The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 10

THIRD THE MORNING CALL SECTION DJOXGM, WEATHER B2 POLICE B2 DEATHS B18 DECEMBER 9, 1990 After 40 years, a place of his own Don't limit the debates to ribbons Many of the streams are still tainted with yellow boy, the coating on rocks that indicates pollution from coal mine workings, and the dominant scenic features are ugly mountains of culm like Kerrigan a similar opportunity, although so far only Kerrigan and two other people in the state have taken the big step of moving out on their own. But Helen Powers, coordinator of the effort for the state Department of Public Welfare's Office of Social Programs, says that as many as 40 people are in one stage or another of preparing themselves to live independently. In the end, even fewer might choose to take up residence in the community as they realize the challenges they will face away from the protected environment of the skilled nursing centers where they reside. Still, by providing the money for the home care attendants and the special equipment they need to be able to get along outside the setting of a nursing home, the government for the first time is offering a choice that people like Kerrigan never thought they'd receive. Indeed, Kerrigan says that being given a chance to make decisions for himself is the greatest satisfaction he has received since he moved away from the Good Shepherd Home.

He says it makes the other adjustments he has had to face worthwhile. "I can make my own decisions and choices," says Kerrigan. "Friends help me choose, but the last word is me." Kerrigan moved to Ridge Manor, an apartment house in Emmaus managed by By BOB WITTMAN Of The Morning Call For 40 years, James Kerrigan's biggest wish in life was to have a home of his own. Severely disabled with cerebral palsy, Kerrigan had been living at the Good Shepherd Home since 1950. Now, a new state program mandated by federal law is able to provide Kerrigan with the assistance he needs to be able to live independently in the community.

At 63 years of age, he moved to his first apartment in October. Pennsylvania's Community Services Program for Persons with Physical Disabilities is giving hundreds of other people tate opens wnth a rr1 Xt.Z'zZ'X I ,73 bfeaatf a ffy Js the Lehigh County Housing Authority, on Oct. 1. The state, through its program contractor, Resources for Living Independently, helped him acquire some spare furnishings a dinette table, a couple of chairs, a sofa, a bed. In time.

Resources for Living Independently hopes to be able to buy him a hospital bed that would better suit his needs and a motorized wheelchair that would ease his mobility when he attempts trips on his own to the stores nearby in the center of town. But the service that is key to Kerrigan's ability to survive in the community Please See NEW LIFE Page B8 lounsh By GEOFF GEHMAN Of The Morning Call Gregory Hines scanned the auditorium of the State Theatre in Easton, which reopened with a flourish last evening before a packed house of more than 1,500. "This is like this is a he said with the same jazzy gusto he injected into his dancing and singing. "This is a real Words seemed inadequate, so he broke into the first line of "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning." There was an overwhelming warmth in the refurbished performing-arts center, and it wasn't just the work of a new heat ing system. It was produced by Hines' brilliant tap ping, the aroused crowd and the theater itself.

The recently cleaned chandelier, the recently uncovered stencils, the recently replastered griffin-and-swagging exit signs everything had a new-old luster. Heads were swiveling like the searchlight out on Northampton Street. Necks craned, jutted and just about boomeranged when a certain blue-eyed, silver-haired actor was introduced. Also known as a competitive racecar driver, Paul Newman was the guest of Mario Andretti, race-car champion, Nazareth resident and member of the State's honorary board. His spotlit welcome was nearly as bright as the newly gilded serpents on the facade of the galleon-stern box in which he was seated.

Newman was saluted during introductory remarks that delayed the start of the Hines-Dionne Warwick show by about half an hour. Please See GALA Page B7 be reborn The renovated State Theatre in Easton J.F. KAINZ Special to The Morning Call is the focus of reception for contributors in the Acopian Room. and overbur den that stretch for miles. The Panther Valley has the look and feel of hard times.

It has probably Paul Carpenter always felt emmmmmmmmmm that way, even when anthracite was king. The valley's towns also have the look of places that rarely change. I have been there a hundred times without noticing much that was new, until Friday. On Friday, especially in the town of Lansford, there were the yellow ribbons. I've wandered all over the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas during the past week or two and saw a lot of towns that had a lot of yellow ribbons.

People put them on doors, trees, fences and lamp posts as gestures of support for American hostages and troops in the Persian Gulf. But Lansford stands out. There are yellow ribbons everywhere. On many blocks, virtually every house has them. 1 asked Mayor John Pol-umbo why Lansford had so many more ribbons than other towns.

"I don't know why." he said. "It's the coal region. The people in the coal region are a different breed." Is that because of tough times? "It's possibly so, yeah." he said. The people in the coal region stick together during tough times, and there is a legacy of tough times. Also, about 15 young Lansford men are now serving in the Persian Gulf, Polumbo noted.

"I had made mention of the fact that we should display them the ribbons in honor of the boys also for the hostages." So the people of Lansford and the other Panther Valley towns are showing where their hearts are. In many areas, however, the display of yellow ribbons has become They are too simplistic and offer an opportunity for mischief by politicians. controversial. Some people, myself included, think they are too simplistic and offer an opportunity for mischief by politicians. We still remember Vietnam and the way that gestures of support for American servicemen were twisted into justification for a perverted policy.

