Fort Lauderdale News from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 3

Fort Lauderdale News, Wednesday, January 27, 1988 3A Tla Nattiom- NORTHEAST NASA finds mew flaws in she ttte NASA officials met this week to determine the date of the next flight, but officials said a decision has been delayed until an analysis of the latest problems is completed. the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, where the shuttle Challenr exploded shortly after takeoff two years ago. Thursday is the second anti-versary of the explosion in which ell seven crew members perished. Since then, the shuttle, the mainstay of the U.S. space program, has grounded.

NASA had to cancel its latest target date of June 2 for the next shuttle flight after a test firing in Utah on December 23 showed that a section of the booster rocket's nozzle, used to steer the spacecraft, had failed. While NASA is still not sure what caused the failure, engineers have la-cided to use a backup design Reuters WASHINGTON NASA disclosed on Tuesday new defects in key parts of the space shuttle. The problems might force another delay in the grounded craft's next flight. Space agency officials said they are still assessing the problems uncovered in testing and could not determine how serious they were or if the twice-postponed resumption of shuttle flights would have to be delayed further. National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials met this week to determine the date of the next flight, but officials said a decision has been delayed until an analysis of the latest problems is completed.

The first flaw was discovered using ultrasonic testing on the cone-shaped skirt at the aft, or bottom, end of the booster rocket that helps propel the or-biter into space. The skirt supports the shuttle when it sits on the launch pad. Two of the six skirts tested had minute cracks in the welding. NASA officials described this as "something un usual but it is not known whether it is a potential problem." A second flaw was found in the main engine blade platform seal after a cross sectional cut showed that "the seal had not been properly welded," NASA said. This seal is meant to keep hot gases from escaping.

These manufacturing problems were found as the result of tests conducted at Deficit IIS swe in 1988 News wire service Suspect denies assault try YORK Irish-American Michael Shanley, I charged with trying to assault the Duchess of York during her visit last week, was freed on $100,000 bail on Tuesday after denying he had tried to hit her with a flagpole. Shanley, 24, told a bail hearing all he did was shout "British murderers, get out of Ireland" at the duchess, the former Sarah Ferguson, before being wrestled to the ground by two State Department security men. Judge, 2 others convicted I PHILADELPHIA Common Pleas Court Judge Kenneth S. Harris and two associates were convicted by a federal jury on Tuesday of charges of fixing 14 cases in return for $5,600 in bribes. The other two were attorney Romaine G.

Phillips, 38, of Voorhees, N.J., and Matthias "Big Sonny" Brown, 47. Their lawyers said they would appeal. Conrail to settle claims PHILADELPHIA Conrail announced on Tuesday that it will pay $7.5 million to settle injury claims stemming from the collision of a I Conrail train and an Amtrak passenger train outside Baltimore last January. Sixteen people were killed and 170 injured in the incident. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that operators of the Conrail locomotive might have been under the influence of illegal drugs at the time.

SOUTH Boy's recovery 'remarkable' CHARLESTON, S.C. Kendall Smith, 9, who was rescued two weeks ago after being trapped 40 minutes beneath pond ice, walked, played games and wrote his name on Tuesday in what his doctor Called an "absolutely remarkable" recovery. The boy came out of a coma on Monday and by Tuesday was doing some simple arithmetic and playing with toy blocks, the doctor said. He also was able to walk with help. Confederate flag to stay MONTGOMERY, Ala.

State NAACP President Thomas Reed failed on Tuesday to persuade Gov. Guy Hunt to remove the Confederate battle flag from atop the state Capitol dome but won another meeting over the dispute. Reed, also a Democratic, legislator, promised he would take no action yet in his effort to bring down Rebel flag. He and Hunt, a Republican, agreed to meet again today. The NAACP views the flag as a symbol of oppression, Reed said.

Delta flies for free ATLANTA A Delta Air Lines computer mistakenly gave about 700 people free and reduced-price plane trips this month. But "what the computer giveth, Delta will not taketh away," spokesman Bill Berry said on Tuesday, The 700 people received frequent-flier bonuses to which they were not entitled, and 2,000 did not get what was coming to them, Berry said. "There was a computer error. It's the first problem that we've had with the program." ''M (if i i. is iv'i If ml y.

