Escalator

ACCIDENTS Shoes may cause escalator injuries At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes caught in escalators. The one common theme seems to be the clunky soft-soled clogs known by the name of the most popular brand, Crocs. The Washington Metro subway system has even posted ads warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways. The ads feature a photo of a crocodile, though they don't mention Crocs by name.

EVERYONE likes the spunky generation of community development corporations -- CDCs -- that have dared, like little sailboats on stormy waters, to buck the head winds of urban poverty and bring fresh life to America's imperiled inner-city neighborhoods.But have they made a difference? Could lightly funded community development groups, realistically, have been expected to succeed against the frightening riptides of our times?Grim reality says the American sprawl machine's been sewering our cornfields, sucking development outward.

A CHRISTMAS shopping trip, 1998:7 p.m. -- Arrive at mall. Parking lot looks like the Gaza Strip minutes after the Israelis have closed the border.I circle for 10 minutes, end up stalking a giggling couple heading back to their car who decide to stop every 10 feet and kiss.L Yo, save that for the back seat of a Buick where it belongs!I'm trying to shop here!7: 16 -- Here's an upset: the mall's packed. Tired moms push baby strollers, determined, energetic women are trailed by weary, hollow-eyed husbands laden like pack mules with shopping bags, oblivious toddlers bump their heads against marble columns and sob mightily.

Twenty-eight people were sent to the hospital yesterday when a crowded Oriole Park escalator malfunctioned and sent dozens of baseball fans tumbling back toward the main concourse.Orioles officials estimated that a total of 43 people were injured after the main escalator on the right field side of Camden Yards apparently ground to a stop and lurched backward about 30 minutes before the start last night's 7:05 game between the Orioles and Twins."It kind of shimmied for a second and then kind of slid back," said Greg Johnson of Brooklyn, who suffered a minor elbow injury.

The Camden Yards escalator that injured 44 fans when it malfunctioned last month often carried more weight than its state-approved capacity, based on a comparison of inspection records and fans' accounts.State records show that the first-base side escalator, which stretches from the ground-level concourse to the upper deck, is approved to carry up to 80 people -- or 16,000 pounds.But several victims of the June 18 accident say that more than 150 people were aboard the escalator when it stopped moving up, reversed direction and sent frightened fans on a free fall.

The mechanical system used in the escalator that collapsed at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in June will not be used in the ballpark again and will not be produced any more, said the escalator's manufacturer.Timothy L. Duin, vice president of risk management at Montgomery Elevator Co., said the company will install a standard type of drive system that has been used widely for about 30 years.The failure of the 55-foot escalator -- the ballpark's longest -- in June sent 43 people to local hospitals.

A broken metal shaft caused the Camden Yards escalator accident that injured 44 people last month, Bruce E. Hoffman, executive director of the Maryland Stadium Authority confirmed yesterday. But investigators still haven't determined why the shaft broke, he said.Meanwhile, he announced that four of the five escalators at the ballpark will be operating for tonight's game as the Orioles return to town for a 10-game homestand.The right field-side escalator that malfunctioned June 18 will remain out of service while a San Antonio laboratory examines parts damaged in the accident, Mr. Hoffman said.

A lawsuit stemming from last month's escalator accident at Camden Yards was filed yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court by the parents of an Ellicott City teen-ager.In their $2.6 million suit, James Terrill and Nancy Terrill claim that Montgomery Elevator Co., of Moline, Ill., was negligent for failing to adequately inspect, maintain, repair and install the escalator that transports fans from the ballpark's concourse to the upper deck.Their son, Bradley Terrill, 17, attended the June 18 Orioles game and was about three-quarters of the way up the escalator when it went into reverse at high speed before coming to an abrupt stop, the suit says.

Engineers and inspectors began searching yesterday for clues to the escalator accident that injured more than 40 baseball fans at Camden Yards last weekend, but they said it will take days to pinpoint the cause.High-top sneakers remained stuck in the mangled steps as the escalator manufacturer and state officials began dismantling the three-story-high staircase yesterday morning.State regulators said work would continue at the site through tomorrow but that it is likely to take longer to discover why fans were sent tumbling Saturday.

The Camden Yards escalator accident that injured more than 40 baseball fans Saturday was caused when a metal shaft broke, sending the moving staircase "freewheeling" downward at high speed, specialists close to the investigation say.The tear in the shaft left the escalator's safety brakes ineffective, and the staircase continued its near free fall until several steps were mangled at the bottom. After the accident, a sneaker was left wedged in the jumble.Michael T. Shiflet, a consultant hired by Forensic Technologies International of Annapolis, said the break occurred within a large assembly that moves the steps along and is supposed to stop the escalator when problems occur.

