The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 2

2 A Salwdiy, Dtcembr 23 1995 THE TENNESSEAN 3 OffiHkJ- WORLD IN 0 MINUTES COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY ZOE CABANISS NFL season could tax star who wants 12-game limit Tennessee's Jason Layman, a projected first-round NFL draft choice, is against a Division I-A football playoff. He says it would make the season too long. Any more than 12 games, counting a bowl, is "entirely too much football." Columnist Larry Woody asks how Layman will survive in the NFL, where the regular season is 16 games. Any 21-year-old geezer who can't endure more than 12 games a season better not plan on a pro career, Woody says. On 1C I I I lJWiLJ Investigators recover recorder from wreckage in Colombia Amid a field of bodies and wreckage, investigators found a flight recorder yesterday that they hope will explain why an American Airlines jet flew off course and crashed into a mountain with 164 people aboard.

Four people, including two Americans, survived the Wednesday night crash 40 miles from Cali, Colombia's second-largest city. At least 48 of the people on the flight were U.S. citizens. On 4A. SEPARATIST DECLARES CANDIDACY Cheered by a surge of support for independence, Quebec separatist Lucien Bouchard yesterday declared his long-expected candidacy to become leader of Parti Quebecois, which has governed Quebec since 1994.

It narrowly lost an independence referendum Oct 30 but is increasingly confident that it will win next time. RWANDA, U.N. CLASH The United Nations' troubled relations with Rwanda took a turn for the worse yesterday when the African nation sharply criticized statements made earlier in the week by Secretary-General Boutros BoutrosGhali. The country's U.N. mission said his statement has the impact of destroying the climate of confidence that the new government has been working hard to develop.

LOTTERY WINNERS ANNOUNCED Sparkling wine flowed and townspeople danced in the streets of Palma de Mallorca, Spain, yesterday after their neighbors won the $285 million jackpot in the country's Christmas lottery. Each of the 117 tickets with the winning number paid out the equivalent of $2.4 million. El Gordo Fat has the world's biggest payout for a number chosen by ticket buyers. 1 4 fill Retail sales bouncing back Despite a slow retail market nationally, Middle Tennessee retailers expect to make a big haul in the two days until Christmas. Last-minute shoppers created bumper-to-bumper traffic near area malls yesterday, while it was body-to-body inside the stores.

Despite concerns about consumer debt, demand for big-ticket electronic goods and an explosion of new outlet stores, mall holiday sales over the last two weeks were expected to help boost overall sales. On IB. 5 -Si .11 ft 1" r1 tsrm.lL AP CHRISTMAS IN LEBANON A 30-foot tall Christmas tree lights up Beirut's Martyrs Square yesterday. A haven for warring militias for more than 15 years, downtown Beirut is being rebuilt under a $1.85 billion project for office blocks, shopping malls and entertainment centers. Leno underestimated again "I have been underestimated my whole life," Jay Leno says.

He's been underestimated again, now on top after having been walloped by David Letterman. As Bill Carter wrote in his Late Shift book, "Jay reacted to the challenge from Letterman as he always did; he kicked his work ethic into yet a higher gear." On 5D. HIGHER-SALARY TIPS Some smooth moves now could get you even more money than you've been offered when a raise or new job comes your way. Few salaries or raises are non-negotiable, even in today's tough market Among salary-smart strategies: Know the going rate for your job and don't be afraid to ask for more when the offer's on the table. On ID.

McDonald's trucks in snow Ingram Book buys warehouse Religion amendment proposed Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch yesterday proposed a constitutional amendment he said was designed to protect religious groups from unfair court decisions and denial of public benefits. Rep. Henry Hyde, has introduced the same amendment in the House. The First Amendment guarantees religious liberty, but some believe another is needed to keep judges and others from using it to forbid all public religious expression. iJBKMJ It was a simple matter of supply and demand: Michigan and Illinois had snow, Alabama wanted it So the owner of a McDonald's in Birmingham, paid $4,000 to have two truckloads of the white stuff hauled from Sault Ste.

Marie, 940 miles away, and Effingham, 111. Spokeswoman Marianne Sharbel said they hoped the snow would last until Christmas Day. MILL REOPENS Maiden Mills resumed partial production yesterday, less than two weeks after an explosion and fire leveled much of the Methuen, textile factory. About 300 of 2,500 employees went back to work finishing and dying the fleecy Polartec fabric used by L.L. Bean, Patagonia and Eddie Bauer.

