European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 9, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 a the stars and stripes tuesday june 9, 1992 letters to the editor european edition col Gene e. Townsend sap commander publisher Bernard k zov1stoski editor news ind editorial Bill Wel fsr european editor Deborah Absher Bryan Nolan news editor City editor Bob Teker George manat sports editor special sections editor to write us unit 29480 Apo a 09211 or Postrach 11 14 37 6100 Darmstadt 11, Germany news Tel fax 06155-601416 to Call us dial 06155-601 plus Extension or ets 348-8 plus Extension As follows news ext. 237, 255, 282, 226, 326. Sports ext. 225, 269, 263, 332, 321, 221. Features ext. 230, 245, 341. Letters to editor ext. 208. Education Jimi Jones. Exl. 226. Business news ext. 326. News bureaus Kaiserslautern Germany Peggy Davidson Kevin Dougherty. Building 2699, Pulaski Barracks Apo a 09227-3717 Telephone civilian 0631-52104 Tel fax 063150696. Munich Germany Call news Bureau in Nurnberg. Nornberg Germany Ron Jensen building 21, William o Darby Cavern Apo a 09222 Lele Phona 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 a to Wallace Barracks Apo a 09154 Telephone ets 420-7179 or civilian 0711-542571. Wurzburg Germany Call main office in Darmstadt. Brussels Belgium Rosemary Sawyer co . Embassy pc 82. Box 002, Apo a 09724 Telephone civilian 0032 22360967, Tel fax 0032-22309068. Mediterranean j. King Cruger and Gary Miller. Naples. Italy Asa Box 56, Fpo 09521 Telephone Auto on 62511 to ext. 4680 of civilian 0039-01-7624049. New York City room 638. 201 Vurick st., now York 10014 Telephone 212-620-3333. United kingdom Murdith Winder building 464 Cess us Raf Mildenhall Apo a 09459 Telephone Dow 238-2226 or civilian 0636-512226. Washington . Chuck Emch Ray Rowden. Oast a the Pentagon room 2e756 . Box 46095, Washington d c. 20050-6095 Telephone 703-697-6695 Tel fax 703-6936366. Business departments Christopher k Eddy not it. Col. Thomaa e. Conrad Usa general manager Deputy commander Marla Kom Lilc Al James Wysock i production manager circulation manager Dale Estaa Chris Ryan advertising manager comptroller circulation for convenient Home delivery service and inquiries Call the office nearest you listed below main office unit 29460 Postrach 11 14 37 Apo a 09211 or 6100 Darmstadt 11, Germany circulation Tel fax 06155-601436 Germany Berlin civilian 030-6331846, ets 332-3546. Bremerhaven civilian 0471-65166, ets 342-6119. Kaiserslautern civilian 0631 -57070 or 57079, ets 4897100, Tel fax 0631-50696. Munich ets 440-0209. Nurnberg civilian 0911-712558, ets 460-7001. Stuttgart civilian 0711-546743, ets 420-7175. Italy Naples civilian 003961-56b5306, ets 625-5306 Vicenza civilian 0444-515356, ets 634-7545. Iel fax 0444-300-641. Spain Madrid ets 665-5007, civilian and Tololah 0034 1 a 6561465. Turkey Istanbul civilian and Lutela 0090-1-1724b43 United kingdom no Buhy civilian 0635 44766, Dan 266-3209. Advertising display Germany 06155-601247 or 601309, Lis 340-0247, classified Gormany 06155 601349. Ets 340 0349. Advertising Tel fax 06155 601412 a please f Recycle a a a the newspaper is an aul Onrod unofficial publication for members of the military services overseas. Con Ems of the Slais and stripes do not Necos Sanly lofted the official views of or Endo Ismeni by Ibe . Government me  o1 Colenso or me . European command. The appearance of advertising in this publication including inserts or supplements does not constitute endorsement by the department of defense or the slats and Stupe of the products or services advertised. Everything advertised in this publication shall is made available lot Purchase use or patronage without regard to race color religion set. National origin age marital status. A Seel Handicap political  or any Omer non Mem or of the purchaser user or Patron. More pricing beefs i read the Stuttgart meat managers letter a replying to the beef a and found it very interesting. He stated that beef prices Are set by the meat manager. How by Supply and demand he also stated that at his base 80 percent Are officers yet he tries to keep the prices Down so the lower ranking people can buy too. After Reading the commissary news Section of the overseas Post Mayi found that his statements totally contradict the policies the defense commissary Agency deca says it follows. The article stated a commissary shopping is an important Benefit because customers can buy groceries and other household items at the Price it costs the commissary system to Purchase them from suppliers. There is not markup and the purchases Are tax free although a 5 percent surcharge is  from the writers statements it seems that deca policy is being disregarded. A Vic Winnall Vilsick Germany a Schroeder has a Point 1 refer to the recent articles about rep. Patricia Schroeder a a Bill to end military discrimination against Gays and Gen. Colin l. Powell a remarks in rebuttal. Do not find the general a arguments compelling. While i virtually never support is. Schroeder on anything i have to move to her Side on this Issue. Citing a Good order and discipline does sound suspiciously like the excuses formerly used to keep non White soldiers out of most units a practice that has ended Only within my lifetime. I have no idea How Many Gays i have worked with Over my career a no soldiers have Ever let on for obvious reason Sand even the civilians have been cowed into silence until very recently. I can say that the few who i later Learned were Gay were among my very Best workers and i did not know they were Gay until after working with them for two years. As for the argument that Mother did t Send Johnny off to the army to be exposed to Gay men neither did most mothers Send Johnny off to be exposed to smokers prof ners gamblers and fornicators. When do we Start eliminating these undesirables from the army then there is the Assumption that any Gay Soldier in Barracks will try to put a move on the person in the next bunk. We have plenty of rules about sexual harassment and sexual assault we should have no trouble applying them to violators who happen to he Gay if necessary very unlikely. Finally i find skin color to be far less a a benign than sexual orientation. The latter can be made As inconspicuous As the Holder desires As shown by the Gays who have served for years without attracting attention. The former is generally beyond the owner s ability to disguise and the service member cannot prevent whatever reaction it engenders in fellow