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Show Young 'backyard bomber' becomes fireworks whiz by Rick Brough What's red, white, and blue, explodes in the sky, and is one of the last surviving old American handicrafts? Fireworks, says Ralph Dean. Dean is the head of Fireworks West, which is staging a spectacular light display for the Egyptian Theatre's New Year's Eve gala at the Park City Resort. A highlight of the show will have the Egyptian logo lit up in colored lights. There are only five people in the Logan fireworks outfit, but Dean said the best displays are put on by the small, family firms. "We manufacture the fireworks right from scratch," he said. "That way we get a lot more variety and brilliance, and here we can use chemicals that can't be used in the East because of the humidity." He has been interested in fireworks ever since he was a boy, when he was known as "The backyard bomber." Fifteen years ago, he decided de-cided the hobby would become be-come his full-time work, and he left his studies at the George Washington Medical School in Washington, D.C. He apprenticed himself to the old veterans who were schooled in the 19th-century art of night displays. Learning Learn-ing from the masters, he said, spared him from going through much of the trial-and-error process involved in creating fireworks. "Besides, errors can sometimes be fatal," said Dean. "I'm cautious. I have never been burned or injured." in-jured." His firm experiments experi-ments on new chemical mixes in small batches. It uses a test range on Benson Marina, near the junction of the Bear and Logan Rivers. It seems unbelievable that Dean can put the Egyptian logo in exploding lights in the sky. And, to tell you the truth, it is unbelievable! The actual Egyptian display dis-play on New Year's Eve will be on the hillside, raised eight feet off the ground on fence posts. The logo will be shaped on top out of bend-able bend-able rattan wood. "Then it will be lined with hundreds of miniature flares, about the size of cigarettes and made to burn in various colors," said Dean. A master fuse linking them is lit. And the eye's persistence-of-vision does the rest, giving the illusion of one continuous symbol. The Egyptian display will take a dry to set up, said Dean. But often several days are required. The most elaborate, he said, was a 30 feet by 50 feet display of the U.S. Ski Team logo done for the Osmond Family Celebrity Cele-brity Ski Tournament last spring in Park City. It was mounted on a steel scaffolding scaffold-ing and lifted by helicopter. "We had to work it by remote control," Dean said. Most of these logo works are ground displays. "But afterward, people will remember re-member in their minds that they saw them in the sky," said Dean. Another misconception is that people think of fireworks fire-works as rockets. In the past they were, he said, but growing urbanization made it hazardous for spent rocket sticks to be dropping to the ground. "It was like a big arrow falling out of the sky," Dean said. "Now we use an aerial shell, fired out of a pipe like a mortar, that blows up in the sky." There are basically two kinds of fireworks. The spherical, which break in Past, present & future Help keep Christmas future as good and safe as Christmas past. For a Christmas gift with glowing tradition, give U.S. Savings Bonds. large circles, are obtained from Chinese and Japanese manufacturers. "They're nice, but like too much whipped cream on your dessert, they can get monotonous," mon-otonous," said Dean. The second kind is cylindrical, giving more variety in duration, dura-tion, color, and noise. Since starting his business, Dean has devised new techniques tech-niques and formulations. His firm has furnished displays for most of the large shows in the Intermountain West, including in-cluding the Colorado State Fair and Lagoon. Disney World has also asked to look at their work. The Park City show will be about 8 to 10 minutes long, Dean said. For further information on the fireworks and other New Year's Eve entertainment, call the Egyptian Egyp-tian at 649-9371. Ski conditions Resorts in the Park City area are reporting excellent skiing conditions as the season continues to shape up as one of the best in recent years. As the Park City News went to press, local facilities all were reporting nearly a half foot of new powder with more of the same on the way, according to the National Weather Service. Individual breakdowns are as follows: PARK CITY Four inches of new snow brings the total depth to 62 inches. Conditions are very good on powder and packed powder surface. Sixty-six of the resorts' sixty-nine runs are open. As of mid-day Wednesday, Wed-nesday, all lifts were in operation but earlier in the week wind gusts of up to 80 miles an hour towards the top of the mountain forced the closing of