European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 14, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday May 14,1989 the stars and stripes Ann Landers dear Ann Landers Why did you think the follow ing was worthy of your column it was not like you to print such nonsense. To refresh your Mem Ory religion controls us with the fear that we arc evil. Psychiatry controls us with the fear that we arc crazy. Society controls us with the fear that we Are less than others. Is it any wonder so Many  ple arc nervous wrecks i m sure you Don t agree with any of that gibberish. Surely you know religion sup ports us with love and Hope. Pay ciliary supports us with insight and helps us to realize that we Aren t crazy. Society supports us with Friendship and gives us a sense of self Worth. Were you on vacation what happened i read you in stars and stripes dear s and s on vacation no.  maybe my head was off some where when 1 printed that Ultra cynical letter from a Kalamazoo Reader. Every now and then i wig out from mail overload burnout and that s what happened. Mea culpa. Dear Ann Landers i am the Mother of seven the grandmother of 12 and the great grandmother of four. My Job is extremely demanding and my son has been ill for several months which is probably what prompted my Daugh Ter to Send this column to me. When i read it i was moved to tears. Please Ann run it again on Mother s Day if possible. . In Hayward Calif. Page 11 letters Here it is on Mother s Day As requested. I Hope thousands of readers who Haven i been Good at express ing their gratitude will clip it and Send it to their Moth  a on in a million mom Here s to you dear lady for All the dreams you dreamed for us. Not one of us became the Ballerina or vocalist or pianist or doctor or lawyer you were hoping for. The boys did t become millionaires and the girls did t learn to speak six languages. Instead we Are the Chil Dren who forgot to say thank you when it probably would have meant a lot to you. We arc the ones who talked when we should have listened. We Are the Little tykes who woke you before Dawn to serve you the breakfast in bed birthday special Burnt Toast weak Lea unscrambled eggs and the half raw Bacon swim Ming in grease. We gathered around your bed and Sang Happy birthday dear  you pretended to be thrilled and tried your darn Cost to cat the mess we had brought to your bed. Our childhood is Over and Here Are the thank yous Many years overdue. Thank you for being there when we needed you. Thanks for being our Tower of strength when you needed support yourself. Thank you for believing in us when we had trouble believing in ourselves. Thank you for saying what we needed to hear and for knowing when silence meant More than words. Your Wisdom seemed to come from a place that none of us could Ever figure out. Thank you. Mom for allowing us to dream our own dreams even though your dreams were More Glamor Ous. And thank you too for never letting on when we disappointed you. Most of All. Mom thank you forgiving us the Roo we needed to grow and the Freedom to team from our own mistakes. We Hope that we can do half As will with our kids. Your Loving children lot Angeles times syndicated columnist Landers welcomes your letters. You can write to tier in cure of the slam end stripes Apo 09211, . Forces Reader s questions on an addressed since my arrival in Germany i have read Many complaints and letters expressing general dissatisfaction concerning programming on an television. 1 personally did not understand most of these complaints because i come from out in the country in Texas where Cable service had not yet reached and no one out there owned their own satellite receiver. What we Vatch cd consisted of what we could pull in with our outdoor antennas and tapes we rented. We had a Choice of two vhf stations and one uhf. In my opinion. An gives us better programming than the choices i had there.  As Good As i find the programming i feel compelled to voice my annoyance and dissatisfaction in two areas. First off at some intervals there arc what an refers to As video  my complaint is that they last Only about 10 seconds or less. Some of these Are very entertaining and i would like to Sec them in their entirety. Why arc they Cut off i for one would prefer 10 seconds of Blank screen to having a Good video abruptly Cut off. My second Peeve is poor reception. In the an to guide there is a listing of the approximately 90 an transmitting stations in West Germany alone and their respective output Powers. One station the one in prism is listed As having Only  Watts. I believe that s equal to 100 Mill Watts or As much As a kiddie walk in talkie. Why arc there 90 weak stations when a handful of powerful ones could probably do a much More efficient Job and give us who live in the fringe area a Clear picture i am in government housing with a roof top Antenna. Please explain this to me. Patrick Montgomery Mainz West Germany editor s note we received two responses to this Tetter. The first is from Tom Baxter chief television operations he american forces network Europe an Europe does not schedule video  these Short clips Are inserted by the armed forces radio and television sen ice broadcast Center in Losangeles during satellite transmitted