News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 1

iiiMjiin i -r' rm hiiiiiiiu-. imm ht i 1 xmi n.n uwu Cape Coral GOP leader shies away from endorsing Bob Martinez1B Thousands welcome Bears home with ticker tape parade1C 35 CENTS TUESDAY. JANUARY 28, 1986 FORT MYERS, FLORIDA A GANNETT NEWSPAPER State of the Union speech launches Reagan lobbying effort By JOHANNA NEUMAN Gannett News Service dress the House Republican Conference in an effort to make peace with the same GOP congressmen who last year balked at his tax reform bill. "All in all a busy week," said Speakes. "He decided to make news." But that isn't all.

On his 75th birthday, Feb. 6, Reagan will speak to government appointees at a "pep rally" designed to inspire the troops. Then in mid-February the president will deliver a major defense See REAGAN, back page this section said White House spokesman Larry Speakes, is to give departments marching orders on "what he wants them to do" to enact the Reagan agenda. Reagan's first lobbying stop Thursday is Thomas Jefferson High School in Annandale, where a creative curriculum stresses high technology. The president will give the student body an upbeat assessment of the future and the long-term goals of his policies.

He then will tour three science and technology labs. The week will be capped by a trek to Capitol Hill Friday, where Reagan will ad which is also designed to paint a vigorous president far from being a lame duck begins Wednesday with a trio of events. After sending Congress a package of legislative prescriptions, Reagan heads for the Treasury Department, where he will stump for tax reform and the need to hold down federal spending. Then he addresses two other government agencies: Health and Human Services, where he is expected to talk about catastrophic health coverage for the aged, and the Domestic Policy Council, to again stress tax reform and less spending. The purpose of the government stops, defense future of the nation, leaving specifics to a whirlwind of speeches before government agencies, high schools and congressional luncheons in the days that follow.

Reagan will unveil his 1987 budget next Tuesday from the Government Printing Office, becoming the first president since Abraham Lincoln to visit the GPO. The blitz of lobbying activities is meant to counteract disarray between the White House and congressional Republicans last year and to recapture the glory of the administration's 1981 legislative successes. The selling of the Reagan agenda WASHINGTON President Reagan, hoping to rebound from last year's bumpy legislative record, kicks off an intense campaign for the White House agenda tonight with an Ideological State of the Union message. The speech to be broadcast live by major radio and television networks beginning at 9 p.m. Southwest Florida time will paint Reagan's vision for the economic and Off oft freezes, we'ore ffDGUDsGned Frozen part puts shuttle on ice Migrants hustle to beat cold Related stories 1B ByROSLYNAVERILL News-Press Environmental Writer JO' f- DAN FITZPATRICKNews-Press A migrant worker pitches a bucket of green tomatoes to a trucker at Six Farm in Collier County Monday, as Southwest Florida farmers hustled to beat this morning's expected reeze.Overnight temperatures Monday were expected to dip into the upper 20s.

1 Dixie weather's adoozy Gear up to fight cold war ByCHETLUNNER Gannett News Service CAPE CANAVERAL What NASA hoped would be a drama of space shuttle achievement quickly turned into a comedy of errors Monday as a faulty fastener in Challenger's door handle kept the billion-dollar Orbiter grounded for another day. Space agency officials said they'll try again at 9:38 a.m. today. Air Force weather experts say The winds will die down, but the thermometer may drop to a point that prevents liftoff. With overnight lows in the 20s, and super-cold fuel being pumped into Challenger's giant external tank.

Ice may form. Ice which can mejb fall off in large chunks during ascent, and damage fragile heat-resisting tiles can cancel a launch attempt. Subfreezing temperatures also can impair the shuttle's Internal plumbing, agency officials said. Earlier delays of this mission have Involved poor weather conditions at Kennedy Space Center or NASA's emergency landing sites overseas. Monday's luckless chain of events began as Challenger's crew noticed a "door ajar" signal, indicating the hatch hadn't shut properly after the astronauts crawled inside their cabin.

