The Knoxville News-Sentinel from Knoxville, Tennessee • 63

The Knoxville News-Sentinel Sunday March 30 1986 F3 opinion Tip calls the shots 1 1 Reagan to get Contra aid but not the way he wants it Washington calling Japanese over Star Wars anti-missile projects A high-level Japanese delegation of business and government leaders will visit Washington soon for briefings about a potential role in the vast Star Wars research program American companies worry that the Japanese will use their Star Wars role to narrow the UiL lead in computer technology The old-fashioned PX is going trendy Plans for shops" at selected exchanges around the country call for young men's departments for fashion-conscious man in his and petite and full-figure sizes for women Navy base exchanges already are stocking up on designer clothes by Evan Picone Gloria Vanderbilt and Liz nand Marcos grumble about her suspension of the Philippine constitution abolition of the national assembly and indifference to violence-marred labor strikes at US miKtatry bases supporters applaud her for restoring the Philippine bill of rights and setting a timetable for drafting a new constitution and holding congressional elections They dismiss the stike as a typical labor quarrel Says one approving US diplomat: not for us to micromanage Philippine Surprise victories by supporters of right-wing guru Lyndon LaRouche in the recent Illinois Democratic primary elec- tkm have headline-writers pondering what to call them Early entries include LaRouchniks" and LaR-ouchees" Enlisting the Internal Revenue Service in the hunt for student loan defaulters is paying off Education Department officials say about $4 million in tax refunds has been I i i I 5 i i i i i i I WASHINGTON President Reagan will get the Contra aid he wants but it wont be as soon as he'd like and he might have to swallow some other things he wont like House Speaker Thomas D-Mass plans to paste the Senate-passed Contra aid Inn onto a supplemental appropriations bill now percolating through Congress If the House then OKs money for the Contras it would do so as part of a bill loaded down with all sort of goodies many of which Reagan would want to veto: aid to farmers low-income housing synthetic fuels projects highway and bridge repair more money for free congressional mailing Especially irksome to the White House is language withdrawing the power to defer spending programs already OK'd by Congress Democratic strategy is that Reagan win have to hold his nose and sign the bill to get the Contra aid But plan would send Contra aid issue back to the Senate and makes final passage unlikely until late spring early summer NOTE: Such parliamentary shenanigans underscore why presidents want a item veto" Such veto power would allow Reagan to knock out spending he doesn't want Biggest question in Washington these The White House Task Force on Fam- ilies is pondering a proposal to make child care tax credits available to parents who stay at home as well as working parents Proponents say limiting credits to working parents encourages mothers to go out and get a job may contribute to the disruption of the American family No estimate yet on how many tax dollars that would cost Uncle Sam withheld from people who failed to repay federally guaranteed' student loans partment officials say one New York cou- pie planned to use an $8000 refond to help buy a house It ended up instead as a downpayment Ml their $11000 worth of defaulted loans US defense contractors are getting antsy at administration overtures to the days: Who win get the files of outgoing White House counselor Fred Fielding? As lawyer Fielding reviews background checks on all prospective presidential appointments That means he has sensitive files on all those in top Reagan administration posts Better to have such information in the hands of one person who the need for than spread it around to other people says Fielding leaving his White House job to go into private law practice There is a split at the State Department over how well new President Cora-zon Aquino is doing in the Philippines Loyalists of ousted President Ferdi- Just find out in which home Michael Moore hangs his hat quoyah Nuclear Plant: Unit I remains shut down for a refueling and maintenance outage An evaluation of the environmental qualification of equipment program also continues Unit 2 remains shut down for an evaluation of the environmental qualification of equipment Translated into plain English that meanq none of five nuclear reactors are producing electricity And at Sequoyah they're not sure if safety equipment win work during an accident A United Airlines plane from Chicago to Knoxville was full last Sunday Among the passengers was a manager with Maremont Corp which manufactures mufflers and tail pipes in Loudon The Maremont employee remarked have never seen a plane with so many About that time Lady Vote basketball coach Pat Summitt entered the cabin with her husband RB And with the entry was an announcement over the public address system that the Lady Vote team was on board after defeating Louisiana State in the Mideast Regional finals Saturday night Passengers applauded and the Maremont manager said that's why so many women here" been a iot of speculation on what Gov Lamar Alexander might do when his term ends Some say run for the US Senate Some say he wants to be head man at the University of Tennessee The latest speculation is that Alexander a Republican will be appointed ambassador to