programs to help fill the time where commercials have been removed from the program. The time of various commercial Breaks  not match the various lengths of the video Breaks. Therefore to avoid cutting into the program Content arts will end the video break whenever the Commer Cial being replaced has ended. It s interesting to note your comment about a 10-Sec-Ond Blank screen being acceptable. Previously arts filled the time Between a department of defense announcement and the return to program with still Scenic visuals with background music. This method of opera Tion made it impossible to rejoin the program without interrupting an announcement. In response to repealed audience complaints about the length of time the still pictures were on the screen arts implemented these of the video Breaks which last up to three minutes in order to fill a variety  some periods. They Are not intended to be Complete entertainment segments and Are designed to enable breakaway at any time. The Power of transmitters carrying the an signal is not determined by an Europe. The Host country governments regulate the strength of an transmitters based on location frequency available Channel space and the intention to limit service to the authorized Dod audience rather than mass coverage throughout Europe. The second reply is from 2nd i. Scott a. Gilchr Pil. Deputy chief of staff for engineering and implementation he san signal come yes it is technically feasible to erect several High Power transmitters to broadcast an to throughout Germany. However entertainment Industry concerns Over copyright infringements Force arts to limit it broadcasts to the smallest possible area containing the greatest possible number of american military person Nel. Arts is in the process of expanding television coverage through several programs. One program involves expanding coverage through new transmitters and transmitter upgrades. Applications for these licenses Are pending with the Host nation. Approvals for the transmitter applications have been slow going due to the fact that frequencies Are a limited resource and we Are in Competition with Host nation interests for these resources. Reader asks Congress whom it works for Why is it that making decisions that will Benefit nearly every family in America is so hard for Congress with virtually every Parent working child care is a major financial Issue for us All. Yet members of Congress can t Sec it or can they when it comes to their own employees there s no question. Both he House and Senate offer exemplary child care centers for their employees. However the rest of America s budgets must suffer. The minimum wage has been the same since i started work at 16, seven years ago.  Congress actually had the Gall to even try to put a 50 percent raise for themselves past preventing More Oil spills Why is everyone blaming the Exxon corporation for the Oil spill in i Ricc William sound Alaska it is not Exxon s fault the Tanker ran aground. It could have just As easily have been a Tanker from one of the other Oil companies. The people should worry less about blaming the company and help find ways to prevent such a catastrophe from happening again. Robin Maris Mainz West Germany All letters to the editor must contain the full printed name and address of the writer and must be signed. We do not read unsigned letters but we will withhold your name on request and protect your privacy. All letters Are subject to editing. The american people. I m tired of Reading about the big debates Over topics that will help us All and in the next column How Congress once again has passed a Law which will Benefit Only those work ing in Washington. Washington d.c., is the capital but what All of our legislators seem to forget is the accent is on America. We do not exist for their amusement. They arc supposed to work for us. Spec. Kimberly Montgomery Frankfurt West Germany pen pals i m 20 years old and a roman Catholic. I would Ike pen pals. I like to Cook. It fac. Amadin 698 Quezon blvd Davao atty Philippines i am 23 years old and tote rated in writing pen pals. I Tike Wrost log knitting Reading writing and enjoying my Hie Elk Elott Kirch Walstr. 34 6800 Mannheim 31, West Germany i d like to correspond with people. I am 21 years old my hobbies Are Reading cooking and swimming. Lyle inn c. Petto Quezon Panambo Davao Del Norto. Philippines pm a 19-year-old Catholic who would he pen pals Exiaa Catayas Galban 12 solid Street. Lapu Lapu Village Ardao Davao City 8000 Philippines please put my name in your pen pal column. I am a 22-year-old Soldier stationed in West Germany. I he take Riding Reading and dancing  bbtry2/3fa#353 Apo n.v., . 09045 european edition col Jeffrey m. Cook. Usa commander editor m chief it col Suzanne l. Phillips Usan Deputy commander editor in Chiel Marie Kominicki meet Proctor Deane b. Mcdermott production manager managing editor circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication Lor 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 Tina pub Capon. Including inserts or supplements does not constitute endorsement by the department Oloe Hose or the stars and stripes of the products or services advertised. Everyn woj advertised in bus. 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