European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 8, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a a a the stars and stripes thursday March 8, 1990 letters a amps Vince Cawley a Barrier which kept most spectators away from this Section of the Berlin Walt near the Brandenburg Gate in mid february failed to discourage hard Core souvenir seekers. A responsibility of . Military concerning Berlin Wall discussed i was dismayed by the article Quot gis warned not to chisel or deface Wall i understand concerns about unauthorized entry of gis into the Cdr or the soviet sector of Berlin but As for Quot defacing or removing portions of the Wall constituting Quot destruction of property Quot come on now. That remark epitomizes for me the universality and bankruptcy of the bureaucratic mind. The Wall is strictly speaking an illegal obstacle to Freedom of movement in Berlin a violation of various four Power agreements and of International human rights declarations. It has always been condemned As such by american authorities. Since nov. 9, however the Wall has become ideologically meaningless and. If one examines some sections of the Wall around potsdamer Platz for instance physically meaningless As Well. Except for american Mili tary authorities apparently. Now we Are told that the military police and the West German Polisei will join forces with the East German paramilitary Border guards whose very presence in the soviet sector of Berlin is of doubtful legality and who Are responsible for the deaths of Over 70 germans who attempted to Cross the Border in guarding the Wall. That 1 find extremely disturbing. A name withheld Berlin editor s note a col. William h. Lantz jr., staff judge advocate he . Come Berlin replies it is agreed that the Berlin Wall is an obstacle to Freedom and Basic human rights. It has been condemned by people throughout the world since its construction in August 1961 and w it be the continuing subject of condemnation until it is no longer an impediment to All berliners. While it might have been personally satisfying to unilaterally destroy the Wall in the Days follow ing the opening of the Wall on nov. 9, the police and officials of East Berlin and East Germany were extremely nervous about encroachment on their terrain. At that time we wanted to reduce the probability of confrontation that could have been harmful to further positive developments. However the command in Berlin relaxed those rules after the first few weeks and now has no objection to members of the forces being at the Wall and peacefully collecting a souvenir. . Military police contrary to the impression expressed by your Reader do not a guard the they do and will continue to administer the provisions of command regulations and policy dealing with entry into the soviet and american sectors of Berlin As Long As that May be required in Light of continuing positive developments. A cafes explains procedures for Sale orders at Remote Sites being a member of the armed forces in Europe i would like to commend the Fine services that cafes provides Over All. However i would like to bring an injustice to your attention. Cafes occasionally has sales but a Good number of these sales Are limited to certain Post exchanges. I am fortunate enough to own a Pov privately owned vehicle and am not prevented from taking advantage of cafes sales. However the people who deserve to be served the Best a the single Soldier without a Pov on an isolated Post a Are being neglected. Assignment to these posts is punishment enough without having to pay higher prices for the same goods. A Mark j. Stone Wil Flecken West Germany editor s note a master sgt. Dayton p. Strickland customer relations he cafes Europe replies Remote site customers May obtain Sale merchandise by making a special order request through their Imprest fund activity manager to their Parent Exchange. For the same reasons the isolated locations Don t have hospitals commissaries and movie Heaters we Don t have Large exchanges and sales there. I m sorry this situation exists but i imagine that As Long As troops Are serving their country overseas that s the Way it s going to be. Anyway you might want to be a real pal and ask someone along on your next trip in your answers to our most asked Why do you change for the newspaper if taxpayers help pay your Bills As a non appropriated fund activity european stars and stripes earns 94 percent of its operating budget through sales of the newspaper ads books and magazines. Only 6 percent of our total budget comes from . Taxpayers. Most of that Money pays for shipping books and magazines sold in our bookstores and for shipping the 6,000 tons of newsprint from the . That is used annually to publish the newspaper. Some of those funds pay the salaries of the 27 service members assigned Here. We charge 25 cents for the newspaper but it costs us about 40 cents per copy to produce and distribute it. We sell about 120,000 copies a Day so that s More than a $6 million annual discount we pass on to our readers. To make up the difference Between what we charge and our costs we operate about 20u bookstores throughout Europe. In addition to covering the Cost of producing the newspaper profits from Book sales go toward new equipment and expanding bookstores. And. Through numerous discount programs on magazines paperbacks and hardcover books at stars and stripes bookstores we re giving you our customers Over $2.6 million in 1990.the St Jang types
