Across The Nation

SEVENTH WORKER DIES IN LA. NATURAL-GAS-WELL EXPLOSION

BRYCELAND, La. - A natural-gas-well fire blamed for killing seven men over the weekend raged on today, after authorities were able to retrieve the remains of five victims.

The well exploded Saturday as 13 workers were preparing it to begin pumping natural gas. One of those killed was brought out within hours, but it took a full day before emergency crews were able to cool the fiery wreckage with water to get to the other five bodies.

Danny Smith, 32, of Harleton, Texas, died early yesterday at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport.

Authorities identified the other victims as Donald Pete Hedrick, 41, of Keithville, La.; Brady Brownlow, 24, Dean McClinton, 29, and Craig Creel, 31, all of Longview, Texas; Robert Palmer, 42, of Frankston, Texas; and Cody Vaught, 21, of Elk City, Okla.

The well is in a remote area of Bienville Parish, about 45 miles east of Shreveport in northern Louisiana.

State authorities did not plan to begin investigating the cause until the blaze is out, Trooper Chris Johnson said last night. Extinguishing the fire could take days, said Bruce Connery, spokesman for Sonat Exploration, which owns the well.

Four of the victims were working for Cudd Well Control of Oklahoma City and three worked for Key Energy Services of Kilgore, Texas, Johnson said.

5 found dead at Miss. base; carbon monoxide suspected

MERIDIAN, Miss. - Five members of one family, four of them children, were found dead yesterday in their home at Meridian Naval Air Station, possibly victims of carbon-monoxide poisoning.

Autopsies were under way. Carbon monoxide can be caused by faulty water heaters, furnaces and other fuel-burning appliances.

The mother of the four children, Tina Johnston, was in guarded condition today at a Meridian hospital. The dead were Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Johnston, 34; his sons, twins Robert and Jesse Johnston, 4; and James Hall, 13, and William Hall, 9, Tina Johnson's sons from an earlier marriage.

Three sentenced to jail in Michigan rape case

DETROIT - Three young men from the wealthy Grosse Pointe area each were sentenced to 70 days in jail today for having sex with underage high-school girls.

The three had been charged, along with 18-year-old Daniel Granger, after three girls, then 14, claimed they were given alcohol and had sex with the young men. The age of consent in Michigan is 16. All four struck plea bargains.

Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny sentenced Daniel Raymond, 19; his cousin, James Raymond, 19; and Robert Cooper, 18, to jail plus a year on probation.

Granger, a former class president at Grosse Pointe North High School, was sentenced earlier to 4 1/2 months in jail and two years' probation.

Montana hunter kills buck, gets second set of antlers

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - In hunter's terms, it was quite a rack.

Robert Kercher of Great Falls was stalking deer on opening day yesterday, and wound up with a bizarre kill.

He shot a buck and found, tangled in its antlers, the head and antlers of a second buck - the loser in a head-butting battle.

"We'll be talking about this forever when we go hunting," said Bob Woodmansey, who was with Kercher.

The hunters and Jim Williams, a state wildlife biologist, surmise that the deer left standing after the fight between the bucks dragged the other around. Eventually the body of the loser simply fell off.

It's also possible that coyotes moved in on the entangled deer, killing one. Bite marks were found on Kercher's quarry.

Probe planned at home where woman in coma gave birth

BOSTON - Investigators plan to ask for DNA samples from all male employees of a nursing home where a comatose woman who was believed to have been raped gave birth to a baby.

The 24-year-old woman gave birth to a premature baby girl on Friday, just four days after doctors at the Town Manor Nursing Home in Lawrence discovered she was five months pregnant.

The baby remained in critical condition yesterday at New England Medical Center's Floating Hospital in Boston.