Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 34

6 Section 1 Chicago Tribune, Monday, April 28, 1997 Radio station offers flood victims helping hand Across the nation From Tribune News Services MASSACHUSETTS Flight attendant wins contest to design a TWA 800 memorial HAMILTON When TWA flight attendant Janet Collett turned on the TV last July and saw burning wreckage of Flight 800 in the ocean off Long Island, she knew her friend and co-worker Warren Dodge was dead. Hours earlier, she had served Dodge as he flew from Boston to catch the Paris-bound flight in New York. The deaths of Dodge and 53 other TWA employees in the crash prompted the airline to sponsor a national competition for a memorial honoring them. Collett, who has dabbled in art, submitted the winning design. The airline's labor unions are sponsoring the memorial.

Other memorials are being planned for all 230 people killed in the crash. The sculpture, now under construction in New York City, stands about 6 feet tall. Atop a marble base stands a pedestal holding three different-sized panels of etched green glass. The first panel depicts a Boeing 747 lifting off, as seen from behind. The next shows the plane in midair, being cradled by the hands of God.

The third shows the plane nearly transformed into a dove, being released above some clouds and the sun. On the final panel are portions of the poem "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee which President Ronald Reagan quoted in a 1986 speech following the Challenger space shuttle explosion. Collett expressed hope it helps loved ones deal with their grief and move on with their lives. I ii. I 1 1 mini pnj ii 't1 I ,7, mill 1 H- By Ted Gregory Tribune Staff Writer GRAND FORKS, N.D.-On 104.3 FM, the radio host tells callers their basements are flooded.

Callers respond by saying thanks and complimenting the broadcast crew for its fine work. That's part of the critical niche that "Recovery Radio Network, Your Voice of Hope," has filled for 1 the Red River Valley since this region was hit by raging floods that forced the evacuation of thousands of people from Grand Forks and smaller towns along the river. "We're at least giving people some information," said Kevin Dean. These listeners literally have nothing and this is at least something. That's why they're so appreciative." Water continued to recede Sunday, revealing more of the layer of thick mud left behind, and downriver the front edge of the flood crest on the northward-flowing Red River moved through Pem-; bina and St.

Vincent a few miles south of Canada. Residents of drier sections of Grand Forks were allowed to visit their property for a fourth day. Residents of some parts of neighboring East Grand Forks, were allowed back for the first time. Dean, whose regular job is news director at KCNN-AM and KLITE-FM in Grand Forks, volunteered with about 50 radio technicians and broadcasters from the region to create "Recovery Radio." It began in early April when the area was smacked by an ice storm about three days into the thaw that triggered flooding. Thousands trees were snapped and electri- cal power was lost for 100,000 resi- dents.

Aided by a generator, KLITE and KCNN went on the air and I "just started taking calls and answering questions," Dean said. problems from the ice storm were solved, the stations returned to regular programming. After flooding forced the station to evacuate its offices in downtown Grand Forks, the University of North Dakota's campus radio station, KFJM, offered a conference room and some equipment. AP photo Residents of East Grand Forks, walk past a washed-out portion revealing aamaged roads, Buildings NEW YORK Grant monument's fixup is celebrated NEW YORK-A century after one million spectators witnessed the dedication of the granite monument to Ulysses S. Grant, thousands gathered Sunday to celebrate completion of its renovation.

Ulysses Grant Dietz, great-great-grandson of the Civil War general and 18th president, was among those on hand to mark the occasion. The monument where Grant's body rests is in an imposing tomb on the upper West Side of Manhattan just east of the Hudson River. The National Park Service spent upwards of $1.8 million for the renovation. The granite structure erected in Grant's memory on April 27, 1897, became a national monument in 1959. Once it drew 100,000 visitors annually to the rotunda and to view its 150-foot dome and three murals including Robert E.

Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox. But as government money and interest in the tomb slipped, the structure became a haven for the homeless, graffiti artists and vandals. Grant, a Republican who served two terms as president, died on July 23, 1885. wdiers continued 10 receae aunaay, "Recovery Radio Network" was born. Within hours of the evacuation of the city, many radio station employees were forced from their homes.