Jupiter. PARKWEST The current total snow depth is 50 inches, in-ches, with four inches freshly fallen. Conditions are excellent ex-cellent on powder and packed powder surfaces. All lifts and runs are open. DEER VALLEY Five inches of new snow leaves a total of 55 on the ground. All lifts are operating and skiing is excellent on powder and packed powder surfaces. sur-faces. The National Weather Service says to expect more of the white stuff in the next 48 hours, with chances of snow becoming less likely as the weekend unfolds. An upper level trough and an associated cold front are currently moving through the area. Temperatures should range from daytime highs in the 30s to nightime lows in the low 20s or high teens. Pari' News, Thursday, December 23. 1982 Page A 13 Tips ffir h& apocalypse by Jeff Howrey Some of the most monumental words of wisdom in history have originated in the dugouts of America's baseball stadiums. In terms of American culture, to manage a professional baseball team bestows on one the sort of wisdom possessed in bygone eras by the likes of Plato and King Solomon. But neither of those two old wise guys ever said anything as telling about their respective societies as major league baseball managers have. It was Billy Martin, for instance, who said, "I make the rules but I don't have to follow them." Leo Durocher put it even more succinctly many years ago when he said, "Nice guys finish last." The reason Durocher's remark became famous is because it's true. Nice guys usually do finish last. All of which came to mind after viewing last week's New York Jets game on the tube. Playing in Miami in a crucial conference game, the Jets had the Dolphins' fans riled up late in the close contest. On a particularly important play, Jets quarterback Richard Todd faded back to pass but was thoroughly creamed by charging Dolphin defenders. On the next play he was brutally sacked again. Nothing unusual, right? But alter both plays, Todd lay on the ground a long time before getting to his feet. He seemed to be seriously injured. Both times, the Miami fans screamed their fool heads off with delight. They were happy because it looked like the opposing team's star quarterback might be out of the game. In other words, those thousands of assembled Americans were happy that another human being was writhing in pain on the field below. Nice thought, huh? It was one of the most vicious mass spectacles inside a sporting arena since those crazed Yankee fans poured over the outfield walls during the 1977 World Series and brutally attacked players and each other in a post-game frenzy. Before that ugly riot, you'd have to go way back to find an incident similar to last Sunday's. Perhaps there are some parallels in the way the Romans gleefully sent the Christians into the Colosseum. Nice guys finish last. Putting the Roman Empire aside, winning has become everything in America. To lose is the worst sin of all. Competition is intense, both on and off the playing field. It's such intense competition in our economic system that is at least partly to blame for the fact that countless millions of our citizens are unemployed this Christmas. It's survival of the fittest in a tough (or sometimes nonexistent) job market. Such intense competition will sometimes make a man or woman do anything to get by. Whatever it takes. Such intense competition is one of the reasons many of America's toddlers are asking department store Santas to get Mom and Dad a job for Christmas. Those kids understood months ago they wouldn't be getting any toys. The problem is much bigger than kids not getting toys for Christmas. Intense competition on an international level will eventually result in apocalypse. -Superpowers compete just like you and I do. Nice guys finish last. Maybe so. But even nice guys have their limits. They can only take so much. One of these days all the Leo Durochers and Billy Martins of this world are going to turn around and find themselves facing a whole horde of pissed-off nice guys with vengeance in their eyes. Nice guys eventually get their revenge. Nice guys know patience is a virtue. So remember, this week's tip for the apocalypse is NICE GUYS CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH. Now get outta here, you Park City knuckleheads, I can't take much more. Hey, I'm serious about this.... (prospector. J? 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MAN JL V 1 AND ASSOCIATES 592 Main St., Park City 649-1602 mi mm wBiSESMss m - AT FARE CITY APRES SKI MUSIC czf-- HAPPY HOUR 12 price drinks 5:00 6:00 Discount coupons accepted on all items including drinks. Live Entertainment The Bel-Aires, Rock 'n Roll Thursday & Friday 8:30-12:30 Dancing 8:30-12:30 Monday Night is Taco Night All the tacos you can eat for $2.00 while watching Monday night football on wide screen TV UJU gooc pooc Jl8 2 2Z, prj |