European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 11, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday March 11,1993 . The stars and stripes Pago 7 report details Epa mismanagement Washington a environmental Protection Agency contracts Are riddled with massive Cost overruns and Are so poorly managed that highly paid professionals end up caring for animals a report says. Money earmarked for other purposes ended up in travel budgets contracts have been awarded without the required competitive bids and in one Case $30,000 in research and development funds were improperly spent on a plan for a Day care Center Epa inspector Genera John Martin reported in a March 8 summary. Epa administrator Carole m. Browner planned to testify wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee about the Epa problems. The panels chairman rep. John d. Dingell d-mich., requested the inspector general a report. Since taking office with the Clinton administration Browner has made the straightening out of contract messes a priority spokeswoman Loretta us Clit said  the situation that we be inherited is appalling and outrageous a Uccelli said. The report summarizing the inspector general a surveys of several Epa laboratories last year details a raft of management problems including work per formed outside the contracts. The contracts involve private firms As Well As universities and other government agencies that perform work for the environmental Agency. In the Case of a $67.2 million contract at the Epa s health effects research Laboratory in research Triangle Park n.c., contractor Mantych environmental technology used engineers and computer programmers to care for test animals. A therefore Epa May have been billed for higher classified and More costly personnel to Complete tasks originally intended for lower level personnel a the internal report said. It did not give a Dollar amount. Mantych also used technical lab con tractors for a Handyman duties air Clud ing painting and moving furniture the report said. The report said payments were made for services never rendered and services were provided for payments thu a were delayed for months. It also found preference in contracting and possible conflicts of interest. The inspector general a staff said its work had been hampered by inaccurate and contradictory statements by Epa staff and contractors and by missing  at Nasa russians Sergei Kri Kalev left and Vladimir Titov Are shown tuesday at Houston s Johnson space Center where the cosmonauts Are training for a Light on the shuttle discovery. Only one of them will join five americans on a research Mission in november the other will serve As a backup. Titov 46, has spent 368 Days in Washington apr americans postal workers have a love hate relationship with their jobs. Four fifths of them rate their pay and benefits As excellent and say they Are proud of their work. But Only one in 10 thinks promotions go to the most qualified Only 14 percent think their efforts Are recognized and about one third respect the Boss. Postmaster general Marvin Runyon said tuesday that he a going to try to remedy the problems by surveying workers annually and allowing them to evaluate their supervisors performance. A it comes Down to respecting the ideas of others trying the ideas of others encouraging the ideas of others a Runyon said in releasing the results of a Survey of 586,436 postal workers taken last year. The Survey in March and april of 1992 was conducted before Runyon took office and launched a massive reorganization Campaign including elimination of thousands of management positions. He said that workers will be surveyed every year and that the questionnaire will give them an Opportunity to evaluate their supervisors. Post offices have been the scene of a number of shootings by fired or disgruntled workers in the last space. Kri Kalev 34, has 463 Days to his credit he was stuck on russians Mir space station during the soviet unions collapse in 1991. The november flight the first .-Russlan manned space Mission since the Apollo soyuz Docking in 1975, is part or an agreement reached by presidents Bush and Boris n. Yeltsin last summer. Decade. Patrick Henry Sherrill who had a history of work problems at the Post office in Edmond okla., killed 14 people there before taking his own life aug. 20, 1986. A fired postal worker Thomas Mellvane of Oak Park mich., killed four supervisors at the Post office and then shot himself to death nov. 14,1991. The Post office has a reputation As being too autocratic Runyon said and that has to be changed. A a we be got Good employees. They be got to be allowed to do a Good Job Quot he said. Where the surveys disclose problem managers a a we re going to intervene Quot said William j. Henderson postal vice president for employee relations. A it May be that this person should not be supervising  postal pay got the Best results in the 1992 Survey with 82 percent rating it Good or very Good 79 percent gave top Marks to their benefits and the same percentage said they Are proud to work for the Post office. But on the negative Side Only 11 percent said they thought the most qualified people got promotions. Fourteen percent said their efforts were being recon w sized 18 percent thought the Agency addressed their problems and 35 percent said they respected their  treated gently As panel starts hearings from wire reports Washington a Janet Reno breezed through her first Day of confirmation hearings tuesday before the Senate judiciary committee where the polite questions contrasted with the turbulent selection process that led to her nomination to be attorney general. Reno a testimony combined careful coaching Legal training and the political skills honed in five election 1 campaigns As Dade county prosecutor. Reno who for 15 years has been the chief prosecutor in the county which encompasses Miami seemed to embrace a Law enforcement philosophy tailored to liberals and conservatives alike. She asserted the necessity to prosecute lawbreakers vigorously but said social programs were needed to divert drug users to treatment programs and to steer Young people from crime. Her emphasis on practical Law enforcement experience More than her views on crime and Justice seemed to define the differences Between Reno and former attorneys general such As William p. Barr. �?o1 want to let people know that crime does t pay a she said. During tuesdays gentle questioning senators denounced rumours about her personal life. The committee s ranking Republican sen. Orrin g. Hatch a Utah called Reno a a very impressive woman and assured her that the Fri and committee investigations found no substantiation to rumours that she was stopped by police for Drunken driving. Sen. Hank Brownr Colo said investigators also dismissed charges by Reno a Defeated 1988 election opponent that she is a lesbian. Her name was submitted by president Clinton after Zoe Baird was forced to withdraw her nomination following criticism for illegally hiring undocumented workers As household help. . District judge Kimba Wood of new York City also was removed from consid cration for a similar reason though she had broken no Laws. Appart goers sen. Strom Thurmond . Right appears with former president Nixon at a belated birthday party tuesday night in Washington honouring Thurmond who turned 90 in december. Postal workers find jobs bittersweet