Dayton Daily News from Dayton, Ohio • 3

Fn 15. 1989 Dwytoti Patty Nii 3-A Metro Dayton Piqua Engineering workers cite risks DALE HUFFMAN Danger Blasting Area." On the borders of the sign are employees' names followed by a tally recording the number of times the "dets" have gone off. The detonators are about the size of a pencil eraser. Of the instances where detonators Piqua j.JUru Description of Kettering irks residents By John Dougherty STAFF WRITER PIQL'A After knocking down an electrical fire at Piqua Engineering Inc. last January, firefighters were surprised to find a stockpile of explosives stacked near the blaze.

"We didn't know there were some class 'C explosives in the very same room the fire was in," Piqua Fire Department Chief Greg Fashner said. Only after the smoke cleared did firefighters discover that a pallet of missile fuses had been stored overnight outside the company's magazine room. While the class ranking is the lowest danger rating for an explosive, the presence of the triggers created an unexpected hazard to firefighters, Fashner said. Company President John Scar-brough Sr. said the fuses would not have posed a danger even if the fire had reached them.

The fire, which was called in to the off a worker's finger galvanized efforts of some hourly employees to challenge one of the most powerful employers in the city. Workers claim the plant is a disaster waiting to happen. "We don't want someone to get assembler Joan Harmon said. But Scarbrough, a longtime civic and business leader in Piqua, says the complaints are exaggerated. He said the company is a model place to work, a place where employees are "treated with respect and dignity." Refereeing the dispute is the U.S.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA sent two investigators to the plant at 234 E. First St. on Wednesday. OSHA is investigating complaints lodged by workers following the Saturday accident that severed the finger of technician Ray Ellis.

OSHA has already fined the company $3,950 for 1 i violations in 1989. Piqua Engineering builds missile fuses for the Army and Navy. The company has at least six defense contracts worth more than $6 million. This is the first time that current employees, most of whom say they like their jobs and need the paycheck, have openly challenged the plant's management. Past charges of unsafe operations have been filed by workers who had been dismissed.

"We have had a lot of accidents this year." Dena Schneider said. "I've been there four years, and this is the worst year." Schneider and Harmon, along with co-workers Terri Deal, Melody Bretland, Jackie Russell, Barbara Burch and Tim Collins, said the company is short on safety precautions. Chief among their concerns is the occasional unexpected blast of fuses. "I make a little more than $6 an hour, and I hold things up to my face that might explode," Deal, an inspector, said. Workers informally record instances of detonator explosions on a sign emblazoned with the words Piqua Engineering writer took a potshot at A Kettering recently in a national magazine when he described life there this STAFF department after the company's alarm system failed, is just one of many safety concerns of employees at the defense contractor.

Saturday, an explosion that blew 1,,,, way: "A place of afternoon barbecues, drinks after golf, and fast and fancy cars." Melvina F. Cox, of 3798 Wenzler Drive, takes exception to the description. "I have lived in Kettering for more than 30 years and I know many friends and neighbors who do not fit this description." Fox said. "Personally, I do not have a barbecue, I do not drink or play golf and my car is not fast or fancy. Maybe the writer should come to Kettering and find out what a wonderful place it is to live." Mr.

and Mrs. Harold Blevins, of 1 124 Lincoln Park say they lived in Van Buren Twp. in 1955 when it became the city of Kettering. "We feel we can speak for our city," they wrote. "Our son went through the Kettering school system and our grandson is now attending Kettering Fairmont.

It's one of the best school systems in the State of Ohio. We Kettering residents take great pride in our neighborhoods. The letter continued, "We occasionally barbecue for supper, not in the afternoon. We neither drink nor play golf, and we drive a four-door 1983 Oldsmobile, neither fast nor fancy, but paid for." In a more positive light Kettering will be getting festive Sunday evening when more than 400 families line streets with candle light. For the 19th year, families who live in Shroyer Estates, west of Acker-man Boulevard, off Dorothy Lane, will be lining streets with luminaries (candles inside paper bags).

According to spokesman Ken Ross, residents donated $2 per family to buy the 4,000 candles that will be used. The bags with candles will be anchored with sand, and volunteers will work all day Saturday and Sunday setting up the display. From 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday, the public is invited to stop by and share the candle display. There will be lots of carolers, and just maybe you'll catch a glimpse of Santa.

MIAS, ROWS remembered Also Sunday evening, a somber ceremony, but a touching one, is scheduled at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, at Stewart Street and the Great Miami River. At 6 p.m., a candlelight ceremony will be held in honor of men and women who still are missing in action. As part of the ceremony, candles will be set afloat on the river, and children who are members of the Ohio Veterans Children's Home choir will sing. Kristi Hall of Dayton says her daughter needs assistance with a holiday project, and perhaps readers can give her a hand. Her daughter, Alycia.

needs a picture of the North Pole, but has been unable to locate one. Any ideas where she might find such a picture? Bumper sticker spotted on Jefferson Street: "My kid and my money go to Bowling Green." have exploded, workers said there have been seven injuries to employees in the last four years. Scarbrough said he can think of only three injuries in 25 years. Workers also say they fear chemicals in the plant. Scarbrough, who is on the board of trustees at the Upper Valley Medical Center and is a member of the Piqua Municipal Power Co.

advisory board, said the company will pass OSHA tests for airborne chemicals. "I guarantee it will be way below the minimum standard," he said. Scarbrough said he will set up a safety committee to review work procedures and plans to meet with upset employees next week and attempt to findthem different jobs. Tourth fire in past week hits area Arson suspected in two of the blazes, officials say By Dwayne Bray STAFF WRITER A vacant Bacon Street building and an adjacent structure caught fire Thursday, continuing the spate of blazes that has hit the Dayton area this week. Officials believe the spurt of fires is a coincidence.

