Thus began another chapter in one of medicine 's most bizarre mysteries , a tale of sick sheep and mad cows , cannibals and Pennsylvanians , ancient life forms and a cat named Max . The plot revolves around a family of brain diseases , probably variations of a single disorder , called spongiform encephalopathy . It is infectious , invariably fatal and as insidious as termites , sometimes eating away brain cells for years without detection before a critical mass is spongified . Then , over a few months , motor control buckles and cognition crumbles . Victims then die quickly , usually within a year . Now , after decades of detective work , medical sleuths appear to be closing in on the molecular culprits behind the disease . Their dogged pursuit wo n't nail a public-health enemy No. 1 -- the disease is rare -- but it may pay off in a big way because the findings could shed light on more common killers , including Alzheimer 's disease . The work also promises basic science breakthroughs . Spongiform research already has raised questions about a cornerstone of biology and spawned a Nobel Prize . The uncanny nature of the disorder sometimes grips scientists with a kind of obsessive fascination , notes NIH researcher D. Carleton Gajdusek . He should know , having chased spongiform leads around the globe for 33 years and won a Nobel Prize in the process . Recently the fascination has taken on a more anxious cast as the disease has struck humans and animals with suspicious regularity in several places , underscoring a longstanding question : Do people get the disease from animals ? The question has burned with special intensity since scrapie , the form of the disease in sheep , jumped to British cattle a few years ago after they were fed ground-up parts of infected sheep . About 20,000 British cattle have been destroyed since 1986 in hopes of eradicating the spongiform `` mad cow '' disease , which makes the animals jittery before they keel over . A few weeks ago , the first confirmed case of mad cow disease outside Britain turned up in Switzerland . U.S. meat producers have reason to be anxious about this because the incidence of scrapie has been rising in American sheep since the mid-1980s , says Richard Marsh , a University of Wisconsin scrapie expert . Scientists agree , however , that the disease in animals probably poses little danger to people . Scrapie has existed for centuries and `` the world is bathed '' in its infectious agent , says Dr. Gajdusek . Yet sheep have never been strongly implicated in cases of the human form of the disease , Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease , or CJD . At least not until the Poltar journalist and two other people died of CJD at about the same time in a rural , sheep-herding part of eastern Czechoslovakia . When Dr. Mitrova , a researcher at a Bratislava medical institute , heard of the unusual cluster of cases , she decided to investigate . From the first , one clue stood out like a bloodstain : `` Almost all of the people are involved in raising and taking care of sheep , '' she says . The local cuisine includes a soup of sheep meat stewed in sheep milk . The area 's equivalent of chicken soup for colds is sheep brain fried in onions . One CJD victim even slept with a pet sheep until age 13 . Now such coincidences seem like a serial killer 's pattern . Against all odds , CJD has struck again and again in the same region , called Slovakia -- 69 times since 1975 , mainly grouped in two areas . The outbreak has become something of an epidemic around the Orava area , where 26 cases have occurred since 1987 , a rate hundreds of times higher than normal for CJD . Residents of the affected areas `` are very afraid , '' says Dr. Mitrova . She has found evidence of scrapie in the area 's sheep . Now villagers there call CJD `` our sheep disease . '' That 's a leap of folklore , though , and the sheep link may well turn out to be false , cautions Dr. Mitrova . Indeed , CJD is a nefarious trickster ; the first reported case of the disease , which entered medical texts in the 1920s , really was n't CJD after all , scientists now believe . And it usually strikes so rarely and randomly -- killing about one in a million people world-wide each year -- that scientists did n't even begin to suspect it was infectious until 1957 . That year , the NIH 's Dr. Gajdusek , then a young scientist casting about for big questions , planned a trip to Papua New Guinea to visit a friend . He never arrived . En route , he heard that a primitive New Guinea tribe , the Fore , were dying in droves from an unknown brain disorder they called kuru , `` the shivering disease , '' because it started with tremors . Fascinated , he dropped everything , plunged into the backwoods with a local doctor and took charge of investigating the affair , to the great annoyance of Australian authorities then overseeing the area . `` Gajdusek ... has an intelligence quotient up in the 180s and the emotional immaturity of a 15-year-old , '' one of his mentors warned the Australians in a letter , and `` wo n't let danger , physical difficulty , or other people 's feelings interfere in the least with what he wants to do . '' In short , he was perfect for the job . Soon kuru victims ' brains started issuing from the heart of darkness to distant medical centers , compliments of Dr. Gajdusek . He swapped axes and salt for autopsy rights , dissecting one victim with a carving knife by lantern-light in a native hut during a howling storm , according to his letters home . He and the local doctor , Vincent Zigas , tried everything from tranquilizers to hormones on kuru patients . Nothing helped . The cause remained elusive . Two years later , William Hadlow , a U.S. veterinarian , saw a picture of one of the kuru brains in a medical journal and was struck by its spongy appearance . He had seen that look before in scrapie , the sheep disease , and put in a call to the NIH . Another link fell into place when Igor Klatzo , an NIH scientist , noticed kuru brains resembled ones from CJD victims . Based on the clues , Dr. Gajdusek , back at NIH , led studies in the 1960s showing kuru , CJD and scrapie to be essentially the same infectious disease , studies that won the 1976 Nobel Prize for medicine . The discoveries confirmed a long-suspected connection : The kuru outbreak sprang from a Fore mourning ritual , in which relatives ate their deceased kin 's lightly cooked , and often kuru-infected , brains . But the infectious agent continued to baffle scientists . It somehow could hide in the brain for decades without causing the usual signs of infection , such as fever . Brain tissue of infected animals could transmit the disease when injected into different animals ' brains , yet microscopes revealed no signs of infectious microbes . And why did the agent sporadically appear in people with no known exposure ? It seemed like `` biological spontaneous combustion , '' says NIH researcher Paul Brown . In the early 1980s , scientists discovered that CJD , like Alzheimer 's disease , often gums up the brain with a kind of junk , or `` amyloid , '' protein . Further studies showed the junk mainly contains a botched form of a naturally occurring brain protein , sometimes called a prion . Many scientists now believe it 's the culprit . But their theory entails a biologically weird premise : that the altered protein replicates itself without the aid of genetic material , the basis of all known reproduction . If they 're right , such self-replicating proteins might be representatives of an ancient twilight zone between life and nonlife-evolution 's bridge between molecules and microbes . When formed in a brain cell , a molecule of such stuff might be `` like a bad apple in a barrel converting all the other apples , '' says the NIH 's Dr. Brown . A hot question : Does the amyloid in Alzheimer 's disease form similarly ? All this , however , does n't explain what happened after Dr. Brown baked isolates of the disease agent for an hour at 680 degrees Fahrenheit , a temperature that melts proteins . He injected the ashy residue into animals ' brains , expecting nothing to happen . But a few of them got spongiform disease . He also buried isolates in his garden for three years and found they remained infectious . The results may be `` very disquieting , '' he says , to British farmers , who have been burning and burying mad cow corpses . Still , Dr. Brown and other scientists are n't much worried about mad cows because their animal studies show spongiform disease is very hard to transmit orally . Eating huge doses of the agent is required . Perhaps the mad cows got such doses `` every time they went to the feedbag , '' says Dr. Brown . Kuru victims apparently consumed similar mega-doses . And so may have Max . He was a Siamese cat in Bristol , England , that died last spring . Examining his brain , a veterinarian found a telltale sponginess , sparking another round of panic in the U.K. about spongiform disease . Now more than 10 British cats have died of it , suggesting brains from infected sheep or cows got into cat food . Meanwhile , yet another spongiform outbreak has occurred , this time among northeastern Pennsylvanians . The cluster of more than a dozen CJD cases `` is n't an epidemic '' and appears to have topped out in 1989 , says Brian Little , an Allentown neuropathologist leading a study of it . But it is worrisome because , like the Slovakian outbreak , it suggests a common underlying cause that could strike again . During the past few months , the NIH team , working with Dr. Mitrova , has found a thread that for the first time may link many such CJD cases . The discovery began when the scientists ferreted out a genetic defect in two U.S. brothers who had died of CJD . In itself , that was nothing new . Scientists have long known that CJD runs in some families and therefore suspected a genetic problem . But Dr. Brown 's excitement grew when three other , unrelated CJD victims were found to carry the same genetic defect . `` On a flyer , '' he says , `` I called relatives of the victims and struck gold . '' They were all of Eastern European descent , suggesting people of similar ancestry might carry the gene . Drs. Brown and Gajdusek knew just where to look for such people . They grabbed a plane for Czechoslovakia . Since then , the team has confirmed that many of the Slovakian CJD victims , and a cluster of Libyan-born Jews whose tissues were preserved , carried the defect . The findings suggest one of two things : Either the defect alone produces the deadly agent or it predisposes its carriers to get CJD when they are exposed to the agent . The findings have opened the door for early diagnosis and possible prevention of CJD . But they also have introduced a new riddle , says Dr. Gajdusek : Why has the genetic defect , which has apparently existed for decades in some Eastern Europeans , turned deadly only in the past 15 years or so ? `` Essentially , we 're stuck with another paradox , '' he adds . `` But there 's nothing else worth working on in science . ''

