North County Times from Oceanside, California • 3

"SJr -V" A-3 Blade-Citizen Monday, December 24. 1990 Nation Nation briefing Troops to receive elaborate holiday 1 vjr A N. Y. Times News Service IN SAUDI ARABIA With the understanding that the Christmas and New Years celebrations may be the last and best opportunity to rally troop morale before the possible onset of war, American military commanders are scheduling elaborate holiday events and a Christmas meal that will top almost anything served at bases back home. On Christmas day, Marine Corps units in remote desert camps near the border with occupied Kuwait are planning a variety of talent shows and caroling.

Air Force squadrons are sponsoring holiday softball games, a pingpong tournament and a six-kilometer run with British and Saudi counterparts. Aboard the scores of Navy ships anchored off the Saudi coast, there will be Christmas tree-trimming contests and fishing tournaments. Satellite hookups will allow American Army troops across Saudi Arabia to watch New Years Day football games broadcast live from the United States. All this comes barely three weeks before the Jan. 15 deadline set by the United Nations authorizing the multinational force to evict Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait.

Military officials say the chief restriction on holiday events is that if they involve a religious celebration, they take place on military installations. That policy is based on an effort to avoid offending religious leaders of Saudi Arabia, which recognizes only Islam. Bob Hope is scheduled to spend five days in Saudi Arabia this week talking with American troops, although it is unclear whether he will offer a traditional Christmas show. Pentagon officials say there is concern that even the tamest jokes in the 87-year-old Hope's time-honored repertory will offend Saudi censors. Chief Warrant Officer Wesley Wolf, the man responsible for providing a Christmas feast to nearly 300.000 American soldiers across the Arabian desert on Tuesday, talks like a general confidently describing plans for a battlefield victory.

We made it through Thanksgiving, he said, looking over a warehouse stocked with tens of thousands of cans of sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. Well make it through Christmas. Sometime before noon on Christmas Day, Wolf, the chief food adviser for the American military operation here, must complete the distribution of 10 million pounds of food and drink. That includes 559.000 pounds of turkey and other meat, 210,000 pounds of fruitcake and pies, 224.000 pounds of bread and rolls, and thousands of gallons of egg nog. Whatever the Pentagons efforts to raise morale during the holidays, it appears that for some American soldiers, nothing can overcome the fear or the loneliness or the boredom they feel this Christmas.

I dont see any real Christmas spirit anywhere, said Pvt Deborah Sharpley, 22, of Hart-selle, Ala. Near the offices of her Army transportation unit, soldiers have decorated their barracks with tinsel and Christmas paper and red cloth stockings, and one of her neighbors has been playing tapes of Christmas carols sung by the Temptations and Gladys Knight. But I can pretend its Christmas out in the desert Sharpley said. I just cant pretend that well. But there are others who say they have found the spirit of the holidays in the camaraderie.

A Associated Press Photo Army Specialist Martey Sylvester, of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, arrives at her unit's Christmas party in Saudia Arabia Sunday. Santa may not make it, but hot turkey will cocktail sauce; 108,000 pounds of canned ham; 172.000 pounds of roast beef. 150.000 pounds of rolled turkey; 4,000 whole turkeys; cranberry sauce; stuffing; 280,000 pounds of glazed sweet potatoes; mashed potatoes; mixed vegetables. a salad of tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers; assorted breads; 35.000 pounds of fruitcake; 150,000 pies including apple, peach, pecan, pumpkin and mincemeat; hard candies, mixed nuts; apples, oranges, grapes, tangerines and pears; coffee, tea, milk soft drinks and egg nog: and 500.000 Mars and Snickers candy bars donated by Saudi Arabia IN EASTERN SAUDI ARABIA (AP) It won't be Christmas dinner at home with roasted chestnuts and a roaring fire, but Desert Shield troops will have literally tons of turkey, roast beef and ham to feast on.

Santa Claus is not going to be around probably to bring presents, so we're going to have to do something to make it a special day," said Chief Warrant Officer Wesley Wolf, food adviser for the S. mil itary in Saudi Arabia It's such a big day. Tins is real ly an important meal for us. We re trying to get a hot meal to everyone." Hot food is a big morale boost to the service members on duty in foxholes and guardposts. enduring the flies, heat, scorpions and desert isolation.

