The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 12

2B Tuwd.y. Qtlebw 80 1998 THI TENNESSEAN 2 STATELOCAL NEWS Compiled by Wendi C. Thomas Oiiii'iiilSC 1J Planning panel will meet on I changes in size ot lots GALLATIN The Gallatin Planning Commission will have a special meeting Thursday to consider a change in the size of lots that are zoned for mixed said commission Chairman James Robert Ramsey. As it stands now, lots zoned for mixed use, residen- tial and commercial, must be a minimum of five acres. The Planning Commission wants to reduce the minimum size.

Ramsey believes the five-acre size is "impractical in some parts. There are a lot of open tracks." The Gallatin Planning Commission will meet at 6 p.m. at Gallatin City Hall, 132 W. Main St. -CORWIN A.

THOMAS Oilers challenging Midstate to roll up sleeves, give blood The Tennessee Oilers are challenging Middle Ten-nesseans to give blood at the second Pints for Points Blood Drive today. The drive will be held at the American Red Cross Blood Center, 2201 Charlotte from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Visitors to the blood drive will receive commemorative T-shirts, Oilers giveaways and a chance to win tickets to the Nov. 22 Oilers game. Oilers players will be on hand throughout the day to sign autographs and talk with fans.

To be eligible to give, donors must be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds, be feeling well and not have given blood in the last 56 days. For more information, call the American Red Cross at 327-8552. JON YATES Q2 3f i 'v 'FS 1 Wyx AMANDA SASLOW STAFF KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL Cecil Walker 2, hasn't yet learned to keep his eye on the ball in order to catch it, but that does not keep him from enjoying a game with his mother, Sherry, recently. Sundquist hopes Hillsboro's visual arts program copied LEIPER'S FORK A new, extensive visual arts program that's opening at Hillsboro School should be duplicated in public schools across Tennessee, Gov. Don Sundquist said.

"The ArtZone offers us a challenge in our state to reproduce this in other schools," he said after visiting the ArtZone room and cutting a ceremonial ribbon. Sundquist said he would encourage schools to create their own ArtZone programs the way Hillsboro School did with "private sector partnerships." With a $25,000 grant from First Union Bank and about $50,000 raised from a celebrity concert and school patron Aubrey Preston, Hillsboro School has created a spacious suite with materials for teaching and learning sculpting, drawing, painting and graphics arts, using a six-computer, graphic design lab. "These are what the pros would use," said Preston, who established an arts foundation for Hillsboro School two years ago, Kids on Stage. NANCY MUELLER Legislation proposed by Gov. Don Sundquist stalled in the legislature last spring and may be reconsidered next year.

For more information, call 877-8440046. STAFF REPORTS City pays rent for unused office space, officials learn PLEASANT VIEW The city of Pleasant View has paid rent on extra office space for two months without using the space, officials have learned. The space has not been used because a door needs to be cut between the present office space and the area just rented, said Mayor David Davis. Renee Marquiss, a candidate for alderman, asked why the space is not being used during a public forum last week. Davis said the city is renting from pharmacist Gary Wilson who also owns the space where the rest of City Hall is located.

Vice Mayor Morris Bidwell said he does not think the door is needed and can't understand why the space has not already been put to use. Davis said the door is needed because there are separate restrooms for men and women. Also, additional telephone lines are to be added. Alderman Don Worrell said he thinks City Hall needs four lines plus a fax line. Davis said the space is being used to store some city street signs.

The mayor, recorder, chief of police and building Mt Juliet, Lebanon annual Christmas parades scheduled MT. JULIET The dates for the annual Christmas parades in Mt. Juliet and Lebanon have been set, and applications to enter floats are available for both. The Mt. Juliet parade will be at 2 p.m.

on Nov. 29. Applications are available at City Hall, 2425 N. Mt. Juliet Road, and the Mt.

Juliet Chamber of Commerce, 404 N. Mt. Juliet Road. Call 7542552 for information. The Lebanon parade will be at 7 p.m.

on Dec. 5. Applications are available at the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce. For more information call 4445503. WARREN DUZAK inspector all have offices in City Hall.

