News Herald from Port Clinton, Ohio • 5

NationWorld as News Herald, Port Clinton, Ohio, Thursday, April 9, 1998 omado rips Alabama, at least 18 dead 1 In the glare of spotlights, bodies lying along the road could be seen in the early-morning dark in Rock Creek. Chain saws buzzed as searchers desperately tried to get to homes cut off by felled trees, overturned cars and the bricks and timber of ruined homes. The Rock Creek Church of God was turned into a trauma center. The powerful storm system, also blamed for a tornado that killed a 16-year-old in northern Mississippi, sparked warnings an hour before sunset and then began a twisted, random trail of destruction two hours later, at 8 p.m. Homes of wood and brick in Rock Creek were reduced to their foundations, with household appliances scattered across yards, limbs and power lines across streets.

Ambulances had difficulty reaching the dead. The tornado destroyed the home of Leon Harmon and left a boat atop his garage. He recalled how quickly it struck. "I was sitting in the recliner and my daughter called my wife and said a tornado had touched down at Oak Grove," he said. "My wife ran into the bathroom.

I started, but the roof caved in." Mayor Wallace Thompson of nearby Sylvan Springs said the storm dealt a devastating blow to a small town that had grown and till 1 Associated Press Firefighters inspect the damage at the Open Door Church in West Birmingham, which was destroyed when a tornado touched down Wednesday. At least nine were killed and dozens injured in the storms. Clinton, Congress vow to push tobacco bill Ji packing baseball-sized hail roared outside. At the Open Door Church in Birmingport, west of Birmingham, more than a dozen people were injured. Witnesses said church members sang hymns and prayed as the storm pounded the structure.

them I would reconsider and I'd be a part of this." The tobacco companies vowed to fight efforts by Clinton and Congress to increase prices and fashion tougher restrictions on advertising. "Those price increases will destroy the domestic tobacco business, and I don't just mean my company," Goldstone said in a speech at the National Press Club. But Clinton and congressional leaders insisted they would press forward with efforts to pass a comprehensive law meant to curb teen smoking and compensate states for treating sick smokers with or without the industry's cooperation. allegations an hour of his time a week a small fraction of what he estimates is a 90-hour work week. And he and his aides stress that Hyde, a veteran lawmaker who wins bipartisan praise for fairness, is die GOP point man on the issue.

At a glance U.S. immigrants more likely to be from Latin America WASHINGTON Not since the flood of European immigrants early in this century have there been so many residents of the United States who were born somewhere else. But this time, instead of Russia and Poland, Italy and Ireland, the new arrivals are more likely to be from Latin America, the origin of half the nation's foreign-born residents. "It's quite different now. The nationalities now contributing to the growth are Mexican, Latin American and the Asian countries and that has been the picture since World War said Manuel de la Puente, a sociologist who heads the Census Bureau's ethnic statistics branch.

Some see the change as a threat to America. Some see it as a continuation of history for a nation of immigrants. With nearly one in 10 residents foreign-born, the influx is changing the look and sound of large parts of the nation as politicians and advertisers practice their Spanish, Latin food sections join Chinese, Italian and kosher in supermarkets and the airwaves add the sounds of salsa music and the action of soccer. In a nation where Cuban-born Ricky Ricardo was once a television novelty, viewers now can watch the all-Spanish Univision, and cable and satellite channels provide programming in Greek, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, Arabic, German, French and other languages. The 9.6 percent foreign-born in America today is the most since 1930, when 11.6 percent of U.S.

residents were natives of another country. The share peaked at 14.7 percent in 1910 in the wake of the massive European immigration in the late 19th century. Number suffering from asthma has doubled since 1980 NEW YORK Two-year-old Destiny Riofrio loved potato chips and balloons, and despite almost constant trouble breathing, she smiled at everyone. "She was a playful little girl, happy," her mother, Eva Morales, said. "You couldn't really tell ii' she was sick or not because she was so playful." The toddler died last year of asthma, the incurable respiratory disease that has been rising across America and hitting poor inner-city children with force.

The number of Americans suffering from asthma has doubled since 1980, to nearly 14 million. Doctors are trying to cope with pollution and living conditions that might aggravate the disease and bring on its bouts of wheezing, airway inflammation and shortness of breath. "There are people with pretty bad asthma who are Olympic athletes," said Dr. Irwin Redlen-er, president of the Children's Health Fund. "But for so many children who are not getting appropriately managed, they can't function in school, they can't do their homework, they can't "walk without wheezing, they can't play." wire reports Rescuers hunt for survivors Associated Press BIRMINGHAM, Ala.

