The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 9

June 14,1996 Page9A Ills Metropolitan Editor: Phil Jenkins, 235-9277 Taxing, goals of zoning authority new chairman Ask Us Sue Jtf I Vondracek I in. 1: iS J'l HI By Tim Pryor Star Staff Writer As chairman of the Calhoun County Commission, every day counts. Robert Downing learned that lesson as the current chairman, helping to create a new solid waste management plan but not having the time to push to make the chairman's position a permanent one, Eli Henderson will face the same constraints when he becomes chairman June 22. His goal is to get taxing and zoning authority for the county. Commissioners are elected for four years.

But a federal court order requires the five commissioners to rotate the chairmanship position about every 10 months. The chairman, who handles the day-today affairs of the commission and Three runoff candidates pick up endorsements of former rivals I -PC 9 A i -fy 1 I '4 Will ChandlerThe Anniston Star vice president and senior loan officer with Compass in Florence. "This was a pretty sought-after position," he said. "I just jumped at it when Jerome went down to Auburn." Braithwaite was told June 4 that he would be moving to Calhoun County. The bank announced his appointment Thursday.

"David is an outstanding and experienced banker who is dedicated to meeting the needs of our customers," said Compass Chairman and Chief Executive Officer D. Paul Jones. "In addition, he is community-oriented and lends his See Compass 11 A my fair lady By Richard Coe And Eric Larson Star Staff Writers Three candidates for Alabama's 3rd District House seat recently picked up endorsements' from men they beat in the primaries. State Sen. Gerald Dial, D-Lineville, received the endorsement of Lea File Jr.

this morning. Republican Bob Riley was endorsed by Jack Sexton while his opponent, B.B. Comer, picked up the endorsement of the Rev. Rick Hagans of Opelika. At a press conference on the federal courthouse steps, Fite nounced he would endorse Dial in the June 25 runoff against attorney Ted Little of Auburn.

Dominique Pitts, left, and Danielle Maxwell get ready to fall down as they play London Bridge at Faith Temple Christian Center in Jacksonville recently. Both girls are four years old. Braithwaite named Compass president Fruitless search for baby leads to doubts sets its meeting agendas, is paid about $33,000 for his stint, double the annual salary of the other commissioners. "When you've got such a short amount of time, you're faced with what you want to do and what you have time to do," Downing said. Still, Henderson has set an ambitious goal.

Rep. Mike Rogers introduced a "home-rule" bill last June that would have given the county limited authority to tax and zone, but the bill died when a majority of local representatives failed to support it. State Rep. Larry Sims, R-Eastaboga, who helped defeat the bill last year, remains opposed to home rule. He said county residents don't want to give the commission authority to raise their taxes.

See Henderson 1 1A Fite finished last in the Democratic primary with 2,993 votes, but Dial can use all the votes he can get. Dial left the primary with 13,843 votes, or 26 percent, compared to Little's 25,092 votes, or 47 percent. Dial also announced that he had received the personal support of State Sen. Gerald Willis, D-Nances Creek, even though Willis stopped short of an outright endorsement. Willis received 1 1 ,7 14 votes, or 22 percent, and finished third in the primary.

"I don't feel comfortable endorsing anyone," said Willis in a telephone interview this morning. However, "if I go vote, which I plan to, I probably will vote for (Dial)." If we don't find something by (today), we're going to put it in limbo for awhile," said Arnold Parker, directing the search for the Etowah County Rescue Squad. Parker's comments came Thursday after police confirmed they had not ruled out the possibility that the whole episode was a hoax. A department spokesman said such a scheme was "one of many things" being investigated. "We've ruled out nothing," Lt.

Randy Phillips said. little peeved if they don't see you working. "I still help frame my own houses," says Murphree "who is 61. "I can't go at it like I once could, Each year makes a difference." Calhoun County's working Baptists made a giant leap Thursday afternoon in their work on Riverwood's fellowship hall. They See Church 14A Customer amazed at lack of care given retail plants QUESTION: It never ceases to amaze me that stores buy hundreds of dollars worth of spring and summer bedding plants only to plop them out in the hot sun' and fail to water them properly'.

Then, they expect their customers to buy wilted, stressed flats of plants at regular prices. Don't greenhouse operations provide care instructions to these stores when they deliver the plants? If so, why don't store personnel use them? I don't like to buy wilted, stressed plants, but sometimes they are the only kind available, if you could tell me where I can pick up simple instructions for caring for commercial bedding plants, I'd be happy to distribute them to store managers and ask them to follow them. F.N., Anniston. ANSWER: An area greenhouse owner said simple instructions are provided for their customers to follow, but he has noticed some don't choose to. follow them.

Here are some points made by those instructions you can pass on to retailers who don't take care of their plants: Warmer than greenhouse temperatures cause plants to dry out quickly and decline faster. Each plant must be watered daily; sometimes twice daily during 83-degree and above weather. A hit-or-miss sprinkler system is ineffective. Some plants are watered too much, others too little or not at all. i Plants should be raised off trie ground on berifches or in greenhouse trays tojceep them out of standing away from diseases and within easy reach of customers.

Air can readily circulate around raised plants, helping to keep them cool and disease free. Stressed or dying plants should be moved away from I 1.1 A Cn 1 1 1 .1 1 1 1 1 ir-X HI1L1 CUULOJ IU1 LI LI 1 L. IV sale, indicating they are receiving appropriate attention from the care giver. Read law; take action QUESTION: I'd like to know when it is time to consult an attorney. We've got a situation in our neighborhood with confined but loud-barking dogs.

