The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 9

3 Briefs 2B ipD Deaths 5B Weather 6B i JOHN DONNELLY 5. (i Officer saves C-C man from fire Page 3B i mill m-rnr OCAL TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 1994 mm 3 Cochran-Hewlett feed flares 'j; Roger' Hewlett is "yet another politician drunk and running amok on the people's money." FRANK COCHRAN Candidate for governor ville, are among the nine Democrats seeking the party's nomination for governor in an Aug. 4 primary that has gotten increasingly personal. Although they have adjacent offices at the Public Service Commission, the two have made it clear their association is less than amiable. Another Democratic gubernatorial candidate, state Sen.

Steve Cohen, sat in the front row at Hewlett's news conference yesterday chuckling over Cochran's news release. Hewlett has made his promise to save a penny of each dollar in the $12.5 billion state government a staple of his campaign and called the news conference to show off a 30-second television commercial dramatizing the pledge. Cochran said he raised the travel issue because "Hewlett has spent money on the commission like it was growing out of style." In the past two years, Cochran said, Hewlett has spent $33,000 on trips to Atlanta, Washington, Little Rock, Kansas City, Lansing, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Den- By LARRY DAUCHTREY Staff Writer A verbal war or a penny debate broke out yesterday between the two Democratic Public Service commissioners running for governor. As Steve Hewlett held a news conference to promise hell save a penny out of every state tax dollar, Frank Cochran charged Hewlett has squandered more than $30,000 in public money on coast-to-coast travel. "I have no doubt that I've traveled and worked more than Commissioner Cochran," Hewlett said, prematurely ending a Capitol Hill news conference.

Cochran, in a news release, called Hewlett a "renowned penniphile," that he is "yet another politician drunk and running amok on the people's money" and made fun of Hewlett's ears. Hewlett said Cochran is "diverting attention from the real issues of this campaign." Hewlett, of Nashville, and Cochran, of Tipton- ver and Seattle. Cochran said his own travel expenses for the period were $11,000. As reporters began to ask questions about the travel, an aide said Hewlett had to leave for a meeting. Reporters trailed Hewlett outside, asking for details on the savings plan.

"The penny is just the beginning," Hewlett said, dodging through traffic toward his van. Frank Empson Staff Steve Hewlett vows to save a fenny of each state tax dollar. Tl( 1 1 Alii 1 1 What's in a name? School will find out As of this Friday, Memphis State University no longer will exist In its place will be the University of Memphis, a name designed to reflect the image of an urban seat of learning. This it hopes to accomplish by jettisoning "State," a word perceived in academia as declasse. Or, as a news report put it, bush league.

"Some people from outside the community might even think we're a community college," university President Lane Rawluigs Is quoted as saying. Ouch. Community colleges relatively fresh from their own Image-sprucing upgrade from junior colleges can't like that thinking. They already have something of an inferiority complex wouldn't surprise me if they have a committee working on getting themselves called community universities. Nevertheless, the community college argument was cited a few years ago when Middle Tennessee State University students decided they wanted to become the University of Middle Tennessee.

"That was not anything that excited the alumni, nor a lot of other people around," says Dot Harrison, university spokeswoman. It must not have particularly excited the students, either. Some 1,080 voted for the name change In a non-binding referendum, 637 voted against it That's only 1,717 votes from a total student population of about 15,000 the word "apathy" crawls to mind. Alums, surveyed in the winter 1991-92 alumni magazine, voted 556 to 235 to keep the name the same. And not everyone who wanted a change liked the Idea of UMT.

Coming up with something catchy isn't a simple matter, Harrison says. There are some problems peculiar to Middle Tennessee's situation. "The University of Memphis is a place. The University of Middle Tennessee is still a regional thing," she says. "Memphis is a well-known city.

But Murfreesboro people dont even know how to pronounce it or how to spell it, if they're not from around here. People think it's Mur-feesboro, and it's not" Point taken, either way. University of Murfreesboro lacks a certain cachet, I think you will agree. And no offense meant to the 'Boro. Besides, the administration's position, as represented by President James E.

