The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 34

i CLASSIFIED 7 Seeking employment? Try our 651 Job listings Pages 3-13E MONDAY, MARCH 11, 1996 mm LMes in Mmbo OE the East Bank i riTOO Investing 2eT7 I IH Conventions 2E 1 i 4 Business owners impatient for final stadium decision By BILL CAREY Staff Writer As soon as Frank Gorrell heard that the proposed NFL stadium would be on the East Bank, he started looking for a new site for his mattress plant. At first he wanted to build a new structure. But after he learned that his business, Jamison Bedding, was in the direct path of the stadium and therefore one of the first businesses that had to get out of the way he started looking for existing buildings. It wasn't easy. "I've spent about a third of my time since October doing this," said Gorrell, whose plant employs about 45 people.

"And it's not just me, but our controller and our manufacturing vice president." Now, Gorrell says he has found a new place. But he doesn't know whether to buy it or not. t-i ml i Vi-. 3': "We've been negotiating the purchase of the building based upon the old time frame," Gorrell said. "To throw the referendum on top of it has set us back." Gorrell isn't alone.

These are nerve-racking days for business owners who make their living in the footprint of the proposed football stadium. Since October, DELOHE.S QELVIN STAFF Taking down, moving and reassembling the mixing silo at Amert- the issue goes to a referendum, and the stadium is approved, the can Eagle Ready Mix Concrete Inc. directly across the Cum- company will have at most three months to move. A number of berland River from Riverfront Park will be no simple task. But if East Bank business owners are anxious over being in limbo.

"We don't know whether to get ready to move or get ready to stay." WILBUR SENSING Owner. Enco Materials Why it's designed to go north-south In liiepaUi of tSi3 statiiiim Several businesses are in the direct path of the proposed NFL stadium, and are therefore "on hold" while Nashville awaits its likely referendum. Here's a look at businesses directly In the footprint: Mia-aoum rlCK Pack, American Jamison -tn Beddina A Restaurant equipment Unifying force in a $1.98 hat Out-of-town callers last week were often floored that the death Of Minnie Pearl warranted as much attention as it did in Nashville. Perhaps their surprise made sense, given that they don't live in Music City. After all, the Minnie Pearl they knew was primarily the cornpone joker they saw on fee Haw, back when it wasn't really chic to admit you liked country music.

Nashville, in fact, probably took Minnie Pearl for granted. One observer suggested that with her death, the city would finally take a look at what she did for the community. The city did take a look, and Bill Ivey, executive director of the Country Music Foundation, summed up her position best "Minnie played a role in the community and the entertainment industry in Nashville that no one ever played before or since. She really brought the Grand Ole Opry and Belle Meade into the same place day by day and year by year and was an important symbol of what the community could be. We're living out the dream that she might have had for integration and unity of the town." There was a time, not too long ago, when Music City was really separated.

You had music, and then you had the city. Many of the people who lived in Nashville looked upon country music with disdain and embarrassment. And the music community didn't particularly care what was happening in other sectors of the town. But Minnie Pearl in her lifelong role as Sarah Cannon gave of herself to make Nashville a better place. In 1970, 15 years before she contracted cancer herself, Cannon took part in a fund raiser with Jim Nabors at the Country Music Hall of Fame to raise money in the fight against the disease.

She worked tirelessly for so many charities and organizations that after her final breath a week ago, her husband, Henry Cannon, decided that no specific charity should be set up to receive donations on her behalf. Whatever charity received money in her name would simply be glad to have it In February 1969, Sarah and Henry Cannon paid $200,000 to the former president of Genesco to buy a home at 874 Curtiswood Lane, next to the Governor's Mansion. It was, perhaps, symbolic of the closer unity that the music community and the general community should enjoy. We see evidence of that unity today. At the second annual Nashville Music Awards, Warner Bros.

President Jim Ed Norman received the Bridge Award, symbolizing his role in bringing Music Row closer to Nashville's overall business community. Leading music executives are routinely added to the ranks in Leadership Nashville, a program designed to make decision-makers more aware of the ways in which various factions of the city are inter-related. Not to mention the music community's involvement in the W.O. Smith Community Music School, which provides very cheap music lessons from the best musicians in town to children who could not afford lessons otherwise. As Nashville continues to grow, it's essential that the divergent interests of the city work together if the town is to remain a great place to live.

Sarah Cannon with her generous nature provided a wonderful role model that the out-of-towners and many in her own city never quite 71 when the East Bank was fingered as the site for the proposed NFL stadium, they've been getting ready to move: planning new facilities, surveying employees, notifying vendors and customers and looking at possible new sites. But the schedule for getting businesses out of the way is tight. And if the stadium Issue goes to a referendum, it will get tighter. If Davidson County voters approve the stadium plan, at least eight businesses in the path of the stadium itself will have to be moved within about 90 days a daunting task since they include a mattress manufacturer, a steel fabricator and a concrete company. By comparison, no businesses had to be moved before the arena broke ground.

Businesses that were displaced to clear land around the arena had about a year to get out of the way. What bothers people like Wilbur Sensing, owner of steel fabricator Enco Materials, is the uncertainty of it all. "We don't know whether to get ready to move or get ready to stay," Sensing says. Several of the business owners estimate they have spent over a third of their work time for the last five months planning to move. And some of them say to do so in time, they need to start investing money in Turn lo PAGE 2E, Column 1 A football player running with the ball from sideline to sideline as opposed to straight toward the opponent's end zone is said to be moving "east-west." If the Houston Oilers move here, that will literally be the case on the team's home field.

