January 1, 1991

Oakman Boulevard meanders across Detroit's tumbledown northwest side like a dry riverbed, past boarded-up storefronts and empty lots. But east of Linwood Avenue, the bleak roadscape suddenly comes to life: lights burn inside a row of deserted factories, and the street is filled with cars and delivery trucks. Here, amid classrooms and offices carved from the heart of an abandoned industrial neighborhood, the Rev. William Cunningham, a tough-talking Roman Catholic priest, has created one of the nation's most eclectic and ambitious urban enterprises. It is a vast, nonprofit civic organization that is part charity, part business and part job training program.

People who have worked for the Navy's nuclear reactor program, which has been quietly based here for four decades, have accused the program of serious safety lapses and say they were disciplined for raising safety concerns. Their allegations, denied by program officials, have contributed to pressure here and in Washington for wider scrutiny of the training and research centers, which make up the only branch of the Government's nuclear defense program with its secrecy mostly intact.

Because of holiday production requirements, The Times is printed today in two sections. Science Times begins on page 35, Business Day on page 41.

Israeli military experts are virtually unanimous that in the event of war, Iraq would launch at least 20 missiles against Israel armed with conventional or chemical warheads, and that some of those missiles would be certain to penetrate Israeli defenses. The military experts and Government officials say they think that Israel would survive an Iraqi missile assault without catastrophic damage or loss of life. But the experts are divided on what Israel's response to an Iraqi attack should be.

The old year is barely out the door, and already the record-keepers are saying it was one for the books: 1990 was New York City's warmest year. On a day when see-your-breath cold whistled into the metropolitan region and temperatures plunged from the sweaters-off 60's to the zipped-up 20's, that was news to the rainbow-colored parkas and shivering bare-legged joggers in Central Park, where the Weather Service has been taking the city's temperature since 1869.

At a time when the American automobile industry is laying off thousands of workers, shuttering factories and bracing for a recession, Kunihiko Minami, the chief of operations at the Toyota Motor Corporation's sprawling Takaoka plant here, says he has his own problems: he cannot find enough auto workers. Even as the General Motors Corpo ration plans to close up to nine plants in the United States that employ tens of thousands of workers, Toyota is expanding at a breakneck pace and looking desperately for people to hire.

The Market's Bruising Year Shareholders had their toughest year since 1981. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 1990 at 2,633.66, down 4.3 percent for the year. Page 41. A No-Frills Swearing-In Forgoing festivities, Mario M. Cuomo was sworn in to a third term as New York's Governor to confront his biggest fiscal challenge. Page 31. Intense Fighting in Somalia Fighting between Government and rebel forces intensified in the Somali capital amid reports the President had gone to the airport. Page 3. Cycles of Abstinence Social scientists say a new American temperance movement seems to be under way. Science Times, page 35. Victory for Kasparov With a draw in the final game, Gary Kasparov won an outright victory in the World Chess Championship and the larger share of the purse. Page 32.

Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d is likely to visit Saudi Arabia and other nations in the Persian Gulf before the Jan. 15 deadline for an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait to make sure that military plans are complete and that the international alliance is firmly in place, officials said today. Such a visit would put Mr. Baker in the Middle East as the deadline approaches, leaving open the possibility that he could make a quick trip to Baghdad. While they did not hold out much hope for such a visit, the officials who discussed Mr. Baker's plans said they could not rule out the possibility that President Saddam Hussein might invite Mr. Baker to visit Baghdad if he traveled to the Middle East in early January.

AFTER three decades of efforts to discover how a pregnant woman's environment can affect the health of her fetus, researchers are turning their attention to fathers. The new research, much of it in early stages, suggests that certain substances can cause genetic mutations or other alterations in sperm that lead to permanent defects in children.

A man complaining of a bad liver poked his head through the small kiosk window of a new private shop and begged for a cure. The entrepreneur, alas, was flush out of Immortal. Immortal is one of the many herbs that have been rediscovered here and are being sought by more and more Muscovites these days now that the nation's drug industry is near a breakdown and prescription medicines are becoming as exotic as eye of newt.

