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Show Tuesday, December 5, 1989 The Daily Herald, Provo, I'tah mgiirDeeir: NORTH OGDEN, Inadequate grounding eaused blast Thiokol Corp., renamed last sumMormer when the Chicago-base- d ton Thiokol split its operations, embarked on an exhaustive redesign of the booster motor after the explosion and supplies the redesigned motors to NASA. Joos' theory contradicts the findings of a presidential commission that concluded that a field joint in one of Challenger's twin boosters did not seal properly, allowing a plume of superhot gas to ignite the shuttle's main liquid fuel tank. The commission also found that subfreezing weather the night before the launch stiffened the used in the joint, contributing to the failure. Joos, who studied electrical engineering at the University of Utah but did not earn a degree, said the leaking joint was burning into the fuel tank and eventually would Utah (AP) -Iof a Morton Thiokol solid fuel booster rocket caused an electric discharge that set off a detonator and destroyed the space shuttle Challenger, a company engineer says. Dan Joos, who testified to a federal grand jury in Alabama about the motors last week, told the Ogden Standard-Examinin a weekend interview that he is working with a ghostwriter on a novel about the 1986 explosion that doomed the spacecraft and its seven astronauts and grounded the U.S. space program for lxk years. Joos said he began working for Thiokol in 1974 after selling his instrument business, and that he reviews flight instrument data. Joos said he also is concerned that problems with grounding still endanger space shuttle flights. nadequate grounding er B, Utah have destroyed the shuttle. However, he said, static electricity had built up and did not dissipate properly through the boosters' discharging instead exhaust, through a detonator placed on the main tank to allow ground control to destroy the craft if it went out of control and threatened populated areas. Joos would not explain why the static built and discharged at the detonator. "It's too complicated," he said. "It boils down to one thing. There was a grounding problem in both d the right- - and boosters." Joos said he suspected the detonator within a day of the Jn. 28, 1986, accident and reached his cone clusion after a analysis of flight film. "I knew it was the detonator because you can see it," he said. left-han- frame-by-fram- The investigatory commission also reviewed flight data and recordings, including computer-enhance- d images, and commission member Joseph F. Sutter said Monday he had not changed his opinion. "The evidence is pretty powerful," said Sutter, chief designer of the Boeing 747 airliner and chairman of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials involved with the shuttle program also have rejected Joos' explanation. Joos said Thiokol officials are aware of his theory, but he did not want to comment publicly about the company's reaction. Thiokol spokesman Steve Lawson said Monday he had no comment on Joos' statements. Joos said he was making his concerns public now because the grounding inadequacy continues on the redesigned motors. "There's no question there's an engineering problem," he said, adding that instruments monitoring the boosters' performance on the first three shuttle flights after the space NASA officials have said the panel is looking at allegations that Thiokol did not properly inspect and qualify the instruments. Thiokol officials have said Joos concerns The name refers to an alternative report to the conclusions drawn by NASA and the presidential commission. A videotape also is being produced to explain how the accident occurred, he said. Polish diplomat calls pope, Gorbechev meeting historic - f. - DELTA, Utah (AP) Delta will become the last of Millard County's 11 municipalities to turn over law enforcement service to the county if a contract approved by the city is adopted. The city council voted for" IB6"H cnange at a meeting Monday nignt during which the contract was reviewed and revised. Council members split evenly on the issue, and the deciding vote was cast by Mayor Ruth Hansen in favor of the contract, which must be submitted to county commissioners before it can be implemented. The council had hoped for final approval by Jan. 1. But City Attorney Richard Waddingham said that deadline might be optimistic because County Attorney Warren Peterson is tied up with a homicide trial in Provo and has not yet reviewed the contract. County Commissioner Frank Baker, however, said one of the two deputy county attorneys could help expedite the matter on the county side. law ; Under the contract, enforcement will cost the city $166,-70- 2 per year, with payments of $41,675 made quarterly, beginning was resumed Ala. Delta turning policing job to county program recorded "electrical noise ... coming from the boosters them selves." Joos said that on the third flight, the phenomenon was recorded in both rockets. However, he would not go into detail because the instruments were the subject of the grand jury probe in Birmingham, had been evaluated and discounted. Joos said winter weather conditions increase the probability of electrical trouble. "I want to see a better grounding system," he said. ' We'll be working on it pretty heavy tliis next week. I will be pushing to get an answer before the next shuttle goes up" later in the month. Joos said his novel, titled '"Under Another Cover," is based on his theory, but that he try to tell the story based on his imagining what the experience was like for the astronauts. .A ; 8 I (I 2-- 2, The recent LOGAN, Utah (AP) meeting between Pope John Paul II