European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 04, 1995, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Leaking napalm canisters not considered health Hazard by Tony Perry los Angeles times list West of the quiet farming Community in fail Rook Calif. A continent away from the Stark Black Wall in Washington that commemorates americans killed in Vietnam Are three weedy and Rocky Fields that Are Host to an equally chilling if less dignified memorial to the same War. The Fields part of the sprawling fail Rook naval weapons station contain an enduring Symbol of that divisive conflict More than 35,000 canisters filled with 23 million pounds of napalm a deadly brew of benzene gasoline and polystyrene plastic that turns into a flaming syrupy mass when ignited by White phosphorous. Twenty years have passed since the fall of Saigon but the Best and brightest have yet to find a Way to dispose of the Vietnam War s final Cache of liquid fire. Like chemical combatants ready for inspection the Cigar shaped Olive drab canisters Are arranged in neat rows with military precision each 10-foot-Long canister encased in its own open sided Wood crate Row after Row acre after acre exposed for two decades to the wind and Sun incl rain. An eerie stillness envelops the napalm Fields of fail Rook broken Only by the muffled sounds of heavy artillery being used Miles away by the marines training at Camp Pendleton. Some of the napalm canisters Are still stamped with the manufacturer s 30-Day warranty attesting to the contents killing Power. A few Are leaking a gooey residue. Those that cannot be patched Are Laken to a toxic incinerator in Arkansas. The Specter of napalm bombs being dropped by american jets once aroused passionate debate but the Fate of this forgotten stockpile has now become a Low key Battle of attrition a bureaucratic mix of environmental concerns budgetary restraints and governmental red tape.  a the residents of fail Rook a Rural and politically conservative Community in Northern san Diego county have Learned to live with the napalm which is1 said to be  its detonators and with the occasional Promise that there is Light at the end of the . Technicians and environmentalists mindful that benzene is a Carcinogen and that the crates Are soaked with a toxic Wood preserver periodically Check for leakage and air pollution. But mostly the canisters just serve As a staging area for Jack rabbits rattlesnakes and Field rats. A t. After keeping the news Media at Bay for years the Navy has decided to try to rehabilitate the weapon s image by allowing journalists   Fields. Fail Rook residents have been offered Tours. We re trying to demystify napalm said Richard Williamson spokesman for naval ordnance Center Pacific division headquartered in Seal Beach Calif. Perhaps More than any other word associated with the Vietnam conflict napalm came to define the sides in a. Bitter National debate one of the most searing images of the War was a 1972 picture by an associated press photographer that showed vietnamese children including a naked 9-year-old girl running in terror after their Village had accidentally been struck by napalm. Despite its horrific image among Many americans troops in the Field said napalm saved innumerable american lives by repelling advances by the Viet Cong and the North vietnamese army. And scholar Center Lewy in his Book America in #$8bbw8s8� is Fer do Sio. Of to of v s a \ 5% Jujj of vex Vbk a  � los Angeles times napalm bombs manufactured two decades ago cover three Fields at fail Rook naval weapons station Calif. Vietnam argued that anti War activists overstated their claims the impression created by critics of the War that Many thousands of villagers and children were Burnt by napalm is undoubtedly false said Lewy who based his Book on millions of pages of secret military documents. Still Lewy also doubted military assertions that napalm and other incendiary weapons were used with surgical precision and Only As a last resort. In truth commanders. Enjoyed wide latitude to Call for air strikes on civilians1 when they Felt the enemy a hiding among them he concluded. The rather free use of napalm and attacks upon fortified hamlets with artillery and air strikes can be criticized on humanitarian grounds and moreover were often counterproductive Lewy wrote. Napalm was invented by chemists from Harvard and the army chemical warfare service for use in flamethrowers carried by american troops in world War ii. The name comes from its chemical constituents Napthen and Palmitate. By 1965, the air Force had developed a new formula for napalm to increase its Range and destructive Power. The old napalm had merely thrown out a column of quickly extinguished flame. The new napalm used in Vietnam which could be spread by flamethrowers or dropped from jets spread out quickly stuck to surfaces Trees Bamboo huts clothing skin and continued burning. Once armed with phosphorous ignition fuses at either end the 500-Pound canisters were strapped beneath Navy and air Force jets most frequently to be dropped at Low Levels for accuracy. The napalm fire reached temperatures of 5,000degrees, so hot it sucked out All the air in its path. Today the United Stales has eliminated napalm