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

mad cow disease
british cattle
infected sheep
sheep disease
altered protein
cjd victims
cjd cases
infection


Now , in the wake of that firestorm , local firefighters are looking up at the hills that surround this area and wondering not whether , but only when and where. ; `` I know it 's there , '' said Saratoga Fire Chief Ernest Kraule . `` Every fire chief -- there 's 12 of us in this county -- knows it 's there . '' ; The danger is in the Saratoga foothills , where Kraule 's department has battled nine deliberately set fires since June -- most recently Oct. 19 , the same day Oakland firefighters thought they had contained a brush fire that a day later blossomed into the deadly firestorm. ; It 's in the mountain communities that straddle Highway 9 in Santa Cruz County , isolated by weak bridges that wo n't support some firetrucks and connected by a two-lane road that will hinder escape. ; It 's in Los Altos Hills , where residents in 1984 repealed an ordinance requiring fire-retardant roofs ; a year later , a fire destroyed 100 acres and 12 homes , many of which have been rebuilt -- with the same flammable shake roofs. ; In fact , the danger of an Oakland-like inferno is in almost all of the hills that ring the South Bay , where homes often are surrounded by dense brush or stately trees , the fuel of rapidly spreading wildfires. ; And the risk is increasing , as cramped Bay Area residents push farther into the hills and canyons in search of living space and rural atmosphere . State officials say it 's no coincidence that six of California 's 10 most damaging wildfires have occurred since 1980. ; `` The tendency is to have bigger fires that are much more expensive to put out , with much more property loss , '' said Roy Pike , a deputy chief in the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 's Santa Rosa office. ; Privacy 's high price ; Having pushed into these areas , city dwellers do n't understand that the wooded seclusion and natural beauty exact a cost in fire protection , rescue workers complain. ; In cities , a firetruck might respond to an alarm within two or three minutes ; in the Highway 9 communities , they hope for 10 minutes . Instead of an eight - or 10-inch water main ensuring pressure for fire hoses , the mountains are laced with two-inch pipes. ; `` Those are the risks you take when you live in an area like this , '' said Dean Lucke , chief of the forestry department 's San Mateo-Santa Cruz ranger unit . `` We ca n't guarantee everyone 's safety up here at all times . '' ; In general , firefighters say , the heavily wooded Santa Cruz Mountains are more susceptible to major fires than the grass-covered eastern foothills . Take the 1985 fire above Lexington Reservoir , which blazed for six days , scorching nearly 14,000 acres and destroying 42 homes. ; But there are exceptions , such as narrow Kilkare Canyon near Sunol , where 200 homes are strung along a narrow , five-mile dead-end road that empties onto narrow , winding Niles Canyon Road. ; `` A large concentration of vegetation , heavy fuel loads , lots of wooden structures , ingress-egress -LRB- problems -RRB- , lack of water , they 're all there , '' said Fremont Fire Chief Dan Lydon , whose department would be one of the first called to a fire in Kilkare . `` If there 's an area that has the significant potential for disaster , that 's one . '' ; Codes rarely enforced ; In the hills , nearly every home is surrounded by thick brush or dense woods . Fire codes require residents to keep the trees 30 feet from their homes , but fire officials admit they rarely enforce them . Instead , as they drive by , some firefighters make mental notes about which homes would be worth saving. ; `` You do this evaluation of what you think you 'd be effective at salvaging , '' said Don Shaw , a battalion chief for the Palo Alto Fire Department . By not trimming dense brush , he said , some homeowners are `` virtually signing a death warrant . '' ; And increasingly , fire officials worry about wildfires spreading into even more heavily populated areas at the base of the foothills , where numerous trees create an `` urban forest . '' ; `` We could have a fire going from rooftop to treetop to rooftop to treetop in any number of areas in this city , if the weather conditions are right , '' said San Jose Fire Chief Robert Osby. ; The lesson of the Oakland hills , firefighters say , is to contain and extinguish even the smallest fires as quickly as possible . But , often , that means firefighters have to overcome narrow roads , weak bridges , inadequate water pressure and gridlock from fleeing residents. ; Challenge for firefighters ; Many of the South Bay 's most vulnerable areas -- such as Redwood Estates above Los Gatos and Emerald Lake Hills above Redwood City -- began as colonies of summer homes , a handful of secluded cottages strung along narrow winding roads . Now , these communities are the year-round home for thousands , often still dependent on volunteer firefighters and an overtaxed network of roads and water lines. ; `` On a good day , trying to maneuver fire apparatus on those roads is tough , '' said Steve Cavallero , a battalion chief for the Redwood City Fire Department , which covers a portion of Emerald Lake Hills . `` Combine that with panic , with people getting out of the way , and you 're setting the stage for disaster . '' ; An estimated 25,000 people live in the communities along Highway 9 between Santa Cruz and Boulder Creek , the curvy , two-lane road that would be the only way out in the case of a major fire . How would all those people escape ? ; `` That 's a good question , '' said O.J. Burrell , chief of fire prevention at the San Mateo-Santa Cruz ranger unit. ; Weak bridges keep firetrucks out of many of those communities , as well as New Almaden Valley south of San Jose , forcing firefighters to carry hoses by hand . Ed Ekers , chief of the Santa Cruz city fire department , worries about sending his trucks through `` a tunnel of fire '' if flames were ever to spread across the canopy of trees above Highway 9. ; Will there be water ? ; Even if they can reach a blaze , firefighters know there may not be any water to fight it . In Oakland , water pressure dropped as electricity failures shut off pumps and thousands of open hydrants and water connections quickly drained reservoirs. ; That could happen even in urbanized areas of Santa Clara County because the major water suppliers rely on a similar system of electric pumps to maintain water pressure in the foothills . `` We would face the same situation , '' said Sharon Whaley , spokeswoman for the San Jose Water Co. , which serves foothill areas in Los Gatos , Saratoga and Almaden. ; In rural areas , water supplies are even chancier . In the east foothills and southern Santa Clara County , homeowners have to provide only 5,000 gallons for firefighting , barely enough for five minutes at the rate some firetrucks pump. ; To Mike Balesteri , chief of the forestry department ranger unit in Santa Clara County , the lesson is simple : `` It 's either bring your own water or find your own water in our game . '' ; Taps would go dry quickly ; Even when rural communities have upgraded their water systems -- as Redwood Estates did -- firefighters say the taps would start to run low if three or four houses were burning at once. ; Local officials say they try to limit fire hazards largely by restricting development in the hills . But many of the most dangerous areas were built long before modern planning ordinances and building codes. ; And for every community , like Saratoga , that requires fire-retardant roofs , there are others , like Los Altos Hills , unwilling to suffer even that inconvenience. ; Seven years later , the Los Altos Hills revolt against fire-retardant roofs still resonates in the mind of Los Altos Fire Chief Dick Landrum , whose department is charged with protecting the area. ; `` Every time my fire marshal starts to talk about amendments to the ... building code , they say , ` Do n't even bring it up , ' '' Landrum said. ; `` I would hate to say it , but I 'd anticipate another Oakland . ''

