European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 21, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes monday August 21.1989 Memorabilia binds collector to slave s life Owensboro by. A wooden thumb screws neck collars a Ball and Chain  on Joe Sparks floor Parton his collection of slavery Memorabilia and his research into the life of an escaped slave who was one of the inspirations for Uncle Tom s  Sparks unusual collection began in 1967 because of a local Story he read about former slave Josiah Henson. Be sides collecting Memorabilia he has worked to see Henson honoured in the Western Kentucky county that he fled in 1830 with his wife and their four children. Sparks a 60-year-old electrical con tractor led the Effort to have . 60 from Owensboro to the Hancock county line designated in june by a stat Marker As the Josiah Henson Trail. The route passes the site where Henson lived As a slave. It kind of got me Sparks said of Harriet acc Char Stowe s novel of slave life which he read after he became interested in Henson. The novel a Best seller when it came out in 1852, has been credited with fostering anti slav Ery sentiment in the decade before the civil War. Stowe met Henson in 1849 and said that his Story was an inspiration for the novel. Here was a Man who lived Here for that period of time and who became famous because of an internationally famous Book Sparks said. He has playbills of productions of Uncle Tom s Cabin first edition co pies of the novel comic books and Chil Dren s editions of the novel. He also has ownership papers on slaves and items of restraint that he has picked up at Flea markets and through antique Trade magazines. You have to know what you re looking for Sparks said. Henson was born into slavery in 1789, and worked on plantations in Maryland and Kentucky. He was ordained As a minister in the methodist episcopal Church in 1828, and saved the Money he earned preaching to buy his Freedom. After he made a Down payment of j275 toward his $400 Price the Plantation owner raised the Price to $1,000. Henson his wife and children escaped Kentucky in september 1830, by rowing across the Ohio River. Two weeks later they walked into Cincinnati. They reached Canada in october 1830 and eventually settled in Dresden Ontario where Henson became a noted educator and abolitionist. Sparks president of the Josiah Hen son historical society in Owensboro has proposed developing the old Amos Riley Plantation where Henson served As an overseer As a historic site. The Plantation House no longer exists on the privately owned land and a soybean Field covers the ground where Hanson s slave Cabin stood Sparks said. He used old property deeds to map the boundaries of the Plantation which once encompassed thousands of acres. Slavery Sparks said was a cruel system and we would have been better off without  but he said preserving the Plantation site is important from a historical viewpoint. It s among the most significant Sites in the state of Kentucky Sparks said. We Are trying to preserve a part of history. It s our heritage and we have to face  Owensboro mayor David Adkisson also supports the idea of a permanent place to Honor Henson. I think it would have to be done with sensitivity in a historical setting not in a sensational Way or As a com Mercial tourist attraction Adkisson said. It would be to commemorate the life of a very courageous Black Man. It s unfortunate that the image of Uncle Tom has developed in a Way that became a derogatory term about certain Black people. The life of Josiah Henson is a very proud  Sparks and Adkisson admit that Henson who died in 1883 in Dresden Likely would have been surprised to know that two White men were trying to Honor him in the county that he fled. He probably also would be sur prised a Park in Dresden Ontario was named for him Adkisson said. The Park in Ontario is called Uncle Tom s Cabin historic site said Barbara g. Carter Hanson s great great granddaughter who manages the site. Last year about 10,000 people from All Over the world visited the site car Ter said. In september 1983, Canada honoured Henson with a postage stamp she said. He is held in very High esteem Here Carter said. Thornburgh favors . Troop role in Colombia Dick Thornburgh Washington a attorney general Dick Thornburgh expressed support sunday for sending . Troops to Colombia to help fight drug lords. Blamed for the assassination last week of a leading presidential candidate. You now see an Aura of terrorism rather than Sim ply narc trafficking Thornburgh said on Abc s meet the press program. I think we have to look at any request that we get for either Law enforcement or military assistance  Thornburgh likened the drug traffickers to political revolutionaries saying they have made elected officials and other officeholders in Colombia victims of their violence. If in Colombia they feel hypothetically that they May have reached the Point where they can no longer operate under the Rule of Law and have to use the Rule of Force then they re going to require All the help they need.," he said. His comments followed a statement on saturday by president Bush that he was ready to meet