Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 1

YT 82y Shopaholics D-Day I 4 Binge buyers battle the urge 'iinVHi-Q! Sparky Anderson, the Tigers BgaturH tn hiiy everything in sight 1R fel face decision dav-1D "2-1 IT t' i -1 A-jmj 1 etoit Jffeee SPm Friday April 4, 1986 State For home delivery call 222-6500. 1986, Detroit Free Press, Inc. ON GUARD FOR 154 YEARS iii Mi i ji-n Shuttle safety panel urged Detroit business group seeks to buy Channel 62 which is trying to find the cause of the Jan. 28 explosion that destroyed Challenger and killed its crew of seven. After hearing Hartsfield describe the shuttle as "the most magnificent and fantastic machine," commission member Richard Feynman said that it is also a risky machine with flaws and difficulties.

"I tried to figure out where the difficulty is in this system that made it go wrong," Feynman said. "The prob- See SHUTTLE, Page 11A By HARRY F. ROSENTHAL Associated Press WASHINGTON The Challenger investigating commission said Thursday it will recommend that an independent safety panel oversee all future space shuttle flights to remedy what one commissioner called NASA's "perpetual movement heading for trouble." The idea, raised by astronaut Henry Hartsfield, was endorsed by commission Chairman William Rogers, who said, "All of us think there should be an independent safety panel of some kind." A commissioner said an astronaut should be on the safety panel. The commission, at the midpoint of its four-month existence, heard four of the country's most experienced astronauts say they did not know or did not realize the seriousness of potential booster rocket problems. It was another example of a communication breakdown within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration uncovered by the commission, By STEPHEN ADVOKAT Free Press Communications Writer A group of Detroit area businessmen, to include retired basketball star Dave Bing and boxer Thomas Hearns, is hoping to buy WGPR-TV (Channel 62), possibly within the next 30 days.

Joel Ferguson, head of the Lansing-based Development who last year sold WFSL-TV (Channel 47 in Lansing) for $9 million, is the leader of the group, Heart of Downtown Broadcasting. On Thursday it became the first group to declare publicly its interest in buying the nation's first black-owned TV outlet. WGPR-TV is owned by the fraternal organization the International Free Accepted Modern Masons the black branch of the Masonic order. The offer reportedly is one of three the Masons have received for Channel Thomas Hearns Dave Bing 62 and its sister radio station, WGPR-FM. Broadcast industry sources say the other two came from prospective buy-See STATION, Page 15A Last insult for a dying landmark "4 if Woman sought in i 1 4-" Vi jet attack By KfcRIN HOPE Associated Press ATHENS, Greece Police are hunting for an Arab woman suspected of planting the bomb that exploded on a TWA jetliner over southern Greece, killing four Americans, police sources said Thursday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said a woman called May Elias Mansur, who they con- sider a terrorist, flew on the Trans U.S. seeks those behind blast. 14A. Victims' relative seeks revenge. 14A.

World Airlines Boeing 727 from Cairo to Athens on Wednesday morning. The plane went on to Rome, and the bomb exploded dur ing its return flight from Rome to Athens on Wednesday afternoon. "We have a launched a search around Athens and other cities and also put out a signal to trace this person through Interpol," one police source said. Earlier Thursday in Rome, Italian Interior Minister Oscar Luigi Scalfaro said, "It is certain that a suspect person, who is on file as a terrorist, got on in Cairo and got of in Athens, occupying in the airplane the exact seat where the explosion occurred." The Italian news agency ANSA on Thursday night quoted unidentified Italian investigators in contact with Greek authorities as confirming that the suspect was a woman and saying she was believed to have boarded with a Lebanese passport in the name of May Mansur. ANSA said she may have boarded a flight on Middle East See BOMBING, Page 14A 1 Photo bv BILL EISNER Two fire fighters walk on a ladder during efforts to put out a blaze Thursday being used to cut a pipe ignited some oil.

More than 1 00 fire fighters spent at the former Stroh Brewery. The fire began in the west end of the top two several hours bringing the blaze under control. No injuries were reported, floors of the 75-year-old brewery, which is being demolished, when a torch The story is on Page 3A. More photos are on Page 20D. A whole new look Skoog quits as DNR chief THURSDAY 393 and 7678 LOTTO JACKPOT $2 million statements by certain Michigan leaders have served to coalesce criticism of my administration of the DNR to a point where I believe the department is being subjected to undue and unnecessary censure," Skoog wrote in an occa Lottery info A computer analysis of Michigan Lotto numbers, out-of-state lottery numbers and a chance to win free lottery tickets.

