The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 1

Tfiursday JANUARY 30 1986 final I Tacoma Washington 104th Year No 298 254 Moire debris fournid search expanded More on the space Page D-15 nauts Tuesday 73 seconds after liftoff was caused by something that went wrong with the huge external fuel tank or whether the fault was with one of the two solid fuel rocket boosters Experts have considered both theories but shuttle director Jesse Moore said Wednesday: refuse to speculate on the cause We intend to make a thorough examination of all the evidence and base our conclusions and recommendations on the findings" After the boosters separated from the exploding spaceship and flew erratically through the sky both were detonated by a radio signal when one of them headed toward a populated area Thep deliberate but necessary detonation could have wiped out vital clues need every piece said Richard Smith director of the Ken Tha Aitociated Pra CAPE CANAVERAL Fla A Navy ship steamed into port with 1000 more pounds of wreckage from space shuttle Challenger today as NASA expanded the search for clues into the explosion of the ill-fated starship and its crew of five men and two women' The debris included the first electronic pieces recovered from theses At the Kennedy Space Center on the road to launch pad someone planted seven American flags to honor the dead astronauts The search continued as the space agency impounded tapes that recorded performance of the shuttle's systems every one-thousandth of a second Officials said they might be the most cru- range from 15 by 10 feet to 30 by 5 feet" NASA confirmed that one of the pieces was a control panel from the shuttle but did not know immediately which of many it might be Simpson said ships expected to retrieve today two heavy cone-shaped objects that might be parts of the two solid fuel rockets He also said searchers began using sonar detection devices for the first time today in an effort to locate pieces of the shuttle on the ocean floor more than 50 feet down The search zone shifted slightly north from Cape Canaveral 75 miles north to Daytona Beach and 50 miles out to sea It now covers 8000 square miles The retrieved material did not include any clothing or personal effects of any of the five men and two women aboard Moore -said that based on the great amount of small debris sighted he held out little hdpe that Continued on Page A-4 flights in a year in which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had planned a record 15 missions An investigation board has impounded the high-speed tapes as well as spaceship debris washed ashore The panel also has taken possession of film photographs and work documents related to the shuttle The first 600 pounds of debris most of it small pieces of thermal tiles was brought into port Wednesday and the Coast Guard Navy and Air Force expanded the search fleet today from eight to 13 ships and from nine to 13 aircraft ships have begun picking up a great deal more debris larger and more varied LL Cmdr James Simpson of the Coast Guard said today ship alone is bringing in 1000 pounds of debris finding tubing finding electronic-looking pieces I don't know whether control panels or what they are got wiring and gauges and so he said sixes nedy Space Center know where the clue might be" Moore said he was confident the cause would be found but that could take months Until then there will be no more shuttle dal piece of evidence in the investigation The tapes could reveal whether the fireball that killed the astro- AP Lsierphoto A searcher examined suspected shuttle debris Uniform poll-time bill goes to Senate Authorities any new leads but a father pushes lonely search for a missing son his companion By DAN VOELPEL The News Tribune News Tribune news servlcei Polling places across the nation would close at the same time on presidential election days under legislation that now moves to the Senate The legislation will every voter has a chance to cast a ballot before the results are said Rep A1 Swift (D-Bellingham) sponsor of the bill after the House approved it Wednesday night in Washington DC The bill also would delay the start of Standard Time in the West for two weeks so polls there would close at 7 pm local time The standardized poll closing times is aimed at preventing election night television reporting from discouraging voting on the West Coast and skewing the results Under the Mil Western states would shift back to standard time the Sunday after the November election while the rest of the nation would make the switch on the last Sunday in October as has been the practice Thq House action was applauded in Olympia where the state Senate Judiciary Committee today took up a proposal to formally ask the federal lawmakers to adopt uniform poll dosing heartily commend Congressman Secretary of State Ralph Munro told The Newt Tribune today The measure passed by the UB House stems largely from the controversy over election night reporting that erupted in 1980 when many Western supporters of President Carter dedded not to vote after television networks declared Ronald Reagan the winner on the basis of