Sioux City Journal from Sioux City, Iowa • 12

A12VThe Sioux City Journal, Tuesday, July 27. 1833 Si JobgpEi GDtSsens i 0 i Missouri officials turn to Iowa for advice 1 By The Associated Press Thousands queued up for clean water for a second day Monday in St. Joseph, as they waited for crews to repair damage caused when the Missouri River invaded the city water treatment plant. Seven water pump motors were airlifted out of the plant Monday and taken to Kansas City for repairs, water company officials said. With the plant out for perhaps the rest of the week, Vickie Bartel of St.

Joseph filled a milk jug with water and planned a 50-mile trip to take care of other needs. "Smell me. I'm going to Kansas City to do my laundry tomorrow and to maybe take a shower," she said. The muddy Missouri, which overflowed the plant's levee Saturday night, had risen to 32.5 feet Monday, 15.5 feet above flood stage. Until the plant is working, which could be at the end of the week, about 85,000 people in the St.

Joseph area were depending on bottled water, water tank trucks, military water purification units and portable toilets. Missouri officials were able to turn for advice to a voice of experience in neighboring Iowa, where 250,000 people in and around Des Moines lost water service to flood damage. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said he discussed the possibility of shuffling bottled water to Missouri and offered the use of a portable water purification plant flown into Iowa by the National Guard. "We've accumulated quite a lot of bottled water," Branstad said.

Scores of giant tanker trucks holding fresh water were parked at one central gathering spot in Des Moines. Water is running again in Des Moines for showers and flushing toilets, but residents still need bottled water for drinking. The pump airlift went on without the use of the St. Joseph airport, where water up to 8 feet flowed over runways and surrounded an Air National Guard C-130 cargo plane. "The airport may be under water, but I am still in charge of aviation," airport manager Brian Weiler said good-naturedly.

Upstream in Nebraska, thunderstorms during the night poured down 4 more inches The William Hoctor wades through several feet of water to help remove possesions from his un cle's trailer near Plattsmouth, where the Platte River flooded about 35 trailers. (AP photo) Brown vi He residents told to be patient on water use Health care organization gets Siouxland views Monday for American Tool Co. employees in DeWitt. The company said it would decide later whether to have the midnight shift report for work this morning. In Brownville, officials asked residents to have a little more patience before turning on the tap for village water.

Repairs had been made to bypass an electrical meter to the water pump that had been knocked out by Missouri River floodwaters over the weekend. The pump was working Monday but residents were urged to use water sparingly until the village's storage tank was filled, said Village Board Chairman Martin Hayes. There was no problem with the water quality, but officials wanted to be sure the tank was full and water pressure was up before everyone tries to take showers, wash dishes and do laundry, Hayes said. He expected residents in the southeastern Nebraska village of 200 to be allowed to use tap water normally sometime late today. from page one Court in Beatrice were closed, Hintbn said.

Ccraldine Caldwell of Honolulu said the downpour when she and her husband became trapped in a stalled car in Hastings reminded her of heavy rain during Hawaiian hurricanes. Firefighters and police rescued the couple from their car, which was stalled and filling with water at a flooded railroad underpass about 9:45 a.m. Water covered about two-thirds of the car when the rescuers arrived. "The water was chest deep and filling rapidly," said Hastings Fire Chief Jim Mitera. "In a few seconds or minutes, they would have been in very serious trouble." The Caldwells, who were in Hastings to visit relatives, were treated at a Hastings hospital and released.

Ccraldine Caldwell said the couple saw another car cross the underpass Two are sentenced on meat mislabeling Missouri rose more than 3 fect in 24 hours at Kansas City, heading for St. Louis and the confluence with the Mississippi, which was expected to crest again Aug. 3 at St. Louis at a record 48 feet. Above St.

Louis, the Mississippi dropped more than 4 feet at Hannibal, Ma, after part of the Sny Island levee collapsed Sunday across the river in Illinois. Mayor Richard Schwartz said it was small comfort. About eight miles west of Topcka, a levee shielding Silver Lake from the Kansas River continued to soften and was expected to break, officials said. Water had pushed under the levee in three spots and bubbled up through dirt roads leading to the levee. Some 200 evacuated homes were in jeopardy on the south edge of Silver Lake, a town of about 1,400 people.

