Sioux City Journal from Sioux City, Iowa • 1

STATE: Tax lid fights valuations page A3 500,000 swallow fich for acthma SPORTS: Jazz evens series page B1 PageA9 NATION: Report on church attacks page B7 mcrm CnC Vol. 133 No. 283 Sioux City, Iowa Today's readers: 129,884 CITY EDITION Him Brazzawnll U.S. Embassy suspends attempts to rescue Americans BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (AP) Foreigners fleeing fighting in the Republic of the Congo said Sunday that a private militia had gained the upper hand after four days of street clashes with government forces. Sunday ordered the departure from Brazzaville of all non-essential embassy employees and dependents of U.S.

Embassy personnel, adding that it "strongly urges" all U.S. citizens in the Congo to depart Americans who took the five-minute shuttle to nearby Kinshasa aboard private planes hired by the U.S. Embassy described artillery exchanges in the streets of Brazzaville and its residents cowering in their homes. Jennifer Rikert, a Peace Corps volunteer, What began four days ago as an attempt by militia loyal to former leader Gen. Denis Sassou-Nguesso seized radio and television stations in the capital and expanded their control to the city center from their strongholds in the northern districts of the capital.

At least one French soldier and two government soldiers have died in the violence. The clashes also forced the U.S. Embassy early Sunday to suspend attempts to rescue American citizens. In Washington, the State Department on remained holed up in her bedroom above an electronics shop in the suburb of Poto-Poto after fighting broke out Thursday. From her window, she said she watched tanks roll by and saw an unarmed man shot dead in cross-fire.

At one point, fearing that soldiers would find her, she hid in a closet in her bathroom. SEE MILITIAMEN continued on page A1 0 government forces to disarm members of a private militia has evolved into anarchy and a full-scale battle for control of the capital, Brazzaville, the witnesses said. Fighting and looting raged Sunday, as the Mostly sunny toddy. High today in upper 70s. Southeast wind 1 0 to 20 mph.

Mostly clear tonight. 'Memory Ride' Train collision scares residents Tank car with hazardous chemicals still burning near residential area UTE A man afflicted by lung disease breathes easier, thanks to surgery that removed part of his lungs. Pag A3 mm CHILDREN'S THEATER Lamb Productions will present Little Luncheonette of Terror" as its children's theater production this summer. Pag AS 1 4: BASE LOSSES Communities across the country, having grown dependent on defense dollars during the Cold War, face a future without military bases as economic anchors. PagB7 GENERAL RETURNS Gen.

Joseph Ralston cuts short a trip to Asia and returns to Washington to meet Pentagon officials as his chances of becoming the nation's top military officer fade. Pag B7 500 feet of the crash, he said. The man who died was identified as Kelvin N. Winters, 30, who works out of Russell, Ky. None of the three crew members was injured on the coal train, made up of about 90 cars, said railroad spokeswoman Kathy Burns in Jacksonville, Fla.

Meanwhile, most residents in the area were allowed to return home or emerge from their houses Sunday afternoon after the air cleared and a road was reopened, firefighters said. Many people had fled as flames, smoke and fumes filled Vintroux Hollow, and some went to hospital emergency rooms complaining of headaches and chest pains. "We were waiting for a ball of fire to come in and get us," said Beverly Post, comparing the explosion to scenes from the alien invasion movie 'Independence Day. Some residents fled by creeping below thick smoke, and then had to crawl under railroad cars that blocked the only road into the hollow. Buses took about 60 people to a shelter.

Post stayed in her home with her windows closed and ventilation system shut off, following a "shelter in place" order posted for much of the area overnight. Only a single tanker containing acetaldehyde was burning Sunday, said railroad spokesman Rob Gould. The chemical, used in the manufacture of acetic acid, perfumes and synthetic rubber, can weaken the central nervous system when inhaled, according to chemical reference books. SCARY, W.Va. (AP) Hundreds of people shut themselves in their homes for hours on Sunday and others stayed in emergency shelters after a train carrying hazardous chemicals rear-ended a coal train and burst into flames.

One train worker was killed and two others were injured late Saturday when an eastbound CSX Transportation freight train rammed an east-bound CSX coal train. Thirteen cars and two engines derailed. One chemical tank car continued burning Sunday near a residential area about 10 miles west of Charleston. Officials said they would let it burn itself out. The crash was caused by human error or signal failure, said Mike Martino, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.

A signal that should have told the conductor of the freight train that the coal train was ahead on the tracks was damaged, he said. Investigators don't know if it was working before the crash or was damaged as a result of the crash. The signal has not yet been tested. Martino said neither train should have been traveling faster than IS mph. Investigators will look for the trains' event recorder, similar to an airplane's "black box," which records the train's speed, brake information and other mechanical information.

Martino also said that the crew of a westbound CSX freight train on a separate track stopped at the scene long enough to rescue the two injured workers. Derailed cars blocked the train's path on the westbound track and the train stopped within 2 'iiii'iilltiliilliMTOllfi PEACE TALKS Israeli and Palestinian negotiators try to revive stalled peace talks, meeting after Israel extracts a Palestinian denial of reports that the Jewish state had agreed to stop building settlements. Pag A9 ADVANCE STALLS The Taliban's advance north of the capital stalls at a raging river on the outskirts of the strategic town that has traded hands in the last weeks. Pag A9 following the group's first motorcycle road trip. Boone also is the new president of the association's board.

