The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 1

THEn DODQdfe AN 1 TT TIT" i Copvrij-hl 1)X8 A GANNETT NEWSPAPER irH 10. Sections $1.25 Volume 3, No. 101 DECEMBER 25, 1988 Nashville, Tennessee Second class postage paid at Nashville, TN no I I I I 17 I I I 1 1 i 1 I I I I mm v. 'Sounded like a big damn locomotive' 'j'-fCK 7v ma. i fir-' '1 ills I 1 1 1 'i f' ii i ti a- JIM EAST and JOHN WATSON Staff Writers FRANKLIN, Tenn.

A tornado that "came out of nowhere" roared across Franklin and Brentwood early yesterday, killing a sleeping man, injuring seven and leaving possibly $30 million in property damage in its wake. Ernest Rice, 67, of Franklin, a retired medical equipment salesman, died in his bed when the pre-dawn twister shattered his house, crushing him beneath the roof. Rice's wife, Ann, 66, who was in bed beside the victim, miraculously suffered only minor injuries. She was treated at Williamson Medical Center and released. Marilyn Sherfield, 39, of Gainesville, Texas, a daughter of the Rices, also was treated for minor injuries and released.

Six other relatives staying in the house were uninjured. Injured at other Williamson County homes were Mary Britton, 54, of Mal-lory Station Road, who was thrown through a window of her home by the storm, and Betty Thrasher, 45, of General George Patton Drive in Brentwood. Lucy McLearen, 89, of College Grove spent the night in the hospital because she had no place to go, authorities said. Details on how she was injured by the storm were unavaila-bleyesterday. James K.

Deaton, 43, of Nash ville and his wife, Diana, 37, were also treated and released for minor injuries caused when their car crashed on Interstate 65 near Moores Lane during the storm "It's just a guesstimate but if you take all those houses and businesses and assume they have to be rebuilt from scratch, it could easily be $25 million to $30 million," Brentwood Mayor Harold McMurtry said last night. With swirling winds of more than 200 mph, the tornado about two city blocks wide at the top of its funnel and 1 50 feet wide at the base I Turn to PAGE 19A, Column 2 4 A. Tamara Voninski Staff Family friend Tom Gremillion comforts Mary Kivilaan in what was the dining room of her Brenthaven subdivision home at 1420 Knox Valley Drive. The home's roof was torn off in the tornado. 'We're alive survivors find as shock wears off of all," Bissinger said.

"We're alive." Bissinger, who was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom of his parents' house during the storm, rolled off his bed just as the twister tore off the roof. "If I hadn't rolled off the bed, I could have been hurt," he said in perhaps the understatement of the day. Bissinger said he heard his father scream in the bedroom down the hall when his father, jolted awake, found his wife missing from bed. SHEILA WISSNER and JOHN WATSON Staff Writers BRENTWOOD Bob Bissinger said he received the best Christmas present ever this vean his life. The Atlanta tool dealer and the occupants of some 10 homes in the Brenthaven subdivision off Concord Road all escaped injury when a ferocious tornado ripped through Williamson County shortly before dawn yesterday.

Inside Onl8A: The path of destruction, a map and photos. List of the injured. On 19A: For the Ernest Rice family, a double tragedy. Mike DuBose Staf j' A trail of debris and demolished buildings left by yesterday's tornado stretches across, the Franklin-; Brentwood border along Moores Lane. The twister killed one person and injured seven, and caused damage estimated to be as high as $30 million.

-0 ''i "This is the best Christmas present I Turn to PAGE 19A, Column 1 'Spiritual Santa Claus' Beirut CIA chief among crash victims Ministers say image HIGH 48 low 32 See 8A of Christ distorted I 1 ON IE: Midstate residents recall their most memorable Christmases. Style SECTION ArtMusic Books 4F Crossword 5F Food 2F TraCel 1.5F Dole named first woman in Cabinet Tenncsscan NewsSenices WASHINGTON -r President-elecl George Bush named Elizabeth Dole as his secretary of labor yesterday, saying she has the "experience, the stature and the ability" to cope with the challenges of America's changing work force. Dole, 52, former transportation secretory and the wife of Bush's bitter campaign rival, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, is the first woman named to a full Cabinet post in the new administration, though Carla Hills, as the U.S. trade representative, will have Cabinet rank. Bush said a "dramatic change" has occurred as women enter the work force in increasing numbers, and, "In this environment, it is essential that we have a secretary of labor who un-.

