European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 12, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday August 12, 1978 the stars and stripes Page 9 the future augurs Well for their business Elaine and Wolfgang Stelter display a saw Drill Sander and air compressor Small Sample. Of the Range of Small tools they rent to germans and Ameri can a ervice people. Their motto is Don t Bay plucky couple runs tool rental firm Story and photo by Jim Arwine staff writer Mannheim Germany is i feel like a Kansas Pioneer just like my grand Mother who travelled from Kentucky to Kansas in a covered Wagon said Elaine Stelter a math teacher at the University of Maryland in Heidelberg. She and her husband Wolfgang own and operate what they say is one of Ger Many s first Small tool rental businesses. We knew a Small tool rental firm would be something very new and different for Germany it was untested until we did it she said. The Basic philosophy of most germans is that if you can t afford to buy something you go without. No the suiters met in 1959 while she was a Fulbright music student at the University at Heidelberg and he a German business Man. They were married a year later in Pratt. Kan., her Hometown. In the Early 1970s he broke business ties with his German Oil Field associates. He had Oil Field tools and wondered How to put them to Good use. Our friends and neighbors helped us come up with the idea of renting the Small tools out he recalled. They thought twas a Good idea but really did t give it any Chance of mrs. Stelter said their Miet grate Center in Friedrichs Feld Between Heidel Berg and Mannheim started Small in 1973. Adding tools each time they received three requests for something not in Stock. I would Tell the calling customer that the tool they wanted was rented out and to Check Back later. Meanwhile we would go buy the tool she said. We really did t have a handle on the business for about two years. Our friends Are still surprised that the business is even the business offers the do it yours Elfer a wide Range of hand tools and accessories said mrs. Stelter who handles much of the administrative end of the business. She said they also sell sandpaper paint for pain guns and Wood that is Cut to order. Of special interest to our i customers Are our tools for working on Auto bodies. We have Sanders paints and things like that. We have business connections with other firms to provide lumber ready to pour Cement and other building materials we May not have Here in our the store offers a Long list of rental tool including engine lifts concert mixers Post Hole diggers generators saws floor polishers hedge trimmers air compressors plumbing tools welding gear drills Ham mers and Lawn mowers. The shelters also provide Blade sharpening Lawnmower repair and even blacksmithing services. A customer who picks up a tool on Friday May keep it for the weekend return it the following monday and pay for Only one Day of use. If a tool is used for More than seven Days the renter gets a 20 percent discount. The shelters accept Marks and dollars. We Are entertaining the idea of provid ing car repair space for soldiers who would like to work on their cars right Here said mrs. Stelter. But that s in the future they Don t even know we re Here yet. Most of our customers Are German even though we do have a few retired Mili tary who Are regular customers. We feel we have a Good service to offer the i. Our motto is Don t buy took Cost a lot of Money and Are costly to repair. The renter of our tools bypasses a lot of worry and Aai Esau has finally got a rec Center by Floyd Harrington Kalser Lauten Bureau chief Miessau Germany sets after nearly 30 years of waiting the army depot Here has a recreation Center. Although nobody knows or sure Why there has never been a recreation Center Here before col. John Long the depot commander speculated it was probably because the depot was mostly manned with polish displaced persons when it was org Nally he said the american presence at the depot steadily increased Over the years to reach its present population of about 1,900 soldiers. We really needed the recreation Center As an alternative to the depot club and local German army design work on the Center began two Yean ago when a contract was let for the renovation of a building that was once a mess Hall and Headquarters. The renovation was done by a German contractor using an army design at a Cost of about 125,000. The Center had its grand opening recently and was an immediate hit with depot sol Diers according to Karen Long the Center s director who is no relation to the depot commander. Before they had to go to Ramstein Kaiserslautern Lan Stuhl or we Brucken and use their centers she said. Now we have people coming in continuously from 10 . Because of the shift workers Here until 10 the popularity of the new Center might be due to the Friendly comfortable environment Long and her four assistants three of whom Are soldiers assigned on a 90-Day temporary basis have created. Prints and Wall hangings enliven the Wall while a profusion of potted plants help j create a Homey Small when compared to recce j action centers on larger army caverns the i Miessau Center still has plenty to offer. I there is a television viewing area car-1 Peter bandstand card and game playing i area Kitchen with microwave oven study i room two music rooms and a room for Pool players. There also is an outdoor Barbecue pit in i the Center s backyard. I in addition Dan Hayes the Center s pro-1 Gram director said a tour office is being i organized and there Are plans for karate yoga beginners guitar and Wood inlay i classes. I spec. 5 Alexander gee after making Nisi first visit to the new Center said i can to get Over what a really great Job they did Here. I ii be coming Back a Northam hails brigade move . Presence in North packs political punch. By Dan Synovec Bremer avid Bureau chleirhe1ndahlem. Germany Sis toe numbers May look Small but Ameri Ca s latest contribution to nato muscle in a Jothern Germany carries a powerful to a tical punch a spokesman for the North Ern army group says. A is a demonstration and Assurance of us. Involvement in this Region of Central wrote in Case of War. And the army s pos of form a corps of three state Side a divisions to take part in the defense this Region is even better news than the l of the american brigade said Sharmy maj. Geoffrey t. Plunkett the 3,800 soldiers assigned to the 2nd and div fwd does t look like much compared to 200.000 belgian. Dutch. Nan and British soldiers assigned to T Northern army group Northam i. The political significance of stationing aus brigade in Northern Germany is very great Plunkett said that the 2nd army div fwd. Which will move to the osterholz Scharm Beck area beginning in october will not be assigned to Northam. It will serve As a Reserve under Allied forces Central Europe with Headquarters at Brun sum. Netherlands. The mechanized infantry brigade is the Forward element of the 2nd army div stationed at fort Hood Texas. . Forces As signed to the seventh army Are part of the Central army group Cental. But the brigade eventually May become part of Northam. Plunkett said. Northam s tactical Boundary he said starts in the North at Hamburg and runs South to Kassel. A front that shares about 200 Miles with East Germany he said the command s strength in time of War would be increased to half a million men there has been a relentless improve ment in the ability of the Warsaw pact countries to strike Westward without immediate reinforcement of their Forward units Plunkett said during a briefing at Northam he Here. This is a reason Why we Are pleased about the stationing of the . Brigade in Northern Germany he said. Western allies must now reckon with reduced warning time in the event of a Warsaw pact attack. At the very worst we d know 48 hours in Advance of an attack by the Warsaw a British army spokesman said the Warsaw pact s fighting strength includes about 20 soviet divisions 10 armoured and 10 mechanized infantry and six East German divisions including some which have grown nearly to the strength of Nat divisions in the past five years the number of Warsaw pact tanks has increased approximately 40 percent from 13,650 to 19.000 in Active units with an additional 8.000 available in the three Western soviet Mili tary districts he said. Northern army group will be Able to hold for a time he said. But we could be attacked by As Many As 6,000 tanks. In some areas tank Odds could be 10-to-l against our he said that the Warsaw pact forces facing Northam Are poised Well Forward and not Only Are Strong in Armor and River crossing equipment but they also Are Well supported by chemical and nuclear weapons systems. Almost the entire Eastern soviet Union is a vast Plain bounded by the Baltic sea in the North and the Black sea to the South. To the West the Plain stretches unbroken to the Netherlands and the English Channel ports through Northam s area of de sense. It is Ideal tank the spokes Man said and we be got to be prepared for the
