European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday july 16. 1990 the stars and stripes a Page 5 Minneapolis apr each year 76-year-old Gudrun Hertsgaard does what she can to reduce the National debt. This year she wrote out a Check for $300, leaving the balance at roughly $3,000,000,000,000, give or take a few dozen billion. Hertsgaard sent her Money to the . Treasury through citizens for a debt free America a network of people who Chip away at the National debt a few dollars at a time. Just the interest on the debt this year will approach $200 billion about 15 percent of the Federal budget. Friends Tell Hertsgaard her annual gestures Are futile but she is a dismayed. A i tend to think Small anyway a she said. A i look at the pennies. I try not to think of the millions and billions and  nationwide 2,345 people contributed More than $4.2 million in the past five years toward retiring the debt. Hertsgaard started sending Money to the Federal Bureau of the Public debt in 1986. A i started with about $50, increasing every year a she said. A i would Tike to give More. It s More important than  after her first donation she received a letter of thanks from the  at a your donation and interest in the financial affairs of our country is appreciated a states the letter signed byjoe Ann m. Kidwell Section chief document control and distribution Section accounting control Branch Bureau of the Public debt. A is no to that just like the government a Hertsgaard said. She encourages friends to help reduce the debt but few do. A i done to know if it because they done to give much to Charity in the first place or they just done to believe in this. A but the deficit is so serious a she said. A it puts us at such a disadvantage against other countries we Aren t top drawer  she blames the deficits on a National Lack of will. A a a the defense stuff went Way out of balance a she said. A what bums me the most is that they done to Ever do much about waste. And then when they do identify something that could be Cut somebody sends up a howl and it does no to get  prompted by individual contributions. Congress established the Public debt retirement fund in 1961. Citizens for a debt free America founded in 1983, is based in new Berlin wis. My on Cheyenne Wyo. Apr after spending two years in an East German prison for trying to break through the Iron curtain to Freedom Stef Taen Petry is determined to live the free spirited life of a Cowboy on Wyoming a open Range. A from the time i was very Little i wanted to be a Cowboy. From a Little boy i knew about John Wayne a the 22-year-old said through an interpreter during a break in work at the Wyoming Hereford ranch. For the past few Days Petry has been pulling weeds and planting Trees at the ranch just East of Cheyenne. He has yet to Brand a calf drive cattle or shoot a Rattlesnake but says a a in a so  he saddled a horse for the first time wednesday and Rode across the Green Plains of Southeastern Wyoming. �?o1 know that America is a free land and from Cheyenne where i am i can see land open spaces and houses not Only Large apartment buildings a he said sitting on a Golden Mare in a Field of tall grass. A a it a so crowded in Germany. Its so open  Petry decided to head to the Cowboy state in late june a Little More than six months after he was released from prison a when he read a West German newspaper article saying there was a shortage of cowboys in Wyoming. Foreign workers arc being allowed to take cowhand jobs in parts of the West where there is a shortage of qualified american cowboys. Fantasizing about the Freedom and expanse of the wild West he had seen on television and read about in books he sold his meager belongings purchased an air plane ticket and arrived at the Cheyenne Airport on a tourist visa. He knew no one and could say Only one word in English a  he approached an Airport maintenance worker who had a Friend who spoke German. He finally was hooked up with the Sloan Hale family who speak German and own the sprawling Wyoming Hereford ranch. Steffae Petry a 22-year-old East German is finding life to his liking on a Wyoming ranch. For now Petry is staying with the Hales who serve As his interpreters until he can find a rancher with an opening for a Cowboy who will sponsor him in Hopes he can replace his tourist visa with a work permit. He wants to spend the rest of his life in America but worries that his stay could be Short  for me right now i am free. But i wont know True Freedom or what Freedom really is until i know i can stay Here Quot he said. A a despite his desire to be a Cowboy he wore a White Cotton Blazer Over a souvenir Quot Colorado Quot to shirt jeans White socks and Black loafers. A not until i am a real Cowboy after i work for a year As a Cowboy will i Wear a Cowboy hat Quot he said. Then i will be a real  Petry a Mechanic and son of a Dock worker Felt like thousands of other Young East germans before the Berlin Wall Lumbeca Down last fall a isolated and yearning for Freedom. A i had no Freedom. I could not Purchase anything. I could not go anywhere a he said. Quot there was absolutely no Freedom of opinion. 