The Army and Air Force Exchange Service announced a recall Thursday of its Soldier Bear toys because surface paints on the action figures and animals contains high levels of lead, according to an AAFES news release.

Lead paint, if ingested, can cause adverse health effects, the release stated.

Retail packages have a Soldier Bear logo on the front and the back. The recalled toys include: Heroes-Dino Mega Cruiser; two styles of the Dinosaur Adventure Set; Wild Animal Adventure Set; and the Heroes Vehicle Play Set (the military, police and fire-rescue styles.)

The release stated that it sold 8,381 sets of the toys between August 2005 and April 2007. Customers can return the toys to AAFES for a full refund.

For a complete description of the recalled toys, including the style and UPC numbers, visit the AAFES Web site at: www.aafes.com.

Woman found stabbed ID’d as military spouse]A 38-year-old woman found stabbed early Saturday morning in family quarters at Benjamin Franklin Village was identified Wednesday as Regina Beckwith.

Beckwith was the wife of Staff Sgt. Steven Beckwith, who is assigned to the 28th Transportation Battalion.

She was pronounced dead at the scene by a German emergency doctor after relatives called authorities for help at about 2:30 a.m., according to a U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim official.

Christine Gephard, Mannheim garrison spokeswoman, said she didn’t know whether the caller was the woman’s husband or her children, Brandice, 17, and Sterling, 14, or another relative, and she did not know who was home at the time.

Gephard said authorities were waiting for autopsy results to determine Beckwith’s cause of death but confirmed that she had been stabbed.

No one is in custody in the case.

Gephard said that Beckwith’s survivors were being seen to by the 28th Transportation Battalion, and that Beckwith’s two children were with their father.

Asked whether it was suspected that Beckwith was a homicide victim, Gephard said, “That’s the big question mark.”

A memorial service for Beckwith is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at the Benjamin Franklin Village chapel.

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