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

oakland firefighters
brush fire
deadly firestorm
damaging wildfires
fire protection
fire officials
fire prevention
fire hazards
saratoga foothills


But a unique subset has formed : people who like to do both at the same time . And to help these folks along , companies arrange tours for marathon vacations . The result ? Bangkok in November , London in April and Stockholm in May. ; `` Skiers have mountain ranges , tennis players have resorts , why ca n't a runner take a marathon vacation ? '' said Thorn Gilligan , president of Marathon Tours in Boston . `` A runner should be able to enjoy a closed city for a day . It 's a celebration for the sport as much as a competition . '' ; Gilligan took 5,500 people last year on 20 tours to countries from Bermuda to Moscow . In addition to air fare and hotel , runners are guaranteed spots in restricted entry races such as the London Marathon . Qualifying times are not required. ; London , the most popular European city to visit , holds the world 's largest marathon -LRB- April 12 next year -RRB- . Berlin 's race -LRB- Sept. 27 , 1992 -RRB- has grown with the demise of the wall. ; `` Most marathons take you through cities , so you get a chance to see things you 'd never see on a sightseeing bus , '' said Fred Lebow , president of the New York Roadrunner 's Club and director of the New York Marathon . Lebow has run in 32 marathons , including London , Paris , Rome , Stockholm , Iceland , Seoul and Vienna. ; `` The most exciting thing is the start of the race , '' he said . `` Each city has something unique . '' ; The cities are different , but most marathons include a carbo-loading pasta party the night before , medical exams , a post-race celebration , commemorative T-shirts and awards to finishers . Entry fees vary ; Brussels is $ 16 , Venice $ 40. ; Marathon Tours includes the entry price in the package . Going to Bermuda , for example , costs approximately $ 900 from San Francisco . The price includes round-trip air fare , four days and three nights at the Grotto Bay Beach hotel -LRB- per person , based on double occupancy -RRB- , full breakfasts and dinners , a welcome cocktail party and post-race parties and discounts. ; England has similar organizations : Sports Tours International and Keith Prowse , a company that specializes in British theater , sports and concert tours. ; But it is n't necessary to run 26.2 miles to go on a running vacation , especially if it 's a family trip . Some marathons , like Portland 's , include additional races : a five-mile run , a five-mile walk and a kids run . Tel Aviv has a half-marathon and a fun run . Budapest offers a half-marathon and a mini-marathon along the Danube. ; There are also trips that incorporate running into the sightseeing schedule . Running coach Pat Savage and Hal Higdon , a senior writer for Runner 's World , are taking a group to Ireland in June . The eight-day trip will leave from Chicago and will include sightseeing , guided runs and a fun run from Malahide Castle to Swords. ; `` On a running vacation you plan something around running everyday , '' Higdon said . `` We know the unique scenic routes and put together special runs . '' ; Some runs are intriguing because of current events . The Tel Aviv Marathon course went past houses hit by Scud missiles during the Gulf War . The Belgrade Marathon was held despite Yugoslavia 's turmoil . The Munich course is the same as the 1972 Olympic route and finishes in the same stadium. ; Running 26 miles just to see a city definitely is n't for everyone , but at the very least , it 's a way to kill two birds with one stone . In the recent Chicago Marathon , a German man ran with a camera , snapping photos every few miles. ; IF YOU 'RE INTERESTED ; If you 're interested in combining a vacation and marathon , here are some firms to contact : ; -LRB- box -RRB- Marathon Tours , 108 Main St. , Charlestown , Mass. 02129 . -LRB-617-RRB- 242-7845 . ; -LRB- box -RRB- Roadrunner Tours , 2815 Lake Shore Dr. , Michigan City , Ind. 46360 . -LRB- 219 -RRB- 879-0133. ; -LRB- box -RRB- Keith Prowse , based in England . -LRB- 8OO -RRB- 6MY-TOUR. ; -LRB- box -RRB- Sports Tours International , 91 Walkdon Rd. , Walkdon , Worslay , Manchester M28 5DQ , United Kingdom . -LRB-061-RRB- 703-8161 .

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

marathon vacations
marathon tours
running vacation
restricted entry races


The director of the county Social Services Agency wants all Orange County residents , including illegal aliens , to be counted in the 1990 Census , and he will ask the Board of Supervisors to support his position . A resolution doing just that will be introduced at the supervisors ' meeting Tuesday . Agency officials said that if illegal aliens were to be excluded from the count , it would mean that , on paper , the county had 200,000 fewer residents than the county 's actual population . That lower figure would result in the loss of an estimated $ 56 million a year in federal revenue , they said . In a letter to the supervisors , Larry Leaman , director of the agency , urged the board to adopt the resolution supporting a complete count of all county residents and opposing `` all attempts to systematically exclude any groups from the census . '' Such exclusions , the letter said , could result in the county losing representatives in Congress because districts are determined by population . Just Thursday , efforts to include illegal aliens in the Census received a major boost when negotiators from the U.S. Senate and House agreed on the issue . Before Thursday 's action , the Senate had voted to bar the Census Bureau from counting illegal aliens , although the House had twice rejected efforts to exclude aliens . The agreement worked out Thursday at the House-Senate conference will go back to each body before it is sent to President Bush , but it is considered likely to be approved . Orange County officials contend that much is at stake in whether aliens are included in the count . In 1985 , before the Federal Immigration Reform Act , the number of illegal aliens in the county was estimated at 300,000 . In Santa Ana , home to 44.5 % of the county 's Latinos , city officials worried about the ramifications of undercounting its residents . They figured that in the 1980 Census , the city was shortchanged by at least 50,000 people . If those residents had been included , it could have meant another $ 2.2 million in state and federal revenue , according to city officials . GEORGE FRANK

O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O B I O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O

illegal aliens
1990 census
complete count
federal revenue
census bureau
orange county residents
representatives


About 7 percent of the general population has diabetes , McNamara said. ; Hispanics who have strong American Indian ancestry may be vulnerable to diabetes because about 50 percent of all Indians develop diabetes , McNamara said . Also , the high-fat diet of many Hispanics leads to obesity , which seems to trigger diabetes , McNamara said. ; Eighty percent of Hispanics over 40 who are diagnosed as diabetic are overweight , she said. ; The clinic Saturday will focus on three ways to manage diabetes -- diet , exercise and medication . Participants will learn that traditional dishes can be just as tasty -- but healthier -- when made with unsaturated fats , and that exercise will reduce weight , which in turn will lower the possibility of contracting diabetes. ; `` There is no magic pill to cure diabetes . You have to manage your own diabetes , and we 're teaching people how to take care of themselves , '' McNamara said. ; The hospital and the diabetes society are sponsoring neighborhood diabetes programs for Hispanics , which are taught by bilingual instructors. ; The programs , which first began in 1984 , are aimed at people who speak only Spanish or people who are more comfortable receiving instruction in that language. ; `` We found that the regular programs that we started years ago were not reaching the monolingual Spanish-speaker , '' McNamara said. ; IF YOU 'RE INTERESTED ; The diabetes management program for Hispanics will be from 9 a.m. to noon at St. Louise Health Center , 18500 St. Louise Drive , off Cochrane Road in Morgan Hill . Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Further information is available from the Diabetes Society of Santa Clara Valley at -LRB-408-RRB- 287-3785 . .

