The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 30

i yyv rt r-ww mrvrr rr-fyirvyinnr B-18 Tacoma Sat Sept 20 1980 The News Tribune General news Inventory of papers on Iran assembled Muskie confirms documents collected pend on how the disclosure is interpreted in Iran He said he was concerned that the disclosure might have an impact Meanwhile State Department officials said Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher accom- puled by a group of experts on Iranian affairs met earlier this week with three Western European leaders State Department spokeswoman Anita stockman said the delegation met with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt French President Valery Giscard d'Eataing and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Among those in the delegation were Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Carswell Harold Saunders assistant secretary of state for New Eastern and South Aslan affairs State Department Legal Adviser Roberts Owen George Vest assistant secretary of state for European affairs and Arnold Raphel a special assistant in Muskie's office talked on a whole range of issues including the Iranian situation" said Ms Stockman was part of the discussions but not the topic of the talks Prior to departure the State Department had announced he wu traveling to Bonn for talks with West German officials The visits with the other European leaders were added later Ms Stockman said WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Edmund Muskie said Friday a lengthy of papers on UB-Iranian relations has been compiled for use in the event a commission of inquiry is convened to examine that relationship The existence of the papers was disclosed in editions of the Washington Poet which said the project was ordered by President Carter last December The Post account said Carter felt the papers might be needed if an international tribunal were convened as part of the negotiated release of the S3 American hostages hi Iran Asked about the Post story Muskie said was aware there were being assembled papers of one kind or another which might be useful at such time as an inquiry into Iran policy going back over some period might be undertaken by the Congress or someone" State Department spokesman John Trattner described the project as a of documents and factual summaries on past UB relations with Iran" He said that no conclusions or Judgments were derived in the compilation is an inventory and nothing more" Trattner sidestepped questions as to whether disclosure tit the project might impair UB efforts to win the release of the hostages But Muskie said that question would de AP Lasarphoto Farmers viewed debris from silo Dropped wrench led to fatal silo blast Explosion shattered massive concrete sliding door killed one injured 21 WASHINGTON (AP) Air Force officials say if was an accident A workman trying to restore pressure to a Titan fuel tank slipped and dropped his wrench fi In my judgment what you saw last night was pretty much the worst case forget Mount Baker disaster official counsels but there is no doubt it was extensive Much of the first and second stages of the rocket were destroyed Only the more parts of the craft the engine housing some internal support struts are recognizable The force of the blast shattered a heavy concrete sliding door at the top of the silo a structure designed to endure just about anything short of a direct hit by a nuclear warhead And what about the warhead aboard the Titan missile? Though Pentagon officials discuss it publicly sources indicated it was a nuclear bomb There were even reports which defense officials neither confirm nor deny that the warhead was catapulted out of the silo by the force of the explosion In any event Air Force officials say there was no leak of radioactivity And they say no way a nuclear blast could have been triggered without the missile being armed in advance Asked at a news conference Friday whether it would have been possible for anything more serious to take place at a Titan missile silo Air Force Secretary Hans Mark said: my judgment what you saw last night was pretty much the worst case" The 3-pound tod plummeted 70 feet to the bottom of the silo bounced off a thrust mount and hit the side of the rocket It was that slip that started the chain of events leading to explosion in the silo near Damascus Ark One person was killed and 21 injured 17 of them seriously enough to require hospitalization According to officials at the Pentagon and the Strategic Air Command this is what took place: Early Thursday evening the missile crew in its launch control center adjacent to the silo noticed that pressure readings for the second-stage fuel tank were low Workmen were called in to perform a routine repressuriza- tion of the craft Usually this means attaching a line to the mis- sile and pumping in more fuel when the wrench was 'dropped The maintenance crew immedi- ately smelled hydrazine the highly volatile chemical that powers the Titan II engine The workmen looked up and saw hydrazine vapor from the' propellant tank But it did not The concentration of hydrazine continued to build At this point the missile crew decided to get out Crew members notified SAC headquarters in Omaha Neb and authorities were called to begin evacuating a two-mile area around the silo SAC emergency crews arrived and after much consultation and analysis at about 2 in the morning local time it was decided to send two men inside the sOo in an effort to determine the condition and perhaps try to slow the leak But once they entered devices they carried for measuring hydrazine