European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 07, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday february 7, 1993 the stars and stripes Page 3 teen s Back pay tangled in bureaucracy by Dave Melancon Wiir Burg Bureau Mike Cianciaruli the 15-year-old son of an air Force sergeant wanted to buy Christmas presents for his family but he had no Money thanks to a snafu Over his summer pay. That was two months ago. And de Cember was four months after he had stopped working Asa summer hire at an army gym in As Schaffenburg Ger Many. He still has not been paid the i $470 owed him for 159 hours of work i last summer. He should have Learned interest on that Money. It s been a half a year said his Mother Cianciaruli Jutta. Summer vacation is Long Over. Christmas has gone by. It ruined his Christmas and every  a former Aschaffenbur Community official said Mike s pay could have been distracted by the  the Community which now exists Only As a bedroom housing area for Darm Stadt Germany was closing 256 activities and sending seven battalions Worth of soldiers to new assignments when Mike was working. As a result paperwork could have been miss outed said maj. Manuel Alvarado the former Schaffen Burg military Community executive offi cer who now serves As the Wiir Burg Germany Community Security officer also Alvarado said the pay system is too rigid to react to unusual problems. Nobody is flexible Alvarado  problem is the kid worked and should have got his Money on  the Cianciaruli live in Obernburg about 1.2 Miles from Aschaffenbur. Mike started his Job cleaning the gym in mid july and left it aug. 10. After missing his first paycheck two weeks after he began working his supervisors contacted Aschaffenbur s civilian personnel office which contacted the 266th theater finance come in Heidelberg Ger Many. The finance command which handles civilian pay for Many . Army Europe agencies told the civilian office that the Check was sent u5 Aschaffenbur. Mike s father Jon who is a dormitory manager at Rhein main a Germany told finance officials to Send Mike s Check to his military address at the air base. They gave me a big stack of paper work to fill put Mike said. Each form had my mailing address. 1 had to write my mailing address at least 12 times on these  after Many phone Calls to civilian personnel and finance officials the Ciancia Rulis Learned that Mike s Check was sent to Apo a 09044, which belongs to a Long closed guard Post on the czech Bor Der. Cianciaruli s Apo at Rhein main a is 09057. Frustrated with the bureaucracy the Cianciaruli turned to Alvarado shortly before thanksgiving. After making several Calls to finance Alvarado ordered his Driver to take Mike and a sergeant to Heidelberg in a military Van to sort out the problems. That was the last the Cianciaruli and Alvarado heard until Mike received a let Ter with a Jan. 3 postmark telling him that if he cashed the first Check he was supposed to have received he would face a prison sentence. It was a waste of a trip Jutta Cianciaruli said. I thought it was fixed Alvarado said. Two months were  according to the major Jutta Ciancia Ruli came to him about Mike s problem too late for a Quick solution when Check is lost he said it can be replaced on the spot by the issuing finance office. But after a two week tracer period checks can be issued Only by the army finance and accounting Center at fort Benjamin Harrison ind. By the time she came to me it was Way past the tracer period Alvarado said. However the matter should have been cleared up with Mike s and the sergeant s trip to Heidelberg. Alvarado Suick the letter telling the teen not to Cash the first Check was unexpected. I m surprised. We took him to Hei Delberg to get All the information and Sig natures be needed then he said. Unfortunately nobody seemed to know Al the information and what forms were needed at one time. It was done piece meal Over  a spokeswoman at the 266th theater finance come s customer service Section said she could discuss the matter Only with the Cianciaruli because of privacy Regula  officials told Alvarado on Jan. 27 that a new Check has been issued at fort Benjamin Harrison. Mike should be getting paid spec time in february he said. If he does t get his Back pay Mike said next summer i m not going to work. I m not going to let that happen  narrow scape becomes lesson by Kevin Dougherty  Bureau Sembach a Germany one of life s simple maxims is the need to turn a negative into a positive the old Lemon to lemonade principle. When air Force staff sgt. John Smith and his wife Sandra faced the possibility of being barred from base housing because of a Kitchen grease fire they Cut a Deal. The Smiths offered to talk to Sembach s new Arri Vals about their firsthand experience and fire safety. You can lose More than your furniture John Smith told a recent presentation. You can lose More than your stereo. You can lose More than your video machine. You can lose your spouse and  it was the Smiths children who were in the balance when trouble struck their Home the night of oct. 5. It was monday the Start of fire prevention week. John Smith was at the end of his shift with the 601st comm so. Despite foul wet weather he was planning to walk Home. It was 8 p.m., und the walk would take about 10 minutes. Back Home Sandra Smith had put their 11-month old daughter Dominique to bed. Seven year old John or. Was watching television. Sandra Smith dropped a wad of cooking grease into a frying pan As she prepared to Cook Chicken. She set the electric Burner on Low then returned a couple of minutes later and turned the Knob to medium High. The sequence of events that followed is a blur she said. Thoughts of her husband walking  the rain sent her out the door to pick him up in the family car. She remembers telling John or. To stay put. She thought the stove was off. Five minutes later the couple pulled up to the 1k unit housing Complex and saw smoke evacuees and commotion. Fortunately the Smiths children were res cued by their neighbor army sgt. Mark beavers. Bea vers then returned to the Kitchen to extinguish the fire which caused about $3,260 in damage. The Smiths Are paying for repairs to the quarters. Col. Joseph s. Bleymaier jr., the 601st support group commander said he was sceptical at first of the Smiths offer to talk to people about fire safety. The cooking fire was considered very serious Bleymaier said. Here we were in the midst of fire prevention week. I was very much in favor of kick ing them off  instead the Smiths Are making an impression at the newcomers briefing. Airman Donald Edwards said the presentation is effective because people do not View the Guy As some one up there blowing  when they bring in an example Edwards said it makes you think  that s the intent. They have turned out to he terrific Bleymaier said. They have taken this to heart and people  is John Bomor senior airman James Warrick lakes part in the Creek defender training course at Sembach All Germany. Security police training Center moves to Sembach Germany Sembach a Germany is the ground combat training Center for air Force Security police in Europe moved Friday from Zamstein a to sem Bach a. The Creek defender program administered by Ramstein s 86th Security police so annually trains about .1,200 Security police stationed throughout the . Air forces in Europe said tech. Sgt. Ken car Ter a Sembach spokesman. The switch was made because Sembach has More open land for training exercises and the base s runway is not As Busy be cause no aircraft Are assigned there. There s More space More Freedom said staff sgt. Lonnie Chrislip an instructor. The setting is More realistic because we have an inactive runway to defend. We were really kind of limited in the training we could do at  the Creek defender program was established about four years ago to provide Field training for Safe Security police. Training includes lessons on establishing and defending base perimeters command and control camouflage und air base operations. In addition to the base defense curriculum 86th officials plan to incorporate leadership management training. A two week Creek defender course is scheduled to. Begin monday Carter said. Forty four Security police officers from Span Dahlem a will constitute the first class at Sembach. Eleven classes Are scheduled this year with instructors working with Security police from in Ciurlik a Turkey to Raf Alconbury England. The 86th will continue to operate the program and the shift will not increase in Sembach s base Popula Tion. They will work Here Carter said but not re Side