The Paducah Sun from Paducah, Kentucky • 21

IE EGION Padiicali. Ky. Section 12 Pages Thursday, October 24, 1985 The stars of '85 Tom Kennedy headlines a telethon cast that's tuned in to soaps and songsters I 'NT I TOM KENNEDY of 'Nighttime Price is Right' TEMPESTT BLEDSOE "The Cosby Show' Staff report Channel 6 is pulling from the best including NBC's top-rated "The Cosby Show" and the World Series-contending St. Louis Cardinals for headlines on the 29th annual Lions Club-WPSD Telethon of Stars. Tempestt Bledsoe, the 12-year-old Chicago native who plays Vanessa Huxtable on "Cosby," will join game-show host Tom Kennedy and country music singer Lynn Anderson on the lMiour telethon Nov.

9-10. The Cardinals' representative will be named after the World Series. Other stars are country singer Darlene Austin; NBC soap opera actors Todd McKee and Julie Ronnie of "Santa Barbara," and Kari Michaelsen, who plays Katie Kaniski on NBC's "Gimme a Break." For music, telethon talent hunters have signed the Rascals of Ragtime, a dixieland band from Louisville, and telethon regulars Bob Sobo and Don Cross. The telethon, co-sponsored by the Lions Club and WPSD-TV, benefits Easter Seal centers in west Tennessee, southern Illinois, southeast Missouri and western Kentucky. Telethon chairman Joe Rinella of the Downtown Lions Club said the stars will appear at Kentucky Oaks Mall the Saturday night of the show, to give the public an opportunity to see them in person.

They will begin performances at 9:30 at the mall, with a live TV feed from the mall beginning at 11 p.m. (The telecast runs from 10 p.m. Saturday to 1 p.m. Sunday.) The stars also make regular appearances throughout the telethon in a tent set up adjacent to the TV station. Their goal is "to entertain and collect money for the Easter Seal centers," Rinella said.

Since the telethon was started in 1956, more than $7 million has been raised with recent shows netting about a half-million dollars a year. This year's fundraising is expected to get a boost by the addition of two new competitions, according to Rinella. For several years, an industrial trophy has been 'jL: I hi After the World Series, a Cardinal baseball player will be announced as a telethon celebrity. awarded to the plant that raises the most money per employee. This year, similar trophies will be awarded in commercial and private (individual or civicchurch groups) categories.

Kennedy, host of "Nighttime Price is Right," a syndicated game show that appears nightly on channel 6, will emcee the telethon. He is a Louisville native and former student at the University of Kentucky. His 30-year career as an emcee includes the TV game shows "You Don't Say," "Name That Tune" and "Password Plus." the rest of the lineup: Actress Bledsoe is a sixth grader at a school for gifted children. In show business since she was five, she has appeared in and sung the jingle for several commercials. Anderson is best known for her 1971 Grammy-award winning hit, "Rose Garden." Hailing from California, she got her start as the first country singer on the Lawrence Welk Show in the 1960s.

Her recent hit, "You're Welcome To Tonight," a duet with Gary Morris, has been a finalist in the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Music City News Awards. Darlene Austin, from rural Kansas, is best known for her single, "I'm On the Outside Looking In." The Country Hotline News Magazine named her one of the most promising female singers for 1983. Julie Ronnie plays Laken Lockridge on "Santa Barbara." A former high school cheerlead in Torrance, she considers her role in the soap, as a young woman trying to gain independence from her parents, as her big break in show business. With 25 TV commercials also to her credit, she said "People are starting to recognize me on the street. It's exciting.

I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing." McKee, who portrays wealthy Ted Capwell on the daytime drama, said he and his character have a lot in common "except he (Capwell) has a lot of money and he doesn't even want it." McKee, from a middle-class upbringing, published and sold coupon books to work his way through the University of Southern California's 30-member drama department. Kari Michaelsen, 23, said she, too, is like her TV character. "I really like my character because she's hip. She may get into trouble a lot, but she knows what's happening in the real world. I like that." Local performers also will be part of the telethon.

For the 10th year, the Folsom Puppet Company featuring Retta Folsom and puppet Mr. Bob Dog will appear on the children's portion of the program on Sunday morning. Their theme will be "A Space Adventure." And Gary Weaver, who has played in previous telethons with Dan Steele's band, will provide backup music for performers, while Steele devotes time to the show's production. Mri TODDMcKEE LYNN ANDERSON JULIE RONNIE 2 I I T. 1 I WS-i -a 4k- 3 rs A I WC7 I is The Rascals of Ragtime from Louisville DON CROSS KARI MICHAELSEN DARLENE AUSTIN Your fingers can walk all over the place by dialing 1-800 Craig C-V Rambling i libraries, universities and other resource centers as a public service.

