European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 04, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 2 the stars and stripes wednesday August 4,1,993 i i at a ounce John Hoffman stands in knee deep floodwater and surveys his living room in St. Charlesmo. For de tails on the Midwest flooding see the Story on Page 4. Aid urged for Gulf vets veterans exposed to toxic sub stances or environmental hazards during the persian Gulf War would receive priority treatment at a hospitals under a House passed Bill. Pages sex Sailor accuses Navy. A former Sailor says . Navy investigators violated his civil rights by seizing videotapes that allegedly show him and an enlisted Man hav ing sex. Pago 6 new life starts two year old Jessica is beginning a new life with virtual strangers her biological parents. Pago 7 russian pull Boft halted Russia has temporarily stopped withdrawing its troops from Poland. Page 8 nuclear ban urged japanese peace activists Are Call ing for an end to nuclear weapons As they prepare to remember the world s first atomic bombing. Page 9 Little growth foreseen the government s chief economic forecasting gauge is signalling an anaemic performance ahead. Page 13 Index Abby Ann Landers 21 classifieds 25-27 comics 21-23 commentary 15 crossword 21 faces n places 24 focus 17-20 Horoscope 27 Jumble 27 letters 14 Money matters 12-13 sports 29-36 to listings 35 weather 16 deficit reduction Pac hailed As the beginning e Washington a president Linton on tuesday hailed a $496 billion deficit reduction Compromise As the be ginning not the end As democrats moved to muscle it through Congress this week. It s a Good package. It s solid it real numbers Clinton said speaking of the plan that is his primary legislative goal of the year. Democratic negotiators in Congress were applying final touches to the Bill that had been six months in the making. A final vote was expected in the Houston thursday and in the Senate on Friday. Clinton said that while the emerging Compromise is different from his original proposal i feel quite Good about it r to criticism that the measure does no contain enough in budget cuts Clinton said there will be Many More budget cuts. This is the beginning not the congressional democratic Leader agreed monday to reduce the number of elderly americans who would be hit Bra higher social Security tax and to slow the growth of medicare. Those deals were aimed at sealing the votes democrats will need to approve the plan. With Only minor details of the budget package still unresolved party leaders said the Way was Clear for House and Senate votes. Congress Hopes to leave Friday for a monthlong summer recess. Clinton portrayed the final version As the Best that could be achieved Given de mands of the people we have to get votes he said they did not want higher Energy tax they wanted incentives for business and did not want less than$495 billion in deficit cuts. Of the decision to make tax increases in the measure retroactive to last Jan. 1 instead of july Clinton said. It was a fairer Way to do it rather than run the risk of dropping below $490 billion in deficit asked if the higher taxes in the plan would be a drag on the Economy As re publicans have charged Clinton said it s ironic that the same people who filibustered the jobs program earlier this year Are worried about a drag on the Economy. They had a Chance to put a half a Mil lion americans to work and turned away from it he said. Democratic leaders predicted the Bill would pass if narrowly. We re not bringing it up to have the Bill Defeated. We re bringing it up to pass the Bill said House speaker Thomas s. Foley a Wash. So we believe we have confusion from Page 1 past weekend things Are in a flux and it s too Early to Tell How High the Dollar will go in Exchange value against european currencies Pels said about the near col lapse of the european monetary system. We Are adjusting our projections for european currencies right the Ems is based on an Exchange rat mechanism or Erm that was established in 1979 to help dec members Stabi Lize their currencies and plot a course to Ward monetary Unity by 1999. The past weekend s near disaster for european economic Unity started thurs Day when the German Central Bank decided not to lower a key lending rate. It ended monday with an Erm that noway be More symbolic than substantial Fels is definitely a step Back for european monetary Union he said. It the Erm has collapsed. It still exists but Only on the swirling uncertainty in european Money markets was most noticeable for americans on Friday when the Exchange rate for one Dollar at military banking facilities moved from 1.68 to 1.70 German Marks for the first