The launch pad crew fixed that problem, but then couldn't budge the hatch's exterior handle, which must be removed before liftoff. In the two hours it took them to take the handle off, strong winds whipped into the area, and the liftoff was canceled. "It was Just not our day," Kennedy Shuttle Chief Bob Sieck told reporters at a brief afternoon news conference. "Our plan is to recycle and go for Tuesday morning." Teacher-ln-space Christa McAu-liffe and her six fellow astronauts spent nearly five hours waiting as one problem followed another Monday. The ground crews tried a screwdriver.

The screw wouldn't move. They tried a battery-powered drill. Its battery was too weak. They asked for a hacksaw. Ground workers forgot to deliver it.

The bits for the drill were the wrong size. Permission was granted to use regular power tools for the job, and the handle finally came loose. Launch commentator Hugh Harris kept about 800 reporters abreast of each frustrating development. "This handle Is used only when the Orbiter is on the ground, to close the door," Harris said. "When they tried to take it off, the screw was frozen." The weather, which had twice delayed the mission last week, was perfect for liftoff at Monday's planned 9:37 a.m.

deadline, but deteriorated throughout the morning. The new schedule means tea-chernaut McAuIiffe will conduct her two live televised lectures Friday over PBS. Florida's farm workers hurried to pick oranges and vegetables Monday as growers flooded their fields to prepare for this morning's expected deep freeze. "We've picked everything close to being ready," said Larry Llpman, a packing manager at Six Farms in Collier County. "You run as much water through the fields as you can so the steam will help against the cold." Juan Flores was among thousands of migrant farm workers in Southwest Florida Monday who feverishly picked tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables to beat the cold.

Forecasters predicted this week's cold could rival last year's devastating freeze. "This is our job. If it freezes, we're finished," Flores said as he and other workers at Six Farms hoisted buckets of tomatoes into trucks. He said a crop-damaging freeze would leave many of the region's estimated 12.000 farm workers without jobs because replanting fields takes less manpower than picking vegetables. The National Weather Service warned that arctic air blowing across Florida this morning could shatter record-low temperatures across the state and drive temperatures into the mid-20s in Southwest Florida's inland farming communities.

Forecasters said temperatures are expected to drop into the teens in the Florida Panhandle and to about 30 degrees along the Southwest Florida coast. Similar low temperatures are predicted for Wednesday morning. Arctic winds of about 15 mph would make temperatures feel much colder and cause severe damage to the state's citrus and vegetable crops, forecasters said. Collier County agriculture agent Reggie Brown said Southwest Florida's vegetable crop is worth about $250 million and about half the vegetables are in the fields. "You're looking at disrupting about half the vegetable industry In Southwest Florida in one night," Brown said.

"Right now we've got tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, watermelons and potatoes in the field." Florida's citrus growers said about two-thirds of the season's grapefruit and oranges are ripening on trees and could be destroyed if temperatures stay below 28 degrees for four to six hours as predicted. "We're primarily worried See MIGRANTS, back page this section A I HOT TIPS FOR COLD TOES Wear loose layers of clothing. Scarves and hats should be worn during the day, and a nightcap at night to keep head warm. Wear long underwear. I Avoid alcohol.

I By ROGER PETTERSON Associated Press Writer A river of bitingly cold air poured into the heart of the Deep South on Monday, threatening Florida citrus and vegetable crops with temperatures lower than readings in New England and Montana, and icing roads into Alabama and Georgia. At least eight deaths were blamed on the weather from New York into Georgia as hundreds of vehicles slid out of control. Heavy, wet snow and freezing rain snapped power lines and blacked out thousands in the Northeast. Snow fell from the upper Ohio Valley across most of the Appalachians to the mid-Atlantic Coast, and nearly 4 feet of snow had piled up over the weekend in parts of upstate New York. The icy air rushing from the Arctic into the Southeast dropped wind chills to as low as 60 degrees below zero over the upper Great Lakes and upper Mississippi Valley, the National Weather Service said.