M' i AP photo Tears for the fallen Fiscal quarter ends: $80.4 billion in red The Associated Press WASHINGTON The federal government ran up a $23.9 billion budget deficit in December, as red ink in the first three months of the 1988 fiscal year soared by almost 25 percent above the level of a year earlier, the Treasury Department reported on Tuesday. The department said the first-quarter deficit for the budget year that began on Oct. 1 totaled $80.4 billion, an increase of $15.8 billion over the same quarter in fiscal 1987. The report on government spending and revenues points out the dilemma that faces the administration and Congress as they struggle to reduce soaring budget deficits to restore confidence, in financial markets. President Reagan boasted in his State of the Union address on Monday that the budget deficit had been cut by $73 billion in 1987, down to $148 billion from an all-time high of $221.1 billion in 1986.

However, many private economists said the deficit for this fiscal year will rise to $175 billion, even with the $30.2 billion in deficit reductions Congress passed in December. The pessimism stems from the fact that the 1987 deficit was improved by a one-time infusion of revenue generated by the 1988 Tax Reform Act. The Treasury Department report said revenues totaled $85.5 billion in December, while spending totaled $109.4 billion. The December imbalance compared with a $12.2 billion deficit in the same month a year The November deficit was $25.8 billion, and October's deficit was $30.7 billion. For the first three months of the fiscal year, revenues totaled $204.9 billion, 7.8 percent above government tax collections a year earlier.

Spending totaled $285.3 billion, 12 percent ahead of a year ago. For December, the top spending categories were, as usual, defense, Social Security, other programs in the Department of Health and Human Services and interest on the national debt Defense spending totaled $28.4 billion last month and $74.3 billion for the first three months of the fiscal year, up 12 2 percent from the same period a year ago. Spending for Social Security totaled $35.3 billion last month and $69 billion from October through December; a giant increase of 40 percent from a year ago. The rest of HHS spending totaled $12.3 billion in December and $37.7 billion so far this fiscal year, an increase of 0.6 percent over a year ago. Police officer Patsy Williams cries on Tuesday at a pleas for mercy, shot him in the face.

Carl Dudley memorial service for slain Dallas officer John Glenn Williams, 34, then walked away, firing a shot at two Chase. died on Saturday in a downtown pursuing off-duty officers, and was killed in a hail of parking lot when a man who lived on the streets return gunfire. A small group of people at the scene wrestled his gun away and, ignoring the officer's urged Williams to shoot Chace, witnesses said. Hanoi to return MIA remains, reviews data on ,18 other cases MIDWEST Indian district looms MINNEAPOLIS A legislative proposal would give Minneapolis-St. Paul a publicly financed school district run by American Indians, and experts say it would be the nation's first such Durban district.

Proponents say the school would reduce the dropout rate for Indian students, which is about double the rate for white children. There are about 3,800 Indian schoolchildren in the Twin Cities. Flagpole moved; aid saved LIBERAL, Kan. When officials of Liberal iHigh School found themselves a few yards short of eligibility for up to $8,000 in state aid, they just their flagpole. Under state rules, students must live at least 2.5 miles from the front door of the school before it can receive state money to pay for busing students.

When it was learned that 10 to 15 bused students still lived outside that radius, officials had the flagpole moved, at a cost of $500. Wrong place, raiders find CHICAGO Federal agents and suburban Cicero police raided the wrong apartment Monday night in search of illegal weapons, breaking down a security door before realizing their mistake, authorities said on Tuesday. James Reeves, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, blamed the mixup on an erroneous description by a "reliable confidential informant." meeting were among the 70 cases presented by Vessey, but he suggested the United States was not satisfied with Vietnam's overall response. "If the only result is these five sets of remains in about a month, than we would be disappointed since we are still looking for significant movement by the Vietnamese in resolving the 70 most compelling cases among the more than 200 General Vessey provided," he said.

What the United States wants, he said, is a "consistent, sustained effort" "We hope the meeting in Hanoi will lead to concrete results and we look forward to accelerated cooperation as promised to Gen. Vessey," Redman said. Vietnam had previously turned over eight other sets of remains since Last August, after a long period of lack of cooperation on the issue, Vietnam pledged it would try to do more to help account for the approximately 1,700 Americans still listed as missing in their country from the Indochina war. At the same time, the United States said it would encourage private groups in America to provide medical assistance for Vietnamese people disabled in the conflict. The mutual agreements were reached during Vietnamese talks with retired Gen.

John W. Vessey Jr. During those talks, Vessey turned over the names and detailed data on 200 cases, including 70 believed by the United States to be the most easily resolvable by the Vietnamese. Redman said the 23 remains mentioned by the Vietnamese at the latest The Associated Press WASHINGTON Vietnam plans to turn over five sets of remains of Americans missing from the Indochina war and has gathered information in 18 other cases, the State Department said on Tuesday. Word of the Vietnamese findings was received during a three-day meeting that concluded on Monday in Hanoi.

