The Daily News-Journal from Murfreesboro, Tennessee • 4

Zht Batty News Icurttal Opinions cannot survive If one has no chance to fight for -Thomas Mann Tuesday, Feb. 20, 1996 'ootfoa deal riot that scary She IDa'Uy News Journal Rutherford County's Home Newspaper Since 1849 The Murfreesboro News Established 1 849 The Home Journal Established 1880 William R. Fryar, President Mike Pirtle, Editor Operations Manager SamStockard City Editor -PauIMauney, Circulation Director. Stacie Standifer, Retail Sales Director Judy Scantland, Classified Ad Director Lee Rennick, Special Projects Director THE MID-SOUTH PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. A subsidiary of Morris Newspaper Corp.

224 N. Walnut Street, Murfreesboro, ITS 37 130 (615) 893-5860 The DAILY NEWS JOURNAL (USPS 144 640) is published daily by THE MID-SOUTH PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC 224 N. Walnut Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37130. (615)J393-5860. Second class postage paid at Murfreesboro, TN 37130.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE DAILY NEWS JOURNAL, 224 N. Walnut Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37130 state Legislature three years ago for a similar deal, Memphis was to get all the revenue. It won't be the same with this bill, because; Nashville gets the revenue money only until the bonds are paid off, Bragg said. Of course, he added, "We won't have that revenue stream unless the Oilers come to Nashville." As to opposition across the state, Bragg said he doesn't really understand it. The Legislature helped build the Pyramid, in Memphis, the.

Aquarium in Chattanooga, a convention center in Johnson City, and the list goes on. In fact, Bragg said, more state budget money was spent per capita in East Tennessee last year than in Middle and West Tennessee. "I don't know why people would Bragg said. Language in Tennessee's proposed contract with Metro is extremely favorable for the state, he said. "In our deal with Metro, if anything; goes sour, we get to be held harmless first" Tennessee could even become part owner of the stadium if the Oilers Jump up and leave town.

But NFL franchises are not fly-by-night-organizations. A league pool keeps struggling franchises afloat; how else could teams such as Green Bay continue to play year in and year out without much television revenue? 'They're not going to let anybody go bank- nipt," Bragg said. So why are people in Nashville fussing so, much? Maybe they're afraid someone might" have some fun. Maybe they're afraid Bredesen might put another feather in his cap. Maybe they're afraid country music will no longer be king.

Maybe they just want something to fuss about. I What's all the fuss about this NFL stuff? Heck, Nashville is building an indoor arena and doesn't even have a tenant at least not a regular one. The first big event is supposed to be an ice skating competition. Boy, that'll draw a -lot of local interest, seeing as how the ponds around here stay frozen all the time so we can slip and slide around. But plans to build a football stadium for the Houston Oilers who are" begging to come here and Tennessee State Tigers are drawing opposition, mainly from three Metro Council members who want a public referendum on the $289 million plan.

Sure, it's going to take a lot of money: $165 million from Metro; a total of $69 million from the state; and $71.5 million from fans who are buying Public Seat Licenses, or the right to buy season Did anyone ever believe a big-time profes- sional sports team would be free? It takes a lot of money to buy the prestige of an NFL franchise. From an opposition standpoint, calling for a referendum is smart, because that's a great way to get everybody worked up. A public vote would make sense, if the timing was right, but it's not. And the referendum appears to be an effort by three council members to gain some clout and cut Mayor Phil Bredesen's throat. There's always going to be a vocal minority opposed to spending any money to improve things, maybe bring in something that will boost the region's reputation and end our hayseed aura, (We sure wouldn't want anything like that.) Memphis has had its share of questionable organizations, such as the American Basketball Association (the beloved old ABA) and World Football League.

But we've never hit the big time. And we won't as long as people are narrow-minded and shortsighted. If Nashville kills this deal, referendum or not, don't expect for any professional football teams, basketball teams, hockey teams or baseball teams to ever come calling again. One person who isn't fretting over the Oilers is state Rep. John Bragg, D-Murfreesboro.

