Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 17

STATE CITY Tram Bill Becomes Political Football By Miriam Pawel Newaday Albany Bureau Chief Albany It waa a aix-word bill a measure that in other tunes would have been routine Instead a bill to have the state insure the Roosevelt Island tram opened up a nest of governmental and political problems In New York City the tram shut down when its insurance expired Friday turning a five-minute trip to Manhattan into an hour-Tong ordeal for thousands In Plattsburgh Republicans battling to hold onto an Assembly seat in a dose race aides say they presented those choices TTwntha ago to the Roosevelt Island board which includes some legislators And they say that although the self-insurance bill ready until the last minute they didn't anticipate any problems in the Senate fact they note Senate Republican staff initiated the idea to save $22 million in this fiscal year which ends March 31 by going to self-insurance "Senator Anderson supported this bill but when his senators rose up in wrath he had to agree with said Charles Dumas a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Warren Anderson (RrBinghamton) Republicans have been urging Cuomo to act on mounting problems in finding insurance The governor appointed a task force due to report in April and put off action until then When the Republican senators discussed the tram bill in conference Tuesday lawmakers argued it was unacceptable to take emergency action for a crisis in New York City and not to act on bills to help municipalities in their districts "A number of senators rose up very angry and said Wait a minute we no "Dumas said "We have communities all over our districts mined ammunition in their effort to portray Democrats as interested only in New York City And around the state the problems with municipal and commercial liability A V)EW FRQM insurance center came Albany stage again The xeftisal to right to expect that the Legislature would take care of an agency that the state Grannis said "But I think they were sensitive to what kind of political football this provided for the The progress of the bill was a series of administrative and political blunders Facing a Feb 14 deadline when the insurance expired the staff didn't realize the Assembly normally never meets on Tuesday the day they planned to present the bill The bill wasn't ready Monday night although Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink CD-Brooklyn) kept his house in session late waiting In a special session Tuesday Assembly Democrats passed the bill but not until taking a political beating from Republicans and from some Democrats who complained about the short notice and lack of information "I am absolutely appalled that this couldn't be handled in a for better said Assembly Minority Leader Pro Tern Kemp Hannon (R-Gar-den City) "I imagine less information becoming available to the members My members went Countered Eimicke: "This is not a surprise to anyone This has been going on for a Albany where every place outside New York City is defined as upstate the issue has exacerbated existing upstate-do wnstate tensions The insurance has become a major issue in of all unlikely places Plattsburgh where a special election will take place tomorrow The Republican candidate has pointed to the Assembly action as another example of the Democratic protecting New York interests And tomorrow the Legislature returns to Albany If the Senate doesn't act on the bill Eimicke said the tram will not reopen If the governor respond to the needs of municipalities Dumas said he expect the Senate to change its mind who cannot get liability insurance Why should mot get special relief for this agency in New York we vote City pass the bill last week has also generated a storm of finger-pointing Democrats blame the Republican-controlled Senate for indicating it would go along with the bill and then not passing it Some legislators in both parties blame the Cuomo administration for not acting fast enough not recognising the politically sensitive nature of the issue and not having contingency plans "I think they were asleep at the switch This issue foil behind the said Assembly Housing Committee Chairman Alexander Grannie (D-Manhattan) whose district includes Roosevelt Island The state had two choices: trying to extend the policy at an estimated cost of $9 million a year an increase of nearly 900 percent due to rising insurance costs or moving to self-insurance Under that system the state would be liable for claims against the tram which is owned by a subsidiary of the state Urban Development Coip They felt that this would be politically unacceptable in their housing director William Eimicke argues that the issues are unrelated The tram is a state entity lik school districts and municipalities and he says it faced an immediate shutdown without legislative action "The tram was going to Eimicke