O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O

diabetes society
hispanics
diabetes management program
exercise
contracting diabetes


Flexing its muscles as a cartel , De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. is raising its diamond prices an average 10 % next month . The South African concern , which controls 80 % of the world diamond market through its London-based Central Selling Organization , sells a vast array of diamonds , varying in quality and size , dealers say . So the increase could be as much as 20 % on top-grade diamonds . The rise follows an average price increase of 14.5 % last year . `` The diamond price increase was expected , '' said Jacques Zucker , of Lachowsky Zucker , diamond dealers in Antwerp , Belgium . By changing the mix of diamonds that it sells to dealers several months ago , De Beers signaled to the market that it intended to raise quotes , he said . `` Few listened to us two years ago when we advised clients to buy diamonds at depressed values , '' Mr. Zucker said . `` Now they must accept higher prices . '' `` The price rise provides the necessary psychological lift to the market , '' said Peter Miller , a mining analyst at Shearson Lehman Securities in London . It will help the diamond producers `` consolidate their gains . '' Prices of one-carat D-flawless diamonds have risen to about $ 14,800 a carat from $ 12,000 at the beginning of the year , dealers said . In 1985 , at the low point of a deep slump , a top quality stone was $ 8,500 a carat , down from an average of $ 55,000 in 1980 . A carat equals 200 milligrams . De Beers decided to raise prices because rough diamonds were already trading at a premium over its own quotes on the open market , said Andrew Lamont , a company spokesman . Demand is especially buoyant in the Far East . In the first seven months of 1987 , Japanese imports of polished diamonds surged 60 % from the similar period last year to $ 777 million , he added . After the U.S. , Japan is the second biggest diamond jewelry market , followed by West Germany . Only one out of 17 Japanese couples bought engagement rings less than two decades ago ; now more than two-thirds buy . `` The sharp appreciation of the yen reduced the cost of diamonds for Japanese buyers , '' Mr. Lamont says . Stronger currencies and lower interest rates in West Germany and other European countries also boosted diamond sales , he says . Diamonds are priced in U.S. dollars . Demand for polished diamonds in the U.S. , Hong Kong , Thailand , Singapore , Korea , and the Philippines also raised exports of the leading diamond cutting and dealing centers , primarily Antwerp , Tel Aviv , Bombay and New York . To meet growing orders from diamond dealers and cutters who supply the retail trade , De Beers sales of rough diamonds jumped to $ 1.56 billion in the first half of this year from $ 1.2 billion in the similar period in 1986 . Sales of $ 2.56 billion last year were the highest since the 1980 boom when De Beers turnover reached $ 2.72 billion . Analysts are predicting sales of $ 3 billion in 1987 . Yet some dealers worry because world diamond production surged to 89.6 million carats last year from 47 million carats in 1982 . Only about 10 % to 20 % of the diamonds are gems , but De Beers must continue to find new markets , they say . De Beers surprised skeptics and revived trade from the slump in the first half of the decade by withholding stocks and pursuing an intensive marketing campaign . An advertising and promotion budget which rose to $ 110 million this year from $ 43 million in 1980 helped raise world-wide sales of diamond jewelry to a record 49 million pieces valued at $ 24.6 billion last year . In 1979 , about 42 million pieces valued at $ 16 billion were sold , De Beers says . In more than half a century of its existence , the Central Selling Organization , which includes as members black African state producers , has outlasted other commodity cartels by never cutting diamond prices . The cartel controls most of the world 's rough diamond market via a `` pipeline '' that stretches from mines in Africa to Australia to diamond dealers and cutters .

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O

diamond prices
south african concern
world diamond market
diamond price increase
diamond dealers
diamond jewelry market
world diamond production
diamond sales

london-based central selling organization


As of last month , live pines in the Mount Palomar area near San Diego had less moisture than boards at a lumber yard. ; Firefighting also will be made tougher this year because much of the military reserve and National Guard equipment and pilots normally mobilized against wildfires are still in the Persian Gulf and probably will be there several more months. ; The area at risk of severe fires spreads beyond California and takes in about a third of the United States mainland , including Oregon and Washington east of the Cascades and much of Nevada , Arizona , Utah , Colorado , Wyoming , Idaho , Montana and the Dakotas. ; But the threat is most extreme in California , where the December freeze added to the accumulation of dead vegetation , or fuel , as firefighters call it. ; While reluctant to predict fires because they depend not just on drought but also on temperature and wind patterns , fire officials are deeply worried. ; `` This year is shaping up to be the worst fire season we 've ever experienced , '' said Warner McGrew , assistant fire chief at Santa Barbara , where the drought is worst and where brush fires destroyed 600 homes and did $ 200 million damage last year. ; The freeze killed the avocado and lemon orchards that used to serve as fire breaks , and McGrew said fire codes are being strictly enforced to compel homeowners to remove vegetation near houses. ; Given the severity of the threat and lack of equipment and water to fight fires , officials throughout the region say they plan an unusually aggressive approach this spring , trying to put out even the smallest wildfires before they spread , and taking preventive measures such as deploying firefighters to an area where lightning storms are forecast. ; It worked in Oregon ; That approach helped last year in the Umatilla National Forest in northeastern Oregon , where 170 fires were reported , said Gordon Reinhart , a fire and recreation officer with the U.S. Forest Service in Pendleton , Ore. ; One reason the fire threat is so grave in California is population growth , which has spread suburban development into wilderness areas such as the canyons east of Malibu Beach , 25 miles from central Los Angeles , where million-dollar homes sit on brushy hillsides covered with highly flammable greasewood. ; Fire corridor ; Fire officials consider the Malibu canyons a natural fire corridor because high winds whip through them to the ocean. ; `` We are going to have quite a time trying to protect those structures , '' said Paul H. Rippens , assistant chief for forestry at the Los Angeles County Fire Department. ; The department is clearing some areas by setting small fires that are tightly controlled , the first of which recently burned off 335 hillside acres in the Monte Nido area of Malibu. ; Expand youth corps ; Gov. Pete Wilson has proposed expanding the state 's youth conservation corps to replace the troops who traditionally have stepped in to help fight the worst Western fires. ; But it will be difficult to replace the C-130 planes that are converted into air tankers to drop retardants onto flames , and the military helicopters with infrared sensing devices that peer through smoke .