INTERNATIONAL 2-7 Iraq would launch missiles at Israel in a war, some of which would be certain to penetrate Israeli defenses, Israel's military experts say. But the experts are divided on what the response should be. Page 1 Israeli air raid kills 12 guerrillas 4 Secretary of State Baker may visit Saudi Arabia and other gulf nations before the deadline for Iraq to leave Kuwait in an effort to make military plans final and be sure the international alliance is in place. 1 Direct talks with Iraq are expected as a result of the European Community special session in Luxembourg called to avert a war in the gulf, European officials said. 6 Italian network bars Hussein interview 7 Vice President Quayle told the troops in Saudi Arabia that if U.S. military force was used against Iraq, it would be "quick, massive and decisive." "You will do your job and then go home to your loved ones," he said. 6 Iraqis' script for pullout: "grass roots" appeals? 6 Toyota cannot find enough workers at a time when U.S auto companies are laying off thousands. Toyota is one ofmany Japanese companies that are expanding, even during a recession in the U.S. and a slowdown at home. 1 Gary Kasparov won the chess match by drawing the 24th and final game of the world championship in Lyons, France. The final score of the match, which began in Manhattan, was Kasparov 12 1/2, Anatoly Karpov 11 1/2. 32 Czechoslovakia takes a daring leap today toward private enterprise, aimed at making it the second East European nation after Poland to scrap its rickety Communist economic structure. 3 Moscow Journal: Medicine is sick so Russians turn to herbs 2 Gorbachev admits errors but foresees progress 4 Chinese arms still flow into Thailand, and to the opposition factions fighting the Cambodian Government, including the Khmer Rouge, senior Western diplomats say. 3 The position of Somalia's President, an ally of the U.S., appeared increasingly vulnerable as fighting between the Government and opposition forces intensified in the capital. 3 As violent year ends, India pleads for peace 5 NATIONAL 8-10 Former nuclear submarine workers at a Navy center in New York have accused the program, which runs in strict secrecy, of serious safety lapses and say they were disciplined for raising the safety concerns. 1 A tough-talking priest in Detroit has has created one of the nation's most eclectic and ambitious urban enterprises. The group, Focus: Hope, feeds the hungry, trains the uneducated and is now branching out into high technology. 1 Michael Dukakis is leaving office as Governor of Massachusetts after three years on a merciless wheel of fortune. In his own way, he is trying to shape his legacy and smooth the edges on his past. 8 Random drug testing in Boston will begin for transit workers after investigators faulted an intoxicated operator as the likely cause of a trolley crash that injured 33 passengers. 9 Church cannot be regulated as landmark, court rules 9 Suspect re-arrested in slaying of Evers 9 Washington Talk: George Bush begins the new year on Tuesday with his Presidency poised between success and failure over the crisis in the Persian Gulf. The country begins it with bated breath. 10 For New Year, new laws and taxes 10 Gains by Democrats were smaller this year in state legislatures than in past years when there was no Presidential election, an organization of state legislatures reported. 10 Thousands forced to flee flooding 10 Girl who saved five from fire dies 8 The toughest year on Wall Street for investors since 1981 closed yesterday. Final stock market figures showed that hotel, leisure and machine tool stocks were the worst performers while health-care, soft-drink and tobacco stocks were the best. 41 REGIONAL 31-33 New York City had its warmest year in 1990. Despite yesterday's chill, the National Weather Service said the average temperature in Central Park was 57.2 degrees, up from the old record of 57 set in 1953. 1 Governor Cuomo was sworn in to a third term in a brief ceremony without festivities or speeches. He began a year in which he will confront the state fiscal crisis and decide whether to seek the Presidency. 31 Mayor David Dinkins said "hell" in an interview about his excruciatingly formal manner of speech. The casual word did not signal a reversal of policy, but aides say that after a hard first year, he is starting to relax. 31 Miscommunication delayed rescuers and medical teams in the crucial early stages of the subway fire that killed two riders and left 188 injured, city officials charged, blaming the Transit Authority. 31 Negotiations between New York City and bus companies that transport young children with disabilities and AIDS broke off hours before the companies' contracts expired. 31 A prisoner suffering from AIDS became the first person in New York State with the disease to be granted clemency. Miguel Lopez, of the Bronx, was serving a three-to-six-year term for selling drugs. 32 The waters of New York Harbor were tested for pollution damage after the leak of 654,000 gallons of treated sewage on Sunday morning from a city-owned barge. 33 Scaffold drops at S.I. boiler; nine workers hurt 33 Second suspect is charged in "Godfather III" shootout 33 Neediest Cases 59 BUSINESS DIGEST 41 Science Times Sperm's vulnerability to toxins is the focus of new research as scientists turn their attention from the mother's womb to the father's sperm in the study of birth defects. 1 Ten critical technologies for the coming decade 35 Temperance: an old cycle repeats itself 35 Inside a 2,310-year-old locker room 35 Arts/Entertainment Completing Gaudi's vision 11 Nadine Gordimer's political concerns 11 Rushdie may go to Egypt 12 Law protects sculpture buyers 17 Norman Rockwell exhibition 22 Dance: City Ballet's "Nutcracker" 20 New Bolshoi Prince 21 Music: Critic's Notebook 11 Rap returnes to Oakland 21 Word and Image:Philip Roth and his father 12 Fashion Page 34 Showing off your shoulders By Design Sports Baseball: Yankees get Sanderson 55 Basketball: N.B.A. notebook 58 New start for Frieder at Arizona State 59 Football: Giants forget a close call 55 Jets celebrate a happy ending 57 Rose Bowl just another game 58 Texas drowns out Miami 58 Hockey: Rangers await knock from a Soviet 57 Sports People 58 Obituaries 30 George Allen, former N.F.L. coach Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials 28 365 clean pages Billions for the homeless Topics: Whistle-blowers Letters 28 Russell Baker: A very serious omission 29 Maxine Kumin: Credo 29 Sharon Olds: Morning 29 Campbell McGrath: Wheel of fire, the Mojave 29 Seamus Heaney: A chorus 29

"If we do finally fall behind Germany or Japan because we just don't have the skilled work force to keep up, it may have less to do with our productivity than our racism." -- The Rev. William Cunningham, a priest in Detroit's inner city. [ 8:5. ]