June 1996

BOOK FEATURES CAPTAIN NITWIT'S SHACK, CONCRETE DINOSAURS Date: 06-02-96 Category: TRAVEL Page: 4H Jack Schnedler The Perky Bat Tower, erected to house flocks of those flying mammals that were supposed to devour the semitropical mosquito hordes, now stands forlornly near Sugarloaf Airfield in the Florida Keys. The finicky bats, alas, never took a fancy to the tower's carefully crafted labyrinth of grids, shutters and roosting frames. The news is better in Pigeon Cove, Mass., where snippets of stories from the Roaring '20s and Depression '30s still can be read on the walls of the Paper House, built and furnished almost entirely from rolled and folded newspapers. The window curtains were made of comics pages, and heavy varnish has helped preserve the structure (as well as its legibility) for more than a half century. In the California desert at Cabazon, tourists gape at a 1 50-foot-long brontosaurus and a 65foot-tall tyrannosaurus, both skillfully sculpted with concrete skin five inches thick. Their creator, Claude K. Bell, who began the project in 1964 at age 73, explained simply, "I wanted to build something big." Bat tower, paper house and dinosaurs alike cavort through the 222 pages of Architectural Follies in America, by Gwyn Headley (Preservation Press//John Wiley & Sons, $19.95). Subtitled "An Illustrated Guide to 130 of the Most Unusual Structures in America," Headley's book is idiosyncratic enough to include a chapter on the dinosaurs and their roadside ilk, despite his initial assertion that such moneymaking attractions are the antithesis of a folly. "Follies come from peace and contentment, or passion and commitment," writes Headley, president of England's Folly Fellowship. "They come from a surplus of money, rather than the need to make money." He insists that "you cannot consciously build a folly. You will construct a building for your own reasons, but only other people may call it a folly." Follies -- whether they be the half-size replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Niles, Ill., or the house made of one-gallon Clorox bleach bottles near Hernando, Fla. -- "stem from passion, obsession, suspicion," he muses. "They also come from happiness, grief and confusion. They can take any form, any style. A folly is a state of mind, not an architectural style." Seeking a diversion from grief over his young wife's death, an Ohio judge named Alfred Nippert became entranced with the 1937 Disney movie "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." He had a replica of the dwarfs' cottage built along a creek in Volusia County, Fla., complete with sash windows that drop into the walls and still work perfectly. Waxing philosophical, Headley wonders: "Which is the real seven dwarts' house? One is tangible, it exists in time and space, but the original exists only on film. It never was. The house at Spruce Creek is interactive. You can walk into it, and at the top of the split-log stairs are the headboards of each of the seven dwarfs' beds, the fireplace is just as exaggeratedly massive as in the film, the locks and door handles are beautifully made from the ubiquitous Florida cypress knees." And even Grumpy might be impressed by Conrad Schuck's Wonder House, which that Pittsburgh building contractor began putting up in 1924 in Bartow, Fla., after doctors had given him one year to live. Schuck, who lasted another 40 years, constructed his dream house almost entirely from materials found on the site. Its host of ingenious touches included a cruciform design with a central fireplace that funneled cooling breezes on hot days. Someone still lives happily in the Wonder House today. "Only the fireplace no longer functions," reports Headley, "because during the Second World War, Schuck was accused of using a system of mirrors to signal messages up the chimney to German planes overhead. Not many German airplanes violated Florida airspace during the war, and anyway Schuck was Austrian, but nevertheless he stoically filled in the chimney with concrete. Whose was the folly?" Arkansas would appear to be folly-deprived, or else the author skimped on Natural State research. Jennings Osborne's passion for Christmas lights does get a passing mention. But the only specific site covered is William Hope "Coin" Harvey's pyramid and obelisk in Monte Ne, which now lie beneath the waters of dam-created Beaver Lake. California, by contrast, shapes up as the folly epicenter of America, boasting 39 of the book's 130 fantastical spots. One of those 39 started out in 1928 as a one-room shack cobbled together from scrap on a cliffside in Cambria, Calif. Its creator, Art Beal, is described by Headley as "a character; blessed with a nose like an exploding eggplant, he liked to call himself Captain Nitwit' or Der Tinkerpaw,' while his less tolerant neighbors knew him as The Fool on the Hill."' Over the years, Captain Nitwit's shack grew willy-nilly into a ramshackle nine-level mansion crafted of everything from hubcaps and toilet seats to abalone shells and radios. "I had no more in mind of doing this than growing feathers," Beal once said, in the truest spirit of the folly. A decade after his death, his scrap-generated fantasy is falling into decay -surely an unworthy fate for any of these strange and marvelous structures.

