Cold Shoulder

Pro wrestler "Stone Cold" Austin, in town for a World Wrestling Federation event, stares down Phillies righthander Paul Byrd at Veterans Stadium during batting practice.

The guys from the "Class Of The Wintery Thirty" are now in the autumn of their lives. And Sam Bick wants to get them together before the last leaf falls. It hasn't been easy. Bick, a few months shy of his 74th birthday, is trying to organize a reunion of South Philadelphia High School for Boys, Class of February 1930. If he pulls it off - even if it's only a two-man reunion - it will be a historic get-together. Because the "Wintery Thirty" is the only graduating class in the school's 81-year history that has never had a class reunion.

After 116 inches of snow in the last two winters, the decision was just cold logic. This year, the Voorhees True Value store would "go heavy on the rock salt," manager Ron Rago said, adding resignedly, "You take your chances. " Neither Rago nor the best minds in meteorology could have guessed that come January, the rock-salt business would be hitting rock bottom. After all, on this date last year, Philadelphia was experiencing its second foot-plus snowfall of the winter and its fifth of the last two seasons.

Will Smith has the right idea. In his latest video for the song "Miami," a friend of Smith's runs shivering into a Philadelphia diner exclaiming "The hawk has lost its mind. " To which Smith replies, "Get the plane," and his entire crew flies off to Miami where they're met by dancing girls and temperatures in the high degrees, leaving Philly's chilly streets behind. The first full day of winter came yesterday with temperatures hovering at a very bearable 64 degrees. But by mid-afternoon, the mercury had begun dropping, and hit the 20s by nightfall.

Delegates to the annual convention of the NAACP gave White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. the cold shoulder yesterday when he urged them to withhold judgment on Supreme Court nominee Robert H. Bork. Baker, a former Tennessee senator and an ally of the civil rights movement, made his appeal during the final session of the five-day, 78th annual meeting of the civil rights group. The gathering of some 5,000 people was dominated by anti-Bork speeches from NAACP officials, leaders of other civil rights groups and five of the seven politicians seeking the Democratic Party nomination for president next year.

It was hard to tell Chicago's Comiskey Park was open for business. Only 746 people paid yesterday to see the Toronto Blue Jays' 5-0 win over the Chicago White Sox, the smallest crowd for a White Sox home game in 27 years. The game was moved from last night to yesterday afternoon because of the weather, and players faced a game-time temperature of just 34 degrees and windy conditions. Tuesday night's game was postponed because of the cold. "There were not very many. I can't blame them.

A state program to assist low-income families with their heating bills is giving the cold shoulder to many of the people it is designed to help, advocates told a House panel yesterday. The hardships began with a 5 percent cut in federal funds this heating season for Pennsylvania's Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program. LIHEAP received $134.7 million this year, compared to $141 million in 1984-85. The average LIHEAP grant, moreover, has been slashed by more than 35 percent to allow an additional 50,000 households into the statewide program, which served 360,000 households last year.

After 116 inches of snow in the last two winters, the decision was just cold logic. This year, the Voorhees True Value store would "go heavy on the rock salt," manager Ron Rago said, adding resignedly, "You take your chances. " Neither Rago nor the best minds in meteorology could have guessed that come January, the rock-salt business would be hitting rock bottom. After all, on this date last year, Philadelphia was experiencing its second foot-plus snowfall of the winter and its fifth of the last two seasons.

DEAR ABBY: My husband, "Derek," confessed to me that while he was out with friends on a work-related trip, he drank too much and danced with and kissed another woman. He didn't tell me right away. He planned to tell me sometime in the future, but his conscience bothered him, so he told me five days later. I'm at a loss as to what to do. We have a small child. Derek is a good man, but he has violated my trust. I can't forget, and I don't know if I can forgive. We've had our ups and downs, and the past year has been particularly stressful.

Q: My husband is kind, gentle and affectionate. Except after sex. The sex itself is fine, but the next day, he often is cold and distant toward me. After a day, he goes back to his normal, loving self. He acknowledges he has a problem, but says he doesn't know why. I asked if I was doing things he didn't like during sex, and he said no. I even tried to joke about it and asked if he had another wife and felt guilty, which he thought was funny but solved nothing. Is counseling the answer?

A huge event will occur Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial that has received little mention by the media. The Restoring Honor Rally is a celebration of our country, its founding principles, traditions, faith, and our military personnel and their families. I presume that this isn't being reported because the event is being put on by Glenn Beck. Maybe to make it more newsworthy, the media should be made aware that the New Black Panther Party has threatened to disrupt the event. Further, the Rev. Al Sharpton has accused Beck of trying to co-opt the day, which is the anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

1. Convinced that the 40-year-old quarterback is a prima donna who just wants to get out of training camp? 2. In favor of welcoming back the future Hall of Famer with open arms? 3. Hoping that coach Brad Childress and the rest of the Vikings give him the cold shoulder? 4. Tired of this story?

After batting fifth in back-to-back games, Jimmy Rollins returned to his customary role as leadoff hitter yesterday in the Phillies' 5-3, 10-inning loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. If the Phillies shortstop was pleased about it, he didn't say so. In fact, he said nothing because he brushed off reporters for the second time this week. Anyway, the day couldn't have started much better for Rollins, who ripped Chad Billingsley's first pitch for a double, went to third on Shane Victorino's sacrifice bunt, and scored on Ryan Howard's sacrifice fly. In that at-bat, Rollins was the leadoff hitter that manager Charlie Manuel has come to expect.

IF YOU'RE sitting around waiting for more shots to be fired in Sheldon Brown's contract insurrection against the Eagles, Troy Vincent has some advice for you: Move along. There's nothing more to see here. Yes, Brown still is unhappy with the 4 remaining years on that forever-and-a-day extension he signed before World War II (OK, 2004). Yes, he still would prefer to be traded if the Eagles aren't going to change their position on reworking his deal or giving him another extension.

As Brad Childress drove to work early yesterday, the Minnesota Vikings coach watched as his car's thermometer dropped from double digits to single digits to negative digits. It's cold here, Childress said. The team hopes that little fact keeps Eagles fans at bay, although outdoor temperatures will not affect the climate inside the Metrodome. Even if it did, the well-traveled Philadelphia faithful probably would not mind. As of yesterday afternoon, about 11,000 tickets remained for Sunday's NFC wild-card playoff game between the Vikings and Eagles.

A call by the Chester County Controller Valentino F. DiGiorgio 3d to freeze wage increases for county employees as a way to trim the 2009 budget doesn't appear to be gaining traction. "This seems to me to be preferable to wholesale layoffs of county employees, who will find it hard going in the current job market if we were to institute layoffs," DiGiorgio said at a hearing Thursday night. Eliminating a budgeted 3.75 percent raise would save the county $1.1 million, he said.