The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 13

SECTION Pen Argyl probes officer's use of car PAGE B3 Advent ceremony draws hundreds PAGE B2 MONDAY DECEMBER 3, 2001 THE MORNING CALL Eventhebest OiDirsfl: dud dira draws teiraiini scenario is at dSmieir day before Buds captiure outrageous 'He looked funny, waitress says of When I Inducted Michael Solomon into my Hall of Fame last year, I noted that he had fugitive's brown wig and white mustache. established impressive credentials long Slaying suspect had a cup of coffee. before all hell broke loose in the Northampton County Government Center. Solomon By CHUCK AYERS Of The Morning Call The cross-dressing side of captured fugitive Robert deserved strong consideration just night. "He looked really ridiculous because of his wig," McCormick said.

"He stuck out like a sore thumb. He wasn't dressed like a millionaire like they say he is. He looked crazy." There have been reports that Durst was seen around the Red Roof Inn at Airport Road and Route 22, Hanover Township, Lehigh County. But Durst wasn't staying there, at least not under his name or the alias he used to lease his car, according to hotel officials. Durst had been on the run from authorities since he failed to appear for arraignment Oct.

16 in Galveston. He disappeared after posting $300,000 bail. Police also suspect he is responsible for his wife's disappearance in 1982. He has also been investigated in the slaying of a close female friend, Susan Berman, on Christmas Eve 2000 in west Los Angeles. ress at the family-owned restaurant that is a few stoplights from the Wegmans where Durst would be apprehended the next day for allegedly shoplifting.

With $500 in his pocket and reportedly with access to millions of dollars more, Durst was collared by Wegmans store security Friday for trying to steal a sandwich and Band-Aid, police said. When taken into custody by Colonial Regional police, Durst was discovered to be wanted by police in Texas on charges of killing his neighbor Morris Black, cutting him into pieces with a saw, stuffing the pieces into garbage bags and disposing of them in Galveston Bay. At the Golden View, Durst sat on a stool at the counter and ordered a cup of coffee that he took his time sipping about a half-hour by McCormick's clock before tipping his waitress 50 cents and leaving. McCormick said Durst's attire was a spectacle that drew the attention of every employee working that Durst found its way into the Golden View Diner on Route 512 for a cup of coffee Thursday night. on the basis of his reputation as the Valley's most flamboyant, if sometimes inept, By one account, it wasn't a pretty picture.

Durst, looking nothing like the wealthy real estate knee-to-the-groin heir he is, wore a brown woman's wig that clashed campaign strate Bill White gist, and for a personality that clownishly with his white mustache, according to diner employees. See DURST Page B6 is truly unique, "He looked funny," said Brenda McCormick, a wait- wrote. "But when he was swept into power as the architect of Glenn Rem-man's county executive election landslide, he became a hubris-ridden, walking, talking, crashing, burning Greek tragedy, the poster boy tor an administration gone horribly wrong. His finances and political career in rums, Solomon has been in seclusion for months. Things could get much worse, depending on how a federal investigation into county corruption comes out." Last week, they got much worse.

A federal grand jury indicted Solo mon on 25 counts of mail fraud, alleg ing among other things that he used his influence to funnel commissions on county insurance policies into a sham company he created. His illegal schemes netted nun more than $250,000, the indictment says. He faces a possible 125 years jail and $6.25 million in fines. The man alleged to be his partner I i in crime, insurance broker Gary Chro-miak, has pleaded guilty to a single count of mail fraud. His lawyer said he'll testify against Solomon.

It was common knowledge that Solomon was likely to be charged with something. But the indictment paints a picture of carefully planned corruption that goes beyond the expected revelations of trading jobs and contracts for campaign contributions. And although Reibman has insisted that no one in his current administration is a target of the investigation, the indictment raises questions that strike at the heart of his leadership. Hilltown, Perkasie study fire merger The two companies will explore whether it makes sense to combine departments and share emergency equipment. By M.

GLEAVES-HIRSCH Of The Morning Call Faced with a lingering shortage of volunteers, the Hilltown and Perkasie fire companies in Bucks County are studying whether it makes sense to combine their departments and share everything from expertise to equipment. Officials from the two fire companies stress that their talks are the first step in what probably will be a long process, and add they've made no decisions. Yet the chiefs of both departments believe a merger may offer several benefits: less duplication of equipment, the ability to purchase supplies in bulk and less expensively, and a more efficient, coordinated response to fires. "To me, it just makes sense that we work together for a common goal," said Tim Metzler, chief of the Perkasie Fire Company. "Everybody's facing manpower shortages.

Plus, we're already training together, which makes firefighting a whole lot easier. fire company A and fire company respond to a fire, get off the truck and do things the same way, things just run more smoothly," he said. Fire officials hope to meet by the end of the year to begin discussions, Metzler said, but they did not set a deadline to complete their talks. "We won't make a decision for a while." Hilltown Fire Chief Robert H. Grunmeier said.