Bragg, who knows more about the state budget than anyone else cares to know, has no reservations about Tennessee's stance in this whole NFL deal. All the state has to do is let Metro use its borrowing power for $55 million, put up $12 million for road work and $2 million for land. Bragg notes that he and the state are not dealing with the Oilers or owner Bud Adams. "We're only dealing with Metro," he said. The House Finance Committee, which Bragg chairs, was to vote on the legislation today.

Using extremely conservative estimates, the state will actually make money off the Oilers, according to Bragg. Over 30 years, Tennessee can bring in $37 million from sales taxes off ticket sales, concessions and permanent seat licenses, according to Bragg. When Memphis received approval from the Climbing upstairs good exercise A Pennsylvania doctor contends! climbing stairs is the most effective exercise of all. He says, "People who can't bring themselves to exer- i a it ne uuiti wwt iingiii uvi wwii lu ii where they're forced ta climb stairs and such a house is a good place to retire." Editorial Bradley Academy worth preserving Can you really put a price on our heritage? While heritage can be defined as something handed down from one's ancestors or the past, and can be a characteristic, a culture or a tradition, it is usually viewed as an intangible. Well, a very tangible link with this community's past, the Bradley imperiled by escalating construction costs in the midst of a massive renovation.

In this case, the price to restore our heritage is estimated at $600,000. The plan to turn the 8ld school building into a center for cultural activities, lectures, social events and educational seminars began several years ago. The first jolts of money were spent to restore its exterior. But if the facility is to reach its potential, the interior has to be done, too. Not only do decades of decay have to be repaired, but a whole bunch of environmentally nasty asbestos needs to be removed.

Why are, we bothering to renovate the old school? For its historical significance, of course Founded at the beginning of the 19th century, Bradley was a school which educated many important Ten-nesseans of the era. The most well-known of its graduates was a young fellow from Columbia way named James K. Polk. If you've forgotten your Tennessee and U.S. history, Polk was the 1 1th president of the United States.

After the Civil War, Bradley became a school for African-Americans and continued in that iteration until the civil rights era began in the 1950s. Newer, integrated schools were opened and Bradley fell on hard times. Instead' of taking a wrecking ball to our past, some Rutherford Countians had a vision of restoring the old building into a repository of our heritage. Not just a museum, Bradley will be dedicated to our future, too. Efforts are under way to secure grant monies to help the cause of finishing the Bradley Academy project.

We hope those efforts will succeed. In the meantime, the Bradley Academy Historical Association is having a commemorative brick sale, "Bricks for Old Bradley," to raise part of the money still needed. Those willing to put a tax-deductible $50 toward the project will see a brick engraved with three lines of up to 14 characters each laid in a courtyard planned between the sch6ol and Academy Street. A $33 profit will be realized on each brick and be put toward the project. It is a worthy cause and anyone financially able ought to buy one of the bricks.

That $50 is a cheap price to help preserve our common heritage in this community. LM. i Doyd 3vTTtrJ Columnist 1 yftj Anonymous couldn't hold candle to Drew Pearson An expert on deer reports nearly 99 percent of the female whitetails; conceive every year. Remarkable, if true. Q.

The U.S. Postal Service printed 80 million stamps honoring Richard Nixon? How many for Elvis Presley? i A. Five hundred million. Please report another name for Leap Year is "bissextile." LOTTO PLAY A professional gamester offers Joseph Spear Syndicated Columnist 4 this advice to the lottery player: Pick one or two numbers higher than 31. Some people who base their selections wholly on dates birthday, anniversary, whatever only use numbers of 31 or lower.

So many do so they shift the winning odds toward the other players who choose some numbers higher than 31. Your "nucha" is the nape of your neck. "It was not so long ago," said the politico Geraldine Farraro, "that people thought semiconductors were part-time orchestra leaders and microchips were very, very small snack foods" A full set of armor is called a "panoply." So is a porcupine's quill-coat entire. For several weeks, Washington has been atwitter with the search for Anonymous, the author who penned a parody of the 1992 Clinton campaign that te so dead-. on it could have been written by trusted political aides some of whom, in fact, are suspects.

