European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 10, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday september 10, 1994 the stars and stripes Page 3 6 Bookstore employees keep their jobs at Rota by Marian Hamilto Mediterranean Bureau under an Accord reached by Navy Exchange official Sand the Spanish government the Exchange is retaining six Spanish employees in its takeover of the stars an stripes Bookstore in Rota Spain. After six months of negotiations the former Stripe employees Learned Friday that they will have jobs in the Bookstore that As of today belongs to the Navy Exchange. The Bookstore reopens today after being closed since sept. 2 for the Transfer. We belong to the Navy Exchange now said Mercedes de Bejarano a cashier who has worked atthe Bookstore since 1986. For Over a month now we did t know if we would have  the six make up the Bookstore s entire staff. Some of them have worked at the site since the stars and stripes sep first opened at Rota in 1974. The eleventh hour decision was announced Friday after a series of meetings Between Spanish officials and the Navy Exchange. No information was available about when the decision was made or what prompted the breakthrough. The Transfer of stars and stripes bookstores to the Navy Exchange and the army and air Force Exchange service was mandated by Congress. The Transfer is to be completed by oct. 1. In March the six Rota employees were told by the Navy Exchange that they would not be retained. How Ever the employees insisted that under Spanish labor Laws they must be kept on Board. The workers who officially fall under the Spanish ministry of defense have worked on loan to the stars and stripes since 1974. In 1972, All Spanish nationals working for the . Government officially fell under the control of the Spanish ministry. Arturo Garcia stars and stripes sales representative and soon to be Bookstore manager at Rota for the Navy Exchange said the news of his continued employ ment was a big Relief. It s been a problem Ever since it was announced that the nex would take Over the bookstores almost a year ago he said. 5 Safe after Navy copter crash Manama Bahrain a a . Navy helicopter from the aircraft Carrier George Washington crashed Friday into the persian Gulf but All five Crew member were rescued a Navy spokesman said. Cmdr. T. Mccreary a spokesman for the . Naval forces Central come said the sh-3h sea King helicopter went into the water about 10 Miles from the Carrier at 10 15 . The cause of the Accident is being investigated but there is no suspicion of hostile action he said. Another helicopter retrieved the Crew members who appeared to be unhurt Mccreary said. They were flown Back to the Carrier for examinations he added. The Accident occurred in the Central Gulf Region Mccreary said. He declined to be More specific. The helicopter Sank he said. It was part of helicopter anti submarines 5 from Nas Jacksonville in florida.-.  George Washington entered the Gulf Only recently coinciding with the takeover by vice . John s. Redd As commander of the . Naval forces Cert trial come. The command is the naval  of the . Central come. Its warships patrol the area Between the Suez canal and Pakistan and from the persian Gulf to Kenya. A  /. ". The command has about 20 ships in the Region now. Is my Choc Abrameit s a Knack with Shaw six year old Jerome Cormier easily dunks a Ball with help from basketball Star Sha Uuie o Neal in Frank Furt Hochst Germany on Friday. The 7-foot-l-Inch National basketball association player is on a promotional tour through Europe and helped dedicate an out door basketball court in a Hochul Park. At least 5 die in Russia after 2 planes collide Moscow a a russian Tu-134 passenger Jet on a practice flight collided with a military plane and crashed near Moscow on Friday killing at least five of the seven people aboard a news Agency reported. The second plane a Tu-22 supersonic bomber landed shortly after the Acci Dent with pieces of the passenger Jet still stuck to its body itar Tass said. It was the latest Accident in an already bad year for russian aviation. There have been two major civilian crashes this year including one in january Neaf the siberian City of Irkutsk that killed 124 people. Another passenger Jet went Down in Siberia s Altai mountains in March killing 75 people. Cosmonauts Mir station undamaged Moscow a two russian cosmonauts took a stroll in space on Friday and found the Mir orbiting Sta Tion undamaged after a failed Docking attempt with a cargo ship last week. The itar Tass news Agency said Yuri Malen Chenko and Talgat Musa Bayev spent More than five hours out Side the station during the work filled walk. The cosmonauts accomplished their tasks with excellent  the inter fax news Agency said the spacewalk took an hour longer than was planned. Russian space suits allow cosmonauts to remain outside the station for up to six hours. Air from Page 1 this one could happen and want to see better integration of the army and air Force command and control systems the Pilot said. The majority of the unit was training at Grafe Wohr Germany when news of the indictments was released. Span Dahlem spokesman 1st it. Brad Felling would not permit the stars and stripes on the air base to randomly solicit Public reaction. That would a t be the Best idea because it might prejudice influence or Sway the Case Felling said. The decision not to allow the Public opinion Survey resulted from a base Legal office recommendation which the command Section concurred  Felling would not say if information was available Yeton where the article 32 proceedings against those charged will be conducted or where potentially Acourt martial would be held. An article 32 proceeding is similar to a civilian grand jury and a preliminary court  incident crosses two convening authority jurisdictions the 17th air Force which is part of the .air forces in Europe and air combat come with Headquarters at  fab a. Many of those who were asked about plans to prosecute the f-15 Pilot favored spreading the blame to All involved in the tragedy. Senior airman Byron Mccullouch in Kaiserslautern Germany said it  Mccullouch went on to say that As he understood the Issue the Azacs Crew knew the planes were there and lost track of them and did t follow  from what he termed a passing knowledge of the facts tech. Sgt. Jeffery d. Chizek of Sembach a Germany said a court martial May exonerate him the Pilot sounds More like the fault of the Azacs  it s a horrible situation but if they Lre going to hold the Pilot responsible they o aught to hold All the people involved accountable for the whole situation said Betsy Mccullouch in Kaiserslautern. I am waiting for the conclusion of the investigation in regard to what actually happened said sgt. Ber Strubing in Gie Belstadt. I am More interested in the actual finding than who is being charged. It s justified chief warrant officer 2 James Reid also in Gie Belstadt said of the indictments. They Are looking for somebody to blame said  Daugherty of he co 5th in 158th aviation regt co c s Headquarters. Lives were lost and some body has got to be at  officials could not find anybody to pin the Accident on so they chose the pilots to punish Daugherty said. The indictments will help ease the families grief headed. It will relieve some of their  it needs to be More severe said sgt. 1st class Gar Nard bum Side also of he co. It was not because of negligence it was ignorance on their  others Felt responsibility should be spread further. I think somebody higher is responsible because someone on the ground had to give the order to fire said pvt. 2 Aaron Stringer of. Rhine ordnance Barrack sin Kaiserslautern. Pvt. 2 Michael Popham also at Rhine ordnance bar Racks agreed with Stringer. I Don t think he May should  i Don t think it s his fault said april Ericson wife of senior airman Todd Ericson a firefighter in Vogel Weh Germany. Because if he was notified in Advance he would have known the american helicopters were in the area. They definitely should not put the blame on just one person. I thought the military was supposed to Monitor everything they  s hard to justify punishing someone for doing their Job right or wrong because we re Here to defend the country said spec. Stevie smoke of Rhine Ord Nance Barracks. Smoke said he Felt strongly that they especially the pilots were taking orders from someone