The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 20

THE COURIER-JOURNAL THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1997 EDITOR: GREG JOHNSON PHONE: 582-4667 FAX: 582-4665 Pastor's work should be remembered, continued FEATIMPS 13 1 fii '-7 i-MM "A Sometimes you can tell more about a person after he has gone. When someone has made a lasting impact on a neighborhood, a church, an agency, a community, you miss him when he leaves. We miss the Rev. Michael Anderson already, even though he doesn't leave until tomorrow to join the administration of the South Indiana Samuel L. Jackson brings insight to his role as a beleaguered teacher.

Cheerless wisdom rules JLMv if i -1 I I Among KET2 programs are "Sessions at West jjr 54th," here with Taj Mahal, and the British jf comedy "Mr. Bean," with Rowan Atkinson. -r 17 ifix New public-TV channel starts tomorrow with extended lineup mercial-free, non-violent children's pro-gramming on KET and KET2 weekdays, with additional shows on weekends. (KET is seen on cable channel 13 and non-cable channel 15 in the Louisvile area.) "People can tune in and see a children's show on one or the other KET channel from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.," Hoffman said.

"That was the top priority in our planning." The lineup includes several children's shows that nave had brief test showings in this area, including "The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon," "Imagineland" and "Pappy Land." Another goal is to offer more adult-education courses especially in Louisville, which KET surveys show is a heavy user of such programming. For instance, weekdays, starting Monday, a GED course will alternate with "Math Basics" at 8:30 a.m. Other adult-education courses will be shown at noon, 12:30 and 3 p.m. "We'll have at least 16 hours of adult education on the schedule every week," Hoffman said. KET2 also will be a classroom-TV site for advanced education in the future.

Television courses will be developed by the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, "but right now all By TOM DORSEY TV Radio Critic J1 NEW PUBLIC-TV channel is com- ing to many viewers in Kentucky fjsi and Southern Indiana tomorrow. KET2, an extension of the Lexington, KET network and the successor to the defunct WKPC-TV in Louisville, makes its debut at 8 a.m. It will be seen via an upgraded Channel 68 transmitter on non-cable sets in the Louisville and Southern Indiana area and over cable channel 15 in Louisville. Other Kentucky cable systems airing KET2 include Insight Cable on Channel 10 in La Grange, Channel 2 on Bardstown Cable and Channel 15 on Lexington's TCI Cable. Systems in Indiana include Channel 11 in Jeffersonville and Channel 13 on Marcus Cable in New Albany.

(There's a slight possibility that the over-the-air broadcast of KET2 could be delayed by the installation of a piece of transmission equipment to be delivered today. That, however, won't affect cable.) "Basically what people will see is an extension of the KET network programming," said program director Dick Hoffman. "It will give us a chance to air programs that there wasn't room for on KET." One of the biggest beneficiaries will be parents and children. There will 12 straight hours of com Conference of the United Methodist Church in Bloomington, Ind. Anderson spent the past six years as pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church in Jef-fersonville, Ind.

Under his leadership, the church grew from (35 to nearly 200 members. But Anderson had a larger congregation, several 'villes that he served Jeffersonville, Clarks-ville and Louisville working to improve race relations and counsel folks on getting along. He co-founded Concerned Citizens for Racial Harmony, a group that helps people come together to. discuss racial issues. His legacy in this area includes his work with Bridge Builders, an unprecedented round table convened by The Cou rier-Journal two years ago to find ways to improve race relations.

After its initial and only planned discussion, the Bridge Builders decided to continue as a group developing ways to build bridges between groups. The newspaper and the group held joint meetings among arts groups, educators, youth and religious leaders all across town and got conversations started between people who hadn't met before. Bridge Builders continues to meet, and Anderson plans to be there. BUT PERHAPS Anderson's greatest legacy will be his work with "study circles," a concept created nationally more than five years ago and that Anderson embraced a year ago. Study circles, groups of people convening in "safe" places to discuss racism and differences, have been meeting across the country in nearly 100 cities and are based on turn-of-the-century gatherings where people shared information.

Anderson and Joe Easley, pastor of Wall Street United Methodist Church in Jeffersonville (the other co-founder of Concerned Citizens), convened 60 people from 13 congregations in various study circles. And what did those folks do? They talked. They had conversations, usually in groups of 10 to 12, about differences, similarities, culture, biases, myths and feelings. Anderson said in an interview last January that "there were wonderful stories about relationships established and misperceptions cleared up." "Some of these folks had never had a conversation with any person different from themselves. The effort was so successful that Southern Indiana leaders plan to broaden the study circles this fall to embrace nearly 1,000 Southern Indiana participants.

