Ifs all even: A ccess: Authority lets 8th use Mayfair / page 3 Cards explode to Series/page 9 % UFOs; Coventry man is a believer / page 13 aurln^atrrManchester — A City nf Village Charm HrralJi Thursday, Oct. 22,1987 30 Cents L’Ambiance penalties $5.11 million I By Christopher Callahan The National Bureau of Stand­ „Tlte Associated Press the steel collar to bend. The jack overall sense of employer compla­ federal safety standards. The com­ ■ Bridgeport officials ards concluded that L ’Ambiance rod slipped out, allowing the three cency for essential workplace pany was fined a total of $2.52 Plaza collapsed as workers were slabs to fall and triggering a chain safety considerations,” he said. WASHINGTON - A Jacking and victims of the million, the second-largest ever lifting three concrete slabs Into reaction that brought both wings of Bridgeport Mayor Thomas Bucci proposed against a single company. oi System used to lift concrete floor L'Ambiance Plaza col­ place on the ninth, tenth and the 13-story structure down in a said he was "terribly upset with the It was the contractor that carried ai slabs into place triggered the April lapse are disturbed by eleventh floors of the building’s matter of seconds, they said. behavior (of the contractors) as out the so-called lift-slab construc­ al |Collapse of a half-built Bridgeport, west tower on April 23. C ” We found obvious design defi­ determined by OSHA. ... An ounce tion method. IConn., apartment complex that findings that fundamen­ b( A rod connected to a hydraulic ciencies in a listing system that of pre caution would have pre­ TPMI-Macomber, the primary ;killed 28 workers, the government tal safety practices fc jack atop a steel column slipped out could have been easily detected vented this catastrophe.” contractor and project manager, said today in announcing a record could have prevented 'o f a U-shaped opening in a steel with an engineering analysis, but The $5.11 million in total fines is was cited for identical violations $5.11 million in penalties against O the tragedy. bracket that was embedded in the this was not done even after the the highest ever proposed as the because it was contracturally re­ contractors. ni ninth-floor slab and used to hoist the system failed on two occasions result of a single incident. sponsible for overall health and . John A. Pendergrass, assistant — story on page 8 w floor into position, according to a prior to the L ’Ambiance collapse.” OSHA, which worked with the safety at the site, OSHA said. It was secretary of the Occupational National Bureau of Standards Pendergrass said. bureau on the investigation, cited fined a total of $2.48 million. Safety and Health Administration, basic fundamental engineering report. ’’Furthermore, we found a patt­ Texstar Construction Ck>rp. of San said the six-month investigation practices, a factor directly related Federal researchers said the load ern of sloppy construction practices Antonio, Texas, with 238 instances T revealed "a serious disregard for to the cause of collapse.” placed on one of the jacks caused throughout the project and an of alleged wilfull violations of Please tom It page 8 I Stock markets H all em pty for forum remain wobbly on bonding By Peter Coy The decline in the United States Bv Nancy Concelmon .The Associated Press followed a sharp drop in London Herald Reporter stock prices this morning. ' NEW YORK — Stocks seesawed Stock prices In Tokyo finished At 7p.m. Wednesday, the Knights Violently today after falling sharply today’s session higher, but well off of Cohimbus Lodge at 138 Main St. in Europe, reflecting persistent their high point of the day. Later, In was ready. anxiety about financial markets London, stock prices tumbled, and The podium and microphone that are still wobbly from the the key Financial ’Times-Stock were in place, and 72 chairs were historic collapse earlier this week. Exchange 100-share index was off set up for the 7:30 informational The key Dow Jones average of 30 153 points to 1,374.3, wiping out its forum on the bonding issue for the industrial stocks careened 140 record one-day gain of 142.2 points. Mall at Buckiand Hills. points lower in the first hour of U.S. The money pouring into the At 7:15, one person sat near the trading as sell orders swamped government securities market back of the hall. buyers on the New York Stock pushed down yields sharply. The At 7:50, Mayor Barbara B. 2 Exchange, but then the average' yield on the three-month Treasury Weinberg walked into a hall oon- regained 100 points and stood at bill fell to 5.1 percent by mldmom- teliiiiif