Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 9

Local Drmmrat and UTlirnntdr Deaths Help! 4B 6B ROCHESTER, N.Y., MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1978 'Mortgage money crunch perils economy' $800 million in sales that may be lost by builders and their suppliers and the jobs of 18,000 workers, according to the New York State Builders Association. Mortgage money has dwindled rapidly in Monroe County since spring. Some banks no longer offer conventional home loans. Others demand down payments too steep for most people to afford. The source of the cash drought: a state-imposed ceiling on mortgage interest at 8.5 percent at a time when Ironically, Virgillio's father is Andrew Virgilio, a member of the state Legislature, which some would blame for placing Paul and Leslie and countless other prospective home buyers into their predicament.

Assemblyman Virgilio said the Legislature must act soon to make mortgage money abundant once more, or it will risk immobilizing the home building market and hobbling the state economy. At stake are not only the fortunes of young families looking for a home, but mortgages are commanding interest rates of 9.5 to 10 percent across the country. New York is the last state in the nation with an 8.5 percent ceiling. That ceiling should be known as "the rate at which you cannot borrow money," said economist George Ben-ston at the University of Rochester Graduate School of Management. "It's a political ploy that hurts the people it is supposed to help," Benston said.

"If the Legislature thinks it is helping people, why not set the (mortgage) By MIKE MEYERS Paul and Leslie Virgilio had been married less than a year when, in May, they found a $34,000 house in Hamlin that they liked and wanted to buy. But they didn't get it. The valves were already closing on mortgage money in Monroe County. Virgilio, 24, couldn't afford to pay $13,600 for a 40 percent down payment on a conventional loan. He failed to obtain a federally guaranteed loan.

rate at 1 percent?" Monroe County home builders say that their sales will be off by $10 million by year-end and that the local economy stands to lose $30 million as a result of men, machines and materials not put to work to build those houses. Some local sellers of building materials say they already have felt the ripples, and many more say it won't be long before it's their turn. Sales will be down by $250,000 to Turn to Page 2B Man dies after chase by police Seventh Step helps seek redirection -was. Inmates By DAN OLMSTED Getting out of prison was no problem for Roy Cope. Staying out was hard.

On parole from Attica prison in 1976, he left the county where he was living, violating a parole condition. He wound up in the county jail, headed back to prison. That didn't stop him. Cope fashioned a plastic key from a light shield and used it to open a dumbwaiter. After riding it down and getting outside, he hopped in to a canoe and floated downstream to freedom.

The escapade i Owners get steamed over heating costs ended in Arizona when a friend wrecked a stolen car. "There's no problem getting over the physical barriers," Cope, 34, said yesterday, back at Attica. "It's a mental problem. When you get out, what are you going to do? Freedom without substance is pointless." Cope, who is from Akron, Ohio, was one of about 20 Attica inmates at a family picnic yesterday sponsored by the Seven Lakes Chapter of the Seventh Step Foundation, a group that tries to help prisoners and ex-prisoners decide what to do after the iron gate opens. Rochester for the 337 customers who continue with steam.

"On a marginal building, it's the death knell," said James V. Philip-pone, a Rochester lawyer who owns some downtown buildings. As customers leave the system, those remaining pay more. That raises the price of doing business downtown and lowers the value of buildings. In the last 10 years, lost about one-third of its steam customers for various buildings.

That and other factors raised the price of steam 369 percent in the same time. If that continues, the trend would be for steam willingly or not to price itself out of business. There are those who say that can't happen or, if it does, it would be disaster for the city. "We're talking about 200 or 300 customers downtown," said Richard Rosen of the city Community Development Department. Rosen said not all buildings can convert from steam, and the alternative for those that can is an individual oil-fired boiler.

But three hundred exhaust systems spewing oily fumes could make downtown very dirty and much less attractive, Rosen said. "We see it as a very important thing to maintain a central system," Rosen said. officials said they're aware of the steam customer's plight and city worries, and they will stay with steam. "We have no intention of getting out of the steam business," said John L. Kennedy, vice president for rates and governmental affairs.

appears to be as much a victim of steam as its customers. The company doesn't make money on the Turn to Page 3B A Steuben County man was killed about midnight Saturday when his car struck a utility pole while being pursued by police on Route 248 about three miles south of Canisteo, police said. Wilson H. Woodworth, 56, of Canisteo Road 1 was dead on arrival at St. James Mercy Hospital in Hor-nell.

