Miss America Nurses Some Pretty Strong Opinions

Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, Miss America 1988, is long on beauty and equally long on opinions. Her reign as America’s beauty queen was less then 24 hours old when she told a news conference in Atlantic City, N.J., that she was for mandatory AIDS testing and called for female Catholic priests. Rafko, 24, from Monroe, Mich., said: “One thing I’m really strongly for is mandatory (AIDS) testing. It’s a disease that is unfortunate. It’s becoming an epidemic. I think we need to grab hold of the situation and start working on it . . . . I can’t judge others. I would say that the best thing is abstinence (from sex). “ She works as a nurse caring for terminally ill patients and hopes to manage her own hospice program. The 5-foot, 10-inch tall Rafko, who is a Catholic, listed Pope John Paul II, Mother Theresa and President Reagan as the three people she would most like to meet.

--It was a birthday party celebrated in the air and on the ground. Thirty-one planes flew over Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, as more than 70,000 people gathered on the ground to mark the Air Force’s 40th birthday. “It went super,” Lt. William Dillingham, a base spokesman, said of the event. “Everything was as planned . . . and they (the crowd) really enjoyed the festivities.” Planes from a bygone era, including a replica of the Wright B Flyer, as well as today’s sophisticated jet fighters took part in the fly-by. Also honored were American POWs and MIAs. Frances S. Gabreski, 68, of Long Island, N.Y., was given a biography of another World War II ace, Don Gentile of Piqua, Ohio. Gabreski shot down more enemy aircraft than any other U.S. pilot still alive.

--The British tabloids turned up the volume to full blast last week when George Galloway, a member of Parliament, admitted that he had had affairs with women during a famine conference in Greece. The headlines blared: “Sex Romp MP to Be Fired,” and “I Bonked for Britain--Gorgeous George.” But Galloway, who insists he will not resign over the incident, was quoted in the Sunday Telegraph as saying: “I don’t think you can seriously say to someone that they should leave Parliament because they had an affair with someone before they became a member of Parliament . . . . If that were to happen to every MP who had an affair with someone, the ranks of the Commons would be fairly thin.” Galloway is married and the father of a 5-year-old daughter.