The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 4

A4 THE MORNING CALL, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1987 Lai muMtmtiM mm Vm i s.i' k4 mmm mam JL mm mJ mmiaa Jm Bill proposes siirly odtsc of layoffs, closings By SCOTT AIGES States News Service 'flAith 2 million Americans losing jobs annually; the issue is whether a community has a right to know- -about something that to send the measure to the House floor, where a similar bill was defeated last year by five votes. A Senate version of the bill passed the Labor and Human Resources Committee May IS and may reach the Senate floor this month, staff aides said. In addition to the plant-closing provisions, the bill authorizes $980 million worth of programs to help workers who have lost their jobs due to foreign competition or changes in the economy. The same provision was part of the House trade bill which passed the body earlier this cials the reasons for the layoffs or plant closings. Such disclosures of sensitive company information could, the critics say, cause further economic damage.

But labor groups such as the United Steelworkers of America have called such requirements the only way to help communities plan for job losses. Amendments offered by Rep. Austin Murphy, D-22nd District, would exempt from notification temporary and seasonal workers. Also exempted would be companies that move their shops within 25 miles and offer employees comparable work at the new location. Murphy's amendments passed WASHINGTON Refecting arguments that American business would be hamstrung, the House Education and Labor Committee approved a bill yesterday that would require many companies to give workers at least 90 days' notice of impending layoffs or plant closings.

With 2 million Americans losing jobs annually, often with only one or two days of warning, Rep. Bob Wise, said the issue is "whether a community has a right to know about something that will drastically alter their lives." But Roukema and other committee Republicans called the bill a threat to American competitiveness, saying the three to six months of notice the bill calls for is "unwarranted and "Employers often do not know so long in advance they will have to lay off workers," she said. "Business conditions are much more fluid than recognized in this bill." Roukema offered a substitute bill that would grant workers two months' notice in the event of layoff or plant closing, but only at companies at least five years old. Opponents also attacked the bill for requiring companies to explain to labor and local government offi workers were laid off. For plants with 100 to 500 workers, 120 days' notice would be required.

And for plants of more than 500 workers, 180 days' notice would be required. No law exists to notify workers in the event of plant closings. Several committee Republicans agreed with the general Intent of the bill but criticized its specifics. Rep. Marge Roukema, who voted against the bill, cited a government survey showing that, of 11 million American jobs lost from 1981 to 1986, two-thirds of the workers got less than two weeks' notice and some got no notice at all.

Rep. Charles Hayes, said workers are victimized by plant closings. Workers, he said, chave every right to look to their government for protection." year. According to the measure, companies with 50 to 100 workers would nave to give 90 days' notice before plants were closed or 50 or more Two Republicans joined the Democratic majority in the 23 to 11 vote Fore liraJiLaires two, routs Hydrogen blast averted at Butler Air Products plant BUTLER (AP) About 300 neighbors of an Air Products and Chemicals Inc. plant here were allowed to return to their homes yesterday, a day after fire in a leaking pipeline threatened a huge tank of flammable liquid hydrogen.

Two employees of the plant in Butler lownsnip were seriously Dumea wnen tne Associated Press nyurugen lire oegan aroui p.m. Monday. Officials evacuated about 500 residents shortly after the blaze began but allowed 200 to return home Monday night Authorities had planned to keep the remaining 300 evacuees away from the area until emergency crews had finished draining the tank and hauling the liquid away in trucks. 'That won't be completed for another 30 to 36 hours. However, both the emergency management coordinator and Air Products officials determined that there is no longer a danger in that process," said Scott Briggs, spokesman for the Butler County Emergency Management Agency.

The remaining evacuees were allowed to return at 12:30 p.m. The fire erupted after hydrogen began leaking from a 1-inch-diameter copper pipe under the tank, officials said. The cause of the leak and the fire were still under investigation yesterday. Firemen needed about four hours to bring the blaze under control, Briggs said. Air Products spokesman Kevin Ramundo said the tank contained an estimated 35,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen when the fire was extinguished around 8 p.m.

