The Daily Item from Sunbury, Pennsylvania • 1

i Wedded Voices 4 Kntertuinment 23 Zl Ann 5'f PolM Area legislators' wives married to husbands' career as well as the man. Page 6. Confessed murderer Robert Martin was committed to state. hospital suffering'-frorri paranoiaPage 9 serving Pennsylvania's heartland Copyright 1985 The Daily Item repeals tourney VOL iea)04mrtete- Fir XT -f W1J. ii Mortar launchei day killing at injured.

Story activities." Thornburgh wrote in his bill-signing message. "A legal test, however, could have ultimately consumed many months or -years Thornburgh's action came two days after the Senate voted Hfv tS and the House Voted 142-50 for a straight repeal of the law's tournament provisions. The new law restores the regu latory status quo to the situation as of last May. according to LCB officials and key lawmakers Under those conditions, the HSUBg 1 AS Suggested Price: 25 Cents aw LCB hasauthonty to issue special permits for tournaments on licensed premises that are sponsored by "charitable organizations. The tournaments must be" held in an area separated from the main bar and cash prizes' aren't allowed.

The repeal was opposed by members of the Pennsylvania Tavern Association and United Tavern Owners of Philadelphia who spent two days at the state Capitol this week lobbying to ki') the card tournaments. one problem, but no one knows' how to address observed F.d Cloonan. a specialist on. liquor is sues from vantage point as" president of the Independent Slate Store I'nioti. Many tavern owners found a short lived revenue source in the card tournaments that have' been, funning for the past two months.

But that ended when Gov Dick signed legislation Thursday. -to ban tournaments' with gambling and cash prizes A legislative repeal effort started alter tavern owners cited a law as providing legal sanction for blackjack tournaments With the repeal debate-overs -lawmakers, expect to undertake a full review of the regulations governing the tavern industry, an as sortment of mainly small businesses representing about 15.00(1 retail licensees and iOfl.OOO em ployees. Both the' House Liquor Control Committee and Senate Law and Justice Committee plan toreview regulations governing the industry and the question of what tournaments, promotional or 'otherwise, should lie allowed in taverns ft VMl immiuerl mi Ige '3 1 To Mandata Tavern owners say they'll need help Sunbury, Pennsylvania, Sh, ttMMMMM i i raw least 9 people. Dozens were on Page 13 and that time the index has been decidedly weaker. It declined in June, October and December and posted only modest increases in the 1 other months.

The government, which had earlier -reported the December drop at 0 2 percent, revised that today to a steeper 0.5 percent decline. But another re- rvision boosted August from a decline of percent to an increase of 0.2 percent. The August change meant that the index did not decline for three straight months, a signal that has often, though not always, warned of anTrri-pending recession Economists said the weaker index numbers since June were basically a reflection of the slowdown that occurred in the third quarter last year After racing ahead at a growth rate of 8.5 percent in the first half of the year, the economy slowed to a weak 1 6 percent pace from July through September. The Reagan administration is pre-' dieting growth of 4 percent this year (. IRA guerrillas fired mortar shells from this truck into a heavily fortified police bast in 'ewry, Northern Ireland, Thurs ind icators jump Friday.

March 1, 1985 By Robert Swift Ottaway News Service Harrisburg Bureau HARRISBUR(Gov. Dick Thornburgh sigiJed a stiff repeal law Thursday pjJtting an end to a short-lived "blackjack" era in Pennsylvania bars and taverns The action removes the legal sanction from a section of a 1984 law that was widely interpreted as allowing tavern owners to sponsor card tournaments with poker and blackjack oames and cash prizes. Thornburgh called on law enforcement officials to move immediately to close down all gam bling activities now legally banned in the state. Thornburgh said he asked state Attorney General Leroy Zimmer man and state police and Liquor Control Board officials to "ensure that the appropriate local law enforcement officials are ap prised oi' this repeal and move forward promptly to end this ac-tivity." Zimmerman spokesman Pat Boyle said the attorney general's office would alert law enforcement officials of the new law, but added it was the responsibility of local police, county district attorneys and LCB agents to enforce it LCB spokesman Robert Ford said agents would enforce the new law as part of their regular duties "I am certain the law signing i is going to be well-advertised be. tween today and tomorrow." Ford commented.

