European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday january 1, 1986 the stars and stripes Page to Arm Landers dear Ann Landers this is 3 letter for my grandparents who ure regular readers of your column. I know it s Long and i Hope you will edit it As you see fit but pleas. Print it. This is truly a matter of life and death. Grandpa is i years old and still driving regularly. He is a much better Driver than grandma i be known for a while that there were problems because i be heard them kid about " hat time we got turned around and were going Down the wrong Way on the interstate or the time we did t realize we had changed lanes until we noticed the car next to us was driving in the it my brother or i find a fresh Dent in their car they plead with us like children not to Tell our parents. I recently Rode into town with grandma and Gramps and with in 40 minutes grandpa ran two Stop signs and backed into a Light pole when he left the parking lot. My parents cannot insist that grandpa Stop driving because they live 1,500 Miles away. So Here is my Pica. Please grandma the time has come when you must insist that grandpa put away his Caritey for Good. I know what using your of. Car Means u you both in terms of Independence and self esteem. I know it Wilt be hard to adjust to the bus schedules or to rely on neighbors or Church friends to help with errands. But you have had Long wonderful lives and if you continue to drive you could easily snuff out the life of a child who has not had a Chance to live. You Are such kind and Loving people if anything Lite that happened i know you would spend the real of your Days suffering train guilt b it Worth the Chance those who love you beg you to make this change in your lifestyle i know you think it s too Early but is t it better to be a lithic too Early than a few Minuta late your Loving granddaughter computerized Check verification urged by Reader ear run Aileen your Teller is sure to be clipped out of hundreds of newspapers and sent to Par ends end grandparents every when. Thanks. For performing a of obit deed. Dear Ann Landers you did some of us a great favor with your suggestion thai a Carter let the phone ring several times before hanging up. Since i moved into my apartment i be been trying to convince my friends three or Foi r rings ii not enough time to allow me to answer the phone. They too a of the opinion but you re in such a Small place True if it s important they will Call Back. But a few More rings would save me from being disappointed or in a cd. And when they do Call Back. I May be taking something hot from the oven or washing dishes. The list could go on and time ago our phone company suggested at least seven rings before hanging 5 p. I be asked my friends to use that u guide and it has helped immensely. Please print my letter. Many people will be grateful. Areader in California of folks wrote to. To Birry out of the bal Hlub run up frown the a Medl to or a phone . Reminder letters to the editor Yurt when Are cafes the air Force and army commissaries and other Check Cash ing facilities in Europe going to catch up with the computer age it is ridiculous to wait for someone to look through one or two books of social Security numbers to Sec if you Are on the bad Check list. I be spoken to several Cashiers at various cafes outlets and commis Saries and they All agree that using these books lakes too much time. A simple 12-Oulton key pad with an led display Ai each cashier Check verification window would allow the san to be keyed in and within seconds the display would indicate the individual s Stam for cashing checks. This same system was in use by cafes at West Over fab mass., when i arrived there in 1979 it worked great and As far As know is stil working. Why an l this Type of system be used in Europe i know someone at makes Headquarters in Europe is going to say that the Daia lines to tic All he widespread outlets into the main computer Cost Loo much but data lines Aren t even needed. The paper listings used now arc not updated cons Jelly. Disks with data on writers of bad checks could be sent to each outlet from the main computer whenever necessary. The updated disk would then be loaded into the outlet s computer and old disks sent Back for reuse. An even better solution would be to use these new computerized Cash registers that cafes bought to heir full capabilities and approve disapprove the Check right at the Register. If cafes and the commissaries in Europe but again Only Cap be applied on can t figure aul How to streamline Check Var if scale. We on j have 21 compete in Germany cation How arc icy Over going lox Able to not. Capable of Homine our suspended Check indicated the extreme fifth Cost of unwed Telephone tines needed to support the communication network was simply out of our Finan Cial reach. Usine local computers is a mild solution. _ i to i ii Tiia i accept credit cards which must be constantly updated with the current credit balance every Lime a transaction takes place cafes the commissaries the Post office enlisted and officers dubs and even finance offices All would Benefit by using computerized Check to reification procedures. Masler be Samuel a. Snyder Lindsey As. Germany err oils note master sgt. Bruce e. Of Alsdorf. Customer relations specialist Public affairs office he cafes Eti Rupe replies there s no question we d All like to set computerized Check verification procedures at cafes outlets across Europe. The prob Lem is we Haw to temper that dream with reality. Please let me explain our current position on his Issue. The Check verification system to which you refer has been in operation stateside since 1979. It was tested on a limited basis in Europe in 1975. Plans lit expand the system had to be rejected for the it res pm you cashing privileges listing. In addition each of these Only supports two or three retail outlets directly. None of our other cafes outlets where checks Are accepted almost 2,000 have direct pc acis to computers or computer terminals. Rest assured we share your concern and we Are working on ways to mechanize the Check verification process using the computers we already hate find the new