Estherville Daily News from Estherville, Iowa • Page 5

Fluorescent Hobby For Dubuque Man "Let me tell you about a friend that I know, runs a pretty wicked light me tell you who I am talking about. 1 am a fluorescent collector, I make my rounds every day and Hutchinson of Dubuque do most people do with old light bulbs? Throw them away? Not 25-year-old Ray Hutchinson of Dubuque. Hutchinson, who was nicknamed Harpo by friends, is a fluorescent light far as he knows the only one in the world. He started collecting in 1969 and he said he still has fixture No. 1 somewhere among the 4,500 fluorescents that fill the basement of the Iowa Inn where he works.

Blind in one eye and partially blind in the other Hutchinson said he began collecting because he has a great respect for light. HE FINDS FLUORESCENTS, as.he calls them, by searching alleyways and old buildings. This constant vigil has paid off with what he calls a few "choice" fluorescents. He found one in the basement of an old hotel and later found out the bulb, complete with brass incaps, is no longer made by General Electric. Although his collecting is limited to Iowa, he has bulbs that are made in other countries.

His most unusual looking bulb is a U-shaped fluorescent that is used in buildings with dropped ceilings. HE CONSIDERS HIS MOST valuable fixture to be a 30-year- old fluorescent made by Champion, a company which he said sold out to American Telephone and Telegraph Co. Hutchinson "files" his fluorescents by type and age in boxes, which is not easy considering some of his lights are 8 feet long. All of the bulbs he collects are used and he doesn't keep lights that won't work unless they are unusually old or one-of-a- kind. Although he sells some of his more common lights to businessmen in parts of Dubuque, he said his fluorescents have no value except to him, and he doubts anyone would ever want to buy one of his unusual bulbs.

SINCE 1969 HUTCHINSON estimated that he has collected more than 50,000 light bulbs. This includes standard screw-in- the-socket bulbs as well as fluorescents. He said he has a system for keeping track of how many bulbs he has collected. On Jan. 1 of each year his count begins at one.

Hutchinson said he might try to enter his collection in the Guinness world record book, but first he is going to get the figure of his collection "astronomically high so the chances of catching me are tough." He added that he once contacted a major lighting company concerning his collection but nothing ever came of it. HE SAID HE DOESN'T break many bulbs considering the number he has, but he was vandalized once. "Somebody broke in and destroyed about 200 fluorescents, but none of the old ones was broken." Would he like to work with lights and lighting? "Sure I would," said Hutchinson. "But there is a problem, I'm handicapped and I don't think anybody would hire me. Also, I wouldn't want to move.

I have a lot of friends in Dubuque; everybody knows who you mean when you say 'Harpo, the light. collector'." Hutchinson said he can walk into a lighted room and tell what fixtures are being used. He also has developed the ability to classify bulbs by feeling the endcaps, since he said each company's fixtures have slight variations. FLUORESCENT LIGHTS NOW are pre-heat rapid start types, said Hutchinson. This makes some of his older lights one of a kind.

He said he would like to "dream something up" with lights and lighting that would benefit people. He added that people will often ask him for advice on what kinds of lights to use. Hutchinson has even written a song about fluorescent light bulb collecting, part of which is paraphrased above the beginning of the story. The last lines of Hutchinson's song make clear just how devoted he is to collecting. "Ain't gonna quit collectin', ain't no way.

Probably be holdin' one on my dyin' TOM HALLMAN, Drake University Journalism Student. REPORT For The IOWA CONSUMER Brpartmrnt uf Hlmtut Estherville (la.) Dally News, MONDAY, DEC. Page 5 RICHARD C. TURNER ATTORNEY GENERAL JULIAN B. GARRETT ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL VOLUME I RELEASE NO.

515 Though it may be worth the money to add insulation to your home, do not be taken in by insulating companies who make exaggerated and unreasonable claims about their products. Por example, a claim that a customer can save up to on his heating costs can be very misleading without any explanation or qualification. A savings on heating costs might be possible if the house had absolutely no insulation and then the proper amount of insulation was added, to the ceiling, walls, and if storm windows were installed. However, most homes already have a certain amount of insulation so that the savings would vary in each case and most of the time would be considerably less than The savings would also vary depending on whether the walls and ceiling were both insulated or whether the new installation involves only one or the other. More insulation may be a good investment.

Be sure to ask questions and ask to check with other customers of the company and be sure to ask what insulation they had previously and what insulation they had put in, and then what savings they realized. It Is Our Duty To Aid And Inform The Iowa Consumer TELEPHONE 1209 EAST COURT CES MOINES, IOWA 5Q3I8 This Report Is Published by this Publication For The Information ft Provides Our Headers Rosecmn Jensen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Jensen, and Shawn Swanson, son of Mr. and Mrs.

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