Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • Page 27

nestvie David Nicholson More markets get bishop's gospel program Photos by Scott KlngtlayDaily Press The voice of Donald Little, center, rises over a line of marchers participating In a Jan. 17 event. he mew foot soldiers 1 f' i W-. Jrft.faa. mJ.ii, ....1 i Vi I Churches take to streets in war against drugs By Usa Daniel Daily Press HAMPTON The Bible says believers broke down the walls of Jericho by marching around the city, then blowing their trumpets and shouting.

The Rev. Howard Booker says the community can break down the walls of drugs and crime by marching around the city and shouting "up with hope, down with dope." For one year, Booker, pastor of Hampton's Antioch Baptist Church, and members of 21 Peninsula churches have orchestrated monthly "Jericho" marches against drugs. Church members believe that by marching together through Hampton's neighborhoods, they're showing drug dealers citizens don't want them around. "It makes the drug dealers and drug users aware that we are no longer going to accept it," said the Rev. Patrice Branch, an Antioch church minister who added a pair of practical blue deck shoes to her Sunday outfit for a recent walk.

"It tells the community that we care." The Hampton Ministers Coalition, an ecumenical group of area churches, began the marches as an evening min- roadcaster Bishop L.E. Willis of Norfolk has begun marketing his gospel music radio network to stations around the country. For five years, Willis Broadcasting Corp. has been feeding the 24-hour gospel program by satellite to 17 of its 27 stations, said chief of operations Ron Nickell in Norfolk. The programming originates at Willis-owned WWCA-AM in Gary, and is carried locally on WPCE-AM (1400), another Willis property.

Now, Nickell is working to beef up the WWCA operation and offer a better gospel program other stations will want to carry. The W.B.C. Satellite Gospel Network is being advertised in trade publications. "Already, the response has been amazing," said Nickell, who has worked for Willis for two years. About 20 stations from markets as large as Pittsburgh to as small as Marshall, Texas, have expressed an interest, he said.

Willis Broadcasting will control three hours of the 24-hour program as payment from the stations that sign up. They will be required to run Willis' "Crusade for Christ" live ministry program, which airs locally at 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The other two hours will be sold to ministers. Nickell hopes to have the WWCA operation upgraded by April.

The program will carry mostly music by mainstream gospel artists such as James Cleveland, Shirley Ceasar and Mighty Clouds of Joy. WHOLEHEARTED. Head over to Coliseum Mall today and sign the giant Valentine's Day card sponsored by WAFX-FM (106.9). "The Fox" plans to send the 6-by-8 foot greeting to U.S. troops stationed in Somalia.

The event takes place from noon to 3 p.m. at the Hampton mall. "The Fox" will take it to other high-traffic locations in Hampton Roads throughout the week. GIMME THE BALL Basketball star Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons and Tim Meadows of "Saturday Night Live" team up for "Higher Goals," a look at sports versus education airing at 8 p.m. Monday on WHRO-TV, Channel 15.

The public broadcasting special looks at two teen-agers attempting to balance their basketball dreams with finishing high school and going on to college. MARY IN HASTE. Mary Pruess is the new head of public television services at WHRO-TV, Channel 15. She will replace Patrick Arnoux, who retired after 27 years with the station. Pruess comes from Tucson, where she managed PMN TRAC, a public television audience research company.

She will serve as WHRO-TV's station manager. BABYLON WEST. The wild frontier gets different treatment in "Babylon 5" and "The Wild West," two specials airing on WGNT-TV, Channel 27, in the coming months. Set aboard a space station in the year 2257, "Babylon 5" looks like another saga about man battling other space beings. It airs from 8 to 10 p.m.

Feb. 25. Judging by the response to "Star Trek" and other space spinoffs, it should be a hit. The folks at WGNT are hoping the special attracts a large audience, which could launch "Babylon 5" as a TV series. Closer to home and further back in time, "The Wild West" is a 10-hour documentary about the settling of the American West in post-Civil War.

The series uses actual letters, diaries, photographs and paintings of the era and airs March 23-26. If you have a tip for Broadcast News, contact Nicholson at 247-4794. NO BIMBO. The "giggle girt" on "Rowan Martin's Laugh-In" was no bimbo, Goldie Hawn says. Hawn says her "Laugh-In" character was "misconstrued." See D5.

5v IVc I ABC SHUFFLE. The television network moves one show, says goodbye to three and introduces three more In a major shakeup. See D5. BULKING UP. Sharp consumers can save a buck while providing for their families with giant cans and huge cartons.

Others may not be so successful. Tom Clifford, Features Editor: 247-4735 Marchers leave the Antioch Baptist church parking lot. Mary Baker Eddy's text provides a greater understanding of the Bible, says Mary Raney in the Guest Column. Leaders refute an attack on the World Council of Churches. The call to ministry comes from within, but who decides whether the person will be ordained has often been a matter of contention.

Area Jews remember Mother Earth in many ways during the Jewish Arbor Day holiday. See Religion, D3-4. istry last spring, said Booker, president of the group. Three times a month, marchers met at a Hampton church, starting their 1- to 1.5-mile walks from the meeting place. During the winter months, the coalition marches during afternoons to take advantage of daylight.

On a recent sunny Sunday afternoon, more than 170 believers took to the streets of the Buckroe, chanting "up with hope, down with dope." As the church members made their way past boarded-up houses and convenience stores, residents peeked out of their windows and Please see March02 Scrolls give author fodder but scholars beg to differ By David Haldane Los Angeles Times FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. obert Eisenman's five-bedroom home is at the of an intellectu al whirlwind of biblical proportions. The floors are piled high with boxes of yellowed documents. Books abound, with pages open to obscure passages. And everywhere an atmosphere of creative disorder prevails.

"I work at home," explains Eisenman, chairman of the department of religious studies at California State University, Long Beach. "I find this very exciting." The source of his excitement was the publication of Eisenman's new book, "The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered," the first complete translation of 50 key scroll fragments never seen by the public Eisenman, 54, believes that the book could blow the lid off traditional views of early Judeo-Christian beliefs, changing for-ever the way the origins of Western religion are seen. "The question on the lips of Please see Scrolls, D3 You don't have to spend money on 'bad' movies 7 TO) I am admonished by my 30 years in Washington and my 25 years in the movie business that truth is very elusive. We have a prayer in Texas we always offer up when someone claims to be the repository of All Truth, and it goes like this: "Dear God, let me seek the Truth, but spare me the company of those who have found it." Let me respond very briefly to Mr. Bozell.

I don't know where his survey figures came from, but I suspect some of those surveys were prepared by the same folks who estimate budget deficits for Please see MovletD6 ByJack Valentl EDITOR'S NOTE: Jack Valentl is president of the Motion Picture Association of America. While in the audience at a recent National Review seminar on the subject "A Conservative People, a Liberal Culture," he was asked if he wished to respond to several speakers, including Brent Bozell, who had cited survey figures on the extent of public displeasure with violence, sex and bad language in the movies. This is excerpted from his remarks: MOVIE OPENINGS The Vanishing" is an engrossing thriller. Quentin Tarantino's explosive "Reservoir Dog," makes Martin Scorsese's 'Mean Streets" seem nearly tame. "National Lampoon's Load "tt LL iim m.

1 ed Weapon 1" Is an inept, scat-tergun parody. "Sommersby" is a handsome movie. There's a grace and sense of scale that instills the film with nobility. "Flirting" Is a delightful and deeply touching comedy. See movie reviews, D6-7.

Robert Eisenman believes his book could blow the lid off traditional views of early Judeo-Christian beliefs. Los Angeies rnes A..