European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 5, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday april 5, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 11 letter dear Ann Landers when i read the letter in your column about fraternity hazing i knew i had to write. Hazing is a terrible thing but it is not confined strictly to fraternities. Not Long ago in our town after a wild Bachelor party for a Young Man who was about to be mar ried the buddies of the Groom to be took him to a bar for More drinks. They got awfully drunk and decided to put the Groom in the trunk of a car and leave him there for a while. They parked the car in a wooded area and drove off. Nothing was said about who was going to take him out or when. They were All too cockeyed to think rationally. At about 5 . One of the Guys remembered that his pal was in the trunk so he went to get him. When he opened the trunk he found his buddy. Dead. No one was prosecuted for this murder because they were All great friends but the Guy is just As dead whether they meant to kill him or not. I Hope you will find room for this in your column. It May give other pranksters something to think about. Santa Monica Calif. Dear s. Monica what a heartbreaking Story. There Are More to match it i am sure. The real tragedy is that a Bunch of Guys did t know when to Stop drinking. Most of them i m sure never should have started. When i finished Reading your letter my first thoughts were of the Bride. I wonder How that Young woman could find it in her heart to forgive her sweetheart s pals for what they did. What a Price to pay for somebody s idea of a Good time dear Ann Landers i just moved to town and have joined a Church that has get acquainted meetings for folks who Are newcomers. At my first meeting we were asked to run to the per son next to us say i love you and give him or her a Long embrace. This group was almost equally divided Between men and women. Love to me is an important word. It Means deep Devotion. How is it possible to have such feelings for a stranger i be Lieve used in this context the word love loses All meaning. Furthermore i Don t wish to be hugged by someone i Don t know. At that get to Gether a Man with a Beard kissed me on. The Mouth. At first i was shocked. Then i was furious. With All the talk about aids it seems to me this is a pretty risky prac Tice. May i hear from you Ann no name in Palo Alto dear . I m getting a lot of mail on this subject printed a similar letter recently. No authority with whom i checked said it is even remotely possible to get aids from kissing. This includes strangers in Church or people you know intimately. If you Are uncomfortable with the i love you bit Don t participate i m certain however that those present interpret the word love in the Universal sense and not the personal and intimate manner you perceive. There s a difference Between Loving one s fellow humans and being in love. Dear Ann Landers my son James says he is afraid to write to the phobia society. What should i do . In Detroit dear Detroit find yourself a Hobby. I m too Busy to bother with bum jokes. Writer s concerns about urinalysis test addressed i am writing about the army s urinalysis test. I think the army should put a Seal on the bottles after the test is taken. I think the army will save a lot of Money and time on courts martial and articles 15. Use the same Type of Seal that is put on regular Medicine bottles and get More  ple who Are trained and trusted. In my Days i have seen More people get put out who never smoked pot or messed with drugs. I think the army can get rid of the sol Diers who do these things and keep the Good ones. Myself i Don t Deal with drugs. But i m scared that someone might tamper with my bottle and my life in the military also my family. Sgt. Mark e. Walls Idar Oberstein Germany editor s note a spokesman for the office of the Deputy chief of staff personnel he Usa eur replies your concern regarding the army s urinalysis drug testing program is an important one. Thank you for your suggestion. In order to prevent tampering regulations require All specimen bottles to be handled under strict Chain of custody procedures. These procedures require every individual who handles a specimen to sign a Chain of custody form indicating Why they handled the specimen. When a specimen is stored it is kept in a secure storage area that storage is also recorded on the Chain of custody document. These procedures Are followed from the moment the specimen is received from the Soldier to include All handling at unit level and at the Wiesbaden drug testing lab. Buy american is. Save Money in these times of funding austerity i am amazed at How we continue to spend Money to ship some american items overseas when the same items Are available on the local Economy. I know about the big push to buy american and How High our balance of payments Are but must we buy Ameri can and support Gold flow at All costs As an example let s discuss the shipment of canned soft drinks to Germany. 1. Government Cost  additive to Cost of goods taxpayer expense a. Entry port handling and storage. B. Shipping Cost overseas. C. Arrival port handling and storage. D. Damaged goods. 