European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 31, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday August 31, 1995 the stars and stripes Page 3soldiers getting Early by Mark Kinkade staff writer an army Holiday Friday will give most soldiers in the european command a head Start on the1 labor Day weekend although their Navy and air Force counterparts will not be so fortunate. Monday is a Federal Holiday meaning most military facilities will be closed. But Friday will be a a training Holiday for soldiers assigned to the . Army Europe said spokesman Jim Boyle. When coupled with today so family time a that Means soldiers actually will begin their Holiday this afternoon. Usa eur soldiers Are released from work Early thursday afternoons to give them an Opportunity to be with their families. The policy went into effect earlier this year. A a v. The army is encouraging its civilians to take annual leave or use compensatory time during the Holiday the spokesman said. A spokesman for the . Air forces in Europe said officials did not order a command wide Day off for airmen but Wing and base commanders Are being allowed to reduce staff Levels at their bases. _ some air Force commanders Are giving their airmen time off before the Holiday. At Span Dahlem a Germany for example Only Mission essential people will work Friday said tech. Sgt. Sarah Hood. Unit commanders will determine who works she added. At Aviano a Italy however airmen will be staffing offices and flight lines Friday. The base helps support nato enforcement of the no Fly zone Over Bosnia and Herzegovina. . Naval forces Europe will follow a policy similar to the air forces Nav eur officials said. Local com Manders Are Given the option of letting people off work Friday. Navy child development centers will be closed monday As Well. It. . European come offices also will be staffed Friday a spokesman said. / medical centers and clinics will have Skeleton staffs during the four Day weekend said european health service support area spokeswoman Barbara Slifer. The major army medical centers in Europe including regional hospitals in Lan Stuhl Wurzburg and Heidelberg Germany and Vicenza Italy will operate 24 weekend hour emergency services Slifer said. No Oil patient clinic appointments will be scheduled. Army Community dental clinics will close and most army Community clinics will close Friday for the weekend. The clinic in bad sibling Germany will open Friday for sick Call until 10 30 . After that Only the emergency room will remain open. A clinics in Grafin Vohr Hohenfels and Schweinfurt Germany also will open during limited hours for cmdr gency care Slifer said. Friday could be an Ideal shopping Day for those with the Day off both the army and air Force Exchange service arid the defense commissary Agency said facilities will be open during Normal hours until monday when most facilities will close. Those commissaries that normally Are closed mondays also will be closed tuesday a spokeswoman said. Merchants Bank branches at the . Embassy in Bonn Germany and All branches in the United kingdom will be closed monday. The Bank said All other branches will remain open and have Normal operating hours monday. Customers at All Sites can continue to Access their accounts and conduct business by using the Banks automatic Teller machines. Health of my friends a sail a woman from Ramstein a Germany in asked not from Page 1 \ three other victims a said Regina Appen Rodt chief District attorney for the nor Rhein westfalen Justice department in Cologne. V. . Military medical officials have issued warnings in the past about Coesens medications asserting that they could cause serious Side effects. Laboratory testing of his diet pills showed they contained 16 compounds including two potentially addictive amphetamine like drugs herbs known to be toxic in animals extracts of animal organs thyroid preparations riot normally used to treat obesity in healthy people diuretics and cortisone a Type of steroid. Reports in the German press of the widening probe have alarmed some americans. A a in a afraid for my he ally and the my a Ai to be identified. The Ramstein woman who described herself As a extremely overweight said she began taking the pills about two months ago after German friends got her a hooked up with Coesens. A a in be lost 25 pounds in los months but now in a not sure about taking the pills any longer. They might be poisonous a said the Ramstein woman. She added that a recent blood test taken to determine if the pills have caused any problems revealed that her thyroid was Oesterle a . Civilian worker who lives in Hanau Germany said a i should have listened the first time i heard about the pills but i Oesterle said she has used diet pills that she obtains from Coesens since 1990 whenever she has Felt she was gaining too much weight. She had to Stop using the pills though in january when she was diagnosed with Parkinson a disease and was Given other medication a guess i was one of the Lucky ones a she said. S Quot i know there must be a lot of men and women in the Hanau area who Are using the pills because the last Lime i went to the Bank to get a Money order to Send to the doctor the Teller said a of we get a lot of people in Here sending Money orders to this Guy a Quot efforts to Contact Coesens on wednesday for comment were not successful he could not be reached at his Home in Luxembourg or clinics in Belgium. One concerned caller from Heidelberg Germany who did not want to be identified said she knows there Are people who Quot go by the carloads to Belgium regularly to get prescription diet the Heidelberg woman said she went to one such diet clinic for the first time about a month ago. She said the doctor whom she could not identify performs acupuncture offers injections that Are supposed to break up fat and fills prescriptions for diet pills. A i chickened out of doing the acupuncture and taking the shots but i got some pills a said the Heidelberg woman who is trying to lose about 50 pounds. She said she had heard of so Many people who had lost weight quickly by using the pills and figured a if it was Good enough for them it was Good enough for Appenrodt said the four deaths Are a just the tip of the a a we be been overwhelmed with Calls and letters Ever since the Story was picked up by the press last weekend a Appenrodt said. The inquiries were launched after the death of the19-year-old nurse who bought diet pills from go Sens this year. A the investigation began with the routine autopsy of her body a Appenrodt said. A when Young people die suddenly there is an the autopsy revealed certain Druc and then when investigators Learned is had been going to Belgium to buy and take the diet pills alarm Bells went off. Coesens 62, is Well known to Cologne authorities in january 1988, he left that City after practising there for four years said a Birie Schindler spokeswoman for the nor Rhein westfalen state chamber of physicians. A a lot of patients were complaining about serious Side effects after taking diet pills prescribed by or. Coesens Quot Schindler said. A Coesens fled to Belgium. German authorities tipped off the Belgium authorities who began their own investigation an the fled again this time to a. A a a the daily newspaper Kolner Stadt an Zeiger reported wednesday that a former Coesens diet patient is in a coma at a Cologne Hospital. The newspaper also reported wednesday that Coesens runs a clinic in the town of Eynatten Belgium near the German Border under the name of Quot or. in 1989, the stars and stripes reported that Coesens operated a clinic in that City under his own name. The German daily also reported that doctors in the German town of Langon add near Leve Kusen Are trying to help a Man who was admitted to a Hospital with life threatening symptoms. The paper said the Man told the doctors he was a patient of a or. Boden in Eynatten German authorities said that Ocsen s diet pills arc produced by the German company Heba Mcd Bio Narm in the town of Euskirchen. 5&s Chuck show memorial dedicated a memorial was dedicated sunday to the victims of the crash at the 1988 air show at Ramstein a Germany. Three precision fliers from the italian recce Tri Colori team crashed into the crowd on aug. 28.1988, killing 70 people and injuring hundreds. The memorial is located about a Quarter mile outside the bases entry Gate. Its dedication was attended by several Hundred relatives arid friends of the town to get . Generators Washington a amps six excess army electrical generators will be flown from Tompkins Barracks in Schuetzing in Germany to the kurdish town of us mail in Northern Iraq the state and defense departments announced tuesday. Five soldiers also will be sent to the Region to install the generators and train kurdish technicians on the operation and maintenance of the equipment. The departments did t specify where the departing soldiers will be based Only that their Job is expected to last a four to six sum ail has been without Power since 1993, when the iraqi government destroyed Power lines leading into the area. Each Generator can produce 625 kilowatts of Power and All will be hooked into the towns Power Grid. The plan is to restore Power to water pump stations hospitals clinics and possibly schools. The generators should be in Iraq by sept. 30,
