Banner Graphic, Volume 22, Number 110, Greencastle, Putnam County, 11 January 1992 — Page 2

THE BANNERGRAPHIC January 11,1992

A2

And Frank and Ed get no thanks for all their support

BEND, Ore. (AP) Frank and Ed, the lovable hayseed hucksters for Bartles & Jaymes wine coolers, are out of work. And nobody even told them, “Thank you for your support” “It was a hell of a ride while it lasted,” said rancher David Rufkahr, who portrayed Frank Bartles, the one who did all the talking in the popular seven-year ad campaign. The end came without fanfare. Rufkahr, who lives just outside Bend, didn’t even get to keep the straw fedora and suspenders. *THAT*S ALL theirs,” he said. “It’s down there in creative services." Officials of Ernest and Julio Gallo, which produces the wine coolers, wouldn’t comment on the end of the campaign. “They’re going in a different direction, I guess, so they released us,” said Rufkahr, whose last contract expired about Nov. 1. “They always informed us in writing before then that they were going to use us. But they didn’t send us any notification

yeKwe

It’s time for our semi annual WALL to WALL CLEARANCE and we get a little crazy. First we do crazy things to our prices. Not just to discontinued items or odds and ends. We reduce prices on our best sellers too! Second, we have a very crazy finance offer: NO DOWN PAYMENT 24 MONTHS NO INTEREST Yes, take 12 months, 18 months or 24 months to buy and pay ZERO INTEREST charges on any purchase over *2OO. It’s that simple. You are certain to get a super deal. But hurry, we won’t stay this crazy very long.

• Living Rooms • Dining Rooms •Bedrooms • Sofas »Love Seats • Recliners "Sleep Sofas •Dinettes *Curios *And Much More!

*IOO OFF EVERYDAY PRICE! *749 Full Reclining Sofa Built to last with lifetime warranty on the frame and mechanism and get 2 years free financing.

Furniture Aware*House Mon.-Sat. 10-5 Greencastle Sun ‘ ls

this time, so I kind of got the feeling it was fading away,” he said. RUFKAHR, WHO got the call shortly before Christmas, saw it coming. “That’s what they told us when we first started,” he said. ‘“You make a national commercial, it’s usually good for six months.’ It just kept going.” The campaign helped make Bartles & James the nation’s top-selling wine cooler. Frank’s deadpan trademark comment, “And we thank you for your support,” became part of the American lexicon. RUFKAHR AND Santa Rosa, Calif., building contractor Dick Maugg, who played the reticent Ed Jaymes, shot their last commercial in April. In that spot, Frank has laryngitis, which forces Ed to talk. Rufkahr’s face may be well known across America, but the commercials didn’t make him all that rich, he said. “We was doin’ all right,” he said. “I made good money, but I didn’t make fabulous money.”

PLUS SPECIAL BUYS LIKE THIS:

J**- -f J

Former head of Assassinat Committee favors opening

CLEVELAND (AP) Rep. Louis Stokes, who chaired the House Select Committee on Assassinations, said that the controversy surrounding the movie “JFK” has caused him to consider releasing files on President Kennedy’s assassination. Stokes, D-Ohio, led the committee that in the 1970 s reviewed the slayings of Kennedy in 1963 and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. STOKES SAID THAT until Friday he had opposed releasing the Kennedy assassination records that had been sealed since 1979. But he said the conspiracy theory espoused by Oliver Stone’s film caused him to reconsider. “Since I know there is nothing that our committee did to, in any way, cover up any government complicity in the assassination of a much beloved president, I am considering ways we could release that sealed information so that it will remove any and all doubts,” Stokes was quoted as saying in The Plain Dealer. The committee determined that it was likely two gunmen fired at Kennedy, and blamed the late Lee Harvey Oswald for the fatal shot. IT RELEASED 27 volumes of findings, plus two volumes of legislative recommendations. Sealed records, more than 800 boxes stored in a padlocked room at the National Archives, include staff

SAVE 15 TO 50% TWO EDCC YEARS rtICC FINANCING

Cash Customers: We will give you an extra 18% off our already reduced prices!

world

reports and working papers, committee personnel records and autopsy photos, Stokes said. Such information will not reveal the government conspiracy suggested by Stone’s movie, Stokes said. The records were sealed under a 1953 House rule automatically closing House investigative records for 30 years, in this case until 2009. To open the records, Stokes would need approval of the full House. MEANWHILE, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy says he won’t see Stone’s controversial movie on the assassination of his brother because it would be too tramautic. But he would like to see all documents on the killing made public. “It is distressing and saddening,” Kennedy said Friday on WGNC, a cable television station in Worcester, Mass. “Obviously it’s

*SO OFF EVERYDAY PRICE! Arlington La-Z-Boy Rocker Recliner $ 349 A large plush recliner. Over 100 chairs in stock.

ions files

a very painful experience to have, you know, the advertisement, the pictures, the scenes.” The movie, “JFK,” includes vivid footage of President Kennedy’s Nov. 22, 1963, killing, as well as a graphic re-enactment of Kennedy’s autopsy. The government’s Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Kennedy said he believes the commission conducted a responsible investigation, but agreed with the movie’s contention that all documents on the assassination should be made public. Some 848 boxes of records have been sealed until 2029. “I think you’ll find out over any period of time that the Warren Commission was clearly the most responsible result. But I respect other people’s conclusions.”

