European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 26, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes wednesday March 26, 1986 some army civilians told to take test could face reassignment or discharge by Chuck Vinch Washington Burea Washington up to 12,000 civil Ian employees in four critical Job Fields must consent to urinalysis testing for drug abuse or face involuntary reassignment or possible discharge under a new army policy. The policy states that army civilians in aviation Law enforcement nuclear and chemical related skills and drug testing programs must sign a form that says they will take the drug tests if asked to. The policy went into effect feb. 15, said army spokeswoman Elaine Henrion. She said All new employees seeking jobs in the four identified skills will be required to pass a urinalysis test to be considered for those jobs and then sign the consent form. Personnel already in those Fields have been Given 90 Days to decide whether to sign the form which Means the first tests could begin around mid May. Henrion said the army is leaving the task of carrying out the policy to individual commanders. She said it s possible that some civilian employees in critical jobs might never be asked to take a urinalysis test. That s going to be a command Deci Sion she said. A list of jobs deemed critical by the army includes All jobs in the aviation and aviation safety Fields including air traffic control lers pilots mechanics and service person Nel. All Law enforcement jobs including civilian guards police criminal investigators and corrections officers. Any Job relating to chemical and nuclear weapons. This includes nuclear weapons technicians chemical ammunition maintenance specialists Quality Assurance personnel and Laboratory workers. Any positions on alcohol and drug abuse support staffs including personnel involved in any stage of the urinalysis test ing program. Henrion said that if an employee refuses to consent to urinalysis testing the army will make every Effort to reassign him or her to a position that in t considered Crit ical. If that s not possible if there Are no  positions available or if the person does t want to relocate to a place where  jobs Are available then Well have to fire them Henrion said. If an employee takes a test and comes up positive the results could be used to fire the employee she said. But any employee who admits to having a problem and asks for help will be referred for counselling. After that it s up to the commander Henrion said. The commander May temporarily reassign the employee to a non critical Job. If after counselling and treat ment the commander feels the employee has been successfully rehabilitated he May decide to give the employee his old  Henrion said the policy is meant to in part a Clear message. We do not condone drug use she said. We Don t tolerate it among our Active duty personnel and we re not going to tolerate it among civilians in critical  she said the policy was drawn up under defense department guidelines issued last april that authorize the services to Start drug testing programs for civilian employees in certain skill categories. Air Force and Navy officials said they Are also developing programs to test some of their civilian employees. Military Roundup Mac to test program letting gis take pets on some flights Washington some service members flying Over seas on military Airlift come charter flights will be Al Lowed to take their dogs and cats with them in a six month test beginning april 14. Command spokesman capt. Tom Larock said if the test is a Success the program will be expanded to All Mac charter flights. The test will be limited to military personnel on permanent change of station orders taking charter flights on two routes Between Charleston fab s.c., and Howard a Panama and Between Charleston and Rhein main a Germany. Service members will be charged to ship their pets but a rate table has not yet been drawn up Larock said. Pets will not count against passenger baggage weight limits. Service members with pets now have to make their own shipping arrangements and pay the Cost of moving their pets on civilian aircraft. 66th trans co completes 5 million Miles without Accident Kaiserslautern the 66th trans co in Kaiserslautern has passed the 5 million mile Mark without a recordable Accident. Army safety officials define a recordable Accident As one in which death injury or property damage of More than $700 occurs. The unit s main missions Are mail runs and Point to Point deliveries. Mail runs often take place a night and in bad weather. Sgt. Delbert Daniels the 66th s safety no conducts a Safe driving course for truckers and mechanics who Are caught performing unsafe acts. Opening ceremonies planned for Darmstadt elementary school Darmstadt Germany opening ceremonies for the new Darmstadt elementary school in Lincoln Village will be held at 2 . Wednesday. The two building Complex built at a Cost of 12 million Marks $5.28 million will accommodate about 680 students according to Public affairs spokeswoman  Ward. Students Are expected to move into the new facility on april 8. The old elementary school building will House