Checkers

We've just learned of another record price paid for a collectible item on auction, this time a $120,000 successful "hammer bid" for a Checker taxi cab. It was the last Checker taxi cab in revenue passenger service in the Big Apple, according to its driver Earl Johnson, reports Old Cars magazine. Sources say it was sold by Sotheby's to a buyer rumored to be a well known comedian and actor. But Sotheby's isn't saying anything. But the six-figure sale price should not impact upon current prices on not-so-famous Checker collectible sedans, according to Checker expert appraiser George Cuhaj.

Uncertainty spread through the port yesterday about a new labor agreement aimed at keeping the lucrative winter fruit trade in Philadelphia after one of the longshoremen's units unanimously rejected part of the deal. Local 1242 of the International Longshoremen's Association, known as the checkers, voted Wednesday night to give up a $1-an-hour raise but not overtime pay for working a ninth hour on the docks. Seven other ILA locals have agreed to both concessions for those longshoremen working on the docks, while those aboard ships would only give up the overtime pay. For the new agreement to take effect, all area ILA locals must approve the concessions or the international union must overrule the checkers - so called because they match cargo to paperwork.

For 18 years running, the regulars have gathered for checkers at 38th Street and Melon Avenue, outside the 654 Bar (or inside when the weather is foul). The leader is Frank Turner, 74, at right above, who has more than 50 years of checkers experience. Yesterday, Turner took on Cornelius Gary, 46, with George Crocker, 68, in the wings. Turner says the fellows once played for 24 hours straight: "We just love it that good. "

An ambitious plan to open 125 Burger King restaurants in five cities with empowerment zones - including 25 restaurants in Philadelphia and Camden - was announced at yesterday's Empowerment Zone conference in Washington. The owner and operator of the shops would be Le-Van Hawkins, a former franchisee and director of the Checkers hamburger chain, who severed his ties with Checkers last month. The first 15 Burger Kings here will open within the next 18 months, and the rest in the following two years, Hawkins said in a telephone interview.

A health-food nut Jiger Patel is not. At least not from an entrepreneurial perspective. And his certainty over Americans' continued affinity for that which is not exactly fitness fare is why he is spending his days lately in the shadow of the Market-Frankford El in West Philadelphia, amid remodeling contractors, security-system installers, and job applicants. There, on a high-profile corner at 52d and Market Streets, the finishing touches are being applied to the second of what Patel plans as a Philly-centric empire of fast-food hamburger restaurants.

MARGATE, N.J. - Call it Margate Muscle. Actually, some people on the beach do just that. Like George Orfe of Mount Laurel, who raised an eyebrow in 100-degree heat Tuesday when approached by beach-badge checker Samantha Tepedino, 18, and her, well, backup. "Oh, are you the muscle protecting her?" he said to Tim Goodwin, 6-foot-1, 250 pounds, standing silently behind Tepedino in Margate Beach Patrol T-shirt, shorts, and visor. As a matter of fact, yes. And you should see his partner, Andrew Baumgardner, 6-2, 272 pounds.

Joseph "Joe the Barber" DePasquale, barber, checkers champion, opera buff and stock market analyst, died Monday. He was 84 and lived in South Philadelphia. For most of his 60-year barbering career, DePasquale cut the hair of students, faculty members and professionals in the University of Pennsylvania area. Born in Italy and raised in Scranton, DePasquale had little choice in becoming a barber. In a 1972 interview with Daily News writer Joe Clark, DePasquale recalled being put into the trade when he was 10. "My father, he was a stonemason, came home one day and told me I wasn't going to school anymore.

In a possible preview of things to come in area high school basketball, a team of players from West Chester Henderson rolled through the opposition to win the senior (16- and 17-year-olds) division at the third annual William "Pop" Ransom Basketball Tournament on Saturday and Sunday in Coatesville. The Henderson team of John Robinson, Tyrone Burton, Derrick Ray, Ed Hovington, Keith Davis, Lane Dutton, and Scott Dennis defeated a Coatesville Community Center team of Darrell Lewis, James Miller, Cliff Williams, Glen Hines, Ira Purnsley, Abby Watson and Jamal Ward, 58-54, in the finals at Ash Park.

"Original" and "president" were the two words that tripped up Brian McCarthy, 9, when he wrote his fourth-grade essay on the topic of the American flag. When his teacher gave him back his paper with the words circled, Brian's assignment was to find the correct spelling. Pushing back his desk chair and walking to the research materials section at the rear of the classroom, Brian reached for an electronic spell checker. "It takes too long to use the dictionary," Brian said as he punched in his "orginl" mistake on the electronic speller keypad.

Bored? This year, the answer may be boards. Board games. As in Monopoly and checkers. But we're talking about board games with a '90s (or, more often, an '80s) twist. "This is a very good year for board games," said Frank Reysen, editor of Playthings, the top magazine on the toy industry. "One theory is that, with the uncertainty about the economy, people are looking for less expensive means of social interaction. " Reysen's magazine annually surveys buyers for about 10,000 American toy stores to find out what toys and games are selling best.

