OCR Text |
Show raw tiii Also in this section: Religion D3 Garden D6 What a difference a day can make in Washington D.C, HEADLINES When residents of gated together." If you didn't like that one, how about ... ? "President Bush spent the holidays hunting -outside the Vatican Embassy." CHANGE: the nation's capital awoke last Thursday, they were greeted by a headline in The Washington Post which F8ad: "D.C.'s War on Violence Succeeding, Barry Says." The "To the Right" section contains the following quips: "One member of the S&L scandal proved he's an astute businessman. He bought the best government can buy." When they awoke Friday, the lead headline in the same newspaper read: "Barry Arrested on Cocaine Charges in Undercover FBI, Police Operation." I What a difference a day makes! Washington's "I don't know why Noriega is so upset. Most people would love to be in Miami for the winter." beleaguered Mayor Marion Barry claimed Thursday that his administration was "winning" the war against killings and other violent crime in the District of Columbia, despite the fact that there have already been 28 slay-Ing- s in the city since Jan. 1. The "Humor for the Rubber Chicken Circuit," slang for when lawmakers have to attend and speak at routine dinners back in their homestates, contains a number of downhome quips. "Ronnie and Nancy Reagan are looking forward to a bright new year. They hope it's filled with lots of love, happiness and $50,000 speeches." There may be a good market in Washington for Capitol Commedy. What do you suppose will happen, though, if speakers around here start telling the same jokes? We doubt they'll get the same laughs. ."The war on crime and violence is succeeding," Barry said. "We're winning, too, quite .frankly." He cited several highly publicized efforts by police and community groups to drive .'drug dealers from targeted neighborhoods. Thursday night, however, Barry himself was arrested on ;drug charges after a undercover investigation by lihe FBI and D.C. police. The iriayor has steadfastly denied i$ing drugs since allegations Hrst surfaced against him in !J981. He was supposed to have ;atinounced his intentions to seek & fourth term in office this Weekend. 1 g, ;The undercover operation WHO'S WHO WORLDWIDE: of "Who's Who in America." But who's who in the Bahamas, or what's the capital of Madagascar, or when is independence day in Everyone's heard Ghana? There's a new reference book out on the market that can answer those tricky worldwide questions. The "Worldwide Government Directory," published by a suburban Washington information group, contains more than 900 pages of information on governments in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Australia and Africa, including names, addresses, titles, telephone and telex numbers. be- gan several weeks ago, just as grand jury investigation into allegations the mayor used crack cocaine with !tharles Lewis, a former D.C. 'employee and convicted drug dealer, appeared to be drawing to a close. Ironically, Friday, the day Barry was to appear in court on the drug charges, Lewis was scheduled to be sentences on two cocaine-relate- d conspiracy It is so packed with information, that its authors are billing it as "your insurance against bloopers." iharges. makes! a difference a day :;:CAPITOL COMMEDY: It's geared at helping you avoid unfortunate situations. Imagine that you scheduled on honorary dinner for your new regional manager in Greece and invited members of his new Greek staff. As RSVPs begin arriving, you're puzzled that everyone seems to have other plans. If only you'd known that March 25 is the Greek national A new jnonthly newsletter is being published in Washington, a newsletter geared toward 'timely, topical humor." ;Capitol Commedy, which is fceing sold for $105 a year, is JUled with different "quotable Tjuips," appropriate for breaking the ice. It is being published Jo help speech writers and other yfaffers who have to help their ttOsses warm up big crowds. holiday. The regular price of the huge who's who and what's what worldwide is $325 in hardcover, and $275 in soft. I ;The "To the Left" section on of the January edition, page-on- e the following quips: jncludes I j"George Bush favors the bipartisan approach to government. He likes it when mem-btr-s of Congress work together, play together and are investi ii iiir Sunday Accenl Primetime D5 By Herald Washington Bureau i For the record, to answer earlier questions, Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of State of the Bahamas; Antananarivo is the capital of Madagascar; and March 6 is independence day in Ghana. Jan. 21, 1990 D. Actor hard to recognize In Mm III By BOB THOMAS Associated Press Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) The fact that black soldiers fought in the American Civil War might come as a revelation to many who see "Glory." One of the film's stars, Denzel Washington, admits that he was unaware. "I