European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 15, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 15,1994 the stars and stripes Page 3 safety shortfalls alarming families after housing fire by Jimi Jones f staff writer tenants whose Homes were recently damaged by fire at the Macarthur place housing area in Friedberg Germany expressed concern Friday about the Overall fire safety of military family housing units. All of the buildings Are improperly. Set up with smoke detectors tenant Peggie Taylor said. Some have them. Some Don t. Some Don t work. It s mix matched. Smoke detectors obviously Are not a priority for  Taylor said shortcomings in the  s smoke Detector policy were exposed aug. 6 when a basement fire forced the evacuation of 17 families from their building. \ the fire caused an undetermined amount of damage to the building at Macarthur place on Friedberg s Ray Barracks Robin Campbell a spokeswoman for Hanau s 414th base support in said Friday. Friedberg Falls under the jurisdiction of the Hanau battalion. No one was seriously injured in the Blaze. But two people Taylor and Ursula France were treated at a German Hospital for smoke inhalation and released France said. Taylor said that the building s stairwell pretty much acted As a Chimney for the fire and that the smoke took a ridiculously Long time to reach the Battery operated smoke Detector she had personally bought for her family s apartment. The Detector turned out to be the Only Alert they had to the Blaze. When their alarm went off at 2 45 a.m., the Taylors then roused other families in the building we were Lucky we had balconies Taylor said. We had to hand our children Over the Edge of the Balcony to other neighbors. They made a human  she said adults blinded by smoke crouched Low on balconies and waited for the German Volunteer fire department to arrive. The Blaze destroyed the electrical e wore Lucky we had balconies. We had to hand of Iii children Over the Edge of the Balcony to other neighbors. They made a human ladder a -1 tenant Peggie Taylor fire system but damaged Only the Cen Ter stairwell Campbell said. Smoke detection devices in the Center stairwell of the building Are hard wired to the electrical systems and do not require Battery changes according to Achim Nicolai a fire prevention inspector for the Giessen . Fire department. He said fires in electrical systems Are a minor percentage of household blazes but when they do occur they May Cut off the electricity and cause the detectors to fail. Campbell said the cause of the fire is under investigation. The fire was confined to the " basement. The Center stairwell s electrical wiring system was destroyed and the Center quarters have smoke damage Campbell said. Individual claims for personal losses and an estimate of damages to the building Are not yet Complete Campbell said adding that officials expect to know the amount of damage Early this week. The evacuated families were allowed to return to their apartments later in the morning aug. 6, Campbell said with the exception of the five families who lived in the Center stairwell. One of the six apartments in the stairwell was unoccupied at the time of the fire Taylor said. The five families whose Homes were damaged were placed in a Friedberg guest House until new quarters could be obtained. But Taylor who lived on the top floor of the damaged stairwell with her  staff sergeant husband and two children said Friday morning that she and the other families Are concerned about Overall fire safety As housing areas go  we be asked that new quarters be inspected by a fire marshal Taylor said. She did not want to sign for quarters until she was sure that they will have fire  she said she found four deficiencies including defective smoke detectors in an apartment she looked at in bad nauheim a nearby housing area where the families Are being reassigned. France said they waited Friday from 1 . To 2 30 . For a fire Marsha who never showed for a 1 . Appointment. France said All the families signed for quarters Friday including the Taylors because Community officials rushed us to avoid paying temporary lodging allowances. She said that at $502 per week for a room nobody can. Afford it. It s so frustrating because no one wants to help us  France said the families must pack and move whatever Belor flings they can Salvage to the new location but without  help. She said that. Taylor had previously raised the Issue of fire detectors in a town Hall meeting but that the commander had told them it would take time. Now it s too late France said Friday. Families Are also concerned about the inconsistency of the fire safety policy. For example Community officials said sprinklers Are installed in one of the Friedberg billets for single soldiers. The building however is fairly new and built to nato standards while local family units were built in the 1950s and Don t have the sprinklers. We want communities in Europe towage up and take a look at your House. Plan what you re going to do in Case of fire Taylor said. If you Don t know then Start complaining to your ask area support grouper somebody s going to  work to curb 95 air travel in Stuttgart by Joseph Owen Heidelberg Bureau Stuttgart Germany anyone planning Long distance travel to or from Stuttgart next year should note the Stutt Gart Airport s intention to close its runway for 66 Days of reconstruction. The  state transportation ministry recently