vapor indicated enough was present that an explosion could occur shortly Just before 3 am they left the silo As they were emerging from an access chamber next to the missile shaft the fuel exploded Officials have yet to determine exactly what damage was done escaping from the hull of the missile Hydrazine is a liquid when kept under pressure But when exposed to air it vaporizes And when enough vapor builds up it explodes Only a short time after the wrench was dropped the monitoring systems lit up and indicated fire inside the rocket A sprinkler system in the silo was triggered and water began showering onto the beads of the workmen The maintenance crew was ordered to leave As the technicians tried to decide how to stop the fuel leak the concentration of hydrazine in the silo's atmosphere built up to the point where another water system was triggered This one was designed to flood the silo Thousands of gallons of water began cascading down the side of the rocket collecting in a pool at the bottom of the shaft The flooding was intended to help seal off the fuel leak and dissolve sane of the fuel that already had escaped BELLINGHAM (AP) time to take Mount Baker seriously says a Whatcom County official who fears the mountain could begin imitating its volcanic sister to the south Mount SL Helms Mount SL Helms has taught us anything it has taught us to says Jan Leonardo director of the Department of Emergency Services A task force begun in March 1975 after Mount Baker began steaming again has been reactivated she said No seismic activity has been recorded recently at Mount Baker although steam activity continues Local state and federal officials are working with representatives of such private and public businesses as Puget Sound Power Light and Seattle City Light to work out contingency plans in case Mount Baker erupts Those areas include flooding and mudflows ash fallout warning evacuation and establishing who has authority for what if the mountain blows Ms Leonardo said now believed that if Mount Baker explodes its periods of volcano activity have coincided roughly with those of Mount SL Helens the eruption would be less violent than that of Mount SL Helens Ash probably be as much a problem either she said It's believed that most of the ash would head easL the prevailing direction of winds most of the time The primary concerns are mudflows and flooding but local government personnel have extensive experience handling floods because they occur periodically in Whatcom County she added A case" mudflow probably would get no father down the Nooksack River than Maple Falls she said and most likely would stay much closer to the mountain than thaL The people nearest Mount Baker may be advised simply to head for high ground and wait out an eruption rather than try to evacuate via the Mount Baker Highway Evacuation centers already have been pinpointed and plans made for food and water she said Mount SL Helens has us an opportunity to study what wmt wrong" Ms Leonardo said about 5000 people suffering pretty severe damage I'd be hard pressed to say been a good thing it showed us what can happen I've lived in the shadow of those volcanoes all my life and I was never aware of the danger" Area briefing Officers hold slaying suspect Pedestrian still hospitalized Enterprise crew to reunite About 100 crew members of the USS Enterprise the only UB aircraft carrier to survive the duration of World War will hold their An 83-year-old Tacoma woman was reputed in satisfactory condition at Tacoma General Hospital last nighL following a car-pedestrian accident Thursday afternoon Second-quarter economic indicators show bia droD a crosswalk at Tacoma Avenue and North First The well-known ship was credited with de- Street when she KENT King County and Kent Police have arrested a 28-year-old nun in connection with the murder of William Farris Watkins in on July 6 Police said body was found floating in the Green River last summer The suspect was arrested in Auburn but no address was available for him last nighL was hit by a car driven by Mark Zuckerman 23 of 205 Tacoma Ave said Tacoma police straying 911 enemy planes during the war and sinking 71 enemy ships It earned 21 of a possible 22 combat stars death ruled a suicide Cougar corridor possible The death of a 22-year-old Tacoma man has been ruled a suicide by the Pierce County office The coroner's office said Jade Bird Jr 22 died Thursday night or yesterday morning from carbon monoxide poisoning body was found in his car at 2309 Tacoma Ave about 7:30 am yesterday Couch damage $7500 Couch fires caused a total of $7500 damage in two separate fires in the Tacoma area yesterday At 10:57 am yesterday the Lakewood Fire Department responded to an alarm at 0402 John Dower Road A child playing with matches apparently started a fire in the apartment of Dawn Osborne The fire burned the walls and ceiling and caused approximately $5000 in smoke and fire damage firemen said At I pm last nighL a cigarette caused a couch fire at 1345 Winifred SL firemen said It caused $2000 damage to the building and $500 to property firemen said Man threatened stabbed WASHINGTON (AP) The economy plunged in the second quarter at the sharpest rate since World War as a recession slowed consumer spending for housing and cars the Commerce Department reported Friday The inflation-adjusted value of all goods and services the Gross National Product fell at an annual rate of 95 percent in the April-June period The previous worst postwar decline was a rate of decline of 91 percent in the first quarter of 1975 at the bottom of the last recession Real GNP grew