The Brattleboro Reformer from Brattleboro, Vermont • 10

10 Brattleboro Reformer Saturday, August 13, 1988 Child sexual assault cases Smoky fire hits Empire State Building increasing in Bennington vents, said Trade Ricks, who works on the 65th floor. Everyone was kind of nervous. But there was no problem getting out, said a co-worker, Karen Mial. Homer Bishop, acting chief of the department, described damage as moderate in the utility shaft. The 86th floor blaze was under control at 1:43 p.m., the fire department said, but five minutes later, fire was discovered on the top floor.

Efforts to put it out were stymied for a time by lack of pressure because a pump on the 84th floor was not working properly, officials said. The greatest difficulty up there was the extreme heat and humid ity, a sweat-soaked firefighter, Mark Keisey, said as he left the skyscraper. The Empire State Building is probably best-known as the site where movie ape King Kong made his last stand. Its most serious real-life disaster occurred July 28, 1945, when a U.S. Army B25 bomber, lost over Manhattan in fog, crashed into the buildings 79th floor.

Three plane crewmen and 11 civilians died and 26 were injured as flaming gasoline bathed the 78th and 79th floors that Saturday. The structure, built in 1930-31, for years was the tallest building in the world. There was no general evacuation and no one was trapped, but people from the smokier upper floors were brought out. Elevator service was not disrupted. Some 1,500 tourists visiting the popular observation decks on the 86th and 102nd floors were among those told to leave the building, said Nick Cavatoro, a spokesman for the building owners.

He said the decks would reopen Saturday. Fifth Avenue traffic was backed up for more than 20 blocks north of 34th Street. The Fire Department had 40 trucks and 125 firefighters at the scene. There was lots and lots of smoke, but thats all. It was coming out the NEW YORK AP) A fire Friday that spread smoke through the upper floors of the 102-story Empire State Building forced 1,500 tourists into the streets before it was put out two hours later.

The fire broke out about 1 p.m. in a utility room on the 86th floor of the skyscraper and spread up a shaft to the top floor, the Fire Department said. Three firefighters required treatment for heat and smoke in the 93-degree weather, and -one was taken to a hospital, said fire spokesman John Mulligan. One building occupant suffered a cut on the arm but declined threatment, he said. Heat wave continues to bake N.H.

Sandinistas propose new talks with Contras love me you wont say anything because theyll do bad things to me. Its really not that outrageous. As for the perpetrators, over 90 percent are men, half of them adolescents. Most target children that need affection and seem insecure. Generally they seduce the victim over a period of time and use gifts, promises, or threats to buy silence, Gauthier said.

Innocent people in Bennington County have been accused of sex crimes against children, but its rare, Gauthier said. For some who work in close proximity with children day in and day out its an occupational hazard. Yet very rarely are allegations brought as vendettas, as the common myth goes. Yeah, it happens that an adult or child will bring a complaint to get an adult into trouble, but its rare, Gauthier said. But a victim cant just walk up and say Ive been touched and have every agency in town kick into gear.

The protocol for opening an investigation is specific. Doctors, teachers, police officers, child care workers and other community professionals frequently in contact with children are mandated reporters. If-a mandated reporter notices a possible sign of abuse, for example an unexplained bruise, the person must report the incident to Social and Rehabilitation Services or the police. A preliminary investigation then begins. But for the process to continue evidence must be found, Gauthier said.

The evidence need not be of courtroom caliber, Gauthier said, but that which would lead a reasonable person to conclude that something had happened. We have no higher concern than the safety of children, Gauthier said. That means we look very hard at every shred of evidence, corroborate events where we can, and decide whether or not the childs version is feasible. The first step is an interview in which the victim or very rarely a witness must recount the who, whats, wheres and whens of the By JOANNE DDLORENZO Bennington Banner BENNINGTON Both heart breaking and nerve wracking, child sexual assault is a crime as common as it is abnormal one for which there are few witnesses and silent -victims, little physical evidence, yet a maze of emotional trauma. It is a crime more frequently reported than ever before, but no easier to prove.

