The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 19

section ffe ffrifebetyfira Inquirer metropolitan Business 4 Classified 5. TVRadio 18 Comics 20 Weather 21 Monday, July 31, 1978 5 Offshore Don't 'F By DOROTHY STORCK er up' yet say By Art Carey Inqutrf Staff Writer Two weeks ago, when word leaked out that Texaco's exploratory offshore drilling rig had discovered oil or gas 105 miles east of Atlantic City, the company's stock leaped several points and reporters scrambled for scraps of information. Banner-headline stories appeared, leading many to conclude that the oil companies were on the brink of tapping a huge reservoir of "black gold" that would quickly reach East Coast refineries. "I think people have the impression that tomorrow we're gonna turn the gas on or that we're running around out there with oil rainin down, on our heads," Jim Robertson, a Texaco spokesman, lamented with a chuckle. "If we do find oil or gas in commercial quantities, it may be seven, eight, even 10 years before we start pumping it out for production." Indeed, the business of searching for offshore oil and gas is a long-term game of chance with high stakes and steep odds.

It is a busi ness of complicated technology and its own terminology like "hydrocarbon" and "casing." It is also a business where all the players compete fiercely and keep their cards close to the vest. the public wonders what is going on out there. Who has found what and how much? How do the companies know? And what does all that oil-company jargon mean? So far, the most promising report has come from Texaco, which confirmed July 1 that its drilling rig, Ocean Victory, had discovered hy drocarbon, an industry term for either oil or natural gas. Eager to keep the price of its stock from going haywire and the price of future leases in the area from soaring, the company was typically stingy with details. Then last Monday, Exxon announced that it was planning to drill an additional 1,000 feet, to 15,000 feet.

The character of rock formations indicated "the potential for possibly containing hydrocarbons," a company spokesman said, but he stressed that a decision to deepen the well "should not be regarded as an indication of their positive or negative results to date." Those announcements may have had; little long-term impact on either the public confusion or speculation. But they did prove one thing: If easterners want to make sense out of all of it, they might be helped by a crash course in the shop talk of the oil fields. Hydrocarbons are usually found in (See OIL on 3-C) Knee-deep in grass roots Mowing your lawn is an anti-social act. This startling piece of summer good news comes from the Fruitarian Network based in Tacoma Park. Md which has issued a manifesto of "Fourteen Reasons to Consider Not Mowing Your Lawn." The Fruitarian reasons are a new and refreshing change from the old reasons we ve all been able to come vm 4 up with: The lawn mower's broken.

It's too hot. My back hurts. Tt's vour turn. The Fruitarians eschew all this as petty. Their attack on lawn mowers verses on the cosmic.

"Mowing wastes billions of gallons of fuel," they point out. "tutting grass removes air-purifyine green ery. Uncut lawns protect me water Philadelphia Inquirer SHARON J. WOHLMUTH Girl, 11, dies in fall from ride Roller coaster mishap in N.J. By Rod Nordland Inquirer Staff Writer An 11-year-old girl was killed Saturday when she fell from a roller coaster at a North Wildwood, N.J., amusement pier.

Leone Tomasina of Baltimore died in the emergency room of Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital in Cape May Courthouse, N.J., at 10:32 p.m. apparently as a result of head injuries. North Wildwood Police said the girl was riding on the Supersonic Roller Coaster at Sportland Pier, 23d Street and the Boardwalk, when the accident occurred. "She fell out of the ride and hit her head on a post," a police spokesman said. Police said the car in which the girl was riding was at the bottom of a hill on the roller coaster, no more than four or five feet above the pier, when the girl fell out.

She was riding with her brother and two cousins. Her father, Ray, was waiting for her at the entrance to the ride. Police said they have been unable to determine how the girl fell from the car, although so far they have ruled out any mechanical failure. "It's just one of those unexpteina-bles," a spokesman said. The ride will remain open, he said, because "we can't find any reason to close it down." "It was not a mechanical failure of any sort, hat's been ascertained," said Sportland Pier General Manager Adrian Koliba.

"These rides are tested first thing every day, also after every shift. We had the toughest state inspection we ever had in the history this year. You can design anything to be safe, but you really can't take away the human element." Officials yesterday were interviewing pier employes and roller coaster patrons to determine how the girl fell out. Motorcyclist killed in wreck with car Associated Press PITTSBURGH A Butler County man was killed when his motorcycle struck a car he was passing and was thrown into the path of an oncoming auto on Pennsylvania near Pitts-North Hills Possavant Hospital authorities said Blaine Huesman, 25, of Valencia, died shortly after the accident early Saturdy. Police said linesman's motorcycle was dragged nearly 100 feet along the highway after it was hit.

Jim Kaiser, 20, lends a shoulder to a pet race oon during yesterday's Fleetwood Mac concert Mellow 6.5 day at concert I I I 4 'A, I By Jack Lloyd Inquirer Entertainment Writer table by storing water. Mowing ae-stroys baby birds, butterflies, toads, bumblebees Mowing is bad for you. "It causes 55,000 human accidents yearly. Most common are severed fingers, toes and hands." Mowing increases erosion. It also removes "a green buffer of noise prevention." A time to sow Reason number 14 is actually the keystone to the Fruitarian philosophy: "When areas are unmowed it becomes possible simply to toss fruit seeds through them and have the seeds grow into fruit trees through a non-till energy-saving method of agriculture a source of FREE FOOD." When I received the Fruitarian Network manifesto I made the initial mistake of thinking there might be a touch of levity involved.

"What a break you people are to the great suburban backache," I chortled to the lady who answered the phone in Tacoma Park. "We're thinking more of the Amazon and the Indonesian rain forest," she said somewhat sternly. "The oxygen life-belt of the planet being destroyed It was then I noticed the tiny inscription "Non Profit Org" above the Fruitarian Network letterhead. This was obviously serious stuff. The Fruitarian lady told me that since the organization was founded in 1967 the membership has increased to a half million.