knew absolutely nothing," said the actor, who portrays a bitter, runaway slave. "I didn't even know that blacks fought in the Civil War. The American history classes that I took didn't seem to dwell on that at all. It was inspiring for me; it gave me a lot of energy to continue research and get further and further into it. "Although the character I play isn't based on a real person, I kind of put ideas together that I found from reading slave narratives and things like that." "Glory" is partly based on two books about the 54th Massachusetts Colored Volunteer Infantry "Lay This Laurel" and "One Gallant Rush" as well as the letters of Robert Gould Shaw, the Boston Brahmin who commanded the unit. The script by Kevin Jarre describes how Shaw had to fight his Army superiors in order to outfit his soldiers and win battle duty. Matthew Broderick portrays Gould, and the soldiers include Washington, Morgan Freeman, IMJMIin ""","'WI"""'fci - CS? 1 all-bla- Jihmi Kennedy and Andre Braugher. With shaved head and scarred face, Washington, the dedicated doctor of TV's "St. Elsewhere," the martyred Steven Biko of "Cry Freedom" and the earnest police chief of "The Mighty Quinn," is scarcely recognizable. "Someone told me they didn't know I was in the movie," the actor said with a smile. to do something different and to feel removed from the present time. It's difficult to do a period piece and to give yourself as an actor a different feeling, as though vou're in a different "I wanted i: time." One of the ironies of "Glory" comes at the climax, when the 54th is sent on the first wave 4 AP Laserphoto against the impregnable Fort Wagner, which guarded Charleston harbor. It appears to be a suicide mission. "These men were looking for an opportunity to prove themselves," said Washington. "The battle was no more dangerous than their lives with the constant threat of slavery and slave masters with their mentality over their heads. They were looking for the opportunity to have a fair fight and to have a rifle as well, regardless of the odds." On July 18, 1863, despite extensive fatigue and poor rations, the 54th Massachusetts marched across half a mile of sand to lead the attack on Fort Wagner. The regiment lost more than 40 percent of its men, as did the white regiments that followed. Fort Wagner was never taken by Union soldiers. Denzel Washington portrays a bitter, runaway slave who serves in the Civil War in "Glory." historically accurate, Washington noted. "This was the first war with new weaponry," he said. "But they were still using Revolutionary War tactics. The rifles they used then were less accurate and less powerful. They still fought the War Between the States, as they call it, with a lot of honor day-to-d- Filmgoers will be shocked by the movie's battle scenes, in which Confederate and Union soldiers march toward each other The tactic is and fire point-blank. and regimentation, 100 feet apart, blowing their brains out." Denzel Washington grew up in Mount Vernon, N.Y. He began studying medicine at Fordham University but soon switched to drama. After a session at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, he began getting New Peters to play Tammy Faye By ASSOCIATED PRESS Bernadette Peters, she of the Betty Boop voice and stardom in films such as "Pennies from Heaven," will play Tammy Faye Bakker in NBC's "Fall From TV Grace," a movie about the Rev. Jim Bak-ker- 's travails. NBC announced this recently in Los Angeles. And Lee ABC's "Six Majors, formerly Man," has signed up for a story "arc" in CBS' "Tour of Duty." He'll serve in the show's version of Vietnam as "Pop," a Army veteran who for various reasons is but a Pfc, or as they private first class, an E-say in military pay charts. Only a private is lower than that. Million-Doll- ar five-episo- ar 3, York jobs. Amoi.g them was Joseph Papp's production of "Corio-lanuswith Morgan Freeman in the title role. "I had about six lines, like 'My, lord, they are coming. .. ."' he recalled. He began in films as George Segal's son in "Carbon Copy." He then played an angry GI in "A Soldier's Story," and signed on as Dr. Philip Chandler in "St. Elsewhere." "Cry Freedom" brought him an Academy nomination, but surprisingly little work. His only offer was for "The Mighty Quinn," which had a brief release last year despite raves from critics. Now his career is running smoothly. Beside "Glory," for which he is a likely Oscar candidate, he has completed "Heart Condition," a wild comedy with ," Bob Hoskins, and "Love preme," Lee. Su- a musical from Spike America's farmers are on front lines of a whole new war T will never be the The back-fort- y Same. President Bush whisked into the Orlando, Fla. Convention Center on Jan. 9 to address the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. After taking potshots at Congress, he. got serious. Citing the problems of pesticides in foodstuffs and declining rural groundwater quality, he