The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 7

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2000 Michigan News. TIMES HERALD, PORT HURON. MICHIGAN 7 A SB Irfl mm last year. The same drug fetches 67 cents per milligram in Chicago, the agency said. "We've had some people pulling in some heroin at 75 to 80 pure, which is a nearly lethal dose even for experienced users," said Phil LaCourse, a psychologist in the substance abuse division of the Oakland County Health Department Wimball pf MM rnma-nmnvmoBm tTcoitK.

984-1575 The Associated Press DETROIT Metropolitan Detroit has one of the nation's higher rates of cocaine and heroin abuse, according to a survey of large urban areas. In 1994 the last year for which data is available, the Detroit area ranked seventh out of 21 metropolitan areas in the rate of hospital emergency room visits for cocaine abuse and ninth in the rate of visits for heroin abuse. The city and its suburbs had 202 hospital emergency room visits per 100,000 residents in 1998 for cocaine abuse, accord ing to the report by the Drug Abuse Warning Network, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That ranked behind metropolitan Baltimore, 296; Philadelphia.

275; New York, 233; Chicago, 232; Atlanta, 218, and Newark, N.J, 208. The Detroit area had 68 hospital emergency room visits per 100,000 residents for heroin, the report said. The cities that recorded a greater rate of visits for heroin were Baltimore, 290; Newark, N.J, 282; Chicago, 159; San Francisco, 150; Seattle, 127; New York, 110; Philadelphia, 76; and Boston, 75. Experts said the Detroit area's large international airport, closeness to the Canadian border, large college-age population and pockets of poverty contribute to its drug problem. The U.S.

Drug Enforcement Administration reported that heroin's purity in metropolitan Detroit climbed from 27 in 1996 to 48 last year. By comparison, metropolitan Chicago's heroin fell to 23 pure. The price of heroin in the Detroit area dropped from $1.31 per milligram in 1996 to 62 cents (MCE Engler wants to regulate taking of Great Lakes water (3jJulJlliJiioo SUITS FROM TROUSERS FROM SPORTCOATS FROM KNIT SHIRTS SPORT SHIRTS SHORTS FROM 1G99 cates said the plan is a good first step, they said it needs more specific language about who's allowed to remove water. Gov. Engler's plan fails to call for an overall conservation plan for saving Great Lakes waters and restoring damage already done to the lakes, Reg Gilbert, senior coordinator for Great Lakes United, said from his office in Buffalo, N.Y.

Although removal of Great Lakes water isn't a problem, Mr. Truscott said Gov. Engler's action is heading off future problems. For example, a proposal in Canada would move water by tanker from Newfoundland to the Middle East The governor's proposed changes to the Great Lakes Charter are expected to be signed at the September meeting of the Council of Great Lakes Governors, Mr. Truscott said.

He said the proposal has received initial support from governors of other Great Lakes states. The charter needs congressional approval before it is legally binding, said Tim Eder, director of the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes office. He said Gov. Engler's proposal could allow water to be exchanged for ill-defined improvements to the Great Lakes. "We need to clarify benefits to the Great Lakes and put conservation first," Mr.

Eder said. He suggested requiring applicants to prove there is a real need to remove water, show there is no other alternative and that they have done everything they could to conserve water. Great Lakes states first must inventory their uses of the Great Lakes' water before drafting a policy for people outside the basin, said Jim Goodheart, executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs. "We can't expect others to conserve our basin if we don't do it first," he said. The Associated Press LANSING Companies would have to show they could improve the Great Lakes before receiving permission to withdraw water under a proposal Gov.

John Engler announced Monday. Water could be removed only by showing that there would be an improvement to the water or other natural resources, Gov. Engler announced as part of his proposed changes to the Great Lakes Charter. Legal experts said banning the exportation of water out of the Great Lakes Water Basin violates international trade law and treaties, he said in a statement. "We can't ban it, but we can set some severe restrictions," said John Truscott, a spokesman for the governor.

"It would be difficult to exceed the threshold we set. We are continuing to fight the diversion of water." Although environmental advo SOCKS TIES MICRO FIBER JACKET REG. $75 REG. $9 EA. 99 ALL REMAINING (0) iivvkmvn OR MORE! Nuclear plant draws protesters BROWNS Mens's WearE legacy we need to leave to our children," said Will Phillips of the South Bend office of the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, one of four groups protesting Monday.

The Utah site would be a temporary solution until the federal government develops a permanent disposal site, perhaps under Nevada's Yucca Mountain. 315 Huron Port Huron, Ml (810) 984-1990 HOURS: Sat. Fridays Till 8 Sunday 12-4 Major Credit Cards Accepted Due To The Nature Of This Sale, All Sales Final. The company has estimated the restart cost at $574 million, with that cost and the fine to be absorbed by shareholders. Unit 1 is expected to be returned to service in the fall.

In addition to the restart, protesters also voiced objections to American Electric's participation in a plan to develop an interim nuclear waste storage site on an American Indian reservation in Utah. An environmental impact hearing on that matter began Monday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in Washington, D.C. American Electric is among eight utilities in a consortium called Private Fuel Storage LLC that seeks approval for a temporary spent-fuel storage site on the Skull Valley Band of Goshutecq Indian reservation in Utah. "We just don't believe that's a The Associated Press BRIDGMAN Anti-nuclear activists protested the scheduled restart of the D.C. Cook Nuclear Power Plant's Unit 2, expected to be at full power in time for peak summer demand.

The hour-long demonstration Monday outside the plant's main entrance included about 30 protesters carrying signs and shouting "Keep Cook closed." The plant's two reactors have been shut down since September 1997 due to safety concerns raised during a Nuclear Regulatory Commission design inspection. The next year, the commission fined plant owner American Electric Power $500,000 for various design-related violations. On Monday, plant spokesman Bill Schalk said Unit 2 was close to running and being connected to the transmission grid. IE I Prices 4 'j if -f I tU 1 1 1 TV j. HERBS y.

Grand Opening June 3 Organically Grown Herbs: Potted. Dried, Fresh Cut or "Pick Your Usual Perennials. Connie's Country Cottage "One of a Kind" Gift Shop. Herbal Bath Products, Herbal Teas, Garden Tours. Open Saturday and Sundays 9 to 5 Wood's Edge Herb Farm 6171 lewitt Rd.

one mile south of Blaine, west off The Wildcat (810)327-6183 FEATURING amtv rair VoiatSavam nextel 1 VerkSflwireiess 'V mo. IK 5t' 100 regional minutes, 5 state program Moving Soon! Behind White Castlel No roam or long distance Calls from this area to any of the 0 states are local with this program, youll receive some of the best coverage area available in the U.S. Your choice of handsets orrree- (MM 7 I BiamiYgmmOoHOM SETRES lESEiG tSSiE' memtwbf Mvt1000 iwe I on yotM Yanm awd one mm.