The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 3

THE MORNING CALL, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1994 A3 Tornadoes Damage from Monday's storm system: I MO. osiDoa COLO. KANSAS if i 1 Tornado ravages old town NEW MEXICO cflirsiw back TOKLA. VXrT 1 LvJalihinar Dallas -a UncasteA A TEXAS A Areas struck 1 by tornadoes A- 300 of 4fV S. MEXICO 300 km 2 I lis.

(V. By TERRY WALLACE Of The Associated Press LANCASTER, Texas A business district dating to the years just after the Civil War was left in ruins yesterday after a tornado smashed through town, killing three people. As many as 200 homes also were destroyed. "I think there's a lot of hard days ahead, a lot of them," Police Chief Mac McGuire said. A building that once housed a bank robbed by Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker lost all of its second floor except for a corner facade.

A mattress dangled from a tree in front of the 119-year-old Odd Fellows Hall, which lost much of its second floor. The twister struck this former cotton farming region Monday evening. The area has become one of Dallas' fastest-developing suburbs. The deadly weather moved north yesterday to Gainesville 70 miles away. A tornado heavily damaged a trailer park and tore apart billboards and other structures.

In Lancaster, Rebekka Hender- son, 19, was at home with her mother and younger brother when the tornado tore through her neighborhood on the edge of the town square. "We saw what was coming, so we closed ourselves off in an inside hall with the dog," she said. "Sirens went off. We were sitting with the dog, covering our heads. The house fell all around the hall.

"We could feel the wind through the floor." Ronnie Mitschke and his family took refuge in a master bedroom closet. "A house is now 2 feet tall," he said. "The more I think about it the more I figure I should be dead." The tornado occurred as storms leeway to the rebels each time they violated cease-fire orders. "All the sites in the 20-kilometer tl2-milej exclusion zone where the Bosnian Serb army heavy weapons were previously located have been reported by U.N. military observers as being cleared," said a U.N.

spokesman, Cmdr. Eric Chaperon. About 500 U.N. troops have been deployed to Gorazde over the past two days to separate the Muslim-led government forces and the rebel Serbs. NATO reconnaissance flights in the afternoon showed some tanks and artillery still within the weapons exclusion zone, and Chaperon earlier conceded some Serb infantry remained within a 1.9-mile radius of central Gorazde a safety zone from which the rebels were supposed to have pulled out three days ago.

As the Bosnian Serb soldiers retreated from the inner protected zone Sunday, they looted and burned hundreds of houses and blew up a water plant. U.N. special envoy Yasushi Aka-shi, the civilian head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission for the Balkans, denounced the "scorched earth" tactics and lodged a protest with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Despite evidence to the contrary, the Bosnian Serb leadership had announced itself in full compliance with the withdrawal edict 12 hours before the NATO deadline of 8:01 p.m.

EST yesterday. A food convoy swept into central Gorazde by the recent Serb onslaught was let through in the morning after a 24-hour blockade by Bosnian Serb gunmen, but a separate delivery of shelter materials was turned back by the rebels who said the tents and plastic sheeting were military materials. By CAROL J. WILLIAMS Of The Los Angeles Times SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnian Serb gunmen grudgingly withdrew tanks and artillery from around battered Gorazde yesterday, U.N. officials said, averting the threat of NATO air strikes against weapons that had been savaging the "safe haven." U.N.

forces patrolling Gorazde reported evacuation of all known gun emplacements by nightfall, although it remained unclear whether the weaponry had actually been removed from the 12-mile exclusion zone proclaimed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Even before U.N. ground forces in Gorazde relayed their general impression that the Serbs had complied with the withdrawal order, the peacekeeping mission here showed itself to be extremely reluctant to approve the use of force to impose the NATO ultimatum, likely fearing any outside attack could do more damage to their operation than to the defiant rebels. "We are not going to go to war over a broken-down tank," the U.N. commander for Bosnia, British Lt.

Gen. Michael Rose, said of the uncertain Serb compliance and mounting Western pressure to show the rebels some military resolve. The troops of the U.N. Protection Force in Bosnia are deployed on a neutral, humanitarian mission and Rose has stated he sees no prospect of "bombing our way to peace." Throughout the monthlong crisis triggered by a Bosnian Serb offensive against Gorazde, Rose and other top U.N. officials have played down the severity of the fighting that killed or wounded nearly 3,000.

