The Mercury from Pottstown, Pennsylvania • Page 11

Pottstown, Tuesday, February 9, 1971 Pa96 Fieven PHILLIPS KNITTING HILLS APPAREL SHOP "National Advertised Fashions" Spring St. Bet. 5th 6th Royersfd Save DOLLARS at our Factory Store BORED BY MONEY TALK One week old Stephen Thomas yawns and acts bored when his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin 172 N.

Hanover talk about the rising cost of having children. content to be in a nice warm home, with loving ents and periodic feedings and changes. His parents, though, felt the bite of rising hospital and doctor fees, as are many other young couples in the process of raising families. (Mercury Staff Photo). Having Children Costs Family More Each Year Food Inspectors Protect Buyer, Maintain Standards for Grocers LOANS Quick, Confidential Local Service Pottstown Consumer Discount Co.

Inc. 213 High 2nd Floor 323-4900 Mercury FeatureXPage necessary once the child has been taken home from the hospital. such as sleepers, diapers, rubber pants, undershirts and other small items usually run close to $20 for he said. when the baby gets older you have to buy shoes, which they quickly outgrow. The first pair costs about $2.50 and then $5 for every pair after that during the first He said that it costs more to put his wife back in clothes than it does to outfit the child.

are various other items that must be purchased such as bottles, a sterlizer, formula, a playpen, basinet, crib and mattress and a he added. items cost about $100 Other items listed by ner as miscellaneous items included phone bills for calling relatives, birth announcement, and cigars totaled near $20. if these bills already enough, you still have to take your wife for checkups for at least a year after the baby is said. usually goes once a month for the first three months and then once every three months after that. This comes close to $70 in additional medical Although was only estimating the costs of most of the items, the entire cost soared to near $800.

Chapis, commenting further on the cost of birth, said the rural areas are just now reaching the level of cost in the cities. in large cities have charging high fees for several he said. doctors in the outlying areas, such as Pottstown, are just now raising their prices to that In many instances, families must now pay as much as $1,000 or even $1,500 to have a child, depending on the physician, the hospital and any complications that may be involved, plus all the clothing and accessory items. Many families are fortunate enough to have the entire cost covered by insurance where they work, but those who do not have such coverage must pay out of their pocket or obtain a loan. One man who recently had his first child, was amazed at the cost even though his insurance paid for it.

when I was born my grandmother and aunt delivered me, and the doctor only charged $10 to make sure I was okay and that was only in happened to a lot of shoppers. They come home from the market and find bought moldy cottage cheese, discolored stale bread or sour milk. Or, without even knowing it, they might bring home foodstuffs that are adulterated, contaminated with dirt or carrying an infectious disease. These things happen. Does anybody do anything about it? The answer is yes, but the understaffed agencies responsible for checking on food markets be everywhere at once.

Pennsylvania became one of the first states to establish strong pure food laws in 1909. The state department of agriculture is charged with Borough Slower, Local motorists failed to become more skillful as they negotiated borough streets during 1970, but they learned to drive more slowly. At least the impression given in the annual report of the Pottstown Police Department, released Wednesday by Chief of Police Richard J. Tracy. While the report outlined statistics on crime as well as traffic accidents, the section on road mishaps showed that while Tuna Continues To Sell Despite Mercury Scare tst residents are continuing to eat their tuna fish salads and sandwiches as usual, paying little attention to the fact that some cans that contained mercury in higher levels than considered safe by federal standards.

In most areas, including Pottstown, the removal of cans of tuna bearing certain numbers was voluntary since there was no immediate danger to health, according to the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. A report prepared by the FDA Dec. 15 said that 23 per cent of tuna cans sampled contained mercury in excess of the standard 0.5 parts per million. The FDA said it would recall nearly 1 million cans, representing nearly all major brands. LITTLE ATTENTION the scare hit us several weeks said Chris Keagle, manager at Dempseys, were going to lower our purchases.

But the public seem to pay attention to the fact that tuna was described as contaminated, and we sold just as much tuna as before, if not more. Th salesmen dropped mackerel off the order lists, but tuna continued to sell very well and we take it off the A Hotel Shuler, Miss Theodora Govatos, manager, said, never noticed a drop in our orders for tuna. Our customers appear to be cautious despite publicity given to the contaminated tuna. The Crystal Restaurant also felt no reduction in the orders for tuna dishes and heard no word from suppliers about the danger, according to Phil Xan- thopoulos, co-owner. NOTICED DROP But a Holiday Inn restaurant official said he noticed a 90 per cent drop in tuna consumption there.

