European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 23, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 the stars and stripes tuesday May 23,1989 Maici Juliac he he Chi wife in shooting incident flown to . For surgery Wil Flecken. West Germany is the wife of a Soldier who allegedly snot her with an m-16 before turning the weapon on himself has been flown to the United states for surgery a spokesman said monday. Barbie Strickland was taken Friday from Frankfurt army regional medical Center to by Thesda naval Hospital in both Coda md., for More detailed surgery than we could give her  maj. David Hartman said. She suffered significant damage to the left forearm in the May 15 shooting said the spokesman for the 32nd army air defense come in Darmstadt. Her husband sgt. James Strickland was in stable condition he said. Strickland was to have been transported Mon Day to the Frankfurt medical Center from a Ger Man Hospital in Fulda. Hartman said. Strickland. 30, was shot in the Abdomen. The shootings occurred in government leased hous ing in Gers fold. A town near . No charges have been filed against Strickland who is assigned to he Bury. 3rd in 52nd air defense arty in wild Flucken. An investigation by the criminal investigation come has not yet determined How the Mili tary Rifle was obtained. Hartman said. Memorial rites planned for entertainment chief Aschaffenbur. West Germany a memorial service will be held wednesday for the chief of the Usa eur entertainment division. James t. Martin died thursday at the Frank Furt University clinic from complications of pneumonia said co worker Patricia Henry. He was 46. The service will be at the soldiers theater on Graves Barracks at 2 . Henry said. Martin entertainment chief since 1975, also had been Community entertainment director in Munich and Gic Ssan and costume director at the . Army Soldier support Center Europe in a Schaffenburg during his 17 years in the usar eur entertainment system. He received a Bachelor s degree in Fine arts from the University of Oklahoma with majors in acting and directing. Upon graduation Martin was commissioned As an army lieutenant in Field artillery. After serving two years in Furth West Germany he entered civil service. Martin is survived by his parents James h. And Betty Martin of Lawton okla., and a sister Mary Katharine Gardner of Peoria. Ariz. Protesters expected to Block suspected nuke storage site by . Green Kaiserslautern Bureau Fischbach. West Germany an expected 300 West germans plan to Block the Entrance to Fischbach army depot today to protest the suspected storage of nuclear and chemical weapons. The 24-hour sit Down protest was scheduled to begin at Midnight monday said Hannalora bloc reel. One of the organizers. It s a protest against Poison Gas atomic weapons and everything that destroys human life and the envy  Horbel said. We want All chemical weapons removed and no new ones brought  despite the protest it will be business As usual for the depot 12 Miles Southeast of Parma sons. Said maj. Steve Gen scr a spokesman for the 59lh Ord brigade which maintains the facility. Gen scr said there were no plans to increase . Security. The German police will actually be the Agency responding to All  Gen scr said. Police escorts were being arranged monday for peo ple entering or leaving the depot Gen scr said. About 600 military members and 100 civilians live or work at the depot. The Fischbach army depot is one of the largest ammunition storage facilities maintained by the United states in West Germany. Many West germans fear that chemical and nuclear weapons Are stored at the site making it a frequent site of demonstrations. Gen scr would neither confirm nor deny the demonstrators suspicions about the weapons. The demonstration organized by the sit Down for peace organization is also a Celebration honouring the 40ih anniversary of the West German Constitution. Well sing and  Horbel said. It s a birth Day  to support the festivities the organizers had asked the . Military to provide them with electricity for a band s guitar. We have declined to provide them Power Gen scr said. Dollar from Page 1 at 1,462.50 lire and against the belgian franc equating 42.065 francs. Late monday there were reports of concerted european Central Bank intervention aimed at driving the Dollar Down in value but the Buck was re ported holding steady at 2.0120 Marks on the Frankfurt. West Germany currency Exchange. I think the Central Banks would have to sell an awful lot of dollars to drive the Exchange rate Back under 2 Marks said Tim Fox. An economist with Midland Montagu in London. Fox said european Central Banks have seemed a bit disorganized in their efforts to Stem the Dollar s Rise in recent Days and . Federal Reserve officials have made some statements indicating that a More powerful Greenback does t present them with any problems. Perhaps the Central Banks need to sit Down and discuss their  Fox said. At the moment it does t seem the g-7 has a Well coordinated policy in  the term 0-7 refers to the group of seven Industrial nations the United slates Japan West Germany France great Britain Italy and Canada which for the past two years have generally cooperated in an attempt to promote Exchange rate stability. In Tokyo trading the Dollar was also Strong Mon Day. It ended the Day at 140.45 yen. Up 1.68 yen from Friday s close. It was the first Lime the Dollar had finished above 140 yen since oct. 28, 1987. The Strong showing came despite $2 billion Worth of Dollar sales by the Bank of Japan which was intent on holding the Buck s gains in Check. Traders said political unrest in China and the aftershocks of the japanese influence peddling scandal which has