PAPER TRAILS Date: 06-07-96 Category: STYLE Page: 8E Carris Rengers Jesse Hatfield Central Arkansas Tupperware lady' really gentleman Commercials in the '70s said: "You'll always find a Tupperware lady//She's the lady with the fresh ideas." But these days, you might also find a Tupperware man. "I'm a Tupperware gentleman," says Jesse Hatfield of Conway, the Tupperware distributor for Central Arkansas. "It's a cushy job," Hatfield says. "I get to sit around and giggle with women. I hear stories I might not ought to hear." Tupperware, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this week, actually has had salesmen since its inception, but they still get strange looks. Males make up less than 5 percent of the sales force. "I know they're curious," Hatfield says of other men. "They kind of give me that funny look." Sometimes husbands accompany their wives to Tupperware parties. "I don't tell them to stay away," Hatfield says. "Sometimes I think they come out of curiosity." The pony-tailed Hatfield, who also sports a goatee, says this is the ideal job. "You don't have to be this clean-cut, Joe Blow salesman that calls on this million-dollar business," he says. He makes his own hours and calls his own shots. "You can write your own paycheck," Hatfield says. "The product sells itself. I don't know why more people don't do it." Many do. Tupperware is sold in more than 100 countries, and a demonstration is given every 2.5 seconds somewhere in the world. The Vino's candidates Henry Lee, co-owner of Vino's in downtown Little Rock, may need some political savvy come election day Tuesday, depending on who the winners are in the 2nd Congressional District primary runoffs. If state Sen. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, wins the Democratic runoff, and Bud Cummins wins the Republican bid, Lee has a problem. Snyder and Cummins are Vino's regulars and have given Lee signs and bumper stickers to advertise at the restaurant. "Well, I don't think we have an official Vino's endorsement as such," Lee says. "We try to help everyone," he says diplomatically. "Actually, Vic and Bud were in here one day together early on in the election, and we were jokingly talking about that," Lee says. They came to a decision. "If they're both in the election, we'd have the first debate here, and we'd have both their election night parties here, and the loser buys." Snyder says he doesn't remember that last part. Cummins realizes he may not have as many supporters at Vino's as Snyder does. He especially notes those with "the nose rings and the purple hair." "They just look like they hold to some of his political philosophies." Still a sweet 16 Breezy Osborne, the only child of philanthropists Mitzi and Jennings Osborne, recently celebrated her sweet 1 6th birthday, and the only thing missing was a car. CDs are what she asked for. "That's what's so neat about her," Breezy's mom says of her daughter. This isn't to say Breezy isn't interested in cars. She wants a HumVee, one of those gigantic military vehicles that are all the rage in places like California. She's had her eye on one that's been sitting in front of Catholic High School for Boys. "I thought she was just wanting to go by Catholic High," Mitzi Osborne says. Instead, Breezy told her mom, "There's some big fat car out there I want you to see." "It was like it had just come out of the woods or something," Osborne says of the camouflage-color car. But Breezy doesn't want a HumVee for a trip into the woods. "I'm not into that kind of driving," she says. "They're just cool looking." Now that she's on her father's payroll this summer at Arkansas Research Medical Testing Center, Breezy's driving consists mostly of errands. "We both think you need to work and have some responsibility," Osborne says. "You don't just get stuffon a silver platter." Most often, Breezy drives her parents' Toyota 4-Runner to work, but she has a number of cars at her disposal. She's not sure how many her parents own. Even her mom doesn't know. "I honestly do not," Osborne says. "I don't really care, just so I have something to (drive) when I need to go." When Breezy does get a car, her mom says she'll have to help pay the insurance. And if the Osbornes choose not to spend $50,000 or so for a new HumVee, Breezy will settle for her second choice: a Chevrolet Camaro. Alternative to court For a time, The Waldron News took to billing itself -- on its front page -- as "Scott County's only LEGAL community newspaper." Editor and Publisher Marty Backus says, "We had a third-class publication at the time that was calling itself a newspaper." The circular published legal advertisements, such as delinquent tax notices, which Backus says is illegal. "We were in a fight, a debate, if you will." Instead of fighting a costly court battle, Backus says, "I bought the competition out." It was a potentially cheaper alternative. And he's "absolutely not" publishing the legal notices in the circular. That's now left exclusively to The Waldron News. Whitewater welcome wagon The front of the new Arkansas state highway map proudly proclaims "Home of President Bill Clinton." But the very people proudly proclaiming the aff'liation are some who are cursed by it. On the back of the map is a picture of Gov. Jim Guy Tucker along with his "Welcome to Arkansas!" message. Tucker notes how Arkansas is great for small-business entrepreneurs and that the Natural State attracts millions of travelers. Some of those in recent years include Washington, D.C., lawyers who last month convicted Tucker, who will resign by July 15, on conspiracy and mail fraud charges. Also pictured is Herby Branscum Jr., a member of the Arkansas Highway Commission, who is another focus in the ongoing Whitewater investigation. He'll be tried this month on charges of illegally funneling bank funds to political campaigns. There are no plans to change the maps.

