University Daily Kansan / Monday, April 20, 1992
11
Business as usual today for Chicago's Loop area
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — After six days, engineers finally plugged the tunnel leak under the Chicago River that caused a devastating flood and virtually shut down business in the heart of the city, officials said yesterday.
They said business in the city's Loop, the business district, could go back to normal — or almost. The flooding, which began Monday, inundated basements and caused power outages in some of the nation's largest buildings.
Commonwealth Edison said yesterday that electricity was restored to all but 11 Loop buildings that still must have their basements drained and other problems repaired before it is safe to turn power back on.
Marshall Field's flagship State Street store said it planned to reopen today after workers spent a week pumping water from a basement.
It was late Saturday that the last bit
of concrete was poured in three spots needed to plug leaks in the century-old network of tunnels below the Loop. Yesterday, workers further sealed the concrete plug with grout.
A tunnel wall was breached through the bed of the river Monday, and more than 250 million gallons of dirty water water poured into the 50-mile underground network and into basements. Once used to deliver coal, mail and freight, the system now contains electric cables.
"Inshortterms, theleakisplugged," said Billy Davise, an aide to Mayor Richard Daley. "Most Loop businesses will be able to reopen."
And that means a return to some kind of normalcy today in the central business district. he said.
However, the financial loss that drained from the city and its businesses remains untold.
Fleeing the deluge and the threat of electrical fires, 200,000 people evacuated scores of buildings, including the
Chicago Board of Trade, which closed in an unprecedented two-day shutdown and limited trading the rest of the week.
The concrete may take up to two days to harden before engineers start their next big task - removing the millions of gallons of river water from the tunnels.
The wait will allow engineers to determine whether the concrete seals are strong enough to be permanent or need reinforcement.
Davis said the Army Corps of Engineers would help decide the best way to drain the tunnel.
The cause of the leak is in dispute. The city has blamed new pilings which were replaced last summer at a spot on the river where the flooding began. They were intended to protect a bridge and may have pierced a tunnel wall.
The dredging company, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Corp. of Oak Brook, said its own study showed the work was done properly.
Reports allege illegal weapons sales
WASHINGTON — Senate investigators are checking reports of covert assistance to Iraq by the Reagan and Bush administrations, Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell said yesterday.
The Associated Press
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that both Bush and Reagan secretly allowed Saudi Arabia to provide American-made weapons to Iraq and other nations for almost 10 years in
Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Mitchell, D-Maine, said he had not been informed of any such assistance, and he did not know whether other members of Congress were told. "I do not know whether a violation of law occurred," he said. "We are going to look into this tomorrow. I have asked for a report on the information that's available with respect to the transfers as well as the applicable law."
LA Times says Bush OK'd transfers to Syria, Bangladesh, Iraq
An administration representative said the Syrians obtained American-made trucks the United States had provided to Saudi Arabia for the coalition in Operation Desert Storm, the military effort to oust Iraq from Kuwait.
He did not discuss the reported transfers to Iraq.
The United States has told Syria through diplomatic correspondence that it wanted the trucks back, said the German side, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
an effort to sidestep legal restrictions imposed by Congress.
The newspaper stated it had based its report on classified documents.
"We are complying fully with all
aspects of the Arms Export Control Act," said Gary Foster, a deputy White House press secretary with the vacating president.
Commenting on the report that the Reagan administration allowed the Saudis to transfer bombs to Iraq, Foster said, "the State Department is looking into this and all allegations of arms transfer violations."
Bush, talking to reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine, denied that he had allowed the Saudis secretly to transfer U.S.-made arms to Syria and Bangladesh, as the Times reported the documents showed.
Mitchell said both President Reagan and Bush suggested vigorously to build up and help Iraq. He said that it was poor policyl.
Regarding the Times report, however, he said the first step would be to determine whether the transfer occurred.
"If it occurred, we will have to look at the circumstances, find out what equipment, what the circumstances were, whether a reprimand is justified, and then determine the appropriate remedy."
However, Col. Norman Teer, head surgeon for the Indianapolis-based 123rd Army Reserve Command, said, "It's only natural for some to conclude that these alliances are connected to service in the Persian Gulf area, but there is no proven connection at this time."
Gulf vets complain of post-war illnesses
"We're afraid this is Agent Orange revisited," Robertson said, referring to the problems that Vietnam War veterans suffered years after exposure to the defoliant.
The military recently tested and examined 100 Army reservoirs based at Indianapolis' Fort Benjamin Harrison after they complained of illness.
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ings of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and told the committee members about illnesses that the veterans blame on wartime exposure to petrochemicals and microwave radiation.
Army Surgeon General representative Virginia Stephanakis said few veterans have reported such ailments. And Robertson, now an American Legion lobbyist in Washington, would not venture an estimate on how many have been afflicted.
INDIANAPOLIS — Staff Sgt. Steve Robertson returned from the Persian Gulf War complaining of aching joints and a stubborn cough. He ended up in the office of a psychiatrist, who prescribed an anti-depressant.
Twice last year, Robertson took his anger and that of other veterans to hear
The Associated Press
"They informed me my problem was anger and I needed to vent it," said Robertson, 42, a member of the National Guard from Fredricksburg, Va., who served with the Military Police in the Gulf.
Their afflictions include chronic fatigue, thickened saliva, rashes, and crusting skin.
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