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Tuesday, August 12, 1986 Page 2 Daily Nebraskan By the Associated Press Ne A U.S., Soviet negotiators meet in special talks MOSCOW - U.S. and Soviet delega tions opened a special round of arms talks Monday w ith eight hours of dis cussions in a secluded mansion near Moscow. The Kremlin's chief negotia tor, Viktor Karpov, said just before the talks began that the Soviets "would do anything" for a new summit, and he complained that the United States does not seem interested in arms control. Moscow has said it wants some assu rance of progress toward an arms con trol accord before it schedules another summit. The U.S. Embassy spokesman in Moscow, Jaroslav Vemer, later reported: "Mr. (Paul) Nitze (the chief U.S. dele gate and President Reagan's arms con trol adviser) said that he and his team had eight hours of serious exploratory talks with Soviet experts today and will continue the talks tomorrow. run two days and were getting low-key confidential meeting, treatment from the Soviets. But he stressed the issue of nuclear The Enclish-lantfuace channel of Ha- testing, which has become a center- dio Moscow's world service reported piece of Soviet arms control policy and the Sunday arrival of the U.S. delega- a focus of Kremlin pronouncements on tion for the talks, which were being held in a government guest house south of Moscow. But no mention of the meetings was made in the Communist Party daily Pravda or the evening government paper Izvestia, the only national newspapers issued on Mondays. The Kremlin, which sent no one to the airport to meet the U.S. officials, seemed to be trying to play down the significance of a meeting that comes during a flurry of presummit diplo matic activity, the possibility of holding a second summit this year between Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Reagan. "We would do anything for that (an agreement on a summit)," Karpov insis ted. "So it depends on our partners," Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to hold the meeting in the United States after their first summit in Geneva last November. But no date has been set. Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze are to meet in the United States on Sept. 19-20 in what is being Karpov, chief of the Soviet delega- billed as an effort to set an agenda for a tion to the Geneva arms talks and head summit. of the new Foreign Ministry arms con- The meeting was originally set lor trol desk, told an American TV reporter May, but the Soviets canceled it after The special talks were scheduled to he would not provide any details on the the U.S. bombing raid on Libya in April. Hinittle engineers settle on new design SPACE CENTER, Houston Engi- vestigated the accident, said that two neers have developed a new solid O-rings in the rocket engine joint failed rocket engine design that will prevent to seal, allowing superheated gases to a failure like the one that caused the burn through the wall of a propellant exDlosion aboard the space shuttle tank. Fuel and oxidizer from the tank presidential aides taking part in the Challenger, according to a NASA source, ignited, causing the explosion. White House drug tests underway WASHINGTON Drug-screening be gan in earnest at the White House on Monday, with Vice President George Bush and an undisclosed number of Victim off capitalism could M newspaper ss, 5,000, NEW YORK Joseph Mauri, the unusual, as this happens all over evicted New Yorker who was por- the richest country in the world, trwoA in aSoviet documentry as a wnereinereisanarmyoinomeiess. l A tJ v - victim of capitalism, is a newspaper union member who could make $35,000 a year if he wished, his union and newspaper said. Mauri, 57, appeared in the pro gram, "The Man from Fifth Avenue," after newspaper reports on his evic tion last year from a Manhattan apartment, which the building's ow ner wanted to make into a sewing room. Mauri is on an expense-paid tour of the Soviet Union, where he has been featured in newspapers and on national television. The Soviet news agency Tass called him a man "who first lost his job and then also became homeless." Mauri said before leaving for Moscow that he worked part-time at various jobs, including a mailroom job at The New York Times. The Times reported Monday that Mauri, while not a regular employee, is 10th on its list of 400 mailroom substitutes and could work full time if he chose to, earning $680 per week. It said he earned $3,000 in 23 shifts this year. Mauri "didn't want to work," Edward J. Burke, chief shop steward for New York Local 6 of the Interna tional Typographical Union, told the Times. Mauri, a member of the union, told the newspaper in an interview Mauri, who said he seeks to pub- Saturday that chronic hepatitis pre- licize the plight of