European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 10, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 letters to the editor sunday september 10, 1995 thes european edition Cou Steven 3. Hoffman Usa commander put Lisow Bernard a. Zovistoski editor news and editorial pm Walker european editor a Why Oay Bob Wiek a George Manes news editor sports editor City editor to write us unit 29480 Apo a 09211 _ orpostfach11143?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, business news ext 326. News bureaus Bamberg Germany Ron Jown room 424, bldg 7089, Warner Barracks unit 27536, Box 23626 Apo a 09139 Telephone a often 0951-96396.heidel8ero, Germany Effie Bathen. Room 117, Rome str 104,69118  Tate Obona Dan 370 7010 or civilian 06221-23421 Gewax 06221-10654. Kaiserslautern. 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Turkey " i2mir Civili Afi 0090-232-368 71 53, Tel fax 0090-232 3693152. United kingdom etre Cester or Wari 0285-71 3-637. On 247-4445, advertising display Germany 061 55-801252 or 601309, Dan 348. 8252.  Shieo Germany oei55-eol349, dsn343-8349. Advertising Tel fax 06155-601412 Wii an and Tel fax o0341 please Recycle this newspaper is an authorized not Filiai pub cation pm Mern ers of Ira to try wry Leo overseas. Co tonts Dana Sta s Ana Snipes a not necessarily reflect the official views of or endorsement by the .  of de pow no oos saw or the . European com mind. A appafanc8 of advertising in to Stibs Maitert to crud ing to terms or sup Piern a o6 not constitute Wundt Rose ment by the department of Dof ensa or tha Kara and stripes of the prox ducts or services adverted. Don t Knock Choice so the military is going to make it a Rule that everyone Wear helmets while bicycling on or off base. Excuse me i have to go i think i hear at agents knocking on my door. Master sgt. Kevin Rose Ramstein a Germany to our readers safety not real Issue the article bicycle riders arc of two minds concerning military helmet Rule aug. 28 is very upsetting and i seriously question your facts. / the did regulation which you suggest will require All riders military and family members to Wear helmets when Riding Bicy cles both on and off base is another attempt to legislate personal safety at the expense of individual Freedom. In the course of the past 50 years the government has at tempted to legislate safety in Many aspects of human actions. The Overall effect has been to increase the Cost of pursuing Leisure and recreation and increasing the size of government bureaucracies and civil service 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 Are published daily on this Page. All letters must be signed and include address and Telephone number. 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. _ i would like to see More detailed explanations of the consumer product safety commission s estimates of 600,000 Bicy Cle related injuries last year. How Many of these injuries were for scrapes and skinned Knees How Many were related to bicycle vehicle accidents nearly 1,000 people die every year from injuries sustained in bicycle  do you real  that this averages Only 20 deaths per state not including . Territories and military installations the District of co Lumbia averages More than 600 homicides annually. Simply by legislating homicides As illegal has not significantly reduced the death fates in our nation s capital. Not wearing a bicycle helmet on or off Post does not Severn to be nearly As great a threat to the Difebio cd of the nation As do such maladies As drugs cancer crime and gang violence. To 7 the article had the audacity to suggest enforcement off Post As Well As on Post How ludicrous for the government to solicit local Law enforcement agencies in an at tempt to enforce did regulations. Is thera no enough criminal activity both on and off Post to keep military and civilian Law enforcement agencies occupied two weeks ago i was Riding my bicycle Home from work. I was struck by another Soldier who did not see me. I was thrown across the Hood and landed on my left Cheek. Due to the shattering of my Sung lasses i received several lacerations to my Cheek along with 20 stitches. Does this mean that the government should now outlaw spectacles made of Glass after All an injury did result. A helmet would not have affected the nature of my injuries in any manner. I intend to address this matter to my con Gressman senators and announced Candi dates for Public office. Large All persons concerned with their individual rights to likewise correspond. It is time to take a stand on excesses in government and unwarranted restrictions of our personal free Doms. V sgt. Witham be. Wilson or. _ bad Kreuz Nach Germany Stop stereotypes i am. On temporary duty at Ramstein a Germany and this is my first time Here. Recently i attempted to enter the Ramstein enlisted club to play Bingo. To was told that because i was army i was not allowed to enter this military club. I was told that members of the army were troublemakers. I was also told that i was from a Post too far away shape Bel Gium. After heatedly arguing the Point i was tinally Given a temporary card and told that if anyone caught it they would say that they did not see that i was army. If there is a problem with soldiers at Ramstein then the punishment for club Rule offenders should be increased. Sol Diers should not be stereotyped and punished for something they have nothing to do with.  -.  