European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes Friday december 29,1989 tempers Rise along with heating Oil prices Washington a angry Home owners besieged Oil delivery companies and governors across the Northeast Are calling on Federal officials to find out Why Home heating Oil prices skyrocketed this month to their highest Levels Ever. The Price jump from about 85 cents a gallon two weeks ago to As High As si.62 a gallon now has led officials from  Cuomo of new York to gov. Judd Gregg of new Hampshire to Call for Federal investigations of possible gouging and Price fixing. Whether Oil companies Are in Collu Sion or not Public officials and Industry experts agree that an unusual Confluence of events has led to the highest prices Ever for Home heating Oil. Events ranging from Low water Levels on the Rhine River in West Germany to a refinery explosion in Louisiana have contributed to the upsurge officials say. The major contributor however is the record cold spell that has gripped much of the nation this month. For the Northeast fore casters Are calling for More chill tempera Tures this weekend after a Brief respite. It s pretty  said Sam Livieri jr., vice president of Apple Oil co. I Branford. Conn. No it s very grim. We re telling people si.29 a gallon and they can t afford it. I Don t blame them for being  j. Wallace Malley chief of the Public Protection division of Vermont s attorney general s office said it s what som people might Call a  but he added that As yet there is no evidence of unlawful Price fixing. Cuomo on wednesday called on the Justice department to investigate the Price increases. Home heating Oil is a necessity not a luxury Cuomo said. Massachusetts gov. Michael s. Duka Kis was the first to Call for an investigation writing to the department of Energy last week along with rep. Richard Neal a Massachusetts Democrat whose office has been deluged with Calls from angry homeowners. New Hampshire s governor ordered his Energy chief to Call Federal Energy officials. Rhode Island gov. Edward d. Diprete sent a Telegram wednesday to the director of the Federal Trade com Mission requesting an investigation into the Price increases. I m outraged by what s happened Here and it s not a Factor and Force of the marketplace Neal said. Supplies could Well have been kept Low in anticipation of a col Winter in an Effort to Jack the  about two thirds of the Homes in new England use truck delivered heating Oil according to the new England fuel Institute which represents 1,300 companies. Unlike electricity and natural Gas Home heating fuel is unregulated and therefore subject to Market fluctuations. Institute spokesman Bernard Smith rejected the charge of Price manipulation. If you take one word it s demand and the second word is weather " said Smith. The Low water level of the Rhine River in West Germany is slowing deliveries to Europe and thus tying up sup plies he said. In addition cold weather in Southern states has caused about a half dozen refineries to shut Down or limit production because the temperatures hamper the re fining process he said. And an explosion last weekend at an Exxon refinery in Baton Rouge la., caused the heating Oil futures Market to soar. Prices this week topped the previous Peak of $ 1.35 a gallon in 1981 at the end of the Arab Oil embargo. Smith said. The lowest level of the past decade came when prices dipped to about s3 cent a gallon during the summer of 1986. One supplier jumped 12 cents from yesterday and our retail Price is now $1.23 a gallon with a Small discount for people who pay on delivery Joe Bois of Bosse fuel in Waterbury Conn said wednesday. Thai reflects the 12-Ccnt jump in wholesale prices in new  Energy department spokeswoman Mary Kayne Heinze said the department was aware of the concern in the North East and was collecting information to assess the situation but had reached no conclusions. In Maine prices Are running about 10 cents a gallon behind the rest of the re Gion. Two major to networks sneeze of ads showing Bush Gorbachev new York a two major television net works have refused to run cold Medicine commercials featuring president Bush and soviet president Mikhail s. Gorbachev unless the drug company receives the two leaders permission. Schering plough corp. Is using pictures of Bush and Gorbachev to promote its own weapon against the cold War Dri Oral. Footage of the two leaders from their recent Malta Summit is part of a television and news paper advertising Campaign that was to Start thursday. In the new year May the Only cold War in the world be the one being fought by us say the ads for the Antihistamine and nasal Diccon Gestal. Sch ring is shipping boxes of Dri Oral to the leaders of East Germany Poland Hungary Czechoslovakia Romania and Bulgaria to help ease the effects of their treacherous Winter the pharmaceutical company said in the news release. Sch ring which is spending More than s200.000 on the Campaign said the commercials marked the first time Bush and Gorbachev appeared in an and promoting a product. Sch ring did not ask for Bush s consent before Mak ing the