Saturday, August 16, 1975H C AY-
The dangers of making-and eating-pizza
,". . .:.;:::o:,'.(Continued from Page 5) place: when our manager departed for priority and begin preparing the meal
down (there is a difference between the the evening, the radio's intolerable Mu- immediately. Or, you might tell the per-
two sides). A mischievous high-school zak was replaced with the blaring rock son who takes your order that you're
senior once tried to pour hot water of WRIF. fed tip with their competition; that this
from the roof onto two little girls, and If your personal philosophy encom- is their chance to acquire a new cus-
a satanic assistant manager named Bob passes anything resembling D unto tomer. In short, any opportunity to se-
seized every opportunity to ruin the din- others the same way they've done unto cure the store's collective sympathy
ners of his co-workers, either by hiding you," the hectic pace of a fast food should be expploited to the utmost.
hot peppers beneath the sauce of their establishment may offer means of re- My two-year tenure as a pizza-maker
pizzas or cutting the meal into dozens sf venge. If you've telephoned in an order clearly left me shaken and disillusioned.
pieces after its removal from the oven, for, say, a large-size pizza, swear by My co-workers were so complacent to-
With working conditions like these, it is God and Country that you actually or- ward their own ineptness, so content
far from possible to fall in love th w dered i edium when you go in to pick fith mediocrity, so careless and male-
one's job. Bob, instead, fell in love on it up. Rather than make the whole damn fi, that the inescapable conclusion -
the job and is now holed away in wed- thing over again (and lose a few bucks horrible as it may seem - is that what
<.. ded bliss with a nagging, empty-headed in the process), the management will experienced was the norm, not an
high schooler and co-employe who rare- nrob-bly give you a large for the price aberration. Like insects adapting to
ly did more than answer telephones and of - medium, esoecially if you insist you DDT, each new worker, however well-
hand out change. cen't "fford the more expensive size. intentioned at first, seemed more than
I tolerated most of the agony all the Simiisrlv. you might save two bits by willing to lower himself to the absolute
way up to my retirement last week but denving that you requested the mush- bottom in labor quality.
the experience left a bitter taste in my rooms thev've put on your pizza. The core of the problem lies within
mouth. Constant exposure to these Nean- the consciences of young, underpaid, ov-
derthals (almost all my co-workers were An even dirtier trick, which requires erworked part-timers who have little
enrolled in high school, but the concept a proportionately larger dose of dis- incentive to turn out Grade A material.
of "maturity" was as alien to them as hotesty, can net you nearly two-for-the- The worker feels no identification with
Dynastic Egypt), resulted in a bit of price-of-one. After you've consumed the the consumer and is unwilling to com-
contamination at irregular intervals better half of a pizza, infect a single mit himself to the excellence he de-
partly because of the enormous bore- piece with a strand of hair or similarly mands of everyone else. It's simply not
dom the job generated after the first unsightly filth. Call the shop back, tell worth the trouble.
few days. Unlike the others, however, I them what you found on your food, then Your alternatives, at least within the
empathize with the symbol of our dis- politely ask them what they intend to do realm of pizza, are limited. Unless you
content, the customer, and I offer these about it. If you catch the management wish to swear off cheese-and-tomato for-
suggestions for pizza lovers to apply at in the proper mood, they'll probably be ever, you'll have to either live with a
their favorite shops where I fear the so embarrassed about your complaint fear that the ham is infested with im-
same sort of absurdities must go on. that they'll offer to cook you another purities you wouldn't wish on your worst
First of all, identify the manager of pizza' enemies, or else learn to cook the snack
the store and avoid the place during For those who shrink from such fraud, yourself. The latter course of action will
nights (or hours) he is not present. The there exist a few harmless methods for probably prove to be expensive, bother-
manager's (or owners') absence can obtaining better, quicker service than some and time-consuming, but the fin-
make all the difference in the world, as normal. If you've just walked into a ished product will make you feel better.
there is honor among incompetents - carry-out during the dinnertime rush, And. at least you'll know where the
one will probably not snitch on the other make believe you've a 1r e a d y or- hair came from.
when work becomes unsanitary or shod- dered the food you want and, after
dy. Gauge the presence of The Man by apologizing for losing your order, the Jeff Ristine is a Daily Night
simply studying the atmosphere of the cooks will probably give it their highest Editor.
