News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 51

NEWS-PRESS DEAR ABBY .2 ERMABOMBECK .4 MOVIE LISTINGS 4 TV LISTINGS .6 1 8 i i TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1981 pi and WEVU-TV hopes Wheeler's followers will lead the station's news product out of the ratings cellar A Iff VV II I HfrlrnM 1 1 By BETTY PRICE News-Press Staff Writer Rehearse? Who needs It Nervous? You've got to be kidding. After all, folks, this is Jack Wheeler Jack Wheeler, who's had 30-plus years of broadcast experience; Jack Wheeler, who does a folksy four-hour radio talk show; Jack Wheeler, whose familiar "straight ahead" sign-off abruptly disappeared from television news 14 months ago when he was fired after two years as WINK-TV anchorman. So even though Wheeler was back on television Monday night for the first time In 14 months as co-anchor for WEVU-TV's evening news nervousness and rehearsals weren't really called for. "It may be letter perfect and it may not," Wheeler said Monday morning. "It may take a week or two to work the kinks out.

But all I want to do is present a credible newscast." ing with WEVU meteorologist Harold Waters. The Joke involved a bar of soap and Waters' blond mustache, and the argument concerned whose air time would be sacrificed to get the Joke in. "Oh, don't worry about it," Wheeler assured the staff. "I'll take care of It" At a few minutes before 6, Wheeler, co-anchor Debbie Farrero, Waters and sportscaster Chris Barnes assembled before the cameras. Barnes was the only one who gave the appearance of being calm, although Wheeler continually Insisted he wasn't nervous.

Amid all the yelling of Instructions and wild activity in the engineering room, Wheeler grinned widely. "See why I like TV? It's wild down here." On the dot of six, the scene immediately hushed. The cameras switched on. And Jack Wheeler opened the evening news. There was some hesitation and a few fumbles during the 30-minute broadcast One of Wheeler's quips about the Equal Rights Amendment fell flat with Farrero.

Wheeler had problems reading the teleprompter. The heat from the bright TV lights kept him fanning himself when the camera was on someone else. But before the show was over the switchboard was swamped with calls from viewers, all phoning in their delight at seeing Jack Wheeler read the nightly news. News-Press Acay Harper JACK WHEELER CUTS UP WITH CO-ANCHOR DEBORAH FERRARO 'It may take a week or two to work the kinks out' As always, Wheeler signed off with his trademark "straight ahead," and stepped off the set to handshakes from his new co-workers. Acknowledging there were a few rough spots that would work out with time, WEVU station officials said they were pleased with the performance.

So was Jack Wheeler. "I'm going to go have a big martini," Wheeler said. "I deserve it It's been a good day." curity and get the calls coming in. But I'd rather get funny or Interesting calls. I want to entertain the listener.

Too many talk shows turn Into soap boxes and that's boring. I won't allow the nut fringe in here. I'll Just cut them off." But Monday even the nut fringe was quiet. While the first call was basically a snoozer, it gave Wheeler a perfect lead-In for plugging his upcoming anchor spot. After Wheeler was fired from WINK, the caller said he bet that Wheeler would be back on television p.m., Wheeler was wrapping up a 1 work day that started when he left his Fort Myers home at 5:30 a.m.

and headed for WRCC radio station in Cape Coral. Wheeler has filled the 6-10 a.m. spot at WRCC for a year. While be devotes plenty of time to chatting on the air with callers, he maintains be doesn't really consider his show a talk show. "I wouldn't Judge my show on the number of calls I get," Wheeler said.

"Anybody can bring up Issues like abortion or gun control or Social Se in 90 days. He lost. "You've been slow, Jack, and it cost me," the man said. "I intimidate management on the local TV stations," Wheeler told his fan. "Most TV bosses around here would have to improve to be mediocre WEVU excepted, he added.

No other calls were Immediately forthcoming. To break up the music and commercials, and personalize the show, Wheeler flipped through a newspaper. Mention of Siamese See WHEELER, page 2D At 5:30 p.m. Monday, the scene in WEVU's Bonita Springs newsroom was pure bedlam. Not only was the station going on the air with a new anchor, but they were going on a new time 6 p.m., 30 minutes later than the old 5:30 broadcast start Wheeler had strolled In about 30 minutes earlier, gone over the night's stories, and was half Joking, half argu When he left WEVU's office at 6:45 Football is in the air, and sportscasters' brains turn to mush BOB MORRIS Ng Sportsbabblen Heh-heh.

That's great. And tell me how did it feel when you crossed that goal line? Dull: Uh, well, it felt great Just great. Sportsbabblen "That's great Now back to you, Howard." To aid the players in this war against post-game babble, we at S.O.B. authorize use of the following responses to sportsbabblers who ask the dreaded two questions. Sportsbabblen "What were you thinking when Playen Well, I was pondering Nietzsche's extolment of Dionysus in contrast to Apollo as representative of the sublimation of passion, the creative affirmation of the world and the string section of Doc Severnson's band." Or, Playen "My thoughts turned to Einstein and his prediction of light deflection in the planet Mercury's perihelion, explaining why stars in a strong gravitational field emit light closer to the red end of the spectrum and why the ref didn't notice when I tripped the tailback." Sportsbabblen "How did it feel Playen "I could compare the feeling to the surge of emotion best expressed by Schopenhauer as pessimism displaced by the liberation of individuality imposed by the ego after realizing my agent can now bargain for at least $50,000 more next season." Or, Playen "As you well know, feelings are Just a state of mind and possess no real meaning when considered along side the viable productivity of rational thought as it is transposed to a total cerebral process.

