Casa Grande Dispatch (Newspaper) - October 20, 1994, Casa Grande, Arizona Valley Life Sports County arid State Parking Lot Sale Helping Everyone Involved p 5 Playoff Hopes Fading For CAC p 6 Air Quality Improves But Phoenix Fails P 11 Final Countys Daily Newspaper ASA CASA GRANDE ARIZONA 85222 THURSDAY OCTOBER 2C 83rd Year 35C per copy FLORENCE The Florence Town Council will consider a recommendation to terminate Police Chief Tom Rankin at Friday not Nov 1 as originally scheduled Town Manager William Gal was to recommend Ran kins dismissal during a meet ing Monday but Mayor Kay Otte shut it down early after members of the standing audience com they couldnt hear any thing and that the large number of people there created a fire hazard Galletly said he was going to recommend Rankins dismiss al to the council citing a gen eral lack of confidence in the chiefs ability to manage his department pursuant to previ issued Rankin has been police chief for about 14 years The meeting will be held in council chambers entered from the rear entrance at 133 N Main St The council will still hold a meeting at 7 Monday to take action on other items post poned at last Mondays meeting JL ust in CG Staff Reports A Casa Grande police officer found 311 pounds of uncut cocaine and 25 pounds of marijuana in a car after a pursuit early this morning It was the biggest such find in the history of the Casa Grande department Three men whose identities have not yet been released were captured and arrested after they ran from the car and hid in a field after the chase A state Department of Public Safety helicopter and DPS cers assisted officers from Casa Grande and the Final County Sheriffs Office in searching the area on State Route 287 two miles east of Overfield Road It was not revealed if more peo ple were in the vehicle and if any got away The chase started at about today on Florence Boule vard just east of the Interstate 10 overpass when a Casa Grande of ficer tried to make a routine traf fic stop The suspect vehicle did not stop and continued to a dirt road where the suspects left the car and fled into a cotton field Police said uncut cocaine is of ten quadrupled before being sold on the streets The drugs are esti mated to be worth millions of dollars The three people arrested are being charged with possession and transportation of narcotics and marijuana for sale Police also found two handguns in the car New Eye Laser Surgery Not Accepted by Some WASHINGTON AP An ex laser that zaps cells off corneas could give nearsighted Americans an alternative to the knife for correcting their vision Many doctors tout the excimer laser as a better alternative to conventional eye surgery but oth ers warned a government panel today that it also poses danger to eye patients and should be used cautiously The panel an advisory commit tee to the Food and Drug Adminis tration is considering whether the first excimer laser one produced by Summit Technology should be allowed for sale in this country It is at least equal to and prob ably better than current alterna tives said Dr Stephen Trokel of the American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgery who per formed the worlds first laser ex cimer procedure But other doctors told the panel that some of the same problems including a failure to provide 2020 vision infection and scarring do pose a risk They said that im proved versions of the laser to counter such dangers are slowly working their way toward FDA Would doctors pay another if better lasers are later approved asked Dr Craig Beyer a University of South Flor ida professor and consultant to a Summit competitor It is going to be a very impor tant said Dr Keith Thomp son of Emory University who has done 300 experimental laser sur geries But its important that people realize its not going to be the Holy Grail its not going to be as perfect as glasses and contact Now people who want to aban don the glasses or contact lenses that help them see at a distance opt for a surgery called radial keratotomy or RK In RK a surgeon makes tiny di agonal cuts on the cornea the clear tissue covering the eyes iris and pupil The cuts flatten the cor nea to bring vision closer to nor mal Some Americans un dergo RK every year The excimer laser flattens the cornea too using a cold beam of ultraviolet light to vaporize corne al cells This procedure called photoreactive keratectomy or PRK is already used in 40 countries Israeli Cabinet Approves Closure of West Bank Gaza TEL Israel AP The Israeli Cabinet today approved the indefinite closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of a crackdown on Islamic militants following a bus bombing that killed 21 people A spokesman for PLO chief Yasser Arafat said the move con economic and social war on Palestinians In the West Bank town of lya where authorities believe the suicide bomber lived Israeli troops clashed with residents who said the army was preparing to destroy his cinderblock home The army de clared a curfew in the town The Gaza and West Bank clo sure will keep Palestinians from jobs in Israel mainly in con struction and agriculture It also will prevent Palestinians from visiting religious sites there with out a permit The closure will continue until further notice until security con ditions permit it to be Environment Minister Yossi Sarid said Arafat spokesman Marwan said the Palestinian au government considered the closure collective punish ment against innocent people and warned it could slow the peace process Ground Troops May Not Go By SUSANNE M SCHAFER AP Military Writer WASHINGTON The