European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes Page 11 dear Ann Landers i appreciated your support of the medical student who told of the sacrifices necessary to be come a doctor but was disappointed that you found it Nec Essary to add a greater concerns How Long the medical profession can survive the greed of Law yers and their murderous Mal practice  Why Are you blaming the Law yers it is the juries made up of everyday men and women who award outrageous sums of Money. For shame Omaha Reader dear Omaha the letter to which you refer produced screams forage from every segment of society mostly lawyers of coarse. Read on dear Ann Landers unlike the errors of other professionals such As accountants architects and even lawyers a doctor s mis takes can be buried and they often Are. Juries have Abig say in awarding damages. And judges have tremendous Power if a jury goes haywire. They can reduce the damages and even throw out the verdict. You landed on the lawyers much too hard. M.s., Beverly Hill dear Ann do you not believe that patients should have re course when something goes wrong for example when an intoxicated or coked up surgeon takes out the healthy kidney instead of the one that is diseased should t somebody pay for the pain and agony and sometimes death of these victims p.c., chicag from Wheeling i Don t begrudge the physician his $100,000 a Yea but i am a practising research scientist. We also had to spend two or three years in postdoctoral studies but our salaries will never approach half of what our medi Cal counterparts earn. Is it a greater contribution to carve out a tumor from a cancerous patient than to do the biochemical research that is necessary to under stand the disease and discover cures  the Legal profession deserves better than it got fro you in a recent column. Anybody anywhere in this country can get Legal counsel free if he or she can not afford to pay. But there Are Many places in Ameri Ca where you can bleed to death on the sidewalk if Youdon t have health insurance. So Cut the Bull about How dedicated doctors Are and How Long they studied to remembers of this privileged class. Glencoe 111. Is i have been a pharmacist for 35 years. Please Don t try to Tell me about doctors. I Deal with them All Daylong. I have been kept waiting on the phone As Long As 15 minutes waiting for god to answer. They Are the most arrogant people on the face of the Earth. Oak Lawn 111. I have been a practising attorney for almost 50years. I have fought and won one malpractice suit on behalf of a widow and nine children. She was the wife of my brother a cancer specialist who died of leukaemia contracted because of poor maintenance by the Hospi Tal of radiation equipment. I Admire the medical profession. It has saved my life half a dozen times. But forever greedy lawyer there is an incompetent inefficient Lazy doctor who makes malpractice litigation essential if this is to be an equitable society.  readers those Are just a few of the letters i be received. There were thousands More All worthy of print. My thanks to All who wrote. You Rose to the occasion magnificently and produced an excellent rebuttal. I have never received classier responses. Readers comment about shooting Story you recently ran a Story about the Rifle used in the tragic shootings in Stockton Calif. There Are some factual errors and misleading statements in this article. For instance the bullets Are described As steel Pierc ing. This May Lead people to think these Are the same thing As Armor piercing.  Small arms will Pierce some Type of steel even the .22 Long Rifle. This is Why people who May be the subject of attack have specially armoured vehicles. In fact police agencies have found that it is harder to penetrate the Glass Windshield of Acar than the steel body because the seemingly More fragile Glass will cause bullets to Ricochet but the steel body will often allow penetration. As for the 3-Inch steel Post mentioned later in the article it was undoubtedly hollow tubing or pipe. How Many of you have seen playground equipment made from 3-Inch solid Stock the Bullet then did not penetrate 3 inches of steel it went through two much thinner layers that were 3 inches apart. It s also not surprising that bullets went through several classroom Walls. In typical . Construction where Wallboard is used Over stud framing most adult males can put their fist through a Wall. Quite often instructors who teach use of firearms for self defens Ein the Home caution against Oye penetration and advise the use of Small diameter Bir shot which will disa ble an attacker at close Range but quickly lose Energy As the Range grows. The fact that Large capacity magazines were use also Means Little since this tragedy involved victims who were probably chosen because they were so help less. When people who Are not trained in defensive measures Are confronted with a situation like this the often freeze like an animal caught in the headlights of a car. With 500 children in a schoolyard it s unlike Lyall of them would have been Able to take cover in time to avoid being shot after the killer had reloaded. The statement that the Rifle is too powerful to reused for Hunting or target practice is clearly false. The 7.62mm x 39 soviet service Cartridge of the ak-47 i about equal ballistic ally to the 30-30 Winchester. The 30-30 still enjoys some popularity for Hunting at the Shorter ranges found in the Eastern United