Owner Aaron Feuerstein, who has pledged to rebuild, said he expects to bring another 700 people back to work by mid-January. Ingram Book Co. has made a real estate investment it intends to use as the centerpiece of a new business strategy. The subsidiary of Nashville-based Ingram Industries has bought a warehouse just on the Nashville side of the DavidsonRutherford county line and will operate a new division called Publisher Resources Inc. at the site.

On IE. IMMIGRANTS MAY GET MONEY Six dozen Thai immigrants who worked long hours stitching pricey clothes behind barbed wire were hoping to split more than $1 million in back wages in time to ring in the new year. Thursday the money seemed to have vanished into a jungle of federal bankruptcy court. But yesterday state labor commissioners said the workers may yet receive thousands of dollars each, gleaned from employers' assets. On 4E.

SS' CantteUrttayUnato Present find Ollt ft VOllV Breast-exam pad approved A plastic pad for use during breast self-examination was approved by the Food and Drug Administration yesterday, but not as the only way to search for lumps. It is a silicon-filled flexible circular plastic envelope. "Our only claim is that it reduces friction and makes it easier to do the exam," said Inventive Products Inc. president Grant Wright. Lottery Lin Category Code 521 Dial 511, then enter category code Information.

Complete details available every day in the A section. OH DLTB The station would thrive without school board, study finds ture and help secure WDCN's future. A group of business leaders said that if the transfer occurred they would contribute an additional $1 .6 million if there was a compelling need and the "right" people were involved in fund raising. Federal funding for public broadcasting will likely stop within the next two years. WDCN does not currently have the capacity to replace the loss of federal funding.

The station's capacity to generate non-tax dollars in the community is constrained by the current governing structure involving the school board. A new three-year transition campaign funded at $325,000 per year is necessary to build the station's capacity to supplant tax-based revenue and build a base for the future. It is feasible for WDCN to conduct a successful $2 million fund-raising effort, but only after a 12-1 8 month period of preparation. DORREN KLAUSNITZER will benefit with a transfer "because they will get the same thing they've been getting for about half of what they've been paying." As part of the transfer proposal, the school system would, after five years, pay only for the services it wants. It would no longer pay the annual $500,000 in overhead costs, ranging from light bills to salaries.

In light of the waning federal dollars, Denney called the proposed transfer "an interesting gamble." "Not only are they willing to give up $500,000 revenue from the board of education, but will they be able to make it up plus a significant loss of federal dollars as well?" he asked. School board member Kent Weeks said the discussion of the transfer of the license is overdue regardless of the specifics. "It seems we are where we, as a school board, need to be to make a decision as to how we want to position Channel 8 for year 2000 and on. We know there are current problems the station needs additional captial and realistically some additional operating funds considering the federal cutbacks," Weeks explained. "The real question is how do we position ourselves it's absolutely essential that the school board confront the issue." "It may be the best deal, but there could be alternatives," he said of the transfer proposal.

"There has not been a better deal put forward. But there could be one out there." If the Metro school board released its reins of WDCN-Channel 8, the station would not only be able to survive, it would thrive, an independent study released last month said. The study by BMR Associates of California said, "It is clearly feasible for WDCN to operate a financially viable and valuable public television service under a new community-based structure." To support its position, the firm concluded: The station's revenue would increase annually from $4.1 million to $5.2 million over a six-year period, despite a loss of federal funding and a cut from the school system. Metro schools and the community would benefit from the license transfer to a community-based non-profit group. Metro would have to pay only for the service it wants, not the approximate $500,000 in station overhead.

A small group of community leaders is willing and able to establish a new governing struc believe that WDCN could also raise more money once freed from the school board. He points to the feasibility study, conducted by BMR Associates of California. Interviews with 39 local business leaders showed collectively they would donate more than $1.6 million in additional money to the station "if the license is transferred to a community-based study said. Paid membership and program underwriting also would increase if more staff were hired to promote the station, the study found. "I think that a lot of people in the public know we are owned by the board," Shepherd said.

"And they feel we get all the money we need." Time for change? Yesterday, Milt Capps, affiliated with Peabody College at Vanderbilt University, was appointed by the school system to manage development of WDCN options. The station provides the schools access to technology, ability to produce programming and other dividends. A chief benefit is instructional television used to educate students of all ages, including adults getting their General Educational Development certificate, or GED. "We'll continue those programs at their current level until they have enough time to develop other courses of review," said Ben Rechter of Rogers Group Investments Inc. and WDCN corporate support chairman.