Diet of nuts Fruitarians believe in an animal-free diet, not as a health measure necessarily although health food advocates form a rump group in the organization but as a matter of religious ethic. "Animal-free" also means plants. 1 may have gotten this wrong, but I remember the Fruitarian lady telling me in a concerned, nice way that "plants have feelings and a right to life, too. We eat only what the plants give us, like berries and nuts." How, I wondered, was the crusade against lawn mowers coming along? How did the Fruitarians deal with the great peer pressure for tidy lawns? What support could they give to the one guy on the block who decided to nurture a rain forest? It turns out the Fruitarians have seven challenges in courts around the country against enforced lawn mowing by local ordinance. The Fruitarian lady herself fought and won one case.

She told me that her name was Nellie Shriver and that she came from Akron. I checked the information out. Sure enough, the name of Nellie Shriver still brings' shudders to the very lawn-conscious inhabitants of Akron's Parkway Estates; The right to grow In 1973 Ms. Shriver refused to mow her lawn. She explained the Fruitarian philosophy to her neighbors, gently chiding them for vengeance against Japanese beetles and crab grass.

The neighbors took the matter to the city health department, which A crowd of 62.700 turned out yes terday for the second and last 'monster rock concert at JFK Stadium this summer and generally behaved with the kind of good man ners that coud lm Drove rnek 3 A- i 4. I 4. music reputation. With the entertainment provided 'V tZ'J -y Fleetwood Mac, the Steve Miller .1 JV by Band, 1, Doo vveicn, ana saniora ffS isend, it was, by just about all k't A unts, a perfect dav. ''f "Mi i 4 Townsend a perfect day.

accounts, That view was expressed even bv Larrv Maeid of Electric Factorv ''4" vv 'i f' i I 4 i Concerts, which promoted the concert and was prepared to handle a crowd of 90.000. In reporting the official count of 62.700. Maeid called yesterday's event "the best" of the tour Jbis. rock concerts held during the last three years, including one last month featuring the Rolling Stones. "This is beautiful.

Magid said i late in the afternoon from the nress 1 box high atop Stadium. "Mu- (See CONCERT on 3-C) Two unidentified concert-goers cool off inside JFK Stadium For the city unions, Far view conversion far from certainty a net gain in power i 4 I By Steve Twomey nrjuirer Labor Writer Analysis When they write the definitive his By Tom Masland Inquirer HarriPbiira Bureau HARRISBURG In a few days, Gov. Milton J. Shapp is to receive his administration's final plan for converting Farview State Hospital to a prison complex. But Shapp's decision on the plan and his approval is almost a foregone conclusion, some top aides say will not put to rest the question of what is to become of the state's 66-yenr-old hospital for the criminally insane near Honesdale in Wayne County.

Resolving Farview's much-debated future almost certainly will pass to the governor who takes office in January. The problem, as Shapp explained when he announced last March that the conversion plan was "practical and feasible," is that it will require money and legislative approval. One top administration aide said that "the decision has been made" to convert Farview to a prison. "I think we're committed to that course of ac tion," he said. But he and others listed a number of hurdles to be overcome to gain full approval.

The first, and least troublesome, is to obtain legislative approval to take $24 million earmarked for prisons in Chester and Dauphin counties, where the plans have drawn community protests, and use the funds at Far-view in Wayne County. The money would be used to convert Farview buildings into a state prison for 510 inmates and a regional prison for 240 short-term inmates from northeastern Pennsylvania. The Legislature is expected to approve the transfer quickly; no new money is required, and the protect will mean more jobs lor vvayne County, which has strongly protested proposals to clobe Farview altogether. The S'lanp pian also calls for moving the 200 or so Farview patients to three or four regional treatment centers around the state. But those (See FARVIEW on 2-Q tory of the American labor movement, the Philadelphia municipal strike of 1978 won't rate much more than a footnote, if that.

In local union annals, however, the walkout may go down as a significant' and, on balance, successful lesson in the art of the squeeze play. By taking to the streets earlier this month, the city's 19,600 non-uniformed employes wound up with a better contract than the one offered by the city before the strike began which, after all, is an objective of And they took just eight days to do it. Compared to the hardship that a longer strike might bring, it was more like a week's vacation in the summer sun. There was hardiy time to miss the lost wages. went to court against Nellie.

The judge rendered a Solomon ruling. Nellie Shriver was ordered to mow half her lawn. Eleven days later the City of Akron came in to enforce the judge's order but, alas, the lawn mowers ran amuck. All of Nellie's lawn fell under the blade. She took her case to a higher court, and in 1976, in CleveWnd, a federal judge ruled that under the First Amendment right of fredom of expression of beliefs.

Nellie Shriver had the right to let her grass grow. The City of Akmn was ordered to pay Nellie $500 in damages. There is, as the row noted, sn'en-dor in the grass. You might want to point that out to your neighbors pnd mention Nellie Shriver as thev try to chop their way to your doorstep this summer. There are minuses, of course.

Not everyone in District Councils 33 and 47 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employes was pleased with the strike and its outcome. Already, there are mutterings about challenging the current leaders. More important, some union members won't be around to enjoy the new contract because they will be iUrliiighcu shortly tu pay fur it, despite their leaders' best efforts. No union likes to have a reputation for being unable to protect its members. Even here, however, there is a bright side.

Original estimates put the number of layoffs between 3,500 Earl Stout landing on his feet and 4.500. Now, though, it appears that the final total may be around And in time, with attrition, many of these may get their jobs back. So, in many eyes, union leader Earl Stout and company landed on their feet in what was, for many of (See UNION on 3-C).