The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington • 5

2 The Spokesman-Review Sept. 20, 1989, Spokane, Wash. Accident victim inspires ex-adilete Father recalls death of son beneath truck at negligence trial accomplishes short-term goals such as learning how to push his wheelchair with his legs or sitting up in bed so he can pursue long-term goals. The driving force for me is to be able to go out and play with my son again, Rosman said. Bleiers motivational speech Tuesday night brought looks of confidence to the faces of some in the audience.

He used stories of lost ball games, his war injuries and the Steelers four Super Bowl victories in the 1970s to illustrate a recipe for personal success: a positive attitude, a sense of perseverance and intense vision of goals being realized. Successful people are just ordinary people doing extraordinary things, Bleier said. All it takes is the willingness to work and the ability to see what you want to accomplish. harvested wheat. Rosman had tickets to attend Bleiers speech, but hospital officials thought it best to keep him in his hospital room.

Somehow Rocky heard my story and he gave me a call, Rosman said. I have never followed professional football, so I didnt know Rocky was a football player when we spoke. I knew him as a fellow injured person. Although Bleier gave his Met audience a good dose of inspiration, he bowed to Rosman as a person who illustrates the ability to overcome tremendous odds. I found Garys attitude inspiring, Bleier said.

It reminded me that my story isnt any different than anyone elses. I was just in a high-profile profession, so my story became visible. Bleier described Rosman as a goal-setter. He By Steve Massey Staff writer Rocky Bleier came to Spokane Tuesday hoping to motivate people, but was inspired himself by the struggles of a Davenport man whose back was broken in a fanning accident. Bleier, a running back for the Pittsburg Steelers during their Super Bowl years of the 70s, suffered disabling leg wounds in Vietnam, but overcame his injuries to become a star in professional football.

Before he spoke to a full house at the Met, Bleier placed a call to Sacred Heart Medical Center, where 35-year-old Gary Rosman is struggling to learn how to walk again. Last month, Rosmans back was broken in two places when an auger fell on him as he and his family CONTINUED: FROM B1 Waste left, Justin asked to go along. Each man drove his truck to the Deception Creek area of the Idaho Panhandle National Forest north of Coeur dAlene. They ended up on a hillside off Forest Service Road 596, he said. By midday they had cut enough wood, loaded Weidners truck and had begun to fill Blankenships truck, driving down the narrow dirt road from one pile of cordwood to the next.

Weidner wasnt good at driving Blankenships manual transmission truck, but Blankenship testified he let him take the wheel anyway. He said he thought he should load his own firewood and let Weidner drive. Between woodpiles, Blankenship testified, he and his son rode on the trucks extra-wide rear bumper. At some point, Blankenship glanced at his watch, noticed it was getting late and said they needed to leave. At that, Blankenship testified, Weidner said, Hop on, lets go.

but instead of moving forward, the truck lurched into reverse. As soon as it started in reverse, I was just terrified, Blankenship said. Justin was thrown six feet behind the truck. I screamed, and he was still in the air. He said he yelled for Weidner to stop, then ran to get his son, who by then was beneath the truck.

I reached under and picked him up to see if there was any hope left, Blankenship said. Though he administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation and they got the boy to the Kootenai Medical Center, Blankenship said he didnt need a doctor to tell him his son had not survived. I knew there was no hope, he said. We were so far up in the hills, I knew there was no reason to By David Bender Staff writer COEUR dALENE Five years havent healed the pain Rich Blankenship suffered watching as his 6-year-old son was crushed to death by a pickup truck laden with logs. Testifying Tuesday in a $1.7 million lawsuit Blankenship brought against the truck driver, the Spokane auto dealer broke into tears as he told the story of the 1984 wood-cutting trip in North Idaho.

Ive lived through this for five years now. I dont want to live through it again, Blankenship said. Blankenship and his wife, Deborah Blankenship, maintain in their lawsuit that the driver, David Weidner Jr. of Spokane, was negligent and caused their sons death. They maintain that Weidner threw the truck into reverse while Blankenship and his son were riding side-by-side on the rear bumper expecting Weidner to drive forward.

