The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 43

"PdHeman" Chuck Connors helps his son shoot for a country music career, 5D. DC0M1CS 7DCROSSWdRD smioN VISION TheTENNESSEAN THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1989 1 rv I RICHARD i in tme wild -a'. New director at Grassmere Wildlife Park anticipates wolves, otters and bears, oh my At-home shopping 'til dawn A fc -t ''W V- -i I (or are) native to the Middle Tennessee area Besides the cougar, for Instance, there will be grey wolves, otters, black bears, coyotes, white-tall deer, foxes, bison and elk. Although legally a too, Grassmere officials contend the "wildlife park" differs In that It will be a "living museum" focusing only on Middle Tennessee, and will not Include a typical zoo's menagerie of elephants, giraffes and gorillas. Frost, former director of the Po-tawatoml Zoo In South Bend, Ind, assumed his duties at Grassmere last week.

He brings an almost Boy Scout-like eiuusiasm to his new job. "Doesn't It feel like you're 50 miles out In the country?" he asks, pausing briefly on the trail between the cougar exhibit and the pond behind the intepretlve center. "I don't think people yet realize that we have more than 200 acres right here, right off a major road In torn Add to that the fact that we are PATRICK OONNOI LY Staff Wnitr The birds dance from limb to Umb, toe crickets perform their afternoon symphony and a kind breeze finds Its way over the MIL "Up on those boulders the cougar likely will spend 8 Rood portion of Its time sitting." says Phil Frost, who appreciates the nature of today and envisions the nature that will be at Grassmere Wildlife Park In his Job as park director. "If 11 acts like other cats, It will waten and study the parade of visitors that come walking over the bridge down In front of it" Frost Is describing one of the major exhibits Grassmere officials believe will delight the crowds that can visit the 2Qecre park after It opens next summer. The $17 million facility at 3777 Nolensvllle Road will Include an Interpretive center, various hiking trails, and a series of barrier-free enclosures bousing animals that were not recreating an environment for the animals but Instead using the environment to match with the animals, well.

It's an exciting concept to be Involved in." Construction at Grassmere is progressing on schedule, Frost reports. The Interpretive center's foundation Is In place and walls are going up. The parking lot and entrance road are about complete. Site preparation for each of the exhibit areas, Including the Installation of green-painted fences that will slip further from view as vegetation grows bock. Is well under way.

And some of the first animals that will call Grassmere home a coyote, skunk and North American cougar have arrived and are getting acclimated. Frost believes the attention to details that are Included in Grassmere's plans will help ensure Its success. Someone will come along each morning, for example, and swat away the spider webs that have sprung up over-night "If I pay money to come walking on these trails, I won't be a happy camper If I get a face full of spider web," says Frost "Well make sure that doesn't happen to anybody." Frost plans to spend a good chunk of his time In the near future making arrangements to acquire the animals Grassmere wants. He would like Grassmere to be Involved In the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquarium's species survival plan, which targets critically endangered animals. Grassmere, Frost says, will house and possibly try to breed such endangered animals as red wolves, Przewal-skl horses and a variety of cranes and use such Inhabitants as living proof of the need to better understand the natural world around us.

It is In such efforts that he believes Grassmere's ultimate success depends. While noting that 1 15 million people a year attend zoos, wildlife Cumberland Museum plans renovation J.T.PhSptSUtt Phil Frost surveys what will soon be the home of a North American cougar in Grassmere Wildlife Park. Frost is the park's new director. Grassmere will feature a number of "barrier-free" habitat enclosures that make it seem like visitors just happen onto the animals in a natural setting. "It also means that we'll have the space to offer bigger and better temporary exhibits that wont affect the rest of what the museum off en In the past, sometimes we've had to move or temporarily take down parts of permanent exhibits." The renovation also Includes: A new wall treatment in Sude-kum Planetarium that will Improve the sound quality system.

