European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 26, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 the stars and stripes Money matters monday september 26, 1994 today s rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use British Pound. 1.62 dutch Guilder. 1.69 German Mark. 1.51 note the rates above apply within the hos country. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar following Are Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign Curren cies ". Austrian Schilling. 10.8780 Bahrain Dinar. 0.37697 belgian franc .31.93 British Pound. 1.5820 Canadian Dollar. 1.3457 danish Krone 6.0690 dutch Guilder 1.7180 French franc 5.2760 German Mark. 15431 greek drachma .234.19 italian Era. 1,561 Kuwait Dinar. 0.29690 norwegian Krone. 6.7785 portuguese escudo. 157.95 saudi rial 3.7504 Spanish peseta. 128.10 Swiss franc. 1.2835 turkish lira. 34,140 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $393 .95 an ounce Silver quote $5.60 an ounce. Sources merchants National Bank & Trust co. And the associated press groups win millions from Exxon Anchorage Alaska a a jury awarded $9.7 million saturday to several alaskan native corporations and a Borough that sued Over land damages caused by the Exxon Valdez Oil spill. The verdict in Anchorage Superior court disappointed the plaintiffs who had sought More than $120 million. It does t come anywhere close to what s been damaged said Charles tote moff president of the Cheney corp. He testified during the three month trial that people in his Village Are still reluctant to cat fish and game taken from the spill area in i Rince William sound other testimony focused on whether the Oil affected the value of Remote sparsely populated land that produces Little or no income. The jury deliberated for 10 Days. Tim Petumenos a lawyer for the Plain tiffs said he probably will Appeal he objected to judge Brian shorten s instruction that jurors were to consider Only the actual lost use of land. This Case in t Over yet Petumenos said. We have a lot to learn from the appellate courts about How wilderness lands should be  Exxon lawyer John Clough said the ver dict is a reflection of  most of these lands were never hit by Oil he said. Most important those that were damaged have  Exxon plans to Appeal a punitive damage award of $5 billion levied against it sept. 16by a Federal court jury in Anchorage. Jurors in that Case were asked to assess an amount that would punish Exxon and deter other Oil companies from unsafe conduct. The Exxon Valdez dumped nearly 11 million Gallons of Oil in 1989 after hitting Areef polluting roughly 1,500 Miles of alas a s coast. The Case in state court involved nearly 600,000 acres of land owned by six native corporations and Kodiak Island Borough. The corporations had asked for $87 Mil lion for land damages and $29 million to excavate archaeological Sites that came to Public attention during the cleanup. At least 16 Federal agencies ,. A plan buyouts for e by Mike Causey Washington Post Washington a sneak preview of buyout plans shows at least 16 Federal agencies will offer workers up to $25,000 to. Leave their jobs Between october and. March v an additional eight have told the of fice of personnel management that they will not offer buyouts. Nine others either Haven t decided or Are trying to decide How Many. Buyouts to offer and whether they will be first come first served offers or limited to specific grades jobs and locations. " \. Since Congress authorized buyouts for non defense department agencies in late March agencies have paid 14,930 workers to leave. Most employees took regular retirement at age 55 with 30 years age 60 with 20 years or age 62 with five years of Federal service and got in reduced pensions based on service and salary. Some employees took Early retire ment available at any age after 25 years service or at age 50 with 20 years serv ice and took pensions reduced 2 percent for each year they were under age 55., about 4,000 buyouts Are still in the pipeline meaning employees have accepted but not yet left. Nearly 22,000 workers applied for buyouts since March. The defense department which has had buyout authority since 1993, already has paid 48,437 workers to leave. Con Gress is expected to extend its buyout authority until october 1999. Defense used buyouts offered both to retirement Al Gible workers and some employees who simply quit to prevent massive layoffs that would have hit younger workers  and others lacking seniority. Since buyouts Are most Cost effective Early in the fiscal year it begins oct. 1agencies Are already lining up employees who Are interested. Some will limit buyouts to occupations geographic Levels or specific Grade Levels or to meet the Clinton administration goal of reducing the number of managers supervisors and what it Calls overhead jobs in account ing budget procurement and various Headquarters jobs in Washington. Departments and other agencies that have advised the pm that they will offer buyouts starting in october Are the Board for International broadcasting environmental Protection Agency fed eral communications commission fed eral labor relations authority International Boundary and water commission National labor relations Board Agri culture Commerce census Bureau and the National oceanic arid atmospheric administration education health and human services housing and Urban development Interior labor state transportation and veterans affairs. Those indicating there will be no buyouts Are the consumer product safety commission Export import Bank Gen eral services administration Merit sys tems Protection Board National aeronautics and. Space administration National endowment for the arts Small business administration and the smithsonian institution. Agencies still undecided or unsure of How Many buyouts they will offer include big operations such As the Energy trea Sun and Justice departments the pm anon the interstate Commerce commis Sion. Video linkup a spokeswoman in Cologne Germany demonstrates a Sharp have the equipment. The images also can be reproduced on a camcorder adapter for the Telephone that allows users to receive Printer officials said. No prices were announced at the photog video images from throughout the world As Long As both parties Raphy and video fair running through tuesday in Cologne. Rule tightened on watching airlines clocks Washington a travellers will be Able to get More accurate reports of air lines on time performances and May be eligible for More Money when their baggage is lost under new transportation depart ment rules announced saturday. In addition the department is launching an investigation of airline ticket marketing practices. Almost All travel agents use one of four computerized ticketing systems. Those sys tems Are owned a airlines and the depart ment said it wants to make sure information on the system meets government requirements that it be fair to All airlines. This study will help us to assure that Consumers can obtain Complete unbiased Fligh t information from travel agents transportation Secretary Federico Pena said. The new Rule for on time performance takes effect Jan. 1, requiring that airlines include delays caused by mechanical prob lems in their monthly reports. Currently the largest carriers Are required to report the share of departures " and arrivals that take place within 15 min utes of schedule. That is considered to be on time. However the rules now exempt flights delayed by mechanical problems. And the department proposed to in crease the limit on compensation to people whose baggage is mishandled to. $1,850. The current limit set a decade ago is$1,250. The department said it will seek com ment on the proposed limit and whether it should be increased to $2,000 or tied to the inflation rate