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Silo Area Residents Reporting SicknessGUY. Ark (AH) Benny Mercer H, the mayor of Guv. said Thursday that he and some of his townspeople have been sick since last Friday That was the day a Titan II missile ex ploded in its stlo five miles northwest of hereV er and u local doctor, Hichard A Hinkle, 8, of nearb} Quitman think that fumes Irom the silo may have heen in a fog that quietly drifted down on Guy about 4 am last Friday, roughly one hour after the siloblew up near Damascus Since the fog. there has been a rash of complaints ol nausea and burning sensations in the nose, throat. Iung.v and stomach among som** of the 201 or so people w ho live at Guy The Air Force »s not so sure the silo was the culprit LI Gen Lloyd K. Leavitt, vice commander oi the Strategic Air Command, said Wednesday that Air Farcecaiculati ;s indicated that toxic fumes had not gone more than on* mile from the siloHe said that was bast'd on a model, not on atmosphericsamples Samples of the atmosphere backed it up he said but citizens said samples were tak en at ter the fog had gone Mercer said he was awake early Friday morning because he had been alerted bv a fire-man alter the explosion The leaders oi Guy were deciding whether to evacuate the town,despite the absence of any Air Force instructions to do so, he saidA little after 4 a m . it start ed moving in here like fog he *aid We could see ash tailing little particles In the mercury lights t really showed up. like a light snow You could step out in it. breathe it and it would just burn your nose plumb to yourlungsHe said he and his wife. Daisy. m i two of his children *tepped out into it Those four ha\e the symptoms. Mercer said Two other children did not get in the fog and don t have symptoms hi said.Mercer aid he understands the same thing happened to others who got m the fog, which dissipated after about 15 minutes The symptoms began to develop late Friday afternoon, Mercer said Hinkle said eight or nine people from Guy had come to him with complaints of burning sensations and nausea, plus such iptoiri' as dry. salty lips Mercer said his lips felt like they were about to break out into fever blistersThe wind apparently carried it in a narrow strip from the missile site up to and through a strip of Guy, Hinkle said As far as 1 can recall — I know where most of them live — I believe it could be plotted out as a pattern with the wind flow ”
Newspaper Details
Fayetteville Northwest Arkansas Times
Fayetteville, Arkansas, US
Fri, Sep 26, 1980
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Arkansas S.
AR, USA 14 Feb 2020
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