The jolt threw the boy onto the ground into the path of the vehicle, then the truck ran across his head and shoulders. I couldnt catch Justin, Blankenship testified. I couldnt reach out fast enough. Weidner, whose attorney will present evidence later in the trial, maintains that Blankenship was at fault because he allowed the boy to ride on the bumper. Basically, this is a dispute about what happened up there on that road on that September day, Weidners attorney, Jarold Cartwright of Spokane, said Tuesday in his opening statement.

The first day of testimony brought several outbursts of emotion from Blankenships teen-age twin daughters, wife and other relatives. A 12-member jury is scheduled to hear testimony today and Thursday. Blankenship testified that he and Weidner, who were bowling companions, had planned the trip several earlier. The night before they public. That ($50,000) wont buy a cup of coffee in the world of solid waste management, he said.

Husseman said the goal of citizen negotiation is not to help opponents fight a facility but to address concerns assuming the facility is sited. Edelstein criticized the process as side-routing citizens into talks which could sidestep the central issues of health and environmental risks. If I were a citizen concerned about a site, Id save my money to hire an attorney and address the siting process, he said. But the critics said even if the process isnt perfect, it is better than nothing. Pennsylvania gives no money to citizens wanting to participate.

Washington is way ahead of the game, Kroll-Smith said. The $50,000 may give citizens a couple of rocks even if they cant have a slingshot, Freudenburg added. Gerry Smedes, director of technical and environmental affairs for Rabanco, said the citizen negotiation process has been used effectively in other states to make siting a hazardous facility a palatable choice for communities. The conference was sponsored by Washington State University and by Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, a Hanford contractor. The state law pre-empts local authority to site or reject incinerators and gives Ecology the job of regulating the facilities.

Husseman said it is Ecologys job to process permit applications but not to choose between competing facilities. This legislative directive puts us in a very delicate situation. Its likely there is only enough room in the market for one such facility, so it is important we do a fair and equal treatment, Husseman said. Two Seattle companies, Rabanco 'and ECOS, have chosen sites near Vantage and Lind and are applying for licenses to operate large-scale facilities. The proposals have sparked angry protests from Eastern Washington farmers and residents of small towns near the proposed facilities.

Husseman said Ecologys recently enacted Citizen Proponent Negotiation process will provide up to $50,000 in state funds to allow citizens to negotiate with businesses proposing the facilities. We think its a creative way to bring local citizens into the process, but we dont know if its going to work, Husseman said. An audience member was highly skeptical. You guys are copping out on the Tampering scare closes Seattle store McRae Leonard, assistant manager of a Plaid Pantry outlet in the University District, said the man dropped the yogurt, ran outside and fled in a car driven by a man believed to be a former Plaid Pantry employee. Sue Hutchcroft of the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that tests indicated nothing had been injected and we dont anticipate were going to find anything.

Associated Press SEATTLE A convenience store was closed following a food-tampering scare, but tests have shown no evidence of contamination, officials said Tuesday. Police said two containers of yogurt and one of chip dip, each with puncture holes, were seized early Saturday after a man was seen holding a carton of yogurt in one hand and a hypodermic syringe in the other. furnace a fuel 535 SERVING SPOKANE SINCE 1924 Regional Digest FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Hanford reactor is closed for maintenance, refueling RICHLAND The only working operating reactor on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation was shut down Tuesday for routine maintenance and refueling, Energy Department officials said. The Fast Flux Test Facility will be closed for about three months, according to a news release. The experimental reactors current operating cycle began May 6 and included production of special medical isotopes that were delivered to a Boston hospital and a Seattle firm for medical research.

The sodium-cooled reactor, one of the governments most efficient, performs a wide variety of experiments on nuclear fuels and materials. In another development, Westinghouse Hanford Co. officials announced the discovery of a spill of non-radioactive diesel fuel at an unused underground tank. The amount of the spill was not determined. Westinghouse spokesman Mike Berriochoa said oil-soaked soil was found Friday, when the tank was removed from an area near the Hanford commuter bus lot.

Officials believe the fuel was spilled when the tank was overfilled in the past, he said. It doesnt appear the tank leaked, Berriochoa added. The tank, installed in 1945, was withdrawn from service and pumped dry this year. About 20 tanks are being removed at Hanford under a federal program to remove or upgrade underground storage tanks that have been retired from service or are at least 25 years old. Westinghouse Hanford has 45 days to prepare an initial report on the release to the state Department of Ecology, Berriochoa said.