PAUL OLDHAM 3 of 9 women in prostitution sting arrests hearings set SPRINGFIELD Three of the nine women arrested in a Sept. 26 prostitution sting were arraigned in Robertson County General Court yesterday with their hearings set for Nov. 16. Jana Beal, Deborah Story and Beverly Baker appeared before Judge Max Fagan and had their hearings reset, according to the Circuit Court clerk's office. Three others Tammy Faye Smith, Kimberly Hai-ley and Penny Dickerson settled their cases Oct.

5 and were fined $1,000 each plus court costs. The were also ordered to take HIV tests and a doctor's appointment was made for them. Hailey and Dickerson missed their appointments and have warrants issued for their arrests. Smith is to be tested Monday. The other three Monica Turner, Oudia Tamayo and Geneva Tamayo were bound over to the grand jury which meets next week.

They are free on bond. All nine were arrested by Springfield Police during "Operation Street Walk," a prostitution sting in downtown Springfield. PAUL OLDHAM New event, Pumpkin Days springing to life this week MANCHESTER A new festival is springing to life this week in Manchester. Pumpkin Days, the brainchild of Kimberly Fletcher and Beth Marble of Black Arrow Productions, is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Coffee County Fairgrounds. Organizers say both days will include craft exhibits, game booths, magic and puppet shows, a children's art center and musical entertainment.

On Saturday the festival's highlights will be the Hopes 'n' Dreams Talent Showcase and beauty pageants. There also will be various contests involving pumpkins. Admission is $4 a person or $10 a family. RUSSEL MOBLEY Public charter schools meeting offered by resource center The Charter School Resource Center of Tennessee is offering a free seminar on public charter schools at 7 p.m. tonight in the BellSouth Tower Auditorium, 333 Commerce St.

Charter schools are publicly funded, tuition-free schools without religious affiliation that operate independent of most local and state education regulations. Auto lovers mark weekend for the Dickson Car Show DICKSON Car lovers should mark Saturday and Sunday on their calendars. The Dickson Car Show begins both days at 9 a.m. at the Dickson Convention Center at 2670 Highway 46S. Car fans who want to see Conway Twitty's old limo or classic Mustangs and Corvettes can shell out the $5 admission fee.

DEBORAH HIGHLAND Money OK'd to finish courthouse work It's about food, family, friends roads. Approved a written mutual aid agreement between the county rural fire departments and the town of Spring Hill, in which Spring Hill's Fire Department would provide backup to the county units in and around Spring Hill. The agreement means Spring Hill would be covered by liability insurance when it responds to situations outside its city limits. Passed a resolution supporting improvements to Highway 412, which connects Hohenwald to Columbia, and Highway 243 from Columbia to Mount Pleasant, along with a new connector from Highway 243 to Highway 43 in Mount Pleasant. Staff Writer COLUMBIA, Tenn.

Maury County commissioners yesterday authorized spending an additional $1.5 million to complete restoration work on the Maury County Courthouse. "This is a symbol of our county and we need to go on and finish up the work on it," County Executive Ed Harlan said. Extensive renovation work, including replacement of the courthouse dome and additional courtrooms, has been under way for months and has exhausted the $1.1 million originally allocated for the project. In other action, commissioners: Approved spending up to $160,000 to purchase a building across the street from the James Polk home for use as a tourist office. Passed a three-year blanket building permit for the Saturn Corp.

The $75,000 permit would grant Saturn permission to build up to a addition in the next three years. Approved spending $119,000 from Maury County's highway reserve fund for a new bridge in the Bethel community. The action, which takes advantage of an 8G-20 funding split from the state, passed 144 over objections from Road Superinten-dent Van Boshers, who said he had planned to use money from that reserve fund on county I I When the school closed in 1951, the building became a community center and the club was born. Heating and air conditioning have been added and the center is maintained with money from a trust. The building doubles as a meeting place for the Cane Ridge 4-H Club and as a polling place during elections, which makes sense given the popularity of the club dinners with politicians usually one or two come every month, more in election years.

"It's a good way to meet the candidates," said Ruth Burkitt, who was born and reared in Cane Ridge and is the unofficial historian. "It's a small setting and you get to talk to them individually." Retired farmers also turn out, a reminder of a not-so-distant time when Cane Ridge was thick with dairy farms and the kind of food that came from farm kitchens. At least the food survived. Lifting a forkful of pie to his mouth, James Brown said he considered bringing along a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken as his contribution. Everybody gets the joke the thought of the colonel sharing the table with homemade barbecue and biscuits lightly dusted with flour.

