European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 15, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday september 15,1995 the stars and stripes Page 3 bus Driver taken off Dodds drops German after a . Barham Wiir Burg Bureau Wurzburg Germany a Ger Man Driver who left a Kinde Gartner locked aboard a school bus for five hours after failing to Check whether it was empty won t drive again for the military school system an official says. And the parents of Philip Valentine say their learning disabled 6-year-old is now Riding a special education bus with door to door service. The Driver of bus 4 is off the rout and will never be driving again for Dodds said Matt Wallace chief of the transportation management office for the department of defense dependents schools in Europe. R the incident happened sept. 1 when Katharine Valentine discovered that her son was t on his usual bus after school. Following a six hour search it was Learned that the child had been put on the wrong bus had been overlooked bythe Driver at the end of the route and had been locked in the bus when it was parked for the night. The boy who had fallen asleep during the ride eventually was found by the Driver s wife. Valentine said her son was so traumatized that she kept him out of school fora week. However she said local school transportation authorities have been very helpful in making new busing arrangements. I was t going to let Philip ride a bus after the incident she said. But she noted she has been persuaded to put her son on the special education bus. Valentine said her son has a slight hearing loss and Low motor skills. Before the incident school officials had assure her that Philip would be taken care of when Riding the bus routes used by other children. Valentine said she initially was told that the teacher s aide in the kindergarten class Alisa Clakley was responsible for the mistake. But Janet Beck assistant principal  elementary school emphasized that when children Are put onto buses it s done by both the teacher and the  Community sources said a teacher put Philip on the wrong  was High at i Irmburg elementary school this week As school and Community officials closely monitored the after school loading of pupils. Teachers checked and rechecked the bus numbers and student bus pass num Bers for matches. Wallace said that by Dodds con tract a bus Driver is required to physically Clear the bus at the end of a route by performing a  while looking for Philip officials in the  Unity and with the transportation management office discovered that the Driver of bus route 4 did not follow bus Clearing procedures although he had stated that he had cleared the bus at the end of the route. Also although Philip s Correct route route 3, had a bus Monitor route 4 did not have one on Baroy a local school transportation official said. William r. Macharrie a retired army officer whose child was assaulted last year on a school bus said concerned parents have attempted to gain Access to the transportation management office s bus contracts in an Effort to find out what Drivers Are allowed to do and not do. But Macharrie who works in Heidel Berg said this week that lie and other parents have been unable to obtain information about the written standards. Macharrie is seeking written standards of bus Driver conduct to be made Avail Able for All parents with children in Dodds. Is Chuck gob Good time for bargains one of dozens of vendors helps a couple examine her wares thursday during the opening Day of the 31st annual Ramstein welfare Bazaar in Germany. The event the largest . Bazaar crafts furniture jewelry and other merchandise. It s open to All nato and . Id card holders and continues today and sat urday from 10 . To 9 ., and sunday from noon to 6  In Europe offers a wide assortment of collectibles clothing payments Are accepted Only in . Dollars. Military s free mail service ending in some areas Washington is life in the Middle East desert in t As arduous As it once was so the military is ending the free mail service it began in operation desert shield. Beginning sept. 30, military people serving in the Middle East and Southwest Asia will have to Start buying their own Stamps for mailing letters according to the . European come. Neucom and the . Central come recommended ending the service because the conditions that prompted approving free mail service have changed since the end of the War an air Force statement said. Free mail service is provided to our troops when they re engaged in fighting or when serving living or deployed under arduous conditions said Marine  a Junger military postal service Agency operations officer. That s no longer the Case in All these  the free service initiated during the buildup of forces in the Middle East in1990 allowed people to mail first class letters and packages weighing up to 11 ounces to stateside Apo or Fpo addresses. The service was later extended to troops serving in operation support Hope in Rwanda and operation restore Hope in Somalia. The air Force said the service Cost the defense department More than $8 million annually. Free mail service will end for people serving in the following areas Kuwait saudi Arabia United Arab emirates Oman Bahrain Qatar Israel Egypt Southern Turkey most of Northern Iraq and the Waters adjacent to the red sea arabian Gulf Northern arabian sea Eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf of Aden. Free mail service will also Stop in so Malia Kenya Djibouti Rwanda and the bordering areas of Burundi Uganda and Zaire. Service will continue in parts of the former Yugoslavia Haiti Guantanamo Bay Cuba and Lakhu Iraq according to an air Force statement. Pentagon to by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington the Penta gon s Complex official travel system will move a few Steps closer to the administration s goal of a seam less paperless system when temporary duty travel paperwork gets revamped beginning oct. 1. In  significant change reimbursements for. Temporary. Duty travel will be sent directly tothe Bank accounts of services Erna ers and defense department civil ians through electronic Money transfers just like direct Deposit of paychecks officials said late wednesday. Unless employees have set up separate accounts for travel pay the reimbursements will be sent to the account used for payroll Pur poses officials said. Travellers will get a notice in the mail for each travel reimbursement that is made electronically. Local finance offices will still Beable to make eni urgency or Short notice Cash or Check payments if necessary.". The end result will be quicker reimbursements because electronic transfers Cut the time needed to process and issuer a government Check by As much As two Days officials said. The defense department also plans to wipe out a Long standing annoyance of temporary duty trav Elers the statement of Nonava lability which travellers must obtain to be reimbursed for using commercial lodging when govern ment quarters Are not available. Finally the military will Stop auditing every temporary duty travel voucher and instead will audit a random sampling of vouchers which should also help Speed  and increase customer satisfaction.  changes arc part of an Effort that began in january to streamline. The military s cumbersome official. Travel system. Pentagon comptroller Joh Hamre has been managing the changes in the military s official travel system since a Pentagon task Force issued a report this year that recommended numerous changes to the unwieldy system. Our vision is a seamless paper less system that meets the needs of travellers commanders and processors Hamre said at a Senate hearing in March. It must reduce costs support Mission require ments and provide Superior Cus Tomer  the military s travel system is so sprawling and cumbersome that Pentagon officials have a hard time pinning Down just How much it costs. Hamre estimated that 15 percent to 30 percent of the direct costs of official military travel $500 Mil lion to $1 billion a year is spent on administrative overhead. The Pentagon is focusing the bulk of its re engineering efforts on cutting those costs