Remains found under compost heap SEATTLE Human remains were found beneath a compost heap at the home of a 78-year-old woman reported missing since March, and her husband was being sought for questioning, police said. The state of decomposition indicated the body could have been in the ground since March, the last time neighbors reported seeing Gladys Owens, said Sgt. Don Cameron, a homicide investigator. The remains remained unidentified pending an autopsy today by the King County medical examiners staff. Cameron said police were told by two different neighbors about two weeks earlier that Gladys Owens had last been seen in March.

Information led us to believe the body might be buried in the yard, Cameron said, refusing to be more specific. The missing womans husband, Joe Owens, 71, last seen by neighbors Sept. 9, had given conflicting accounts of his wifes whereabouts, the detective added. KING Television reported Owens told some neighbors his wife had gone to Kansas to care for her invalid mother, then two weeks ago phoned a nephew in Wichita, Kan. and said his wife had committed suicide and he had buried her in a makeshift grave.

Cameron refused to comment on a KING report that Owens had converted all his assets to cash before he vanished. Owens, who had no criminal record, is from Texas and has relatives in Kansas, Cameron said. Former developer appeals judgment Former developer Larry Wieber Monday asked the state Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling denying him all but $885,000 of a $1.8 million judgment against the Whitworth Water District. Meanwhile, Whitworth board Chairman Ed McDonald said district commissioners have voted to ask the state Supreme Court to review the appeals court decision. The Whitworth district inherited the liability when it took over the Colbert Water District in 1983.

The appeals court upheld trial Judge Michael Donohues dismissal of the $963,893 portion of the judgment. Donohue said that portion was based on allegations of negligent misrepresentation by the Colbert district and its officials. Wiebers motion for reconsideration contends that the original misrepresentation award was proper and should be reinstated. Wieber contended the bankruptcy of his development business was caused by the Colbert districts breach of an unwritten contract concerning a well he developed in conjunction with the district. Inability to get water caused a development to fail, knocking down his other enterprises like dominoes, Wieber argued.

Firms pay for starting fires OLYMPIA The state has collected $73,500 from two firms the Department of Natural Resources said negligently started wildfires. One settlement amounted to $26,500 from Roesler Timber Co. of Startup, for a July 18, 1988, blaze that burned 1.5 acres about two miles north of the Tolt Reservoir in King County. A Department of Natural Resources probe found that a line rub from a logging cable cause the fire, said DNR Commissioner Brian Boyle. The other was for $47,000 from Centralia City Light for an Aug.

29, 1988, fire that burned 48 acres of private land near Yelm in Thurston County. An investigation, Boyle said, found that a charged power line ignited a rotten power pole cross arm, which dropped to the ground and ignited brush. Attorney General Ken Eikenberry said Tuesday there are 14 pending claims totaling $3.2 million in litigation or negotiation in which the state contends firms started fires through negligence. Its time for our semiannual Round-the-Clock hosiery sale! Save 20 on 1-5 pairs; save 30 on 6 or more pairs. Right now, when you buy 1-5 pairs of Round-the-Clock hosiery, youll save 20; and when you buy 6 or more pairs, youll save 30! Colors: Jet Black, Bit Black French Navy, Bare Beige, Pale Beige, Pebble Sand, Bone or Ivory.

Sizes style 600t in sizes IX, 2X, 3X, or 4X. Hosiery. mi mt -rn'MiV'-tliaj TStyle 600 available at Downtown Sixkane only. Sale prices good through October 8, 1989. Not all styles available in all colors.

Round-the-Clock hosiery to 251m To order by phone in Spokane, dial 838-3311; in all other Washington areas, 1-800-552-7560; in other states, dial 1-800-426-7610. Mail orders to: Frederick Nelson, Fifth Pine, Seattle, WA 98111. Color Choice Name Address City Slate. Evening phone I Day phone Ll Pilot dies in helicopter crash MONITOR, Wash. A Cashmere man died when the helicopter he was flying crashed into an orchard wind machine, according to Chelan County officials.

Harry Murphy, 47, died in the crash Monday, officials said. Murphy had been crop-dusting in an orchard when the accident occurred about 7:30 a.m., said deputy Pete Peterson. He had made about six passes of the orchard when his helicopter struck the wind machine, said Peterson, who speculated the pilot may have been blinded by the sun. An orchard worker pulled Murphy from the wreckage, and rescue workers tried to save him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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