America's home- vented him from working regularly, less, is not homeless himself. In an Several times, when questioned interview two weeks ago, he said he about his health and employment, moved to a small, $1 12-per-month he turned the discussion to his evic room in a residential hotel after his , tion or stopped to consult with a eviction. Soviet companion, then said home- At a factory in Moscow last week, lessness was "the real issue," the he told workers: "My fate is not- Times reported. testing. : "It is, and should be, confidential," Deputy Press Secretary. Larry Speakes told reporters, refusing to say how many aides volunteered or to speculate on the test results. ' "...The objective is, if anybody has a problem, they should straighten out the problem, give them help and put them back in the workplace drug-free. Confidentiality, I think, is an impor tant part of that." President Reagan took the test on Saturday, before traveling to Bethesda Naval Hospital for a urological exami nation, and Bush took the test on Mon day morning, said the vice president's spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater. Last week, the White House, to dramatize Reagan's new anti-drug abuse program, said all 78 of the president's senior staff members would be asked to give urine samples on a voluntary basis. Speakes said Monday that he had taken the test, but refused to be drawn into questions about whether any of Reagan's aides demurred. "Nobody's come to me about civil liberties," he said when asked whether anyone raised invasion-of-privacy ques tions. The idea of a voluntary system of drug testing among the 78 senior staff aides to Reagan was broached last week by members of the staff not by Reagan, White House spokesmen said at the time. A NASA engineer, speaking on con dition that he not be identified, said that a team at. the. Marshall Space, Flight Center in Alabama has settled on a new, fundamental design for the rocket engine, a major step toward returning the shuttle to flight. Challenger exploded Jan. 28, killing all seven crewmembers, after a joint in. its solid rocket booster failed. The. shuttle fleet was grounded until the rocket design flaw could be corrected. The Rogers commission, which in-i The NASA engineer said the new solid rocket design will include a third O-ring and feature a metal lip that, will force the joint to remain sealed. He said the new rocket engine would have interlocking insulation that would prevent hot gasses from touching the rubberized O-ring seals. Another change, he said, would add a bolt assembly attaching the rocket nozzle to the engine. This will provide an additional seal for the rocket nozzle joint, he said. Smith introduces bills to ease grain woes WASHINGTON Rep. Virginia Smith, R-Neb., Monday announced that she has introduced two bills mandat ing actions to ease the expected grain storage crisis and give a boost to sag ging grain prices. "The grain price slump of recent days almost certainly stems directly from the government's failure to act swiftly and decisively to solve the grain storage crisis," the 3rd District Repub lican said. She said in Nebraska alone the grain storage shortage might be as ' much as 145 million bushels prior to harvest of the 1986 bumper crop. "My bills would mandate immediate entry into the farmer owned reserve and require the Commodity Credit Corp. to begin making grain storage facility loans immediately," Mrs. Smith said. Pentagon: No evidence missing secrets in Soviet hands WASHINGTON The Pentagon told : promised in the sense of being lost to Congress on Monday it does not believe someone on the outside," Donald Hicks, any secret documents missing irom a aircraft plant have fallen into Soviet hands, but that it still can't account for the 1,400 papers. The documents from a Lockheed Aircraft Corp. plant in California repor tedly relate to the "stealth" fighter plane, a project supposedly so secret the Pentagon does not acknowledge its existence. "We have no information to suggest that the information has been corn- undersecretary of defense, told a House investigating committee. Hicks' testimony came as part of a continuing probe by the Energy and Commerce investigations subcommit tee. The investigation has focused on what Hicks and Lockheed officials have admitted was slack security at the company s lamed sKunK works in The plant is the site of Lockheed's documents involved detail "the struc- effort to develop a "stealth" fighter ture and some of the sensitive technol- known as the F-19, a plane that would ogy of the stealth fighter." use exotic materials and shapes so the Dingell's comment came as he talked plane could evade enemy radars, accor- about how investigators had discovered ding to sources speaking on condition that some of the documents were taken of