Behind-the-scenes renovations will be performed aswelL A new separate entrance for school groups and an expanded orien- Tun to PAGE 3D, Column 3 The Cumberland Science Museum's main building on Ridley Boulevard Is closed until Oct 7 so work can continue on at 1.65 million renovation and expansion. A large multi-purpose room will be added, along with a much enlarged space for the museum's temporary exhibits. The parking lot will be extended, the gift shop Is being moved and enlarged, and there will be extra office and exhibit construction space. renovation means that we will be able to greatly expand the classes and programs that are now being offered," says Robin Johnson, the museum's assistant marketing director. use the resources we have open to us.

If we tear down this," he says, gazing on the meadow where bison and elk will someday soon be, "then it no longer will be here. It will be gone." Grassmere Wildlife Park is operated by Cumberland Museums, which also operates the Cumberland Science Museum at 800 Ridley Blvd. parks and aquariums In North America (more people than attend all professional sports, he adds), Frost be-lieves success won't be rated In terms of the number of visitors or In any possible breeding program of endangered spedes. "Instead, what we hope to do is show visitors how Important It is to 9 it 1 I I v-1 11 i. i.

ii.il mm, i ii i. i 1 j'V' Pssst, pal like to buy a cheap gold bracelet? If so, turn on the tube In those wee, wee hours tween midnight and day, when you can sure enough shop til you drop. What's more, youll no longer need to pay for cable In order to squander your hard-earned dollars on bargains that look like they came out of factories without windows In Tijuana. As of Oct 2 you'U find a home shopping network on WSMV-Channei 4 between am 'During the past year we had Afov-ie Greats Netuorfe, which is going Into hiatus while we do a test run of Home Shopping Spree," Dan Akens, WSMVs station manager, said yesterday. Fortunately, there are some other alternatives for nlghtowls who don't have cable.

In fact the late-night schedule for the upcoming fall season actually contains some pretty good programming on Channels 4 and 5 (WKRN-Channel 2 is out of the running in this race, since the station signs off at 1 am). At I am, beginning next week, viewers will find USA Todayr The Television Show on WTVF-Channel 5. It Is being moved from its 1130 am slot so that Channel 5 can air a rerun of its 10 p.m. news for viewers who stay with the channel when Sajak ends. "We wanted to expose our newscast to some of those longtime Channel 4 viewers who tune in to watch Dan Miller and Pat Sajak," according to Mark Blnda, wTVFs program director.

On WSMV, Sally Jesse Raphael will be holding forth In her new one-hour format From am Channel 5 will be showing a lot of Marshall Dillon. Then at2a.ro, WTVF is airing a new show called Hard Copy, which may turn out to be a pretty Interesting news show. It promises an in-depth look at selected news stories, and Is running In much better time slots In other parts of the country. It will go against Trial by Jury on Channel 4, a courtroom anthology hosted by Raymond BurrPerry Mason. While Channel 4 follows that with shopping, Channel 5 offers Current Affair at 130 am.

Win, Lose or Draw at 3 am and a new game show, Third Degree at 3:30 am BIG APPLE GOES COUNTRY The Nashville Network announced yesterday that it has finally broken through the gates of Gotham and will air on Manhattan Cable, one of New York City's two cable systems, beginning in November. TNN will be added to Manhattan Cable's basic package as the system Is upgraded, beginning with about 20,000 households in November, and continuing to expand over the next two years to reach a potential 250,000 households, In areas of the dry described by TNN as "upscale." This will mark the first time TNN has been available in Manhattan and that is particularty important for two reasons, according to Jerry Bailey, a network spokesman. The first is that TNN will be able to sell advertising better when the Madison Avenue execs It sells can turn on their televisions and see the ads they placed. The second Is that will provide an outlet for country music In Manhattan, and that's good news in Nashville. "This will mean a lot for country music which Is always trying to break New York open," Bailey said.

