European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 02, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Art Buchwald Friday september 2, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 11 Washington americans Haven t had a Good gut foreign Issue in several years. Finally one has come along that will Divide brother against brother family against family conservative against Liber al hardhat against student and sen. Strom Thurmond against president Jimmy Carter. The Issue of course is the Panama canal and the Battle has started already. I was in the purple onion bar the other night when the Issue erupted after the Seveno clock news. Dammit said planter if the Pana column Sand comments maniacs want the canal they re going to have to fight for  Ellstrom said let them have the bloody ditch. The Only thing it s Good for any More is  planter got red in the face. How can you say that and Call yourself an Ameri can we bought it we paid Lor it and we died for  that s How much you know about  Ellstrom said. We stole it from Colombia thes european edition col. Billy e. Spangler Usa editor in Cherf Ltd. John c. Taylor  editor in chief Mert Proctor _ managing editor Elmer d. Frank. Production manager Henry s. Epstein. Circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication for  armed forces overseas. The stars and stripes is published in conjunction with the armed forces information program of the department of defense. Contents of the stars and Stripe Are not necessarily the official View of the . Government the department of defense or the . European command. The appearance of displays in this newspaper concerning commercial publications does not constitute an endorsement by the department of de sense including the military departments. Military address the stars and stripes. Apo 09175. International mail the stars and stripes. Postrach i 10 34. D-6too Darmstadt it Germany. Tel Nesheim c prefix 06155 311 m Darmstadt Airstrip prefix 2376 741, telex 0419-332. 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Kaiserslautern Civ 57617, Mil Vogel Weh 6050 Munich Civ 6901503 or 6901504, Mil 6556 Nuernberg Civ 706666, Mil 7256 North German Region Rhein main Mil 7103 or 6025 Stuttgart Civ 814596, Mil 6030. Greece Athens Civ 9923390 and telex 216892. Italy Vicenza Civ 559346. Spain Madrid Civ 2057546 or Torrejon air base Mil 7546. Turkey. Istanbul Civ 664j72. United kingdom Greenham common Civ 44768, military 46263 ext. 209. And forced the panamanians to sign a treaty they wanted no part  you could see planter was getting mad. You did t learn that in no american school. You must have read it in some commie paper. The Panama canal was Buik with american blood. Twenty thou Sand of our boys died to join the Atlantic and Pacific  they weren t american boys said Ellstrom. They were mostly West indians hired to do the dirty work. A we put up was our know How and Money. It Ain t Worth fighting  planter rolled up his sleeves. Well i m ready to fight about it. We were Given the Panama canal in perpetuity. That Means for life or forever whichever comes  Mccarthy the bartender said let s have no fighting in Here about the canal. You want to fight about it you buy a ticket to the canal zone and slug it out  someone tried to bring up the washing ton redskins but planter would t be deterred. He turned to Ellstrom. How can you sleep at night knowing some banana Republic is occupying our canal very easily Ellstrom said. If you would read up on it you d realize nothing of value can go through it any More. Our air Craft carriers Are too big for it and most Oil tankers can t get into it. All we re doing is supporting a Bunch of americans in the zone who Are living the life of  Ellstrom did t realize it but Reilly was in the bar. What s that who s living my life in Panama the americans who work Down there Ellstrom said. Well it can t be much of a life Reilly laughed. Would anybody like to buy me Abeer giving up the Panama canal is nothing to laugh at planter said. I say if the panamanians try to take the canal from us we should drop the bomb on  Mccarthy the bartender said that would t be a bad idea. At least it would Widen it enough for american Navy ships to get  Ellstrom stuck to his guns. Pm nut about to go to War Over  planter said Well you might not be but there Are millions of americans who Are. Teddy Roosevelt must be turning Over in his grave now knowing that the presi Dent of the United states is going to give away the greatest Man made body of water in the  i did t want to get into the discussion but i could t help myself. I suggested a Compromise some time Back. And that is we fill in the canal with dirt and give it Back to the panamanians just the Way we found it. Would that satisfy both of you Ellstrom sipped his drink and said i could t care  we All turned to planter for his reaction. I might go for it but i la have to Check it out with Ronald Reagan  c  times letters to the editor Shoft our explains Charters i am writing this letter to you in the Hopes that it will be printed with a reply in your paper for the Benefit of All military personnel interested in booking flights through the Shoft our Agency. Some time ago i approached the local Shoft our representative in my Community regarding a return flight from Oakland to Frankfurt. I am enclosing the current Shoft our brochure with scheduled flights out of Oakland and return for a total of 59 flights starting in april and running through october. The Shoft our representative told me he would Check the dates desired and let me know. The following week he came Back and informed me that Shoft our did not Fly out of Oakland and that the nearest flight would be from los Angeles. I told him i would let him know in two weeks if the los Angeles flight would be satisfactory. Need less to say he never came Back and so i made other arrangements. My complaint is not so much with the representative As it is with the Agency. I would like to have Shoft our clarify Why they Are advertising flights that do not exist. If these flights Are nonexistent Why do they print brochures advertising said flights. The service was discourteous and i was mislead by false advertising. I feel that this letter should be printed with an answer by Shoft our for the Benefit of All customers past and present who May be interested in dealing with this Agency and if not answered satisfactorily the matter should be brought to the Atten Tion of the appropriate authorities for action As i am sure that i am not will not be the Only dissatisfied prospective Cus Tomer. Please delete my name and address As we Are living in a very Small Community and while i do want answers i do not wish to have the representative come Down on me. He cannot help what his Agency does. Concerned Germany editor s note Thomas j. Ahern Shoft our sales manager Europe replies Overall i think this complaint results from a total Lack of understanding of the services military charter operators at tempt to provide to the i. S. European Mil itary Community. There Are two Basic elements to our service aircraft availability and passenger participation. Shoft our provides unscheduled charter transportation As opposed to scheduled commercial service. And show tour provides this service at approximately one third the Cost of similar commercial flights. Once again in order to provide this service at the lowest fares available to the local Community and their families the two Basic elements of availability and participation Are necessary if we Are to continue to provide our service As we have done so for the better part of two decades. In the Case of the Oakland flights advertised in our 1977 brochure these flights were split  Shoft our had contracted late in 1976 with one of the largest German charter operators to split the seats on flights to and from Oakland. In Early 1977, Shoft our printed a half million brochures which included these flights in our schedule. In april we were advised that due to limited availability and passenger participation the other opera Tor could not continue this program. Consequently Shoft our could not sustain the Oakland flights on its passenger participation program. It should also be noted that our Bro Chures printed several times annually Are in essence projections of flight sched Ules for an annual period. Shoft our updates these projections weekly for 90-Day periods for our booking agents. Most often changes Are limited to departure arrival times of flights and cancellation of an entire destination program is highly unusual. However any clients who did Book an Oakland flight were offered los Angeles As an alternate destination Point of departure or a Complete refund. Most accepted the alternate destination and the additional Cost of $30 for a commercial connection los Angeles Oakland. For reference i would like to add that the total Cost for this travel Fra lax so is $229/3254 military civilian fares As opposed to$363/$412 military civilian fares for a scheduled commercial flight which must also go via los Angeles As there Are no direct commercial flights from Frank Furt to Oakland san  boxing photos i would like to Contact anyone who has photographs negatives or slides of the 1977 Usa eur boxing matches in Janu Ary the v corps Novice Frankfurt de Cember 76 meet the v corps Western regional Mainz december 76 and the v corps open championships Kirch Gons. January 77. Spec. 4 John j. Wilkinson b co., 2/87 inf. 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