European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 30, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday. October 30, 19bb the stars and stripes Page 3 Italy acts to save Venice from invading tide Venice. Lwy a after dec Ades of floods and heated debates Over How la Deal with them Italy launched on saturday the first stage of a s5 Bil lion project of movable barriers hat will shelter the venetian Lagoon from the High tides of the Adriatic sea. Ever since its founding 1,100 years ago. Venice has been plagued by fre quent floods water pollution and a steady sinking. The floods have caused the Island City to drop 9 inches in rela Tion to sea level during this Century. After Waters rushed nearly 6 feet Over their Normal level on nov. 4,1966, inundating the famous St. Mark s Square and damaging most of the old City the italian government started studies to tackle the problem. But the work became bogged Down in political infighting and budgetary problems until three years ago when 110 projects were launched to culminate with the construction of a line of Mobile dikes across the Lagoon s three entrances. The barriers Are the most dramatic Nan of a project that also includes efforts to preserve the 150 canals Shore up the islands and the seawalls around the Crescent shaped. 340.squarc-Milc Lagoon and control pollution to restore the environmental balance. In nearly four years the government has spent $700 million on the project. The barriers can Best be described As giant Crocodile jaws set on the seabed they will open toward Venice when necessary to slow High tides Rushing to Ward the cily. The rising jaw will drop Back to the seabed a the tides weaken and re main invisible at Normal times. Ships will be Able to sail in and out through locks at the entrances. Italian Deputy Premier Gianni de Mich Lis in a ceremony at the Industrial Section of Maghera inaugurated the first prototype a Flap Gate called electromechanical experimental module or Mose. The acronym Means Moses in italian and has been heralded in the press As a Dike thai will save Venice from the Waters As the biblical charac Ter saved the jews in Egypt. The welded Sheet steel prototype weighing 1,100 tons and dubbed moby Duck by venetians will be towed on an offshore platform past St. Mark s Square on sunday to one of the Lagoon s three in tracts. For about year 24 hours a Day engineers will test the system supported by an offshore platform built like an Oil Rig. After the Experiment is completed 70 to 80 13-fool thick modules similar to the prototype varying in Ler Folh by own 60 feet and 89 feel and 66 fee High will be built with construction starting in 1993. The system is to be fully installed during 1995. For years this has been called a Lagoon of Debales. Now we finally have action do Mic Lillis told a crowd at the Metalou Conica Yards where 26 ital Ian companies have combined to put together the project following satellite analyses and computer models of the of the consortium supervising the project visited the thames River Estuary in England and Holland a Scheldt River where somewhat similar projects have been built. They also studied Chicago s work in cleaning up Lake Michigan As Well Assan Francisco Bay and Chesapeake Day to organize an Overall authority to supervise the project. Flood tides in Venice arc triggered by differences in atmospheric pressure at either end of the Adriatic or the sirocco wind that drives the Waters of the sea North. Flood tides have wreaked havoc i Venice As far Back As the Middle Ages when one killed 1,000 people in 1410. The great flood of 1966 caused an Esti mated $35 million in damage. Venetians who built the City to protect themselves from barbarian invaders have tried various methods of de sense of their surroundings through the years. These efforts have include building sea Walls to protect the littoral islands anti Silling projects and a ban on Industrial use of the water table. Word famous portrait Painter Dies in Florence Florence Italy Dpi italian Painter Pictro Annigoni Best known internationally for his portraits of the British Royal family and american presidents died in a Florence Hospital Friday doctors said sat urday. He was 78. Annigoni underwent an operation to repair a Perfo rated stomach ulcer in Florence s Careggio Hospital in May. Although he returned to his Florence Home after the operation he never recovered and was readmitted to the Hospital thursday. Doctors said his death was a result of his poor condition after the operation. Annigoni was born in Milan june 7, 1910, but had been a resident of Florence since the age of 15. He achieved International Fame with a 1955 portrait of Britain s Queen Elizabeth ii. Later he painted the Queen s husband Prince Philip and her sister Princess Margaret and portraits of two former . Presidents Lyndon Johnson and John f. Kennedy. Among his other portraits were those of the late Shah of Iran and his Queen Farah Diba As Well As that of the late Pope John Xxiii although painting portraits of the famous made Annigoni Italy s richest contemporary Painter his main enthusiasm was for creating frescoes in florentine churches. I Don t do portraits now except for curiosity to see if can catch the soul of my subject Annigoni told an interviewer in later life. And for the Money of one of Annigoni s favorite stories concerned his portrait of the late Gen. Mark Clark painted Afler the . 