Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 3

I i SKYWAY COHCERN A City Council panel yesterday asked Sibley's how long it planned to stay downtown during deliberations on the proposed Main St. skyway. Story, 6B FRIDAY JANUARY 6. 1989 ROCHESTER NEW YORK SECTIOH 28 BRIEFING 4B NEW YORK 5B COMICS Democrat (Chronicle) Thomas' woodchuck answer pops up on TV's 'Jeopardy' Buffalo Channel 7 airs Goodell trial WKBW-TV, Channel 7 in Buffalo will air a half hour of courtroom highlights early tomorrow summarizing the four-week trial of Lyndon Duane Goodell. A Genesee County Court jury found Goodell guilty last summer in the highway deaths of three Pembroke school students and their driver education teacher.

The phone at Thomas' Caledonia, Livingston County, home immediately started ringing with calls from friends who wanted to be sure he knew what happened. But Thomas was nonplussed by the TV "They didn't agree with the 70 pounds I used as the weight of a cubic foot of soil," he explained. The Wall Street Journal, which called Thomas three times to get the woodchuck facts straight, provided him with an idea for another project determining how many peppers Peter Piper picked. Radio commentator Paul Harvey broadcast the joke, as did National Public Radio and Cable News Network. In all, Thomas has been interviewed on about -25 radio shows across the nation.

"I certainly hope my sole claim to -fame will not be as some kind of a wood-; chuck guru," Thomas said. "It's been a tremendous lot of fun, and it certainly can't hurt the serious purpose which" was to call attention to New York state wildlife." ry was picked up after it first appeared in the Democrat and Chronicle. The articles came after Thomas wrote to Fin, Fur and Feather Facts, a normally sober DEC newsletter, last June. "It's high time someone provided an answer to this question," he wrote. Thomas described woodchucks and their burrows, computed volumes and weights, and ended, "Next time someone asks you tell him, 'Oh, about 700 pounds on a good day with the wind at his back'.

Then say, 'Everybody knows Not every paper thought the story was humorous. The Detroit Free Press ran it on its science page and took enough interest to let Thomas, now a DEC public relations officer, know that readers had challenged his figures. By Bob Bickel Democrat and Chronicle The answer Dick Thomas, then a fish and wildlife technician with the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The question: Who spurred dozens of media mavens, including the folks at TV's Jeopardy, to seek the answer to how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Thomas concocted an answer (700 pounds) to the woodchuck riddle during some idle moments last June. In the intervening six months, his little joke has popped up all over America.

Last week, it popped up on the TV game show jeopardy, which provides contestants with answers and asks them to pose the matching question. Dick Thomas IVe got my wood. chuck file right here," Thomas said yesterday. "It would be a lot bigger but I didn't start keeping it right away." The file includes stories from The Boston Globe, the Winston-Salem Journal, The Miami Herald and more. Thomas can't even guess how many times the sto- The program On Trial, produced by On Trial News Service, of California, will be broadcast at 12:30 a.m.

tomorrow, said Lynne Puma, assistant station programmer. The show will not air in Rochester, but area residents who have cable television -llll ties," said Roseann Bellanca, director of the intern program at the college's John Wiley Jones School of Business. "It lent itself to our mission." The study's four-county scope made it the largest or close to the largest Bellanca has organized. Four students Alice Ann Blake of Canandaigua, Christopher Fuller of Medr-na, James McKenna of New City and Anna Maria Melidona of Niagara Falls did the study for course credit in the fall term. They were supervised by Mary Ellen Waller-Zuckerman, assistant professor of marketing.

TURN TO PAGE 6B Private haulers should run the program, because most residents want it that way. Extra effort will be needed to persuade people to separate corrugated cardboard and plastic containers, because most people tend to think only newspapers, glass and metal cans can be reused. But the GLOW can continue its work knowing that it has the backing of its communities. Eighty-three percent of those surveyed said they believe waste disposal is a serious civic problem. "We were especially interested in this (survey) because it fit so well into our belief that the college should be more involved with the surrounding communi better do so cheaply.