"Primary Colors" captures a host of capital characters in all their tempestuous, bombastic, devious glory including the elastic and compulsive governor of a small Southern state who is married to one tough iady and is running for president. Even Bill Clinton wants to know the identity of the perpetrator. It's "the only secret I've seen kept in Washington in three years," he told reporters, as he challenged them to find Anonymous. Pardon my Old Pro smile. One of the advantages of being a geezer is that you've done enough reading and studying and living to know we've been there Indeed, anonymous Washington books are like comets: Every half century or so, one comes blazing across the sky and stirs up the populace.

In 1 880 (I wasn't around for this one), a roman clef entitled "Democracy: An American Novel" got the town excited. One character was a middling president who resembled Rutherford Hayes. Another was a first lady who was possessed of a "provincial morality" that forbade spirits in the White House. The real-life Lucy Webb Hayes was known as "Lemonade Lucy." Fingers were pointed at many Washington writers. Prominent among them was journalist and historian Henry Adams.

He died in 1918, and the publisher later identified him as the author. In 1931, another anonymous book appeared (I wasn't around for this one either, but I have an indirect connection to it which I will explain in a moment). "Washington Merry-Go-Round" was not a novel, but it was often denounced as fiction. The book sold 180,000 copies and went into at least 24 printings. I know fhs because I am the proud owner of a copy of the 24th rendering.

A sequel, "More Washington Merry-Go-Round," was published before Herbert Hoover's Justice bepartment identified the authors and the word spread through Washington. The culprits were Robert S. Allen and Drew Pearson, the former a reporter for the Christian Science Moni- tor, the latter a diplomatic correspondent for the Baltimore Sun. In the book, they brought to staid Washington journalism a pejorative style that hadn't been seen since the days of the party press. Herbert Hoover, popularly portrayed as the Great Humanitarian, was described as a vain and inept self-promoter.

Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon's tax breaks for his rich pals generated the stock speculation that caused the Great Depression. Secretary of War Patrick Hurley practiced his social entrances in front of a mirror. German ambassador Friedrich Wilhelm von Prittwitz und GafTron was "von Nittwitz." The town was full of drunken wives "boiled bosoms" the writers called them. Allen and Pearson were fired for their indiscretions but were soon given the opportunity by the United Feature Syndicate to write a column called "Washington Merry-Go-Round." They split up in 1942 and Allen's star slowly Pearson went on to become, arguably, the most famous muckraker of the century. For nearly 40 years, he banged out a daily column on a battered portable typewriter.

He took on presidents. He battled with right-wing rabble-rouser Father Charles Coughlin. He was slugged by Joe McCarthy. He was sued for libel 2,75 times and lost only once. He was tough.

He was fearless. He was my hero. I started reading the Drew Pearson column in the Salisbury (Md.) Times, now the Daily Times, during the mid-1950s. Eventually, a new name, Jack Anderson, started appearing with Pearson's. In 1969, 1 began a 20-year stint with Anderson.

Pearson was ill at the time: He died six months later. I never did meet Drew Pearson personally, but I seriously doubt that Anonymous could carry his little Corona. SKlTTLEsC 1L SjS Y5AH.ANPI JimPUWEP I T.rfTf lo "-apf THEMAUOmf THANKS 1 oh. Kf! THBU6HT. XHAUU 1 mr MA ii 1 FFVMTHB I PO YOU THINK DAVID NIVEN Q.

In a recent TV "Biography" actor Roger Moore paid great credit to the late David Niven, who'd so quickly become successful in Hollywood years earlier. What was Niven's first film? A. So quickly? He played a blan-; keted Mexican in a Hopalong Cas-J sidy picture, then an extra or walk-' on in 26 other westerns before he landed a major part in the 1935, "Splendor." i Women over 65 are far more' likely than men over that age to live.