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GOODBYE TO FIELD HOCKEY: Sonora, California's Cassina High School—pending permission from the local school board—will offer gardening as a physical education course! State Department of Education officials reason that the elective will promote physical stamina and fulfill the education code which requires P.E. programs to be conducive to the "health and vigor of mind and body".

THE MILL TOWN RETURNS: Large U.S. business concerns and universities—which are having difficulty recruiting and relocating employees to work in areas with high housing costs—are reviving the "company town" concept. Stanford and Pepperdine Universities have begun constructing condominiums to sell to staff at below market rates . . . while some West Coast aerospace, computer, and electronics firms are exploring the possibility of leasing and/or building affordable housing for their employees.

RADON RISK? A General Electric study claims that the level of radon—a cancer-causing by-product of radium, which is released by soil, rocks, and contaminated ground water—is higher in energy-efficient homes than in conventional buildings. Two factors may be at work here: The air is exchanged less often in weathertight houses . . . and some solar-heated dwellings rely on sand, crushed rock, or concrete slabs—all potential radon sources—for heat storage.

CLAUSTROPHOBIC? WELL, DON'T TURN IN A FIRE ALARM in Providence, Rhode Island, where officials are testing a cylindrical, bright-red booth that locks up a blaze-spotter for five minutes after he or she has triggered the alarm. Fire department officers claim that each false alarm costs the city about $300 . . . and they're hoping the threat of "imprisonment" will deter pranksters.

SUPER ROACH: University of Maryland scientists believe they've discovered a strain of cockroaches that has developed an immunity to all of the commonly used pesticides. "Super roaches" were found in Baltimore's housing projects . . . and researchers theorize that extensive pesticide spraying by city workers speeded up the bugs' ability to detoxify poisons.

AN ORGANIC ROACH MOTEL? The answer to Baltimore's problems may have been found in North Lima, Ohio, where Xellinger's Nursery has been deluged with requests for hedgeballs (or hedgeapples) . . . the knobby, chartreuse fruit of the Osage Orange tree. Mellinger's was mystified, until the firm discovered that folks were buying the inedible "oranges" to deter roaches (the fruit's citrusy odor is said to be objectionable to the insects). In fact, the nursery is contemplating adding a new building to keep abreast of the hedgeapple boom.

THE CLEANING OF AMERICA is a new report highlighting eight success stories in the field of recycling and litter reduction. Each of the programs featured in the booklet differs from the others . . . and—if you're interested in starting such a project in your community—you can get a free copy by writing Kaiser Aluminum, Dept. TMEN, Room 11137, 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California 94643.

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