The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 14

2 Monday. July 27. 1981 Philadelphia Inquirer METROPOLITAN N. J. colleges urged to alter image The Scene In Philadelphia and its suburbs Associated Press LEONIA, N.J The image of New Jersey colleges could use a little polishing to lure native students away from out-of-state schools, according to the newest jmember of the state Board of Education.

Eleanor Spiegel, of Leonia, says that New Jersey colleges are the victims of a vicious cycle, and she has vowed to break the trend. Because the state schools have a poor reputation with the public, the legislature underfunds them, eventually causing New Jersey students to pursue degrees elsewhere, she said in an interview. "It is a tragic loss when we lose our greatest resource, our young people," she said. "Many never return to New Jersey. They settle in the states where they attend college." Ms.

Spiegel would like the board to reverse the negative public image of New Jersey's nine state colleges, 17 community colleges and Rutgers University. She did not offer specifics about how the state might accomplish that, but as an example of local excellence she cited the external degree programs at Thomas A. Edison College, a nine-year-old state school where the average age of the 4,000 students is 39. "I believe very, very strongly in the importance of all people having access to higher education, if possible," she said. "Many of our students at Thomas A.

Edison did not get college degrees when they were youn ger because of financial problems. And that has handicapped many of them in their careers." She said she believed that increased enrollment of older students would fill classroom gaps left by the projected decline in the number of 18-year-olds. Ms. Spiegel automatically gained her seat on the 18-memher state board when she was elected chairwoman of the Council of State Colleges two weeks ago. Rocky Mountain fever settles in four-county area ALTHOUGH she would not recommend that others eat the eggs of gypsy moths, that's exactly what naturalist Deborah Jamison is doing.

She says they taste like walnuts. 0St 4 Philadelphia Inquirer J. KINGSTON COLEMAN Weiss goes the distance (see Records, below) Recordst Take my jokes please By the end of Hour Two of Barney Weiss Held Hostage by the Guinness Book of World Records, Weiss was already slouched in a chair and reading from a book called 3,500 Good Jokes or Speakers. "My town is so small they had to widen Main Street to paint the white line," Weiss read. me a 1 said the fat man.

'OK, you're By CLARK DeLEON Record damage by moths a iciai. A man sitting in the audience said, "It's going to be a long, long, long, long, long night." Weiss was attempting to set the new record for nonstop joke telling. Weiss began his quest to break the old record of 24 hours at 11:52 p.m. Friday on the stage of the Comedy Factory Outlet at the Associated Press New Jersey officials estimate that gypsy moths have defoliated 500,000 acres, or 20 percent, of the state's woodlands, a record amount exceeding last year's total by nearly 100,000 acres. The moth larvae have stopped attacking hardwoods for this season, but millions of the insects' offspring are waiting in the barks of trees to attack next year's foliage.

"From what I've seen, this looks like a state record in defoliation," said John Kegg, an entomologist with the state Department of Agriculture. "I knew it would be bad, but I didn't expect this much damage." Homeowners and officials battled the pests with clouds of pesticides, creosote, burlap bands and even knives, but the insects kept feeding. Spraying with pesticides such as Sevin is only effective in early summer, when the caterpillars are feeding, he added. And winds can carry the insects up to 100 miles, helping them reinfest sprayed areas. The caterpillars have finished feeding for this year but are now mating, and the females are laying their eggs in the barks of trees.

Each egg mass is about the size of a quarter and contains 400 to 500 future gypsy moths, said Hubrey Hampton, Bergen County's senior agricultural agent. The hardy eggs can withstand all but the most severe frost, Kegg said. Some homeowners are painting the eggs with creosote. Others are scraping them off with knives, said Hampton. exists across the state extending from Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the east to Beaver County in the west.

Witte said only an occasional case is reported above the spotted-fever line, and those cases usually can be traced to a person who recently had traveled south of the line. Witte said no one knows why the imaginary line exists, although some researchers think it may be related to the colder weather in the north that retards penetration into the region by the American dog tick. As for the relatively high incidence of the disease in the Philadelphia area, particularly in Chester County, Witte speculates that the area's close proximity to Maryland, which is a high-incidence state, and the sporadic development of farm areas may be explanations. Those explanations have received at least some support from researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Dr.

Harvey Fischman, an epidemiologist at the university's school of hygiene and public health, heads a $450,000 study of spotted fever in Maryland. The three-year study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is in its final year and has involved researchers at Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland and the Maryland State Health Department. Although the NIH study deals exclusively with Maryland, Fischman said the researchers have taken notice of the high-incidence area surrounding Philadelphia. He said he expects results and conclusions to be applicable to neighboring areas in Pennsylvania particularly Chester County. "We're finding that the disease is associated more with water, possibly because the drier areas don't have so much animal population," Fischman said.

