European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 12, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday september 12, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 11 letters to the editor ecology on an individual basis this is to All people this paper reaches and hopefully More. It s about  word ecology bores a lot of people but it has to do with Mother nature is. Man s struggle to survive. Chemical pollution atomic War the in creasing Speed of time and the rapid depletion of Energy Are All very near and serious threats. With world population busting Over the five billion Mark there does t seem to be much Light at the end of the Tunnel. Since we changed from an agricultural to an Industrial society our ecology has been on a constant downhill slope. From our fragile Ozone shield to our poisoned great lakes we can see the effects of Man. What it comes Down to is participation on an individual basis. There is no Way to take care of our Large scale problems like dirty air and filthy water if we Don t All clean up our acts. Its not hard to find All sorts of Little things we miss every Day but would help greatly. Turn out unused lights walk if it s not absolutely necessary to drive Don t litter ban aerosol cans talk about ecology to other people and Don t be ashamed to love Mother Earth. Man s growth Over the past 40 years has caused the extinction of More than 60 Spe cies of animal. Each one had filled a Spe Cial spot in the Earth s delicate balance of nature. Is it hard to imagine Man extinct ing Man there is much information on the subject for those of you who want to get into the Earth full time. May i suggest whole Earth Catalon As an excellent source of tools. Peace on Earth Pat Hahn a Germany viewing problems in the Eifel thousands of an to viewers in the Span Dahlem Pitburg Hahn a communities will soon lose television reception due to another Case of extremely poor planning or mis manager nent by the military. The 1,000 Watt non directional trans Mitter at Span Dahlem is being turned off and is to be replaced with a 100 Watt highly directional transmitter at Pitburg. This new highly directional transmitter will beam a narrow signal towards the on base housing areas of Spang Ahlem Pitburg and Hahn. Weeks of testing the new system already show that this smaller system does not even adequately cover the Barracks and on base family living quarters not to men Tion the dozens of surrounding villages in which most of us live. In the meantime we Are told repeatedly on an radio news programs and in our base newspaper that this is an upgrading of the Eifel area to system. How can taking away the major entertainment in these Semi Remote areas be called an upgrade especially since the new trans Mitter will be unmanned and it will take hours to get a repairman Here when there is reception trouble. I feel that those hardest hit will be people of lower income who Are unable to afford entertainment outside the Home. Wives already with Little to do to occupy their Day will greatly feel the loss. The Lack of to Here will create a Host of morale problems and May contribute to increased drug or alcohol abuse. Reasons Given thus far for the Down Grade just do not hold water. According to one source Luxembourg does not now re quire the frequency for its backup trans Mitter the original reason Given for the change. It appears that the paperwork snowball has just been rolling along without any Effort to Stop outdated unnecessary plans. Plus i guess the army had to do some thing with those 60 Low Power transmitters purchased from the German government. The whole thing seems to be another Fine example of How the military takes care of its  a to fan editor s note col. Lowell f. Bohn chief of staff Headquarters euro Pean communications area air Force communications service replies plans for updating television service throughout the Eifel area have envisioned the shutdown of the Span Dahlem trans Mitter once the new system was operational. Service to the Span Dahlem audience would then be provided through a transmitter at Pitburg. Since the new system was installed earlier this year some residents of the Span Dahlem area have had trouble receiving the signal from Pitburg. Studies Are now underway to insure that the new system meets their needs. The Span Dah Lem transmitter will not shut Down before those studies have been evaluated and several other factors have been consid  the meantime viewers in the Spang Dahlem area could Experiment with their television sets to improve reception from Pitburg. As television reception can be de graded by buildings Trees or any other obstruction Between a transmitter and a viewer s Antenna viewers should Orient their antennas toward the transmitter. Moving a television set to a different Loca Tion in a room May be All that is required. A rooftop Antenna or amplifier might also improve  � Spang St blues my husband and i Are stationed Here in Germany and just recently we Learned that Span Dahlem a is going to shut Down their television transmitter in the near future. When they do Many people will be without american to. What they Are doing is putting in a trans Mitter at Pitburg a. They have been test ing and Many of us Don t receive their transmitting. Even at Span Dahlem a housing their Pitburg reception is bad. No sound and a lot of Snow in the picture. Span Dahlem is about 10 Miles from bit Burg. What i Don t understand is that for five years Span Dahlem has been planning on tearing the transmitter Down