European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 24, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes wednesday August 24,1994 no told to pay British wife s tax otherwise Alconbury sergeant faces 14-Day jail term by Nancy l. Torner . Bureau Huntingdon England an air Force technical sergeant at Raf Alconbury has been sentenced to 14 Days in jail for failing to pay his British wife s pol tax Bill. I however the sentence handed to tech. Set. Daniel Earl by the Huntingdonshire magistrates court has been delay a until oct. 3 to allow him to pay the Bac taxes. / Earl could not be reached for comment tuesday and it was not immediately Clear How much he has been or dered to pay although the amount is unlikely to exceed $1,200. ,.the Huntingdonshire clerk of courts said tuesday that the sentence could be appealed or that the matter might be resolved Between . And British officials. Earl was found guilty monday of wilful refusal Topay Back poll taxes for his wife. All British citizens were levied a poll tax from 1990 to 1993 that supported local services including schools recreation police and fire Public health major roads garbage collection and Community housing. The poll tax has since been replaced by a Council tax from which both . Service members and their British spouses Are exempt. Under the former poll tax Only . Service members were exempt and Huntingdonshire is seeking outstanding tax payments for i .t1 i British spouses. Although Huntingdonshire is the Only District known to be pursuing payment of these taxes in court other District councils also Are owed Back taxes by . Serv ice members. For instance the Forest Heath District Council tax office which oversees a number of communities that Are Home to Many . Service members assigned to Raf Mildenhall and Raf Lakenheath estimated that 140 americans owed Back poll taxes. However an of fice spokesman said the total amount owed was not immediately available. Americans owe Huntingdonshire about 37,000 Brit ish pounds or about $58,830, in Back poll taxes. Frank c. Newton Huntingdonshire s assistant director of finance said that the amount owed by a specific individual was confidential but that the most any one person owed was about 760 pounds or about $1,208. Newton said the Council did t care who paid the Back taxes As Long As payment was made. A spokeswoman for Raf Alconbury said tuesday that Earl s Case is under Legal advisement and Usan . Air Force officials Hope that this will be resolve Din the near  Earl is the first american whom the Huntingdonshire District Council which is similar to a county government in the states has pursued in court to obtain Back poll taxes. But Earl will not be the last Newton said. About 119 other . Service members All of whom were or still Are part of the Alconbury military Community also owe Back poll taxes to the Huntingdonshire District Council related to their British spouses Newton said. Unless the tax Issue is resolved payment from these individuals also will be pursued in court he said. We have a number of other cases that Are in an advanced state Newton said. The Huntingdonshire District Council is seeking col Lection of old poll tax debts based on an april 19 ruling from the British High court in London that . Serv ice members married to British nationals Are liable for their spouses poll tax payments if the spouses do not have individual assets to pay the  ruling also said that each wife who is herself a citizen of the United kingdom is not entitled to rely on her status As the wife of a Usan Serviceman to protect her from personal  if Earl does not pay the tax by oct. 3 and if the sen tence is not appealed or the tax Issue is not otherwise resolved Earl will be issued another notice to appear in court to argue Why he should not be placed in jail the court clerk said. If Earl fails to show just cause for nonpayment of the tax he will be immediately committed to jail she said. We Are still hopeful that nationally or internationally the matter is resolved Newton said Entebbe unit keeps things moving by sue Palumbo staff writer Entebbe Uganda nobody pays much attention to the detachment fro the 89th trans so in Entebbe. But the motor Pool is the first thing on people s mind when they want to get to a plane find their hotel or go into town. It s a pretty sizable Job. For any body said air Force 2nd it. Ron . Erdman chief of operations for civil engineering at  Only four people they have to coordinate transportation for hundreds of people. And for All the stress they re under they still have a Good  Entebbe is the operation Headquarters and the Airlift Hub for operation support Hope the Effort to Aid the rwandan refugees. All supplies equipment and person Nel Fly through Entebbe on the Way to Goma Zaire or Kigali Rwanda. Staff sgt. Andrew Thompson from Andrews fab md., and his people arrived july 23. But instead of assuming their Normal duties As Drivers they had to form and supervise a motor Pool using local nationals As Drivers. Thompson said he worked 42 hours no tall tales to Tell no crazy stories. Just Doln my Job airman Eddie Kemp straight setting up routes and organizing Drivers. He and the other three people pull 12-hour shifts As work