"And also we're finding that the Piedmont area for some reason is a high-incidence area. "That may explain a lot," he said. "Maybe it has something to do with the terrain. But we don't clearly understand why." Nearly 60 percent of all cases of spotted fever occur in the Southeastern states, which may add credence to the theory that ticks, or Rickettsiae, don't like the cold weather. Then why the original discovery in the Northwest? No one seems to know.

Fischman said his group is studying the patterns of the disease in relation to the climate, but he expects no definitive conclusions. As for the high incidence surrounding Philadelphia, Fischman said the old, but not necessarily wrong, theory of farmland development may be the best explanation. "With increased suburbanization, many developers convert the farmland but try to keep as much underbrush and trees as possible," he said. "Saving those areas may be the problem. Rodents, who attract ticks, live in the underbrush areas.

Dogs and people also go into these areas and increase the risk of coming into contact with a tick." With scattered patches of untouched underbrush and fields spotting suburban areas, and the increasing number of people moving to those areas, Fischman said, the chances of infection increase. Jailhouse, 32d and Market Streets. Throughout the long and lonely hours, Weiss told every imaginable joke, ethnic and otherwise, to a small core of witnesses. "What's black and flies over Poland with an umbrella?" he read. "Mary Popinski." "For this we left Wawa's?" one audience member whispered to another near the end of Hour 26 early yesterday morning.

It ended just after 2 a.m. yesterday with Weiss setting a new comedy record of more than 27 hours of bad jokes. Was it worth it, Barney? "That remains to be seen." Catsi A senior feline wins A little drum roll, please. Perhaps some ruffles and flourishes. How about a bit of that chow-chow-chow catfood commercial? What's the occasion? Why, a local cat has won second place in the Ail-American Glamour Kitty Contest in Miami Beach, Fla.

Pussyfoot, owned by Hilde-gard Lindstrom of Downingtown, came in second, behind Bunny Belle of Avoca, giving Pennsylvania felines the two top spots Friday. Pussyfoot, by the way, was the oldest cat in the contest. She's 15 years old, which we are told is the human equivalent of 84. Sloganst Thy key is Sim Jackendoff has a clever slogan for his piano-tuning business in Center City: "Love thy neighbor and love thyself. Tune Thy Piano." Speaking of slogans, in these days of neo-nationalism, doesn't the phrase "America sparkles with Canada Dry" seem odd? Sof tbalh A sad day in Aardvark history Oh, the shame! Oh, the ignominy! How could I have done this to you? How could I have perpetrated a fraud on my readers? It's about the Aavenging Aardvarks.

No, they are not a composite softball team I made up. It's worse, much worse. They're they're competent. They actually won the championship of the Villanova Summer Softball League. Arrugh! We've been duped, all of us.

Here I've been touting them as exquisite examples of athletic underachievers and they go out and beat the Spike Drivers the Spike Drivers, for crying out loud by 14-1 and 14-4 to take the title. I wasn't the only one betrayed. Aardvark leader Jon Macks, who had taken time off from playing softball to work as field coordinator for the David Glancey campaign (see, he still knows how to lose), took the news of the Aardvark victory harder than anyone. In a letter to the team, he wrote: "I hereby resign as general manager, manager and coach of the Aard-' varks (but not as leadoff hitter) due to my failure to fulfill the 'lose or else' mandate I was given when I took this job. Despite the years of glory, of losing game after game, of instilling the 'I, not we' attitude among players, the events of last weekend have given me no choice but to resign, a failure at being a failure.

"Yet, the memories are not unpleasant. As I write I recall some of the events of the past years. June 1977: The Aardvarks become the first slo-pitch softball team to break the color barrier by painting first baseman Mike Sparks indigo blue. "Enough memories. Just remember in the days ahead without me what Lou Gehrig said in Yankee Stadium before a packed crowd of who bid him farewell, 'I have a future and you Other Aardvarks reacted predictably when contacted.

"We won. I'm sorry," said one. Another said the team was experiencing mixed emotions. "We're exulted and depressed." The key moment that led to the victory, according to John call me Sparks, came before the first game when one of the Spike Drivers looked at them and asked incredulously, "You guys are in the playoffs'!" Not for nothing are they called Aavenging Aardvarks. Affiliation with Angels raises question in theft FEVER, from I keep statistics on spotted fever.

