The Taylor Daily Press from Taylor, Texas • Page 9

Lnique IIof ri Stands in North Sen By PAIL TRElTHARDT Associated Writer EKOFISK CENTER, North Sea tAPt newest hotel cost one million dollars a room and was put up in two days and nights on stilts in the middle of the North Sea It has a spectacular view of the platforms of a huge oil field, lit like diamond clusters al night with the roiling flames from flare stacks throwing blood-red images across the sea It's called the Ekofisk Hotel. But don't try for a reservation in the exclusive establishment ISO miles a 99-minute helicopter ride off the Norwegian coast. It was designed and is operated only for workers and invited guests to the heart of an oil and gas development from six fields in the Norwegian zone. The lOO-rmllion-dollar cost for the 106-room hotel would be outrageous for the most luxurious shoreside resort. But everything comes high in the midst of a treacherous sea Current estimates for full de- velopment of Ekofisk run to 5 billion dollars and oilmen expect to see a further one billion poured in as inflation takes its toll.

A massive barge crane hoisted 900-ton, five and six-story sections into place in two days and nights Installation of generators, water purifiers and other complex machinery below the living quarters will take until early spring The hotel will bring a new lifestyle and women to Ekofisk and alleviate the serious accommodation problems which Phillips Petroleum, the operator of the Ekofisk group, faces daily It has had to hire three of the great mersible drilling rigs just for sleeping space, and on a typical night had only two spare beds in the entire field. We run a helicopter ballet here twice a said a radio- room operator, 1.200 men in two hours between the platforms where they work and where they sleep The giant hotel modules were carefully equipped by the Norwegian builders ashore The two-bed rooms were fully carpeted and equipped with private bathrooms and consoles for taped music or four radio channels. The 106 rooms flank a central unit boasting a two-story cinema, with balcony, billiards, card and reading lounges, a gym with sauna, a six-bed hospital with emergency operating facilities, and administration and training areas The hotel is topped with a helicopter deck over waiting rooms and a hotel check-in counter on a floor which also has a small chapel Three elevators serve the seven-floor structure Work schedules at the center call for eight 12-hour days, followed by eight days off ashore, with a long break every four tours This system meets with enthusiastic approval from the multinational staff because it gives long periods ashore to spend with families or in sightseeing. The Taylor Daily Press. Monday.

January 30. Page 9 Council Meets Tuesday ROUND HOCK Whether or not Did Town and the surrounding area will come into the city voluntarily or involuntarily could he decided Tuesday The Round Hock City Council1 has set a 7 meeting to consider second reading of the ordinance annexing the area's oldest Citizens circulation a petition for voluntary annexation haven't informed city hall of their progress, noted City Secretary Joanne Land, so the procedure for annexation could well remain unsettled until Tuesday The annexation, totaling about 320 acres, would odd about $2 million to the city's tax hast Area residents are already served by city water and sewer facilities. HIGH HOTEL The Ekofisk Hotel rises from the middle of the North Sea. where it was put up on stilts in two days and two nights Cranes benefited from an unusual winter calm to hoist the 900 ton. five and six story sections of the 106 room hotel on to a platform alongside Ekofisk Center, the heart of an oil and gas development from six fields in the Norwegian zone The hotel will provide accommodations for the oilmen Some Pfl'ville Farmers Are To Get A Tax Break Radio.

Television LOS ANGELES (AP) Demond Wilson left and Son" because Redd Eoxx left it for ABC Tonight. Wilson reappears in a new sitcom on appropriately called I'm He now plays a guy declared legally dead after he disappeared seven years ago from his home, his wife (I)enise Nicholas) and their two young kids (Kim Fields and Tony Holmes), If tonight's premiere is typical, he should have stayed AWOL. He starts it by unexpectedly barging in on a ceremony in which his wife, flanked by the kids and his battle-ax of a mother-in-law (Helen Martin), is about to marry her boss, a stuffy Army colonel The shock causes a temporary delay in the proceedings. It's quickly established that Wilson still loves her, but she does not love him any more. In fact, she and the colonel plan another attempt at getting hitched the next day.

But first she hires a shyster lawyer (Timmy Rogers) to get an injunction barring Wilson from barging in again. If any more barging occurs, mother-in-law' vows, see a close encounter of the fourth fist in his A friendly studio audience howls at this. But then it howls at everything, even when ilson asks his mother- in law: it time you fed your In re-wooing his wife, he explains he only left home because he find a job, kept losing at track and worse He demands to know how she can love the colonel she re I thought it was a beautiful man who knew what I was thinking even before 1 said a word But ail that walked out on me seven years ago. I think love is security, dependability and a future that has a future At this point, the audience goes and applauds And then Wilson frantically attempts to foil the wedding by going to court and having himself declared legally alive- which would make his wife a bigamist if she weds the colonel. laborious, but there are sporadic flashes of humor One occurs whenever Rogers, as the lawyer, breathes life into his feeble lines with expert mugging and cries of, Another good turn comes from Jack Fletcher, cast as a prissy court clerk with whom Wilson wangles a fast appointment.