derstands the challenges out there, and who has the experience, the stature and the ability to deal with them effectively." Other issues confronting the labor secretary are retraining displaced workers, ensuring better job safety, creating private-public partnerships and respecting workers' rights, the vice president said. Dole, standing next to Bush outside the vice president's ratinsion. said un- WASHINGTON (AP) The CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, was among the 258 people aboard the Pan American jumbo jet that exploded and crashed in Scotland, two U.S. officials said yesterday. But there is no known reason to believe that he was a specific target of terrorists orthat his presence on Flight 103 was tied in any other way to the disaster, one of the officials told the Associated Press, adding "I don't know of any specific link." For the record, the Reagan administration would not verify or deny that the CIA agent was aboard the jetliner, as initially reported by NBC News.

"As you know, we never comment on any such allegation having to do with intelligence," Sondra McCarty. a State Department spokeswoman, said. But two other U.S. officials confirmed the CIA station chief was on the ill-fated flight from London's Heathrow Airport to New York. The two would not identify the station chief.

American, British, Israeli and Interpol investigators are trying to determine whether the plane was the victim of sabotage, technical malfunction or high winds. All aboard I Turn to PAG V. Column I Perspective SECTION Editorials. 4G tetters 4G Opinions Nashville Eye 5G Home SECTION Antiques 2H Classified. 6-262H Garden 6H House ol V.Vek 2H Interiors 3H Real Estate News 5H RAY WADDLE Religion Aeni Editor Christians head for services cele-: brating Christ's birth today, but the i savior they venerate remains a mys-l terious figure whose image is inevitably shaped by the needs and prejudices of worshipers themselves.

When asked about it, ministers complain that Christ is often distorted into a spiritual Santa Claus, liberal manitarian or a pro-American warrior king by believers who want a recognizable "user-friendly" Jesus. "God did us the honor of coming down among us in our own image, but historically the great insult is that we turn the tables and make God in man's image," Rube! Shelly, minister of Woodmont Hills Church of Christ, said last week. The historical Jesus, who according to the Gospels brought salvation and judgment, mercy and justice nearly 2,000 years ago, is "bigger than the mind can wrap around," he said. "Our limitations are inevitable because of the fact that we're culture-bound creatures," he said. Accordingly, some people try to domesticate Jesus into a "spiritual Santa afs" who dashes all one's This Section Newsmakers National News.

14-25A Washington News MA World News. MIA Metro State SECTION Deaths. .6,78 Midstate Calendar .78 Thompson's Station 18 Wish list.1 6B Sports SECTION Basketball 1M3C Football 1.8-9C Outdoors. 14C Preps 7C Pro Football 1.4 5C Scoreboard. Business SECTION fjecuhve Spotlight .20 Market Tables.

People 4D Living SECTION Dear .3 fashion 6F. Horoscope 2E troubles and puts their checkbooks in the black, according to the Rev. Paul Gilbreath of Cornerstone Church in Madison. "But Jesus demands something from us, and the best gift we can give him is our love and confidence," Gil-breath said. The Rev.

Charles Page of First Baptist Church downtown suggested American wealth distorts the way American Christians see their Lord. "If we were planning his advent, he'd be born into an upper-middle-class home with fine linen, not a manger," Page said. "It's hard for us to view his birth as it really was because it forces us to put ourselves in the innkeeper's spot, and that asks a lot of us." According to the Rev. Mary Jane Levitch of St John's Episcopal Church, one American tendency is to claim Jesus as a patriotic ally in for- I 8 Column 3 Elizabeth Dole Former transportation chu'j employment was at a 14-year low, but people were still unable to find Work. "To promote and protect the welfare of America's working men and women, America's working families, is a challenge I accept with great en- thusiasm," she said.

Dole said she would give a high priority to issues such as child care and the homeless. Bush's selection of Dole drew praise from labor leaders as well as from key members of the Senate, which will have to confirm Dole's nomination to succeed Ann Dore McLaughlia "President-elect Bush saved one of his best appointments until near the end," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass chairman of the Senate Labor I Turn to PAGE ISA. Column 1 Showcase Ak Showcase Movies. Beat NashShowcase Soap Operas Talk Shows TV Listing 42 35-41 43 30 38 13 14-29.