And in recent years, the county has accounted for as much as 60 percent of cases in the state. "No one can give us an adequate explanation as to why we have so may cases," Mrs. Beyer said last week. "We would like them all to go away. But in the meantime, we are trying to educate the public so that they will be able to prevent getting the disease and detect it when they do have it." In Pennsylvania and most other Eastern states, spotted fever is transmitted when a person is bitten by an infected dog tick.

In Western states, where the disease was first detected, the wood tick has been the culprit. Few tick bites actually result in spotted fever, officials say, but every tick has the potential to carry the Ricketessia micro-organism that causes the disease. Dr. Robert Philip, an epidemiologist at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, said that in an area such as Philadelphia the family dog presents the biggest danger. "Out here, the wood tick feeds on small animals and rodents, and it is less likely that people will come into contact with them," Philip said.

"But in the East, the tick infests the family dog, who brings it right into the home." In most instances, Mrs. Beyer said, it takes four or more hours of attachment before an infected tick transmits the disease. Once a person is exposed to an infected tick, an incubation period of three to 10 days follows, during which time flu-like symptoms may develop. Eventually, the spotted fever symptons begin, with the development of a rash on the hands and feet. That rash may then spread over the entire body.

Early diagnosis and treatment usually are sufficient to cure spotted fever, but Philip said about 5 percent of all confirmed cases, or about 55 to 60 people, die each year of the disease. He said that when spotted fever was first discovered, in 1906, the mortality rate was as high as 80 percent. In Pennsylvania, no deaths from spotted fever have been reported in the last several years. But in the past, said Dr. Ernest J.

Witte, director of the division of epidemiology at the state Health Department, deaths have resulted from improper diagnosis of spotted fever. "What happens is kid brother gets the measles and gets over it," Witte said. "Later, kid sister gets the symptoms of measles and the parents just think that she has the measles, too, when actually she has spotted fever." Because of the unpredictable and seemingly unexplainable incidences of the disease, Witte said, his department monitors and investigates each reported case of the disease in an attempt to determine a possible pattern. He said the process of confirming a reported case is often lengthy, particularly since two blood samples from the infected person are required and many infected people do not want to cooperate with health officials. Thus far, state health officials have concluded that an imaginary line lic programs are available at the Consortium offices, 260 S.

Broad St. The guidebook includes descriptions of more than 150 programs offered at 27 museums in the Philadelphia metropolitan area during the fall and winter. Offerings include nature walks, drawing workshops, art and history exhibits and lectures on a variety of subjects. To receive a guidebook through the mail, send $1 for postage and handling to the consortium office. 2 killed in head-on collision on Garden State Parkway Two motorists were killed early yesterday in a head-on collision on the Garden State Parkway near the intersection of Stone Harbor Boulevard in Cape May County, police said.

Police said that Joseph M. O'Brien, 25. of 25 Belair Warminister, was driving south in a northbound lane when his car collided with a car driven by Mitchell A. Schecter, 20, of 22 N. Washington Ventnor, N.J.

Both men were pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 4 a.m., police said. Bucks County nature center to unveil mounted eagle The Churchville Nature Center in Bucks County will unveil a new STACKHOUSE, from 1-B of several dozen color photographs on the wall at the Angels' headquarters under a sign that reads: "Graduating Class." And Stackhouse's grandmother, Estella Stackhouse, said she saw him leave home several times in recent months wearing the red felt beret, military camouflage pants and boots of the Angels' uniform. She showed a reporter the hat and pants yesterday. But Lighty said many of the people in the pictures in the Angels headquarters were not graduates of their training sessions. And he added that the Angels bought their own uniforms at several Army-Navy supply stores.

Stackhouse, Lighty said, could have either purchased his cap, pants and boots on his own or simply failed to turn them in when he was dismissed June.l.,;"'; "If he had 'an Angels' beret at home, that alone is a violation of our rules," Lighty said. "Only myself and Metropolitan Area News in Brief my lieutenants are allowed to bring their hats and colors IT-shirtsl home with them We have to be careful to avoid situations such as this." Indeed, Lighty spent the afternoon sweating under television-camera lights and telling reporters that he feared that "some members of the community" would use the Stack-house arrest to "cast the Guardian Angels in a bad light." The bad publicity could not come at a worse time, said Lighty. The Philadelphia Chapter of the Guardian Angels right now is setting up similar citizen-patrol teams in Baltimore, Miami, Cleveland and Pittsburgh and soon will be starting one in Washington. The original group began in New York City in 1978. Police spokesman Don Fair yesterday said the Guardian Angels were viewed in the same light as any other town-watch group.

