Lancaster New Era from Lancaster, Pennsylvania • 1

Shes playing football McCaskey sophomore has teammates respect TONIGHT LOW 57 TOMORROW HIGH Robert Mowrer at 90 75 McCaskey gridder Jamie Beam. Lifetime Sportsman talks SbOlit Change Lancaster New Era Copyright 1997 Lancaster Newspapers Inc. All Rights Reserved. LANCASTER, FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1997 121st Year No. 37,682 METROPOLITAN PUC approves piDott program, mow you cam shop for power Here are the estimated changes customers taking part in a pilot program to choose electricity suppliers could see in annual bills.

Figures are for one years use of 1000 kilowatt-hours per month, said to be typical electric usage combined with water heating. Pennsylvania Power Light Co. PECO Energy Co. Now: $1,026 Now: $1,343 Pilot: $939 Pilot: $1,220 Savings: $87 Savings: $123 decision by utility regulators. Between now and November, a small number of Pennsylvanians will be able to choose where to buy their electricity.

The process, begun with a change in law last HARRISBURG (AP) Electricity will join gasoline, spaghetti sauce and long-distance telephone service on the list of things Pennsylvanians will be able to shop for, under terms of a January 1999; two-thirds by the following January; and all customers by January 2001. These pilots mark the true beginning of the learning curve about retail electric competition in Pennsylvania, said PUC member John Hanger. All companies should remember that these pilots will shape your reputation with customers and this commission. Good or bad, first impressions are hard to undo. So far, the PUC has authorized 23 companies to sell electricity.

The state now has eight electricity monopolies. The state consumer advocate, Irwin Popowsky, called the PUC More ELECTRIC on A-5 year, will expand to the entire state by 2001. A unanimous decision Thursday by the Public Utility Commission opened part of the market to power providers, who will try to persuade consumers to switch from their present suppliers, primarily by offering lower prices. The PUC said residential customers who take part in the pilot programs designed for 5 percent of the customers of each of the eight electricity companies should save an average of 10 percent on their bills. A 14-month test of the competitive system is to begin Nov.

1, with further expansion to follow. One-third of the states electricity customers will have a choice by Pennsylvania Electric Co. Now: $954 Pilot: $877 Savings: $77 UGI Utilities Inc. Now: $1,007 Pilot: $955 Savings: $52 Pennsylvania Power Co. Now: $1,019 Pilot: $918 Savings: $101 West Penn Power Co.

Now: $799 Pilot: $741 Savings: $58 Duquesne Light Co. Now: $1,014 Pilot: $914 Savings: $100 Metropolitan Edison Co. Now: $1,012 Pilot: $928 Savings: $84 Stocks tumble again; Dow drops 104 NEW YORK (AP) In a wild finish to a week of wild trading, stock prices took a dive in early trading today, extending the big decline from Thursdays volatile session. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 104.06 to 7,789.89 as of noon. Market analysts had predicted there might be heavy losses again today.

Todays drop compounded a 127.28-point loss Thursday as the market rounded out two of its most volatile weeks. For details of todays trading see Page B-5. SOURCE: Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission New bra Graphic Dy Bill Lussinger Taii untied Ibeef pflamti closed Stores stop selling Hudson Foods here by Andrea S. Brown New Era Staff Writer If you love Boston Market meatloaf, youU just have to wait. The chain's restaurants here and in 21 other states stopped serving the product Thursday within hours after an expanded recall of 25 million pounds of beef produced by Hudson Foods was announced.

"We are not using our More MEAT on A-4 New Era Wire Services WASHINGTON The largest meat recall in U.S. history began Thursday as the beef company linked to the latest outbreak of E. coli-tainted hamburgers agreed to pull off the market and destroy 25 million pounds of ground beef. Under intense pressure from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Hudson Foods Co.

also agreed Thursday to shut down its plant in Columbus, and not reopen it until the company erases all the governments doubts that its processes are safe. The impact of the massive recall was felt immediately. In a statement today. Burger King said 25 percent of its restaurants were affected. Many Burger Kings were reduced to selling chicken and fish sandwiches, while some Boston Market restaurants were left without meatloaf.

At a Burger King in Des Moines, Iowa, a sign on the drive-through menu said: "Sorry, only thing available today is chicken, fish, pork products and fries. I guess it's a case of its better to be sate than sorry, Terri Spahn, a customer at a Burger King in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said late Thursday. Other major customers of the plant include Sateway and The ground beef being recalled was processed in June and some may already have been eaten. But because it's in the form of lrozen patties. USDA officials believe More RECALL on A-4 This computer illustration shows the new Great Bear rollercoaster at Hersheypark.

