European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 3, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes sunday september 3, 1978 getting repairs done in quarters i have often read with interest the let ters to the editor about stairwell living. Certainly i know there Are Many problem Sand that yes we do have to make the Best of things. But there Are times when even the most optimistic lose patience. Today was my Day. This morning while brushing my Teeth i heard a very loud noise. I walked to our dining area and was met with a Small disaster. A chunk of plaster some three fee by six feet had fallen from the ceiling and smashed and scattered throughout the Din ing area and into the Kitchen and living room. After surveying the damage i called housing and within a half hour they sent someone to asses the situation. This Man agreed it was a mess said he had Neverseen anything quite like it could t imag Ine what had caused it or if it would happen again. He did say someone could have Bee Hurt if they had been in the Vicinity at the time. He sympathized for what had happened and said it would be repaired today or tomorrow. Then Why am i so angry Well i called my husband at work he came Home too some pictures and headed for housing re ferral and then Back to work. I spent the next four hours cleaning dusting vacuum Ming and getting things Back to a sem Blance of order. Later that Day my Hus band returned Home with this report from housing referral. Some representative there told him that in buildings that Are older things of this Type Are bound to Hap  All right i can understand peeling paint warped floors cracks in the Walls and even plaster falling but 58 pounds All at one time seems a Little much. When my Hus band mentioned the fact that our two year old son May have been sitting or walking under the. Ceiling when the plaster broke one of the representatives said Well if you Are going to look on the negative Side negative Side that sounds a bit insensitive to me. I hate to think what has to happen her before they consider we have a legitimate complaint. Then my husband was in formed that we should move the carpet and furniture from the dining area in read iness for repairs that we could expect the contractor to make a bit of a mess an then we could clean things up again. I think the attitude and actions of these representatives was poor to say the least. And our situation in t unique others have had european edition col. Billy e. Spangler Usa. Editor in chief it. Col. . Taylor Usan. Deputy editor in Uhtof 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 061s5 811 m 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 . News bureaus Bremerhaven Germany Dan Synovec building 103, Carl Schurz Cavern Bremerhaven military 8659 or Bremerhaven Civ 0471 88782 Kaiserslautern Germany Floyd Harrington building 2897, Pulaski Barracks Vogel Wert military 6050 or Kaiserslautern Civ 0631 52104 Nuernberg Germany John Savard building 21, William o. Darby Cavern Nuernberg military 7756 or Nuernberg Civ 712563 Stuttgart Germany de him 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 713882, telex 81652 Washington d.c., John Hart Oast a the Pentagon room 2e756, Washington 20301, Tel. 202 697-6695. Circulation offices Germany Berlin civilian 8331846, Mil 6187 Bremer Haven Civ 85168, Mil 8119 Frankfurt Civ 692050 Kaiserslautern. Civ 57617, Mil to Jelweh 6050 Munich Civ 6901503 or 6901504, Mil 6556 Nuernberg Civ 712558, Mil 7256 North German Region Rhein main Mil 7103 or 6025 Stutt Gart Civ 814596, Mil 6030. Greece Athens Civ 9923390 and telex 216892. Italy Vincenza Civ 559346. Spain Madrid Civ 2057546 or Torrejon air base Mil 7546. Turkey Istanbul Civ 664372. United kingdom Greenhorn common Civ 44768, military 46263 ext. 209. Problems with plaster too. I realize that it is a privilege to live in housing but for the Price we pay i Don think it is unrealistic to want to walk around without fear of something falling on your head. Granted 58 pounds May never fall gain but if it does i Hope no one i housing is sitting or walking under it. I would really appreciate some response to this letter. Is the problem just old housing or Are deficient or Low Quality materials or poor workmanship involved. My husband and i and others in the building Are obviously concerned about the Situa Tion. Surely something can and must Bedone before someone is possibly Hurt. Name withheld Neu Ulm Germany editor s note maj. John f. Doha Hue director engineering and housing,. Military Community Neu Ulm re plies the Deh organization in Neu Ulm has a genuine interest toward the customer i serves. We empathize and attempt to identify with their problems share with their feelings and accept their emotional values at face value. When building maintenance problems arise we seek to find a straight Forward solution and Complete the repairs. Your government housing in Neu Ulm was constructed in the Early 1950 s an continued maintenance has kept them in a Good state of repair. Unfortunately we Donot have All the answers on Why things happen As in your Case speedy repairs were completed with our workers cleaning up after themselves. The cause is under in letters to the editor feminist chides sister feminist is Complete other corrective measures will be accomplished if required. We Welcome constructive advice which will improve the Comfort functionality and safety of our housing. In closing let me say that the sole purpose of the Deh organization is to serve our customers in a harmonious manner and satisfy the operational requirement in the Neu Ulm Mili tary  with Federal women s week just past i seems a shame that one woman inadvertently casts such aspersions upon her sister feminists. I am referring to the recent artiries an the writer s so called Battle against sex discrimination. It sounds As if she Parade around with a Chip on her shoulder and dares people to Knock it off. Cola Cut protested i believe this is supposed to be the year of the Soldier or so i be been told. How Ever All i be heard so far is a lot of cheap talk and very Little action now to add insult to injury we working dependent wives Are to be deprived of the Small amount of tax free Money in our monthly paychecks. Yes i m talking about the so called re evaluation of cola for civil service personnel earning less than $30,000 per year and Friend that is 95 percent of the dependent wives in Usa eur we can now look Forward to a reduction in the additional $20each month we have been receiving while the is 11s, 12s, and 14s can probably Loo Forward to an increase in their cola amounts. This is really something taking it away from the people who need it  you think we wives work because we love it we have to to live Over Here i Hada Job in los Angeles that paid $100 More per month