Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 21

THE HARTFORD COURANT: Sunday, October 15, 1978 43 Trip Slated Spirit To Sail at Noon Three Small Business Owners Challenge $2.5 Million Center The Spirit already has set a record for crossing the At- lantic Ocean from east to; west, an easier trip than west to east because of currents and winds. In 1976, it sailed from Plymouth, Engi ne.) land, to Newport, R.I., in days, 18 hours and 24 min- the Atlantic from west to east was made by the 185-foot, single-hulled schooner' Atlantic. The Atlantic sailed from Sandy Hook, N. to Lizard's Point, off Plymouth, England, where the Spirit plans to arrive, in 12 days, tour hours and one minute. Colchester i I Salem 1 1 Montville I) New jt i it Friends To Honor Selectman Jackter utes.

nnrt the onnstmrt inn nf Halls ttii c.i i 1 i niu ouiuui, aim was uiair- to New York On Oct 28 East Lyme EAST LYME The Parks and Recreation De- fiartment is sponsoring a bus rip for shoppers and museum goers to New York City Oct. 28. The bus will leave the Town Hall parking lot at 8 a.m. and stop at Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Fifth Avenue at 57th Street and Broadway. The return trip will start at 7:30 p.m.

from 45th Street and Broadway. Registration will be at the Parks and Recreation office at Town Hall Thursday, starting at 9 a.m. The trip costs $7.75 per person. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Programs Canceled 'Several parks and re-crdeation programs will be canceled this week because of special activities at East Lyme Junior High School.

The women's exercise and volleyball program and judo on Tuesday are canceled. The open gym program for men less than 30 and judo on Thursday are canceled. The programs resume next week. Connell Speaks at Vwaterford man 01 me cuinmmee inai-T I 1. -I i them last weekend," he said, adding the only opposition Srobably.

would come from lobert J.Levine. The owner of Rapid Car Wash and a nearby tavern, Levine said, "I feel a lot like David going up against Goliath. "Resnikoff says he needs the land, but what he really means is he wants it all. And -I don't blame him. I wouldn't want half a loaf, either.

And that's why I'm fighting." Resnikoff, a real estate developer who recently ne- gotiated with Waterford city-officials to build a shopping center there, is steering clear of the Colman Street problem. Reached Thursday at his Norwich office, he refused to comment on the upcoming meeting or proposed shopping center. "What meeting? I don't know anything about it and I don't want to get involved. You'll have to talk to Mr. Kelly, the public relations man," he said.

Kelly said he now agrees with Resnikoff that the entire nine-acre plot is needed. Unless an agreement is settled Monday night, he said, "I'm afraid we may lose Mr. Resnikoff." Iri -g auueu iwo wings 10 me eie- mentary school and convert- ed the old state armory on Halls Hill Road to a high school industrial arts Tickets at $11 per person are available from Frank s. Jackter of Halls Hill Road, rj Marge Ciechowski of Chest: rjj nut Drive and Grace Downey of Midland Drive, who is treasurer. Checks should be payable to Mrs.

Downey. Phone Panel 3 Rings In Voters The Spirit of America, Connecticut's 62-foot, three-hulled state flagship, is pected to sail at noon today from Sandy Hook, N.J., in an attempt to break the 1905 record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean from west to east, a crew spokesman says. The spirit has never been in such sound shape," Al Constantine, skipper and co-owner of the Spirit and New London's Director of Maritime Activities, said Friday. Problems with financing and weather delayed the Spirit's voyage, which originally was planned for early last week, Constantine said. "We re still in the hole, but we'll take care of the rest of the money needed when we get back, Constantine said.

Constantine estimated the trip would cost about $140,000, about 20 percent of which is coming from a French publishing firm that will borrow the Spirit for a race this fall from France to the French West Indies. The rest of the money is' coming from "nickels and dimes from people from all. over the country," Constantine said. The record for crossing Dinner. The district is too large to be canvassed door-to-door and he would miss too much by car, so he started touring on bicycle in Saturday morn-ing's rain in Stafford Springs.

The Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Lewis Rome, made an appearance at the dinner and spoke about financial issues. More efficient use of tax revenue would result in lower state taxes, he said. "Eastern Connecticut has' been written off by the Democrats," said secretary of the London "We've been here for 25 years and we should have some consideration from the city. I'd like to see a shopping center here and I don't think the 200 feet would hurt Resnikoff he said. Frederick Dragoli of Glass Co.

also said he intends to ask for a 200-foot extension Monday night. But Thomas J. Kelly, director of the Redevelopment Agency, earlier had said he met with the businessmen and the two have indicated Colchester The Courant's Colchester reporter is Odette Bent-ley, 30 S. Main St. Telephone: 537-1482.

COLCHESTER A dinner to honor Selectman Jack Jackter will be Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at the Chestnut Lodge Restaurant. A group calling itself "Friends of Jack" is sponsoring the dinner to honor Jackter for his contributions to the community. Jackter has been involved, in the ambulance service for many years, in the construction of an addition to the Bacon Academy High School Policy state candidate Louise Berry, urging Republicans to take advantage of it by hard campaigning at the grass- roots Eastern Connecticut can provide the margin needed for a comfortable Republican victory in November, she said. Bagels, Lox and Cream Cheese.

Can be found at Of-shay's General Store. Find us off Route 2, exit 13. We are legally open Sundays, 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Advt House 16 SIMSBURY Richard Ostop, Democratic candidate on for the 16th Assembly Dis-trict, said Friday more than" 250 absentee ballot applica- tions have been mailed as the direct result of the ef- Dodd Rival Stresses Nuclear Studies Questioned forts of a special telephone Ijj committee working in sup- port of his candidacy. The committee is headed rv by Carole Gladstone of Wil-U lard St.

and Linda Ven Oud-enhofe of County Rd. Ostop said there will be a voter-making session at the town office Tuesday from 97 a.m. to 8 p.m. It will be the. 1, 5 last opportunity to register -t and be eligible to vote in i fall election, except for those whose rights mature By PAMELA J.

REID NEW LONDON Not enough studies haves been done on the problem of safety and health effects of nuclear energy, and those that have been done should be examined more closely, Dr. Paul Haake, a scientist and member of the state's temporary Nuclear Power Evaluation Council, said Satur- Safe operation is the main problem facing nuclear power. The state is inescapably tied to nuclear power, with two plants already built and a third under construction," he said. Haake made his remarks to about 40 persons attending an educational rally on nuclear energy sponsored by the New London County Clamshell Alliance at All Souls Universalist Church. after that date.

Lighthouse Era Ends; Automation Takes Over JiOC The Courant's New London news bureau is at 8 School Groton. Telephone: 445-8121. By PAMELA J. REID NEW LONDON The owners of three small businesses on Colman Street have charged the city's Redevelopment Agency with ignoring their need for expansion by backing a proposed $2.5 million shipping center, The trio said Thursday they will band together Monday night when the City Council discusses the proposed shopping center with them and the Redevelopment Agency. The businessmen want to extend their individual property: lines 200 feet into a nine-acre parcel of city-owned land that the Redevelopment Agency hopes to sell to Israel M.

Resnikoff, who has proposed a shopping center on site, just off Cedar Grove Avenue. "The big question," said Joseph M. Vara is whether Resnikoff will give us the 200 feet. That's what we want." Vara is co-owner with his son of Vara Bros. Furniture, which together with Glass Co.

and Rapid Car Wash, claim the room is needed for expansion. New London Meetings Monday Housing Authority, 3:30 p.m., 186 Colman St. City Council, 8 p.m., City Hall. Tuesday Marine Commerce, and Development Com-! mittee, 5 p.m., Chamber' of Commerce office. Equal Employment Opportunities Committee, 7 p.m., Martin Center.

Council's Public Welfare Committee, 7:30 p.m., Winthrop School. Sewer Authority, 8 p.m., City Hall. Board of Admissions, voter-making session, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., City Hall. Wednesday Parking Commission, 3 p.m., Governor Winthrop Garage Redevelopment Agency, 7 p.m., 31 Union St.

Council's Economic Development Committee, public hearing on Pequot Avenue development rights, 8 p.m., City Hall. Thursday Parks and Recreation Commission, 7:30 p.m., Martin Center. Council public hearing, Redevelopment Agency zone change request, 7 p.m., City Hall! Board of Compensation, 7 p.m., City Hall. Friday Senior Affairs Commission, 3 p.m., Martin Center. Gym Program Postponed Until Oct.

