CAMPUS BRIEFS: Wednesday, September 16, 1998

Dates announced for Sansom store openings Parfumerie Douglas cosmetics, located on Walnut Street next to the new Penn Bookstore, will open on October 24; Urban Outfitters clothing at 36th and Sansom streets is scheduled to open at the end of October, two weeks ahead of schedule; and Eastern Mountain Sports, located next to Urban Outfitters on 36th Street, will open around Thanksgiving, Penn Executive Vice President John Fry said. Fry confirmed in a public meeting with the Trustees Budget and Finance Committee that EMS, the upscale, 31-year-old chain specializing in outdoor gear, will fill the 7,365-square-foot space on Sansom Common's eastern side, as reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian yesterday. City Sports, an athletic-goods chain, was slated to occupy the space, but opted at the last minute not to join the new retail and hotel complex because of internal financial difficulties. The addition of EMS will complete the $90 million first phase of Sansom Common, which is built on the site of a former parking lot. The second phase of the project will include the 256-room Inn at Penn, which will be completed on August 31, 1999, as well as two additional retailers and a restaurant. -- Seth Grossman and Edward Sherwin City holds drills to test response to terrorism What if terrorists wielding chemical weapons struck Philadelphia? That's the scenario numerous citywide agencies and institutions started confronting yesterday as part of a three-day, emergency-preparedness terrorism drill. The event, designed to build on Philadelphia's current response network, is testing the city's ability to respond to a terrorist attack. In one part, "victims" of a simulated chemical weapon attack will be brought today to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The drill is part of federal legislation passed last year which gives funding to major cities to train firefighters, police, health workers and other officials to respond to terrorist attacks involving chemical, biological or nuclear materials. The "chemical" will be released today at a mock fund-raising event at Fairmount Park, and will draw a response of 40 fire trucks, 25 police cars and a Hazardous Materials team, among other emergency response personnel. Fire Department personnel will first decontaminate the approximately 150 anticipated "victims" at the park, and then send them to area hospitals, including HUP, according to Crawford Mechem, medical director for the city's Emergency Medical System. Stephanie Abbuhl, medical director of HUP's emergency department, said the drill -- whose exact details are not yet public -- will put unexpected pressure on the city's agencies and emergency systems so that officials can "see how all the different pieces of the system will respond when forced to deal with such a major disaster." -- Naomi Blivaiss