Walker, is that the university already has a workable designation. "Dr. Walker's attitude has been that we have a name, and ifs Harrison says. "That's what people call us. That's what we call ourselves, more often than not" After all, Harrison says, Initials seem to work pretty well for places like UCLA, USC and UNLV.

Which brings us to TSU. "Tennessee State University students, faculty and alumni are very proud of its name," says spokeswoman Phyllis Quails-Brooks. vkkT" Teen tussle has serious consequences Prosecutors ask that youth be sent to Criminal Court By KIRK LOCGIWS Staff Writer It would have been a fairly typical teen-aged soap opera except for the gun. Christy, 14, broke up with James, 16. She kept on calling him; he insulted her, and she said she'd get her friend Sheryl's boyfriend, Jeremy, to beat him up.

That's the scenario that a group of Tusculum area teen-agers, most of them students at Antioch High School, described yesterday in Juvenile Court, But things got serious when Jeremy Lee Blanton, 17, shot two of James Bailliez friends outside Sheryl King's house on Ashlawn Circle after school on March 24. Prosecutors asked Judge Andy Shookhoff yesterday to transfer Blanton who turns 18 today to Criminal Court to be tried on charges of attempted murder for shooting Christopher Rodriguez, 19, and Scott Haraway, 17, and of aggravated assault for pointing his semi-automatic pistol at Bailliez. Public defenders representing Blanton told Shookhoff that Blanton fired six shots in self-defense, after receiving threats from Bailliez and others and then seeing Haraway reach for what he thought was a gun. But Assistant District Attorney General Jim Todd said Blanton had been looking for a fight Todd presented testimony from one of Bailliez' friends, Chris Lemacks, 18, who said Blanton displayed a pistol on March 23 and said he was going to Bailliez. Steve Harris, assistant principal at Antioch High, testified that Blanton was sent to the principal's office tot disciplinary infractions 11 times between January 1993 and the shooting incident in March.

Six of those tl incidents involved violence, Harris said. 5 Blanton, of 4601-A Dowdy Drive, was sent home jrom school early on March 24 after he threw a chair and slammed a girl's head into a desk. questioned Blanton's claim of self-defense since Blanton said he fired first at Rodriguez. Police said they found no evidence that Bailliez or his friends had a gun. Shookhoff will conclude Blanton's hearing tomorrow, when Blanton's attorneys present testimony about a psychological evaluation performed since he has been incarcerated.

If Shookhoff refuses to transfer Blanton to Criminal Court, he can't be held beyond his 19th Bl Steto Staff Kevin Sherwin of Stewartsboro Elementary peers at a display on bug eyes at Cumberland Science Museum. IK3ic3 til pralhp tffoamics Learning often lost over vacation the key is balance. "There has to be mental stuff, physical stuff, emotional stuff and social stuff. They need to do things individually, with their peers and with their parents," he said. "If all they get is one thing, even if it's a good thing, then the imbalance becomes a problem." One of the easiest things a student can do during the summer vacation is to visit a branch of the library.

Each library branch has a summer reading program in which children sign up to read a certain number of books during their vacation, said Carmen Cavello, a storyteller at the Ben West Library. They are rewarded with free food I Turn to PAGE 2B, Column 1 the more they will have to relearn," said Earline Kendall, director of teacher education at Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Kendall said students can forget important lessons in all areas during the break. David McCarger, associate professor of teaching and learning at Tennessee State University, agreed. "To be up and ready for school next year, you need to keep your mind working," he said.

Keeping mentally active Is more than reading one book or watching a nature program on the TV. "It's the idea of stimulation and cognitive work," he said. But that does not mean summer vacation should turn into a mental boot camp. Like all things, McCarger said, By PORREN KLAUSNITZER Staff Writer Shiny, sweaty kids are everywhere. They are turning pink at the pools, stalking the malls and staring blankly at Oprah on their television sets.