26 Waterford The Courant's Waterford correspondent is Dennis Woodworth, 2 Pleasant Niantic. Telephone: 739-9087. WATERFORD The Recreation and Parks Commission has announced it will not conduct a session of the ladies gymnastics program Thursday as scheduled previously. Instead, the program will resume Oct. 26 from 8 to 9 p.m.

at the Clark Lane boys' gymnasium. Detailed information is available at the recreation and parks office. Meetings Meetings in Waterford this week include: Monday: Water and Sewer Commission, 7:30 p.m., Hall of records; Planning and Zoning Commission, 7:30 E.m., Waterford Public Li-rary. Tuesday: Board of Selectmen, 7:30 p.m., Hall of Records. Wednesday: Economic Development Commission, 8 E.m., Waterford public Li-rary.

Thursday: Democratic Town Committee, 7:30 p.m., Municipal Complex; Water-ford-East Lyme Shellfish Commission, 8 p.m., Municipal Complex. v- Hi 3W Filter Approval Seen Unlikely Lt. George Whiting, a spokesman for the Coast Guard Academy, said men stationed there have told stories about Ernie for years. When the ledge becomes automated, Ernie's pranks will become "a real pain for the Coast Guard," Sutters predicted, because no one will be there to fix what Ernie has tampered with. Faulty electricity doesn't seem to be the cause of the on-and-off lights, television and stereo, because the lighthouse's wiring has been checked and found to be in good they were willing to negotiate for less land.

Dragoli, however, said "There was na meeting. Kelly was here three or four minutes, and he didn't say enough of anything for me to formulate an opinion on." Kelly has asked for an executive "no holds barred" session Monday night. He repeated that the businessmen are ready to negotiate. "Naturally, they'll remain firm publicly, but they weren't firm when I talked with A professor of chemistry at University, Haake was one of four scientists who served on the evaluation council, which recently issued a highly critical report on nuclear energy titled Nuclear Energy in Connecti-cut. "It was an eye-opening experience," Haake said of his time on the council.

"And I'm speaking as an objective scientist." The council's research, he said, showed that the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not as responsible as it should be for public safety. He called for further studies on that problem, which should be "fully documented and not a whitewash of existing problems." Haake also addressed the problem of health effects ards by January 1981. Under the home filter alternative, the city would install a filter on faucets from which residents drink water, Mrs. Morris said Friday. Filters wouln't have to be put on faucets from which residents don't drink the water, Mrs.

Morris said. "You don't need a high-grade water for some purposes, such as in the bathtub or said. Mrs. Morris said home filters would create some problems because the filters would have to be inspected She said she didn't know how much the home filters or any other alternatives to a filtration plant would cost, but she said she assumes they would be less expensive than building a plant. The City Council also is considering resident Robert Fromer's suggestion that the city use a European method cleaning the roads, installing curbing and grates in storm drains but without it, the roads legally can't be assumed by the town.

Seebeck said he doesn't want the town to do the work, because that would establish a precedent. Until the subdivision roads become town-owned, residents there aren't legally entitled to town services, such as snowplowing and garbage collection. However, Seebeck said he has seen that the residents are getting these services. Seebeck, Marrion and James Spencer, town engineer, have met twice recently with attorneys for the bonding company to discuss completing the remaining work at Great Oaks. Seebeck said Achenbach, who developed Great Oaks, has been in California, and the deeds for conveying the open space and roads to the town will be sent to him.

Seebeck said Marrion also is pressing to get the physi By BETH POLLARD NEW LONDON A Department of Health official said Friday he doubts that home water filters, a proposed alternative to building a city water filtration plant, will be approved by the state. Council member Ruby Turner Morris will request the City Council Monday night to ask the state Department of Health if the city can use home filters or any other method of water filtration instead of building a $6.5 million water filtration plant. "I feel quite confident that this sytem of home filters' would not work," said David Wiggin, director of environmental health for water, in the state health department. The state has ordered the city to have a water filtration plant in operation and the city's water up to state Department of Health stand Colchester By ODETTE BENTLEY COLCHESTER Thomas Connell, Republican candidate for the second congressional district, told party members Friday night that he is campaigning eastern Connecticut votes by stressing the differences between himself and Democratic U.S. Rep.

