Longview Daily News from Longview, Washington • 15

The Daily News Longview Washington Saturday December 26 1 98 1 Section Top 10 Cast your vote on most important stories What are the 10 most important local stories of 1981? To find out polling a group of experts you our readers We have compiled a list of 25 stories to choose from Some stories such as Mount St Helens and the economy were so big we split them into separate parts Reporters and editors at the newspaper already have voted on the same list looking forward to seeing how our judgment compares with yours We will write a story when all the results are in So please grab a pen or pencil and take a few minutes to vote Write a by your choice for the No 1 story a by the No 2 story and so on Rank only 10 stories what you feel are the top 10 stories for this year Drop your vote in the mail by Monday night to Top 10 The Daily News PO Box 189 Longview 98632 i Fire destroys tone home damages 2nd their station from the chimney fire wueu me spotted a glow in the sky behind the Deer Island store The firemen discovered a mobile home on Canaan Road that was fully involved in flames No one was home at the mobile home at Route 2 Box 2093 The home is owned by Milo Johnson of Route 2 Box 2093a A family of four reportedly lived in the destroyed home though their identities were not available this morning Firemen from St Helens and Rainier had the blaze under control within half an hour though Bongiorno said everything in the mobile home was destroyed A pair of fires one of which destroyed a mobile home kept Rainier and St Helens firefighters busy early today Shortly after 2 am firemen responded to a persistent chimney fire at Route 2 Box 902 Rainier on Orr Road The fire caused several thousand dollars damage because firefighters had to rip out walls said Bill Bongiorno of the Rainier department "It was the hottest chimney seen in he said At 4:20 am St Helens firemen were returning to Jobless Timber industry workers face bleak holiday The Army Corps of Engineers said it had run out of money for dredging the Cowlitz and Toutle Rivers and struggled with Congress for new funding Conservationists called for a 216000 acre National Monument to protect the area around Mount St Helens The Forest Service eventually favored protecting 109000 acres though the issue will be decided by Congress Lynn Hansen of Skamokawa was found slain in January His wife Frances was charged with the first murder in Wahkiakum County in 23 year but a jury found her innocent in August The sediment dam on the North Fork of the Toutle River filled up and the river carved away banks threatening homes and bridges Volcanic eruptions become non-explosive The slow oozing of lava replaced spectacular clouds of ash during eruptions Gov John Spellman approved a smaller restricted area around Mount St Helens in March State and federal agencies proposed a further reduction in December As the level of Coldwater Lake rose the Forest Service urged tourists to avoid the Maple Flat area to the anger of merchants The Army Corps of Engineers in August cut a channel draining the lake and the tourist information center at Maple Flat finally opened Champagne corks popped at The Daily News April 13 when the paper was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Mount St Helens Weyerhaeuser clear cut Toutle River banks at Kid Valley drawing charges in April that it ignored state regulations Cowlitz jobless rate stood at 10 percent in January climbing to 135 percent by December the chief indicator of the lagging economy International Paper announced in March it would shut its cabinet plant in Longview if it couldn't be sold threatening 375 jobs But in June Thor Industries bought the plant after negotiating a new contract with employees California developer Ernest Hahn came to Kelso in January and announced Sears JC Penney and a fourth store would anchor his Kelso mall In September he came to Longview to say the mall still will open in late 1983 regardless of the economy Longview worked on its own plans for revitalizing downtown Kalama port commissioners signed a lease with Pacific Resources Inc for a $50 million coal port to ship Rocky Mountain coal to the Far East Peavey Co of Minneapolis announced plans for a $40 million grain elevator at Kalama Scoulex of Omaha Neb and Coast Trading Co of Portland said they would develop a $40 million grain elevator at Woodland where controversy raged over the location of a rail spur that would serve the elevator The area nervously geared up for an expected onslaught of millions of Mount St Helens tourists But as the summer came and went the estimates proved to be wildly high became a well-known acronym for the Washington Public Power Supply System as debate raged over whether to end or delay work on two nuclear power plants it is building Electricity rate hikes of up to 50 percent were predicted because of WPPSS overspending An earthquake measuring 55 on the Richter scale jolted Southwest Washington in February Spending cuts appeared on the agenda of local city councils and schools boards hurt by the sluggish economy reductions in state and federal grants private ambulance company drew criticism for its charges Voters in the November election supported study of forming a publicly funded county ambulance service Local social service agencies reduced programs as the effect of federal budget cuts filtered down Former Kalama Mayor George Moawad who called for drastics cuts in city services edged incumbent Dale Butts by 10 votes in the November general election Fourteen-year-old Missy Merchant was found stabbed to death in a Longview duplex in March Several weeks later police charged Brian Blaylock with the murder A jury quickly found him innocent though he went to prison for probation violation Longview police on June 10 dug up the body of Art White in a backyard grave No suspect was ever arrested in the murder Fire in a storage yard at Kalama Chemical Aug 28 nearly spread into town fire chiefs said Officials complained that the firm tell them what was burning though the company said the hazard was exaggerated High winds Nov 14 toppled trees power lines a Kelso gymnasium and a historic barn near Cathlamet ple have the money to get up and move Normally Evans employs 230 people here Just before the annual Christmas layoff 79 people were on the job To help keep things going the Grays Harbor Labor Council is sponsoring a food bank The council relies heavily on donations from workers at the Washington Public Power Supply Satsop project Josh Logan owner of a pawn shop and secondhand store in Aberdeen said parents bartered their possessions to give their children Christmas presents Many county residents remain optimistic housing market will open up once money becomes available at reasonable said Mahlon Chestnut secretary-treasurer of Local 3-2 of the International Woodworkers of America we get interest rates down to 12 percent going to be said