1 1/2-Block Street Is Long on Valor

--In 1978, Silvis, Ill., renamed a 1 1/2-block street Hero Street because it has produced 110 members of the armed services, including eight who died in World War II and the Korean War. Now, the community of 6,400 in northwestern Illinois wants the street to be named a national monument. “You talk about heroes--that street’s got it,” said Alderman Joe Terronez, who heads the drive for congressional designation of the street as a national monument. He believes no other street in the United States can match its record. The street is crowded with 36 small frame homes and a park dedicated to the veterans who lived there. City officials have met with an aide to Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.) and are waiting to be told what needs to be done to gain support in Congress, Terronez said. “If it has to be letters, we’ll write letters. We’ll make calls. Whatever it takes,” he said.

--There was a lot of shouting going on at a busy Tokyo street corner as contestants competed in a loud-voice contest. Student Takashi Natori, 23, of Tokyo won the men’s division when he screamed a taunt at a professional baseball player, pitcher Osamu Higashio of the Seibu Lions: “Higashio, teach me how to play mah-jongg!” Police said this week that they suspected Higashio of gambling while playing the Oriental game at an acquaintance’s apartment. Natori’s shout registered 114.3 decibels. Miyako Shimizu, a 50-year-old teacher from Tokyo, screeched, “Kyaa! I learned to dance on Broadway!” at 112.5 decibels, taking the women’s title. A ringing telephone registers about 70 decibels and traffic noise 100 decibels. Noises of 150 decibels cause hearing damage, said the event’s sponsor, a cough drop manufacturer. Natori and Shimizu each won $390. The men’s runner-up registered 114.2 decibels, and the women’s runner-up was recorded at 111.1 decibels.

--A father and son awarded $7.5 million after they found a hoard of treasure in an Irish bog were told that they will get only $75,000 instead. After Ireland’s Supreme Court set aside a lower court’s ruling, 50-year-old Michael Webb welcomed the result, telling reporters that the millions “we were offered was never a real sum. It was just a paper dream.” Using metal detectors, he and his 20-year-old son, Michael, found a 9th-Century chalice and other early Christian relics of gold, silver and bronze, which are now on display in Ireland’s National Museum in Dublin.