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Show The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH Wednesday, March 27, 1996 Whistleblower Criticizes He notedit was just such a fail. ure that sent agent up the stack and into the atmosphereat Johnson Atoll, the Army's pilot incin- Managers at Burn Plant ByKristen Moulton THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Whistleblower Steven W. Jones said Tuesday that managersof a plant designed to incinerate chemical weapons were cavalier about safety and hostile when he Suggested safety measures. Jones testified before Ellin O'Shea. a Department of Labor administrative law judge, in a hearing expected to continue through Friday Jones filed a whistleblower complaint with the departmentin October 1994. a month after EG&G Defense Materials Inc fired him as safety and security manager at the Tooele ArmyDepot’s incinerator 50 miles southwest of Salt LakeCity. Jones wants his job back and $3.2 million in damages. O'Shea will make a recommendation to the secretaryof labor. Jones claims EG&G, the company that built and operates the plant for the Army, fired him becausehe did not keep quiet about alleged defects he found in the $650 million incinerator. The Armyhopesto fire up the incinerator this spring or summer to burn more than 42 percentof the nation’s chemical weapons stockpile stored nearby. Seven other states also have stockpiles, and the Armywants to build in- cinerators or other meansto de- stroy those by 2004 Jones worked at Tooele in the summerof 1994, whenconstruc- tion was complete and EG&G was testing the furnaces with substitute chemicals and training employees, “When I arrived at Tooele I was told this facility was ready to go,” he said Tuesday, An attorney for EG&G suggest- ed Monday, however, that the plant was in the early stages of preparing for incineration and that the problems Jones discov- ered were to be expectedat that Taxes: Will Issues Make Agenda @ Continued from B-1 are scheduled to take up the state’s capital facilities budget, which the governor vetoed in philosophical opposition to the practice of phasing government funding for projects over several years, As April 17 approaches, negoti- ationsare in the works on the municipal taxes. Senate Majority Whip Leonard Blackham, R-Mo- roni, said Tuesday he believes a deal to resurrect at least county funding proposalsis close. “I don't think it's impossible,” the senator said, though he noted the picture was complicated by upcomingelections. Leavitt, half erator in the Pacific that was the modelfor the Tooeleplant This is a very serious issue point Jones, who inspected such plants for the Army's Inspector General before joining EG&G, said one of the most serious problems was the plant’s handling of diluted agent, the lethal andblis- he said. “It is absolutelycritical that when an operator turns on a value that it actually be on.” The former safety manager said he also caught the wrath of EG&G managers for slowing down removal of equipment from tering chemicals packed into mis- an asbestos-laden warehouse while the workers were fitted A laboratoryat the incinerator with protective gear; calling the depot fire department when a hy- siles, rockets and mortarshells. wasnot certified for the kinds of tests workers performed on the diluted agent. which they used to test whether monitoring equipment worked throughout the plant, Jonessaid Some ofthe lab workers wore no gloves or masks while working with the diluted agent in test tubes, diluted agent was dumped down drains, and the fumes from the agent werenot filtered before escaping into the atmosphere in violation of Army standards, Jones said At one point. a lab worker set downa vialthatfell and broke the floor, he said. The or s safety officer watching over the plant asked him notto report the drogen cylinder leaked; halting the work of welders working twostories high on scaffolding with- out harnessesor belts At one point, 10 to 12 workers in the pollution abatement area were covered with sodium chloride when some ducts were plugged. Lives were not threat- ened, but some workers had rashes and their eyes were tear- ing. HenrySilvestri, the plant manager, wanted the workersto finish the project that was under way, but. ones argued for showers and med attention,hetestified. In ste 2 newshift of workers another manager sug- incident, Jones alleged. tak , fitted with protective geai (ue injured workerslacked andordered the operation moved months of taking over as safety Jones shut downthe laboratory to a certified lab elsewhere on the Armydepot And, he said, he caught flak for it for weeks. His boss, Jonessaid, referred severaltimesto the fact it was something I shouldn't have done. It was always in the context of, ‘You made the customer [Army] mad.’ Jones testified. Another hazard. he said, was the slipshod way valves were tagged or not tagged by maintenance workers as they cut into, turned on orshutoff valves. The control room often did not have Jonestestified that within two manager, he wrote a 150- to 200- pagereport abouttheplant's defi- Victor L. Brown, LDS General Authority, Dies Victor Lee Brown, the 10th presiding bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a former memberof the board of Western Airlines died Tuesday morning after a lingering illness. He was 81 Brown wasliving in Chicago when he accepted a church call to full-time service in October 1961, as second counselorin the presiding bishopric under John H. Vandenberg. !n 1972, he suc- ceeded Vandenberg as presiding bishop and served for 13 years. In 1985, he became a member of the First Quorum of Seventy, where he worked as president of the Salt Lake Temple. He became an emeritus general authorityin 1989. Prior to being named to the bishopric, Brown served as superintendent of the Denver. Colo., Crestmore Ward Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association, bishop of the Denver Fourth Ward, and counselorin the Denver Stake presidency from 1954 to 1961 Brown began his career as a reservation agent with United Airlines in 1940 and worked his wayup until he was an executive at the company’s Chicago headquarters, He later served on Western idency Nov. Gardens in Sandy University of California at Berkeley. He married Lois Kjar 13, 1936, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple