The Tennessean du lieu suivant : Nashville, Tennessee • Page 11

C1 Al IffiW pISrr1- Tuesday Jan. 21, 1975 Page 11 Panel Recommends Water Rate Hike Bass, Governor Talk This Week On Welfare Plan TT7 mm I I 'J Hotel-Motel Tax lease arrangement from general operating appropriations. THERE ARE indications the council will choose to sidestep the politically dangerous proposal, ViOM.Ettr.F.OfcSALE I By DOUG HALL State Welfare Commissioner Horace Bass said yesterday he will meet some time this week with Gov. Ray Blanton to discuss former Welfare Commissioner Fred Friend's controversial plans to reorganize the department. The reorganization plans call for the demotions of four key depart- ment personnel.

Two employes have prevented their demotions through court action since Friend announced the reorganization plans last August. "I WILL GET together with the governor and we'll make a decision this week," Bass said. "We haven't really had time yet to talk about it." The State Supreme Court has indicated it will not rule on a motion to dismiss a suit brought by two department employes until the new administration makes a decision in the matter. Mrs. Elaine Parker, director of services for the blind, and Mrs.

Greta Hinds, director of the state food stamp program, filed suit in Chancery Court here last September asking that Friend be enjoined from demoting them. Chancellor C. Allen High issued a temporary restraining order which has prohibited the demotions thus far. yp. Oil which some councilmen say will result in a property tax increase.

The Budget and Finance Committee recommended yesterday that a proposal for a special referendum on the subject be deferred when the measure reaches the council floor tonight. In other action yesterday the committee: I Recommended the appropriation of $600,000 from the Streets and Transportation Grant Fund (gasoline taxes) to the Public Works De partment for the paving of streets the Urban Services District. Recommended the appropria- tion of $50,000 to the General Sessions Court Clerk's office to employe 10 new traffic warrant servers and seven computer technicians to hand- le a backlog of thousands of traffic tickets. Authorized the mayor to apply for up to $1.1 million in Waterworks Construction Loan funds to extend water services into portions of Pleasant Hill and Hamilton Church Road areas. -SloH pholo or Gorolo H.r Like These? Heaters Needed With Attractions of course, the wares of this drive-in theater near here are only on film.

TULLAHOMA, Ten n. -It is doubtful thot any Oriental slave market ever exhibited such a lack of confidence in its wares as to offer the free use of heaters along with Casey Says Off icer, Parlor Ties Wrong Hendricks' cousin, Ron Hendricks, told them the detective lent him $3,000 to start the massage parlor i which opened Sept. 9. Detective Hendricks has denied repeatedly that he lent $3,000 to his cousin to open the massage parlor. Ron Hendricks has denied that he told the Ashes about his cousin lending him the $3,000 in cash.

BASS SAID HE saw Blanton last weekend and discussed the matter briefly, and they decided to meet this week to make a decision. Under the reorganization plans, Mrs. Parker would become a research consultant in her program and Mrs. Hinds would become a field supervisor in the food stamp program. Hurston C.

Burkhart, who as chief of programs headed five programs in the department, already has been placed in charge of two services financial assistance and food stamps. MISS EDITH ELMORE, director of financial assistance until last September, has been serving as a research consultant under Asst. Wel-fare Commissioner Floyd Richardson. Mrs. Parker and Mrs.

Hinds contended in their suit against Friend and the Welfare Department that Friend acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in deciding to demote them. Friend was motivated, they charged, by political considerations and a personal animosity he held toward the two women and their programs. THE WELFARE department and Friend contended the food stamp program had been changed so that Mrs. Hinds' services could better be utilized in field supervision. The department also contended Mrs.

Parker was not effective as an administrator. Friend, a Republican, left office last Friday, and Bass, a Democrat, took office yesterday. State Atty. Gen. Bart Durham and other attorneys representing the Welfare Department tried repeatedly to get the case settled before Friend left office.

Yours Fame Doesn't Affect Stamp-Licking Dog By FRANK GIBSON Metro Council's Budget and Finance Committee voted yesterday to recommend legislation to increase the county water and sewer rate by 18'; and to enable imposition of a special hotel-motel tax. By a narrow 3-2 vote, the panel recommended the council approve the new water-sewer rate on second reading when it meets in a televised session at 7:30 p.m. today. THE COMMITTEE'S vote came Jack Harrington, director of water and sewer services, told members that failure of his department to receive the increased revenue could result in a halt of new water-sewer construction. Council-men Orville Earhcart, George Holmes and Coy Smith voted in favor of the measure, while their colleagues, Fred Lowry and James Hawkins, voted against.

