Leave a forwarding address - "More than 44 million Americans live within range of a deadly toxic cloud that could result from a chemical accident at a facility located in their zip code" - Hillel Gray, co-author of a study on potential U.S. chemical disasters.
The sane society - "As Los Angeles County prepares to sharply cut back psychiatric services, law enforcement officials said they are gearing up for waves of violent mentally ill people who need hospitalization but instead will be on the streets, causing harm to themselves and others." - News item on Los Angeles health care crisis.
Girding for `terrorists' - Atlanta's Olympics committee, preparing for the games there next year, was picketed after an Olympics security adviser told an international symposium on terrorism that, at the Olympics, "rowdy youth" could be targeted under a broad definition of terrorism. After the protest he said he was misunderstood.
The justice system - In Montreal, four cops were convicted of beating a cab driver so badly he was left permanently comatose. One cop was ordered to do community service, two got 90 days, and one got 60 - with jail time to be served weekends. Meanwhile, the cops have not been fired from the force. An official said he has to await a report from the police ethics body.
Meanwhile... - Arlene Antoine was fired from the Montreal police force after being charged with 28 counts of misconduct and being found guilty of 15. An official said it was little things, like failing to give notice of change of address. But, he sternly added, the little things piled up. Antoine was one of two Montreal cops who are Black and female.
`$afety first' - In 1992, The Federal Aviation Administration waived a safety rule to permit Delta to install a door between the first class and business class sections on some of its planes. Delta claimed the doors didn't block access to emergency exits and were necessary to ensure "first class ambience." Faced with complaints, the FAA declined to renew the exemption in `94.
Oh - Ten of Arizona's exclusive country clubs (initiation fees as high as $62,500) bar women members from the golf course on Saturday mornings. Explained the assistant pro at one club, "The men just feel Saturday is their day."
Not to hurry - For more than 50 years, Edwards Air Force Base, a test site for military planes in the California desert, has fouled earth, water, and air with toxic waste. Finally, the feds tagged it one of the most contaminated sites in the country, and 419 toxic concentrations were identified. That was in 1990. So far, 10 have been cleaned up.
That's a comfort - California's toxic cleanup chief, John O'Kane, says he doesn't think Edwards Air Force Base "is any more contaminated than any local airport."