Wrappers

The mailman, as usual, has brought some items that cry out for answers. Perhaps the most intriguing comes from a collector in Northeast Philadelphia who has just discovered that all those wrappers he threw away over the years are probably worth some big bucks. We begin. Question: "I was at a hobby show recently and ran into a dealer selling books about the value of old bubblegum wrappers. I looked at some of the prices and I can't believe people really collect wrappers. What is this all about?"

For an artist trying to penetrate the market, few opportunities are as good as this. In an effort to promote condom use, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health's Division of Disease Control is sponsoring a contest to design its prophylactic wrappers. The competition, which has been extended to Jan. 14, invites artists to submit designs with a "unique and positive message," said Carol Johnson, director of the disease-control division. The winning design, as chosen by online voters, will adorn the wrappers of at least 500,000 condoms that the city distributes.

The West German company that once made the packaging for Gummi Bears, the squishy, roly-poly multicolored candies, yesterday filed a $54 million federal lawsuit against Du Pont Co. The company says Du Pont fraudulently contended that its K Cellophane did not contain diethylene glycol (DEG) - the toxic chemical that touched off a food scare in 1985 when it was discovered in wine, fruit juice, candy, cheese - and Gummi Bears - in Europe and the United States. In the suit, the Adolf Lony packaging company of Lauterecken/Pfalz, West Germany, alleges that Du Pont's K Cellophane, which Lony made into wrappers and sold to the Gummi Bears manufacturer, contained DEG. The chemical is a colorless, sweet-tasting and extremely toxic substance used to make antifreeze, brake fluid and some cellophane food wrappers.

The couple was getting married in five days - could Janet Matrone help? Not with the dress, the food or the seating arrangements, the soon-to-be newlyweds said, but by supplying 125 customized favors. Matrone, mother of three, eight months pregnant with number four, and owner of All About Me! Publications, agreed. "We've had more than a few burnt dinners, but it's fun," Matrone said. "The best part is meeting new people and being creative," she said. When she was a dental assistant, "the people were afraid and upset.

A hungry thief embarked on a mini-crime spree on Baltimore Pike yesterday and didn't stop until he got his chicken nuggets and fries, borough police said. After eating his fill and making his getaway, he fell asleep. And then the food wrappers gave him away, police said. "He was hungry," said Media Officer Keith Prorock. "It's a hell of a thing to go down for burglary for. " Prorock gave this account of the incident: Police were called to investigate a break-in at the Wendy's restaurant at 294 E. Baltimore Pike at 5:35 a.m. yesterday.

Bob Montgomery, 78, is an ex-Marine who is worried about discontent in the ranks and maneuvering difficulties in his theater of operations. His trusty corps of 125 doughty volunteers raise money for the Coatesville Senior Center every Christmastide by wrapping gifts for customers at the Exton Square Mall. This year, their strategic base of operations has been moved by mall management to smaller quarters - away from customers. Montgomery says the move presents a two-part problem.

An entire Christmas season has gone by. And a Valentine's Day. And, no less dismaying, an Easter since the Berley brothers began their clean-out and stubborn, nearing-the-finish-line reclamation of Shane Candies, the faded Old City stalwart. Actually, stalwart doesn't quite capture the fullness of its history - a confection business at its address (110 Market St.) since the days of the Civil War, its life under the Shane sign dating to 1911, 15 years before the cables of the Ben Franklin Bridge were slung a few blocks north.

Paul Rondeau drove nearly 3,000 miles last fall to more than 160 branch offices of local banks, trying to persuade them to use his new plastic coin wrappers. Only one bank agreed to a free trial period, but at just five of its 35 branches. Then one morning two weeks ago, Rondeau heard Willard Scott, the weatherman on NBC's Today show, complain about the awkwardness of using paper coin wrappers. "I sent him samples for quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies," Rondeau said, "and a week later I was watching the show and there he was, showing my product.

ISN'T IT amazing that City Councilman Frank DiCicco should happen to want to rob people by slapping a fee on plastic bags. What's next - slapping fees on Styrofoam, plastic and paper cups, newspapers and paper bags, as well as candy and paper wrappers, since there's plenty of them flying around in the air and rolling on the ground too? Great idea, Mr. DiCicco. Edward Dubin Philadelphia

A five-card set of Roberto Clemente cards distributed at baseball's All- Star Fan Fest in July was a giant hit with collectors and a bonanza for those who sold the sets after the event. The cards were produced, one each by Donruss, Fleer, Pinnacle, Topps and Upper Deck and were available only at Fan Fest and only if you redeemed five current wrappers from each manufacturers' baseball products. After the show closed, the night of the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, promoter Ray Schulte and his associates destroyed whatever remained of the Clemente cards.

