Daily American Republic from Poplar Bluff, Missouri • 10

Bally Aafftoo Itpnhlic Thurify July 141937 Poplar Bluff Mo Pag 10 Military Cannibalizes Costly Aircraft By The New York Times WASHINGTON Despite the vast military spending by the Reagan administration over the last six years the armed forces today are so short of spare parts that they must cannibalize some airplanes to keep others flying While the practice is not new it has more serious conse quences than in the past because it disables multimillion dollar pieces of military hardware like the bomber instead of smaller less advanced items like jeeps The practice officials say erodes military readiness as air craft are taken out of service some only for hours but others for days or weeks In addition critics say the practice of cannibalizing is a waste of energy time and money At Dyess Air orce Base near Abilene Texas three bombers which each cost $200 million stand idle because parts have been removed from them and installed in several of the 26 other bombers based there Air orce officers here say that the practice is common throughout the bomber fighter and transport wings of their ser vice any Air orce base on any given day" said one officer "the chances are that go ing to have an airplane Similarly Navy officers say that most aircraft carriers at sea plus air units like anti submarine squadrons that are based ashore regularly have aircraft that have been can nibalized for parts a maintenance management tool" one officer said In pushing Congress to provide more money for the military ser vices over the last six years Reagan administration officials indicated that the practice of cannibalizing would be curtailed or eliminated as a part of the ad ministration's program to im prove combat readiness In re cent years the situation has im proved somewhat according to military officers But in its military buildup the administration has emphasized the purchase of arms such as the MX nuclear missile and ships for the Navy over the stockpiling of spare parts Con sequently the officers expect cannibalizing to increase as tighter military budgets slow the purchase of spare parts Since 1982 when the ad military buildup began to take hold spending on new weapons has soared 523 percent to $85 billion a year But the operations and maintenance budget which pays for spare parts has gone up only 185 per cent to $816 billion annually can see that in some cir cumstances it would have to be done" said Rep Charles Ben nett la ho is a member of the House Armed Services Com mittee done in combat all the time But in peacetime it represents a lot of of manpower" we ought to do is see to it that we have enough spare parts and use Bennett said nL P' ii JLr A Bicycle Built for Two Isadore and Bart Cincotta share a ride home Tuesday after a shopping trip in Cortland NY The two senior citizens are residents of Cortland ap taser photo) Bank Robbers Sentenced to 124 Years Delta Under Review WASHINGTON (AP) ederal inspectors are looking for possible in a flurry of safety breakdowns at Delta Air Lines in recent weeks all seemingly unrelated except that they involved pilot mistakes The ederal Aviation Ad ministration announced the special review of training pro cedures at the airline Wednes day and formed a special team of as many as 30 inspectors to comb through the training manuals and procedures Delta which has its head quarters in Atlanta is the coun fourth largest air carrier and is expected to carry more than 50 million people this year In the past month a Delta plane turned onto a runway where an aircraft was taking off another flew within 100 feet of a Continental airliner another had both its engines turned off in midflight another landed on the 1 wrong runway in Boston and yet another landed at the wrong airport In the latest incident Wednes day the AA said a Delta flight bound for Salt Lake City return ed to Los Ahgeles shortly after takeoff because a galley door was not properly closed At 4000 feet the pilot had discovered he couia not pressurize the cabin because of the unsealed door AA spokeswoman Elly Brekke said something that we Delta spokeman William Barry said of the in vestigation He said internal in vestigations of five incidents dating back to June 18 have un covered no common thread ex cept that they each involved pilot mistakes training procedures are we feel Barry con tinued pilots are senior pilots one of those anomalies that seem to happen from time to time with a human being All of a sudden you do something that trained totally not to AA officials said preliminary investigations into the recent series of safety in at Delta including one in which a jetliner almost collid ed with another jetliner over the North Atlantic has raised con cern that the airline may have an underlying training problem is no obvious pattern or