While the mayor's administration and City Council quarreled over city government contracts, supplies of toilet tissue and paper towels dwindled in city buildings. A stalemate, which began last September, resulted in the council twice rejecting a $42,000 contract for a year's supply of paper products because members raised concerns about a high unit price for hot-drink cups, which is tied in with the restroom essentials.

As of Tuesday, police, firefighters and other Trenton city workers were down to their last sheets when word of a temporary solution came in. In addition to a $16,000 emergency contract, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) volunteered six months of free rolls with one stipulation - each sheet would read, "Slaughterhouses are so filthy that more than half of all meat is contaminated with fecal bacteria."

New rolls of paper were expected to begin arriving in city offices and facilities today. It is believed that if a solution had not been found, all city facilities would have run out of toilet paper by week's end.