state
U.S. cashes in on credit
for federal employees
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON It took three
decades to do it, but Uncle Sam
finally •has a credit card.
Within three years, there are
likely to be 350,000 or more federal
employees saying "charge it"
to.the tune of more than $4 billion a
year.
One of those employees, Vice
President George Bush, appears
with his card on the cover of
"Management," the magazine
published •by the U.S. Office of
Personnel Management - which
includes an article explaining the
use of the cards in its current
edition.
With the federal government
carrying a debt of $1.5 trillion, a
new way to borrow money would
appear to be the last thing Uncle
Sam needs. But this frenzy of
credit card use is expected to save
money up to $2OO million a year.
If the program draws the antic
ipated 350,000 to 400,000 partici
pants, the General Services
Administration, which is spear
heading the conversion, estimates
the savings at $2OO million annual
ly.
• The biggest portion $l5O mil
lion would come from eliminat
ing the 10,000 cash advance
windows now operating through
out the bureaucracy. With cash
advances eliminated, the federal
government would .save $25 mil
lion on interest by paying for the
travel later rather than sooner.
Diners Club is supplying the
goverment with computer print
outs showing what airlines and
hotels federal workers are using.
The printouts will help the govern
ment negotiate discounts, and spot
where the card is being used im
properly.
The GSA, which is spearheading
the credit card conversion, says it
will bring procedures for the
world's biggest group of travelers
into the 20th century.
At any one time, the old joke
goes, there are 20,000 bureaucrats
up in the air. The tab for all of
those airplane flights, restaurant
meals and hotel rooms is running
over $3.5 billion annually. And it
goes up every year.
The GSA had been toying with
the idea of paying for.travel with
credit cards since they first gained
popularity in the 19505. But bu-*
reaucratic inertia and legal obsta
cles always thwarted a
changeover.
All of the ideas had a common
approach thousands of credit
cards issued to the federal govern
ment and then handed out to em
ployees. Lawyers feared that
cards handled this way would open
avenues for unscrupulous employ
ees to team with crooked hotel
,operators to bilk the government.
In addition, a limited experi
ment using charge cards issued by
car rental agencies collapsed of its
nation/world
own weight. Administrative costs
skyrocketed as the g6vernment
tried to sort out all the pieces.
"The accountants just went
bonkers when you mentioned a
centralized credit card system,"
said William F. McDade Jr.,
GSA's deputy transportation di
rector.
But GSA Administrator . Gerald
Carmen, convinced that the prop
er system would spell tremendous
savings, ordered a new look at
credit cards last year.
"He said, 'Don't tell me why it
can't be done. Tell me how it can
be done,' " McDade said.
GSA officials came up with a
novel approach. Instead of issuing
cards in the name of the govern
ment, why not issue each card to
the employee, making him respon
sible for paying the bill. The em
ployee would submit an expense
voucher after the trip and get
reimbursed.
Since employees already had to
submit the vouchers to account for
cash advances, the government
would be able to rely on a proven
system to keep tabs on travel
expenses.
GSA put the proposal out for bid
last summer, and awarded the
contract to Diners Club. The
agreement, industry analysts say,
was beneficial to both sides.
For years, Diners Club has
lagged behind its major rivals.
Where American Express has 17.5
million cardholders, Diners Club
and its smaller sister Carte
Blanche, both owned by Citicorp,
have 5 million cardholders.
All the card companies are seek
ing ways to increase the amount
charged on their cards since
merchants pay a percentage of
each charge to the card companies
and these fees represent the majdr
source of revenue.
For Diners Club, the fee ranges
between 2 percent and 5 percent,
translating into revenue of be
tween $BO million and $2OO million
on $4 billion worth of government
travel.
With that much money at stake,
GSA officials said, Diners Club
readily agreed to two contract
stipulations. It waived its normal
$45 annual membership fee, some
thing it does anyway for corporate
accounts with 190,000 or more
cards, and it agreed to issue cards
without credit checks on federal
employees.
Diners began issuing the cards
on Oct. 1. So far, 17,000 federal
employees in 17 agencies have
gotten cards. That pace is slightly
ahead of GSA's projections that
30,000 cards would be issued in the
first year, generating a charge
volume of $7OO million.
There have been some com
plaints that Diners is a top-of-the
line card not accepted at many of
the less expensive restaurants
where federal employees, trying
to live within a $75-a-day travel
allowance, are likely to eat.
Reports of bus hijacking differ
Photos indicate at least 1 terrorist may have survived siege
Editor's Note: The following dispatch was submitted to
the Israeli military censor, who ordered several
changes.
By NICOLAS B. TATRO
Associated Press Writer
TEL AVIV, Israel A news photograph of a man,
apparently unhurt, who was being led away in hand,
cuffs from the scene of last week's bus hijacking has
raised questions about the circumstances of the death
of one hijacker.
