European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 6, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday december 6r93 . The stars and stripes Page 9top court to Rule on abortion protests by new Day Washington a arson firebombing and extortion Are the usual stuff of racketeering cases. But not the theft of 4,000 fetuses from an Illinois Laboratory. So the supreme court this week will be asked whether racketeering a category of crime created in 1970 to attack the mob extends to illegal abortion protests that Range from arson to the theft of fetal remains. The Case raises fundamental questions about political protests that Cross the line into criminal conduct with some people cautioning that if abortion protesters can be prosecuted under the heavy criminal or in this Case financial penalties of the racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations Law or Rico so too could anti War demonstrators animal rights groups and environmental radicals who drive spikes into Trees to scare off loggers. In this civil lawsuit brought by two abortion clinics and the National organization for women against operation Rescue and other militant abortion opponents the positions of Many liberals and conservatives have been turned on heir ears. Although conservatives have often supported the Rico Law As a new enforcement tool liberals for years have fought the Ever broader uses of anti racketeering Laws by Federal and state prosecutors. But Many Liberal advocacy groups have lined up in support of this particular expansion of the Law which punishes any Quot Enterprise engaged in Quot racketeering activity Quot a defined As any two of a specific list of Federal crimes. Private parties injured by such activities Are allowed to sue for triple damages. The.,suit was conceived when Republican opponents of abortion controlled the White House and there were few other avenues to strike Back at abortion protesters. Just last month however the House and Senate moved to give abortion clinics a new weapon approving Bills to make violent protests against abortion clinics a Federal crime and allowing damaged clinics to sue for punitive damages. The penalties Are not As severe As the racketeering Law however. The suit was filed in Illinois in 1986, charging that the militant anti abortion group operation Rescue its Leader Randal Terry a handful of other individuals and a coalition of abortion opponents called the prolife action league were engaged in a nationwide criminal conspiracy to use violence to close clinics that perform abortions. Between 1980 and 1990, the defendants allegedly were involved in 73 Quot invasions Quot and 311 blockades of abortion clinics 23 arsons and 33 fire bombings 25 burglaries and numerous other crimes. It also cited the systematic theft in 1988 of fetal remains sent to an Illinois medical Laboratory for pathology testing. The fetuses were Stoten from barrels while on a loading Dock waiting to be disposed of the suit alleges and then stored in Peoples Homes before being used to stage highly publicized mass burials. The suit represents an economic strategy in the abortion War similar to that which Southern lawyers used recently to bankrupt the Kun flux klan. Many of those suits however were feed in state courts a House ahoy the first of two oceanfront Homes to make a journey by Harge from Peggotty Beach to Scituate Harbor in Massachusetts rides the Waves just outside the Harbor saturday. The town of Scituate bought the two houses then told them for $1 each to people who arranged to have them moved to another Section. The transactions Are an attempt to Clear the Beach of Homes that have been rebuilt repeatedly with Federal insurance or disaster Loans after sustaining storm damage. Of photo commuter planes hold High risks Washington a commuter aircraft Are far safer and More popular than they used to be but they Are five times More Likely than larger airliners to have a fatal Accident according to government statistics. The Small planes known to travellers As a puddle jumpers Quot and a White knuckle is a Are the fastest growing part of the nation s airline Industry. As major carriers abandon Small airports and Short haul routes to save Money regional airlines Are stepping in with turboprops such As the one that crashed last week in Minnesota killing All 18 people on Board. Commuter planes Are a third less Likely to be involved in an Accident As they were in the 1970s when the Industry was deregulated. But there were seven fatal crashes involving the Small planes last year a rate of 0.243 per 100,000 departures according to the National transportation safety Board. The rate for larger airliners a those that carry More than 30 passengers a was 0.050. Twenty one people died in commuter accidents last year compared with 33 in larger planes that Fly far More mites and carry far More passengers than commuter flights honest astronaut reportedly foils Fri sting Houston a the Fri used a limousine ride and a night on the town to lure a Rookie astronaut into a bribery sting operation but the astronaut spurned the investigators efforts the Houston Post reported saturday. Doug Ward a spokesman for the Johnson space Center told the associated press that the space Agency fully backs David a. Wolf and will not discipline him for any minor ethical transgressions he May have committed along the Way. A Federal agent posing As an Atlanta businessman picked up Wolf in a limousine and took him first to an expensive downtown restaurant then a topless club the. Post reported. The night out was part of the of big a Effort to bribe Nasa officials to get bogus medical projects flown on the space shuttle the Post reported citing unidentified sources. It did not say when the event occurred j Ward said he could not confirm the posts account but had no reason to disbelieve it. There was no answer at wolfs Home. The investigation has implicated about a half dozen Nasa employees and up to 24 contract workers in possible fraud and bribery activities sources have told the a. Ward said Wolf May have violated Nasa s ethics policy by failing to end the conversation immediately and. Eave the Man. Wolf told supervisors that he Felt stuck with the Man for the evening because he did not have his own car with him. Ward said no action would be taken against Wolf. He said that astronauts Are frequently asked for comment on devices used in space and that Wolf would not have gone to the topless club had he known it was part of the evenings plan. Quot i think. If any astronaut knew that was on the Agenda any one of them would refuse a Ward said. Quot the Issue Here is judgment versus criminal  the evening was arranged by a former Wolf colleague who also was present that night. Friends i on a let friends drive drunk a vie s $ % due to the increased value of the . Dollar we re Able to offer substantial Price reductions. Fantastic offers for groups of 20 or More phone direct dealing 0043-5352/3134. Fax /5390 for More information Contact Tyko Jan Tours  to 6 a-6372 Oberndorf Tirol Austria or Contact your on base tit or Sato office ski Austria