European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 6, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday August 6, 1994 . The stars and stripes Page 7 postal chief predicts delivery problems May take year to fix Washington a the . Postal service May need a year to recover from delivery problems that have Gerier. Ated complaints since last Winter postmaster general Marvin Runyon says. V at a contentious hearing thursday Runyon told a congressional subcommittee a we Are moving in the right direction across pressed to say when delivery problems would be solved he. An a swered a it wont be where we want it to be in sue months. But i think it will be in about a _ Runyon said in Kenyon Tensive efforts would bring faster results in the Washington area which recently tied with new York for slowest mail delivery in the nation in a postal service Survey. Washington will see a continuous improvement Over the next few weeks and months a Runyon said. Postal officials said 75 new mail carriers would be hired in Washington to alleviate a staff shortage that contributed to huge backlogs of mail. Members of the House Post office committee repeatedly asked at the hearing How things had gotten Sabad. They cited postal service studies that found the nations delivery last Winter was the slowest since quarterly surveys began in 1990. _ in the Washington area postal inspectors found millions of pieces of mail Back logged at two regional Post offices in May. The same inspection found a backlog of letters addressed to the government some dating from february languishing at Washington a main Post office. A the problem is massive. I think to some degree the scope of it is unprecedented a a said rep. Frank Mccloskey a ind. A whatever is happening there is no excuse for Runyon blamed the nations delivery problems on the bureaucratic culture of the postal service and workers resistance to his attempts to modernize the system since taking office two years ago. A a it a going to take us about five years to change the culture of the postal service a Runyon said. Several committee members prodded Runyon for a More Concrete explanation of what went wrong. A we have been hearing complaints from All Over the country that the service is bad and getting worse a said rep. Gay Ackerman . A what has happened to make it worse Arunyon repeated that postal workers and managers were resisting change. A frustrated Ackerman said he would give up the line of questioning As futile a you Haven t gotten a straight answer yet a commiserated subcommittee chairwoman Barbara Rose Collins a Mich. Ackerman suggested that the Root of the problem was the loss of too Many experienced workers when the postal service offered Early retirement incentives in 1992. The buyouts led a to the state of chaos that exists today a Ackerman said. But Runyon defended his buyout plan. He insisted that the problems go deeper to an ingrained postal service culture. Daughter s testimony helps put Mother in jail Nightmare of Young sister s death revealed Lafayette ind. A for almost 25 years she tried to Bury the memory but the nightmares let her. A i never had the luxury of forgetting a said Margarita Booth haunted by dreams in which she saw the pleading face of her Long dead Little sister. Finally Booth came Forward and told police that she saw her Mother kill her 2-year-old sister. Now Booths Mother is in jail and Booth is an outcast in her own family. _ _ a a it a hard to think of her sleeping on a Metal bed not being Able to come and go As she pleases a Booth said wednesday. A but at the same time just because she a my mom does no to mean she has the right to pick and choose when someone Dies. And just because she a my mom does no to mean she be Booths Mother., Anita Vega was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last week largely on her daughters testimony. She faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing aug. 25. Booth now 33, told a jury that she saw her Mother kill Anna Marie Arguello in their Frankfort Home in 1969 by beating her and forcing her to stay in a cold Bath All Day. The child was being punished for bed wetting. Booth said she saw her late Stepfather Luis Vega take Anna Marie a body away bundled in a Blanket. She never saw the Blanket or her sister again. Booth did no to go to police until 1992. Coming Forward she said a was very hard for me because it was going against everything that had been totally ingrained in me from the time i was a child and that was a done to the Price for telling would be death and i knew that.�?�. A a. A without Booths testimony authorities had Little to go on. A a Vega 52, claimed that the toddler died a natural death and that her body was secretly buried by the father because he feared deportation to Mexico. No body was Ever found and the Only evidence investigators could find that Anna Marie even existed was a birth certificate that Booth obtained from Michigan where the child was born and a picture of the toddler from an aunt in Ohio. Booth said the Price of her action has been alienation from her nine Sisters and Brothers three of whom Are in jail. One sister Mary fickle said after vegas conviction a i Hope my sex sister is Happy. You ask for a better Mother. Holding hands with Jim Booth her husband of seven years Booth said her Mother a took my a innocence comes from knowing that no matter what happens in life you can always run to your parents and love you and accept you and protect you unconditionally a she said. After what she witnessed however she concluded a anything s possible so therefore you done to Trust anyone. If you done to Trust your mom who can you Trust a a imperfect plums go to poor in protest of state policy san Francisco a Farmers churches and activists protested state Law by delivering a ton of slightly blemished plums to the poor saying rules barring the Sale of such fruit Are a National disgrace. A this is homeless abandoned fruit a fruit that could be fed to literally thousands of people a said the Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide memorial. Church in san Francisco a rundown tenderloin 10 percent of the nations plums a some 52 million pounds a is allowed to rot or is fed to cows because state Laws prohibit distributing fruit with minor cosmetic flaws. Supporters of the Law say California would lose its world class reputation for Quality if standards were lowered to admit undersized or blemished fruit. V a truckload of the contraband fruit rolled into Glide memorial Church on thursday. It was handed out to the salvation army religious groups and homeless organizations. The san Joaquin Valley Farmer who grew and packed the plums was threatened tuesday with a $1.6 million Fine by the California department of food and agriculture a we pc got murderers and rapists walking the streets and tens of thousands of people starving to death in Rwanda and in a being visited by the Plum compliance officers a said Dan Grawan of takes Chicago vide courses just because he prefers them he enjoys making his own schedule and setting his own Pace. The video program keeps up with him. A i study from the time my kids go to bed until Midnight. Since Day one in the military Vve been a self paced student. Vve had to be to maintain my credentials. The video program was Alife Saver for
