European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 19, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday August 19, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 Over Here 4t sex football player now a poetic my by Ron Jensen Suff write Frankfurt West Germany Guys in High school Don t share their poetry with pals on the Root Ball team. Offensive linemen look Down their face masks at teammates who work off stress composing verse instead of crunching the people in the other coloured was True in sgt. Timothy Todd s Hometown a Small farming Community in Western Illinois where a of Voulo sgt. Timothy Todd. It s a stress Relier the sight of a Field of Green ripening Corn is As closet poetry As Many people Ever get. So it was that Todd s first poems were Tor his eyes Only secrets he told himself when his heart ached or his mind bounced Here and there in writing i did in High school was closet writ ing. It was t something i took to school and showed to my buddies said the native of Mundon a town of about 900 near the former stomping grounds of poets Carl Sandburg and Edgar Lee masters. But Todd has pulled his poetry from the dark. The Soldier with the 284th my co no longer fears the eyes of others. In fact he craves them. He wants Tobe discovered. He will take a big first step during the labor Day weekend by attending the fifth annual world of poetry convention in Washington. Todd is an invite guest one of the people who will receive the association s Golden poet award for 1989 in a presentation by Bob Hope. The award measures barely six inches but i boosts Todd much higher than that. For one thing it makes him eligible for the grand prize contest i which the Winner receives $15,000 and the title of world of poetry laureate for 1989.the Creighton w. Abrams subchapter of the association of the . Army will pay Todd s expenses tothe convention. The world of poetry is a 14-year-old organization created to promote poets and poetry said Mary Rudic a spokesman for the California based group that has More than i million members. Rudic said the group gives its Golden poet award tothe top 10 percent of poems entered in the Competition. The next 5 percent receive the Silver poet award. Win ners of the Golden poet award then enter a new poem in the group s grand prize reason for the awards is to let each Community know they have a poet and that poetry should be Hon ored in that Community Rudge said. World of poetry Hopes each Winner will become a role Model encouraging others to express themselves through poetry. Todd s poetry began with a busted up right knee that kept him dormant for most of the summer be fore his Sophomore year in High school. He had take piano lessons As a kid but had never put them to use until that summer when he began plunking the keys to relieve the boredom. I started coming up with tunes but 1 did t Havethe words to match he said. But it was the words that appealed to him an soon the music faded. He wrote when motivated by an emotional episode such As a breakup with a girl Friend. It s a stress Relief More than anything he poetry often takes a religious Bent. The Todd household was strongly Southern Baptist and that influence is evident in the poems. One poem is based on the 13lh chapter of 1 corinthians. And there arc these lines from the quid Haven the poem for which he received the world of poetry recognition and one that starts out gloomy before turning hopeful As i begin to feel despair while pondering this scene / catch a glimpse of Faith and Hope in a growing Evergreen. Reaching out to heaven above yet firmly bound to Earth. It reminds me of my father of my new eternal poetry that began that summer continued through his graduation from High school in 1979 and his year As a theology major at Hannibal Lagrange College in Hannibal mo., Home of writer mar Twain. But the writing came to a Hall when he entered the army in 1982."the military put a crimp in it he said. I did t write anything until 1985."now he writes Only when the urge hits that urge comes when an idea enters his Skull and can Only be discharged by putting the thoughts on paper. Todd was once standing guard outside a general office when an idea struck making it a discomforting wait for Relief before he could reach for his the poem is written Todd feels a weight lift from him and Waits for the next urge to strike. Ican t sign a contract and say i la Crank out so Many poems a month he was that Way with the Eagle and the Bear a thinly disguised talc of the soviet Union and the United slates. For about six months that one s been bugging me. But i could never gel it put Down the Way i wanted it Todd said. Now it is on paper and maybe his entry in the contest at the poets conc lion a Cal is irony in this that is not lost on Todd. He is a military policeman with a list of awards an commendations for his help in handling murder cases and nuclear weapons inspections. He is called upon to assist when humanity exposes its worst Side. Yeah i get harassed about being a big bad cop and writing poems he says with a smile. But unlike the boys on the football team his fellow maps have been supportive and encouraging i feel More comfortable showing it around he said. Solutions by sgt. Timothy Todd seeking peace we sow discord. Seeking happiness we wreak sorrow. Seeking the truth we generate lies. Seeking to Rule the world we kill its inhabitants. Seeking our own Way we kill the uncooperative. Seeking to help others we lose our compassion. We arc the hitlers the Mussolini. We have become the mansons the Oswalds. We have built new Dachau concentration Camps. We have become in essence the judge and the july. Dachau. Moscow Tehran Washington. Murderers thieves liars cheats. We kill the enemy put away the incompetent. Lock up the underprivileged condemn the poor. Berate the unfortunate tread on the prostrate. Euthanasia for the wounded cyanide for the Down hearted retirement Homes for the aged abortion for the unwanted. We arc your elders your predecessors your parents. Welcome to our world beloved posterity make your self at Home. Memo warning of safety Board cutbacks quashed Washington a the nation Al transportation safety Board has so few investigators it May have to drop nearly one third of the 3,000 or so Acci Dent investigations it conducts a year the Agency s held operations director says in a memo that was quashed by his Boss. The memo s author Herbert Banks made his concerns known in a May 11 memo that projected the loss of six air safety investigators by year s end. That he wrote would Force the safety Board to drop the number of investigations it can handle a year by900. The Bureau s situation is critical an worsening Banks wrote saying that such a curtailing goes against the Agency s congressional mandate to investigate All air plane crashes and is not in the interest of Public his memo however did t make it tothe five a residentially appointed Board members for a hearing. It was sent Back by the Board s staff director Lloyd Miller preventing the Issue from being debated by the Boarland perhaps being aired at a Public hearing. Miller thought the situation no serious enough to be put before the Board. The safety Board s acting chairman interviewed recently disagreed with Banks assessment. James Kolstad said the evaluation was Overly he said no major investigations or critical safety problem would be affected at the Agency which examines air plane crashes sea disasters major Highway accidents and pipeline Breaks. There has been a cutback in investigations he said. But frankly we be got fewer accidents the Accident rate is improving. That d9csn t suggest we have enough people to investigate the accidents that exist because we Don to but i think we redoing a better Job on the ones that we arc investigating. Over the past decade the safety Board s staff has been reduced from More than 400 to 324, with Many key investigators leaving for higher paying private jobs. Major investigations now under Way include two recent incidents involving explosive engine failures in dc-1 of other Airliner accidents Oil spills in alas a and elsewhere and several freight train derailments. While the Agency has no regulator Power of its own it is the government s primary Accident investigation Agency and makes recommendations to con Gress other agencies and transportation industries. Board members individually Lead staff members in major Accident investigations and then in Public sessions vote on the probable cause and on safety recommendations. Banks memo was not the first complaint Miller had halted before it could reach the Board. Last Spring he headed off a petition from 60 air traffic controllers in Cleve land who complained about High Altitude air traffic chaos and called for Steps to alleviate the hazardous Miller said the Agency should not investigate the complaint contending that doing so would set a bad precedent by delving into what might be a labor management problem
