Winchester Star (Newspaper) - November 12, 1997, Winchester, Virginia The Winchester Star 102nd Year Ill 36 SECTIONS VIRGINIA NOVEMBER 1997 6673200 25 CENTS Stack Comes Tumbling Down Star Photos by Scott Mason As dynamite charges the 360foottall Fibers smokestack tumbles to the ground on Tuesday It was constructed in Amid the Dust and Memories of Better Days By PAUL SANDEFUR The Winchester Star FRONT ROYAL The sign read Dan No Trespassing Hazardous Substance But that didnt stop Iva Oldt from com ing out to the former Fibers site to see the closed plants main smokestack demolished on Tuesday Flanked by friends and Oldt watched the dynamite blast that toppled the 40yearold A can boom quickly filled the echo ing off the A small dust cloud lifted briefly out of the crumbled then leaving only gray clouds above the of Front held her tan toy poodle in her Her daughter and grandson stood beside She shook her head after it was all This plant fed my kids for many Oldt said of the 57yearold whose original smokestack was destroyed by a fire in The which closed in held many memories for She started working there in At that many employees were she because of the labor shortage World War II pro Most of the men had gone off and signed up for the While working Oldt met her hus who worked for for 53 Iva Oldt worked for the plant for 43 years before Closing the plant really hurt Front she Her Violet of Warren who worked for for 20 years before leaving to get said the people she worked with were like fam We were proud of what we she Like many Front Royal turff considered the redbrick smokestack to be an important landmark in the See Better Days Page AG EPA Begins Demolition Job At Polluted Site In Front Royal By MICHELE SULLIVAN Special to The Winchester Star FRONT ROYAL With a 57 years of Front Royal history went down in a cloud of red dust on Tuesday The 360foottall Fibers made of brick baked hard enough to withstand acid laden emissions that dissolved the very underpinnings of the defunct fell in a few heartbeats under an enor mous load of Three warning sirens from fire trucks below signaled its impend ing just before The roar of exploding was not the first sign of its an immense cloud of dust and hurtling bricks shot out from the base of the tower in a circular like a ring around Seconds the roar and thump of the explosion rolled across empty fields and the stack collapsed upon it The first step of the Environ mental Protection eight month demolition of build ings was When the originally known as American came on line in it was the most technologically advanced rayon manufacturing business in the United American Viscose imported a staff of specialists from all over the country to get the plant up and and hired scores of local workers as During World War American See Demolition Page A6 As Sanctions Diplomats Urge Iraq Position Change Is Prepared For Any Kind Of Contingency By SUSANNE SCHAFER AP Military Writer WASHINGTON military forces have been moving in and out of the Per sian Gulf in large numbers ever since the end of the 1991 war and a contingent of nearly still should force become an option in the current struggle with On Veterans Defense Secretary William Cohen said the troops must prepare for any kind of in the Pentagon of considered what troops might be needed in the event a show of force is In response to a Cohen said existing au would allow mili tary action should it be nec Were hoping thats not the Despite the Cohen was in his Pentagon making calls to his overseas counterparts and meeting with other members of Presi dent Clintons national secu rity See Page A7 By ROBERT REID Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS With the Security Council poised to vote on an increase in sanctions against diplomats were making one final attempt to persuade the leaders to rescind their order expelling arms The 15member Security Coun cil was meeting today to schedule a vote on a resolution that condemns Iraq for its deci sion to expel Americans from the weapons team and places a foreign travel ban on Iraqi of who obstruct France and Russia emphasized what is not in the It does not in any way foresee the use of French Foreign Min spokeswoman Anne Gazeau Secret Russias am Sergey said of in Moscow cannot accept any use of force because it leads us The United States has not ruled out military Ambassador Richard son said he expected near unanimity on the Dip said China was the only holdout late on Chinese diplomats said they needed in from This resolution is going to be Richardson And we think it sends an unmistakable signal for Iraq to comply im Diplomatic speaking on See Iraq Page A7 A Salute to Veterans Members of the Veterans of Foreign War Post 2123 fire a volley during an 18gun salute for Tuesdays Veterans Day cer emony at Shenandoah Memorial Park in Frederick Behind the firing squad Star Photo by Rick Foster is the War Memorial for Winchester and Frederick County military members killed in the nations The memorial was re dedicated at the For stories and another see Page 4 Americans Slain in Pakistan By ANNE GEARAN Associated Press Writer FAIRFAX Hours after a judge recessed a sen hearing for a man convicted the revenge killings of two CIA four businessmen were ambushed and shot to death today in his native The whose car was forced off the road near downtown were auditors for Houston based Union Texas which immediately ordered all 30 of its workers out of the The gunmen also killed the Pakistani driver of the Karachi police said there was a strong possibility of a link between the conviction Monday of Mir Kasi and the slayings of the No one claimed responsibility for the killings and au were searching for two The State Department on Monday warned Ameri cans abroad to be aware of possible retaliation after Kasi was convicted earlier in the day on 10 including a murder charge that can carry the death It was unclear whether the slayings would affect Kasis sentencing which was scheduled to resume The defense was expected to call doc tors to testify about his mental was convicted of capital murder and first degree murder in the slayings of Frank and Lansing The men were shot while waiting in their cars at a traffic See 4 Slain Page A2 181 Study Findings Will Be Discussed In December By DON WORTHINGTON The Winchester Star For its a local a fast way to get between points A For its part of a net work thats the most direct route between New York and Los The combination is a steady stream of cars and trucks that exceeds what the road was de signed Such is the saga of Interstate which runs 325 miles through It starts in and ends at the Frederick Virginia More than vehicles use 181 Virginia Department of Transportation officials estimate that 26 to 28 percent of the traffic is They expect traffic to double by with truck traffic increasing to 30 to 35 Such capacity is beyond what the 30yearold interstate was de signed to in both volume and has begun an intensive study of the one that could result in a bil lion which would in clude adding rebuilding and repaying the entire Preliminary results of the study for section 10 the area around Winchester will be presented at 4 on 15 during a public meeting at the War Memorial Building in Winchesters Jim Bar See 181 Page A2 Tomorrow Chance of sleet or snow INDEX Frederick Edition 14 7 14 MISS YOUR PAPER Call 6673200 till 7 Report Computers Often Underused by Virginia Students By The Associated Press RICHMOND Virginia schools have more and better computer equipment than most but computers are often underused by public school a new study The reasons why computers sometimes sit idle range from inadequate teacher training to poor placement of computer work ac cording to a report in Education Week maga Kenneth told the magazine that inadequate computer training in Virginia schools contradicts the states rep of being a technology Twothirds of the gross state product growth can be attributed to hightech but the state is lagging in its use of tech nology in Plum We are des trying to catch Virginia has pledged to invest in new tech nology for public including mil lion in the 199698 budget cycle for technology and other infrastructure needs in public But experts said computer courses should be mandatory to give students high tech The national study done by Education Week found that 79 percent of Virginia schools have See Page