The flooding across the Midwest had been blamed for at least 42 deaths as of Monday. Disaster declarations had been issued for all or parts of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri. More troops are ordered to flood duty DES MOINES (AP) Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday ordered 200 more National Guard soldiers to flood duty in southwest Iowa and joined with other governors heading to Washington to lobby for aid. At the same time, state disaster officials dispatched two mobile units around the state to take applications from those flooded out.

Disaster Services head Ellen Gordon said 12,687 have applied for aid so far. "We're trying to do more outreach, making sure the flood victims know how to apply," Gordon said. At his regular news conference, Branstad said he had ordered the additional soldiers to assist with the flood fight in the far southwest corner of the state around Hamburg. That's the most recent round of flooding to hit the state, where weekend rainstorms sent floodwaters into Hamburg and forced up to 400 people from their homes. Branstad is headed to Washington to lobby for a $3 billion disaster aid bill hung up in Congress.

The bill is scheduled to be debated again today. Joining him will be governors from Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin, all states hard hit by this year's record flooding. U.S. copter kills Somali gunmen MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) A U.S. Cobra helicopter killed three gunmen with cannon fire after a U.N.

base came under grenade attack, U.N. forces said Monday. At least eight rocket-propelled grenades were fired Sunday night at Hunter Base, a U.N. military compound about a mile southwest of the U.N. headquarters, spokeswoman Maj.

Leann Swieczkowski said. Pakistani sentries returned small arms fire, she said. A Cobra then killed a lone gunman with a rocket launcher on a nearby building. Minutes later, the helicopter came under fire from an armed vehicle and destroyed it, killing the two occupants, Swieczkowski said. No U.N.

troops were injured and some of the grenades failed to explode. The attack occurred in the evening, when most streets in Mogadishu are almost deserted. Somalis claiming to represent bereaved families, however, said at least 'six people died and 13 were wounded. Hezbollah countered the Israeli assaults by firing scores of Katyusha rockets at Israel's northern towns and the security zone. At least two Israelis were killed and 24 injured in northern Israel.

Israel warned ships, fishing boats and water skiers to stay out of a 25-mile strip of the Mediterranean coast between the southern Lebanese ports of Sidon and Tyre "or take the consequences." An Israeli missile boat cruised off the coast Monday, and reporters said no cargo vessel or fishing boat appeared at cither of the normally busy harbors. Israel's attacks mainly targeted Hezbollah strongholds in the hills, valleys and pincwoods of southern Lebanon. But the Israelis also struck coastal bases of Syrian-backed Palestinian fighters. Israel has accused Syria, the main powcrbrokcr in Lebanon, of allowing the guerrillas to operate in Lebanese areas patrolled by 40,000 Syrian soldiers. Lebanese police said six Syrian soldiers were killed in Israeli attacks Sunday.

After 203 days, he's down to earth ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) After 206 days atop a tiny tightrope platform, a circus performer came down to earth. But not for long. Fifteen minutes later he was bungee jumping. Jorge Ojeda-Guzman endured heat, storms and boredom on a 3-by-3-foot platform 35 feet in the air.

He walked down by tightrope Sunday, carrying the Stars and Stripes and the flag of his native Ecuador. Ojeda-Guzman, 38, had occasional visits from his family, hoisted up to his level in a cherry picker. was scheduled to take comments later Monday in Omaha and then swing down into Kansas and Missouri before coming back to Des Moines on July 29. After the tour ends in Roanoke, Va. on Aug.

14, HealthRIGHT will assemble the footage and present it to President Clinton and members of Congress. Kathy Gardner of HealthRIGHT's Washington, D.C., office said one version of the tape will feature all the comments gathered during the tour and could be around 1,000 hours long. Gardner said members of the Congressional delegation from each state also will get a copy of the comments from people in their states. The comments will also probably be edited down to a 30-minute documentary as well as edited into smaller lengths for other uses, including commercials. Many people have mentioned the need for preventative care and better long-term health care for the chronically ill and disabled of all ages, Anderson said.

"People are very concerned about education and getting to the doctor before they get very sick," said Anderson. "Of those 30 million uninsured, so many wait until they are almost desperate and then go to the emergency room where the cost is very expensive." HealthRIGHT was started by the Foundation for Hospice and Homecare and is sponsored by 10 other not-for-profit groups. freezers to show to family members. Don Campbell, 39, was working at Island Cattle Company outside of Scottsbluff when the storm hit. "It was big," he said.