WOMEN'S CLUBS BENEFIT Date: 06-09-96 Category: HIGH PROFILE Page: 3D CATHERINE G. BARNARD, Democrat-Gazette Feature Writer Take a close look at JeNelle Lipton's resume and you'll notice something is missing. It's not experience or dedication, but rather pay. The 58-year-old Warren resident has given her time freely to jobs over the years, including her newest venture as president of the General Federated Women's Club of Arkansas. For the past decade, Lipton has been a part of the organization through membership in her local 75-year-old Warren Women's Club. Now as the statewide leader, she will devote her time to the other 62 chapters throughout Arkansas. "Someone asked me if I couldn't find a job that pays," Lipton remarks, "because most everything I do is volunteer. And I said, I get paid, it may not be in money, but I do get paid because I really enjoy what I do and my family is very supportive."' The dedicated volunteer has been busy building a better community through GFWC projects ranging from preserving historic buildings to reading to school kids and now hopes to encourage membership in other towns across the state. "We have a new generation of people joining our clubs who are newly retired," says Lipton. "They've worked all their life, their children are gone, they have free time and are ready to give back to the community. We have a lot of 50-year members, some of the women are in their 90s, but the members really span all ages." The 1,150-member Arkansas organization will celebrate its centennial next year. Lipton says the club's 1 OO-year-old philosophy is based on six kinds of community service: education, conservation, public affairs, international affairs, home life and the arts. The Warren club meets once a month to plan community improvement projects. "We are really doing so many different things," Lipton says. "In a two-year period, we try to cover all six areas of community service." The chapter's primary focus has been education, she says, pointing out that three-fourths of all public libraries in the United States were started by GFWC members, including the Warren library. Shortly after the formation of the Warren chapter, a member began a library in her home and left her front door open for members to drop by and pay 10 cents to check out a book. Years later, the library was moved to the county clerk's building and now has its own building. In 1987, the county clerk's offce became the home of the Bradley County Historical Museum, also started by members of the club. The museum is now in a historic home the club bought to save from demolition. "We bought the oldest house in Bradley County," says Lipton. "It was built during the Civil War, and we hated to see it torn down since there was so much history there. We've gotten a lot of donations and continue to work on it. " With the help of Tyson Foods, club members also started "Wings to Soar," now a national GFWC program where volunteers set up a preschool library and go into schools to read books to the children. "A lot of children are not read to, so that was something we decided we could do," says Lipton. "We go into the schools once a week and read to the children. Some of these children have never had a book read to them at home. We have the mothers come in and encourage them to read at home to their children. They can check out the books and take them home, too." Warren club members raise money for their projects in many ways including a Christmas Candlelight Tour of historic homes, a tradition after 10 years. Last Christmas, Jennings Osborne added to the occasion by putting Christmas lights on the Bradley County Courthouse. Lipton lives in Warren's historic downtown in the home where her husband, former state Rep. and House Speaker John Lipton, was born. "Warren is a beautiful place," she says. "Even though I was not raised there, it's been home for so long. You almost get nostalgic when you think about it -- with the town clock, the Methodist church chimes, the sounds from the sawmill. When you think about those sounds, that means home." Lipton says the Warren club membership is limited to 30 because the women meet in private homes. "You have to be invited to join Warren," she says, "but a lot of clubs are now opening up to anyone who wants to belong. It's strictly up to the individual clubs and their own bylaws. But if we know that someone is interested in being in our club, we always invite them. Now that was not that way back a long time ago. When they first started, they were more like social clubs and very elite. It's not like that anymore." In October, Lipton will serve as off'cial hostess when the GFWC South Central Conference comes to the Holiday Inn Select in Little Rock, bringing in women's club members from across Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. She will travel the state over the next two years visiting clubs and working to start new clubs, and to the GFWC headquarters in Washington, D.C., to meet with other state presidents and international offcers. But moving up to become an international off'cer isn't on Lipton's agenda. "I have three grandchildren now, so I have to stay around for them," she says, mentioning her two daughters who live in Little Rock and her son who lives in Hot Springs. Outside the busy schedule of GFWC, Lipton also travels to Mobile, Ala., as Arkansas chairman for America's Junior Miss pageant. And during the Arkansas legislative session every other year, she works as a capitol tour guide to students from across the state. "That is probably the only paid job I've ever had, and I would've done that for free," Lipton says. "I like to meet people, I think that's my favorite part of my work, and we do so much good in GFWC. I really feel like I'm helping people."

