Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 2

2 Friday. May 25. 1984 Philadelphia Dally News iapw wiw wmfww i If I A Nasty Way to Wake Up Sandy Grady Chief Salesman Page 34 Don Haskin Full Sail Page 12 Jack McKInnoy Jersey Jokes Page 35 Tax reform discussions have been under way for some time; they will not respond favorably to being hijacked. So, there I was, my coffee not even down to the half-way mark, in a total rage. Mean, small, spiteful, nasty, unneighborly and unnecessary were the thoughts about the story that jostled me fully awake and out of bed.

"War!" I screamed. "The suburbs have declared war on Philadelphia! "They want war? Well give 'em war! Close the borders! Make 'em stay in the suburbs. They want baseball? Let them go to Little League. They want music? Let them orm a chorus of lawnmowers. They want fashion? Let 'em go to the mall.

"They want seafood? Let em eat mushrooms!" I shouted, ranting through the house. "You think the Civil War was bad? Wait'll you see this! It will be brother against sister! Parent against child! A war to the death! Neighbors called the cops. My dog cowered. My husband left. I collapsed on the sofa in the living room, panting.

Eventually, I composed myself, but the day was shot. Yesterday morning, I was much more careful when I opened the newspaper. I avoided the front page story about the business tax, dateline Harrisburg, until I got to work; But I needn't have. The story said city officials, legislators and lobbyists for the city's business community have launched a campaign to have the business tax bill passed. They were surprised by the defeat and think they can rescue the bill in Harrisburg.

Well, that's good. But I'm still going to have to be more careful about what stories I read in the morning, especially those involving Stephen Freind. Jill Porter's column Appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Bread the newspaper every morning before I get out of bed. It is a bridge between the surrealistic madness of my dreams and the surrealistic madness of real life.

I do this so as not to be caught off guard there's nothing like bopping around the house listening to 'Thriller' only to learn later that the Soviets have arrested Snow White for subversion and America is on red alert As vile as the morning news usually, is. it is generally predictable enough so as not to be jarring: Everyone from the trash collector to a former deputy police commissioner is alleged to be on the take; Wilson Goode here, there and everywhere. Ronald Reagan reinventing history, hypocrisy, injustice, fraud; Brooke Shields here, there and everywhere; Michael Jackson ad nauseam; murder, rape, corruption and war, Very, very predictable. 1 feel generally confident that I can read most news without activating my rage receptors. My emotions do not join my body in consciousness much before I have showered and dressed, and 1 do not like to have them prematurely aroused.

It creates havoc with my body chemistry and ruins my day. Therefore, I intentionally avoid stories that will make me want to kill until later in the day when I can get to my office and the only harm I can do is to the English language. This week, however. I was sucker-punched. There it was, a story on the front page of the Inquirer, on Wednesday, dateline Harrisburg.

Now any story with a dateline Harrisburg is usually the printed equivalent of biofeedback: So dull as to lull you into the tranquility of the alpha state. Only when Gov. Thornburgh tries to starve the poor, or when some self-anointed spokesman for God tries to legislate morality in the form of an abortion bill do my rage glands ever secrete over Harrisburg news. In addition, the headline contained the words "business" and "tax," two topics which are, for me, like Quaaludes: they dim my consciousness into a semi-hypnotic state. So, feeling absolutely no concern for my emotional health, I read the story.

And there it was. Republican suburban legislators had thumbed their noses at our city by refusing to let us enact a business tax that has been agreed on by business and government, a Nobel prize-winning act in and of itself. The -tax is essential to Philadelphia to help close a $108-million revenue gap in Mayor Goode's budget and would have absolutely no effect on the suburbs. It was Philadelphia doing something for Philadelphia and being stopped by the guys who live out there in shopping mall land. Why? Suburban legislators don't like the phia wage tax.

So instead of trying to come tn that issue, like intelligent, diplomatic, mature people might do, they made a big fist and plunged it into our solar plexus instead. You could almost hear them giving us the raspberries: "If we cant have what we want, you cant have what you or in terms more suited to the emotional maturity of the act, "Nah-nah, nah, nah-nah!" I was not surprised to learn that the leader of this brilliant act was, according to the newspa--per, Rep. Stephen Freind, of Delaware County, one of the above-mentioned legislators with a direct line to God who is when he's not declaring war on Philadelphia trying to circumvent the VS. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Freind, according to the story, persuaded House Republicans to veto the business tax unless Philadelphia committed itself to cutting the wage tax for suburban residents who work in the city.