soldiers. But just As we have rules that govern those reactions we can have parallel rules about inappropriate behaviour Between Gay and straight soldiers. In Short 1 think the services and the army in particular should set aside this last vestige of and Homine discrimination. Lets recognize attitude and performance and Stop condemning people for conditions that Are not relevant to their value As human beings or As soldiers. A col. Joseph e. Boling Heidelberg Germany editor s note a letters from readers expressing their viewpoints or opinions Are published daily in this space. Alt letters must be signed. We Reserve the right to edit letters for clarity length and taste. Preference is Given to Shorter letters so that More can be published in a timely manner. Letters should be addressed to letters to the editor the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211. A a a letters requesting information or assistance Are answered in a feature called readers action line which appears on Page 16 every Day except thursday and sunday. Such letters should be addressed to readers action line the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211.keep out homosexuals rep. Patricia Schroeder d-colo., in her proposal to allow homosexuals into the military cited polls stating that �?o81 percent of americans support legislation of this  where was this poll conducted in the Gay area of City Park in Denver i conducted an a a informal Survey of the people most affected by this legislation the military member and found 92 percent of those questioned vehemently opposed to such legislation. The other 8 percent were in favor or undecided. How could anyone favor introducing a known High risk group of his carriers into an already overburdened medical system the military Retiree is already a second class citizen within the military medical Community and this Type of legislation will surely push the Retiree into a medical class rivalled Only by citizens of third world countries. A tech. Sgt. Larry c. Stanford a Oesterborg a Netherlands a slaves to lawbreakers thank you for printing Stephen Deane s article May 17 about the Rodney g. King verdict. In be been wondering when a rational analysis would appear. Too bad you Haven to put it out to wire services. His Demeanour and views coincide with those of my Nephew who is a detective on the Atlanta police Force. However my own fears in this matter go beyond police effectiveness. As a student of social science i question if any free society can develop solutions to Root causes of racism. So much Energy is expended defending a persons right to Freedom that we hinder abilities of the entire society to function. Each segment forms its own special interest to pressure government officials and the system gets that much weaker in terms of representing everyone. Are we left to believe that disciplined people Are slaves to the system with Only those willing to break the Law having real Freedom one look at the entourage assigned to protect our president is frightening. Anyone who walks Home alone at night from work can Tell you. A bottle thrown from a passing car can be just As deadly As a Bullet and far More frequent. Frustrated Young people abound in our society and until All Are taught discipline from the Cradle we Are doomed to repeat the Rodney King incident. A Robert Lane Plorin France a a beyond comprehension9 i recently sat with my kids in the car at the Heidelberg Germany shopping Center while mom shopped in the Post Exchange we weren to there Long before my 8 and 10-year-old boys started asking me about the $46,000 Monkey signs that have been attached to the Light poles throughout the parking lot. They wanted to know what they were for. This was a teaching moment. I explained that they Are there to help people remember where they Park their car. They did no to understand. After a few moments of thought i reminded them of the time we went to the big amusement Park. I could see i had caught their interest i asked them if they remembered How big the parking lot was and How we marked Down the letter and Row number of the sign on the tight pole where we parked. Bingo it was mystical when the a a aha moment arrived. Like magic the twinkle of understanding entered their eyes at the same instant. As if they had rehearsed they smiled in unison and blurted out a but dad this parking Tot Isnit that big a i smiled too and responded a to you and me its not but to the person who had those signs pvt up its beyond  i confess that was a Little misleading. I did no to try to Tell them that these signs were part of an Effort to spend $1.5 million so that Heidelberg could win $1 million in a Community improvement contest. I did t think they would understand because truthfully i done to. A Kenneth l. Ahern Heidelberg Germany object of prejudice a writer said she was tired of the a whining and complaining about discrimination. Obviously she has not and i Hope Wilt never be discriminated against because of the color of her skin or More to Home the fact she is female. I am an afro american female and have personally been the object of Peoples prejudices. Its a degrading and humiliating experience. I wish it on no human. I also have a College degree and it was me the writer was competing against for those Grants and scholarships. I am tired of All the constant moaning from people who say they Are getting cheated out of funds and had to work to get through College. I also worked through College in the financial Aid office. Many Low income Whites received Aid thus taking Aid away from minorities. Done to blame the few minorities who have the motivation to succeed and seek out funds and opportunities. A 1st it. Tina Borner Wil Flecken Germany pen pals 1 am 28 Yaar old and my hobbies Ere All sports writing. Camping and travelling. Sheri merchant. 195 Vul i River Rouge. Mich. 40218-1608 i am 12 year old and i have three Little brother. I live in Germany and i would love to Heer from anybody of any age anywhere. I would especially like to hear from girls my own age in the . My hobbles Are playing the piano Reading writing letters enjoying Mysell and meeting new people. A Helen Jetner 191th med det unit 30203 Apo a 09061 i am 39 years old and i work As a travel agent. I enjoy travelling of course working out and generally having a Good time. I would like to hear from american service Membert Between the Ages of 29 and 36 who have similar interests. A a Alison Kent 43 Ealrsie Road Eltham London se9 1xn England