| Show The 2000 computer bug PAGE Will Utah be ready? i I C-- 1 Judging figure skating It's a complex task PAGE D-- 1 NEW YEAR'S DAY NEW YEARS DAY Utahs Independent Voice Since 1871 Volume 255 Number 79 1998 The Salt Lake Tribune THURSDAYJANUARY CRISIS FORECASTING New Tools Helping Scientists Predict Disasters Paths A newly uncovered document shows the Army had conclusive proof a deadly nerve agent was in grass and snow eaten by the 6000 sheep that died in Tooele County in 1968 The military still refuses to accept responsibility for die incident BY EARL LANE 143 South Mam Street (801)237 2800 lf 1998 Salt Lake City Utah 84111 Army: Nerve Agent Near Dead Utah Sheep in 68 But the newly found report describes the evidence of nerve agent as incontrovertible 1998 THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Agent VX was found to be present in snow and grass The Army for many years has had proof that nerve samples that were received approximately three weeks after the sheep incident said the 1970 report by reagent was found in the area where 6000 sheep were killed in western Utah in 1968 according to a report searchers at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal in obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune CLICK HERE Maryland The information is no surprise to the people The 1970 report acknowledges difficulty discuss issue towwwsitribcom who were first on the scene calculating how much VX the sheep were ex-- " e County Sheriff Bill Pitt in re- posed to on March 14 1968 but concluded it is possible that the quantity of VX originally precalling the frightening scene of convulsing sheep and a sent was sufficient to account for the death of the sheep shepherd says We didnt know what was going on Then we got a call that said the Army had been Originally stamped "confidential and distributed to a few military libraries the document was declassified in testing nerve gas It put a shock in all of us it was apparMarch 14 1968 From that first day 1978 It apparently has not been distributed outside the ent that a deadly nerve agent from the Army's Dugway reports military since its release This and other follow-uProving Ground in western Utah drifted off the base and killed the sheep in Skull and Rush valleys See FEDS ADMIT Page 3 It never has been acknowledged by the Army however BY JIM WOOLF NEW5DAY On July 6 LOS ALAMOS NM 1994 a deadly forest fire raced up a slope of South Canyon near Glenwood Springs Colo Spurred by strong winds and the hot gases generated by the fire the blaze climbed nearly 2 GOO feet toward the ridgeline in just 18 minutes overtaking 14 firefighters who died in the disaster The Glenwood Springs blaze one of the worst losses of life ever among the rugged crews who combat wildland fires was a reminder of how quickly disasters can go out of control Now the Glenwood Springs fire has sprung to life anew at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where scientists the spread of the blaze in have a computer simulation It is only part of a growing effort called crisis forecasting by researchers at Los Alamos and elsewhere who say the day is coming when they may be able to predict the future of natural events such as forest fires and severe storms or even human events such as political instability and terrorism Knowing Without Testing: The research relies on powerful computers and new analytical methods Some of the quantitative tools are being developed by nuclear-weapon- s with designers who must assess the bomb testing halted reliability of deployed nuclear warheads without being abie to set one off occasionally underground Without testing they must be predictive" said Andrew White director of the laboratorys Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative "They dont have a choice" f Los Alamos in the midst of a $500 million upgrade of its computing facilities has been applying some of those resources to a range of problems The new emphasis on predictive simulations grows out of advances in understanding the fundamental physics of natural events Scientists also have better tools for conditions of measuring the forests and other ecosystems using aerial and satellite sensors Such measurements allow scientists to put more real-tim- e data into their computer models Then-Tooel- p if Areas where dead sheep were found The Salt Lake Tribune A-1- Reason to Celebrate New Year: Tax Breaks THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON that kick m New cluding a ments People will have to wait until they file their 1998 tax forms more than a before reaping most of the benefits from the Trent Nelson The halt Lake Tribune Fireworks welcome the new year at Galiivan Center in Salt Lake City just after revelers let out a collective howl FFFFFYYYYYAAAAHHHH! First Night Revelers Scream In the New Year BY TOM ZOELLNER THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE An estimated 75000 revelers jammed the streets of downtown Salt Lake City to welcome in the New Year under the light of fireworks this morning Chuck Johnson tapped a slim metal pin at the instant of midnight and set off a boom that echoed gunpowder-charge- d across downtown to mark the turn of the calendar at the First Night block party Theres nothing I would rather be doing on New Years Eve said Johnson of Lantis Fireworks who relished his role as the pyrotechnical town crier of 1998 that's the idea Keep the sky full He gleefully launched a salvo of Chinetitanium salutes from the roof of the new American Stores parking garage for the shivering crowd below It was the climax to First Night an alcohol-free street festival of art music street dancing and fried food Provos First Night drew an estimated 20000 while about 10000 showed up in Ogden Were picking up on the energy from everybody else here said Frank Tegt-meiof South Jordan as he listened