He said he will hold back on his orders for fish until restaurant sales of the item pick up. At Pantry Pride, Norco Mall, Manager Robert Peters said tuna sales dropped off only slightly, and already are picking up. And at Weis Market sales never did slow down. has continued normal despite the said Marlin Dietterick, manager. At both A stores on High Street, purchases of tuna were reported good.

At Acme Supermarket in North End Shopping Center purchases dropped slightly but are expected to pick up shortly, according to Eli Herbine, manager. By RANDALL S. SHANTZ Mercury Staff Writer One of the biggest struggles during the early years of marriage has always been for young couples to afford having their first child. But now, with increased hospital rates, physlician fees and even the price of a box of cigars, it sometimes becomes a bigger struggle to afford the second or third child as well. Young couples, cannot seem to understand the cost, but many presume it to be another facet of inflation.

Many tihnk the only way to have children now wtihout needing a loan to pay the bills, is to have the child at a military hospital. One local couple, Mr. and Mrs. Marvian O'Conner, 172 N. Hanover had their first child on military base and paid onlj $7.

However, by the time their second child was due, had been discharged from the service and the couple was forced into reality with the high price of hospitals and doctors now staring them in the face. HIGH COSTS Even though they were subject to the high costs, O'Connor feels he and his wife off fairly entire bill, including the doctor, the hospital and thing came to he said. cost of a baby just the birth and pre-birth care, but the total can really go up when you start buying clothes, accessories and playthings for the Checking over his bills, ner read off the following prices: Hospital cost for $177.45 (3 days); Hospital cost for baby (3 Pediatrician $100; Obstetrician $25 and price could have been a lot higher because different doctors have different said. physician (Dr. Hayden O.

Evans) only charges $100, but some have fees of $250 or Dr. Nicholas J. Chapis, an obstetrician and gynecologist, said the variation in physician fees has several causes. doctors charge separately for each visit prior to birth and some have a set Chapis said. can also be a difference in price according to the extent of the training.

type of birth also has a bearing on the he added. Caesarean Section is the most costly type of operation, while natural child birth is after reviewing his medical bills, went into an elaborate resume of articles Pottstown View "Watch those mark-ups Sweeney. You know how Nixon told off Bethlehem Steel." inspecting all foodstuffs produced or sold in the state from the processing stage to the shopping cart. MARKET CHECKS In addition, local health of- fiers are responsible for inspecting markets in their own municipalities. The 12 field inspectors who work out of the Lansdale office of the Department of Agriculture are supposed to keep an eye on sanitation, misbranding and adulteration of foods produced and sold in southeastern Pennsylvania.

a big job and Charles E. Derr, district supervisor of food inspection, wishes he had more men to do it with. make periodic checks of all food processors and as many spot checks of retail stores as our funds he said. come around pretty confirmed a local supermarket owner. have been here three or four times in the last few The grocer said he often know when the inspectors have been in his store.

let you know here unless they find something wrong. And they always can if they look hard he said. TWO CATEGORIES The violations the inspectors look for fall into two general categories: sanitation and chemical adulteration. To preserve sanitation in foods, they make sure the market is clean, free of insects and rodents, and that perishables are properly refrigerated and stored. Refrigeration is important.

Milk, for instance, can be safely stored for weeks at temperatures below 40 degrees. Fresh milk need not be dated under state regulations but it must be properly stored. Derr said milk goes sour in home refrigerators because they are not cold enough or because the milk has been allowed to get warm on the doorstep or kitchen table. WARN OWNER CHAMPION SMILERS Pottsgrove sixth graders Liza Gross and Kevin Nettles smile wide after being named winners of the Smile Contest. They were chosen from a field of contestants in a competition sponsored by the Montgomery County-Bucks County Dental Society to honor National Dental Health Week.

Both ceived electric toothbrushes donated bv the school district. Kevin, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Nettles, 1317 State is in the sixth grade at Upper Pottsgrove Elementary School. Lisa, daughter of Mr.

and Mrs. Richard Gross, Crestview Drive, attends Lower Pottsgrove. (Mercury Staff Photos) Drivers Operate Report Outlines accidents increased by 36, only four of those extra ones caused injury. Overall, the report shows there is one accident out of every four which causes the increase reflected during 1970 was one injury accident in every nine. Tracy attributed this to the effectiveness of his speed trap program.

