John Wesley North High School - Aurora Yearbook (Riverside, CA)

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Chemical Spill Kills Many was not long after dawn and the daily eath toll was already in the hundreds, he was street littered with bodies. That ras the sight in Bhopal, India on the lorning of December 18, 1984. Over ,500 people were killed by the spillage of 3xic gas. At 1 1 pm a worker at the Union -arbide plant in Bhopal noticed a pres- jre build up in a 45 ton tan k containing lethyl isocyanate, a highly poisonous hemical used in pesticides. At 12:56 am a ense cloud of toxic gas escaped through a faulty valve. The cloud was moved slow- ly by air currents leaving many dead in it ' s wake and many others injured. The next morning hundreds were dead and, by the end, of the week 2,500. Many others were blinded, while others experienced severe lung destruction. Officials at the Bhopal plant were arrested and tried for negli- gence. The Bhopal incident was consid- ered one of the worst industrial disasters of all time. Shuttle Takes Flight lying high over the earth, the space shut- completed its 50th flight in 1984. Flight 1-A, though, was perhaps the most spec- cular in the 26 year history of the United fates Space Program. The space shuttle iscovery was sent into space in order to jcover two malfunctioning satellites in rbit around the earth. Using special ackpacks for zero-gravity movement, the fo astronauts, Gardner and Allen, oved the two satellites into the large car- D bay of the space shuttle. Upon their !turn they planned on selling the two itellites for $35 million each. President onald Reagan said We ' ve demonstrat- i that we can work in space in ways that e never imagined possible. The government had other plans for the shuttle too. They planned on using the space shuttles to build a permanent space station in orbit. This space station was to be used for research and the eventual installation of the Star Wars defense sys- tem. Star Wars was a plan of laser de- fense from a nuclear attack. According to the president, the star wars system would make nuclear war obsolete. Congress had authorized almost $2.5 billion for re- search and development on an estimated $26 billion 5 year budget. Scientists were skeptical but Reagan was hopeful that starwars and the shuttles could reduce, if not stop, the effects of a nuclear ex- change. From one of the many balconies in the Mission inn one can see ihe Spanish Patio. Originally con- struction on the Inn began in 1876 and it was com- pleted in 1935. Riverside Renovates Riverside a new metropolis? The orange capital of the 60 ' s? Most people said it was not possible, but Riverside had great plans for renovation. During 1985 and 1986 the Mission Inn, which was sold by the City of Riverside for $3,000,000, was closed in order to begin a giant restora- tion project. $25 million dollars of restora- tion was planned for. The Sheraton corpo- ration has chosen Riverside as the site for a new fourteen story Sheraton hotel. The hotel was scheduled to be built and open for business by the summer of 1986. Other changes in Riverside included its rapid growth due to the continued building of apartments and condominiums. Construc- tion on fowa at Blaine, on Linden at Can- yon Crest and Central at Chicago took place in 1984 and 1985. Riverside had definitely changed from the small orange capital it was in the 60 ' s. Landslide For Reagan The election had pretty well been decid- ed, the incumbant President Ronald Rea- gan would win. The question, however, was would it be an historic landslide? The answer proved to be yes. On November 6, 1984, Ronald Reagan was overwhelm- ingly reelected to the position of president of the United States. His victory over democrat Walter Mondale was a land- slide, 525 electoral votes to 13. Mondale, however, managed to secure electoral votes from his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Reagan on the other hand took 59% of the popular vote. Following his reelection Reagan, the republican, had one of the most spectacu- lar inaugurations in history. More than $12 million was alotted to buy various com- memorative souvenirs. This inaugural budget had only been surpassed by Rea- gan ' s first of $16.3 million. the news page 47

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Baby Fae Gets Heart Medicine has made some of the most star- tling advancements in the eighties. Baby Fae, a month old infant at the Loma Linda Medical Center, became the recipient of a baboon heart transplant. Although she only lived for 21 days with her new heart it was a record for the longest time a patient has lived with a heart transplanted from an animal donor. Baby Fae, the pseudonym for the child, was born with a hypoplastic left heart, or a severely underdeveloped heart. Two weeks after the transplant, Baby Fae ' s body began to reject the or- gan transplant. She also began to exper- ience kidney failure. The combination of these effects led to her heart failure a week later. Although Baby Fae lost her battle, she had given the hope to the doc- tors and researchers that in the near future a transplant of this kind might be success- ful. Baby Fae ' s surgeon Dr. Leonard Bai- ley believes that Baby Fae will pave the way for future animal transplants, and is convinced that next time it will be a sue- The NEWS Page Towering over the downtowrt eirea is this tifteen story crane. The Sheraton Corporation was building a luxury hotel in the lot across from Raincross Square. Famine Shocks The World Many African countries suffered from a severe drought which caused starvation and famine in 1984 and 1985. Ethiopia, however, had particular problems. In- stead of putting money into famine relief, the country ' s government insisted on buying weaponry to continue fighting it ' s civil war, which had lasted 23 years. Dur- ing 1984, starvation had hit a peak, and crops would not grow in most of North Africa. Americans had donated nearly $70 million privately in food and medical 46 student life aid, and, as a country, the United States gave up to 55,000 metric tons of grain a month, in addition to some $590 million in medical aid and general relief. 150 million people in some thirty African nations were in danger of starving. The drought was not the only problem. In Mozambigue the drought was followed by hurricanes and widespread flooding, while guerrilla war- fare prevented supplies from reaching the needy. In Chad the drought was even worse than in Ethiopia. Koko ' s Kitten Killed Great advancements were made in the field of animal research. At the Gorilla Foundation of California a 13 year old female gorilla named Koko had been taught to speak American sign language, Koko, over the past 12 years, has been taught to sign over 1,000 words. In July 1984, Koko asked the researchers if they would give her a pet kitten. The research- ers gave her a stuffed one, but Koko had to have the real thing. Finally, the Gorilla Foundation gave Koko a choice of one out of three kittens. Later in the year Koko ' s kitten was killed by a car. Koko was heart broken, cried, and was promised another kitten as soon as possible. Researchers planned on using the death of Koko ' s kit ten to find out about a gorilla ' s views on death. Old Body- New Heart If I only had a heart sighed the tin man of Oz. He would have been amazed at current technology. On November 25, 1984, William Schroeder, a federal in- spector, became the recipient of an artifi- cial heart. Schroeder entered Louisville ' s Humana Hospital in critical condition, car- ried by his two sons. When Schroeder entered the hospital he had about 90 days left to live. He agreed to the heart trans- plant in order to prolong his otherwise shortened life. Although Schroeder will probably have to spend the rest of his life in the hospital attached to a 323 pound air system, the drive for his artificial heart, his life was undeniably lengthened. Schroeder is living proof of the medical advancements being made in the field of medical science. I feel like I ' ve got 10 years left right now, said Schroeder.

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Catching the rays, or just caught with a case of Senioritis? lama Dixon basks in the sun during lunch on a Roman dressup day. Complete with leis and loud shirts, the class ol 85 made their Hawaiian theme homecoming float one to remember. To complete their tropical master- piece, those on the float spient many hours working on it the day before and the day of the parade. 48 division With best bear in hand, Kristi Lund gets into the spirit of Homecoming week during a [Mrty in Mr. Adams ' class. The celebration, in his calculus class made up of seniors, was held to commemorate the four years the group had been together under Ad- ams ' wing. V HI