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(10/04/05 3:13am)
CHICAGO -- Helen Conklin whisks a cotton swab delicately across a 19th century painting of silvery fish set in deep earth tones. She's looking for, of all things, mud on the canvas -- and sure enough, there it is.\nShe peers at another painting through a microscope, focusing on a cardinal's rich crimson robes that have faded to a sickly pink. That's the mark of floodwaters.\nThese works and many others -- paintings and frames crusted with mold and fungus, bits of debris, even a few feathers -- are here to be repaired and revived by art conservationists participating in their own version of hurricane recovery.\nThey're part of The Chicago Conservation Center, a team of experts working in a sprawling seventh-floor studio more than 800 miles from New Orleans and the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. They have much to do: A giant multicolored abstract is splattered with grime, an autumn landscape is flaking, canvases are sagging.\nIn an epic disaster where there were many harrowing chronicles of life and death, these treasures tell a different tale of survival.\n"Art is a narrative and tells a lot of personal stories," says Heather Becker, CEO of the center. "If we don't try to save the history of our culture, of our communities, we lose that forever."\nThe conservation work in Chicago is among many public and private efforts to salvage tens of millions of dollars' worth of cultural gems damaged in hurricanes Katrina and Rita.\nThe American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works, based in Washington, D.C., is sending conservators to the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency and cultural associations determine how to best repair waterlogged historic documents, sodden furniture and artwork. It also will help private citizens with damaged collections and heirlooms.\nEven before the floodwaters buried New Orleans, efforts were under way to preserve art treasures. Workers at the New Orleans Museum of Art secured sculptures and moved some paintings before the storm, then kept vigil inside in the chaotic days when looters rampaged through the streets.\nThe museum's insurer, AXA Art Insurance Corp., dispatched private security guards to protect the building as well as clients who had galleries or private collections in the French Quarter or other areas.\nThe museum, which has 40,000 pieces in a collection estimated to be worth about $250 million, escaped relatively unscathed. A giant sculpture in the garden needs repairs. Three other objects inside had water damage. The building is now haven to nearly 1,000 works that private collectors, galleries and other museums are storing there temporarily.\n"If there are angels in the heavens above, the museum's angels were archangels," says Jacqueline Sullivan, the museum's deputy director. "The storage was 12 feet underground. I can't imagine why it did not flood."\nBut others weren't as lucky.\nAXA estimates that Katrina-related losses to its private clients -- including collectors, corporations and galleries -- could be as high as $30 million, according to Christiane Fischer, the corporation's chief executive officer.\nIn recent weeks, hundreds of damaged pieces -- including paintings by well-known artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, William Merritt Chase and Alfred Bierstadt -- have arrived at The Chicago Conservation Center in climate-controlled trucks.\nThey were collected by intrepid staffers who secured the art in what they call "rescue and recovery missions."\nDonning impermeable Tyvek suits with hoods, gloves, boots and respirators and guided by flashlights, the workers often made their way through dark, flood-scarred homes in New Orleans.\n"It's like an oven," says Walter Wilson, the center's director of disaster response. "You're doing an excruciatingly difficult job when it's 100 degrees"
(03/02/05 4:26am)
WICHITA, Kan. -- He was trusted as a Cub Scout leader, respected as a churchgoing family man and accepted as a regular guy with a secure marriage, a steady job and all the other trappings of middle-class success.\nHe was also, according to police, an insatiable murderer who tortured and killed strangers over 17 years, boasting about his crimes in taunting, gruesome letters and poems that he mailed to police and the news media.\nDennis L. Rader, a 59-year-old municipal worker suspected of being the BTK killer responsible for 10 murders, is believed by authorities to have led a Jekyll-and-Hyde existence.\nExperts on the criminal mind say that is not unusual for serial killers. But what sets Rader apart is his remarkably stable life and deep roots in the community.\n"Mostly, serial killer are drifters," said Michael Rustigan, a California criminologist. "Typically they're single, have problems with women, are in and out of jobs, in and out of relationships." But in Rader's case, he said, "We've rarely seen serial killers so well-integrated into the community."