European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 18, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes . Sunday. September 18,1994 Exxon to fight $5 billion Anchorage a Exxon corp. Vowed to Bat the a Federal jury verdict ordering the company to $5 billion in punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez Oil spill. ,./ a billion dollars is not a parking ticket said Exxon lawyer Patrick Lynch who called Friday s  the 11-member jury returned the verdict after More than 12 Days of deliberations. It s the second largest damage award in a civil Case. Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit an estimated 12,000 to 14,000 people including commercial Fisher men alaskan natives and property owners had asked for three times that amount. They based their figure on Exxon annual reports that pegged the company s average yearly profits at $5 billion. The jury also ordered the Tanker s Captain Josep Hazelwood to  $5,000. The plaintiffs had asked Only a symbolic award of $1 against Hazelwood the Only Exxon employee fired Over the spill five thousand dollars is a substantial sum to a Man who lost his Job said Hazelwood s lawyer Michael Chalos. He said he would Appeal. The 1989 spill the worst in . History dumped nearly 11 million Gallons of Oil into Pristine fishing Waters and polluted roughly 1,500 Miles of Alaska s coast line. ".-.-, plaintiffs claimed that the spill damaged fishing and Hunting grounds and reduced property values. Exxon lawyers argued that the Oil giant had been punished enough by spending $3 billion to clean up the spill and Settle lawsuits filed by the state and Federal governments. In Cordova Home to the Prince William sound fishing Fleet word of the verdict spread Over Marine radios. Fishermen were hopeful but cautious. This will help people put their lives Back together former mayor Kelly Weaverling said. But he added that Exxon s decision to Appeal continued a scorched Earth tactic of wearing the plaintiffs Down. A ". " nobody s out buying Cadillac cars and smoking big cigars Weaverling said. They will raise the Price of their product a few pennies and Well All end up paying for the judgment Ken Duffus a Salmon Fisherman said he expected a Long drawn out Appeal. Ill believe it when t see the Check in the mail he said. The amount is the second largest damage award in a civil Case after a december 1985 award of $11 billion including $3 billion in punitive damages to Penn bilco. The judgment against Texaco inc. Over its unethical tactics in trying to break up a merger Between Pennzoil and Getty Oil co. Was later reduced to $5.5 billion in an but of court settlement. George Caspar an Oil Industry analyst at brokerage Robert w. Baird & co., said the penalty could put crimp in Exxon s Oil searching and pumping budget. Last month the same jury awarded state commercial fishermen $287 million in compensatory losses for Oil spill damage to fisheries and fish prices. The fishermen were seeking nearly $900 million. In june the jury found that recklessness by Exxon and Hazelwood caused the Tanker to run aground on a charted reef in Prince William sound. That finding made Exxon liable for punitive damages. In the stars and stripes 10 years ago sept. 18,1984 the . Dol Lar rocketed to record highs in Europe including 3.07 West German Marks against the Greenback. 20 year Sago sept. 18,1974 president Ford saying there was very persuasive evidence that former president Nixon was guilty of watergate crimes said he nonetheless pardoned Nixon to spare the nation a period of turmoil. 30 years ago sept. 18,1964 president Johnson took the wraps off two major defense secrets radar Capa ble of giving almost instant warn ing and systems to destroy nuclear armed weapons. 40 years ago sept. 18,1954 . Secretary of state John Foster Dulles agreed with the British government of prime minister Winston Churchill to press for a nine nation Confer ence on granting full Equality to West Germany. 50 years ago sept. 18,1944 the 1st Allied airborne army was flown in for its Battle debut on the Northern end of the Siegfried line. World War ii 50 years ago today sept. 18 1.9.4.4advancing British units link up with . Paratroops at Eindhoven and Veghela in the Netherlands but at the Northern end of the operation Market Garden corridor British airborne soldiers Are being battered at arnhem. . Marines suffer heavy losses attacking japanese troops in bunkers Honey combing mount amur Brosgol on Pel Eliu. American soldiers overrun the rest of Morotti in the moluccas. Source 2194 Days of War. W h. Smitn publishers inc. The world almanac of world War ii. Bison books corp., 1981 a in a x ? a. Veterans of the battleship Wisconsin and their family members gather on Board the vessel Friday for a reunion in Philadelphia memories Philadelphia a some of them never met until now. Others endured the most terrifying and profound experiences of their lives together. But All 11,000 veterans will always share one Bond the cold Blue Metal battleship Wisconsin where they Learned about War firsthand. On Friday More than 1,000 of them crowded the decks with their families and marvelled at How one vessel could hold so Many memories. Rank had Little meaning. War stories were the Only Legal tender. We re kind of like a family. And this ship is Cind of like a City said Dave  Rykus of Wisconsin rapids wis., a real estate manager for the state. He served on the Wisconsin from 1953 to 1954 As an electronics technician. The 58,000-ton ship the last Iowa class vessel Ever made was commissioned april 16, 1944, about 200 Yards away from the reunion at the Philadelphia naval base. Among ship s yets it was decommissioned in 194.8, then activated again for the korean War. It was decommissioned again in 1958 and mothballed until 1988. In 1990, to the Surprise of Many veterans it steamed to the Middle East in 16 Days and later fired some of the first cruise missiles of the 1991 persian Gulf War. Gulf War veterans were lacking at the reunion. Many Are still Active duty serv ice members and could not attend. The first reunion of Wisconsin Veter ans took place in 1988 in Biloxi miss. But the one in Philadelphia was special veterans say because of an important guest the ship itself. A ship is kind of a Mother Symbol in a militaristic Way said Harry Kessler 69, of Fincastle a. He was assigned to the ship As a merchant mate second class in january 1944, three months before its commission. In an army a Soldier can go Back to the Battlefield and not see too much Kessler said. But  something to re turn to a place to Call  Arvel Phifer 83, a retired upholsterer and one time Seaman first class from Warsaw va., was aboard the Wisconsin when it first left the shipyard. He told of a Shakedown cruise to Trinidad in the West indies then a trip through the  Ama canal to the War in the Pacific. It was months before a Day when the War clearly turned in favor of the allies. We did t know what to expect when we got there Phifer said. His first missions destroying steel Mills on hokkaido a Northern Japan Island and rescuing 150 Canadian prisoners of War imprisoned since Christmas 1941. The Wisconsin was decommissioned for a third time in october 1991. But the ship s history Means no one is counting it out for Good. There s a lot of countries that Are afraid of this ship and we put it in Moth balls said Dom Menta of Tannersville pa., ship photographer from 1952 to 1956. I d love to see it pull out