European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 30, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes dear Ann Landers bless you for printing that column bashing the fashion Industry for giving us women s garments that Are unflattering impractical and unbearable. You told the de signers and manufacturers that i they would turn out decent clothes we would Start to buy again. I m dying to know the response you received. Will you let us in on it Betty from Danville if dear Betty i was swamped with letters from frustrated females who thanked me for singing their song. Read on and you la get it straight from the people who count the  the designers and manufacturers of women clothes Are dumb to Cater to the Young and the slim Don t they realize that older full figured females have much More Money to spend i shopped for weeks for a gown to Wear at my Niece s wedding. I would have spent up to $2,000, but ended up wearing something that was 10 years old. Long Island today s styles Are awful but the fabrics Are  Are the nylons and Dacron we Are deluged with Rayon that has to be pressed if you breathe on stand How about More Wool knits that travel so Well new York i m a Petite 70-year-old, 5 feet and 115 pounds. All want is a simple elegant dress for afternoon. Try and find it. Everything is too tight too Short waisted wit buttons Down the Back. Looks As if i m going to have to Start sewing  i could have kissed you when i read that column on women s clothes. The styles Are dreadful and the workmanship is appalling. Buttons fall off after two Wear Ings. Seams rip and hems fall Down. Zippers Jam because of the Sloppy Way they Are put in. I m disgusted. Waco Texas buying women s Slacks that fit is impossible i you re 5-foot-2 or under. Ever try to Cut four inches off the cuffs and have any taper i give , Ariz i am a retailer. For several years i have trudged Many Miles in the los Angeles Market looking for classic style sin Fine fabrics. Each year i walk More Miles than the year before. You re right on  Why does t someone design decent maternity clothes we Don t want Teddy bears and cute animals on our stomach. I be seen enough round collars an bows to make me throw up. Ukiah Calif please shake up the manufacturers that make buttonholes. Why do they place them vertically common sense should dictate that they be horizontal to tolerate the stress. But no they put the darned things up and Down so one wave of the Arm and the dress or Blouse Ops open in front. Sacramento when you let the designers have it about the Lousy styles Why did t you say something about women s shoes they need to know that millions of women refuse to cripple themselves in the name of fashion. I la bet 50 percent of female backaches Are caused by High , blisters and corns Are another whole letter Ann Des Moines please Ann stick it to the manufacturers of panty Hose. It is impossible for a heavyset woman to get a pair that fits. The elastic tops Are too tight and the Crotch rips out after two wearings. So dear readers the people have spoken and the Mes Sage is Clear a ton of sales awaits designers and Mer chants who will get the ladies what they want. How about it. Los Angeles times syndicated columnist Landers welcomes your letters you can write to her in care of the stars and stripes Apo 09211, . Forces Page 11 the stars european edition col Jeffrey m. Cook Usa commander editor in chief a tool Suzanne l. Phillips Usan Deputy commander editor in chief Marie Kominicki Mert Proctor Deane b. Mcdermot production manager managing editor 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. The appearance of advertising in this publication including inserts or supplements does not constitute endorsement by the department of de sense or the stars and stripes of the products or services advertised. Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for Purchase use. Or patronage without regard to race color religion sex Reader fumes Over old Billet new hotel i just read that $65 million will probably be spent to build a new hotel in Garmisch. I can t believe that the majority of the american people would approve of this use of their dollars. I am stationed on a Small site in the Worms military Community. We have been trying to obtain funding for the remodelling of two of our Barracks buildings for two years now. These two buildings House about 170 soldiers. That is about 40-45 percent of our personnel on Post. This remodelling is not a cosmetic thing. We Nee new pipes and drains new heating hardware such As window frames and other Basic living requirement Snow i m sure that this new hotel will help the morale a a welfare of the soldiers in these buildings. When the heat goes out again they can just imagine How nicest would be to be relaxing in the Sauna Down in Gar Misch. When the drains plug up As they do Ever week they can look Forward to driving 1,000 kilo me ters to use the toilet in this Nice $65 million playhouse. I am thoroughly disgusted by the obvious priorities displayed by our leaders both in the service and in Congress. The few who actually care about the men and women in their service Are sadly outnumbered by those who have made their Way to the promised land of rank and rubbed shoulders with nothing better Todo with their very real Power except ensure that it continues to get them the Best of what s offered at the expense of All americans especially those in the serv ices. I really Don t expect any reply to this letter. If it did bring about a closer look at How Money is allocated i d be pleased. But i Don t expect that to occur either. My experience with the system says i m wasting my time. Maybe a Call to the fraud waste and abuse hotline would be More effective sgt. Alfred Jole or. Worms West Germany editors note we received two replies to this letter. The first is from maj. Gerald t. Wellman director engineering and housing Worms military Community i can certainly appreciate