Website helps Americans get into rhythm of German life - Stars and Stripes
Friday, October 13, 2017Depending on one’s village, Americans can find out what time the local bakery is open or where the nearest battery collection point is. In Baumholder, for instance, there’s information on how to contact local organizations, such as the dog, lifeguard, golf and fishing clubs. Each community page also lists contact information for local officials, such as the town mayor.
It still might be a challenge to figure out your local internet provider. Some villages list the local provider but no contact information, while others list no information at all under that category.
The site is still being updated, as the villages provide more information, said Steffen Wehner, a spokesman for the Rhineland-Pfalz Interior Ministry.
Project manager John Constance of the Atlantic Academy said the website is unique because teams from each of the local communities compiled the information. “They are the ones who know their village inside-out, and they are more than willing to show their fellow American citizens how they can become an active member of their community,” he said in a statement.
“It’s an unmistakable sign of American families being welcome to participate in the local life, which cannot be stressed enough,” he said.The website is the first of its kind geared towards Americans in Germany, organizers said.
Astrid Kleemann, who works for the city of Ramstein, said the project is an important step in helping Americans become familiar with their new community.
Americans often visit Ramstein’s city hall asking basic questions about where to find day care and how to get a larger garbage can, she said.
“It’s all about receiving information quickly,” she said of the website.
The villages currently featured on the site are: Ramstein-Miesenbach, Steinwenden, Kottweiller-Schwanden, Huetchenhausen, Niedermohr, Neunkirchen Am Potzberg, Baumholder, Spangdahlem, Herforst and Binsfeld.
The project also has its own Facebook page.svan.jennifer@stripes.com SCREEN GRAB FROM WILLKOMMEN RHEINLAND-PFALZ" A screen grab from a new website lists links with information for nearly a dozen communities in the Kaiserslautern Military Communit...
Ellen Hart: Sept. 11, the day the world changed - Fayetteville Observer
Wednesday, October 5, 2016My friend Wanda and I wandered through the farmer's market in Mainz, Germany, on a glorious and sunny Tuesday afternoon. My husband, Phil, was TDY on an audit with the Army Audit Agency to Baumholder, and Wanda had flown in from North Carolina for a visit. In the shadow of the Mainz Dom - the grand cathedral in the marktplatz - shoppers young and old, with their cloth sacks, picked over the eggplants, tomatoes and leeks. We stopped at a stand that sold fruit piled like colorful jewels - purple grapes, red apples, yellow lemons. A feast for the eyes.
We bought some crusty bread and cheese slices, an orange saft - juice - and found stone steps to sit on and laugh in the sunshine.
We finished our snack and continued walking, enjoying the sights and activity that are a European market.
Wanda told me this was just what she needed, a break from work. We had invited her to fly to Germany and stay with us for a week or two.
As we strolled through the crowds in the marktplatz, I suddenly felt a man following me. It was a strange feeling, a foreboding. Stopping to look at the profusion of color at a flower stand, I saw the man in my peripheral vision. I could feel his pr...http://www.fayobserver.com/living/community/ellen-hart-sept-the-day-the-world-changed/article_cf4cad8d-6eb5-57f5-a082-f87e8ba6c5fa.html
Germany's second-highest traffic bridge opens - DW (English)
Sunday, January 26, 2020The Hochmoselbrücke, or High Mosel Bridge, stretches 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) across and 160 meters (524 feet) above the Mosel River in western Germany. Within Germany, the new bridge in the Rhineland-Palatinate is second only to the 185-meter-high Kochertal bridge in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg. Read more: World's longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Germany's Harz region Authorities expect about 25,000 vehicles a day to cross the bridge that now provides a direct link between the regions of Eifel and Hunsrück. Several hundred people gathered for the bridge's opening on Thursday. Over the weekend, thousands of pedestrians crossed the bridge by foot as part of the opening festivities. "Today is a good day for the Rhineland-Palatinate," said State Premier Malu Dreyer. She added that she was convinced "that the bridge will help advance our economically strong state even further and will strengthen ties between the people in Eifel and Hunsrück." Europe's largest construction project The controversial building project kicked off eight years ago. Some critics argued that the massive bridge would destroy the area's idyllic vineyard landscape, while environmentalists argued it would pollute the ground water. Others spoke out against the cost. The building of the bridge was part of a greater road project that included the construction of an additional 25 kilometers (16 mile...https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-second-highest-traffic-bridge-opens/a-51355455
She Believes Trees Will Save Germany — If She Can Save the Trees - OZY
Sunday, January 26, 2020Klöckner’s thesis, therefore, is simple: Save the forests, and they’ll save Germany.