exit pdls Munro said that vduntary re Continued on Page A-4 around the Nisqually River from the Delta up to the Harts and Tule lakes area and on to Elbe across the river south toward Pleasant Valley and Morton In the past six weeks Riemer said he has covered nearly all of rural Pierce County south and east of Tacoma Riemer also has organised searches concentrated in the greater Spanaway area On three consecutive weekends people re-' sponded to his well-publicized pleas fra volunteer searchers Ninety people showed up the first weekend 50 the following weekend Just three the last time No clues resulted from any of the searches But Spanaway appears to be the hub of the mystery It was at the Spanaway Kmart store on Dec 13 that and 3-year-old daughter Crystal turned up alone Crystal had accompanied her parents on the trap-checking trip A bell ringer for the Salvation Army -told private investigator Mel Hoover that she saw the missing truck in the Kmart parking lot between 4 and 5 pm But when she came back from a break the truck was gone Later an unidentified little girl was discovered playing with two other children in front of the store and was handed over to authorities But it wasn't until three days after that that a nurse at Mary Bridge Medical Center recognized that the little girl matched a picture of Crystal on a television news program Crystal however has not provided any clues about the fate or whereabouts of her parents "We really have no Mysteries were familiar to Michael (Lloyd) Riemer Sr For years as a state game agent Riemer was paid to unravel mysteries by trudging through back-woods briars and swamps He eyed broken twigs for clues and interpreted footprints to ultimately capture poachers Mostly he was successful After World War II the state tested Riemer for a year on contract paying him only a commission to trap animals and track poachers Then the state gave him a permanent Job Now at age 78 Riemer is facing 8 riddle of life-and-death proportions the solution of which remains more elusive and personal for him than all the rest His only child Michael Riemer Jr 38 disappeared Dec 13 while checking animal traps along the Nisqually River Also missing is his son's companion Diana Robertson 21 a mystery by Riemer said He swirled some cold coffee in a cup as he sat in the kitchen of his small Puyallup home the same kitchen where nearly every night for two years since wife died of emphysema he had eaten dinner with his son something I put my finger on We went over the trap lines I drat know how many damned times Riemer said Pierce County sheriffs investigators have exhausted all their leads Until something new surfaces like the missing couple's truck a waiting game said Detective LL Jeff Edmunds But Riemer and -some friends of the missing couple quit searching Several times each week they drive the roads Staff photo by WARREN ANDERSON Lloyd Riemer remains baffled by the disappearance of his son Michael Continued on Page A-4 Index Military budget cuts put nation at peril Weinberger warns 46 PAGES 4 SECTIONS Accent C-11-12 Business Plus 01-4 Classified Ads 05-14 Comics 07 Crossword B-6 Editorials A-8 Entertainment C-8-9 Obituaries B-2 Outdoors 05 People A-2 Sports 01-6 Take Time B-6 Television O10 Vital Statistics 015 early days of World War IL fra peace in the future" Wein- stretched our luck to the berger said limit and we tempted fate and ty- are entering a period in he said which national strategy may be And yet Weinberger continued held hostage to the the president will unveil the fiscal pencil in which the desire fra 1987 budget plan next week at a reduced deficits and domestic time when with the defi-' comfort overwhelms our common cit has caused a wavering of con- sense narrows our perspective gressional commitment to and compels us to shrink from our national security obligation to resist the most ty- fiscal 1987 defense budget rannical forces in the represents a critical challenge to Weinberger delivered his our willingness to pay the price speech which he billed as a pre $35 billion below the original request He also rated the president's intent to request further reductions in domestic programs to provide the Pentagon a budget increase in fiscal 1987 Administration sources have said the president will request a 1987 defense budget of roughly $312 billion to $314 billion compared to the $2761 billion expected this year after the latest cuts view of the military posture statement he will present to Congress along with the budget during a luncheon appearance before the Economic Club of Detroit A text was released in advance at the Pentagon The defense secretary at several points referred to the new Gramm-Rudman balanced-budget law noting the cuts required by the act during the current year would put the budget The Associated Prat WASHINGTON Stepping up his campaign to salvage the military buildup Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger said today the nation's security was in danger of being hostage to the pencil" In a biting attack on congressional critics Weinberger said he had hoped all Americans had a lesson" from the lack of preparedness in the A A.