The coldest spot in the 48 contiguous states Monday morning was 31 below zero at International Falls, Minn. See DIXIE, back page this section By DEBORAH SHARP New9-Press Staff Writer Wasn't this morning fun. Southwest Florida? A bracing blast of cold when you opened the door for the newspaper. Feet hitting icy bathroom tile. Invigorating, some say.

Others, with more sense, say If you find the chill less than charming, envy the cockroach. As Southwest Florida shivers, he stays comfy. That adaptable creature secretes a form of antifreeze directly into his bloodstream. And some types of frogs can take being frozen solid. Alas, "What's true for a cockroach or a frog isn't true for humans," said Robert S.

Pozos, head of the physiology department in the school of medicine at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. In Duluth, they know what cold is. For humans, keeping warm means wearing more clothes, huddling under comforters and burrowing deeper into jackets. But it's not ail plugging in the electric blanket or turning up the heater, the body also has built-in systems to help us stay warm, DAVE ANDERSONNews-Press ders against the cold, their muscles contract and generate heat. Shivering another involuntary response has the same effect.

The blood gets involved by flowing away See WAR, back page this section Pozos says. The skin and organs have thousands of heat-sensitive cells that send information to the brain. Then the brain acts like a thermostat, registering cold and doing something about It. When people hunch their shoul- Justices leave $2 billion judgment intact against Exxon o.h co. mc n.nri the tests whenever there is "reasonable cause" to for the kidnap and murder of Charles Lind- will receive cash.

States must spend the tests whenever there is "reasonable cause" to for the kidnap and murder of Charles no believe an employee Is under the influence of By RICHARD CARELLI Lindbergh's infant son in New Jersey. The appeal sought to exonerate Bruno Hauptmann. In the Exxon case, a federal judge ordered' the huge payment In 1983, and a special federal appeals court upheld the order last July. Exxon, the nation's largest corporation, was found to have overpriced oil taken from the Hawkins field near Tyler, Texas. Exxon contended it was the victim of confusing federal regulations.

When awarded, the judgment against Exxon was the largest in American history. But it was eclipsed last November when a state jury in Texas ordered Texaco to pay $10.53 billion to Pennzoil for improperly interfering with that company's acquisition of Getty Oil. Appeals in the case are pending. money on energy conservation such as weatherizing hospitals and schools and on helping the poor pay their home utility bills. Exxon Chairman Clifton Garvin Jr.

said he was "extremely disappointed" by the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the corporation's appeal. He said Exxon will pay the judgment from available resources and by takingshort-term loans. In other matters Monday, the court: Let the Reagan administration put into effect, at least temporarily, regulations aimed at combating drug and alcohol use by railroad workers. The regulations require train crews to undergo breath or urine tests as soon as possible after a serious rail accident, and require such drugs or alcohol. Voted 5-4 to give states the legal authority to prevent bankrupt businesses from abandoning property that poses a threat to the public health and safety.

The justices barred the trustee of a bankrupt waste oil storage company doing business in New Jersey and New York from abandoning buildings contaminated with toxic chemicals. Ruled unanimously in a case from Washington state that providing public aid to handicapped people studying for careers in the ministry does not offend the constitutionally required separation of church and state. Turned down the appeal of Anna Haupt-mann, widow of the man executed 50 years ago Business 15-17A Associated Press Writer Classified 6-18C WASHINGTON The Supreme Court Comics 90 made final the largest monetary judgment in 90 American history to be upheld on appeal by Crosswora telling Exxon Corp. to pay more than $2 billion Movies 80 for inflating oil prices. Death3 4B The court, with no recorded dissent, let 9 stand rulings that force Exxon to pay refunds Newsmakers and interest for overcharges of $895 million on Opinion 6A the 1975-81 sales of oil from a Texas field.

Dnio Section The money, totaling about $2.1 billion, will Keopie be deposited by Exxon into the U.S. Treasury, Sports Section and tnen wi djStrjDuted to the states based jy 10D on estimates of energy consumption during the 13 six-year period. Weather Mogt consumers 0f gasoline and heating oil.