European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                This ipes final peace cold War continued from Page 49 in february 1967, the army in Europe ordered stripes to kill an associated press Story on ambassador George Mcgee a son Michael who had been arrested for drunk driving in California. The International editions of the Herald Tribune Washington Post and new York times All ran the Story As did assorted German papers but the . Embassy in Bonn told the army to keep it out of stripes. Col. George e. Maranda the army a Public information chief in Heidelberg argued on stripes behalf but lost. He was later reassigned after serving Only seven months of a three year assignment. The incident prompted stripes staffers to complain to the House Freedom of information subcommittee and the Mcgee incident along with 50 other instances of alleged censorship and news management were read into the congressional record on March 16. Among the incidents mentioned was a wire service Story about president Lyndon Johnson who had been caught speeding and drinking Beer on a Texas Road. That Story the Usa eur brass complained was Quot disrespectful to the commander in  at about the same time the Pentagon announced plans to merge the stars and stripes new York news operation with a Pentagon information Bureau in Washington. The plan the military said was designed to centralize the flow of news to the stripes papers in Europe and the Pacific. The Freedom of information subcommittee suspected More news management however and the plan was blocked. In the end 43 stories about the censorship problems appeared in the stars and stripes. Each mentioned a Young Man by the name of Michael Mcgee. Mert Proctor a former san Antonio Light staffer and a Veteran of the stripes news desk for nine years was named managing editor on feb. 29, 1968. Proctor a wiry balding Man who wore thick Black rimmed glasses immediately began making changes in the paper. Pup tent poets a stars and stripes mainstay since the Early 1940s, was discarded because in proctors opinion Quot it had become a club for five or six  worse some of the poems proved to have been plagiarized from professionals. The b bag which had slowed to a trickle of letters a month was dropped in favor of a traditional letters to the editor Section. Proctor also stopped the longstanding practice of running front Page photos of generals each time one of them entered or departed the command and he spruced up the papers layout and makeup. Proctor also helped push the papers production department into computerized typesetting which replaced stripes venerable Linotype machines with state of the Art processors. Finally he launched a the Pra Vand Lake or the land of promises Proctor special projects team to do in depth reporting on consumer affairs and other topics. Bob Wicker a cheerful alabamian who a the stripes special projects team 1973. Joined the papers sports department in 1959, was picked to head the projects unit which included writers George Eberl Ken Loomis and de Reavis. Regis Bossu a French photographer and Peter Jaeger a German graphics artist completed the lineup. The teams initial Effort was a two month investigation into companies Selling worthless land to gis assigned in Europe. The 24-Page report won stripes a handful of awards including overseas press club honors for the Best business reporting by a newspaper outside the United states. The teams next series broke the news that americans could buy German Auto insurance a fact that helped some readers save hundreds of dollars a year Over the rates offered by american Tariff companies. Thousands of service members went shopping for new coverage and the american firms finally agreed to change their rates which had used military rank to determine the Cost of premiums. Another report on Germany a value added tax was prompted by a letter from an american school teacher in Wiesbaden French and British troops in Germany did not have to pay the 11-percent tax the teacher noted. Why did americans Reavis got in touch with German finance ministry officials in Bonn and got an interesting response a the reason american service members pay the tax is because your military has never asked for permission to Stop paying a army officials in Europe confirmed the ministry officials remarks. They had never asked for permission they said because they thought the required paperwork was just too complicated. The stars and stripes series convinced the army to change its mind and a program allowing gis to avoid paying the tax was soon in place. The air Force joined in a Short time later. Since then american service members in Europe have saved millions of dollars on off Post purchases thanks in Large part to the project teams report. The team went through numerous personnel changes Over the years and was finally dismantled in 1985. Special series such As last months in depth look at new car sales in Europe Are now assigned to reporters working for the papers City desk or special sections departments. Stripes continued to grow and on March 11, 1969, the paper increased to 28 pages daily. Circulation climbed to 160,000. In 1971, the stars and stripes became the fourth . Paper to print the so called Pentagon papers the governments top secret plan for escalating the War in Vietnam. The documents leaked to the press by defense worker Daniel Ellsberg first appeared in the new York times. Stripes also ran full coverage of the watergate break in although there were complaints from the military about the frequent use of unnamed sources in the stories. Bennett news editor Don Bennett ignored the complaints and gave the stories prominent display. The six time zones separating Europe and the United states have often caused problems for stripes editors trying to put together the Best collection of news for the next Days paper. But the desk rarely sweats As much As it did on aug. 9, 1974, the Day Richard Nixon gave up the presidency. Page 50 a 50th anniversary special edition saturday april 18, 1992