Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 85

9r 2nd ED'r Regional Edition SECTION E8 OBITUARIES E8 EDITORIALS EtO WEATHER TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 1986 CONNECTICUT Persuasive Prose Can Give Applicants Edge Ramirez Is The Star at Channel 18 will find my 7,095 square centimeters to be on the crest of this tsunami of paper, and not in the trough." One student wrote the Epistle of St. Geoff to Oberlln in a parody of biblical verse. Michael D. Schill drew a cartoon strip depicting a conversation between himself and an admissions officer, describing in the dialogue his view of learning and education. Another wrote about the best ways to eat an Oreo cookie, explaining, for See Students, Page E2 Aptitude Test scores, all In the top 10 percent of their class and all musicians, actors, athletes," Kasbar said.

The essay can make the difference, he said. Curry said the book is designed to offer samples of good writing and ease the anxiety of potential applicants, to "let them relax and not treat college admissions essays as some kind of mine field." Tile 144-page book contains 50 essays from successful applications to Yale, Harvard, Duke, Stanford, the officer to laughter or make him feel something, that has a tremendous Impact," said Boykln Curry, who compiled the book, "Essays That Worked," with his friend and classmate, Brian Kasbar. Besieged by thousands of applications from talented students, admissions officers might give an edge to a senior who breaks from the mold of the I-was-student-council-president essay, Kasbar said. Most applicants to top colleges "are probably within 60 points of each other on their SATs Scholastic By ROBERT A. FRAHM Courant Education Writer College admissions officers, accustomed to the deadening prose of thousands of hopeful applicants, sometimes can be moved by a one-act play, a witty cartoon or even musings on an Oreo cookie.

Such efforts by high school seniors were judged among the best admissions essays by college officials in a collection compiled by two Yale University juniors. "If you can move an admissions Governor Opposes Proposed Pipeline, Names Study Group By DEBORAH PETERSEN Courant Staff Writer Opponents of a controversial plan to bury a natural gas pipeline In 19 western Connecticut towns gained an important ally Monday when Gov. William A. O'Neill said he opposed the plan and will study alternatives. O'Neill, who had not taken a public stand while state officials studied the proposed $360 million project, now says he Is against the Iroquois Gas Transmission System.

He appointed former Gov. and former U.S. Sen. Abraham A. Ribicoff to lead a citizens' committee to examine alternatives to the pipeline, he promised the state would hire a private consultant to look closely at other plans If any strong alternatives are found and he called on Connecticut natural gas companies to submit market projections to state regulators.

"This particular proposal was developed too hastily," O'Neill said in a press statement. "I will not allow this pipeline proposal to be railroaded through Connecticut." Meanwhile, the office of U.S. Rep. Nancy L. Johnson, R-6th District, said Monday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has agreed to extend the deadline for submitting comments about potential environmental effects of the proposal.

The comment period allows the public to express concerns they want the commission to examine during University of California at Berkeley and other top national universities, from students such as Maria Gug-lielmo, who wrote about the college application process itself. She measured the amount of paper she had collected in a tidal wave of college bulletins and brochures and, using herself as a standard, estimated "It would only take 2,567.98 applicants with their college Information to cover all 170 acres of Yale." She said Yale would be receiving 84,182 square feet of application forms, and "I hope that the office Our intent, and we hope respond favorably, is to fix Hotel up. 99 "He is not available. He will not be available for some time," a spokeswoman said. If Ginsberg agrees to rehabilitate the hotel, the work could take at least three months, said Burke and Clarence E.

Phillips, city director of licenses and inspections. The four-story hotel at Church and Ann streets next to the Hartford Civic Center was cleared Friday afternoon after city officials noticed window frames had twisted and a web of cracks had formed down the south wall. The wall had crept about two Inches from the rest of the structure by late Friday, and Burke said it had moved another three-quarters of an inch by midday Monday. Burke said Ginsberg also was denied that claim, saying they have been paying dues since the contract took effect in 1985. The charges were filed partly because Local 34 is affiliated with and pays a fee of $5.88 per member to the Hotel and Restaurant Employees International Union.

The President's Commission on Organized Crime has said the hotel and restaurant union, which spent about $4 million on the Yale organizing drive and a later strike, is dominated by the La Cosa Nostra crime syndicate. An October 1985 report by the commission repeated Senate committee testimony by a mob associate Tom Condon Richard P. Ramirez, part owner and general manager of WHCT, Channel 18, doesn't look like he was ever a victim of discrimination. The 32-year-old ex-football player is tall, good-looking and well-spoken. He could easily play himself if "WHCT in Hartford" were to become a TV series.