Like rape, child sexual assaults have more to do with issues of control, power and domination than romance or sex, according to Det. Richard Gauthier, who handles the bulk of Bennington Countys child sexual assault complaints. Since January, Social and Rehabilitation Services has substantiated 28 of the 44 child sexual abuse complaints lodged with the agency. With four months left in the year, the case load for 1988 will easily surpass 1987s total of 39 cases of child sexual abuse, according to SRS case worker Kelly Smiths estimation. Smith and Gauthier are a team.

They seek a common goal the protection of children on very different paths. Gauthiers job is to stop the perpetrator, while Smith concentrates on the childs physical and mental well-being. Together they gather most of the evidence for the countys growing child sexual assault case load. They say the job is inherently rewarding and depressing. One victim may tell, testify, get past the pain and never need help again, while another will be back two or three times.

Every scenario is different, Gauthier said, but the generic case involves a young girl and an adult male relative who has sexually assaulted the girl several times often over a number of years. Most of the perpetrators are not sexually fixated on children, but are taking advantage of a situation, Gauthier said. And most victims dont tell. At first people have a hard time understanding that part of it, Gauthier said. But look at it this way: Theres a person two times as tall as you who youve been taught to obey, who you may even love and whom you want to love you back, Gauthier said.

And they say If you Hampshire on Friday reduced voltage by 5 percent to stretch its power supply, but the utility said customers probably would not notice the reduction. Public Service and other utilities asked customers to help save electricity by reducing the use of air conditioners, washers, dryers and lights. Friday was the summers 23rd day of 90-plus weather more than twice the annual mean of 11 days of 90-plus temperatures. The 23 days surpasses the record of 1978. Still to be met is the 24-day mark of 1949, 25 in 1966 and the record 29 days of 1955.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) Forecasters predicted little change Friday in New Hampshires sweltering forecast. More of the same and more of the same, and the heat goes on, said meteorologist John Pollock. The temperature rose to above 90 for the fourth consecutive day on Friday. The relentless heat continued to edge toward the hottest summer on record, set in 1955 with 29 days of 90-or-higher temperatures.

Meantime, New Hampshires heat-stressed utilities asked customers to cut back on their appliance use. Public Service Company of New The cease-fire often has been violated but extended by both sides, most recently by Nicaragua unilaterally until Aug. 30. But the two sides have deadlocked on a permanent truce and have failed to agree on a site or date for talks since the last round ended June 9. On Wednesday, the U.S.

Senate approved by a 4947 vote a Democratic plan to provide $27 million in humanitarian assistance to the Contras. Senate Republicans, who had sought military as well as humanitarian assistance, voted against the proposal. In a statement made available to The Associated Press in Managua, Calero said the Contras would agree to a meeting but not to discuss democratic reforms, rather to carry them out. He charged it is the Sandinistas who have moved away from negotiations, now that they perceive that we dont have aid from the United States. QUITO, Ecuador (AP) President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua on Friday offered to renew peace talks with U.S.-supported rebels either in Managua or Washington.

Ortega, who is on an official visit to Ecuador, also criticized the U.S. Congress for approving new aid to the rebels and called it an act of aggression. He demanded that such aid be stopped. In a separate meeting with reporters in Quito, Cuban President Fidel Castro said he was willing to help bring a fair peace to Central America. On Thursday, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring peace to Central America, said he asked Castro for assistance in achieving that goal.

Arias said at the time that nothing concrete had been achieved. Representatives of the left-wing Sandinista government and the Nicaraguan rebels known as Contras agreed on a cease-fire March 23 under a regional peace plan that Ortega and four other Central American presidents signed in August 1987. British soldier gunned down OSTEND, Belgium (AP) Gunmen shot and killed a British soldier Friday night as he sat in his car at a traffic light in this North Sea port city, Belgian and British officials said. No group immediately claimed responsibility. But suspicion fell on the Irish Republican Army, which on Aug.

1 stepped up its campaign against members of British security forces. The soldier was hit by five bullets when he stopped his vehicle at the traffic light, the a Belgian news agency Belga reported. It said the vehicle had British license plates and pulled a trailer. A Belgian police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial details of the shooting were sketchy. But he said authorities were looking for two men about 25 years old who were seen running away after the killing.

