Stevens Point Journal from Stevens Point, Wisconsin • Page 1

July 19, 1996 3 Sections 26 Pages 50 Storm here has bark, not bite .1 V. iiiitiiiiti nrirriri in ii -J 'X1 S7Vf COWLES HEADS HOME from work at the Friday Canning Oakfield plant after it was leveled by a tornado Thursday. The tornado leveled about half the village and left hundreds homeless. (AP photo) Severe weather threatened Portage County Thursday evening, but had more bark than bite. Warning sirens went off at about 4:30 p.m.

after an unconfirmed sighting of a funnel cloud north of Junction City, authorities said. Meteorologists had issued a tornado watch, which expired at 10 p.m., about 15 minutes prior to the warning- A Portage County Sheriff's Department log entry described the reported funnel cloud as swirling clouds. As storms moved across the county, authorities issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the eastern portion of Portage County at 5:23 p.m. It expired at 6 p.m. Law enforcement agencies received few reports of storm damage, but about 3,100 people were left in the dark for a couple of hours.

Power was out for about two hours along Highway 66, east of the Stevens Point Municipal Airport to the Polonia area, said Greg Le-Grave, an electrical engineer at Wisconsin Public Service. About 2,000 customers were effected. In the village of Plover, about 1,100 customers were without power from 7:55 to 9:10 p.m., LeGrave said. An underground conductor failed and knocked out power between Coolidge Avenue and Post Road. Workers haven't determined the cause of the failure.

The Sheriff's Department received a report of a road washout en Highway SS, one-half mile west of Nelsonville. The Stevens Point Police Department received a report of a branch on a telephone wire at 233 N. Second St. Thursday's weather fooled a few alarm systems. An early morning storm activated burglar alarms at a handful of businesses in downtown Stevens Point, police log entries said.

The evening's stormy weather set off an alarm at a house on Highway a Sheriff's Department log entry said. The morning's storms left behind high humidity, which set off smoke detectors at Nelson Hall and St Michael's Hospital, said Deputy Chief Eugene Szymkowiak of the Stevens Point Fire Department. liroi(ll( WHILE Thomas George starts his duties as the new chancellor of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, he's also getting to know campus people and sharing a bit of himself. (Journal photo by Doug Wojcik) See page 2. Jones signed yields relief GREEN BAY (AP) Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Wolf breathed a little easier after the team signed defensive end Sean Jones to a restructured one-year contract that cuts his pay.

By gaining concessions from Jones, the Packers apparently will have enough room under the National Football League's $40-75 million salary cap to sign top pick John Michels and possess a financial cushion for injury-replacement signing and other developments. See page 11. ggE'n High IQ isn't everything Though many place stock in SAT scores and intelligence tests, the real predictor of future successes is a person's emotional intelligence, according to journalist and psychologist Daniel Gole-man. "There is absolutely no correlation with IQ and life success," Goleman said to those gathered at Quandt Fieldhouse Thursday for the 1996 National Wellness Conference. See page 2.

OAKFIELD, Wis. (AP) A tornado left Oakfield a "bombed-out town" after ripping through the rural Fond du Lac County community, injuring at least 17 people and leaving hundreds homeless, authorities said. Tornados were spotted Thursday night near Weyauwega, Waupaca, Irma, Princeton, Berlin, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Beaver Dam and Belgium. But damage seemed to be most dramatic in Oakfield. "There are dozens of homes down a lot of damage," said Fond du Lac County Executive Allen Buechel.

He estimated that half of Oakfield was leveled by a tornado that hit sometime after 7 p.m. "The devastation is unreal," Lawrence Inder-muehle, captain of the Oakfield First Responded crisis response team, said today. "They're trying to clear streets now. It's amazing the way the homes are scattered about. Some we can't even find." The Friday Canning a major employer in the area, was leveled, said Oakfield resident emergency management officials were on their way to both areas from Chicago.

In the tornado's aftermath, residents walked up and down streets scattered with tree trunks, pieces of glass and sheets of metal and the smell of gas hung in the humid air. Several people were freed from their basements after being trapped by debris, Buechel said. The area worst hit a four-block by one-mile section looked like a "bombed-out town," he said. "There's a church and school very near me that is gone," he said, walking through the community as work crews attempted to clear debris. "And of course there is hardly a tree that is untouched for blocks." Standing in front of what used to be his house, Tim Shady said he heard the tornado approaching "like a loud, steady locomotive," before he and his family went to the basement and took refuge under a pool table.

