Q: What happened to the driver whose new dryer fell from his truck and killed another driver who swerved to miss it?

KENNY BROOKSHIRE, Jonesboro

A: Michael Hall was driving his two sons home from a baseball game in McDonough when he swerved to avoid a clothes dryer on I-75 near Forest Park in March 2004. Hall's Isuzu Rodeo flipped. Hall, an assistant dean at Clark Atlanta University, died at the scene. His sons, ages 6 and 9, were injured.

Police traced the dryer to a Home Depot in Jonesboro and identified the buyer as Jose Luna Gonzales, a construction worker from Hapeville. Gonzales, who told police he tried to retrieve the dryer but could not because of traffic, pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide and failing to secure a load. He was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and a $1,000 fine.

Q: What is the difference between hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones?

SALLY SEGUR, Douglasville

A: Hurricanes and typhoons are the same but called different names depending on where you live. Hurricanes occur in the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern North Pacific. In the western North Pacific, they are called typhoons. Typhoons tend to be stronger than hurricanes because of the warmer water in the western Pacific. Both rotate in a counterclockwise direction around an "eye" with winds of at least 74 mph. A cyclone is a generic term for rotating low pressure systems.

Researchers Sharon Gaus and Joni Zeccola wrote this column.

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