European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 5, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday March 5, 1990 the stars and stripes a Page 11 letters a commissary cafes solve Price Puzzle a recent pull out advertisement in your paper was truly amazing Why does no to the a other store sell cafes Brand products therefore the prices would be lower than both sides of Price lists. I think that the Sale of cafes brands within the commissary system should be seriously considered. Due to the incredible shrinking Dollar military members and their families should be the winners in this internal Price War not your printing shop. We Are All on the same Side Arentt we a Emory w. Holmes Berlin editor s note a we received two replies to this letter. The first response is from master sgt. Dayton p. Strickland customer relations he cafes Europe yes both cafes and the commissary want soldiers and airmen to Benefit from As much savings As possible but cafes brands Are House Brand products manufactured for cafes under contract. Just like you wont see Kroger s House Brand products in an a amp a store you wont see cafes brands in your local commissary. It but wait what about that cafes ice Cream and bread Well we manufacture them in our own plants and therefore Are at Liberty to offer those products through the commissary systems. Cafes operates to give you a Good fair savings 25.7 percent according to the latest . Nielsen Survey. The cafes brands you saw in the insert advertisement Are typical types of products available in a grocery store and offered in our shop Pettes and other retail outlets. Because you can to always make it to the commissary for All your last minute needs we offer these products As a convenience to our customers at considerable savings. In addition they Are Well Worth the trip to the Exchange to Purchase. Editor s note the second reply is from col. Paul w. Phillips commander . Army troop support Agency european commissary Region thank you for your letter concerning the cafes advertisement As it enables us to clarify several Points. First in response to your question we Are unable to carry cafes brands in our commissaries since they Are manufactured specifically for Sale in cafes facilities. We do carry highly perishable products manufactured Here in Europe by cafes itself. Commissaries do not carry store brands or generic merchandise. We have tested generic brands in our commissaries and found that they did not sell Well enough to continue stocking them. A we Are not certain where cafes got the prices they cited for the a other store a but they Are not applicable in All commissaries at All times. Commissaries sell merchandise at Cost a that is the Price it costs to buy it Foi resale a plus a 5 percent surcharge that covers certain specified expenses that directly Benefit customers. Shipments to various commissaries that come in at different times May arrive at different prices. Therefore on any Given Day you May find Price differences on the same product among various commissaries. Price reductions offered by sales representatives As part of promotions also have an effect on the prices you find in commissaries. Once again they May not be offered in All commissaries at the same time resulting in Price differences. A _ cafes also carries All of the products listed in the a other store column on the and. A Check of cafes facilities in the Frankfurt area revealed that the cafes Price for the total list of products was More than 10 percent higher than the total commissary Price including the surcharge. And prices on several of the listed items were lower in some of our commissaries on the Day the and appeared which would have made the commissary savings even greater for these Brand name products. Our Mission is to provide commissary customers with the Best possible product selection at the lowest possible prices. Independent studies have shown that we accomplish that by providing our customers with an average 26 percent savings Over . Commercial supermarket prices. We believe that another assessment of the and w ill show that All is not As it appears. Although we operate and Are funded differently Tsa and cafes Are on the same team that is dedicated to providing Quality goods and services to our service members civilian employees and their families. And like Many others we enjoy the Many mar activities that cafes helps to support. A Reader criticizes theft of Noriega card Sann Landers dear readers in december i printed a letter from Gisela t. Joseph a Young woman in san Juan puerto Rico who was born with crop zone a disease a condition that can cause Gross facial disfigurement. Gisela wrote to Tell me How her life had changed after surgery arranged by the National foundation for facial reconstruction. It was a moving and heartwarming Story. I asked you my readers to Send whatever you could spare to support this excellent foundation that does so much for so Many. Here is an excerpt from a letter from the executive director Robert Bochat a dear Ann the response has been tremendous. We have received donations of Over $100,000, and the checks Are still coming in. Your readers Are both Loyal and generous. There Are no words to thank  so once again dear readers i say to each and every one who responded to my plea i am enormously grateful. I feel blessed to have so Many faithful friends. You Are the ones who make the Good deeds possible. Without your Confidence and support i could do nothing. Bless you. Dear Ann i was shocked and disappointed to read your comments in a recent column. You said a i know of few living creatures As unappealing and just Plain ugly As the  have you Ever seen a Bat Ann i mean up close. I doubt it. Otherwise you could not have written those words. Actually bats have Beautiful Little faces Lovely soft Brown eyes and adorable pointed ears. Bats Are the most misunderstood creatures on the face of the Earth. They Are do goobers in the Best sense of the word. One Bat can devour 3,000 night flying insects. And their principal prey is the Mosquito. Ignorance about the Bat abounds. Most people think bats Are Blind. Not True. Another old wives tale is that bats like to get into women a hair. False. In some parts of the world bats Are valued As pets. People put up Bat houses