ads said a spokesman for the company who asked not to be identified. Lbs and Abc notified the company s and Agency wednesday that they would not run the commercials without both leaders permission said Kent roman an account supervisor for the Agency pcs scr vet arc Berger Carey Schmutterer. Abc still plans to run them and sobering is considering placing them on Cable television roman said. The company will also run the ads in newspapers said Tom Ucitel a senior Brand manager for sch ring. The ads arc extremely tasteful Feitel said. We feel there s no attempt to make it appear that either of the individuals involved Are exponents for the  several principals of the and Agency worked on commercials for Bush s 1988 presidential Campaign. If the past is any indication however. Bush could object to the commercials. In other cases the White House has sent stiff cease and Decsi St warnings to companies that used the presi Dent s picture to make him appear to endorse a product. They Schering should obtain the consent of the White House and soviet authorities Matthew Margo a vice president for program practices at lbs said late wednesday. It is not appropriate to use the presi Dency to sell products he added. Margo said however that lbs would run the commercials if the leaders consented. Abc officials and presidential aides with Bush in Texas could not be reached for comment. Other . Companies ranging from Pepsico to american Telephone & Telegraph co. Have capitalized on the thaw in East West relations to promote them selves in to commercials. But these ads have not shown any political leaders appearing to endorse a specific product. Schering based in Madison n.j., is a leading maker of pharmaceuticals and health products with sales of nearly s3 billion in 1988. Shave or ship out that fringe on John magnets upper up has him splitting hairs with the Walt Disney co. Orer its ban on facial hair. Magness first officer of the Queen Mary at Long Beach calif., was ordered wednesday to shave off his Mustache or be fired. The company has already fired two other mustachioed employees of the Ocean liner. 4,800 evacuees allowed Home after Gas blast Batesville Ark. A about 4,800 residents who were evacuated after a propane explosion and fire were Al Lowed to return to their Homes thursday morning when firefighters extinguished the remaining flames. No injuries were reported at White Rodgers co. When propane surged from a faulty tank and exploded shortly before 4 . Wednesday. Workers were evacuated and people who live within a mile of the Plant were ordered from their Homes said Dale rust of the Independence county office of emergency serv ices. Officials in this town of 9,000 lifted the evacuation order shortly after 8 . By noon a Skeleton staff of about 30 had resumed work in the Plant s payroll an shipping operations. Dean Kent vice president for human resources for the company said a Small amount of vapor was still leaking from the 38-Fopt-Long tank. It was not danger Ous but it prevented investigators from immediately examining the tank he explained. Until that completely goes out we won t be Able to determine what happened Kent said. Hopefully Well find out what caused it and do what we can to prevent it from happening  the fire which had burned into the night ebbed thursday morning after workers managed to shut off one of the leaking valves that fed the flames mayor Jim Shirrell said. We re on our Way said Amy bolster of Batesville As she left a shelter set up in a Church. Her husband Lewis had two Green pillowcases under one  and worn plaid sleeping bag under his other . Sheriffs officers began pulling Back some of the roadblocks in the evacuated area at first allowing residents living in areas farthest from the Plant to return. Later All residents were allowed Back to their Homes. Workers using Gas meters had deter mined that there were no significant pro pane Vapours lingering at the Plant or in the evacuated neighbourhood while fire fighters kept their hoses trained at the tanks to Cool them. Earlier officials had expressed fears that the heat could set off blasts among other nearby tanks. The explosion sent a Large plume of smoke and fire into the sky Over Bates Ville which is located about 80 mile Northeast of Little Rock. Ten state troopers were sent to the City to help control tooting after Independence county sheriff David Hunter said there had been some reports of burglaries in the evacuated area. We re having people ripping us off out Here Hunter said. Emergency workers withdrew from the fire site about 9 . After Gas was detected in the air near the burning tank. County judge David Wyatt said. The eight firefighters who had been battling the Blaze retreated to Batesville High school about a mile away. They left three unmanned trucks with their hoses trained on the fire and Adja cent tanks. The mayor said each of the trucks pumped 1,000 Gallons of water a minute. We think we be got it stabilized right now. It should Burn itself out. If it does t rupture and explode before then rust said. We re trying to keep the tanks Cool to keep them from rupture