Point of sate Cash registers. Haunter this will Only provide limited Relief until some Type of network con be Cost justified. Until such time reality dictates there la continue id be � and for manual suspension lists at most facilities. And what about credit card approval it s basically a much simpler process. Trans action Vithor Dialion b based on a Bank mechanized file accessed by phone. Addition ally credit card transactions below a certain Dollar Lew Aren t approved by phone they re verified against an Alert bulletin provided by the Hanks. Hey that sounds like another list does t in writer Calls on terrorist punks to make my Day hold your your or hey. I would like to address this letter to cer Tain factions along with the libyan Irani an and any other government to whom it applies. They know who they Are. I m sure 1 speak for the majority of the american people when 1 say that i m sick and Titch of the taking of hostages and the killing and maiming of innocent civilians. These actions Art act of War and if in i War they want Well More on that later while the hijackings of the two flights originating in Athens received More Media attention i relate More closely to the bomb ing on rein main a last August. My wife and i were there one Wick Nufler it happened and while on base we walked by the bombing site. It was rather Bering. I thought of the fellow airman who lost his life there. He knew the risk he was taking when he joined the air Force but that does t make it any less tragic. Mostly though i thought of the woman who died there. She was in Germany because she loved her husband not to prepare for any War or other military action. In no Way could she have been considered a threat to any government or faction or even a Symbol of a perceived threat As an Active duty military member could be and yet the died in an at tack on the american government. My thoughts were what if that had been my wife the answer is that i would have been ready to go after the person or persons responsible and kill them. I m sure that the airman who lost his wife Felt same thing like that. My bean goes out to him. The two hijackings have also been prime examples of the cowardly tactics used to gain attention to a nearly 60 peo ple died for these cause people who did t now what the causes were and probably did t cart. Again i thought what if a member of my family had been a victim and again 1 would be ready to kill. I have used the term cowardly tactics for a reason these acts of terrorism Are just that. The people who organize and carry out such acts Don t Havi the guts or the Intelli gence to fight for these causes the Way it should be done. Perhaps they have tried to get their Points across by peaceful Means i doubt Iti and were unsuccessful so instead of accept ing the will of the majority they act like spoiled children and go on a rampage the Point i would like to make is two fold. First of All i d like to address the faction such As the red army. If you Don t want the United Stales in Western Europe use the freedoms the United states helped you acquire remember Wii to get us out by peaceful Means. Use the Freedom of speech and the right to have a say in the policies of you Joner Menis. If you Don t enjoy these freedoms perhaps you should do something about that instead of concentrating on terrorism. If these attempts to oust the . Should succeed As Hal happened in Greece then Well leave per written agreements and leave you to contend with the .s.r. On your own. On the other hand if the majority dictates that the us. Should slay be men and women enough to accept that fact. Not everyone can Nave their Way even in the United states just ask the democrats. Now i would like to address the govern ments mentioned earlier. For whatever reason Yon have decided that you hate the United slates of America. Or could it be envy i tend to think it s the latter. You have taken Over your countries by something less than honorable methods in most cases and Are now jealous because you can t make it work. I lived in Bandar Abbas ran for seven months from september i97z to april 1913 and saw some of the birth of the revolution there. Americans had All the Money so they were always to blame for anything that went wrong no Mailer who was at fault. Well things Haven t changed much have they you have taken Over your countries but no matter How hard you try you can t Force your industries to be More productive and your people to be happier a lot of countries have the problem of a poor Economy but the people running the governments Are mature enough to realize that there is a problem and to ask for help when in � needed. You on the other hand refuse to admit to any mistakes Yon May have made and blame All your problems on the United Stales. And so you hold Ameri cans hostage and or have them killed just because they Are americans. You Don t even have the Guys 10 admit you Are having it done. You have to go through religious fanatics trained by you. Very sneaky. But be honest it s not the individual americans you hate. It s the government and the american Way of life and you think Iha you can blackmail us into chancing into something you want. Wrong. You should know by now that we americans have a lot of Pride in our government of the people for live people by the people. It has its faults but we re convinced that it b the Best form of government on this planet. I m sure you disagree. There n one Way you might be Able to achieve the foils you have set though and leave innocent civilians alone in the process. What is the method you ask remember what i said about if it s War you want declare War on the United slates if you Don t like us. Stop the cowardly terrorism and declare an open War. Come on punks. Do it. Make my Day. Name withheld i ill Nikon a Greece Itu Wum hot big cart do k. To mkt u1n Edl Lur Iff Anta chm str stir i ahem. Ihn do Ute but in Clit. Blic Kutu. . Awk Hott ptku0b.1 mar Maui Meh. Cru Bill in of Mil in Unur h w Ulli Uno Edtl put Hullon by it Mem a int Mill Wal on iut Conlin i run Sivi my Sirlet it Noi i Rita no Oak i it if of mama i 1w 1� Onwu Twyl of pit Aiti or in . 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