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O B I O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

firefighting
wildfires
california
firefighters
brush fires
aggressive approach
preventive measures
fire threat
severe fires spreads
fire season
natural fire corridor


Newspaper headlines have documented Miami 's subsequent hurricanes . The city was `` Lashed '' in ' 47 , `` Slammed '' in '49 and `` Pounded '' in ' 50 . The last to hit Miami was Cleo , a small one , in 1964 , and the intervening period of calm defies all odds. ; Many folks here worry about the `` Big One '' just as Californians worry about the Big Quake . What would one of those legendary storms of the past with 200 mph winds pushing huge tidal surges do to this low-lying metropolis on the Atlantic ? No one is sure. ; Hurricane season officially extends from June 1 through Nov. 30 , and scientists at the National Hurricane Center , tucked away on the sixth floor of a nondescript office building in this Miami suburb , are perking up after another winter lull. ; From now until the end of the season , the six hurricane specialists will monitor weather computers 24 hours a day . In this part of the world , technology has made obsolete such disasters as the unnamed hurricane that surprised Galveston , Texas , in 1900 , killing 6,000 people. ; The hurricane specialists use the nation 's only working geostationary weather satellite to follow developing storms . When a disturbance becomes threatening , a specially equipped plane is sent into the storm 's heart to measure barometric pressure , wind speed and temperature. ; One of the specialists , Lixion Avila , has begun counting tropical waves that form off the coast of Africa every few days during hurricane season . About 60 of these waves of air , not water , form every year . About 20 of them intensify into stronger disturbances , ranging from tropical depressions , with wind speeds to 38 mph ; to tropical storms , with winds from 39 to 73 mph ; to hurricanes , with winds exceeding 74 mph. ; Last year , 16 tropical depressions developed in the Atlantic . Fourteen became tropical storms , seven of which became hurricanes , fewer than usual. ; People who venture into such dubious endeavors as long-term hurricane forecasting said this could be another light year . But , they said , a relatively quiet year does not guarantee a thing. ; One such year was 1935 -- only six hurricanes formed , but one was the strongest to hit the continent . More than 800 workers , brought down to build the Overseas Highway through the Florida Keys , were killed when 200 mph winds knocked their evacuation train off the tracks. ; NO MATTER what long-range forecasters say , scientists at the Hurricane Center know that the laws of probability are closing in on Miami . They are a conservative bunch , not given to Sunday-supplement scare stories . Miami has grown immensely since the last major storm and is greatly overdue , they said. ; `` Historically , south Florida has had more hurricanes than any other site , '' said Jerry Jarrell , a hurricane specialist eyeing Miami 's 27-year hiatus nervously . `` We would expect a major hurricane to hit within 75 miles of Miami every eight years . '' ; At the center , scientists built a computer model to calculate what would happen if the 1926 hurricane were to hit Miami today . That storm was almost exactly the strength of Hurricane Hugo , which hit in South Carolina with 135 mph winds in September 1989 . The scientists took data from Hugo and applied it to the path taken by the 1926 hurricane into Miami. ; `` It would be a totally different story here , '' said Max Mayfield , who collected photos from the 1926 storm to illustrate the model . `` How many high-rises did they have on those barrier islands up in South Carolina ? None . I think all these folks in their Miami Beach condos are going to be in for a rude awakening . '' ; A worst-case storm , with winds topping 150 mph , would put 5 feet of water in Joe 's Stone Crabs restaurant , a Miami Beach landmark , and 9 feet of water on Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami . Surging water could reach levels of 13 1/2 feet in low-lying areas south of Miami. ; DESPITE MODERN technology , the specialists can not forecast precisely where a hurricane will hit . Hurricanes change direction and intensify in a matter of hours and , in 24 hours , the specialists said , they could miscalculate one 's track by 100 miles . This , and the number of years since the last major storm hit , has spawned a certain complacency among residents that the specialists find disturbing. ; Mayfield went to Miami Beach recently to discuss his model with officials there , and what he heard worried him. ; `` The fire department did a survey , and 90 percent of the people they talked to said they would n't evacuate for a hurricane , '' Mayfield said . `` That makes my hair stand straight up . ''

O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

hurricane season
miami
hurricane specialists
tropical depressions
tropical storms
national hurricane center


The names will be different , but more hurricanes with the powerful punches of Hugo and Gilbert may be prowling the Atlantic , Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in the future . `` The probability of more intense hurricanes in the Atlantic region is greater in the next decade or two than it has been in the 1970s and '80s , '' says meteorologist William M. Gray of Colorado State University , who analyzes hurricane patterns . Gray predicts a possible return of the more ferocious hurricanes of the '50s and '60s , because of an apparent break in the periodic West African drought . Rainfall in the Sahel , typically associated with more intense hurricane activity , was above average in 1988 for the first time since 1969 , he says . A second rainy summer this year indicates an end to the drought . The most intense hurricanes , Gray explains , usually form at low latitudes from tropical disturbances moving westward from Africa . The well-watered conditions in the '50s and '60s produced 31 of the most severe kind -LRB- categories 4 and 5 -RRB- in the 17-year period 1950 to 1967 . Hurricanes are classified by the Saffir-Simpson scale , the fiercest a No. 5 , or catastrophic storm . The atmospheric pressure at its center drops drastically and its wind speed exceeds 155 m.p.h. . In the drier 17-year period of 1970 to 1987 , there were only 13 severe storms . In the '88 and '89 seasons -- June through November -- there have been five . Last year 's Gilbert , which left a wide swath of devastation across Jamaica and the Mexican Yucatan , was the mightiest hurricane on record in the Western Hemisphere . Its atmospheric pressure dropped to 885 millibars and its wind speed reached 200 m.p.h. . This September 's Hugo , which ripped through the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico before clobbering South Carolina , had sustained winds of 150 m.p.h. and an atmospheric pressure of 918 millibars -LRB- 27.1 inches -RRB- . Officially a 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale , it `` may be a borderline 5 , '' says meteorologist Mark Zimmer of the National Hurricane Center in Miami . The strongest recorded storm on Earth , Zimmer says , was 1979 Typhoon Tip in the western Pacific , with a low pressure of 870 millibars . Outside the Atlantic area and the eastern Pacific , hurricanes are called typhoons or cyclones . Fortunately , most Atlantic-region hurricanes do not develop to their worst potential . In this century , only two No. 5 hurricanes have struck the United States with full force , the 1935 Labor Day storm that ravaged the Florida Keys and 1969 's Camille , which slammed ashore at Mississippi and Louisiana . In 1980 , Allen , the mightiest Caribbean storm then recorded , had lost much of its punch before it hit the Gulf Coast of Texas . `` If the future is like the past with its pattern of atmospheric conditions , there is a good probability of the return of stronger storms , '' Gray said . But in the 1990s , he warns , U.S. destruction will be at least four to five times more costly than in the '50s and '60s , because of the boom in population and property development along coastal areas . The threat of global warming also portends hurricanes more powerful than any yet recorded , says meteorologist Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Hurricanes are like huge , self-sustaining heat engines spinning across the sea . They get their power from the water 's warmth . To develop , they need tropical ocean-surface temperatures of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit . `` If tropical ocean temperatures go up , the intensity of hurricanes will , '' Emanuel explains . `` Sea-surface temperatures set the upper limits . '' The biggest uncertainty , he says , is whether global warming will affect tropical ocean temperatures . The gradual warming of the Earth results from the greenhouse effect , caused primarily by the accumulation of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere , which , like the glass of a greenhouse , trap heat .

