North County Times from Oceanside, California • 10

A-10 Blade-Citizen Wednesday, Febnaary 3, 1993 The Back Page Volcano erupts in Philippines, killing 25 people ignored the warning and lived in more than 20 villages in the danger zone. Ash darkened the sky in this port of more than 1 million people about 10 miles southeast of the volcano, and officials were forced to turn off all electricity in the area when debris severed 10 major power lines. Drivers had to turn on vehicle headlights to get around. It was dark as if it was the end of the world, said Gremil Naz. Ash fell as far as 25 miles from the volcano, 200 miles south of Manila.

Several inches of gray ash blanketed highways and roads in the impoverished agricultural area. Leaves of coconut trees and banana plants drooped with grit. Rivers of mud flowing down the volcano threatened the towns of Camalig, Daraga and Guinobatan, presidential Press Secretary Rod Reyes said in Manila. Three foreign tourists two Germans and one Israeli were hiking about 500 yards from the crater when the eruption began but scrambled to safety, according to their Filipino guide, Elmer Arnal-do. All of a sudden we felt tremors, and I saw columns of gray ash, Arnaldo said.

In Manila, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the eruption appeared far weaker than the June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, 60 miles north of Manila. Pinatubos eruption, one of the most powerful this century, killed more than 700 people, altered weather patterns worldwide and forced the U.S. Air Force to close Clark Air Base near the slopes. The institute said lava apparently was rising to the surface of Mayon, which is known for its nearly perfect cone. The institutes director, Ray-mundo Punongbayan, said that could signal extended activity at LEGAZPI, Philippines (AP) A volcano erupted without warning Tuesday, sending a plume of gritty ash 3 miles high and tons of boulders down onto farmers who ignored orders years ago to move to safer land.

At least 25 people were confirmed as killed and at least 35 missing in villages scattered on the slopes of the Mayon volcano, according to the Philippine National Police. Most of the missing were believed to be farmers trapped in their fields as mud and boulders roared down the slopes. Thousands of people fled the area in cars, trucks, ox carts or on foot after the volcano erupted at 1:10 p.m. A second eruption followed about 2 12 hours later. After a 1984 eruption spewed ash 12 miles high, the countrys volcanology institute banned villages within six miles of the volcano.

But local officials estimated that 80,000 Alaska This a 1984 photo of the Mayon volcano in the Philippines erupting. The volcano erupted Tuesday, spewing ash and steam 3 miles high. Mayon, one of 21 active volcanoes Poor communications and confu-in the Philippines. sion in government agencies ham- Mayon has erupted more than a pered an accurate assessment of dozen times this century. damage Tuesday.

caught in frigid cold Fired employee allegedly shoots ex-supervisor ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) If you think its cold where you live, consider Alaska. Its minus 50 on the North Slope, and if you include the wind chill, make it 100 below zero. Tires are freezing on cars. Blinding ice fog is restricting flights in some cities. Snow is piling up, cutting off some villages.

And if that werent bad enough, Punxsutawney Phil, the forecasting groundhog from Pennsylvania, predicted six more weeks of winter. This was not good news in Fairbanks, where the overnight low was 56 below. The National Weather Associated Press Photo Service said the coldest point in the state Tuesday was 61 below at An Alaska resident peers through Tanana, about 125 miles west of her ice-covered mask and hat. Groundhog predicts more winter SANTA FE SPRINGS (AP) A social worker fired from her job a year ago walked into a Los Angeles County office and shot her former boss in the head Tuesday, officials said. The woman, identified as Wanda Rodgers, 43, surrendered an hour later at a sheriffs station, deputies said.

The victim, Thu Nguyen, 53, was awaiting surgery at a hospital, said Los Angeles County child welfare services spokesman Schuyler Sprowles. Nguyen was in guarded but stable condition, said Julia Richmond, a spokeswoman for Martin Luther King Jr. Medical Center. About 300 workers at the Department of Children's Services regional headquarters were evacuated after the 12.30 p.m. shooting and told to go home for the day, Sprowles said.

No bne else was injured. Rodgers surrendered at the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department station in Chino Fairbanks, but one trucker was pooh-poohing that number. At Coldfoot, about 50 miles north of the Arctic Circle and the nations northernmost truck stop, trucker Frank West said it was about 72 below zero. I got in here about 2:30 a.m., and couldn't keep the truck warm with three heaters on it, said West, who was hauling drilling mud to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. You have to rev them up to 1500 (rpms) just to keep it warm enough to sleep.

Mary Lou Wojtalik, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman, said small planes in Fairbanks were grounded by the cold and a buildup of ice fog that lowered visibility. owners last summer, state and federal health officials called for Phil's head for rabies tests. The rodent received a reprieve after the victim released the health officials from liability. The groundhog forecast is based on a German tradition brought to the Pennsylvania hills in 1887. Texas therapist wins Publishers jackpot PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa.