Rescue crews frantically searched through the rubble of homes for survivors today after a tornado ripped through town after town just outside Birmingham. At least 18 people were killed. Hardest hit was Jefferson County, west of the city, with 16 dead and devastation in several tiny communities. Leon Hyche lost his niece, Deb Helms, and her two sons, Colby, 8, and Carson, 4, in Wednesday night's storm. They were killed as they hid in their basement just down the street from him in Rock Creek.

"It's supposed to be the safest place," he said. "The whole wall collapsed on them." Hyche said his niece's husband, Dave Helms, was not home at the time. "He's crushed," Hyche said. "He's lost everything." More than 50 people were taken to Birmingham hospitals, where officials said many required surgery. At least two people were partially paralyzed and still others, at least six, were in critical condition.

Feds want rollover warnings Associated Press WASHINGTON Sport utility vehicles have a high rollover risk, and a government safety agency wants consumers to know about it in big, bold warning labels. "Sport utility vehicles have the highest rollover-related occupant fatality rate double the average for all vehicles types," said Ricardo Martinez, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "We want to make sport utility drivers aware of the need for care because these vehicles drive very differently from passenger cars." The labels proposed by NHTSA use bright yellow or orange and show a vehicle tipping sideways with the words: "Warning: High Risk of Rollover," according to documents obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. Sport utility vehicles have higher ground clearance for off-road use and a higher center of gravity that agency officials believe are key factors in the higher rollover rate. There are 98 rollovers per 1 million sport utility vehicles each year, compared with 47 rollovers per 1 million for all vehicles.

A warning label already is required for sport utilities, but it is a 20-year-old, text-only label that tells motorists the "vehicle may roll over" if the driver makes sharp turns. In 1996, about 30 percent of all passenger deaths involved crashes in which a vehicle rolled over. 1 Springs when strong winds struck the house as they hid in a basement corner. "That was the only corner left standing, thank the Lord," she told WBMA-TV. Some of the injured were in church meetings that turned into prayer vigils as violent winds Three other tobacco companies quickly announced that they were giving up too.

But Clinton and the lawmakers angered by the retreat said they remained focused on reducing youth smoking and would pursue a bill with or without the industry's support. "I think they ought to rethink their position because we're going to get this done one way or the other," Clinton said after returning from a trip to Chicago. "I'm not trying to put them out of business. But I am trying to put them out of the business of selling tobacco to children," added the president, who today was visiting a tobacco warehouse in Kentucky. "And I think that if I were offenses by President Clinton.

Given that Starr's report may be coming, Gingrich said in a recent interview, "as a prudent person you have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure the legislative branch is prepared." Thus far, the Georgia Republican says, the issue takes perhaps Associated Press WASHINGTON With or without the industry's cooperation, President Clinton and members of Congress say they will fight for legislation to force tobacco companies to pay billions of dollars to make up for practices that encourage teenagers to smoke. Sen. John McCain, whose Senate Commerce Committee approved a tobacco bill last week, scoffed at an assertion Wednesday by a tobacco company executive that much-touted national tobacco settlement between the industry and states was "dead." "I think we're a long way from, quote, falling apart," said Gingrich takes role in handling Clinton prospered. "You work like the devil, and you lose it in three seconds," said Thompson, who was trapped in his home. "I'm blocked in.

There are cables, power lines, trees across the street" Kendra Vines was with four relatives in her home in Sylvan McCain, chief author of the Senate bill. "I am convinced that if the tobacco companies are not willing to go along with this agreement we will still act in the best interests of the American people." Rep. Tom Bliley, the House Commerce Committee chairman who also is working on a bill, said the industry's position was "unfortunate, but not a reason for inaction." In a speech Wednesday criticizing the Senate bill, the White House and Congress, Steven Goldstone, chief executive officer of No. 2 tobacco maker RJR Nabisco, said brokering a settlement had become impossible and that he was abandoning the effort. office and the office of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Dl.

But Gingrich himself informed the public about Rogan's assignment, disclosing it in a newspaper interview that appeared the next morning. This minor episode underscores Gingrich's personal involvement in preparations for what many Republicans believe is heading their way as soon as next month: a politically explosive report by Starr detailing evidence of possible impeachable REWARD mil" 0483, M-Sat 8-8, Sun. 8-6 Associated Press WASHINGTON Anticipating a report from Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, House Speaker Newt Gingrich recently tapped a freshman Republican to review the multiple congressional hearings on alleged Clinton administration wrongdoing. Rep. James Rogan of California, a former judge, will research what has gone well for Republicans who ran those hearings and what pitfalls to avoid in the future.

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