The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 4

THE COURIER-JOURNAL LOUISVILLE, KY. THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 1990. KEN UCKY JD Moderate Baptists shift focus to the states after losing national vote Sloane called on the carpet on hot issues during tour By AL CROSS Political Writer MOUNT STERLING, Ky. On a trip designed to gain support in areas where he is weak, Democratic senatorial nominee Harvey Sloane was forced to deal yesterday with troublesome topics such as flag burning and nuclear power. IT TTtl l-J I- UV 1 Vw vs! V).

I 1 vw "i ates among those they appoint to leadership positions. Or, the conservatives could "remain in their rigid posture" and risk driving moderates from the denomination, he said. Moderates also could remain in the denomination but find new ways to fund and promote programs they support, independent from the denomination's cooperative budget Vestal appealed to Chapman and other conservative leaders to "live up to your promises" to "broaden the tent of involvement" within the denomination. He asked for people who supported Chap By BILL WOLFE Religion Writer NEW ORLEANS Now that moderate Southern Baptists have failed in their 12th straight bid for the presidency of their denomination, they must turn their attention to preserving power at the state level, two leaders of the moderate movement said yesterday. Conservatives "have committed themselves to go after state conventions and state institutions," said the Rev.

Daniel Vestal, who failed Tuesday for the second time to become president of the 14.9 million-member Southern Baptist Convention. '-2M man for president to stop accusing moderates of not believing the Bible, to "accept the rest of us as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ" "We are a diverse denomination. It is that diversity which is part of our genius," he said. Saying that "reconciliation and renewal are still the will of God," he proposed a retreat this summer for Southern Baptists to discuss the future of the denomi "We must seek to preserve Baptist Identity and Baptist principles in our state conventions," Vestal said in an interview after addressing a moderate group, Baptists Committed to the Southern Baptist Convention. Conservatives generally insist on a mostly literal interpretation of the Bible and have tried over the past decade to place the denomination's seminaries and other agencies under the control of SLOANEl "We're going to see coal burned as the source of energy." Vestal Sloane says he against both, but his statements on the issues in recent days have given ammunition to his Republican opponent, U.

S. Sen. Mitch McCon-nell. Sloane spent most of yesterday with Superintendent of Public Instruction John Brock in five counties that Brock carried in the May 29 Democratic primary. Brock was school superintendent in Rowan and Montgomery counties, which helped him carry adjoining Bath, Bourbon and Clark counties.

But he also appealed to voters there and in other counties such as Morgan, which Sloane also visited yesterday because of his con fillili nation. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Roy Honeycutt told more than 1,800 alumni and friends at a luncheon yesterday that conservatives will control the denomination through the 1990s. Speaking at the largest gathering of Southern alumni ever, Honeycutt said: "There is no need any longer to be present to vote in presidential elections. That day is gone. The political forces that control the convention will control it for the rest of the century." However, Honeycutt said he thinks the seminary will survive current tensions between the conservative-controlled board of trustees and the faculty and administration.

Conservatives have accused Honeycutt and some professors of not believing the Bible or of teaching beliefs contrary to Baptist doctrine. Honeycutt called on alumni to become better organized on state levels to increase financial support for Southern and to encourage the school's trustees to preserve its academic integrity. people who believe as they do. Moderates espouse each believer's freedom to interpret scripture. Jimmy R.

Allen, chairman of Baptists Committed, said, "We've got a whole lot of folks sitting back thinking that this thing is not going to come to them." However, conservatives are already working to gain control of state conventions as they have in the national offices, he said. "The cancer is already in the bloodstream." Vestal, who lost the presidential election to the Rev. Morris Chapman of Wichita Falls, Texas, by a vote of 21,471 to 15,753, said it was too soon to decide whether he would seek denominational office again. In a breakfast address to about 700 members of Baptists Committed, he said he was "deeply disappointed" in the election's outcome. Vestal, pastor of a suburban Atlanta church, said he could see the denomination heading in one of several directions.

The conservative leaders of the convention could ease tensions by including moder- McCONNELLi Says Sloane's -stance shows 1 "his ignorance of the energy field." STAFF PHOTO BY JOSEPH A. GARCIA Rhenna Tingle, 12, of Louisville couldn't look as she neared the end of The Squid ride at Kentucky Kingdom, which opened to the public yesterday. Her friends, Dana Miller and Jennifer Buehler, rode behind her. A new Kingdom Roller coasters and games debut at amusement park in Louisville Bush backs away from his veto threat on clean-air bill servative positions on some social and legal issues. Former Mount Sterling Mayor Dorothy Lavoie, who supported Brock in the primary, said she would grudgingly support Sloane, whom she called "very liberal." Asked to cite an example, Lavoie said, "The flag issue he switched on that" On Monday, after the U.

S. Supreme Court ruled that a law banning flag See SLOANE PAGE 3, col. 3, this section Martha Wilkinson says she's no surrogate By TOM LOFTUS Staff Writer LEXINGTON, Ky. Martha Wilkinson declined to comment yesterday on the recent tax increase or on state officials' fund-raising activities on her behalf. And in her first public comments since a gubernato- The Starchaser is an indoor roller coaster that plunges riders into total darkness except for a laser light show.

It runs at 45 mph, which was just enough to take 15-year-old Ravi Rafferty's baseball cap off. "It was a pretty good ride, but the line to get in was too long," Rafferty said. Rafferty said that although the changes have improved the park, "there's still not that much to it It's awfully small. I think they should lower the price here a little. It's not really worth $9.95." That's the adult admission.

