NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, August 28, 1995
Seaplane hits restaurant
The Associated Press
NEW SHOREHAM, R.I. — A seaplane crashed into a restaurant and exploded Saturday while trying to land near an island beach, killing five people and forcing customers to dive for safety.
The single-engine plane was heading toward the waters off Block Island's Fred Benson State Beach when it crashed into a car in front of G.R. Sharkeys on the island and slammed into the restaurant.
The plane exploded, causing a fire that destroyed the single-story, wood-frame building, which also housed a gas station. The plane narrowly missed the two gas pumps.
"It was like the whole world exploded," said Corrie Heinz, a bartender at a tavern across the street from Sharkeys.
Christopher McGinniss, a gas station attendant, said he shouted at people eating on an outside deck at the restaurant to get out of the way. They fled and the plastic chairs and tables on the deck melted, he said.
McGinniss and three other people were in the restaurant at a counter when the plane crashed, but it was unclear how many customers were on the deck. The restaurant could seat about 50 inside and 25 outside.
"I just finished paying for a hamburger when the thing came in. Three seconds later it exploded. It was awesome," said Kyle Jorgenson, who was visiting from Connecticut.
Four people died immediately in the 1:15 p.m. crash, New Shoreham Police Chief William McCombe said. They included the pilot, two of his three passengers in the plane and the person in the car.
The other airplane passenger, who had third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body, died Saturday night at a Providence hospital, officials said.
McCombe said the plane had taken off from East Hampton, N.Y., and was carrying three men and a woman. He did not have any more details.
Witness Gene LaParle was in the water with his 3 1/2-year-old daughter when the plane touched down about 20 feet away, then skipped off the water and disappeared over a hill.
"I thought it was going to hit me," he said. "I could see the faces of three people inside. They were wide-eyed. These guys were scared. I saw them plain as day. It was horrible."
Peter Wood, editor of The Block Island Islands, was at the scene
minutes after the crash. "It looked like a war zone," he said.
Two men in the restaurant saw the plane coming and dove for safety, he said.
"One hurled himself into the bathroom and another dove out the front door." Wood said.
Richard Tretheway, an owner of Sharkeys, was in the kitchen when he heard the crash. "I thought it was a brawl out front," he said.
Trethway said he had tried to go to the front but was shoved backward by customers trying to flee.
The plane apparently was trying to land about 300 yards off shore, beyond a breakwater, witnesses told Wood. It touched down once, bounced and the pilot apparently tried to abort the landing. The plane skipped off the water, went over some power lines on shore and slammed into the car.
The restaurant and gas station were about 100 yards from shore in New Shoreham, the island's only town.
The 10-square-mile island about 12 miles off the Rhode Island coast has about 800 full-time residents, but its population swells to as many as 10,000 on summer weekends with visitors from Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island.
Speaker: death for drug smugglers
The Associated Press
CANTON, Ga. — Mandatory executions for convicted drug smugglers would kill so many of them that it would curb the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Saturday.
The automatic death sentence is part of a bill Gingrich said he would bring to the House next month. It is rare for the Republican speaker to introduce legislation.
"Do it one by one, it'll add up," Gingrin said. "If the word gets
back that we're serious and we're actually implementing it, then it will have a very chilling effect on people bringing drugs into the U.S."
Currently, convicted drug smugglers involved in murder can be sentenced to death under a 1988 federal law. In March, a convicted drug kingpin won a delay nine days before he was to be executed. Five others have been sentenced to death.
The federal government has not executed any convicted prisoners since 1963.
addressing about 1,500 children and parents attending a youth football and cheerleading festival in Canton, about 35 miles north of Atlanta.
Gingrich touted his bill while
Under his bill, people who smuggled large quantities of drugs would have one appeal and 18 months to fight their convictions.
"They wouldn't have 10 years of playing games with the system." Gingrich said. "We should say to them when you make the decision that you're going to get rich at the expense of our children, you are signing your own death warrant."
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