Morning Sentinel from Waterville, Maine • 1

Amusements 10 Calendar 8 Classified 21 28 WEATHER REPORT: Sunny windy today Mostly sunny Sunday ul report on Page 2 Comics 22 24 LOTTERY: riday's Crossword 22 winning number was Dear Abby Editorials 1213 Helolse 23 Local 415 17 Maine news 5 Movies 10 Obituaries 14 Sports 18 21 Sportsmen Say 20 Stock listings 6 VERSE: Lat not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding In the sight of God and man Proverbs 3:34 (King James Version) Basketball Waterville Lawrence win Skowhegan nips Winslow Pages 18 19 ood costs a big bite for Mainers Page 11 (Central flinriniui (207)873 3341 Vol 81 No 282 WatervilleWinslow Maine Saturday January 26 1985 28 Pages 30 Cents ire destroys Skowhegan store irms rescue records By DARLA PICKETT Surrounding towns send firefighters By LINDA BEGIN Sentinel Staff SKOWHEGAN An afternoon fire raged through downtown Skow hegan's largest department store riday drawing firefighters and equipment from nine local commu nities and forcing the evacuation of a dozen businesses Choking smoke from the fire sent six people to Redington airview General Hospital by ambulance in cluding a teen age store clerk Skow hegan ire Chief Carl A McKenney at least two firefighters and an emer gency medical technician 1 Officials said the fire is believed to have started in a box of decora tions in the basement furnace room of Department Store lo cated in the three story brick Griffin Building built in 1895 By mid afternoon flames had bro ken into neighboring Jewelry Store which was also heavi ly damaged by water and smoke along with another adjoining busi ness Restaurant Chief McKenney was transported to Redington airview during the early (stages of the fire and was ad mitted for treatment of smoke inha lation and a suspected heart attack RGH Executive Director Benjamin MacArthur said late riday the chief was in satisfactory condition Other victims were treated at the facility and released Nancy Aubin director of nursing at RGH said doctors and nurses at the hospital were on stand by and members of the stayed late as a precaution RGH also supplied oxygen for the tanks and sent blan kets to the scene The drama began shortly after 1 pm when the Skowhegan ire De partment was notified smoke was pouring from the basement of located on Water and Rus sell streets One of three responding engines parked outside Russell Street entrance as smoke filled dis play windows and seeped through corners of the building Two other engines parked in front of the Water Street entrance irefighters with oxygen tanks and flashlights entered the building from both sides while Skowhegan police blocked off downtown traffic and crowds gathered on the side walks By 1:10 pm other area firefight ers and equipment were summoned from the surrounding towns of Skow hegan Madison East Madison An son North Anson Norridgewock Harmony airfield and Waterville An official figure on the number of firefighters involved was not available late riday Pauline Dore an employee of Crane's for 22 years said there were little more than half a dozen workers and a few customers in the store at the time the fire was discovered A fellow employee Theresa More on IRE Page BKPnSolaiil S' UKL? 1 TT Sentinel photos by Ron Maxwell 9 J4 j' jP KM roti Jr es Mar tr sr iWBM si lir Ifc sk "11 ill Il I EBMHHBBMffiBiH hHMBwS' 't2 Skowhegan firefighters guide an aerial ladder into place as flames shoot from the roof of Department Store on Water Street riday afternoon Left throughout the day crowds gathered in downtown to watch firemen battle the blaze Sentinel Correspondent SKOWHEGAN Drugs jewelry and customer records were franti cally carted from stores neighboring as business owners and em ployees scrambled to beat the fire surging through the Griffin Building Among the first evacuated in the downtown block was Jewelry Store a family owned busi ness since the early 1900s Phyllis Russakoff who with her husband Ar chie owned and operated the jewelry store said she was heartbro save everything only what we could carry in our Mrs Russa koff said there were only three people includ ing her son An drew In the store when they learned of the fire next door save every thing there just time Andrew said Edward Cogan a pharmacist at Brooks Pharmacy three doors down from the fire said most of the drugs and all the records for thousands of customers were salvaged when they had to evacuate to all the people who helpecj were very lucky We had a lot of help" Cogan said The drugs were stored in one of the safest pla ces! is town he said Merrill Bank across the street from the downtown block Cogan said that he and fellow pharmacists Michael Holland and Austin Quirion were assisted by their employees people off the street and Merrill Bank employees in making the trip across the road with nearly all their inventory tellers a the bank were Quirion agreed know where they dragged all those boxes from to pack things over Gwendolyn Corson deputy clerk of civil matters at 12 District Court said she was in the courtroom in an More on IRMS Page 4 Phyllis Russa save Store employee tells what she did when someone yelled SKOWHEGAN Someone yelled and smoke came bil lowing up the second story stairwell of Department Store riday afternoon said a veteran store em ployee who went to investigate the cause for the alarm was upstairs (in the clothing section) on the second floor when the fire broke out I had just gotten back from lunch when someone hollered I started