Longview Daily News from Longview, Washington • 11

5 The Daily News, Longview, Wash, Friday. April S. 199 1 B3 Blondie Family Circus Northwest 'Family' bill dies in committee I 1-b 4 iuu many uui issues iu yei off the ground, lawmaker says OLYMPIA (AP) The "Foundation for Families Act" isn't getting off the ground floor in the Washington Legislature. The five-part bill to increase the state's minimum wage, ban mandatory yyASIUNGTO overtime, expand state family-leave law and toughen child-labor laws won't make it out of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, its chairman said Thursday. Sen.

Jim Matson, R-Selah, said the bill, HB1471, is filled with too many hotly debated issues to make it through the Legislature this year. "Some people call it an omnibus March. The plan would have: Increased the state's minimum wage to $4-75 an hour on July 1 and to $5.25 on Jan. 1, 1992. Banned mandatory overtime in companies with more than 100 workers.

Firefighters, law-enforcement officers and other emergency Budget beads tor showdown: Page C3 workers would have been exempted from the ban. Voluntary overtime would have been permitted. Expanded family-leave law to companies with 50 or more employees. Current law allows working parents in companies with 100 or more employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave every two years to care for new or terminally ill children. The proposed legislation also would have allowed workers to take family-leave time to care for seriously ill children, spouses or parents.

Increased penalties for violations of child-labor laws to as much as $1,000 a day for repeat offenders. The measure also would have decreased the amount of hours teen-agers could work. Provided government support for establishing child-care services. "The time I can't spend with my son now can never be made up or replaced," West worker Aloria Smith said in testifying against mandatory overtime. "We're the underdogs.

We're the people that care about these companies. They have a responsibility to watch out for us," said Boeing crane worker Don Grindie of Arlington. Grindie said he almost wrecked his car once after getting off a mandatory overtime shift. I ITS TIME FOR "ENVY OF I HERE'S THE CHATEAU iV THE FAMOUS AMD OP THE MARQUIS OS 1 THE RiCH" I THEATRE I I THE CHATEAU HAS U7 I ITHINK OP WHATf IT I ROOMS AND A DOZEN I COULD DO rf DEFIES I S- WITH A THE I 1 DOZEN IMAGINATION PANTRJES "Mommy, what's cookin' in rt jL that pot?" gf in fTr Calvin and Hobbes I 1 1 1 n3c? 7 1 1 to KM0W WHM 1WL N0TKED, 50 FROM SON ON, I tW woeass? twings dont bus wont think. about mwwng a WHM" 1 KUMOODOUT I toUt UKE.

SlLU fsr. PRETTf THlUfcWWHA. iS-V TIL BE IRRESPONSIBLE nl AFTERNOON. 1 Sf 1- 522 Peanuts I FEEL STUPID STAMPING IVthATS A I I DON'T MIND FEELIN6 OUT MERE IN THE SORT OF THINK RELIEF Jl STUPID A5 L0N6 AS I DO I LOOK STURP? i Garfield IF I WANT EXClTlNO 1 I HAVE TO MAKE I I'M WEARING KNEE VOO'RE A TO HAPPt) bill. I call it ominous," Matson said.

"There's an awful lot of work to be done on it. At this point we don't have much choice" not to vote on the package. Friday is the last day for bills to make it out of committee or they die. Democrats, labor unions and blue-collar workers strongly pushed the plan during two hours of testimony before Matson's committee Thursday and throughout the session. But lobbying by big business, including the likes of Boeing, Scott Paper Co.

and Kentucky Fried Chicken, won the battle against the bill. Republican leaders also frowned on the plan, calling it another example of government regulation. The House voted 55-43 to approve the plan in mid- anted: Humpty Dumpty, Peter Rabbit, Thumper vanish from Never Never Land TACOMA (AP) The Metropolitan Park District has issued an all-points bulletin for Humpty Dumpty, Peter Rabbit and Bambi's buddy, Thumper. Humpty Dumpty vanished last week, and Peter Rabbit and Thumper were discovered missing Wednesday morning from Point Defiance Park's Never Never Land. "Last year one of the Little Pigs was stolen and we treated it kind of comically," said Linda Arlington, a spokeswoman for the park district.