He added the LCB has no plans to send a strike force fanning out across the state to close down blackjack tables. Thornburgh told reporters Thursday he didn't think the old law which he signed last May 10 ever authorized casino-type gambling such as blackjack, lie also said that the legislative repeal of the controversial law section was preferable to a long court fight over the issue "It has been my view that the General Assembly's action last did not legally permit such utes, and a helicopter from Troop H. Harrisburg, cfuised over a wide area for two 'hours without finding a trace of the vehicle. Police said they have no important leads, and they are encouraging resi dents with any information to contact them at Lykens They said film from the smashed camera was removed and sent to the slateiolice laboratory at Harrisburg fur processing and possible picture of the suspect The first robber at 'he branch Governor card Lead ing By Martin Crutsinger Associated Press writer WASHINGTON (API The government's main economic forecasting gauge soared 1.7 percent in January, its biggest increase in 20 months, the government said today. The Commerce Department's Index of Leading Indicators, designed to foreshadow future activity, staged a sizable comeback after sharp declines in October and December.

Analysts had been predicting a good rebound in January, but the size of the increase still well above most predictions At the presidential "spokesman Marlin Fitzwater saidHhe indicators are "predictive of healthy growth in the'economy in the months ahead." "The economic horizon is very bright," the spokesman said. In a separate report, the department said construction spending rose a strong 2 percent in January, the sharpest climb since last May. Big ams were posted in office and other commercial buijdings; total spending on hew construction was $324.9 billion on a seasonally adjusted annual rate. The January gain compared to a 0 6 percenfDecember increase de- -clines of 0.5 percent in Novernber-and-! 0.3 percent in October. The big gain in the leading vindicators was not expected to signal a return to the sizzling pace of economic activity enjoyed during the early stages of the recovery from the 1981-82 recession.

Most economists- are forecasting moderate growth of around 4 percent this year. While this would be enough to drive down unemployment from January 7.4 percent, it would be far below 1984 economic growth of 6.9 percent. rV The January gain in the leading index was the largest monthly increase since a 1.9 percent jump in June 1981 This gain came during a string of 21 consecutive advances recorded at the beginning of the recovery. This string was broken last. June robbev.

Armed By Robert B. Swift i Ottaway News Service Harrisburg Bureau HARRISBURG As a result of two-month legislative struggle to repeal a controversial "blackjack" law, new attention has Co cused on the economic problems confronting Pennsylvania's tavi ern industry Tavern industry leaders say, they need a new revenue source, preferably from legalized gam bling, to offset Josses to Atlantic City casinos, increased home consumption ol alcohol, areduc- tlon in the slate-set liquor purchase discount and increases in liability insurance They say business is down sharply due to fallout from a state law that toughened drunken driving penalties and from a'tKi tionwide decline in alcohol con sumption in recent years "We all feel the pinch Thebig ger places feel it even commented Fred a Philadelphia tavern owner who lobbied in Harrisburg last week But other observers xnnt out the industry also sutlers from a classic supply and demand prob lem There are more licensed taverns than Pennsylvania's II 8 million residents can support "Over-licensing is the number bank, one of 10 the Millersburg based bank operates iii northern Daiiplun ounty and eastern Si huvlkill 'juril a I ifi ifkli: fieri masked gunman took an iuidi'let 1 1 1 1 1 1, ni ii' nil ii o.ii The second occurred June I'lWl An Ashland man was convicted of 'hat robbery Arlene a veteran bank in plovee. was in the branch office 'dor ing each ol the three robberies according to newspaper account1- i i. Paul lrtkey Mrs I rr last night Mrs Latsha husband Ir echoed Dockey Ji.rcmi& Mfs Smoltz confirmed ttiii'TT' was injured during The robber said she would rather riot mak comment An employee, at Her. mm" tiul and Service, on the side street as the bank but at the Irr.

