Easton

The United Nations announced recently that it will close its headquarters on Sundays until the end of March, because of cash-flow problems. Money, though, is not the only crisis facing the United Nations. Even while basking in the glow of its 40th anniversary last year, the United Nations received one of those over-the-hill type of birthday cards. The card came in the form of a report by a watchdog group that claimed the United Nations had become overwhelmed by outdated and imprecise ideas and is in a state of virtual paralysis.

The City of Easton next Saturday will auction off 127 fire call boxes, the kind that stood on street corners with a little trap door you could pull to summon fire engines in case of a blaze - or sometimes (particularly around Halloween) just to summon the fire engines. That, in fact, is one reason Easton is getting rid of them, according to purchasing agent Scott Klabunde. "We're not using them anymore," he said yesterday, "because we were getting more false alarms than calls. " The sale will also offer a chance to acquire your own fire engine: a 1962 Seagraves pumper, complete with 1,500 gallon-per-minute pump, siren and bell.

Easton wrestling coach Steve Powell grew up in West Chester and, even after 17 seasons as the head coach of the Red Rovers, he still has a good working knowledge of what goes on in District 1. So he had his club prepared for District 1 champion North Penn in the semifinals of the PIAA Class AAA Team Wrestling Championships Saturday morning at the Hersheypark Arena. And that was not good news for North Penn. Easton swept the first eight weight classes and cruised to an easy 49-12 win. The Red Rovers then went on to capture the state championship with a 35-19 victory over State College.

Mike Pettine compares the Easton football team to a world-famous boxer - and not necessarily because the Red Rovers pack a powerful wallop. "Easton has an awful lot to say - evidently, they have a Muhammad Ali personality," said Pettine, whose 11-0 Central Bucks West team will play 13-0 Easton in a PIAA Class AAAA state playoff semifinal at 1 p.m. today at Goodman Stadium on the campus of Lehigh University in Bethlehem. Two Easton players were quoted this week in a Doylestown newspaper as saying that the Bucks were vastly overrated - unworthy of their No. 1 state ranking in two newspaper polls and their No. 5 ranking in one national scholastic poll.

This is the sixth year that the PIAA has sponsored an official postseason football championship, and today's game against Easton at 1 p.m. at Lehigh University is only Central Bucks West's second appearance in the field. The Bucks, winners of 55 straight games between 1983 and 1988, before there was a state tournament, won the title in 1991 with a 26-14 win over Erie Cathedral Prep in the championship game. That was a 13-0, senior-led team. This is a 10-1, underclass-dominated squad with only 14 seniors, eight of whom were members of the 1991 state champs.

The Easton football team may be playing the most important game in school history Saturday, but the Red Rovers are not practicing for it. In fact, coach Steve Shiffert said Easton won't even think about it until Friday - tomorrow night at the earliest. A 34-20 win over Cumberland Valley last weekend put Easton (11-1), the District 11 champion, in Saturday night's PIAA Class AAAA semifinal game - the Eastern final - against North Penn (13-0). But instead of focusing on beating arguably the best team in the state, Easton's concentration is on Thanksgiving morning.

The moral of this story is: Let sleeping Bucks lie. The Central Bucks West football team is ranked first in Pennsylvania in every statewide poll and fifth nationally by USA Today. But District 11 champion Easton apparently wasn't sold. So last week, several Red Rover players had disparaging things to say about CB West. Once those quotes made it into print, it was, of course, inevitable that they made their way down to Doylestown. Voila. Instant bulletin-board material, which is the last thing you want to give the Bucks (12-0)

It's a good thing Tim Wade has never developed a mental block about performing his primary duty for La Salle High's football team. If so, Jamal Abdur-Rahman would not be such a productive rusher. And who knows? Perhaps he would not have scored the clinching touchdown Saturday at blustery Northeast High as La Salle bested Easton, 19-7, in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal. How did it happen? On an interception return. Who delivered a teeth-rattling block? Good, ol' Tim Wade. Yes, even while playing defense, on which the 5-9, 185-pound junior serves only four to six plays per game as a blitzing outside linebacker, the starting fullback can't put aside his path-clearing passion.

Once in a while we all get lucky and catch a cultural institution taking an enormous leap forward and landing right. It's a magical moment. One such occasion was the announcement made in April at the dedication of Lafayette College's first off-campus building by its president, Arthur Rothkopf. He declared that the existence of the college's new Williams Visual Arts Building in a rehabbed industrial/commercial structure "underscores Lafayette's commitment to the revitalization of Easton's downtown business core.

Last season, Connor Daly, after blowing out his left knee in an early nonleague game against West Catholic, was not on the field for the latter portion of La Salle's drive to the PIAA Class AAAA state football championship. So, the senior middle linebacker, trying to make up for lost playing time, is especially immersed in this year's repeat bid. And that certainly showed in Saturday's quarterfinal rematch with Easton. With Daly registering a team-high 12 tackles, including eight solo stops, the slow-starting Explorers rallied for a 19-7 victory at chilly Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium, again sending the rugged and hard-hitting Red Rovers packing.