They have also granted vast Associated Press APAkwSibimy stretched from Texas to the northern Plains. Another tornado ripped through Talihina, damaging houses and injuring at least six people. About 25 homes were destroyed in the town of 1,300 residents near the Arkansas state line. In Nebraska, a tornado hit the outskirts of Central City, ripping roofs off several buildings, and several were spotted in South Dakota. In Minnesota, homes and other buildings sustained heavy damage yesterday when a tornado touched down west of Stillwater, authorities said.

No serious injuries were reported. By yesterday morning, the weather on the northern Plains had reverted to winterlike conditions. Up to 8 inches fell in northeastern Wyoming and a foot fell in the Black Hills of South Dakota, closing some roads and schools. Blizzard conditions clogged roads across North Dakota, and Gov. Ed Schafer closed the state Capitol.

Early estimates of insured losses in Texas may reach $250 million, mostly in Lancaster but with some damage in surrounding communities, said Jerry Johns, president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service. The tornado's path of destruction in Lancaster measured six miles long and a half-mile wide, said trooper Robert White of the Texas Department of Public Safety. White said one of the fatalities apparently involved cardiac arrest; the others died of injuries in their homes. A dog sits in debris left by a tornado in Lancaster, Texas, yesterday morning. A tornado that struck there late Monday killed at least three people and damaged 200 homes.

where the city hall and civic center both suffered severe damage. Jerry Garner, a spokesman for DeSoto's emergency management team, said preliminary estimates are that 75 homes were destroyed and 250 damaged. Only seven people were injured, he said. Residents throughout the devastated area spent the morning carrying furnishings, books, mementos and other items from their shattered homes. "Those people need boxes bad to pick up what's left.

All they've got are soggy boxes, and they just fall apart. They're in dire need," American Red Cross volunteer Robbie Goggins said. The City Council met to discuss damage assessments and coordinate efforts for relief and reconstruction. About 200 residents, angry they were not being allowed to return to their homes, jammed into a municipal courtroom "My heart goes out to all of them, but we can't address every one of the 5,000 or 6,000 of those emergencies," Police Chief McGuire said. Dozens of people were hurt, but by yesterday afternoon all had been accounted for in the city of 24,000, City Manager Bill Gaithers said.

The tornado that hit Lancaster also touched down in DeSoto, AtoirtBOn pots 1 0 yesiirs era shooting of ICsnm. doctor By MICHAEL BATES Of The Associated Press tions are investigating Shannon's possible links to violence against abortion clinics. Waller sentenced Shannon to nine years and eight months in prison on the attempted murder and aggravated assault charges, the maximum time recommended under state sentencing guidelines. He sentenced her to one year in the county jail, to be served after the prison sentence, on the contempt charge. The prison sentence could be reduced to seven years and nine months for good behavior.

There is no automatic reduction of the county jail sentence. Shannon has been in custody since the shooting in lieu of $1 million bail. She will get credit for jail time she already has served. Shannon told the judge she felt sorry for Tiller when she saw photos of his wounds. But she agreed with District Attorney Nola Foulston's assertion that she showed ho remorse.

"But it would be hypocritical to pretend like I feel like I did something wrong when I know I didn't," Shannon said. She said she would never again touch a gun, not because of what she did to Tiller but because of what her actions have done to her and her family. Her husband, David, and daughter Angi Shannon were not present for the sentencing. Shannon agreed with the prosecutor's assessment that she could not be rehabilitated. WICHITA, Kan.

Comparing herself to Jesus and insisting she hadn't done anything wrong, a woman who admitted shooting an abortion doctor outside his clinic was sentenced yesterday to nearly 11 years in prison. Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon was convicted March 25 of attempted first-degree murder in the attack on Dr. George Tiller, whose Women's Health Care Services clinic has long'been a target of anti-abortion activities. Tiller was shot in both arms as he left his clinic Aug. 19.

The wounds were minor and he returned to work the next day. Shannon, 38, of Grants Pass, told Sedgwick County District Judge Gregory Waller at her sentencing hearing that attacking Tiller wasn't wrong. "You didn't do wrong? You did wrong," Waller said. "They said that about Jesus," Shannon replied. Shannon also was convicted of aggravated assault for pointing a gun at a clinic employee and was found in contempt for refusing to say where she got the gun.

