European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 6, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday october 6, 1988 the stars  stripes Page 3 general says personnel managers inadequately Back training fighting  Munich Bureau Garmisch Wisl Germany while praising the Overall results of the army personnel Community in recruiting  retaining Quality soldiers inc com Mander of Vii corps said personnel managers arc tall ing Short in supporting army training  War lighting capabilities. The trainers i believe Are focused right on target however the personnel system is not fully supporting War fighting   said la. Gen. Ronald l Watts tuesday. Addressing the opening Day of the annual personnel management symposium Watts said there Are Good reasons for this but he Bottom line is that command ers cannot train  maintain if they re Short leaders  Short  constant change in authorizations for some units is causing problems in keeping those units fully manned Walts said. In Vii corps during one three month period there were 300 net changes in authorized strength at various skill Levels he said. Tightened rules on permanent changes of station have hampered commanders in keeping units combat ready but a special Block of operational moves should provide some Relief. Those of us in the personnel business  com Manders in Europe have a responsibility to discipline he system so it is not abused Walls said. Walls also criticized no promotion practices say ing they leave Many soldiers demoralized particularly those working for promotion to sergeant  staff ser Geant. Soldiers in Many skills need to Cam 998 from a possible 1,000 Poi nos to get promoted. The impression which is projected is that one must be perfect in order to get promoted Watts said. While acknowledging that authorizations  Bud get constraints were a Factor in the enlisted promotion equation Watts said he saw no reason that the cutoff it. Gen. Ranald l. Walls scores could not be lowered to allow at least a few soldiers to be promoted each month. "1 think it s Worth it even if it Mattes for some additional overages in that mos military occupational specially Watts said. Such a change would give sol Diers Hope  increase morale he said. I just wonder How our captains would react if we said there would be no promotions for x number of months. Thai s what we re telling our  at the same Lime Watts called for tougher re enlist ment standards for mid level career cos with the goal of further improving the Quality of the Force. He suggested a Quality Point Index Simitar to that used to help Weed out first term soldiers with poor career potential. The standards should be tied to training such As physical training results  those failing 10 meet inc standards should be dropped. I submit that there is a percentage of our cos  officers that we should Weed out As we go along to ensure we have the highest Quality leadership Waits said. He also addressed the High number of soldiers being deleted torn overseas assignments. In Vii corps he said an average of nearly 400 soldiers per month were being dropped from projected assignments roughly a Quarter of those pinpointed. Walls called for a harder line by personnel managers in this area saying it had a significant Impact on unit readiness. Commanders need to be told thai when an no or an officer is placed on orders regardless of the circumstances he or she reports Watts said. In other areas Watts said the one fund concept needs to be stabilized so Hal local commanders have the Opportunity to Man age local non appropriated funds without worrying about keeping up with inc Many changes in proce dures. Too Many soldiers Are arriving overseas without a Security clearance. In one specialized area nearly �0 percent of the inbound soldiers had no clearance which takes up to nine months to get. Automation is on the Way to the company level to help manage budget  manpower requirements. Headquarters  Community strength Levels need to be studied. Those positions not directly supporting fighting training or Quality of life should be consid ered for elimination. Caf. Market Chain removes some tobacco items los Angeles a California s largest supermarket Chain began removing cigars pipe tobacco  chewing to Bacco from shelves because the products arc not labelled As cancer causing in compliance with a state Law. Cigarettes Are not involved in inc action announced tuesday by Vons cos. Inc. Because they already carry a federally mandated warning Label. Several brands of chewing tobacco Hal carry such labels also arc exempt. It s inc first Lime we arc aware of that a supermarket has taken product off the shelves in response to proposition 65." said Deputy attorney general Craig , inc state enforcement coordinator for the Law created by inc no vember 1986 ballot initiative. On Friday slain attorney Genera John k. Van de Kamp filed a civil Law suit against 25 tobacco manufacturers  eight food store chains including Vons. The suit claimed the companies failed to warn Consumers of the cancer risk of certain products. But a vans spokeswoman said the decision to remove 17 tobacco products produced by five companies had nothing to do with the lawsuit. The Law requires the state to identify products  substances than can cause cancer birth defects  sterility. Busi Nesses must then warn the Public of significant amounts of such substances in store products  in factories  other work places. The pullout was done in an Effort to comply with proposition 65, said vans spokeswoman Vickie Sanders. This is not a sudden move on Vons part she added. We did not do it without warn ing or notice to  tobacco manufacturers  distributor were Lold in August that vans would re quire warning labels on products by sept. 17, Sanders said. That deadline later was extended until monday she said. The tobacco Industry hoped it could comply with inc Law by having signs posted in stores  other measures Short of at Tach ing warning labels to their products Norman f. Sharp president of the Cigar association of America  the pipe tobacco Council said in a statement from Washington . The warning message is in fact reaching the mass of Cigar  pipe tobacco Purchas ers throughout the state. We do nol think the producers a torts which have Bee timely  responsible can be legitimately  Mary Hernandez assistant manager at Vons West Side Pavilion store said she finished pulling the cigars  other items from shelves late tuesday. So far no customers had complained she said. You will Sec Bare shelves. There willbe a sign up there telling customers we apologize for the inconvenience but it is a necessary inconvenience Sanders said. Vons has 336 stores in inc Central  Southern parts of California. It recently acquired 172 Safeway supermarkets in Southern California. John Shepherd a spokesman for Safe Way stores inc., said the Chain which now has 221 stores in California gave manufacturers until oct. 17 to Label products or have shipments refused. Meantime the stores have posted warn ing signs near Cigar pipe  chewing tobacco displays. New dictionary edition is in a word monumental London a heavy readers take heart. The Long awaited second edition of the Oxford English dictionary Wilt weigh in at a whopping 137 pounds of words. The venerable oed world s biggest dictionary is gelling bigger. We Are sure we Wilt sell a lot because the diction Ary is inc Standard work of reference on the English language  any substantial Library will have to have it said Ludo Craddock promotions executive of the Oxford University press. The Tumes Cal Tome will Span 22,000 pages fill 20 voluminous volumes  sell for about $2,500. The publishing House founded in 1554, describes the dictionary As its most adventurous project since it began the first edition in the 19th Century Bui the first edition had a Mere 44 million words of Lex  the second has 59 million. There arc 290,500 main entries on different words a 15 per cent increase from the first edition. In addition there Are 157,000 combinations  derivatives  169.000 phrases making a total of 616.soo word forms which Are defined. The 1928 edition had 414,825. The oed was first published in pans Between 1ssj  1928,  a supplement of new words  words missed the first time was added in 1933. To Gether they made up 13 volumes. The last of four additional volumes was finish Din 1986 by new zealand or Robert Burchfield who spent 29 years on the project. The publishers had expected it to take seven years. Since Burchfield s four volumes 5,000 new words have been added most of them at the beginning of the alphabet As Burchfield was continually Addinga he progressed said Craddock. James Murray a scottish Village Lailor s son was the dictionary s original editor. He had a flowing White Beard  worked in a Garden shed from slips of paper. He died in 1915 when he was Halfway through the letter the new edition also has been computerized wit the vocabulary of English since . 1150 on a sin Gle data base to be available by Home computer. The first advertisements far the dictionary Are now appearing in Britain  the United states. The publishers Are reluctant to divulge any other detail about the dictionary before in is officially launched on March 29. Bui this Book is big. According to Craddock the new oed is More than live times the size of any other dictionary of the English