The police official said it was not excluded the shooting was the work of the IRA. Chinese flood kills 1,400 Hot of central China. But he also said some 28 million acres, about 10 percent of all of Chinas cultivated land, still have water shortages. Burma Straight Deals Sometimes it's hard to get the straight story from a car dealer. They can throw you a lot of curves, and the deal you went after is not the deal you get down the road.

BEIJING (AP) Typhoon related floods and torrential rains have killed at least 1,406 Chinese this summer, an official report said Friday quoting a government spokesman. The spokesman for the Central Flood Control Headquarters said more than 17.3 million acres of farmland have been flooded, causing $1.2 billion in economic losses, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It did not say how this years disaster toll compared with those of past years. However, the loss of life is believed to be the heaviest since 1981 when 3,000 residents were reported killed by floods in southwest Chinas Sichuan province. Since the end of July, at least 264 people perished in flash floods in coastal Zhejiang province, more than 50 lost their lives in floods in central Chinas Shanxi province and 110 were killed by a typhoon that battered Zhejiang, according to Xinhua.

The Flood Control spokesman, who was not identified, said the rains have filled reservoirs and ended a drought that parched much Never at Fenley Auto! We deal straight with common sense and fair dealing. Never a dealer service charge or Continued from PAGE 1 The weather conditions are prompting a lot of this new heavy demand, NEPOOL spokesman Bill Sheperdson said. It also reflects the growth weve seen in the kinds of demands were seeing. The load is out there. The pool, which regulates the power supply throughout the region, and local electric companies asked consumers to cook on outdoor grills, draw window shades, use fans instead of air conditioners and use large appliances only at night.

It also declared an emergency for obtaining electricity, giving it priority in purchasing hydroelectric power from two Canadian companies. The purchases give New England a few hundred extra megawatts of power, Sheperdson said. Schnure said the power demand becomes more severe after several successive days of warm weather. Buildings retain heat, she said. They start out worse in the morning than they did the day before equipment doesnt have a chance to cool off.

Continued from PAGE 1 Tourists arriving in Bangkok said some shops reopened Friday and some buses were running in Rangoon, which has been under martial law and an 8 p.m.4 a.m. curfew. Protesters have destroyed streetlights in the city and burned buildings, houses and police stations. About 200 soldiers and 100 policemen stayed indoors at Victoria Point in Burmas southernmost province of Megui while 2,000 protesters marched for a third straight day Friday, a Thai official said. Chalerm Supamom, governor of Ranong province bordering Megui, said the checkpoint had been closed Wednesday at the request of Burmese authorities who feared people would cross the frontier to incite protesters.

Rangoon radio denied on Friday that protesters controlled Victoria Point, a prosperous market town of 5,000 people 500 miles southeast of Rangoon. Kyodo, quoting sources it did not identify, reported from Rangoon on Thursday that protesters occupied government offices in Pegu, 45 miles northeast of Rangoon. A Western diplomat said demonstrators roamed freely in Pegu and the army took no action. Numerous less reliable reports spoke of military disaffection in other areas. The Japanese agency quoted Rangoon sources Friday as saying soldiers and demonstrators fought at Moulmein, 100 miles southeast of the capital.

Diplomats had reported harsh suppression of large demonstrations there and Burmese media said mobs attacked a police station. Link ew 1988 4- and 2-wheel drive pickup trucks IN STOCK Hot August Deal Save s130 On The Consumer-Report-Rated 1 Vacuum Cleaner. 90 feet from a rural road in nearby Hartland. She had been stabbed. Were thinking that Barbara Agnew might have been attacxed in the same way, LeClair said.

Thats what were figuring on. LeClair also did not rule out the possibility that several other homicides in the Upper Connecticut River Valley area could have been com-mited by the same person who attacked Boroski and killed Agnew. Continued from PAGE 1 sketch of the man who attacked her. In the Vermont case, Agnew was on her way home from skiing at Stratton Mountain in January 1987 when she disappeared, apparently after stopping at a rest area on Interstate 91 in Hartford. Her bloodstained car was found at the rest area, while her body was discovered three months later, about Available for Immediate Delivery.

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