The official version given by Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir and an Israeli military spokesman was
that two terrorists were killed outright when Israeli
troops stormed the bus early Friday and two others
died of wounds on their way to a hospital.
But unpublished photographs show one, and possibly
two, men who were obviously alive and uninjured being
led from the scene after the raid had freed two dozen
hostages.
One Israeli hostage, 19-year-old soldier Irit •Portu- ,
guez, was killed and seven were wounded during the 10-
hour drama that began Thursday night on the coastal
highway between Ashdod and the. Israeli-occupied
Gaza Strip.
Photographers who boarded the bus shortly after the
hostages were freed reported seeing two dead hijack
ers one in the driver's seat, a second in the rear of
the bus.
A civilian medical worker at the scene told an
Associated Press reporter a third hijacker was se
verely wounded, but he could not account for . the
fourth.
Initial army statements on Friday said two hijackers
were killed and two captured. Later that day it was
announced all four hijackers had been killed.
Alex Levac, a photographer for the daily Hadashot
newspaper, said he took a picture of a man who seemed
to be a suspect about two minutes after the bus Was
stormed. The picture, seen by an AP reporter, shows a
dark complexioned man with curly hair in handcuffs
walkirig between two plainclothes security men.
AP photographer Max Nash, who witnessed the
rescue raid, said he saw a man in custody at the scene,
his hands tied behind his back and his feet shackled.
The ,Israeli weekly magazine - Koteret Rashit said
three other Israeli photographers took pictures of a
man being forcibly led to interrogation.
"There is considerable doubt if we are talking about
the same man photographed by Hadashot," the mag
azine said.
None of the pictures .was approved by the Israeli
military censor for publication.
One of the three Israeli photrographers, Shmuel
Rahmani of the daily Maariv, said he took a full length
photo of a man with his head down walking between
Israeli atmy soldiers and a crowd in the background.
His shirt and pants were stained, but it was not possible
to say for certain if the photo was of the same man in
the Hadashot picture.
Yossi Klein, editor of Hadashot, told the AP one of his
reporters showed the picture taken by Levac to rela
tives and friends of a man identified as one of the
hijackers Majid Ahmed Abu Jama, 18, of Bani
SuMila in the Gaza Strip.
He said they positively identified the photograph as
that of Abu Jarna.
"Our reporter asked them who was shown in the
picture, not if it was Abu Jama," Klein said.
A headshot a friend of Abu Jama provided to Hada
shot appeared to be one taken a year or two earlier, but
with the same distinctive nose and curly brown hair.
The New Yoit Times quoted Abu Jama's mother
Fatima as confirming the picture of the man being led
away from the hijack scene was that of her son.
But Klein said he also showed the photo of the man
being led away to four of the 35 hostages, including the
bus 'driver, and none could identify him.
The Jerusalem Post quoted an army spokesman as
saying that photographs of people being led away from
the scene were probably pictures of Arab passengers
The Daily Collegian
Friday, April 20, 1984
AT&T seeks
long-distance
billing options
By NORMAN BLACK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON The Ameri
can Telephone & Telegraph Co.'
yesterday unveiled two new 10ng..:
distance calling options, one of:
which would allow consumers to
place an hour's worth of calls to;
any part of the United States for a;
set monthly fee.
The new plan, dubbed "Reach ,
Out America," has two compo- ,
nents.
Under the first, customers could
place an hour's worth of calls after .
11 p.m. and on weekends for a.,
monthly fee of $lO. The second:
option would require a - monthly fee
of $11.50 and would provide th'e ,
same hour's. allotment of calls
during night and weekend hours'
plus an additional 15 perceht dis-;
count for calls dialed during eve-:
ning hours from 5 p.m. toll p.m.
The plans were presented in a
filing to the Federal Communica-:
tions Commission, which must:
give its approval before AT&T can ,
offer them to customers. . •
The new optional calling plan
represents a major departure
from AT&T's long-standing prac- ,
tice of offering averaged long-dis
tance rates that include a distance
variable for the call, and thus the,
FCC's response cannot be pre-.
dicted. Besides distance, AT&T's ,
existing long-distance rates are:
based on the duration of the call,
time of day and day of week.
state news briefs
Lawyers may fight police corruption
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Concerned about the corruption taint
ing Philadelphia's police department, Mayor W. Wilson Goode
suggested yesterday that the city hire outside lawyers to help
investigators "systematically root out the bad apples."
But Goode said he opposed creation of any civilian review board
to police the police. He said that he, the managing director and
police commissioner, should be able to properly supervise the 7,800
officers.
A,2-year-old federal corruption probe has sent seven officers to
jail and led to the arrest of 13 others. More indictments are
expected.
Last week, Deputy Commissioner James Martin, the depart
ment's No. 2 official, suddenly resigned after an FBI search of his
car and office.
Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor said he didn't believe the
appointment of outside lawyers to review internal police activities
would hurt morale "because honest police officers want to get this
resolved just as quickly, if not quicker, than anyone else."
Free meal by any name is as tasty
HARRISBURG (AP) The free lunch is on its way to being legal
again in bars just as long as you don't call it by its real name.
The Independent Regulatory RevieW Board yestetday approved
a Liquor Control Board regulation that would allow places that sell
liquor to give away free food to patrons.
"You can give away any food item, just as long as you don't call it
a free lunch," Bruce Bikin, assistant, counnsel to the LCB, said
after the board's ruling.
Bikin said it probably will take another month before the
attorney general's office, the office of budget and two legislative
committees give their approval and send the regulation back to the
LCB for a final vote.
In case you can't wait for a month to get a free sandwich with
your drink, don't worry. The LCB already has voted not to enforce
the present regulation that prohibits bars from giving away what
has been known as the "free lunch."
"There's lots of places giving free food - now," Bikin said
nation news briefs
Standard Oil liable for tanker spill
CHICAGO (AP) Standard Oil Co. of Indiana and two subsidia
ries must pay damages for one of history's worst environmental
disasters the 1978 wreck of the Amoco Cadiz supertanker that
spilled 68 mjllion gallons of oil off the French coast, a federal judge
ruled yesterday.
U.S. District Judge Frank McGarr said Standard and its subsi
diaries are liable "to the full extent" for damages suffered by the
French government, other French claimants and Petroleum Insur
ance Ltd., a Bermuda-based insurer, in ,the second largest oil spill
in history.
The Chicago-based oil company and its subsidiaries were neg
ligent in the design, repair and maintenance of the supertanker,
McGarr said.
The ruling assigned responsibility for the accident but not the
amount of damages. Attorneys have estimated damage claims
could reach billions of dollars.
The March 16, 1978, spill created a slick 18 miles wide and 80
miles long, killing thousands of birds and sea creatures.
Researchers find likely AIDS cause
NEW YORK (AP) Researchers in the United States and
France have strong, new evidence, that a type of virus first
identified in AIDS patients in France last year might be the long
sought cause of the deadly disease, scientists said yesterday.
"I think it looks very good," said Dr. Donald Francis, coordina
tor of AIDS laboratories activities at the Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta.
The discovery of the cause of AIDS would not constitute a cure
but it is a pecessary first step that could vastly speed the
development of a treatment or an anti-AIDS vaccine.
French AIDS researchers have found the virus, which they call
lymphadenopathy virus or LAV, in 11 pkients, six with AIDS and
five with a pre-AIDS immune disorder.
world news briefs
Hondurans to move refugee camps
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) A day after a helicopter
carrying two U.S. senators , was fired upon, the Honduras goyern
ment said Salvadoran refugee camps near the border have become
sanctuaries for leftist rebels and that it will move them to the
interior.
Col. Abraham Garcia Turcios, coordinator of the National
Commission on Refugees, said yesterday that refugees from
Colomoncagua and San Antonio, two camps within a few miles of
the border, would be shifted after the Easter holidays.
"The Salvadoran refugees have two choices: allow themselves to
be relocated or be expelled from Honduras," he said.
On Wednesday, ground fire hit the helicopter carrying Sens. J.
Bennett Johnston, D-La., and Lawton Chiles, D-Fla., and forced it
to land as it approached the Colomoncagua camp.
Soviets nyet chemical weapons ban
MOSCOW (AP) The Soviet Union yesterday rejected the
chemical weapons ban offered by Vice President George Bush,
saying it contains "obviously unacceptable" requirements for
inspection• and verification at weapons production sites.
"Regrettably, the American draft, which was much publicized in
advance, does not contain even a hint of a change in the old
. obstructionist stand of the United States," the official news agency
Tass said.
The proposal outlined by Bush on Wednesday at the 40-nation
Geneva Disarmament Conference included verification procedures
that Tass charged were aimed at making the draft treaty unaccep
• • table to the Kremlin.
"Washington intends to hold talks on a ban on chemical weapons
while simultaneously intensively building up its huge arsenal of
chemical warfare agents and means of their delivery," Tass said.
"This is the main characteristic of the 'new' American initiative."
•
stock report
•
Holiday Creates Volume Shares
slow trading day 90,152,520
NEW YORK (AP) A late Issues Traded
upturn helped the stock mar-
1,981
•ket finish mixed in sluggish Up
pre-holiday trading yester- 693
day. --
Several retail and technolo- Unchanged
gy issues advanced. However, 475
.• mining and paper stocks pep
pered the list of stocks that Down
• declined. 813
The Dow Jones average of
• 30 industrials erased a 7-point • NYSE Index
deficit in the session's final 90.89 + 0.06
hour and gained 1.57. to • Dow Jones Industrials
1,158.08. The measure rose cp 1,158.57 + 1.57
7.95 for the week.
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The Daily Collegian Friday, April 20, I
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