A Steuben County coroner said Woodworth died of multiple injuries. Canisteo police said they spotted Woodworth's car moving erratically in the village, crossing the center line and going onto the road's shoulder. Police pursued the car and asked for sheriff's deputies to help after the car struck part of a bridge but didn't stop. Woodworth, the only occupant of the car, was thrown from the vehicle after it hit the pole. The car traveled for about 400 feet after hitting the pole before stopping, police said.

2 killed in crash A man and a woman were killed in a truck-motorcycle collision last night on Route 96 between Phelps and Clifton Springs. Ontario Oounty sheriff's deputies would not release the names and details of the accident until relatives are notified. The two were dead at the scene of the accident, which occurred at about 8 p.m. deputies said. 2 jailed in assault Rochester police arrested two men early yesterday and charged them with first-degree assault in the stabbing of a man Saturday night.

Police identified the accused as Emilio Huertas, 45, of 652 Smith St. and Francisco Batista, 32, of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. They are being held without bail in the city jail and will be arraigned today in City Court. The victims Nicholas Ocasio, 43, was in poor condition yesterday in St. Mary's Hospital.

Ocasio, whose address wasn't known, was found slumped in the doorway of a grocery store at Jay and Saxton Streets about 10 p.m. Saturday. Police said Ocasio was severely wounded in the abdomen with a butcher knife. They gave no motive for the assault. Park dedicated About 200 people spent yesterday afternoon listening to music under the maple trees at Rochester's ren ovated Jones Square Park.

Mayor Thomas P. Ryan Jr. led the delegation of city officials at the festival to dedicate $78,000 worth of improvements at the park. The improvements, including new wooden benches and a new circular planter in the middle of the park, were financed with federal community development money. After sitting on the ground or in lawn chairs listening to Charlie Cameron's Modern Jazz Grupe early in the afternoon, the crowd moved to the north side of the park, where the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra performed at 4 p.m.

The free festival was co-spon sored by the Edgerton Area Neigh borhood Association and the city. The park is bounded by Saratoga, Jones and North Plymouth avenues and Lorimer Street. House damaged Burnine debris from a fireplace probably caused a fire about 6:45 last night at a two-story house at 57 Durand Drive, Irondequoit. "The familv had a fire going in the fireplace, and the door of the chute where the debris drops down into the basement was open," said Chief David Hyde of the Point PI easant Fire Department. Anoarentlv some debris fell out into a pile of papers they had on the basement floor." Hyde said the fire was contained in the basement, but smoke dam age made the rest of the house inhabitable.

Owner Thomas Whitcomb, his wife and two chil dren stayed with friends last night, firefighters said. v-w sw safe Inmates who finish their sentences often find themselves without a much brighter outlook than those who climb the walls. They can't find work, have bitter feelings and bad family situations, and are stigmatized by society conditions that may lead them back to crime or to parole violations and ultimately back to prison, foundation leaders say. "Years ago I would have tried to make up for the time I was incarcerated," said Joe Rifenbery of Rochester, Seventh Step Chapter Vice-President, who served 12'2 years in state prisons, including a year at Attica. "Now I know you can't," he said.

"You have to live it as it comes." Rifenbery said Seventh Step helped him find a good job and taught him some basics he had lost behind bars, such as knowing how to find a place to live. Each week, about a dozen ex-offenders in the Rochester area meet with the agency staff and others to talk about how they're doing, what's bothering them, their problems and their successes. Inside the prison, a group of 25 inmates meets weekly. Using Seventh Step books, they work to improve the inmates' motivation and prepare them for life outside prison. The "steps" are steps toward self-honesty and self-sufficiency similar to those used for rehabilitation by Alcoholics Anonymous.

"It's mind over matter," said Tim Ingram, 25, of Rochester, a member of the inmate group. "You try to think you can make it if you try. It takes people on the outside to take an interest." Seventh Step is a national, non-profit group with about 100 chapters. It was begun in 1963 by convicts at Kansas State Prison who felt the need for a program to help ex-convicts maintain their freedom and become useful members of society. Donald "Pete" Harris of Rochester, who isn't an ex-offender, started the local chapter in 1975.