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

intense hurricanes
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ferocious hurricanes
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Based on the new findings , Mr. Gray predicted earlier this summer that the 1990 tropical storm season would be above average , and so far he seems to be right . In July he said there would be 11 storms severe enough to be named , of which six would be hurricanes . The National Hurricane Center said that as of yesterday there have been nine named storms this year , including four hurricanes , a higher rate than normal . Weather researchers have been seeking to predict hurricane patterns more accurately as an early warning for coastal residents of the U.S. and the Caribbean . A sharp decrease in hurricane activity over the past two decades spurred business and residential development that would be vulnerable to increased hurricane activity . Mr. Gray said the West African Sahel region is the newest of five indicators he uses to predict global hurricane activity . Atlantic hurricanes form from especially strong tropical storms that are triggered by winds and other air disturbances that sweep across Africa . Wind moving across warm ocean air causes powerful updrafts of air bearing sea water that eventually turn into rainclouds . Mr. Gray said he believes that in the absence of moisture , these storms quickly dissipate , but that the storms gather strength with additional moisture . Mr. Gray said his research , published in the current issue of Science , suggests that `` intense Caribbean hurricanes Gilbert , Joan and Hugo of 1988 and 1989 may be the forerunners of this change . '' Comparing year-to-year rainfall levels in the Sahel with the number of high-powered Atlantic hurricanes , Mr. Gray found a striking correlation . From 1947 to 1969 , for instance , rainfall in the western Sahel was especially abundant , and during this time there were 13 severe hurricanes that formed in the Atlantic Ocean . From 1970 to 1988 , the Sahel suffered through a terrible drought , and hurricane activity was unusually low ; only one severe hurricane , Gloria in 1985 , formed in the area . Mr. Gray searched back in recent history and found that the Sahel , which includes parts of Senegal , Mauritania , Mali and Gambia , goes through long periods of alternating dry and wet weather . He found that the Sahel was especially wet from 1870 to 1900 and from 1915 to 1935 . Hurricane activity was much higher during this time than during intervals when the Sahel was dry . Mr. Gray predicted that , based on historical cycles , the Sahel is entering a wet period . He said the drought conditions ended in 1988 and 1989 . He based his 1990 storm forecast on the higher-than-normal rainfall in the Sahel in July . Mr. Gray said his research suggests that climate changes in the Sahel do n't result from global warming problems associated with environmental pollution but from natural weather cycles .

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I I O O O O O O O O O O B I I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

tropical storm season
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Mother Nature conspired against this struggling marathon Sunday , serving up balmy , windy weather and wilting both the men 's and women 's fields . Temperatures during the Old Style/Chicago marathon hovered in the mid-60s , with 53 % humidity . The heat sapped the strength of most runners , giving the patient and steady runners a distinct advantage . Among the men , Paul Davies-Hale of England proved the most patient , winning in a rather pedestrian 2 hours 11 minutes 25 seconds , in his first marathon ever . It was the slowest winning time in this race since 1982 . Among the women , Lisa Weidenbach of Issaquah , Wash. , repeated as champion , with a personal best of 2:28:15 , impressive under the circumstances . It was the second-hottest race in Chicago history , only 1978 was worse . By comparison , last year 's race was 30 degrees cooler at the start . Most distance runners prefer temperatures in the 40s , with cloud cover . The race conditions were simply more bad luck for the 12th running of Chicago 's marathon , which has been fighting for respectability since losing its sponsor in 1986 and staging no race in 1987 . After a week of summer-like weather , race organizers hoped to be salvaged by a good race ; to have , if not impressive times on this flat and fast course , at least a memorable race . That developed , at points , Sunday , as about 8,000 runners started at Daley Plaza downtown and wended their way through city streets . A pack of five men took off fast , maintaining a 2:09 pace at nine miles . Those early leaders : El-Mostafa Nechchadi of Morocco , Don Janicki of Colorado , Gerardo Alcala of Mexico , Carlos Montero of Spain and Gabriel Kamau of Kenya . They did the early work against the wind , while a second pack hovered 20 seconds behind . The lead pack went through the half-marathon at 1:04:50 , a pace that would wither in the second half . No one who was in the lead pack at the halfway point , with the exception of Montero , finished in the top five . Davies-Hale had been among those who had cagily stayed back , going with a more conservative approach . `` I was concentrating on running five-minute miles , '' he said . He accomplished that , almost exactly . His time works out to 5:00.8 mile splits . Davies-Hale caught the second pack at 13 miles and met up with pre-race favorite Steve Binns , who lives 30 miles from Davies-Hale in England 's West Midlands . The two quickly went in different directions -- Binns falling back -LRB- he eventually dropped out -RRB- and Davies-Hale moving up . `` I asked Binnsie who was in the first group , he told me , and I went , '' Davies-Hale said . At 22 miles , Davies-Hale was in the lead and in control , running smoothly and not appearing to labor under the bright sun . Following him , and likewise picking off the fading runners in the first pack , were Ravil Kashapov of the Soviet Union , who was second in 2:13:19 , and David Long , also from the British Midlands , who was third in 2:13:37 . Ed Eyestone was the first U.S. finisher in fourth , 2:14:57 . In the women 's race , Weidenbach had not been the favorite and she agreed with that handicapping . `` To be honest with you , I was afraid of Cathy -LRB- O'Brien -RRB- , '' she said . With reason . O'Brien , a 22-year-old from Boston , has been on the verge of a breakthrough for a long time . She took off in Sunday 's race with authority and ran with a 20-30-second cushion for 15 miles . Then , the heat from the sun and the perceptible heat of Weidenbach constantly gaining did her in . At 18 miles , Weidenbach came up on O'Brien , her New Balance teammate . They shared some water , then Weidenbach tossed aside the water bottle and put on a surge that left O'Brien flat . It was the same spot , the corner of Wells and North Avenue , that Weidenbach had taken the lead in last year 's race . It was also where dozens of her family members and friends were posted . Carla Beurskens of the Netherlands , at 37 still an amazing runner , eventually passed the struggling O'Brien and placed second 2:30:24 . O'Brien was third in 2:31:19 . Given the heat , the humidity and the wind , Weidenbach 's time might have been as much as two minutes faster . Even the 2:28 is respectable -- only five U.S. women have run under 2:30 . `` I guess when you are having a good day , nothing is going to get you down , '' she said . Davies-Hale , a former plumber from Rugeley , Straffordshire , seemed bemused by the attention and nonplussed that he had just won $ 50,000 in prize money . About as far as he seemed willing to go , on the celebrity scale , was to say he had pitched the plumbing job . `` I 'll still do the odd washing machine ... good rates , '' he said . Davies-Hale , 27 , came to the United States in 1985 and settled in Boulder , Colo. , the nation 's unofficial running center . Davies-Hale may have shown a liking for running in heat when he won the Boulder Bolder that year in terrific heat . He was a 1984 Olympian in the steeplechase and , on the advice of others , moved up to 5,000 and 10,000 meters . Still , Davies-Hale is unsure what his future in the marathon is . Like his fellow countrymen , he 's low-key and practical and not interested in speculating . `` I 've already had a great track season , '' Davies-Hale said . `` I may run another marathon next year ... but I really want to get back on the track . '' Marathon Notes Race organizers insist that this race is at a world-class level , especially pointing to the world 's richest purse . That may be so , but all major marathons have drug testing and Chicago has none . Race director Tim Murphy said the race was not selected by The Athletics Congress , which governs the sport , to conduct testing ... . Men 's and women 's winners won $ 50,000 , second place won $ 30,000 and third place $ 20,000 ... . Scot Hellebuyck won the men 's wheelchair race in 1:45:30 . Ann Cody Morris won the women 's wheelchair race in 1:58:51 .