six peo|de and two Knights 1,980.60, down 47.25 by 11 a.m. Ing, down from 5.64 percent late df Oolumbus representatives. The The wild swing in prices came Wednesday, and the yield on the site plan for the mall was unfolded, three days after the stunning 30-year Treasury bond fell to 9.1 and at 8 p.m. Weinberg was ready to address 11 people. One backed I decline that erased 508 points from percent from 9.45 percent. the Dow average and more than a The stock volatility indicated the bond issue; the rest opposed it. half-trillion dollars from U.S: persistent nervousness among in­ Edward "Boland, a Knightsilgh of stocks in WalJ Street’s worst crisis vestors about the health of the Columbus nnember, said he thought since the Crash of 1929. world economy following the panic the turnout would be better. “ I 2 N Brokers attributed part of the this guess anybody who wants to know that began Monday and erased Got morning’s early decline to a whole­ more than $I trillion worth of stock about the mall knows about it by now.” leal sale migration into the bond market value In 24 hours. “ There have been a lot of pla; by panicky investors who wanted to The New York Stock Exchange opportunities to hear about it,” Bril put their money in a relatively safe today continued to restrict compiu- Weinberg said. “ It’s always a fine place. Bond prices jumped as a terized program trading, which has T line. How do you define how much result. been blamed for wild swings in two information is enough?” Some brokers saw some hope in prices. Nai So Weinberg began her explana­ the announcement that several The Dow Jones industrial aver­ tion of the bonding, along with major U.S. banks dropped their age posted its biggest one-day point Am Ronald Osella, a Republican candi­ prime lending rate from 9.25 gain on Wednesday, rising to whi date for the Board of Directors, and percent to9 percent. Lowerborrow- 2,027.85, but the rally failed to HariM photo by Kool Exi Town Director Peter P. DIRosa Jr„ ing costs historically have been sustain itself as trading moved to daj who came in later. Director Geof­ welcomed by Wall Street. foreign markets. E Talking heads frey Naab, also scheduled to Money poured into government appear, was in Philadelphia, Wein­ left securities, pushing down yields. Ventriloquist Judy Buch of Southington puppets perform using three topics: the berg said. inti ' ’The loss of momentum seemed to ■ Major banks lo­ performs with Charlie, a clown who can’t importance of reading, the exploration "W e are a small group, so maybe wit reflect continued nervousness we can have some give and take,” to 1 wered their prime lend­ among investors about the health of read, Wednesday morning at Bolton of America's ethnic heritage, and the Weinberg said. “ Some of you may I the world economy following the dangers of drugs. ing rates by a quarter Elementary School. Buch and her want to leave early and save your Ho; panic that began Monday and percentage point today fire and questions for Tuesday.” A chi wiped out more than $1 trillion presentation on the bondlngissueto the to 9 percent. worth of stocks’ value in a 24-hour the Manchester Property Owners Gri period. ■ At the request of the Association is scheduled ’Tuesday Chi In Tokyo, the 225-share Nikkei Poet wins Nobel in literature at 7:30 p.m. at Whiton Memorial New York Stock Ex­ stock average was up nearly 730 prie Library. change, a number of points at midday but gave up STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Czeslaw Milosz, the 1980 Nobel Never a political dissident, major Wall Street firms ground to close up 457.05 points at Russian-American poet Joseph laureate, hailed Brodsky as a Brodsky was forced to leave the The issue of higher taxes domi­ Brodsky, a former Soviet labor nated the dlscu^ion. "You can ^ v e D( today halted program 24,404.45. One day earlier, the major poet whose "strong presence Soviet Union in 1972 after authori­ average had-a record single-day camp inmate who gained world ... has needed less than a decade to ties accused him of being a social us this song and dance about the trading for their own gain of more than 2,000 points. renown after he was forced into establish itself in world poetry.” parasite. He was visiting London fact that we’re not paying for it but E accounts. Stock prices were down at exile, won the Nobel Prize in The Polish-bom Milosz, also a when the prize was announced. we are paying for it,” said Russell Tel midday on the London Stock literature today. naturalized U.S. citizen, was the The poet underwent open-heart Smyth of 48 Strawberry Lane.