European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 19, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday september 19, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 11 letters of the editor phone Story told Only one Side Russell Baker your article germans say yanks ignore phone Bills deserves comment. I feel that it was totally one sided portray ing an innocent Bunde Spost suffering unjustly at the hands of the evil americans. I believe that anyone who owes a Legal Bill should pay it and i appreciate Ger Many As much As anyone. To the Point that i have a graduate degree in German literature. However i Don t like the Bun despot. It s Clear to me Why the temptation to leave an unpaid Bill is so great. The reason is that . Forces personnel have to have a phone particularly cos and offi cers. Now what happens when the service member comes to Europe dependent travel deferred and must move on the Economy while waiting As much As 80 weeks for government quarters there Are Well Over a Hundred cases like this in my Post s housing office right now. For instance consider the Many serv ice members who must pay 200 Marks for a phone in Economy quarters then another 200 Marks when they move to government quarters and then they receive a not so unusual pcs within Europe and so must pay still another 200 Marks. Of course none of this is tax deductible. From the service member s Point of View the Bunde Spost rates Are obviously a giant rip off. And As i see it one rip off begets another. When someone pays for phone service the number should be available through the information operator. The Bunde Spost does it for their German customers but just try to get them to give the same information on their american customers. One operator after much delay told me of he s an american we Don t bother about  and the Bunde Spost s Contention that they notify americans three times of an overdue Bill is in my very real experience blatantly false. Perhaps they Are supposed to but it just does t happen in reality. For instance some months ago i received notice that my Bill was overdue. I immediately called the number Given Long distance of course and was told your Check must have been delayed or gotten lost. Don t worry i will make a not of your Case. When your next Bill comes just pay both amounts  so what happens you guessed it the phone was Cut off before i even receive the next Bill. They did however reconnect it for me for 15 Marks their monthly and per Call rates Are in my opinion another institutional rip off. I have never paid As much As $14 a month inthe states for a phone and then been expected to Shell out 10 cents for every Call. But that s what they demand. Those . Companies by the Way were also paying dividends out of their profits another frustrating thing is the Bill itself. The average i has to decipher the amount due from Over 20 separate data entries. Surely they could print All or part of the Bill in English. I think they just Don t care about their american customers. Long distance Calls could be listed individually like the . Companies regularly do As a customer service. Instead you had just better pay whatever Lump amount the reminder All letters to the editor must contain full name and address of the writer and must be signed. Unsigned letters will not be considered for  of the Large volume of mail this column receives daily letters that Are Brief and to the Point have a much better Hance of being published. Bunde Spost demands. I have received unreasonably High Bill which bore absolutely no resemblance to the amount of calling made. Queries on my part brought no satisfactory response but the following month s Bill was definitely much less with about the same amount of Telephone use. It apparently pays to  would like to see a full investigation of the Bunde Spost s Billing practices. Changes in the Basic attitudes and practices of the Bunde Spost would go a Long ways toward solving the unpaid Bill prob Lem for both the germans and americans. Craig w. Nickisch Giessen Germany other half of Story i found your recent article on the Bun despot s dilemma concerning overdue Bills very interesting. However i feel there is another half of the Story to be told. . Service members Are discriminate against to a disgraceful degree in the form of exorbitant connection charges. Most service members move at least once during a Normal three year tour in Germany. That Means paying for at least two new connections. And Why does t the . Command and Community system act As an intermediary in dealings with the Bunde Spost Why when the . Has been Here for 33years now has t something been done i propose that each Community have a Tele phone office to function As an intermediary. This office could provide information help solve problems and advise the ser Vic members. It could even be give enough authority to assist in the collection of overdue Bills As a reciprocal service to the Bunde Spost. I know i be Over simplified the problem but something has to be done. The bundles Post needs to be Able to collect on its Bills and the Soldier needs More service fro both the Bunde Spost and the . Com Mand. Why should this be just another one of those Petty irritants that can make service life in Europe so distasteful maj. . Lovgren Idar Oberstein Germany Send Bill to . Why can t the Bunde Spost or German government Send the overdue Bill to the states if the person has rotated Back we get monthly Bills from the states that must be paid or else we hear about it from our commander or  can t the same process be re versed a monthly Bill could be sent to the person s new unit util the debt is paid off. This would prevent people from Takin the Bunde Spost for granted by leaving unpaid Bills behind. We re All living in Ger Many and should therefore abide by the German Laws. Name withheld Heilbronn Germany editor s note in