Monday. The evacuation was ordered because of fears the fire would boil the hydrogen and trigger a major fire. However, the double-walled tank apparently sustained little Mabroy Reaves, Bill Tebay and Megan Magill, evacuees, sit in gymnasium of Butler school. Scorch marks on tank of hydrogen (right) show nearness of blaze. damage, Ramundo said.

"All you would notice is scorched paint," he said. Up to 170 of the residents went to an emergency shelter at the Butler Intermediate High School, and about 40 slept overnight on cots in the gymnasium and in several classrooms, said Red Cross volunteer John Drescher. The two workers, Robert Livengood, 60, and Nicholas Grande, 49, both of Butler, suffered second- and third-degree burns of the arms and face. They were in serious but stable condition yesterday at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, said nurse Cheryl Bartchy. Air Products supplies liquid hydrogen to the nearby Armco Inc.

Specialty Steel Division plant for use in the mill. l. (. 1 :k.V,l. Man accused of killings caught after escape Pane! OECs liquor bI3 HARRISBURG (AP) A Senate committee rejected appeals by opponents of the state liquor monopoly yesterday and proved legislation that would allow the Liquor Control Board to remain in business after the end of the month.

The Law and Justice Committee over ters hovered above, authorities said. At a morning press conference, Mifflin County Sheriff Jay Laub said the escapees left behind a letter saying: "The joke's on you We are treated like animals. We feel like caged animals. We will not be taken alive." Himes is charged with two counts of homicide and one count of attempted homicide in a shooting incident last month near Reeds Gap State Park that left two firefighters dead. All three men were awaiting arraignment on escape charges late yesterday, authorities said.

Mifflin County District Attorney William Helm said Himes and Wagner face a possible sentence of seven years and Adair two years. He said Himes and Wagner face longer maximum sentences because they had been jailed on felonies. Police have charged that Himes shot and killed volunteer New Lancaster Valley firefighters Dennis Briggs, 34, and Darrell W. Fultz, 25, both of Milroy, after arguing with his father. whelmingly defeated proposed amendments LEWISTOWN (AP) A man accused of killing two volunteer firefighters who had answered a fire call at his parents' house escaped from jail early yesterday, but surrendered hours later on an island in the Juniata River, authorities said.

Randall Scott Himes, 25, was one of three escapees from the Mifflin County Jail who broke out between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. by knocking a hole through the ceiling in their cell, said Lewistown police dispatcher Pat Smith. Himes and Jeffrey Allen Wagner, 24, who was being held on an arson charge, were recaptured without incident at mid-morning, 10 miles southeast of the jail in Juniata County, said jail officer Robert Johnson. But police, accompanied by two bloodhounds and guided by two state police helicopters, took several more hours to capture John Scott Adair, 24, of Adair, who had been jailed on charges of making terroristic threats, eluded authorities on Bell Island until around 2 p.m., said Juniata County Sheriff Doug McKee.

"We called in the dogs," said McKee. "He was hold ing out, but the dogs did their job. I'm glad that everything turned out. I had planned to go into a night search if we had to." Juniata County sheriffs officials spotted the three men walking into Mifflintown shortly after 8:30 a.m. when they were notified of the escape, said McKee.

"When I pulled over to request identification, they started to run," he said. "That confirmed our suspicions that they were the escapees." Wagner, of Lewistown, was captured without incident around 9:30 a.m. on a railroad bed that runs along the Juniata River, according to Mckee. McKee said Himes, of Milroy, and Adair waded into the river and fled to the small one-mile long island. Himes surrendered to police about 10 a.m., McKee said.

At least 40 police officers, including sheriffs deputies from surrounding counties, combed the island, which is overgrown with weeds and brush, for Adair, McKee said. Police had lined both river banks and the helicop to the legislation that would have allowed the private sale of liquor and wine. Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, a Montgomery County Republican who is a long-time sup porter of private liquor sales, tost an attempt -'-r rA ten to have Pennsylvania enter into the ZOth century with the rest of the nation." In addition, the committee rejected a Greenleaf amendment that would have allowed beer distributors to sell wine. It also defeated a proposal that would have permitted private wine stores to operate.