Its axis will be oriented in a perfect north-south direction, according to Ben Barnert, an architect with HOK the Kansas City firm designing the stadium. This stadium was planned that way for two reasons: sunlight and aesthetics. "The games will be played in the afternoon," Barnert said. "We wanted to line it up north-south so neither team will have the sun directly in its eyes during the game." With the alignment, the open end of the field will point toward the Shelby Street bridge, which under current plans will be renovated and converted into a walkway by the time the stadium opens. "As you walk across the bridge, you will be able to see the inside of the stadium," Barnert said.

First Street, which now runs in a straight line, will be moved to the west to curve around the stadium. The train track that now runs parallel to the river will also be moved to the west, between First Street and the Cumberland River. Nashvillians may have to constantly remind themselves that their stadium runs north-south, since it will look oblique compared to the rest of the city. Downtown's streets on both sides of the river were never aligned to the north, but rather laid out parallel to the river in a grid pattern. BILL CAREY "i Enco trr k-Ly ilHW-rSI-l Nashville pany wn American I '8 A Eagle Ready Auto Mix Concrete Hill Press warehouse -V- KENT TRAVIS STAFF Sheep farmer spins a yarn, and dyes it, too hi mini iiniiinii I nil i i ajar11 You could've had it, for $2.3 million By CANDY McCAMPBELL Businns Snt tdtuw Ashlawn, the historic Oman estate on Franklin Road in Brentwood, has been bought by a Cooke-ville couple in what is the largest residential sales transaction in slightly over a year.

Gwen and David Shamblin of Cookeville paid $2.3 million for the antebellum brick house at 902 Franklin Road and 22.8 acres surrounding it It's the biggest sale since January 1995, when Joe Gal-ante of RCA paid $2.5 million for a house at 883 Curtiswood Lane that was owned by Coventry Corp. CEO Phil Hertik. David Shamblin, a former broker, is now a private investor. Gwen Shamblin is founder of the Weigh Down Workshop, publisher By CHRISTINE ARPE GANG Scripps Himard Hen Sen ke When Vicky Rimstidt wants to knit a sweater or weave a saddle blanket, she doesn't go to the store to buy a few skeins of yarn. She goes to the source: the sheep that produce that fleece.

She dyes and spins the yarn, both for her own use and to sell to other knitters and weavers searching for unusual wool. "It's satisfying to do the whole process from beginning to end," says Rimstidt, who tends a flock of 45 sheep on an 85-acre farm in rural West Tennessee. Industry officials say Rimstidt is the only Tennessee wool producer they know of who processes the wool from its raw state into usable yarn that is sold at the farm. And with knitting as a hobby appearing to be on the rebound, the demand for yarn of all kinds is on an upswing. Knitters and weavers learn about Rimstidt's business, Merrihill Wool Works, mostly by word of mouth.

Most customers make an appointment before driving to the farm. "The main reason I got into this was to get the quality and the quantity of the wool I wanted," Rimstidt says. "The second reason was self-satisfaction." Within a few weeks Rimstidt and her husband, Joe, will hire a shearer to strip the sheep of their furry winter coats. When the couple had a flock twice as big, they invited the public to the shearing day and sometimes drew as many as 400 people. This year, however, it will be a low-key operation.

Each sheep Turn to PAGE 3E, Column 1 FRANK EMPSON FILE Ashlawn was built in 1838 and was once owned by Montgomery Befl. Stirton Oman family had owned the property since 1945. The house, built with 13-foot ceilings and 13-inch walls, is probably best known for its free-standing, three-story stairway with a banister of solid of books, tapes and a church-based weight-loss program. The business will be moved to Nashville this summer, David Shamblin said. Built in 1838, Ashlawn was bought in 1850 by Montgomery Bell, who had an iron works operation on the Harpeth River.

The NEWSMAKER AGENDA Zoning ordinance changes win be RATES Prime rate Discount rate iPiiF0LI0 David Early has been promoted to 825 5.00 4.86 regional vice president for the NorthernEast 3-month Treasury bins 6-month Treasury bids 4.98 6.40 10-year Treasury notes. ern division of Sho-neys Restaurants. Formerly director of the topic tor Jen Browning of Metro Planning Commission; Sonny West of Metro Codes Administration: and Pat Emery, of the Nashville Area Cham .6.72 CORPORATE DONOR Southeastern Telecom, Inc is the 1996 underwriting sponsor of the Community Resource Center's annual fund raiser. Oyster Easter. The Resource Center win use Southeastern Telecom's $2,500 contribution to support Its materials reuse programs.

Founding sponsors, wfth $1,000 contributions to the April 6 event, include the Kroger Cc MicroUnk Consulting Group and Waller Equity Management The nonprofit Communiiy Resource Center provides volunteers and other resources to Midstate charities. 30-year Treasury Credit cards 17.81 2.75 franchise operations, Early has served in Bank money market accounts .4.53 SECTION EDITORS Emme Nelson Baxter, Regional EoV tor Business, 259-8096. Candy McCampbefl, Business News Editor. 259-8076. Fax 259-8091 For Information or questions call Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 p.m.

6-month CDs. MORTGAGES 30-year fixed various capacities for nearly 23 years. He has also served as area director for CaptiJn D's ber of Commerce, to the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, at 7:30 am March 14 at the NationsBank headquarters. FeeVa $10. Info: Mary Solomon, 749-3942.

7.36 .6.85 5.33 15-year fixed. 1-year adjustable rate. and Shoneys. EARLY I fr- iWii fit! rt iT" 1 ffc'i 'tl f'1 A friiri i-'Tr Tri ftri nil fm.