He is survived by five children and a number of grandchildren. Theater Giant, Vern Adix, Dies Former U. Dean S. Salt Lake Of Social Work Vern Adix, the man behind Dies in S.L. the scenes in hundreds of Uni- versityof Utah theater produc- Thursdayfuneral services are scheduled for Milton Grover Thackeray, former associate dean at the University of Utah Graduate School of Social Work, Thackeray, 81, died of cancer on Mondayin his Salt Lake City home He began his careerat the U of U. as an associate professor in 1948, becoming an associate dean for 14 years beginning in about 1960. He retired in 1985. Thackeray earned bachelor's and master’s degrees from Utah and a master's of social service administration in 1948 from Case Western Reserve Univer- sales-taxing powers until next year, while a state task force stud- ies the matter. And a leading law- maker who backed newcity taxing authority said that may be the only realistic option. Myfirst choice would be to deal with it in the special session,” said Rep. John Valentine, ROrem, and a tax attorney. “But I'm resigned to myfate.” Under proposals that enjoyed considerable support during the 45-day session, counties would havegotten the power — with the approval of voters — to raise a quarterof a cent in newsales tax- es in return for lowering their property taxes a similar amount. Cities were pursuing a deal to halt the growing practice of raising revenuesfor city services with business-license fees, something business leaders and tax opponents have bitterly criticized. In the trade-off, municipalities would have gained an added quarter-cent sales tax for nontransit purposes. The Legislature also considered a special. full-cent sales tax to call witnesseslater in the week, for his contributions to the state’s aviation industry and Brown also sat on numerous corporate boards. He was chair- five LDS Church-owned hospi- dren’s Service Society and director of traveling mental Lake City Airport International manof the boardof directors of proposal separately Publishing Company, Beneficial maintain that the division inappropriately ignored the impacts but regulatory expenses, Not surprisingly, city officials are resisting such moves. City-related legislation was written to take effect in July 1997 anyway, said Utah League of Cit- of building an access road and What's more, McIntosh will power lines and was technically inadequate in other respects. Division Director Jim Carter enters the hearing with confidence that his staff has fulfilled everylegal obligation. “There are some calls that the division made that SUWA’s experts disagree with, but I'm very comfortable where we are. I'm sure [the decisions] are within our statutory authority and they make sense. Wedid our homework and our technical staff did a good job. Council on Social Work Educa tion. Healso served on that council’s board, and was was assistant director in Utah of the Chil- Salt sion, hoping fortight limits on use of business licenses for anything tals, vice chairman of LDS Hospital, chairman of the produetion division of the General Church Welfare Program, and Life Insurance Co, and Mur- O incr Callto find out 1-800-717-1811 lets at Pioneer Memorial TheStadium. In 1945, Adix and C. Lowell Lees founded the Young Ernie’ Theatre at the U. of 's Adix wenton to direct 50 ohare's productions, as well as act in two dozen others. He appeared in three featurelength films, playing thetitle health clinics in rural Utah. He was on the State Board of Men- tal Health and was author of a numberofsocial-work texts. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Thackeray served as bishop of the lith Ward, University West Stake, and was a memberof the University Stake High Council and a counselorbeginning in 1961 in I loved working with chil- becamethe 15th person induct- ed into the Pioneer State The- atre Hall of Fame. “I took them into myconfidence andtried to treat them as peers.” In 1966, he founded the Af- ternoon Players for children. Hekept production costs low so young audiences could buytickets to the Babcock Theatre shows for 50 cents. He retired in 1982, becoming professor emeritus His last role was playing Santa Claus at the care facility. Adix is survived by his wife, Shauna, and a son, David. Friends are invited to an informal remembranceat the family home in Salt Lake City on Friday from 4 p.m, to 7 p.m. would be a public road owned by Kane County. 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That idea died along with FREE for 300 productions, including cial Work Building and gaining accreditation for the social work school fromthe National urging Leavitt to resurrect the city taxing issue in the special ses- Price to help them coverthecityservice impacts of millions of MAMMOGRAM? designer went on to create sets recently was among those honored as a Utah Pioneer of Flight chairman ofthe board of Hotel Utah Co. He also wasa director of the Utah Symphony Board, the Utah State Water and Power Board, the Deseret News for the cities of Moab, Kanab and Do you qualify for a After joining the U. of U.’s theater department in 1943, the silver-bearded director and set Now, Jones’ attorneys charge that EG&G has destroyed the report EG&G attorney Michael Zody said in his opening statement Mondaythat he didn't knowof anysuch report EG&Gattorneys are expected same mine portals. The division decided to treat the 15,000-acre VYVVVVYVYVVYVYYYYYY “That'sjust a reality.” Unlike counties, cities are satisfied with delaying action on new tions, died Monday fromcauses incident to age in a South Salt Lake care center. He was 83. role in “In Search of Noah's Ark He played majorrolesin se- the Senate and the full House are up for re-election this fall “There's always a lot of posturing that goes on,” said Blackham. Funeral services will be held at noon Thursday in the Salt Lake Central Stake Center. Burial will be at Larkin Sunset dren,” he said in 1994 when he the overall package Businessinterests are said to be Begins Appeal Salt LakeCity in 1931, He at tended the University of Utah. LDS Business College and the curing funding for the newSo- water, liquid natural gas, brine or hydrogen. SUWA More Ob the University West Stake pres- sity. said will testify Jones was an erratic, abusive, disorganized manager. 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