European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday March 9, 1993 world the stars and stripes b Page 9 italian Calls for Rome apr a spreading Kickback scandal and a government proposal to let implicated politicians off the Hook has average italians wondering How much they Are to blame for letting corruption become so pervasive and accepted. For More than a year a corruption probe known As operation clean hands As toppled leading lawmakers across Italy tainted virtually All political parties and sent Heads rolling in some of the counties biggest businesses. Scores of business leaders and politicians have been hauled off to jail or notified that they Are under investigation in connection with millions of dollars in kickbacks paid to politicians and parties for government contracts. The scandal has reached so far and wide that it has shaken even a people traditionally cynical to the Point of apathy about government. Italian Are coming to realize that if Italy a attitude that corruption is part of doing business is going to change they will Nave to Start changing their own nonchalant attitude toward bending the rules. A to create a different society built on civic conscience and respect italians would have to forget All their old habits that have ruined Italy above All silently accept giving things up a Graziella de Nuncio 28, an elementary schoolteacher in Rome said Over the weekend. The sacrifices de Nuncio spoke of would require a More serious regard for the Law in the Only industrialized country where corruption is so blatant a Way of life. Politicians May flout the Law but everyday people Don t think much about rules either and the guiding principle is a you scratch my Back ill scratch  Drivers Arentt deterred by red lights sidewalks Are piled with cars and people commonly seek Saccoman Davioni a a Good word from a Friend in a powerful place to obtain a Job or Speed the Workings of a lumbering bureaucracy. De Nuncio was one of Many italians enraged by a set of Cabinet decrees that would keep Many of those arrested in the scandal out of jail. The decrees approved last week by socialist prime minister Giutian Amato seeks to decriminalize All past present and future violations of party finance Laws. Environment minister Carlo Ripa de Meana resigned sunday in outrage Over the decrees which president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro has so far refused to sign. The very idea of an amnesty fir those involved in the scandal Shook italians out of their apathy. People in Genoa who customarily would spend sunday afternoon taking the ritual passeggiata or stroll instead passed out petitions asking the president to kill the measures. In Rome Giuseppe Brunetti deplored the decrees As an invitation to crime. A when dishonesty Isnit punished it s easy to be dishonest a said Brunetti 63, As he cleaned fishing rods in his store near the pantheon. Quot even honest people can easily become dishonest if they know they won t be  a Survey published monday in the newsweekly Panorama found that two out of three people polled said they think that in Light of the scandal citizens must be held to stricter ethical standards. Fifty three percent blamed Italy a social breakdown on a the sparse sense of civic duty on the part of  the Survey was based on Telephone Calls to 1,000 people in the first three Days of March. Its margin for error was 3 percent. Cinzia Mancini Ali who works in a government office in Rome said the Anglo Saxon idea of sacrificing for the common Good just never took Root in Italy. 14 arrested in Sicily on charges of hiding mafia Leader for years Palermo Sicily a police rounded up 14 people sunday accused of helping Salvatore a a Toto Riina the Cosa Nostra reputed a Boss of Bosses a elude capture for 23 years. A thanks to them Riina was Able to live while on the run said ra1, the government run television reporting the arrests in the Palermo area. Riina 62, was Riina arrested Jan. 15 As he was being driven on a Palermo thoroughfare during morning Rush hour. Until then he was Italy a most wanted fugitive convicted in absent of heroin trafficking and ordering murders. He is suspected of ordering the bombings last year that killed Italy Stop two anti mafia fighters prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. A investigators told a news conference in the sicilian capital that the 14 suspects were largely a unknown to men of Honor a As mafiosi Call themselves Rai said. None had police records. Among them were four Brothers of the Driver of Riina a car when the alleged a Boss of Bosses was arrested the italian news Agency Ansa quoted investigators As saying. Rai said a pc Tito or mafioso turned informant had identified Many of the 14 for investigators about a year ago. But investigators were sceptical because no other pc Tito had heard of the names. Investigation after Riina a arrest convinced them the 14 were indeed Riina aides who helped him elude arrest since 1969. Investigators believe Riina spent much of his time As a fugitive in Palermo. A there