News digest
Families of Flight 800
victims can sue
NEW YORK — A federal ap
peals court ruled Wednesday that
families of the TWA Flight 800
victims can seek millions of dol
lars in damages for pain and suf
fering because the crash was not
in international waters.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled in a 2-to-l deci
sion that the 1996 crash eight
miles off the coast of Long Island
was not governed by the Death
on the High Seas Act, which lim
its lawsuit damages.
In its majority opinion, the ap
peals court noted that President
Reagan in 1988 extended the ter
ritorial sea of the United States
from 3 miles to 12 miles offshore.
The Boeing 747 exploded min
utes into a flight from New York
to Paris, falling in pieces to the
Atlantic Ocean. All 230 people
aboard were killed. The exact
cause of the crash remains a mys
tery.
Families of the victims have
sought millions of dollars in
damages from Boeing, TWA and
Hydro-Aire Inc., which made the
plane’s fuel pumps. The plain
tiffs claim the companies were
negligent in the construction and
operation of the plane. A trial in
the case is set to begin next Feb
ruary.
Steve Pounian, a lawyer for the
families, said the ruling meant
families would not be limited to
damage awards of as little as
$100,000 to $200,000 for “pecu
niary losses” or those calculated
from an estimate of future earn
ings and other factors.
Instead, they may be able to
seek damages for the loss of care,
comfort and companionship of
loved ones as well as pain and
suffering their loved ones went
through when the plane explod
ed.
Boeing spokesman Russell
Young said the company was
studying the ruling and did not
have an immediate comment.
Julia Bishop, a TWA spokes
woman, said the airline would
leave it to Boeing to decide
whether to appeal the ruling “be
cause it’s more Boeing’s issue
than ours.” A message left with a
lawyer for Hydro-Aire was not
immediately returned.
Last wild California condor
goes home
LOS ANGELES — After 14
years behind bars, AC-8 is going
home.
The last female California con
dor to have been taken from the
wild was packed into a helicop
ter at the Los Angeles Zoo on
Tuesday for a ride to Ventura
County, where she will be re
leased next month to soar among
the cliffs where she grew up.
AC-8 is the first of the original
27 birds caught to be returned to
her home territory. Officials say
she’ll have an important job —
teaching younger birds about
roosting and nesting sites, forag
ing places and local wind pat
terns — knowledge that is not in
stinctive.
“We hope she survives,” said
Michael Clark, a condor keeper at
the zoo. “She can transfer all this
tradition that has been handed
down to her for thousands of
years. These traditions were alive
and well before (condors) were
brought into captivity.”
AC-8 — the initials stand for
“adult condor” — was captured
in 1986 as part of an effort to
breed the giant vultures in cap
tivity to save them from extinc
tion. AC-8 did her part, provid
ing nine offspring.
But now she is believed to be
past breeding age. Clark said the
bird, which weighs 17 1/2
pounds and has a 9 1/2-foot
wingspan, is at least 28 years old
and last bred in 1995.
“She goes through all the mo
tions ... she just doesn’t lay any
eggs,” he said.
Her new job will involve men
toring youngsters, including two
10-month-olds that will be re
leased with her on April 4 in Los
Padres National Forest.
“They aren’t innately wild at
all,” Clark said of condors. “I’ve
raised 79 of them. ... They’re
taught to be wild by the experi
ence of other birds.”
Mobile home fire kills eight
ACWORTH, Ga. — Fire de
stroyed a mobile home early to
day and killed eight people, in
cluding an infant, authorities
said.
Five bodies were found in a
bedroom near the back door and
three others were in the front of
the four-bedroom, double-wide
mobile home, said police Maj.
Chuck Martin.
“It appears they were all trying
to exit,” said Mark Gresham, a
spokesman for the Cobb County
Fire Department.
Neighbor Jim Wheeling said he
tried to open windows to get to
the victims.
“I picked up a big ol’ rock and
slammed it into the plate glass
window, but it wouldn’t break,”
said Wheeling, a 40-year-old con
struction worker.
The victims were Linda Joanne
Cochran, her four children, her
niece, her teen-age son’s girl
friend and the girlfriend’s baby,
said Ed Converse, who owns the
mobile home park. He said
Cochran worked for him as main
tenance supervisor until two
weeks ago, when she quit to
manage a fast-food restaurant.
“Everybody liked Joanne. She
was close to her kids. If there was
a stray, she took them in — any
one, anything. She had a huge
heart,” he said.
The names of the other victims
were not immediately available.
Police said the fire at the Mod
ern Living Mobile Home Park in
Acworth, about 30 miles north
west of Atlanta, was reported at
3:16 a.m.
Converse said some of the mo
bile homes in the park were 15 to
20 years old, but all are equipped
with smoke detectors. He rents
them for $125 to $150 a week.
However, state Insurance Com
missioner John Oxendine said
there was no evidence of a work
ing smoke detector in the home.
He said the fire started in or
around a clothes dryer.
The Associated Press
CANCER
Are you about to
make a mistake?
find out in the Classifieds,
every day!
MYTH
Most UO students drink
to get drunk when they party.
I [ /'I CP P/
L\ L l v H I x >
Most (JO students have
4 drinks or fewer when they party.
74% of UO students drink t or fewer