European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 30, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 22 letters to the editor sunday october 30,1994 the european edition col. Steven $. Hoffman Usan commander publisher Bernard a. Zovistoski editor. News and editorial Deborah Absher news editor Bill Walker european editor Bob Wicker sports editor. George Manas City editor to write us unit 29480 apoae09211 orpostfach11 u37 64278 Darmstadt Germany news Tel fax 06155-601416 to Call us dial 06155-601 plus Extension or Dan 348-8 plus Extension As follows news ext. 237,255,282,226,326. Sports ext. 225, 269,263,332,321,221. Features ext. 230, 245,341. Letters to editor ext. 208,400. Education a cml Jones ext. 226. Business news ext. 326. News bureaus Heidelberg Germany Effler Bathen. Room 117, Rome str. 104. 69126 Heidelberg Telephone Dan 370 7010 or civilian 06221-23421 Tel fax 06321-10554. Kaiserslautern Germany Kevin Dougherty John Bomor and Doyle Tillman. 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Prices out of sight i am appalled at the unaffordable an inflated prices demanded by p the Ramstein Beauty shop which recently opened under a new contract in the Ramstein base Exchange Complex. The average Price for their hair care and styling services raises serious question if the average Active duty and family member can afford such inflated prices. In comparison to the other Beauty shops in the Kaiserslautern military Community i question if this new con tract is in sync with prices and Basic serv ices by other army and air Force Exchange service Beauty shops. What is interesting Here is the Ramstein Beauty shop offers styles of Waves French Rolls wraps Etc which Are All very popular Black hairstyles. The message Here seems to be that the average Black style costs far More than other styles. Even the Basic service for a conditioner shampoo and set is higher a Ramstein than other shops. The explanation is we Are charged on a do rate. Even so these prices exceed the other " " rowed clothes Etc. We thank Sato eur Tours and our chinese guide for their professional and responsible actions in helping us through the situation and seeing that we were reimbursed the internationally big Money of $55, which from our understanding Aeroflot is still arguing about. Joanne . Peery Stokes Hanau Germany the manager admitted that she had Many complaints from customers about their prices. It seems that Ramstein Beauty shop s contract is Only interested in squeezing As much Money As possible from the Active duty and military family members without any concern or care of How shameful their prices Are.  a Germany leniency not Best policy what kind of message is the judicial system sending out to men it is of to kill women we will slap your hand and Send you on your Way. The crime in the United states is out of control. More than 50 percent of All american women Are battered at some time in their lives 30 percent of women murdered in the United states die at the hands of a husband or Boyfriend and nearly 70 percent of families where women Are battered children Are battered Aswell. The violence will never end if judges hand Down lenient sentences As was handed Down in Maryland. The Man should have gotten the death penalty. Frances Lindquist Baum older Germany russians make it rough my husband sister and i recently toured Beijing and Moscow through Sato eur Tours and Russia s airline Aeroflot. China was super and we were guided nicely through Beijing s must sees including the forbidden City summer pal aces and the great Wall. The chinese people were usually courteous curious graciously helpful engagingly shy and formal. They were this Way toward each other As Well As with tourists. Contra Stingly the russians were often rude and arrogant and gave Clear arid fre quent "y6u re on your own messages again toward each other As Well As with the tourists who were paying them to help survive the trip we d been warned of Aeroflot s Infa Mous lapses and inconveniences but still weren t prepared when my husband s air plane seat Back came apart and he landed in the Lap of a greek woman behind us. He simply found the Boll on the floor screwed it Back on and on we flew. We re glad we saw the Kremlin and red Square the Assumption and St. Basil cathedrals and Lenin s Tomb. How Ever though the Moscow segment was a fraction of the time we spent in Beijing the trip was plagued with unprepared Ness and a Clear unwillingness of the russian guide hotel and other accommodates to do More than minimum. For example we were promised a downtown hotel to save shuttle time. In Stead we got a 45 to 60-minute commute to a minimally staffed suburban country club cutting tour time and making us totally dependent on the bus. Secona a guide for a parallel group warned them not to buy convert More than $5-$10 to rubles no russian shops or paddlers wanted them and Banks would t buy them Back. Our guide did t say this and Many got stuck wit Money we should t take out of the coun try thus having to buy unwanted last minute items. Our real traveler s Nightmare came Early on when Aeroflot lost a piece of my husband s Luggage and we went with our chinese guide to the Airport office to seek recovery. Six Days later with China almost Over they found the Luggage but said we d have to come and get it. They kept we suspect intentionally the very