European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 29, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday August 29, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 7 a a a a 1. A a to blamed for drop in students Reading skill by the new York times television has Long been blamed for the decline in students Reading ability. And once again those accusations were made in the Wake of the release on monday of the verbal scores of 1991 College bound seniors on the Scholastic aptitude test which hit an Al time Low. A there is a direct correlation Between television viewing and declines in Reading skills a after two hours of television watching a William m. Honig superintendent of Public instruction in California said tuesday. A the More television you watch the lower your Reading  California has conducted several studies of the relationship Between television viewing and Reading skills. And they came to the same conclusions As a Survey by the National assessment of educational Progress released last year. That report indicated that students seemed to prefer television to books. Sixty nine percent of the fourth graders interviewed for the report said they watched three hours or More of television a Day while less than half 46 percent reported Reading for pleasure daily. Michael Fitzmaurice of the National association of broadcasters research and information group acknowledged that a too much to is a bad thing a but added a to blame these declines squarely on television is  he went on a the one thing we know is that the biggest predictor of Scholastic Success is the time parents spend Reading to their children. Even if you threw away television the Scholastic abilities Arentt going to  some educators said that verbal scores could be falling because of a changing mix of elementary and secondary school students Avith More minority children non English speakers and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. A television is part of the problem certainly but its not All of the problem a said Peggy Wharren president of the action for children a television a Cambridge  group that lobbies for Quality programs. Quot there Isnit anybody who looks at a kid who is spending three or four hours watching television and not doing Well in school and does no to find something wrong in that. But i  scream at television. I think people love to make television a  other experts say that the use of television computers and videocassettes needs to be monitored by parents. They add that Many parents who Check on their children a television viewing habits end up giving them videotapes and computers that can just As easily undermine their children a verbal skills. A it Isnit the medium that is at fault a said or. Arthur Pober vice president of the children a advertising review unit for the Council of better business bureaus. A parents can to use television or videos As baby Sitters and then be surprised that the child does no to read  a Sugii i vow x a .1.v.w.v radioactive coolant spills a officials Survey the wreckage of a truck that leaked five Gallons of radioactive water on 1-64 when it crashed in Newport news va., on tuesday. The truck was carrying a reactor pump from the Surry nuclear Power Plant when it slammed into an overpass. Officials said the spill did not pose a Hazard. Reporter s autopsy shows drugs Morgantown . A a reporter who said he was investigating a possible government plot had traces of a painkiller and an anti depressant in his blood when he died with his wrists slashed authorities said tuesday. A blood Sample from Joseph d. Casolaro 44, of Fairfax va., contained tiny amounts of tylenol no. 3, which contains codeine a narcotic said or. James Frost an assistant state medical examiner. His blood also contained traces of an anti depressant but in an amount too Small to determine the specific drug taken Frost said. A the tests so far indicate that he was not incapacitated by any drug they have found a Frost said. Frost said earlier that Casolaro a death was consistent with suicide. He said he saw no evidence of foul play but did no to Rule it out. Frost said he found nothing m the tests to change his mind. Combining codeine with an anti depressant May enhance the effect of either drug according to the physicians desk reference a Standard reference Book. Casolaro a body was found aug. 10 by employees at a hotel in Martinsburg in the Eastern Panhandle. He was lying in a Bathtub with both wrists slashed several times. A single Edge razor Blade was found in the tub. Or. Anthony Casolaro the reporters brother and an Arlington va., pulmonary internist said his brother did no to have a prescription for either drug. Train crash in . Kills 5, hurts 171 new York apr a subway train jumped the tracks and slammed into a pillar wednesday killing at least five people and injuring 171, officials said. Police said an empty crack vial was found in the train operator s compartment. The 12 15 . Accident occurred As a 10-car downtown train was approaching Manhattan a Busy 14th Street Union Square station. The crash sheared the Lead car in half and passengers were trapped in the twisted steel for hours. The train a was going so fast the next thing you know it was a Boom a a said pais Sengpr Albert Webb 30. He said he saw a baby hurled from its mothers . A it was like an explosion a said passenger Josith Ricketts who had bloody Knees and a torn dress. A some people from another car got thrown into our car. There was a lot of smoke. The car was just shredded. There were wires hanging Down. People were  the train operator known As a Motorman was reported missing for several hours until he was found returning to his Home in the Bronx about 6 30 ., said John Kavanagh assistant chief of the transit police. He said police were questioning Robert Ray 38, a 10-year transit authority employee who has been a Motorman since 1988. A there was a crack vial found in the Motorman Scab a Kavanagh said. A we done to know what relation it has to this  a source said investigators also were looking into reports that the Motorman skipped a couple of stops Early in the route and was travelling too fast. Deputy fire commissioner Tom Kelly said the train looked like a a collapsed  police said they believed the last of the victims trapped in the wreckage was out by about 5 . Kelly said five people were killed. The emergency medical service reported 171 people were injured 12 critically. The injured included 34 police officers treated at the scene for heat and smoke injuries. A it is a mess a twisted steel girders buckled one car sheared in half a said mayor David Dinkins who ventured into the Tunnel. Batteries blamed for part of nuke Plant s failure. _ n a. N _ i i. N. U of tent morn no to inn Lorl Mit in Nulph Nannt uni up engr up in thu us nip  Scriba . Apr dead batteries in backup Power sources allowed a Power failure to Knock out instruments in a nuclear Power Plant control room forcing the reactors emergency shutdown this month an official said tuesday. The plants main owner accepted the blame Tor not changing the batteries and acknowledged not inspecting them. A Federal regulator however said tests would not have detected that the batteries were drained. Investigators still Haven to determined the cause of the transformer failure that led to the Power outage at nine mile Point 2, said Jack Rosenthal Leader of the . Nuclear regulatory commission team reviewing the aug. 13 incident. He said the cause May never be known. The outage at the 3-year-old, 1,080-megawatt Plant on Lake Ontario prompted declaration of a site area emergency the second most serious nuclear emergency classification. A Power surge from an overheated two Story transformer knocked out most of the instruments in the plants control room for 34 minutes. Power was restored Only after the reactor was automatically shut Down. Rosenthal said instruments that weren to knocked out enabled Plant operators to maintain control of the reactor and no radiation was released. The most puzzling part of the incident was the unprecedented failure of five of the plants 10 so called uninterruptible Power sources Rosenthal said. The backup Power sources should have kicked in after the Power surge which lasted about a tenth of a second. The systems Are designed to run off their own internal batteries during a Power loss. The other five backup systems powered safety related equipment and were designed with a different Type of internal Power source so they were unaffected by the Power surge he said. Inspectors found the batteries in the five tailed systems were dead or discharged. Although there Are no arc re Auire ments for maintaining the batteries the manufacturers instructions called for their replacement after four years. Rosenthal said the batteries were 6 years old. Robert Burtch spokesman for main Plant owner Niagara Mohawk Power corp., said the Utility accepted the blame for not changing the batteries but said the manufacturers manual was unclear about their purpose