The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 11

Page 11A Feb. 27,1990 Stringfellow petitions for judicial re vie Continues battle for 30 nursing home beds "If this went on for three years, it would really hurt us," Allison said. Last year, the hospital averaged a $10,000 loss per month. By converting some of its hospital beds to nursing home beds as had been scheduled for completion by the end of this year Allison had hoped to avoid such loses. "We've identified the need for the beds in that area (Calhoun County) and it's a shame that that need can't be satisfied until everything's settled," Stewart said.

"It can be terribly expensive for everyone to meet the deadline for its initial application and should never have been considered for the beds by SHPDA. Golden Springs attorney Richard Brockman said no date has been set for that hearing. Brockman declined comment on Stringfellow's petition and Piedmont attorney Walter Byars could not be reached for comment. For the financially strapped Piedmont Hospital, the delay could cause further financial duress. i Stewart said such legal squabbles are not uncommon and could last up to three years.

The petition is a procedure that state law provides for reviewing SHPDA decisions. On Jan. 10, SHPDA overturned its October decision to divide 30 nursing home beds evenly between Piedmont, Golden Springs and Stringfellow. It then awarded Piedmont 20 beds and Golden Springs 10. Both Piedmont Hospital Administrator Tommy Allison and Golden defendants in the complaint.

In addition, Stringfellow filed a motion that seeks a court order to halt construction for the beds by the two health care facilities. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Sam Monk. No date has been set for the hearing, Stringfellow attorney Charles Doster said. Monk said this morning he hoped to schedule a hearing within 30 days. SHPDA Deputy Director Charlie Brick buildings on left were 'W-liZ I'll 1.1 1 Springs Administrator Becky Helton expressed dismay over Str-ingfellow's legal action.

"I CAN'T SEE where Stringfellow has an argument because first of all they didn't file their application (for the beds) on a timely basis," Ms. Helton said. In December, Golden Springs filed a petition for judicial review in Montgomery County Circuit Court saying that Stringfellow had failed 'i 'i -i i in Oxford election sible closing of Fort McClellan," Willis said in his press release. Willis has sponsored a resolution urging Congress, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and President George Bush to reconsider the plan to close McClellan. "This is my number one priority," Willis said.

"I've asked the governor to hand deliver this resolution to the president." By selling his once-successful Piedmont lumberyard last October, Willis said he will have more time to serve his district, which covers northern Calhoun County and includes Weaver, Jacksonville and Piedmont. lapsed. a and will been Monday owner recleaning cleaners, damaged, Sunday See Wright's contract extended By Judy Johnson Star Education Editor The contract of Anniston City Schools Superintendent Dr. Bruce Wright, due to expire in August, was extended for an additional year Monday during a special called meeting of the Anniston City Board of Education. The vote was unanimous.

The original contract was for three years, ending in August. But a paragraph included in the contract gave the board the right to extend it for an additional year upon notification in writing to Wright given at least 180 days before the expiration date. Monday was the last day that notification could be given. Wright was in California at a meeting of the National Association of School Administrators. He sat in on the board meeting via speaker phone.

Board member Nathaniel Davis told Wright he would prefer to renew the contract for a longer period, and other board members agreed, but board President Barbara Childs told Wright and the board she thought it would be legally necessary to meet with Wright and negotiate a new contract before that could be done. SHE SAID AFTER the meeting that negotiations for a new contract could begin within a month. Wright came to the system in August 1987, following the controversial forced resignation of Dr. J.V. Sailors.

His salary was set at that time at $65,000, and he also receives an annual expense allowance. The board gave him a 7.5 percent raise when teachers received a raise two years ago, bringing his salary to nearly $70,000. The contract renewal does not include a salary increase. "It's been two and a half years since Bruce Wright came to the Anniston City Schools as superintendent," Mrs. Childs said in a statement before the vote.

"Many things have changed for the better since that time." The rest of the board clearly agreed. "I certainly want to exercise this option, but I'm anxious to enter into a multi-year arrangement," said board member Bill Jackson after Davis suggested going ahead with a new three-year contract. "I value you for our system," Jackson told Wright. "You are in the middle of programs you have initiated. Today we need to take this See Wright 14A destroyed by a fire Sunday Storeowner to rebuild after blaze By Jim Yardley Star Staff Writer By Jenny Labalme 'Star Medical Writer What has already been a four-month battle for Calhoun County's SO nursing home beds apparently will be longer.

Stringfellow Memorial Hospital on Friday asked a Calhoun County circuit judge to overturn a January decision by the State Health Planning and Development Agency to strip the hospital of 10 nursing home beds it had previously been granted. SHPDA, Piedmont Hospital and Nursing Home and Golden Springs Health Care Center are named as Sin tax hearing gran ted By Matt Smith Star Stan Writer County Commission Chairman Mike Rogers will hold a special commission meeting with a Calhoun County group trying to block a proposed 3-cent tobacco tax. Rogers, who approved the meeting request, said today the date of the meeting will depend on when and if the bill moves through the Legislature. Citizens Against Sin Taxes spokesman John Johnson said his group wants to wait until the measure gets out of the Legislature to allow adequate time to advertise. The group has collected more than 850 signatures of people opposed to the tax.