link among the incidents (But) each incident apparently involv ed human error and this is a matter of great concern to said Robert Whittington the acting administrator The AA said the special team of investigators will comb over training manuals and training procedures especially as they apply to navigating air craft and maintaining proper coordination in the cockpit looking for is whether there is possibly an underlying flaw someplace in the training program or procedures that is responsible for this or is it just a series of unrelated in dividual AA spokesman red arrar said Three Delta pilots already have been ordered suspended without pay as a result of two of the incidents according to the airline The incidents over the Atlantic and at Boston remain under investigation TACOMA Wash (AP) Two men wanted for a string of bank robberies around the West and Midwest including Missouri have been sentenced by federal judges to 124 years in prison fora June 1986 robbery and hostage taking near Vancouver Wash US District Judges Robert Bryan and Jack Tanner in Tacoma imposed the sentences on Joseph Dougherty 47 and Terry Lee Conner 43 They were watched by members of three families that Conner and Dougherty are accused of taking hostage Dougherty was convicted of and Conner pleaded guilty to four counts stemming from the WASHINGTON (AP) Con gress which lives by com promise is sending a delegation to Philadelphia to celebrate the Great Compromise of the sum mer of 1787 which invented the Congress and led to constitu tional rule Independence Hall will welcome an official party today of 55 House and Senate members one from each state plus five leaders of the House and Senate to applaud the achievements of the 55 delegates who framed the Constitution in that historic structure 200 years ago WASHINGTON (AP) Repeal of the windfall profits tax on oil companies cleared the Senate early today but faces another hurdle when lawmakers of both houses fashion the final version of a sweeping trade bill The 58 40 vote on which the Senate attached the plan to its trade bill nevertheless prompted Sen David Boren Okla spon sor of the measure to pronounce himself elated by the pectedly strong bipartisan ma The vote came in ses sions that stretched past midnight robbery of $266576 from irst In dependent Bank in Hazel Dell on June 30 1986 The night before the men took bank executive Raymond Deering his wife Verona and their 20 year old son hostage in their home and forced them to accompany them to the bank Doughtery faces sentencing for a Dec 29 1982 bank robbery in Oklahoma City While being tried in that case he and Conner escaped from US marshals on June 19 1985 Conner and Dougherty also face charges in a hostage taking and bank robbery in Milwaukee in September 1985 The US Mar shals Service and BI has said Some 200 other senators and House members and their families will be along as observers Hundreds of demonstrators and protesters also are expected to be on hand to rally for causes ranging from equal rights for women to US policies in Central America Their right to do so is guaranteed not only by the first 10 amendments to the Constitu tion the Bill of Rights but by a federal court decision last week ordering authorities not to interfere with peaceful non will put us in a stronger bargaining position with the con ference Boren said He said influential Texans Senate inance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen and House Speaker Jim Wright could also play a vital part when lawmakers sit down to fashion the final version think we have the best chance had to actually repeal the Boren said The Senate voted last year to repeal the 1980 tax designed to capture for the government some of the profits from then the two men are wanted for ques tioning about bank robberies in Michigan Missouri Reno Nev Phoenix and Salt Lake City Officials of the two agencies said Wednesday they did not have specific details on those crimes The two judges said the men must be imprisoned the rest of their lives to protect the public record of convictions is clear that chosen to be a career Bryan told Dougherty who stroked his long salt and pepper graying beard as he listened offenders we see burn out when they reach your age but you have Tanner pressed Conner to disruptive protest This is the summer of the Iran Contra investigation on Capitol Hill and some congressional leaders may use their speeches celebrating the birth of the Con stitution to hail the checks and balances on presidential power written into the charter One of those leaders Sen Bob Dole Kan the Senate minori ty leader is a candidate for his 1988 presidential nomination Today's date marks the bicentennial of the vote by which the original delegates broke a soaring oil prices But the House did not act and the measure died in a conference