and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the subsequent promise of diplomatic relations was an event of major historic significance, a Polish diplomat says. Bodhen Lewandowski, a member of Polish labor leader Lech Walesa's Council of Advisors and former ambassador to the United Nations, told a Utah State University audience Monday that the meeting was another in a series of rapidly unfolding historical events taking place throughout eastern Europe. "The (Catholic) church will help the reformers to create a more favorable climate fur change, especially in the Ukraine. And as the Ukraine goes, so goes the neighborhood," Lewandottski said. There are four million Catholics in the Ukraine who until recently had been practicing their faith clandestinely, he said, and the estimated number of Catholics in the Soviet Union may be as high as 10 million. It has been almost one year since the Communist Party relinquished power peacefully in Poland, he said, adding, "What took us ten months was accomplished in 10 weeks in East Germany and only about 10 daws in Czechoslovakia." A SPECIAL GIFT. - LLADRO 'km THE COUfC TORS 4t (HOIU This piece now in stock for holiday gift giving. vi u ur Jan. We Also 1. The city's four police officers will be hired as county deputies, and the city has sold some of its police equipment to the county sheriff's department to help defray costs. Council members voiced concerns about whether the contract had provisions to ensure that the county performs up to the city's expectations. Councilman Wes Bloomfield said the contract should contain "some sort of penalty" as a guarantee. Waddingham agreed, saying, 'I'm going to recommend strongly that your remedy be specific performance. Otherwise, if they breach the contract we don't have any remedy," AP Laserphoto Fuel spill closes targets street gangs - LawSALT LAKE CITY (AP) makers will take aim at paramilitary organizations and street gang crime when the Utah Legislature convenes in January, Minority Whip Frank Pignanelli, Lake, has prefiled a bill calling for a criminal penalty for anyone who trains or is trained to use weapons to injure or kill someone else or to foment public disorder. And Rep. Allan C. Rushton, Valley, has prefiled a measure defining criminal gangs and e felony to making it a participate in any gang "knowing that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity." According to Pignanelli's bill, "any person who teaches or demonstrates to any other person the use, application or making of any firearm, explosive, incendiary device, or technique, intending to cause injury or death to any person, or intending that it will be unlawfully employed for use in a civil disorder e felony." is guilty of a The bill adds that any person who assembles with one or more persons for the purpose of training others or being instructed in the use of weapons or explosives, knowing the weapons will be unlawfully used or to further civil disorder, e also is guilty of a lt Airman pleads guilty to thefts at Hill base proached by former Airman 1st Class Brian David Roth, who is to be sentenced Dec. 12 for stealing three 6 jet engines, and asked if he wanted to sell some equipment. He said he and Roth went to a building on base, parked a truck, went inside an open door and took a clothing and variety of equipment. The gear later was sold on Dec. 15, 1988, at an military surplus store that was the FBI's front for the operation, Olson said. Olson became one of several military personnel charged in the wake of the two-yeFBI "sting" operation aimed at traffickers in stolen government property. Investigators alleged Olson stole items between November 1987 and January 1989, including combat helmets, a fragmentation jacket, a gas mask and miscellaneous military gear and clothing. The operation culminated in July when Roth and another base security policeman were charged with SALT LAKE CITY (AP) A former Hill Air Force Base security policeman on Monday pleaded guilty to one of seven counts in an F-1- indictment stemming from the FBI's undercover "Operation Airman 1st Class Robin James Olson, 21, of Missoula, Mont., had nt are not trying to prevent citizens from getting or huntinstruction for we do "But said. ing," Pignanelli want to prevent individuals from training to use and using weapons 'to attack minorities." . The bill, which passed the Judiciary Committee by unanimous vote, was drafted at the request of league in rean sponse to rumors that a white supremacist organization wants to relocate to Utah, Pignanelli said. law-abidi- self-defen- Greene said the remaining six counts would be dropped when Olson is sentenced on Feb. 14. He faces a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 and three years probation after any prison term. 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"We and off-ba- se $100. from lie love lives on. cold-weath- er pleaded innocent to the seven-couindictment and was scheduled for a two-da- y trial, but he later entered into a plea arrangement with federal prosecutors. In a hearing before U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene, Olson pleaded guilty to one count of selling miscellaneous military clothing and equipment worth more than '"""9S jet stealing and selling three engines valued at roughly $2 million each. Roth and Senior Airman Danny Joe Stroud face sentencing Dec. 12 F-1- 6 WITH J.TWHVMt: 1 ''Jjj 1 third-degre- third-degre- -1 5 ing 1,000 to 2,000 gallons of jet fuel and closing Interstate 15 for five hours. Firefighters examine a tanker truck that overturned near Woods Cross Monday, spill- - Pun-chout- ." Bill 1 . Carry-Ti- & SATURDAY ismJM9C gvnn g ONLY 634 East State American Fork J GEUJcflBUi 4 I |