(AP) With temperatures hovering at 6 below zero, Punxsutawney Phil gave a forecast Tuesday sure to send shivers down many spines: Six more weeks of winter. The groundhog was pulled from its heated burrow at sunrise. After a nose-to-nose chat with the president of his Inner Circle, the town group that actually determines the prediction days before the big event, Phil declared he had seen his shadow. See that image over by that twig; its not very dark and not very big; it's a likeness of me, thats my shadow I see. Six more weeks of winter therell be, Phil said in a proclamation translated by Jim Means, who converses in groundhogese with the rodent.

The cold weather prediction was Phil's 97th in 107 years of forecasting. Four of the 10 spring predictions have come in the last 10 years. Not a cloud hung in the sky, but the sun had not yet risen over the knob. Phils shadow came from a half-dozen television lights strung near his hollowed-out stump in central Pennsylvania. Weird news Associated Press Photo Jim Means, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, listens to groundhog Punxsutawney Phil on Tuesday as Bud Dunkel watches.

Despite the cold, nearly 1,000 people were on the knob two hours before Phils emergence, and final crowd estimates ranged from 2,500 to 4.000. This years Phil escaped a date with the executioner to make Tuesdays prediction. After the animal bit one of its At least one remote village was feeling the effects of the cold and heavy snowfall in Alaskas Interior this winter. Linda Soderquist, a teacher in Telida, about 200 miles southwest of Fairbanks, said Tuesday the Athabaskan village of 15 was running short of food and fuel because the weather has limited hunting and the ability of supply planes to land on the snow-clogged runway. But not everyone dislikes the bitter temperatures.

At Prudhoe, oil companies roll out the red carpet for extreme cold. We like cold weather because we can make more oil, said Phillip Gobe, Prudhoe operations manager for Arco Alaska Inc. Experts balk at accuracy PHILADELPHIA (AP) Punxsutawmey Phil doesnt count weather experts among his biggest fans. Tradition holds that if Phil sees his shadow, winter will continue six weeks. On Tuesday Phil saw his shadow.

Since the people of Punxsutawney, started listening, their groundhogs have forecast early springs in 1890, 1902, 1934, 1950, 1970, 1975, 1983, 1986, 1988 and 1990. Realistically, no matter what the groundhog sees, it's unlikely for winter to end this early, said Ken Reeves, a meteorologist for Accu-Weath-er Inc. And over the long term, February and March are about as likely to be warmer than normal as they are to be colder than normal, said Edward A. OLenic of the National Meteorological Center. But the courts only female justice, Joyce Kennard, said that by traditional concepts, Johnson was the biological mother.

She also wondered whether the child could have two biological mothers an argument made in court papers by the American Civil Liberties Union and whether enforcing a surrogacy contract typically against a poor woman, might violate the constitutional ban on involuntary servitude. Robert Walmsley, the Calverts lawyer, said Johnson had signed the art Higgins said in an interview with Channel Four television news. Today's issue of The Sun reiterated its claim to have obtained a transcript from a British Broadcasting Corp. employee. BBC has said it investigated and found the charges untrue.

The BBC records the spych each year a few days before Clrrist- and was expected wounds to the Richard pistol from his shootings, police Henyard and each were charged kidnapping counts, and auto theft. Henyards that the I feel for them, feel for him. Hills at 1.40 p.m., said Los Angeles County sheriffs Deputy Diane Hecht A handgun also was seized, and the woman was being transported to a Los Angeles County jail, Hecht said. Witnesses said the woman fled in a car after the shooting, Sprowles said. Rodgers had been employed as a social worker for the county, handling child-welfare issues such as abuse, foster care and adoption, from 1989 until she was fired in February 1992, Sprowles said.

Obviously, the termination had to do with her performance, Sprowles said. The building where the shooting occurred is a regional headquarters where employees who work in the field go to do paperwork, Sprowles said. Clients do not come to the building, so security there is not as tight as it would be in a field office, said Judy Hammond, a county spokeswoman. weekend in Houston at a conference. She was skeptical when neighbors and friends told her the magazine people were looking for her.

When a contingent returned Monday, she became a believer sort of. I still dont believe its real, but Im believing its more real than I was believing it then, she said. It was the second time she had entered the contest Drifter says he killed 4 in 3 states OROVILLE (AP) A 34-year-old drifter has confessed to killing four transients and wounding a fifth man in a series of violent attacks in three states, sheriffs officers said Tuesday. Sheriff Mick Grey said Andrew David Edwards admitted the killings after telling a sheriffs deputy that he wanted to go to jail. Edwards was questioned by a deputy last week in Chico when Edwards sought assistance for an injured hand.

