European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 03, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                J Raffaelo Pep the checker Czar h trying to deep new York City trademark cabs on the streets. Not Mechanic preserves a  the new York times red with a welding Torch and socket wrench Raffaele Pepe is staving off the extinction of a cherished piece of new York culture the lovable lumbering checker cab. There Are Only 10 checkers still on the Road in new York City out of More than 11,000 yellow taxis and Pepe s Auto shop in Astoria part of new Yolk City is their Tibet of Call. The cabs now make up a fraction of his business. But having clocked an average of 500,000 Miles each on the City s pockmarked streets they Are his biggest Challenge. Like a lifelong family doctor Pepe wearing a grease splotches Blu Bandana Over his head knows which cabs had engine transplants which struggle with rusting rears and which Are due for a tuneup. While there Are other mechanics in the area who occasionally service checkers Pepe is generally acknowledged to be the ultimate authority. He s the checker Czar said Bernard m. Higgins publisher of taxi talk a Trade newspaper. Donald e. Mckinley president of the 900-member checker car club of America said of Pepe he s the last of the old checker craftsmen. On the East coast he s the Man. He s it spotting a checker which looks something like an overstuffed Holiday Bird makes the heart of Many City wednesday nevmber9.1f99 past new yorkers try to Hall a cab. Dwellers beat faster. It conjures up images of a bygone new York where Pennsylvania station outshone grand Central where couples met under the clock at the Biltmore hotel and the Al rumbled above third Avenue. Riding in a checker can be the Day s highlight with an Ocean of leg room two Jaunty jump seats and a Back seat. That thrusts passengers High above the Road the rotund cab feels More like an Airship than a car. It has appeared in Frothy movies breakfast at Tiffany and sinister ones taxi driven and so identified is the checker with new York City that even characters in films set in the present have no trouble hailing one As in the Manhattan scene at the Climax of sleepless in Seattle. Pepe s reputation extends internationally. A few years ago a woman drove her checker from Ontario Canada to his shop for a restoration which included a hot Pink paint Job. Recently a Man came from Jamaica the Island not the neighbourhood in search of checker parts. I Pepe s son Lou owns a checker cab that is so souped up it rarely. Comes out from under its Canvas cover in Pepe s shop. The car is painted a candied Apple red and boasts a 350-horsepower engine four barrelled Carburettor Sunroof red leather seats tinted windows Basket spoke rims and in place of a Muffler Chrome Side pipes. Everyone thinks i m crazy Lou Pepe said explaining that his Peers lean toward the shelter Samaros and corvettes. Checker cabs should Grace the streets of new York City for at least a few More years. Most Likely their disappearance will be due to their Drivers retirements not their Oliv deterioration. For a current owner there is no age limit on a taxi As Long it passes inspection every four months. But if it s a new owner the car can t be More than 24 months old said Susan d. Feinstein a spokeswoman for the new York City taxi and limousine commission. Neither Lou Pepe nor his father seem too sentimental about the checker cab s Fate however. Lou Pepe says he would sell his checker tomorrow if the Price were right what Are you going to do asked his father. They re a memory. Maybe it s better that  Short subject now you too Ca n understand Congress by Mike Feinsilber the associated press Here s confirmation of what Many citizen shave Long suspected a dictionary can be helpful in understanding what Congress 3 say ing. So one has been written. The Congress dictionary the ways and meanings of Capitol Hill by Washington writers Paul Dickson and Paul Clancy tells what a 500-Pound Gorilla Island what a congressman does when he goes against the  it reveals Why a senator might be called a sea warmer and what  stood Tor it stood for the select committee to conduct a study and investigation of All matters relating to the need for adequate supplies of newsprint printing and wrapping paper paper products paper pulp and plywood. The committee with perhaps in the greatest accumulation of initials in congressional history sat just after world War ii. Like All clubs egress has its own jargon. Congre stalk. Tends to be Blunt hard bitten irreverent and. Cynical. Eat the carpet for example is what endangered nominees do at confirmation. Hearings to make amends they crawl. To Bald did it after news that she hired an illegal alien to care for her child jeopardized her nomination to become Bill Clinton s attorney general. The revelation had put her on the Slippery slope As they say in Congress. A neighbourhood Guy in this Book is a congressman who closely identifies with his District. A love fest is an overt display of bipartisanship. A lawyer s Bill is legislation bound to generate Law cases if passed. Ink is publicity As in he gets a lot of  some terms have seeped from Capitol Hill into currency. You d really have to be outside the Beltway not to know that inside the Beltway refers to the parochialism an political inside risk of Washington. And everyone knows or can guess the meaning of perk numbers Cruncher Midnight pay raise and Quick  but who knows about air Congress it s the 89th military Airlift Wing at Andre Wpafb my. An audit showed that in one Yea it devoted 16 percent of its flights to transporting members of Congress and their families. A "500-Pound Gorilla sits where it wants to and becomes a problem that can t be ignored. Sen. Byron Dorgan d-n.d., Back when he was a . Representative told the House this Isa 500-Pound Gorilla. We Are talking about deficits of enormous  members of Congress who go against the mail May be Brave or Foolhardy. They vote against the apparent wishes of constituents. But sea warmers can vote As they like. They Are senators appointed by a governor to fill vacancies with the understanding they will not run in the next election. Congress us a language of its own. This Tais and stripes