Debris shot through the windows and landed around them, he said, (see Tornado, page 3) Brett Wachendorf, whose home escaped damage. "All that was left was piles of pallets and cans," Wachendorf said. Electrical power knocked out in the community was later restored in parts of the area, Buechel said. But Lt. Fred Mathwig of the Fond du Lac Sheriff's Department said natural gas turned off Thursday night remained off this morning.

Gov. Tommy Thompson planned to visit the devastated area today and declare a state of emergency in Fond du Lac County, making available state help, said Thompson's press secretary, Kevin Keane. The governor would also call up the National Guard if local officials request it, Keane said. "They are a phone call away from the governor's office in getting anything they need," Keane said. Thompson, who also planned to visit Green County today to inspect flooding damage that took place there early Thursday, said federal Officials mum on crash cause as search continues 'Death literally occurred force" of the explosion, Wetli said, in a heartbeat" EAST MORICHES, N.Y.

(AP) From the sea off Long Island came bodies, twisted metal and excruciating bits of lives interrupted a poetry book, a wedding invitation, photographs floating in the brine. From around the world came sympathy and suspicion, and demands for quick answers to what caused a TWA jumbo jet to explode just after takeoff. As 400 rescuers reluctantly abandoned already long odds of finding survivors in a jumbled mass of metal, fuel and seawater at the edge of the land, talk kept returning Thursday to one word: terrorism. "There's very ample reason why the FBI is treating this as a potential crime scene," Gov. George Pataki told a shoreline news conference near the crash site.

He didn't elaborate. National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman Robert Francis cautioned this morning on the NBC "Today" show that "there's no evidence of a crime yet" Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 exploded in a fireball Wednesday night about 14,000 feet above the Atlantic. All 212 passengers and 18 crew members aboard the Boeing 747 were killed in the nation's second deadliest air disaster. The Coast Guard continued to search for bodies early today; more than 100 had already been recovered. Suffolk County Medical Examiner Charles Wetli said some victims showed evidence of drowning, which means they could have been alive when they hit the water.

The same victims were probably unconscious, or near death from the blast, he said. Most victims died instantly from the "massive blunt Also today, the search for evidence beneath the water's surface was to begin. Divers with sonar equipment will try to locate the plane's flight data recorders, which are equipped to emit a sonic beacon after exposure to salt water, Pataki said. A joint terrorism task force of the FBI and New York Police Department was investigating, but officials insisted that implied nothing about the crash's cause. "We're not ready to say what this is at this point," said James Kallstrom, assistant FBI director in New York.

The task force will work alongside the NTSB, which routinely investigates airplane accidents. (see Crash, page 3) Training for careers If college happens not to turn a young person's head, but entry-level work doesn't either, apprenticeship can bridge the gap. See page 17. One depot saved Unveiling in Plover Saturday Accent Business Classified Jg. 17 Comics Fg.

14 8 Community Local News -Pg. Obituaries Open Public Record Sports TV Listings Tim Siebert of Stevens Point its president "She was going to tear it down," Siebert said. "She said if we wanted it then please hurry and move it" The building was woefully deteriorated; its floors and support beams were rotted, parts of the walls were missing and the roof sagged dejectedly (not to mention what was left behind by the horses that were stabled in it). But, what could be restored has been, what couldn't be saved has been meticulously replaced, and the rest has been disposed. "I guess I got involved because I didnt want to see it destroyed," said John Judd, president of Bancroft State Bank.

He's also got some memories: His dad used to have Model Fords shipped to Bancroft, where he as-(see Depot page 3) Jg. 16 Jg. 11 Jg. 26 By TRUDY STEWART of the Journal The restored Bancroft Railroad Depot, the culmination of nine years' effort, thousands of volunteer hours and $25,000 in materials, officially opens on Saturday. At 1 in a ceremony marking the opening, the Portage County Historical Society will recognize contributors to the project The depot and other buildings in Heritage Park, Plover, including Franklin House and Hie Corners School House, will stay open until 5 p.m.

for visitors to tour and will be open from 1-5 p.m. on Saturdays through mid-October. It was nine years ago that Maxine Phillips of Bancroft first called him to ask if the Historical Society was interested in acquiring the old depot building, said Temperatures (24 hrs. ending 7:30) High, 84. Low, 67.

7:30 a.m. today, 67. Precipitation, 0.19. Sunrise tomorrow, 5:32. Sunset tomorrow, 8:37.

WORK ON WINDOWS in the dispatcher's booth of the Bancroft Depot is discussed as members of the Portage County Historical Society and of Central Wisconsin Model Railroaders prepare for the depot's official opening at 1 p.m. Saturday. (Journal photo by Doug Wojcik) A.