The Great Bear, opening in May, winds around the Sooperdooperlooper (blue loop, near center of photo), and the wooden structure of the Comet (foreground). HACC reaction split, all want building filled Making (bear) tracks at Hershey $13 million, high-intensity coaster planned for '98 at amusement park by Ernest Schreiber New Era Staff Writer According to Hersheypark, the Great Bear will start by lifting riders 90 feet followed by a 124-foot drop into Comet Hollow. A 100-txt lixip will spin riders 110-feet into the air as they ride on the outside of the lxp at speeds reaching 58 mph. The ride also features multiple highspeed turns, a spiral, an Immel-mann (similar to a loop, but riders begin upside down and then sh(xt through a corkscrew Seems the Great Bear, Her-sheyparks newest steel inverted roller coaster scheduled to open in May 1998 is aptly named. The high-speed, looping thrill ride will be the sixth coaster at the amusement park and will leature two 32-passenger trains that ride underneath the track instead of on top of it.

The new ride will be located in the Mine-town section of the theme park, near the Kissing Tower. by Jane Holahan Now Era Staff Writnr At $13 million, its going to be the most expensive ride ever built at Hersheypark. It will be filled with 120-foot drops and l()0-lcxt hxps, and riders will spin 1 10 feet into the air, so the terror quotient will be high. And it will be so big it will intersect with several other rides in the park. dead blink that could be dark, could be deteriorating, could become garbage, and we make it into a vibrant property which contributes to the overall well-being ol the downtown, he says.

It's the only logical thing to do." But Jerry Keys, owner of Cross Keys Col lee Shop, across Queen Street from Bash's store, is firmly opposed. In nearby Lebanon, the hope that a downtown community college would draw students to stores and restaurants tailed to materialize, he says. "My impression is that the person who attends HACC generally has a job, has a family, is getting a class and leaving," he says. They More REACTION on A-4 Lancasters top corporate executives may give their unqualilied support to the moveot Harrisburg Area Community College into the vacant Bon-Ton department on the streets of downtown Lancaster, in the small shops and restaurants that surround Penn Square, store owners and managers are deeply divided about the merits of relix'ating classes lor the scluxil's 1,300 Lancaster area students into the citys preeminent downtown building Some, such as jeweler Bill Bash, think it is an opportunity the city cant at lord to lose. If the plan succeeds, We take a '0 Sleel Force 205 It Statuo ol Lihorty TTT And what will make the ride even more intense is that its being built on a hill, which will increase the energy of the ride.

The total ride covers 2,800 feet of track and lasts nearly three minutes. The attraction will have a capacity of 1,300 riders an hour. The ride will intertwine with the sxperdxperLxper and Coal Cracker flume rides before crossing Spring Creek at Comet Hollow. The Great Bear is designed and manufactured by Bolliger Mabillard. headquartered in Mont hey, Switzerland.

Formed in 1988, Bolliger Mabillard is one of the world's top designers of steel roller coasters, having built rides in the U.S., Europe and Japan The name comes from the constellation Ursa Major, also known as the big dipper, the largest northern const dial ion in the sky. While the constellation has seven stars, the roller coaster has seven main elements. The Great Bear is the second major attraction to be built at Hersheypark three years The Wildcat roller coaster debuted in 1996 at a cost ol $3 million The wixuien Wildcat features an 85-lixit drop and twisting turns at speedsol 45 mph. The nearest inverted coaster rule is at Six Flags Great Ad cn-ture, in Jackson. N.J.

tTOMORROWfll Space Shultlo 120 How docs Hershoypark's new roller coaster, Groat Boar, compare with others nearby? Dorney Park's Stool Force is still the champ. Plenty of rewards in singing, dancing Music is everything to Solanco senior Dornpy Park, Allenlown Hersheypark rr Installod Track length Max, Drop Top Spoed WoodSteel StHfti'F Dompy Prttk and HRishnviwK Your son has reached that awkward age when he too young to be left alone with the baby hut too old to be 1141 alone with a baby sitter nt www.lanenews.eoin rad'lnniiewvcnin) n.n kAHtris And fotw.inls Visit our Internet sit (I to new Nw i a Ui'RpHH. d'U OwwiyMr i.