As he sees Wilson, he recoils slightly and inquires: you a But moments like these are few and far between in the script by April Kelly and Tom Geiger, who work from a series idea cooked up by producer Lila Garrett and veteran gagwriter Mort Lachman. Maybe in future shows will make a comeback from its limp commencement exercise. But a bad omen when only the visiting Rogers and manage to be funny. Texas Church Conference Started Today In Dallas DALLAS More than 200 persons from throughout the state will debate the death penalty, abortion, family planning and hunger in Texas at the Texas Conference of Churches annual assembly which started todav. Delegates are from 50 church denominations.

The Rev James C. Suggs of Indianapolis will be installed as the conference's executive director Monday night. Suggs, a native Texan, served twice on the state staff of the Christian Church (Diciples of Christ). The Rev Willis on of Lubbock, bishop of the Episcopal of Diocese of Northwest Texas, will installed as for 197H in the Pork Cities Baptist Church Sister Mary Luke Tobin of New York, a Roman Catholic deliver the sermon She is director of Citizen Action for Church Women United. ('apt.

James Cook applied the onion remedy in the 18th century for scurvy on his voyages to the remote areas of the Pacific. At one point, he ordered each man in his crew to cat 20 pounds of onions, followed by 10 pounds two days later. PFLUGERV1LLE Farmers in the Pflugerville I who have obtained agricultural exemptions will be getting a tax break amounting to roughly 50 percent. School trustees approved the exemptions at Thursday's board meeting Tax Assessor Collector Bill Beare. who recommended the cut, explained that the lower land values would bring farm land more in line with its actual agricultural value.

Five classes of property are involved Both Houston black clay and Heiden clay, which are cultivated soils, would drop in value from $260 to $150 an acre. Austin Silty clay, once valued at $260, would I carried on the new tax rolls at $125 an acre. Silty clay is also cultivated, but not as high quality as the first two categories. Eddy gravelly lome, or pasture land, would drop from to $100 an acre A new category would created for miscellaneous land, such as creek bottoms and gravel pits, and would vlaued at $50 an acre The land had once been carried at $240, Beare said A farmer with 400 acres of soil could expect to his tax bill drop from 80 to $544 50 next year "We wanted to equalize the land Beare explained, nothing that he had been brought to the district last summer to update the tax rolls Although Beare said he had no estimates on how much revenue the district would lose because of the lower values, he stressed that growth and improvements would more than offset lost revenue Improvements are yet to I evaluated for next year, but Beare said adding improvements would still mean a substantial savings for farmers Commonwealth Life Acc. Ins.

Co. Would Like To Take This Opportunity To Salute: KENNETH CZIMSKEY Kenneth led the South Central Teiai District in M.DO. life Insurance tales in 1977. He it currently hit third year in providing protection and tervice to policyowners. COMMONWEALTH UFI And ACCIDENT INSURANCE COMPANY KENNETH CZIMSKEY, Agent 352-6731 P.O.

Box 948 Taylor, Texas i To Provide The Best Service Possible Please Phone For Appointment February VALUE DAYS! PEOPLE OCALA, Fla (AP) Dennis Wise tries to sound like Elvis Presley and now going to great lengths to try to look like him. Wise, 24, has already undergone the necessary dental work and is expected to have his face worked on this week The first phase was dental work completed Saturday by an unidentified dentist who used an 11-inch by 14-inch color photograph of Presley as a guide should see the beautiful job they said manager, promoter Danny said teeth were similar to and require much change. Caps and crowns were fitted and a gap between two front teeth was closed, said O'Day. Wise is scheduuled to undergo plastic surgery early this week at an undisclosed hospital when surgeons, again working from photographs, will attempt to reshape his face to make him look exactly like Elvis. When he is redone.

Wise plans to take his to show on tour around the nation. She was out ill with the flu from Dec. 21 to Dec. 27 and again from Jan. 14 until tonight.

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is virtually a one wwoman show and Miss Minnelli has no understudy. When she perform, the show is canceled LOS ANGELES (AP) John D. Ehrlichman is due back in prison Tuesday after a threeday furlough to visit his ailing mother. Ehrlichman. one-time adviser to former President Richard Nixon, has served more than a year in the federal prison at Safford, on a one-to fouryear sentence for conspiracy in connection with the Watergate coverup He is to be released in August Ehrlichman arrived in Los Angeles Saturday to visit his 76-year-old mother, who lives in suburban Santa Monica MARIETTA.

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