Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 1

violations? NCAA checks on Ole Miss, 1C BUSINESS AIRLINES CHAIRMAN PROVES HE IS STUFFED SHIRT a I Just don't let Herb Kelleher's zany antics fool you, 8C SOUTHERN STYLE Morning show hosts need special personality, 1D The Clarion-Ledger Mississippi Wednesday I February 19, 1997 Tough, new FDA rules limit sales of cigarettes The regulations include a photo ID for anyone under 27. By Jill Farrell King Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Nine out of every 10 customers who come into Hezekiah Watkins' neighborhood store on Dalton Street in Jackson are regulars, buying everything INSIDE from snacks and sodas to cigaThe new rettes. rules and regu- It's what he lations, 5A calls a "neighborhood mom-andpop store." The kind of store, he fears, that could be hit hardest by new regulations to be handed down by the federal Food and Drug Administration later this month. The rules, which were announced nationwide Tuesday through satellite broadcasts in 25 cities including Jackson, are aimed at preventing children and adolescents from becoming lifetime smokers by keeping them from becoming addicted in the first place. See SMOKING, 5A Senate veteran Ellis Bodron dies at age 73 Friends recall his attention to bill details despite his blindness.

By Emily Wagster Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Former state Sen. Ellis Bodron of Vicksburg, a longtime Finance Committee chairman swept out of office after questioning the 1982 Education Reform Act, died of brain cancer Monday at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center in Jackson. He was 73. Services are planned for Thursday with Wright Ferguson Funeral Bodron Home of Jackson handling arrangeINSIDE ments. 1 Orley Hood Bodron was a column: Bodron familiar face had great brain around the Capitol for 48 years, 36 power, 1B of them as a lawmaker and the last 12 as a lobbyist for the liquor, health care and insurance industries and tobacco interests.

Bodron, a lawyer, was elected to See BODRON, 5A Confirmed to Workers' Comp post Rep. Barney Schoby and his wife knowledge the applause of the Joyceria ac- after senators Senate on Tuesday Workers' J.D. Schwalm The Clarion-Ledger confirmed him for a seat on the Compensation Commission. says he probably will resign from House today. By Emily Wagster Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Confirmed Tuesday for a seat on the Workers' Compensation Commission, state Rep.

Barney Schoby says his departure from the House is "a bittersweet move." "I certainly am going to miss many of the people I served with," Schoby, D- Natchez, said after winning unanimous Senate approval. But, he added: "I won't miss all the double-crossing and backstabbing and those kinds of things. It's time to move on." Schoby, 57, said he'll probably submit a letter of resignation today for the House seat he's held 17-plus years. As soon as Gov. Kirk Fordice's staff finishes processing paperwork for his confirmation, Schoby will begin serving on the three-member board that rules on job-injury claims.

His term ends Jan. 1, 2003. Workers' Compensation Commission members are now paid $64,000 a year, but lawmakers this full Senate for Tuesday's vote. "Based on the testimony we heard, he has every intention of doing what he feels is best for the state of Mississippi," Kirby said. Kirby said Schoby had "mighty good references" with letters from several prominent Republicans, including U.S.

Sen. Thad Cochran and two-time GOP gubernatorial nominee Gil Carmichael. Republican Fordice surprised many Capitol observers last month by reaching across party lines to nominate Schoby. Sen. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, said though Schoby and the have not been considgovernor ered political allies, "they have shown a tendency to get along and agree on some "I hope Barney will bring a small-town, rural, southwest Mississippi face to the commission," Johnson said.

Schoby's wife, Joyceria, brought video camera to the Capitol Tuesday to record her husband's postconfirmation meeting with Fordice. "He has paid his dues here," she said with a smile. Schoby says it's 'time to move on' committee unanimously endorsed Natchez Democrat Legislature the nomination and sent it to the INSIDE I Lawmakers get peek at renovated Alamo Theatre, 1B I Legislators hear pleas on proposal affecting domestic violence victims, 5B 97 session have talked about raising the salaries to a yet-to-be-determined figure. Some were reluctant to vote on a change with Schoby's nomination pending. Senators approved Schoby's nomination Tuesday with less than three minutes' discussion and no debate.

That did not surprise Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, who led a 30- minute confirmation hearing for Schoby on Friday. After hearing glowing testimony from several of Schoby's legislative colleagues, the Navy to open regional office near Stennis The human resource center will be located near Bay St. Louis. By Larry Wheeler and Dennis Camire Gannett News Service WASHINGTON Navy Secretary John Dalton announced Tuesday the service would establish a new regional human resource center employing more than 300 civilians at the Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant at NASA's Stennis Space Center. "This is the great news we've been waiting and hoping to hear," said Rep.

Gene Taylor, whose Mississippi Gulf Coast district includes the space center near Bay St. Louis. Taylor, who serves on the House National Security Committee, had lobbied for the past two years for the new regional Human Resources Service Center, which would consolidate human resources support functions for the Southeast. In a series of letters to Dalton, Taylor argued several buildings at the ammunition plant, near Bay St. Louis and mothballed in 1990, would be "ideal" for the new center.