Earlier this year, the chapter almost went out of existence after internal bickering led to the firing of the program's executive director and the withdrawal of federal grants. But the group is back on its feet, said its new board president, John Murley, a criminal justice professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. Aid has been restored, and the chapter is in good standing with the national organization, he said. A new director, John Walker, took over in August. He has a doctorate in history, has taught at several colleges, and formerly was director of the Baden Street Drug Center in Roches'er.

Turn to Page 6B By MARK WERT The rhetoric was from the 1960s, but it didn't generate much enthusiasm from the crowd at yesterday's "Smoke-in '78" unless the word "marijuana" was somehow mentioned. Marijuana wasn't just mentioned at yesterday's Yippie-organized rally at Manhattan Square Park. It was smoked in front of three city park policemen, outnumbered by a crowd that grew as the day wore on. No arrests were reported at the rally, scheduled to last until 10 p.m. The park permit issued by city officials specifically prohibited persons attending the rally from using marijuana and alcoholic beverages.

Yippies are members of a loosely knit radical activist group organized in the 1960s. The term "Yippie" comes from the group's official name, the Youth International Party (YIP). Rochester police appeared in two marked squad cars about 11 a.m., an hour after the rally began, but they left quickly after park police and Yippies protested that their presence would only aggravate the crowd. City officials granted the rally permit on Friday after being assured by Yippie organizers that literature sug- Inmate Freddie Allison By BRIAN ROONEY Two years ago, it cost $48,000 a year to heat the Reynolds Arcade building on East Main Street with steam from Rochester Gas Electric Corp. That was enough, said Robert Gordon, one of the owners.

Reynolds Arcade was fitted with its own boiler to replace steam. "It appears to be approximately a 40 or 50 percent saving in heating costs," Gordon said. Although some customers have found alternatives, the rising cost of steam puts pressure on economics and development prospects in downtown Girl kicked by horse 'didn't cry' By GARY GEREW Kirsten Lowney, 11, has won about 30 ribbons since she started riding horses less than three years ago. While trying to jump an obstacle Friday night at Spirit of '76 Farms in Penfield Kirsten was thrown over the front of her horse and struck in the face by a hoof. "They told me that she wasn't unconscious at any time and she didn't cry at all," Kirsten's father, William Lowney said.

"Her teeth were Turn to Page 2B Yippie Yippie leader Aron Kay 1 ill M- 'Smoke-in' draws mild response "1 1 i I a) photo by Talis Bergmams at picnic with cousins. about 150 at noon yesterday. He was preceded by an unidentified guitar-player who sang a variety of songs dealing with drugs and sex. He introduced his version of "Freebird," a song by the rock group Lynard Skynard, as "one of my favorite drug songs." He changed the title to "T-bird" and changed the lyrics to deal with "nose candy," or cocaine. Kay, a New York City resident who was introduced to the crowd as "Yippie Hitman 008'2." gave a rambling and contradictory speech.

Kay told reporters the rally was one of a series around the nation for human rights, including freedom for former Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman. Hoffman has gone underground to avoid prosecution on a 1973 drug charge. His whereabouts are unknown. "Abbie organized for human rights," Kay told a cheering crowd. "He organized so we can smoke pot." No marijuana was used publicly until midway through the speech by Kay.

He told the crowd he had worn a shirt and tie "to look straight enough" to get into a Saturday airport news Turn to Page 3B 'City of Rochester kinda gave up on us gesting "free pot" at the rally actually meant the rally would be a peaceful protest for pot legalization. The Yippies passed out coupons for a "free joint" at the rally at last week's Bob Seger concert. Flyers advertising the rally, originally scheduled for Saturday, encouraged people to "'BYOD Bring Your Own Dope." Although they finally obtained the permit, the city postponed the rally one day and moved it from Washington Square Park to Manhattan Square Park. "I guess the City of Rochester kinda gave up on us," Aron Kay, who calls himself Yippie national minister of dirty tricks, told a small crowd of photo by Kevin Higley talks to crowd at rally..