CUT SPEED He said as motorists become more aware of the existence of this facet of law enforcement they are cutting their speed. Tracy concedes that driving slower necessarily prevent a driver from having an accident but he said it does lessen a chance of injury resulting from the crash. His figures seem to bear out this contention. According to the report, there was 884 motor vehicle accidents investigated by members of the Pottstown Police Department during 1970. That figure represents 36 more accidents than recorded in 1969, 99 more than in 1968, and 201 more accidents than occurred on borough streets in 1967.

Yet only 217 of these accidents caused injury. Moreover, there were only two deaths attributed to auto accidents during the year as compared to three in 1969 and four in 1968. Another facet of the report ON THE --------Main Drag MONICA BAUER to ice skate. GEORGE HUMMEL his pretzels with a friend. RICHARD SEMATIS his car before the next snow storm.

GAIL CAMPBELL her first novel, WILBUR A. RINEHART a surprise singing telegram on his birthday. EDDIE MICHAUED two women across icy street. shows that the number of citations for motor vehicle law violations increased over the years as the accident toll climbed. FIGURE RISES In 1967 there were 1,534 arrests made for moving violations.

In 1968 the figure went to 1,764, then to 2,278 in 1969. What was perhaps the highest number of motor violation arrests came in 1970, when 3,563 motorists felt the sting of the summons, fine and points applied against their licenses. The issuance of parking tickets declined during last year. There were 27,013 tickets issued for all forms of parking violation, with most given out for meter violations. During 1969 there were 29,764 tickets issued for parking violations.

One hundred ninety eight adults were arrested for crimes during the year, which is 53 more than 1969. And the increase in arrests serves to point to the increase in serious crime committed in the borough. Tracy said there was a 13 per cent increase in more serious crimes in the borough during 1970. The Federal Bureau of Investigation released its report on crime in the United States for 1970 but many believe the national increase will be between 16 and 18 per cent. SOLVED CASES Of the 1,403 crimes of all classifications committed in the borough during 1970, the police solved 58 per cent of them.

The clearance rate is .7 of 1 per cent above the 1969 rate of 57.3 per cent. And for the first year since 1967 Pottstown was free from murder, although there was one case of negligent manslaughter. The most-often repeated crime during 1970 was theft of money or property under $50. Robbery from the person, at 23, reflected an increase of six cases over the previous year. Juvenile crime rose slightly.

In 1970 there were 416 arrests made of persons under 18, three more than in 1969. When inspectors find minor violations in groceries they usually warn the owner and return later to make sure the condition has been corrected. For more serious, violations, of are issued as formal warnings, or the violator is prosecuted in court. If an inspector finds foodstuffs he suspects are spoiled or contaminated he sends samples to the laboratories for testing and tries to track down the source of the problem. Some responsibility for retail market inspection falls on Carroll Mattingly, Pottstown health officer, though lack of laboratory facilities restricts him more or less to violations that can be spotted visually.

Mattingly checks stores for general cleanliness and makes sure all employes have had physical examinations and X- rays as required by law. ployes also must be certified free of communicable disease. STATE STANDARDS Mattingly also checks to see that markets maintain state construction standards. The plumbing must be good, the toilets clean and there must be hand-washing facilities for employes. The sale and storage of shellfish fall under Mattingly's jurisdiction.

Clams, oysters, lobsters and crabs must be properly refrigerated and handlers have to be licensed by the borough. The shellfish also are numbered in lots so that if a problem shows up the source of the seafood can be traced back to the fishing bed. The reason for this is that they can carry diseases such as dysentery and infectious hcpatitus picked up from contaminated beds on the ocean bottom, Mattingly said. SPOILED MEAT He also keeps an eye out for spoiled meat and homemade items, such as salads. If he sees anything suspicious the food is checked by the department of agriculture labs.

Local health checks fall into many jurisdictions. North Coventry stores and other markets in Chester County are checked by the county health department. Lower Pottsgrove inspections now are handled by Lewis Kirby, who recently retired as health officer. Upper and West Pottsgrove Townships have no local health officers and are checked only by the state..