said "The schools are open They have insurance Nothing is disrupting except the But legislators in both houses say the staff underestimated the politically charged nature of insurance issues "On the merits not on the politics they had a Official Calls for Ban on Drugs in Capsules Johnson has manufactur ing the capsules and is offering a $100000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer The firm maintains that the capsules were contaminated after they left its manufacturing plants in Fort Washington Pa and Puerto Rico The bottle that proved fetal to Elsroth was among 209000 produced at the Fort Washington plant which Westchester investigators intend to visit this week Although the two bottles of tainted Tylenol were from different plants they were distributed from the same storage warehouse in Montgomery-ville Pa giving rise to a new theory that the tampering occurred during distribution his company has considered making the capsules tamper-proof Later company spokesman Jim Murray said looked at different possibilities and we just haven't come up with anything satisfactory and completely foolproof" The discovery Thursday of more poisoned Tylenol at a Bronxville store near the supermarket where the bottle from which Elsroth took the fetal capsules waa purchased prompted state Health Commissioner David Axelrod to ban the sale of the drug in capsule form Seventeen other states have banned the capsules The FDA and Johnson ft Johnson have advised consumers against using the drug Johnson ft By Larry Bivins New York Westchester County Executive Andrew called yesterday for a federal ban on drugs in capsule form to prevent deadly tampering such as the contamination of Tylenol that led to the deaths of a young woman Feb 8 and seven Chica-go-area residents in 1982 said there are few ailments that cant be treated with tablets instead of capsules If capsules must be sold he said they should be kept behind store counters "just like cigarettes and In an interview with Newaday after appearing on "This Week With David said he also wrote to the federal Food and Drug Administration and the congressional delegation urging acceptance of his plan If production of capsules isn't banned said the capsules need to be sealed to make them tamperproof "We just haven't learned from past he said referring to the seven Chicago-area deaths On Feb 8 Diane Elsroth 23 of Peekskill was found dead of cyanide poisoning in the Yonkers home of her family several hours after she had taken two Extra-Strength Ty-lenol capsules James Burke chairman of Johnson ft Johnson Inc the makers of Tylenol Mid on the Brinkley show that banning capsules is a possibility and that NEWSDAY MONDAY FEBRUARY 17 City Ballet Dancer Leaps to His Death tinue to serve as an inspiration to us 3 After joining the ballet company in 1975 Duell became a principal dancer in 1984 He had been starring in the ballet revival of "Slaughter on Tenth In his strenuous rule of Combined News Services New York Joseph Duell 29 a leading damvw with the New York City Ballet company for the past 11 years leaped five stories to his death from his Manhattan apartment yesterdayy morning authorities said Duell was declared dead at 10:15 am said Police Department spokeswoman Sgt Diane Kubler' She said he had jumped from his apartment in a building at 338 77th St No note was found she Duell who joined the ballet in 1975 was one of 18 principal dancers in the troupe company spokeswoman Leslie Bailey said According to sources dose to the pany Duell had been undergoing treat-'mntfbr depression He jud suffered nervous breakdown inhisearly stne sources said Duell had been scheduled to dance in last performance of Jerome 'The Goldberg and George "Symphony in at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center in the final week of the New York City winter season performances A stunned audience gasped as solemn ballet officials walked on stage and announced death The company had dedded to perform "A Midsummer comaster-in-chief Peter Martins said "to relieve a little bit of the and grief we are all feeling tonight" In an earlier statement comaster Jerome Robbins and general director Lincoln Kirstein Mid: "The entire New York City ballet family feels shocked aqd saddened at the tragic loss of our respected and -beloved 'friend and colleague Joseph Duell His true dedication ana commitment to excellence will con ballet and tap dancing be performed with Suzanne Farrell one of the most acclaimed dancers Duell danced with the Eglevaky before he joined the New York City Ballet Pepi Semler educational director of Eg-levsky who remembers Duell dancing 15 yean ago "He waa always explaining things to the younger she said "He took the steps apart He intellectu-alized the dancing brpther Daniel 33 is also a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet Qthazsurvumn include his parents who live in Dayton Ohio and three sisters.