Beyond that, they will be marketed to business and residential customers," said Hurtt. Hurtt listed Ryder Truck Lines, Eastern Airlines and General Electric as among the country's biggest users of toll-free numbers. "If you buy a product from G.E. and it doesn't work, you can call them here in Louisville, toll-free. They'll get a technician on the line who will tell you what's wrong with it or how to fix it." Hurtt also said some toll free numbers spell out catchy slogans.

He cited Florida Express 1-80V FAST-JET, Mr. Foster Travel Agency 1-S00-AWAY-U-GO and Alamo Rent-A-Car Want to order some fancy French champagne toll free? How about a ticket on the Orient Express? Or maybe you just need a hubcap for your '75 Gremlin. J.R. Hurtt says let your fingers do the walking through the 1985-86 toll-free" business and consumer directories. Last year, when the first directories were published, approximately 2.8 billion interstate calls were logged via 800 numbers a increase from the 284 million toll-free interstate calls made in 1974, said Hurtt, Louisville-based director of public relations for in Kentucky.

The number of customers subscribing to the service has zoomed up by 900 percent, he added, from 46,000 11 years ago to 390,000 this Accountants Certified Public to Yachts. Listings include Magnum Opus International Publishers, Doctor Who International Fan Club of America, Motor Sheep, Zorko's Alternator Service, Rent-A-Dent, Rent-A-Wreck, Jim RussellBritish School of Motor Racing and Bal-loon-A-Aardvark. Each directory has an alphabetical listing of businesses, government agencies and jother organizations with 800 numbers. A classified section slots companies and groups by the kind of goods and services they offer. toll-free service subscribers whose 800 numbers appear in the directories get a listing at no year.

Numbering nearly 450 pages together, the paperbound books give consumers the chance to order products, ask about goods and services and even quiz the government on topics from energy to the Peace Corps, Hurtt said. The 293-page other-guy's-quarter business directory contains 58,000 numbers, while the slimmer 150 pages consumer directory has 23,000. "This is an extremely popular marketing tool with businesses right now," Hurtt said. "Many businesses, too, use 800 numbers for in-house operations" or don't circulate them widely for various reasons, he added. An 800 line isn't generally bought for idle chatter.

charge in the directory of their choice, Hurtt explained. Initial copies of the directories have been sent free to one million selected businesses. Directories are also for sale. The directories list toll-free numbers in the U.S. and Canada.

But Hurtt said 800 service is also expanding to include Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, South Korea, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France. "The difference between the two directories is that the business directory is more detailed," Hurt said. It's more expensive, too, costing $14.95. The consumer number book is $9.95. "They will also be given to In the business directory, categories range from Abrasive Blasting Equipment to Yachts.

In between you'll find the likes of Old Mother Hubbard Dog Food Gamblers. Book Gub, Oklahoma Waste and Wiping Rag Nirvana Puget Sound Casket, Fishy Pharmacy and Robots by Rex. In the consumer directory, it's i i (if 1 Heating aid signups here occurring at record pace By VERNE BROOKS Sua SUA Wrtlcr Disabled and elderly McCracken countians are rushing to sip up for Home Energy Assistance Program funds at a record pace in order to beat the Oct 31 deadline. The Kentucky Department of Social Insurance, which is handling the program referred to as HEAP, has taken 912 applications through the first three days this week. McCracken County Field Services Supervisor Betty Shaw said the number of applicants in the first three days exceeds the total number of applications during the entire signup period last year, which was 848.

In fact, Shaw said, more people, 871 applicants, signed up while state workers were accepting applications Monday and Tuesday at the Civic Center in Paducah. More people were actually eligible this year because of a change in the income scale that determines eligibility. "Applicants are permitted to have more income and still be eligible," Shaw said. Applications will be taken at the Social Insurance office at 418 S. 6th St through the deadline, or until the state funds run out Funding of $7-5 million has been allocated for the first phase of the HEAP program.

An identical amount will be available Nov. 18, Shaw Said, when applications will be received from low income families in the program's second phase. Getting a facelift Teacher Sue Ingram applies makeup to the face of Dannietta Herman at today's 4-H Pumpkin Festival at Forest Hills School. The makeup was put to use later in a skit performed by some of the students. (SU3 photo bjr BwUej Ttwleman) Mi -7v vr-.