European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday november 16, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 3killer, fourth victim die after rampage Royal Oak Mich. A a gunman who went on a shooting rampage at a Post office and a former co worker died Friday of wounds suffered in the attack. In Wake of the shootings colleagues said they had predicted that Thomas Mellvane would one Day shoot up the Royal Oak Post office if he did no to get his Job Back. One described him As a a waiting time bomb. On thursday police said the sex Marine made Good on his threats spraying the Post office with bullets from a .22-caliber Semi automatic Rifle. Three postal workers were killed and six were wounded before he turned the gun on himself. Mellvane 31, was pronounced dead Early Friday and doctors removed his or Gans for transplant said Hospital spokeswoman Karen Trefil. A few hours later one of the critically wounded workers died bringing the death toll to five counting Mellvane. Charles Wilson Michigan inspector in charge for the postal service said at a news conference Friday that he had Little Hope of fully explaining Sci Ivanez a deadly spree. A we done to have the answers to All the different questions that May be posed a Wilson said. A indeed we May never have the answers. All of us Are looking for logical answers to a very illogical  the Post office in Royal Oak a suburb 10 Miles North of downtown Detroit was closed Friday and mail delivery to the City a 70,000 residents was cancelled while Counselor met with shaken survivors and relatives of the victims. Mellvane was fired from the Post office last year for timecard fraud and had appealed his dismissal. . Postal service spokesman Lou Eberhardt said an arbitrator rejected his Appeal wednesday. A everybody said if he did no to get his Job Back he was going to come in and shoot a said postal worker Bob Cibulka. A everyone was talking about  a the was a waiting time bomb a said former postal worker Mark Mitchell who was stationed with Mellvane at the Marine corps base in Twenty nine Palms calif., in the Early 1980s. A one time at Twenty nine Palms there was a Guy he was mad at and he drove a tank Over his car a Mitchell said. Among those killed thursday was Branch operations manager Christopher Carlisle 33, and labor relations representative Keith Ciszewski 37. Also killed was injury compensation specialist maty Benincasa 32. The woman who died Friday at William Beaumont Hospital was postal worker Rose Proos 33. Fire chief Bill Crouch said the shooting spree began about 9 . When Mellvane opened fire on the Post office loading Dock hitting about three people. From there he went to an upstairs office and shot another three people Crouch said before heading Over to the opposite Side of the building and shooting More people then himself. 3 girls testify to sister s plight during trial of Soldier s sex wife. By de Reavis staff writer Mainz Germany a a child stale of extreme abuse unfolded in a Mainz courtroom Friday during the third session of the murder trial of Christine Valdez the a wife of an american Soldier who is charged in the death of her 8-year-old stepdaughter. In testimony later supported by her two stepsisters Nelleke Valdez 12, told the court that her father and Stepmother used their hands a Belt and a shoe to beat her sister Michele who died March 28, 1990, of pneumonia induced by abuse related injuries. Christine Valdez a German is charged with unpremeditated murder. Her former husband staff sgt. Ricardo Valdez is serving a life sentence handed Down by a military court in bad Kreuz Nach Germany in August 1990 for the maiming and unpremeditated murder of his daughter. The couple has since divorced. At the time of Michele a death Valdez was stationed with he co 4th , 34th Armor in Mainz. The family lived in the Airfield housing area in Mainz Fin then. A few weeks before her death Michele was neither Able to stand without falling nor walk without supporting herself against the Walls according to Nelleke and her stepsisters Charlene and Senetra Young Ages 10 and 8. Her lips were swollen her wrist broken and she coughed blood the girls testified. They told the court they had no idea Why Michele was being punished because she never did anything  the Young Sisters Are Christine Valdez a daughters by her first marriage and now live with their natural father Christopher Young who accompanied them to the trial. The judge Friedrich Jungbluth led the girls through their testimony. The girls said Michele a body was covered with bruises and that she walked with a Limp because her hip was injured so badly. Michele was forced to spend her entire Day standing in a Corner of the bathroom and sleeping on the bathroom floor at night. She was also forced to take her meals in the bathroom and never allowed to leave the House to play with other children the Young girls testified. Her siblings said they were told not to mention her existence to other people. They also remembered that Christine Valdez threatened to leave her husband if he did no to Send Michele Back to the United states. Spurred on by the atmosphere in the House the girls admitted to kicking Michele. Ricardo Valdez scolded them the girls told the court for kicking Michele but they also said that Christine Valdez told them not to pay any attention to him. Their testimony contradicted Christine Valdez a opening Day remarks when she told the court she did not agree with her husbands practice of physical punishment of the children and that she often intervened. An air Force pathologist told the court on nov. 7, the opening Day of the trial that Michele a body was emaciated and resembled that of a 4-year-old when he examined her. That description contrasted with one offered Friday by Marrian Mattocks Michele and Nel Lekes natural Mother who now has custody of Nelleke. Mattocks testified that Michele was a bit overweight and an Active child when she last saw her in november 1984. The trial is scheduled to end nov. 21. If found guilty Valdez faces a possible 15-year sentence said state prosecutor Roland Steinhart. Sis Dave Dudlo Christine Valdez wearing Handcuffs hides beneath her coat to avoid photographers  vet gets princely wedding present new York a when the wedding Bells Stop ringing for staff sgt. Robert Snow the Cash registers will Start. The desert storm Veteran is staff sgt. Robert Snow and his Fiancee Karin Pajor talk to reporters in a july file photo. A $100,000 wedding gift from the saudi Prince he met while hospitalized for treatment of his severe wounds. A it really is a fairy tale Story a said Karin Pajor the Bride to be in the Friday night nuptials. A not everybody gets Royalty at their wedding a or a card with a Check for $100,000 inside As she was too polite to add. Think nothing of it the Prince said. A what counts is the gesture rather than the size of it a said Prince Bandar  Sultan the saudi ambassador to the United states. A whatever we do is not  Prince Bandar also cancelled meetings on Capitol Hill at the state department and with fellow diplomats so that he could attend the reception Friday evening in Farmington Conn. The wedding will be held in nearby Southington where the Bride and Groom live. The Prince was in the Waller Reed medical Center in Washington for Back treatment last March when he heard about a desert storm Soldier who had undergone More surgery than any other wounded persian Gulf Veteran. The Man was Snow who stepped on a land mine and suffered an assortment of injuries including a shattered left  a broken leg and a collapsed lung. Snow has since undergone More than a dozen operations he is still listed As an outpatient at Walter Reed. The Prince immediately asked to see Snow but the sergeant was too badly injured to receive visitors. A few Days later Snow had improved and the Prince was about to leave the Hospital the get together was quickly arranged. A the was in bad shape when i met him. We had a Brief conversation but he made quite an impression a the saudi ambassador said. The Prince who spent 17 years in the saudi air Force said he Felt an immediate Bond to the injured Soldier and his Fiance. He asked the couple to keep in touch. When the Prince returned from the recent Middle East peace conference in Madrid Spain an invitation to the wedding had arrived at his Washington Home. A we sent him a wedding invitation just to let him know that Bob had gotten to the Point where we were Able to go ahead with the wedding a Paior said. A i sent along a letter saying we knew he obviously was Busy and   but the Prince who said he was touched by the invitation had other plans. A i Felt too strongly about his remembering me and inviting me that there was no Way i  go a he said. A this is what its All about when everything is said and done. It gives you Faith in the world