Statesville Record and Landmark from Statesville, North Carolina • 36

I Reasons I 7Z 4 DRIVE IN MODERN DRIVE IN CINEMA TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY IRST EATURE AT 8:20 ONLY THIS TIME THE BULLETS ARE HITTING PRETTY CLOSE TO HOME BOX OICE OPENS 7:00 filmed and a pilot for another proposed series ABC turned down last year The proposed series was about New York politics Alda said Was it also a comedy? would have to be it?" he asked Get has an unlikely premise for a comedy series about a sales engineer his wife and three children Like Alda they live in suburban New Jersey anything about it that sounds like a funny idea but I think one of its straig Alda said not a gimmick show an attempt to show with a sense of humor people really living in a family Which been done yet There are no funny no cute kids with cute Alda who is co producing the show with Marc Merson will supervise the script writing head back to Los Angeles in mid May to start production both on AS and the new series COME EARLY EAT OUT TONIGHT SHRIMP CHICKEN BASKETS RIDAY SATURDAY HAM BISCUITS 3 OR $100 NEW YORK (AP) Alan Alda has a system for fighting homesickness when in Los Angeles filming AS He writes But because of this system have to work doubly hard this summer and next fall He now has a second CBS series to worry about Get a half hour comedy show coming up in September Alda created it has written six scripts for it and will be its co producer Alda who lives in suburban New Jersey with his wife and three kids when A shooting was at home with them toiling at the typewriter when asked how he found time to write the new show out there Hollywood) by he said because my back here in New Jersey I keep myself busy with work so I get lonely So write at night and on The new show the first TV writing done The Manhattan born actor said written two A scripts that were BUORD PUSSER By ELLIE GROSSMAN NEW YORK (NEA) Try to get hold of it and likely to end up with a fistful of smoke The story surrounding Buford Pusser one time sheriff of Mc Nair County Tennessee currently lionized in the movie is riddled with controversy and confusion The only certainty is that the movie has grossed $30 million since its release last March and Buford Pusser is becoming legendary possibly for the wraig reasons Pusser spent six violent years as sheriff during the 1960s patrolling the state line between Tennessee and Mississippi The prostitution gambling and illegal whiskey which were flourishing there brought him into collision with members of the and he matched them blow for blow suffering stabbings shootings and the loss of his wife in an ambush Still the question remains: is Pusser really the heroic one man blitz against crime the press agents for are packaging or is he a violence loving brute who enforced the law as he saw fit who even now has a goodly number of the people down home intimidated? wa's in Vietnam for two years and I encountered more fear in McNairy County than I did there the first time in my life I had to' go outside a town to get affidavits So says Cammy Wilson a reporter for the Dayton Daily News who spent several weeks in McNairy County researching a story on Pusser done as much harm as the people he fought in many states one Tennessee newsman who backed away from attribution He was not alone Several people interviewed by telephone said they were afraid to talk about Pusser on the record Again and again McNairy county residents used the word to describe circumstances surrounding several of exploits But when queried about being quoted they responded firmly: In no Pusser at six feet six and 250 pounds is colossal After 15 plastic surgery operations wired and tacked together but still a old husky as one acquaintance puts it Immaculate and disarmingly soft spoken Pusser under standably prefers the movie version of his exploits although a disclaimer in the film indicates the plot was by certain actions in his life He grants events have been but he resents being questioned about the disparities between and Twelfth of his biography written by Morris A One' central incident bears airing In the account of the hickory stick episode which has carried him to fame Pusser is happily ensconced in Chicago with a newbride a job at the Union Bag Company and a weekend agenda of wrestling bouts He and two friends are suddenly extradicted to Mississippi on charges of armed 1 robbery and assault brought by the owner of a state line club where ALSO 2ND EATURE GUN GIRLS tend to empathize with the ac cused Pusser involved in two killingsassheriff was adjudged by grand juries to have acted in self defense In the county witnesses are more difficult to find than the holy grail detractors in cluding Morris say there were never any witnesses to the run ins he had The of the law are often considered luxuries according to some local residents Pusser himself says with a hint of a smile: sure everything I did right within the law Of course I think the law is based on good common horse Possibly or Wrong One Time THE SOUTH'S MOST 873 3082 At US 70 Exit Clint Eastwood is Dirty Harry in Magnum orce ADMISSION $150 UNDER 12 REE Sheriff Becomes Legendary some time earlier Pusser had been cheated at dice and beaten to the tune of 192 stitches Pusser stews about being framed pleads innocent and is acquitted In Pusser home from Chicago with his family reluctantly visits one of the cheap clubs that have sprung up in the area since he left aids a friend being cheated and is beaten severely When the sheriff refuses to act Pusser later returns with his hickory stick and fractures bones The jury acquits him Nowadays Pusser verifies the version then goes on to admit that heand his friends lied to the jury in Mississippi under cover of a pre arranged alibi in Chicago In her story for the Dayton Daily News Cammy Wilson alleges Pusser extorted payoffs from state line joint owners quotes his step daughter who describes Pusser as man to be afraid and discredits the legitimacy of Pusser claims the reporter was paid off mother was about to lose her home in he says was contacted by these people involved in the crime now on the state line and she stayed some weeks to do the story Then she came up with the $1500 payment for the house Now you tell me is a paper in Dayton Ohio going to send someone 500 miles to write a story and pay her salary all that Yes replies James Dygert city editor movie was playing in Dayton at that time (October 1973) and we knew Cammy was from Mississippi so we assigned her to go down and do the story She was on In a feature in The Nashville Tennessean Pusser is depicted signing copies of Twelfth of At first mention of the book however he dismisses it with a wave of his hand not a bit of truth to he says book was written without my permission They were trying to use me I have 'never read the Pressed on the point he concedes skimmed He daims the author never in terviewed him that the dates are often wrong and that for one small thing he cuss the way they say he did the book was ever published Buford made a special trip to read it and he did page by author Morris says hotly were lots of things in the book he like but he did en dorse it as his official biography especially when the movie came out angry with me because he says destroying his movie image been getting calls from all over because the movie and the book are so different and he gets angry when be finds out what telling Author and subject are currently embroiled in a royalty dispute over thebook and Morris is dispatching press releases touting a new book Real Buford which reportedly will reflect type of man Buford Pusser actually is how McNairy citizens feel about a tough part of the country McNairy County where juries they say bring in many I murder convictions because they MORGAN PAULL as Jimmy O'Neil a friendly cop injured in the line of duty received special attention from Pat Anderson as Lisa in ''Dirty O'Neil" which plays Wednesday through Saturday at the Playhouse Theater Writer Moves Up In ield Alda Eyes New Series wHRs Li I.