The committee recommended that council ask the Davidson County delegation to the 89th Tennessee General Assembly to support enabling legislation for the hotel-motel tax after Finance Director Joe Tor-rence said local taxpayers "would rather have this kind of tax than an increase in the property tax." Today's meeting marks the first session in the council's lavishly furnished new chambers, which cost Davidson County taxpayers more than $300,000 to refurbish. It also marks the beginning of regular live coverage of council meetings by WDCN-TV (Channel 8). BUT PERHAPS THE most controversial items on today's agenda deal with a proposal by the Metro Police Department to get a new $20 million Criminal Justice Center. Before the council is a resolution that would appropriate $25,000 for "Phase II" of a building feasibility study and a second reading bill that would allow Mayor Beverly Briley to enter a lease-purchase arrangement with the Metro Industrial Development Board. Under the Briley administration's proposal, the industrial board would sell revenue bonds to finance construction of the facility and the police and sheriff's departments would retire those bonds through a 30-year Gas Probable Explosion Cause Officials of the Nashville Gas Co.

said yesterday an explosion Sunday which destroyed an Inglewood home and seriously injured a woman was probably caused by either natural or sewer gas. Gas company Vice President Rody Story said a leak in a gas main was found about 1 15 feet from the home of Ruth Wood, 69, of 1 1 12 Kenwood but that there is no indication of how the gas could have gotten to the scene of the explosion. MISS WOOD, food editor for the Nashville Banner, was found buried in debris after the explosion. She remained in poor condition at Nashville Memorial Hospital with multiple injuries. "At the present time we are trying to find out how the combustible material got to the scene of the explosion' Story said.

He explained that concentrated amounts of gas were found at the site of the home, but that there is no indication of the path the gas traveled to the home. STORY said the source of the gas is also not known because the composition of natural gas and methane gas, which would be found in a sewer, is very similar, and investigators have not determined which type caused the blast. "The explosion occurred under the house in my opinion," Story said. "There was a collection of gas under the house and something could have ignited it somewhere in the house." Story estimated that it will take two days to determine what, if any; path the gas followed to the home. Neighbors of Miss Wood's said they heard a small blast Sunday morning followed by a more powerful one which shook homes, broke windows and cracked ceilings and walls.

Miss Wood, an employe of the Nashville Banner since 1925, suffered fractures of both the pelvis and several ribs. She also has a deep head cut and possible internal injuries. She was buried in the debris for about 30 minutes before rescue workers could free her. By GEORGE WATSON JR. Police Chief Joe Casey said yesterday that he feels no Metro police officer "should be connected with any massage parlor." Casey, who cited the reputations 6f most Nashville massage parlors as being fronts for prostitution, added that if a Metro policeman "is involved with a massage parlor, he or she is in direct violation of the rules and regulations of this Police Department." THE POLICE CHIEF explained that it is a rule of the department that an officer wishing to "open up any type business, or work an extra job, must get permission to do so." Casey was referring to claims that Metro Detective Charles Hendricks has been involved financially in Brandy's Health Studio, 1400 Church St.

According to sources, a probe was launched last week by the Police Department's Internal Affairs Division after John and Clara Ash, a brother-sister team which has operated the Magic Touch and Magic Fingers massage parlors downtown, gave police a statement alleging Hendricks' involvement in Brandy's. IT WAS learned that the Ashes, and another witness, told police that Lack of GOP i. Appointments Draws Blast State Republican party Chairman Dortch Oldham accused Democratic House Speaker Ned McWherter yesterday of "a blatant misuse of power" in refusing to name Republicans as committee officers. Oldham told an afternoon news conference that McWherter had ignored rules of the House of Representatives and "misinterpreted the voters' wishes." McWIIERTER ANNOUNCED the House committees Saturday and continued a practice he began two years ago of excluding Republicans from committee leadership posts. The action also has the effect of excluding Republicans entirely from the powerful Calendar and Rules Committee which decides what bills will go before the full House for a vote.

"The fact that no member of the minority party has a seat on this important committee does in fact disenfranchise a significant segment of the voters of this state," Oldham said. "It is entirely possible that no major Republican-introduced bills will be allowed on the floor." Oldham charged that McWherter simply ignored a House rule which requires the speaker to consider the partisan makeup of the House in making his appointments. Drive. Andrews said you can't just buy a plant, stick it in dirt and expect it to grow. He said he has spent years studying the peculiarities of the many plants he grows at home.