State and federal authorities in several jurisdic Saved from the drink Rescue teams try to free three passengers trapped yesterday in the gondola of a hot-air balloon entangled in power lines in Louisville, Ky. The passengers were freed from the Early Times balloon, which is shaped like a bourbon bottle. The accident happened during morning rush hour near Interstates 64 and 264; parts of both highways were closed for a time to allow for the rescue. jL. 'if 1 i I 1 i 1 Tubes for children's ear infections may be unnecessary, study says isffiaHf ay- 0mm mmm Associated Press 1 ftTSSS contradictory and practices vary.

Almost all tympanostomy tube insertions are done on children, making it the most common U.S. operation on youngsters, the team wrote. They studied data on 6,611 children nationwide whose doctors had recommended tubes. The recommendations were reviewed for appropriateness by nine medical experts. The experts found that 23 percent of the recommendations for tympanostomy tube insertions were inappropriate, 42 percent were appropriate and 35 percent were "equivocal," meaning their tions, which plague two-thirds of American children by age 2.

Unrelieved pressure is painful and can cause hearing damage or loss. But the operations can cause complications, such as scarring of the eardrum, which also can lead to hearing damage. The operations typically cost $1,200 to $2,000, far more than antibiotic therapy or watchful waiting, the usual alternatives, said the study's lead author, Dr. Lawrence C. Kleinman, a pediatrics instructor at Harvard Medical School.

He also is associate director of clinical effectiveness at Children's Hospital in Boston. "Which patients benefit from tympanostomy tubes is his team wrote, saying data are CHICAGO (AP) About one-fourth of operations to put drainage tubes into children's ears after infections the most common surgery on youngsters may be unnecessary, according to a study. The study was done with the help of an insurance consulting group and was criticized by surgeons. About 670,000 tube insertions were done in 1988, the latest year for which U.S. figures are available, the authors report in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The small plastic tubes, called tympanostomy tubes, are surgically placed through the eardrum to drain fluid and relieve pressure that can build up after ear infec mm risks were about equal to their pos sible benefits. High court rules '91 bias law not retroactive By RICHARD CARELLI Of The Associated Press law's principal Republican author, said the question of retroactivity "was not answered in the final bill with complete clarity." He said he was "gratified" by the court's ruling. Stevens wrote that Congress "has the power to amend a statute that it believes we have misconstrued. It may even, within broad constitutional bounds, make such a change retroactive and thereby undo what it perceives to be the undesirable past consequences of a misinterpretation of its work product." But Stevens said Congress must clearly state what its intentions are something it did not do in the 1 law. 1991 to cases that were pending when it was enacted.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court in both decisions that there was "no clear evidence" that Congress had such an intention. Only Justice Harry A. Blackmun dissented. In a separate decision, the court reaffirmed its standard for deterrnining when criminal suspects are entitled to be warned of their right to remain silent and have an attorney during police questioning. The court set aside a California ruling that appeared to take into account police officers' subjective, opinions when deter racial bias in all phases of an employment relationship hiring, promotions and firings.

Everyone agreed on those aspects, but the law's wording is ambiguous on the issue of retroactivity. Democrats in Congress wanted the law to be retroactive; Republicans did not. "As a matter of simple justice, workers subjected to such acts whose cases were still pending at the time the law was enacted should have the benefit of the law," Rep. Don Edwards. said yesterday.

He had been one of the law's principal sponsors. But Sen. John Danforth, the mining whether a suspect was "in custody" and entitled to those warnings. Congress passed the 1991 employment bias law, reluctantly signed by President Bush on Nov. 21 of that year, to undo several of the conservative high court's job-bias rulings that had outraged civil rights groups.

Previously, people alleging on-the-job bias only could get back pay and reinstatement. The 1991 law allows those people to collect compensatory and punitive damages, and for the first time makes jury trials available in bias cases. The 'w also allows lawsuits for illegal WASHINGTON The Supreme Court limited the reach of a 1991 civil rights law restoring and expanding workers' protection against employment bias by ruling yesterday that the law doesn't apply to thousands of older cases. The decision disappointed civil rights activists, who called it "a real big loss" and "a miscarriage of justice." But businesses praised the ruling. By a pair of 8-1 votes in cases from Texas and Ohio, the court said Congress did not intend to apply the Civil Lights Act of 1.