The Knoxville News-Sentinel from Knoxville, Tennessee • 9

Rheta Grlmsley Johnson '-f'f Hugo keep grande dame down CHARLESTON The tulip trees are heavy with early blossoms and the cameras are loaded Some say Hugo is responsible But then Hugo is at the bottom of all kinds of weirdness in this city of piazzas and palmettos If plants about the season or are confused Creativity plus lightning speed add new dimensions to Dale Grooms of Knoxvflte operates the starting Mock for competitors in the Record Breakers Raceway Competition JO extra blooms have been bora of stress Marne It on Hugo The September hurricane is not yet a memory remains an everyday reality People talk about it constantly "Hugo" they win say with a shrug It is a declaration an expletive that explains closed restaurants missing church steeples va- cant lots- bankrupt Insurance companies And profifle camellias One estimate put the number of out-of-town workers remaining in Charleston to repair damage at Hugowas an ImpoBte Intruder In this otherwise safe and gracious town HMMOl a small dty of extras an of them working fbr the industry Hugo created Everywhere you turn workers are toting plywood or glass and a visitor sometimes feds back-stage between acta Carpenters are enduring 80 hour weeks Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel still receive an average of 100 applications a day for help Yet the historic Charleston peninsula looks remarkably fit considering the recent havoc Nobody de-nies that the grand old historic district got the most attention and got it the fastest With tourism so important it only made sensei Unless you have to live with the problems Hugo wrought elsewhere In the area Then you might have reason to grumble Historic Charleston in fact looks beautiful as usual The old houses stood up wen to the battering better than newer structures Many of them after an had survived the 1888 earthquake Sherman and periodic flooding a little hurricane? There are a lot of new copper roolH and some evidence of salt water damage but by and large the tourists can now return and get their worth of charm That la if they don't venture to the outlying communities where half a million people live Out there on the barrier islands and in the booties it's still a i MWmI MrtckSNMSanM iM (f) Carl Warner of Knoxville works on some Record Breakers during competition at the Mall of Oak Ridge Saturday By BETSY PICKLE Nmi6inlbiil staff wNir Although them are plenty of toy cam on the market two things set Record Breakers apart The first Is speed the cam can go up to 20 mph The second Is the ability to customize the earn he car of the 908 has arrived It tent a Japanese import although the concept waa born in the land of Niaean and Toyota It! more concerned with performance than with hiel economy yet few would quibble with the cost of a couple of AA batteries Beet of all it1! chikTi play Even if adults are infatuated too this is a car built for kids Record Breakers by Hasbro loomed onto the toy market bat fan just in time to enthusiast Ho was one of the driving behind the formation of the National Association of Record Breakers the group that sets up the raceway competitions "A group of us within the corporation believed that in order to make this product successful we needed to start a racing circuit at the grass-roots he says Although there are plenty of toy cars on the market two things set Record Breakers apart The first is speed the cars can go up to 20 mph The second is the ability to customize the cart "The concept started in Japan four years Chamess says "The first year it did weH The second year it was a phenomenon The last couple of years it just More than 40 million of the miniature race cars have been sold in Japan to data and racing competitions have become extremely popular Chamesa says Hasbro came up with its Record Please see CASS page BS this weekend Area children turned out for six hours of racing on Saturday at the Mall of Oak Ridge TWeive kids ended up with trophies and prizes The top finishers win be invited to a regional competition later on and possibly to the nationals in October More than 840J100 in college scholarships will be awarded at the nationals Wayne Chsmees is a vice president at Hasbro and a Record Breakers racing command a winning share of Christmas season sales The mgh race cars outdistanced their competition and now their supporters are touring North America to cement their hold The Record Breakers Raceway Competition circuit came to East Tennessee But ah lovely Charleston Charleston is New Orleans alter finishing school Dty ordinances keep it old and keep it polita You cannot tear down buildings over 100 years oUL You cannot paint or add to private residences or businesses without consulting the dty Vinyl siding is not just tacky here it's illegal The horses that draw the tour carriages down the cobblestone alleys wear leather pouches that catch what ladies once called fertilizer When a horse -relieves himself on the street the carriage driver must throw out an orange flu to signal a worker who comes ana washes away the stain The streets are clean in more ways than one For the last eight years a tough man named Reuben Greenberg has been police chief In a book called "Left Take Back Our Streets!" Greenberg introduces himself as "a black Jew" Crime has dropped by about 40 percent with Greenberg as chief Right now he is on loan to Mobile Ah to show that dty some of his tricks In Charleston people brsg about being able to walk their dogs or Jog at night Hugo was an impolite intruder in this otherwise safe and gracious town It caused all manner of trouble Federal investigators even now are looking for nearly S300J100 in federal funds paid fbr fraudulent chima claims Bke medical reimbursements fbr a mosquito bite But the resilient city coming back stronger than ever Students at Charleston Cpn-ge raised BIHIQ to replace a huge five oak uprooted fai a campus courtyard And all over town the bloaaoms are heavier WKCH chief hopes to bring stability to rising star By BETTY PICKLE writer Since WKCH signed on the air on Dec 11 1981 as first independent television station Channel 43 has had six general managers That's a trend Matt Pryor hopes to Mainly he says Fox itself spurred WROTH growth "A great part of that success Is the Pox Pryor says "Last year ABC CBS and NBC lost viewer AH three old networks lost shore of audience Fox grew 17 percent Pox was the only network in the country that Fox has become the programming innovator among the networks and imitations of such shows "American Most prove it Pryor be sented with the first annual Outstanding Affiliate Achievement Award honoring WKCH as the fastest-growing effiliato in the Pox system 1988-1989 been very good for the Pryor uys of WKCtTs relationship with Fox which began in July 1987 The natkxrt "fourth was estab-fished in Jsnuary 1988 and went on the air with its first original program "Ihe Late Show with Joan in October that year Pryor 29 who left WZTV to become WKQTs general sales manager in August 1988 sue he cant leFoxawi take credit for the! "This has not been a normal says Pryor who in November became WROTH sixth general manager "One thing trying to do now ie bring aomo stability to the star I 1 i i- 'T 4 i i' CBwMMMMariwdHWaHVtaMHAMarotfWiaMlI They were the first ones to the reality-based pro-Bke that then we Shatnerib 91 Then they do Totally Hidden Pryor himself has no plans to iparfaHy nOW WKCH has been recognized as a rising star by the Pox Broad-easting Co Last month when Pryor fiew to Los Angeles for a Pox convention he was pre would not be trifing the truth if I said that I was respon-rible for he sayt "A number of things contributed to Please see WKCH page B2 Matt Pryor Is the new manager for WKCH Channel 43.