It's summer vacation, and many children don't know how to spend their time wisely. They too quickly forget that school will start back in about eight weeks. And without mental practice, they will too quickly forget what they learned before school let out, experts say. "The less they read and the less they stay connected to school ideas, 'mm? Governor buries capsule at Bicentennial Mall cornerstone if 2094. The cornerstone was laid yesterday in a sunny ceremony below the north side of the state Capitol.

The $23 million mall, the state's 200th birthday present to itself, will open In the spring of 1996. Yesterday's ceremony was depicted as a part of history, much as construction of Centennial Park was 98 years ago. "This mall will stand for the next century as the link between our grandparents and our great grandchildren," McWherter said. "It is no small thing to take pride in what Tennessee has been, and in what it surely will become." School children posed before the open cornerstone hole for photographs that will likely be passed down "There has not been a formal attempt to change its name or to remove 'State' from it "There is Perm State, Michigan State, Iowa State a number of universities across this nation that we are proud to share that with." Considering TSU began life in 1912 as The Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School at Nashville, Td say ifs already made a pretty significant improvement And that other "University or name seems to be taken. Joe Rogers' column runs Tuesdays and Saturdays.

By GAIL KERR Staff Writer When state officials open Gov. Ned buried time capsule 100 years from now, they'll probably get a chuckle at what is inside. By that time, technology will have made an antique of the computer disc containing a complete 1994 "state of the art" encyclopedia used today by Tennessee school children. The TennCare health Insurance card may leave them scratching their heads in confusion. And the state road map probably will be as rare and yellowed as the maps now on display in the traveling Tennessee Treasures Museum.

Those things will stay buried beneath the cornerstone of the Bicentennial Capitol Mall until June 27, V0w P. Casey Dale Staff Sylvan Park Elementary School students watch as Gov. Ned McWherter breaks ground for the Bicentennial Mall. I Turn to PAGE 2B, Column 1 WILSON More traffic on Mount Juliet Road means a new by-pass will be needed, Mount Juliet City Manager Danny Farmer said. A traffic survey in November indicated an "alarming" Increase in traffic.

The number of vehicles on Mount Juliet road jumped from 14,400 In a ten-hour period In November 1992 to 19,100 in November 1993, he said. A corridor study by the state Department of Transportation may result In a wider road but not an alternate parallel route. WARREN DUZK DAVIDSON Nashville's Table has received more than 7,500 pounds of deli food, Miss Daisy's delicacies, and bakery goods from Steven's Food Store at Highway 100 since November 1993. Steven's is the first grocery store In Nashville to donate prepared and perishable food to Nashville's Table, which picks up excess prepared and perishable food from area restaurants and deltverslt to needy people at no cost Contact Linda Thomas for more Information about Nashville's Table at 322-1255. ROCIELLE CARTER RUTHERFORD A special blood drive to combat a nationwide blood supply shortage will be held from noon to 6 p.m.

tomorrow at Murfreesboro's Red Cross Building, 410 W. Lytle. Wednesday through Jufy 6 Is a "critical collections period" says the regional chapter of the American Red Cross. Donors receive a T-shirt and a pass for the Belle Carol Rlverboat Door prizes will be awarded and Rutherford County donors are Invited to attend for special recognition on past donations. DALE AX WOOD TENNESSEE If yOU drink Water from a private well with a new pump, you probably ought to switch to bottled water and test for lead contamination.

That's the word from the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Health. A study has shown that some submersible pumps Installed below the water line In the last year may leach lead from brass or bronze parts. Lead is a poison that can affect every system In the body. Call 532-0191 for Information about testing. 1 ANNE PANG SECTION EDITORS Executive regional editor Cindy Smith, 259-6095.

Day: Chuck Clark, 259-8069; Frank Gibson, 726-5907; Tommy Goldsmith, 259-8090; Lisa Green, 259-8095; Robert Sherborne, 259-8080. Nightweekend: Dwtght Lewis, 726-5928; Richard Stevens, 259-8090; Bev Winston, 259-8090; George Zepp, 259-8091. Fax: 259-8093..