Most residents of the four counties don't want to pay extra for a recycling program, the survey shows. That's one of the key conclusions from a 51-page study on public attitudes and preferences towards waste management done at the state University College at Geneseo. The survey, which was recently delivered to officials of the GLOW Solid Waste Management Committee, also had other advice for the planners, including: Recycling containers or easily accessible dropoff centers should be provided because most of the residents are short of storage space. Survey gathers waste-district residents' views By Bob Bickel Democrat and Chronicle GENESEO If planners want to make recycling an important part of the garbage-disposal system they're making for Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties, a new survey shows they Goodell may be able to view the program on Channel 7. Goodell was convicted Aug.

4 in Genesee County Court in Batavia. A jury found him guilty of four counts of second-degree manslaughter and four counts of second-degree vehicular manslaughter in the June 10, 1987, head-on crash. Killed in the crash was Kathlena "Mindy" Beals, Eric Hamm-Johnson and Rhonda Reeves, all 17, and their teacher, Patrick Collins, 55. Perry district residents ok $1.8 miiiion school bond PERRY Voters in Perry Central School District yesterday approved a $1.8 million building program bond issue by a vote of 240 to 156, said Superintendent Per Omland. The local share of the project cost is expected to add about $26 to the school tax bill of a householder with a typical property assessment of $5,000.

Gantt named chairman of rural development Gannett News Service ALBANY Assemblyman David Gantt was named chairman of the state Legislative Commission on the Develop $319 million job goes to HornelB firm ment of Rural Resources by Assembly Speaker Mel Miller yesterday. No other Rochester-area assemblymen won new assignments in the leadership shakeup announced by Miller. i' By Jeffrey Stinson Gannett News Service ALBANY Morrison-Knudsen Co. Inc. got a $319 million contract yesterday to overhaul 752 New.

York City subway cars at its Hornell, Steuben County, plant a job that will guarantee work for more than 1,400 people through late 1991. The contract, announced at a news conference by state and federal officials, will be partially underwritten by a newly approved $196 million federal grant to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. It's the "last big batch" of cars to undergo complete refurbishing under the MTA's multi-year effort to upgrade the Big Apple's mass transportation conditions. Only another 350 cars are scheduled to be rehabilitated by the time the upgrade is completed in 1991. "Approval of these federal funds mean a double bonus for New York launching the largest subway car overhaul project ever, while providing continued work for over 1,400 workers in Hornell," said Sen.

A1-. fonse D'Amato, who announced the contract with Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo. But D'Amato also warned this could be the last big federal urban mass transit grant that will be coming New York's way for a long while because of constraints on the federal budget caused by the deficit in Washington. Cuomo hailed the news as a sign that "New York state companies have what it takes to compete for and win multimillion-dollar transit contracts." By the time the MTA completes its upgrading efforts, it will have rebuilt almost half of its fleet and much of the work will have been done in Hornell.

The firm, which has benefited from about $1.24 million in state economic development assistance since it opened operations in Hornell in 1983, recently added to its holdings in Steuben County by purchas-' ing a foot building formerly occupied by SKF Industries. Cuomo said the company's success in winning New York City contracts in recent years has helped Steuben County's unemployment rate drop from 10 percent in 1983 to 4.6 percent at the end of last year. Possible suicide at psych center under review By Craig Gordon Democrat and Chronicle A Rochester Psychiatric Center patient apparently committed suicide Tuesday by strangling herself with a sock, even though she was in a special room where hospital staff members were checking her every 15 David Gantt er th the most influential position remains Assemblyman Roger Robach, D-Rochester, who was again named deputy majority leader by Miller. Gantt, 47, who has represented part of Rochester and Gates since 1983, gets a $9,000 raise in his new post. That's on top of lawmakers' base pay, which increased from $43,000 to $57,500 this year.