The park also charges $5.95 for people over 60 and children under 4 feet tall. Children under 2 are admitted free. "I think the price of admission is fine," said Dee St. Lawrence, who attended with her son. "Generally, I'm impressed with the place.

I do think they should try to get people in more expediently. And I think the prices for the games are too high; in some amusement parks, games cost 50 cents as opposed to $1 here, and I think that deters people from playing." The park was scheduled to open last Friday but didn't because of severe weather damage to the landscaping, said Maria Partlow, the park's marketing director. Though the weather uprooted sev- See RIDES PAGE 3, col. 5, this section By LEE ERIC SMITH Staff Writer The Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park that opened yesterday has only one thing in common with the Kentucky Kingdom that closed in fall 1987: location. Park officials estimate that about 2,000 people went through the gates yesterday to get a glimpse of the park at the Kentucky fairgrounds in Louisville.

Many thrill seekers came to try their luck with The Vampire a new roller coaster that begins with a 12-story drop, does a 360-degree loop and climbs 12 stories again. The Vampire then does it again only backward. Several passengers slowly staggered off the ride, but some repeated several times. Park officials said some people rode it as many as 15 or 16 times. But not 13-year-old Ryan Carter.

"It gives you a headache," Carter said. "It was fun, but it gave me a headache." Is he going to ride it again? "Never," Carter said. "Never again." The Vampire is one of two roller coasters Kentucky Kingdom is introducing this season. The name of the other one, a giant wooden roller coaster, has not been disclosed because of a promotional contest to guess its name. Park officials boast it will go more than 65 mph.

It will make its first run on July 1. By ROBERT T. GARRETT Staff Writer WASHINGTON President Bush back-pedaled yesterday from his aides' repeated threats that he will veto clean-air legislation if it contains special aid for coal miners and others thrown out of work by the bill's provisions. Bush's remarks came less than an hour after one of his leading strategists on the clean-air bill White House domestic-policy adviser Roger B. Porter flatly repeated the veto threat.

But Bush wouldn't say whether he would veto the bill because the House last month tacked on an amendment granting an extra six months of unemployment compensation for potentially affected workers, such as coal miners in the high-sulfur coalfields of Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana. "I've learned something in this job," Bush said at a press conference for reporters from regional news-media outlets. "You Columnist Jim Adams Is on vacation. don't make decisions until you have all of the facts and I don't have all of them here. And I don't want to go into a hypothetical example like that On this one, I need to know more before I'd take that (veto-threat) position." Bush said he had opposed a more generous worker-assistance amendment pushed unsuccessfully in the Senate by West Virginia Democratic Sen.

Robert Byrd. But he only makes veto threats "once in a while," Bush said. With the clean-air bill, "I need to know more before I take that position," he said. (The Democrat-controlled Congress has not overridden any of Bush's 11 vetoes since he became president. Porter noted that Bush has worked hard to defeat overrides so his veto threats will elicit respect.) Bush's remarks left it unclear yesterday whether his administration has softened on the worker-assistance issue or whether it simply wants to distance the president from what may be bad news for thousands of See BUSH PAGE 3, col.

1, this section rial campaign committee was registered in her name, Wilkinson said she is not a surrogate candidate for her husband, Gov. Wallace Wilkinson, who is barred by the state constitution from succeeding himself. She said anyone who thinks she is a mere stand-in for her husband has probably "not had any direct deal WILKINSON: "I believe in my ability to lead. I believe in my ability to manage." Top official leaving mental health agency targeted in state probe By GIL LAWSON Staff Writer FRANKFORT, Ky. The executive director of an Owensboro-based mental health and retardation agency that is being investigated by the attorney general's office announced yesterday he was stepping down.

But J. Frank Dearness, executive director of the Green River Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board said his retirement had nothing to do with the probe into billing irregularities. "I don't believe there's any substance to that (investigation)," Dearness, 57, said in a telephone interview. "I've been here a long time, and it's a good time to move on." But Cabinet for Human Resources spokesman Brad Hughes said Green River Board Chairman Perry Lewis had told cabinet officials Saturday night that Dearness had been suspended with pay. Lewis, a district judge from Ohio County, could not be reached for comment Dearness denied that he had been suspended and said he was not asked to resign.

He said he had been contemplating retirement for some time and made his decision this week. Two other board members reached yesterday, Daviess District Judge E. Robert Goebel and secretary-treasurer Karen Campbell, declined to discuss Dearness' departure or a closed-door board meeting held Saturday on personnel matters. Another board meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. Former Board Chairman Richard Ford, an Owensboro attorney who stepped down in February, said, "As far as I was aware, Frank See DIRECTOR PAGE 3, col.

5, this section ings with Martha Wilkinson. And I think once they do, that will change their minds completely." She made her comments In an impromptu interview after her brief remarks at the Kentucky Bar Association convention at Heritage Hall in Lexington. As for the tax increase and administration officials' fund raising, she said: See WILKINSON PAGE 3, col. 5, this section 1 Corrections clarifications A story Monday about a traffic accident in Hardin County gave the wrong age for the driver, Samuel Hammons of Elizabeth-town, who was seriously injured. He is 29.

STAFF PHOTO BY PAT McDONOGH NO HORSING AROUND, OK? Buddy Bishop, an instructor in the steward-accreditation program at the University of Louisville, talked to a filly at Hermitage Farm in Oldham County yesterday. This particular class teaches methods of identifying horses through color and markings on the head. The program is part of of L's Equine Administration Program..