European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 9, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday october 8, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 11 letters to the editor expressive ban Manship in the interest of fair play regarding american express which Many unfairly Call american excuse we Are interview ing or. Bubonic c. Plague. Or. Plague is the noted International banker who investigates banking complaints concerning Banks on the . Military installations. Q or. Plague is it True that american express provides Complete banking serv ice on All . Military installations in Europe a of yes second to none. Q is american express the Only Bank european edition col. Billy e. Spangler Usa. Editor in chief it. Cd. 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 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 stripes 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 11 10 34, d-6100 Darmstadt 11, Germany. Tel Griesheim c prefix 06155 811 pm Darmstadt Airstrip prefix 2376 741, telex 0419-332. New York office room 948, 201 Varick st., new York 10014, Tel area code 212 620-3333. Second class postage paid at new York n. Y. News bureaus Kaiserslautern Germany Floyd Harrington building 2897, Pulaski Barracks Vogel Weh military 6050 or Kaiserslautern Civ 0631 52104 Nuernberg Germany Dan Synovec building 21, William o. Darby Cavern Nuernberg military 7256 or Nuernberg Civ 772019 Stuttgart Germany de Hill bldg. 4330, Mcgee Barracks Stuttgart military 7001 or Stuttgart Civ 541513 ., Gary Harris Raf Mildenhall co  Sports office Apo 09127, Mildenhall 712511 ext. 2231 or civilian Mildenhall 713832, telex 81652 Washington d.c., John Hart Oast a the Penta gon room 2e756, Washington 20301, Tel. 202 697-6695. Circulation offices Germany Berlin civilian 8331846, Mil 6187 Bremer Haven Civ 85168, Mil 8119 Frankfurt Civ 691665 or 691660 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 664372. United kingdom Greenham common Civ 44768, i i i tary 46263 ext. 209. On most american military installations in Europe a of yes. Q hmm. I see what you mean by second to none but Aren t there a lot of complaints about american express a there Are some but we try to keep them to a minimum. Q i have a complaint from an individual. Would you be kind enough to answer it a of course. Q this Man says he had a Check from a stateside Bank which you would not Honor. Would you please respond a yes i know the Case Well. He s a real troublemaker. We have our rules to follow. He had a Check for $5,000 and we told him he would have to Deposit it and wait until it was cleared before he could draw on it. Q How Long does it take for a Check to be cleared a about two or three weeks but what s two or three weeks in an entire lifetime q i see but in t a Bank Check As Good As Gold a my son nothing is As Good As Gold except Gold itself. Q or. Plague i notice you Are fidget ing. Do you have to go to the bathroom a of no. I have to catch a plane Back to the states to take care of some urgent Bank business. Q May i ask what the urgent Bank business is a certainly. I have to Cash a Check. Q thank you or. Plague. Could we please arrange another interview for some time in the future to discuss some of the other complaints a you re most Welcome. Of course we re always Happy to discuss any com plaints. Remember we Are second to none. Edward h. Roofner Schwa Ebisch Hall Germany editor s note an american express spokesman replies my staff and i found your Reader s interview dialogue with or. Bubonic c. Plague the noted International banker,1 quite amusing. Thank you for sharing it with us. However As the letter is obviously a i gag we have no further  renaming commissary is urged several weeks ago some friends of mine were mane vering their Way through the Furth commissary when they overheard scampering in the meat Section scratch ing in the fruit department and squeaking in the baby food area. You can imagine the chaos in the store. Everyone was speculating As to what the sounds actually were. Suddenly a scream was heard near the Cash Register. Rats rats there were dozens of them All Over the place. Near the Chicken Section the manager could be seen standing on a pile of diaper boxes with a microphone in hand asking All patrons for his attention. Ladies and gentlemen As you May have noticed we have company in our commissary today. I m sure you be heard the expression if you can t beat pm join pm Well that s what we re doing right Here. For years we be been hiding the rats from our customers. We were Able to get away with it for awhile however the rats Are fed up. They re demanding equal rights and equal Opportunity for All. The rats you see in the store today Are among the finest i be seen since taking Over the commissary. If you look closely at them you will see Nam tags on each one. This will give our regular patrons the Chance to become acquainted with the rats and to develop a first name relationship with them. As you pass the meat department i recommend that you have a look at old Henry he s my absolute favorite and has been with us for More than two years  As my two friends were leaving the store they chuckled As they walked by the photograph of the Patron of the month posing in front of the meat department with old Henry sitting in the Back ground. They also spotted a bulletin saying that because of the increasing rat population a representative would probably have to be added to the commissary advisory coun cil. When i heard about the incident i was overwhelmed by it All. As i was Wheeling my cart through a German supermarket the next Day i thought of a possible suggestion. Why Don