European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 21, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 21, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 Over Here class a cashier shortens payday lines by John Millar Wirz Birg Bureau woj Ryburg. West Germany it was payday and spec. Diego for Rowas in line to buy German Marks to pay Bills. It was the second line he had stood in that Day and it took him a while to get there. The 3rd inf div Soldier travelled about 12 Miles from Gie Belstadt army Airfield to Leighton Barracks in it Irmburg just to wait in a Bank line. Forero assigned to the division s task Force 23, could have used the Mer chants National Bank in Gie Belstadt but past experience told him the wait would be longer. The Bank Over there is worse he said. You wait Over there for  after waiting 45 minutes in line at our local Bank s real Happy because. He s got More than enough  maj. Mary Dills the Leighlon Bank he still did t have any Marks the Bank had run out because of the heavy payday crowd. Soon he found himself in a line at Leighton s movie theater the feature showing at the theater was Wurzburg s new Community pay agent an officer who quickly cashes checks and Sells Marks to soldiers and department of defense civilians. The agent s line at its longest Point was six people deep. Forero got his Marks in about 10 minutes. The Basic problem we have is the number of soldiers we have standing inthe Bank line said maj. Charles Walker commander of the 3rd finance sup port unit at Leighlon. The line is Sim ply too Long. And we re trying to get some of those soldiers who Don t need to go to the Bank out of that  enter the Community class a agent an officer with enough Cash on hand to meet the demand and reduce the Bank lines on payday. Walker said the pay agent can Cash personal checks up to$745 and the full face amount of trans actions such As Money orders and government paychecks. The agent also can Exchange dollars for Marks. There is no charge for the services. The idea of the pay agent in t new Walker said. Every installation has unit class a agents he said. There is a unit pay officer available at All army units to Cash checks and sell Marks on paydays he explained. It s similar to the the age old ritual in which soldiers used to report to the pay officer Salute and receive their pay. But even with 39 unit class a agents in the Wurzburg military Community there arc a variety of reasons that can prevent soldiers from making it to their unit pay officers when they re paying. So soldiers go to the Leighton Bank joining others who form a line that snakes its Way out of the building around a Corner and up to the end of the Block. Lines at the credit Union an finance office Are Likely to be lengthy too. To reduce the lines each unit As signed to the Post was put on a rotating roster for supplying an officer and enlisted guard to Man the Community pay site at the theater said Leighton s Dep Uty installation commander maj. Mary Dills. The units initial reaction to the roster was t Good she said. The first payday we did it they seemed to think their unit pay officers could handle it Dills said. But Cus Tomer response during the Community pay agent s first appearance on june 30 changed the sceptics minds. The agent was Given about $42,500 in dollars and Marks and was scheduled to be opened from 10 . Until 2 . At 1 . The agent closed because he ran out of Money. Dills said. The next payday the Community pay agent was Given $56,000. It s been working real  she said. The pc Ople we be questioned have been very pleased with the service because on 30 june the longest anyone had to wait in line was 20  surveying people at the Bank on the same payday Dills said the average in line time was 55 minutes or longer. Walker said the idea for a Community pay agent came from the Bamber military Community which offers a Community pay agent inside the Mer chants Bank. The Bank office at Leigh Lon was Loo Small to handle the pay agent so a sign was placed outside the Bank directing soldiers to the theater one building away. Having a class a agent that serves the entire Community is a concept that s been used for a number of years in numerous locations in West Ger Many said Usa eur spokesman Kimboyle. A decision on whether a Community needs an agent is made by the local commander with the support of the local finance officer. Based upon the demand he said. The Schweinfurt military Community recently implemented the concept based on High demand. On paydays the Community agents set up in a ten across from the Bank on Ludward bar is. Marian Raso gets German Marks from pay agent capt. Mark Cuttle. 843 John Millar Racks and in the gym on Conn Barracks. The Community pay agents get assist Ance from unit pay agents said maj. William Andersen commander of the 78th finance support unit. Once the agents Are through at their units they go to the Community pay agent Sites and set up More tables. So there s not just one person there there s two or  but officials at Wiir Burg and Schweinfurt Don t expect the Community pay a pants to draw everyone out of the Bank line. Some people Are really tied to theban because they Don t maintain their account balances right and they Al ways feel they have to go run into the Bank and get it checked or they have savings accounts Dills said. It appears that most of these people standing in line at the Bank have Sav Ings accounts said Andersen noting that with a savings account they can t go to finance or a pay agent because they can t write  merchants payday business Al ways at full swing. Dills said the Community pay agent is seen As a Relief at the Leighton Branch  local Bank s real Happy because. He s got More than enough Busi Ness she  s no doubt that we think it s a fantastic idea said Yvonne Wise spokeswoman from merchants Bank. Anything that reduces Bank lines and helps our customers is a welcomed help. They re our customers and it s just another Way they can get those things done. We Sec it As a wonderful  the pay agent s lines arc so Short some soldiers might like to Sec the service go . But Forero whose paycheck is de posited directly to merchants was a tache discovered the theater based cashier. On paydays it s quicker Here he said with Marks in hand. This definitely saves  p/7of Lowers Landing gear by hand Affer Power fails St. Louis a a Twa jetliner with 114 Pas sengers aboard lost Hydraulic Power saturday shortly after Takeoff and its Pilot had to lower the Landing gear by hand when it returned to Lambert Airport an air line official said. In other incidents a Northwest airlines jumbo Jet experienced a loss of Oil pressure after leaving Honolulu and another Northwest aircraft lost Power in one of two engines in route to Chicago officials said. All three planes landed safely As did an Ameri can airlines Jet that was diverted to Boston after losing one of its Hydraulic systems. In St. Louis flight 203 to san Diego made a Safe Landing about 30 minutes after its 940 . Take off Saio Twa spokesman Don Morrison. The Pilot of the Boeing 737 reported a loss in Hydraulic Power to the main Landing gear Morrison said. He manually lowered the gear and landed routinely Morrison said. The 114 passengers were placed on other flights. The air plane was Back in service about 3vj hours later after workers replaced the Hydraulic line Morrison said. On Friday a Twa Jet returned safely to Lam Bert after one of its engines failed. A piece of the engine fell through the roof of an Auto body shop narrowly missing the store s manager. A Northwest airlines Boeing 747 returned to Honolulu after it started losing Oil pressure in an engine shortly after taking off on a flight to Osaka Japan an airline spokesman said. The flight which had 400 passengers and 14 Crew members aboard returned at 8 25 . Northwest spokesman Bob Gibbons said by Tele phone from Minneapolis where the airline is based. A Northwest Boeing 757 flying from Detroit to Chicago landed at Chicago s o Harc International Airport after one of its two engines shut Down. Gibbons said. Fifty six passengers and Crew were aboard the plane. An american airlines Boeing 727 flying from Providence r.i., to Raleigh n.c., with 83 Passen Gers and a Crew of seven aboard was diverted to Logan International Airport in Boston after the Hydraulic system that controlled the plane s land ing gear failed officials said. The Pilot was Able to switch to a backup system and the plane landed safely shortly after 2 . The loss of the Hydraulic system was caused by valve malfunction said airlines spokeswoman Mary o Neill. On july 19, a United airlines dc-10 lost its Hydraulic system and its Pilot was unable to use the Landing gear when he brought the plane Down in Sioux City Iowa. Flight 232 touched Down car wheeled and burst int names killing 111 of the 296 people aboard