The Bay St. Louis regional center will oversee operations of 21 "satellite" offices remaining at Navy installations in Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas and Tennessee. The Navy also announced it would open a regional human resource center in Philadelphia for the Northeast and in Washington, D.C., for that metropolitan area, which hosts a number of Navy civilian employees. The consolidation is part of a Department of Defense directive to save manpower and resources, according to a Navy statement. "This effort will result in an overall savings to the American taxpayer," the statement said.

Navywide, about 1,100 civilian human resources jobs will be eliminated. The Navy hopes to minimize "involuntary separations" by relying on attrition, transfers and early retirements. "Although regionalization will require us to make difficult decisions, I am convinced the changes we will be making are necessary to reduce operating costs, while continuing to provide responsive civilian personnel service," wrote Bernard Rostker, assistant Navy secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, in a memo last April outlining the restructuring. Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida had been in the running to host the new regional center. Of the current 119 civilian positions at the Pensacola NAS human resources office, about 25 will be eliminated before Oct.

1. Another 55 job cuts will occur in fiscal years 1998 and 1999, according to Navy documents. Court awards benefits to widow of shipworker The justices vote unanimously in favor of Maggie Yates of Lucedale. By Butch John Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer A Mississippi widow whose husband's death was partially caused by asbestos exposure won a big victory Tuesday as the U.S. Supreme Court resolved a key issue over maritime-industry benefits.

The justices voted unanimously that Maggie Yates of Lucedale is entitled to widow's compensation from her husband's employer, Ingalls Shipbuilding Inc. "I'm proud of this decision," said Pascagoula lawyer Ransom Jones, who argued the case through the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1995 before going into semi -retirement and turning it over to Wynn Clark of Gulfport. "There are a lot of people waiting for these benefits and now these Lighthouse Point files petition to make competing casino obey regulations For convenient SNICKERS home delivery of L0607 The 961-7200 call Clarion-Ledger, Take Don't your hurry time the TIME 90860 or 1-800-222-8015, It's It's not seconds the that minutes Extension 7200 people, older people mostly who have been held hostage, are going to get the benefits they Federal regulators and the 9th Circuit previously ruled Yates was entitled to such benefits from Jefferson Yates' death in 1986, but the 5th Circuit Court concluded differently in a similar case. That split sent the matter to the Supreme Court.

Maggie Yates received an undisclosed lump sum for unpaid back benefits and has been receiving benefits since the 5th Circuit's decision, Jones said. She'll receive no additional money because of the Supreme Court's ruling, he said. Maggie Yates, 87, said Tuesday she didn't expect the court's ruling. "I always knew I ought to get something," she said. "I got letters from longshoremen and one thing and the other.

They said I was entitled to it, but that was a long time ago." The Associated Press contributed to this report. I Bayou Caddy accused of failing to make mandatory land-based investments. By Lee Ragland Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer A Mississippi casino company for the first time has formally accused a competitor of failing to 1 meet Gaming Commission land-based development requirements, and wants that boat to show why its license should not be suspended. Lighthouse Point Casino in Greenville filed a petition with the Gaming Commission stating that competitor Bayou Caddy Jubilee "has failed to implement any plans to comply with the infrastructure requirements." Gaming Commission regulations require that gaming companies invest at least 25 percent of their costs in land-based facilities. Commission records show that Bayou Caddy has yet to make the necessary investment.

Lighthouse officials call the inaction unfair since they met the regulation with $9.9 million invested in a hotel and a restaurant. "They are not equal in the competitive market," said Lighthouse Point attorney John Maxey. "We would like action." The petition asks that the Gaming Commission investigate Bayou Caddy's land-based investment, and then hold a show-cause hearing. If the requirements have not been met or a commitment made, Lighthouse Point would like the license pulled. Danny McDaniel, attorney for Bayou Caddy, said the company will comply with the regulation and plans to make a presentation at Thursday's Gaming Commission meeting.

Lighthouse opened in November 1996, and it built a 147-room Fairfield Inn in January. Bayou Caddy opened as The Cotton Club casino in December 1993 and changed names to the Bayou Caddy Jubilee in October 1995. Lighthouse's petition states Alpha Hospitality, Bayou Caddy's parent company, recently filed for a stock sale to raise $1.5 million, with none of the money stated for use on landbased development in Greenville. "As to the document filed by Lighthouse, it contains serious misstatements of fact and law and will be responded to in a different forum in the next few days," said McDaniel, who would not elaborate. TODAY'S EXTRA Time could be running out on five Mississippi casinos that have not met regulations for land-based development.

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Crosswords 3D News You Can Use 2D TV Tonight 6D Charles Ghigna Weather, 8A I I Volume 161 No. 2 1 6 sections 44 pages Copyright 1997.