down and smoke was coming up the stairs" said 22 year Crane's employee Pauline Dore Mrs Dore said there were about half dozen employees and customers in the store at the time the fire was discovered ran halfway down the stairs but the smoke was so bad I couldn't see what was happening" According to the report Mrs Dore received the fire began in the base ment She said she was told that Theresa Blake who tends the base ment section where household linens are sold saw smoke and called to Martin Burns manager and shareowner in the corporation which owns the department store on the first floor who went to investigate Bums said riday evening that the fire started a box of decora but he was too distressed to go into detail about attempts to extin guish the blaze Mrs Dore said I saw the smoke I went back upstairs and got my purse but didn't get my coat and we all ran out Mr Bums didn't want to leave He just stood there on the first floor inally we got him to leave feel like lost my second home" Darla Pickett Sub zero park ordeal puts woman in hospital By MARILYN OVLATT Sentinel Correspondent PITTSIELD A 31 year old Pittsfield mother of two was listed in condition riday night at a Waterville hospital suf fering from hypothermia and ex posure after spending Thursday might on a park bench in sub zero temperatures Police Chief Spencer Haveyidentified the victim as Susan Wil ley Watson of Washington Street She was found on a bench Manson Park near the Sebasti cook River shortly after 7 am riday by Rick Turner an em ployee of Pittsfield Motor Sales which borders the entrance to the park Havey said Mrs Watson was apparently despondent and had gone for a walk nearest we could pinpoint it she went to the park at around 11 Her husband Charles Watson and her parents Mr and Mrs John Willey of Newport were out searching for the woman all night Havey said Turner said he had just pulled a truck from the garage to the parking area when he heard a voice calling for help He said he looked around the park and saw Mrs Watson sitting on a bench with her dog by her side thought at first someone had fallen in the river and that was as far as they he said Turner said he ran across the park which is closed to vehicles during the winter months and found Mrs Watson unable to move Turner said the woman was dressed in a lightweight jacket blouse slacks and sneakers with out socks have on a hat or gloves her jacket eVen he said More on WOMAN Page 14 Emery defends US arms tack US Soviet accord on site? WASHINGTON (AP) The United States and the Soviet Udon apparently have reached agreement on a time and place for 'resuming negotiations on nuclearreopens and an ermouneement is expected Saturday accordfa to informed sources Previous huDeatisas were that the talks wm be held in Geneva hi March but exceptionally tight Upped US officials declined to dis cuss the subject An announcement was expected In Moscow at 11 aun EST simulta neously with notice to reporters at the White House Preoident Ree gan to likely to concentrate on the subject in an interview with radio reporters scheduled for 12:38 pun White House spokesman Robert Sims refused to confirm er deny thereperL A decision to resume negotla More on TALKS Page 14 By GERRY BOYLE Sentinel Staff As deputy director of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency former US Congressman David Emery is involved in coordi nating recently resumed nucleir dis armament talks with the Soviet Union And just as US negotiators will try to sell the Reagan administra position to the Soviets Emery found himself explaining and' de fending the arms control policies before a group of Colby College students riday af ternoon Speaking to a Colby government class Emery the arms control agen second ranking official outlined the administration's position in dis armament negotiations including the contention that the US must ne gotiate from a position of strength Anticipating some of the crit icisms that' would come later in the session Emery said Americans may differ on their approaches to the arms race issue but the goals are the same all want to come out in the same he said safer world a saner where prob lems and differences can be solved without the threat of nu clear Acknowledging that the last two wears have been Emery said pressures from various parts of the world have raised tensions and made it more difficult for the dia logue between the two superpowers to continue But in drafting its arms control and disarmament program the Rea gan administration is holding to cer tain principals he said Negotiators will: Seek significant reductions "not merely cosmetic in types of military systems: you want to make a major im pact in eliminating nuclear weapons got to start some place" said Emery That starting point is to develop plans to dismantle systems and achieve a military balance he said so that side or both sides will not start thinking maybe if we attack on New Eve at 12:30 am maybe we can get away with Keep in mind that neither coun try will sign documents it feels arenot in its national interest Niether side can "demand to get 100 percent of what we would ideally Emery said Military concerns and political pressures apply to both countries Insist on verification as a key to a treaty that will actually increase stabil ity in the nuclear arms race "Verification is very often misun Emery said is often said to be a code word for the fact that we want to do An arms control treaty which is More on EMERY Page 14 1 5.