We've spoken to the dog owners and called city officials about this, but nothing is ever done. I can't gei siccp ai nigni anu several neighbors have the same problem. Is it time to sue the owners or the city for not responding to our complaints? Calhoun County resident ANSWER: Visit City Hall and ask for a copy of the pet restraint ordinance. In it you'll probably find a clause about excessive noise after a certain hour. When you read the ordinance, follow the proper procedure for filing a complaint." Your complaint will give city officials something tangible with which to work.

If the ordinance then isn't followed, see your attorney. mm QUESTION: We have a huge dogwood treelto our yard with several dead branches. When we trim off the dead part, the tree will be unbalanced if the rest of the tree isn't pruned. We're told if we prune the tree now, it may bleed to death, but I can't stand to make things unbalanced. Is there some way around this problem? T.D., Anniston.

ANSWER: Though this isn't the time to prune dogwood trees, visit your favorite garden center and buy tree mastic, which you'll naint nn the cut areas to keen the sap from running. Don't expect it to bloom next year because you'll have cut off the flower buds. Write "Ask us!" to help solve problems and find information after you've tried yourself. WRITE, don't phone, and include your name, address and daytime phone number. Send ONLY COPIES of related papers and can-, teled checks.

Initials used on request Mail to "Ask us!" The Anniston Star, P.O. Box 189, Anniston 36202. p-. Eli Henderson Dial also had letters of endorsement from Mayor Vera Stewart of Piedmont and Charles T. "Pete" Mathews.

Jacksonville State University trustee. While Riley picked up the endorsement of one of his primary opponents in the Republican race for the 3rd House District, B.B. Comer, Riley's opponent in the runoff, is trying to use that endorsement against him. Riley announced Thursday that Jack Sexton had endorsed him. Riley captured 39 percent of the vote in the primary.

Comer won 21 percent and Sexton, a Moody insurance agent, had 8 percent. "I campaigned very hard for 1 1 See Endorsements 14A A woman anonymously called the city planning office Tuesday morning and matter-of-factly said a Hispanic woman had thrown a baby into the river off an unspecified bridge, instructing a worker to call 911. Narcotics detective Billy Vasser, who raced to the Coosa River with officer Janett Wissler, told colleagues he spottedjthe child in the water near a rail trestle as he See Search 14A Some praying, some singing and good-bye BISMARCK, N.D. In a lot of ways it was just like a Southern Southern Baptist Wednesday night prayer meeting is supposed to be. There were praying and singing and testimonials.

But this particular night here in Bismarck, a city of some 60,000 hardy people of the Northern Plains, the good burghers at Riv-erwood Baptist Church used the prayer meeting as a time to officially say good-bye to some 45 Alabama Baptists who, late this afternoon, will gather up their tools, get a good night's rest, and head for home early Saturday morning. It will be the end of a six-day work mission to build a 46-by-60-foot fellowship hall for their northern kin. It has been a mission well done. And River wood said good-bye with a dinner in the main sanctuary but not before the Rev. Don Hamilton, pastor at Fairview Heights-Northside, opened the -evening by leading a packed house See George Smith 14A George Smith Nv Star Senior ll Editor By Frederick Burger Star Business Editor OXFORD David M.

Braith-waite; a Georgia native with an Ivy League degree, has been named president of Compass Bank of Calhoun County, Braithwaite succeeds Jerome Vascocu, who in March moved to Auburn to be president of Compass Bank there. Braithwaite, 43, who joined Compass in 1989 in Florence, said he had eyed the local banking job when it came open before Vascocu assumed it in 1992. He said he decided then not to seek the position but to remain in his job as Murphree's love, faith overcome his disease By George Smith Star Senior Editor BISMARCK, N.D. A.C. Murphree, no stranger to the hammer and the saw, is strengthening the acquaintance this week de spite complaints from his lungs.

Murphree, a residential contrac tor in the Anniston area, has a lung disease, that while not cancerous, he says, can be just as deadly. This week he has been one of 45 Calhoun County Baptists who have flown or driven the 1,500 miles to Bismarck to add a 46-by-60-foot fellowship hall to River-wood Baptist Church. Each is a volunteer for the six- day mission. Some are retired. Those with jobs or businesses to operate have come here on vacation 'time.

Each also coughed up his own money to cover travel expenses and lodging. Most meals are provided at the building site. For Murphree, as for them all, it is a mission of love for their faith and their church. After two lung operations, "They told me I'd never work again," says Murphree, a deacon at First Baptist Church of DeAr-manville. "It feels good to be doing something again." Although the disease has been By Jay Reeves Associated Press GADSDEN Flowers and a big white bow left by passersby mark the spot where an infant supposedly was tossed into a murky river before slipping from the grasp of a would-be police rescuer.

Three days of searching for the baby have turned up only more mysteries, and the hunt may end before the most important question is answered whether there was ever any baby at all. quit Gypsum. I had to be sure I could make a living before I went out on my own." Home-building was a fit. His brother-in-law had been a builder and his father was a carpenter. "I like it," he says.

And, despite being the boss, he still handles a hammer in the houses he builds. couldn't stand not to do it," he says. "A lot of the builders really don't work on their houses, but I do. for some reason, a lot of people (you're building for) get a Anniston volunteers Jim Huggins and Paul Kemp, in foreground, work on roof. in remission for three years, "it's still there," Murphree says.

"It's just not growing." The building profession came late to Murphree. As a 19-year-old and newly married, Murphree went to work for his father-in-law, the late C.E. Canter, in the service station business. In 1973, he took a job with National Gypsum. "I was there 13 says Murphree.

"I started the construction business three years before I.