The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 16

LOCAL NEWS I pg-s Education WeekAhead 2B T) Deaths. 5B r) Weather 6B Hs Reading Recovery i i.tj Keeps kius un iracK 48 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1999 Crunch time for Sundquist's income tax plan I iWmmMm mkfr Wm Vrc 1 'yl By PHIL WEST Associated Press Writer It's make-or-break time for Gov. Don Sundquist's income tax plan. Legislators return today after a long weekend for their third, and likely final, week of a special session on taxes. The fact they're coming back to Nashville is something of a victory for Sundquist It appeared the General makers, said he's open to compromise.

"Discussions are taking place. And any time there are discussions, there's progress," Rochelle, D-Lebanon, said Thursday as he worked in his legislative office on Veterans Day, when most of his colleagues were home. A day later, Rochelle was back at his office and said four to six changes to Sundquist's plan were being discussed. They include altering the income and sales tax rates proposed by the governor and raising the income tax exemptioa He declined to give any details. In the meantime, the tax reform advocacy group Ten-nesseans for Fair Taxes is expected to unveil a proposal today backing considerably higher personal exemptions to an income tax so more middle-income families would benefit.

Please see TAX, 6B Assembly, frustrated by lack of movement on the tax discussion, would adjourn last Wednesday, rnUIUo bT JAHcu LAZAHUo olArr Howard Switzer looks over literature handed out by John van der Harst, dressed as an incinerator, during a protest of Nashville's Thermal Transfer Plant but Sund- ROCHELLE quist and Sea Bob Rochelle persuaded legislative leaders to give them more time to try to find votes. Rochelle, the sponsor of Sundquist's plan and one of the legislature's best deal- Get rid of thermal plant, recycling advocates urge Officer shortage takes toll on morale By JIM EAST Staff Writer Nashville's Thermal Transfer Plant should be relocated as a natural gas facility on the east side of the Cumberland River and its First Avenue site sold to help pay off $80 million in bonds, recycling advocates said yesterday. But spokesmen for more than 40 protesters carrying placards in the plant's front yard yesterday afternoon said they had no idea how much the sale of the property, relocation of the plant and conversion to natural gas would cost "They won't tell us," said Bruce Wood, of BURNT (Bring Urban Recycling to Nashville Today), a Nashville environmental organization, said of city officials. "That's why we want an unbiased study of how much this is going to cost and then we want to pay off those bonds." City officials say the thermal plant, which burns garbage to provide heated and cooled air for about two dozen buildings downtown, recently has not received enough solid waste from private haulers to operate at full capacity. The plant receives some 700 tons of garbage a day, L6 million pounds less than the budgeted 800 daily tons and well below the 900 tons needed to operate without having to turn to another fuel.

That means the plant must burn costly natural gas instead of free garbage. The thermal plant has generated $4 million in fees for each of the past two years, compared with more than $11 million a year in thermal and landfill fees in 1993 and 1994. If that's not problem enough, in Please see THERMAL, 6B By JON YATES Staff Writer Sgt Jimmy Wheeler works the midnight shift in Metro police's identification department His shift starts after the nightly news and ends before most people are awake, but he still hears the stories. He knows three officers are accused of abusing His-panics, or allowing the abuse to occur. He knows three more are being investigated for frequenting sex clubs, another for drunken driving and an eighth for brokering off-duty jobs.

But he also knows there are other problems old prob lems that predate the recent headlines, and have eroded morale for months. Despite 16 straight months of improving crime numbers, the department has been strained by resignations, budget constraints and dwindling patrols. Although recent scrutiny has focused on only a handful of officers, the allegations, combined with continuing concerns about pay and workload, have taken a toll "I think morale is probably at an all time low," Wheeler said. "We've got so many Please see POLICE, 5B 'if Protesters line up in front of the thermal plant on First Avenue to raise awareness of Nashville's waste and pollution problem yesterday. These gobblers can count their blessings '-'i Jff.i.

m. i in I 71 tr I generous handful to the busy birds. "And on the shuffle-board," she said, raising her eyebrows. "We like to just sit out here and watch them," her husband said, as the wild turkeys, now fat and happy, begin to retreat into the Brewers' back pasture. "We'd rather watch them than eat them" For that, these gobblers can be thankful! about the visitors eyeing them Grousing, no doubt, that their private feast has been discovered by others; worrying, too, that someone might try to move in on the banquet.

To put them at ease, Katherine Brewer carries out another heaping bowl of com and seeds to her guests. "They like to have it on the ground," she said, tossing a day, usually in the morning." "There were about nine of them," his wife added. "But the young ones scared off the two older ones." No respect "Sometimes they stay around all day," she continued. "They did that yesterday." But today the birds seem a little skittish eating a little, then glancing over and gobbling among themselves By SUE McCLURE Staff Writer SPRING HUL The flock of wild turkeys contentedly pecking at cracked corn and sunflower seeds outside Katherine Brewer's back door must not know what time of year it is. Otherwise, they'd high-tail it out of range.