approved the Airport proposal despite complaints from charter travel companies that the closure would harm their businesses. The shutdown scheduled for july 31 to oct. 4, 1995, will permit construction workers to rebuild the runway s cast end and connect it to a runway Extension that should be finished by that time the ministry said in a news release. The Airport plans to use an existing parallel taxi apron As an interim runway for limited use. Aviation experts Are studying the interim runway to determine which planes can use it safely the ministry said. The Stuttgart  Airfield a . Military installation shares the main run Way with civilian air traffic. The reconstruction will not cause the americans any major inconveniences said Stephen Cochrane the Stuttgart based . Forces Liaison officer for Baden i Ittem Berg. Some . Military flights will use the interim runway while others will land at a German military Airfield near Ulm Cochrane said. Army helicopters should be Able to continue Landing at the Stutt Gart Airport without interruption he said. The runway project which already has forced planners to shift the traffic lanes of adjacent autobahn 8 slightly to the North is designed to improve air traffic safety. The old layout was too close to a Hill the Drache Steiner Odhe to permit Safe takeoffs and landings in All weather. The runway improvement follows Sev eral other major Airport construction projects Over the last few years. The others already completed included a commuter rail link to downtown Stuttgart and the opening of an Airport terminal. A plan to build a More direct rail link Between the Airport and downtown re placing the existing Hook shaped rail line is still on the drawing Board. That project which is unlikely to begin until after 2000, would occur in conjunction with efforts to move All the tracks at the main train station underground freeing up valuable real estate in the City Center. Officer s love rivalry annuls conviction of Sailor by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington the court of military appeals recently set aside the conviction of a Navy enlisted Man because the officer who recommended his 1993 general court martial had previously argued with him Over a woman. In Light of his previous involvement with the Sailor and the woman whom the officer later married the court said the officer s personal Bias was enough to taint the Case. The court of july 20, reaffirmed a Long standing precedent from a 1952 decision stating that anyone with other than an official interest in a Case is barred from making decisions that affect it. V the 1993 court martial involved Petty officer 2nd class William Nix who was charged with wrongfully socializing with students while he was an instructor at the naval air technical training Center in Millington  was also charged with Mal treating a subordinate using marijuana and committing consensual sodomy. He was convicted and sentenced to eight months in jail and a bad conduct discharge. On Appeal Nix argued that referral of charges against him was tainted by the vindictive motives of his commander capt. . Finta who was the special court martial convening authority. After an investigation of the Case Finta forwarded the charges up the Chain of command and recommended a general court martial the severest of the three types of courts martial. At his trial Nix said the charges should be dismissed because of Finta s possible ulterior motives in ensuring maximum punishment both Nix and Finta knew a woman named Sherry Clay who had worked As a bartender at the Nas Mem Phis Golf course where Nix was an avid golfer. Nix said he and Clay often would banter in a Way that was often sexual in nature by Way of innuendo and  he denied that he was sexually involved with Clay although he said people around the Golf clubhouse May have thought they were. Nix said that Finta was Well aware of the scuttlebutt and that on one occasion in the presence of witnesses ordered Nix to quit flirting with Clay and to stay away from her. After charges were preferred but before the pretrial investigation Clay phoned Finta to intercede on Nix s behalf but was rebuffed. Just before the trial Finta married Clay., the Crux of Nix s argument was that Finta was biased because of his personal interest in Clay and thus was disqualified to act on Nix s Case. Although the Navy court of military review denied that Appeal the court of military appeals supported it in a 4-1 decision. We cannot say that Appellant suffered no prejudice judge Walter Cox Iii wrote. Capt. Finta occupied an essential position in the court martial process one that requires exercise of discretion without Bias or   the court said Finta should have removed himself from the Case and explained Why to the general court martial convening authority. The record fails to establish that Finta acted with out improper motives Cox wrote the Cloud of the alleged conflict of interest has not been removed a Navy Legal official said Nix is not off the Hook yet. His trial record is being returned to the court martial convening authority in Nix s former command who can either drop the Case or order a new hearing and trial. The official said the double jeopardy Rule which pre vents people from being tried twice on the same charges does t apply in cases where the defendant is convicted in the initial trial. Double jeopardy applies Only if you re acquitted the first time around the official said