European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday october 29, 1994 the stars and stripes Page 3 travel firm passes up top Tours " " v -. By Mark Kinkad staff writer for to years Brigitte Colantonio s top Tours travel Agency was one of a select few bus tour companies contracted to serve the . Military in , top Tours is on the outside looking in. When Carlson Wagon lit travel opens for business monday on  posts across Europe top Tours will not be part of the contract services offered As reported Friday in the stars and stripes said Dan Parks Carl son Wagon lit s contract manager. Sat travel the previous Agency on  bases elected not to renew its contract with the bus tour specialists at the end of september. In fact the Only Mili tary connection top Tours has is through air Force in formation ticket and Tours offices. When sat travel let the contract with top Tours run out and Carlson Wagon lit passed on the contract offer Colantonio opened offices off base near  communities and stresses what she believes Are her Strong suits against the larger Competition. First we re in 50  communities in Germany As Well As on air Force bases through itt she , we can offer competitive prices because we Don t have to pay commission to Sato or Carlson Wagon lit. That Means we can keep our prices  her business relationship with american travellers is also a plus she said. Since 1984, when top Tours began operations with the . Army Europe through its travel offices the company has provided travel serv ice to More than half a million . Military customers she said. I know what americans like she said. In Many ways we Are the local travel agents. People Are comfortable with us. We re working very very hard. Business has already started picking up outside base  Carlson Wagon lit travel won the contract to be the official travel Agency for Usa eur in july. The Deci Sion to pass on a contract with top Tours was strictly business and not influenced by Sato travels move to sever connections with the tour company Parks said. When we receive a proposal from a Vendor we look at All aspects of their tour operations Parks said. We invite proposals. We Don t always establish contracts for one reason or another. And we Don t always give the reason for not  sat travel officials would not comment on the con tract dealings with top Tours. The company which operated on  bases for 11 years still holds contract with the Navy and air Force. Although Colantonio said she does t know Why sat travel and Carlson Wagon it refused to contract with her she does t believe complaints about top Tours influenced the decisions. You can try As hard As you want to if anybody thinks you can satisfy 100 percent of the clients that s not possible she said. Anything can happen. Any body in the travel Industry that can say they will satisfy 100 percent of their clients i would like to see  Colantonio said she realizes Carlson Wagon lit brings a huge travel management network when it be gins operations but if she can Bounce Back from being dropped by sat travel and ignored by Carlson Wagon lit she can keep winning customers. We have gone through some really rough times and we stuck it out. I m not very Happy the Way we be been pushed aside Colantonio said. I will fight for my  libraries in Usa eur checking out High tech by Darrell Lewis staff writer Heidelberg librarians in . Europe Are changing from chuckled at authoritarians to info techno wizards said speakers during a Library program update at the 3rd annual mor ale welfare and recreation expo. Automated card Catalon and boo checkout procedures and compact disc resource Banks that save volumes of space Are what the brain trustees Hope to rewrite Library history with in the coming months using funds left Over at the end of fiscal 1994. Librarians Are eager to learn How to use and share the new technology and the year end Money helps out those with Small budgets Che Ryl Hunter administrative librarian forthe Usa eur Library and resource Center said  re not difficult to use Are most certainly user Friendly and Are definitely the wave of the  visitors to the new age libraries will soon be Able to Fin books by using computers which have put at least one Bulky card Catolos cab inet out of business Hunter said. The Patron oriented automated Library system also uses hand held scanners to read bar codes while checking books out and backing quickly. It s even tied into the main re search Library in Heidelberg. Other computer generation peripherals being bought for major libraries in elude cd rooms on a variety of  there is a difference from the apparently identical music cd Many people now have at Home Hunter said. One cd Index to magazines can hold about 10 years Worth of the periodicals that would be about this much she said extending her hands about shoulder Width apart. Other cd rom products include the Wall Street journal the first newspaper offered in this . Document Sand the joint travel regulation. The regulation is used mainly to look up per diem or daily food and lodging allow ances for an area of current or upcoming duty she said. Multimedia computers Are even on the Way offering encyclopedia with such sound effects As tigers that  a multitude of facts and stat personal income tax forms Are expected to be part of the wealth of information available at patrons fingertips. With the expanded technology Hunter said getting libraries ready for the 21st Century will require capable technician who can give occasional guidance. If someone looked up aids the might find 5,000 articles taking 500 hours to review she said. Librarians or their assistants who Are invaluable Are there for  most heavily researched topic Hunter said is probably business citing the credit courses and graduate programs offered by the University of Maryland followed c Osely by general sciences. The Freedom of information is some times used with questionable motives according to some Patron references use Dat the forum. People have used the various information vats to scoop out buzzwords from government personnel descriptions Formwork applications and find it tempting in some cases to print out College course papers and present them As their own. Examples of the usefulness of the automation include recent requests for in formation about the new ukrainian de sense minister and chief of staff and a poll about the percentage of Trust Ameri cans put in their armed forces. Last review adm. Paul d. Miller 52, looks Over a folder of photos that document his career in his office on tuesday in Norfolk a. Miller head of the Atlantic come will retire next week. . Clocks to turn Back an hour Washington a an Ameri can family ritual comes around again this weekend the changing of the clocks. This is the weekend most folks get a extra hour to sleep or carouse or what Ever it is they like to do in the wee hours of the morning. For most people though it simply Means having to remember to set the clock. Back that s right Back a hour before retiring saturday night. Technically the change occurs at 2a.m. Sunday local time which becomes 1 a.m., and an hour is repeated. Daylight saving time returns the first sunday in april. In addition to changing the clocks Public safety experts Are again encourage  change replacing the Batter ies in Home smoke detectors. The International association of fire chiefs wants replacing smoke and fire Detector batteries to become As common a ritual As changing the clocks in an Effort to reduce the nation s fire death toll. Vogel Weh a by Cindy Killion Washington Bureau Washington the commissaries at Vogel Weh Germany and Livorno Italy have been named Thebes outside the Continental United states. The Vogel Weh store got the nod for Best Large commissary and the Livorno facility for the Best Small commissary. This is the third year for the Dod wide Competition. The awards were announced thursday during the american logistics association convention in san an Tonio. The top Large and Small commissary awards stateside went to fort Riley kan., and Nas Cecil Field near Jacksonville fla. Air Force chief master sgt. Eric Swayzee one of the judges said he talked to customers during his evaluations. They were Well pleased with the vast improvements in the commissaries in Europe. Products were available shelves were Well stocked and innovative merchandising was  he  the employees in the Vogel Weh commissary Are to be especially commended for the appearance of their facility and the excellent service they provide under arduous  since fire gutted Vogel Weh s warehouse and loading Dock areas More than a year ago he said employees have had to unload and receive merchandise at a make shift loading Dock in front of the store they have to put up with a lot to provide the commissary Benefit to their  judging began Early in the summer. Winners of each regional area were then visited for la Days by one of two evaluation teams from the defense commissary Agency Headquarters at fort Lee a. Each facility was judged on management customer service the grocery meat and produce departments product receiving and the management support Center Randall Chandler another judge said one of the key areas we looked at was customer relations. Did the commissary officer spend time on the sales floor talking with customers he said the teams also considered what managers did in addition to their Normal duties such As Community involvement. We Learned one commissary had Tours for students while another gave High school Stu dents the Chance to work in a specific department for a Day to learn about supermarket