It involved Vietnamese representatives and a team of U.S. experts from the Joint Casualty Resolution Center and the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, said State Department spokesman Charles Redman. He quoted the leader of the U.S. team, Lt.

Col. Joe B. Harvey, as saying the talks were "productive." Redman said Vietnam planned to repatriate at least five sets of remains to the United States within a month. Man, 66, faces charges in '51 slaying of girl, 0 The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA A 66-year-old former Ferris wheel operator got off a train from Nebraska into a swirling snowstorm on Tuesday to face murder charges in the strangling of an 8-year- re old girl at a carnival in 1951. 1 William Henry Redmond, accompanied by Malcolm Murphy, the Pennsylvania state trooper who had reopened the case in 1985, held a yellow towel in front of his face and refused to speak to reporters waiting at the out baiL District Justice "George W.

Paige set a preliminary hearing for Feb. 8. Blond, blue-eyed Jane Marie was found dead April 26, 1951, in a truck on the grounds of a Penn-Premier Show carnival in Trainer. She had gone to the carnival the day before with her brothers, Paul, 6, and Lamarr, 16, according to news accounts from the time, but the older boy was not allowed to take his bicycle on the grounds and left the young children there. Jane Marie was seen whispering to Redmond and told a friend she had a secret with him, according to the reports.

She was strangled that night. Police said Redmond's fingerprints were found throughout the truck cab. A warrant for his arrest for questioning was issued in January 1952, but apparently" was never served because he could not be located. Without taking time to pick up his paycheck, he had left the carnival after it stopped in Lock Haven, in central Pennsylvania. Murphy began looking into the 900-page file on the killing in October 1985 after Trainer Police Chief Hugh Morris asked troopers if they had any records on the death.

WEST Mecham given deadline PHOENIX, Ariz. Gov. Evan Mecham was officially notified on Tuesday that he must resign by Saturday or run in a recall election, but a spokesman said Mecham has no plans to quit. Meanwhile, a House select committee continued impeachment hearings on Tuesday. Mecham, 63, also faces a criminal trial on March 9.

Nurses walk off posts LOS ANGELES About 4,000 nurses at six county-run hospitals walked off the job on Tuesday, forcing reductions in non-emergency surgery and outpatient services, officials said. The county may shift some patients to private hospitals if the labor shortage becomes too severe to be handled by supervisors and management, said a county employee-relations spokesman. Clan appears to be well MARION, Utah Members of a polygamist clan who holed up 11 days ago after the bombing of a Mormon chapel posed for a picture that shows their nine children smiling and apparently healthy, officials said on Tuesday. Authorities displayed the color photograph, taken by a friend of the 15-member clan during a visit on Monday night, to counter criticism of their siege tactics by people concerned about the youngsters. Morris had never seen any, though 3 and many other recalled the case.

Whenever such a crime occurs, Morris said, "It's never forgotten by any police officer." Murphy remembered that the county had handled the investigation and ths file was located in the county archives. His focus turned to Redmond. "Because I knew his name and his date of birth I was able to run his nam through the computer, and his name turned up in the Nebraska motor vehicle files," he said. He arrested the unemployed truck driver on Friday in Grand Island, Neb. Murphy said he made the arrest on tha basis of a conversation with Redmond, but declined to disclose details.

The two took a train back to Philadelphia because of Redmond's health. Redmond has emphysema. Redmond had lived in Grand Islarii since 1963, said Lt Gregg Ahlers of thi Hall County Sheriff 's Department. "So far as we know, he has been leading a quiet life," Murphy said. According to an affidavit filed by Murphy in Nebraska, Redmond was arrested twice in the mid-1930s for attacking girls and was sentenced to the Ohio State Reformatory and the Ohio State Mental Hospital.

Althoff station in suburban Paoli. Redmond, who had been arrested twice a half-century ago for attacking girls but apparently lived a quiet life in Nebraska, has made a statement to police implicating himself in the slaying of Jane Marie Althoff, said Delaware County District Attorney William Ryan. He was arraigned on nine charges, including criminal homicide, murder, involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, simple assault, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, indecent assault and endangering the welfare of children. He was sent to the county prison with- AP photo William Henry Redmond sits in wheelchair while en route to "SI 1.