As a touch of home cooking, the military has prepared 340,000 meals for Christmas. There are 280.000 troops in Saudi Ara bia. but Wolf over-ordered to make sure he had more than enough for every' service member. Ingredients for the Christmas dinner were ordered in September and arrived a month ago. Reinforcements arriving the country on Tuesday won't have to worry about missing Christmas dinner either.

"If a soldier walks in that day, we ll have a Christmas meal for him, said Wolf, who served as a cook in Vietnam. Ham will be served, even though pork products are banned in this Islamic kingdom. We keep it low profile. Wolf said. We don't make a big deal of it We bring it in and handle it ourselves." The list for Christmas Day cook ing includes 35.000 pounds of shrimp plus Compiled by Jackie Logue from B-C wire services Gas prices down almost 6 cents LOS ANGELES Gasoline prices nationwide dropped an average of nearly 6 cents a gallon over the last two weeks, the biggest plunge since the Persian Gulf crisis began, a survey released Sunday showed.

The average price for all grades of gasoline at full- and self-serve stations was 140.27 cents a gallon Friday, a drop of 5.79 cents from Dec. 7, according to oil industry analyst Trilby Lundbergs survey of 13,600 gasoline stations. The average price of regular leaded gasoline at self-serve stations was 125.87 cents a gallon. Regular unleaded sold for 128.85 cents and premium unleaded was 144.79. Coast Guard jet knocks Cessna into surf.

MIAMI A Coast Guard jet collided with a small plane at 4,000 feet over the Bahamas Saturday, knocking the baggage compartment of the twin-engine Cessna into the surf but causing no injuries, authorities said. The top of the Falcon jet's tail struck the Cessnas baggage pod despite evasive maneuvers by the jets pilot, who initially thought the planes escaped contact, said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Jeff Karonis in Miami. The 10:30 a.m. collision was inches away from being fatal, said a mechanic who examined the Cessna after its pilot landed safely in Miami with five science teachers from San Francisco on board.

The jet was on a routine law enforcement patrol in uncontrolled air space over the island of Bimini and both planes were flying under visual flight rules at the time of the collision, the Coast Guard said. Arrest made in random house shootings MANCHESTER, il. Police following up a tip arrested a man early Saturday in connection with a series of nighttime house shootings that frightened a section of the city. No one was injured in the shootings, although there were some near misses as shotgun blasts shattered windows and penetrated walls. Some residents began sleeping and watching television on the floor and took down Christmas lights as police cautioned them to keep houses as dark as possible.

Gary LeClerc, 27, who lived in the area of the shootings, was arrested at his apartment without incident and charged with felony criminal mischief, felonious use of a firearm and harassment. Bail was set at $51,000. Deputy Police Chief Paul Brodeur said other charges will be filed. Police said no motive had been determined in the apparently random shootings. Report: Plane landed on wrong runway BOSTON A ide-bodied passenger jet landed on the wrong runway at Logan Airport in July, but the Federal Aviation Administration had no record of the mistake, a newspaper reported today.

FAA officials have records of only seven of 20 runway incursions" at Logan reported to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration during the first eight months of the year, according to The Boston Globe. Barry Bermingham, FAA special projects manager for the New England region, said an "exhaustive search is under way to determine why the agency was not aware of the July incident. He said it was possible the controller who handled the flight decided the landing error did not create a safety hazard so no report was filed. The incident was reported by the flight crew of the unidentified commercial airliner to NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System. NASA gives those who file reports anonymity and immunity from penalties for possible wrongdoing.

Flames burn marina, 3 jump In water SEATTLE Boats and a building caught fire at a marina pier on the Lake Washington Ship Canal early Saturday and three people jumped into the water to escape the flames, officials said. Firefighters had to fight the blaze in below freezing temperatures and cramped space at the end of a dead end street. The National Weather Service said the temperature was in the teens and the ind chill factor near zero. The fire was at the Marine pier, east of Ballard Bridge on the south side of the canal that links Lake I'nion with Puget Sound. The blaze was fueled by creosote treated ood on the pier and by barrels of flammable liquids after spreading to a two story building used by LeClair Marine Construction.

Firefighters and witnesses said the fire apparently started in a wood stove aboard a 3ftfoot pleasure boat moored at the pier How ever, fire department spokesman Albert Smalls said he could not confirm that was the cause. Shopping-mall shooting injures woman RENO, Nev. A shooting incident outside a shopping mall here over the weekend injured an elderly woman and sent holiday shop pers scurrying for cover, officers said. Marta Kacerovsica, 74. as treated and released from a local hospital alter suffering a bullet wound to one of her feet.

