European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday december 18, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 3phone firms extend free Call program by Ray Rovden Washington Bureau Washington a military personnel and defense department workers overseas can talk at no charge to loved ones in the United states through Jan. 3, thanks to an extended offer by two . Telephone companies. Officials with the military affiliate radio system or Mars confirmed that sprint and Sci have agreed to extend their offers. The companies began offering the service during the thanksgiving Holiday weekend. A Mars a voice Patch extends a transcontinental radio connection Between a Telephone caller overseas and a receiving Telephone in the United states. Under the current offer the two companies Are providing toll free lines to the .-based radio operators. A when one of our stateside operators gets a phone Patch from overseas they normally make a collect Call to the family and Complete the  said Bob Loe chief of the Navy system. Calls can originate from stations aboard ships at sea or at overseas locations. Sprint has provided free Holiday connections to the military for eight years. Sci began offering a similar service during the persian Gulf War. Quot the massive deployment to the persian Gulf revitalized the Mars network which sometimes suffers from its status As a morale is. Operational communications link. Field commanders who choose to have a Mars station get no financial assistance from higher Headquarters. Many stations could not operate without the time and equipment of volunteers. One official familiar with the Mars network said Marine units in Somalia have carried with them some of the si20,000 Worth of radio equipment paid for by Sci during the persian Gulf War. Army operators placed More than 60,000 free Calls Over the radio network during the persian Gulf War said Bob Sutton chief of the army network. Navy operators assisting Many sailors at sea place about 60,000 Calls per year but that number doubled during the War Loe said. Telephone company spokesmen said they expect the Holiday Calls to number in the thousands but declined to predict specific numbers. Those interested in making a free Calls should Contact their nearest Mars station. Fungus at German Hospital proves deadly to 12 patients Frankfurt Germany apr twelve patients at one of Germany a leading hospitals have died this year of a fungus possibly set free by construction work officials say. Hessen state prosecutors have opened an investigation to consider charges of negligent homicide against administrators at the University Hospital of Frankfurt said Hubert Harth a spokesman for the prosecutors office. The fungus Aspergillus Fumi Gatus can cause lung infections or blood poisoning. It is a known danger in hospitals and is found in Homes soil and cellar Walls. It is especially dangerous to patients with lowered resistance to infection said Peter Satter chief of the heart surgery department. Satter said the first victims were two patients who had undergone surgery to replace heart valves. Then infections later traced to the deadly fungus claimed a Moscow up russian officials announced thursday the seizure of 1 million fake . Dollars in the first operation of its kind against an International gang of counterfeiters. The group of four italians a ukrainian a russian a latvian and one Man described As a a stateless planned to flood russians growing foreign currency Market with up to 11 million High Quality fake dollars Security ministry officials said. The first consignment of $1 million was to be swapped for 500,000 real dollars in a Moscow hotel dec. 6. But Security forces lying in wait caught the Cou airman gets jail term for use of steroids Simbach a Germany a amps a an airman who used drugs to bulk up his physique has been sentenced to six months in jail after a special court martial a Sembach spokesman said thursday. Airman Troy a. Campos of the 601st up so pleaded guilty to using and possessing anabolic steroids and possessing drug abuse paraphernalia at the dec. 9 proceeding at Sembach. The Security policeman also was demoted to airman Basic and ordered to forfeit $523 per month. Campos a bodybuilder a turned to steroids to make Quick gains in his size a beginning in july said tech. Sgt. Ken Carter. Security police Learned of Campos drug use then observed him buying steroids. . And military Law has prohibited use of anabolic steroids since 1991. Campos will serve his jail term at the army confinement facility at Mannheim Germany. Carter said that Campos bought the steroids from a civilian and that base Legal officials expect no other charges will be filed in the Case. Heart transplant patient three liver transplant patients and a Bonc marrow transplant patient. The surgeon said the heart surgery operating room was closed for two Days at the end of november to be disinfected. Work to remove Asbestos from the 11-Story main building was suspected of having set free a Large amount of the fungus and Irmtrud Birkhahn chief administrator of the Hospital said work had stopped. After disinfection and other safety measures were taken there was no longer a heightened danger she said. Wolfgang Stille a specialist in infectious diseases said it was unlikely that the construction work was the Only source of the infection because 42 aids patients who had not been treated in the main building also had traces of the fungus. Terse items As the Money was being exchanged. The gangs ringleader was arrested in another Moscow hotel at a banquet he had arranged to celebrate the Deal said Alexander Pere Lygin of the Security ministry. Officials from the ministry the Post soviet heir to the infamous Kab Security service played reporters an action packed video of the gangs arrest a a rare Case of glasnost for an institution wanting to rid itself of its secretive cold War image. John Ohta a spokesman for the . Embassy confirmed that . Diplomats helped the russians learn to distinguish Between real and fake american currency. Separate czech Prague up a Czechoslovakia a parliament voted itself out of existence and endorsed the country a split into separate czech and slovak states t thursday effectively ending Federal authority in the country. By a show of hands deputies to the 300-seat legislature adopted a Resolution agreeing that the end of the czech and slovak federative Republic scheduled for dec. 31, 1992, was constitutional. T he move which helps ensure the Calm and orderly split of Czechoslovakia into separate czech and slovak states on Jan. 1, followed wednesday nights adoption of a new czech Constitution by the czech National Council the czech republics legislature. The Resolution also reminded the czech and slovak National Legislatures of their Promise to incorporate the Federal deputies into the czech and slovak parliaments. But neither czechs nor slovaks have fully resolved what they intend to do with the unemployed Federal parliamentarians. Also on thursday the czech National Council adopted the Federal czechoslovak Flag and the first half of the Federal Anthem As symbols of the new czech state. An earlier agreement in the Federal Assembly by which neither czechs nor slovaks would adopt the symbols of Czechoslovakia was ignored. A we Are on the grounds of the czech parliament a wave on the Wall russian president Boris n. Yeltsin Waves to chinese tourists thursday As he Tours the great Wall following a meeting with chinese president Yang Changkun. Yeltsin is expected to sign agreements seeking to broaden relations with China. And it is our Sovereign right to decide As we decide a Jirina Pavli Kova head of the czech Legislatures heraldic committee said t thursday. A the Flag will be free from Jan. I and the slovaks Are not interested in it a she added. Slovakia adopted its new hag and Constitution on sept. 1. In the Federal Assembly deputies joined in a last rendition of the czechoslovak National Anthem before adjourning. Parliament s dissolution creates a minor constitutional conundrum. Czechoslovakia has been without a Federal president since the resignation of Vaclav Havel last july and with no parliament the Federal government has nobody to report to and nobody from which to draw its authority. But the government is expected to continue in office until Midnight dec. 31. Federal ministries Are now Busy dividing their assets and devolving their responsibilities to the iwo republics. After the vote Federal Assembly chairman Michal Kovac of the nationalist slovak movement for a democratic Slovakia said Quot the czech and slovak republics were not founded on the ruins of the czechoslovak Republic but grew in its womb for a Long a  russians seize $1 million in fake Bills slovak states of d