Pottsville Republican from Pottsville, Pennsylvania • 6

POTTSVILIE (PA.) REPUBLICAN THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1 992 Swatara Furnace makes in register The forge operated until about 0. Grumbine said FURNACEFrom Page 1 ironmakers discovered the heat and staying power of anthracite coal, the Industry took off, as hotter coal fires made a better quality Iron, Ward said. The Swatara Furnace, which sits on Pennsylvania Game Commission land a few miles north of Route 443 and Outwood Road, was Included In a statewide survey of about 25 iron furnaces, said William A. Sisson, national register director for the forth at each other; mule skinners are swearing at their teams. This is a big operation; the furnace employes 103 men and boys and 33 horses, mules and oxen," wrote William T.

Grumbine, Tobyhanna, in a history of the furnace. According to Grumbine's history, a forge and a furnace existed at the site. The Swatara Furnace was built in 1830 and used as a charcoal burning blast furnace. The forge where the iron was shaped was built sometime after 1855, about 100 feet from the Swatara furnace. a spot where the trees stand higher than the rest, and people say, 'Oh, that's the old Williams said The furnace and the surrounding land was a park until 1970 when it was closed because of vandalism, Smith said.

The Pinegrove Historical Society Is working with the game commission to reopen the park and maintain the furnace, a project which is on hold until the city of Lebanon completes the nearby High Bridge dam renovation, he said Turbutt M. Wright, vice president of the society, said the society has been trying to get the site Into Its hands for several years. Its listing on the register will protect the furnace from federally funded or assisted projects which could endanger it. The register was established by the National Preservation Act of 19C6 and includes structures and sites deemed worthy of preservation by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

"The air is dirty with smoke and soot Men are shouting back and Of those, 20 were nominated and accepted for the register because of their importance to the Industry and their archeological worth, Sis-son said. The Swatara Furnace is still in excellent condition for its age and also features the nearby iron master's mansion and two other houses for furnace employees, which also were placed on the register, said Donna Williams, assistant executive director of the commission. "Some of them, you see a pile of rocks which used to be the stack, or Over time, the Iron industry gave way to the stronger and more useful steel By the early 1900s, most of the iron made in the state was produced only to be made into steel, Sisson said. Other sites named to the register Include Alliance Furnace, Perry County; Buchanan Furnace, Clairion County; Carrick Furnace, Franklin County; Mary Ann Furnace, Berks County; Rockland Furnace, Venango County. -f Second, swim brines silver fi Iv i Associated Press Anita Nail swims the 100-meter breaststroke to win a silver medal in Barcelona on Wednesday.

was favored to win. "No. No. Noooo," Shultz shouted at the television when the 200-meter breaststroke finish was replayed and the camera zoomed in to show, the disappointment in Anita's face. The crowd in Wilson's began cheering for Anita again as she stepped onto the starting block.

Anita's fnrm nnnnprf hiah nut nf Tim LeedyThe REPUBLICAN Sarah J. Yeager admires wildflowers blooming in a vacant lot near her Centralia home. The flowers were planted to reduce maintenance. SWIMFrom Page 1 Olympic history at Montreal The six-member Brockton Olympic Committee, consisting of Stre-mick, his wife, Ann and son, Robert Mary Jane and Shannon M. Bassler, and Cynthia Kutash, was responsible for making about a dozen banners cheering Anita on to the gold.

The signs adorn homes, signs and fences throughout Brockton. Wednesday also marked the return of Anita's girlish smile as she floated around the end of Lane 5 in the Bernat Picornell swimming pool at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. The swimmer from Towson, Md, had just shaved three-quarters of a second off a 4-year-old American record In the 100-meter breasts-troke to win the silver medal The tense and serious face Anita has had since her third-place finish in Monday's 200-meter breaststroke finally disappeared. She was favored to win the gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke since setting the world record at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis in early March.

Anita floated across the lane to give gold medalist Elena Roudkovskaia of the Unified Team a hug and a smile. Roudkovskaia touched Anita out by .17 of a second Anita finished in a time of 1:08.17, bettering her own best performance by more than one second. A couple of minutes earlier, Anita fidgeted nervously as she stretched and loosened up before the 100- meter breaststroke final Her face was solemn and she concentrated on the upcoming race her last chance to win a gold medal in a personal event. As she prepared for the race, the crowd at Wilson's Cafe went crazy cheering for her. Hooting, clapping, and ringing a bell behind the bar, they cheered for Anita to bring home the gold.

"Nail Nail. Nail" Shultz led the local crowd in a cheer. "That's my baby. Let's go baby," she said. "She looks like Frenchie," said family friend Janice Fernando, referring to Anita's father's nickname when he grew up in the area and graduated from Tamaqua High SchooL A number of heads nodded in agreement.

