American Notes ACCIDENTS

A sight-seeing bus tour through the Rocky Mountains west of Denver is one of the nation's summertime spectaculars. But the scenic trip was tragically cut short for 28 vacationers last week when a 6 1/2-ton boulder careered 710 ft. down a mountainside, smacking into the side of their bus.

The mishap, which killed eight people, three of them foreign tourists, and seriously injured six, was no natural disaster. The boulder was being moved by a state road worker when it suddenly plummeted out of control.

Roy Romer, the Governor of Colorado, which promotes its slopes and scenery to tourists worldwide, said the state would accept "full responsibility" for the tragedy, including what are likely to be substantial payments for damages. "The road should have been closed," he said, "or the rock should not have been moved."