Chippewa Herald-Telegram from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin • 3

CHIPPEWA HERALD Page 3A Wednesday, April 2, 1997 in 17 state coold be tamtedl Stirawbemes foremost concern," Epitope president Adolph J. Ferro said in a statement. j- i or 1 .1 LOS ANGELES (AP) Thousands of schoolchildren cross the nation may have been exposed to the hepatitis A' virus by eating frozen strawberries that were shipped to 17 states, with much of the fruit ending up in school cafeterias. So far, the only reported illnesses linked to the tainted berries are in' where about 151' students and teachers have been apparently after eating strawberries provided at lunch, federal authorities said Tuesday. In Los Angeles, as many as 9,000 youngsters and adults may have been exposed.

School and health officials determined that fruit cups served last week in 1 8 Los Angeles public schools may have been contaminated with the virus. As a precaution, health officials planned to begin offering immunizations later this week. infected waters or through tainted water or ice. The Centers for Disease Control said gamma 'globulin shots should prevent the disease in anyone who has eaten the fruit in the last 14 days. Tom Amontree, spokesman for the U.S.

Department of Agriculture, said possibly tainted strawberries were sent to 17 states. Although he was unable to furnish a list of the states, he said the 17 were asked to "put a hold" on the frozen berries, which came from the same company. The USDA, which provides, surplus food to school lunch programs, distributed the berries'. The California Department of Health Services determined the strawberries were grown in Mexico, then frozen and processed by Andrew and Williamson Sales of San Diego last The agency said the strawberries were shipped for bulk 'distribution to USDA-sponsored school lunch programs in Ken August, a spokesman for the state Department of Health Services, said that after receiving the frozen strawberries, the L.A. school district -sent them on to another company which "added strawberries and blueberries to the frozen sliced strawberries and made it into the dessert." Andrew and Williamson's parent.

Epitope Inc. of Beaverton, Ore, recalled 13 lots of frozen berries shipped by Andrew and Williamson early in December 1996, shortly before Epitope acquired the company. "The health and well-being of the public is Andrew and Williamson's "it's not a panic said Dr. Sljirley Fannin, Los Angeles County's, director of disease control noting that there is a 14-day incubation period. "We're here within a week of consumption.

We have another week to plan." i. Hepatitis A causes a mild liver infection and is spread through uncooked food. Those at risk of more severe symptoms are the elderly, people with weak immune systems and, the very young. For most people, symptoms appear about 28 days after exposure. They include jaundice, fjatigue, abdominal discomfort, vomiting, fever and dark urine.

The virus can be transmitted orally or through human waste, often by food handlers with poor personal hygiene, through undercooked shellfish from vaniorria neauri omciais mai in addition to strawberries sent to Los Angeles, strawberries were sent to USDA-sponsored school lunch prog- rams in Michigan, Arizona, Georgia and Tennessee. The CDC sent letters to those along with California and Florida, to check to see if the berries were served. Iowa officials warned that about 300 of Iowa's schools may have served the fruit as recently as last week. In Michigan. 128 cases of hepatitis A have been confirmed in two counties.

Bob Howard, a spokesman for the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases, said an investigation has strawberries. One death blamed on Northeast snowstorm ft I lu 'j." I 7 BOSTON (AP) New Englanders were shoveling out driveways instead of tending their spring gardens on April Fools' Day, as a storm dumped up -to feet of snow from Pennsylvania 1 to Massachusetts. At least one death was blamed on the storm, which shut down schools and businesses, stranded hundreds of travelers on highways and knocked out power to nearly a million people. It was the third-biggest blizzard in Boston history, and it shattered the previous snowfall record for the entire month of April in just a few hours. Public transportation was crippled, cars were buried under snowdrifts, roads were barely passable, highways were closed, airports were shut down and downtowns looked like ghost towns.

Authorities predicted that it could take days to clear all the roads and electric utility officials said some customers may be without power until Friday. Prior to the storm, Boston had received just 26.5 inches of snow this winter well below the 43-inch average and last year's record 107.6 inches. Towns already had begun to put away their plows for summer when the storm hit Hardware stores with patio furniture displays had to break out the shovels again. An unidentified man suffered chest pains while shoveling snow and was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital Tuesday, where he later died, spokeswoman Georgia Peirce said. Two feet of snow fell at Logan Inter national Airport, which was closed from 2 p.m.

Monday to 10 p.m. Tuesday, stranding thousands of travelers. One commuter, Karen Wallach, called it "Mother Nature's April Fools joke." Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge declared a disaster in eight northeast counties and the National Guard was dispatched to dig out cars stalled in the middle of some highways. Interstate 84 was closed by an accident involving eight tractor-trailers and two cars.

About 1,000 motorists spent Monday night stranded in their cars and 4,000 others stayed in shelters. Volunteers with snowmobiles and four-wheel drive vehicles rode to the rescue. "If this is what spring's going to be," said Charles Webb, a transportation maintenance manager in York County, "I'd rather have winter." By Tuesday, temperatures climbed into the 60s and much of the snow in Pennsylvania had melted. Two feet of snow fell in some sections of New Jersey, causing delays on commuter trains. The Baltimore Orioles postponed their opening-day home game against the Kansas City Royals because of cold weather and high winds.

Nearly 13 percent of New England was without power during the peak of the storm, and emergency crews were called in from as far away as Maryland and Canada. Most of the power outages were caused by trees taking out powerlines and utility Associated Press Luke Zalentz, of Boston, makes his way through Harvard Square on cross country skis in Cambridge, Tuesday. Countless believers waiting for UFO Friends sought jobs for Hubbell WASHINGTON The controversy over efforts to secure financial assistance for fallen presidential friend Webster Hubbell is moving into the White House inner circle with revelations that two trusted aides to President Clinton were involved. The White House disclosed Tuesday that former chief of staff Mack McLarty and Erskine Bowles, the current chief of staff, made efforts to find work for Hubbell in the days after the Whitewater figure resigned from the Justice Department in 1994. Their calls to businessmen followed a March 1994 meeting at the White House involving senior staff and Clinton and his wife, Hillary, in which the issue of Hubbell 's impending resignation came up.

