Salina Journal, The (Newspaper) - July 8, 1988, Salina, Kansas T 1 1 he Journal 115th year 190 Kansas FRIDAY July Store collapses 8 40 injured Texas AP A three story department store crowded with peo ple seeking shelter from torrential rains collapsed killing at least eight injuring 40 and trapping others in the authorities It looks real Cameron County Sheriff Alex Perez said of the scene in the downtown area of this city across the Rio Grande from Its a It was just like a bomb hit that corner store The roof and front wall of La Tienda known as the Amigo caved in about Central Nearly six hours emergency crews were still digging through mounds of broken cin twisted steel and mer to pull out survivors and look for Rescuers cut through a wall inside a store next door to reach some of those Witnesses said they heard screams from the Linens and clothing blown from the store by high winds were being used to wrap the wounds of the Police Dean Poos said shortly after 7 that we dont really think there are going to be any more live people coming out of Ambulances and rescue personnel were hampered in reaching the scene by flood waters from the Steve Fitz acting assistant city said some local businesses had volunteered frontend loaders and cranes to The National Weather Service said the collapse could have been caused by the weight of the which dumped more than 2 inches in less than 30 The store was half a block from the international and sheriffs Johnny Castillo said that when the storm a large number of Mexican nation als were running there to get out of the The store was Poos said store owner Bernard Levine told him that when the roof he jumped under a and all he knows is that when everything he looked up and there was blue sky above Levine said he escaped with three em ployees and three Police Charles Hoskins said at least eight people were confirmed and Castillo said at least 40 were 32 of them requiring Poos said the dead included a woman who was apparently crushed as she sat in a car with Mexican license plates in front of the Two others were killed as they stood under a canopy in front of the All of a I hear a noise kind of like See Page 9 by AP Emergency personnel work atop a heap of rubble that had been the Amigo Store before the building An unidentified rescuer carries away an injured woman from the store Rescue workers look in Face on Mars may be scientists say WASHINGTON AP Unusual for mations on the surface of a rock shaped like a human face have been carved by a lost civilization lor could be just a trick of four said In either they the mysterious outcroppings demand further scrutiny by The including a former astro said that a photograph taken of the Martian surface in 1976 by Viking spacecraft clearly shows a face that could have been carved out of a Martian mountain a half million years And the sphinxlike image that stares out ward from the planet may be part of a as evidenced by other unusual The feature Is sufficiently exciting that we must go back to Mars and photograph It at a higher Brian former Mars formations which was built by a civilization that has since the scientists they it could all be a trick of light and Brian a former astronaut and an expert on said there is sufficient uncertainty about the origin of the rock face it should be a major target for future spacecraft sent to The feature is sufficiently exciting that we must go back to Mars and photograph it at a higher OLeary OLeary said that in January he asked Soviet space scientists who were preparing to send probes to Mars to examine the area where the face He said the Soviets were but replied that their spacecraft was not technically designed to study the Cydonia region of where the site is The Soviets launched a probe toward Mars on Thursday and plan to launch a second one later this The news conference Thursday was prompted by a study of the Viking photo graphs conducted by Mark an op tical engineering In an article published in Applied Carlotto said a computer enhancement of the Viking photographs shows that the face and various other nearby features appear to have been carved by intelligent design and not by the random forces of Carlotto said a sophisticated statistical study of the compared with other outcroppings on shows that the face is not Its extremely unlikely that its a trick of See Page 9 25 Cents Smoke billows from the oil Up to 164 die in fire on oil rig Scotland AP Rescuers Thursday night found two more survivors of an explosion and towering fire that consumed the Piper Alpha platform and killed up to 164 people in the worlds worst oil rig The search was suspended for the to resume at daylight But authorities said there was little hope of finding anyone else alive in the North Seas frigid The rig owners said the probable cause of the fire was a gas which a survivor described as screaming like a banshee seconds before the blast Wednesday Officials said 67 rig workers 16 bodies had been recovered and 148 people were Survivors told of having to choose between trying to survive the flames in hopes aid would come and plunging 150 feet into a blanket of burning oil that covered water cold enough to The disaster began about Wednesday on the rig 120 miles off The explosion occurred just after a 12hour shift had and many of the men were in Rescue pilots described flames up to 400 feet The fire flickered nearly 24 hours Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers gov promised a very deep and far reaching Occidental owner of the plat said it believed a gas leak was to but it could take weeks to determine what caused the Occidental said the threequarters of the 649f rig was The number of men still missing and the dim prospects for finding them alive seem certain to make the Piper Alpha explosion the worst oil rig surpassing the 123 deaths when the Alexander Kielland plat form capsized in North Sea waters in March It was fry and die or jump and Scotland AP Men jumped from the blazing oil platform or slithered down searing pipes as the heat popped windows like but most had no chance and comrades could only watch help lessly from a nearby It was a case of fry and die or jump and said Roy who leaped into the cold North Sea to escape the flames that engulfed the giant Piper Alpha rig after an explosion Wednesday His face was burned and his arms were in slings I was smothered with he said from his hospital I could hardly see and couldnt so it was over the side or die Carey said one of the rigs survival boats floated past him and three other They grabbed at it and a man aboard held out his but Carey said the man couldnt See Page 9 Inside THE FIRST ROUND of the Salina City Medal Golf Tournament gets under way See Page Uving to continue the state tnn 0n the I Salina official backs competency tests use Staff Writer While school for the state lawmakers are reviewing the value of minimum competency test ing and will decide next year whether Weather i KANSAS A chance of thunder Storms high in the northwest to 90 A chance of showers lows in the low 60s northwest to 70 A chance of showers highs in upper 80s to low Mercer One top Salina School District of would like to see the testing continued because it offers insight into how well stu dents are I wouldnt have any problem with it if its said assistant superintendent for cur and If its not then well have to develop our own Recently released scores for the Salina School District show the dis exceeded state scores in seven of 10 The tests are given to Among Salina percent met or exceeded the stan dard for which compares with percent of all Kansas second Other Salina math scores were percent of per cent of percent of and percent of Total state math fig ures show percent of fourth 85 percent of percent of and percent of met or exceeded the In only Salina exceeded the state score the Salina figures were percent of and 94 percent of Other Salina scores were percent of second percent of fourth graders and percent of eighth Total state scores for reading are 94 percent for See Page 9 Crop lost Illinois declares half of corn crop lost to drought By The New York Times WASHINGTON Months of rainless weather and weeks of blistering temperatures have destroyed half the corn crop in the nations secondlargest producer of state agriculture officials said That assessment by Illinois was the first of what is almost certain to be a string of reports of crop failures across the Middle although the northern Great Plains states of Montana and the Dakotas reported as early as last month that at least half their barley and oat crops had already been de The Illinois officials said the arid conditions were reducing corn yields by 2 percent to 5 percent a If the state does not receive any rain in the next week to 10 they its corn harvest may yield no more than 400 million only a third of last years which ran a close second to Iowas billion bushels and was 17 percent of the national Its already the worst crop failure in our said Mike the states assistant director of Every day we dont receive any mois ture it gets The question is how much worse its Illinois official Larry Werries left and ex Agriculture Secretary John Block examine going to In the Agriculture Department added 61 counties to its list of drought disaster bringing the lists total to in 37 Such designation makes an areas farmers eligible for a variety of relief