its divine Providence a or Quot the italian just thinks of himself a said Man Cinelli 25. The Magazine Survey found that 71 percent of those queried think that zipping through red lights and parking on sidewalks a a clashes strongly with civic duty. Those apparently were naughtier habits than asking for a Jaccoma Nazione 59 percent or refusing to wait in line 58 percent. Asked what they would give up so pc pie could live together better 61 percent said they would be willing to keep their cars off sidewalks compared with 76 percent who would renounce seeking a Rac comand Zionc. Chances arc however that City folks going to work will continue zigzagging their Way around cars on the sidewalk and Hope no car will run a red Light while they Are crossing. They have to Huriy to find their Friend behind the clerk s window. The cat s meow for pets by mail Tokyo apr in Japan where amenities for pampered pets include waterbeds and flush toilets pet owners can seek Doggy divination and canine counsel from a fortuneteller. A Tokyo based advertising Agency called Astra offers pet fortunes for the equivalent of $43. Clients Send data including birth Date sex and blood Type a their own and their pets a plus photos. About two weeks later they re mailed a message tape recorded by a professional fortuneteller. Typical questions from pet owners include whether their cats will get smarter whether a cat and a dog will learn to get along and whether a dog can truly share its owner s feelings said spokesman Futoshi Ogi. Astra has offered pet fortunes since it opened four years ago but in the last year and a Naif it has gained a steady clientele Ogi said. He said about 60 percent of the business came from women in their late teens and 20s who arc worried about their cats health and happiness. But lately with Japan brooding Over its business slump the advice seekers Are getting More pragmatic. Ogi said a Dairy farm association in Northern Japan was asking about the cows productivity rates for the coming fiscal year. A the cows did no to have names but our fortuneteller could handle it As we knew exactly when they were born a he  expert returns to stand in murder trial at Rhein main by Craig Martin staff write Rhein main a Germany a a genetics expert in the trial of a Rhein main noncommissioned officer accused of murder was recalled to the witness stand monday by the prosecution to refute earlier testimony by a defense witness. Or Werner Pflug a Dan scientist at the Baden Wiir Temberg state criminal Laboratory in Stuttgart testified again during the 11th Day of the murder trial of tech. Sgt. James Ancell Thomas. Thomas assigned to the 435th civil engr so is charged with premeditated murder and desecration of the Corpse of his Girlfriend Yolanda Pengson 27. Pflug was called Back to the witness stand monday a Day after or. Arthur s. Eisenberg testified that a test conducted by Pflugk a Laboratory was a inconclusive and  Eisenberg is a forensic scientist from the Texas College of osteopathic Medicine in fort Worth who has worked with the Fri in cases involving Dan testing. The prosecutions Case relies partly on Dan testing. Dan or detox ribonucleic acid is the genetic code for living things. The process of identification is often called genetic fingerprinting. Eisenberg often testified monday with a smile on his face during Cross examination by maj. Ronald Gregory the chief prosecutor in the Case. A in a sorry you think this is funny a Gregory said to Eisenberg during the general court martial As he showed him a prosecution exhibit. A i do when its taken out of context a Eisenberg retorted. He did not explain How his testimony was taken out of context. The dispute Between the experts arose Over a test known As per. The test involves copying part of Dan and making an enlargement of it. Eisenberg testified that such a procedure or the Dan fragment used sometimes yields unreliable results. Eisenberg testified monday that not enough Dan material is left to conduct a test that might yield More conclusive results. But Pflug testified monday that his tests were valid. A i did what i did and i can t change anything a Pflug testified. Pengson a Torso was found sept. 9,1991, burning in a forested area near Karlsruhe about 62 Miles South of Rhein main. The torsos head and hands were severed and have not been found. Gregory said that he believes Pengson was kilted on or near Rhein main five Miles South of Frankfurt and that Thomas applied some Type of lethal Force to Peng son s head neck or hands. Civilian defense attorney Joel Cohen said during jury selection last week that his client would exercise his constitutional right to remain silent and would not testify. Gregory said the prosecution s Case relies on circumstantial evidence. Part of the evidence is the Dan testing. Last week military defense attorney capt. Rodger Drew or. Moved to suppress the Dan evidence from the trial arguing that it was inconclusive and unreliable. Judge col a Jeremiah Mahoney dismissed the motion. The trial was scheduled to resume this morning