BY HARRY RING
Semantics (I) - "spat: to quarrel pettily or briefly" - Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

Semantics (II) - "U.S. Jet Fires at Iraqi Radar As Spat Continues." - January 13 Los Angeles Times headline.

Like we say, nothin's perfect -"Replacement valves installed in [Boeing] 737s to prevent rudder problems that might have led to two crashes will have to be inspected after cracks were found in some of the devices, the FAA said." -News item.

Leftovers - FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - "For the next two months the Environmental Protection Agency will supervise the removal of rusted drums and toxic sludge from the city's industrial park. The drums are filed with cyanide, solvents and acids. The site was abandoned in 1996 after R&P Electroplating folded." - News item.

Don't get excited - ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Twenty-eight of the city's 80 schools lack sprinkler systems, but fire officials said they are still safe. The district will install sprinklers in all but eight of the schools in four years if the assembly OK's the districts $427 million building plan..." - News item.

Hardly worth mentioning -"CANTON, Ohio - Removal of low- level radioactive waste that was mistakenly dumped into the Stark County landfill will begin Thursday, an EPA official said. A subcontractor is to begin digging up about 93 tons of radioactive dirt along with the contaminated trash." - News item.

Say cheese - "Police are to be allowed to keep the millions of pounds raised in fines from thousands of motorists caught speeding every year by roadside cameras. The number of cameras are likely to quadruple." - London news item.

What year is this? - Groups in Birmingham, Alabama, are trying to get officials to remove swastikas engraved on the exterior of the county courthouse back in 1931. Meanwhile, the Ku Klux Klan was slated to hold a rally at the courthouse January 9.

`Best book of 1998' - That was the judgment of An Phoblacht/Republican News [Ireland] in noting a new edition of The Communist Manifesto. It declared: "Many fine books were published this year...but the book of the year has to be The Communist Manifesto, 150 years old last March."  
 
 
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