at an annual rate of 12 percent in the first quarter The Commerce Department originally had estimated on July 21 that the GNP had fallen at a 91 percent annual rate during the second quarter That figure was adjusted downward to 90 percent on Aug 19 Total GNP including artificial increases caused by inflation in creased at a rate of 01 percent during the quarto- to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $252 trillion Courtenay hL Slater chief economist for the departmenL said last week that despite the dismal eco-' nomic performance in the second quarter she thinks the recession probably ended in August and that the third-quarter GNP will show a modest increase In another part of the repeat released Friday the department estimated that after-tax corporate profits from current production foil at an annual rate of 195 percent during the quarter from $155 billion to $1271 MUion annually That decline revised downward lightly from last month equaled the drop recorded in the first quarter of 1975 A major factor in the profits decline was the new tax on crude oil which reduced profits at a $10 billion rate during the quarter Gov Dixy Lee Ray could receive by late next week a recommendation on a proposal to establish a corridor through the Mount SL Helens red zone to the community of Cougar Bernard Orell of Tacoma a member of a three-man panel appointed to deal with the issue said the panel will meet next Thursday to go over transcripts of a SepL 11 hearing A great deal of testimony was taken at that hearing held in the Yale Grade School in ArieL Orell a Weyerhaeuser Co executive and a retired forester said he is optimistic a recommendation will cone out of meeting Chairman of the panel is Lawrence Leahy a former Chelan County Superior Court judge The other member is William Reilly a retired Spokane County sheriff A 27-year-old Tacoma man was threatened with a gun and stabbed in the knee with a knife early yesterday morning according to Tacoma police reports The man told police he and a friend were walking near Ninth Street and Fawcett Avenue when a man jumped out of some bushes and pointed a gun demanding drugs money The group then drove to a house in the 1700 block of South 41st StreeL and the man was stabbed in the knee during a skirmish FW groups not selling ads Scout registration scheduled A fund-raising operation involving selling advertising space in a firefighting publication is not being sponsored for the Federal Way Fire Department nor the Federal Way local of the International Firefighters Union a spokesman has announced William Zigalla spokesman for the Federal Way firefighters said the operation apparently is to raise funds for the White Center Firefighters Union Duo robs Tacoma man Chemical tank blast injures 8 Area Cub and Boy Scout troops will hold meetings at most elementary schools Wednesday evening Parents will be given information on Scout activities planned few the coming school year and will be able to register their sons Boys 8 9 and 10 are eligible for Cub Scout activities and boys 11 and older can become Boy Scouts A Tacoma man was robbed by two masked men one of whom carried a sawed-off shotgun early yesterday morning at 2423 Ruston Way The man told Tacoma police that his car had a flat tire and he had wallted to a nearby restaurant to telephone for a ride As he walked back to his car the two men came up behind him and demanded that he give them his walleL The suspects then fled on fooL walls said Four firefighters battling the general alarm blase suffered smoke Inhalation or chemical burns officials said Delta unit nets salmon bake The Nisqually Delta Association will hold a salmon bake from 1 to 5 pm tomorrow at State unit pick CP man FITCHBURG Mass (AP) A tank bolding the highly toxic chemical vinyl chloride exploded Friday nighL injuring at least eight people and causing the evacuation of 2000 residents as a dangerous vapor cloud spread about one mile south of downtown authorities said All four employees who were inside the Great American Chtmiqii Col plant at the time of the blast suffered burns and cuts Fitchburg fire department officials said The men were working in the processing center when a tank ap- Intersection to be closed PdMce and fire department personnel from about a dozen sur-rounding communities rushed to the scene of the explosion about 45 miles northwest of Boston immediately after the 5:55 blasL officials said Clover Park School District psychologist Bill Lennon has been elected president of the statewide Washington Association of School Psychologists a service group which monitors school -standards In the field of psychology Lennon assumes the presidency of the 300-member association this fall He has been em- trips down the Nisqually River will be offered for $5 People also may take part in guided walking tours of the delta beginning at 10 am Tickets for adults will be $10 and children and senior citizens may attend for $5 Tickets may be purchased in Tacoma at the Audubon Society Pack Delight and Engine House Na 9 Proceed from the salmon bake will go toward PUYALLUP The intersection of Fourth Street Northwest and West Stewart Street will be closed Monday through Friday next week to allow replacement of a sewer line Traffic will be diverted onto Fifth Avenue and Meridian itreeL 1 ployed with the school district since 1965 and to protect and preserve formerly served as a counselor and high school Parently overheated and exploded the delta 3 cAach knocking down one of the concrete The Mast rocked the three-story brick building where sane 400 people are employed? police said 0 4 KM 4 m'mf agar.