But he is a minority, and when he gets past Arbltron ratings and syndicated programming, he remembers the old neighborhood. A year ago today, Ramirez flipped a switch in a building on Garden Street and put WHCT on the air. He was able to buy the station because of a federal policy giving preference to minorities. He feels he's kept faith with that policy by hiring minorities for a third of his managerial positions. "I hope we become known as a station that develops first-rate talent from the minority communities," he said.

At this time last year, some said the station wouldn't make it to Halloween. So along with his hiring record, Ramirez is proud that he's about to reach Halloween II. But just like living in "Fort Apache," it hasn't been easy. Ramirez grew up in New York City's South Bronx, the son of a Cuban father and Puerto Rican mother. He got whacked around for being Hispanic in a predominantly Irish Catholic school near home.

Then he got whacked again back on his block for being fair-skinned. "Thank God for my parents," he said. "They kept the influences of the street out of the home." Ramirez won a football scholarship to Boston College, played linebacker, graduated and went into radio and TV marketing. Two years ago, he began a push to get his own television station. Channel 18, you may recall, was owned In recent years by Faith Center Inc.

of Glendale, which presented hour after hour of the Rev. W. euGene Scott wearing different hats and wailing away at government, his ex-wife and other major problems. Scott's organization was in constant trouble with the Federal Communications Commission, and took advantage of an FCC provision allowing sale of the station to a minority-controlled group rather than risk outright loss of its license. The buyer, for $3.1 million, was Astroline Communications, a Boston-area limited partnership set up by Ramirez.

Ramirez was immediately sued by a Rocky Hill computer consultant, Alan Shurberg, who had been trying to gain control of the station since 1983. The case is still pending. Just before Ramirez bought the station, the FCC dropped its "must carry" rule, which forced cable operators to carry all local stations. This meant that instead of a guaranteed 660,000 cable households in the central part of the state, Ramirez had to start with 150,000. He is back up to 520,000, and growing.

He also ran into opposition from the town of Avon when he tried to build a new transmitting tower on Avon Mountain. This, too, is the subject of a pending legal challenge, but Ramirez said he has the necessary permits and expects to break ground in a matter of weeks. On top of that, the FCC may change its rule about minority preference, which might affect WHCT. "I can't imagine starting an independent television station under such adverse conditions, but it's growing," he said. Ramirez's team has won a few.

It landed the contract for 24 Whaler games this season, and is televising 11 University of Hartford basketball games. WHCT started with reruns and old movies, but has been able to add some public service programs along with the sports. "They and Channel 61 WTIC have both done the right thing, trying to come up with programs that differentiate them from other stations," said Michael Dorfsman, executive director of the Connecticut Cable Television Association Inc. "We're another voice, and another option for advertisers," Ramirez said. He said competition by independents has brought more Celtics and Whalers games to area viewers this year, and such competition improves programming.

WHCT brought my favorite show, "Rocky and Friends," back to Hartford. The station also has brought 46 full-time jobs to the city. Ramirez said the year has been a roller coaster of highs and lows. "It's much more of an emotional challenge than I thought. My social life has taken a distant back seat.

But when I turn on the television, I can see how far we've come." the approval process. The deadline will be extended to Nov. 20, said Jeffrey Denny, a spokesman for Johnson. After the deadline, the commission will continue an environmental impact study, expected to take at least a year, and probably would hold public hearings on environmental concerns. Earlier this month, Attorney General Joseph I.

Lieberman had asked that the Oct. 6 deadline be extended until after Iroquois submits its final environmental report. O'Neill's opposition to the Iroquois plan comes later, yet is stronger than the stand taken by his opponent in the gubernatorial race, Republican Julie D. Belaga. Belaga opposes considering the plan under a new, expedited approval process the commission started last October.

Belaga supports reducing dependency on foreign oil. "The end goal is laudable, but she questions the means," said Ilene M. Snub, a spokeswoman for Belaga. O'Neill asked natural gas companies in Connecticut to submit detailed projections of supply and demand to the state Department of Public Utilities. Studying future needs is the only way to determine what, if any, alternative to the pipeline plan is needed, he said.

Utility officials have said Connecticut needs a third pipeline because its other two operate at capacity during peak winter hours. pany's position that the original three-year contract proposal is "an excellent and fair offer." Monday's statements were the first that either side has made about the substance of the talks since the strike began. Both sides had agreed to a news blackout. Melita said that during negotiations the company expressed a willingness to modify its proposal for an annual lump-sum payment to workers. Under the original three-year proposal, $400 would have been granted to each employee annually, in addition to a 1.3 percent annual wage Increase.