\nRader has called the Wichita area home almost his entire life, earning a criminal justice degree at a local university. The father of two -- he has a grown daughter and son -- had been married for nearly 34 years and held jobs for long periods, including a position at a home security firm for 15 years, part of the time as an installation manager.\nRader was arrested Friday by police, who said they were confident he is BTK -- the killer's self-coined name that stands for "Bind, Torture and Kill." He was charged Tuesday with 10 murders committed between 1974 and 1991 and is being held on $10 million bail.\nThe BTK killer terrified the Wichita area from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s; most of the victims were strangled, others were stabbed or shot. In one instance, the killer called 911 to report the homicide; in another, The Wichita Eagle-Beacon was alerted to a letter in a library book that provided details of some murders only the killer could have known.\nThe killer resurfaced last March -- the 30th anniversary of his first murders -- with a series of letters to police and the media. One included a photocopy of the driver's license of one of his victims.\nPolice will not say what led them to Rader, but his arrest stunned many in suburban Park City, where he lived for more than 25 years and worked as a compliance officer, handling code violations and stray dogs.\nSome described him as a friendly, solicitous man who helped neighbors and recently brought spaghetti sauce and a salad to a supper at Christ Lutheran Church, where he was an usher, president of the council and a member for 30 years.\n"Dennis was in church as often as I was," said pastor Michael Clark.\nBut others say he could be a nitpicker and a bully, always looking to cite his neighbors for petty violations, once using a tape measure to determine if a neighbor's grass was too long.\nIf Rader turns out to be BTK, he will not be the first serial killer to engage in what some experts call doubling -- leading two lives. They cite other examples: Gary Ridgeway, the Green River killer, was a truck painter. Jeffrey Dahmer worked in a candy factory. John W. Gacy was a building contractor who sometimes performed as a clown.\n"They lead a benign, if not friendly and helpful, life with family and friends. Then they kill strangers," said Jack Levin, author of several books on serial killers and the director of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Northeastern University in Boston. "It's almost like the death camp doctor who goes home and plays with his children."\nThese two lives are "the way they survive. That's the way they're not detected," said Steve Egger, a serial killer expert and associate professor of criminology at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. "Their actions with people who love them, with people they associate with, are very natural. But they're able to split off and compartmentalize these fantasies they have ... then they go out and have to act on them."\nRustigan, the California criminologist, said he wonders how Rader, if he is the BTK killer, could hide a sinister life from his wife.\n"You can fake 'nice guy' at work," he said. "But how do you fake 'nice guy' when you're married? That's a very powerful question in this case"
(04/14/03 4:35am)
Their long weeks of waiting over, their prayers finally answered, families of seven captured U.S. soldiers laughed and cried with unbridled joy Sunday as they celebrated word that their loved ones had been released in Iraq.\n"Greatest day of my life," Ronald Young Sr. beamed as he and his wife, Kaye, watched a choppy CNN video of their son, helicopter pilot Ronald Jr., running to an aircraft that whisked the rescued prisoners of war out of danger.\n"I'm just so happy that I could kiss the world!" added the elder Young. "When I saw him, it was like somebody had won the World Series. Everybody was jumping around and hollering."\nKaye Young laughed with happiness at images of her grinning, 26-year-old son as neighbors delivered food and flowers to their home in Lithia Springs, Ga., where an American flag hung on the front door and yellow ribbons were tied to trees outside.\n"Ron has this smile that was ear-to-ear, we could just see it," said his mother, who celebrates her birthday Monday. "He looks thin. But he looks good. I always thought he would come home."\nThe family of the second rescued helicopter pilot, 30-year-old David S. Williams, celebrated in Fort Hood, Texas.\n"There's a lot of big smiles and excitement," said his father, David Williams Sr., who was with his son's wife, Michelle, and their two children. "I've always remained positive. When you believe in God as I do and my son does, you know he will come back home safely."\nThe Pentagon confirmed Sunday that the seven soldiers -- six men and one woman -- were all those formally listed as POWS, including five from the Army's 507th Maintenance Company and the two downed Apache helicopter pilots.\nThe pilots, both chief warrant officers, were forced down March 23 during heavy fighting in Iraq.\nThe captured members of the 507th were Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas; Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, of Alamogordo, N.M.; Spc. Shoshana Johnson, 30, of Fort Bliss, Texas; Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, of Park City, Kan., and Sgt. James Riley, 31, of Pennsauken, N.J.,\nThey were attacked after making a wrong turn March 23 near Nasiriyah, a major crossing point on the Euphrates River northwest of Basra.