According to police, a young male pulled out a pistol Saturday on the sidewalk outside Weinstock's at Park Lane Mall and fired three shots. The gunman was involved in a confrontation with one or two other young males when the 2.53 m. incident occurred. They fled from the scene and police were still searching for them Sunday TV show helps uncover another fugitive POINT ROBERTS, Wash. A man sought in Los Angeles on charges of abducting his 13 year-old daughter was arrested a month after a TV program featured a similar case, the FBI said.

Guillermo E. Bonilla was arrested at his home Friday for investigation of two counts of using a false Social Security number, an FBI statement said. Bonilla lived five years in Point Roberts as Robert William Kelly. An Unsolved Mysteries" episode shown Nov. 21 covered a 1983 Montana kidnapping.

School officials in Tsawwassen, British Columbia north of Point Roberts, thought they recognized the victim as Bonilla's daughter. Bonilla's daughter was not the one involved in the Montana case but had been reported missing in the Los Angeles area in 1983, the statement said. She was found in Bonilla's house last week and placed with Child Protective Services pending a reunion with her mother in California. Weather knocks station off air again ST. LOUIS The tower at radio station KIITK FM, also known as Hot 97, is cold as ice.

And that has forced the station off the air for the second time in four weeks. First, a storm knocked off the station's 50ft foot tower in O'Fallon, smashing it into five pieces and forcing the radio station off the air. That was on Nov. 27. So the station borrowed a tower from a paging company and after a test run resumed playing its music on Dec.

8. The station mostly plays top 40 hits with a heavy emphasis on danceable tunes. On Friday, the station's antenna system became coated with ice, forcing the station off the air once more. After an employee climbed the tower and knocked the ice off with a baseball bat, the station went on the air for a couple of hours Saturday afternoon. But it was forced off the air again.

Senator: Link aid to treatment of republics breakup" would follow. Former Secretary of State George Shultz, appearing on ABC-TV's "This Week With David Brink-ley." said he had a hard time speculating what would happen in the Sov iet Union. For the moment, he said, the Bush administration should continue to engage the Soviet Union on key points, such as reducing nuclear arms and trying to dampen regional conflicts. Mitchell also said S. officials have banked too heavily on Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachevs ability to reform the country.

WASHINGTON AP) The Bush administration should halt any aid to the Sov iet Union if leaders crack down on the nation's rebellious republics. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. Maine, said Sunday. Calling the recent signs from the Soviet Union "ominous." Mitchell said he thought the possibilities of Soviet retaliation against break away republics was increasing I think we ought to have sub stantial aid unless and until the crackdown occurs and if it does, then surely should not be providing aid at that time, he said on Bush has said the United States is concerned about Shevardnadzes resignation. "Obviously people are wondering about the concerns raised by Mr Shevardnadze." he said Life goes on," he added Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser under former Pres ident Carter, predicted the central Soviet government and the army are likely to try to rein in the non Russian republics shortly In the long run.

he said, a crack down would fail and "either more accelerated movement toward some form of democratization or maybe even a more dramatic NBC-TV's "Meet the Press Earlier this month President Bush outlined a varied economic aid package that included technical and medical assistance and sup port for the Soviets to affiliate with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Bush announced his plan before Eduard Shevardnadze resigned as foreign minister, contending the Soviet Union was moving toward a dictatorship On Saturday, the head of the KGB. Vladimir Kryuchkov, warned of a possibility of blood shed to restore order to the rebel lious republics MARCIAS FASHIONS IfiujV r. Jiw IlfcklriTHP GOOD SELECTION Quality Custom Embroidering Monogramming Right Here In Oceanside We Monogram: Towels Jackets T-Shirts Shirts Caps Just about anything Usually Same Day Service. 1 I I I 1 I I 1 I 1 1 1 1 I if Save up to 50 on selected Dresses -Jackets Pants Tops Blouses Sweaters Jumpsuits 3784 Mission Oceanside (Luckys Shopping Center across from the San Luis Rey Post Office) 439-4750 STORE HOURS Monday-Friday 10am-6pm Saturday 10am-5pm Closed Sunday 307 N. Hill Street Downtown Oceanside 722-3191 Fax: 722-1547.