Efficiency Awards Ceremony Doesn’t Live Up to Name

--President Reagan handed out awards for improving government efficiency, and said next year he will give one to somebody who can make the ceremony more efficient. As Constance Horner, director of the Office of Personnel Management, read the names of 32 winners of the award for senior civil servants, Reagan handed them a framed certificate. But when she read the name of Stanley M. Silverman, director of the office of the comptroller at the U.S. Information Agency, it turned out the only person remaining to receive an award was somebody else. Then it turned out that Silverman had already received his certificate, but it had another winner’s name on it. Photographers at the ceremony noticed that several certificates were given to the wrong people. “Next year, I’ll be giving one to someone who straightens (this) out,” Reagan said.

--The Japanese government paid out annual year-end bonuses to public servants, and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone came in second. Nakasone got 4.39 million yen ($21,950), but he was behind the top bonus recipient, Koichi Yaguchi, chief justice of the Supreme Court, who was paid 4.42 million yen ($22,100). The bonuses are customary in Japan and are salary supplements, rather than merit-based awards.

--A court sentenced the Duke of Cadiz, first cousin of Spain’s King Juan Carlos, to six months in jail and revoked his driver’s license after a car crash that fatally injured his son, a court spokesman said. Alfonso de Borbon y Dampierre, his two sons and their governess were seriously injured when their car collided with a truck on Feb. 5, 1984, near the northern Spanish city of Pamplona. Francisco, 11, died of head injuries two days later. The court said the duke ignored traffic signs as he drove his automobile on a highway access road and failed to yield the right of way to a truck on the highway.

--New York Mayor Edward I. Koch turned 61 Thursday to the tune of a birthday ditty written by a Broadway composer and sprung on the mayor at a talk show interview turned surprise party. “I’m chronologically 61. But I’m not 61. I’m 31 in my head,” the mayor declared at the WOR studio in mid-town Manhattan. Koch went to the studio for an interview about his latest book, “Politics.” His hosts surprised him with cake, champagne and a chorus of “Happy Birthday.” Then composer Charles Strouse sang a ditty he wrote for the occasion: “Happy Birthday Edward Koch, I’ve always liked you very much. So I’m giving you this song, Instead of a Tiffany watch.”