Representatives of the Dublin Fire Company will listen to the discussions, but the nearby Silverdale Fire Company won't participate, Hilltown fire officials said. Speculation has been rampant in the Government Center that Solomon will cut a deal and drag other county officials into the abyss with him. But that pretty pessimistic. So 'ft's a nice view from up here, Solomon said. ED LANDROCK The Morning Call Janet Corado packs items from her N.

Church Street home in Allentown. She faced eviction under the city's disruptive conduct ordinance for playing her music too loud. She wants to move despite landlord's OK to stay. Law called culturally biased let's put the best possible face on what happened: Let's assume that neither Reibman nor anyone else in the administration had any knowledge of criminal activity, and that there were no criminal schemes beyond those laid out in the indictment. Unfortunately, to accept that, we also must assume that Reibman took "This is America, and this is my house.

They are not telling me how to live in my house." Frances Escalera the Lehigh Valley's most controversial and arrogant political operative and limits how loudly Escalera and other renters, especially in center city, may play their stereos and televisions. If a renter is cited three times in a year for "disruptive conduct" loud music, rowdy arguments, too much trash the landlord must evict that renter or risk losing his or her city license to rent. "What kind of law is this?" asked Escalera, who is fighting the eviction. The law is discriminatory, some city activists said, because it doesn't take cultural differences into account. "The law targets people who tend to listen to their music a little loud," said Allentown lawyer David Vaida.

"We know who they are: Latinos." handed him the power to draw up and Allentown mother of 4 faces eviction under the city's disruptive conduct edict. She says it unfairly targets Latinos. By EDGAR SANDOVAL Of The Morning Call Frances Escalera is feeling somewhat defiant as she turns up the volume slightly on her 60-inch television set making it loud enough, she says, for her four children to hear cartoons as they eat their cereal. "This is America, and this is my house," she says. "They are not telling me how to live in my house." Turning up the volume on her televi- award county contracts, not to men tion power over hiring and firing coun ty employees, reshaping important county departments and authorities, and planning the county's economic future.

And then didn't monitor what he was doing! sion and stereo has gotten Escalera into trouble. She and her children, ages 1 to 6, face eviction from their center city apartment. Three strikes. She's out. A 2-year-old Allentown ordinance Under this scenario, Reibman could See FIRE Page B6 See LAW Page B5 be an honest man.

But he also would have to be a monumental dope whose misjudgment and irresponsibility cast his administration into well-deserved scandal and almost certainly would have cost him a second term if the Republicans had produced any more viable candidate than Ron Angle. And that's the best scenario. Unfortunately for Reibman and company, even if the feds stop with Change in deer season, balmy weather leave carcasses piling up Solomon, anotner snoe more line a bia Armv boot hasn't dropped yet. That's the state investigation into the fishv financing of several Democratic County Council campaigns a couple of years ago. Investigators nave oeen Drobine allegations that money from Reibman's campaign war chest secretly was funne ed into the campaigns or Democratic candidates represented by Solomon.

While we're waiting, it's interesting to recall Solomon's words as a Morning I II Call "Person to Watch in a story published not long after he and Reibman took office. "It's a nice view from up here," over a year ago for the first week of hunting, Danenhower said. "It's a big change real fast," he said. To keep pace, Danenhower and his employees have been logging 14-hour days, but he said he feels sorry for the butchers who are trying to keep up with the workload. The balmy temperatures and lots of deer forced Plainfield Township butcher Stewart Kessler to lease two 53-foot refrigerated trailers to hold the carcasses until they can be processed.

The rifle deer season began last Monday, and hunters have brought In 900 deer so far. "They are coming In at a pace twice what they were last year," Kessler said. "We got about 300 the first day that's double what it was last year." "It's not like there are more doer," Buck or doe are game, making butchers so busy they're turning away people. By CHRIS PARKER And BOB LAYLO Of The Morning Call The state's first combined doe and buck season since 1906 and unusually warm weather have butchers and taxidermists under the gun. The change has resulted In a glut of carcasses that must be kept cold or they will spoil.

"It's a double whammy because the weather is not cooperating," said Bob Danenhower, owner of Bob's Wildlife Taxidermy in Orefield. He said the change In hunting season caused an overabundance of work that had been spread out in past years. Business was up 25 percent Solomon said from the fourth floor of the Government Center. "I'm not sure if I want it to be permanent, but I feel like my presence will be felt no matter which path 1 decide to take. He had that right.

MICHAEL KUBEL Th8 Morning Call Sunset over Allentown Columnist Bill White bill.whitea mcall.com A red sky blazes as the sun sets behind the PPL building in Allentown Sunday. Today's forecast for the Lehigh Valley calls for parly sunny weather and highs in the mid-50s. See DEER Page B6.