5th army commander reached Florence in 194-1. He said that when Clark saw the finished painting Pilro Ann Lyonl works in his Florence studio. He exclaimed ill have you know i never loss a Battle and walked out. I Don t know if he thought the tired Liard lines round his Mouth and eyes which reflected his Wea riness Afler the Campaign made him look a beaten Man but he never returned Annigoni said. As a youth Annigoni studied Art at the Academy of Fine arts in Florence and staged his first exhibition in 1932. In his Early years he was a harsh critic of modern trends in pain log and remained faithful to traditional painting throughout his career. My reason for living is this feeling for the great Art of the past he said. Jordan 1 St Stop i on Carlucci s 3-nation tour Amman Jordan a Secretary of defens Efrank Carlucci met with King Hussein saturday after discussing military cooperation Between Jor Dan and the United Stales with other top govern ment officials. There was no immediate word on the substance of Carlucci s talks with Hussein at the Palace. The talks followed a meeting of the jordanian american joint military commission with the defense Secretary Lead ing the . Delegation. The panel oversees the use of . Military Aid to Jordan nearly $50 million this year alone As Well As training and joint Maneu vers. Jordanian military officials also put on a military display for Carlucci at umm Qais a Peak 50 mile Northwest of Amman overlooking the Borders with Syria Lebanon and Israel. Jordan is still technically at War with Israel. But both the United Stales and Israel have made the mod Erate jordanian Monarch the Cornerstone of their mid dle East peace efforts. In 1986, Congress blocked a plan to sell jul aircraft and anti aircraft missiles Worth $1.9 billion to Jordan until it began peace talks with Israel. An angry Hussein rejected the pressure and vowed never again to seek a major weapons system from the United Wini to the soviet Union for anti aircraft mis Siles and to France and Britain for advanced Jet fight ers. But Jordan still uses Large amounts of american weaponry and trains Many of ils officers in the United , who arrived in Amman on Friday night is on the first leg of a three country Middle Easl Lour. He leaves Jordan for Egypt on monday and ends his tour in Israel a few Days after that country goes to the polls on tuesday to elect a new government. He will be the first . Defense Secretary to visit Israel since 1984. Meat Packer fined $4.3 million for safety hazards Washington the occupational safety and health administration has fined John Torrelt &. Co. $4.33 Mil lion the largest Fine Ever against a single employer for what the Agency said were hundreds of wilful safety and health violations at the meal Packer s Sioux Falls s.d., Plant. Osha said Morrell knew As Early As 1984 that working conditions at inc plan were causing serious and some limes disabling cumulative trauma injuries but did nothing to change those conditions. The company s own injury and illness records showed that 880 of 2,000 employees at the Plant sustained such injuries caused by Long periods of repetitive motion from May 1987 to april i9ss. The government said in announcing Fri Day s Fine. This Case involves an employer who knew about u serious health Hazard saw the tragic toll on its workers and chose to ignore it said assistant labor Secretary John a. Pendergrass. Morrell said in a statement that it considered the Fine grossly unfair and totally the company hinted that it might take the matter to court. Osha officials said specialists from the National Institute for occupational safety and health found during an inspection begun six months ago that 722 employees were being exposed daily to significant risk of cumulative trauma disorders from repeated hand wrist and Arm motions. said the incidence of cumulative trauma disorders among work ers at the Sioux Falls Plant was nine limes greater than inc meatpacking Industry average of 4.8 per 100 full Lime workers per year and 600 times the rate for All . Industries. Pendergrass said that Many of the Dis orders could have been easily prevented. The design of knives Cor instance can reduce Pendergrass said adding thai the biggest improvement needed was a change in inc Al nudes of
