6A
Thursday, October 26, 1995
NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Train crash near Chicago kills five students
The Associated Press
FOX RIVER GROVE, Ill. — An express commuter train slammed into a school bus at a suburban crossing yesterday, killing five people and injuring 30. The bus was torn apart by the impact as the youngsters screamed and tried to flee.
"You could see the terror in their eyes," said eyewitness Coreen Bachinsky. "You could hear the metal, the glass flying, the screams. It was very, very scary."
There were four confirmed dead in the morgue, said McHenry County coroner's alide Sharon Schroeder. Good Shepnerd Hospital in Barrington, Ill., said a fifth victim died there. Names were not released pending notification of relatives.
The injured, many in serious or critical condition, were taken to six hospitals, some as far as 30 miles from the crash. The hospitals reported treating 30 patients, at
least nine in critical condition.
Witnesses said the bus, ferrying students to Cary-Grove High School in Cary, Ill., was waiting for a red light with its rear portion still on the tracks when it was struck by the Chicago-bound express train. The impact spun the bus 180 degrees, separating the yellow body of the bus from the chassis.
"We started screaming, 'Go! Go!'" he said. "It was over in a matter of seconds."
Jim Homola, a carpenter driving his children to school, was stopped behind the bus when it was hit.
Homola said he ran to the scene, and the bus driver was hysterical.
Taben Johnson, a 15-year-old sophomore at the high school, was sitting near the front of the bus when schoolmates realized the train was hurtling toward them.
"They all ran for the front of the bus to get out of the way," he said, adding that he had heard a lot of people screaming.
Johnson told WMAQ-TV that the track's gate came down on the back of the bus and that there was a car in front of the bus.
Helen Getchell, a nurse who helped at the scene, said she suctioned out the throat of one injured boy with a turkey baster obtained from a nearby convenience store.
"He died in my arms," she said, adding that she hoped the boy's mother would know he didn't die by himself.
School officials said the bus could carry about 70 passengers, but there were fewer than half that number inside when the crash occurred.
Hours later, the body of the bus lay about 10 feet from the wheels and chassis, with the steering wheel sticking up in the air. Red plastic sheets were draped over half of
the bus' body. two helicopters hovered above the tracks, and an ambulance, a fire truck and at least 10 police cars surrounded the site.
Cary-Grove High School, which has an enrollment of about 1,400, did not cancel classes but did allow students to leave with their parents if they wished. Some students walked out sobbing. At midmorning, remaining students were asked to help provide information about who was on the bus.
"We need you to help us through the crisis," an official said.
A prayer service was scheduled for last night at the local United Methodist Church.
Chris Knapton, a representative of Metra, the agency that operates Chicago's suburban commuter trains, said the crossing was guarded by a gate, bells, flashing lights
and signs, but there was little space between the stoplight and the tracks.
The train was traveling about 50 mph, well under the speed limit for that stretch of track, and the engineer was braking but was unable to stop in time. Knpton said.
The name of the bus driver was not released. The 54-year-old woman was taken to a hospital for evaluation. State officials said she had been permitted to drive school buses since 1987 and never had received a ticket or been in an accident before.
One witness said she and her husband had just driven into a nearby station when she noticed the bus, stopped at a stoplight and sitting on the tracks.
"That train came and smashed that bus, and the top of the bus came right off of the bottom," the witness told WBBM. "It was the most incredible thing I've ever seen."
Japan gets faster justice
US will relinquish soldiers more quickly
The Associated Press
TOKYO — Japan and the United States agreed yesterday that Japanese authorities could gain custody more quickly of U.S. servicemen suspected of serious crimes.
The issue boiled up after the rape last month of a 12-year-old girl on Okinawa, the southern island housing more than half of the 44,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.
Three American servicemen were not turned over to Japanese police until they were formally charged.
Tens of thousands of people turned out at a rally last weekend to protest the rape and demand the number of troops present be reduced.
The new guideline calls for the United States to give "sympathetic
consideration" to any request from Japan to transfer custody, even before formal charges, of a serviceman suspected of crimes such as murder and rape.
U. S. Ambassador Walter Mondale, who agreed on the outline of the new measure yesterday with Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, welcomed the new accord, which was completed by a panel of experts from both sides.
"This agreement will strengthen even further cooperation between U.S. and Japanese authorities in implementing criminal jurisdiction procedures," he said in a statement released by the embassy.
The new guideline, which takes effect immediately, is not a new treaty but rather an agreement on how to better use the existing Status of Forces Agreement governing the troops' presence.
Other issues regarding the U.S. military presence in Japan still
threaten to overshadow President Clinton's summit meeting next month with Prime Minister Tomiichi Muravama.
Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota is refusing to sign papers to renew leases for land used by the U.S. bases until the government presents a plan to reduce the military presence in his prefecture. He is expected to meet Murayama on Nov. 4 in an effort to resolve the impasse.
The flare-up of anger over the bases has caused a dilemma for Murayama, a Socialist who once opposed all U.S. military presence in Japan. His government is trying to placate anger at home over the bases while also living up to its security commitment to Washington.
Located near Southeast Asia, China and the Korean Peninsula, Okinawan bases put U.S. forces within quick striking range of most of this region's potential hot spots.
Kassebaum to say whether she will or won't
"I just want to get it over. I'm tired of the speculation," she said. She tentatively plans to reveal her decision at a Statehouse.news
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Nancy Kassebaum will announce either the Monday before or the Monday after. Thanks giving whether she plans to seek a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate or to retire, she said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Nancy Kassebaum
conference on Nov. 20, but if the Senate has not taken its fall recess, her session with the media will be moved to Nov. 27, she said.
"I want to do it in the recess," Kassebaum said. "I talked to (Senate majority leader) Bob Dole about it last week, and he doesn't know when we'll adjourn."
Kassebaum expressed irritation at being bothered by continuing speculation since major legislation is coming through the committee for which she is chairwoman, the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.
Kassebaum is scheduled to be in Topeka on Nov. 4 for activities at Washburn University. She wants to attend the first Wheat Bowl football game in Ellinwood on Nov.
Kassebaum, first elected in 1978 and easily re-elected in 1984 and 1990, nearly did not run again five years ago, but Republicans persuaded her to take another term. No one doubts a fourth term is hers if she wants it.
18. if her Senate duties permit.
She has hinted recently that she may retire, but she has delayed an official announcement and has kept political observers guessing.
If she retires, one frequently named contender for the Republican nomination is U.S. Rep. Pat Roberts of Dodge City. His plans are not secret. He has been lining up support and soliciting donations. Two other contenders are Wichita real estate executive Nestor Weigand, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for governor in 1990, and former state Sen. Eric Yost of Wichita.
Speculation has mounted in recent weeks that she will retire. She continues to say only that she has made her decision and will announce it around Thanksgiving.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Reps. Dan Glickman and Jim Slattery have both said they are not interested in seeking the senatorial nomination.
Randy Rathbun, U.S. attorney for Kansas, has said he will consider running for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 4th District, and there has been speculation he might switch and run for the Senate if Kassebaum steps down.
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