Calif. postal worker held in boss' slayin

Calif. postal worker held in boss' slaying

Paul Leavitt; Jonathan Lovitt ; Richard Price

07/10/1995

USA Today

FINAL

Page 03A

A 22-year veteran of the Postal Service was jailed in the shooting death of his

supervisor Sunday while both were working at a mail processing center in City

of Industry, Calif., near Los Angeles. Arrested: Bruce William Clark, 58.

Witnesses say he and supervisor James Whooper, 50, argued before Clark struck

Whooper on the head and left. Police say Clark returned moments later, pulled a

.38-caliber revolver from a paper bag and shot Whooper twice in the chest.

Murder is the second leading cause of death on the job for postal workers, the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last year. The leading cause:

motor vehicle accidents. There have been at least 35 people slain in postal

shootings the past decade. -- Jonathan Lovitt

WILDFIRE: A 14,000-acre fire, sparked by lightning Friday, continued to burn

out of control Sunday as it passed within a mile of Fountain Hills, Ariz. The

rural town of about 20,000 people is northeast of Scottsdale, where 300 families

evacuated luxury homes Friday as 40-mph winds fanned the flames. No homes

were damaged and families returned home Saturday. About 1,000 firefighters

battled the blaze as seven tanker planes and helicopters dropped water and fire

retardant on the flames. Authorities said it will be at least tonight before the

blaze is fully contained.

TOURISTS DIE: Rescue crews Saturday recovered the bodies of a pilot and five

passengers who died when their single-engine Cherokee hit a mountain during a

sightseeing flight Friday near Haines, Alaska. It was the fifth fatal crash in

Alaska since June 20. Many of the 20 victims were tourists. The LAB Flying

Service charter Friday was carrying tourists from the cruise ship Sea Spirit.

Officials said the weather, a high overcast, did not appear to be a factor.

Witnesses said the plane, flying near one of Alaska's many unnamed mountains,

slowed and appeared to stall while maneuvering to look at bears on the ground.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

-- The FAA is investigating the crash Sunday of a sightseeing helicopter that

plunged into the Delaware River in Philadelphia. A boater pulled the pilot and

two passengers to safety. No one was hurt. Police said the aircraft, operated by

Captain Bill's Riverfront Helicopter Rides, appeared to lose power shortly after

takeoff.

NASA EXPERIMENTS: NASA Saturday disputed a CBS News report Friday

that an experiment involving a drug not approved for use in humans nearly killed

astronaut Bonnie Dunbar last October. NASA said the drug, a dye to measure

blood volume, was approved for experimental research. Dunbar, 46, had an

allergic reaction, was treated in the NASA lab in Houston where the experiment

was taking place, and taken to a hospital for observation, NASA spokesman Jeff

Carr said. "It's a far cry from the impression that she was rushed to the hospital

near death," he said.

-- The countdown is to begin today for Discovery's planned launch Thursday on

a mission to deploy a satellite. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral is scheduled for 9:41

a.m. ET. The mission was postponed from June 8 because northern flickers

drilled nearly 200 holes in the external fuel tank. The woodpeckers are gone and

the tank is repaired.

JUST MARRIED: Rufus Lawsen, 29, didn't get to kiss his bride, Catrina Losey,

before Philadelphia police broke up their wedding Saturday and arrested him in

front of 100 guests inside Zion Baptist Church. Police were seeking Lawsen

because he was convicted in absentia last month after he fled his trial on jewelry

theft charges. He faces five years in prison. Witnesses said some guests scuffled

with police as Losey was left standing at the altar. Said photographer Errol

Manley: "People were shouting `Don't desecrate this church!' and `Let him kiss

the bride!' It was crazy."

Reporter's revenge: Deadly force

Dennis Schatzman, who's been reporting the O.J. Simpson murder trial for Los

Angeles' black-owned newspaper, The Sentinel, says in today's New Yorker

magazine that he shot a man in Washington, D.C., on May 5, 1991.

Schatzman told author Jeffrey Toobin that he found a man he believed shot him a

year earlier, fired two shots at him, "ditched the gun, got my duffel bag, and

caught the Greyhound out here. I still don't know if the guy died."

Toobin wrote that Schatzman didn't mind confessing now because "I don't think

I'm going to live that long. I`ve got this kind of stomach cancer."

D.C. police would not comment on the report Sunday. Calls to The Sentinel went

unanswered, and Schatzman was not taking calls at home. -- Richard Price

Contributing: Gary Fields, Jeannine Lee and Jay Tokasz.

PHOTO,b/w,Scott Troyanos,AP; PHOTO,b/w,L.M. Otero,AP