Robert Easton, 81, a character actor whose command of a vast array of foreign and American regional accents led to a flourishing second career as a dialect coach to Hollywood stars such as Charlton Heston and Anne Hathaway, died Dec. 16 at his home in Los Angeles. He was often called the Henry Higgins of Hollywood. A consummate phoneticist like Higgins, the exacting speech tutor in the musical My Fair Lady , Mr. Easton taught Forest Whitaker the African inflections of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and Ben Kingsley the gruff tones of a New York mobster.

ALLENTOWN - Larry Holmes has been recognized during his lifetime, by the Jaycees and the International Boxing Hall of Fame, with various mayoral citations and keys and honorary degrees. His office, on a street bearing his name, is replete with awards, honors, mementos, and remembrances. The former heavyweight champion isn't wanting for accolades - with the exception, perhaps, of his own hometown, he says. Well, no longer. Holmes, who grew up in public housing on Easton's South Side and dropped out of junior high school, went on to become a champion fighter and millionaire businessman.

WHENEVER we talk about freedom of speech, you might as well just cue the violins. It's a principle so precious, so intrinsic to our sense of democracy. Invoking the right to express your views without interference from the government is akin to praying. (Apologies to atheists, agnostics and opponents of Philadelphia's Christmas Village.) To protect that right, we pretty much let everything into the marketplace of ideas, except fighting words, certain cries of "Fire!" and obscenity (of which we know it when we see it, except when it's covered by brown wrapping paper)

It's a good thing Tim Wade has never developed a mental block about performing his primary duty for La Salle High's football team. If so, Jamal Abdur-Rahman would not be such a productive rusher. And who knows? Perhaps he would not have scored the clinching touchdown Saturday at blustery Northeast High as La Salle bested Easton, 19-7, in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal. How did it happen? On an interception return. Who delivered a teeth-rattling block? Good, ol' Tim Wade. Yes, even while playing defense, on which the 5-9, 185-pound junior serves only four to six plays per game as a blitzing outside linebacker, the starting fullback can't put aside his path-clearing passion.

Last season, Connor Daly, after blowing out his left knee in an early nonleague game against West Catholic, was not on the field for the latter portion of La Salle's drive to the PIAA Class AAAA state football championship. So, the senior middle linebacker, trying to make up for lost playing time, is especially immersed in this year's repeat bid. And that certainly showed in Saturday's quarterfinal rematch with Easton. With Daly registering a team-high 12 tackles, including eight solo stops, the slow-starting Explorers rallied for a 19-7 victory at chilly Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium, again sending the rugged and hard-hitting Red Rovers packing.

Like do-everything teammate Kevin Forster, La Salle's Mark DiFrangia soon will say goodbye to football and enter lacrosse-only mode. For now, though, DiFrangia, bound for St. John's as a stick-wielding defenseman, is thoroughly enjoying his last go-round on the gridiron. Saturday, the 5-foot-9, 195-pounder played a leading role on defense as the Explorers earned their second straight PIAA District 12 Class AAAA title. DiFrangia, an outside linebacker/strong safety, registered eight tackles, including six solos, as the defending state champions held overmatched Northeast to 74 yards and romped to their 10th straight victory, 35-0, at Charlie Martin Memorial Stadium.

EASTON, Pa. - Eighty teachers and staff members in the Easton Area School District are out of a job. More than 60 teachers were among those who lost their jobs to close a budget gap. - AP

When the clock struck all zeroes, La Salle's Mike Bennett ripped off his helmet and dove head-first into the snow-covered field at HersheyPark Stadium. The Explorers' senior kicker said he doesn't mind playing in the snow. Actually, he quite enjoys it. "I got a lot of confidence after the Easton game," Bennett said. "It's not that bad as long as you're balanced. " Easier said than done. When Bennett attempted a field goal in the first quarter of La Salle's 24-7 victory over State College in Saturday's PIAA Class AAAA championship, he fell flat on his butt after kicking the ball.

La Salle earned a spot against State College in tomorrow night's PIAA Class AAAA football championship at Hersheypark Stadium with an impressive 35-7 romp over Ridley in a state semifinal Saturday. The Explorers' road to the title contest went through interesting twists and turns in the previous 13 games. Today, we conclude our look at six important games and how they helped form the team that will end its season Saturday. Wednesday: Sept. 11 vs. Malvern Prep and Sept.

With the snow beginning to cover the turf, La Salle, whose vaunted passing attack would eventually be all but wiped out by the heavy white stuff, was staring at a two-touchdown deficit late in the first quarter against Easton. Time to panic? Maybe, but the Explorers buckled down and went to work after yielding two quick scores. They survived the dismal start and the foul weather by rallying for a 17-14 victory over the Red Rovers yesterday in a PIAA Class AAAA state quarterfinal playoff at Bethlehem Area School District's Frank Banko Field.