Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • 33

i Albuquerque journal Puzzles 3 Section Classified 4 Obituaries 14 TVWeather 16 Inside Source A i CHARLOTTE BALCOMB LANE Of the Journal Thai royalty at benefit tlMplSfe'- t- -X at- It's not often Albuquerque plays host to an ambassador and a princess, but on Sunday one of eaclrwas in town. The Thai ambassador to the United States, Sakthlp Krairiksh, visited here with his wife, Benchapa Krairiksh. She is the granddaughter of Queen Sirikit of Thailand and is a member of the royal family, though she has no official role in Thailand's government ROSE PALMISANOJOURNAL COMPLETE CONFIDENCE: Thrill supervisors Junior Eads, left, Mike "Mountain" Lockley, rear, and Dudley Hazelwood oversee the construction of the New Mexico Rattler roller coaster at Cliffs Amusement Park. MIC i )' LOOP LOOP THREE BUILDERS SUP OF CLIFF'S MASSIVE By Rick Nathanson Journal Staff Writer you frequent amusement parks, you already know that the world is divided into two camps those who ride roller JJLcoasters, and those who watch people ERVISE CONSTRUCTION NEW ROLLER COASTER the nickname "Mountain" by co-workers taken with his resemblance to a professional wrestler of that name. It'll be a said Dudley, who at 32 is the junior member of the supervising trio.

"That's when you can see and appreciate the workmanship of the guys who built it." "That first ride is the icing on the cake," agreed Junior, who at 59 is actually senior. "It makes it all worthwhile." 'A new level' The $2 million New Mexico Rattler is considered a "woody," or wooden track roller coaster, even though it is supported on a steel frame. The coaster is 2,750 feet long and 80 feet tall at its high point. Its -J. RICK SCIBELLIFOR THE JOURNAL COASTER VETERAN: "I didn't know what a roller coaster was until I was about 16 and went to the Missouri State Fair and rode one at the carnival," says Junior Eads, who's been building coasters for about 16 years now.

nde roller coasters. There is, however, another camp people who build roller coasters. Dudley Hazelwood, Mike "Mountain" Lockley and Junior Eads are members of this elite group. They are project supervisors for Ohio-based Custom. Coasters International, the company building the New Mexico Rattler roller coaster at Cliffs Amusement Park in Albuquerque.

The new coaster is tentatively scheduled to open by Labor Day weekend, and the three supervisors say they plan to be the first ones to test ride it. "I t-re -'id thn'ijits about riding for the first time. I'd biggest angle drop is about 52 See TRIO on PAGE D2 siiJ THE PRiNCESS AND THE AKHSASSADOR: Benchapa Krairiksh and Thai Ambassador Sakthlp Krairiksh at the KIMo Theatre. couple flew in from the Thai embassy in Washington, for a benefit dance performance by sexy septuagenarian Charin Yuthasastrkosol at the KiMo Theater. The benefit which covered ballroom, ballet and jazz performed in a parade of breathtaking costumes raised money for the Buddhist Temple on Louisiana Boulevard.

Charm, as she's known, is something of a sensation in her native Thailand and has become an international globetrotter, staging benefit dance performances in various cities. She has. a house in Albuquerque and wanted to make a donation to the local Buddhist Temple in honor of her upcoming 72nd birthday. The show also included the talents of professional dancers Ron Montez of San Diego, Jose Lpuis Moncada of Santa Fe, Louis R. Giannini of Albuquerque and ChatChal Chattong of Thailand.

After the afternoon i performance, there was a $00-per-person reception at La Posada de Albuquerque Downtown, which the ambassador and princess attended. La Posada owners, Vincent Garcia and his wife, Patsy Garcia, who are longtime friends of Charin, found themselves pressed into 'service as emcees of the reception. One of Vincent Garxia's jobs was to draw names for door prizes, including one for a loose one-carat diamond, Between door prizes, Garcia joked that the word "Charin" should be coined into the English language meaning "an awesome force of nature." Well, she did manage to dance up $10,000 pretty much on her own. Several members of Albuquerque's Asian community also flocked to the performance, including Charem Suksaeng, the abbot of the Buddhist Temple, and Seng And Bounnome Llinary, owners of the Orchid Thai Restaurant. Friends and family also came from all over the United States.

NOT THE USUAL SUSPECTS: One of the lucky extras selected during the mass auditions for an upcoming movie to be filmed In Albuquerque was 9-year-old lir. i. RICK SCIBELLIFOR THE JOURNAL Ford takes persona into foreign territory Actor's Soviet sub captain in 'K' 19' afar cry from Han Solo and Indiana Jones By Gene SeymouW Newsday YORK Coffee Harrison Ford isn't a compli Russia's first nuclear submarine armed with ballistic missiles. On its 1961 shakedown mission to the Arctic and the North Atlantic oceans, the submarine's shaky reactors shatter and leak deadly radiation, endangering its crew. The world itself is likewise in mortal danger, since the sub is in danger of blowing up in a thermonuclear cloud, which, at that especially volatile point in the Cold War's history, could set off Armageddon.

Ford ah, here comes the coffee at lastl plays Capt. Alexi Vostrikov, to whom the Soviet Union's military commissars have given command of K-19 over its regular captain, Polenin (Liam Neeson), who knows the ship's flaws all too welL 1 1 i Set ACTOR on PAGE D2 highlights. A helicopter would be nice, but somewhat impractical given the environmental logistics. CoffeelNowl You have to understand. It's the middle of a very long day of fielding questions from entertainment writers about Russian accents, submarines, age and, yes, even helicopters.

Who wouldn't need coffee to get through another two, three hours of that? Topic A of these conversations is "K-19: The Widowmaker," which opened nationwide last Friday. "K-19" is the Harrison Ford movie of this summer, and it's among the more Intriguing items on a very crowded and colorful resume. Based on a true story, "K-19," directed by Kathryn Bigelow Dark," "Strange takes its name from "TV "TEW cated man. More to the point, his complications seem fairly I standard-issue when compared to those of us who aren't movie stars. Where's the coffee? At this hour, on this day, in this Park Avenue suite, Harrison Ford seeks one thing, and it isn't a pencil, a cookbook, a compact disc of Bartok string quartets or a tear sheet of the day's Nasdaq ACTION In "K-19: The Wldowmkr," Harrison Ford had to fashion and sustain a credible Russian accent.

5mAL6UQUCRQUE on PAGE D2 LX 1.