takes place around the clock. Their Fleet of 42 vehicles operates a 24-hour shuttle service to pick up personnel billeted in local hotels run mor ale welfare and recreation trips and go Back and Forth to the military air planes. They support about 830 joint service military plus about 130 flight Crew members. The Lack of a status of forces agreement which protects military personnel in foreign countries meant Thompson had to hire local nationals to drive. Most of the Drivers speak Little or no English and none had Ever driven on an Airfield Thompson said the air Force usually lets Only seasoned Drivers near air planes because of safety. But that was t an option Here. We had to train them How to drive around the planes said Thompson. At first we had a couple of incidents of people driving under the planes and stuff. They scare the hell out of people sometimes because they drive on the opposite Side of the Road and they  Many Drivers Don t want to admit they Don t understand the directions Thompson said. I asked one of the Guys if he spoke Good English and he said yes " said airman Eddie Kemp. Just out of curiosity i said some thing in Spanish and he Stilt said the ugandans Are not the Only ones trying to hone their language skills Kemp also has picked up a few words of swahili. He said it has made a big difference in the working relationship with the ugandan Drivers. Thompson and his Crew have no idea How Long they la be in Entebbe. He said their orders read 90 Days but nobody counts on that. I work my 12 hours i go Home tothe hotel i go to the gym i eat sleep and go Back to work Kemp said. No tall tales to Tell no crazy  Goma from Page 1 nation would have been a disaster much worse said Joel Boutroue operations coordinator for the . High commissioner for refugees. During the same ceremony Bou Troue accepted $2.3 million in . Equipment mostly trucks trailers,3,006 and 5,000-gallon water containers heavy equipment and More than 30 tents. The equipment is excess said . Bob Jarvis a spokesman for joint task Force Alpha. The equipment was partially repainted to cover the army tac tical markings. Vehicle doors and other highly Visi ble areas were painted White and "." was stencilled on them. Boutroue said the equipment will be operated and maintained by civilian re Lief workers in conjunction with the United nations. Doctors without Borders. Will manage the water tanks and truck Leet. The Road graders will be sent to priority locations Boutroue said. The. Tents will be taken to Orpha Nages he added. Members of the state department s disaster assistance Relief team or Dart will remain in Gama. The unit s Job said learn Leader Greg Garbinsky is to act As Liaison Between no government organizations the United nations and . Forces. Kate Crawford also a Dart Mem Ber said there Are still about 400deaths Aulay in refugee Camps. Dart members contracted a Cali fornia firm portable water Supply sys tems through mid september to continue pumping and distributing water to the refugees Garbinsky said. They provide almost 50 percent of the water being sent to refugee Camps Garbinsky said. The company is pumping and distributing about 1 million liners  the american pullout signals the be ginning of a return to normalcy for Goma Relief workers said. Goma used to have about 350,000 residents but they were Down to 60,000 during the War said an unidentified Relief worker. They re already Back up to about150,000 people. It s a vibrant  nato partners to join exercise at polish Range Warsaw Poland a some 600 soldiers from 12 european countries and the United states will take part in the first joint exercise under the .-Spon sorted partnership for peace to be held outside Alliance territory. The four Day exercise called cooperative Bridge 94, will begin sept. 12 on a Range in Bie Drusko 15 Miles North of Poznan in Western Poland the defens ministry said. A group of nato officers visited the Range last week Anna Klis a ministry spokeswoman said tuesday. The exercise will be used for training in peacekeeping and peace support. Soldiers from Bulgaria the czech re Public Denmark Germany Britain Italy Lithuania the Netherlands Poland Romania Slovakia Ukraine an the United states will take part. German lotto Jackpot remains a tidy sum Munich Germany is the German lottery mania will continue at least until saturday because no one hit the whopper Jackpot last weekend lot Tery officials said tuesday. Two people had six numbers Correct but missed the seventh super number which would have Given them the whole pot said Wuh Weindl spokesman for the bavarian lottery society. But they did win 7.5 million Marks each about $5 million which in t peanuts  they were playing for a record Jackpot of 30 million Marks $20 Millio Weindl said there still will be at least 22.7 million Marks about $15 million in the Jackpot saturday and perhaps 27 Mil lion $18 million depending upon How Many people play. The National lottery called the lotto is run by the 16 German states which keep about 42 percent of the Money played. Never before has so much Money stayed in the lottery Jackpot for such an extended period Weindl said. The potential winnings have exceeded 20 million Marks $13 million for More than two weeks