As Anita continued to prepare, the commentators talked about her "disappointing" performance in the 200-meter breaststroke, which she WiMff lowers replace homes the water as she swam stronger and more confidently than she had during her morning preliminary heat and in the 200-meter breaststroke. Anita began closing the ground between herself and Roudkovskaia, who led the entire race, during the final 15 meters. But she was touched out in the end With the pressure of the past week finally off her shoulders, Anita's youthfulness returned as she stood on the medal stand and walked with Roudkovskaia and bronze medal winner Samantha Ri-' ley of Australia. With her silver medal draped around her neck and roses in hand Anita laughed as she waved to fans in the bleachers. Afterward, Anita told an NBC re-, porter she was happy with her performance, breaking the American record, and glad all of the pressure was finally of her shoulders.

"It's been pretty rough," she said "I think all of us have tried to push it to the back of our minds." Anita's performance left her "Granny" almost in tears. "I wish I could have been there with her," Shultz said. "She's the most precious thing in the world." i were first planted in the fall of 1990, Carling said. He said a mix of about 16 different wildflower seeds, including snapdragons, poppies, bachelor buttons and daisies, were planted in the lots. Carling said that as far as DCA is concerned, the wildflower program is completed "I don't think well be planting any more flowers," he said.

"I think we'll just let nature take its course." Even the wildflowers are a point of contention between residents and DCA. Darrah said that while the flowers are beautiful, the lots are also filling with weeds that need to be kept trimmed. "They said they want it to go back to the earth, but we have an ordinance, so if the weeds over there get too high they'll have to come in and cut them," she said. Carling said the ordinance only requires a 6-inch maximum height for grass, not flowers. Darrah said the state's planting program reflected its confusion about how to handle the underground mine fire now threatening the borough.

"First they planted grass, then they killed it. Then their trees didn't work out, so they planted these wildflowers," she said. Carling said the grass was only an interim solution. Some of the The heat from the. fire is also making nearby coal veins dry and brittle, he said, increasing the risk that the coal will suddenly crack or catch fire.

Several years ago, a vein caught fire suddenly, spreading the fire more than 250 feet in a couple of weeks. In 1989, the coal cracked and a hole about 30 feet wide and 8 feet deep opened within borough limits. Carling called the fire "a dynamic sort of hazard" because DCA's mining experts have been unable to predict its speed or direction. Sarah J. Yeager, who has lived here for 51 years, said she thinks the state was overreacting and that the borough is not in danger.

"They've never shown me any evidence that it's a health hazard," she said, suggesting the state is attempting to move people to get at coal under the houses. "If we leave, they'll just strip (mine) the town," she said Carling called her assertion "totally erroneous." Darrah said if the state attempted to mine the borough, they would be forced to pay even more. "The borough owns the mineral rights to the land," she said "We've got an ordinance against strip mining, but well change it when we have to leave." "If they mine it, the money will be distributed among the residents;" she said hardwoods the state planted did not do very well, but the evergreens planted as wind-breaks are thriving, he said. "We've got some good growl a from the laurels we planted on the east side of the main street," he said. The relocation of the people was originally planned as a voluntary measure by then Gov.

Dick Thorn-burgh and James G. Watt, Ronald Reagan's first secretary of the interior. The voluntary program ended in April 1991. In February, the state and the U.S. Office of Surface Mining decided to remove all the people living in the mine-fire area.

The fire began in 1962 in a dump just outside borough limits, igniting the coal. It is now near the surface in four main areas, Carling said: near the southern end of the borough, along Route 61 toward Ashland, in Big Mine Run near the Schuylkill County line and a section behind the municipal building. The Ashland leg of the fire, which is shallower than the others, is responsible for the dead trees and jets of smoke along Route 61, he said Although it has remained stable for almost a decade, the fire at the southern end is producing underground temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit. FLOWERSFromPagel the borough, said some people are refusing to allow DCA to appraise their houses. "(DCA) doesn't seem to understand the people here don't want to go," she said.

"I really think they'll have to be forced out." "The people who leave, they still come back," she said. "They still say their hearts are here." Carling said DCA is examining legal pathways to force the families to have their houses appraised. People who reject DCA's reimbursement offer may have their houses condemned, he said. "We're still trying to work amicably and do as much as we can that way," he said. "We didn't want to bombard the town with a flood of legal action." Those who have already left the borough received from $60,000 to $100,000 as reimbursement for their houses.

