European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 18, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes Fri any november 18,1988 Usa eur communities asked to pay Piper funding for 59 entertainment programs up for vote by Randy Mcclain stuff writer John Lavender Field program director for the Usa eur entertainment division is worried. The 42 military communities that tall under Usa eur s command arc voting this month on whether they re willing to pay almost $1 million so that a wide Range of non appropriated fund activities Tram Bowling and basketball championships to the army s annual tournament of plays can continue in 1989. Such items As travel expenses for the judges who oversee the tournament of plays and the salaries at five regional Hunting and fishing instructors Are traditionally paid out of Usa eur s morale welfare and recreation funds. Now Usa eur wants communities to pick up the Tab for those and j7 other pro Grams. Lavender is concerned his theatrical tourney might fall victim to Usa eur s budget cutting a. My Only real concern is that entertainment As a whole has always had to compete with the Macho image of sports. Some Community commanders Don t think theater is very Macho he said. Lavender thinks that attitude which he says is bred out of ignorance might Cost him Voles. Pam Conklin chief of the Usa eur Community and family support Agency s program and budget Branch says there Are a lot of nervous program coordinators in Europe these Days. It s really an emotional Issue when the work you redoing in the Field is subject to a Yea or nay vote she said. Community commanders were Given the discretion to handle voting As they Sec fit. A commander could have voted yes or no on each of the 59 programs on Usa eur s list himself or delegated that chore to someone in the Community. The amount of input allowed from Soj Dien family members and civilians who actually participate in the various program under scrutiny also varied from Community to Community. Conklin s office is overseeing the voting. Initial re sults were due Friday but it will be january before a final decision is made on which programs will stay and which ones must go. Hanging in the balance arc such items As training programs for Community club managers automotive repairmen and Community entertainment directors. Usa eur wide Bowling basketball and Pool tournaments also Are affected. The Complete list of programs includes items for which Usa eur has been paying anywhere from is so to $400,000 a year to help stage. In the future military communities will have to pay on a per capita basis for each program allowed to continue. The charges will Range from less than $1 per 1,000 Community residents for a Small baseball clinic to $800 per 1,000 people for management assistance teams to visit each Community. Conklin said the Burden on local communities in t As much As it might seem at first glance. Up until now Usa eur has been paying for these programs out of Clasi i beverage store profits retained at Headquarters. Most of that Money now is scheduled to be turned Over to individual communities based on local class i store sales. The extra Revenue being passed Down to the military Community level is More than enough in con Din i eyes to pay for the $936,000 Worth or programs up for a vote. In my opinion the real question in t the Price Tig attached to each function but whether that particular function is of enough value to everyone that it should be continued she said. Once All the communities votes Are tallied the results will be passed to Usa eur s Community and family review committee a group of office Sand some civilians. The committee will meet in december and again in january to validate the election results. There is a Chance the committee could overrule a negative vote from the communities on  and allow them to continue if for some Rea son they re considered particularly vital Conklin said. Otherwise programs thai win the favor of a majority of communities will go on and those with Little or no support will fall by the Wayside. Lavender said one Benefit of the Usa eur wide vote is that at least now program managers will know which events they will have Money for in the Yea  All the fluctuation and indecision we be Hadon budgets in the past year at least now Well be Able to plan ahead he said. Lavender just Hopes the tournament of plays is among those events Given the of. Us speeds charged in 87 Gas Coupon scam still free  and Alba Bragoli Mediterranean Bureau Naples Italy a year after being charged in connection with an alleged multimillion Dollar Gas Coupon scam three Navy Exchange employees have yet to come to trial. One of the employees Linda Clayton appears to have left the country while her two co workers remain free on their own recognizance i Don t know when my client left Bialy or where she Well but she had very Good reasons to leave. She was practically starving to death said Vinorio lava Rone Clayton s lawyer. The police still have tons of documents to examine and Only cod knows How Many More months or years might pass before the whole mess goes to  the three All longtime employees of the Exchange s personalized services Center at the naval support activity Naples were charged on nov. 16, 1987, with conspiracy to commit a crime and aggravated fraud. Charged along with Clayton a 40 year Ota clerk were Joan Maddaluno 58, and Ferdinando Dedilectis 59. Dedilectis an Exchange employee since 1967, was the supervisor of the two american women. According to the charges the three employees allegedly bought nato tax free As coupons intended