the same Way we put up Bird houses. It would be wonderful if you would promote this idea Ann. I would be Happy to Send you a Bat House and a couple of bats if you will accept them. Please let me know your address. A ., new Orleans dear  Thanks for the offer but i done to think my neighbors would approve of a Bat House on the premises. I appreciate your letter however and you will be pleased to know that thousands of others wrote to defend the Bat. Please dear readers no More brochures and literature about bats. I am going Batty trying to sort them out from the letters about human problems. In spite of your Noble efforts to get me to like bats people still come first. Dear Ann. My husband and i just received a wedding invitation beautifully engraved on Fine Quality paper. The message read a emr. John Doe and the late Mai Doe request the Honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Jane to Robert Smith a Mary Doe passed away 10 years ago. Your opinion please. A . Query dear . A # t i can understand the sentiment but it is not Only illogical but socially incorrect to include the name of a deceased Parent on a wedding invitation. The Printer should have gently discouraged it. C creators Syndicate i feel that i must respond to a recent article in your paper about the enterprising businessman making Money Selling Gen. Noriega a business cards taken from his desk by a . Soldier during the invasion of Panama. Is this not blatant theft looting or at least ctn dual unbecoming a member of the . Army is this Type of action condoned by the army a a leadership As spoils of War if so it is no wonder the . Military is so despised in most third world nations. The panamanian leaders need no longer ask Why . Troops did not take an Active part in stopping the looting that followed the invasion a they were to open pals my hobbies Are swimming listening to music and collecting Stamps. I am a 21-year-old roman Catholic. A Gina Mana a Leong Poblacion Bacong Negros Oriental. Philippines i am 19 years old and my hobbies Are cooking dancing and Reading. A Clover seize Mcgrath Road Ewarton to. St. Catharine Jamaica. West indies Busy indulging in it while 1 have no doubt that the vast majority of . Troops who took part in the invasion indeed the majority of All . Troops did would not take part in nor condone the actions of these few. Publicizing this act of common theft and profiteering in the aftermath of the invasion Only tends to lower the already Low regard held for the United states throughout the world. The soldiers who took part in this Type of activity and the superiors who either condoned it or looked the other Way should be prosecuted As thieves. A name withheld Heidelberg West Germany a lesson in geography please be advised that Yugoslavia is comprised of six Federal republics Serbia Croatia. Macedonia. Bosnia Herzegovina. Slovenia Montenegro and two autonomous regions not provinces. A Nancy Hartzenbusch Munich West Germany editors note a the autonomous regions Are Kosovo Metodija and j   european edition col. Gene e. Townsend Usan 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 defense or the stars and stripes of the products or services advertised. Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for Purchase use or patronage without regard to race color religion sex National origin age marital status physical Handicap political affiliation or any other non Merit Factor of the purchaser user or Patron. Main office switchboard 06155-6010. Ets 348-5741 or 5823. For departments dial 06155-601 plus Extension or ets 348-8 plus the Extension. News ext. 237. 255. 282. 226. 326. Sports ext. 225. 269, 263. 332. 321. 221. Features ext. 230. 245 or 341. Letters to editor ext. 208. Education Jimi Jones. Ext. 226. Medicine Janet d Agostino. Ext. 230. Business Randy Mcclain. Ext. 326. Advertising display ext. 247 or 309. Classified ext. 349. Telex 419-332. Tel fax 06155-601376. Mailing address Apo 09211-4211 or Postrach 11 14 37. D-6100 Darmstadt 11. West Germany. News bureaus Bremerhaven Germany Ken Clauson. Building 103, Carl Schurz Cavern Apo 09069 Telephone ets 342-8659 or civilian 0471-88782. Kaiserslautern Germany Deedee Arrington Doke. Peggy Davidson Lynda Davidson building 2899, Pulaski Barracks Apo 09227-3717 Telephone civilian 0631-52104. Munich Germany Steve Taylor. Building 16. C stairwell. 2nd floor. Mcgraw Cavern. Soured Apo 09407 Telephone ets 440-7320 or civilian 089-690-1800. Nornberg Germany Vince Crawley. Effie Bathen building 21. William o. Darby Cavern Apo 09696 Telephone ets 460-7256 or civilian 0911-712563. Stuttgart Germany Joseph Owen. Building 4303. Room 201. Wallace Barracks. Mailing address co Vii corps Fin. Group. Of amp to Wallace Barracks Apo 09154 Telephone ets 420-7179 or civilian 0711-542571. Wurzburg Germany John Millar. Room 110. River building Apo 09036 Telephone ets 350-4704 or civilian 0931-71569. Brussels Belgium David Tarrant International press Center. 1 Boulevard Charlemagne. Box 45.1041 Brussels Telephone civilian 00322 238-0967. Mediterranean j. King Cruger. Gary Miller and Candida Sansone. Naples. Italy Asa Box 56. Fpo 09521 Telephone Auto on 625-1110 ext. 4880 or civilian 0039-81-7624049. New York City room 401. 252 seventh ave. New York 10001 Telephone 212-620-3333. United kingdom Dave Diehl. Amy Geiszler Jones. Building 436 Cess us. Raf Mildenhall Apo 09127 Telephone Auto on 238-2226 or civilian 0638-512226. Washington . William Bartman. Janet Howells Tierney. Oast a. The Pentagon. Room 2e756. . Box 46095. Washington. D c. 20050-6095 Telephone 202-697-6695 Tel fax 202-693-6366. Circulation offices Germany Berlin civilian 8331846. Ets 332-4412 Bremerhaven. Civilian 0471-85168, ets 342-8119 Rhein main a. Civilian 069-692050 or 692565, ets 330-6025 or 7103, telex 412712 Kaiserslautern civilian 0631 -57070 or 57079, ets 489-7100 Munich civilian 089-6901503 or 6901504. Ets 440-6556. Tel fax 089-699-1606 Niernberg civilian 0911-712558. Ets 460-7001 Stuttgart civilian 0711-546743. Ets 420-7175. Greece Athens civilian 9923390. Italy Vicenza civilian 0444-515358. Ets 634-7545, Tel fax 0444-300641. Spain Madrid. Ets 665-5807. Civilian and Tel fax 00341-6561465. Turkey Istanbul civilian 664372. Telex 26174 sans to. United kingdom civilian Newbury 0635-44768. Auto on 266-3209