from its Arsenal. In 1978 the air Force declared the fail Rook napalm to be surplus and ordered it demilitarized. But three stratagems by the Navy and environmental agencies in the intervening years to have it carted off and buried or recycled for civilian uses have failed for economic or regulatory reasons. Now the Navy is planning to pay a company to extract it from the aluminium canisters and Send it by rail across the country for use As fuel in High temperature kilns at Cement plants. It does t scare me anymore said Jennifer Gaggero who can see some of the canisters on the horizon from the Back of the Good Earth Nursery she runs with her parents. I used to be worried about lightning striking it but you can Only worry about something for so Long and then you have to Stop Navy and civilian officials insist that for All its fiery legacy the napalm poses no danger to fail Rook and that Only the Ultra hot temperatures induced by burning White phosphorous can ignite napalm. Even the heat of a Blowtorch would not be sufficient to ignite the stored napalm officials say. It s an unusual problem but it does t present any immediate health hazards to anyone said Rich Varenchik spokesman for the state department of toxic substance control. We could give them a deadline to have the stuff out but we re not inclined to do  los Angeles times a canister shows toxic buildup from leaking napalm. A South vietnamese plane drops napalm bombs. File file this photo of screaming children including a girl whose clothes were burned off during an accidental air attack by napalm bomb dropped on suspected communist targets bursts into flames in an area South of Danang South  and allies helped give napalm and the War a negative image. Vietnam. The raid was conducted by aircraft from the Carrier Enterprise. W35- weak Day monday morning blues Aren t just in your head by Edward Iwata san Francisco examiner hat dreaded feeling creeps into your gut As 3 you head for bed sunday night. The weekend is history. By monday Dawn it takes Throe alarm clocks and a Tow truck to haul your weary Bones out of bed. Breakfast stinks. So does the drive to work. It s the Start of the workweek an event abhorred by millions. No you re not imagining it those monday morning blues Are very real. Recent studies show that More people get Hurt on monday than any other Day of the week. Back injuries and muscle strains Are 25 percent More Likely to hit employees on mondays says Brian Mecall a University of Minnesota economist who just finished poring through 26,000 claims for worker s compensation insurance. I " likewise a study last summer by several German doctors found that the number of heart attacks soars 33 percent on mondays among the european work Force Over the weekend people relax and slow Clown emotionally and physiologically says Barton Sparagon medical director at mount Zion medical Center s Meyer. Friedman Institute in san  we gear up for monday morning we shift to a Speed cd up  . In anticipation of work the body s stress hormones Start gushing like sewage. Muscles tense up people get edgy about project deadlines or mountains of paperwork or obnoxious co workers. / All those factors can easily trigger heart attacks and " muscle injuries Sparagon says. In fact cardiology units at san Francisco hospitals report that the number of heart attack patients jumps 10 percent to 20 percent on mondays according to Sparagon. Even those  Good health May feel a bit fatigued and lethargic on the first Day of their workweek. The Good news work performance and productivity Don t seem to Flop on mondays. We Schlupp into the office not feeling too , but we still do a pretty Good Job says Richard Moran a Price waterhouse executive in san Francisco and the author of never confuse a memo with reality and other in inns lessons. How to Cope with dismal mondays Here s some 7 advice from Sparagon Moran and Lorna cat lord a. Psychologist and business consultant from Sonoma county Calif. On fridays Don t leave projects hanging. Try to finish your leftover work so you Don t feel guilty Over he weekend Moran suggests. Exercise on saturdays and sundays for people whose work involves physical labor the Long weekend Layoff makes it tougher to come Back and exert those Muscles on monday morning Sparagon says. Don t eat a heavy fatty dinner on sunday.  suggests that a big meal the night before causes changes in clotting factors that increase the risk of heart attacks according to Sparagon. Get plenty of sleep sunday night. It s Well documented that sleep deprivation hurts one s physical and mental alertness.  monday morning. Wake up with plenty of time to get ready for work enjoy the Sunrise  a decent breakfast. Try to relax on your Way to work. Bosses should go easier on their workers. Sometimes supervisors come Down hard on their employees on monday mornings when the opposite approach will. Improve productivity Moran says. Strike a healthy balance Between work and play All seven Days. The key is to make sure your professional and personal lives Don t get out of whack says Catt Ord. Find a balance. Take care of yourself. Work hard but play hard  Scripps Howard news service 16 the stars and stripes monday september 4,1995 the stars and stripes