European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 21, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a the stars and stripes saturday september 21,1991monitors were in class during outage new York apr technicians who Monitor the at amp to Call switching Center that shut Down this week were absent because the company had sent them to class on a new alarm designed to avoid the trouble that caused the outage their Union said thursday. The trouble erupted when the switching Plant was converting from the commercial Power system to its own Power Supply. Employees who normally track the conversion were in the class and others in the building apparently overlooked alarms. The outage blocked millions of Calls for about seven hours and resulted in a virtual shutdown of airports in the new York area when it knocked out an air traffic communications system. The Airport shutdown had a Ripple effect nationwide. Bob Swanson Secretary treasurer of local 1150 of the communications workers of America contended that the existing alarm system designed to warn of Power Supply problems was not working properly and that equipment blocked some of the warning lights. The technicians at the Center whom the Union rep californians fail to halt Fly s spread Washington up a the Mediterranean fruit Fly which has threatened californians agriculture since its discovery there in 1975, has established itself in the state a researcher said thursday. The me Fly is one of the most destructive agricultural pests in the world attacking 260 varieties of fruits vegetables and nuts. High loss rates Are not uncommon in regions where the me Fly is established. Agriculture officials spent a record $52 million to eradicate the pest during the most recent infestation. They declared Victory nov. 8, 1990, after 16 months of battling the pest using techniques ranging from spraying the insecticide malathion to the release of millions of sterile male Medlics. While malathion a commonly used agricultural chemical kills the insects the sterile male me flies mate with Fertile females but keep them from reproducing. In a study of me Fly captures in the los Angeles area however entomologist James Carey concluded that eradication efforts have failed and that current techniques used against the insect May be inadequate. A evidence suggests that the me Fly May be established in the los Angeles area and that previous eradication programs did not eradicate the me Fly from California Quot Carey said. The me Fly has been captured in the los Angeles area in nine separate years since 1975. The number of insects detected has grown each year and the infestation area has expanded each year Carey said. The first major me Fly infestation was detected in 1980 and triggered a political crisis for gov. Jerry Brown. Agriculture officials and Farmers wanted mass spraying of malathion from helicopters Over the residential portions of Santa Clara county where the Fly was found. Residents fought the spraying in court but eventually lost. By the new York times just after she was raped while she was still in the emergency room reeling both from the assault and her feelings of rage and terror Juli Bliskey decided that filing criminal charges against the rapist would not be enough. So Bliskey while pursuing her assailant in criminal courts also filed a civil lawsuit against the Berry property management inc., the company that managed her town House which had refused to allow her to install a lock that could be opened from Only the inside. Last month after a jury trial Bliskey won a judgment for More than $17 million in the 214th Texas District court in nieces county in Corpus Christi. The management company has filed a motion for a new trial. While the amount awarded Bliskey was among the largest to Date rape victims throughout the nation Are increasingly pursuing Justice in the civil courts seeking damages from almost anyone they can find who May have shared liability for the rape. Some like Bliskey sue property managers landlords or Security companies that Are responsible for main resents weren to at fault he said. A it looks like there was a major foul up with the alarm system Quot Swanson said. American Telephone amp Telegraph co. Concurred that the technicians weren to at fault. In a statement it blamed a supervisor on duty at the time for not following a appropriate operating procedures As the Center switched from consolidated Edison Power to in House generators. A a we re still trying to determine Why employees were not alerted by the buildings alarm systems a at amp to said. A we Felt that building was manned at appropriate  at amp to spokesman Walter Murphy said some alarms were not working and those that were triggered went unnoticed. He would not elaborate on Why workers missed the alarm but said that at least one visual alarm had a burned out Light bulb. Murphy said the new alarm system that was the subject of the class is to be installed in october. The centers workers believed they had successfully switched to Generator Power tuesday morning As re Taining Safe conditions. Others usually in cases in which the rape was committed in the course of a workday have successfully sued the rapists employer. And a few victims have sought damages from the rapist himself. Most experts on rape say that the number of civil suits has grown from a few 15 years ago to a steady Stream As women have become less shamed by rape and More aware of the Legal options for fighting Back. Advocates for women say that bringing a civil suit can give victims a sense of control deter future crimes bring Justice to those for whom criminal charges Are no longer possible and in some cases provide hefty damages. A More and More women Are looking for alternatives to or instead of the criminal Justice system As a sole recourse and in Many cases the civil system can provide some remedy a said Susan Estrich of the University of Southern California Law school who is an advocate of victims rights. But she added a there Are limits to which victims and what cases the civil system works Best  Quested by con Edison. But the generating system failed and the Center automatically switched to backup batteries. At amp to said wednesday that the alarms designed to Alert workers to this fact apparently were overlooked. When the batteries died the phone switches froze. A problem in the centers Power system prevented an immediate return to con Edison Power. At amp to said it was required to switch off the Utility company Power under its contract with con Edison. Such contracts help the Utility manage Peak Power de Mand periods. Murphy said at amp to was not motivated to sign the contract because it offered Cost savings but because As a major Power user it Felt a responsibility to do so. A clearly these circumstances of the last couple of Days dictate that we take another look at such contracts the spokesman said. The head of the Federal communications commission said thursday that his Agency is investigating the  kept leak at nuclear Plant secret Gao says by the new York times the department of Energy a drive to control its broken Down bomb production factories and its attempt to get a handle on its monumental waste problems both suffered setbacks thursday. The general accounting office the investigative Arm of Congress said in a report that the department and its contractor Westinghouse knew for months about a huge leak in a waste tank in Washington state but kept it secret apparently in violation of Federal Law. In another blow an internal department of Energy report heavily criticized the work done so far to improve safety at Rocky Flats a plutonium processing Plant near Denver that is at the top of the governments list for reopening. The House and Senate Are now negotiating Over a provision that would take the decision to reopen the Plant out of the departments hands. The waste tank at the Hanford nuclear reservation has been known for years to be leaking highly radioactive wastes. The government had estimated that the total was about 5,Guo Gallons. But the report issued thursday by the congressional Agency said that Westinghouse and the Energy department knew for months that the tank had leaked far larger amounts of contaminated water perhaps 800,000 Gallons into the soil but had kept it secret. The larger leak was of Cooling water that had been pumped in to keep the contents of the tank from boiling and Westinghouse told the Federal investigators that it was following a Long standing practice at Hanford of not considering the water to be a pollutant after it came out of the tank because at the time it went into the tank it was clean. But the congressional Agency said the water was legally a hazardous waste and had probably helped to spread the High level radioactive wastes through the soil at the site in South Central Washington. Commenting on the two reports the Energy departments chief spokeswoman my. Jameson said a a there a less of a pattern of negative events than there has been in the  she added a we Are wading through the problems and there Are less problems  concerning the internal report on Rocky Flats she said a we deserve a Pat on the Back for that. The office of nuclear safety is up and running and hence the  she added that not All of its findings were new and that this was another encouraging sign because flaws in the system were being caught at several different Levels. Concerning the tank problem at the Hanford site Westinghouse said thursday that it had just received the report and was preparing a response. At the Washington department of ecology the state Agency responsible for enforcing Federal anti pollution Laws Deputy director Roger Stanley said the report by the government auditors a shakes our Confidence Quot in Westinghouse and in the department with which Washington state signed a cleanup agreement in May rape victims find Justice via civil courts 7aiding Young artists Monaco s Princess Stephanie and Prince Albert take a break from a photo session during the Princess Grac it foundation s Junior Benefit. The event at the country club in new York was held thursday to raise binds Foi Young artists in american theater dance and film