The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 12

Northampton I Uonroe ITHE MORNING CALL MONDAY AUGUST 7, 1995 SECTION and Warren Counties" Weather B2 Newsline B3 Police B2 Deaths B6 Business B7 Musical troupe raises funds to fight cancer Page B3 subsidiary reaches to international markets Page B7 W' I Fact almost as strange as fiction It occurred to me that some people reading my column last week on bank charges might have been wondering which fees were real and which were fictitious. vTi.i -H v. "There's a lot of places a car can't go," 1 Reilly, hero pictured riding his bicycle Pburg police take the heat on new bicycle patrols -e says Phillipsburg Patrolman Edward when the county hired a Philadelphia consulting firm tp esign a "vision plan" for the 86-year-old game preserve. A final version was expected by the end of July but may not be ready until the fall. Some changes, though, already are visible.

The cyclone fence that dominated the prairie dog exhibit is gone. A new educational program. Explore 'n' Snore, invites children to camp out at the game preserve and tour the zoo at night "We're trying to reconnect the community to the game preserve," county Director of Development Peter V. Waldron said. I ii iMI I I II Incase you didn't see it, the column described a fictitious encounter between a customer and a teller in an unnamed fictitious bank.

Bill White A few mmmmmmmm readers called us afterward wondering where this bank was, I got interested in this subject while reporting on fees being charged by one bank for customers' deposits of rolled coins. When I picked up a brochure listing all their fees, I was flabbergasted, although I later found they're fairly typical. Among the fees I didn't even get around to writing about were their $30 fee for each bounced check, the $7.50 per item fee for photocopying, $15 for a certified check, $2 for every $100 of traveler's checks, and $7 for each money order. And that's just scratching the surface. Anyway, here's a fact-fiction scorecard for the column: I'm not aware of any banks charging admission, but banks in some cities are charging customers $3 every time they are assisted by a teller.

A reader sent me a note about this, along with an editorial cartoon showing a gun-wielding bank robber in front of a teller, who says, "Okay but I should tell you there's a $3 fee for teller assistance." The teller assistance fees likewise would apply to making change for a customer, but the specific fee for changing a $1 bill was a figment of my imagination. The $30 fee for stopping payment on a check is real. Some banks do have a service charge for checking your account balance. The $10 fee for replacing an Though all banks seem to be moving in the same direction, some charge more and higher service fees than others. ATM card is real.

The $1 charge for any ATM transaction at another bank is real. The $2.50 charge for a pack of five counter checks is real. I don't think anyone charges a fee yet for using their pens, or for transactions extending beyond 3 p.m. Some banks do charge you for closing your account. Mike Wishnow of the state Banking Department says its consumer hotline (1-800-722-2657) gets more than 7,000 complaints a year.

"Historically, 1 to 1.5 percent of the complaints we receive are regarding service charges in general," he said. "It's mostly insufficient fund fees for bounced checks, or late charges when loan payments are made toward the end of the grace period and just don't get there in time." He says federal banking laws mostly just require that they disclose any new fees. "As long as they tell you they're going to hit you with a fee, they can hit you," he said. Angela Yarbrough of the Pennsylvania Bankers' Association says deregulation gave banks and consumers new products interest-bearing checking accounts, for instance and more choices, but it also freed banks to decide for themselves how to recoup their increased costs. The result has been the proliferation of service fees.

"You as a customer need to shop around," she said, "just as you shop for credit cards, jeans, or shoes, and compare prices. You have choices." She added, "Don't base it all on price. It's important to balance all the things that are important to you." Although all banks seem to be moving in the same direction, some charge more and higher service fees than others. If your bank's policies seem particularly onerous, and if oth er factors service, hours, location aren't sufficient compensation. you might consider taking your business to a more customer-friendly financial institution.

And letting your old bank know PETE SHAHEEN The Morning Call near the Delaware River. At 9 a.m. Thursday, he had already sweated through his new yellow polo shirt, although his shift was only two hours old. But he'll stand it, he said with a shrug and a smile. "It's great being on the bike," Reilly said.

"You talk to people, and everyone wants to talk to you." Phillipsburg began the bike patrol Please See PATROL Page B4 ii Police plan to add a night shift. downgrade the game preserve complain that the animals look dirty, that the water looks too green or that the zoo needs a better variety of animals. Wrapping up a daylong visit, 5-year-old Jarrett Donmoyer insisted that something was missing. "Giraffe!" he said. Not every suggestion will become reality, but most have found their way into the vision plan.

Richard Biddle of Schultz Williams, Please See PRESERVE Page B4 Ethnic dance festival Young people dance to Lebanese music on the final day of the annual Lebanese Festival at Our Lady of Lebanon Catholic Church in Easton. 1 By ELAN IE NOVAK Of The Morning Call Phillipsburg's new bicycle officers didn't plan for their first week on the job to come in the middle of a killer heat wave. But even 90-degree heat and choking humidity couldn't keep Patrolman Edward Reilly off his bike. "It's my first day riding and I know I'm gonna lose five pounds," Reilly said. Reilly pedals along Pursell Street.

"We're trying to see how we can maximize our potentials and also maximize future opportunities there's an incredible amount of opportunity that's being missed." The vision plan recommends updating the '70s-style zoo and softening its chain-link appearance, Waldron said. It is based in part on the public's suggestions, which are being compiled in the county's first visitor survey. The one-page questionnaire asks visitors to rate their experiences on a scale of one to five. Most are generous, circling the five. Those who Patrolman Edward Reilly is one of eight officers outfitted for the bikes.

By ANNA DUBROVSKY Of The Morning Call Green monkeys live in the wooded areas of the savannah in Africa, south of the Sahara. At the Trexler-Lehigh County Game Preserve, they live on crescent slabs of concrete. But their humble cage and its moat-border may be scheduled for renovation. It all depends on a vision. The 25-acre zoo is the subject of a brainstorming session that began in April, Older sister to give kidney to ill brother By ANN WLAZELEK Of The Morning Call Sandy Stra's search for a kidney donor has stopped at his sister's door.

Stra, a 40-year-old Easton man who had both kidneys removed after an inherited disease destroyed them, is to receive a kidney from his older sister Patti Sept. 6 at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township. He has been on the waiting list since December 1993. Patti Stra lives in Bethlehem and said she first offered her brother a kidney years ago. "He lied to me and said doctors would never consider testing me because the disease he has is hereditary," she Please See KIDNEY Page B4 why.

ED KOSKEY JR. The Morning Call.