toppled prime minister Noboru Takeshita played a part in the Dollar s Good show ing and the yen s weakness. Fox and other currency traders said they were surprised the Dollar moved up so far so fast Early this week. Before Bush s statement was issued. Ginter Teich a currency expert with the Bank of Boston in Frankfurt said he could envision the Dollar Retreat ing 2 or 3 pfennig from its highs of monday. But Tucich said he believes currency traders would View the fall simply As a fresh Opportunity to buy. That should drive the Buck up in value again. Here s a look at a few other conversion rates for tuesday As reported by merchants National Bank in Greece the Dollar will bring 170.10 Drach Mas. In Spain the Buck will bring 125.34 pesetas. In Turkey the Dollar will be Worth 2.093.35 Liras. In the Netherlands the Dollar will bring 2.2640 dutch guilders. Gis from Page 1 for a single customer was two hours and 13 minutes on a payday. Anderson said there Are lots of reasons forthe slow Bank service. Community Bank branches Are understaffed in some areas there Aren t enough automated Teller machines on line and too few soldiers have atm cards the Usa eur banking expert said. The Survey numbers were a Confirma Tion of what we had been told and what we expected Anderson said. Lines Are a Way of life Over  the Survey which was conducted during March and Early april uncovered the Fol lowing waiting times on paydays and non paydays in v corps the average waiting time at 26 branches was 25.93 minutes on paydays and 14.1 minutes on non paydays. In Vii corps the average waiting time at 22 branches surveyed was 26.04 minutes on paydays and 12.68 minutes on other Days. At the 21 St theater army area come s 14 branches the average wailing time on paydays was 15.08 minutes. The average wailing Lime on non paydays was 8.23 min Ulics. Al seven other miscellaneous branches surveyed average waiting limes were 19.41 minutes on paydays and 12.95 minutes on other Days. Anderson believes those numbers can be improved. We be got a lot of enhancements work ing and it s reasonable to assume Well get the funding for them he said. We Sec the future being a Little bit brighter than the  Anderson said 10 of inc Community Bank s older automated Teller machines were replaced with faster More modern models this fiscal year and 13 More will be replaced next fiscal year. The Community Bank also is adding 20 machines to ils Over All atm network which will number 108 machines by the end of september. An advertising Campaign designed to get Scricc members More accustomed to banking via the atm is already underway. In another step  will be encouraged to get out of line by Selling up standing payment orders to pay monthly Bills. Anderson said a great Deal of the waiting Lime problem is caused because customers Ofinn arc uncomfortable using inc Auto mated banking services available to them. If customers would use the 24-hour machines More often they would save time and re Duce lines he said. Deposits foreign currency Exchange and transfers of funds Between checking and Sav Ings accounts Are All examples of trans actions that could be handled without step Ping fool inside the Bank he said. But some customers balk at banking by atm and some Community commanders discourage their troops from even getting an atm card put of fear that they would misuse inc result ing easy Access to Cash. The last problem will largely be solved when most Community Bank arms arc hooked Inlo an on line system in the next few weeks. Anderson said. That Means the machines will be connected to a Central accounting system that will know How much Cash a customer has in his account. If there s no Money in the Bank account the atm won t dispense any to the customer. Anderson said a acc Cal move in the right direction was inc implementation of a pro Gram known As Check safekeeping at Mer chants which runs Community Bank operations throughout West Germany Greece and the Netherlands. Under the program which started March i cancelled checks Are no longer resumed to customers. Bank officials said the program allows tellers to get out of the Back room where they have been stuffing checks into monthly Bank statements and spend More time in tellers cages helping customers. Check safekeeping in ils first Ihrcke months of operations already has allowed some Community Bank branches to lengthen hours by 30 minutes per Day Anderson said. However the no Check program was too new to have any significant Impact on the waiting time Survey. The army s goal is to reduce wailing times to no More than 15 minutes per Cus Tomer on paydays and to no More than five minutes on other Days. Realistically Well probably always have a payday problem but if we can minimize thai i believe Well accomplish what inc commanders and the customers want an Derson said. Bob Lewis vice president in charge of Branch adminis Lvalion for merchants Bank said Long waiting times arc a problem with which Bank officials arc very familiar. It s Safe to say Hal we Are not pleased with the length of Lime our customers have to stand in line Lewis said. Correcting the problem will require a combination of larger facilities More people and smarter Bank  merchants must redouble ils efforts to Tel customers about All the electronic banking services that Are available but some prob lems will Only be overcome through capital improvements to banking facilities he said. Lewis gave the example of a recent sat urday when 75 customers were lined up in front of a Community Bank Branch 45 min utes before it opened. Even with every ice scr Cage occupied we never got under 20 minutes per customer in wailing Lime Lewis said. The answer is a combination of More space and More peo