Poles Apart

Criminals are not known for following the daily fluctuations of commodities markets, but they do have a sense of the value of things. When copper prices begin to climb, urban vandals start pulling pipes out of abandoned apartment buildings. Gold prices soar, and thieves start ripping necklaces off passersby. Now, with aluminum prices on the rise (up 36% since 1979), black market entrepreneurs are starting to chop down and steal streetlight poles.

South Florida is becoming the heart of darkness. In Dade County this year, at least 200 aluminum poles have been stolen from storage yards or felled at roadside with axes and blowtorches. Police estimate that the 40-ft., 300-lb. poles, which cost the county $1,500 each to replace, bring anywhere from 40-c- to $1 per lb. on the black market.

Police in Miami recently caught one man near an expressway ramp cutting up a fallen pole with a blowtorch and loading the pieces onto a pickup truck. An even bolder thief was caught at 4 a.m. by Highway Patrol Corporal Edward Fletcher with an intact pole strapped to the side of a Datsun. "It wouldn't take a great police mind to figure out that one," said Fletcher.

So far, no traffic accidents have been attributed to the missing poles. But who knows what may happen if the thefts continue. Dade County, which encompasses Miami and many of its suburbs, has only four workers to maintain--and replace--8,000 poles.

House for Sale, $100

Larry Austgen, 31, of South Holland, Ill., is a contractor by trade, but a gambler by nature. Two years ago, Austgen built his first speculative house in suburban Chicago's posh Plum Valley: a luxury 2,400-sq.-ft. brick home guaranteed, he thought, to have the buyers lining up. Wrong. By the time it was built in August 1979, soaring mortgage rates and a souring real estate market had made a lemon of Austgen's plum. The house, appraised by realtors at $147,000, sat unsold for more than 18 months. Then Austgen had a sporting proposition: Why not let others take a chance on the house? He talked the South Holland Jaycees into raffling it off for $100 a ticket, of which $15 would go to charity. A minimum of 1,650 tickets (but no more than 1,800) had to be sold or the money would be refunded.

The drawing is not until June 6, but Austgen is sure no refunds will be needed. The prospect of getting the house for only $100 has people snapping up three and four tickets apiece. The Jaycees are delighted. Charity is served. And Austgen stands to gain at least $140,250.

Making Whey

First came TV dinners, then pantyhose and now the ultimate cocktail convenience: wine and cheese, all in one bottle, and environmentally sound to boot.

Cheesemakers are always trying to find something profitable to make from whey, the liquid part of milk left behind in producing cheeses. For every pound of cheese there are 9 lbs. of whey, or nearly 40 billion lbs. in America each year. Half has industrial uses, but half goes to waste. Environmental laws forbid dumping it in rivers. So some major cheesemakers maintain vast, costly, smelly lagoons of decomposing whey.

Cornell Food Science Professor Frank V. Kosikowski now claims to have the answer: wine made from whey. The potion, says Kosikowski, is "brilliantly clear, pale yellow, tart and dry, with a subdued aroma and bouquet." And versatile. "If baked at 150DEG F for two to three weeks, the wine becomes whey sherry of a rich, amber color. It can also be distilled and aged to become brandy."

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