Although Gantt's constituency is mostly urban, Gantt and Assembly spokesman Geoffrey Taylor pointed out that Gantt, D-Rochester, arrived in New York at age 9 as the son of a migrant worker. 'Challenge Team' to show benefits of drug-free life BATAVIA Four men from South Carolina and Oklahoma will break blocks of ice and blow up water bottles like balloons to show area high school students that the body can do a lot when it's not on drugs. The Challenge Team, made up of Er-rick Redmond and Tracey Joe of Greenville, S.C., and Lonnie Curl, of Florence, S.C., and Bill Smalt of Lowton, will visit six Genesee County high schools Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to wage their war on drugs. The team of athletes will visit Batavia, Le Roy, Notre Dame, Byron-Bergen, Alexander and Attica high schools. They will demonstrate weight-lifing and break bricks with their heads in a show of strength.

The public is invited free of charge at 7:30 p.m. each night for a rally at the Sheraton Inn on Park Road. The shows are sponsored by Genesee County churches, who raised almost $7,000 to bring the athletes here. far i iSk. Krn Milchtll Democrat and Chronicle Gee whizzzzzz! Linda Warren, her son, Zachary, and his friend, Kyle Trevas, both 6, laugh down a hill and past a fluttering oak leaf at Durand Eastman Park yesterday afternoon.

It was 19 degrees but that didn't bother them. Walking back up the hill kept them warm, says Warren. Weather, Page 10A. GOOD liOHFIIffG Liver-transplant patient's kidneys fail I I "Thank you to the many wonderful people, organizations and businesses who contributed their time and shared their expertise to help make Compeer's 15th anniversary year very special for us and the clients we serve. They have all personified what true giving is all about." Bernice Skirboll executive directorpresident, Compeer Program you would like to salute some-one for a good deed, call the Good Morning line, 258-2400.

minutes. The death of Deloria Allen, 24, could prompt a change in the policy regarding how patients are checked, the center's executive director said yesterday. "She was able to show us how that procedure was flawed," Dr. Martin H. Von Holden said.

"We want to learn from this." Staff members discovered about 8 p.m. Tuesday that Allen had strangled herself in a seclusion room on the fourth-floor of the the mortgage on the Acevedo's home, as well as an outstanding utility bill, Gonzalez said. Acevedo worked at Rochester Picture Framing Inc. until he became ill suddenly last month. His wife has leave of absence from her job at Rural Opportunities, a program for migrant workers.

Since she stopped working, Raquel Acevedo had not been able to pay the bills, Gonzalez said. "We have been told that 80 percent of his medical costs will be paid by his health insurance, but that leaves 20 percent and with a single transplant costing between $130,000 and $230,000, that's a lot of money," Gonzalez said. TURN TO PAGE 6B and he is on dialysis because his kidneys stopped functioning," said the Rev. Justo Gonzalez, a Rochester Pentecostal minister who flew to Pittsburgh to help Acevedo's wife, Raquel, handle the crisis. Gonzalez said he understood doctors would "evaluate very carefully" before deciding on a third liver transplant attempt.

With medical costs mounting and the prognosis looking increasingly grim, Gonzalez appealed yesterday for donations to assist the Acevedo family. A special account, the Jose Acevedo Liver Transplant Fund, has been opened at the Empire of America Bank at 1 E. Main Rochester, and has a balance of $1,758. Most of this would be used to pay Rochester man's condition worse By Jennifer Hyman Democrat and Chronicle A Rochester man who has undergone two liver transplants in the past two weeks was still in critical condition yesterday with a variety of new complications, including kidney failure. Jose Acevedo, 32, was semi-conscious, in isolation and on a dialysis machine in the intensive care unit at Presbyterian-University Hospital in Pittsburgh.

He received his first liver transplant there Dec. 23. "Jose's second liver is worse today Von Holden center's main Terrence Building, Von Hoklen said. She was pronounced dead at 9:15 p.m. at Strong Memorial Hospital.

An autopsy showed she died of asphyxia due to, or as a consequence of, strangulation, according to a spokesman for the Monroe Coun- TURN TO PAGE 6B.