OSBORNE BANKRUPTCY Date: 06-14-96 Category: BUSINESS Page: 1D DON CHANEY, Democrat-Gazette Business Writcr The Jcnnings Osborne bankruptcy saga will continue next month with two separate hearings scheduled in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Little Rock. One hearing, to consider a motion filed by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration to dismiss the bankruptcy, will be heard before Bankruptcy Judge James G. Mixon on July 8. The state agency filed its motion May 28 to dismiss the Little Rock millionaire's case claiming the Osbornes have being paying for "unnecessary and unreasonable expenditures" from both the estate and business funds. Osborne, known for his Christmas light displays, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 1995 in a tax dispute with the IRS. The IRS says Osborne and his wife, Mitzi, owe at least $ 1.2 million in taxes. The Osbornes say the bill is closer to $600,000. Osborne also owes $207,996 in state taxes. The motion filed by the the state agency says Osborne's post-bankruptcy expenses are a "breach of the Debtors fiduciary duty to their Creditors" and a willful violation of the court's orders. David B. KauLman, an attorney for the agency who filed the motion, said he couldn't comment on the case. The motion says Osbornes' actions make clear that they are just using the bankruptcy code "as a means to cater to their excesses, while their creditors are held at bay by the automatic stay." The motion claims that Osborne spent $20,000, paid for by checks drawn on his business account, to take his "entire entourage, about 16 people" to Disney World in late 1995. In October 1995, Osborne reached an agreement to allow Walt Disney World Co. to use part of his display during the next six Christmas seasons in Florida, according to Bankruptcy Court documents. Disney said last year it planned to pay for the Osbornes' stay in Florida. The motion also says the Osbornes spent about $25,000 on a fireworks display for the 1996 Riverfest event in Little Rock. The Osbornes were a sponsor of Riverfest. The state agency's motion says it doesn't know other costs Osbornes may have incurred as a festival sponsor. Other extravagances listed in the agency's motion -- all at unknown costs -- included the family's donation of some Christmas lights and decorations to the Little Rock Zoo, the Ronald McDonald House, the Warren Town Square, and the Searcy Town Square. The family is also adding to Christmas light displays in Hot Springs, Warren and their Little Rock home on Robinwood Drive, and has future unnecessary expenses planned, the motion says. A call to Osborne at Arkansas Research Medical Testing Center was intercepted by his attorney, Robert C. Lowry of Little Rock, who said he couldn't answer any questions about the filing. James Dowden, Osborne's bankruptcy attorney, didn't return phone messages left at his offce Thursday. A second hearing to consider a settlement agreement between the Osbornes and Fairfield Communities Inc. is set for July 15. The agreement, filed May 17, proposed to settle a claim Fairfield has against the Osbornes. The dispute was over the sale of the property where Osborne's business, Arkansas Research Medical Testing Center, is located. The Internal Revenue Service has filed an objection to the Fairfield settlement, claiming the IRS has first claim to the money planned for the Fairfield debt. The agreement between Osborne and Fairfield calls for the Osborne to make two payments of $500,000 and $200,000 to Fairfield for money owed on the Rebsamen Park Road building once used as Fairfield's headquarters. The building now houses ARMTC. Under the agreement, the United States will be given a subordinate lien by Osborne on the corporate headquarters of ARMTC. In its objection, the IRS claims that its lien -- a statutory lien -- takes priority overFairfield's lien, which is consensual. The IRS is therefore entitled to the money designated to pay Fairfield. David Stell, an IRS public affairs officer for Arkansas and Oklahoma, said he isn't able to comment on individual cases or settlements. Marcel J. Dumeny, a senior vice president with Fairfield, said it will be up to the bankruptcy court to decide what is best for the estate, but that Osborne's attorney wasn't trying to negotiate a settlement with the IRS. "The most common thing is that these things are settled before there is litigation," said Dumeny. "I would be hopeful that Mr. Osborne's lawyer will be successful with his dealings with the IRS.

SUPERB RIVERFEST FINALE Date: 06-20-96 Category: EDITORIAL Page: 7B Ah, what a perfect Arkansas night. The weather was gorgeous. Crowds of happy people were having a glorious time, anxiously awaiting the finale of a superb Riverfest. The Arkansas Symphony was perfection, pumping us up for another gift from the Jennings Osborne famly. The fireworks were unbelievable, on a scale one doesn't often see, and no question very expensive. For tonight, we forget the national scandal of Arkansas politics and become as children again. If you sit close enough, you'll see children and adults alike line up to shake Osborne's hand, still excited from viewing such a magnificent spectacle. Thank-you to the Osborne Family for lighting up the Arkansas skies, and thank-you to Jennings Osborne for taking a positive image of Arkansas to Disney and sharing it with the world. And, hey, you Cantrell grinches, we don't have lights, but boy have we got fireworks. Glory! ANNA J. DUNN Hot Springs

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