(Telephone Relay Night Watchman Dies)
THOMPSON, MANITOBA, CANADA.
Telephone relay company night watchman Edward Baker, 31, was
killed early Christmas morning by excessive microwave radiation
exposure. He was apparently attempting to keep warm next to a
telecommunications feed-horn.
Baker had been suspended on a safety violation once last year,
accordingto Northern Manitoba Signal Relay spokesperson Tanya
Cooke. She noted that Bakers earlier infraction was for defeat-
ing a safety shut-off switch and entering a restricted main-
tenance catwalk in order to stand in front of the microwave dish.
He had told coworker's that it was the only way he could stay
warm during his twelve-hour shift at the station, where winter
temperatures often dip to forty below zero.
Microwaves can heat water molecules within human tissue in the
sameway that they heat food in microwave ovens. For his Christmas
shift, Baker reportedly brought a twelve pack of beer and a plastic
lawn chair, which he positioned directly in line with the strongest
microwave beam. Baker had not been told about a tenfold boost in
microwave power planned that night to handle the anticipated
increase in holiday long-distance callingtraffic.
Bakers body was discovered by the daytime watchman, John Burns, who
was greeted by an odor he mistook for a Christmas roast he thought
Baker must have prepared as a surprise. Burns also reported to
NMSR company officialsthat Bakers unfinished beers had exploded.