The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 1

FIRST i A look back at Valley's Central Park 500 miles at Pocono start at 1 p.m. Baltimore calls its Inner Harbor a city showcase iff 4 B3 CI CALL- CM RON ICLE ALLENTOWN, SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 1983 Call-Chronicle Newspapers, Inc. All rights reserved 1983 60 CENTS" NO. 3,203 1 dktf Globe had its roots in 1 800s By DAVID M. ERDMAN Of the Call-Chronicle A fire yesterday, deliberately set in at least three locations inside Bethlehem's Globe Theater, destroyed the nearly century-old building whose labyrinthine compartments and passageways complicated a massive firefighting effort by Bethlehem fire fighters.

They were the same compartments and passageways that two months ago provided a hideaway for escaped convict John Grello, who is wanted on a rape charge and a series of other offenses. "The trouble was the layout of the structure as one wall fell, other fires were revealed," said Bethlehem Fire Commissioner. Chico Freitas, who led the battle by nearly 40 fire fighters. The firemen's fight began at 6:55 a.m. with a report of smoke coming from the building.

The general alarm fire, which had Bethlehem fire officials calling Allentown fire units for assistance, raged out of control until 10 a.m., sending flames 25-30 feet above the South Side neighborhood. The billowing smoke could be seen from as far away as Bethlehem Township. Smoke continued to be visible for miles away until after 9 p.m. At the height of the fire, smoke was so thick that motorists traveling through Five Points, a block away, used headlights. The fire spewed charred embers and heavy soot, which covered cars and sidewalks in the entire 400 block of Wyandotte Street Low water pressure hampered the fire-fighting effort for a short time at one point, Bethlehem's once stately Globe Theater was a showcase for light opera, concerts, the legitimate theater, vaudeville and burlesque, but in recent decades it fell on hard times.

Once a workhorse, accommodating 160,000 patrons a year in its 1,500 seats, the theater was transfigured by the changing tastes of Americans after World War II into a white ele phant. In 1974 present owner Isadore Mindlin proposed that the building be converted to a textile mill, but the city zoning board would not allow it Then in the late 1970s many who believed in the dignity of the Globe launched a drive to resurrect it The Globe's roots reach to 1872. After acquiring vacant land that year at Fourth and Wyandotte streets, Bethlehem contractor Abraham Yost built an ornate opera house on the order of European opera houses, according to Bethlehem of Pennsylvania, the Golden Years 1841-1920. Its gala opening in 1876 featured a 60-piece symphony orchestra playing works of Beethoven, Wagner, Liszt and others. It was called the "cultur- Please See GLOBE Page A2 I Please See FIRE Page A2 Lehigh River Lj Theater ft I I W.

4th St. 378 i ii i r'WWi .1 i Firemen direct water at Globe Theater at height of yesterday's blaze in South Bethlehem. Call-Chronicle photos Jim Battles, Phil Boyle JoShHess bsonefits up to CooDgiress Soviet diplomat's son wants out of prison' say the boy is with his family and that the alleged letter is a forgery. "I hate my country and its rules and I love your country," reads the missive sent to the Washington bureau of the Times, signed Andy Berezhkov. "We children are treated like prisoners here.

We can't say anything good about your country in school and anything wrong about our country." Oleg M. Sokolov, second in command at the Soviet Embassy, said "As far as the authenticity of this letter, we certainly think it is a forgery and it looks like a very clear provocation to us." Please See SOVIETS Page A7 teen-ager is 16-year-old Andrei V. Berezhkov, the son of Valentin M. Berezhkov, a ranking first secretary at the Soviet Embassy. State Department officials are insisting they be allowed to speak with the youth, who has asked for the President's help in staying in the United States.

Soviet officials President Ronald Reagan and the New York Times, is the focus of an ironic mystery unfolding not in the Soviet Gulag, but in one of the po-shest sections of this capital city. It also sheds a little light on the secluded life of Soviet diplomats and their families living here. As identified by the Times, the By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER Of The Associated Press WASHINGTON The lament is alleged to come from a disaffected teen-ager, the son of a prominent Soviet diplomat: "We children are treated like prisoners here." That cry, sent in a letter to Reagan defends Central America policy said. "I think that there is going to be an extension of the FSC1 but the substantial changes will be more difficult to pass." The extended benefits program is geared toward helping states with high insured jobless rates.

Funding for this program is evenly split between the state and federal government The FSC program is a last-resort package that kicks on when unemployed workers no longer qualify for other benefits. It is fully funded by the federal government. The two programs are cushions for workers still jobless after their regular state unemployment benefits run out If a Pennsylvania steelworker, for example, is laid off today, he will be eligible to receive 26 weeks of unemployment compensation from the state paid for by a tax on employers. If he still is unemployed when the state benefits run out, the steelworker would be able to collect 12 weeks of additional benefits through the FSC program. Until last week, the steelworker would have been eligible to receive up to 13 weeks of extra ben- Please See BENEFITS Page A6 By LISA STEIN States News Service WASHINGTON When Congress returns from its summer recess, it will face the arduous task of deciding what to do about the complex issue of benefit programs for the long-term unemployed.

What's at stake are two programs: State-federal extended benefits and federal supplemental compensation (FSQ. In essence, the House and Senate will have two options: Either extend the FSC program beyond the Sept 30 expiration date or continue it and make sweeping changes in the extended benefits program. A staff member of the House Ways and Means public assistance and unemployment compensation subcommittee predicted the panel would report out legislation authorizing Congress to spend S1.5 billion to cover the costs of extending the FSC program for six months. The money already is provided for in the 1984 budget resolution Congress approved earlier this year. "There will be a lot of pressure to make changes in the extended benefits but whether or not we can do it is another question," he Announcement of the aid package brought cries of disappointment from local officials who said it was inadequate.

Texas Gov. Mark White, a Democrat, said, "President Reagani prescription for the economy along the border with Mexico is like the emperors of Rome handing out aspirin to the Christians after they've been mauled by the lions." White, who gave the Democratic response to Reagan's radio address, said, "President Reagan came to El Paso and talked about the confusion of the fairy tales and get back to reality," Reagan said. The President said the United States is "on the side of peaceful democratic change in Central America and our actions prove it daily." While acknowledging human rights abuses by the U.S.-backed regime in El Salvador, Reagan asked, "Can anyone really believe that the situation would improve if our influence for tion were removed?" In a separate speech, Reagan also courted Hispanic voters with a plan to aid economically depressed communities on the Texas-Mexican border. He saluted the growing political power of Spanish-speaking Americans. By TERENCE HUNT Of The Associated Press EL PASO, Texas President Reagan complained yesterday that most Americans are confused about his policies in Central America, and he said the United States is trying to combat the installation there of "ruthless, Communist dictators such as we see in Cuba." In a radio address to the nation, Reagan lamented that "there have been such distortions about U.S.

policy in Central America that the great majority of Americans don't know which side we are on "Well, it is time to get away from President Reagan back to reality Please See REAGAN Page A6 Slovak Day Today Klein's Grove Bath, Pa. appearing J. Misti Orchestra and Spankys Coal Miners Mac's Golf bchird 7th St. McDonald's" $1.00 a play this Sat. Sun.

WSAN 1470 AM Remote at Mac's Golf Midsummer Furniture Sale Save 10-507(7 on nearly everything Everything Goes-2223 MacArthur Rd. Ktv Come see the changes we've made at Nestor's MacArthur Whitehall Beauty World Now Open 2610 MacArthur Whitehall Save on Fragrances Cosmetics 1v Action Auto Parts 432-1013 Open Sundays Nights.