Paper Products

Julius Leopold "Leo" Levy, a retired paper products salesman, died of heart failure Friday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Pikesville resident was 83. Born in Baltimore and raised in Forest Park, he graduated from Forest Park High School at age 16 in 1941 and earned an engineering degree at Duke University in two years. During World War II, he served in the Navy as a lieutenant. He was stationed in the Pacific. Mr. Levy was a vice president of the Monumental Paper Co. before retiring about 15 years ago. He had earlier worked in the family business, J. Leo Levy, which manufactured paper products.

Julius Leopold "Leo" Levy, a retired paper products salesman, died of heart failure Friday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Pikesville resident was 83. Born in Baltimore and raised in Forest Park, he graduated from Forest Park High School at age 16 in 1941 and earned an engineering degree at Duke University in two years. During World War II, he served in the Navy as a lieutenant. He was stationed in the Pacific. Mr. Levy was a vice president of the Monumental Paper Co. before retiring about 15 years ago. He had earlier worked in the family business, J. Leo Levy, which manufactured paper products.

This newspaper is grayish. Grocery bags are brown. Copy paper is white. Ditto paper towels. Ditto toilet paper, typing paper, note pads, stationery, food packaging and office paper. Snowy white and pure.Well, not so pure. You see, the reason most paper is so dazzling white is that it is bleached with chlorine at the pulp and paper mill. And among the byproducts of the chlorine bleaching process are hundreds of synthetic compounds called organochlorines. One group of these compounds is a family called dioxins, which includes the most toxic substances ever made.

They may have been lured to the community event in West Baltimore yesterday by the promise of free groceries, but the hundreds of people who turned out stayed hours for a message of hope. At the event, called A Better Life, the crush of people received bags filled with frozen meats, canned goods, bread and paper products - in all, about 80,000 pounds of food and other necessities delivered in two tractor-trailer loads to the Westside Skills Center on Edmondson Avenue. The $30,000 worth of groceries were purchased and distributed by members of Kingdom Life Church.

Boosted by a sharp increase in construction equipment and paper products, general cargo moving through Maryland Port Administration terminals increased 9 percent during the first quarter.Cargo during the first three months of the year was 1.6 million tons, up from 1.4 million tons in the first quarter of 1997."Roll-off/roll-on" cargoes, the category that includes construction equipment and heavy machinery, increased 19 percent to 127,200 tons. Paper products almost tripled, to 46,096 tons.

You hold in your hands a valuable commodity -- and that's not pulp fiction.Because of a worldwide surge in the demand for wood pulp, the price for paper products of almost all kinds -- including the newsprint on which this newspaper is printed -- is soaring.Executives of companies that use or sell paper say they've never seen anything like it.The price increases have been so steep, National Public Radio reported last weekend, that thieves in New York have taken to swiping bundles of used paper before the city's recycling trucks can pick them up.The effects are being felt in a multitude of ways -- some visible to consumers, some hidden but all very real.

Joseph "Boom" Clarkson Jr., a retired salesman and outdoorsman, died in his sleep Tuesday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 94. Mr. Clarkson was born in Hamilton and raised at Ailsa, his family's home on Ailsa Avenue, which is one of the highest points in the city. The site is now the home of Garrett Heights Elementary School. "He'd recall to family members of being able to see the Chesapeake Bay from his house on clear days. Other fond memories included riding to church as a little boy with his family in a horse-drawn carriage along Harford Road, then just a dirt road, and summering on Weems Creek near Annapolis," said Anna Clarkson, a granddaughter who lives in New York City.

U.S. Foodservice Inc. said yesterday that it has completed its acquisition of Sofco Inc., a paper-product distributor in Albany, N.Y.Columbia-based U.S. Foodservice hopes to increase its sales of paper products -- such as napkins, towels and tablecloths -- and the purpose of the purchase is to get a foot in the door."

Susquehannock Environmental Center, a non-profit recycling station near Bel Air, will begin accepting mixed paper on Tuesday.Used paper products, including magazines, junk mail, cereal boxes and egg cartons can be dropped off at the center. Susquehannock is at 700 N. Tollgate Road near Harford Mall, just off U.S. 1.The center will continue to accept used newspapers and certain grades of office paper, including computer paper.Susquehannock officials said paper products should be separated by mixed paper, office paper and newspapers.

Baltimore will offer an extra pickup of mixed paper products for businesses in the city on April 21, Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration said yesterday. Dubbed "Clean Your Files Day," it is the first time in years the city has offered an extra paper pickup for businesses. The service is intended to encourage paper recycling on the day before Earth Day. Mixed paper products include phone books, newsprint, folders, mail and cardboard. "You clean it out, and we'll pick it up right at your place of business," Dixon said.

