Show Ii t Trying Times for D telligence Report 114 Wall of volume of mail received i1 Falwell might do the candidates he favors more good by staying trt quiet rather than speaking up z For Jerry Falwell Trouble with a capital T began five years ago when a pair of his fellow televangrelists Jim Bakker and kt I Jimmy Swaggart snared themselves in separate scandals Falwell's milaistries seemed to be affected by the fallout dropping from $135 million to $110 millinn in annual revenues "It was almost like owning a A I 0 4 1 N -- 1 alt i ' ' t savings and loan" says 1 - The Rev len7 Falwell: "No forever friends" I I SPECIAL E'S Parade regrets it cannot answer queries the Founder of the Moral Majority l& ---- P A R A may be hearing less election year from Rev Jerry Falwell lqou entrepreneurialwas who anything but silent during the last three Presidential races Like some other prominent leaders of the '80s Falwell overexpanded his empire and now faces a critical financial challenge As founder of the Moral Majority—which he disbanded in 1989 saying its miggions had been accomplished—Falwell 58 took credit for the Reagan and Bush elections for shaping the US Supreme Court into the next century and for spawning hundreds of conservative antiabortion organizations Since the beginning of this decade however Falwell has focused on his other creations: the 22000- member Thomas Road Baptist Church home of his weekly electronic pulpit the Old Time Gospel Hour and Liberty University with 11000 students Both are based in his hometown of Lynchburg Va where some of the city leaders have taken a keen interest in keeping his enterprises in town for fmancial as well as spiritual reasons Will he be active in the 1992 election? "If for any reason George Bush asked me to help him I would do it" Falwell told us "No one else" Some observers have suggested however that Falwell sounding more like a beleaguered business executive than a preacher whose first week's offering in the Baptist church he founded in 1958 was just $135 Then—hard on the heels of the Bakker-Swaggascandals—came the recession and credit-fuele- d overexpansion collapsed like a puffball In 1989 Falwell's Liberty University attempted to refinance its debt with a $60 million bond issue The Virginia Supreme Court nixed the plan however ruling that the school is a pervasively religious institution and thus not eligible to use bonds Next Liberty —the first university in the country to order random drug testing of all students not lust athletes—tried a $61 million taxable bond issue underwritten by Kemper Securities the Chicago investment firm The deal fell through in November 1990 Kemper reportedly could find few buyers for the bond issue Falwell insists he was promised the money—"no question about it" In the next few weeks a Boston arbitration panel will decide who's right Meanwhile to survive Liberty has been seeking to refinance while selling off some of its holdings "We've been Ark to which the university owed $6 million An additional 34 acres were sold to times for $34 million-1- 00 what Falwell paid for them two decades ago "I read about publisher Robert Maxwell" says Falwell "I didn't know the guy was billions in debt That kind of makes you wonder if he fell off Wal-Ma- rt the boat or jumped I can understand that Suddenly the whole world changes We've Pclish CLa:ral Exchznge r4 rt I 51-ac- re 57--- 5 5- 5- 5 ! - I 'OP 14 7:v-- - - I ---- 1 ‘ lm - re iII r 1 ( t t - A- psi - 7 5 ) - mi ' — i -- S 5 NJ l ! tax-exem- pt downsizing—cutting off financial liabilities everywhere we can" Falwell explains Last January the evangelist sold his FamilyNet satellite TV network In November Liberty's North Campus was had to bring in professionals to teach us Everything General Motors does we have to do" Last month after devoting part of a sermon in Lynchburg to a detailed explanation of his financial crisis Falwell drew these conclusions about the toughest single year in his 35-year career: "There are no quick fixes There are no real bargains There are no permanent solutions There are no forever friends "And" he added "there are few repeat performances" foreclosed and sold at public auction for $39 million to Stephens Inc of Little Rock I (' 1 ( I k li ?di! - ii ) (t i I'l "ft 1 Cast of the M PoEsh owsical Metro soon to be on its vtay from Warsaw to Croadway - n underground musical from Pastern 1 1 Europe called Metro is scheduled to celebrate its Broadway opening this spring Billed as a cross between A Chorus Line and Hair the show features 38 young Poles with stars in their eyes Giving new meaning to the concept of tryouts they've already been a hit in Warsaw out-of-to- Haircut Goes Up—But Taxpayers Still Get Clipped EThe price of a haircut jumped on Capitol Since Jan 1 of the Senate Dan Quayle a regular patron) have been paying $8—up from $450 Last fall US Representatives saw the price of their haircut rise to the $5 they had been paying since 1979 This is still a bargain compared to the $25 tab at some salons in Washington DC Taxpayers help keep their Congressmen by partially subsidizing the barbers' rents and salaries $10--doub- le well-groom- ed PAGE 11 JANUARY Is 1952 PARADE MAGAZINE |