(Staff photo by Ed Porter) Lois Boone, chairman of the Alzheimer's Association's "Memory Ride," is surrounded by motorcycles at Sunrise Retirement Community Harley enthusiasts raise X'S COMPLETE SWEEP The Sioux City Explorers down Duluth-Superior 5-3, completing a three-game sweep. Pag B1 Animal lovers appeal to save life of ferret funds to fight Alzheimer's rirmTTT.rrrnflEi.ii' Is it just our imagination or have trains gotten considerably longer now that nearly every street in Sioux City is under construction? Making Difference such as the Adult Day Care Center, Boone said she and other board members proposed sponsoring a motorcycle ride in conjunction with the annual "Memory Walk." Many friends of the businesswoman and former banker often are surprised to learn that Boone and her husband are Harley-Davidson enthusiasts. "Ray's had motorcycles almost ByLynnZerschling Journal staff writer When Lois Boone tells folks to hit the road, she really means it. On Saturday, Boone led a contingent of motorcycle riders on a road trip to area towns as a way to raise money and awareness about Alzheimer's Disease. 'We had a great trip," an enthusiastic Boone said.

"We had 40 bikes involved and raised $5,000." Boone served as chairman of the BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) Letters are flooding into the governor, pleading for the life of Kodo the ferret, facing a death sentence so he can be tested for rabies. Animal Control officials impounded Kodo on May 2 after he bit someone's hand during an exhibition at a mall. The furry pet had been vaccinated against rabies, but county officials argue that the shots aren't 100 percent effective. The rabies test requires brain tissue and a judge has ordered Kodo beheaded today.

Owner Robert Jacobs said he would appeal; he al ready has won two delays. Since word of Kodo's plight spread via the news media and the Internet, Gov. John Engler has received 450 e-mail messages, 50 faxes and 50 calls about the ferret, spokesman John Truscott said. Engler also has received letters from several first-graders in Alabama. But Engler can't do anything, Truscott told The Bay City Times.

"The governor has no legal authority to issue a stay of execution. We don't have the death penalty in the state of Michigan, and if we did, it would only apply to humans." Send your mini with your nama, address and daytime telephone number to: Mini Editor, The Journal, Box 1 18, Sioux City, IA 51102. first "Memory Ride" for the Big Sioux Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and will serve as president of the association's board this year. In discussing how to raise additional money to pay for programs. SEE PARENTS continued on page A10 2 SECTIONS 22 PAGES Mother doesn't believe her baby died in 1962 A8 A9 A9 A9 B7-B12 A7.A8 A6 A8 Abby Ann Landers Boyd Bridge Classified Ads Comics Editorial Horoscope Living Lottery Movies Obituaries Puzzle Sports TV Listing Weather A5 A2 A9 B6 A8 B1-B5 A9 A2 SIOUX FALLS (AP) After spending the day sedated during labor, Marlys Thomas caught a brief glimpse of her newborn baby's tiny pink feet and wiggling legs.

"I felt so much joy I Couldn't believe it. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Then I went back to sleep," she said, her eyes nearly closing as she remembered the day 35 years ago. When she awoke, she scanned the delivery room for a bassinet, but saw none. Then the doctor told her that her baby had died.

"I thought my heart was being torn out. I can still feel it, even now," she said. Now, Thomas believes her pregnant when she separated from her husband, Laton Gross, and went to live with her mother in the tiny town of Bigelow, Minn. Two months later, Mary Agnes Gross was born at Worthington Municipal Hospital, weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces. After Thomas was told her baby had died, she insisted on seeing her firstborn child.

"The baby didn't look dead to me," she said, recalling that the baby was pink. "She looked like she was sleeping. She had gobs of dark hair." Hospitalized for a week after delivery, Thomas did not go to the funeral home or burial. But her now-deceased mother and a friend daughter was snatched from the Worthington, hospital where she was born on June 12, 1962, and is alive today. She says missing or confusing documents and puzzling events over the years drove her to have her baby's grave dug up this winter.

Tests showed that the tiny bone fragments did not match her DNA. "I knew there was something wrong from the very beginning," Thomas, 55, said in her Sioux Falls home full of intricate handmade dolls and crochet work. "I just feel that my daughter was adopted out and that she's out there." Thomas was 20 and seven months that it was just to the left of where she remembered the grave. "But I figured I would always know in my heart where she was buried." Thomas, who eventually remarried and had three sons, returned to the cemetery in 1993 to find another headstone at the spot where she felt Mary Agnes' should have been in the first place. The new headstone was for Pamela Rae Dickey, who also had been born at the Worthington hospital on June 12, 1962, and died early the next day.

SEE MOTHER continued on pagAlO saw a small, fair-haired baby in the casket and her mother went to the burial, "so I had to believe that my baby was dead." Three months later, Thomas said, someone mailed her a studio-taken portrait of a family with a dark-haired infant propped up on a table. She believes the family in the picture, which has since been lost, adopted her baby. After moving to Pierre later that year, Thomas returned to visit Worthington and see a headstone a friend bought for Mary Agnes' grave at St. Mary's Cemetery. "I immediately knew they laid it in the wrong spot," she said, adding A The Journal uses recycled paper TA ana coior toy Ink W' II in.

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