Copyright 1995 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
May 9, 1995, Tuesday, JOURNAL EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL NEWS, Pg. 14A
LENGTH: 600 words
HEADLINE: NATION IN BRIEF; Electric cars could be health hazard
BYLINE: From our news services
BODY:
Widespread use of electric cars would reduce smog, but producing the lead-based batteries they now depend on would cause far more serious environmental problems, a researcher said in Pittsburgh today.
Emissions from mining, smelting and recycling the lead needed to make batteries for a large number of electric cars would expose those near industrial sites to toxic doses of lead, according to a study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.
"When we got the lead out of gasoline, it was a triumph for public health," researcher Chris Hendrickson said. "I'd hate to see us slide back and release lots more lead in the environment."
In an article prepared for the May 19 issue of the journal Science, researchers say even taking into account advanced technology not yet available for electric cars, the production of batteries for an electric car would push six times as much lead into the environment as that emitted by a small automobile burning leaded gasoline, which has been phased out. MILITARY
SCHOOL OF AMERICAS UNDER STUDY: The Army has hired an independent contractor to evaluate the future of the School of the Americas after years of protests by church activists who branded the Fort Benning training facility for Latin American soldiers the "school of assassins." But Lt. Col. Tom Begines, an Army spokesman, said Monday in Washington that the $ 23,572 contract awarded PROSOFT of Virginia Beach, Va., does not mean the Army is considering closing the controversial school, which has survived two votes in Congress in the past two years to eliminate its funding. A congressional study found that 10 graduates of the school gained control of Latin American countries through military coups or other undemocratic means in the past 30 years. Other graduates have been linked to atrocities such as the 1989 murder of six Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador. PEOPLE
RABIN MOURNS WITH FAMILY: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sat in Stephen Flatow's home in West Orange, N.J., and read letters Flatow's daughter sent from Israel about how she loved the country and its people. Alisa Flatow, 20, was killed in a suicide bombing in the Gaza Strip a month ago, but her family told Rabin they were still deeply devoted to Israel. "I came to express my sympathy from all of the Israeli people," Rabin said after the 35-minute meeting. He also thanked the family for donating Flatow's organs to six Israelis. CRIME
EXECUTION ON: A federal appeals court denied a stay of execution for a Montana man who has been on death row for 20 years. On Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 in Pasadena, Calif., against another delay in the execution of Duncan P. McKenzie, 43, convicted of the torture-murder of a rural Montana schoolteacher in 1974. McKenzie is to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday. McKenzie had previously won eight stays of execution. His lawyer says McKenzie has been on death row longer than any other inmate in the country and argued that the delay constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution.
UNABOMBER LETTER: A letter received by a Nobel Prize-winning geneticist was sent by the Unabomber on the same day as a package bomb that killed another man, the FBI said Monday. The bomber sent four letters from Oakland, Calif., on April 20, when he mailed the most recent bomb. One of the letters went to Richard J. Roberts at New England Biolabs in Beverly, Mass., near Boston. "The contents will not be disclosed," said Jim Freeman, head of the FBI's San Francisco office.
GRAPHIC: Photo: Stephanie Brownen becomes hysterical Monday and has to be held by a friend after her husband, Edward Brownen, was fatally shot by police in Bakersfield, Calif. He had threatened suicide before aiming a gun at police. / Associated Press