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Show DESERET NEWS, TUESDAY, MAY Atlanta dresses up to woo conventions ATLANTA, Ga. The 1,100-rooPeachtree Plaza Hotel, which opened here in January, is one of three new- hotels (total cost about $190 million) with which Atlanta will vie with other ll.S. cities for a bigger share of the convention trade. Atlanta's growth in convention business has seen total spending by conventioneers jump from $27 million in 1905 to more than $100 million in 1975, according to Jim Hurst of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau. He hopes the new hotels and a convention center soon to open will double that. figure by 1979. A half acre lake, rimmed with trees, forms the floor of the Peachtrees seven-storlobby. The glint of jewelry and the sweep of guests' long gowns is set against the sound of bubbling fountains. All this opulence reflects the prosperity of the new South. So does the $40 charge for a single room. The lobby is a total inside environmental experience, really tantamount to a museum, declares Joseph Guilbault, who manages the Peachtree for the Western International Hotels chain. There are bird cages. At one time we had fish in the lake but they didnt work out. We have an ichthyologist working on how goldfish can live in that environment successfully. Atlanta boosters point to the concentration of first-clas- s hotel rooms in a area of downtown and the September opening of the World Congress Center (28 meeting rooms and simultaneous translations over a six channel intercom system). But the fanciful designs of the three new hotels themselves may well prove a draw. There is a precedent for that in the Hyatt Regency here, designed by local architect Jolm Portman and opened in 1967. The atrium lobby, with glass-face- d elevators rising on its walls, has influenced the design of some two dozen hotels around the $100-milli- The Omni International, a luxurious hotel opened in October, connects with the cavernous Omni megastructure conrink, six movie theaters, taining an and a planned indoor amusement part. The Wrold of Sid & Marty Krofft. Write to The The Peachtree, a glass tube poking hill in up from the top of a building-encrustedowntown Atlanta, is, like the Regency, a Portman design. d We are close to what we projected on occupancy rate, says the Peachtrees Guilbault, although he declined to discuss specific numbers. It will be about eight to nine months before it really attracts the sales volume it was designed for, because of its size and unusual space setup. Architect Portman deliberately made it difficult for people to find their way around the building, Guilbault says. He worked out traffic patterns to allow people to see all the space no matter where which means some they were heading, for guests. To an observer, the hotel staff seems well trained but occasionally a bit harassed. Start-u- p problems have included reluctant elevators and slow meal service. The new hotels represent a new surge of growth for Atlanta, after a slowdown in the early 1970s. Atlanta had been so positive, and then this resting period came, says Dick Stormont, downtown general manager of the Marriott hotel. The new hotels are a product of the resting period. The hotel Stormont runs stands in w hat was once Buttermilk Bottom, the former dor main of garages. His next-doo- r neighbor is the new Hilton. Atlanta does well in the tough competition for conventions. Successful Meetings magazine ranked it third behind Chicago and Atlanta's Peachtree Plaza Hotel glitters with new prosperity. New' York as the nation's most popular city for meetings in 1974. The economic downturn had its effect on Atlanta, as well as the rest of the nation. The citys hotels began to recover just about the time the new hotels were opening. Occupancy rates will suffer, at least for a while. Darryl Hartley-Leonargeneral manager park too rigorous? In the good old days, the big grizzlies of Yellowstone National Park got free handouts in the form of open garbage a sort of snack shop for bears, dumps open 24 hours a day. But since the park authorities closed the dumps in 1970-71- , the bears have had to do without this convenience. And now scientists and wildlife management experts are arguing about how well the grizzlies are making the e to a adjustment from an easy more rigorous one. The dumps were closed originally to encourage these large wild animals to stay away from park visitors. to feed or not to feed This question the bears may seem a simple matter of wildlife management. But for more than a decade, it has been the focus of one of the biggest controversies in ihe wildlife management community. life-styl- free-rangi- Man, P.O. Bo 1257. Salt Lake Otv. Utah Wl 10 Baltimore or Kansas ? Yellowstone National Parle has caused controversy. Sendee t Is there a possibility a person can acquire a copy of a will in Texas? I understand that copies are avsRable after a will has been probated. W.L., Bountiful. You need not wait until after probate. A will becomes a public record the day its filed for probate in Texas. Contact the clerk of the county in which the deceased resided or held property for copies of the will and related documents in its file. This is the procedure in most states. In Utah will copies cost 30 cents a page. Costs in Texas are likely similar. auto-repai- The name of Craighead keeps surfacing throughout the controversy. John J. Craighead, professor of ecology at the University of Montana in Missoula. and his twin brother, Frank C. Craighead Jr., professor of ecology at the State University of New York in Albany, have been studying the grizzlies in Yellowstone since 1959 and are recognized authorities on the bears. The Craigheads agreed that the NTS long-tergoal of perpetuating a wild, grizzly bear population in Yellowstone