for Sale to americans at the Normal Selling Price a Booklet containing coupons Good for the Purchase of 100 liners of super gasoline currently retails for 122,30 through Mili tary retail sales outlets in Italy the Trio then allegedly resold the 100 liter booklets for 120,000 tire about $92, to owners of service stations in the Naples area making a net gain of 80,000 to 90,000 lire about $61 to $69, per  station owners allegedly re deemed the coupons for a profit of 10,000 lire about $7.60, per Booklet the coupons reportedly were written off on the Center s accounts As if they Bud been purchased by authorized custom ers. -. Italian newspapers have reported that the scam May have been in operation Foras Long As 17 Yean and netted 30 billion lira about $23 million. On the Day of the arrest italian police in a raid on the Homes of the three confiscated 80 million lira which is about my. I or coupons totalling 3,000 liners of Gas. Following their arrests Maddaluno and Clayton were confined for a Short time in the Nisida women s prison on an Island near Naples while de Dileck misspent several months in Poggioriale Pris on in downtown Naples. Upon release the three were placed under House arrest. My client was freed from House arrest under her own recognizance within the first week of her release from Pris on Laurone said. But even though she could go anywhere within Italy the was having a very difficult time. She could t work and my no Means of sup port the Only person she could count on her Boyfriend became very in with cancer and she found herself  in the meantime Maddaluno and Dedilictis also had been freed under their own  was practically begging food from her Boyfriend s family Lavarone said. Thai s when i petitioned the court to return her passport. I really did t expect they the court officials would but the judge who answered he petition took pity on Clayton and gave  he passport in August Clayton apparently stayed in the area until her Boyfriend passed away a Little More than a week ago and then disappeared. New update unrest in Burma Kler Day. Burma up anti government student and eth Nic leaders met thursday in the Jungle near the thai burmese Bor Der to form a government to rival the Rangoon regime. When we form into one body twill be easier for us to seek foreign Aid and recognition from the world Community said to Htun Aung Yaw 31, chairman of the and Burma student democratic front. To Htun Aung Yaw s five Man delegation is one of the 21 Anli government groups meeting at Jar Day about 155 Miles East of Rangoon to form a alternative government to the military regime in the capital. .-.-. / the 68 delegates to the conference aim to form an Alliance Between eth. Nic minority groups and ethnic Bur Man opposition groups including students and exiled organizations. Sakharov says Star wars could trigger War Washington a soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov warned wednes Day thai deploying a Star wars strategic defense system could tempt a pre Emp Tive attack against it and trigger nuclear world War. Sakharov delivered his Stark message at a dinner honouring or. Edward Teller the . Physicist often dubbed the father of me american Hydrogen bomb who is a siring advocate of deploying space based nuclear missile defense sys tem. It was the first meeting Between the two and Sakharov Winner of the Nobel and Albert Einstein peace prizes used it to emphasize his differences with Teller and to say thai the world could be on the Doorstep of significant arms control efforts if Star wars is not allowed to stand in the Way. Sakharov the soviet Union s most celebrated human right activist told a Black tie audience of some 750 people in a hotel ballroom that he has great respect for Teller and believes he is a Man of conviction and principle. But he said he strongly disagrees with Teller on the Issue of deploying lie strategic defense initiative popularly known As Star wars. I consider such a system to be a great error Sakharov said. T feel it would destabilize the world enormous costs would be incurred by deploying an american defensive system and by creating a new soviet offensive system to counteract the shield he said. If such systems Are deployed. There would be a temptation to destroy them and this in itself could trigger nuclear War Sakharov said. "sd1 is one of the problems that stands in the Way of achieving really deep and pro found arms  Sakharov 67, who is on a i rec week . Visit spent Yean of internal exile in the soviet City of Corky because of his human rights activities. He met monday with president Reagan and wednesday with president elect George Bush. The award to Teller presented by the ethics and Public policy Center was accompanied. By a citation staling that Teller s motto better a shield than a sword expresses a timeless truth. Sakharov noted that he and Teller for years had Ted their lives on parallel course in their countries nuclear weapons development programs. I was involved in the work on liter Mon Clear weapons Sakharov Laid hit words translated by an interpreter. I was completely convinced that thu work was essential that it was vitally import tant.". V.1. He said that while he had cot fought in world War ii the work in Whf Efi was involved was also a kind Ofir. Sakharov said this was the com be cause similar work was being carried out in the United states where the Anterior can dentists retarded it with the tame feeling that it was vital for the interests of the country and for Mainu Imda peace through nuclear deterrence. But. I think Whai we were doing a that Lime was a great tragedy he Saidt