Middle school students in the fall. Drop in gasoline food costs helps consumer Index match j 953 Low Washington a tumbling gasoline and food costs pushed consumer prices Down 0.4 percent last month their steepest drop in More than three decades the govern ment said tuesday. The february decline was the largest since a 0.4 percent drop in november 1953, and was bested Only by a 0.9 percent decline in july 1949. The new decline is the first decrease since december 1982, when consumer prices inched Down by 0.1 percent. The drop in the consumer Price Index followed a mod est 0.3 percent Rise in january. The major Factor in the february decrease in the Cost of living was the continuing dramatic drop in Petroleum prices. Gasoline prices fell 5.9 percent in february after a 0.1 percent increase the month before. Home heating Oil costs dropped 10.1 percent after dropping 1.1 percent i january. January s decline if continued for 12 straight months would be equal to an annual decrease of 4.6 percent said the labor department s Bureau of labor statistics. Food prices also declined in february 0.7 percent after increasing 0.2 percent the month before. The decline in food prices was led by a 7.5 percent drop in the Price of vegetables and fruits and a 1.4 percent decrease in the Price of meats poultry and fish. Partially offsetting the declines in food prices was an increase in the Price of Coffee. Ground Coffee increased 26.7 percent and instant Coffee 15.1 percent reflecting a continued drought in Brazil. Apart from food and Energy consumer prices Rose an Overall 0.2 percent in february. Gasoline Price drops had already shown up in wholesale prices. The producer Price Index for february released earlier this month showed a drop of 1.6 percent the largest Ever recorded and equivalent to an annual decline of 17.1percent. Economists said they anticipated that Oil and gasoline prices would continue to decline before leveling off. Gaso line prices have already fallen below $1 a gallon in Man parts of the country. They be got a couple months to fall at the retail level said David Wyss senior economist with data resources inc., a forecasting service based in Lexington mass. However he said he anticipated that crude Oil prices would soon level off at about $16 to $17 a barrel. Officials urge parents not to use baby formula that May be tainted Heidelberg seventh medical come officials tuesday urged parents not to feed their babies Enfa Mil with Iron while the formula is being tested for possible contamination. The formula a White powder that is mixed with water is suspected in the illness of a Soldier s 1-month old baby said or. Col Michael Benenson preventive Medicine consultant to 7th medical come. Army medical officials asked commissary authorities to pull the 16-ounce can of the formula lot blk 41, from shelves until More tests Are completed. The expiration Date on the Mustard and White coloured can is dec. 1,1987. The baby who was in stable condition tuesday was admitted to the army Hospital in Heidelberg March 20with a fever. After Hospital personnel discovered bacteria in the baby s blood culture they tested an opened can of the formula in the baby s Home and found it contaminated with the same bacteria Benenson said. We Don t want to scare people. But it s safer to go ahead until we have a Chance to make sure Benenson said. The formula is being tested by the army s 10th medical Laboratory. Range riders to Monitor some Mac Charters by Chuck Vinc Washington Bureau Washington rated military trans port pilots will ride on some military Airlift come charter flights to Monitor the performance of civilian cockpit Crews officials said. The monitors known As Range riders Are being put in charter flight cockpits to improve Mac capability surveys in the Wake of the Arrow air crash in Gander newfound land that killed 248 service members in de Cember said capt. Tom Larock a Mac spokesman. The fatal flight was not chartered by the defense department or Mac but it touched off a debate about the Way the Pentagon selects its charter carriers and the safety of Mili tary charter flights in general. The flight was handled by the multinational Force and observers a peace keeping unit in the Sinai pen insula. Larock said details of a Long term Monitor ing program still Are being drawn up. But the Range riders already have monitored one flight a flying Tiger flight from St. Louis to los Angeles March 12. Larock said Mac has used Range rider sin the past. But those people were basically contract administrators he said. They were not rated pilots and did not have the right to go into the cockpit. The Faa has now Given us Permis Sion to give rated aviator officers cockpit  he said pilots probably will be assigned to Range rider duty on a rotating temporary basis. In addition to having Range riders in Char Ter flight cockpits Mac plans to do capability surveys once a year for All Mac carriers. Before the Gander crash the surveys were done on an As needed basis. Larock said that meant a Survey was done when a Carrier first came on line with Mac and then when Ever officials Felt another was warranted  As when a passenger made a specific complaint