\nJessica Lynch, rescued from an Iraqi hospital earlier this month, had also been with the convoy. Her family, who returned to the United States with her Saturday, issued a statement saying the release was "an answer to our prayers and -- we're certain -- the prayers of literally millions of other concerned citizens of the world."\nIraqi troops released the POWs to Marines near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. Clad in pajamas and shorts, the soldiers had been held captive for 22 days.\nThe seven were taken to a military airport in Kuwait, where all were released after medical examinations. Army officials said three were examined for injuries -- two had gunshot wounds -- and the others had no problems.\nPresident Bush was notified of the rescue around 7 a.m. EDT.\n"It's just a good way to start off a morning, to be notified that seven of our Americans are going to be home soon and in the arms of their loved ones," he said.\nHudson's mother, Anecita, received first word about her son early Sunday morning from her sister in Okinawa.\n"She said, 'Did you see the picture? I saw your Joseph. He's smiling in the picture,'" Anecita Hudson said. "I am so happy I didn't even put my hair up, but I don't care."\nFor three weeks, the families of the seven had waited and prayed for word of their loved ones. The gnawing sense of anguish deepened when the soldiers, several of them looking frightened, appeared on Iraqi television. That week, stores in Riley's New Jersey hometown, where he had enlisted straight from high school, sold out of yellow ribbons.\n"It's just an emotional rollercoaster and we're just happy he's safe," said Riley's mother, Jane, who had just returned from church services when an Army major arrived with the news.\nRiley's father, Athol, said their joy was tempered by the sorrow being endured by families who lost loved ones.\n"It's got to be tinged also with a certain amount of regret for the others who have not come home in one piece," he said.\nAnd other families continued to live with uncertainty.\n"We're all well, but all waiting," said Juanita Anguiano, whose 24-year-old son, Edward, an Army sergeant, is among several U.S. troops still missing. "We certainly hope they find him."\nIn Texas, the family of Johnson, the only women among the seven released a statement.\n"We thank God for watching over them. We are grateful for all the worldwide prayers," Johnson's father, Claude Johnson said.\nAnother Texas family began its own celebration early Sunday.\nOn the lawn outside Maria DeLaLuz Hernandez' home in Mission, Texas, relatives and neighbors sang hymns in honor of Edgar's release.\n"It's a day of jubilation," said Jesus Cantu, a friend of the family.\nAnd in Kansas, Miller's brother wept when he heard the news.\nThe Rev. Ron Pracht, pastor of Miller's church in Wichita, Kan., and a spokesman for Miller's wife, Jessa, said he was excited for the family.\n"I am so relieved. I'm celebrating without question," he said. "We will do some heavy-duty shouting"
(09/12/01 7:24am)
CHICAGO -- Air traffic around the nation was halted for the first time in history Tuesday as stunned travelers watched televised pictures of the smoking ruins of New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon, both attacked by terrorists.\nThe Federal Aviation Administration ordered all outbound flights grounded following the fiery twin disaster at the World Trade Center around 9 a.m. The FAA said the ban would not be lifted until Wednesday at noon EDT, at the earliest.\nAll domestic commercial flights -- other than the four that were crashed by terrorists -- had reached their destinations by early Tuesday afternoon, according to the FAA. Some airports were evacuated.\n"Anybody that is planning on going somewhere isn't going anywhere at least for now," said James Kerr, deputy director at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.\nWhen flights resume, passengers won't be able to check luggage at curbside, there will be more security officers and random security checks, said Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.\n"These terrorist acts are designed to steal the confidence of Americans," he said. "We will restore that confidence."\nOn Tuesday, thousands of passengers gathered around TV sets at airports, staring silently at images of smoke billowing over Manhattan's skyline, flames shooting from Pentagon windows and people covered with soot running in the streets.\n"I'm sitting here with shivers down my spine," said Dan Weiland, of Lewisville, Texas, an American Airlines passenger at Boston's Logan Airport. He said he called his children to reassure them.\nSteve Hyatt, 55, of San Antonio, was stunned when he heard the news at Denver International Airport. "I just felt like I went into a trance and a dream," he said.\n"It's going to be interesting to see what our country does in light of what took place with Pearl Harbor and comparing this to Pearl Harbor," he added. "But who do you fight, who do you get mad at?"