Word: wrecker
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When the roof of a Fort Worth building began to cave in beneath his feet, the first thing Building Wrecker Walter J. Piper did was to throw away his crow bar. The act came within a quarter of an inch of taking his life. Sliding down a beam as the roof fell, Piper, 69, plummeted onto the 5-ft.-long, l-in.-thick tool, which had lodged point up in a pile of debris. The crowbar rammed through Piper's scrotum, smashed his pelvis, punctured his intestines, stomach, diaphragm and a lung before stopping within a quarter...
...abdominal surgeons had just scrubbed up for an operation. Calling in a chest surgeon from nearby All Saints Hospital, they went to work on Piper. For over five hours, they followed the crowbar's path, repairing damaged organs as they discovered them through two incisions in the Building Wrecker's abdomen and chest. Last week Piper was home recuperating from his wounds and planning to go back to work. Said one doctor, reflecting on the slim chances for surviving such a wound: "He's a tough little Irishman, or he wouldn't be here...
...very ugly building." Last summer, Jansen auctioned off the cathedral for $1,400,000 to a real estate developer, who plans to put up a 14-story office building in its place. Demolition began in January, and the twin-spired edifice has now been half-destroyed by the wrecker's ball...
...everything built in America since the Revolutionary War. At the same time, more and more Americans are concerned that progress should not destroy America's heritage. From New Hampshire to Hawaii, New Orleans to Kodiak, Alaska, New York City to Ord, Neb., history hawks are fluttering against the wrecker's ball. Often their efforts are too little-but less and less are they too late...
Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera House is destined for the wrecker's ball in May-that is, if it lasts that long. Last week the visiting Bolshoi Ballet practically tore down the house all by itself. Most of the acclaim was lavished on the Bolshoi's wing-footed Prima Ballerina Maya Plisetskaya. On opening night she danced the dual role of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, and on the next night performed in the U.S. première of Petipa's Don Quixote-altogether a feat that is roughly comparable to Sandy Koufax pitching both ends...