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Show Thursday, December U.S. towns as soldiers go to gulf By The Associated Press The Canton, N.C., fire chief Phillip Smathers shipped out with the reserves and took along the city building inspector: Phillip Smathers. ' Big Stone Gap, Va., lost its local police sergeant, two members of its volunteer rescue squad and four voices from the Lonesome Pine Community Chorus. The chorus, more lonesome than 54. its annual Christmas concert. Across America, the deployment of troops for Operation Desert Shield in Saudi Arabia has changed daily life in unexpected ways, pushing spouses into new roles and removing key players who often wear more than one important hat in the towns where they live. It also has knocked the economic wind from communities heavily dependent on reservists or on nearby military bases that are emptying out as Iraq's occupation of Kuwait drags into its fifth month. The central Texas town of of reeling from the call-u- p 20,000 of the 38,500 soldiers from nearby Fort Hood, has become an economic disaster area. "I feel the mayors of these cities across the country who are responKil-lee- n, sible for these people affected should have been briefed on what to expect," Mayor Major Blair said. "After all, we're the ones who pay taxes to support this operation. We provide the infrastructure for these military people. Now that infrastructure is being shattered." Fourteen businesses have closed, including six car dealers, a steak-hous- e and two gas stations, one of which had been in town 25 years, Blair said. Business is down as much as 60 percent for other merchants, rental occupancy is half its usual level and 1,000 area homes are vacant. The city and local college are documenting the problems and plan to use them in a plea for assistance to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Blair said. "They can provide all these funds for acts of God disasters," he said, "and nothing has been addressed with respect to economic disasters at the hands of the government." Businesses ranging from auto dealers to pizza parlors say sales are off by 30 percent to 80 percent in St. Robert, Mo., a town of 1,700 near Fort Leonard Wood in south-centrMissouri. Thomas Moore, assistant manager of a local supermarket, said the base's 25,300 soldiers, civilians and dependents formed the area's economic backbone. "The whole town revolves around the base," he said. The same might be said of Hines-villGa., where homes sales are down as much as 30 percent and many rentals stand empty since left nearby Fort 14,000 soldiers Stewart. "I think every business in town is affected," realtor Allen Brown said. "There are a lot of people concerned." Among them is Howard "Curley" Gainous, owner of Curley's Barber busih Shop, whose ness has been devastated by the loss ot thousands of military customers. "It's been terrible. The first month it dropped to less than half. Then it dropped even more," he said. al e, $10,000-a-mont- close-cropp- ed THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, Page A9 Desert Shield won't prevent- defense cuts feel pinch ever, has canceled 13, 1990 4 WASHINGTON Opera(AP) tion Desert Shield won't protect the nation's weapons makers from lean times or save thousands of workers from layoff, military experts said. Give or take a tank here and a missile system there, defense contractors say they are sticking by their gloomy forecasts. And lawmakers still talk about legislation to help communities hardest hit by defense budget cuts. Even with a war, the outlook does not necessarily improve for arms contractors. "To the extent that this conflict creates the outlook for peace in the Middle East, it worsens the prospects for major defense contractors," said Thomas Lloyd-Butlean analyst who watches defense contractors for Montgomery Securities in San Francisco. The most immediate financial beneficiaries of the deployment of U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf are small manufacturers of uniforms, personal items, protective gear and food. The Pentagon is spending billions on shiploads of sun screen, cold drink mix, clothing, prepared meals and bottled water. But there's been no comparable surge in orders for weapons manufacturers. The predictions of lean times that preceded the Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces remain unshaken. "We're looking over the next five years at a declining defense budget, there's no doubt about that," said Pete Schmidt, an analyst with the Defense Budget Project, a r, 4 ' " i ft AP Laserphoto Kuwaiti jet Kuwaiti official flashes a "V" sign to a A4 Skyhawk fighter plane on the at a Saudi Arabian air base Wednes- runway A Ex-hostag- desert-camouflag- ed day. Several pilots escaped Kuwait with er jets in advance of the Iraqi invasion and now fly out of neighboring Saudi Arabia. fight-Kuwa-iti brief State Department es - WASHINGTON (AP) Scores of former American hostages are giving the U.S. government valuable information about conditions inside Kuwait and Iraq over the past four months, officials say. One former hostage says he made a diagram of the strategic site