Afterward, McLarty privately told Mrs. Clinton he might try to "be supportive" of Hubbell, officials confirmed. The disclosures come as Whitewater prosecutors, frustrated by Hubbell's memory lapses in the probe of the Clintons' finances, are now investigating whether the financial assistance was designed to improperly influence Hubbell's cooperation. Jury selection process drags on DENVER Timothy McVeigh, wearing a buzz haircut and blue oxford shirt, leaned forward in his chair and watched as several men and women were asked if they could order his execution. "The person that committed this crime should get the death a man who works in a paint warehouse wrote in his questionnaire about the Oklahoma City bombing.

The married father of a 1 5-month-old son was also asked Tuesday if he could base his decision on the evidence alone. "You won't make a decision until the fat lady sings?" U.S. Attorney Patrick Ryan asked. "Right," he responded. By the close of the second day of jury selection, 12 people had been questioned by lawyers and the judge on matters like the death penalty and pretrial publicity.

Questioning was to resume today. Mostly reporters filled the courtroom. Fewer than a dozen bombing survivors and their relatives were present. Openness to the death penalty is a requirement for jurors. Only one person was dismissed, a woman who broke into tears during questioning.

Most said they would be able to recommend death if circumstances warrant the penalty. Documents emphasize addiction PHOENIX In the 1960s, tobacco companies were trying to get teen-agers hooked on smoking and marketing brands specifically for ethnic groups, according to Liggett Group documents released by the Arizona attorney general. The documents represent only a fraction of the thousands of papers Liggett is turning over to Arizona and 2 1 other states as part of a landmark settlement. Liggett's competitors denied targeting children. "We do not market to young people nor will we market to young people," said Maura Ellis of RJ.

Reynolds in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Tuesday. On March 20, Liggett admitted smoking was addictive, something the tobacco industry has long denied, and agreed to pay one-quarter of its pre-tax profits over the next 25 years to offset the costs of smoking-related illnesses. The company also agreed to' release documents that could help the states sue other tobacco companies. Compiled from Associated Press reports Coast 'of the United States used to be the East Coast of the sunken continent Lemuria. That's why so many people move out here they're lured here in their.pre-history." Spiegel and other academy members insist their beliefs are a science, not a cult or religion.

They say they communicate clairvoyantly, allowing members to receive additional details about the 2001 landing from Myton. The Muons will bring with them an extra spaceship so that earthlings can travel from planet to planet, academy members believe. seem to be particularly attracted to the wide-open states of the West. "The militia types like rugged areas," said Richard Madsen, a sociologist at the University of California, San Diego. "These spiritual groups have an attraction to the ocean and the great beyond." Charles Spiegel, 76, a former psychology professor at San Diego State University, who now directs the Unarious Academy in El Cajon, said the attraction is celestial.

"It's the history of the place," Spiegel said "The West EJ CAJON. Calif. (AP) In 2001, Carol Robinson and her colleagues from the Unarious Academy of Science will travel to an exotic Caribbean location. There they plan to greet an incoming spaceship from the planet Myton. So that earthly humans can evolve, Unarious Academy, members believe the 1,000 residents of Myton will arrive ready to build a "power tower" a massive structure that will generate all the planet's energy.

Unlike the 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cyber cult who consumed a toxic cocktail one week ago in Rancho Santa Fe, members of the Unarious Academy do not advocate suicide. But they believe a spaceship will drop to Earth and help them resurrect the submerged continents of Atlantis and Lemuria. "The human beings onboard are called Muons," said Ms. Robinson, a member of the Unarious Academy based in suburban San Diego. "They'll be coming to stay." From hippies to New Age spiritualists, California has always been a magnet for, advocates of non-mainstream lifestyles and offbeat philosophies.

Although UFO-inspired Internet web sites originate from all parts of the country, these fringe folk Firebomb thrown at Israeli bus JERUSALEM An Israeli bus overturned in the West Bank today after being hit by a firebomb near a Palestinian refugee camp, injuring 13 Israelis, radio reports said. The bus tumbled down a slope and was still burning nearly an hour after being hit near Jelazoun, Israel radio said. The report said the driver broke a leg and most of the passengers were lightly hurt. A Jewish settler leader, Aharon Dombe, said three of the passengers were seriously hurt. The radio report, quoting witnesses, said the bus was hit either by a firebomb or an explosive just before it overturned.

Insurance firm drops alien policy LONDON The company that insured the 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult against abduction by aliens said today it stopped writing new policies after the group's mass suicide last week. The cult members paid 1 ,000 on Oct. 10 for a policy that covered up to 50 members and would pay out $1 million per person for abduction, impregnation or death caused by aliens. "Because of the manipulation of malevolent third parties, innocent lives were wrecked," managing director Simon Burgess said today. "I am deeply shocked and saddened, and that's why we're drawing from the market.

We don't wish to contribute to a repetition of the Heaven's Gate deaths." Since 1871, Edward Jones has been committed to providing personalized investment service to individuals. From our office here in Chippewa Falls, you can rely on: IRS not ready for year 2000 I Convenience Face-to-facc meetings, when and where you're available. I Timely Information Technology that gives you instant access to information on your account and other investments. I Personal Service Investment guidance for your personal n-cds. Cad or stop by today.

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