Japan A Knoxville Democrat says being an ambassador would suit Alexander's lifestyle more than being a senator governor he hasn't faced the travel problems a senator does not had to wait at Washington National at midnight for a flight back to Knoxville or rather Atlanta and then change planes to get to the Democrat said Alexander has already shown he can work with Japanese businesses having played a major role in attracting Japanese industry to Tennessee the Democrat said Some Republicans say the Democrats would like to see Alexander sent to Japan instead of challenging one of their own for office John Parish the press secretary says no one has discussed an ambass-dorship appointment with the governor just he said When news came out that a Federal Communications Commission review board had given the nod for a license for new VHF Channel 8 to WTVK now on UHF Channel 26 nobody had seen the ruling to know exactly why It turns out the board reversing an administrative law judge's ruling ruled in favor of WTVK largely because of its 30-year record of good service according to the ruling licensee of station WTVK has acquired its surpassing entitlement to the new Knoxville VHF frequency the hard way: it has earned one of the boardte members wrote To not award the new channel to WTVK would give the owners a punishment of impact" the opinion said But the battle for the channel te far from won Stay tuned Thank Simpson Theaters for not doing away with the Twin-Aire Drive-in sign on Clinton Highway The sign te a landmark in the Powell and north Knox County area on Clinton Highway The sign came down knoxville calling when Simpson had to move it for development of the property on which it sat So the company moved the sign about 100 yards away from the old location and is up again and helping folks find things on Clinton Highway The folks who run the Dogwood Arts Festival Jim Walls and have installed a phone for interested persons to call if they need a question answered about the festival or an event It is manned from 9:30 am to 4 pm daily except Sunday easy to remember 522-TREE as in a Dogwood tree In some circles it is already assumed that former Republican Gov Winfield Dunn is a shoo-in in the governor's race But Warren local Democrat lawyer and former campaign manager for Sens Albert Gore and James Sasser strongly disagrees On Dunn's strength compared to that of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates House Speaker Ned Ray McWherter Nashville Mayor Richard Fulton and Public Service Commission chairwoman Jane Eskind Gooch says: of those candidates have more administrative knowledge of state government on their worst day than Winfield Dunn has on his best Gooch says te trying to project himself as an extension of Lamar Alexander and he is not Lamar Alexander te not attracting the on his campaign stops and he has made some mistatements Gooch says referring to articles about Dunn not paying income tax for two years and dropping his membership in an exclusive Nashville country dub that has no Mack or Jewish members- SOME INTERESTING questions have been raised what with all the hoopla over the East Knoxville county commissioners not living in the 1st District Commission Chairman Bill Pavlis says several Hol-' ston Hills residents have called to say Michael Move 1 newly appointed commissioner to the 1st District actually lives on Marilyn Drive in the 7th District Others insist he lives on Dandridge Avenue in the 1st District Moore replaced Commissioner Andrew Dix who resigned and also had questions raised about his residency The advice of County Law Director Dale Workman is that it is not the County place to raise the issue over the residency questions Instead any citizen could file a lawsuit in Chancery Court for a declaratory judgment to determine residency that were to occur and it were proven a commissioner lives outside the district which is illegal under state law another question arises: Would actions by the commission that the commissioner voted on become invalid? Again Workman says no The courts have upheld such votes even when there were deficiencies in the status Workman says How many different ways can you say that your nuclear reactors aren't in operation? TVA gets a lot of practice rewording the same old news when it records the daily nuclear plant status telephone tape for the news media The typical message for the past eight months has been: Ferry Nuclear Plant: Unit 1 is shut down for modifications and refueling: Unit 2 remains shut down for scheduled refueling and maintenance Se Heavy-duty nostalgia Rock and roll music of the 1960s as played at Savannah Tenn Rheta Grimsley Johnson think that dark tunnel was a passage in my life in more than one way I started understanding what the songs were all about Gary Puckett used to headline rock concerts at huge coliseum Teenagers would stand in long lines and take nosebleed seats to hear him sing and GirL" I never made those concerts but by golly FU see him now in Savannah Music takes you back to places you miss Sometimes it takes you back to places you missed And that's a cheap ticket to some heavy-duty traveL Rhate QrifiwSaf Johmn ef The Commercial Appeal Memphis arumor el the Ernie Pyle Memorial Award lor outstanding human tut areal reporting wilre Mho eetume to icrtppe Howard Howe for- ing studio and sang a Man Loves a as his audition number The song won him a gold record I was in junior high then trying to keep my knee socks up with rubber bands