European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 12, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a the stars and stripes thursday Marcz Laa twisters leave Trail of wreckage in South thursday March 12, 1992 by the associated press four Southern states cleaned up tuesday from vicious Tornado Laden storms that killed six people injured dozens and damaged More than 200 houses and Mobile Homes. Another twister tuesday night destroyed 10 Homes and damaged 40 More in North Carolina police said. A we Laid Down in the bathroom and the next thing we knew our Walls were flying around us a said Philip Lucas whose trailer was one of 10 destroyed near Montevallo Ala. A storm related malfunction in a radar system interfered with air traffic at Chicago so Hare International Airport As the remnants of a blizzard that wreaked havoc East of the Rockies socked the Midwest. Crops that had bloomed Early in last weeks unseasonably warm weather were jeopardized As temperatures plummeted behind the storms. Widely scattered parts of Alabama Arkansas Louisiana and Mississippi were damaged by a series of Squall lines that churned eastward across the Region with tornadoes thunderstorms Hail and drenching rain. One storm struck near Meridian miss., Early tuesday killing three women injuring 47 people and destroying or damaging at least 100 Homes. Quot i said a what is that a and my husband hollered a its a Tornado a and we ran out and jumped into a ditch a said Martha Waldrop who helped treat some of the injured at a fire station about five Miles South of Meridian. The Squall then moved into Western Alabama killing a baby girl and a woman near Greensboro. Police chief Gary Bice said the infants body was found a half mile from her destroyed Home. Her parents and a brother were hospitalized. In Western Mississippi another twister ripped through the Edge of Sharkey county in the Mississippi Delta causing thousands of dollars Worth of damage to Homes and Grain bins authorities said. No one was seriously injured. A storm hit the muscle Shoals Ala., area killing a Motorist who crashed into a fallen tree and another struck at Montevallo South of Birmingham. The Alabama storms injured at least 22 people. Tornadoes also struck Northern Louisiana injuring five people. One minor injury was reported in Al Dorado ark., where an apparent Tornado damaged at least 90 Homes and an Industrial Park. Preliminary damage estimates ranged As High As $5 million just in the Industrial Park. Arkansas gov. Bill Clinton signed a proclamation tuesday making Tornado victims eligible for state discs Carrie and Philip Lucas hug each other tuesday As family members search through the remains of their Mobile Home near Montevallo Ala. The two received minor us uries when a twister hit the Home tuesday morning. Ter assistance. Late tuesday a twister touched Down just outside Charlotte n.c., in the Steele Creek area said sgt. . Mills of the Mecklenburg county police department. He said officers at the scene estimated that 10 Homes were destroyed and another 40 were damaged at least 15 of them badly. One person suffered a heart attack and another sustained a Back injury he said. High water in Eastern and Central Texas where some of the storms originated closed at least five major roads. Farther North the blizzards remnants kicked up 13-foot Waves on Lake Michigan and scattered Snow rain and Hail across Illinois Indiana and Michigan. Air traffic radar at of Hare the nations busiest Airport was switched to an emergency Power system monday night and malfunctioned tuesday morning As officials switched it Back to the regular system said City aviation department spokeswoman Lisa Howard. Flights were immediately halted. Some began resuming 2a minutes later when a backup Generator partially restored the radar but Howard said cancellations and delays of up to three hours would continue All Day. Wintry air roared in behind both sets of storms. A a there a nothing that can be done a moaned Sandra Mckinley whose family operates an Orchard at Oak town ind., about 15 Miles North of Vincennes. They expected to lose their entire crop of red delicious apples the earliest variety. Fruit and wheat growers feared for their crops in Oklahoma where temperatures plunged to 14 degrees. Ohio Farmers were warned to keep Newborn animals inside to protect them from temperatures in the teens and 20s. The warmest Early March on record had coaxed buds out on Trees and Flowers out of bulbs a month earlier than usual but wednesday morning lows were expected to Range from 10 to 20.parties prepare to Battle for Britain on april 9 London apr prime minister John major on wednesday chose april 9 As the Date for National elec Lions setting the stage for the closest race since his party took Power 13 years ago. Major went to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth ii to dissolve parliament a Day after the government announced modest tax cuts for individuals and Small businesses. Quot in a utterly confident that we will win the election that we will win the election with a Clear and working majority. I have no doubt about that Quot major announced outside his office at no. 10 Downing St. Britain a stubborn recession reflected in an unemployment level of 9.2 percent and record rates of Home repossessions loomed As a major election Issue. The opposition labor party which has moved sharply toward the Center since suffering massive defeats in 1979, 1983 and 1987, also has criticized the governments record on  the previous three campaigns when Margeret Thatcher led the conservatives there Are no Sharp divisions Between the parties on defense policy or the Primacy of a Market Economy. The parties Are so close in the polls that no party May achieve a majority of 326 seats leaving Britain with its first coalition government since 1976, when the liberals propped up labor. Tuesdays financial times published the average of polls in the past two weeks and showed the parties locked at around 38.5 percent each with centrists Liberal democrats just under 18 percent. The International communications and marketing research poll published wednesday in the guardian newspaper put labor support at 42 percent against 39 percent for the conservatives and 15 percent for the Liberal democrats. The conservatives Are seeking to be the first party this Century to win four successive terms. The conservatives Sharp drop in opinion polls led to a party revolt against Thatcher in november 1990, and the 48-year-old major was elected As party Leader and prime minister. 8,555 seek damages for Asbestos illnesses Baltimore apr the nations largest Asbestos injury trial opened tuesday with a lawyer accusing 13 companies of putting profits ahead of workers welfare. A a we la prove to you that these companies found profit More important than the Protection of Consumers from disease a Peter Angelos told a state court jury. Attorneys for the companies were to begin opening statements wednesday. Angelos represents about 90 percent of the 8,555 plaintiffs. The plaintiffs Are seeking damages for illnesses they claim can be attributed to occupational exposure to Asbestos a Mineral used in fireproof materials. The trial before circuit judge Marshall Levin consolidates All cases filed in Baltimore and four Maryland counties. Levin said jurors must decide whether six plaintiffs whose medical histories will be profiled have Asbestos related diseases. Two of those plaintiffs a Lawrence Leaf and Ira Russell a Are dead one is hospitalized and three were in the courtroom. If the jury decides the companies Are guilty damages for individual cases will be decided at min trials. The jury must determine whether the companies knew Asbestos was dangerous and neglected to warn users and whether they must pay punitive damages. Ronald l. Motley another attorney representing the plaintiffs said a 1945 letter from Owens Corning fiberglas corp. To a worker to Maine showed that the company knew then of the dangers. A Asbestos fibres Are snakelike Needle Sharp and penetrating to the respiratory organs and cause havoc a he said Reading from the letter. Many of the Baltimore plaintiffs were steel and shipyard workers who handled Asbestos insulating material without protective equipment. ,. Other state judges have ordered similar consolidations to try to relieve a backlog of nearly 90,000 Asbestos lawsuits nationwide. Levin said one company fibreboard corp., settled Friday. Another Owens Illinois inc., settled with most of the plaintiffs he said. The terms were not released. The other defendants Are a and a inc., Armstrong world industries inc., Gay corp., Keene corp., National Gypsum co., Mic Owens coming fiberglas corp., Pittsburgh Corning corp., por Ter Hayden co., Quigley co., . Gypsum co. And . Grace amp co