Unable to work, those people started showing up at the center to help in the best way they knew how. The broadcasts are commercial-free and reach many listeners in the area. The majority of on-air calls come from listeners interested in the condition of their homes. Dean took a call from an elderly woman who knew nothing of her home. Using a color-coded map showing rough estimates of flood levels, he was able to tell her on the air that her home had been destroyed.

There were several seconds of boosted to sexual assault of a child. Since he was convicted, on April 17, he will have to register as a sex offender and faces a sentence ranging from probation to 40 years in prison. Despite assurances from Gill-son's girlfriend that the sex was consensual, state law says no one under the age of 16 can consent to a sexual relationship. Few of the 10,000 people in this town side with the district attorney who prosecuted Gillson. silence.

"I was kind of afraid of that, but I just wanted somebody to tell me," the woman said. Beyond the calls from residents, "Recovery Radio" has snared some real scoops, including an impromptu phone interview with President Clinton during his visit here last week, and breaking announcements on everything from the Red Cross' voucher programs to House Speaker Newt Gingrich's visit on Friday. The network also serves as a message board. A member of a rock band was looking for other members. A man whose tethered boat was missing called to locate it, but "if they're getting good use out of it, that's fine." Another person called to offer a home in New Jersey to displaced "It's pathetic," said Penni Fee-zor, 32, a waitress.

"If he had intentions of doing the right thing, why put him in jail?" A juror said it wasn't a simple matter. "We were led to believe that we only had one choice, the way it was presented to us," said juror Holly Sutinen, 39. "We had a copy of the law, and they both said they did it and that was our only choice." Ozaukee County District Atty. Town angered by 18-year-old's sex-assault conviction of a county road Saturday. Flood and farmland.

evacuees. The most rewarding call for Dean came early last week. A pregnant woman, her husband and three children were staying at a shelter on Grand Forks Air Force Base and the conditions were becoming intolerable. She called asking for a place to stay. The minute she hung up, "Recovery Radio" received three phone calls from people offering their homes.

Another person drove to the station. "You get done with an experience like that," Dean said, "and you think maybe all this work is worth it." Tribune news services contributed to this report. Sandy Williams won't discuss specifics on the case. But she said her office tried to negotiate a pretrial resolution and was told Gillson wanted to go to trial. The prosecutor said she would recommend a sentence that does not include jail time.

Sentencing is set for June 24. Gillson is free, but a condition of his bail is that he may not see his girlfriend. Regardless of the sentence, he must register with police as a convicted sex offender. tim IfU.UU nn Associated Press PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. Kevin Gillson and his 15-year-old girlfriend found them-; selves in the kind of trouble expe-i rienced by thousands of teens: She was pregnant.

The 18-year-old wanted to take responsibility by marrying her, getting a job and raising their child, expected in early June. But then police found out and arrested Gillson on a charge of sexual assault, which was later CALIFORNIA More aftershocks of '94 killer quake LOS ANGELES-Another late aftershock from the deadly 1994 Northridge earthquake hit Southern California early Sunday, a day after a wave of quakes in the same area. No injuries or serious damage were reported. The 4.9-magnitude quake Sunday was centered about 13 miles northwest of the Northridge earthquake, the same location as some of Saturday's quakes, said Steve Bryant, seismologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Because of their locations, depth and other factors, the weekend quakes were considered aftershocks of the 6.7-magnitude Northridge quake, which killed 72 people and caused $25 billion in property damage.

Saturday's 5.0-magnitude quake was the 10th aftershock of that magnitude or higher since the Northridge earthquake, said Caltech seismolo; gist Kate Hutton. (' Like Saturday, more than a dozen smaller quakes followed the Sunday quake. In all, about 80 aftershocks were recorded through the weekend. There have been more than 13,000 since the Northridge quake. 1 (4 4 "-ST i ii Y- 1 if1 1 Any Size One Furnace Home No limit on the number of vents.

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