Christopher Dodd. He was speaking to about 50 Republicans at a $25-a-plate dinner sponsored by Grassroots East, an organization that works to strengthen the Republican Party in eastern Connecticut. Dodd's answer to problems is to create a new layer of government" as exemplified by his proposal to establish a consumer counseling service and a "bureau of diversification" to foster non-defense industry in the region, Connell said. Connell puts the emphasis on the individual and home rule, he said. Federal help to local government should be, through revenue sharing with no strings 1 attached.

Local control of spending means accountability, he said. The impetus to attract diversified industry should be at the state level through lower state taxes and eased energy costs, he said. Money is the main issue of the campaign and Dodd has supported reckless Democratic spending down the line, Connell said. He labeled the House Assassination Subcommittee investigation of President Kennedy's and civil rights leader Martin Luther King deaths "a $5-million boondoggle." The subcommittee provided "campaign and election-year coverage for incumbents for a historical fact that occurred 15 years ago," hesaid. He fully supports the Kemp-Roth bill for a 30 percent tax cut and the Steiger amendment to reduce capital gains taxes, Connell said after dinner, but ne goes tur-ther by proposing a tax indexing system.

The tax indexing system, in simplified terms, automatically adjusts income tax to the rate of inflation. The system is working well in Canada, where it was instituted about three years ago, Connell said. A Vernon resident with a law practice in Hartford, Connell said he is more attuned to district voters' philosophy than Dodd. Correction COLUMBIA Selectmen will ask voters to set aside one mill (about $25,500) for the reserve fund for capital and nonrecurring expenses for the 1978-79 budget In Saturday's Cou-rant the figure quoted as representing one mill was incorrect stemming from nuclear power plants, saying that federal studies on cancer and radiation diseases should be redone, and not by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. No study, he said, has examined the relationship between nuclear power and genetic disease.

"There haven't been any genetic studies of the children of nuclear power plant workers, and that whole area should be explored," Haake said. "A danger exists, because accumulating genetic damage can be passed on to succeeding generations. The whole area needs careful at-; tention, which has not been given by responsible industrial and governmental groups," he said. of filtering water with ozone, activated carbon and chlorine dioxide. However, Wiggin said it is difficult to use ozone because its residue can not be measured in water, He said the state would review any plans for water filtration that the city submitted.

Meanwhile, Whitman and-Howard Engineering Co. of Boston, is studying city water quality problems and drafting preliminary plans for equipment needed to correct the problems. This analysis should be completed within the next month, Andrew Sims, city engineer, said Friday. A timetable written with state health department officials earlier this year says construction of the filtration plant should begin by June, 1979 to meet the 1981 deadline. cal road work done before winter.

The Board of Selectmen will try to handle as much of the legal work to speed the process, he said. Seebeck said a letter has been sent by Marrion to the insurance company telling it of the town's plans, and the officials are waiting for an Meetings Meetings this week in East Lyme include: Monday: Republican Town Committee, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall. Tuesday: Planning Commission, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall; Parks ana Recreation Commission, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall; Commission on Aging, 7:30 p.rrf., Town Hall. Wednesday: Board of Selectmen, 7:30 p.m., Town Hall. Thursday: Public Utilities Control Authority, public hearing on extending toll-free calling area, 7 p.m., East Lyme Junior High School; Town Building Committee, 8 p.m., Town Hall.

By BETH POLLARD NEW LONDON Only machines and a ghost named Ernie will remain to guard Connecticut's lighthouses when the men in the New London Ledge Lighthouse leave the state's last manned lighthouse forever in 1980. The long era of lighthouse watchers, who have kept lights burning to insure the safety of ships passing on dark and stormy nights, will dim to an end when the Ledge becomes automated in two years. But Ernie, the ghost of a man who legend says took his life off the ledge while manning the lighthouse in 1938, will stay behind to watch the entrance to the Thames River and probably will continue to pull pranks on the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard's men who stand watch off. Fishers Island at Race Rock Lighthouse, the state's second remaining manned lighthouse, will be replaced by machines by the end of this month, exactly 100 years after the lighthouse was built.

