The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 13

section THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION Monday, june 25, 1990 Celestine Sibley fl DDDSUifit A Sr lid m. From Atlanta to Havana i V. 1 'News at 10' wins respect as it expands By Gerry Yandel Staff writer WGNXChannel 46 has moved from the fringes of programming endless reruns of "The Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone" just two years ago to the inner circle of Atlanta newsgathering. Tonight, the upstart independent station's "News at 10," a daily program that began 17 months ago, expands from 30 minutes to an hour of locally produced international, national and metro news, "There is a market for an alternative-time-period newscast, and as an independent, we are the ones that can fulfill that demand," said Jack Frazier, news director of Channel 46, a 19-year-old station owned for the past six years by Chicago's Tribune Broadcasting Co. Ten o'clock newscasts are becoming popular among independent stations wanting to offset network affiliate news and to get viewers who go to bed early.

"We look at the 11 o'clock news as direct competition," said Mr. Frazier, a former exec- utive producer and news director at channels 5 and 11 and the man who launched "News at 10." The station's anchors are understandably pleased about having more air time. "It's a little bit like Chinese food," weeknight anchorman Kevin Cokely said of the half-hour format. "An hour show will be like a full meal." "News at 10" has won critical acclaim because it offers in-depth stories rather than a barrage of 20- to 30-second reports. Five to seven minutes are usually spent on an important report.

The other stations have noticed. "They're competitors and good solid journalists over there," said WXIAChannel 11 news director Steve Smith. "I Please see 7 A tiki: "Quantum Leap," starring Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell, will be on every night this week at 10. NBC wants to give the struggling show wide exposure before it returns this fall. B6 An unauthorized biography reveals that Barbara Walters became fascinated with stars at her father's nightclubs.

B4 Seniors' when to ii 1 When Turner meets Castro, sizzle fizzles ByPhilKloer Television critic Back in 1982, Ted Turner flew to Havana to meet Fidel Castro, and much was made of the meeting between the capitalist and the Communist. Not much came of it, except that Mr. Castro decided he needed to get CNN to keep up TV REVIEW with what A was going on A Conversation in the world. With Fidel Eight Castro" years later, 9 tonight on CNN Mr. Turner and the Cuban leader sat down for talks over the weekend of June 9 at Havana's Palace of the Revolution.

Given that these men are not exactly shy or short on opinions, viewers of the resulting special might expect fireworks. Fizzle is more like it. For starters, it's not really a conversation like earlier Turner encounters with Jimmy Carter, Jacques Cousteau and Carl Sa-gan. It's a straightforward interview, with Mr. Turner, in blue blazer and tie, sitting on one side of a table asking questions, and Mr.

Castro, in trademark military fatigues, on the other side ducking them as if they were as potent as Mike Tyson's fists, which they decidedly are not. Mr. Turner hits tough topics, but with soft questions: "Cuba Please see CASTRO, B6 Fidel Castro end of the road: give up car keys Walter StricklinStaff Kevin Cokely and Karyn Greer are weeknight co-anchors of the expanding "News at 1 0," which is up for eight local Emmy nominations. Game, set and match: Nature plays for time A friend of mine remarked just the other day that tennis courts are inheriting the earth. She sounded dismayed by it all, and I think I know why all those ladies who go to the grocery store in tennis skirts.

She holds that their legs aren't a bit better than hers, and as soon as another North Fulton cornfield is leveled and paved and netted, she's going to join whatever club is involved and play tennis herself. "Go ahead," I told her bleakly. I've had bad luck with tennis myself. When I was in high school, the tallest boy in class one I liked to measure myself by because I towered above most of them called me at home one night, setting my heart fluttering because I thought he was going to ask me for a date. He was a tennis champion, and he offered me tickets to a match in exchange for my ghostwriting a theme for him.

I was to get my own date for the match a very unlikely achievement for me at the time. Needless to say, I was so wimpish I did the theme anyhow. Then there was this stunning Hollywood press agent I wanted to impress so badly I told one of those idiotic, pointless lies that haunt you all your life. He spoke to me of his love of tennis and asked if I played. I was far from home and the nearest tennis court, so who don't even know how many it takes to play, made like I was Helen Wills Moody.

Wouldn't you know he would come to Atlanta announcing that he was looking forward to getting a game with me? I had to wear bandages on my ankles and wrists for the duration of his visit. Now I have a different view a really sadder view of tennis courts. A reader named Rajaynes G. Hoffman, who lives on Northside Drive, has just seen neighboring woods bulldozed for tennis courts. She wrote a moving letter about rushing out in her bathrobe to plead with the bulldozer operator to allow her to dig a grove of wild native azaleas, perhaps 30 or more, to save them.

"We used to suck their flower stems as they grew under and around the tree fort I had as a child," she wrote. "But though I pleaded, he would not allow a short intervention of progress before the plowing. Trees fell loud those same lofty pines in which my father and our neighbor built the tree fort. Now it is a vast clearing, shocked by sunshine. "A jay flew at my window, again and again, as if pleading, but I could not help him.

And so I thought of the nests, the birds and rabbits and baby squirrels (I saw three of them in the wood) who were losing their homes. All for the love of The sun, she continues, now beats hot on the ground that used to be a cool wood. The little wild animals, faced with relocating, are moving into her yard. She is thankful for that. But her sense of loss is acute.

"The crashing of pines, those that managed to survive the beetle, cannot survive the dozer," she wrote. "I know I will miss the sweet smell of those wild azaleas It's one more thing to hold against tennis, saying I had the nerve to oppose something that is sweeping the country and giving women the opportunity to show their legs at the grocery st-e. 1 INSIDE I IL IF How can drivers know when it's time to park the car for good? And what transportation is available for senior citizens? B4 mile, older drivers have the second-worst crash record, behind the 16-24 age group. Because young people drive more miles, however, they are involved in many more crashes overall. They Jay AndersonSpecial The Geo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble of Denver performs "Rain Dance" at a Duke rally in support of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dance festival hails the masters By Betsy A. Lehman The Boston Globe With a driver's license, no matter what your age, you can take off for California if you feel like it. Without a driver's license, you have to ask your son or daughter for a ride to the supermarket. Or you can walk, if you're healthy and the weather's fine. Or you can take a bus, subway or train, if they run nearby and go where you're going.

Or you can take a cab, if you can afford it. It's little wonder older people are reluctant to give up driving, even if their eyesight isn't what it was, their arthritis makes it hard to check traffic in the next lane and intersections are starting to overwhelm them. People need mobility and independence. Yet the safety of all of us depends on other drivers' skills. It's a conflict not easily resolved.

For many people, driving skill declines with age. Mile for may also complicate driving for older people, who may have trouble getting out of the way of dangerous younger drivers. Decline in driving skills starts as early as age 55, says James L. Malfetti, a longtime researcher on driving and aging, retired from Columbia University. At age 75, skill typically drops off dramatically, and at 85, even more.

The big problems are with vision, reaction time and agility. Older people also may be taking medications that impair driving. PUasesee DRIVIN(jCB4 By Helen C. Smith Staff writer DURHAM, N.C. The past, present and future of modern dance are converging this summer at the American Dance Festival, a 56-year-pld showcase and nurturer of the different and daring.

In its 13th season at Duke University, the festival offers an ambitious, time-spanning lineup called "Ameri can Masters Plus." From the past come four modern classics, each more than IS years old, by veteran black choreographers Donald McKayle, Eleo Pomare and Tally Beatty. The Dayton (Ohio) Contemporary Dance Company and the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble of Denver revived the works before stomping, whistling capacity audiences last 1 Please see B3.