response to the above three letters col. King j. Cof Manof the Usa eur Community support division replies these concerns Are presently being discussed with the Bunde Spost not Only to assist in preventing our personnel from ignoring their Legal obligations but also Inan Effort to ease the financial Burden if possible on those who by virtue of their military Mission Are required to have or change  new York not it is astonishing what politicians can find to quarrel about. The Panama canal for heaven s Sake with civilization wearing out All Over the country with dogs amok in the streets of new York with body snatchers menacing the Elvis Presley mausoleum the bes Washington can find to worry about is the Panama  Panama canal is not a problem. A problem is something like the Bronx or Detroit and nobody Ever worries about the Bronx. Nobody Ever even thinks about the Bronx. Here is a place bigger than most cities and it is just going to pieces and burning Down and nobody cares. If you want to see Washington statesmen go Glassy eyed with boredom just mention the Bronx to them. I  Here not to leave readers Glassy eyed but because it May be the key to settling this pointless argument about the Panama canal. Consider the Panama canal controversy would not exist if the Panama canal were not located in Panama. The location was chose by Theodore Roosevelt who walked softly and carried a big stick and is now defended by men who walk loudly and want us allot carry a big Albatross to wit the canal. Since the thing is located in Panama it encourages them to argue about who own what. People like Ronald Reagan and Stro Thurmond say the canal belongs to us and Panama says it belongs to Panama. The Way to end this is to quit striking poses and split the difference fair and  agree to Clear out leaving Panama to Panama but we take the Panama canal with us when we go. Panama gets its coun try Back we get our canal. We simply bring the Panama canal Back Home where Driver License photos waived for two sects Terre haute ind. A two religious sects that object to posing for photo graphs cannot be required to have their pictures on Drivers licenses a judge has ruled. Judge Charles k. Mccrory of Vigo county Superior court ordered the state Bureau of motor vehicles id exempt anyone certified by a minister or official of the pentecostal House of prayer and the Beachy Amish. He said the groups leave no question As to their sincere religious objection to be photographed and to possessing photos of themselves and  the ruling affects about 400 Beach Amish in Northern Indiana and 30 to 35 members of the Small fundamentalist pentecostal sect in Terre haute. Ralph Vannatta commissioner of the motor vehicles Bureau said the state Wil Appeal the ruling. The state began issuing Drivers licenses with photographs Las february. 700-year-old male body found in China paper says Hong Kong a China has uncovered a 700-year-old male body so Well pre served that most of its joints Are still movable and textures of its hair and skincare in Good shape the newspaper to Kung Pao  said the body identified As that of a scholar in the Han dynasty was found in a Tomb located in Ching Tan county South of the Yangtze River. The Man apparently died when he was about 40. Rome has alien problem Rome a police have held 70 for Eigners in the last three Days in a crack Down on illegal alien employment in Rome agents said. The aliens most of them from North african countries were rounded Upin raids on restaurants and coffees Ops where they were employed As cheap labor officials said. It belongs. Someone will say this is frivolous that itis silly having the Panama canal located in the United states. Is it indeed i did not hear these people sneering when London Bridge was moved out of England and plunked Down in Arizona where it stands to this Day. Is it any sillier having the Panama canal in the Kansas wheat lands than having London Bridge in the southwestern desert the Kansas wheat lands of course Are not the Ideal place to relocate the canal. Standing out there in the american heartland it would offer a constant temptation to american politicians. Every time they flew Over the great american heart land to equip themselves for speech Pas sages about fortifying their spiritual strength by Contact with the great Ameri can heartland they would look Down an see the Panama canal in Kansas.  they would say there is a deeply inconsequential subject which if dilated upon with sufficiently patriotic oratory May distract the electorate s attention from the breakup of civilization the dog stained streets of new York and Security at the Elvis Presley  i would Antici Pate plenty of incendiary speeches daring the panamanians to just try snatching the canal Back from Kansas backed up by he Man talk about giving the wogs a whiff of the  Kansas is the wrong place for the  right place is the Bronx. Get the Panama canal safely installed in the Bronx and nobody will Ever mention i again. Certainly not our statesmen. From time to time Short news items reporting that the canal is being burned will appearing the Depths of scattered newspapers on slow Days. Now and then Over the Brandy important men will do their Best to simulate sad Ness when someone asks if it in t a Sham How the grand old Panama canal has gone to ruin. It won t be easy. Even the Croco Diles have trouble summoning a tear forthe Bronx. The one danger Here is that the canal might be caught up some Day in a Nasty Send them Back where they came from Campaign to Export new York s losers and wind up Back in Panama thus alerting our statesmen to the importance of fight ing if necessary to keep it american. Perhaps it is Wiser to put it in Detroit. Or maybe to hang it in the smithsonian beside Lindbergh s spirit of St.  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. 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