The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 62

METRO Be STATE F4 Monday. October 28, 1991 The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution 2nd WPBA-WABE study set Ji, f( if Board to form own consultant group -ii 4-lane is la 4-letter word for islanders i i Rodney Cook jr. He says the new study will be done at no charge to I 1 in. "3 7 7-' Some Atlanta school board members who characterized the first WPBA-WABE study as a "disappointment" and incomplete said they welcome the new study. WINDELL SMITHSpecial Road-widening plan: Albert Fendig and Dorothy McCaskill stand beneath two oaks that would be lost.

By Bemadette Burden STAFF WRITER 22-member advisory board of WPBAChannel 30 and WABE-FM (90.1) has decided to put together its own consulting group to conduct yet another study of the educational stations. But unlike the previous $50,000 study, done for the Atlanta Board of Education by a team led by City Councilman Ja-bari Simama, the new study will be done at no charge to taxpayers, the advisory board's president says. Rodney Cook the board's new president, will present a proposal to the school board next month that calls for a consultant team made up mainly of communications professionals with public broadcasting experience from outside the Atlanta area. The Simama study recommended that the format of WABE be changed from classical to dominant "multicultural" and that Channel 30 operate with seven fewer staff members and spend more money on local productions and less on such programs as "Masterpiece Theater" and "Frontline." The study says its 41 recommendations could save the school board more than $680,000 in salaries. When the study was presented Oct.

10 at an instructional committee meeting, several school board members questioned whether it provided enough information for them to acton. Simama alleges racism Dr. Simama said the board's black members accepted the report and that the only strong criticism came from John Elger, a white member. For that reason, he said, the call for another report "is blatantly racist." Mr. Cook had a different im-pression.

"It was my conclusion, from the Atlanta business com-, munity with a background in public broadcasting will be chosen to help develop a financial plan for the stations. CPB help available Mr. Cook said a member of the WPBA board will serve as a liaison to the study group to en-sure that it receives input from the advisory board. He said the Corporation for Public Broad- casting's (CPB) consulting ser- -vice, available for free to its member stations, may be used in selecting experienced team members. When the Simama study was commissioned, the school board was told that it could have uti- lized these services.

Some school board members who characterized the first study as a "disappointment" and incomplete said they welcome the new study from the advisory board. One of these, board member Ina Evans, said the representa-; tive nature of the advisory board is helpful. "At least it will make the community feel satisfied that they had some input into the findings of things," she said. Board member D.F. Glover said he would be eager to see the results of a second study because, he said, the first was not: objective.

Specifically, he said the $50,000 study was "politically motivated" and the creation of one school board member, whom he refused to name, and the con-1 sultants themselves. "Ina and I tried to warn the board that we should have nan-1 died things a lot differently," Mr. Glover said. By Jingle Davis STAFF WRITER St Simons Island, Ga. For most of her adult life, 79-; year-old Dorothy McCaskill has lived on a picturesque two-lane stretch of Demere Road near the historic Bloody Marsh Monument, where a handful of Colonial soldiers and Indians fought a decisive battle with the Spanish in 1742 for the land that later became Georgia.

Mrs. McCaskill loves the is-I land's peaceful lifestyle, and with other island residents is prepared to battle officials over a proposal to expand two busy intersections and four- lane almost three miles of is-' land roadway. 1 "It's completely out of character," Mrs. McCaskill said of the project. "We don't want our island ruined like Hilton (Head." Like other roads here, De-'mere is canopied by ancient I oak trees swagged with Span-; ish moss, patched with rosy li-; chens and wound with wisteria.

I And like other roads, it usually is clogged with traffic. The 13-mile-long barrier is-! land, for generations a popular vacation and second-home mecca for Georgians, has been 1 discovered in recent years by people from all over the globe, Mrs. McCaskill opposes the road plan even though it is de-' signed, in part, to divert traffic from her oak-bordered portion of Demere by four-laning near-; by Airport Road as an alternate route. I On St. Simons, four-lane is a four-letter word.

Moreland firm designed plan St. Simons lawyer Albert Fendig an island native having attended the instruction committee meeting this month, that the school board members were not satisfied with the report. I thought it was our responsibility to get the proper information that they need to run the stations more efficiently." The advisory board was established in 1978 to be made up of community members with interest in the stations, to serve as a liaison between the school board and the stations. While the school board holds the licenses and contributes about $1 million a year to the stations, the advisory board oversees the other 70 percent of the revenue, which comes from foundations and donors, and is supposed to make recommendations to the school board on programming. During the most recent fund-raising drives, the stations set records, with $91,000 coming in for WPBA and $210,000 for WABE.

Mr. Cook attributed the success to a reaction against the Simama report by subscribers who wanted to emphasize their support for the current formats. Mr. Cook said the new team has not been fully assembled, but that most of its members will come from outside the city to maintain impartiality. Someone who has fought four-laning proposals for years, said major highways are incompatible with the island's lifestyle.

"It would be devastating to the natural qualities that attract people to St. Simons," he said. "Sure, I think the oaks on Demere need protection, but that can be accomplished without four-laning." The Atlanta design firm Moreland Altobelli Associates Inc. developed the proposal. Dan Altobelli, a partner with former state Department of Transportation Commissioner Tom Moreland, said studies indicate the project is needed and would handle traffic flow until 2010.

In addition to widening Airport Road, the firm also proposed expanding the Frederica Road-Sea Island Road intersection near the entrance to the F.J. Torras Causeway to the mainland, and the Frederica Road-Demere Road intersection near the airport. According to Mr. Altobelli, the three projects were designed to preserve most of the island's old trees, unlike a state DOT proposal several years ago that would have felled more than 140 trees along his- toric Frederica Road. Under the current proposal, six large frees would be removed and others planted in their stead, Mr.

Altobelli said. The projects would cost about $3.5 million and would be funded in part by proceeds from a 1 percent sales tax earmarked for island road improvements and by federal dollars dedicated for curb and gutter installation, Glynn County officials said. Commissioners weigh in Lawyer Bill Dismer, a county commissioner who represents St. Simons, opposes the projects, calling them "premature," although he does favor rerouting traffic through Airport Road. "But only as a two-lane connector," Mr.

Dismer quickly added. Another islands commissioner, Karen Moore, who has supported the projects in the past, notified her constituents last week that she will "be glad" to make a motion to deny the proposals "as currently designed" at the county board's next meeting Nov. 7. Among the handful of four-lane fans was Meredith Goethe Leaptrot, a former resident of Lenox Road in Atlanta who retired here three years ago. "It's maddening, especially in the summer, to get onto Demere Road," Mrs.

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