and my husband and i had much higher Standard of living there in one of the most expensive areas in the . So in this the year of the Soldier All ican say is Bah the Soldier and his family gets it again right in the neck name withheld Karlsruhe Germany summer hire and minimum pay i am a 17-year-old summer hire employee working in the first five week session of the Mannheim Community youth summer hire  purpose of this letter is to express concern for the next group of summer hire employees who will begin work later. We As dependents Are and ought to Bevery thankful to the government for pro Viding us with this Opportunity to work gain experience and to be Gaid for our Endeavor. For Many of us this is our Initia employment and some of us gain a surge of Pride in working for the government of the United states of America. My question is Why is it that we Are working for this government and Are being paid less than fed eral minimum wage at 8 . On the first Day of our working session my fellow employees and i reported to the local elementary school to receive our appointments and instructions and a Pep talk from the Deputy Community com Mander col. Oliver. At the end of his speech the colonel inquired if there were any questions from the assembled employees. I took that Opportunity to pose to him my question. Why is it that we Are working for the government and Are being paid less than Federal mini mum wage after his two minute answer it was apparent that he did t know either. It is understandable Why nearly All of the working dependents work through the summer hire program since it is essentially the Only Way in which the american de Pendents can earn Money during their summer  few Are fortunate enough to work for the Exchange service and a few who can speak German can work at the local Mcdonald s or Burger King. But the majority of us have to rely on the summer hire pro All letters to the editor must contain full printed name and address of the writer and must be signed. Gram for summer employment and in  could almost say that the govern ment has a monopoly on the american work Force in  am certain that in the stars and Stipes staff there is someone who could explain to me that the military is not part of the .government. The last time i saw the brass medal that says "." on the Collar of my father s uniform it represented the Mili tary s being part of the government of the United states of America. It is to this per son that i pose my queston Why Are we As summer hire employees working for the . Government and being paid at least 40 cents less than Federal minimum wage Mark f. Johnson Mannheim Germany editor s note Frank p. Cipolla assistant Deputy chief of staff civilian personnel he Usa eur replies the summer hire program in usar eur was approved several years ago Asan Extension to the dependent employment program. Its main purpose is to offer work experience to the Many dependent youth who otherwise would have no meaningful work opportunities during the school recess period. This differs from summer hire pro Grams in conus which Are designed Pri Marily for the economically disadvantaged. Department of defense on recommendation of the military departments Over seas administratively establishes the hourly pay rate for summer youth employees by geographical area. Consideration i Given to the local environment and num Ber of jobs available. The wages for overseas summer employees have been exempted from mini mum wage requirements but Are adjusted annually to provide reasonable rates for what a wonderful impression she must have made on her new employer when one of the very first things she said was that if he had t hired her she would have filed sex discrimination suit. Obviously the Man feeling properly belittled and threat ened will think twice the next time the Prospect of hiring women comes up. As for the writer s constant Pursuit of equal Opportunity i can see absolutely no reason for her attempting to get a urinal installed in the ladies latrine. I consider myself an open minded feminist and yet can t visualize any of my women co work ers using a urinal. This is anatomically quite difficult. Aside from the Basic Cost of the urinal and plumbing there would be the added expense of an Engineer installing the de vice. What a tremendous waste of fun Sand work hours and to prove what Point eccentric crusades like this by vome such As the writer Are a slap in the face to Day s women who give so much of their Energy to the valid advancement of equal rights. There is a thin line Between Asser Tion and aggression and in this Case that Boundary has been  writer Many continue winning her personal Battles through sheer Bull Force and unrelenting pestering but her actions in general greatly reduce the effectiveness of others by giving some men an other target at which to Point and  the women s movement needs is not self admitted hell raisers and antagonists but rather tactful level headed peo ple who realize that men have egos too. Equality of the sexes is a serious Contro Versy but willing cooperation and Compro Mise will have More Long reaching effect than big Mouth aggressions. Virginia l. William Mannheim Germany movie reruns i am writing about the Many reruns of movies in the Heaters Here in  realize that the schedule of movies is not made Here in Bamberg but probably somewhere in the states. However reruns Are extremely disturbing to the average movie goer. As an example i will list the reruns for july 23-aug. 5 Burnt offerings log an s run which was t shown too Long ago grand theft Auto the Silver Streak the gnome Mobile and hard  that was almost half the selections of movies at the Mohawk for that period. I Don t know what can be done about this. I Don t want apologies or excuses just a Little change. Spec. 4 Thomas s. Gun Bamberg Germany editor s note Joseph d. Moholy director motion picture service div cafes Europe replies an abundance of movie reruns can be annoying. However cafes does procure virtually All the most popular films produced 112 out of 120 films of 1977 to meet the requirement to provide five film changes in military Heaters weekly 260 news films a year would be needed. There Are simply not that Man acceptable films produced by the major film studios each year to meet this de Mand. In fact through july Only 80 new film shave been released. That is less than three new releases a week thus the need for reissues. As an attempt to improve the station cafes has recently leased several older hit movies. These include the guns of Avarone the Bridge Over the River kwai the mouse that roared the wild ones and doctor strange love pm. Wow a a sub a a unskilled work requiring no special skills hopefully this will help to make your a Kaviuk Makuta --1_. R or experience. Viewing More pleasurable in the