Steeplejacks

Paul Gavlak is hanging in there. At least until he teaches his replacement the ropes. That explains why the 70-year-old was clinging to a tower 250 feet above Hollywood's Vine Street over the weekend as he reached for the stars. The stars, in this case, are the three illuminated outlines that help turn the famed Capitol Records building spire into a bright electric Christmas tree each holiday season. Gavlak is a steeplejack.

Paul Gavlak is hanging in there. At least until he teaches his replacement the ropes. That explains why the 70-year-old was clinging to a tower 250 feet above Hollywood's Vine Street over the weekend as he reached for the stars. The stars, in this case, are the three illuminated outlines that help turn the famed Capitol Records building spire into a bright electric Christmas tree each holiday season. Gavlak is a steeplejack.

Marty Quinn's idea of fun is hanging in rigging 80 feet over the sidewalk--without a net. That's what he did a decade ago, when he placed the gold-leaf grasshopper weather vane atop the Fanueil Hall Market Place, now one of tourists' favorite stops in Boston. "That's a fun job," Quinn said. "There's a lot of recognition when you're doing gold-leaf work." Quinn, 32 and the father of two, is a steeplejack and president of Skyline Engineers Inc. of Fitchburg, one of the few U.S.

Ronnie Pierson is happiest dangling by a few strands of nylon rope 90 feet above the ground. With paint brush and bucket in hand, Pierson estimates that he has climbed to the top of about 4,000 flag poles and sign posts during the last decade, laying a fresh coat or two of weather-resistant paint as he spirals downward.

Ronnie Pierson is happiest dangling by a few strands of nylon rope 90 feet above the ground. With paint brush and bucket in hand, Pierson estimates that he has climbed to the top of about 4,000 flag poles and sign posts during the last decade, laying a fresh coat or two of weather-resistant paint as he spirals downward.

Today ought to be the most spectacular day of the year in downtown Los Angeles. Nearly every building, it seems, has a flagpole on its roof. And today is Flag Day. But don't look for red, white and blue to be waving from the hundreds of abandoned flagpoles that crown office buildings along Broadway or Spring Street or that top off commercial buildings in the Wilshire district or Hollywood.

"To all the people who worked on it, it was just this little film," said Simon Beaufoy, sounding decidedly dazed. "But I guess it's not just a little film anymore." Screenwriter Beaufoy was discussing "The Full Monty," the low-budget movie shot in Britain without any stars in its cast. The film, about a group of unemployed English steelworkers who turn to stripping to make money, is implausibly the underdog success story of this year's Oscars.

The U.S. military's All-Volunteer Force has been working--and working well--for 14 years, but arguments for a draft refuse to disappear. Indeed, many Democrats, including Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a potential presidential candidate, hope to use conscription as a cheap way of demonstrating "toughness" on defense. Meanwhile, most Pentagon officials seem pleased with the volunteer force. The Army chief of staff, Gen. John A. Wickham Jr.

Marty Quinn's idea of fun is hanging in rigging 80 feet over the sidewalk--without a net. That's what he did a decade ago, when he placed the gold-leaf grasshopper weather vane atop the Fanueil Hall Market Place, now one of tourists' favorite stops in Boston. "That's a fun job," Quinn said. "There's a lot of recognition when you're doing gold-leaf work." Quinn, 32 and the father of two, is a steeplejack and president of Skyline Engineers Inc. of Fitchburg, one of the few U.S.