European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 the stars and stripes monday january 22,1990 deluge makes even Snow capital take notice by David Hulen los Angeles times Anchorage Alaska until couple of weeks ago this was shaping up As a typical Winter in Valdez Snow capital of Alaska. Eyeball deep drifts. Kitchen windows half buried in White. Snow Banks that turned streets into Long White trenches. Then it really started snowing. By saturday after Days and Days of near constant snowfall the Snowbank in downtown Valdez stood 7 feel deep Snow was still coming Down and another storm was expected off the Gulf of alas a. The Snow is basically up to the Bot Tom of your second Story windowsills in a lot of places said Bert Cottle the police chief. Four vessels in the Small boat har Bor including a 40-foot pleasure Craft have sunk in recent Days from the weight of White blankets on decks. The wet heavy Snow also threatens to make roofs Cave in and officials have warned residents to Start shovelling. This weekend Snow shoveler were being hired As fast As they could be found. In three weeks the prevailing wage for Snow labourers shot up from $7 an hour to nearly $20, residents said. I m looking out the window Jack Chappel manager of a Valdez Gas Sta Tion said by Telephone Ana every building i Sec except one has people on the roof removing  this is after All Alaska. Large quantities of Snow Are not unheard of. But in Valdez where Many of the 4,500 residents take Pride in the fact that the town functions normally with More Snow than practically anywhere else in America this Winter has been different. The average snowfall in Valdez is304 inches from october to May about 25 feet. By contrast mount Shasta calif., gets about 9 feet. Anchorage gets nearly 6. Denver averages 5. As of saturday Valdez had received 359 inches or 30 feet according to the National weather service office  at least another two months of Winter remaining the All time Valdez snowfall record of 384.7 inches seem sin grave danger. On tuesday alone Valdez received47 a inches 4 feet. The 134 inches so far this month shattered the record for january. Coming on the heels of the Exxon Valdez Oil spill last March and the sub sequent months of chaos the weather is making some residents edgy. Everybody s really stressed  said Diane Skodinski who works at a Day care Center. All you do is shovel  As she spoke people were on the Center s roof using a Chain saw to Cut Snow into blocks to haul away. One storm after another has swept inform the Pacific Ocean and up Prince William sound. Valdez sits at sea level on a Long fiord beneath a Wall of 5,000-foot mountains. The peaks help trap the storms and so the Snow Falls and Falls said Tom Ward a weather service fore Caster. Several places in Alaska have broken snowfall records this year. In the suit a Valley North of Anchorage 4 feet of Snow Feu within a couple of Days this week collapsing a few buildings. In one area a snowfall of several feet was preceded earlier in the week by a half Inch of Ash fallout from the still rumbling redoubt Volcano. Nowhere has it snowed As in Valdez. Crews there Are running out of room to shovel it. Some Snow mountains Are As High As Utility poles residents said. Streets signs All Over Valdez Are buried in snowdrifts and cars have collided because Drivers could t see around Corners police  one has been injured seriously. We did have an individual fall off arc of  Cottle the Valdez police chief said saturday. He was t Hurt very bad. When the Snow s 9 feet deep there s not very far to  Valdez Airport has been closed for nearly a week leaving Only one Way out of town a drive up a two Lane Highway through a Mountain pass that sometimes gets twice As much Snow As Valdez. Through the current deluge Valdez Lias maintained its record for never closing schools because of Snow. But some parents were a Little leery of Send ing their children outdoors among the monster Snowbank. I be thought about it said Doris Giusti who has a 7-year-pld daughter. It s not entirely impossible that she could hit a Loose spot and just  everybody likes to think they can live with a lot 01 Snow said Chappel the Valdez Gas station manager. They think it s kind of neat that we have record Snow and everything and they can All say we lived through the record. But i think at this Point everybody s pretty much seen enough Snow for the  Telescope launch delayed again Cape canaveral Fla. A the Long awaited launch of the Hubble space Telescope will be delayed from March to april because of a problem with one of space shuttle Atlantis solid fuel Booster rockets Nasa said saturday. The $1.7 billion spacecraft is scheduled to become astronomy s most significant tool in expanding know ledge of the universe into the 21st Century. The space Agency said shuttle managers decided to Exchange