The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 1

Alabama honors its champs with parade this morningPage IB ffe January 30, 1993 Alabama's largest home-owned newspaper 50 cents Clinton takes first step toward revoking gay ban By Terence Hunt Associated Press 0 iWr ft I Gift of life Parts of the lungs from a mother and a father were transplanted into their dying 22-year-old daughter Friday in Los Angeles in the world's first such operation, a hospital announced. "Surgeons removed portions of the lungs of the patient's 49-year-old mother and 55-year-old father to transplant into the young woman in an urgent and high-risk I emergency procedure to extend her life," 'said a statement from the University of Southern California's University HospitaJ. James Sewell, his wife, Barbara, and their daughter Stacy all from Quartz Hill, Calif. were in critical condition after the five-hour set of simultaneous operations performed in three operating rooms. But all doing fine," said Beverly Strong, a hospital spokeswoman.

The young woman was dying from cystic fibrosis, Strong said. "It became apparent she was going into (lung) failure and they had to perform the surgery to save her life." 3 -i. Eddie MotesThe Anniston Star Staff Sergeants Tony McGee, April Station at Post Exchange WASHINGTON President Clinton took the first steps toward revoking the 50-year ban on homosexuals in the military Friday, throwing his administration into a risky battle with Congress and sharpening a national debate over gay rights. After intense negotiations to strike a compromise with Democratic leaders, Clinton announced he was ordering the drafting of a formal order by July 15 to revoke the ban. In the meantime, he said, military recruits no longer will be asked about their sexual orientation in effect letting them enlist if they do not openly declare their status.

Yet, members of the armed forces who declare they are homosexuals will be subject to discharge proceedings. 'THIS IS a dramatic step forward," Clinton said at brief news conference at the White House. "Normally in the history of civil rights advancements, presidents have not necessarily been in the forefront in the beginning." Republicans denounced Clinton's action and promised to fight it. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell said he believed he had the votes to defeat them. Gen.

Colin Powell, chairman of President Bill Clinton What do they think? Service members split on lifting gay ban the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Clinton "has given us a direction to move in, and we are going to be moving in that direction." He declined to restate the chiefs' opposition to the ban. Sen. Sam Nunn, the influential chairman of the Armed Services Committee, extracted major concessions from Clinton about how to treat homosexuals already in the military. And he said By Sean Reilly Star Staff Writer Check gobbled The evidence is missing in a check-forgery case, but it's whereabouts are no secret. Troy, N.Y., police say the culprit told them he gobbled it up.

Frank Grasso, 53, was arrested Thursday after trying to cash an $840 check at a bank. Officer Donald Backaus took Grasso the police station, where he was handcuffed to a bench. The check was left on a desk in the same room. Backaus said when he returned after leaving Grasso alone, the check was missing. As he was searched, Backaus said, Grasso told him: "'You won't find it because I ate Grasso was held on a forged check charge.

Bail was set at $5,000. Once questioned, service members at Fort McClellan, as well as those at three other sites across the country, had definite opinions on the subject. But that opinion was far from unanimous. While many are as adamant as the Joint Chiefs in opposing homosexuals in the military, there is also a strong measure of acceptance, particularly See Reaction2A FORT McCLELLAN The pace was quiet, unhurried, on Friday morning at the Fort McClellan Post ExchangeCommissary complex, as service members here seemed almost unfazed by President Clinton's proposal to lift the ban on gays in the military. See Gay ban2A Hall of Fame inducts three top musicians Carroll County fights outbreak of meningitis Retreat at Cheaha Members of the Anniston City Council have headed to Cheaha State Park for counseling and to reaffirm their vows to work together for the next four years News5A By Mike Stedham Star Entertainment Writer By Lauran Neergaard Associated Press Writer Super Sunday Marv Levy and Jimmy Johnson, the men who will coach the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, made one vow Friday: They will open things up.

Sports1 Sunny Today mostly sunny with a high in the mid-50's. Tonight clear and cold with a low in the upper 20s. Sunday sunny and a little warmer. Forecast4A Bill WilsonThe Anniston Star Recreation director George Reed asked for help locating stolen items Youths pitch in and help find loot taken from Carver Center HUNTS VI LLE The band Ala-, bama, Percy Sledge, Tammy Wynette and Jimmie Rodgers were inducted Friday night into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. "It was a thrill just to be nominated," said Sledge, a native of Leighton.

"I feel light as a feather. This is real exciting." Before his induction, Sledge was one of more than a dozen singers and bands with Alabama connections to perform for a black-tie crowd at the Von Braun Civic Center. Sledge, who first made the charts with the classic "When a Man Loves a Woman," was clearly a crowd favorite. "I sing to myself I don't sing to audiences these days," Sledge said before his numbers. "I try to make myself cry." Sledge was admitted to the hall of fame by winning the hall's Lifework Award for Performing Achievement.

Also inducted in the performance category were Alabama and Ms. Wynette. Three members of Alabama cousins Randy Owens, Teddy Gentry and Jeff Cook are from Fort Payne, and have been supporters of the hall of fame since its inception in 1985. The band's hit song, "My Home's In Alabama," has become the unofficial anthem of the hall, and it was used to close the ceremony Friday night. Ms.