Penta gon is considering whether to for mally call off plans to send ground troops into the Persian Gulf region now that threat to Kuwait has abated Instead forces in the re gion will use the shift to the gulf for training It doesnt look like many of them will go one se military officer said day of the forces that have re mained on hold in the United States They are still chewing it a second official said of the top Pentagon officers who will de cide when the forces will stand down from their alert posture There are soldiers sailors airmen and Marines in the gulf region including those aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and 16 other Navy ships But there are only Army troops on the ground and Ma rines on ships in the Persian Gulf far short of the ground troops that had been told to be LT CMDR Janet Marnane left shares a laugh with Lt Jane Campbell center and Lt Pamela S Kunze aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight The Associated Press D Eisenhower in Norfolk as members of the ships crew prepared Wednesday for a six month deployment to the Mediterranean USS Eisenhower Makes History By JOE TAYLOR Associated Press Writer NORFOLK Va Lt Cmdr Janice M Hamby feels much safer on an aircraft carrier than on the support ships to which women have been relegated in the past The big difference for us is that we can defend Hamby said I can go to the Persian Gulf and feel a lot safer than someone on a repair ship or a resupply The USS Eisenhower departed today on a historic deployment as the first warship to carry women on an extended mission Tugboats pushed the giant air craft carrier out to sea on sched ule at even though friends and relatives who had gathered on a pier beside the ship were forced to watch from a distance because of a bomb threat Lets just say well be glad when April gets said Ruby Petty who came with her husband John to see off their sons Shawn and Derik That is when the Eisenhower is due back in port The ship shoved off after a search by the crew bomb ex perts and dogs found no bomb Approximately 400 women are joining men on the carrier and its air wing for the six month assignment to the Medi terranean and possibly the Per sian Gulf In March the Eisenhower be came the first combat ship to take women as crew mem bers Last month about 300 women went on a quick trip to Haiti to deliver members of the Armys 10th Mountain Division Women have served on non combat vessels since the Carter administration The been taking women to sea since 1978 and this is just the next logical step in that said Capt Mark Gemmill the ers skipper Sailors of both sexes say the transition has gone smoothly They all work said Ja son Hughes an aviation support equipment technician We do pretty well Hamby a command and con trol systems officer was con cerned at first about resentment over women breaking into the What I found from day one was that my fears were totally she said We were able to come in and start making an immediate contribution to the The Eisenhower and its sup port ships are carrying more than sailors and Marines to relieve the carrier USS George Washington and its bat tle group off the Arabian penin sula where it was sent in re sponse to Iraqi troop movements NAVY Petty Officer Teresa Daniels of New Orleans prepares to move an Sea King The Associated Press helicopter on the deck of the USS Dwight D Eisenhower Wednesday ready to deploy to the scene And while there are about 250 warplanes and support aircraft in the region that also falls far short of the nearly 700 warplanes that had been ordered after the crisis erupted nearly two weeks ago At one time some Iraqis had massed in areas bordering Kuwait As late as last Thursday De fense Secretary William Perry Guif page 3 By HOWARD STANSFIELD Staff Writer Casa Grande city officials have narrowed their search for a new fire chief to four finalists from among the 55 who applied for the post and City Manager Kent My ers is expected to announce his se lection Tuesday I think all four of the finalists meet the basic Myers said this morning But a lot of it depends on the individ personality how well he can work with our city and our fire department and thats hard to tell on Casa Grandes last fire chief Randy Baldridge lasted only about a year before resigning to take a similar job in Missouri Myers said he hopes to find someone with substantially more staying power this time around Were looking for someone who will make a 10year commitment to the Myers said With the construction of the citys second fire station sched uled to be completed in about sev en months experience in bringing new stations online and working within a budget will also be a plus Myers said Myers said he and a panel made up of six city officials and commu members will interview the finalists on Monday Cris Hernandez a 26year veter an of the Casa Grande Fire De who was appointed in terim chief when Baldridge resigned in August is among the four being considered Hernandez began serving with the department in as an on call firefighter then worked five years as a before be coming an engineer in 1975 He has served as a captain with in the department since 1979 Hernandez calls himself a self motivated leader dedicated to the fire service with extensive ex in the implementation of public fire safety awareness and personnel management The other three candidates are Leon Dame an 11year fire service veteran rom Tucson Dame has a bachelors degree in business administration and an associates degree in fire science Chief page 3 County and Dear For the Record National News Valley