Officers said Edwards confessed to killing John Schier-meister, 37, and Anthony Keith Thurman, 24, in Portland, Ore. Schiermeisters body was found in a Portland railroad yard in October 1987. Thurmans body was discovered in a park area in April 1990, officers said. Investigators also said that Edwards admitted killing Bud Griffith, 48, whose body was discovered last April in a Pueblo, train yard; and Melvin Richards, 52, in Kern County last February. Edwards also said he attacked Lynn Ellis Delong, 42, with a wrench behind a bowling alley in San Jose last week, Greys office sid.

Court debates surrogacy, families DICKINSON, Texas (AP) Publishers Clearing House officials showed up at $10 million sweep-stakes winner Pamela Bartons door Friday night to present her with the first installment of the money. Who knew it would take them three days to accomplish their mission? Barton, a family therapist, didnt get back home to Dickinson until late Sunday after spending the contract voluntarily and should be bound by it. Johnson has no blood relationship with the child, only the single fact of pregnancy, he said, while the Calverts position is supported by the tradition of a two-parent family and by their fundamental "right to procreate. But Johnsons lawyer, Richard Gilbert, said a woman who bears a child is its natural mother with rights recognized by the Constitution. He said blood tests were part of a state law intended to prove paternity and should be irrelevant SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Lawyers for an Orange County couple and the woman who bore a child for them debated surrogacy contracts and the laws view of families Tuesday as the state Supreme Court heard its first case on surrogate motherhood.

Several justices were openly skeptical of Anna Johnsons claim, rejected by lower courts, to be the legal mother of the son she bore in September 1990 after being implanted with the sperm and egg of Mark and Crispina Calvert Wounded mother in good spirits Pageant sponsor dethrones 9-year-old STOCKBRIDGE, Ga. (AP) A 9-year-old girl has found a beast lurking under the beauty pageant business. A pageant sponsor has taken away Ashley Kinards Little Miss Georgia title, and is suing the childs mother because the girl represented another pageant. The sponsor, Starlite USA, says that Ashley broke the contest rules when she sang at the weekend-long Jonesboro 22nd Fall Arts and Crafts Festival on Oct. 10, representing the Prestige Pageants USA as 1992 National Overall Most Beautiful queen.

Her performance came the day before her scheduled appearance at the festival as Little Miss Georgia. The company is seeking $744 from Ashleys mother, Gail Kinard, much of which represents awards Ashley won as Little Miss Georgia and which the family refuses to return: a title banner, trophy, crown, scepter and baseball jacket. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled in Henry County Magistrate Court for Feb. 9. All I understand is that my title has been taken away from me and I wont give back my title, said Ashley, a fourth-grader who lives in this community south of Atlanta.

She and her parents say she performed on two separate days and is entitled to keep her crown. Burglars overcome by fumigation fumes INGLEWOOD (AP) Two men who allegedly broke into a tented house being fumigated for pests were overcome by fumes, authorities said. Additionally, seven police officers exposed to the alleged intruders clothing also fell ill and were treated at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, Lt William Siddall said Tuesday. Richard Middleton, 21, and Demetrius Smith, age unknown, were booked for investigation of burglary and were being held in lieu of $25,000 bail. They also were treated and released at Daniel Freeman.

The two men allegedly lifted up a fumigation tent covering a home on Stepney Place at about 8.30 p.m. on Monday, the lieutenant said. When officers arrived, the men were allegedly pushing shopping carts loaded with stolen property, including stereo gear, he saalj to recover fully from gunshot forehead, mouth and leg. Rick-Rick Henyard, 18, took a grandfathers bed two days before the reports said. 14-year-old Alphonso Junior Small with two murder counts, two child false imprisonment, sexual battery grandfather, Luther Reed, 73, acknowledged youth stole the gun from his home.

Reed said of the victims. I don't ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) The wounded mother of two young girls shot to death after the familys abduction from a shopping center was in good spirits and coping well with her loss, relatives said Tuesday. She asked about her daughters, said Elsie Thomas, mother of church leader Dorothy Reid Lewis, 35. She knows.

She handled it well. Lewis was raped, shot twice in the head and left for dead along with her children Saturday night Lewis daughters, Jamilya, 7, and Jasmine, 3, were killed by gunshots after the mother was raped in woods by two teen-agers, police said. She was hospitalized in stable condition Tuesday Queen threatens to sue newspaper LONDON (AP) Queen Elizabeth II has threatened to sue The Sun newspaper for printing a leaked copy of her 1992 Christmas speech two days early, the tabloid said Tuesday. The Sun said it would contest any such action. It was a journalistic sqrop, and we stick by that deputy editor Stu- mas and distributes tapes to broadcasters under the condition that no details are revealed beforehand.

Her (the queens) lawyers say it is her copyright the paper said in an editorial today. But how could it be Public pronouncements do not belong to anybody..