of the Dauphin ounty to.wri not a iedi um 1 1 1 i a wheels narked at r.o- 1,1 I CI'' A street from his shop for a w- i' time The employee who 'did no! -a. to be identified, said tie dui-int kr whether the vehicle lelt-aUtV the robbery or whether u' to the crime in anv wav bank ma tea I $38 ,609 in Pi 1 1 suspect ask about buying a certificate of deposit and thought it strange that a man from out-of-state would make such a purchase. The man said that a customer pulled up to the drive-in window, then, and that he left as the car pulled away. He said he believes he too would have been robbed if the drive-in customer had, npt driven up to the win-' dow. V- The man said that he had a feeling something was "coming down" and Borough of Pillow i -1 tklftar I i -HS i i Uppr Oowphtn Nafionot lank Vhr.tfl..

rti4t Robbery breaks routine in small community that "got the hell out of there." He said he drove to ElizabethviJIe and upon his return to Pillow saw police cars in front of the bank. He was able to provide the description of the robber and his car and gave the license number to police Police said the bank camera was destroyed on bank personnel descriptions. they concluded the handgun as a 9 mm weapon Police said several patrol cars converged on the bank within five min News of the crime spread through the town of 500.quicklv, but few had anv details: Marv Lou Shifter, who lives across the street from the bank, said she got home at 45TnrrTOtit an hour after the Wibberv occurred A neighbor child told her the news, she said. "Most people aren't home during the she added For Joan Williard. news came quicker because she wanted to make a bank deposit but was turned away by state policeman who said the bank-has been robbed Mrs.

Williard. 37. assistant manager at the Pillow General Store, said she went tothe bank aboyt 20 minutes after the robbery Speaking with a newsihah less than an hour after the robbery. -Mrs Wil- By Dan Swank staff reporter PILLOW An armed robber, fired four shots from a handgun at a sur-veillance camera and fled with $38,609 from the Upper Dauphin National Bank yesterday afternoon, state police at Ly kens said. None of the three bank employees in the building was injured in the 1:44 p.m.

robbery. It was the third hold-up at the Dauphin County branch bank in less than 10 years Police are looking for a white male suspect in his 30s. about 5 feet inches tall with dark brown hair, possibly a wig. police said. The suspect has a mustache and was wearing a tan, three-quarter length coat with a.

fur collar, they said The robber fled the scene in a dark i6le Buick Regal, a model between 1981 and 1984 with a New Jersey license plate number RVP-935. He was Jast seen heading north on Route 225 toward Mandata. police said They said it waS possible the suspect could have turned off on any number of side roads to escape detec- l'on i A.Dalmatia man who asked not to be identified said he was in the bank, while the robber was there, but he left before the robbery the man said he had gone to the bank to cash a check and noticed a car with New Jersey plates parked at the front of the bank. He said he heard the ROUTI hard admitted she as shaken but now Mrs. John Witmer.

whose husband operates the town's hardware store a ha1f block fftjmw'nantoiainrir wt; unaware of the robberv until "two wo'men rushed into the store and told me I had better lock the front door that the bank had been robbed Even Postmistress Hilda Banner office also is across the street from the bank, was outifor lunch "It must tiave-happened shortly before got back." she said The three women who witnessed "the robbery bank manager Arlene Dockey and employees Pat Smeltz and Connie Latsha did not want to be interviewed "'She's tn no shape to By Linda Berberoglu staff reporter PILLOW The first clue Mrs Glenn Schreffier had that something -as amiss was the helicopter flying above this small town on the south bank of Mahantango Creek yesterday "The first thing that came to my mind was that someone robbed the bank or someone was missing." she said The Schrefflers live next door to the Upper Dauphin National Bank. Which was held up yesterday afternoon by an armed robber who fired four shots at a surveillance camera before flee ing with $38,609, accorog tb state police at Lykens. To Elizabethville.