Baltimore will offer an extra pickup of mixed paper products for businesses in the city on April 21, Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration said yesterday. Dubbed "Clean Your Files Day," it is the first time in years the city has offered an extra paper pickup for businesses. The service is intended to encourage paper recycling on the day before Earth Day. Mixed paper products include phone books, newsprint, folders, mail and cardboard. "You clean it out, and we'll pick it up right at your place of business," Dixon said.

In this era of e-mails and instant messaging, it's nice to know that there's still a place for a note written on fine stationery. Paper in the Park, run by sisters Susan Hill and Katharine Sodergreen, offers a wide selection of paper products to meet that need. The store, which opened in August, specializes in custom-designed stationery, including invitations, announcements and note cards. Hill, who has a background in marketing, and Sodergreen, a graphics artist, help customers create the look they are seeking.

The Commerce Department approved duties on imports of coated paper from China yesterday, brightening the future for several hundred workers at the NewPage paper mill in Allegany County and setting a precedent for other industries that have complained about unfair trade with China. Workers at the plant in Luke just saw 130 colleagues laid off after Dayton, Ohio-based NewPage Corp. permanently shut down line No. 7, blaming China for its woes. The company also temporarily idled a production line in Maine, which affected more than 50 jobs.

Joseph "Boom" Clarkson Jr., a retired salesman and outdoorsman, died in his sleep Tuesday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 94. Mr. Clarkson was born in Hamilton and raised at Ailsa, his family's home on Ailsa Avenue, which is one of the highest points in the city. The site is now the home of Garrett Heights Elementary School. "He'd recall to family members of being able to see the Chesapeake Bay from his house on clear days. Other fond memories included riding to church as a little boy with his family in a horse-drawn carriage along Harford Road, then just a dirt road, and summering on Weems Creek near Annapolis," said Anna Clarkson, a granddaughter who lives in New York City.

Guy Frank Gamberdella, a retired paper products salesman and co-owner of a bridal boutique in Towson who enjoyed chatting with nervous brides-to-be, died Tuesday of pneumonia at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. He was 81. Born near the Belair Market, he was 5 when his father, a bartender and bar owner, died, leaving his mother, Sophia, to raise four girls and two boys. Mr. Gamberdella learned early how to earn a buck. One of his first jobs was selling fruit at a stand in the Belair Market.

Workers and union officials at Millennium Chemicals Inc. have known for a while that the demand for titanium dioxide was softening. They had even suspected there could be small cutbacks to deal with the problem. But, they said yesterday, they were shocked when Millennium officials announced Thursday that the company would halt production of the chemical - a white pigment used in making paper products - and lay off about 270 people at its Hawkins Point plant. "We anticipated something was going to happen," said John Strong, subdistrict director for the United Steelworkers of America, which represents the workers who are to be laid off. "In no way did we think it would be to the magnitude that it was. It affected about two-thirds of our membership," he said.

The following is a list of several area organizations accepting donations that will make Christmas brighter for some people. These groups responded to a recent Sundial invitation to list their needs.* Christopher Place, 709 E. Eager St., a shelter serving homeless men in Baltimore city needs new underwear, toiletries, canned goods, paper towels and toilet tissue. Call (410) 576-0066.* Catholic Charities is collecting donations for the homeless and the needy at Hunt Valley Mall. Take donations of non-perishable food, new clothing, toiletries, canned goods, paper products and new toys to the empty store next to Lane Bryant near the Food Court (on the second level of the mall)

The city will expand its curbside recycling program to more neighborhoods next week and the program will be available in all neighborhoods by no later than December, says George G. Balog, the city public works director.Curbside recycling of paper, plastics, cans and bottles is now under way in several neighborhoods in north and northeast Baltimore with outside contractors.Mount Washington in the 5th Councilmanic District and Lauraville in the 3rd District will be the first neighborhoods to receive the service when it is expands, Balog told City Council members this week.

NICHE CARGO, it's called. Forest products, autos, heavy equipment. That's where the port of Baltimore should focus its attention, according to a carefully devised strategic plan announced four years ago. The strategy is beginning to pay off. Baltimore's port, a key economic engine for this region, is No. 1 in the nation in roll-on/roll-off cargo. It handles more wood pulp, aluminum imports and raw sugar imports than any other U.S. harbor. It's now the port of choice for magazine-quality paper, generating more jobs and spinoff economic value.

U.S. Foodservice Inc. said yesterday that it has completed its acquisition of Sofco Inc., a paper-product distributor in Albany, N.Y.Columbia-based U.S. Foodservice hopes to increase its sales of paper products -- such as napkins, towels and tablecloths -- and the purpose of the purchase is to get a foot in the door."