Klöckner as German Wine Queen.
Blonde and quick to grin, Klöckner, 46, was born in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and got into politics early, shortly after her yearlong reign as German Wine Queen, a position that’s sort of like Miss America but for German wine. Before the age of 30, she was a member of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Angela Merkel’s ruling party. In 2012, she was elected as one of the deputy chairpersons of the national party. By 2016, she was running for Minister-President (governor) of Rhineland-Palatinate. Articles touted her as a potential successor to Merkel. And then she lost.
she has the difficult job of juggling these different interests and keeping everybody happy.Joachim Curtius, professor of geosciences at Goethe University
Klöckner’s more conservative than Merkel in some ways, a trait that hasn’t always served her well electorally. Her opposition to Merkel’s open-door asylum policy is widely blamed as a factor in her losing her 2016 race, and as recently as this year, she called for a burqa ban in Germany. Still, while the ultraconservative AfD party has wholeheartedly embraced climate change denial, Klöckner — as minister of food and agriculture — doesn’t have the luxury of ignoring scientific evidence. “The climate change has hit us much faster than expected,” she said at a forest summit last month, and while the scientific community might argue that it was definitely expected, she’s now gearing up for battle against the conditions that are destroying the forests.
“Climate change isn’t German; it isn’t going to be solved in Germany. None of the existing policies around the world are up to the scale of the challenge,” says Britta Fri...https://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/she-believes-trees-will-save-germany-if-she-can-save-the-trees/221908/
German teachers fined for treating wasp sting with heated fork - DW (English)
Tuesday, April 23, 2019Hesse were fined for causing bodily harm with their questionable home remedy for a student's wasp sting. The incident occurred during a school trip to a youth hostel in the neighboring state of Rhineland-Palatinate in May 2017, when a 14-year-old student was stung by a wasp. In response, a 39-year-old male teacher heated the handle of a fork with a lighter and pressed it on the boy's hand where he'd been stung. After a blister formed, another 40-year-old female teacher cut it open and treated the wound with cream. The student's lawyer said that as a result of the sting, the boy had to wear a protective glove for a considerable period of time. The German daily Bild reported that the boy's hand became infected and that he wasn't able to attend an internship as a result. A district court in Cochem fined the male teacher €2,700 ($3,160) for causing bodily harm. The female teacher was fined €2,500 ($2,900) for both assisting and causing bodily harm to the student. The decision was made last Thursday, a court spokesperson said, adding that the judgement is not yet final, as a timeline for appealing the decision has not yet passed.
All about the birds and the bees... As sweet as honey They are the pollination super stars...https://www.dw.com/en/german-teachers-fined-for-treating-wasp-sting-with-heated-fork/a-45505055
Dead gardener left booby traps behind to target his enemies, German police warn - Fox News
Tuesday, April 23, 2019Authorities in Germany are warning anyone who may have had a conflict with a recently deceased gardener to be on the lookout, after an apparent set of booby-trapped bombs left one dead and two hurt.Rhineland-Palatinate Police said in a news release that gardener Bernhard Graumann, 59, was found dead in his bed in Mehlinhen, near Kaiserslautern in west Germany, on Friday night.Earlier that day, a 64-year-old doctor in a nearby town was found dead in front of his practice after an explosion. Police believe the bomb may have been in a package that was left in front of the office as part of a "booby trap" which the doctor picked up, triggering the blast.MAN ADMITS KILLING AIRBNB GUEST AT AUSTRALIA HOME OVER UNPAID $149 BILLTwo days later, an "explosive-engineered log" exploded in a wood-burning stove at a home about five miles from where Graumann lived, according to police. A woman and her 4-year-old daughter were injured in that blast.
Police in Germany are warning anyone who may have had a conflict with a recently deceased doctor to be on the lookout for booby traps.
(iStock)Police said all three had been known to Graumann, who either had a "personal or business" connec...https://www.foxnews.com/world/dead-german-gardener-suspected-of-planting-trail-of-bombs-as-revenge-plot-against-neighbors