Las Vegas, City of WellnessLorber, Grady, Farley...

Las Vegas, City of Wellness

Lorber, Grady, Farley & Volk, a public-spirited San Diego law firm that works free for an outfit called the Wellness Community, has decided to reward loyal employees and at the same time help the cancer-support group--by sending the entire firm to Las Vegas.

Does Lorber, Grady think cutting loose in Sin City will promote the mental health of legal eagles? Is the chance at round-the-clock gambling and gamboling this firm’s idea of wellness?

Not exactly. Lorber, Grady booked its reservations at Bally’s Casino Resort through Wellness, which gets a fee for each reservation. The firm is sending its 100 staffers--along with significant others--to the gaming capital for two days in December.

Firm partner Jim Farley, who is also president of the Wellness board of directors, says the trip is a chance for the lawyers and other staffers to have fun, for the firm to show its appreciation, and for a worthy cause to get some help.

Farley says he doesn’t see anything incongruous about trying to promote Wellness, if not wellness, by sending folks off to Las Vegas. They’re all big boys and girls who could just as easily find pathology at home.

Just the same, he says, “I’m not going to spot anyone any gambling money.”

Night of the Dolphin

Aside from the odd surfer, there were no seafaring mammals present. Nevertheless, Friday was a night for self-congratulation for those dedicated to the dolphin.

The progress so far, as it emerged from a star-studded get-together in Santa Monica: Dolphins killed by the U.S. tuna fleet, now mostly operating in dolphin-safe Western Pacific waters, have dropped to zero. A federal bill to label dolphin-free tuna has passed Congress.

Even dolphin deaths from foreign fishermen are down, according to Earth Island, an environmental group. In fact, Panama and Ecuador, two long-time villains to dolphin protectors, just mandated safer fishing.

Despite a slight setback Thursday, when an appeals court lifted a U.S. embargo of Mexican tuna caught in ways harmful to dolphin, the gala was attended by notables ranging from Anthony J. O’Reilly, chairman of H. J. Heinz Co., to Patti Davis, daughter of former President Reagan, to “thirtysomething” co-star Peter Horton.

O’Reilly triggered an avalanche of good will toward dolphins in April when he ordered Heinz unit StarKist Seafood Co. to stop buying tuna caught in ways that kill or harm the seagoing mammals.

The Friday night menu? Raw vegetables, baked brie, spicy shrimp and salmon. No dolphin. And no tuna.

Under Milkweed, Warmth

Talk about natural fibers. Aptly named Natural Fibers Corp. is hawking comforters stuffed with fibers of milkweed, which grows wild along ditch-banks throughout the northern states.

The company still buys the stuff from locals for $7 a sack, but like prehistoric humans, it’s gradually moving from the hunter-gatherer stage into agriculture. It already has 200 acres of milkweed under cultivation.

The closely held Ogallala, Neb., concern says milkweed floss is two to four times lighter than equivalent polyester fillings. And being a weed, the plant needs little water, fertilizer or pesticide, making it an environmentally attractive alternative crop for farmers.

Natural Fibers has sold 1,000 of its Ogallala Down Comforters, which are 60% milkweed floss and 40% white goose down, and national ads with a toll-free number were scheduled to appear last week. The comforters are also sold by Seventh Generation, a consumer-goods catalogue company pitched to the environmentally conscious.