"Everyone got down in the storm shelter but I ran to my trailer to get my camera. At the Scotts Bluff Country Club, Reed Richards and Mark Roth were working near the pro shop building when they saw the twister form. "We just looked out, and we noticed the clouds were circling. We thought it had to be a tornado starting," Roth said. "Tho water was chest deep and filling rapidly." Jim Mitera Hastings fire chief but became stuck when they tried.

"One man, bless his heart, tried to rescue us, but the water got to be too much for him," she said. "People here are wonderful." The National Weather Service reported that 2.4 inches of rain fell in Hastings. Heavy rains also were reported in Grand Island area, but there were no reports of new flooding. Sandbags that had been placed around homes, businesses and the storm sewer area along the Wood River remained in place and intact, said Theresa Muchow, Hall County Civil Defense deputy director. Flooding meant an extra day off Charges also included that the businesses sold rotten or soiled meat.

During the five-hour sentencing, Strassburger testified he mislabeled choice meat only to satisfy his customers. "If you don't fill orders, you don't have customers," he said. Strassburger accepted responsibility for his actions, but added that he never saw any rotten or soiled meat at his company. "Do you think I'd be in business all these years if I sent meat out like that?" he asked. During his sentencing, O'Brien ordered Strassburger to report to a minimum security federal prison camp in Montgomery, on Sept.

27. Although he said Strassburger's actions showed "a violation and conspiracy to violate," O'Brien also wished him good luck. "You should keep your head up and not be jarred too much by the situation," O'Brien said. Stansbury, former office manager of Siouxland Quality, testified that she only followed orders at the plant, saying that "people got fired there all the time." Wiping away tears, Stansbury apologized for her actions, and added that mislabeling meat was in practice before Strassburger was president. Later, O'Brien said if he knew Friday's testimony earlier, he would have included George Falco in the sentencing.

Falco, previously named in the case, was found innocent last year. Des Moines attorney Larry Scalise, representing Strassburger, had no comment after the sentencing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Willis Buell said the sentences were fair, although they weren't what the government asked for. "The federal meat inspection establishment means what it says," Buell said.

"Meatpackers will be held responsible." enjoyment and fireflies meet all sorts of fascinating people," Streeper said. "I've seen falling stars, get to look at the night sky and watch lightning storms and fireflies. I love fireflies." For Streeper, whose calendar is the changing season and whose watch is the position of the sun, that's better than being handcuffed to a watch any day. Tornado hits near Scottsbluff; at least 10 people are injured ByBlllZahren Journal staff writer Siouxlanders got a chance Monday to add to a video petition designed to help shape national health care. HealthRIGHT, a national not-for-profit group concerned with health care policy, videotaped about a dozen Siouxlanders as part of a "Speak Out America" tour a sort of public opinion survey on video tape.

The five-person video HealthRIGHT crew was at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Sioux City recording citizens' comments on health care. The crew hopes to record comments from 2,000 to 4,000 people during a 68-city tour of the United States. "We're trying to put a human face on health care," said HealthRIGHT team member Sara Andersen during filming at St. Luke's.

"Health care is not just about providers and clients and insurance companies, it's about people." Anderson said HealthRIGHT hopes the tape will help give elected officials a sense of the human element of the issue to go along with their volumes of facts and figures. HealthRIGHT uses local media at each stop to invite citzens to participate. The tour, which will eventually reach all 50 states, came to Sioux City from Bismark, N.D. The crew The store received an estimated $200,000 dollars in damage when the roof collapsed and one wall caved in. About 10 homes in a development northwest of the city were reportedly damaged, some possibly destroyed.

The Platte Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross was called in to set up a shelter and provide food for any displaced residents, said City Fire Marshall Ken Meyer. In Mitchell, 10 miles northwest of Scottsbluff, residents sought cover as baseball-sized hail showered the town. Many residents scooped up chunks of hail and put them in their "security zone" in southern Lebanon, apparently to guard against a ground assault, which Israel has not ruled out. The Israeli attacks brought warnings from Arabs that the hostilities could jeopardize the 21-month-long Middle East peace talks. "Israel's escalating attacks constitute not only a military blow to Lebanon, but also a political strike to the United States and its peace- making efforts," Lebanese Foreign Minister Faris Bweiz told reporters in Beirut.

