The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 71

THE BOSTON GLOBE THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1999 Tax resisters' struggle a study in principles "A HAIK-MISIH8 HIT" -Niwswtt SUPCK80WL SUNDAY 7,30 P.M. SHOW ONLY StO tmmt tr phohv. 617-426-5225 Cmmtrt Pwrttoutw 74 Mfamrwmv St Thy Funny Valentine Out 26tk VoKt BOSTON i (617) 423 4900 ij By Renee Graham GLOBE STAFF Maria's I had A )oyce Kuhawilt GOOD SEATS STIU AVAILABLE An old Southern expression observes, "A good run is better than a bad stand." A decade ago, Randy Kehler and Betsy Corner refused to run, comedy Wedding Film Review fought the good fight for their stand, and nearly lost everything in the process. 4V" r' -'lJ I AEFHICAfJ Ail; EXHIBIT SALE Fine selection of authentic masks, statues, and other artifacts from West and Central Africa! Ashanti, Bamana, Bobo, Guro, Ibo, Luba and more! January 23 24 Saturday Sunday 12-7 pm Hyatt Regency Hotel Cambridge Dawes Room Lobby Level 575 Memorial Drive, Cambridge Free Admission! Cash Checks only! African Arts N.Y.C. AN ACT OF CONSCIENCE A documentary by Robbie Leppzer At: Museum of Fine Arts Running time: 90 minutes Unrated that particular agency is a rather dicey proposition.

The IRS makes no distinction between war-tax resisters and tax evaders they just want their money. As IRS spokesman Robert Goldsmith says, "The IRS is not a punitive organization. Our job is to collect taxes." In March 1989, the government seized the couple's home, and four months later put it up for auction to collect $27,000 in back taxes. When there were no bids on the house, the government purchased it for $5,100 and sold it to a young Greenfield couple for $5,400. Those folks had no idea what they were getting into.

When the house was sold, it was occupied by protesters. Eventually, the buyers took over their house, barricading themselves inside while the protesters were off at a rally. The protesters then began an around-the-clock vigil at the house. The protest became a media circus and more than 50 people were arrested. Leppzer avoids presenting the story as a finger-wagging polemic.

Instead, he presents a balanced, riveting story, sympathetic to all sides of the issue. He raises thought-provoking questions how far is too far in terms of defending one's principles? And can one give in to the opposing side without undermining those principles? In 1989, Kehler and Corner's Colrain home in Western Massachusetts was seized by the US government Both were longtime war-tax resisters. For 12 years they had openly refused to pay federal income taxes as a protest against military spending. Robbie film, "An Act of Conscience," is a thoughtful of Kehler and Corner's fight, and how their stance was simplified and perverted by the news the Internal Revenue Service, even their jcomrades in the antiwar movement. Narrated by I actor-activist Martin Sheen, the film considers the jrights of American citizens, and poses the ques-ition of just how much someone should sacrifice for i their beliefs.

Tax resistance has been a tactic of protesters 'since before the United States was an independent nation. In the 1700s, many colonists refused to pay a tax on tea imposed by the British. In 1846, Henry David Thoreau was jailed after he refused to pay taxes to fund the Mexican-American War. By the time of the Vietnam War, 20,000 people called themselves war-tax resisters. Kehler and Corner believed they had history and morality on their side when, in 1977, they de- i With soloists Geuui Lesne and KjcIicI Llliou In 1989, the federal government seized the home of Randy Kehler and Betsy Corner.

cided to stop paving federal taxes, a portion of which inevitably fund military spending or buildups in foreign, nations. Both had already built their lives on '60s idealism. Kehler had spent two years in prison for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War, and both were devotees of the antiwar, anti-military movement Now, anyone who has ever had a run-in with the IRS and lived to tell about it knows vexing Friday, January 1999 8:00 PM. Sanders Theatre Boston Premiere direct from Lintoin Center Z'Xpcrieiuc the exquisite sound of hum's internationally atelaimei Bareqm mask ensetnble. Lijoy this ouiumding prcgram of French music from the itth and IJtb centuries performed en pencd instruments, ll Seminary SUweale is led by Gerard hsnc.