while minimizing conflicts between humans in the park and the grizzly bears was a good plan. They did not agree on how to relocate the grizzlies but they did feel that the dumps served a purpose in maintaining the bear population. However, the National Fark Sendee authorities decided to disregard the and to Craighead recommendations dose down the dumps. The bears are listed as a Do-l- Any Hughes involved? the Hyatt Regency, is optimistic about the some 2,000 new hotel rooms being added to the downtown inventory : If you add that many rooms to a city, it normally would take three or four years to soak out, hut we should reach the saturation point in a year to 18 months." of (c) Christian Science PuN'shinc 1976 Society threatened species in athe lower 48 states, and the Craigheads predict that, unless there is proper management, the grizzlies may soon become endangered or even extinct. Its difficult to substantiate that the decline is problem of habitat. We have 10 million acres of grizzly wilderness, and in one of these big ecosystems the bear is already gone; in the other, the bear population has dropped very low; and, in the third, theres not enough information available to know what the true status of the bear population is. if the over vast areas Thus bears death rate exceeds the reproductive rate, it's a long time before the biologists realize what's going on," says John Craighead. Craighead does not say its too late for the grizzly to make a comeback. But in 1974 he and his brother estimated that there were only 130 grizzlies in Yellowstone. And now, he feels, there may be even fewer. n On Feb. 28 I ordered some Zoysia Grass Plugs from Bucyrus, Kan. I got the check back and waited two months before writing to them. They replied they bad no record of the order and asked for a copy of my check IF I had gent one. I sent it and asked for a refund. Now they write back and tcU me I didn't order from them but from a place in Baltimore. I hate to be took." Mrs. N.8., Escalante. Wed need a crystalball to explain this one. The check you sent WAS cashed by the Baltimore place." We were just ready to write to them when we got. a letter from you saying: Well, you did it again. Even before the ink had dried on my letter to you the grass plugs had arrived and are all planted. Were glad, but you didnt tell us who sent em, the Kansas place or the one in Baltimore. Do-i- t Man attempts to solve problems, get answers, investigate complaints and cut red tape. Write. You must sign your name and give your address and telephone number. Rhodes book fuels a feud WASHINGTON Inciting a feud that could rock the House, Republican leader John Rhodes has written a ferocious but fascinating attack upon 'Democratic leader Thomas Tip O'Neill. The rules and customs of the House prohibit one from dis- congressman paraging another. But in a book, Rhodes rips into O'Neill tion. News Their main fear is not murder but kidnaping. It is too expensive to kill a business executive. For example in Italy ransoms of over $2 million were paid in the 1973 kidnaping of J. Paul Getty III and the seizing last March of a jewelry heir. In Latin America, Exxon Corp. reportedly paid a record $14 million in 1974 for the release of executive Victor Samuclson, who had been held for four months by Argentine revolutionaries. In the U.S. the kidnapings of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, steel executive Jack Teich and Seagram Liquor heir Samuel Bronfman II involved the payment of substantial ransoms. No one is completely safe; but usually only the very rich are kidnaped and corporate executives are prime targets. J. Peter Grace, president of W. R. Grace & Co., carries a gun. Reporters covering the annual shareholders' meeting in Boston last March noticed a bulge under his suit jacket Grace, 62, acknowledged he had carried a gun for quite some while," but played down the matter. Security, he said, is enough of a problem as it is without stressing it." A W. R. Grace vice president, Edward Farrell, who oversees security for the company, said carrying a gun "is very logical in terms of the upsurge of crime. We know what has been going on in South America and in Italy. We know that kidnaping is spreading, and the targets will be the presidents of large banks, industrialists, prominent people, he said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which only began compiling statistics on hostage situations" two years ago. counted 201 cases in 1972. Seventeen of the victims were killed In the first half of 1975 the total was 124, including eight deaths. More recent statistics are incomplete. Sccurily agencies are tightlipped about the specific number of bodyguards they provide to VIPs and their families. But Ira Lipman, president of Guardsmark, Inc., estimates the total industry at 20,000 companies, and he sees the number reaching 70.000 by 1980. with uncharacteristic savagery. It is all the more remarkable that the sedate Republican leader would dump on his opposite number, since they must deal daily wih one another across the aisle. This could end bipartisan cooperation in the House. The two leaders are disparate men; Rhodes businesslike and conservative, ONeill a flamboyant Irish liberal. Yet there has been no hint of anomosity in their daily House repartee, which has been conducted w ith elaborate, parliamentary politeness. JACK RflDERSOn But behind the formal courtesy, apparently, Rhodes has been harboring some unflattering private opinions of O'Neill. Tip ran be impossible to deal, with if you are in the minority, complains tbq minority leader. In earlier times, most majority leaders consulted with the minority mi the scheduling of legislation,' recesses and the like, - I ;;; The GOP leader quotes O'Neill as telling him!' The people gave us the mandate and were not going to