Three Nevadans aboard damaged ship

Friday, Oct. 13, 2000 | 12:14 p.m.

Carson City High graduate Kirk Lippold commands the USS Cole. His mother, Bee Staheli of Carson City, said she was told on Thursday that he was safe.

Lippold was student body president at Carson High in his senior year. He graduated in 1977 and entered the U.S. Naval Academy.

Matthew Melanovich of Winnemucca also escaped injury in yesterday's blast in the Yemeni port of Aden, as did Roger Torres of Elko.

Patty Melanovich in Winnemucca and Charlotte Torres in Elko both said they had heard from the Navy that their sons are all right. They are looking forward to hearing from the sailors themselves.

"I got a call about six in the morning saying there was an explosion," Staheli said in Carson City. "I paced back and forth," she added.

Staheli just retired last year as a journalism and English teacher at Carson High.

"The news sent a ripple through the faculty here," Carson High principal Glen Adair said. "We know the USS Cole. It is commanded by one of ours."

Vice principal Harvey Walker was especially shaken by the news. He had taught Lippold and they remained close. Lippold had given Walker a USS Cole cap after Lippold became captain of the ship in June 1999.

"This really hits home," Walker said. "Yes, it was something that happened thousands of miles away but suddenly it involves someone you know pretty well. . . and Kirk gave me that hat."

It also was a long day in Winnemucca for Patty Melanovich, waiting for word about her son, a gas turbine mechanic on the Cole.

"The Navy department called at about 4:45 p.m. to say Matt was uninjured," she said. "I said, 'Thank God.' And I've been smiling ever since."