1  even say i would like a coca cola. If 1 were to say that bad things Are bad and they did no to think they were bad they could put you in  on May 12, 1988, Petry and a Friend decided to leave. A it was very late at night. I tried to escape through a Forest and through a Fence i Cut the Fence and then i came to a no Many a land and the West German Border was right there. The Border was right rat amp a to us a he said. A at that time four people came and arrested us. We were taken to a holding place for 14 Days until they decided what to do with us. I was in prison for almost two  but now he is confident that no matter what happens his life will be better. A i told my parents if i did not write please done to have any worry. Everything will be  japanese firm facing $43 million Fine Tacoma Wash. Apr a japanese company will Likely face a $43 million penalty for keeping double books to avoid paying Union wages to the filipino Crew of a logging ship a Federal judge said. An award of that size would be the largest wage judgment in maritime history said Richard Dodson a lawyer from Louisiana who represented the 21 Crew members in . District court. Delica shipping company officials said the company kept two sets of books on All 10 of the company a ships for the past eight years. Pine Forest the company ship involved in the lawsuit was seized in Tacoma in january and released Only after the owner posted a $ 19 million Bond. A they admitted they cheated a Dodson said Friday. Both sides agreed that Crew members were required to sign two sets of monthly wage receipts. One set indicated payment according to Levels specified in agreements with the International transport workers federation and another showed the actual pay rate. Forest Pine Crew members hired in March 1989, claimed that they were paid one fifth the contractual rate. When 13 of the Crew asked to leave the ship to pursue wage claims they were Black  indicated. Company lawyers argued unsuccessfully that judge Jack Tanner lacked jurisdiction because no cargo was unloaded at Western Washington ports. Under . Law the courts have jurisdiction Over wage cases involving foreign ships and Crews when their voyages end in . Waters. Defense attorney Joseph Stacey said the crewmen were paid about 70 percent of Union scale wages not the 20 percent alleged. He said the Case covered about 15 different pay grades and that he could not slate actual wage amounts. Stacey earlier said the Crew members knowingly and voluntarily agreed to less pay than required under the Union agreement and that what they did receive was still a highly desirable rate for the Philippines. In a hearing Friday Dodson asked Tanner to award $150,000 in Back pay $16 million in compensatory and Penally wages and $27 million in punitive dam Ages from Delica. A i might As Well Tell you you re looking at a judgment near or around that figure Quot Tanner told company lawyers. Quot this Case cries out for punitive damages in a substantial amount of Money both to punish your client and to deter others from such outrageous malicious and intentional  Dodson said the double bookkeeping system boosted profits by $400,000 a year. He said he had filed a $100 million civil suit against Delica on behalf of 2,000 other Crew members. Another Delica ship the fir Grove also is the subject of a civil Case after being seized in Coos Bay Ore. The Pine Forest is registered to Delica a panamanian corporation. It flies the Flag of Vanuatu a Small Pacific Island nation. It is operated by Inui steamship co. Of Japan a subsidiary of Mitsui inc. The ship is chartered by yet another japanese company to bring logs from the Weyerhaeuser co through Tacoma and Longview  of time in the stars and stripes 40 years ago today. July 16, 1950 a numerically Superior communist forces broke through the Western half of the Kum River defense line establishing a 15-Niile Bridgehead that outflanked . Defenders and forced them to withdraw.30 years ago today., july 16, 1960 a sen. Lyndon b. Johnson of Texas was nominated by acclamation As the democratic vice presidential nominee.20 years ago today. July 16, 1970 a Secretary of state William p. Rogers said Success of Allied operations in Cambodia have increased the probability that the communists will eventually decide to negotiate seriously on a Vietnam peace settlement.10 years ago today. July 16, 1980 a iranian militants holding the . Embassy in Tehran published a purported interview in which hostage Thomas Ahern 48, admitted to being a Cia agent and named two High level iranians among his contacts