O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

windy weather
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The root of the problems with Congress is that , barring major scandal , it is almost impossible to defeat an incumbent . In the past three elections , 96 % or more of House incumbents who ran won . This lack of turnover has resulted in legislative arrogance , a dearth of new ideas and unaccountability . Congress just violated its legal budget deadline ; where are the special prosecutors ? Franking privileges , huge staffs , gerrymandering and unfair campaign finance laws have combined to give incumbents a grossly unfair advantage . One out of four House districts this year likely will have an incumbent running with no major-party opposition -- up from one out of five in 1988 . One-candidate races are now spreading to the Senate . Democratic Arkansas Senator David Pryor had spirited competition in 1984 when he won with 57 % ; this year he has no opponent at all . Senators have become just as brazen as their House brethren in shutting out competition . Take Republican Senator Larry Pressler 's latest mailing to South Dakotans . It contains five pictures of the Senator and mentions his name 29 times on four pages . Last year , Mr. Pressler sent out more than 2.8 million pieces of mail , the equivalent of 10 pieces per household . Critics of term-limits say that -- franked mail or not -- it 's wrong to blame Congress for the now nearly 100 % re-election rates since it is just as easy to vote against an incumbent as for . Michael Kinsley writes in the New Republic that if incumbents always win , it 's because voters ca n't be bothered . This presumes that voters can find out who the other candidate is . It is a political axiom that people wo n't vote for someone they know nothing about . That takes money , and skewed campaign finance laws combined with taxpayer-paid junk mail effectively mean that only incumbents have the cash to make themselves known and to be taken seriously by the media . Incumbents ended the 1988 elections with $ 63 million left over , while challengers were able to raise and spend a total of only $ 39 million . Some complain that limiting terms would infringe on democracy by not allowing voters to elect whom they please . The polls indicate voters by two to one think the only way they can control Congress effectively is by limiting terms . We also note that these critics are not agitating in support of Ronald Reagan 's call for repeal of the two-term limit for Presidents . A big problem of the current system limiting Presidents but not Congress is that this means political power is constantly tipped in favor of the legislative branch . Getting incumbents to reduce the advantages they have voted themselves is something like asking banks to leave their vaults unlocked . That 's why the Washington , D.C.-based Americans to Limit Congressional Terms is asking states to call for a constitutional amendment to limit terms . It already has won in Utah and South Dakota . This fall , the group will try to get both incumbents and challengers to pledge they will not serve more than 12 years in office . Self-imposed limits on office-holding were once part of this country 's public-service ethic , with Members returning to private life after a couple of terms . As late as 1860 , the average length of House service was four years . The number of freshmen in a new House never dipped below 30 % until 1901 . In the current House it is 8 % . Term limitation , once the accepted American tradition , has been replaced by congressional careerism . The opinion polls for term limitation show that the voters do n't like the change . They now think the voluntary service limitation of the past must be made mandatory . -- Curbing the Incumbents Do you think there should be a limit to the number of times a member of the House of Representatives can be elected to a two-year term , or not ? FAVOR OPPOSE Total Sample 61 % 31 % By Party Republicans 64 % 28 % Democrats 60 30 By Philosophy/Ideology Liberal 58 34 Moderate 64 30 Conservative 63 29 By Presidential Preference Voters pro-Bush 61 32 Voters anti-Bush 60 28 By Race White 61 31 Black 61 27 By Gender Men 57 35 Women 63 27 Source : New York Times/CBS News poll . Survey of 1,515 adults conducted March 30-April 2 , 1990 , with a 3 % margin of error .

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

term limitation
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voluntary service limitation


While Lt. Guy Zanti 's wife and father run a marathon today in Washington , the naval officer intends to match their efforts on the battleship Wisconsin in the waters of the Middle East . Zanti became interested in marathon running in April when he watched his 53-year-old father run his first marathon in California . Zanti told his father that even if he could n't make it to today 's Marine Corps Marathon , he would still run the 26.2 miles . `` He had been based in the Mediterranean , so he planned on training on land and the ship , and then running the marathon on land , '' said his father , Frank Zanti . `` When this crisis came up , he was deployed to the gulf . But he did n't stop his training , and he 's going to run on the ship . '' The Wisconsin is 887 feet long , about one-sixth of a mile ; the 29-year-old Zanti will have to make about 75 laps .

O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O

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Cheers erupted Saturday on both sides of the English Channel when British and French workers digging the Channel Tunnel finally met after knocking out a passage large enough to walk through and shake hands . `` Today , for the first time , men can cross the channel underground , '' French President Francois Mitterrand said . `` What a brilliant sign of the vitality of our two countries . '' The breakthrough came in a 6-foot-tall service tunnel that will be used to maintain two rail tunnels still being bored . It marked a symbolic milestone in Europe 's biggest engineering project . Using jackhammers , Graham Fagg , 42 , of Dover , England , and Philippe Cozette , 37 , of Calais , France , knocked out the last foot of chalk to link up the British and French sides of the tunnel -- which has been dubbed a `` chunnel . '' The smiling pair then clasped hands , embraced and exchanged their national flags . Workers in overalls looked on and applauded . `` God save the queen ! '' cried French workers , uncorking Champagne bottles . `` Vive la France ! '' came the reply from the British side . Saturday 's handshake came three years to the day after tunneling began at Sangatte , near Calais , and in Folkestone , England . The $ 16.7-billion Channel Tunnel will make it possible to travel from Paris to London by high-speed train in 3 1/2 hours when it opens in June , 1993 . The train trip through just the tunnel is expected to take 35 minutes , compared with 90 minutes to cross the channel by ferry . Fares for the undersea crossing have not been set . But experts say the charges may be at least double the 1986 projections of $ 46 per person in a car and $ 19 per train passenger . The tunnelers have spent the last month drilling through the last 100 yards of chalk with giant American-built boring machines , trying to align the two halves . The British tunnelers actually linked up with the French on Oct. 29 , when workers drilled a 2-inch hole through the chalk in a service tunnel . The connection ended Britain 's island separation from continental Europe for the first time since the last Ice Age about 8,000 years ago . Fagg and Cozette were chosen by draw from among the 3,000 workers to represent their countries in Saturday 's meeting . After widening the passage from the size of a peephole to a window , they laid down their tools and shook hands . `` Bonjour , '' boomed Fagg . `` Hello , '' Cozette said , chuckling . Michel Delebarre and Malcolm Rifkind , the French and British transportation ministers , rode in small service trains down the maintenance tunnel to witness the handshake . Fagg and Rifkind rode on to Sangatte , while Cozette and Delebarre headed for Folkestone to join in celebrations that lasted into the night . Nine workers have been killed during the project . The cost has climbed from an initial estimate of $ 9.4 billion to $ 16.7 billion . The tunnel is viewed positively in France , where it is expected to revive economically depressed northern areas . But Britain has shown worry over the loss of its historic moat from the Continent . Many Britons fear drug traffickers or terrorists will invade their island via the tunnel .