committee This year the Senate had a hard time shaking loose a vote on moves to repeal the tax by both Boren and Sen Phil Gramm Texas As the clock neared midnight Wednesday however Majority Leader Robert Byrd WVa emerged from hours of negotiations to unveil an agree ment designed to break a legislative logjam that was stall ing action on the 1013 page bill speak at his sentencing despite defense attorney Jeffrey Robin repeated advice to his client not to talk Tanner told Conner the public and his vic tims deserved to know what had turned him from a restaurant operator to a bank robber Conner reiterated that he pleaded guilty to save the Deer ings the trauma of having to repeat testimony they gave at trial He said he had failed to realize the Deerings were unaware he would not harm them Mrs Deering wiped tears from her eyes after the sentencings just glad this she said us it will never be The Nation orest ires Burn 25 Houses SPOKANE Wash (AP) A wind whipped forest fire destroyed 25 to 30 houses and in jured at least two people as it burned out of control Wednes day and dozens of people were ordered to evacuate authorities said The fire engulfed more than 400 acres by late Wednesday and Spokane County Sheriff Larry Erickson said firefighters may have to wait until Thursday to they can check damaged houses for occupants who may have been trapped At least two people were treated apparently for smoke in halation in the woodland and residential area about seven miles south of the city said Rob Harper a spokesman for the state Department of Natural Resources Courts Rule On PTL Cases COLUMBIA SC (AP) A bankruptcy judge has agreed to Jim and Tammy re quest for an independent overseer of reorganiza tion while a federal judge in North Carolina ordered a grand jury probe of the ministry US District Judge Robert Potter in Charlotte NC ordered a special grand jury to convene there Aug 17 to in vestigate the opera tions under Bakker the PTL founder who stepped down in March amid a sex scandal Potter issued his order Wednesday after meeting Tues day with US Attorney Charles Brewer and other Justice Department officials The State newspaper reported today Brewer refused to comment citing Justice Department policy the Columbia publication said Deaver Jury Phase Opened WASHINGTON (NYT) A federal appeals court Wednes day ordered a judge in the per jury trial of Michael Deaver to conduct the jury selection pro cess in public The decision unanimously reversed a process set up by the judge Thomas Penfield Jackson of the ederal District Court here to question potential jurors behind closed doors and then release edited transcripts to reporters The judge said he was attempting to protect the privacy of the jurors in the trial of the former deputy White House chief of staff Deaver a close friend of Presi dent Reagan who left the White House to form a lobbying con cern is being tried on charges that he lied under oath to Con gress and to a federal grand jury investigating his lobbying activities Dog's Owner Bites Officer LANSING Mich (AP) A warrant has been issued for a woman who allegedly became so enraged when an officer tried to take her dog that she bit the officer The warrant charging the woman with aggravated assault was issued Tuesday after animai control officer Vicki Warren found an unlicensed dog roaming a neighborhood Monday said In gham County Assistant Pro secutor Jeff Patzer Patzer said normal procedure calls for the officer to sell a license to the owner or to take the animal to the county shelter The prosecutor said Warren knocked at the door of the house where the dog was kept When no one answered Patzer said War ren put a leash on the dog and started leading it away The owner of the dog who was not identified pending arraign ment came outside and the animal control person and bites county Prosecutor Don Martin said Windfall Profits Tax Repeal Wins in Senate Great Compromise Party Held in Philadelphia long deadlock caused by the competing interests of large and small states and approved a plan that created the two house na tional legislature that has func tioned ever since The 1987 congressional delegates also will troop to Con gress Hall adjourn into separate bodies from the Senate and the House of Representatives and celebrate the record of the first congresses which met in the structure from 1790 until the capital was moved to Washington a decade later which has been on the floor since June 25 The agreement targets 6 pm Tuesday for a vote on the entire bill a wide ranging plan with provisions ranging from import restrictions to punishment of un fair trade practices to larger farm subsidies The agreement provided for a quick vote on the windfall profits tax repeal which had been heavily debated earlier in the week but blocked from final ap proval amid parliamentary skirmishing.