anonymity. The Pentagon has never officially acknowledged the existence of the "stealth" fighter, although it does admit it is building a "stealth" bomber. outside the plant by a Lockheed em ployee who was trying to impress his girlfriend. At a subcommittee hearing three weeks ago, Lockheed officials admit ted their security procedures were sloppy, but said they had no mforma- While the Pentagon won't talk about Burbank, Calif. That is the plant that the stealth, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., tion that the papers had been turned developed the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, chairman of the panel, said some of the over to any other countries. -Nelna&kait Editor News Editor ." Assoc. News Editor Editorial Page Editor 1 Wire Editor - Copy Desk Chief :" Sports Editor - Arts & Entertain :r ment Editor Photo Chief - General Manager .Production Manager Bob Asmussen. 472-1768 Kent Endacott Jeff Korbelik Jim Rogers Gene Gentrup . Julie Jordan Hendricks Jeff Apel Charles Lieurance Paul Vondarlage Daniel Shattil Katherine Policky The Daily Nebraskan (USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board Monday through Friday in the fall and spring semesters and Tuesdays and Fridays in the summer sessions, except during vacations. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a.m. and 5 K.m. Monday through Friday. The public also as access to the Publications Board. For information, contact John Hilgert, 475-4612. Subscription Drice is $35 for one year. Postmaster: send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34. 1400 R St., Lincoln. Neb. 68588-0448. Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1SS8 DAILY NEBRASKAN LooMiag to help America's farmers Federal bankruptcy ruling provides little protection, experts say DES MOINES, Iowa A ruling requiring federal judges to give farmers who are facing bankruptcy credit for skill and experience won't have much impact on roviding pro tection from creditors, farm experts said Monday. They said the federal court rul ing, while helpful, is a minor factor compared to the historically low rate of return farmers gain on their investment and the high cost of bor rowing money. However, one expert said courts are likely to hear more of the claims, because the farm crunch is start ring to claim more and more high quality farmers. "We're losing some of the best and the brightest who farm," said Neil Harl, an Iowa State University farm economist. "It (bankruptcy law) was never designed for farmers," said Peter Brent, a spokesman for the rural advocacy group Prairiefire. "I would guess that less than 5 percent actu ally succeed." Ruling in a Minnesota case, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month held that bankruptcy judges must assign a value to a farmer's skill and experience when adding up assets and liabilities. That can be important, because if a farmer can demonstrate a repay ment plan which is workable, he can remain on the land while work ing out of financial trouble rather than being forced to liquidate assets to satisfy creditors. But Harl said major factors work against farmers seeking that type of protection. Farm operations have a tradi tionally low rate of return about 5 percent to 7 percent even in the best of times, while the cost of borrowing money remains high, Harl said. "The difficulty today is that it's extremely difficult to make a bank ruptcy work because of the low return," Harl said. "Production Credit is still at 12 percent to 14 percent. The number of approved (bank ruptcy) plans has been very, very low." Still, Harl said, judges are likely to face the question of assigning a value to skill and experience simply because of the kind of farmers going broke this year. During the first couple of years of the credit crunch, inefficient farmers were quickly eliminated. Those who survived were forced to rely on skill and imagination. Those farmers are now going under, he noted. "We have known for the past sev eral months that there are farmers in trouble who do not lack in man agement skills," Harl said. Brent said a bigger factor is the unpredictability of farming, which makes lenders reluctant to allow operators time to work out of debt. "The nature of the whole beast is that it treats farmers differently than others," Brent said. "Let's face it, if you made a plan last winter for this year's corn crop, the numbers you used to project cash flow are irrelevant now. "You've done everything you said you would, but the income is not there," Brent said. "Creditors know that." Brent said farmers accept the relatively low return they get on their investment, but pay the con sequences when they try to work out repayment plans. "I don't know very many people who bought a farm looking for a return on investment," he said.