The houses were then torn down and about 40 acres of wildflowers were planted to cut down on mowing. "We were mowing as much as 18 times a year," Carling said. "With the flowers, we only have to cut them once, in November. We grind them up and another crop grows the next year." The flowers, which are similar to those planted along highway medians and shoulders by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, NBC tries to save troubled Triplecast erot opened door for third party which broadcast live from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

EDT and then show the pre-, vious 12 hours on tape. Television industry publications have estimated that anywhere from 125,000 to 250,000 homes have subscribed to the Triplecast thus far. NBC had hoped to sell the Triple-cast to 2 million homes. "The package sales haven't been what we expected" said an NBC official NBC spokeswoman Betty Hudson said the network does not yet have subscriber figures avail-: able. However, NBC officials, speaking on the condition of anor nymity, have said their guess is about 250,000.

"We've found that once a viewer has the chance to actually see what the Triplecast Is all about, they get excited about it and want to buy it," Cablevision executive vice president Jim Dolan said "This is an crats, saying they really are one party. He calls it the "Re-publicrat" incumbent party. "We're here to build a movement," unst said Tuesday after a seminar, sponsored by Cam '4 FANSFrom Page 1 network, will show all three channels at once on a divided screen from 6 to 10 p.m. EDT today and Friday and 1 to 2:30 a.m. EDT on Friday and Saturday.

CNBC, carried as a basic service on most cable systems and available in about 47 million homes, will not carry audio of the events, but instead will have an announcer urging people to buy the package. The fourth quadrant of the CNBC broadcast will have graphics. "It really won't be that advantageous to sit down and watch the Olympics," Semmel said "It's really not like you're going to see three different channels." Semmel said he thinks the free, preview will "egg on" customers who considered ordering Triplecast but did not because of the cost. NBC and Cablevision cut the suggested retail price of single-day viewing from $29.95 to $19.95 and suggested cable systems offer the Saturday-Sunday special of $29.95. Gormont said cable companies had worried that the cost of the Triplecast package was too high to lure customers into buying.

"I think, certainly, a reduction in price would sure help," Gormont said "That was a standard fear of all cable company operators." The Triplecast originally was priced at $125 for all three channels, PEROT paign magazine, discipline has evaporated and in some cases a party label has become more of a burden than an asset Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist, considers the Democratic and Republican parties similar to the three major television networks 20 years ago. Just as cable television eroded the networks, he said, third parties will pick away at the two parties. "There's an arrogance that you are going to be tuned in to two political channels for the rest of your life," Trippi said. "You're not That's just not going to happen. There is going to be a Green Party (to protect the environment) There are going to be three or four other parties, at least, sprouting up One complicating factor is the future of the Perot effort how many votes he will draw by staying on state ballots, whether his withdrawal hurt a third-party effort and whether he might re-enter the But Anderson saw a parallel between now and 1854, when the Republican Party was formed by the remnants of the Northern Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats.

Its first successes came in House races. Then it elected Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860. This time the outcome might be a web of independent state parties not affiliated nationally, several said Some examples already exist In Connecticut, Gov. Lowell Weicker, a former Republican, is now an independent He's leading a party that last week endorsed a slate of several local candidates in the state. And in Vermont, Rep.

Bernard Sanders was elected two years ago as an independent This year, independents are mounting challenges in more than a dozen states. Those steps are some of the clearest signs of the decline of the traditional two-party system. More voters are splitting tickets, party PARTYFrom Page 1 third parly inevitable, he said. "The level of discontent is much greater than you could ever predict by just looking at the level of economic dissatisfaction," Black said. "There's going to be a new party out there at some point." Before Perot quit, Black found that 47 percent of voters agreed that a new party was needed to reform politics and 57 percent said they would like to see the new party run candidates at all levels.

The discontent worse than any time since polling began in the 1930s is two and a half times as strong as it was in 1980, he said Kunst is typical of voters alienated from both parties. He calls himself an old Democrat in the mold of Adlai Stevenson and Hubert Humphrey. He voted for Franklin Roosevelt and named his son Adlai. After losing a Kansas House race in 1988, Kunst helped start an anti-incumbent group and then backed Perot's campaign. Now he attacks the Republicans and Demo- effort to broaden people's access to the concept, as well as increase sales." "What we have heard from the operators throughout the week is that given what they can see in about a possible third party.

"The people are ready for it" There are doubters, though. Some Republicans and Democrats say the two parties will reform themselves to attract discontented voters. Others say some Independent candidates will get elected, be unproductive in office and then kill the movement. A third major party would be a rare political achievement Several attempts have failed this century. their buying patterns, people who buy it have liked It and want to buy more," Hudson said "Clearly there was no way to give people a pre: view of Triplecast before the 01ym; -pics began because they had never seen it before.".