10B. inside today By TIM JONES Lansing Bureau Chief LANSING Ronald Skoog, the trouble-plagued director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources who recently had incurred the wrath of Gov. Blanchard, resigned under pressure Thursday. The resignation, which Skoog asked be made effective June 30, was the climax of weeks of severe criticism of the DNR and Skoog some of it coming from Blanchard, who did not want the Natural Resources Commission to hire Skoog in 1983. "Recent events, news media reports and sionally stinging two-page resignation letter to the commission.

"In the months ahead, I can easily presume that criticism will continue," Skoog said, adding he sees no "reinforcements in sight." "Although I would dearly love to stay and wage war with my critics," the 59-year-old former marine wrote, "I do not believe that See SKOOG, Page 15A Statements drive oil price down, back up AP and New York Times NEW YORK Oil prices jumped around Thursday, after Reagan administration officials denied that Vice-President George Bush would seek Saudi Arabian help in stabilizing the market. In trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, contracts for May delivery of West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark U.S. crude, dropped to a low of 1 0.90 per 42-gallon barrel, but finished the day at $1 1.75, up 28 cents from Wednesday's close. Analysts said oil producers, facing dire economic consequences posed by $10-a-barrel oil, have begun seriously considering limiting production. William Byers, an analyst, at the Bear, Stearns Co.

securities firm, attributed the day's price fluctuations to a White House clarification of statements by Bush. Bush, who left for a tour of Persian Gulf See OIL, Page 6A AP Photo ANN LANDERS 2B Ronald Skoog 18D BRIDGE 12-160 BUSINESS NEWS CLASSIFIED GOLD ADS 5-9B 18-19D COMICS High water slows lake freighters CROSSWORD PUZZLE 19D A new Detroit magazine will debut in Sunday's Free Press. Humorist Dave Barry will join Neal Shine as a magazine columnist. We've added a challenging new crossword puzzle and several new features all wrapped in a new design. This Sunday, there will be extra section on international travel and a special cover story will celebrate baseball, Detroit style, with help from Ernie Harwell, Tom Monaghan, Jim Campbell and others.

5B DEATH NOTICES 1-10C ENTERTAINMENT 11C FEATURE PAGE By BARBARA STANTON Free Press Stall Writer ABOARD THE BENSON FORD -Capt. Ted Cogswell's empty freighter 3B HEALTH FITNESS 19D MOVIE GUIDE 12C OBITUARIES 10-11B TELEVISION creeps down the! River Rouge, channel at about 2 m.p.h. Already, signs of high water on the Great Judge OKs school weapon searches Soundoff. 15A. (3 mt- In I 3ji 1 I ii i i i ri i mm' i i "i i -irnrf By JIM FINKELSTEIN Free Press Stall Writer The Detroit Public Schools may resume weapon searches in schools, a federal district judge ruled Thursday.

The district will begin Monday notifying students and parents of the Lakes are visible. The water is up in the tight bends of the turning basin at Ford Motor Rouge steel plant. Cogswell turns his 767-foot ore carrier around at the head of the channel Thursday for the trip down the Rouge and up the Detroit River on its way to Duluth, Minn. Water laps high against the steel seawalls and muddy banks of the' Rouge. The high water should make Cogswell a happy man or many people might think so but he dismisses that idea with a laugh.

See FREIGHTER, Page 15A by police. Before entering school buildings and passing through metal detectors, students must be given a chance to remove metal objects, to prevent being halted unnecessarily. The rules also require that metal detectors be used only when school authorities suspect weapons are in the hands of students, or when there has been a pattern of weapons or violence on school property, Deborah Gordon, an attorney for the ACLU, which last year challenged a previous policy of surprise weapons sfl, WEAPONS, 'Vge15A schools will deploy security staffers to make the spot searches, he said. The new rules require the notification and set several other limits on the searches, which were discontinued in December after an ACLU challenge. The rules, approved by the Board of Education March 11, were declared constitutional Thursday by Judge Avern Cohn.

They require that the searches be conducted School personnel and not sweeps to be conducted randomly, as before and resume them once everyone is notified, said Arthur Jefferson, schools superintendent, at a press conference Thursday. Free Press Ptwto bv JOHN COLLIER "We won't drag our feet," said High water can trouble the Benson Ford and other big freighters. Jefferson. Using "intelligence on where wea jns are most prevalent, the.