Girl Scout cookies bound for sailors aboard the USS Midway were shipped off to Japan today after a persistent Brownie troop squeezed their shipment past Japanese tariffs through diplomatic means. The cookies, which had been sitting in an airline ticket office since they were returned from an April 26 shipment to Tokyo, left this morning, said Jean Titus, general manager for American Airlines in Corpus Christi. Troop 807 in Beeville had sold 402 boxes of cookies to the crew of the USS Midway, stationed in Atsugi, Japan, with free shipment provided by the airline. But Japanese customs officials said they would have to levy a duty on the cookies, and they were returned to Corpus Christi International Airport. Japanese officials have denied that they said the duty would be $2,000. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, went through diplomatic channels to clear the matter up and sent a telegram to the Brownie troop on Wednesday. ``An officer on the USS Midway tells me that he is ready to go pick up your shipment of Girl Scout cookies when they arrive in Japan this Friday,'' the telegram said. ``Everybody who was supposed to be getting the cookies was really upset when they didn't get them,'' said Petty Officer 3rd Class Sig Woolford, who was in Beeville on Wednesday while on leave from the aircraft carrier. Woolford, son-in-law of Brownie troop leader Marchetta White, said sailors have been waiting for the cookies from home for more than two months. The cookies were scheduled to connect with a flight in Dallas, then catch a flight to Narita Airport near Tokyo, where representatives of the U.S. Navy will be allowed to take the shipment duty-free. ``I think it's great and I'll tell the girls this afternoon at our regular meeting,'' said Ms. White. ``I'm sure you'll hear a cheer go up.'' Japanese officials issued a statement Tuesday denying that the tariff ever was as high as originally reported. The Japanese Consulate in Houston reported that the airline made an inquiry in Tokyo about the cookies, but did not say that they were intended for U.S. servicemen stationed on a ship.
