a race Neutral explanation Quot for the Dettt Issal of the White Man who helped Ponce the Watts arcs during the race riots of 1965. He also indicated that the Man would tend to believe police witnesses More than Chi inns. Defense attorneys claimed their Effort to dismiss the Black prospective juror was a Ocolor Blind and based on inconsistencies in the Man s answers. But the judge upheld the governments claim that there was no reason other than race for excusing the juror. When the controversy Over the Black juror arose one Black woman had already been selected for the panel. A the defense now feels they have their Token Black juror a a complained assistant . Attorney Steven Clymer the Man in his 60s, said he has lived in the predominantly Black South Central los Angeles Community of Watts for 25 years. He said his Home Wasny to damaged during the rioting. Asked his reaction to the previous verdicts he said he was a a Little angry. But i did no to know the exact  he Wasny to worried about his neighbors reactions to the Federal Case he said because Quot they done to know in Mon this  numbers rather than names Are being used to keep jurors unidentified. Fitl a f soil from 39 Sites in world War ii Are presented monday to Washington a holocaust museum set to open in april. Apr because it is Here where they will come to understand that when immigrant workers Are being attacked in Germany or when Neo nazis Are once again peddling their venom of hate when we see that murder and mass rape becomes a National purpose committed in the name of a ethnic cleansing that this must become our personal concern Quot he  holocaust museum is located near the washing ton Monument and will have 265,000 Square feet of floor space on five Levels above ground and two Levels below. Meyerhoff took part in the collection of soil in Lithuania. A was we dug the Spade into the ground in those desolate locations Quot he said a the cries of the innocent victims echoed in our ears."14 Texas employees receive first Dod civilian buyouts by Mike Causey the Washington Post Washington a the defense department has Given its first civilian buyouts a Worth up to $25,000 a to 14 employees in Texas who took regular or Early retirement to create vacancies for workers at Nas Chase Field which shut Down feb. 1. Other . Agencies under orders to eliminate 152,800 civilian jobs Are expected to ask Congress for permission to pay selected employees to retire or quit creating openings for Young and mid career workers whose offices or functions Are abolished. Departments such As agriculture com Merce and housing and Urban development for example Are More Likely to make cuts in Washington rather than in Field offices. Because of the downsizing Jib ters All agencies have been waiting to see How the defense buyouts would go. Over the next few weeks army Navy and air Force commands Are to announce nationwide cutbacks and layoffs. About one in every four Federal workers in Washington is a defense department civilian. Some of the Washington areas 95,000 defense department civilian employees will be affected by base closures. Some May be offered Cash to retire or quit to create vacancies. The department however will pick the employees who get the buyout offers. It is not a program where workers can walk in and offer to quit or retire and leave with a buyout Check. Congress gave the department the buyout authority last year. Although the department has a million civilians it has funds to offer Only about 3,000 buyouts this year. The incentive payments will be either the amount the employee would be entitled to in Severance pay or $25,000, whichever is smaller. The defense department is currently the Only Agency with the authority to offer employees can to quit or retire. Last year the . Postal service gave buyouts equal to a six month salary to 47,000 workers who took regular or Early retirement at age 50 with 20 years of service or any age with 25 years. In 1991, the District of Columbia government and Treasury a office of Thrift supervisor also gave buyouts. In the first Ever defense buyouts civilians at Navy and defense logistics Agency facilities in the Corpus Christi area got incentive offers to create vacancies Lor workers displaced at Chase. Twenty four took Severance payments and 30 stayed in leave without pay status. Fourteen workers in nearby installations took the buyouts. The defense departments priority placement program a considered the Best in government and a Model for private Industry a so far has found jobs for All but five of the former Chase employees