WRESTLING ON SKATES The syndicated RoQergames has generated a lot of advance interest, sold a lot of advertising to big companies and will air In a multitude of cities. Unfortunately, if garbage, an unsuccessful attempt to blend wrestling, the wonderful old Roller Derby competition and rock 'n' roll. Nothing works to hold the viewer's Interest not the Alligator Pit, the Wall of Death, the simulated competition or any of the rest of the loud, tedious two-hour debut airing tonight at 8 p.m. on WCAY-Channel 30. Normally the show will be half that length an hour and will run at 5 pm on Saturdays and at noon on Sundays.

i i STARRY, STARRY NlfcHT International pop superstar Elton John, above, rocks out at Starwood tomorrow night, while the Pat Metheny Group, at right, presents jazi fusion at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, also tomorrow night. Only lawn seats remain for what Starwood offi- dais are calling "the concert event of the season." Tickets for John ($18.50) and Metheny ($17.50) are available from Tick-etmaster. Metbeny interview on 2D. WQQK wages no-drugs war 3 Goingon Linda Zittrower the Grassland community in Williamson County is a volunteer mom for a Brownie troop that has her daughter as a member. Interviewed by Max York.

My daughter is in the troop and she Is excited about It I wasa Brownie and a Girl Scout when I was Our family likes the outdoors a lot We're from Florida. We used to come to the Smoky Mountains on vacation, I ask my neighbors now and they don't go to the mountains. THOMAS GOLDSMITH Staff Writer When it comes to getting across anti-drug messages to kids, glamorous entertainment stars speak louder than politicians. That's the idea behind radio station WQQK-FM (92)'s anti-drug campaign, In which students who take a nc-drugs pledge are rewarded with LL Cool T-shirts and other star Items. "It'seasierforaKoolMoeDora Michael Jackson to get the message across on drugs or gangs than it Is for George Bush or Jesse Jackson to get the message across," 'QQK program director Jay Dubard said yesterday.

"We tie this in with the record In-dustry. They've given us headbands or T-shirts with LL Cool or someone like that on them." Dubard and 92-Q air personalities Lynn Henry and Chuck Knight are taking their message to South Street Community Center at 4 pm today as part of the drive. The National Association of Broadcasters convention rolls In New Orleans this week. WSM-AMFM will be recognized today for Its efforts "toward improving the quality of life" as a nominee for the Associated Press-sponsored Crystal Radio Awards. WYHY-FM (107) is one of five nominees for contemporary-hit radio station of the year; the winner In that and 22 other categories will be announced at Saturday's Marconi Radio Awards DinnerShow, where WSDCs Gerry House will be among the presenters.

Mike Crusham, former general manager of WGFX-FM (104), has moved on to the green pastures of Pittsburgh, where he'll become GM at WWSW-FM AM. Crusham's last big blast at "the Fox" was the i widely believed "Uvestodi" concert-that-wasn't His replacement Is Diane Kruthaupt, formerly general sales rnanageratWMJJmBlrrnlngnam. Aboaferadio "Our announcers go out periodically on location," Dubard said. "The first 20 Uds to come by and say, '92-Q just say "no" to and we will give them a T-shirt or a headband. We'll continue to do this throughout the school year." Dubard started a similar campaign at a Cincinnati station last year.

"Because drugs are such a big problem in our society, I took a stand that the station should make it an active campaign," he said. "We want to make kids aware that people In the music business, the people they see In the videos and on television, are not drug addicts." Record labels Including MCA and Atlantic are supporting the station's efforts by contributing clothing, backpacks and even school folders bearing the names of top rap and rock stars. It's something you did In Florida. We've had a lot of fun with the Brownies. Last year, my husband, Gary, drove the truck.

We decorated it and we rode in the Christ-' mas parade. I can remember going to Girt Scout camp. We slept In one room, with bunks three or four high. I loved it I hope to help more with scouting this year. My son is three now.

So I will be able to help more. My husband and I are big boaters. We have a motor home. So we are getting out and seeing Tennessee. We like to camp out, too..