t they just convert the whole commissary into a rodent shop so that at least the rats could mingle with their own Peers. Richard Sagerman Nurnberg Germany editor s note col. William c. Godwin director . Army troop sup port Agency european Field office re plies rodents have presented a menace to food storage activities in All countries throughout recorded history. Annual damage to food supplies caused by rodents is on an enormous scale e.g., the . World health organization has reported that in the . Alone rodents consume enough stored Grain each month to feed the entire population of India for one year. In the Nurnberg Furth commissary rodents have been a problem of varying magnitude for some time. The rodent population at Nurnberg Firth began increasing at an alarming rate during the Winter of 1976-1977. At that time the facilities Engineer vector control division stepped up their anti rodent Campaign to eliminate rodents from the Furth commissary by rodent proofing the facility to the Maxi mum extent possible. In addition efforts to eliminate rodents through the use of destruction baits and traps were implemented. These measures appear to have been successful in reducing the rodent Popula Tion at the Firth commissary. During the week of sept. 5-9 the Firth commissary was inspected by personnel of the commis sary operation division . Army troop support Agency. At that time no evidence of rodents droppings damage to subsistence Etc was seen. Please be assured that the presence of rodents in any facility is a matter of con Cern to us and every Effort to eliminate these pests is being  Shakespeare could pile up corpses but Nof As Well As Clint Eastwood new York not while stand ing outside Elaine s straining for a glimpse of famous celebrities whom do i see but Desdemona. Naturally i am surprised since the last i heard she has just been Mur dered by Othello in the last act. That s what everybody thinks she says. In fact that is Why she is standing out Here watching the celebrities pass in and out. She Hopes somebody celebrated will spot her and pass the word that she is still in circulation and not the late Morress of Venice at All As the gossip columns keep calling her. Originally i was strangled by Othello in a fit of jealousy but when we tested it on the audiences they roared with laughter and the whole thing had to be redone she says. Which anybody could have told her before they started. But As i Point out to her what do you expect when you hire a Klunk like Bill Shakespeare to do a script Don t get me wrong. Bill is tops when it comes to piling up the corpses in the last reel. Not in a class with Clint East Wood or Sam Peckinpah but Good. But get him into human relation ships and what do you get stink Bombo at the . Desdemona says right on Man. I could t believe jealousy she says. I said to him jealousy Bill i can t be Lieve jealousy. Since the sexual revolution nobody relates to jealousy. Jealousy went out with the Jacuzzi. Everybody is too Well adjusted nowadays to kill for jealousy. If the Moor kills me for kicks . People can relate to that. But jealousy it s sick " Bill does three or four rewrites i gather but finally the studio has to take it away from him. For one thing he s got so Many words in the script there s no room for the  they finally do the thing right to make it meaningful to today s Audi ence. As Desdemona Points out for the big Bucks you be got to give people meaningful material to which they can relate meaningfully with plenty of meaningful contemporary values. We take Othello out of the army who relates to the army anymore and we make him the biggest hair Dresser in los Angeles she says. Tell me no More i say for i can see it now. Othello has a big Circle of groupies which he keeps up at his hideaway in Venice that s Venice California desde Mona Points out. Is there any other and one Day while grooming up the coast in his custom built Cord he pulls off the Road for a  and sees you Desdemona taking target practice with a grenade launcher in the swimming Pool behind the  actually he sees me walking nude on the Beach with a Palomino. I am looking for my  Beautiful i cry getting the whole scene. That desperate nude figure symbolizing the meaninglessness of every thing. That lost handkerchief symbolizing the meaningless triviality of human aspirations. That horse symbolizing the cameraman s meaningless desire to have something interesting in the picture. Now the plot moves rapidly. Desde Mona recites it breathlessly. From the Beach she recognizes the internationally celebrated Hairdresser and makes an appointment for him to Bob the Palomi no s Tail. The three of them Romp joyously in slow motion through a Birch Forest arriving finally at Othello s pad. Desde Mona meets two female dwarfs neither of whom Speaks although one is plan Ning to assassinate a City councilman and the other is into cooking six course dinners consisting entirely of nuts. They relate beautifully to one another except for the Palomino who hates nut Wellington nut quiche nut salad nut juice nut mousse and Nul a la Mode and what s More does t fit into Othello s Cord and does t like having his Tail bobbed. The tragic Climax comes when the Palomino demands to know when some thing entertaining is going to happen and is brutally strangled in Othello s hair dryer for raising questions not wisely but too Well symbolizing the audience s paying $3.50 a head for admission. When it s released Desdemona says it will give americans meaningful new insight into the meaninglessness of meaning which i Don t doubt it will Al though it might make some people ask Why they Don t remake bulldog drum mond strikes