states but is considered inadequate in the More open areas of the Western United states where game is typically shot at longer ranges. At least one major . Manufacturer has advertised its Rifle for this Cartridge As having less recoil and com pares it to the 30-30, the .223 Remington illegally underpowered for Deer in most states and two cartridges for which the same manufacturer makes  7.62x39 is clearly less powerful than most of the cartridges american Hunters favor. While the ak-47 itself is More noted for its rough reliability than accuracy the 7.62x39 is the predecessor of the .220 russian which in turn is used Bybe Chrest shooters to make 6mm pc cartridges which hold most of the world accuracy records Inbe Chrest shooting. One of the reasons this Cartridge is so accurate i that it produces just enough Energy to get to the target consistently without excessive recoil. Unless Newton Slaw has been repealed by the los Angeles times lower recoil generally Means lower muzzle Energy. The thrust of this article is that somehow an inanimate object is evil. What this ignores is the fact that our society has serious problems that we Haven t Deal with very Well. Students get through the Public school system without skills and values that could make the productive members of society. Prisons make no at tempt at rehabilitation they just contain temporarily because of overcrowding prisoners Are often released far earlier than is Safe for society. Firearms seem to be a particularly attractive targe for this Type of hysteria. I doubt that if suspect Patrick Edward Purdy had instead of burning his car for diversion made a car bomb we would be Reading an outcry to ban station wagons. In the four months i be been overseas this tour i Venot iced an improvement in the objectivity of news Content in the stars and stripes. Unfortunately this article was highly inaccurate and biased toward one Side in a controversial political Issue. If it had anyplace in the paper at All it May have been in the Edito rial Section not news. Edward l. Mann or. Ankara Turkey the los Angeles times article stated How easy twas for Patrick Edward Purdy to obtain a semiautomatic assault Rifle. The article is fraught with inaccuracies. The article states that the ak-47 is too powerful foxhunting or target practice and is mainly used by Street criminals. Balderdash an ak-47 fires a 7.62mm Corn bloc round similar to our 7.62 nato which is known in the sporting world As the .308 Winchester which Isth Caliper of my Deer Rifle. And 80,000 Are on the streets come on Purdy could have purchased any number of Semi automatic weapons on the Market today Many of which Are designed As sporting rifles. Or he could have used a Shotgun or a baseball Bat anyway the kids would still be dead. The article also stated How easy it was for Purdy to Purchase the weapon having Only to Complete a form stating he was t mentally ill or otherwise  was obviously in Possession of his faculties at the time of the Purchase. But the same individuals who decry his ease in purchasing a weapon would be the first to stand up for his rights to the insanity  which had he lived would have kept him from a death sentence if he went to trial at All. Under the present Law these weapons Are getting into the wrong  Well there Are Laws against narcotics and prostitution. The records show Purd violated those Laws. Would a Law Banning the Sale or Possession of a weapon really have stopped him from obtaining one if that was his intent reprinting this article reflects poor judgment and alack of journalistic values. With the blatant lies and distortions this article could have been copied straight from a handgun control inc. Newsletter. You would do Well to steer away from such sensationalistic Tom Myron and print actual  sgt. Joseph v. Gray Eschborn West Germany pen pals i am 37 and would like pen pals. I enjoy travelling collecting photos singing and cooking. I would like to hear from people Between 37 and 40. Esp Ellne Bailey Clark Avenue Ewarton Post. Catherine Jamaica i would like to correspond with people All Over the world. I am 18. My hobbies Are travelling sing ing and cooking. Nellie m. Albufera Cervantes ext. Dumaguet City Negros Oriental Philippines i would like my name published in the pen pal column. I am a 29-year-old jordanian Man. I especially would like to correspond with people from the United states England and Germany. My hobbies Are travelling exchanging ideas listening to music and adventure. Jalal Abdoul . Box 15124 Amman Jordan i am 20 years old and would like pen pals. My hobbies Are singing and meeting new people. I work in my grandmother s store. Marissa Sarana 259 la Campana St. Sta. Catalina Negros Oriental 6220 Philippines i would like pen pals. I am 28 and a single mom of two Little boys. I like sports and the outdoors. I come from a military background. Please help ill my mail Box. Dawn e. Ygueravide 5616 s. Hampshire blvd. Fort Worth Texas 76112-6913 please include my name in your pen pal column. I am 27. My hobbies include Reading writing and listening to music. Rachel Mendoza #2 capt. Cruz St. Tanza Ravotas metro Manila Philippines 1403 european edition col Jeffrey m. Cook Usa commander editor in chief it col Suzanne l. Phillips Usan Deputy commander editor in chief Marie Kominicki Mert Proctor Deane b. Mcdermott 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. 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