because it s old and the Upkeep is expensive. Why did t they just put in a new one five years ago it would have saved them five years of repair Bills and Effort. Span Dahlem did take a Survey to see How Many people would Call in. If a lot called in they weren t going to shut Down. Unfortunately not Many people knew of the Survey. It Only lasted five or six hours in the Day and the sign was Only up every 15 minutes for 15 seconds. And the sign did t say anything about a Survey. I know for a fact that Many More people would have called in if they knew. Over Here american to is what most of us look Forward to. It helps us relax after a hard Day and keep us in touch with the states. Many of us Don t understand German so we get lost watching German  would like to know what we can do to keep Span Dahlem transmitting. Name withheld editor s note see answer to letter above thoughts on recreation facilities the recent letter about rank Bias in clubs prompted me to write. Since my husband and i Don t ordinarily go to the no or officer clubs on Post you won t hear us complaining about military clubs. But what bugs me is the information i read about some military bases particularly air Force bases where some swim Ming pools and Tennis courts or other recreation facilities Are owned by officer and no clubs. So an airman below e-5 in rank May not have a Chance to swim if there is no Pool available through special services no matter How hot the Day or How athletic he is. I am Only glad that in the army bases where i lived since my husband has been in had no rank distinction in the use of the swimming pools. For example in it. Hua Chua All three pools one indoor for year round use can be used by All military personnel and their families. So during the summer when one gets overcrowded we just go to another one. And in it. Devens mass., the heat and humidity would have been unbearable if it were not for the Cool Waters of their indoor outdoor Pool since we had no air conditioning in our quarters. I have no objections to certain privileges reserved for senior ranks like our own lounges to get away from the problems of i just recently arrived in Europe and was shown a recent edition of the stars and stripes with the Short article and Pic Ture entitled sudden  said article is in a class All by itself which is certainly True in More ways than you  car in the photograph was proceed ing northward on state line Street exactly on the Indiana Ohio Border became air borne and impaled in the school building exactly on the state line in the Only school building in the . Built exactly on a state line truly in a class All by itself. In passing it might be worthy to note the general Hawley surgeon general of the . Army during world War ii graduated from this High school. Herbert Wager Canden Ohio � idea s up to scratch in reference to the recent article entitled Lan Stuhl Hospital has Flea prob Lem the writer told about a Flea invasion at the 2nd general Hospital. I have discussed this problem with our dispensary staff and would like to make a suggestion which May help alleviate this health Hazard. The army should Issue Flea collars to All personnel and patients at that Hospital. Capt. L. Glen mire Frankfurt Germany subordinate management. But i think it s going too far that even athletic recreation facilities like swimming pools Are re served Only for those eligible for member ship in those clubs. Water recreational activities Are a great morale Factor in the sweltering heat and an indoor Pool is a great Boon from boredom during Winter and particularly late fall and Early Spring when there s not enough Snow for skiing or other Winter activities. I certainly would t want the lower ranks to be denied use of a swimming Pool especially not an indoor one. I would appreciate information from other Young enlisted persons who Are avid swimmers or Tennis players whether they Are usually satisfied with the recreation facilities in the various military stations. Mrs. Mariea a. Vaughan Munich beware of #654 in response to All Jim Smiths re quest from spec. 5 Jim Smith the address is Jim Smith society 2016 Milltown Road. Camp i 11, a. 17011. I would like to quote to your readers from our Jim Smith society newsletter. Summer 1976. Jim Smith gets ripped off by Jim Smith and Jim Smith is irked about it when a new member is admitted to the society we Send him or her a packet of materials that Cost us $1.61 to mail. In seven years of dealings with Jim Smiths we have found them to be honest and up right citizens. Thus we were somewhat ticked off when we experienced a situation in which a $7 Check from a Guy who said he was a Jim Smith from a Enid Western state bounced a High As a rubber Ball. If you even meet a Guy who says he s James Harry Smith and shows you card #654, Tell him he s a phoney. We asked him to return our materials but we have had no  c. M. Sgt. Jim Smith card #525lakenheath, England european edition col. Billy e. Spangler Usa editor in chief it. Col. J. C. Taylor Usan. Deputy editor in chief Mert Proctor managing editor Elmer d. Frank production manager Henry s. Epstein circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publican in for . Armed forces overseas. The s ars and stripes is published in conjunction with the armed forces in or mation program of the department of defense contents of the stars and stripes Are not necessarily the official View of the . Government the department of  or the . European command. 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