with colom Bian president Virgilio Barco at the earliest convenient moment to consider a coordinated approach to the drug problem. Barco on Friday said he was using emergency pow ers to reinstate an extradition treaty with the United states so that colombian drug traffickers May be tried on drug charges originating in this country. Barco issued the order after sen. Luis Carlos clan a leading presidential candidate was killed in a Shotgun attack that police blamed on drug lords. At least 10 other people were wounded in the attack. The latest violence which also included the killing of a provincial police chief on Friday also led to the arrest of 4,000 suspected drug criminals in Colombia on sunday. The numbers of the major Kingpins we re looking at for extradition arc a dozen or so Thornburgh said sunday. We be begun discussions with the state depart ment and with the United states attorneys who Are handling these particular cases so we will be in a Posi Tion to act when any one or More we Hope of these major Cartel traffickers arc taken into custody in Colombia he said. Earthquake jolts parts of Alabama Tennessee Florence Ala. A a rare earthquake rattled Northwestern Ala Bama and parts of Tennessee toppling books from shelves slightly damaging at least two Homes and startling residents unused to tremors. The mild quake which registered 3.9 on the Richter scale struck just after 7 . Saturday and was entered is mile South of this town of 37,000, according to the National earthquake information Center in Golden Colo. Police switchboards lit up with Calls after the Shaker but no injuries were re ports according to officials in several jurisdictions. The ground trembled said . Woody of Florence who was sitting on his Patio when he realized the rumbling was something More than a Thunder storm. It Felt like the Concrete and All moved under my  reports of shaking came from Colbert and Lauderdale counties in Alabama s Northwest Corner and from around Lawrenceburg tenn., near the Alabama line. Two homeowners in Colbert county reported damage cracked bricks on one Home and a crack in the basement of the other said Eddy Hicks the state Emer gency management coordinator for the area. In Lauderdale county books fell from shelves said George Mangum the Ala Bama emergency management Agency s local director. The temblor was Felt in Iron City tenn., just North of the Alabama line said Joanna Kennmer communications operator at the Tennessee Highway patrol office in Lawryn Coburg. Police departments in Northwest Ala Bama were inundated with Telephone Calls. People said it Shook their House and their windows real bad said a muscle Shoals police officer Donald Coon 34, describing his first earthquake. It sounded Pike a big explosion and then the ground Shook for two or three seconds. You could feel it  an earthquake of 3.5 on the Richter scale can cause slight damage in the local area and a 4-magnitude quake can do moderate local damage. Bushes attend services Pray for hostages Kennebunkport Maine a president Bush woke to the first Rainy Day of his Seaside vacation sunday but went out for a morning jog anyway and attended Church services with a crowd of Bush progeny. As Bush and first lady Barbara sat in the front Pew of St. Ann s episcopal Church the Rev. Laman Brunerjr. Offered a prayer for the Freedom of the american and other foreign hostages being held by kidnappers in the Middle East. He named each one and with the congregation prayed for those who had been killed including cot. William Higgins the Marine whose hanging body was shown in a videotape released last month by a pro iranian moslem extremist group. In his Sermon on listening and communication Bishop John Allin mentioned the civil rights struggles of the 1960s As a time when people weren t listening to each  Allin said he was in the South in the Early 1960s, where we had this strange idea that everybody was Happy. Thai s How deaf we  earlier the president was up and jogging two Miles despite a morning downpour that let up just before he started off with daughter Dorothy three reporters and two White House staff members. It was his first run since he arrived on wednesday for the Seaside vacation. He plans to return to Washington on sept. 4. The president and Barbara Bush surrounded by their five children and 11 grandchildren at their Walker s Point Home have enjoyed sunny Days filled wit Tennis swimming and boating. They were accompanied to the Church service by several of the clan and Bush s Mother Dorothy Walker  president s 88-year-old Mother was helped from the presidential limousine and into the Church by the president and mrs. Bush. Outside the Church he spotted a Friend and engaged him in a Quick Exchange about fishing gear. He asked his Friend if he was going out then told him to Call  As they left the president dressed in a Green jacket and Blue Slacks called out off to fishing r when the motorcade arrived Back at his House. Secret service agents had his speedboat Fidelity ready to go and were waiting in Protection boats that always accompany the presidential fishing excursions. ,. Of. Bush headed off to sea As he has done every Day of his vacation