European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 28, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday november 28, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 7judge bars shipment of nuclear waste Washington a a Federal judge has ordered the government to halt its plans to ship nuclear waste to an underground storage facility near Carlsbad . Congress has not authorized the storage of radioactive waste at the waste isolation Pilot Plant said . District judge John Garrett Penn ruling in favor of the state of new Mexico which challenged the plan. The Energy department wants to ship As Many As 8,500 Drums of plutonium contaminated waste from Idaho to the Plant 26 Miles Southeast of Carlsbad. The test program was intended to help officials decide whether to use the facility As a permanent disposal site. However Penn wrote a defendants have presented no convincing evidence that the hazardous waste materials they seek to introduce in the w1pp site can be  state officials contended the underground Salt Beds could collapse and make it impossible to remove the radioactive waste thus making the Plant a permanent storage site by default. Doe spokeswoman Gloria Inlow said in Albuquerque that the Agency would a review the opinion and if there Are grounds for an Appeal we will recommend that the department of Justice pursue an  the Federal government had agreed to wait for a ruling but government attorneys argued earlier this month that further delays would be expensive. It costs $13 million a month to maintain the Plant site on which More than $1 billion has been spent to Date government lawyers said. But Penn said that Money might be spent whether or not the test phase was carried out. Penn ordered the Federal government to Stop its plans to ship radioactive waste to the new Mexico site. The injunction is intended to remain in effect until Penn makes a final ruling in the Case. The Energy department look Over the Plant oct. 3 from the Interior depart ment after negotiations in Congress on a land Transfer plan broke Down. New Mexico officials argued that the Transfer was illegal because the Constitution gives Congress control Over Federal land. Penn agreed that the Interior department overstepped itself when it modified previous arrangements to allow the storage of the nuclear waste. The natural resources defense Council and the state of Texas joined new Mexico in the lawsuit. The waste repository is located near the Texas Border. There is interest in the Issue through much of the West because the first shipment would come from Idaho through Utah and Colorado in route to  blamed for 1990 blast at fort Harrison Washington apr Federal investigators blamed the military tuesday for a natural Gas explosion at fort Benjamin Harrison near Indianapolis last year that killed two people and  24 others. The National transportation safety Board said the probable cause of the explosion a was the failure of the . Army to construct maintain and operate the forts Gas distribution system in accordance with its own and accepted Industry  John Randt civilian spokesman for the Post said a obviously we re going to look very closely at the data that s been presented and take corrective action As warranted. We be got to study this  the Nosb said an inadequately trained Engineer inadvertently opened a valve to a discontinued steel Gas main allowing natural Gas to leak into a Harrison Village residential building where it ignited and exploded last dec. 9. Emergency Crews could not find the valves needed to isolate the leaking segment of the main because a maps of the distribution systems were incomplete inaccurate and too Large in scale to be useful a the Nosb said. The army did not insist that the maps be corrected even after they were known to be inaccurate the investigators said. Moreover the corps of engineers did not adequately oversee changes in the Gas distribution system made Between 1987 and 1990. The Agency also said that managers at fort Harrison did not demand that the Gas system be operated according to safety standards nor did the army or the defense department supervise closely enough to find and Correct problems. Furthermore the Post had no written emergency plan for dealing with natural Gas problems and personnel for the Gas system were inadequately trained. The Nosb recommends that the defense department Correct every Inadequacy mentioned in the report by properly training All personnel involved with the Gas systems and annually testing them correcting the Gas system maps doing annual assessments of the systems and explicitly requiring compliance with All safety  of . Beating Dies after car strikes ambulance new York apr a badly beaten woman being rushed to a Hospital died tuesday shortly after the ambulance collided with a car going the wrong Way on a one Way Street. Police Are waiting for autopsy results to see who will be charged in her death. The ambulance carrying Nafisa Abdullah 24, was struck by a car driven by Joseph Sohler 25, of Edison n.j., police said. Sohler was driving South on a northbound Street when his car struck an emergency medical service supervisors vehicle and overturned it. Sohler s car was spinning when it struck the ambulance police said. The ambulance had picked Abdullah up from a housing project where she was beaten by her sister s Boyfriend said housing chief of detectives Vincent Pizzo. An autopsy was scheduled for wednesday said Ellen Borakove of the medical examiners office. Kenneth Mcgarity plays the piano for his wife Theresa and daughters Alicia 18 left and Elizabeth 12.disabled vet erases doctor s doubts Atlanta apr army surgeon Kenneth Swan said he was filled with anguish and doubt after he saved the life of a 19-year-old Soldier who was horribly wounded in the Vietnam War. More than 23 years later he tracked Down Kenneth Mcgarity and found a happily married family Man who Hopes to help others overcome disabilities such As his a being Blind and having no legs. Quot i found it just incredible that he could have such a positive attitude with the enormous physical damage he sustained a Swan said. A a he a been through literally hell on Earth and he had come up  Mcgarity 43, who lives with his wife and two daughters 18 and 12, in Columbus 110 Miles Southwest of Atlanta said he a grateful Swan was undaunted by the severity of the wounds. A this doctor had been through the guilt trip of a lifetime Quot he said in a Telephone interview. Quot he a been asking himself All this time a did i do the right thing a a if he Hadnot stuck All the pieces Back together i  have this wonderful wife and these great  Swan 57, a trauma surgeon at the University of Medicine and dentistry of new Jersey in Newark visited Mcgarity at his Home in september. In 1968, three weeks alter returning to Vietnam on a second tour of duty the army specialists helicopter exploded after taking a hit from a rocket propelled grenade. Swan amputated Mcgarity s legs and supervised other doctors in trying to repair severe Eye Arm and head injuries. Mcgarity Lay on the operating table for seven hours. A i done to recall there being much of a decision Quot Swan said. A i did not Ponder very Long whether he should live or die. I made a decision for a full court  the next Day however Swan said fellow doctors criticized his decision to save Mcgarity telling him the Soldier would have been better off Lead. Mcgarity said he ran into a similar attitude from doctors at . Hospitals trying to help him adjust to being Blind and having to use a wheelchair. The doubts nagged Swan on and off until 1989, when he decided to find Mcgarity. A i expected to find him in a a Hospital neglected bed sores psychotic pitied a Swan said. After three years he found a disabled Veteran who has worked hard to adjust. Mcgarity has attended College Learned to scuba dive and wants to earn a degree to help others Cope with debilitating injuries