the concern of the author of this letter. However As i imagine is the Case with most of the letters that you receive this is a rather complicated Issue with several factors involved. For the Sake of Brevity i have chosen to address what i feel Are the two key issues. First let me clarify an apparent misunderstanding on the part of the Reader regarding the use of non appropriated Naf is. Appropriated funds of. The $68 Mil lion that will be used to fund the new hotel in Garmisch comes from Naf. The Crux of the Naf is. Of Issue is that Naf dollars cannot be used to finance the maintenance and repair of troop billets. This is strictly an appropriated fund Oma rpm requirement. Reads Between the " nes the real question Here is at is the status of the projects to renovate my billets this is an appropriate question for the Deh unfortunately due to the Lack of specific details in the Basic letter certain assumptions Are needed to be made in order to provide a project status. Based on the generic description Given in the letter i am going to assume that the two billets in question Are buildings 10,009 and10,016, located at the Kriegsfeld ammo depot which houses the 558th my co. There Are in fact two separate projects pending for these buildings. Due to the extensive amount of remodelling de scribed in the letter it should be understandable that projects of this scope require a sizable amount of design fsstk38 wel1 As the programming of dollars in Thelpma account to pay for them. With this in mind the two year wait that the Soldier addresses in the letter should not necessarily be considered excessive. A currently the project for building 10,009 has been100 percent designed has been contracted with the Staatse auant the Host nation construction Agency Andis scheduled to break ground this Spring once the Winter weather Breaks. The project for building 10,016 is 75 percent de signed and fiscal year 1989 funds have been requested. Due to severe rpm funding constraints this project instill below the 21st Talcom funding line for this fiscal year. However with the commander in chiefs guidance to get rid of Lousy Barracks in Usa eur the potential for funding in this fiscal year is a bit More optimistic. I Hope that this has provided some insight into threader s concerns. As always the status of these or any other Worms Deh projects can be obtained through the Soldier s Chain of command from the on site installation coordinator. Installation coordinators and or outside agencies May obtain this information directly from meat ets 383-7236/8354. The second reply is from Harry l. Connors  affairs manager. Armed forces recreation Center West Germany i can understand the writer s frustration after read ing the news about a $65 million Complex being built for recreational purposes while he must tolerate the substandard living conditions described. The hotel in Garmisch is being built with non appropriated funds funds which Are generated from morale welfare and recreation activities  Means no taxpayer dollars Are involved. It also Means that All soldiers in Europe Are stockholders in arc since it s their Naf dollars paying for the construction. Military clubs outdoor recreation Community centers Rod and gun clubs and sports pro Grams to name a few Are part of the Naf network. Construction and maintenance of billets is paid Forwith appropriated funds funds that Congress appropriates for military construction projects. This mean these projects Are built at taxpayer expense. The two funding systems Are completely separate from each other. This does t mean the hotel has priority or is More important than your living quarters. It simply Means that Naf funds were available and will be used to replace facilities which were built in the 1930s. Arc has waited a Long time for this. Upgrading and building new facilities shows that our leaders do care. The new hotel in Garmisch is being built for you As part of your military benefits while stationed overseas. Writer finds postal taping Rule amusing he response to the recent letter Reader becomes or Mph Ink Ann. U., of. The the Rece unglued Over tape contained an amusing one liner. My wife and i chuckled Over this quote the ends of the tape must also be taped  my imagination raced into Infinity As i pictured two ends of a piece of tape each covered by a piece of tape now there would be four ends to cover next eight ends then 16 ends. In math this is represented As 2x2xn where n equals the exponent in this Case in Finity. Perhaps the responder was thinking that this action would Only be done once but my image is of a Box covered with Brown paper rapidly being coated in sealing tape in an endless Effort to tape Down the ends of tape ends. And still an end in sight i quickly became wrapped up in this unending Saga. We would never be Able to mail a package again even if we could afford the tape because the boxes would All exceed postal size limits. So Twa and pan am what Are your packaging rules for air freight sgt. 1st class Ronald Killmer Mainz West Germany i National origin age marital status physical Handicap political affiliation Orang other non Merit Factor of the purchaser user or Patron Alt Allon or Tho cl3? add the stars and stripes Apo 09211. International mail Terri hid a isl Psi of a 11 14 37 �-6100 Darmstadt 11. German Tel Griesheim civilian 06155 6010 ets 348-5741 or a4-�3q 4880 or civilian 0039-81-7624049. ?7kn, a vote he ,uildin9 436 Cess us Raf Mildenhall Apo 09127 Telephone Auto on 238-2226 or civilian 0638-512226. Washington . Chuck Vinch. William Bartman Oast a the pen p � by 46�95 Washington do 20050-609s Tele ets 348-5741arv Green Deedee Arrington Doke civllianm1.52104 Barracks Apo �9227 Telephone ets 489-6585 or Munich Germany Charlie Bowden building 16, b stairwell 2nd Chan Row wot sure a �94�7 the 6ph�T 447320 of Nornberg Germany Vince Crawley building 21, William o Darby Cavern. 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