But the fact that the fires came all at once has sparked some concern. "We seem to be in one of those cycles where we're very busy on all kind of alarms," Dayton fire Chief Glenn Alexander said. Fires in the last week include: Thursday's fire at 15 E. Bacon St. that spread to an adjacent structure.

Wednesday's fire at a Trotwood auto restoration warehouse. Monday's fire at Riverdale Ice Beer 3513 N. Main St. The Dec. 8 fire at Nationwide Roofing and Contractors, 969 Deeds Ave.

Until recently, major fires had been down throughout the area, Alexander said. And although two of the blazes have been ruled arson, Alexander said there's no reason to suspect a trend is occurring. "In this case, we are not seeing a pattern, at least with the fires in Dayton," Alexander said. One of the arson rulings came from the Nationwide fire that caused $750,000 in damage and claimed the life of the man investigators believe set the blaze. Fire officials also believe a former employee of the Riverdale Ice Beer Co.

set a fire that caused $30,000 in damages. The employee, Andrew Yates, 22, 10 Maylan Drive, has been charged with arson and breaking and entering. He's being held in the Dayton-Montgomery County Jail. Investigators believe the unoccupied Bacon Street building was set ablaze by vagrants, said Ron Fleming, a district fire chief. Although the fire caused about $1,000 damage to the Bacon Street building, it spread next door to a building at 15 McDonough St.

and caused about $22,000 in damage there. A narrow alley separates the two buildings. Fleming said the Bacon Street building was full of debris and was probably being used by the homeless. "I talked with the owners of a different building and was told there have been vagrants in the building," Fleming said. The Bacon Street building was supposed to be demolished until the city found out it would cost $250,000 to tear it down.

The city has been trying for the last four years to persuade the building's owner, Brian R. Ke-leher of Ireland, to make repairs. Wednesday's fire involved the Trotwood warehouse of Mr. Mustang, a Madison Twp. auto-restoration shop.

Seven Mustangs in the warehouse, 30 E. Main were destroyed, according to Carl Pendley, chairman of the board of the corporation that runs the firm. One of the cars destroyed was a 1965 Mustang. CHARLES STEINBRUNNERSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER 1-70 collision kills Indiana man One man was killed in a five-vehicle collision Thursday on 1-70, just east of Ohio 48. Ron Powell, 22, of Lynn, was west bound on 1-70 about 8 a.m.

when his car crossed the median and hit a semi-truck. After the truck was hit, it veered, forcing a second eastbound car off the road. A third car that slowed to avoid the accident was struck from behind by a fourth car. Holiday mail envelops Dayton postal operation By Doug Mclnnis STAFF WRITFR Santa's mail is the least of the problem. So far, the main Dayton Post Office on East Fifth Street has received about 2,000 letters addressed to the best known occupant of the North Pole.

But postal workers have more than just Santa's mail to worry about. At this time of year, the post office receives about 3 million letters a day, much more than the normal volume of 1.2 million. Santa's mail volume pales by comparison, but the post office doesn't downplay its importance. In Dayton, Joan Boian serves as Santa's postal helper. She makes sure Santa gets and answers every letter.

Mail delivery may be slowed somewhat by the sheer volume because your neighborhood letter-carrier does final sorting by street and address before delivering it. Since the sorting is done by hand, the larger the volume the longer it takes. Phyllis Wood, a post office spokeswoman, said employees try to keep up. "They're doing pretty well right now," she said. The post office sorts this mass of Christmas, cheer with a base staff of about 700 workers spread over three shifts, plus some additional help hired for the holiday season.

Despite the volume, the processing operation is able to keep up because of automated processing, Wood said. Automation is the key to speeding the mail through Dayton's processing center. The Dayton Post office uses some of the fastest equipment available equipment that enables the sorting operation to handle three times the Christmas volume of 25-years ago with fewer people. BILL REINKESTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Paul Hilbert tries to stay a letter up on his job at Post Office Tip about missing girl may have been prank By Mizell Stewart III STAFF WRITER Middletown police believe an anonymous caller who said he sighted a missing Cleveland-area girl this week may have been playing a cruel prank. A man called the home of 1 1 -year-old Amy Mihaljevic in Bay Village just after 9:30 p.m.

Tuesday saying he received a collect call from the child. The caller hung up after the girl's mother asked him what number he was calling from, said Middletown Police Lt. Don Owens. Amy has been missing since Oct. 27 and has been the target of a massive search by police and the FBI in northeastern Ohio.

She was last seen at a Bay Village shopping center when she told several friends she was meeting someone who would take her to buy a present for her mother. Bay Village Police Lt. Richard Wilson said investigators have received hundreds of telephone tips on possible sightings of the girl, but this was the first received from southwestern Ohio. "We were unable to confirm the reliability of the caller or any more facts," Wilson said, "therefore there is little we can do in regards to follow-up." The girl's disappearance has sparked an outpouring of support from Cleveland residents. More than 1 million fliers bearing Amy's description have been distributed throughout the state, including the Dayton area.

On Monday. Amy's 1 Ith birthdav. a group from the Cleveland-area business community formed a nonprofit organization to raise money for a reward fund. "The community has bound together to try and find this youngster and bring her back home," Wilson said. In Middletown, police are waiting to see if the caller tries again.

"I can't imagine what her parents are going through," Owens said. "If indeed it's a hoax, that's one thing. If it's legitimate, you think he would try to call back." STAFF WRITER Fred Lawson contributed to this story, Amy Mihaljevic.