one of the motor parts on the right Booster Bova Constrictor Merlin the Boa is All wound up about being Backhoe and gives Bis owner Anthony Bova the kind of hug Only a Constrictor can give. Bov thought Merlin was gone for Good when he lost him just before he had to move out of us Houston apartment. But the new tenant two months later found the 6-foot pet coiled up in the toilet. Rocket because there was a question on whether a test had been done properly. Assembly operations were too far along to repeat the test Nasa said. The launch had been scheduled for March 26. Esti mates of the length of the delay Range from 10 Days to two weeks. The next shuttle Mission discovery which is scheduled to undertake a military Mission on feb. 16, also faces a delay of several Days. Abortion rallies held across . Washington up hundreds of supporters and opponents of abortion rights saturday stage peaceful protests and rallies across the United states to Mark the 17th anniversary monday of the landmark . Supreme court decision legalizing abortion. In los Angeles about 400 activists on both sides of the Issue matched forces outside her clinic As opponents blockaded the front and Back doors. No arrests were made police sgt. William Yarbo rough said. It s a very Calm group no violence no  abortion opponents prayed and Sang hymns while supporters chanted two four six eight you can make me  the clinic demonstration was the first of Many weekend events in Southern calif9rnia and around the nation marking the monday anniversary of the 1973 Roc is. Wade decision which legalized abortion. In Boise Idaho abortion opponents rallied on the state Capitol Steps. One sign in the crowd said i was  others said "1 am pro life and All my children Vole no exception legislation and rights for unborn  several signs featured Bible verses. About 50 abortion opponents braved the rain and mounted a peaceful protest outside a planned parenthood clinic in downtown Philadelphia. The protes ters did not prevent patients from entering the clinic but pleaded with them to seek counselling and other alternatives to abortion. I Don t know if we stopped anyone from going in said Charles Mamm Acuri 28, holding a sign depicting an aborted fetus. The clinic s executive director Carol Wall said the protesters had been verbally abusive to clients and staff. She said the clinic contacted clients with sat urday appointments to warn them of the protests but that none had rescheduled. Police said there were no arrests or injuries reported. Stateside tire puncture nailing police in Speed traps Westminster. Colo. A someone Bent on hindering a crackdown on speeders has been puncturing police tires by sprinkling officers Highway hideaways with roofing nails. Since May the nails have flattened More than 40tires on patrol cars and motorcycles authorities said. After it happened More than once Westminster police figured they were being targeted by someone who knew where officers would Park to catch speeders. It was just too coincidental police spokesman Rick Kempsell said. The latest incident occurred on a ramp leading to westbound . 36. Two tires on a police car were punctured. Police estimated that 300 to 500 of the Small nails were scattered along the ramp s shoulder less than a Quarter mile from police Headquarters. Roofing nails also have been found near emergency vehicle turnaround areas along the Turnpike and inter state 25. Jet blows tire on Takeoff lands safely in Chicago Chicago a a Denver bound United air lines Jet with 69 passengers aboard landed safely at o Hare International Airport on saturday after blow ing a tire on Takeoff in Iowa Federal officials said. The Pilot made a perfect Landing Federal aviation administration spokesman Mort Edelstein said. When he landed he blew several More tires but there was no fire and no  t he Pilot of United flight 253 noticed that a lire had blown on the Boeing 737 when he left Cedar rapids. Iowa just after 7 a.m., Edelstein said. The plane was diverted to Chicago dumped fuel Over Lake Michigan and landed at 10 10 a.m., he said. Good Deal is too Good pair tries to sell stolen loot Hampton Bays . A what looked like Good buy wound up As a Good bust after police arrested two men who had advertised stolen property at Cut rate   Blanco 18, and Frederick Hallock 20, both of Hampton Bays were each charged with two counts of burglary after their arrest Southampton police Detec Tive Richard Loos said. According to Loos the pair called Wing s Swap and shop program and offered a television and microwave for Low prices. But a buyer became suspicious when the Sellers insisted on meeting in a parking Loi instead of a Home the detective said. The buyer called police who sent two plainclothes detectives to meet Blanco and Hallock. The detectives determined that property had been stolen from two Homes Loos said