without completely cutting off my circulation Madly in love with Lee Gross who had never heard it rumored I was alive Every day I walked to school using an underground tunnel that made crossing even the Atlanta Highway safe That tunnel was an unofficial sex education course every inch of its concrete walls covered with X-rated graffiti The dark dank corridor was a favored trysting place for high school lovers who couldn't keep their mind on nothing else as Percy would say I was too young and skinny then to do anything but walk straight through But I THIS COLUMN is for adults only Parental guidance suggested for children under 3d There is a little Tennessee town my apologies to the Chamber of Commerce called Savannah on the Tennessee River that has the best rock and roll concerts in the entire country Before you Madonna and Prince fans get all excited let me qualify We are talking only vintage rock and roll In the space of the last two yean Radio WORM yes WORM in Savannah has hosted the Platters the Drifters Hermits the Boxtopa the Coasters the Byrds and Chubby Checker Music to make you hunt up your old 4Ss or yearn for that 57 Chevy you sold for tittle or nothing far still a losing type proposi- dancing Thirds about it Could you sit still during a Chubby Checker concert? If you could can the embalmer The concerts have been held at the fairgrounds the high school and a restored theater They are still hunting a permanent home I would offer my living room but 1 don't have enough chairs In the wings if things go well are Percy Sledge and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap Can you imagine? Now I don't know what Percy Sledge means to you but he makes me nostalgic in a way sweet as a Sloe Gin Fizz Takes me back to 1966 the year Percy Sledge walked into a Sheffield Ala record turn" says Jerry Hunt of WORM the man who turned the clock back a matter of having to educate the people around here to what concerts are all about first few they didn't know to clap or anything just get up and walk out when it was Chubby Checker broke the icti His enthusiasm was so infectious that even an uptight crowd unaccustomed to the raucous reality of live rock and roll finally started Like the pen vs the sword the pencil is mightier than the gun ss 1 Jim Balloch I Velasco said the of course standing for accountant told SWAT that the next time they had a problem they couldn't handle just call The action was welcome break from three years of tediously tracing Butcher audit trails And it whetted their appetites for a crack at still-at-large companion and I hoped the second guy would show up" Velasco said "That would have made the day's score Accountants 2 SWAT team a Their reputations really swelled when Sidney was soon identified as more than a local bank robbery suspect He was Thomas Douglas Arthur escapee fugitive and convicted contract killer had no earthly idea at the time he was such a Velasco said sometimes better not to When all this happened Doran special agent in charge of the FBPs Knoxville office became concerned that four of his pencil pushers had token on such a heavyweight suspect But Doran says SWAT team commander Sterling Owen IV reassured him are the backbone of the bureau" Owen sax! solemnly A not surprsing comment from Owen who is also case agent for the Butcher probes He too is an accountant Sm Mw is The Hewe-SeaeweTe Mml but ACCOUNTANTS everywhere rejoice Thrust your chest out a little more Go ahead swagger a little The image you have suffered forages that you are a bunch of nervous near-righted dullards barely man enough to arm wrestle an adding machine has been swept away forever For this you can thank four FBI agents who are accountants: Four pencil-pushers who upstaged the swashbuckling machine-gun-toting door busters the FBI calls its SWAT team Recently the FBI teamed that a bank robbery suspect known only as was staying at a West Knoxville motel The SWAT team was alerted (Some agents say the reason their SWAT team te always being is that its members are never alert themselves) But while the cop commandos girded for battle somebody had to watch Sidney so he wouldn't slip through the net before it was folly cast A task so safe the FBI figured that even its accountants could handle it motel happened to be across the street from ban" the code name for a special office the FBI set up in 1983 for the investigation of the Butcher bank failures Naturally the agents assigned to that office are white-colter crime specialists In other words accountants Nearly every cue of Vm tea pencil pusher From the paper-swamped Maybzn office four pened-pushen were selected Ed Velasco Jimmy Wynne Jim Kasper and Wayne Waite They were told: Just stake out Sidney" car and don't worry too much The SWAT cavalry will ride to your rescue And then you can go back to your beloved calculators But while the pencil pushers were watching the car Sidney came out of the motel and walked toward it And the pencil pushers arrested him "We took off our green eyeshades and did our Velasco said Meanwhile back at the FBI office the SWAT boys were loading howitzers and debating how best to smash Sidneyte door when they got the message: The accountants have acted tad the situation is wen in hand One ef the SWAT men is said to have wondered aloud they bandcui? turn or just tie his hands with tape from their adding Another muttered something about -agents with SS-caliber pencils" as he put away his M-1C "We started calling ourselves the A-.