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Show Triday, September 3. 2004 05 State Megion Wet summer keeps wildfires at bay Repatriated Utah Marine returns to Camp Lejeune THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SALT LAKE CITY Marine Wassef AH Hassoun, who CpL Montana state forester. "From a seasonal firefighter's standpoint, we have a lot of frowns on people's faces." DENVER A comparative, Fewer fires mean less dely wet summer in the Rocky mand for the seasonal crews. Mountain West has dramaticalThe storms that moved ly reduced the size and number across Wyoming this year of wildfires this year. "After the last several years packed less danger than in preof major fires, our office is just vious years. "Most of the lightning fine and dandy with what has ' storms we've had have had a happened," said Colleen Finne-ma- n lot of rain with them," of the Northern Rockies Wildfire Coordination Center Wyoming state weather forecaster Bill Crapser said. in Missoula, Mont. Utah got a break even on Wildfires have blackened rainless days, said Deb Bowen only about 12,000 acres in of the Great Basin East WildMontana this year, compared t fire Coordination Center in Salt with 150,000 by last year. Utah is having its qui- Lake City. "We've had surges of moisture in Jury and August; etest fire year since 1997. "This is a great summer even when it didn't rain it was from a fire manager's and a humid, reducing the fire danger," she said. governor's budget office perLarry Helmerick of the spective," said Bob Harrington, Robert Weller PRES THE ASSOCIATED On June 27, the Arabic news network Aklazeera showed a photo of him, blindfolded, a sword behind his head. A group called the National Islamic Resistance1920 Revolution Brigade claimed to be holding him and was threatening to decapitate him unless detainees in "U.S.4ed occupation prisons" said. were released, On Jury 8, Hassoun contacted American officials in Beirut, Lebanon, and he was taken to the American Embassy there. He spent about a week in a U.S. military hospital at Land-stuh- l, Germany, then returned was reported abducted in Iraq and turned up in his native Lebanon, has returned to Camp LeJeunem North Carolina after his recuperation leave in Utah. Hassoun, 24, returned to Utah on Jury 31 and staying with his brother Mohammed Hassoun in the famfly's home in West Jordan, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Hassoun reported Monday to Camp Lejeune, where his repatriation process is expected to to Camp Lejeune. continue, said Lt CoL Dave He made a statement there a member of Hassoun's that he had been captured, and repatriation team and a refused to take questions from spokesman for the 2nd Marine the media. Expeditionary Force, of which He also kept a low profile in Hassoun is a member. Hassoun was expected to be Utah, where he was joined by his bride and parents from questioned by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which Tripoli, Lebanon. "We took a trip to San Franhas been looking into bis disapcisco. We took a trip to Lake pearance. That questioning has hot yet Powell, and we just had some started, Lapan said Wednesday. fun," Mohamad Hassoun told Hassoun was last seen in Iraq The Salt Lake Tribune. . The Marine dined out, played on June 19. The next day he did not report for duty and was pool with friends and family and frequented a mosque. listed as missing. La-pa- n, Rocky Mountain Coordination Center in Denver cautioned that the fire season isn't over, and several blazes were burning in the region this week. "If you are a homeowner and you lose your house, it doesn't matter to you whether 1 million acres burned this year or one acre," Helmerick said. Still, Colorado has seen only 33,000 acres burn this year including nearly 10,000 acres allowed to burn. Last year, the overall figure was nearly 43,900 acres. New Mexico has had only six large fires this year, compared with 33 last year, said Jay Ellington of the Forest Service in Albuquerque. The acreage burned dropped from 245,499 acres last year to 82,916 this year. Arizona had the biggest acreage total in the region, 217,000, compared with 186,494 last year. But even that was a huge decline from the 1 million acres that burned in 2002. Harrington said Montana has' to heat and drought that this summer's coed temperatures and heavy rain seemed almost foreign. This is what we used to call normal," he said. "But it's hard for us to remember what a normal summer is because it's been so long since we've had one." Despite the decline in fires, firefighters and managers have had plenty to do, Helmerick said. The region has sent firefighters to Alaska, for example, and crews have capitalized on good weather to manage some lightning-cause- d fires, allowing them to burn up dry timber and reduce the threat of future fires. become so accustomed Provo Store: 6SS East 300 South Provo, Utah I ' ft V ' L 1.1 (801)373-743. i , - - Accept Vim, MasterCard and Discover Card , for Your Convenience To T ! VM 4 Orem Store: 1 950 North State Street Orem, Utah 9 (801) 224-099- 7am-- 1 1 pm CLOSED SUNDAY Hours: Mon-S; 10am-8pPharmacy Hours: Mon-S224-313- 1 Closed Sunday Springville Store: 340 South Main (801)489-437- &!sctt3 stsck ca fcssl Ban la k!3 sszss fcfiJ Whistleblowers say toxic dust is at nuke dump site Drilling began in 1992, but mandatory respirator protec- Ken Ritter THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - PI SAIuses l!c;i$&99-$29.3- 9 Deck to Daslcs Sicaci Cancsrs ncr.3 cennica hit, 21 m carcsr & reck, acslcacataiocsclcrandcicra Canning Supplies c iwtsl l(tf5X mm FxxsCioss-Cs- a Ce Seizes Uud class-actio- nttloatlMi. -- '4 1 . I&& lite 7 vvo $9.99 -- $42.99 RC3. PriCO tion program did not begin until March 1996. LAS VEGAS Two former industrial hygienists claim in Judy Kallas, a former indusnew court filings that they were trial hygienist for Omaha, Neb.,-base- d Kiewit Construction Co., fired after warning government contractors about toxic dust in alleged that her supervisor ordered her in 1996 to change her the first tunnel at the site of a notes about toxic silica levels in planned national nuclear waste tunnels. Kallas was fired later repository in Nevada. that year. Contractors completed the Former Bechtel SAIC Co. test tunnel for the Yucca industrial hygienist Wilbert L Mountain project in 1997 in Townsend was dismissed in record time, said Joe Egan, a March 2002, a month after lawyer representing workers claiming they were exposed to warning supervisors that workers were being overexposed to dangerous silica dust, silica and other harmful dust, k "They sacrificed the workers to save time and money," Egan the document said. said Thursday. . Egan estimated that L200 or more workers and visitors were The companies have denied the allegations first made in a exposed over the years to dancivil lawsuit filed in March in gerous levels of dust at the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Clark County District' Court. It n Silicosis is an incurable and status and seeks sometimes fatal lung disease unspecified damages. , that can develop years after "We're going to vigorously defend our position," said Beatexposure to silica dust. rice Reilly, an official with the Egan also is lead attorney in Nevada's fight against the chief Yucca Mountain contractor, Bechtel SAIC Co., who said government plan to bury the nation's radioactive waste at she spoke for all the contracthe Yucca site. tors. 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