planted the seeds for more environmental regulation of the barnyard. But the president's message to this group representing 3.8 million farm families was one it knew already: America's farmers are on; the front lines of a whole new war. The nation's environmental agenda is moving from the smokestacks to the milking barn, and agribusiness finds itself fighting a immber of battles, fyarmers are beseiged by rights advocates who want to 'liberate pigs, chickens and calves. LThey are reeling from the Alar scare of last year, wondering how 'they will grow future crops with-- 5 out chemicals. They are fighting i federal regulation on wetlands, frlparlan land management, wild iknd scenic rivers, pesticides, hor-W- ( ani-'in- ? . t .,.,,. al mones and a host of other areas. They are targets of environmentalists over water use and grazing allotments on federal lands. And suddenly they are being blamed for a whole new series of problems, from groundwater contamination to air pollution. The shift of concern from factories to farms is occurring almost overnight. For years, regulators focused on "point sources" of pollution, such as commercial waste dumps, cause they are easy to find. be- Now officials are becoming increasing- ly concerned about "non-poisource pollution" poisons entering our environment from widely nt dispersed less and obvious sources. American farms, regulators charge, are major sources of this contamination. Pesticides, herbicides and nutrients from fertilizers and other agrichemlcals are leeching into the watershed. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that worrisome levels of 20 commonly used pesticides have shown up in the groundwater of many states. So Uncle Sam is coming down t If- Alston Chase "ON THE ENVIRONMENT" groundwater supplies and salinate millions of acres. And although they have long fought soil erosion, many growers ignored or minimized possible downsides to pesticides and water pollution. They believed too much of what Monsanto and Exxon told and sold them. They still hitch their wagon too hard. The EPA has established a division dealing with non-poisource pollution and has created the position of "farmer-adviser- " on its staff. The National Research Council has been conducting studies on pesticides in water supplies. Many growers, too, are deeply concerned about these problems. "You cannot name an environmental subject we're not Involved with on a state and federal basis," Herb Manig, the Farm Bureau's assistant director of natural and environmental resources, told me. But the force of the onslaught has caught their community by nt surprise. "For years, farmers thought of themselves as conser vationists. Now they are shocked to see themselves painted as the enemy," Manig explained. Feeling plowed under by environmental hysteria, they complain that laws protecting riverbanks and wetlands and restricting pesticides are too severe, and that farmers are the scapegoats. To some extent they are right. Agriculture is not the only source of pollution. And while the dangers of pesticides must be taken seriously, regulations regarding these substances are inconsistent and sometimes unreasonable. But in many ecologic matters, farmers have been reaping a dirty harvest. Profligate and sloppy irrigation practices deplete non-poi- 1" closely to chemical, petroleum and pharmaceutical industries, from which they must be decoupled. Rather than relying on pesticides and herbicides, they must find more ways to control weeds and pests biologically. And they should take organic agricultural techniques more seriously. But this transition will not be accomplished through conventional regulation. Prohibiting certain chemicals and monitoring and fining polluters did not work well for e pollution and will fail sources. disastrously for The United States cannot station an inspector behind every cornstalk. By driving up the cost of agriculture, it will put more small farms out of business and invite point-sourc- non-poi- cheating. Rather, the solution must lie in environmental education of both farmer and public, and in developing market incentives, through tax breaks and perhaps subsidies, for sustainable and cleaner agriculture. The education part has already begun. The Farm Bureau has a "massive" food safety program, Manig said, to forestall more Alar controversies. It has developed a p kit for farms to test the purity of drinking water. It has started an "Adopt a Scientist" project, whereby scholars come to live with farmers, for the benefit of both. It is promoting "integrated pest management" an ecologic approach that minimizes use of pesticides. And together with the Society for Range Management Program, intended to promote wise land use through cooperation between landowners, state and federal agencies, academics, environmentalists and civic leaders. Agriculture, with its long tradi-tio- n fo conservation, is entering the age of ecology. self-hel- |