A health-food nut Jiger Patel is not. At least not from an entrepreneurial perspective. And his certainty over Americans' continued affinity for that which is not exactly fitness fare is why he is spending his days lately in the shadow of the Market-Frankford El in West Philadelphia, amid remodeling contractors, security-system installers, and job applicants. There, on a high-profile corner at 52d and Market Streets, the finishing touches are being applied to the second of what Patel plans as a Philly-centric empire of fast-food hamburger restaurants.

By Steve Hallock Last week, a group of foreign journalists and politicians visiting Pittsburgh to learn about the presidential election wondered why we Americans and our media allow blatant lies to enter the discussion. Beyond the obvious answer that they are protected by the First Amendment, this is an important question, especially given journalists' prominent role in disseminating political information. The first tenet of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics admonishes, "Seek truth and report it; journalists should be honest, fair, and courageous in gathering and interpreting information.

HERE'S WHAT will be making news in Philadelphia this week: POLITICS Make the debate go down easy Do you think Vice President Joe Biden is a beer-and-a-shot kind of guy? Does U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan like a stiff whiskey and soda? Sadly, those questions probably won't get answered in Thursday night's vice-presidential debate. But we've figured out some places where you can watch the action and imbibe. Here are a few Philly bars that promise they'll be airing the anticipated face-off between the feisty duo: Doobies, at 22nd and Lombard streets; The Good Dog, on 16th near Locust, and the Nodding Head on Sansom near 15th.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Wednesday to South Philly's own Chubby Checker. Checker, born Ernest Evans, was discovered singing in the Italian Market, which led to recording for Dick Clark, which led to . . . well, you know the tune. He's 71 this week. His stars twist (couldn't resist!) a new career path, adventures and expansions in the New Year. On Tuesday, South Jersey's own Kelly Ripa hosts 42. Wednesday, GFS grad Garrett "G. Love" Dutton sings the I'm-turning-40 blues, The Roots' Black Thought celebrates a lyrical 41 and Allyson Schwartz reps 64. Saturday, Flyer Danny Briere captains 35, and "Majors and Minors" winner Michael Woodward croons 15. - Lauren McCutcheon

MARGATE, N.J. - Call it Margate Muscle. Actually, some people on the beach do just that. Like George Orfe of Mount Laurel, who raised an eyebrow in 100-degree heat Tuesday when approached by beach-badge checker Samantha Tepedino, 18, and her, well, backup. "Oh, are you the muscle protecting her?" he said to Tim Goodwin, 6-foot-1, 250 pounds, standing silently behind Tepedino in Margate Beach Patrol T-shirt, shorts, and visor. As a matter of fact, yes. And you should see his partner, Andrew Baumgardner, 6-2, 272 pounds.

ALBANY, N.Y. - A 23-year-old man accused of raping an upstate New York girl was the subject of a missing-child case that received national attention in the 1990s, including getting his photograph taken with President Bill Clinton at the White House, authorities said yesterday. Adam Croote's tangled past includes his father killing his mother, his abduction by a grandmother and a sex-crime conviction in Massachusetts. At age 7 in 1996, he was photographed with Clinton at the signing of an executive order to set aside space in every federal building for posting pictures of missing children.

WILMINGTON - Jose Garcia stands atop a 145-foot mountain of trash, his gaze locked on the trucks dumping pile after pile of Delaware's waste just yards from his feet. His trained eye scans the landscape for anything that doesn't belong - chemical drums, slabs of asbestos, red biohazard bags carrying used bandages or syringes. Just two weeks before, one of Garcia's colleagues at Wilmington's Cherry Island Landfill discovered the body of former Pentagon official John P. Wheeler 3d as it tumbled from the back of an arriving truck.

Daryl Childs says he still feels the effects of the beating he took 25 years ago outside a Norristown gym. Sometimes, he says, his mind still fumbles for words that won't come. Brain damage from the blows kept him from completing college, the unemployed Florida construction worker contends. "I can't even tell you how much I have been affected by what Dave did to me," Childs, 48, said Wednesday. "Things I was trying to accomplish, I had to put on hold. I had to learn how to read and write all over again.

Eleven floors above Northern Liberties, Jake Winigrad carefully studied the vast expanse of the Delaware Riverfront, bathed in the hazy sunshine of a mid-July afternoon. "The windows are like paintings that change throughout the day," said the Parkway Corp. vice president for project management, offering a nonfinancial, but hugely important reason, for why the venerable Philadelphia company chose this glass-steel-concrete mid-rise at North American and Brown Streets as its first rental apartment building.

CHUBBY CHECKER wowed a monster crowd outside City Hall yesterday afternoon as hundreds of people tried to "twist" their way into the record books. To mark the 50th anniversary of the popular tune and dance, "The Twist," the Philadelphia-raised Checker performed a free concert on Dilworth Plaza, adjacent to City Hall. Checker, looking slender for a 68-year-old man called Chubby, led the crowd in a number of dances he popularized, including the "Fly," the "Hucklebuck" and his most enduring, the "Twist.