"Y'all need bigger plates," said Buford Tune, a burly former police officer who was visiting this month to pitch his security firm. When the club put together a cookbook a few years ago, it quickly sold out, Burkitt said. "Mainly, I enjoy being with the people and catching up," said Vivian Middleton. "We also have good food." The catching up, like the rest of the dinner, is informal. There are some conversations, but mostly old friends trading snippets of conversation over a meal bits and bites fusing in a jumble.

"Where'd she die?" one voice says. "Those $300,000 houses are selling," says another. "I talked to him last week." "Is he still working?" It's the fabric of a community's history and a few more yards are spun every month. "I ask my grandmother to tell me about the old days and she says, 'Well, we rode buggies and we did this and She doesn't remember," says Dave O'Neal, who has lived here since he was 5 and has taken the club's minutes for nine years. "It strikes you how much change happens.

We are the last little green corner." What hasn't changed is the gentle goodness of life. D. PATRICK HARDING STAFF Jane Smith listens with interest as she talks with other members of the Cane Ridge Community Club. Every month, club members sign get-well cards for sick members. They donate to food banks.

Once a year, they put on a thank-you feast for police officers and firefighters. Nancy Morton and her sister, Mary Jane Hurt, went to school in the building. stood in the corner. She got the education," Morton says.) They return now with their father, Clay Turner, 85, a retired Metro cop who sort of holds court on a couch before dinner. Hurt remembers the schoolhouse fondly, though it had no indoor plumbing and separate doorsrl TPAC Broadway Series presents Cathy Rigby in PETER PAN Nov.

3-8 Ticketmaster 255-ARTS (2787) for boys and girls. When she squints, she can almost see Miss Adelaide Cochran, the tough-tender teacher who inspired Hurt to become a schoolteacher. Tt trASlVlN VlO4 krtt, f- trVt4- Unw nt. a my Lccn.iici iiau uci uran ngui uvei uieie, sue said, conjuring up the past. "When we had to reciteM' we walked up there." I TPAC New Directions Series presents HOUSE OF BLUES' The Highway 61 Tour starring BUDDY GUY October 27- 7 pm Ticketmaster 255-ARTS (2787) TPAC New Directions.Series presents DIXIE CARTER A cabaret-style evening of song, wit and anecdotes! November 7- 8 pm Ticketmaster 255-ARTS (2787) In a way, Hurt and her Cane Ridge neighbors are still reciting.

"We meet here and talk about what's happening," she said, "in the community as well as personal things." Meeting adjourned. Class dismissed. I 1 toil Center for the Arts Present MLT's DRIVING MISS DAISY November 5-7 13-14 at 8:00 pm November 8 at 2:00 pm 1 10 W. College St.Murfreesboro Call 904-ARTS (2787) Mockingbird Public Theatre presents TN premiere of a Southern comedy THE WIDOW'S BEST FRIEND Oct. 2-25, FriSat-8pm, at Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Ave.

Tickets $15. For info or to charge by phone call 463-0071 ACT I Presents OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR Two Shows Only October 17 18 Hillwood High School-Davidson Rd. Fr. 7 pm, Su. 2 pm-Donations Accepted (presented with HHS's Midsummer Night's Dream) ITTTWf Racetrack going in Wilson County 1H 3 to? The Arts Center of Cannon County presents THE YEARLING October 16-25 $8.00 adults, $5.00 students or groups 1424 John Bragg Hwy, Woodbury, TN (61 5) 563-2787 or 1 -800-235-9073 citizens will still be concerned even though it's in Wilsoni-County." Many of those residents, hailing from both counties ana.

calling themselves County Residents Against Speedway Havoc (CRASH), have voiced opposition against the pro-ject, specifically citing the traffic and noise the racetrack will introduce to this quiet, rural area. Kt The company hopes to have the super speedway within 14 months of groundbreaking, which could Jjb-vi-- help pay for new roadways to route traffic through both counties between State Route 840 and the speedway. Rutherford County Executive Nancy Allen said no requests for infrastructure have been presented. "There are a lot of still-unanswered questions regarding the whole project," Allen said. "If it moves forward, we will be discussing revenues for both counties.

I still view it as a joint project It is by no means a done deal. A lot of Wmm.