The News Tribune from Tacoma, Washington • 1

SMaMawi iMawDWfBeifii tr a tiifraaifei I Catalog A guide to food gifts available via the mail Food D1 Sonics gunned down in Texas Veteran spurs San Antonio past Seattle 1 17-104 Sports Cl Board votes to reopen FWay elementary school Today in Local B2 i I I 1 ri8te8WS6Swieliie2wi Wednesday November 29 1989 The News Tribune Serving Puget Sound from Sea-Tec to the state capital Dead include four from Puget Sound NewiTrtbuno newt ocvtoo SAN FRANCISCO A construction crane snapped in two and tumbled 19 stories Tuesday sweeping four workers to their deaths and crushing a passer-by in a rain of debris during the morning rush hour in downtown San Francisco Four of the dead were from the Puget Sound area Union officials identified them as crane operator Lonnie A Boggess of Tacoma and ironworkers Steve Tilton of Spana-way Paul Cline and David Gradin both of Seattle The fifth victim was the driver a school van who was on her way to pick up her daily contingent of handicapped students At least II people were injured four seriously including one 12-year-old boy hit in the head while waiting for a bus Rescue workers combed the debris for five people believed missing but they were later located unharmed The tumbling crane damaged and caused the evacuation of two nearby high-rise buildings including the headquarters of the general contractor That company Swlnerton ft Walberg Co built a Los Angeles high-rise that partial 25 'EV xai Vi ly collapsed during construction and killed three workers In 1985 Safety officials fearing other bodies may be buried in the rubble cordoned off a four-block area surrounding the intersection of Kearny and California streets where the collapse occurred and public works director Dick Evans said the area will remain closed for at least three days There were conflicting accounts Tuesday of why the crane collapsed Swlnerton Walberg officials said the crane snapped while its support structure was being elevated to complete wink on the 20-story Federal Home Loan Bank building on California Street Supervisor Angela Alioto filling in while Mayor Art Agnos travels the country to revive the earthquake-damaged tourist and convention business said preliminary findings indicate the accident occurred when the operator of the crane attempted to lift several steel beams as the crane's support structure was being hoisted it was being raised nothing should have been picked Alioto said Her account was challenged by Please see Crane back page peat violation" of safety laws after a veteran ironworker fell to his death Aug 22 1988 at the Pacific First Center in downtown Seattle said agency officials In November 1988 the agency fined the company another $41000 after finding numerous worker-safety violations at the Gateway Towers project in Seattle said agency spokesman Dick Kunkle Kunkle said the company has Please see Fines back page unequivocally Legislative leaders including House Majority Leader Brian Ebersole (D-Tacoma) and state Sen Dan McDonald (R-Belle-vue) predicted the package of recommendations would be well-received by the Legislature predators off the streets is a high priority for us We may ask questions but I'd say the task force did a good said McDonald Added Ebsersole Legislature may make some adjustments but I'm expecting it to adopt a good portion of this plan It will get a good reception" The recommendations which will go before the Legislature in Janu- Please see Predators back page State fined company twice for safety errors in 1988 By Michael Gilbert The News Tribune The company whose crane smashed to the streets of San Francisco Tuesday was fined 165500 last year by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries for violating state safety laws officials said In me case the state agency fined The Erection Co Inc of Kirkland 824500 for what investigators called serious willful re Frederick LeraonSan Franewco Ctironleto Steel workers comfort each other after a fallen crane bed was lifted from a crushed school van In San Francisco Tuesday The driver of the van Tay Holden of Berkeley Calif was among the five people killed when the crane toppled Task force: Sentence some predators to life Kohl proposes unified Germany someday By Ray Moseley Chicago Tribune BERLIN West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl called Tuesday for a confederation with East Germany leading ultimately to reunification of the two countries but only after the communist state holds free elections and eases economic controls In East Berlin a group of prominent writers and intellectuals and the country's biggest opposition movement New Forum rejected the appeal and urged East Germans to keep their country a socialist al By Brian Clark The News Tribune Judges should be allowed to sentence repeat rapists child rapists and child molesters to life imprisonment and sex offenders should be forced to register with police a state task force recommended Tuesday The task force made those two recommendations and 41 others after studying sexual predators for five months The 24-member panel headed by King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng was formed last summer amid public outrage about two shocking sex crimes Gov Booth Gardner said he endorses the panel's recommendations West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl tells the Bonn Bundestag Tuesday he would like to see Germany reunited someday Hot California housing market has cooled ternative to West Germany But pro-democracy demonstrators in Leipzig East second largest city demanded reunification Monday for the second time in a week East German leader Egon Krenz told West German television he is ready to discuss closer cooperation but reunification not on the As to Kohl's plan for a confederation Krenz said one defines the word confederation as (an entity) based on two independent sovereign states then one can Please see Germany back page 1990s particularly when a long-awaited recession finally arrives the nation goes into a recession then California will do the same" said Sanford Good kin a San Diego-based real estate expert The latest housing numbers released by the California Association of Realtors also provide the first statistical confirmation of the negative impact of the October earthquake on San Francisco Bay Area real estate where both prices and the pace of sales fell sharply October housing resales were generally sluggish in coastal areas the figures showed but were strong in moderately priced Inland areas Combine the two trends and the result was markedly lower housing resale prices statewide real estate economists said The median resale price of a sin The Aaoociatod Proas Condominiums have increased in popularity however posting healthy gains in prices and year-to-year sales Condominiums are particularly attractive to first-time buyers because they are far cheaper on average than single-family detached hoiiies are definitely said Leslie Appleton-Young an economist for the Realtors group The median price of a condominium in California stood at less than $145000 in October The changing home-buying patterns meant that housing resales were lower in high-priced regions such as Los Angeles and Orange counties and higher in lower-priced arras such as Sacramento The median price statewide fell Please see Housing back page gle-family house in California stood at $193557 in October off 3 percent from September according to the trade group It marked the steepest drop since the median price peaked at $202650 in July In Los Angeles and Orange counties median prices rose moderately but fewer homes were sold At the same time the Realtors group said the pace of housing sales in October fell to its lowest level since June According to the group 490267 single-family houses closed escrow in October on an annual basis meaning that's how many homes would have been sold in California 1989 if the October pace con-all year That pace was nearly 6 percent lower than in September 1989 and almost 15 percent lower than in October 1988 By Tom Furlong Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES California's housing market worsened in October as prices fell and the sales pace of existing homes dropped to the lowest level in several months new evidence released Tuesday indicated The statistics reflect sobering new realities in the housing industry which began to slow last spring after about 18 months of torrid sales and Inflation that sent home values soaring particularly in coastal neighborhoods where most people have been priced out of the market Some experts now believe that California housing which has enjoyed robust times since the mid-1980s is headed for harder times in the.