Anderson also worked with the LouisvilleJefferson County Human Relations Commission, training facilitators earlier this year to conduct circles in Jefferson County. Those circles, with a total of 130 people in groups of 10 to 15, met from February to April. "HIS COMMITMENT was more than a passing fancy," said G. Denise Brown, former executive director of the commission. "He has a burning desire for reconciliation in the community.

Brown said Anderson wanted the entire region to work together. "We were working on West, South and East (Louisville)," said Brown, now manager of diversity for Brown Williamson Tobacco Corp. "He wanted Indiana to be North. He was very passionate about providing a safe place for dialogue." In a conversation last January about study circles, Anderson said, "Race is such an issue in our country. There are a lot of people who want to talk about it with integrity but don't have the opportunity or forum to do that safely." Anderson also leaves a style suitable for imitation: He listens.

During meetings, his comments were a mixture of conviction, com- fiassion and common sense. His augh, a hearty roar with no sense of timidity, forced you to join in. And he listened. Sometimes you can tell more about a person after he's gone. What we'll learn is how much the Rev.

Michael Anderson did in the six short years he was here. He left some big shoes to fill. Rochelle Riley's column appears on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Features. She can be reached at (502) 582-4674 or at RlLEY525iu aol.com. CM I I Hi.

ROCHELLE RILEY in school movie 187' By STARK The Detroit News Most people who get stabbed in the back literally, repeatedly stabbed in the back would go out of their way to avoid putting themselves in the same situation again. Not Brooklyn high school science teacher Trevor Garfield. Played with quiet but commanding insight by Samuel L. Jackson, Garfield is a man with a mission and the key character in a sobering new film, "187." He's a man who says the Serenity Prayer, a staple of the Alcoholics Anonymous program, before he goes to work every day, adding his own footnote asking the Movie review Lor(1 10 nelP nim do what he was '187' "put on this earth to do." He's a man Starring: Samuel who passionately Jackson oves t0 teacn an(j C-J Rating: believes in the re-MPAA Rating: demptiye value of profanity and violence, education for emo- Showing: Dixie Dozen, H'SS River Falls, Showcase, H.3" tef wf Stonybrook (2 hr.) bring nothing but ignorance and hos tility to school every day. So after he recovers from the wounds inflicted by a student who learned he was failing Garfield's science class, the teacher moves to Los Angeles and takes a substitute job there at a violence-plagued inner-city high school.

"187," drawing its title from the California penal code for homicide and a favorite bit of shorthand among teen gang members, tells the story of this gifted, tenacious teacher's gradual but certain voyage to disillusion and worse. First-time screenwriter Scott Yage-mann, himself a veteran of seven years' teaching experience in the Los Angeles public school system, provides final wisdom of the most cheerless kind. Essentially the dramatic arc of his script leads viewers to the conclusion that the sacrifice of sanity and life regularly made by teachers in urban schools is simply not worth the occasional triumph. We don't necessarily go to movies to be cheered up, and we most particularly don't need any of the kind of false cheer or cynically exploitive yucks dispensed in substandard movies about pressing urban problems. Yet it's impossible to accept the final wisdom Ya-gemann dispenses in "187" because it is wisdom steeped in despair.

Although the movie's conclusions are unacceptable, director Kevin Reynolds proves an unflinching reporter, one who relies heavily on vivid, authentic detail from the front line: armed, highly aggressive kids (and armed, very frightened teachers); administrators thrown into inertia by the specter of potentially expensive lawsuits; illiterate, uncaring, helpless or just plain absent parents. Beyond high-impact reporting, the movie gains immeasurably from a lead performance that lavishly confirms the virtue of simplicity. Eyes steady behind his spectacles, voice lowered and modulated, gait slightly stiff to match his veneer, Jackson gives a fastidiously detailed performance that depends on simplicity to suggest the complexity of the character. Under his scholarly, reserved, almost prim exterior is a man whose inner rage has reached the boiling point. Near film's end, Jackson gets an explosive bit of dialogue: The stabbing was nothing compared with "the robbery," he says.

What was stolen? His passion, he explains; his spark, his self-confidence. It's a measure of the performance that you sense the nature of the character's loss, exactly, long before he spells it out. INDEX Ann Landers 4 Comics 4, 5 Show Clock 6 Television 2 What's Up Today 6 New tools plant seeds of desire Loggers, landscapers, engineers and hardware buyers just call it "Expo." They refer, of course, to Expo 97: International Lawn, Garden Power Equipment Exposition, held at the Ken that is still up in the air and in the planning stages," Hoffman said. Adults looking for entertainment and informational alternatives will also have some new options. "Russia's War," a new 10-part history of that nation from the 1920s to now, will air in two-hour chapters for the next five Friday nights starting tomorrow at 9 p.m.

