European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                March 1985 the stars and stripes page9 Alconbury gets boost into computer age Wing chips in to give school to buy equipment by Dave Diehl Bureau Raf England the computer age is not Only within but Well in hand for about 400 Alconbury elementary this step into the future is in the form of one of the largest computer centers in the department of defense dependents it has been made possible in part by the help of the military which pitched in to buy the biggest share of the schools 17 at the elementary the six Dodds bought computers Are complemented by another 11 paid for by the the offi cers wives club and last while at a teachers and students association Larry Foley came up with the idea of using his units Money to add to the schools computer com Mander of the 10th tac reconnaissance said Gary the schools librarian and computer was asking for about to buy one or two pieces of equipment at the i thought they needed Foley i wanted to give them enough equipment to give seed and take Bartimus is enthusiastic about the new computer lab and says it is Only the begin he said the school would eventually like to put a computer in All of the schools Bartimus said Dodds had temporarily photo by Dave Diehl student Doug Brown and teacher Gary Bartimus work in the computer stopped computer purchases at the so the Money would have had to come from outside he agreed with Foley that the school then had Only enough computer hardware to whet their the students were just in the infancy he were trying to buy enough to have one computer in every bar Timus said that he has plans to introduce the machines to kindergarten Foley said that one of the reasons he decided to spend the Money for the school was to show the school Community that the base was interested in the school and it was a tremendous investment from a Quality life Point of he it was the Best investment of Ive Ever made As a Wing com Foley said the Money came from a Gen eral operations and maintenance fund nor Mally set aside for special he said that he was Able to use appropriated funds for the project because the computers will also be used for adult evening Bartimus said 20 parents have signed up for the Foley said he is also looking at a similar proposal to buy computers for the High but he said he is going to wait to see How the elementary project works Foley said he tries to be cautious when getting involved with the schools i dont want to meddle in the Dodds he i want to help without getting in the its a Fine line to in going to be very cautious about the next the Dodds Atlantic Region educational computer Lowell Piep said the Alconbury project is unique because the Money to buy the computers came from the he said other schools have had their Dodds computer quota augmented from other than school but they were school related activities such As Pitsas or student he said no other Atlantic Region school has As Many Bartimus said the lab is used by the students about hours a Day and is available to individual classes the rest of the he said a computer club for fifth and sixth Grade students meets three times a week in the the Only class youve got to throw them out of by Dave Diehl Bureau one of the questions most frequently asked of Alconbury elementary school computer specialist Gary Bartimus is Why Are my kids always playing with computers were not were Bartimus Bartimus is a Strong advocate of using computers in he claims they can help students More than most people some people think that because were were not he Bartimus is a believer in the computer and he says he cant get enough computers or school time to satisfy his he has already set up one of the department of defense dependents schools few computer labs and plans to have at least one machine in every one of the schools including one of Bartimus biggest problems is getting his students off the machines once Treyve if youve Ever had a Carrot to wave in front of a this is he this is probably the Only class youve got to throw them out Bartimus says that the computer lab he has set up for fifth and sixth graders has effected a if not improvement in the he said that the introduction of the computers is not Only teaching students How to use but also helping teachers with their work and helping students with their Bartimus said that before the school had its 15 computer sharing the five computers they had was he two students usually share one keyboard and screen in the its a social he in that they have to work when you sit a couple of kids Down with a computer you see some real social he its not All roses in the computer some kids get bored or lose interest with the Ive seen some kids walk away from some like 11yearold Doug accept the machines As a Normal part of their daily a sixth grader at said he uses the computer lab during his twice week classes and when Hes done with his regular school right now he prefers outdoor activities to the computers at school or his own at 1 like computers but i dont have much time for he right now he plays a lot of and games such As dungeons and but Doug says he thinks he learns More from computers than from its easier to learn on a he i dont think by Reading stories you can get As much out of Bartimus he said the computers provide a Type of positive reinforcement for the kids a teacher could not necessarily give he said the computers can be used for just about any including some programs for dissecting he said he tries to convince critical parents of the usefulness of the machines by telling them that computers Are learning it Doest do anything unless they make it do he it can give them guidance and and he has an answer for the parents who Are worried their children Are Only playing the popular computer games there Only going to play for so Long before they go on to something americans jiving healthier report says Washington a the health of americans continues to improve by almost every measuring the government re ported but a few disquieting exceptions prompt health professionals to say there still is work to be the department of health and human in its annual report to the nation on the health of its said that Ameri both men and Are living Long healthier infant mortality continues to though at a slowing Pace that worries life expectancy is deaths from heart attack and strokes Are and people Are changing their living habits in ways that portend More improvement and still longer lives in the Progress is the word that Best defines and describes the health status of the american said has Secretary Margaret heckler in her introduction to the there of lags and we certainly cannot rest on our she it is Clear from the Basic health yardsticks that the United states is moving in the right the 188page titled United notes in its statistical review that a child born today can expect to live based on the 1983 data an More than a third longer than the years of a person born at the turn of the Century and a full years increase since for Newborn life expectancy is years for while Whites still can expect to Jive longer than the racial Gap is narrow the racial difference dropped from years in 1950 to years in americans who reached their 65th birthday in 1983 could expect to live another in that figure was infant mortality dropped to deaths per live a decline from in 1982 and from in deaths from heart disease declined by 26 percent Between 1970 and when statistics Are adjusted for and stroke deaths dropped by 48 percent during the same people see their doctor More often percent within the last compared with 66 percent in 1964 and the increase is coming primarily among the lowering come despite the heartening the report also contained some disquieting while cigarette smoking has declined dramatically among american men to the Point that the number of a smokers is beginning to rival the number of current smokers the same is not True for the study says percent of american men smoke compared with per cent in but percent have compared to percent in among the percentage now smoking has dropped Only from percent in 1965 to percent in and the report blames most of the problem on an increase in smoking among women from 20 to 24 years in that age the study smoking increased from percent in 1980 to percent in at the same the report the death rate from lung cancer among women is in the report lung cancer deaths among women surpassed deaths from breast cancer for one age group and matched it in another age in among both the Overall num Ber of cancer deaths has stayed fairly con Stant for 30