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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1994)
**■"“ News Digest Friday, October 21,1994 Page 2 ____—-- , Gasoline ignites on flooding Texas river HOUSTON — Two pipelines beneath a roiling river burst Thurs day, sending 100-foot flames of burning gasoline snaking more than a mile down the San Jacinto River. At least 69 people were in jured. “It looked like hell opened up on the water and the whole river was gasoline,” said Mike Norman, who was on the bank trying to re trieve his sailboat when the explo sion occurred. Some 11,500 people were forced from their homes by heavy rain that began Sunday. Skies were clearing, the murky water had be gun to recede in most areas, and some people were returning to their damaged homes when the pipeline broke east of Houston, sending smoke and flame hun dreds of feet into the air. The flood ing has claimed at least 15 lives. The burning mixture wound 1 1/2 miles downstream, setting fire to homes and boats along the banks. Schools and businesses in the path of the smoke were evacu ated. Most of the injured were treated for minor bums and smoke inhalation. “There were three loud booms and then an immediate black cloud,” witness Doug Trowbridge said. “It just began to spread like wildfire.” The first explosion, around 10:30 a m. occurred near “The Spaghetti Bowl,” the mouth of the nation's interstate pipeline net work. A second pipeline ruptured around 2 p.m. U S. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena surveyed scene by helicopter and said the explosion was likely caused by the rain-swol len river. “We have seen this in other parts of the country where you have massive flooding and pipes are hit, tanks get loose and you have rup tures and you have explosions,'' Pena said, adding that an investi gation was planned. The two pipelines, about 8 feet apart, are buried about 3 feet be neath the floor of the river, said Sam Whitehead, spokesman for Atlanta-based Colonial Pipeline. They run beneath the river for about 2 miles. The first line, 40 inches in di ameter, carries gasoline from nearby Pasadena to New Jersey. The second line, 36 inches in di ameter. carries No. 2 diesel fuel. Whitehead said. Whitehead said the company doesn’t know what caused the rup tures or how many gallons of fuel spilled. “This was a very serious flood ing situation. That's the only thing that we know that is unusual, Whitehead said. The rupture caused gasoline fu ture prices to rise in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Wholesale unleaded gasoline for November delivery rose 1.95 cents to 49.95 cents a gallon, a seven week high. The Coast Guard was investi i Pipeline explosion AP gating a possible rupture of a sec ond line nearby. The substance believed leaking was not immedi ately known. Emergency crews had trouble putting out the fire because their boats could not handle the swirl ing river currents and fire trucks were blocked by flooded roads, said Coast Guard Cmdr. Eric Nicholas. ---1 valves on euner siae oi me z milc section of pipeline were shut off, but gasoline is likely to con tinue spilling into the river, said George Tenley, associate adminis trator of pipeline safety for the U S. Transportation Department. More than 400,000 gallons of gasoline spilled before the shutoff, Tenley said. The 2-mile section can hold hundreds of thousands of gal lons, he said. Tenley said operators of 11 other pipelines carrying hazardous chemicals in the area were asked to shut down their lines for fear that the fire might spread to them. Flames reached at least one baree, burning foam insulation used to seal the compartments from water and emitting cyanide smoke. Nicholas said. Cyanide is a foam insulation ingredient, and the smoke is not dangerous unless people arc close to it, he said. East and southwest of the city, the water was still rising from the storms’ runoff. Press excluded from part of jury selection LOS ANGELES — Overwhelmed , by publicity so wide-ranging he's gotten news clippings from Tibet, O.J. Simpson’s judge barred the me dia Thursday from part of jury selec tion. Superior Court Judge Lance Ito closed the part of voir dire in which prospective jurors will be asked whether they can still be impartial despite intensive coverage of the case. Reporters will be allowed back in the courtroom Wednesday when prospec tive jurors are quizzed about other matters. Ito’s ruling drew protests from First Amendment experts, many of whom initially thought he was bar ring the media from the remainder of jury selection. Later, Ito sent a court spokes woman to the media center to say he was misinterpreted and planned to “We have a star chamber going on upstairs." ♦ DOUGLAS MIRELL American Civil Liberties Union attorney ban reporters only from that part of jury selection in which prospective jurors are questioned about their ex posure to media coverage of the case. Attorneys for media organizations, including The Associated Press, were studying the ruling before deciding whether to file an appeal The motion to close jury selection was made by both the defense and the prosecution at the urging of the judge. Kelli Sager, a lawyer representing a number of news media organiza tions. said that closing the proceed ings violates the First Amendment. “We have a star chamber going on upstairs,” said American Civil Lib erties Union attorney Douglas Mirell after the hearing recessed and jury selection resumed behind closed doors. In 1984, in Riverside Press-Enter prise Co. vs. Superior Court, the U S. * Supreme Court reversed a judge's decision to close jury selection in a rape murder case. ' Ito said the 1984 case “was not the subject of the talk show circuit, was not the subject of the morning shows or jokes on the Jay Leno show, was not a topic of conversation every where you go.” He noted publicity was so wide spread he had recently received a news clipping from Tibet. Ito has been particularly con cerned about a book published this week that he says threatens Simpson's right to a fair trial. His ruling came just a day after two media organizations turned down his request to postpone plans to in terview the co-author of the book, “Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life interrupted.” Written by Faye Resnick, a friend of Ms. Simpson's, it alleges that Simpson stalked his ex-wife arid threatened to kill her. Earlier this week, jury selection was halted for two days because of the the release of the Rcsnick book. Ito, who planned to question pro spective jurors in-depth about the book, cited concerns that they would not be candid if faced with scrutiny of their answers. In the Press-Enterprise case, the Supreme Court held unanimously that trial judges must permit the press to attend jury selection except in rare instances where “closure is essential to preserve higher values" and there is no less restrictive alternative avail able. “We’re not trying to get around the public's right to know,” defense at torney Johnnie Cochran Jr. said. “We applaud that. But we’re in a rare, sen sitive area.” Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark said the private questioning of jurors would make them feel more comfortable and increase the likeli hood they'll give candid answers. Korean bridge collapses SEOUL, South Korea — A sec tion of a major bridge collapsed during morning rush hour Friday in Seoul, sending a packed city bus, a van and about 10 cars plum meting to the river below. At least 42 people were killed. Some of the cars fell into the shallow water of the Han River. Others, including the upside-down wreckage of the bus. remained on the fallen 150-foot section of the Songsu bridge, which did not sink. The bus was carrying about 60 people, including several high school students. Boats, divers and helicopters rushed to the scene to rescue sur vivors. About 30 people were res cued, according to news reports. Some of the injured were loaded onto nets lowered by helicopters and rushed to hospitals. Rescue workers recovered at least 42 bodies, MBC. the semi official television network, quoted police as saying. The city had repaired the Songsu bridge the day before and investigators rushed to the scene after the 7:30 a m. collapse (4:30 p.m. EDT Thursday) to examine the quality of the work done, state run KBS television said. KBS also said the 18-ton weight limit of the bridge was often ex ceeded by the vehicles crossing it. Recent news reports have said that many of the 15 bridges cross ing the Han River need repairs. The Songsutaekyo bridge was built in 1979. Eye laser approved GAITHERSBURG, Md. — A panel of outside scientists advised the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday to approve the nation 's first eye laser to correct nearsightedness, provided the maker can meet strict safety criteria. Summit Technology Inc. must show the FDA that at least 75 per cent of patients treated with this la ser will have good enough vision to abandon their glasses or contact lenses and that only a tiny number could have their vision worsened be cause of the procedure. The 13-1 vote by the panel came after 12 1/2 hours of often-testy de bate. At one point, the panel came within a single vote of completely rejecting the OmniMed laser. State takes over city schools EAST ST. LOUIS, III. — The state took over the city’s school district Thursday to relieve it of financial problems so crushing that students often can’t get hot lunches and hall monitors carry whistles because the fire alarms don’t work. The plan to run the finances of the 14,000-student district in this desper ately poor city was unanimously ap proved by the state Board of Educa tion during a meeting in Rock Island The district is $10 million in debt and has a severe shortage of teach ers. Students struggle to learn in over crowded classrooms with equipment that often is older than their parents. And the district’s finances are in such disarray that it recently discovered that health insurance premiums were being paid for dead employees. “This is not a punitive action. This is a helping action,” said state schools Superintendent Joseph Spagnolo. “I believe this is in the best inter est of the children of East St. Louis.” “There have been mistakes.... But you have to recognize that we now have a new team in place," said Dis trict Superintendent Geraldine Jenkins. Spagnolo cited a “six-year pattern of financial mismanagement, amended plans and unmet promises." He will appoint a three-member panel within 10 days to oversee the district's finances. The move lets the state board bring in more teachers, approve contracts and set financial policy. Since 1988, the district has been required to get board approval for its finances. Times have never been easy in the mostly black East St. Louis schools, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. This fall classes started with 50 fewer teachers and about half the caf eteria staff. Atone high school, moni tors have to walk the halls and blow whistles if there's a fire because the alarms don't work. At other schools, students endure cold lunches and arc warehoused in gyms. “We just sit in the bleachers and look stupid," said Dionta Heard, 16, who doesn't have English class be cause there's no teacher. The city of 41,000 has itself been in a downward slide since the 1960s, with unemployment that some state analysts said could be as high as 37 percent. Several years ago, the city couldn’t afford to pay its workers or pick up trash. Last week, the city approved a plan to slash its own debt from $85 mil lion to $27 million using state-backed bonds. The latest problems at the school district surfaced Monday, when the city school board learned that health insurance premiums were still being paid for former and even dead work ers. The board is withholding the $500,000 monthly premium while trying to determine how much was overpaid and for how long. Figures on the district’s payroll are hard to come by and the exact num ber of teachers isn’t known. A dis trict report said about 1,500 employ ees work at the city’s two high schools, four junior highs and 21 el ementary schools. “1 am hopeful that this is the dawn of a great, new day for the students in this school district,” said Irl Solomon, who has taught high school for 22 years. DRUNK DRIVING DOESN'T JUST KILL DRUNK DRIVERS. US Department of Ttanaportauon -----