Copper Country: Dim shadows from a gloried past
(Continued from Page 6)
"Through the night you could hear them pounding,
pounding away. They pulverized the tenacious metal
to the extent that it could then be separated from the
ore or shale.
"They dumped the tailings into the Portage via a
long chute and of course they didn't consider this
pollution back then."
Today the mills are silent but the ugly tailings which
spot the shore of the Portage are effective reminders.
After World War ItL with the loss of government
contracts, the last of the mining company's began
to fall. United Oil Products (U.O.P.), which bought out
H&C's mining and real estate interests, closed down
in 1968 after a.fateful strike.
The miners, affiliated with the United Steel Wprkers,
didn't know when they walked out in August, they
would never return.
Mike Rozich, a 31 year old surface worker for the
Homestake copper company and native of Calumet,
blamed the local leaders.
"The men didn't think that the mines would close
down but they (U.O.P.) fooled everyone. Now I can't
speak for all the guys but it was the union's fault that
they closed the mines. The union wanted too much, bet-
ter pay, benefits, the usual things that unions want."
Spiroff, gave a more detailed account of the Union's
dubious negotiations.
"The union didn't tell the men exactly what the
company was, offering them. They just kept saying
that their (the co.'s) offers were no good.
"Then the leaders from Pittsburg moved in and
fired the local leaders," he continued. "But by then
it was too late. The mines had flooded up because they
weren't pumping them, so they just closed them down."
Barring exploratory efforts, the modern White Pine
Mine of the Copper Range Company, stands as the
only remnant of a once profitable industry.
Constructed in 1952, the White Pine hoists 25,000
pounds of the red metal a day and produces about 5
percent of the nation's output.
Spokesman for the min, Larry Chabot, commented on
the future of the copper country and its ability to make
a significant turnabout.
"Chances are not too good because of the economics
of mining. Generally, its very expensive to start up a
mining operation and it usually takes five years from
the time you start building until you can actually pro-
date.
There's also the envronmental aspect," he added.
"With the government programs you have to run the
whole environmental gamut. You have to dispose of the
waste products and there's always the possibility of
class action suits.
But Chabot left thread of hope as the nation begins to
rely on its inherent and abundant energy source-
coal.
"With product independence in energy where we may
switch from oil to coal, something has to give.
"It would primarily afect coal mining, but it could
filter down to other resources grouped under mining."
Local optimism also centers around the Homestake
Copper Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the
Homestake Mining and American Copper and Nickel
Company's.
Homestake has reopened the old Sentinel No. 3 shaft
for exploration and is presently at a depth of about
a mile. While they haven't hit the conglomerate lode
and copper has yet to be sent to the smelter, rock
is being hoisted and milled to offset expenses.
The venerable Quincy, will also reopen for explora-
tory work when the contracts are finalized.
"We are going to explore to see if we can locate
better lodes that will make" the extraction of copper
economically feasible," stated Lewis Kopel, superin-
tendent of the Quincy's Michigan operations.
"You have to remember that when we closed, we
were down to 9,800 feet. So what we're going to try
and do is find copper on the upper levels where it's
cheaper to mine.
Today, copper country bares little resemblance to
the days of old. Local tourist attractions like the Amer-
ican Copper Mine, the Quincy Steam Hoist (the world's
largest), small industry, Michigan Tech, and lumber-
ing support the economy. But the natives' love for
the strapping pines, red metal, and Brobdingnagian
Lake still remains.
"It looks encouraging," Hosking exclaimed in regard
to the area economy. "But it will never be what it used
to. At one time we had 80,000 here in Copper Country
but now there are only 35,000.
"What saved our neck was when the college began
to grow. "Back then (after WW It) there was the.
same old thinking brought on by the mining com-
panies that people shouldn't expect too much around
here. So the new thinking that people at the college
brought, showing us that there were other things -
ine ttiuny sine te, a .uv-niuiy, ,rests on on
Hancock side of Portage Lake in the heart of cop-
per country, an area of the Upper Peninsula now
just a dim reminder of its former glory.
tourism, small industry - gave us a new lease on
life.
"And there's been a big change since WW it. It's
going to come back!"
Hosking may save a point. With man's eventual ex-
haustion of mineral resources and improvements in
mining technology, the Keweenaw country may again
live among the copper giants.
Al Hropsky is a Daily Assistant Sports Editor.