European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 18, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday May 18, 1994 firm. A a a a by new Day Uniondale by. A an aerospace company has been cleared of causing the deaths of seven . Marines in a Friendly fire incident during the persian Gulf War according to a plea bargain. But the company Lucas aul of Garden City n.y., has admitted submitting falsified test results for defective missile launcher parts it built said the plea bargain filed monday in . District court in Uniondale. The marines acting As scouts on the saudi kuwaiti Border died on the night of Jan. 29, 1991 in the first land Battle of operation desert storm. They were killed when their lightly armoured vehicle was hit by a Maverick missile fired from a . Air Force a-10. A the investigation revealed that the launcher electronic units that Lucas manufactured. Were not responsible for Bonn stays Tough on hard drugs Berlin apr the government spoke out sharply tuesday in favor of keeping hard drugs illegal after Germany a most populous state said people should not be prosecuted for possessing Small amounts of heroin cocaine and amphetamines. Germany has been debating liberalizing police procedures on drugs since april 28, when its highest court ruled that people should not be prosecuted for possessing Small amounts of marijuana and hashish for personal use. The court did not define a Smalt amount a saying that was up to the 16 states. A a a a a the debate moved from a soft drugs to a new level Over the weekend Whent Fie Justice minister of nor Rhein westfalen state Rolf Krumsiek said there would be no prosecution of people who possess a half Gram of heroin cocaine or amphetamines for personal use. In Bonn government spokesman Dieter Vogel said tuesday that Chancellor Helmut Kohls conservative coalition rejects the decontrol of hard drugs even in Small amounts. The National drugs commissioner Eduard Lintner said there was no precedent for the new state policy and predicted that it would pose a most severe dangers for social and health  Germany registered 1,738 deaths from overdoses last year. The country has followed a stricter Rule than its neighbor the Netherlands where people can buy Small amounts of marijuana in certain shops. But the ruling. In april by the Federal constitutional court has put German drug policy in question. Some changes in the spirit of tolerance were already in motion though including the opening of a cafe in Frankfurt where addicts can shoot up and get clean Needles As Protection against the spread of the aids virus. Nor Rhein westfalen has a population of More than 17 million. Its major cities include Bonn the seat of government Cologne and Disseldorf. The state government is run by the social democrats. The state Justice ministry said its new policy on hard drugs is based on the same court decision that in principle de controlled Possession of Small amounts of soft drugs. The stars and stripes 4 a a a Quot Page 5 in 7 Friendly fire nobody a Ever held responsible for Friendly fire. The fact remains that they sent shoddy equipment Over there and now the government is going to get Money for  a Carol Bentzlin. Widow of killed Marine the deaths or injuries to any members of the United states armed services a said the plea which was based on a two year investigation by the defense departments office of inspector general and the air Force office of special investigations. V. Quot ,. The company agreed to pay the government $4 million in fines $7.5 million in restitution for the faulty parts and $500,000 in reimbursement for the Federal investigation. The company is a subsidiary of the multimillion Dollar British owned defense contractor Lucas industries. The widow of one of the marines Cpl. Steven Bentzlin was not pleased with the Newi monday. A the government would find tha4, because if they did no to somebody would be responsible a Carol Bentzlin said from her Home in san Juan Capistrano Calif. A a nobody a Ever held responsible for Friendly fire the fact remains that they sent shoddy equipment Over there and now the government is going to get Money for  in its plea Lucas acknowledged that employees had falsified test results indicating that the parts a launch electronic units a had passed vibration severe weather and current Llew tests according to the office of Zachary Carter . Attorney for the Eastern District of new York the units a a which help pilots fire missiles were manufactured under a $54 million classified government contract. In addition government inspections of the 4,390 units manufactured by Lucas a showed some had a incomplete and defective soldering broken resistors and the presence of foreign objects Contani Nat ing surfaces according to the Pica agreement filed by Justice department attorney Michael Cornacchia and defense department attorney Jane Blumen Thal Stichman. 4 a it a a i amp i Imp the Road to Jericho jubilant palestinians lean out from windows of a bus carrying tary of state Warren Christopher lending symbolic support them tuesday to the West Bank town of Jericho. Thousands of told palestinian leaders tuesday at their new West Bank head palestinians from throughout the area have been streaming quarters that it was a a tremendous thrill to see them take into Jericho to experience self Rule for themselves. . Score charge in Jericho and in Gaza. Added weight linked to breast cancer Dallas apr breast cancer researchers have some advice for Twenty something women starting to put on a few extra pounds lose weight. A study suggests that weight gain around age 30, even an extra 10 or 20 pounds May substantially increase the risk of breast cancer later in life. Researchers have Long noticed that obesity is linked with breast cancer. So they set out to see if there is any particular time in life when gaining weight is especially hazardous. A we found that the most important decade in a woman a life was the third decade a said or Noreen Aziz. A of All the decades in which you should lose that extra weight its the  the study was conducted by Aziz and colleagues at the h. Lee Moffitt cancer Center and research Institute in Tampa Fla and presented tuesday at a meeting of the american society for clinical oncology the researchers studied 218 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer and compared them with 436 healthy women who were the same age. They found that half of the cancer patients and one third of the healthy women had gained More than 15 pounds Between Ages 16 to 30. Two thirds of the cancer patients and half of the Compa Rison group had gained this much Between age 30 and their current age. At age 30, the women who went on to get breast cancer weighed an average of 131 pounds while the comparison group weighed 120. By age 40, the women who got breast cancer weighed 139 pounds compared with 128 for the healthy women. They calculated that women who carry 10 pounds More than Normal at age 30 increase their risk of breast cancer by 23 percent. With an extra 15 pounds their risk increases 37 percent and with 20 pounds it goes up 52 percent. A it Means a 10-Pound difference May be significant a Aziz said