Ok,,, this may be dumb, but I gotta ask.  The admin.template file appears to be the file creating the Admin menu and setting the permissions to "Administrator."  Now, maybe I am slow, but couldn't I just set up a new "Manager" Tab in admin.template, assign the items, Role permissions, etc. that I want to give to a "manager"  to that Tab?  This, of course presumes I have set up a "manager" role in my site template in advance.

Maybe this really is too simple a solution, but sure seems to me it would work.  

Next, if it indeed would work, what would be wrong with setting up a "Content" management Tab/Role/Permissions, a Personnel Tab/Role/Permissions and so on.  Then I would not need to assign "Administrator" functions to everyone in the world to allow a content manager to access the tabs, site settings, etc and on and on and on.

Have I missed something, or would it really be that simple?

Clay