Members the I'rcnch Library jnj Ciilruol Center rfiid The Alliance receive 2() discmini ill rickci piirchjNes. For more infvrmttitn c.ill The 1'rench Library and Cultural Center at 617-266-41 or call The Alliance Itancaisr at or log on to www. on.t rg 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge Tickets sjfl, sz8, $18 4 ll Ik I puaJS, To purchase tickets call binders Theatre tix Office at 6i7-496-222z IY 617-495-1642 QyS Free parking available I .4 Audiences for ESPN, SI play in different leagues Uncork The Pleasures In life! 'If you were to drop the ESPN magazine on every SI reader, 90 percent would reject it' DAVID COLE, News Inc. Sample Wines From Over 430-" Wineries 1700 In All! i. Vintner's Dinners 8th Annual fMA Seminars Featuring KugbJoimton Hugh Johnson Celebrrated Author Jazz Cabaret With Bobby Caldwell His Big Band Call Ticket Master 617-931 -2000 For Cabaret Only LiTLJ: Bobby CaldweS readership to "Rolling Stone versus Entertainment Weekly." Is he low-balling the potential threat posed by ESPN the Magazine, particularly as its young readers age? Sure, a little.

If you're Sports Illustrated, "I think you care about ESPN," says Cole. "But I also think you're going to really be careful about changing such a proven success." Which means that if Sports Illustrated ever really goes to war against its ESPN rival, it will use a proxy army. Given Time ability to produce spinoffs such as the year-old Teen People observers suspect that some kind of Sports Illustrated for Gen Xers might be the weapon of choice. Currently getting ready for the March publication of Sports Illustrated for Women, Klingensmith says, "It would not be inaccurate to say we're clearly interested in the younger part of the market. Could we come up with something that was complementary for SI for the younger segment?" Perhaps not a strictly rhetorical question.

Gloede figures that Sports Illustrated is "going to respond at some point" but his suggested title seems a bit ham-handed: "SI for the pre-Viagra set" relatively weak first half of 1998 on the newsstands, its newsstand sales for the second half of 1998 were up a solid 32 percent over the same period in 1997. Meanwhile, Klingensmith projects record ad revenues of around $550 million in 1998. What should not be obscured in this blizzard of competing numbers is that ESPN had one hell of a first year. "They may be one of the first companies ever to take television and translate it into print," says Gloede. ESPN the Magazine "had to be for the reader who grew up on MTV," says its spokeswoman Kim Shapiro.

The 36- or 37-year-old Sports Illustrated reader "didn't grow up that way." Cruel, but true. ESPN's oversize format, hyperkinetic graphics, and pushy pacing strains the gray matter of anyone with graying temples: 34 percent of its readers are between 18 and 24 and only 9 percent are 45 or older. Ask a baby boomer to flip through ESPN the Magazine and hell end up shaking his head the way his parents did at the first sighting of the Beatles and their infernal rock 'n' roll. "I'm 44 and a lot of what's in ESPN, including the visuals, give me a headache," says Gloede. "But that's the way it's supposed to be." MEDIA Continued from Page El "If you were to drop the ESPN magazine on every SI reader, 90 percent would reject it" says David Cole, publisher of the News Inc.

media newsletter. "You don't spit into the wind," adds Gloede. "And you don't go head to head with SI." It's not like ESPN isn't claiming some Sports Illustrated casualties. A shiny media kit hailing ESPN the Magazine as "1998 Rookie of the Year" boasts of forcing SI to redesign, and to lower its newsstand price. And ESPN says that since its launch, its rival has lost 17 percent of its male readers between the ages of 18 and 34 and suffered a significant drop in newsstand sales during the first half of 1998.

Sports Illustrated did reduce its newsstand price from $3.50 to $2.95 this summer (ESPN's is $2.99) and implemented graphic innovations that it was loathe to call a redesign. But according to Sports Illustrated president Michael Klingensmith, the magazine lost about 9 percent not 17 percent of its 18-34 male "audience" between April and October of the past year, something he sees as a minor blip, not a serious trend. And while Sports Illustrated did have a Rscording Artist Boston Wine Expo Jan. 23 24 World Trade Center Boston Seaport Hotel Save $5 Per Expo Ticket 1-877-WINEXP0 i www.wine-expos.com Info Also On The Anthony Spinazzola Foundation "Sala Festival 01 Food Wine" Jn .22 A Celebrity Chef Demos By 20 Top Chefs Hit Boston (Plobe i (J 3 -4 k. i Gordon Hamersley Hamersley's Bistro When both Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine recently featured New York Jets receiver Keyshawn Johnson on their covers, the language and photos betrayed the publications' core constituencies.

SI pictured him snagging a pass during a game and described him as "New York's wondrous wideout." ESPN the Magazine featured him glaring at the reader and declaring: "They Gave Me the Damn Ball! Now We're Money." That's what's known as an attitude gap. If there's room for two Key-shawns on the cover, there's room for SI and ESPN the Magazine on the newsstand. Klingensmith describes ESPN's impact on his magazine as that of a rock landing in the ocean and compares the overlap in Daily Champagne Jazz Brunches am Audi ComplinKnl of Ine WofU Lmler in Wine lading CRISTAL J. Q. DURANO CRBTU.

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