What made this act seem particularly arbitrary and imperious was that, according to the story. Mayor Goode has been trying to reach an acceptable compromise on the issue. Rolling the Dice Harrah's at Trump Plaza just started playing its cards in Atlantic City and the competition for gambling dollars is tough. The Plaza's double problem is that a lot of the chips are already down at a friend of the family's Harrah's Marina Casino Hotel. A report on the stakes in today's Business section.

Page 33 Tiger Talk Ah, the crystal vision of hindsight. Back in March, the Phillies' Greg Gross was considered as bait in a preseason deal with Detroit. He vetoed the move and stayed in town. But now that the American League Tigers are an unworldly 35-5, perhaps Motown doesnt look so bad. Columnist Ray Didinger tossed the might-have-beens around with Gross and reports in today's Sports section.

Page 119 Index Weather National Wsathsr Ssrvtca Forscast to 7 a.m.. 5-26-64 Temperatures 1 3A00 At the Shore ButllMM Classtftsd Comics Crossword DaarAbby Dasths Eating Editorials Friday Jack Anderson 29.77 FAIR MINNEAPOLIS 63 31-33 83-98 39-41 30 39 38 SO 35 43-78 36 S3 66 37 14 42 26 98 69-77 aT 'If 1 jnr NEW HICAGO' PMmMeM MI.AIrmrt 74 S3 Sunny i IbiMK City (I Sunny Boston 74 S7 Sunny ChK90 74 44 Tnundorsfarms DMit 70 PaiUvCkwdy Jorusatoni 44 43 Cloar Los vooos 101 77 Thondtrslorm London 73 S4 Cloudy Los Angokn 7i 4S Pomy Ckwdv Mlomt 41 77 Pamv Chwdy 'AAantraal 44 44 Rain Now Oruonl (3 74 PorSv Ckwdv Now York 7t 64 Sunny Paris 43 44 CMudy PittlbUTOjl 74 4S Sunny Pomnl, Mo. 70 S3 Sunny Romo 44 SS Cloudy St. Louis 41 51 Portly OMiaV Son Francises 44 50 Sunny San Juan 44 73 Fair Tokyo 44 55 Cloudy Toronto 40 41 Cloudy WatMokja It Si Sunny Pi OLiunalMM Last 14 Hrv Phaa Int. Airport MS Jo Battalia Lottery Lucky Loa MlkoRoyko Nation-World LOUISS SAN FRANCISCO AoENVEFU ST.

LOUIS. l9 SK 1 I -W a yATLANTA Pooplo Raal Estate Religion Ids On LOWEST TEMPERATURES 9 r-rQ MIAMI NEW St ORLEANS 3 60 To Call The News LEGEND- vV a.l&vianoiiirirtOriiiili Milling iiafcy flB rMkVajfc 60 654-5900 SNOW AMI 1 Tides Want Ada 751-0400 Rata AaVsrtfsJno; 854-5589 "j6MOWaWV FLOW Capo May 4J4a itllp nMHj Ifcup Hlok koa IIJ 44oa Lost Visa Mis IMIa UPI WEATHER FOTOCAST .1 Circulation 665-1234 HomsDsttvsry 665-1234 May nay3( fluaWMMdL VTJU6 Nmt It not tfettvored. or It you have Kvtc arobWm. CM oft-r 44S-1ZM raptacMf orompttv. PutMlifted dairy 400 BraM Bob 17M.

PTula PsV rftei. SfC- ontf cts aotfaoa Md PMttjdaaMua. John Belushi had it all fame, fortune, devoted wife and adoring public and a giant problem. He was killing himself. Dont miss the first installment of The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi." a revealing new book by Bob Woodward, in Tuesday's Dally News.

Tonight Fair with lows 60-65 and winds south to southwest around 10 mph. Tomorrow Partly sunny, very warm and humid with a chance of evening showers and thunderstorms. Highs 85-90. MM fcjtMcrlCHsm (Zona I 71 Extsndsd Fair Sunday, cooler with a chance of showers Monday and Tuesday. Highs 70-75 Sunday and in the 60s Monday and Tuesday.

Lows in the 50s Sunday and upper 40s to mid 50s Monday and Tuesday. LattOjr. No MOJr. FaS Sun rkwn 34 lttl 1 14 pjp. 107 Mr Vtr, SW JO par mar.

imaia! aodrew cnanean to PmilJilPMI Dary Nw. 400 M. VOM Moon rlsos tomorrow. 134 a.m. fti.

PO ftoa HM. PMaa Ptw ft Ml. USPS 429 MO Moon sots today. 21 pnv'v.