"I like to take care of sick plants," Andrews said. "When any of the plants in the store get sick, I take them home and work with them till they get better." Pointing to a display of Christmas cacti on sale, presumably because they have already bloomed lor this year, Andrews said "these won't bloom in most people's houses, because they need more humidity. "SOMETIMES PEOPLE make a mistake buying a tropical plant in Florida and thinking it will grow back here. They don't realize you have to consider the differences in climate and soil conditions." I Plant containers are big business, too. Andrews admitted the plants in his store bring in much less money than the fancy containers that go with them.

Then there arc the special plant foods, nutrients, potting soil and sitter's fees. At Woolcoin 1(H) Oaks Mall you can buy two quarts of dirt for 49 cents, organic vegetable food, cottonseed meal for acid-loving plants and leaf polish. MRS. PARKER said the Sohrf-flera, or umbrella tree, is one of the most popular and costs anywhere from $2 for a small one to $20 or $40 Chief Returns Police Chief Joe Casey, after a brief stay in Baptist Hospital Saturday for an irregularity in his heartbeat, returned to work yesterday and said he feels fine. Casey explained that his doctor has given him medication to take in order to control his heartbeat.

The chief said his doctor told him that if he doesn't get positive results from the medication, he will have to take "shock treatments." "When he told me that, I got my shock so now everything is just fine," Casey added. About 70 to 80 letters have been sent to Rex from across the United States. Many persons wanted a stamp licked by Rex and sent back to them. OTHERS WERE concerned about the dog's health. The glue on stamps contains arsenic, one cautioned.

other sent a stamp moistener so Rex wouldn't get Fame hasn't changed Rex, however. He will meets the postal truck at dawn to lead it around town. And in the afternoon, there are always a few stamps to lick. By KATHLEEN GALLAGHER They cost money to feed and medicate, some are temperamental, others have to be bathed often, and when you go on a trip, you have to leave them with a sitter. So why on earth would contemporary adults, already besieged with the problems of raising kids and pets and balancing a job, a mortgage and a car pool, take on the additional' burden of caring for a roomful of demanding green plants? "PEOPLE ARE really into plants now.

It's the big fad in home decorating," says Anne Parker, proprietor of The Shop on Bandywood Drive. And indeed it's a rare home or apartment in Nashville these days that doesn't boast at least a few planters, hanging baskets, potted ferns or trailing ivy on the inside. The same people who formerly might have worried that their children wouldn't grow up big and strong if they didn't cat carrots or cod liver oil arc now busy talking to their potted begonias and feeling guilty if the philodendron doesn't put out as much new growth as the neighbor's. "PEOPLE HAVE been around dead things too long. They want something living in their homes, but they've stopped having kids." said Buddy Andrews, assistant manager of Pier One Imports on Crcstmoor My Philodendron Is Better Than HORNBEAK, Tenn.

(AP)-Fame has brought Rex, the stamp-licking dog, money, candy bars and advice for his health. A story in December publicized Rex's fondness for licking postage stamps and since then the dog has become a celebrity. "RIGHT AFTER the story went out, the phone started ringing off the wall," said Postmaster Jerry Short. took off and went home." Short said he's done live interviews with radio and TV stations "in New Orleans, Nashville, Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington." A -StoH photo kf i.T.

PMipt for Kids? plants in her greenhouse at the The for an adult specimen. Air ferns, the plant that supposedly thrives on neglect, are a big item at Pier One. Mrs. Parker said she suggests that novice botanists start out with plants that are less temperamental and easy to grow, explaining that some varieties have to be bathed in a shower and warmed outside in the sun. She was briefly interrupted by a customer who wanted to know how to plant a pineapple.

SOME PEOPLE become very involved in their plants' development and play music to stimulate their growth. New York psychic Irwyn Greif claims that a plant left in a room with a dying person may become insane. Randy Smith of Randy's Landscaping Co. said you must be very careful in moving and repotting plants. "How would you like it if you were standing there trying to grow and someone came along and shook you?" he asked.

John Simmons Shop sells plant posters, while Mrs. Parker docs a brisk business with plant greeting cards and books. One of the books, called Gardening With Sumienfs contains this description of cotyledons: "The Walli- chi variety has a definite trunk like some other Crassulas. and the Undulate seems to have none, and has the same coloring as some of the Echeverias and Semperviviums." im. f' I 4 JL.

try A Substitute Mrs. Anne Parker is surrounded by Shop on Bandy wood Drive..