European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 14, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes . Saturday August 14,1993 Mondale assumes Post As ambassador to Japan Washington up former vice president Walter Mondale was sworn in Friday As ambassador to Japan and immediately warned that the economic superpowers relation ship depended on Trade Reform. Mondale 65, a former presidential candidate emphasized president Clinton s commitment to opening the vast asian markets for . Businesses and said Japan represents the most important bilateral relationship on that front. Put Mondale said the solid relationship Between Tokyo and Mondale Washington has been strained by Japan s refusal to drop barriers to Commerce and reduce its multimillion Dollar Trade surplus with the United states. Constant Trade friction weakens Public support inthe United states and in Japan for our Alliance and threatens our ability to cooperate on a broader Agenda Mondale said after the ceremony. The former two term senator from Minnesota noted that new administrations in both nations had recently taken the Helm on promises of change and said he was optimistic for the prospects of enhanced cooperation. Mondale who has never been part of Washington s diplomatic corps said a staff of Superb japanese specialists at the . Embassy in Tokyo would make up for his Lack of experience and his inability to speak the language. Some of our very Best ambassadors came from the same background Mondale said. They were political  one of the discovery s three main engines ignites before the launch was shut Down Early thursday. Latest shuttle delay launches review Cape canaveral Fla. A another heart stopping shutdown at the launch pad has prompted a Nasa review of the Many shuttle problems that have delayed flight after flight since Spring. Shuttle operations director Brewster Shaw or. Said he wants to make sure there is no underlying problem linking the failures such As budget cuts. Are we starting to squeeze the program too hard i think the answer is no he said. I think these were unrelated string of bad Luck items. But i do intend to answer that  discovery s three main engines fired on Cue with 6\h seconds left in the countdown thursday and were roaring when the shuttle computers automatically shut them Down three . It was the fourth engine shut Down at the pad in the shuttle program s 12-year history the last one occurred in March on Columbia. It was also launch delay no. 4 for discovery launch director Bob Sieck said discovery s latest delay probably will last three to six weeks. The flight Al ready was one month late. Mechanical failures one involving circuitry at the pad and one involving the steering system on one of discovery s solid rocket boosters forced Nasa to scrap the first two launch attempts in july. Nasa then postponed the launch from last week to thursday to avoid damage from wednesday night s meteor Shower. Thursday s problem appeared to be with a sensor de signed to Monitor the flow of fuel through one of the engines. Sieck said there is no evidence the shuttles Are deteriorating with age. And Shaw said he remains confident in the shuttle program and its ability to help build a space station. He said he expects to be flying shuttles until 2030. Western tribes protest Lack of Federal funds Pendleton Ore. A tribal leaders staged a mock attack on the Oregon Trail Wagon train thursday to protest the Lack of Federal funds for a Center that would Tell the Western migration Story from the Indian Point of View. The Indian leaders in Warrior dress met the Wagon train on the Boundary of the Umatilla Indian Reser vation and led it for about a mile. Antone Minthorn chairman of the general Council of the confederated tribes of the Umatilla Indian reservation promised Safe passage to those on the journey but complained of the government s economic Indus  the Wagon train is travelling through Idaho and Oregon to Mark the 150th anniversary of the Oregon Trail which brought thousands of people West in the 1800s. Minthorn presented a Brief history of the Umatilla Cayuse and Walla Walla people who ceded 6.4 million acres of their land for their reservation. We gave up almost everything our Economy our Indian ways and even to some degree our Indian Cul Ture so you All could seek your dreams he said. Minthorn said the tribes also have dreams including a plan for an interpretive Center that tells their Story. Fort Lewis go convicted of throwing wife off Cliff from wire reports fort Lewis Wash. A Soldier has been convicted of throwing his wife off a Cliff to collect$300,000 in life insurance benefits. Clayton d. Raspers 22, was found guilt thursday at a court martial of murder and conspiracy. The jury immediately began considering sentence. He could get the death penalty. Prosecutors said Raspers and another Soldier Shawn b. Maciel threw 25-year-old Rhonda l. Raspers off a 300-foot ledge in the olympic National Forest in 1992 and arranged the scene to make it look like an , 23, was convicted last month of murder and other charges. He received life in  soldiers ranks were unavailable. Stepfather cleared Joplin to. A judge thursday threw out Achild Condan garment charge against the Stepfather of three children killed by a train on a trestle As he fished nearby. Jasper county associate circuit judge Richard Copland ruled that there was no probable cause to believe Gregory Mcpherson had committed a , 38, was charged in the death of one of the three children who had climbed a Steep incline passed a no trespassing sign and begun walking across the Bridge As he fished  a train hauling 112 cars loaded with Coal rounded a Bend Melissa Seay 12, and her Brothers William 9 and Austin 5, joined hands and tried unsuccessfully to outrun it. Shark has change of heart fort Bragg Calif. A Northern Californi abalone diver was badly injured thursday when a shark swallowed him head first and then spit him out. David r. Miles 38, of Eureka was in guarded condition with lacerations to the Back Chest face. And  said the shark May have been a great White one of the few capable of swallowing a Man Torso. The coast guard said Miles was swallowed head first up to the shoulder Blades while diving 10 Miles North of fort  Only one reason he s alive and that s because the shark did t want him said Kevin Kelly a coast guard Petty officer. Abortion doctor charged new York an abortion doctor has Bee charged with murdering a patient during a botched medical . David Benjamin 56, surrendered thursday hours before authorities announced his indictment on charges of second degree murder and  Neuron a 33-year-old Bronx woman died july 9 following an $800 abortion at a clinic inthe City s Borough of Queens. Authorities charged that Benjamin operate without finding out Why Negron had High blood pressure and performed a procedure designed for someone earlier in pregnancy than Negron. They also said he punctured Trie patient s cervix and uterus and failed to Stop the bleeding left her unsupervised after the operation and in an attempt to cover up his own culpability gave paramedics incorrect information about Negron s  was 20 weeks pregnant authorities said. Nuclear cleanup finished Middletown a. The 14w-year clean Pat the three mile Island nuclear Plant Drew to a close with a final puff of radioactive steam from the evaporator used to get rid of contaminated water from the 1979  last of the tritium tainted steam was released into the atmosphere Over the Susquehanna River on thursday. The electric evaporator has been working off Andon for 2vi years to get rid of the 2.23 million Gallons of water at three mile Island s unit 2 reactor which was destroyed in the nation s worst commercial nuclear Plant  2 will be monitored until it and its twin reactor Are decommissioned in 2014. The total cos of the cleanup has been put at $ i billion. The Accident occurred when human an mechanical failures caused the Cooling system to malfunction damaging the reactor Core and Leakin radioactivity