this was one of the benefits that i thought i had As a military id card Holder How easily the services turn their backs in each other. This is not the equal Opportunity that we strive so hard for. Cpl. Densmore Bartly shape Belgium speaking tour had been cancelled. One week into the tour Carlson Wagon lit arranged for an English speaking guide to be added to the Lour,-but.they did no provide separate transportation. We were on the same tour bus with the germans unable to hear Over the German on the Loudspeaker. We sent another fax to Carl son Wagon it who knew or should have known that you cannot mix dual languages on thermic tour bus. Finally for the three Days of the tour in Beijing we had an English speaking guide Ancl separate transportation. And now upon our return and claim for a full re fund Carlson Wagon it has Only the Fol lowing to offer sorry for the inconvenience we will partially reimburse you for the Telephone and fax expenses. When Carlson Wagon it grabbed this contract from Sato we were promised according to what i remember from the stars and stripes article a professional travel Agency with years of experience and know How. So other travellers remember along with All the caveats we Learned from years of dealing with Sato make sure the tour will be conducted not Only in the language advertised but also in the language you want and arc paying for. Lynden e. Croasmun guile Skirchen Germany cadets appalling although not. Surprised i was Dis gusted when i saw the picture of the Cit Adel cadets celebrating on the news of Shannon Faulkner quitting. Obviously these cadets Aren t being cultivated in the True values of the military such As Equality . Therefore. I can Only wonder what kind of leaders they will turn out to be. I m glad i la never have to work for any i them  feel sorry for those who 11 especially women. Tech. Sgt. Luwana Hargis Raf Lakenheath England i travellers Tongue tied. Carlson Wagon it travel Cor s custom ers should be warned that they May find themselves on a tour in a language other than English with nothing More from this Usa eur contractor than sorry for the  we recently booked a 16-Day tour advertised jointly by Carlson Wagon it and Der tour the giant German tour opera Tor As an English speaking tour. Not Only did we expect English but so did a group of travellers from  culture . The american military Community. This costly tour was to Moscow and then Bei Jing via the trans siberian express. The trip was a Long held dream for my Hus band . Brochures advertising the tour in English were available in the Brussels Carlson wag unlit office at nato support activity where we booked the tour. At no Point were we told this tour was not in English. We were on the plane to Moscow when the Der tour tour guide finally deemed it appropriate to identify herself in Ger Man. I speak some German As does my husband but Why i asked the Der tour guide was she speaking German this was an English speaking tour. No it was not English it was German with 34 German travellers. We could barely believe what we were hearing and tried unsuccessfully to Contact Carlson Wagon lit via their emergency number during Lay overs in Copenhagen Denmark As Well As Stockholm Sweden. Carlson Wagon it s emergency number cannot be accessed outside Belgium. We sent faxes from Moscow. No response until we called the Brussels office and received the classic response did t you get the fax there was a letter there in my file that i had not seen telling us the tour was in German. Carlson Wagon it knew it admitted then As Well As now that they had been notified by Der tour that the English blood donors needed in response to. Several letters during the past few months regarding the Mili tary blood donor program i would like to take the Opportunity to address the blood program in the Heidelberg Community. The Heidelberg Middac blood donor Center is located in room 18 of building 3613 basement below the Laboratory of the main Hospital. Because of the Small size of the donor Center and the number of technical personnel available the Center is open for donations on tues Day and Friday mornings from 8 to 11 Only. Individual walk ins Are Welcome and encouraged during those hours. We regret that we do not have the capability to provide Mobile blood drives. Our goal is to schedule a military unit to provide 10 Volunteer donors on each donation Day. It should be a relatively easy goal to reach. The unfortunate truth is that this goal is very difficult to reach. Why i find it difficult to believe that there Are not 20 people per week within the Heidelberg Community who would t be willing to make a Small sacrifice of themselves in order to save the life of an other human being who May quite Possi Bly be one of their own family members or a fellow Soldier. There does not seem to be a simple answer to this situation but multiple causes commanders trying to juggle More tasking than they have soldiers to fulfil Lack of realization that army regulation 40-2, chapter .12, requires the army to provide from its own resources the blood and blood component require ments for Al patients receiving care in its military medical treatment facilities that every commander is responsible for providing Volunteer donors at the fre Quency and in sufficient Quantity to enable army medical treatment facilities to maintain a working inventory of blood and most importantly that very few  ple realize that waiting until a patient is on the operating table to donate blood is most often too late. The army blood program is not perfect. We suffer from re engineering and budget constraints just As other military units do. What makes the army blood program unique is that in order to meet our Mission we must have the participation of the Community. I would like to thank the soldiers of the hic 411th base support bn/26th area support group and the hic 1st per com for their outstanding support of the program and encourage others to Fol Low their example. Staff sgt. Tracey a. Russel Heidelberg Germany