The House-approved biS must still come before the full Senate, where ft faces the possibility of more amendments. Some of the same proposals that came up in two days of committee hearings could be reargued on-the floor. During the meeting, the panel agreed to allow the state to set up specialty wine stores. The state-operated stores apparently would be allowed to locate in private stores. The bill, as it now is written, would allow advertising of beer prices, which was banned in the version approved by the House.

Sen. Robert Mellow, D-Lackawarma, won approval of the change that he said protects the ability of consumers to search for the lowest prices. Sen. John Shumaker, the Dauphin County Republican who chairs the committee, voted against the measure, saying it could promote increased alcohol abuse. Shumaker said he hopes the bifl can come up for a vote in the Senate next week.

If the bill is approved and the House doesn't agree with the changes, a House-Senate conference committee would be formed to compromise on the issue. Under the state Sunset Law, the LCB must close down by June 30. The future of liquor sales, if no agreement is reached by that time, is uncertain. Mandatory sentences sought for drugs HARRISBURG (AP) The state needs to set mandatory minimum drug sentences to put dealers behind bars and to create a deterrent, prosecutors told a Senate committee yesterday. The authorities also said the Judiciary Committee should look into expanding the penalties for big-time drug pushers and people who sell drugs to children.

Committee Chairman Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, said the panel would study recommendations offered during testimony on two bills that would set mandatory minimum sentences for conviction on drug offenses, with the length of sentence depending on the amount of drugs involved. Paul Yatron, an executive deputy attorney general, said the set limits have the "virtues of simplicity and severity." "We believe that the establishment of tough minimum sentences will have a significant deterrent effect," Yatron said. But Yatron said the committee also should consider a provision that would impose mandatory penalties on dealers selling narcotics within 1,000 feet of a school. One bill before the committee would mandate a three-year prison term for anyone convicted of distributing drugs to a minor. Lackawanna County District Attorney Ernest Preate Jr.

said mandatory sentences should be imposed because drug dealers often spend little or no time in prison for their offenses. A study by the state attorney general's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation showed that from 1980 to 1982, 55 percent of all convicted drug dealers in Pennsylvania spent no time in jail, and many others were sentenced to less than a year, Preate said. Preate said be supports the intent of the legislation but suggested lowering the drug guidelines. "Speaking from 18 years' experience investigating and prose- Casey urges banks to help Sharon Steel FARRELL (AP) Gov. Robert P.

Casey yesterday urged local banks help save the jobs of more than 2,500 employees of Sharon Steel Corp. in the wake of its filing for bankruptcy reorganization. "I urge all possible consideration be given to Sharon Steel's request for necessary funding to reline the blast furnace," Casey said in a telegram to four banks serving the Shenango Valley. The relining, estimated to cost nearly S25 million, is necessary if the plant is to continue operating, the governor's press office said. The governor met yesterday with Sharon Steel officials and other authorities in this Mercer County town.

After Sharon Steel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. Casey ordered the Pennsylvania Economic Development Partnership to intervene to try to help save the plant The administration has committed up to SI million in low-interest loans. A consortium of banks is scheduled to discuss the request today. Associated Press Lackawanna County District Attorney Earnest Preate (right) shows drugs to state senators Stewart Greenleaf (left) and Frank Pecora. cuting drug trafficking, I can tell you unequivocally that it is very rare that any dealer would have 50 pounds of marijuana or 50 grams of cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine in his possession during any given transaction," Preate said.

"The threshold amounts and poundages specified in the bills are far too high," said Preate, who is expected to run for state attorney general next year. Preate also said the committee should consider providing mandatory sentences based on the number of sales or deliveries made by a dealer, regardless of the amount of the drug sold..