100 EVACUATED WHEN SEMI CARRYING CHEMICAL CRASHES
SALUDA, N.C. (AP) -- At least 100 people were evacuated after a semitrailer truck crashed along I-26 and spilled a highly volatile and toxic chemical.The truck, carrying a mixed cargo including sodium hydrosulfite, overturned Sunday afternoon and sparked a fire that was still burning early Monday. Troopers closed an eight-mile stretch of the interstate in western North Carolina.
The U.S. Department of Transportation describes sodium hydrosulfite as a corrosive, spontaneously combustible material that can burn skin and eyes. It is used in bleaching paper pulp and in the production of leather goods.
"It burned my eyes, throat and skin like sulphur, and I knew then whatever was coming out of those drums wasn't good," said Saluda Fire Lt. Peter Way, who was among the first to arrive.
DAD FOUND GUILTY OF INJECTING SON WITH AIDS-TAINTED BLOOD
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) -- There was no hard evidence that proved Brian Stewart injected his son with blood tainted with the AIDS virus.
No one saw him do it, and no syringe ever was found that could be linked to the crime.
But during the four days of Stewart's trial, prosecutors convinced the jury that circumstantial evidence showed the 32-year-old Stewart had the means, motive and opportunity to commit the crime.
Stewart was found guilty Saturday night of first-degree assault, and the jury recommended that he serve a life term in prison. Formal sentencing was set for Jan. 8.
One member of the six-man, six-woman panel said later that the clincher for him came when a time line developed by the prosecution indicated that Stewart had prior knowledge of the boy's infection.
"Before he was told the boy had AIDS, he seemed to know it already," said Kenneth Shaw.
Stewart's son, now 7, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1996.
Prosecutors said Stewart's motive was to avoid paying child support.
WAS NIXON A 'NUT'? KENNEDY AND PAT BROWN THOUGHT SO
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- President John F. Kennedy and former Gov. Edmund G. "Pat" Brown were recorded referring to Richard Nixon as "nuts" and "psycho" after Brown beat Nixon in the 1962 governor's race.
"You reduced him to the nut house," Kennedy said after Nixon's infamous "last news conference," which followed his loss to Brown. "That last farewell speech of his . . . shows that he belongs on the couch."
After the defeat, Nixon bitterly told reporters: "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore."
The conversation was included on tapes released last month by the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, the San Francisco Examiner reported Sunday.
On the tapes, Brown also told the president that humiliating Nixon was what Kennedy had wanted. Kennedy defeated Nixon for the presidency in 1960.
"This is a very peculiar man," Brown said. "I really think that he is psycho. He's an able man, but he's nuts!"
Brown told Kennedy that Nixon may have doomed his political future in California with the speech. Six years later, Nixon carried the state in his successful presidential bid against Hubert H. Humphrey.
AHHH, ESSENCE OF EVERGREEN? TREE THIEVES GET A SURPRISE
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) -- Washington State University groundskeepers are taking smelly revenge on thieves looking for free Christmas trees.
The groundskeepers and municipal park workers are spiking young evergreens with a rancid mix of oil, water, essence of skunk and coyote urine. The potent brew freezes or dries on application without a hint that anything is amiss -- until the tree is brought indoors.
"You don't really know which ones have been sprayed. You're gambling, and you won't really know until you get it inside," said university grounds supervisor Kappy Brun.
PEG-LEGGED TAP DANCER DIES IN HIS HOMETOWN AT AGE 91
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) -- Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates, a tap dancer who overcame losing a leg in a childhood accident and had a long career that included frequent performances on "The Ed Sullivan Show," died Sunday, a day after being honored in his hometown. He was 91.
Bates danced Saturday as part of a celebration in the town of Fountain Inn, which was trying to raise money for a life-size sculpture of him to be placed at City Hall. Bates was given the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina's highest honor, and called it the proudest moment of his life. He died Sunday after collapsing on his way to church.
"He was so full of life last night," said Henry Berry Jr., president of the Peg Leg Bates Foundation. "He had no pains, and he felt good. I thank God he was able to come home one last time."
When Bates was as young as 5, he danced for pennies and nickels on the streets of Fountain Inn. He lost his left leg during an accident at a cotton gin mill when he was 12, but his uncle whittled a wooden leg for him. He learned to dance with the artificial limb, and it became his trademark.