European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday january 23, 1994 grand jury Extension snarls decision on . Skating team Portland. Ore. Tap a sorting the stars and stripes Page 7 Portland Ore. Apr sorting out the attack on Nancy Kerrigan will take a grand jury longer than expected but Tonya Harding could still be kicked off the . Olympic team if an indictment is returned. The . Figure skating association was put in an awkward Legal bind Friday by a decision to push Back the deadline to feb. 3 for the grand jury a report. The association has to submit its final olympic roster by Jan. 31. A it just shifts some of the situation from Here to Lillehammer a said Paul George an association representative and member of the . Olympic committee executive Board. A if it comes up there it comes up  Federal Law prevents the association from ousting Harding without giving her notice and an Opportunity for a hearing. The . Women a Champion could Appeal to the . Olympic committee and take other Legal action to regain her spot if she is dropped. Harvey Schiller executive director of the . Committee said the grand jury delay would have no Impact on the decision on whether to let Harding skate. A for us nothing else changes a Schiller said. A in the Case of figure skating alternates can be substituted right up to the Date of the  the skating draw is feb. 21, two Days before the Competition begins. Harding has consistently denied accusations by her former bodyguard that she helped plot the Jan. 6 assault on Kerrigan at the National championships in Detroit. No charges have been filed against Harding but the grand jury is calling witnesses and reviewing evidence to deter mine whether to indict her or any of the four men arrested on conspiracy charges. One of the men is her sex husband and manager Jeff Gillooly who the bodyguard claims masterminded the scheme. A i can to go into the reasons for the delay except to say that everyone wants the flexibility a prosecutor Norm Frink a said. A  a a a a a a regardless of the decisions by the skating association or . Committee the in to emotional olympic committee can act independently to bar Harding. V a we will Start making up our minds depending on what will happen Jan. 31, whether she is entered or not a said Ioc director general Frangois Carrara in a Telephone interview from Lausanne Switzerland. In Stoneham mass., Kerrigan skated for an hour Friday morning before Leav Shane a Stant left foreground and Derrick b. Smith second from right both suspects in the Nancy Kerrigan assault Case stand with their lawyers in a Portland court Friday ing to film a skating commercial in los Angeles. During the practice session she hit her first triple jumps since the attack including a triple toe Loop. Harding skated in Public for the second straight Day at a Portland shopping mall rink where she practices cheered on by More than 200 people. Many sported big Pink a we believe in Tonya buttons As a show of support for their Hometown olympian. Harding smother Lavona Golden also dropped by to watch her daughter skate. Golden who said she Hadnot seen Harding in almost a month reaffirmed her belief in her daughters innocence. Harding told her a i did no to do it mom a Golden said. Three of the four people arrested a bodyguard Shawn Eckardt alleged hit Man Shane m. Stant and alleged getaway Driver Derrick b. Smith a Are trying to strike plea bargains with prosecutors in Exchange for their cooperation a source close to the Case Tola the associated a press. Gillooly Harding sex husband is Lavona Golden Mother of . Figure not trying to Cut a Deal by testifying skating Champion Tony Harding visits against her the source told the a. Harding at a Portland rink Friday. Washington a republicans Are adopting a confrontational tone As the 1994 election season opens Labelling president Clinton soft on crime opportunistic on welfare Reform and dangerously Liberal on health care. The aggressive stance at this weekends Republican National committee meeting foreshadowed election year debates in Congress and represented a gop Effort to score political Points before Clinton a state of the Union address tuesday. In speeches Friday gop chairman Haley Barbour House gop whip Newt Gingrich of Georgia Texas sen. Phil Gramm and others said Sharp contrast with Clinton was the Best path to Republican victories in november a House Senate and gubernatorial elections. New York rep. Bill Paxon head of the rational Republican congressional committee predicted major gop gains in House contests in november because democrats a have to defend the policies of their  if republicans aggressively a tie the democrats to the presidents Agenda a Paxon asserted the gop could end 40 years As a House minority Over the next two election cycles and hold 225 of the 435 House seats come 1997. Gramm on the other hand said he would advise friends not to bet on republicans picking up the seven seats they need to have a Senate majority next year. But he said he still hoped that would happen. Two of the party a biggest ballot successes of 1993 a new Jersey gov. Christie Whitman and Virginia gov. George f. Allen a told the National committee that the traditional anti tax less government Republican message still carried considerable Sway with voters. Allen also joined Gramm Gingrich and Barbour in calling for a Tough anti crime approach Mcloud ing abolishing parole for most violent  receives his medals a nearly 50 years late by Arthur Hirsch the Baltimore Sun Annapolis my. A it took a Hal Century but George d. Harmening of Annapolis on Friday received the medals he earned in the sky Over the Marshall islands in the summer of 1944. The years have graded his hair and hobbled his gait but they have not dimmed the glory. A gentlemen in a proud a Harmening 73, told a gathering of marines family and friends in a ceremony at the . Naval Academy a Mahan Hall a this is the greatest Day of my life other than when i came  the former marines voice broke and behind his eyeglasses his Blue eyes misted Over. He held his military posture with a Black wooden Cane in his right hand. On the left Lapel of his Brown suit Hung the distinguished flying Cross and the air medal. At last. His Drill instructor on Parris Island he said a told us that when you re a Marine you la be a Marine All your life. And by god he was right. I love you All. And thank  an 11-piece brass band played the Marine corps hymn and Young marines in their Green uniforms stepped Forward to shake hands with the slim Dapper Man in his new medals. The medals actually represented a total of 20 citations Harmening earned during his world War ii service five distinguished flying crosses and 15 air medals. The flying Cross is awarded for valor in Battle said Marine col. Orval Mccormack who presided at the ceremony. The air medal is a More general recognition of service he said. Mccormack the senior Marine corps representative at the naval Academy said after the ceremony that Harmening a who served from May 1942 until 1945 a did no to receive his medals earlier because his bomber squadrons commanding officer apparently became separated from the company after the War. A the paperwork just never got put together a Mccormack said. He said Harmening is a the Type of Guy who never pushed for  Harmening said in an interview that a buddy from the Marshall islands bomber Squadron a fellow gunner urged him in a letter last year to write to the marines to see if he qualified for medals. He said he wrote in july and was notified by letter in october that he qualified. The flying Cross he wore Friday acknowledged Harmening a courage during bombing missions Between july 27 and aug. 17, 1944. In those three weeks then tech. Sgt. Harmening manned a .30-caliber a machine gun in a two Man dive bomber during raids on the islands of male Lap and Mill. The Marshall islands a group of narrow atolls in the Pacific were used by the japanese primarily As staging areas for air attacks against Allied ships. Harmening said his Squadron would take off from an Island runway and a a we a sneak in there. They did no to know where we were coming  they would dive from 5,000 to 2,000 feet drop two 500-Pound bombs then pull out with such a Force that a every Bone in your body cracked. I heard them crack Quot Harmening said. The bombs made craters in the islands visible from 3,000 feet up. The reconnaissance photographs Harmening took were on display in albums at the ceremony alongside the log Book he kept. The log entries record the dates and durations of scores of missions Between april 29, 1943, and oct. 10, 1944 bombing raids reconnaissance flights patrols