give it up. . . Republicans are just going to have to get it through their heads that they are not going to write legislation . Rhodes claims he tried to find a common ground with the Democrats that would have produced workable, veto-les- s legislation. Consensus government, he called it. But he swears it never had a chance to work because Tip O'Neill would not let it work. He would rather stand up on the Floor and deliver a partisan attack on the President for vetoing a bill than sit down with the President early in the legislative process to help avoid a veto. Throughout 1975," adds Rhodes, Tip tiegnn almost every session with a brief harangue against Administration policy." For O'Neill, charges the GOP leader, the word Republican is a red flag waved beneath the nose of a feisty bull years a I QQO... ivan Gen. Rome military analysts both within and without the Pentagon Christian Science Vonitor New s Service are concerned about the logistics involved in defendcanal, ing the which zigzags direct ly through the center of the Republic of Panama. long-rang- WASHINGTON Formidable May 18 'formidable' in Canal Zone U.S. forces John Sull- informed Gen. Washington that some officers were claiming pay for companies which were either nonexistent or undermanned. He also accused some Teamsters of draining the pickling agent from pork barrels to lighten their loads, causing the meat to spoil. . . . -"- well-traine- and disciplined . . tough. That is how senior military officials . describe the 10. 000-ma- n e US. military mission in the Panama Canal Zone. Main components of the Panama force But now the question, according to some military analysts, is relevant following the assertion by Republican challenger Ronald Reagan earlier this month that the United States must take the risk of guerrilla warfare to maintain U.S. control of the canal. The Canal Zone is the of the U.S. Southern Command. bead-quarte- The 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group. There is a special jungle training school, the US. Army School of the Americas; and various support units. transports, helicopters, and AD (Corsair) jets, which are attack aircraft useful in marginal weather situations and capable of carry- The Army has roughly in the Canal Zone, helicopters, including troop-airlicraft, and some 8 fixed-winplanes. Navy There are small but important Navy support units in the Canal aircraft 41 33 ft : g Army The 193rd Infantry Brigade, which has three infantry battalions, one of which is mechanized (with personnel carriers and . tanks, for example); also two battalions there are of foot sol- diers, one with an airborne company. Air Force Main force: The 24th Special Operations Group. The Air Force has an estimated 31 aircraft in the Canal Zone, the most formidable air presence in Central America. The force includes C130 and C123 a bomb load up to ing 15.CKX1 pounds. Zone. Pentagon officials stress that additional forces could be flown quickly to the Canal Zone from the U.S. The forces of Panama are smaU. Many military officials say privately, however, they feel uneasy even mulling the possibility of insurgent Panamanian forces. Hurt . . Tip O'Neill is a gregarious and engaging man. But he would rather go down in defeat time after time and veto after veto than ever to cooperate substantively with cither the minority side or the Republican President. Wc read O'Neill some of the rough words from Rhodes' forthcoming bonk, which will be called "The, Futile System. Smoldering, ONeill strode out on the j House floor, fixed an evil eye on Rhodes and, watching his parliamentary language, declared: 1 look with the greatest of anticipation for the book, which I understand that the gentleman from Arizona has written. I trust that his remarks about the Democratic side will bo honorable and credible, because I know the kind of man he is." Rhodes shot back: The gentleman from Massachusetts, I am sure, will find that he would like to read it. ONeill then gave us this statement, which is' phrased more to the point: When President Ford took over, I offered to sit down and compromise with him. But he is so conservative that it is impossible. Its worse with John Rhodes, because he is even further to the right than the President. But I think he is gregarious and engaging, too. $ i But not Rhodes contends. Tip.- . 200 : My husband bought a dpmoostratnr car from a Salt Lake dealer Nov. 19, 1975, and drove it home to Provo. We discussed our financial situation, became worried, and drove it back to the dealership the next morning. Wc had the car back on the lot at 8 a m., but they kept $H0 of our down payment. My husband has since died. I have five children to support and really need that money. Is there any way to recover it? Mrs. H.M., Provo. By the time you read this, you will have received the full $410 refund. We forwarded it to you from the dealer, along with a copy of his letter to us. Even though you had to wait six months, the rhork prohahly hits you at an opportune time, and speaks well for the dealer. Hilton, opened in February, is more conservative in shape, although it too has a multistory lobby. Its facilities include a jogging track and tennis courts. 1,250-roo- United Press International Bodyguards wearing pinstriped suits and soft leather shoes are being dispatched to executive offices across the United States to protect top level businessmen. Having a bodyguard used to be the prerogative of crime bosses, politicians and heads of state, but now corporate executives feel they also need similar protec: Christian Science ,Vonitor ' Well worth the wait Bodyguards now sport business image Life in A 3 mfln, y in 976 'S; - Closing the dumps to bears 1 500-roo- It is Grand Hotel without world. 8, OUR READERS' ACTION LINE Christian Science Monitor News Service Greta Garbo. 1 |
