Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 5

metro state DETROIT FREE PRESSWEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1987 5 A Smoke again causes two schools to close in Romulus By JOHN LEAR Free Press Staff Writer Two Romulus schools were evacuated Tuesday for the second time in five days because of smoke from a stubborn fire at a former dump site, police and school officials said. Later, residents living near the site also were evacuated because of fears that toxic materials were in the fire, police said. Officials of the state Department of Natural Resources and the Wayne County Health Department visited the site Tuesday afternoon. Police said no hazardous materials had been found. The students at Romulus Junior High School and Wick Elementary School were sent home about 9:45 a.m.

after school officials reported smelling smoke from the dump just south of Ecorse Road and west of Wayne Road, Residents also left; toxic himes feared Auto Pallet Boxes Inc. of Lathrup Village, police said. It raged out of control Friday afternoon and was subdued about midnight that night. But it continued to smolder underground, police said. Heavy equipment was being used to strip away the dirt to get at the fire, they said.

About. 25 residents were taken to Mt. Pleasant Elementary School while others stayed with friends and rela tives. One of the first to arrive at the school, at about 1 :30 p.m., was Dorothy Federspiel, who said she has lived for 45 years on Cogswell just north of Wick, about a mile from the fire She said she was crocheting a baby blanket for a friend when police arrived to ask her to leave. She had, smelled nothing.

"I'm not really worried, but I know that some of the people are," she said. said Joel Carr, business administrator for Romulus Community Schools. The schools, which together have 1,350 students, are on Wick Road, about a mile south of Ecorse Road. RESIDENTS in about 140 homes in an area bounded by Ecorse Road on the north, the Chesapeake Ohio railroad tracks on the east, Tyler Road on the south and Cogswell Road on the west were evacuated about three hours later, police said. There were no injuries.

Residents returned home late Tuesday afternoon and school will be open today, police said. The fire began Friday afternoon in wooden pallets stored at the site by Missing Union 76 courier found slain in north Oakland Lakes conference debates cleanup vs. clampdown By DAWSON BELL Free Press Staff Writer A Union 76 station courier, the father of three, was found slain Tuesday in Rose Township, a day after he disappeared. Police said they were few Six to 1 -an seeking warrants for a missing teenage gas station attendant and her boyfriend. A search for Elmer DeBoer, 38, began after a Union 76 company car was found abandoned at a de missing from the car and station safe, police said.

DeBoer's wife, Mary, said Tuesday, before her husband's body was found, that she was "scared to death." "It is so unlike him not to call. I am just very frightened," she said. Elmer DeBoer had worked for Union 76 for the last two years, and earlier for four or five years, his wife said. He was robbed while on duty and his car stolen at gunpoint several months ago, but he was not afraid for his safety, she said. "He just called his office (after the earlier robbery) and told them to get him another car because he had to pick up the rest of the money," Mary DeBoer said.

Police said the missing attendant was between 15 and 19 years old. She was using the name Melissa Stricklin, but police said they are uncertain whether that is her real name. Police found an abandoned apartment in Springfield Township where she had been staying with Jerry Stricklin, 27, and their three-month-old boy, Jamie, police said. serted Union 76 DeBoer station on Dixie Highway near Ander-sonville Road in Waterford Township about 10:30 a.m. Monday, police said.

DeBoer, of Waterford Township, was scheduled to make a cash pickup at the station Monday morning. His body was found about 1 p.m. Tuesday off Rose Center Road near Fish Lake Road. Lt. A.J.

Doud said DeBoer had been shot in the head. Doud said the location is about 20 miles from where the car had been found. Several thousand dollars is believed By BOB CAMPBELL Free Press Staff Writer ANN ARBOR Scientists clashed Tuesday on whether they should advocate clampdowns on Great Lakes polluters or cleanup of pollution hot spots. But most agreed that the federal, state and provincial governments of the United States and Canada have failed to provide adequate research money or set clear goals in the fight against toxic chemicals. The issues arose at the annual meeting of the International Association for Great Lakes Research as part of a panel discussion on research needs for scientists investigating 42 pollution hot spots in the Great Lakes, i In Michigan, 14 "areas of concern" have been identified, including the Detroit River, Rouge River, Saginaw River, St.