Wynette, a Red Bay native, is the second woman named to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. "This year's class of prestigious inductees adds to the list of distinguished music achievers who grace our hall," said David Johnson, executive director. Sixteen acts have already been inducted, includ- See Musicians2A CARROLLTON, Ga. Residents of a western Georgia county lined up for bacterial meningitis vaccinations Friday amid an outbreak of the disease blamed for one death. Health officials in Carroll County hoped to vaccinate more than 20,000 people between ages 2 and 29 by Sunday.

By early afternoon, 2,745 people had received shots, said Jeanne Mathews of Tanner Medical Center. The disease has killed one girl, and six residents have become ill since November. The outbreak hasn't reached Cleburne or Calhoun counties, said Thomas Nielsen, administrator for the Alabama Department of Health in this area. "I have not heard anything about that," Nielsen said Friday night. Across the state line, though, people are taking precautions.

Teressa Moore brought her 10-y ear-old daughter to be vaccinated. "Every time she's sneezed or said 'Mama, got a my heart's just stopped," said Ms. Moore. "Maybe I can rest a little easier now." In the Carrollton area, 35 miles southwest of Atlanta, health officials haven't been able to link any of the victims, said Dr. Lisa Jackson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In an apparently unrelated case, a man died of meningitis in Dublin, about 200 miles to the east, officials said. Meningitis is inflammation of the fluid and membrane that surround the brain and spinal cord. Bacterial meningitis, the most severe type, can kill or cause permanent brain damage. It usually afflicts younger people, but doctors do not know why. Symptoms include -high fever, headache and stiff neck.

Bacterial meningitis Type the strain in Georgia, is caused by a bacterium that is carried by many people but causes illness in only about one of every 100,000 Americans. It is usually spread by coughing or sneezing. Mrs. Louise Blackwell, Weaver Mrs. Selma A.

Calloway, Anniston Mr. James Luther Crane, Fort Payne, Infant Willie James Jenkins III, Anniston, Mr. Vann Anderson Wilson, Gadsden Rev. William P. Poor, Roanoke, Ms.

Tameka M. Youson, Atlanta Obituaries5A By Laura Howard Star Staff Writer Reed, a former military police who has worked with juveniles, said he knew the only chance the center had of getting its property back was to appeal to the people who use it. By Monday, many items had trickled in. Items stolen included a telephone, VCR and a microwave. No one has been charged with the burglary, Anniston police Capt.

Mike Fincher said. It is the first for the center in a couple of years, and without the children's help, the chances of recovering the stolen electronics would have been slim. "It's very, very unusual to get this kind of help," Fincher said. "I think it was terrific that we got this cooperation from the community in solving this crime. Hopefully this is just the beginning." See Carver2A The Carver Community Center has for years been a second home for many west Anniston youths; they pour into the facility on West 14th Street right after school lets out.

When burglars invaded their home two weeks ago, the kids decided they were fed up. They decided to do something about it. Shortly after the Jan. 16-17 burglary, George Reed, the center's recreation leader, asked for help locating the stolen items. The children responded by putting the word out and finding the loot.

"The kids, they really look up to this center," Reed said. "They understand that someone coming in here taking from the center that's taking from them." 1 1 wn -J i Wrongful death law applies only to 'viable' fetuses II.I.IW gA Calendar 7A GvSmith 8A Classifieds 6B Movies 8A Cody Hall 8A People 7A Comics 6A Religion 9A Docket 4A Sports 1B By Jay Reeves Associated Press enactments, is to protect the potentiality of life," Maddox wrote. The state's wrongful death law says parents can sue to be compensated for the loss of a "minor child." The Supreme Court previously ruled that the term includes unborn children who could live outside the womb, or are "viable." However, the court refused to extend the definition to fetuses that die or are killed See Fetas3A pregnancies are exactly alike. It also raised some troubling questions, he said. "It would seem to be better for someone to kill a nonviable fetus than to injure one and let it be born," said Crook.

JUSTICE HUGH MADDOX wrote a lengthy dissenting opinion. He said parents should be able to recover money for the death of a fetus, except in cases where a mother chooses to have an abortion. "In short, I believe that the policy of the state, as expressed in various legislative to fetuses that die or are killed before they are "viable." Ruling Friday in a pair of unsigned opinions, the court rejected claims from two couples who sued doctors, claiming that an obstetrical procedure dilation and curettage wrongfully caused the deaths of their unborn children. i Ron Crook, a Birmingham attorney who represented one of the couples, said the decision could open up a new debate on when fetuses become viable, since no two A MONTGOMERY Parents cannot collect money for the death of an unborn child unless the fetus could have survived outside the womb, a divided Alabama Supreme Court ruled Eriday in a precedent-setting decision. The court, in two similar cases from Autauga and Jefferson counties, said Alabama's wrongful death law does not apply BOB Vol.

113, No. 30 (USPS 026-440) 60 pages In three sections By Mall, 60 pages In three sections Consolidated Publishing Co..