European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday february 11, 1994 the stars and stripes Page 5 be y d e r do 14 n Al Eti Erle Aras West Virginia bears Brunt of icy storm by t j. Simoneaux the associated press ice and Snow thursday hampered West Virginia s re covery from the state s worst flooding in nearly a dec Ade. Farther North a cold blast made digging out from a snowstorm a brutal task. Even Salt trucks were sliding across icy roads As temperatures in West Virginia plummeted wednesday from the 40s and 50s to the teens where they hovered thursday morning. Earlier we were Busy with the flood situation. Now we re working on complicated Snow and icing situations said capt. Ron Carton spokesman for the West Virginia National  same Winter storm that spread s now and ice from the Plains to the East coast caused hundreds of traffic accidents wednesday and shut schools and Busi Nesses. Thousands were without Power. The storm was followed by a High pressure system that dropped temperatures into the single digits in Many areas with windchill readings As cold As 30 de Grees below Zero in Rhode Island. Two Michigan cities set record lows for the Date Early thursday 16 below in Flint and 27 below in Marquette. In the South a new weather system thursday dumped freezing rain from Texas to the Carolinas. Weather related deaths tuesday and wednesday reached 19 six in Minnesota three in West Virginia two each in Oklahoma Illinois new Jersey and new York state and one each in Massachusetts and Arizona. " on wednesday hundreds of West virginians fled their Homes along swollen Rivers As More than 4 inches of rain fell. Authorities compared the flooding to the 1985 floods that killed nearly 50 people and caused More than $500 million in damage. One death was blamed on the flooding. A 71-year old woman drowned when she fell from a footbridge into a swollen Creek near her Home in Wayne county. The rainfall was followed in some West Virginia counties by ice or Snow. More than 13,000 people lost electricity about 4,000 were still without Power thurs Day. Gov. Gaston Caperton ordered the National guard to help flood victims in Grantsville Glenville and Phil Ippi and declared a state of emergency in four coun ties. There s got to be tremendous damage said Ken Jarvis a state emergency services spokesman. We have some flood Levels near or at the 85 Levels. We be got to have some tremendous personal hardship out  the worst flooding was reported in Northern West while parts of the . Reeled under storms a new York pedestrian walked peacefully across a Snow blanketed Park. Virginia. The Tygart Valley River in Barbour county crested 10 feet above flood stage and the cheat River crested about 8.feet above flood stage in Preston county. " about 1,000 people were asked to leave their Homes along a stretch of the cheat from St. George to Hen Dricks authorities said. A helicopter rescued four peo ple trapped on an Island. As the High water of the Monongahela River moved downstream toward the Ohio River it flooded base ments and streets in Point Marion a. At least 50 peo ple fled Riverside Homes in West Elizabeth about 20 Miles South of Pittsburgh. In Maryland Delaware and much of the South the problem was ice the Trees Are falling As fast As we put the lines up said spokesman Bob Behlke of the Choptank electric cooperative on Maryland s Eastern Shore. Several Post offices halted mail deliveries. It just was t Worth the risk because it s really treacherous said postal clerk Jim Cooke at the Camden Wyoming Post office near Dover Del. The ice was so bad in Northwestern Mississippi on thursday that it looks like Mother nature made a bombing run said Wayne Nicholas managing editor of the Bolivar commercial in hard hit Cleveland miss when i went outside thursday morning you could hear limbs popping All Over the  elsewhere More than 160 avalanches were reported in Colorado while new York City reported it has Al ready spent about $21 million to fight Snow and ice twice what it usually spends All Winter. Lake Superior the largest of the great lakes was declared ice covered for the first time in nearly 16 years. The last time the 31,800-Square-Milc Lake was pronounced ice locked was March 3, 1978. Legislators 4 others abducted in Somalia Mogadishu Somalia a two British lawmakers three Aid workers and a journalist have been kidnapped in Northern Somalia . Officials said thursday. George Bennett a . Spokesman in Mogadishu said negotiations were believed to be under Way with local clan elders for their release. He said the United nations did not know the motive for the kidnapping but britishness reports said the six were being held for Ransom. Bennett said the six were seize wednesday evening somewhere be tween the Village of hared and the coastal town of mail about 150 Miles East of the Northern port of  said they were held overnight at hared. The captives were identified As Mark Robinson and Tony Worthing ton members of Britain s parliament Anne Johnston a reporter for the Glasgow Scotland Herald and Rob Ert Lemare Jeff Chinnock and Haroun Yusuf All of the Charity group action Aid. They apparently were taken As jus part of a local inter clan dispute a British foreign office spokesman said in London. We think the lawmakers were just going to see some work the action Aid people were  in London a government source said that the hostages were not believed to be in serious danger and that the reporter had been released. Bennett could not confirm that re port. A spokesman for action Aid do Minic Byrne said that he had spoken to the lawmakers and Chinnock by radio and that they were unhurt. They Are being treated very courteously by their captors and Are in Good condition Byrne told British broadcasting corp. Radio. The area in which the six were kid napped is in the self proclaimed Somaliland Republic which was a Brit ish Colony before Somalia won it Independence from Britain and Italy in the Early 1960s. The Somaliland Republic which snot recognized by any nation broke away from Southern Somalia two year Sago. It largely avoided the clan War fare that racked the South an brought a devastating famine in 1992. Astronauts isotope in study of body functions space Center Houston a astronauts aboard shuttle discovery underwent More medical tests thursday and had a Laboratory full of science experiments to wrap up on their last work Day in orbit. Cmdr. Charles Boldenjr. And payload commander Franklin Chang Diaz barely had time to Wake up before Mission control asked them to gulp water laced with a nonradioactive oxygen isotope. Of Well be glad to drink that that stuff Bolden replied. By tracing the isotope researchers Hope to learn More about How the Astro nauts bodies Are functioning in space. The Experiment is part of joint .-rus Sian studies that have had Crew members ingesting various solutions and donating bodily fluids since their feb. 3 launch. Thursday s schedule revolved mostly around finishing up .12 Nasa sponsored experiments under Way in a cargo Bay lab module. A drug designed to stimulate immune functions is being tested on 12 rats there crystals Are being grown and Beetle kill ing microbes studied. The Crew including russian Cosmo naut Sergei Kri Kalv also was to begin stowing gear and securing discovery for today s scheduled return to Florida. Group urges viewers to turn off to by Kathryn Rogerss. Louis Post dispatch morality in Media a National Organiza Tion is asking viewers fed up with Vio Lence sex and profanity on television to turn their sets off All Day today. The group s third annual turn off to Day is aimed this year at Nype Blue picket fences Donahue and Ca vis and butt head a spokeswoman for the organization said. Morality in Media based in new York says it objects to what it Calls gratuitous nudity and profanity in Nype Julue and assaults on religious values on picket fences. Donahue features sleaze the spokeswoman says with strippers and nude artists appearing on the program. Beavis and but he id Are two animated teen age morons who have set fire to buildings and done other violence she said