European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 08, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Going Down Down by Jim Auchmutey Cox news service t exploring caves it s an obsession with some such As this adventurer who descends a Shaft at the Nita Nanta Cave site in Southern Mexico. My re is nothing Mote  Julio Verne wrote than the attraction toward an abyss to put it another Way Sarn Trinco a person ust wants to crawl in a Hole take Jim Smith 5 33 ear old graduate student at Western Kentucky University in  Green the dedicated Cave d Veller who went caving every weekend Lor seven years was visiting friends in Austin Texas when someone had a Bright idea the restless adventurers ducked into the storm sewers Tor a peek and were soon Yelling through the grates at startled pedestrians then at night lust to keep their rope skills taut they sneaked into a Neaita cemetery and scaled the tallest obelisks. Such obsession helps explain Why Smith an otherwise studious Young Man Given to geological jargon is considered one of the Foremost explorers on one of the final Iron Liers the underworld since 1976. He has been a driving Force in the exploration of the deepest Cavo system in the Western hemisphere at 4,400 feel three times deeper than the height of Chicago s 110-Story world Sears Tower the Cuautla system plunges into Central Mexico s Limestone through a honeycomb of 600 shafts some of them churning with White water after 14 expeditions to the Cave. Smith still finds new passages to map reaching them Only after hours of crawling squeezing rappelling and scuba diving caves arc one of the last uncharted parts of Earth he says and Hua Ulla is the Everest " the National speleological society apparently agrees. The Alabama based caving organization with 8,000 members nationwide gave its 1968 Lew bicking award Lor daring exploration to Smith As practice by Jim Smith caving is no sunday stroll through a wonderland of crystals and stalactites it s a dirty dangerous gut busting journey with frequent pauses to record Depths and map passages where no one has gone before. Please Don t Call to a  says the bearded outdoors Man in a voice that has the quiet intensity of Clint Eastwood a Spe Lunker is someone with a flashlight and Tennis shoes who writes on Cave Walls i m not a Spe Lunker. I m an explorer indeed the speleological society credits Smith with discovering two thirds of the caves known to be More than 400 feet deep in Fenne be Alabama and Geof Qia h he s not on a foreign expedition he spends almost All his spate time walking the ridges of the Cumberland plateau looking for the sinkholes or wisps of steam that indicate a Cave Entrance on a Chilly Friday. Smith leaves school in Bowling Green stops by the mini warehouse he keeps packed with ropo5 and helmets picks up his Wile. Pam and Heads South Tor the Cave country of Northeast Alabama pulling Oil the interstate near Midnight they Park their pickup truck on a lonely logging Road and climb into the Back with their sleeping bags the next morning finds the Smiths deep in the Woods near Scottsboro. Ala. At a Cave known As the Gochen hollow sucking fire pit so named because it inhales the smoke from nearby campfires time to suit up. Peeling off his 1 expose yourself to geology to shirt the muscular Smith produces a Black undershirt he has not washed in weeks to sniffs it and says. The  next come three pairs of Wool socks jeans Waterproof boots and double strength knee pads. Years of crawling Over Limestone have Given him tender Caver s  finally he slips into Orange coveralls and a battered helmet with a Carbide lamp attached on top he could be a roller Derby contestant. It is about noon As Smith and a Hall dozen friends peer into the Mouth of the Cave which i. 2 feet wide and resembles a Rabbit Hole. Smith disappears into the Hole passing into the death dark realm of eyeless fish and see through crickets where the temperature is always in the upper 50s and the humidity always hovers near 100 percent he struggles Down a Muddy slope of 15 feet across a narrow ledge Down 60 feet on a rope through a tight 10 loot passage and Down another 40-foot shall finding the Way blocked by rubble he plants a Small charge of explosives and blows his Way through Only to find another dead end in 10 feel. Six hours later Smith emerges not a glamorous  to reports. To saw a fault we did t know about and mapped it. As a geologist hound that interesting listening to Smith at such limes it s easy to imagine him As a scientist going to his basement lab with a clipboard and a White coat. While research is important to him it does t explain his gut drive to get wet and Nasty. Ultimately he goes Tor the sheer exhilarating sport of it caving makes your adrenaline  says his wife Pam. It makes you feel alive " scarcely a week goes by that an unpublished Auchoi does t write to me seeking advice on How to i Etc a Best seller. It used to be pretty simple All you did was write a manuscript have it published and learn How to Cook something anything because Lor the next three month j Iti order to plug your Book you had to go on local and National to shows across the country. And Cook i mul have sold a Ion of books from a Garbanzo bean salad i made on Dinah s show not to mention a War cake on hour Magazine and hash Browns on i e Douglas show on rare occasions a Host would ask what my Book was about but it the studio audience responded to a Skillet full of sauteed onions. You k new you had a straight shot to he lop of the new York times list it s not that easy today. A quiche just won t Cut it talk shows still Don t want to know anything about your Book but they want to know about you All Iho Good Eima Bombeck stud you be never told anyone before ii helps it you have had an abused childhood an alcoholic Mother or Are a recent graduate of the Betty Ford clinic naming an impressive list of famous lovers in your youth might even gel you an alternate selection of the Book of the month club i also helps in you give the Book away for tree for Many years it Hao Boon traditional for authors to speak at lunches  charge and afterwards sell their books speaker of Iho i Louse Jim Wright had a novel approach instead of collecting a tee for a speech he  organizations to buy copies of his Book which were then distributed free of charge to the audience. Ii the Organ vation did i wan Iho books Wright could sell them twice which  he could Sci More books than his publisher printed publishers like this another Way to create a Best seller is the Amway party approach. Say you write a Book on corporate management or How to be a Leader. Instead of Selling it through bookstores you hold a corporate parly and sell it to the entire company. Sales soar. Don t bother inviting your relatives. They Wail for a free copy. There was a time when having your Book banned by a morality group ensured stardom. That s nothing. Today the author has to be banned from the lace of the Earth and live out the rest of his life in seclusion. You can do this by putting satanic in your title. 1 Don t want to talk Down to you but everyone knows if you re going to come out with a biography Lor crying out loud have unauthorized stamped across the cover in red letters there i be told you All i know about creating Best Sellers. 01 course in you once saved the lives of Oprah Phil Larry King and a couple of Hundred major Book critics it could t Hurt la 1939 Etma Sci Nock Page 16 the stars and stripes monday May 8, 1989