papers we d later need to recover the expenses of transportation in recovering the hag laundry Bills for cleaning Bor Legal system pretty sick Good reliable affordable health care will never be possible until lawmakers some Day put a lid on the useless Legal suits that Are Flung toward doctors and other health care professionals. The thousands and millions of dollars spent and awarded in Legal settlements repaid by the Public in the form of higher taxes insurance and medical  German friends laugh and mock american lawsuits. There Are lots of examples of outrageous abuse and we All pay for it just read your newspaper. One reason for the abuse is that the crooked greedy lawyers receive a percentage of the settlement. The higher the settlement the More the lawyers make. America needs to fix the Legal system before it can fix the health care system. Robert Beal Kaiserslautern Germany Lowdown on passports a recent report announced a.$36 fee for expedited processing of a new or renewed . Passport. It is important to note that this expedited service and fee applies Only to passport requests proc Essed in the United states. There is no fee for expedited Pas Sparf services at . Embassies or consulates. The passport issuing consular sections in Germany process walk in customers Ona first come first served basis during business hours. Barring unforeseen difficulties with equipment or paperwork applicants receive completed tourist pass ports the same Day normally within 60 to90 minutes of submitting a correctly completed application. In the United states Normal turn around time is 25 Days expedited service shortens that to three Days. For members of the military who Are applying for a tourist passport the proc Ess normally begins with a service Mem or contacting his or her personnel service Center pc. The pc will provide the necessary forms and trained personnel who ensure that the tourist passport application is in order. Please note that All applications for official passports with rare exceptions must be processed through the pc if time is not of the essence the serv ice member May then elect to use the Mil itary courier system to submit the application. The courier process takes two to four weeks. Alternatively the service member May bring the completed application for a tourist passport to a consular Section in person and receive same Day walk in service. In urgent cases such As medical evacuation and red Cross emergencies serv ice members who have paperwork already completed by the pc May receive writ ten authorization to come immediately to a consular Section. Emergency applications receive priority handling. If a serv ice member has lost or damaged his her passport he or she must visit a consular Section in person. All service members with upcoming pcs dates must have tourist passports for american citizen dependents including Newborn children for return travel to the Continental United states. Newborns also require a consular report of birth abroad which has special documentary requirements. . Army Europe and . Air forces in Europe regulations state that a baby is supposed to be registered at the nearest consular Section within 30 Days of birth waiting until the last minute can Lead to travel delays. In fact 90-120 Days is not too soon to begin the documentation process. Michael we Marine Bonn Germany a special teacher i would like to express May gratitude to Lee coach states and commend him for his outstanding professionalism sup port and dedication to the Kaiserslautern american High school. Over the last three years my son has been in coach states Auto body repair classes and involved in an afterschool program called car club. In the Many hours that i have been at car club watching learning and assisting it is remarkable to see the product that these students turn out. During the school year we As parents realize that the schoolteachers have our children More than we do. Coach states runs the Auto body class like a civilian shop teaching the students real life situations and How to perform under those conditions. But the important thing about coach states is he acts As a role Model for All the students to follow. He con ducts himself in a Way that the students respect not because they have to but be cause they want to. He also has a car club after hours so students can come and work on cars and learn More individual training. His club gives students something to do after school and a place to go. I was amazed the first time i walked into his office and saw the Many articles posted All Over his Walls about the consequences of smoking Drunken driving drug and alcohol abuse just to name a few. If that is not enough the name coach comes from his coaching the basketball team. So Many times we take these special people for granted. I Hope the school ant done that staff sgt. Steven barks Kaiserslautern Germany to our readers let us know what you think we encourage our readers especially those who have never submitted a letter to write to us. Letters expressing readers View Points or opinions Are published Dally on this Page. All letters must be signed and include address and Telephone number. R Send to letters to the editor the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211. Or fax country code 49 06155 601-395, Dan 348-8395, we Reserve the right to edit letters for clarity length and taste