Clair River, Raisin River, Muskegon Lake and Saginaw Bay. CONTROVERSY AROSE when several panelists advocated an immediate crackdown on known pollution sources industry, sewage treatment plants and old urban sewer pipes. They said the continuing sources of toxic chemicals need to be cut off before government regulators order removal or isolation of highly toxic sediments. "Remedial actions with sediments are a waste of time until you control point sources," said Trevor Reynold-son of the National Water Research Institute of Environment Canada. But Paul Rodgers, vice-president of Limno-Tech an environmental consulting firm in Ann Arbor, said more research is needed to demonstrate how to achieve the greatest benefits for the least money.

As an example, he said, requiring the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant the largest source of polychlo-rinated biphenyls to the Detroit River to reduce its discharge would have enormous costs but only reduce PCBs in the river by two to three percent PCBs, carcinogens that also have been linked to reproductive and behavioral problems in animal and human studies, are the major chemicals of concern in Great Lakes fish. "The investment may not give us the result we need," said Rodgers, whose firm does work for the City of Detroit. In an interview after the meeting, Rodgers said he believes the call for, tighter controls on polluters results from the scientific community's frustration at the slow pace of Great Lakes cleanup. "We know we can do the job. We know it has to be done eventually," he said.

"But there's no commitment from government to get it done. My problem with attacking just point sources is that it's like saying you can solve every medical problem with two aspirins and a night in bed." Other researchers said the scientists need to be stronger advocates of Great Lakes cleanup. "It is time for the research community to start contributing some time and energy to practical solutions to Great Lakes problems," David Rathke, an Ohio State University scientist, told the panel. Rathke and members of the panel said enough is known about some of the Great Lakes hot spots to begin forcing polluters to meet tougher standards without more research. William Richardson, director of the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency's Large Lakes Research Laboratory on Grosse He, said in an interview that solutions for some pollution hot spots already are clear, but in others, such as the Detroit River, more research is needed to determine how to get the most benefit for the least cost. AL KAMUDADetroit Free Press Gym student hurt by thrown weight 6,000 seniors rally in Lansing Nearly 6,000 elderly Michigan citizens, in an annual show of political clout, marched in the state capital Tuesday to press lawmakers to expand Medicaid benefits and provide money for services that help the elderly stay out of institutions. Lawmakers responded to the Senior Power Day crowd by helping to serve sandwiches and approving at least in one chamber two pieces of legislation sought by earlier delegations of senior lobbyists. By a vote of 31 -0, the Senate approved a bill to create an ombudsman's office in the state Office of Services to the Aging to handle complaints from patients in nursing homes. Later, the House voted 99-5 to subsidize prescription medicines for low-income elderly people.

A 12-year-old Pontiac boy was undergoing surgery Tuesday afternoon for head injuries sustained when he was accidentally hit with a shot put weight thrown during a school gym class, authorities said. Verne Mann, principal of Madison Junior High School, said the injured youth, whose name was not released, was moving a pylon used to mark the shot put area when he was hit. "He seemed OK; he was conscious," Mann said. "But when we got him into the office, he got sick and fell out." The boy was taken to Pontiac General Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition, Mann said. The student was hit at 12:30 p.m.

by an eight-pound shot that was thrown about 20 feet by an 1 1-year-old boy, a Pontiac Police Department spokesman said. The youths were participating in a supervised gym class outside the school. Dawson Bell Selected designer frames: 40ooff Save on versatile cedar chests by Lane FRAMES THOUGHTFUL GIFTS FOR DESIGNED TO SHOW YOU OFF BRIDES AND '4 GRADUATES i sam' faint 1: Think of frames as clothing. Then you'll see that good frames, like good clothing, should be more than just functional. They should show you off at your best.

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