The White Falcon - 09.04.1999, Blaðsíða 1

White Falcon
Vol. 58 No. 14
April 9, 1999
Mediathon ends
today with raffle
Story and photo by J03 Mike C. Jones
Why were the disc jockeys on Channel 4 dancing
around at 7 a.m.? Was there something wrong with
my radio? All week I’ve been hearing the same song
over and over. People were pledging as much as $90
to have a song played, while someone else was pay-
ing more to have it bumped. To top it off, there was
a different anchor on “Newsline” telling me about it
each night. Was this an episode of “The Twilight
Zone?” No. It was Mediathon ’99, the Naval Media
Center’s (NMC) fund raiser for Navy and Marine
Corps Relief Society (NMCRS) and Air Force Aid
Society’s annual fund drive.
NMC’s Staff Sgt. Brady McCarron described the
pledging process. “For a minimum of a $1 pledge,
residents requested any song, any movie to play on
Channel 4 during the evening, and any guest-anchor
for “Newsline.” To bump the songs, change the
movie or change the anchor, residents had to pay the
initial bid plus $1.”
Since Monday, volunteers manned the phones at
NMC, taking requests from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. “I
like it. It’s a good thing,” said LI3(SW) Loretta Day,
NAS Administration Department NMCRS key per-
son. “It’s a good feeling knowing all the donations
are going towards these charities. I like the idea that
I may be helping out a shipmate by volunteering.”
“It’s been a great week to get wild and crazy,”
McCarron added. “Despite all the craziness, it’s def-
initely a great cause. All the money goes towards
helping our fellow service members in need.”
The fund drive wraps up this evening at 5:30 with
a raffle on Channel 4. Prizes include a computer
with printer, camcorder, digital camera, three trips
for two to Akureyri and a CD player. As of Thursday
morning, Mediathon had raised just over $4,000
toward Navy/Marine Corps Relief and the Air Force
Aid Society.
Volunteers were essential, answering phones and
taking pledges, in making Mediathon a success.
Rear Adm. David Architzel, Commander Iceland Defense Force, greets Rep.
Richard Gephardt and his wife Jane. (Photo by J02 Christopher E. Tucker)
Gephardt visits NATO Base
Editor’s note: The following is an inter-
view conducted by The White Falcon
and the Naval Media Center with House
Minority Leader, Rep. Richard A.
Gephardt, D-Mo., on April 5. Gephardt
stopped in Iceland as his plane refueled,
bound for Washington D.C.
Q: Could you describe the purpose of
your brief visit to Iceland and where
you’re coming from?
A: This is a congressional delegation
from the House of Representatives. We
stopped in Naples for a brief by Navy
personnel about the attacks on Kosovo
and Yugoslavia, and then we went to
India. We went to three cities in India -
New Delhi, Agra and Bangalore. Then
we came back through Prague, met the
ambassador, and had a brief on condi-
tions in the Czech Republic.
These are important trips for members
who have to vote on a whole range of
issues on defense and foreign policy, to
really see what’s happening in these
countries. We have a number of impor-
tant programs in India for food, health
care and family planning. Of course, I
believe our relationship with India is a
very important one. It’s a very large
country and they’re very good friends of
the United States. We need to increase
contact with their government so we can
make the relationship work as well as we
can.
Q: What can the service member in
Iceland expect to see as far as changes in
the military?
A: Right now we’re reviewing the
entire defense budget. Obviously, we’re
going to have to add some real expense
with what’s going on in the Middle East
and Yugoslavia. I don’t know what that
will mean for the rest of the budget. We
have been trying to add funds to the
defense budget for military pay and
retirement and other benefits. As you
probably know, we’ve been having trou-
ble keeping people in the military -
retaining well-trained military person-
nel. Congress is concerned about that
and trying to figure out how, in what is a
good economy in the United States, we
can hang on to good people and make the
service attractive for them.
Q: How important are service mem-
bers to Congress?
A: Well, there’s never been a more
important time for us to have an excel-
lent defense effort all over the world.
We’re in a post-cold war atmosphere.
We see lots of different small trouble
spots around the world. We had to put
military personnel into Haiti, Somalia,
the Middle East, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, and
we have people in Macedonia. These are
all very difficult complicated foreign
See Gephardt on page 4
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