Quakertown is embroiled in a particularly nasty argument after ribbons were placed on public street lights and then removed by the borough. Although some people huffed about patriotism, it turned out the Quakertown ribbons carried advertising for a real estate company. Other people, such as members of peace groups, feel that the ribbons tend to take us away from the real issues. "I don't want to be involved in the yellow ribbon debate," said Lepoco's Nancy Tate. "There are other things to be debated." She is right about that, of course.

If people genuinely want to support U.S. troops, it's not unreasonable to argue for getting them out of harm's way. If that's not possible, we must never again risk their lives for an ambiguous cause. And there is another lesson from Vietnam: that there was a very good reason for Article 1 Section 8, paragraph 1 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which says that war is the business of Congress.

The Vietnam war was conducted the way it was partly because nearly every facet of it was rooted in deceit and the deceit happened because it was illegal from the start. Two arrogant presidents, Johnson and Nixon, did not trust the Congress and the American people with the truth. In those days, we let the flag become the symbol of polarization. Thank heavens we now have a less emotive symbol, and we now have two factors not present in Vietnam the existence of a clearly aggressive regime and the support of the world community. But the threat of polarization is still there.

In addition to showing support for troops and hostages with ribbons, we must therefore tackle the thorny issues openly. Is it moral to support the Iraqis and other monster regimes when they butcher people we don't care about, and then to get belligerent if they mess with our source of oil? Are we going to let Israel be similarly expansionist? Is Congress ever going to do its constitutional job? With all of that in mind, the simple gestures still mean something. An area that knows about tough times reaches out to other Americans facing tough times. Let's just make sure our think ing and our involvement in the de-bale don't stop with yellow ribbons. More women winning bigger roles in active, reserve armed forces one will decide what kind of Army-issue underwear they want.

"The Army wants to know whether you want boxers or briefs." shouted Scott, whose long blond hair was tucked under a camouflaged fatigue hat during the briefing one afternoon late last week. As recent as a decade ago, it would have been unusual to find a young woman in combat boots dishing out orders to veteran National Guardsmen old enough to be her father and arranging to supply them with everything from bullets to boxer shorts. Not anymore. As Operation Desert Shield unfolds, women like Scott are playing a larger-than-ever role in the nation's active and Please See WOMEN Page B3 rrimrimiiT 11 a in mmm il il DAN DeLONG The Morning Call Platoon leader 2nd Lt. Marci Scott, left, talks with Specialist Stephen Tice of Frystown and the 728th company of Lock Haven as Sgt.

Yvette Cooper of Harrisburg, active National Guard, looks on. Easton struggling to By RON DEVLIN Of The Morning Call In a dingy supply room at Fort Indiantown Gap, where a fire in a potbelly stove blazed away, 2nd Lt. Marci Scott rattled off orders with all the authority of a crusty old drill sergeant. Sitting on the edge of a table that has been around since World War II, surrounded by the 30 men and two women under her command, the petite 24-year-old supply officer of the 3623rd Maintenance Company from Bethlehem briefed her platoon on its training schedule. Everyone will draw a weapon.

Everyone will undergo weapons training. Everyone will become proficient in the use of a gas mask. And, before leaving the briefing, every Downtown An empty storefront mars Easton's JiM ..1 H't Mi 1 is tjl J-J 7-7r I 111: I I It By MICHAEL J. THOMAS Of The Morning Call Norman Mintz greets the mention of downtown Easton with a sigh that betrays his disappointment. "Easton is the one city I just can't figure out." says Mintz, a senior associate for the Project for Public Spaces Inc.

of New York City, who makes his living helping citizens groups resurrect their downtowns. "More than any community I visit I see a fantastic amount of community interest and resources, yet nothing being done. It's a tremendous enigma." Through the years the battle to revitalize Downtown Easton has resembled a trench war a bitter fight to remain stationary. During the past decade, the city spent more than $40 million on improvements much of it on a downtown that retains a forlorn, abandoned look. Just as the newly restored State Theater is about to open, two other downtown keystones the Hotel Easton and the Alpha Building went bankrupt, and the city announced it has gone $800,000 in the red.

-7-7. in' I If Northampton Street '7, i L-a Add to these the more than 40 vacant buildings and toss in a national economic recession. Yet amid these difficulties, a strain of optimism persists. "It was worse 10 years ago during the recession, when inflation was high." said Roger Barlow, owner of Easton Jewelers. "I've gotten through rough times before.

I'm optimistic we'll survive this as well." The new revitalization efforts in Easton will be more diffuse as much energy and money will be expended on large as on small projects, according to Redevelopment Authority Chairman Joe Milutis. The city is less inclined to gamble these days. When the Hotel Easton declared bankruptcy, it took $700,000 of federal grant money, lent by the city, with it. Mayor Sal Panto recently announced that the city would subsidize the salary of a downtown retail manager for one year, then gradually phase out of the arrangement over the next two years as downtown merchants subsidize the salary. Initially, the manager would report to the Please See EASTON Page B4.