The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 19

TTrr- "11 MTT TIT TT" INSIDE Business DiningOut HomeGarden Opinion People Places Sports NOTABLE The top 92 standouts and achievements in sports in 1992 arekonored Partlloftke Harbies, the annual honors bestowed by sports writer Paul Harber. Page SOUTH 10. TT 12 9 11 2 7 10 SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 1993 11' if ff II 1 II 1 II Serving up a taste of the past "Diners survive, here and there, City still in water dispute Kingston complains as Brockton pursues diversion from brook in the suburbs 'V''1 'r 1 IT By Robert Preer SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE at Williams, dressed in a work shirt and I I heavy shoes, sat at the counter of Sisson's it uiner on uie wanDerry rugnway aouui I I I Middleborough one recent afternoon fin-U VJ ishiner a slice of pie. He wiped his mustache T'VW 111 VU-- By Michael Grunwald GLOBE STAFF nee again, the chronically thirsty city of Brockton is squabbling about i with a napkin and commented favorably on the establishment's large portions. For Williams, who lives nearby and runs a combi-" nation garden center-craft supply shop across Route 28, this was the conclusion of his second meal of the day at Sisson's.

Closing time, which is 2 p.m. at Sis-son's, was approaching, and he was the last customer at the counter. water with a nearby town, triggering a new round of complaints about the city's aggressive attitude to 4Iv" fcf Ut ward its neighbors. This time, the controversy concerns Brockton's attempts to divert water from Pine Brook in Kingston to Silver Lake, Brockton's primary water supply since 1897. The state Water Resources Commission has rejected two versions of Brockton's proposal, but the city has filed an appeal.

The town of Kingston is not amused. "We keep hearing that Brockton isn't a piranha anymore, but they haven't dealt fairly with other towns in the past, and I don't see any change in their behavior," said Kingston water commissioner George Cravenho. "They'd like every drop of water they can get their hands on. Well, we're not going to sit quietly while they try to lock us out of our own resource." The Pine Brook Interbasin Transfer would allow Brockton to pump up to 10 million gallons a day out of Pine Brook from October WATER, Page SOUTH 4 "It's nice as a meeting place. You see people from the neighborhood you wouldn't otherwise see," said Williams, who has been coming to the diner since he was a child.

"It's a social place." merica is fascinat-Rjl ed with diners. JTUFrom Boston's Back Bay to Marin County, new restaurants are replicating the art deco look of the classic diner: checkered tile floors, polished mirrors and marble counters. In recent years, retro diners have arisen in, of all places, shopping malls. The 1982 movie "Din- Most are known only to their loyal, local customers, who come not because diners are in vogue but because they offer the familiar, century-old diner formula. er" is still a regular fea ture on pay cable televi sion.

Five old diners have been designated official na tional historic sites. The diner aficionado's bible the Housing checks lagging outrof-print 1979 book "American Diner" sells for By Alexander Reid GLOBE STAFF GLOBE STAFF PHOTOS TOM LANDERS Brockton, there are four housing and building inspectors for more than 15,000 rental homes and apartments across the city, not counting the illegal ones. In Quincy the ratio is even worse: E7 $200 used. The diner is a uniquely American institution, evoking images of a simpler and more optimistic time, when a neon sign and shiny stainless steel siding beckoned locals and out-of-towners alike to ease on the brakes and come inside for hot food and coffee and warm conversation. Despite the spread of diner chic in American culture, the classic or "true" diner defined by purists as prefabricated structures with a counter has become an endangered species.

Two-thirds have gone out of business in the past 40 years, and many that remain have been altered beyond recognition. -In the South Weekly circulation area, the approximately half-dozen classic diners still in business operate in relative obscurity. Most are known only to their loyal, local customers, who come not because diners are in vogue but because they offer the familiar, century-old diner formula: generous portions of inexpensive, home-cooked food served promptly in a friendly, informal atmosphere. Most of the people who run these diners, as well as those who enjoy them, do not think of themselves as keepers of what is seen elsewhere as a national DINERS, Page SOUTH 5 -1 Competition from fast-food chains has hurt diners' business over the past decade. But Paul and Helen Margetis (above), owners of the Olympian Diner in Braintree, do things the chains cannot They change the menu every day.

They serve Greek specials and offer beer and wine. For all of the studied "homi-ness" many of the chains are affecting, they cannot match the friendliness and attentiveness of this small, eozy restaurant, one of the state's newest diners. three inspectors to 18,000 legal units. "Our inspectors do a good job, they try to get into the buildings that they should, but there are not enough of us to go around," said Matthias Mulvey, Quincy's inspector of buildings and the zone enforcement officer. "The biggest worry is that something will be missed and that it could lead to a tragedy like what happened in Boston." Attention refocused on the pivotal role of 6 housing inspectors in the aftermath of the CODE, Page SOUTH 3 'If the state feels it needs to shift nwre money there to get it done, so be it' JAMES A.

SHEETS, mayor of Quincy Commuter rail project sidetracks road work Norton police out for night Because of budget cuts, station is open part time By Michael Grunwald GLOBE STAFF By LisaBrems SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE dollars as possible plugged into projects like Old Colony that need money right away." The recent amendments to the traffic plan, proposed jointly by the Highway Department and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, dropped appropriations for a $1.6 million reconstruction of the Adams Street bridge from Milton to Boston, $1.84 million worth of road repairs in Dedham and several other costly projects in the south suburbs. The revised plan reserves an additional $80 million in federal funds over the next five years for the Old Colony rehabilitation, as well as $H2 million to resurface Route 3A in Marshfield and rebuild the North River bridge connecting Marshfield and Scituate. PROJECTS, Page SOUTH he Weld administration has deleted I dozens of local road and bridge pro-I I jects from the state's Traffic Im-I I provement Plan in order to shift fed-L era funds into the Old Colony commuter rail line restoration and other public projects. However, state officials insist that the deleted projects have been delayed, not discarded. "The projects that got knocked off were projects we didn't think would be ready to go this year, anyway," said William Steffens, deputy commissioner of the state Highway Department "We tried to get as many1 federal Ft ORTON When police took an intoxicated I man into protective custody recently and put I him in the station lockup to sober up, an off-I duty officer had to be called in on overtime to watch the subject On another night, a man arrested on a warrant from Attleborough was driven by cruiser to the town Kne, where officer and suspect waited for an Attleborough cruiser to pick up the wanted man.

In almost any other town in the state, a desk officer in the station would have kept an eye on both the man who had drunk too much and the one arrested on a warrant But hcf. to save money, the police station is dosf STATION, Page SOUTH 6 The sign on the door behind Norton Polke Chief Benton W. Keene Jr. says it all: Police states Is closed every night aW all weekend..