in Iraq where he was held as a "human shield." About three-fourtof the hostages have voluntarily submitted to debriefing sessions with officials from the State Department and the military. "Hundreds have been interviewed and hundreds more have agreed to be interviewed," Joe Reap, a State Department spokesman, said Tuesday. Another U.S. official said the government is interested in information on the Americans remaining in the two countries, and "anything else they might have seen while they were there and they might want to pass on." Miles Hoffman, 33, of Roswell, Ga., said he spent eight to 10 hours earlier this month with Air Force intelligence officers who quizzed him about his captivity in Kuwait and Iraq. Hoffman, a money manager in Kuwait, was evacuated in because he needed a bone graft on his arm, which had been hit by a bullet. He said he had been one of the "human shields" confined to two strategic sites in Iraq. "I diagrammed the actual site," . Hoffman said. The State Department said the debriefing sessions are voluntary for the returning hostages who are private citizens. They have no obligation to submit to interviews with the government. On the airplane home, the evacuees were handed a piece of paper asking if they would like to provide information to the U.S. as,- - said he was a "human shield" at a military installation about 25 miles north of Baghdad. Parker arrived in Houston on Sunday on a flight arranged by former Gov. John Connally. Parker said the installation was teeming with soldiers, rockets, helicopters and other military equipment. "I think it was a repair facility," he said in a telephone interview. But Parker, who worked for Kuwait Drilling Co., said no one has approached him to tell his story. He received a call Sunday from who Rep. Charles Wilson, helped arrange for Parker's son, Eric, 25, to return home for a temporary leave from his assignment in Saudi Arabia with the Army. Dawn Bazner of Palm Desert, Calif., said U.S. officials were keen to talk to her about the "attitude of the Iraqis" and other Americans when she left the country in September. But she said her husband, Mark, hasn't talked with anyone since he returned Sunday. About 510 Americans citizens, most of them children with dual citizenship, have opted to remain in Kuwait and Iraq, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday. Boucher said eight Americans boarded a U.S. chartered aircraft Tuesday in Iraq, leaving just three people who want to be evacuated. They had problems with their visas. Another U.S. flight is scheduled Thursday. Five American diplomats are working at the embassy in Kuwait and all will be brought home soon, but it has not been decided whether they will be aboard that flight. Since Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug. 2, the U.S. government has evacuated 2,520 American citizens and their family members on 13 chartered flights. think tank. d Washington-base- "What Desert Shield has done is affect the slope of the decline. It's not going to be as steep. It's not shrinking as fast." There have been some exceptions. The Land Systems Division which enof General Dynamics compasses plants in Michigan, gained a windfall in the sale of some 700 tanks to Saudi Arabia. Raytheon Co. of Lexington, Mass., has already sold the Saudi's $1.1 billion in antiaircraft missile systems and will likely sell more. Though there haven't been any new orders for 7 transport planes, they were in short supply during the airlift to Saudi Arabia and the Pentagon may be considering another order. The planes are made by McDonnell Douglas Corp. with engines from Pratt & WhitOhio and Connecticut ney. Pratt and the other major jet engine maker, General Electric Corp., may also benefit from new orders and maintenance contracts for plane and helicopter engines. The desert heat and sand lead to frequent engine overhauls and replacements. "There's no doubt this isn't detrimental," Schmidt said. "They're smiling. They're smiling all the way to the bank." Rey Aponte of the Army Materiel Command said that while there's been no rush of new orders for weapons, that's being considered in higher echelons of the Pentagon. But unless a war breaks out, bringing on the wholesale destruction of weapons and the need for new equipment and maybe not even then "all you've done is slightly postpone how precipitous the decline will be in the defense budget," said Ron Hertenstein, research vice president at Forecast International, a Connecticut-base- d consulting firm. BOOT SALE fSJ Men s Boots Ladies' Ropers Men's Ropers Snake Print Boots Excellent Quality Tack Items: N New Saddles Saddle Blankets Head Stalls & HI $35.00 25.00 34.50 36.50 45.00 N Ladies' Boots J 15.50 Malters Used 19.50 24.50 S Breast Straps WESTERN BOOT SHOP M.Im7? We do boot & shoe repair Grove WE'RE N VISA ACROSS FROM er startV AT 5 fA FULL X QUEEN aF-l--rwi- N For 90 Days i MATTRESS &BOX o FULL $109 $149 n 95 No Payment Jt "8 WE'LL MAKE YOUR CHRISTMAS MERRIER ! ALL MERCHANDISE ON SALE FOR CHRISTMAS! $299 $349 government. Special teams are sent to question those who agree. 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