An entire Christmas season has gone by. And a Valentine's Day. And, no less dismaying, an Easter since the Berley brothers began their clean-out and stubborn, nearing-the-finish-line reclamation of Shane Candies, the faded Old City stalwart. Actually, stalwart doesn't quite capture the fullness of its history - a confection business at its address (110 Market St.) since the days of the Civil War, its life under the Shane sign dating to 1911, 15 years before the cables of the Ben Franklin Bridge were slung a few blocks north.

IF YOU'RE A PHILLY PIG - that is, if you litter or short-dump on a regular basis - we have two words for you: Please move. You obviously have no love for this city and no respect for the millions of people who do, or for the thousands who volunteered two weeks ago to clean up after you during the mayor's much-heralded Philly Spring Cleanup effort. As the Daily News reported yesterday , four of the six sites Mayor Nutter visited during the April 2 cleanup have been trashed again.

For an artist trying to penetrate the market, few opportunities are as good as this. In an effort to promote condom use, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health's Division of Disease Control is sponsoring a contest to design its prophylactic wrappers. The competition, which has been extended to Jan. 14, invites artists to submit designs with a "unique and positive message," said Carol Johnson, director of the disease-control division. The winning design, as chosen by online voters, will adorn the wrappers of at least 500,000 condoms that the city distributes.

The two men - sewer workers - never know what they might find in a day's work. So it was with a bit of expectation that they recently snaked their robotic camera down into a manhole, looking for cracks and water leaks in the sewer pipes. Andrew Brzezicki and his partner, Larry Fisher, both with the Southwest Delaware County Municipal Authority, flushed the lines with a high-pressure water hose to clean them, sifted out grit caught in a screen, and then began to look. Most evident were the usual globs of shiny orange-colored grease - a homeowner's nightmare when it clogs a pipe.

A few things that Mumbai, India, ingrains in you: a taste for Bollywood, a tolerance of traffic, and a love of chaat , the street food of old Bombay. So I lit up when I saw Desi Chaat, a tiny, West Philly take-out storefront. The samosa had spent a little too long under the heat lamp. But the papri chaat (distinguished by boiled potatoes and chickpeas) made me smile. Your typical chaat employs a mixture of savories, in this case tossed with mango and pomegranate seeds and dotted with yogurt and mint, tamarind-date and plum sauces that you stir into crispy bits made here from (slightly oily)

ISN'T IT amazing that City Councilman Frank DiCicco should happen to want to rob people by slapping a fee on plastic bags. What's next - slapping fees on Styrofoam, plastic and paper cups, newspapers and paper bags, as well as candy and paper wrappers, since there's plenty of them flying around in the air and rolling on the ground too? Great idea, Mr. DiCicco. Edward Dubin Philadelphia

How's that holiday shopping coming along? Got the Easy-Bake oven for Johnny, the football jersey for Jane? And more to the point, have you figured out how to wrap them? Not to worry. We have tips from Janet Smith of Willow Grove who won $10,000 last week and the title "Most Gifted Wrapper" in a national contest sponsored by 3M, the company that makes Scotch brand cellophane tape. In the contest, held Friday in New York's Rockefeller Center, Smith, 65, was pitted against a mix of six professional and amateur contestants from other states in a battle to wrap a set of ice skates, a snowboard complete with boots and bindings, and then an eight-foot-long 2008 Yamaha Phazer snowmobile.

THERE'S A little-known fact about the Joneses that I've hidden for years. We're greedy. It's not a normal "we eat too much" kind of greedy, either. It's a sick brand of gluttony - the kind that would make normal people seek professional help. I've seen LaVeta wake up in a cold sweat, cursing her trans-fat fixation, and wishing she'd slept long enough to taste the cr?me br?l?e that mocks her in her sleep. "I was at this ball," she told me after her last food dream, "and there were desserts all around me. But as soon as I got to the front of the line and picked up the tiramisu, I woke up. If I could just taste one lemon square, I'd be OK. Why can't I taste just one?"

While most holidays come wrapped in cheery traditions, peek inside the festive packaging and you may discover a black box of expectations that often undermine the day's enjoyment. Valentine's Day, a fairly frivolous celebration, is truly a holiday of Great Expectations. As Pip discovered in Dickens' novel, one's expectations in love and fortune are often met with disappointment, and so it goes for both the beloved and the lovelorn every Feb. 14. It all starts in childhood, of course.

Recently, I spent part of a Saturday picking up trash along a two-mile stretch in Media. My husband is in charge of seeing that our church's Adopt a Highway commitment is fulfilled, and I helped him. As part of the trash crew, I wore oversized canvas gloves and a bright orange pinnie to protect me from some of the hazards inherent in my work. Even though I was not required to deal with cigarette butts or animal carcasses, the gross factor was still pretty high, especially after a rain when the storm drains were clogged.