2. Cafes costs a. Port of entry pickup and transportation to Central depot. B. Storage facility and personnel costs. C. Transportation and unloading to re Tail facilities. D. Time value of Money for items in transit. E. Damaged goods. F. Age of product sold. 3. German soft drinks a. Slight taste difference psychological perceptions. B. Cans Are about 5 percent smaller. C. Wholesale prices should be about the same As those in the states. D. Direct delivery to retail outlet by Vendor. I believe the Purchase of some local econ omy items would not Only save cafes Money but also the . Taxpayer. Are the lobbyists in Washington so Strong that we cannot even attempt to save Money As far As suggesting this idea to cafes i have tried but was not successful. Chief master sgt. Dennis j. Mcavoy Ramstein a Germany editor s note master sgt. Bruce e. Zielsdorf customer relations specialist Public affairs office he cafes Europe replies cafes Europe does buy european products from coca cola and Pepsi. They re mostly in one third and one liter plastic throw away bottles. We feel this gives our customers a greater selection on these pop ular products. In fact about a third of our soft drink purchases Are from local sources that s the equivalent of 1.2 million cases of soda bought in Europe versus 2.3 million cases of Coke and Pepsi from stateside sources annually. It s important to note Many of the soft drink flavors purchased from the states Aren t readily available overseas. Mountain Dew diet Pepsi diet Coke or. Pepper Canada dry a a Root Beer Sunkist Orange Tab and Welch s grape Are some examples of soft drinks our customers feel we should provide. Compliance with these procedures is monitored in three ways Only trustworthy individuals trained in proper Chain of custody procedures handle the specimens. Execution of Chain of custody proce dures at unit level is checked during annual visits by the Usa eur drug and alcohol assistance team. Execution of Chain of custody proce dures at the drug testing lab undergoes a Legal inspection every Quarter. The most recent inspection on feb. 25-27 found that the lab s execution of Chain of custody procedures was completely in compliance with the surgeon general s Chain of custody standing operating procedures. Some specimens Are pre screened at the unit level prior to forwarding to the testing lab. Prescreening is an important part of the urinalysis program especially for units with Large numbers of personnel reliability program people. The Seal which you Sug Gest would be impractical since it would have to be broken to conduct the Prisc Rcck ing. Trustworthy personnel and strict documentation of Chain of custody procedures protect the integrity of the program and More importantly the rights of All soldiers involved. Your concerns Are understandable and your suggestion is appreciated. However As described above we believe that we have an excellent system in place one that is continuously monitored to serve the interest of the army in maintaining a drug free Force while protecting the rights of the individual. The St is and tripes Juo a suggestions for Barracks rats i would like to take this Opportunity to address what should be considered a prob Lem. The subject concerns the matter of soldiers sitting around the Barracks and wishing that they were Back Home instead of being Here in Europe. In my Barracks alone i hear at least one of my friends say every night that he wishes that he was Back Home in the .a. The army ought to make a real Effort to draw these Barracks rats out of these holes and out into the real world. It seems awfully sad that Young men and women have nothing better to do than sit around and watch an endless series of mov ies and sporting events on a to when they could be out doing things themselves in Stead of watching somebody else act out their fantasies. These soldiers have got to realize that life pen pals i would like pen pals. I am 14 years old and my hobbles Are Reading swimming Bike Riding fixing things and collecting stickers and different kinds of Money. Kristl martin540 ninth St. Charlton a. 15025 i would like to correspond with people in other lands. I am a 19-year-old Catholic. My hobbles Are volleyball hiking manicuring and cooking. Letty t. Tecon Campania Gui Huangan Negros Oriental 6525, Philippines i would like to correspond with different people in is not forever and that if you Don t take advantage of the time that you have then it will soon be gone. Life is too Short to spend sitting in a room watching a television. This is especially True Here in Europe where there is so much to do and see. The Opportunity to grow while stationed Here is tremendous and soldiers really ought to take advantage of it because unless you re a career Soldier this will Proba Bly be your Only Chance to see the world so Don t let it slip away. So this weekend instead of renting a Bunch of movies that will probably be Bor ing anyhow Why Don t you decide to live your life instead of watching others live it for you. Quit feeling sorry for yourself be cause you re away from Home. Go out and have some real fun for a change. Pfc. Douglas Gleason bad Stoelz Germany different parts of the world. I would like to Exchange ideas and to know other places their cultures and traditions through correspondence. My hobbles Are gardening dancing cooking and collecting Stamps. I am 27 years old. Julieth s. Dyc of pacts residence look Dumaguet City " Philippines i wish to have my name printed in your pen pal column. Celsa c. Padua University of Mindanao Tagum Davao Philippines 9401 european edition capt Dale k. Patterson us editor in chief cmdr Jeffrey s. Zakem us Deputy editor in chief . Blackwell m Proctor . Mcdermott production manager managing de. Circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication for members of the military services overseas. Contents of the stars and stripes Are not necessarily the official views of or endorsed by the . Government the department of defense or the . European command. 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