"As long as they do not break the law as they try to help enforce the law, there's no problem," he said. the Bob Marley Fund Raising Committee, is planned to honor Marley, the Jamaican singer-songwriter whose reggae music made him an international celebrity. Marley died in May. People interested in operating vending booths should call 236-5942 or 247-4484. N.J.

authorities warn motorists on new litter law The New Jersey Turnpike Authority says state police are on the lookout for litterbugs, who can be fined up to $500 under a recent amendment to the state's anti-littering law. Authority officials say state troopers will issue a summons to anyone spotted throwing trash from a moving or parked vehicle on roadways or ramps and in toll plazas or service areas. The authority says it spends more than $800,000 a year to pick up the litter and debris, which also creates the potential for accidents. The amendment increases the minimum fine to $100 and gives municipal magistrates permission to levy fines of up to $500 for each violation. Consortium guidebook lists programs at area museums Copies of the Philadelphia Area Cultural Consortium's guide to pub uncle, James Bill, who pulled him from an in-ground swimming pool at a nearby house on Franklin Avenue, said Blair M.

Murphy, an investigator with the medical examiner's office. He said the boy did not know how to swim. Aug. 15 dance marathon to aid muscular dystrophy Superdance '81, a dance marathon to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, will be held Aug. 15 and 16 at the Echelon Mall in Voorhees Township, Camden County.

Prizes will be awarded to people who collect the most sponsors. For more information call the association office at 609435-8080. Germantown YMCA series of races begins Saturday The Germantown YMCA is sponsoring five-mile races, one Saturday each month through November. Registration is $3 in advance and $4 the day of the race. All the runs will begin at the Valley Green restaurant in Fairmount Park.

Runners compete in four divisions: high school, open, master and women's. The starting time for the races, scheduled for Aug. 1, Sept. 13, Oct. 3 and Nov.

7 is 10a.m. Persons wishing to participate should call 844281. phia Orchestra and faculty member of Temple University, and Charles de Pasquale, a recent graduate of the New School of Music. For (reservations and information, call 649-9600. New Delco 411 Club center to be dedicated Wednesday The new 4-H Club center of the Delaware County Cooperative Extension Service is to be dedicated at 5:45 p.m.

Wednesday in Rose Tree Park. The center is in the renovated Hunt Club mansion, which also is the headquarters of the county's special events office, the producer of the Rose Tree Summer Festival. Rose Tree Park is on Route 252, north of Route 1 (Baltimore Pike) in Upper Providence Township. N.J. youth's death ruled an accidental drowning The death of a mentally retarded 16-year-old youth, found drowned in a neighbor's pool yesterday morning in West Berlin, N.J., was ruled accidental, the Camden County Medical Examiner's office said.

The youth, Joseph A. Bill of 404 Blane apparently wandered away from home about 1:30 a his mother, Virginia Bill, told police. The boy was found at 7 a.m. by his stuffed golden eagle on Saturday and dedicate a new trail for the handicapped. The golden eagle is a replacement for a stuffed bald eagle that was among 10 mounted birds of prey destroyed at the nature preserve 2Vi years ago.

The golden eagle, with a wingspan of almost seven feet, was delivered Thursday. It was given to the center by the Interior Department, which overseas the distribution of eagles, an endangered species. Dedication ceremonies for the eagle and the trail for the handicapped will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at the nature center, 501 Churchville Lane, Northampton Township. The public is invited, said Julian Borys-zewski, the center's director.

Ilaverf ord chamber series to feature Brahms works Haverford College will hold the final program of its summer chamber-music series Sunday. The de Pasquale Quartet and guest artists will play some works of Brahms. The concert, which will begin at 8 p.m. at the college's Magill Library, will include Brahms' String Quarter (Op. 51) and Sextet in major (Op.

36). Guests artists will be Ixonard Mogill, a violinist with tte Philadcl- Fire termed suspicious guts Delaware train station A fast-moving blaze gutted the Amtrak commuter train station in Claymont, late Saturday night, according to a Claymont Fire Co. spokesman. The wood structure was engulfed by a suspicious fire that broke out shortly before 11 p.m., firefighter Dan Benedetto said. No one was injured and the blaze was brought under control about midnight, he said.

"There was fire coming out all the eaves" when the fire company arrived, said Benedetto, adding that the blaze burned holes through the roof of the train station about six miles north of Wilmington. The frame was left standing, he said. The fire marshal's office was investigating. Weekend African festival planned at Mander center An African street festival featuring dancers, drummers, poets, media personalities and artwork for sale is scheduled from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Mander Recreation Center, and Diamond Streets.

The festival, sponsored by the recreation center in cooperation with 1.