Fortunately for these lucky birds, the Brewers would rather watch than eat them would rather feed them than feed on them. Sort of a reverse take on Thanksgiving, you might say. And like the Pilgrims, these turkeys seem to be enjoying the hospitality of the natives immensely. "They just came into the yard about two months ago," James Brewer said, leaning forward to see the gaggle of young gobblers. "They come back every ERIC PARSONS STAFF This flock of turkeys shows up nearly every morning for breakfast at the home of Katherine and James Brewer.

Minnie Pearl Freeway? Nah, Nashville sticking by the numbers 5 IF A On (ha 1 Driver's fort was more grandiose, with large overhead signs mounted over the interstates in several locations at quite a cost There are no such plans here. Luanne Grandinetti, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, said giving interstates names would be expensive and confound drivers who are accustomed to driving by the numbers. "We could do that if we wanted to, but we opted to call the roads by the numbers. We're purists," she said. in the glass.

He said he was recently behind a large dump truck when he noticed a sign on the rig saying something like "not responsible for damage to following vehicles." 1 believe they would be responsible for a cracked windshield caused by flying gravel, but they post the sign just to discourage claims. Is my reasoning vaMT Trucks are responsible for debris that falls from their beds, said Kent Starwalt, executive director of the Tennessee Road Builders Associ- beds and sometimes puts "Rogers" on its mud flaps. Rogers Group is a road builder, but contracts with truckers. One is not the same as the other. That's the end of the road for this week, and remember Tennessee names its highways, but don't look for a George Jones Freeway anytime sooa Doc ran Klausaiteer's column appears Mondays.

Questions can be submitted by e-mail to: to to: 259-8093 or mail to 1100 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203. Please Include your name and home town. Truckers, however, are not responsible for rocks that come up from the road and careen off their mud flaps and into your windshield. Your best bet Stay back 100 feet If a rock from the bed cracks your windshield, don't bother looking for the license plate. It's on the front of the truck.

Instead, Starwalt suggests you get the name of the trucking company and the truck number. Then call the company with your complaint However, be aware that a company named Rogers Manufacturing makes truck late state Sea Tommy Burks. The national highway system is named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the president credited with the idea for the roads. Tennessee's highway system is called the Albert Gore Sr.

Memorial Interstate System, named for the late US. senator, Vice President Gore's father and one of the founding fathers of the interstate system. The state honors both Eisenhower and Gore with small signs as you enter the state on a highway. In Phoenix, the naming ef Jerry Swaim of Nashville writes: "Having moved here from a large western city, I have always wondered why the three major freeways in Metro do not have names. Tn Phoenix, we had the Superstition Freeway, the Black Canyon Freeway, etc.

Since Nashville is Music City USA, it seems like a good idea to name the freeways after well-known country stars." Jerry suggests naming 1-65 the Minnie Pearl Freeway, or 1-40 the Roy Acuff Freeway. And how about the Patsy Cline Freeway for 1-24? Think of how easy it Commentary would be for the tourists to get around if the freeways had names." Actually, Jerry, the freeways, or interstates as we tall them, have names. 1-40 is the Music Highway from Memphis to Nashville. A section from Nashville to Cookeville is named for the J. Fox of Franklin has a pain atioa Brush fire burning out of control State's first constitution ignored education Tennessee's first state constitution in 1796 didn't have a word in it about public education.

It was not until 1806 that the state made some provisions for education with passage of the Cession Act. Tennessee, working with the federal government, was to provide 100,000 acres of land for two colleges and 100,000 acres tor a school for each county, ft wasn't until the new state constitution in 1853 that education became a priority. PI Photo Editor: Tom Stanford, 726-5901 DesignGraphics Editor DArma Sharon, 726-8911 NightAMeekend Editors: Dwight Lewte, 726-5928 George Zepp, 259-8091 "lb reach our newsroom: E-mail: rewstipstennessean.com City Editor: Gail Kerr, 259-8085 Regional Editors: Frank Gibson, 726-5907 Laird MacGregor, 259-8095 Elen MarguSes, 726-5977 Robert Sherborne, 259-8080 Mike Srerman, 259-8899 Margaret Sizemore, 726-5941 Werxf Thomas, 664-2194 nity Volunteer Fire Department firefighter Pete Russell, who estimated that the fire may have swept through as many as 150 acres. Russell also said that 80 to 100 firefighters from al over the A brush fire raged out of control in Sumner County last night when a house on a hill caught fire. The blaze spread through the steep, wooded terrain near White House, officials said.

"It's been quite an extensive finer said White House Commu county were lighting the blaze. SWF -SHEILA BURKE Soorc: Tenrwssee Encyclopedia at History I Cuttur. www.tennessean.com.