The flare-up came a week before Secretary of State Warren Christopher is to visit the Middle East to promote peace talks. Arab guerrilla groups have vowed to poison the atmosphere for talks by escalating the fighting in southern Lebanon. "We must not let the opponents of the peace process undermine it," said Christopher, who is in Singapore for a meeting of Asian foreign ministers. "I am determined as ever before to assist the parties to make progress SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) A tornado struck west of the city Monday afternoon, ripping the roof off a furniture store, cutting through a housing subdivision and injuring at least 10 people.

All of the injured were treated and released, said Regional West Medical Center nursing supervisor Kathi Yost. Four people were injured in car accidents as they tried to steer clear of the tornado's path, she said. Others were injured when a twister struck the furniture store they were in. By Stacy M. Casey Journal staff writer Two people and two corporations were sentenced in federal court Monday for mislabeling meat and allowing bad meat to be processed.

District Court Judge Donald sentenced Peter F. Strassburger, 53, to 21 months in prisoif, three years probation and a special assessment of $650 for his role in allowing the meat to be sold through the now-defunct Siouxland Quality Meat Co. Strassburger is president of both Siouxland Quality, formerly at 1826 Chicago and F. Strassburger Inca meat-processing company in New York. Lena C.

48, of Kingsley, Iowa, was sentenced to two months of home detention with a 60-day electronic monitoring, three years probation and a special assessment of $600. Siouxland Quality and F. Strassburger Inc. were each sentenced to a $150,000 fine. These corporations were given a fine, even though both are filing for bankruptcy, O'Brien said.

The violations occurred during a 46-month period ending in March 1989. O'Brien's rulings came more than two years after the trial of Siouxland Quality Meat and some of its employees and officers on a 14-count indictment handed down in May'1990. the 14 charges were claims that ome of the defendants were involved in mixing more than 2.5 million pounds of ungraded meat with meat graded "choice" by USDA inspectors. The mixed meat would then be shipped to retailers outside Siouxland, falsely labeled and billed as 100 percent choice. The charges also included claims that computer and telephone lines between Sioux City and New York were used to perpetuate this practice.

Rider gets his from night sky from pngo one month trip "the huge sum of $600." Streeper said the dangers don't compare to the pleasures of the frail. "Here on the back of a horse I have all sorts of adventure and Arab-Israeli border fighting heats up NABATIYEH, Lebanon (AP) -Israel hammered guerrilla strongholds with warplanes, gunboats and artillery for a second day Monday as civilians on both sides of the border fled the worst Arab-Israeli fighting in 11 years. At least 39 people were reported killed and 151 wounded. Most of the casualties were in Lebanon, where an estimated 50,000 villagers left their homes during lulls in the shooting and fled north. About 150,000 Israelis huddled in bomb shelters during a second day of rocket attacks on northern Israel by Arab guerrillas; thousands headed away from the border.

Unlike their normal pattern of brief strikes, Israeli forces hit at suspected guerrilla targets across Lebanon hour after hour to retaliate for recent attacks on Israeli troops. Nabatiyeh, a market town of 35,000, was bombarded fiercely for an hour, then shelled intermittently. Late Monday, the Syrian army ordered its front-line troops to take combat positions overlooking the western part of the Israel's so-called in the peace process because the best answer to this kind of violence is progress in the peace process," he said. In New York, the U.N. Security Council called a closed meeting for this afternoon to discuss Lebanon's request for a formal condemnation of Israel.

Israel said it had no intention of widening its operation into anything resembling its 1982 invasion of Lebanon. But it promised to keep hitting hard at guerrillas who have intensified attacks on its security zone. Israeli soldiers were ambushed outside Baraachit village in the buf- fer zone Monday in an attack claimed by the Syrian-backed Amal, a Shiite Muslim militia that shares influence in the area with the dominant pro-Iranian Hezbollah. Security sources said two Israelis were killed, but Israel said one soldier died and three were wounded. Attacks by two other guerrilla factions had killed seven Israeli soldiers and wounded seven in the zone since July 8..