A Pennsylvania mother yesterday filed a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit against the makers of the popular Crocs footwear after her 6-year-old son's shoe was caught and trapped in an escalator at the National Aquarium in Baltimore this spring, mangling his right big toe. Kerry Burdick, who lives in Eagleville, Pa., claims Colorado-based Crocs Inc. knew its foam clogs were unsafe for escalator travel yet did nothing to warn the public, according to...

ACCIDENTS Shoes may cause escalator injuries At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes caught in escalators. The one common theme seems to be the clunky soft-soled clogs known by the name of the most popular brand, Crocs. The Washington Metro subway system has even posted ads warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways. The ads feature a photo of a crocodile, though they don't mention Crocs by name.

When JCPenney purchased the old Woodward & Lothrop store in Columbia, it wanted to add shelves and displays to showcase the new wares to shoppers as they glided between floors. But the death of a store clerk who could not breathe after her head became wedged between the escalator's moving handrail and the new display, has her family convinced that the designers were negligent. Andrea Albright, a 24-year-old single mother, was riding the up escalator at the Penney store in The Mall in Columbia on June 15, 2002.

The great thing about superstition is that all kinds work equally well. If your lucky socks don't perform today, you can call on your lucky hat tomorrow. There's no sectarianism about it. Best of all, though, is that if you actually do well, you're entirely free to attribute your success to extreme cleverness. This was the appeal of the great bull market that only began to stumble this month. For years, it gave people the impression that their portfolios had grown thanks to their particular investment savvy.

A federal appeals court revived yesterday a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Washington's Metro subway system concerning the death of a passenger who had climbed an inoperable escalator in the Bethesda station on a sweltering day. Richard Hadaway Smith, 37, of Rockville suffered a fatal heart attack eight years ago after walking up an escalator in 96-degree heat. His family filed a $2.2 million suit against the transit system in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. His parents accused Metro officials of being negligent for failing to keep at least one escalator working on June 8, 1998.

Several weeks ago, Sally Murray took an incredible trip, and like any adventurous traveler couldn't wait to talk about it. "I went home and told my daughter, `Do you know what I just did?!'" She had ridden all the way to the top of the escalator at Bethesda Metro station. By herself. For mountain climbers, skydivers and other serious daredevils, that doesn't sound like much. But for Murray, who had gotten so skittish about escalators she hadn't been on one in six years, scaling Mount Metro was an inportant step forward in conquering more stubborn fears.

The woman injured while riding an escalator Saturday at The Mall in Columbia remained in critical condition at Maryland Shock Trauma Center yesterday, a hospital spokeswoman said. Andrea Albright, 24, a Columbia resident who works at J.C. Penney in the mall, had her head wedged between the store's escalator rail and a low ceiling, authorities said. "We're not 100 percent sure what happened to her," store manager Ken Hornbostel said. It appears Albright was riding up the escalator about 4:40 p.m. and somehow caught her head while leaning over the escalator rail, a Howard County police spokesman said Saturday.

In Carroll County Town to increase fines for outdoor water use MANCHESTER - To toughen the town's ban on outdoor water use, Manchester officials have stopped issuing warnings and plan to increase fines from $25 to at least $100 for violators who water lawns or fill swimming pools. The Town Council abolished the practice of issuing warnings at a meeting Tuesday and next will draft an ordinance to adjust the fines, first set in 1988, for inflation. "This is a serious problem, and we need to impose a serious fine that goes along with that problem," said Steven L. Miller, director of public works.

A department store employee injured Saturday at The Mall in Columbia when her head became wedged between the rail of an escalator and a low ceiling remained in critical condition last night at Maryland Shock Trauma Center, authorities said. Andrea Albright, 24, of Cedar Lane in Columbia, an employee of J.C. Penney at the mall, was riding up the escalator and leaning over the rail about 4:40 p.m. when her head became caught, according to police and fire officials. It took rescue personnel about 20 minutes to free the unconscious woman.

EVERYONE likes the spunky generation of community development corporations -- CDCs -- that have dared, like little sailboats on stormy waters, to buck the head winds of urban poverty and bring fresh life to America's imperiled inner-city neighborhoods.But have they made a difference? Could lightly funded community development groups, realistically, have been expected to succeed against the frightening riptides of our times?Grim reality says the American sprawl machine's been sewering our cornfields, sucking development outward.