Shepherd says the school system Membership fees and fund-raisers bring in an additional $1.9 million to help cover the station's operating and equipment costs. However, with federal dollars expected to diminish, if not disappear, in coming years, Shepherd worries that the school board already more than $30 million underfunded will not be able to make up the loss. "We won't make it up under the school board," he said. Breaking away "is a matter of survival." WDCN is not alone in its quest for independence. The current situation resembles that of the PBS station in Fresno, Calif, which emerged from school board control about eight years ago.

"I think most stations that have been a school board station have gone out from under or would like to," said John White, program director there. KVPT-Channel 18 was one of the stations that most recently switched from a school board-held license to one held by a community group. And White said there are few regrets. "I find generally stations licensed to the school board have the lowest budgets, and are the poorest in the system. They don't get very much money from their school board.

They have to fight in the priority system." Before KVPT made the break, the station's revenues annually amounted to $1.8 million. Last year, revenue topped $2.3 million. For Shepherd, there is reason to non-profit group by June 1996. The board would assist the transition by maintaining financial contributions to the station for five years projected at the current level. It would then pay only for the services it orders, such as instructional television now running 8 a.m.

to 3 p.m. In addition, the station building, equipment and all would be turned over to the private group. "That is not a viable deal," Denney said. "It's all happening for WDCN." The second proposal puts the burden on the station to flesh out a scenario of how it could increase its programming and finances under the current arrangement While Shepherd said his staff will work on the recommendations, both he and a California consulting firm, hired by the board and WDCN to study transfer feasibility, believe the station could reach its potential best by cutting ties. Shepherd said he is not trying to "bash the board.

They've got an extremely tough job. What we are suggesting is to make their job easier." The board's primary focus lies with the 122 schools it runs, Shepherd pointed out "And that is as it should be. There is no question about that" he added. "But if we are part of the school system, we need to be able to receive assistance also to serve our mission." Public Broadcasting, the federal arm supervising stations belonging to both PBS and National Public Radio, totaled $594,000. WDCN receives $1.18 million from Metro, and an additional $344,000 from the state Department of Education.

Grants from the Corporation for A question over dollars 4 fcMgffff I- DSKISHO Advocates favor residential settings for disabled facility's physical layout encourages passivity and dependence rather than activity and growth. "At best staff at Clover Bottom provide bare custodial care Untrained, unsupervised, unfamiliar with their clients' needs and abilities and unaware of what is expec- abuse by staff members, and needless irjuries caused by self-abuse or assaults by other residents. The suit says that Clover Bottom "was designed for mass management and custodial care. The PULASKI, Tenn. A Giles County Juvenile Court judge can consider statements 17-year-old Jamie Rouse gave authorities in deciding whether he should be tried as an adult in the shooting deaths of a Richland School teacher and a student The Tennessean stated incorrectly yesterday Judge Robert E.

Lee had ruled the statements could be heard by a jury. The Rouse case would not go to a jury until after Lee gives up juvenile jurisdiction and sends the case to adult court The judge in Circuit Court could decide to bar the statements in a trial or let the jury hear it. The newspaper regrets the error. 1 profoundly retarded," who have lived at Clover Bottom for many years, and a 16-year-old girl, with autism and cerebral palsy, who has been in the institution since she was 7. Clover Bottom is a "total institution," where recreation and medical care are provided in the same facility where residents sleep and eat the lawsuit notes.

That contributes to residents' isolation and, sometimes, regression, the suit says. One of the plaintiffs "has no family who are involved in his life and has not received a Christmas card from a friend in at least 20 years," the lawsuit savs. E3 ted of them, staff stand idle in a roomful of their clients or they socialize with one another and ignore their clients." The suit also asserts that "no services are provided at Clover Bottom that cannot feasibly be made available in the community. "Research and experience have shown that institutions are not needed to serve persons with developmental disabilities, and that everyone can live in the community." Three states New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont have closed their state mental retardation institutions, and several other states have announced, plans to cloe ta'" institutions for the mentally handicapped within the next five years, according to the lawsuit Relatives and friends of seven Clover Bottom residents joined People First of Tennessee a nonprofit organization which helps the disabled to advocate for themselves, in suing the governor, the state Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, the Department of Health, the Department of Finance and Administration and Comcare a non-profit corporation that contracts with the state to serve as guardian for many Clover Bottom residents. The seven named plaintiffs include people classified as "severely and Home Delivery Call 242-NEWS.