Four British sitcoms You Being "Waiting for God," "Keeping Up Appearances" and "As Time Goes which viewers saw on WKPC, will resurface on KET2 Sundays from 10 to midnight. They also be shown by KET on Saturday beginning at 9 p.m. but in a different order. The British comedies will be joined by two new ones, "Mr. Bean" and "The Thin Blue Line," at 7 and 7:30 p.m.

on Sundays on KET2. Other KET2 programs include "The Charlie Rose Show," which will return for Louisville viewers weeknights at 11. "Sessions at West 54th," Saturdays at 11 p.m., will feature rock legends as well as new performers. KET2 will also be a conduit for community-based documentary programs from independent and local producers Saturdays at 10 p.m. That programming begins with "Making Peace," an urban-solutions series', tomorrow night Makita boasts about its muted lawn mower.

in Atlanta; now so can you. Do it for Fido; do it for the ferns. The nifty Mist Cool outdoor cooling system for people, pets and greenhouses comes in a kit. Roughly speaking, you can cover 20 running feet for prices that range from $75 for a top-of-the-line permanent installation to about $40 for a portable system. Mist Cool is carried at Home Depot stores, mostly in the West, but you can order directly from the company by calling (800) 222-3747.

It's the same technology used at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta last year, and it operates by flash evaporation, using a few gallons of water per hour to make areas up to 25 degrees cooler. And, it struck me that, with a timer attached, you could rig this as a low-cost way for an amateur plant propagator to have a misting system. Reallv cheao: Along the lines of cre ative adaptation with alldue apologies to the Handsfree Bag Holder in plastic seen at Expo it occurred to me you could make your own, hands-off leaf -bag holder by stiffening the top with a piece of poster board or leftover cardboard. Just gently bend the poster board in a semi-circle and insert in the upper half of the opened trash bag. See NEW TOOLS Page 4, col.

1, this section INSIDE Houseplant haven Keeping your houseplants alive while on vacation can be tricky. There are no guarantees, but grouping them can work, as does the ol' bathtub technique. 4 tucky rair Exposition Center in Louisville. What turns the pros' heads at this annual summer trade show is stuff like rapid-hitch systems, protective climbing gear and portable curb ramps, things few oi us mere monai nome KmJ 1 1 gardeners need. 1 1 However, a swoop iiiwAii mui through the 594 hnnths in doors not to mention the 170 outdoors last weekend left this common gardener singing.

Hovering lawn mowers DIANE HEILENMAN GARDENING And, there were several trends of note to hard-working gardeners, from the array of devices like flexible plastic panels for a no-hands approach to filling leaf bags to the expanding number of cordless tools, including chain saws and mowers as well as trimmers and pruners. Makita of La Mirada, gets top prize for the snazziest cordless chain saw, a sleek 12-volt machine that almost looks as though it's worth its $488 price. For that price, it is lightweight, only 3.8 pounds, and it does come with battery, charger and case. The company gives no specific time a battery charge lasts, but does say that the saw can cut 70 pieces of nearly 3-inch-square pine on a single charge. Makita has a limited line of cordless power tools, including a new lawn mower so quiet the company boasts the operator can talk on the phone while mowing.

Makita is perhaps best-known for its gasoline-powered outdoor tools but introductions this year include an electric hedge trimmer with a 5.2-amp motor said to nave 25 percent more power tnan tne competition. Here are more details of the show. Really cool: They used it 1 1 I Makita's cordless chain saw gets the snazzy tool award. ana neroiciae sprayers. Chaps for weed whackers and watering wands.

Paint-on protectors and cordless hand pruners. Garden cabanas and mist cooling rings. These were a few of my favorite things at Expo. GREEN LINE Got a Question about gardening? Call the C-J's "Hot Line" todav or anv Thursday during growing Pay per bite? Pay-per-view cable television raked in close to $100 million from viewers of the Tyson-Holyfield match. But there's a cloud over future profits, says TV critic Tom Dorsey.

2 season between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at (502) 241-3027. Gardening columnist Diane Heilenman will be available to answer your questions For answers to gardening questions all week long, call the Agricultural Cooperative Extension Service in your county. Those numbers are listed at the end of today's Gardening column, 4.