The 173-year-old Little Gull Island Lighthouse, two miles southwest of Fishers Island, was automated last year. The automation of these last two remaining manned lighthouses is part of the Coast Guard's effort to automate almost all of its lighthouses nationwide, said Bob Jones, a Coast Guard spokesman. It is cheaper to' operate an automated lighthouse than a manned lighthouse, Jones said. Automation of a lighthouse basically entails installing an automatic fog horn and a main control box enabling a Coast Guard land station to operate electrical equipment at the lighthouse and replacing the glass lens on the light with a plastic one. Only one lighthouse on Long Island Sound, in Watch Hill, R.I., will remain manned because, it is a very popular tourist attraction, Jones said.

Two of the four men who man the five-storied New London Ledge Lighthouse say they are skeptical about whether automation of the ledge will work because of the pranks Ernie the ghost is constantly pulling. "I've never gone through a two-week period when I haven't had an experience with Ernie." said Jerry Sutters, boatswain's mate 1C, who is stationed at the ledge two weeks every month. Many of Ernie's pranks are just annoyances, such as making noises, opening doors, and turning the lights, television and stereo on and off but some of his tricks interfere with the operation of the lighthouse, Sutters said, On several occasions, the manually op- erated fog horn has been turned on or off by someone or something other than the two men stationed there, said Terry Williams, a fireman apprentice stationed at the ledge. The light at the top of the lighthouse which is run by gears and a weight, also has gone off unexpectedly, Sutters said. Road Work Completion Urged order several times, Sutters said.

The noises, particularly footsteps inX the middle of the night, don't seem to be caused by settling in the house, a 12-room, structure built on solid concrete, Sutters said. When they're not dealing with Ernie's. -4 pranks, the two men work about five hours a day keeping up the maintenance of the lighthouse. They alternate on 12-hour shifts so someone always is up to keep watch and send a weather report to the Coast Guard station every three hours, Sutters said. rlr Being in a house in the middle of the water can get boring, both men rr "There's only so far you can walk," Sutters said.

But both Sutters and Williams said-2 they liked doing duty at the ledge. "We're: itf our own boss out here and it's nice getting' away just to be to yourself," Williams said. Sutters, who is married, said his wife and children visited him at the ledge a few times, but ever since his wife saw Ernie's shadow, she won't come out again. f0" "We welcome visitors," Sutters said. People came in and out constantly during the summer, but only visit about twice a week during the winter, Sutters said.

"Quite a few people like to come out and look at the ledge," Sutters said. "It's a real showpiece." "Alter the ledge becomes automated, it's going to get more and more rundown, -and then it's going to be an eyesore," Sut- terssaid. 'w "Many of the things out here are very old," Sutters said. "The ledge is a piece of history which I think should be be kept." 'E Sutters said the glass lens on the which was made in Paris in the 19th Century, is the oldest lens in Long Island Sound. When the ledge becomes automated, a' plastic lens will replace the glass lens, wnich will go to the Smithsonian in Wash-" ington, D.C., with the lighthouse's book of visitors that dates back to 1910, Sutters said.

to Williams expressed concern over the safety of passing boaters who get into trou- ble after the ledge becomes automated. "If there's somebody out in the water near ledge who needs help, and there's some- uvh body here, they can be helped quickly," Williams said. Sutters said he's had one case in which he had to go out to help a sailor whose boat ail? had overturned at a time when all Coast Guard station's boats were out other operations- East Lyme The Courant's East Lyme Correspondent is Mike Caro, 40 Pearl Apt. 9, New London, Telephone: 442-1247. EAST LYME Robert Marrion, the town attorney, has sent letters to attorneys of the Glens Falls Insurance Co.

of New York to urge completion of road and legal work at the Great Oaks subdivision, First Selectman George Seebeck said Saturday. The insurance company holds the performance bond on the subdivision, built by George Achenbach. The Planning Commission in December called the bond, because the deadline of five years had passed for completion of the road work and the conveyance of deeds for the roads and open space tracts to the town. Seebeck said the roadwork which remains is minor.