"But we've decided this isn't funny anymore." Never Never Land has about 80 fiberglass sculptures of fairyland characters. Every year, two or three are taken, Arrington said. "Somebody's doing this, but we don't know if they are kids or college students or someone else with a warped sense of whatever," Arrington said. The amusement park can replace the figurines, but at a price. The missing sculpture of Humpty Dumpty was valued at $1,400.

Peter Rabbit and Thumper were valued at (900 and $500, respectively. Park police are investigating the thefts but have no suspects, said Jack Tolliver, a senior patrolman. The thieves apparently had to scale a fence to pull off the heists, he said. The park district issued a news release urging the public to be on the lookout for the missing characters. Peter Rabbit is gray and white, stands about 30 inches tall and may be wearing a blue jacket, said Never Never Land on-site manager Patricia Stone.

Thumper, the size of a real rabbit, is also gray and white but is "cuter than Peter Rabbit," she said. Humpty Dumpty was sitting on a wall and is shaped like an egg, she said. He has skinny arms and legs, and was last seen wearing blue pants, a blue top, white gloves and black shoes. Beetle Bailey 1 I 1 1 YVANTEP TO MAKE I HEV! THOSE HQ THANKS, I WANT A CARROT ARE POTATO I'M NOT KNOW I SURE VOU WEREN'T STICK OR A PIECE, HUNSRY CHIPS! OF CELERY? Arsonists used high-tech fuel in 9 state fires, officials say SEATTLE (AP) Chemicals similar to solid rocket fuel that burn unusually hot and fast were used by arsonists to start major fires in the past decade, Seattle Fire Department officials say. The department has spent the past seven years studying the characteristics of the so-called "high-temperature accelerant fires." The fires burn hot enough to melt iron and steel and crater concrete floors.

Nine suspected arson fires in Washington state, including two that killed firefighters, are believed to have been caused by such fuels, as were a fire in Florida, another in California, and a third in Canada, investigators said. No arrests have been made in the cases. City Fire Marshal Bob Hansen would not discuss the arson investigations at a news conference Thursday. However, he said he believes the people setting the fires are professionals, getting paid for the work. The arsonists probably had been trained in using the extremely flammable chemicals, either in college, the military or even in a fire department, Hansen said.

Fire Chief Claude Harris said investigators had no suspects in the fires. The research by the Seattle Fire Department with other agencies and laboratories probably will lead to other fires being identified as being caused by high-temperature accelerants, Harris said. "There probably are more of them than we know about," he said. One of the Seattle fires, at the Blackstock Lumber Building on Sept. 9, 1989, killed fire Lt.

Matthew Johnson when he became trapped inside. A similar Spokane fire in September 1982 killed firefighter Paul Hendresreich. The Seattle Department has prepared training information and a video on fighting high-temperature fires for other departments. Hansen said that whenever signs of a high-temperature accelerant are seen, firefighters should get out of the building and stay off the roof until the accelerant burns itself out. Video of some of the fires shows white-hot flames, explosions like fireworks and thick black or grey smoke that seems to be pumped out of buildings.

Water only seems to feed the flames, which spread quickly. Temperatures reach 2,800 degrees, about 1,000 degrees hotter than would be expected. Fire investigators have found cast-iron radiators and steel materials melted, and concrete so badly damaged it can be broken apart by hand. Hi and Lois 0 paperbacks' GALORE cAp? )otio! Here it blaaeq for eoRi euess i Wotir Vl CODES' WAT A EVEPtTHIrJS BLAME VoU FOR CLEAN- I 1 1 TO 2r APOUNO HERE INS UP YOUR PI6HE5 SO 1 biamep for now's rntil NicelV after 77V For Better or For Worse W.WB8PD yx SHOJU? HAVE GONE HeRlNlrlE-PRlVflOOFCOR Fife flcSafeBlNflN T- ll044- 14th Ave Plaza CORRECTION THERE IS AN ERROR IN THE SEARS APRIL 3RD MAILER ON PAGE 29, THE SAVINGS LISTED IN THE STATEMENT "SPECIAL SAVINGS ON JENN-AIR APPLIANCES 50 TO 130 OFF" IS INCORRECT. THE SAVINGS SHOULD BE 30TO 130 OFF.

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