\nAround the nation, airports were put under heightened security as officials considered the tremendous security breach that had allowed Tuesday's terrorist attacks.\nLogan Airport -- the departure point for two of the doomed planes -- underwent a security sweep.\nLos Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airports were evacuated except for essential personnel, according to officials.\nAt Chicago's O'Hare Airport, passengers were barred from entering the gated areas, and police patrolled with dogs.\nAt Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Denver's airport, concourses were closed.\nIn New Orleans, passengers were not allowed into the airport, but it was not evacuated.\nThe Trade Center was hit by two planes, both Boston-to-Los Angeles flights, carrying a total of 157 people: United Airlines Flight 175, with 65 people on board, and American Airlines Flight 11, with 92 people aboard.\nThe Pentagon was hit by American Flight 77, which was seized while carrying 64 people from Washington to Los Angeles.\nAnd in Pennsylvania, United Flight 93, a Boeing 757 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco, crashed about 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh with 45 people aboard.\nThe four planes carried 266 people. There was no word on survivors. At the Pentagon, about 100 people were believed dead.\nThe devastating assault on America's centers of government and commerce renewed long-standing concerns about flaws in airport security.\nThe General Accounting Office warned in April 2000 that "serious vulnerabilities in our aviation security system exist and must be adequately addressed."\nAnd Transportation Department Inspector General Kenneth Mead reported in January that the FAA needed to improve training for airport security screeners and develop guidelines for installing bomb-detection machines.\nThe inspector general's office announced in August it would assess what the FAA was doing to make sure airlines were thoroughly screening passengers and baggage.\nRep. John Mica, chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, said Tuesday that before the August congressional recess, he had called for a complete review of airport security.\n"Some of the training and actual deployment of equipment has been far from adequate," Mica said in an interview.
(09/11/01 5:38pm)
Air traffic around the nation was paralyzed Tuesday as stunned travelers watched television screens in horror over the smoking wreckage caused by apparent terrorist attacks at New York\'s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.\nThe Federal Aviation Administration ordered all outbound flights grounded following the fiery twin disaster at the World Trade Center. Runways were kept open for incoming flights.\n\"Anybody that is planning on going somewhere isn\'t going anywhere at least for now,\" said James Kerr, deputy director at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.\nHeightened security measures also were put into effect. At Chicago\'s O\'Hare International Airport, passengers were asked to provide tickets and identification before they entered the metal detector area that leads to passenger gates.\nTwo airplanes crashed into the twin 110-story towers in New York around 9 a.m. Explosions later rocked the Pentagon and the State Department in Washington.\nA Boeing 757 plane crashed in the Pittsburgh area later Tuesday morning. It was not immediately clear if it was related to the other attacks.\nThe unfolding scene of billowing smoke, running crowds and the collapse of the trade center tower stunned passengers, some of whom watched the tragedy from television sets at airports.\n\"I was pretty shocked,\" said Rob Taylor, 32, of Colorado Springs, Colo., a traveler at Denver International Airport. \"I mean, it\'s turning into anger pretty quickly. I hope they take this as a final sign that they need to be a little more hard-handed and take the gloves off and go after these people.\"\nJune Locacio, 58, watched the horrific scene on television in a standing-room-only bar at Lambert Airport in St. Louis. She heard the news after she got off a plane from Atlanta, Ga., as she was heading to Sioux Falls, S.D.\n\"It\'s absolutely stunning,\" she said. \"I think it\'s an act of war. I can\'t believe they hit the Pentagon as well. ... I hope we\'re up to the task.\"\nAt Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, hundreds of people were stranded after federal officials canceled all flights in the United States. There were long lines at airport pay phones as family members called friends and family.\n\"Someone is trying to make a serious statement, and I hope we do likewise,\" said Scott Gilmore, 55, who had planned a trip to Washington, D.C.\nAt the Hyatt Hotel in New Orleans, Kelly Lenox returned from the airport where she had been scheduled to fly home to St. Louis. She said security officers told her to leave the airport, and police were not even allowing people to get out of taxis.\n\"You think you\'re safe, but you\'re not,\" she said. \"Who would have thought the Pentagon ....\" Her voice trailed off.\nLenox said she would rent a car to get home.