Under the union's proposal, the annual lump-sum payment would be reduced to $200 and wages would Increase enough so each employee would earn as much after one year as he would have under the original proposal. However, unlike the lumpsum payment, the annual increase generated by the percentage raise would become part of the base pay. In the second year of the new proposal, the amount of the lumpsum payment would increase to $300. In the third year, the lump sum would be $400. The company also is proposing increasing the health insurance deductible of $100 to $300.

The cost of HMO health maintenance organization coverage would also increase, Melita said. No new talks are planned. Telephone Workers Claim 'Union Busting9 John Long Tha Hartford Courant Karen Albarran, who was among Hartford Hotel covered in the building, is comforted by Misty Wil-tenants displaced Friday when cracks were dis- son, 12, who lived with her mother at the hotel. Hotel Can Be Saved, City Says By ANTHONY GIORGIANNI Courant Staff Writer After intense but unproductive contract talks Sunday, representatives of nearly 10,000 striking tele- Rhone workers accused the Southern lew England Telecommunications Corp. Monday of trying to break their union.

Rick Melita, administrative assistant for the Connecticut Union of Telephone Workers, said company officials rejected a union contract proposal that would not have cost substantially more than a company proposal workers rejected Sept. 12, the day before they went on strike. Melita accused the company of refusing to consider modifications seriously and of trying to prolong the strike in an effort to win union concessions. "It leads me to believe that they have no desire to come to swift resolution to the strike at this time and that they're just tiring us out and attempting to break the strike," Melita said. "If that's not union busting, I don't know what is." Company officials denied the accusations.

"Our desire is to continue meaningful and fruitful discussions with the union and, when appropriate, with our employees, which will lead us to a speedy-resolution of the contract," tne company said in a prepared statement. The statement repeated the com Yale, Union By MIKE McGRAW Courant Labor Editor Yale University and a union representing about 2,600 of its employees have been accused of Illegally forcing some clerical workers to pay union fees that help bankroll organized crime activities of the union's parent. The charges, received Monday at the National Labor Relations Board's Hartford office, were filed on behalf of 21 Yale workers who have refused to join the union for Ideological reasons. The charges were filed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Low-Income Tenants Face 3-Month Wait If Repairs Are Made By LARRY WILLIAMS and EFRAIN HERNANDEZ JR Courant Staff Writers The Hartford Hotel can be saved from demolition but its 110 low-income residents face at least a three-month wait before they can return to their rooms, city officials said Monday. Assistant City Manager John C.

Burke said the owner has been given until Friday to submit a plan to rehabilitate the 87-year-old structure, evacuated Friday after city inspectors concluded its south wall was in danger of collapse. "Our intent, and we hope the owner is going to respond favorably, is to fix the building up," Burke said. The owner, Leonard Ginsberg, would not take a reporter's call to his office at H. Ginsberg Sons General Contracting Inc. in West Hartford.

The President's Commission on Organized Crime has said the hotel and restaurant union is dominated by the La Cosa Nostra crime syndicate. workers' union, Local 34 of the Federation of University Employees, recently asked Yale to fire them. One member of the group of 21 the owner is going to the building Hartford John C. Burke Assistant city manager ordered, in a letter issued Monday night, to brace the wall by 9 a.m. Wednesday to prevent further deterioration.

Samuel Saylor and Robert Jones of Center City Churches were working Monday evening to obtain food and shelter for the displaced tenants on the Civic Center steps. Later Monday evening Jones was in Bushnell Park, where he said about a dozen people were expected to spend the night near the carrousel. Some of the tenants ate a picnic supper supplied by the church organization, he said. Jones said blankets were being given to people who planned to sleep in the park or elsewhere on the streets. See Hartford, Page E2 To Pay Fees that said a Las Vegas union official was threatened with death unless he allowed international union officials to take over his local's health and welfare fund.

The official, Elmer Bramlet, refused and was later murdered. The same testimony included allegations that mob associates have control over the union's top officials. Union leaders said all the allegations are old and never resulted in charges proving the international union Is controlled by the mob. Walter Littell, a Yale spokesman, said Monday that Yale would have See Yale, Page E2 Accused of Illegally Forcing Workers Foundation against Yale and Local 34 of the Federation of University Employees, which represents the university's clerical workers. An attorney for the Right to Work foundationsaid the charges represent a new twist in the foundation's continuing battle to limit the use of what it calls "compulsory union fees." As a condition of their employment, Yale's clerical workers must lay the union either dues represent-ng up to two hours' pay or ''agency fees" in lieu of dues.

Union officials said the 21 clerical workers have refused to pay union dues and, as a result, the clerical.