been laying off people since that time Unemployment benefits run out after six months I know what been doing the last he said One of the things some desperate county residents have been doing says Grays Harbor County Sheriff Dennis Morrisette is turning to crime instance at 8:30 last night there was a knock on the door at one he said earlier this week opened the door and there were two men in ski masks They took some valuable jewelry This is bizarre for Grays Harbor County" Morrisette said there have also been increased domestic problems caused by idle people drinking too much Despite the lack of jobs there has not been an exodus of lumber industry workers from the county know where you could go" said Lucille Sajec a worker laid off by Evans Products -HOQUIAM Wash (AP) Lack of demand for forest products has created a bleak holiday season for thousands of timber industry workers in Grays Harbor County i Unemployment in the county officially 14 percent is much higher according to some surveys and amounts to about one-third of the workers in the forest products industry Proof of hard times shows in the number of applicants when a job turns up we get about 30 applicants when we have a job opening on a road crew Now getting said Grays Harbor Commissioner Mike Murphy Among the companies reduced to a shadow by the economic slump is Northwest Log Co which until recently was the largest purchaser of national forest timber in the county had four logging sites ran 20 trucks and employed 80 said Earl Whiting the owner Now only Whiting and one employee remain on the payroll The downturn hit Whiting about a year ago he volcano sets scientists on edge Crater i Work inside VANCOUVER Wash (AP) They carry gas masks and asbestos gloves because of the heat and sulfuric acid Some wear hardhats for protection against rock falls All of them carry radios And while most of them say they get a little edgy when in the crater of Mount St Helens while erupting they explain it goes with the jobf of us have worked on volcanoes -said Kathy Cashman a geologist with the US Geological Survey periodic eruptions give us a chance to test our ideas to get a better idea of how a volcano Ms Cashman has been in the crater of Mount St Helens during the last few nonexplosive dome-building eruptions and she says that even with all the precautions the scientists take is still a little on edge seen enough of these so we know when the dangerous times are but it is still a little The main danger is the rock falls caused by fresh magma or molten rock pushing up through the lava dome As an eruption begins chunks of rock 70 or 80 feet high can come tumbling off the dome Once the magma nears the surface the rocks which are sloughed off are smaller and seem to crash down defined know where to stay away she said overwhelming impression is the sound and sight of rock falls You can sometimes see a dull cherry red glow inside (the new lobe forming on the Temperatures under the surface of the dome can range up to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit But snow covers some of the outer areas of the dome Some of the scientists spend their time collecting samples of the new material pumped up from beneath the floor of the crater These rocks are picked up using asbestos gloves and placed in canvas bags for later study you cool them first in a snow patch" said Ms Cashman Other scientists check equipment examine fumaroles and cracks in the crater floor record temperatures and take other measurements At times steam bellows up often filled with sulfuric acid and scientists don gas masks is a lot of tension to get as much done as she said Via radio the teams in the crater are in constant communication with the USGS base in Vancouver with the pilots of the helicopters parked nearby and with each other The teams are also in contact with the University of Washington geophysics center in Seattle where seismographs record the rockfalls need to check and confirm the seismic she said As the mountain builds toward an eruption small shallow earthquakes can be felt by people in the crater but once the eruption begins the earthquakes decrease she said Ms Cashman has also flown over the volcano during an eruption and that be can see the patterns of hot cracks which give an idea of the stresses Big glowing pieces of rocks produce showers of sparks as they slide down the she said Over the past year Cashman said scientists have pretty much been able to predict each eruption is a little surprised at how consistently the volcano is behaving" she said Don Peterson who heads the Mount St Helens project seems pleased at the growing success the scientists have had in anticipating eruptions like to say we are infallible but the last several eruptions have been right on the he said Peterson is a working geologist who has also been in the crater during eruptions have to be very alert not the kind of place that is a sightseeing he said are pretty much on edge Even though they understand the process there is an element of high risk Peterson said there is no regular pattern to the eruptions of Mount St Helens as the time in between can range from a month to three months But two to four weeks before an eruption certain things start in a systematic The first indicator is swelling and the growth of cracks on the crater floor The second indicator is an increase in small quakes Both signal the movement of magma inside the mountain Peterson said the main magma reservoir appears to be between one-half mile and a mile below the crater floor Gasses in the magma exert upward pressure and slowly it starts oozing toward the dome through a conduit about 300 feet in diameter As the pressure grows the magma starts to push the dome aside "The dome is like a cork on the Peterson said there is a long time between eruptions it can mean one of two things that the eruption sequence is winding down or that the cork is holding and the pressure could be building for an explosive Peterson said if the later was happening the entire mountain would begin to swell and instruments would detect it "An explosive eruption is still possible Looking at other volcanoes like Mount St Helens it goes both ways Some do some he said Peterson said that during each of the domebuilding eruptions about 65 million cubic yards of material emerges from the mountain the dome continues to build at the present rate it will take 100 years to 150 years to reach the top of the he said Man dies from gunshot wound several people at the apartment when the incident occurred He was pronounced dead at St Hospital Investigation was continuing to determine if the death was accidental or if the victim took his own life Longview police reported that Jerry Wesley McVey 31 of 3050 Maryland St died from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound late Thursday evening Police said the wound was suffered in an apartment at 1010 Douglas St The victim had been attending a get-together with 4.