Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993                   TAG: 9310070344
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Ray Reed
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FLU PREDICTORS SEE A BEIJING

A: The serum order is a guess nine months into the future based on extensive worldwide surveillance of flu viruses, said Dr. Nancy Cox, chief of the influenza branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It takes drug companies nine months to prepare 50 million doses.

This year's judgment call looks wise so far. Research detected the harsh type-A Beijing flu emerging late in February. As usual, it has a variant that gets past most people's natural immunities.

Type-A Beijing was responsible for three flu outbreaks in Louisiana in August, Cox said.

Next year, the cycle could bring back A Texas flu - or maybe Flu B or B Panama - with variants, Cox said.

Tar Heel origins

Q: How did North Carolinians get the name "Tar Heel?" R.H., Villamont

A: Tar has been associated with North Carolina since Colonial days when the pine product stopped leaks in the hulls of wooden ships.

The heel part didn't come into play until the Civil War, according to four texts. The story goes that some troops needed tar on their heels to hold their ground.

There's some dispute among historians as to whether the retreating troops were from North Carolina, or whether they were from another state and left the Carolinians to fight alone.

Either way, the name stuck. And with honor, any Tar Heel would add.

Fine has basis and use

Q: How will the huge fine be used that the state imposed on Roanoke Belt Inc. for the accident in which three employees died in Arlington? And how did they settle on a $610,000 fine, which seems like a loose figure? Does the state calculate the fine from some basis? N.N.

A: The exact fine is $610,325. Reporters usually round off numbers for easier reading or listening.

Money collected from the Roanoke Belt case will go into the state's general fund, which also receives income taxes and other revenue, said a spokesman for the state Department of Labor and Industry. From there, about half goes for education and the rest for other state operations, but not highways.

There is a system for deciding the fine's amount. Roanoke Belt was cited for 17 labor-law infractions. Eight were judged willful violations, which contributed directly to the fatalities, and automatically drew the maximum penalty of $70,000 each.

Two more violations were judged willful but did not contribute directly to the deaths, and the penalty was $21,000 each.

These offenses involved the company's failure to properly train or equip the three men to work inside a tank, which they were lining with a glue containing toluene. Its fumes killed the workers.

Fines for the other violations were adjusted systematically for the gravity of the infraction, the size of the business and the employer's good faith in fixing previous violations, the Labor Department spokesman said.

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