to a tonally challenged karaoke singer per se-made form The Day the Music Died The fireworks came right after a collective primal scream from the audience to wash away the years lingering frustrations in the last seconds of 1997 Group hollers also were encouraged at Provo and Ogden creating a string of bloodcurdling midnight howls Other cities have traditions with balls dropping said Bob Farrington of the Downtown Alliance "We want people to purge their evil spirits from the old year and start with a new agenda Salt Lake City police said the crowd outside was exceptionally peaceful terrorism g World becoming more dangenous INDEX 7 BY GREG BIRTON THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE This is the kind of town where you would expect to find the mayor zipped into a pair of coveralls with his sewn above the breast name Roger pocket And you would It's all about trust says Mayor Roger Cook a lifetime Moroni resident who owns Wagon Wheel Repair a mechanics garage across the MORONI THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE gram 3ut she didnt And now she has something iso ether Utah teacher has certification by the National Board for and Professional Teaching Standards she didn't do it in Utah Teachers who earn National Board Certification spend 10 to 12 months proving they have met a set of rigorous teaching standards in a variety of disciplines They must show they have the knowledge to teach and that they can put their skills and professional judgment to work by ira-- P y gm street from his white 7 ts'-c- g? d'' 4 luck See TEACHER Pag-jA-- 12 e See TAX BREAKS Page Big changes in Medicare A-1- 0 A-- 1 1 Pair of Armed Suspects Still on the Loose BY KATHERINE KAPPS At one point teacher Patsy Johnson Euler almost quit a rigorous training pro- tax-cod- changes that were included in a balanced federal budget deal But ultimately The changes will help taxpayers from the childhood years to the education years and from the savings years to the retirement years" said chairRep Bill Archer man of the House Ways and Means Committee A $400 credit for each child under age 17 will be available to families with incomes below $75000 if they file a single tax return and $110000 if a mother and father file jointly Families who know they qualify for the credit can start keeping some extra cash immediately by adjusting their payroll withholding for 1998 instead of waiting for a refund after they file tax forms next April A mother of three children for example could ask her employer to take $100 less out of her paycheck each month for taxes and spend her $1200 m 3 Murders in 4 Days Shock Central Utah Nationally Certified Teacher: Utah Should Back Training Plan 55 clapboard heme Judas old folks that have lived around here still leave the keys in their cars But residents of the scattered burgs in Sanpete County are rethinky ing their routines after a flurry of central Utah an unprecedented three in murders four days It's just not something we understand Cock says Sometime in the darkness after Christmas Day police say two men robbed and Emmett murdered old happy-go-luck- silt year from now day-to-d- Predicting human events is likely to remain elusive however and even the reliable prediction of natural events is a significant challenge But White and others say there clearly is a role for computational simulations particularly because experimental evidence is not always available or cannot be obtained in sufficient detaiL In the emerging field of crisis forecasting White said were not necessarily basing what we believe to be the truth on an experiment You cant do the experiment You dont have that power In some sense we are really trying to change the way in which people gather knowledge The result he said is that there might be another way aside from clairvoyance to predict the future credit $400-per-chil- d will give many Americans a break as they plan household budgets retirement savings and invest- non-defen- se Beyond Fires: As computational methods improve researchers say it is becoming possible to move beyond description to prediction particularly for phenomena such as forest fires where the physics is reasonably straightforward Los Alamos researchers also are applying the quantitative methods used in fire prediction to other phenomena The forest-fire simulations must deal with flow and turbulence as winds and hot gases interact over a landscape Similar turbulence problems arise in calculating the spread of a biological warfare agent through canyons of city skyscrapers Computer simulations would be invaluable if emergency crews ever must respond to a release of biological toxins Some researchers believe quantitative computational methods could someday be used to search through data on interborder incidents national events street conflict armed violence for cues to political instability and emergence of Tax changes Day in- Years EgwCTTor SaL Lake Tr Utahn Patsy Eister has earned certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards a 58-ye- ar Ip whose ramshackle home sits in the Silver Creek flood plain that sprawls below Mo- roni A day later detectives believe the same on liquor two men allegedly boozed-uthey stole from Emmett drove to the outskirts of neighboring Ephraim and commurder of Almitted an execution-styl- e fonso Duran a sheepherder whose family had occasionally fed and housed them Two days later in an unrelated homicide a man from Salma a Sevier County town just south of Sanpete was bludgeoned to death while sitting in his Lazy-Bo- y recliner Its just scary knowing its coming to Sanpete says Donna Helsten a Ephraim resident and waitress at the Satisfied Ewe In 25 years former Sanpete County who retired Sheriff Kerman! Anderson in 1986 investigated only two Sanpete County homicides You just aidn t have p 20-ye- ar See IJRDERS Piy A-1- 2 |
