THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2008

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Mystery Ice Rips Through Roof of Local Business

By TOM ROBB

Journal Reporter

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are looking into the origins of baseball-sized chunks of clear ice that ripped a hole in the ceiling of an Arlington Hts. business last Friday.

Company officials at Weber Marking Systems, 711 W. Algonquin Road, think the ice came from an aircraft.

The ice fell through the roof of the plant at 3:15 a.m. Friday, March 14.

"Fortunately none of our employees were in close proximity to the occurrence and no one was injured," said company President Glenn Gilly.

Asked if he suspected the damage was caused by ice from a falling aircraft, Gilly replied, "There's no suspect about it, it absolutely had to."

Gilly said, "We are currently seeking further information concerning the incident through the FAA."

FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the FAA is in the process of tracking which aircrafts were flying above the plant at the time.

She said once those are aircraft are identified, they will be inspected for a leak in their drinking water tanks.

Cory was not prepared to definitively say the ice came from an aircraft. She said the ice was not "blue ice." Wastewater on aircrafts is treated with blue dye causing the frozen wastewater to appear blue. She said the ice that fell on the Weber plant was clear.

Cory said if the ice came from an aircraft it would have come from a leak in the drinking water tank.

Cory cautioned that she has seen similar circumstances where ice is blown from other buildings.

The area where the ice fell was not near assembly lines and did not interrupt third shift operations at the label and label applicator manufacturing facility.

Gilley said the area was cleaned up by 9 a.m. Friday morning and did not have an estimated cost of the damage.