The final resolution for Friedrich was to install the bin in /usr/lib/jvm. That directory contains the original java-6-openjdk which is not working correctly with openoffice.org. After installing jre-6u22-linux-i586.bin in /usr/lib/jvm, open office was able to find it automatically. Then it was only necessary to select the newly installed jre and the tables work as they should.
The final resolution for Friedrich was to install the bin in /usr/lib/jvm. That directory contains the original java-6-openjdk which is not working correctly with openoffice.org. After installing jre-6u22- linux-i586. bin in /usr/lib/jvm, open office was able to find it automatically. Then it was only necessary to select the newly installed jre and the tables work as they should.