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english channel
channel tunnel
brilliant sign
engineering project
continental europe
rail tunnels
symbolic milestone

high-speed train
6-foot-tall service tunnel


The Northwest Airlines jet that crashed Sunday in Detroit , killing at least 154 people , was involved in two incidents of engine failure in the past two years . According to Federal Aviation Administration records , the McDonnell Douglas Corp. . MD-82 jet made emergency landings in 1985 and 1986 following the loss of power in one of its two engines . A Northwest spokesman confirmed that the incidents happened , but said they were n't related to Sunday 's crash of Flight 255 . Though federal investigators were looking into a number of possible causes for the crash , which occurred shortly after takeoff , engine failure appeared to be a likely culprit . According to Associated Press reports , some witnesses to the crash , including an air traffic controller , said they saw blue flame coming from one of the jetliner 's engines just before it hit the ground and exploded into a fireball . The accident , the second-deadliest ever in the U.S. , could have a broad range of effects on the airline industry regardless of the specific causes , aviation specialists said . Following a summer of near-misses , delays and other snafus , some airline specialists said the accident could serve as a catalyst for a reassessment of the nation 's air-travel system . Unlike the recent near-misses , the Detroit accident does n't appear related to air-traffic control problems . Even so , some congressional aides believe there will be a `` spillover '' effect , and that all aviation safety issues will now get closer scrutiny . Moreover , although service problems have been the focus of much of the attention in recent months , the debate may now center more strongly on safety issues . `` There is going to be a lot of noise from Capitol Hill , '' said John Galipault , president of the Aviation Safety Institute . `` This one is going under the microscope . '' Added a Senate Commerce Committee staff member : `` Delays and other consumer concerns will end up in the back seat . '' In Detroit , federal crash inspectors and representatives of United Technologies Corp. 's Pratt & Whitney unit , the engine maker , arrived at the accident scene . Officials said that the aircraft 's flight recorders , which record cockpit conversations , had been found in wreckage that extended over half a mile . The MD-82 jet , which has a good safety record , is designed to be able to take off and land even if one engine fails . Safety officials would n't speculate on whether the plane 's heavy load may have contributed to the crash . In addition to a large fuel load for the flight to Phoenix , Ariz. , the flight was jammed with passengers . There were 153 people on a plane with 143 passenger seats . The extras included six crew members , two babies who were being held by passengers and two Northwest employees riding on two of the plane 's jump seats . Wire-service reports said two persons on the ground also were killed , and that a 4-year-old girl was hospitalized in critical condition . Late last night , the Associated Press reported that the girl was identified by her grandfather . Her father , mother and brother were passengers on the Northwest airliner and died in the crash . The JT8D-219 engines used on the jet have been the subject of some concern among federal safety officals . In April , the National Transportation Safety Board urged the FAA to conduct a safety investigation of the 200 series of JT8D engines after some dangerous in-flight engine failures . The board made the recommendation after a March 23 incident in which an American Airlines MD-82 plane approaching the Minneapolis airport experienced an engine surge and loss of power . The engine , a JT8D-217A , was shut down , and the plane landed without further trouble . A later inspection showed that all 44 of the pins used to lock jet-engine turbine-vane clusters to the outer part of the turbine case had fractured . The board recommended that the FAA order inspections of the JT8D engines to detect any pin fractures and to replace existing ones with improved pins . The board said similar incidents involved Pacific Southwest Airlines and Muse Airlines . The FAA , in a May 29 response , told the board it essentially agreed with its recommendations and would take steps to require inspections of the engine and replacement of parts where necessary . The new rules , proposed last month , will go into effect this fall , FAA officials said . In its April report , the National Transportation Safety Board warned that `` many '' of the 330 MD-80 series airplanes operated by 12 U.S. and 14 foreign airlines world-wide `` are potential candidates '' for engine failure . More than 900 of the engines have been manufactured , according to the board . However , engineering changes have been made in some engines . In others , airlines have made changes , based on a Pratt & Whitney service bulletin , to reduce the risk of pin failure . Thomas Haueter , of the safety recommendations staff of the safety agency , said that the board had n't put out an emergency recommendation for immediate replacement of the pins because it was unclear if the problems that had occurred were merely isolated incidents or reflected system problems . FAA officials at the crash scene would n't speculate on the reasons for the crash or comment on the plane 's engines . John Lauber , one of five members of the National Transportation Safety Board , said at a news conference at a hotel near the airport last night that there was no evidence at this point that either engine exploded or caught fire during flight . He stressed that it was too early to draw any firm conclusions . A board spokesman said it will take nine to 12 months to determine the probable cause of the accident . Despite an excellent safety record , Northwest could be hurt in a number of ways by the crash . Among other things , the accident has focused attention on its recent service problems as well as discord among its workers . The airline early yesterday denied that its labor troubles may have played a role in the crash . Such concerns arose following reports of a work slowdown by Northwest mechanics . In January , the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating incidents of alleged tampering with Northwest planes in Minneapolis . Northwest , a unit of Minneapolis-based NWA Inc. , also has had a rash of service problems since its acquisition of Republic Airlines last year . There were reports yesterday that relatives of crash victims being flown in from Phoenix were asked to switch from one Northwest jet to another because of mechanical problems . The MD-82 that crashed was a former Republic jet that Northwest acquired as part of the merger . The two emergency landings that involved the jetliner , number N312RC , took place in Minneapolis and San Francisco . In the Minneapolis incident , the plane landed missing part of its tail cone . A Northwest spokesman said the engines involved in those two incidents had since been replaced by other JT8D-200 series engines . The FAA said in Washington that air-traffic controllers in Detroit gave the Northwest flight takeoff clearance for Runway 3C , the center of the airport 's three runways . The controllers reported that shortly after the jetliner lifted off , it pitched from left to right , according to FAA spokesman John Leyden . Then they `` saw a blue flash from the left engine , '' Mr. Leyden said . `` The left wing hit the ground , and the aircraft burst into flames , '' according to the controllers ' account . FAA records show that besides those incidents that involved the plane that crashed , problems with the turbine sections of JT8D-200 series engines occurred on three Republic flights in the past four years . None of those problems resulted in a serious accident . In one such incident , in September 1983 , falling debris from an engine caused fire damage to several homes around John Wayne International Airport in Orange County , Calif. . In another incident , at the Detroit airport in October 1985 , an engine on an MD-82 `` popped and began to unspool '' on takeoff . Later inspection revealed extensive turbine damage to the engine , the FAA report said . An FAA official said all jetliners , in order to be certified , must be capable of completing their takeoff ascent even if one engine fails , provided the aircraft is within prescribed weight limits . Why the Northwest airliner failed to make the climb and whether it was carrying too much weight will be subjects for federal investigators , he said . Congress is expected to act on a half-dozen major aviation bills this fall . Staff members now expect those bills to attract new measures aimed at improving safety . `` Aviation is going to be a hot topic , '' said an aide to Sen. Robert Byrd -LRB- D. , W.Va . -RRB- . `` When people get back -LRB- from their August recess -RRB- , they will be looking for an opportunity to do something . '' For example , Sen. Byrd and Sen. Ernest Hollings -LRB- D. , S.C. -RRB- , chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee , have already drawn up legislation that would require small planes to be equipped with altitude-reporting devices at hundreds of airports across the U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg -LRB- D. , N.J. -RRB- , chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation , predicted that the accident will `` accelerate movement by the Congress and the Transportation Department to do whatever can be done -- either by hiring more maintenance inspectors or reducing air traffic to meet the capacity of the system , to reduce the chances of future accidents . '' He added , `` We will want to hear a thorough examination of everything that took place with that airplane and what was going on at the airport . '' Sunday 's crash was the first time in 24 years that passengers were killed in an accident involving a Northwest plane . In June 1963 , a DC-7 operating as a military charter crashed into the Pacific Ocean , killing all 101 people onboard . In March , a commuter plane affiliated with Northwest crashed in Detroit , killing nine people . The worst airline accident ever in the U.S. was the 1979 crash of an American Airlines jet in Chicago . -- Previous Airline Accidents In U.S. Involving U.S. Carriers AIRLINE LOCATION YEAR DEATHS American Chicago 1979 273 Pan Am Kenner , La. . 1982 153 PSA San Diego 1982 144 Delta Dallas 1985 135 TWA , United New York 1960 134 Eastern New York 1975 112 Alaska Juneau 1971 111 Eastern Miami 1972 99 American New York 1962 95 TWA Berryville , Va. . 1974 92

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northwest airlines jet
emergency landings
federal crash inspectors
aviation safety issues
heavy load
safety investigation
crash victims
detroit