time since sept. 6, 1991.however, because the German Mark is still acknowledged As King of european currencies and the German Central Bank is still reluctant to reduce its key lending rates Fels said the current troubles with in the Erm will have no big Impact on the Dollar s value against the Mark. It the Mark will show a gradual depreciation against the Dollar he said sure enough on monday afternoon the Dollar slipped Back a pfennig to a rate of 1.69 Marks for tuesday. On tuesday the slide continued wit another three pfennig fall to 1.66 for to Day s rate. For . Army staff sgt. Christophe Meadows even a Mark rate in the 1.60s is better than the rate in september 1992,when the Greenback hit Rock Bottom at 1.35 Marks. " last september my rent was of but we did t go out that much said Meadows who with his wife spec. Mar Meadows shares the costs of living on the Economy in Grafe Wohr Germany. When the Dollar moved Back into the1.50s late in 1992, the Meadows took advantage of the Exchange rate to sightseeing Berlin. Currently Christopher Meadows Fig ures that 70 percent of his purchases Are still on base at places such As the Post Exchange. However he added his wife splits her purchases 50-50 Between on base and off base shopping. Although . Dollars buy More Ger Man Marks the Meadows Cost of living and overseas housing allowances known As cola and Oha have dipped. The military adjusts these rates every two weeks if the Dollar moves up or Down More than 10 percent against a preset level. I noticed about a $40 to $50 drop in cola and about $25 drop in Oha Only Les pay statement Meadows said. Sunday s emergency meeting of dec finance ministers adjusted the limits that its currencies could move up or Down from 2.25 percent to 15 percent. If a cur Rency moved outside that Range the dec Central Banks were under agreement to help stabilize that currency by buying it on the open Market. Economists predict the Erm s expanded currency fluctuation limits will help nations such As France Battle recession and at the same time keep their currencies from being devalued. This is done by allowing dec members to reduce their Short term interest rates lower than Ger Many a Fels said. As a result Mone tary policies can be judged by Domestic fundamentals instead of Germany currently the currencies of Germany the Netherlands France Belgium Den Mark Ireland Spain and Portugal oper ate within the Erm. England and Italy dropped out of the monetary Union i september 1992 when their currencies fluctuated outside Erm limitations. Threat from Page 1 to the shelling of Sarajevo and an end tothe misery before we go through another Winter Clinton said at a Bill signing cer Emony White House press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said monday that the nato allies had confirmed the . View that the situation in Bosnia Herzegovina and particularly in Sarajevo was in accept Myers noted that Clinton had written to nato Heads of state on Friday to express his View that the serbs Effort to strangle the City of Sarajevo through continued artillery attacks military Offen Sives and cutoffs of food water and fuel had reached a critical Point threaten ing a humanitarian disaster and under mining prospects for the negotiations unending the ethnic said tuesday that the agreement does not impose a strict dead line on the serbs. I Don t think there is a firm time Lin but the clock is ticking she said. She called the endorsement a Eoo step Secretary of state Warren m. Christo Pher wrote to his nato counterparts Friday seeking their support for the . Threat of air Power. The United states is particularly pleased by the. Decision of nato to prepare for airstrikes against the bosnian serbs if they continue to strangle Sarajevo Christopher said tuesday upon his arrival in Israel. The simple proposition is we simply cannot permit the serbs to continue to strangle Sarajevo and to commit such humanitarian Gross conduct that we have All witnessed Christopher said. Heidelberg army civilian Dies in Las vegas or � a x a i it jts _ too. Fol Heidelberg Germany is ration div. An army civilian who worked for the Mil officials said they did not know what itary club system in Heidelberg died Sun the cause of death was or Vvhs Lucinday in Las vegas. N Las vegas. A was Wayne Chester Michael Lucas 51, was born and raised in Chicago Lucas the assistant chief of operations in the nicknamed Mike served in in u 411th base support in s Community of army and retired As a staff sergeant Lucas had lived in Heidelberg for the past six years. He is survived by his wife Heidi and a daughter Renee. A memorial service will be held at 3 . Friday in the Patrick Henry Village Chapel in Heidelberg. A