Oil prices fall, but consumers aren’t feeling much relief

NEW YORK (AP) The price of oil has dropped sharply this winter, but that doesn’t mean it will cost a lot less to fill the gas tank or heat your home. Crude oil has fallen about $6 per barrel since late October, and wholesale prices for gasoline and home heating oil fell by about 11 cents to 13 cents a gallon from late fall to early winter. Oil traders say the price is plunging on perceptions that a global glut is building. But oil industry critics point out that retail prices of gasoline and home heating oil have not kept pace with the sharp drops in wholesale prices in recent months. TO BE SURE, gasoline prices have fallen steadily at the pump since November, albeit more slowly than in the commodities markets where large contracts for energy supplies are bought and sold. In the heating oil market, though, wholesale prices fell sharply in November and December, while the price to consumers barely budged. The problem, said Edwin S. Rothschild, energy policy director for Washington-based Citizen Action consumer group, is that retail fuel prices are quick to rise, but slow to fall. “Some English economist called it rockets on the way up and feathers on the way down,” Rothschild said. He asserted many consumers are victims of “non-competitive markets,” where a few big players can control prices. OIL COMPANIES, which deny allegations they gouge consumers when supplies are tight, also deny they gouge when supplies are plentiful. The industry’s trade group, the American Petroleum Institute, recently published a study indicating the rises in petroleum product prices proceed at the same pace as the declines. The oil companies say prices are set by supply and demand, influen-

Banner Graphic (USPS 142-020} Consolidation of The Daily Banner Established 1850 The Herald The Daily Graphic Estabtishedlßß3 Telephone 653-5151 Published daily except Sunday and Holidays by Banner Graphic, Inc. at 100 North Jackson St., Greencastle, 1N.46135. Second-class postage paid at Greencastle, IN. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Banner Graphic, P. O. Box 509, Greencastle IN 46135. Subscription Rates Per Week, by carrier $1.40 Per Week, by motor route - $1.45 Mail Subscription Rates R.R. IN Rest of Rest of Putnam Co. Indiana U.S.A. 3 Months $21.00 $23.00 $25.00 6 Months $40.00 $45.00 $50.00 1 Year $78.00 $86.00 $95.00 Mail subscriptions payable in advance . . . not accepted in town and where motor route service is available. Member of the Associated Press The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper. Steve Henderehot General Manager/ Marketing Director Eric Bernsee Editor Wilbur C. Kendall Production Manager Gib Farmer Business Manager June Leer Circulation Manager

7?OPERAtTqN^W%\

Americans still hawkish on Iraq: Poll NEW YORK (AP) Twothirds of Americans surveyed in an Associated Press poll said the United States should strike Iraq militarily once again if it continues to secretly develop nuclear weapons. A 61 percent majority said the United Nations should continue to punish Iraq by cutting off trade until Iraq proves it has halted nuclear weapons development Only 26 percent agreed with an alternative opinion that the trade embargo must stop because it makes innocent Iraqi civilians suffer. About two-thirds, or 67 percent, of those surveyed said the United States should have continued fighting to force Saddam from power.

ced by a complicated array of factors. At limes, retail prices fall while crude oil prices rise, but the critics arc silent when that happens, oil companies say. “IT CAN WORK both ways,” said John Lichtblau, chairman of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation in New York. For example, Lichtblau said, gasoline prices fell a little more than a penny a gallon between June and October, which translated roughly into 60 cents a barrel of oil. At the same time, oil prices rose from about S2O a barrel to $23 a barrel. But some observers aren’t convinced. Using the most recent federal data available for home heating oil prices, Rothschild alleged that residential consumers were overcharged by $34 million between Nov. 4 and Dec. 16. DURING THAT period, wholesale prices for the fuel fell about 13 cents a gallon, from 71.5 cents to 58.4 cents, while retail prices held steady, at $1,007 per gallon, Rothschild said. That increased the profit margins of heating oil dealers from 30 cents a gallon to 43 cents a gallon, he said. Gasoline prices have fallen at the pump, but rather slowly, said Mike Doyle, editor of Computer Petroleum Corp., of St. Paul, Minn., which tracks thousands of petroleum prices. SINCE NOV. 19, the pump price of self-serve regular unleaded has dropped 4.6 cents, to $1,097 per gallon, says a nationwide survey Doyle performed this week for the American Automobile Association. But wholesale prices fell a little more than 11 cents during that period, Doyle said. Doyle predicted gasoline prices will keep dropping, but he believes dealers were careful to delay the price reductions until after the holiday travel season was over.

M Q hoosier lottery. Lotto America Lottery Line INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Here are the winning numbers selected Friday in the Hoosier Lottery: Daily Three 0-3-4 Daily Four 5-1-8-1 Estimated Lotto Cash jackpot: $2 Million Lotto America jackpot Estimated at sl6 million