Kokomo Tribune Sunday (Newspaper) - August 27, 1995, Kokomo, Indiana KOKOMO TRIBUNE Todays Weather Hot humid and sunny High 90 Low 70 Sports Spot Kats open season with victory over Cardinals Page Bl Kokomo Indiana August 27 1996 Seaplane crashes NEW SHOREHAM AP A seaplane crashed into a restaurant and exploded Satur day while trying to land near an island beach killing at least four people and forcing cus tomers to dive for safety The plane was heading toward the waters off Block Islands Fred Benson State Beach when it crashed into a car in front of on the island and slammed into the restaurant The plane exploded destroying the single story building which also housed a gas station The plane narrowly missed the two gas pumps Christopher McGinniss a gas station atten dant said he shouted at people eating on an out side deck at the restaurant to get out of the way They fled and the plastic chairs and tables on the deck melted he said McGinniss and three other people were in the restaurant at a counter when the plane crashed but it was unclear how many customers were on the deck The restaurant seats about 50 I just finished paying for a hamburger when the thing came in Three seconds later it ed It was said Kyle Jorgenson who was visiting from Connecticut Four people died in the crash New Shoreham Police Chief William McCombe said They included the pilot and two of his three passen gers he said The fourth victim was in the car The other person in the plane was taken to a hospital in Providence He was listed in critical condition with burns and other injuries There were no reports of injuries to customers Spectators view remains of restaurant AP photo The new composting plant that covers acres is expected to save Kokomo of dollars a year in landfill costs KT photos by Tim Bath Compost plant will save money And there is no unpleasant odor By STEVE JACKSON Tribune staff writer While it was being built Kokomo officials extolled the many bene fits the city will see from its new composting plant But for those who live downwind of the citys Wastewater Treatment Plant the most important one is this It doesnt smell Harnessing the occasionally overpowering odor that wafted from the Wastewater Treatment Plant is just one of the benefits the city expects to receive from its new million facility More important is that it will save the city thousands of dollars per year in landfill costs and represent a more environmentally friendly way of disposing wastewater sludge Eventually this will help lower tax dollars Thats the important said Mayor Bob Sargent who points to the composting plant as one of the hallmarks of his administration And its much much better for our environment to recycle as much as we What happens inside the hulking gray structure along West Mark land Avenue is a unique approach to handling the dense sludge left behind when the wastewater treat ment process is completed Most cities including Kokomo up until a few weeks ago drain water from the sludge and then ship it to a landfill Instead Kokomo will now take that sludge mix it with wood chips and turn it into safe highly effec tive compost for use by landscap ers gardeners and others Its great said Tom High treatment plant superintendent The sludge compost is going to be the far superior material com pared to the compost the city already distributes A buyers market The Kokomo composting plant which started building its second set of piles last week the plant has room for about 15 has yet to create compost ready to sell But several buyers have lined up to buy the 50 60 cubic yards of compost expected to be gen daily Weve got several that are very interested in High said Weve had a couple said theyre interested in buying almost all of High said most of the compost will likely be sold to landscapers and developers In addition to generating income from the sale of compost the city figures to save a minimum of between to annu ally by no longer sludge In 1944 Kokomo paid per ton to landfill its sludge with between and tons generated each year High said Sally Louks left and Mark White work in the million composting plant on West Markland Avenue Its great Tom High treatment plant superintendent Sargent said with landfill costs continually rising and with addi tional sludge expected to be pro as the city expands building the composting plant was the right thing to do Besides the Wastewater Treat ment Plants old system of remov ing water from sludge so that it could be using a machine called a was in need of replacement We were at a point where we would have had to put roughly the same amount of capital into refur bishing the High said Add in the landfill fees and over the long haul it would have been a more expensive The plant could yield further divi dends in the future It was built with the possibility of adding a facility in mind High said A MRF would allow the city to pull organic mate rials out of household trash and then compost it meaning Kokomo would have to ship even less trash to increasingly expensive landfills This is really the wave of the Sargent said Odor control But for all the impressive things the compost plant can do in nan tiling waste what will probably be its greatest attribute to many near by residents is its capacities In addition to moving air through the compost piles the plants pip ing network channels air to a huge operation on the plants south face There a variety of chemicals ranging from sulphuric acid to liquid Tide yes the laundry detergent removes odors from the air before it is dis charged from the plant But even without the trol system which is not yet fully operational the overwhelming sewage smell that sometimes drift ed from the Wastewater Treat ment Plant is gone That odor came from the which has been decommissioned and will eventually be sold tor scrap Clintons defend trip to China Wu says first ladys visit is a mistake GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK Wyo AP First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton celebrat ing the 75th anniversary Saturday of the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote said her trip to communist China will be about giving a voice to President Clinton who joined his wife at the Jackson oration said the international womens rights gathering in Bei jing is trueblue to a pointed retort to conservatives who have complained that the meeting agenda is And Clinton harshly attacked his wifes detractors saying critics of the United Nations conference have a narcotic drive to create controversy The Clintons said the con ference will be an important forum to promote womens rights in the United States and around the world Mrs Clinton accepted the invita tion to attend on Friday one day after China released human rights activist Harry Wu Chinese author convicted Wu a Chinese American of espionage and had sentenced him to 15 years in prison Critics have said that the first ladys visit rewards China for detaining a citizen On Saturday Wu told San Fran cisco radio station from his home in Milpitas that the first ladys trip was a mistake Chinese officials will interpret her attendance as meaning Even if we did arrest Harry Wu what ever we did is he said Related Story Women losing ground in political arena Page A3 B Related Story How it works Page C3 Inside TODAY Business Dr Local News of Vol 144 No 356
