Yellowstone Park's Tack On Fires Takes Heat

ANXIOUS about a public outcry, Yellowstone National Park officials continue to fight naturally occurring fires in violation of their own policy, an environmental group has complained.

``They defend the policy to let them burn.... But the park service has been jumping on every fire they could get to,'' said Louisa Willcox of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition in Knoxville, Tenn. That practice not only conflicts with the best scientific judgments, it is also ``a huge waste of money,'' she told the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America and the American Institute of Biological Sciences.

Elizabeth Kirkpatrick, a Yellowstone spokeswoman, said the park was not violating its policy. She said the park let two fires burn this year and one in 1992. Players: Don't play ball!

THE most exciting baseball season in years was almost certain to come to a halt after last night's games.

Talks between players and owners broke off Wednesday and no further meetings were scheduled before today's strike deadline.

Management negotiator Richard Ravitch still insists on a salary cap, where as union head Donald Fehr says players never will accept one.

The owners offered a 50-50 split of revenue in exchange for the cap, and say they'll refuse any agreement without one.

``We will continue to hope that maybe, as Don put it in the meeting, lightning will strike and one of us will have a good idea that can bridge this gap in the next day-and-a-half,'' Mr. Ravitch said.

``I'm not optimistic.''