Therefore when you ask: 'How does it I am left with no alternative but to tell you It's none of your Sportsbabblen Uh, great. Now back to you, Howard. This is the first day of September, which is, I assure you, an important occasion. It is important because, as far as I'm concerned, it marks the beginning of football season. It also marks the beginning of a season-long conflict for football fans, a conflict that pits enjoyment against inanity.

Being a football fan, I love watching football. That's the enjoyment. But I hate watching football as It is currently presented by television. That's where the inanity comes In. If you get right down to It there's only one thing wrong with watching football on television.

That's the sportcasters. And if you get right down to It even further than that there'sonly one thing wrong with sportcasters. They insist on talking. Let me rephrase that. Sportscasters don't talk.

They babble. Not all of them, mind you, but most. And the amount of babbling spewed forth by that vast majority easily stifles any sense that Is made by the rest. First there Is pre-game babble. This usually Involves an interview with one of the coaches.

To be fair to the sportsbabblers, much of the pre-game babble is the fault of the coaches. I think all the coaches get together over the summer, decide on a script that says absolutely nothing andstick to It all season. An example. Coach: "We're playing a fine team. The team that wins will be the team that makes the fewest mistakes.

We have to play good offense and defense. It won't be over until the final buzzer. And we have to play Just one game at a time." How many times have you heard that conversation? Then there's the babble that goes on during the game. This Is called commentary. It alone could be enough to turn football lovers to another sport say, horseshoes if it wasn't surpassed in nonsense by a phenomenon known as post-game babble.

This usually Involves an interview with an outstanding player and Inevitably Includes those two favorite questions of sportsbabblers: "How did it feel and "What were you Those are the two questions that we here at Stamp Out Babble (S.O.B) are concerned with this season. S.O.B. has instituted a new penalty that will be called whenever those two questions are asked. The penalty will be signaled by a quick flick of the wrist and result In the television being turned off. It is hoped that the harshness of the penalty will result in fewer conversations that go like this: Sportsbabblen Hello fans, I'm here In the locker room of the Dubuque Doughnuts In the wake of their victory over the Rhode Island Runts.

With me Is Jethro Dull, the Doughnut tight end who snared the game-winning touchdown pass. Tell me, Jethro, what were you thinking when you caught the pass? Dull: Uh, well, I was Just thinking about catching the pass. You know, Just thinking about it. Susan Beach With patience and understanding, she dispenses a special kind of love to special children Iter ffi 0 M. (j By MAUREEN BASHAW News-Press Staff Writer The morning sky is shaded mother-of-pearl as Susan Pace Beach muscles a brown 1 980 Volkswagon van out of the Fort Myers YMCA parking lot Behind her, strapped and buckled into her seat, is a little girl.

It's 7:15 a.m, two hours into another weekday for the 20-year-old Cape Coral woman who rises at about 5 a.m. to breakfast with her contractor husband Rusty Beach and Jog around the block before setting out for work. For almost a year Beach has been working as an aide for IMPACT (Instructional Methods for Parents and Children Together), an organization born seven years ago to help pre school-aged children with learning disabilities and their families. Funding for the organization which operates out of a couple of rooms at the YMCA and two classrooms and a suite of offices at the Santini Children's Center at the Lee Mental Health Center comes from a grant from the Santini Foundation, from Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) and from private donations. Chauffering, changing diapers, wiping noses, pushing swings and singing songs for children with special needs is not the Job Beach dreamed of during her last year of school at North Fort Myers High.

The tall girl with the curly corn-colored hair, creamy complexion and chiselled features was constantly getting Jobs modeling clothes for area department stores during her early teens. She liked the attention. "I always thought I wanted to go to New York and be a model after I graduated but I got married straight out of high school," says Beach as she manuvers the van through a narrow parking lot outside a Fowler Street boarding house. A thin, haggard woman and a skinny pale-faced boy emerge from a doorway. "Hi Joey.

How are you this morning?" chirps Beach as she opens a door of the van, helps the boy Inside, straps htm into position beside the girl and gives each a gentle poke. The boy and the girl look at each other and giggle. And suddenly you don't see a girl with Mongoloid features or a boy who looks as though he's spent too many Hours in a dark room in a dirty boarding house. You see two fun-loving children riding to school. Beach drives east on Anderson Avenue, turns down a side street and onto a dirt driveway.

A group of kids clustered around the open door of a clapboard house cheer as the van stops. A girl with a mop of black curls totters towards the van on legs like maimed tree limbs. "Hi Missy." How's my girl today?" Beach lifts the girl into the van. Then she's back behind the wheel driving towards Michigan Links apartments talking about her life and the lives of the children she picks up each weekday morning. Currently there are about 60 children in the IMPACT program, most visited at homes by therapists.

Some have Downs Syndrome, others cerebral palsy. Some are physically crippled, some blind, or deaf, or hyperactive or have speech problems. Many have average Intelligence, a few above-average intelligence. About 13 attend a pre-school program at the Santini Children's Center Monday through Friday. Some go to the center once or twice a week for speech therapy.

IMPACT currently has no physical or occupational therapist Most of the children are transported to and from the center by their parents. The children Beach picks up probably wouldn't attend the pre-school program regularly if it wasn't for IMPACT'S chauffering service, It's van donated by Overseas Motors. See SPECIAL, page 2D fit I News-PressKim Smith IMPACT AIDE SUSAN BEACH FLANKED BY HER CHARGES 'There's a story behind every one of these kids I love 'em i.