"We're going to go down the list (of signatures) and try to sort them by district," he said. "I want each commissioner to realize that if we have 200 signatures from one district, for example, that's 200 people who might vote against him in the next election." Rogers stressed that the current plan for the tobacco tax was drafted by the county's House delegation, not the County Commission. "THIS IS NOT our proposal," he said. "We're endorsing it, but it's not ours. We were requested to endorse it by the legislative delegation We don't have the power to raise money.

Beggars can't be choosers." Johnson said he is confident the group will block the tax increase. "At the county level, one vote will sway it," he said Monday. The tobacco tax must be approved by a unanimous vote of the commission, rather than a popular referendum. CAST, organized by Anniston radio talk-show host Ed Benedict, will also appear. Wednesday before the House of Representatives' Local Legislation Committee.

The bill, sponsored by House Speaker Pro Tern Jim Campbell, D-Anniston, would levy a 3-cent per pack fee on cigarettes and chewing tobacco sold in Calhoun County. It must be approved by all three local representatives Campbell, Rep. Bobby Crow, D-Coldwater, and Rep. Gerald Willis, D-Nance's Creek before it can be voted on by the House and by Oxford Sen. Donald Holmes in the state Senate.

Although all three House members are backing the bill in the Local Legislation Conimittee, Willis said the delegation could change its mind See Tax12A Hubbert: pressure industries By Matt Smith Star Staff Writer OXFORD Alabama should use the Emelle toxic-waste landfill to pressure industries to move here. Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Paul Hubbert said Monday night. Hubbert spoke at the Western Sizzlin Steak House in Oxford at an "appreciation dinner" sponsored by the Alabama Education Association's local organization. Speaking to about 200 people at the $25-per-plate fund-raising dinner, the AEA Executive Secretary said businesses that ship to Emelle should either build their plants here or dump their wastes in their own states. "We are in effect the pay toilet for the rest of the country," Hubbert said following his speech.

"They are willing to pay us to See Hubbert14A Deputy Fire Marshal Mike Haynes conducted preliminary investigation of the blaze return Wednesday. No cause has yet determined. was a busy day at Oxford Cleaners as Johnny Bentley and his staff began all the clothing in the store. The next to Cotton Furniture, was not but Bentley and others removed everything morning just to be safe. Blaze 12A "I've done real well here, and I just hate like rip not to start over," he said.

So that's what he will do begin again. Cotton plans to move what furniture he can salvage to a temporary location at 424 Main and rebuild his store. The fire began two doors up at an unnamed Western memorabilia shop and carried through Slick's Carpet Inc. into Cotton Furniture. City workers spent Monday constructing a wooden barricade around the burned section to protect bystanders in case the brick 'walls col OXFORD Until Sunday morning.

Main Street had been very good to Oscar Cotton. The furniture store he opened 15 years ago at 516 and 518 Main had evolved into a thriving business with customers throughout the South. Monday, after a Sunday morning fire badly damaged his store and two others. Cotton and several others removed charred and warped furniture from his building. Gerald Willis to seek re By David Woronoff Star Staff Writer PIEDMONT State Rep.

Gerald Willis, D-Nances Creek, on Monday announced his plans to seek reelection to his seat in the Alabama House of Representatives. The field for the June 5 primaries is also expected to include Jacksonville Mayor Pro Tern Jerry L. Smith, a political science professor at Jacksonville State University, and possibly Larry W. Smith, a retired military man who has not publicly announced his candidacy for the office. Gerald Willis Alabama, Georgia work to settle water conflict If re-elected, Willis said he would become the first legislator to serve District 34 for consecutive terms.

He served in the Legislature for the 1978 and 1986 terms, but skipped the 1982 election to pursue an unsuccessful presidential campaign. Willis, wearing a "Save the Fort" T-shirt on Monday, said the focal point of his campaign will be to keep Fort McClellan a fixture in Calhoun County. "I will work with our county and state officials and our U.S. congressman and the citizens of Calhoun County to prevent the pos i Eddw MowTrie AnnMUn I hopeful Paul Hubbert By Robert B. McNeil Statea News Service At-- quality and quantity of water in Alabama.

Bevill is chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Resources, which passes on the annual budget requests of the Corps of Engineers. TO MEET THE short-term needs of north Georgia communities in the Alabama-Coosa river basin, the engineers propose setting aside additional but limited amounts of storage water in Lake Allatoona and Carters Lake, according to Maj. Gen. Patrick Kelly, the Army's director of civil works. Testifying before Bevill 's subcommittee, Kelly said the recommendations for the Alabama-Coosa basin include setting aside 1,030 acre-feet in Carters Lake for the city of Chatsworth and 14,648 acre-feet in Lake Allatoona for the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority.

Kelly said the new recommendation can go into effect within a year. It would set aside 26,413 acre-feet less than the engineers proposed last fall. For Atlanta, Kelly said the engineers recommend continuing short-term water supply contracts at Lake Lanier on the Chattahoochee at about the same levels of withdrawals for three to four years. The proposed study will cost from $3.5 million to $5 million and will not require state or local payments, Kelly said. WASHINGTON Alabama Gov.

Guy Hunt pledged Monday to work with Georgia to settle potential conflicts over water in the Coosa and Chattahoochee River basins that both states share. Hunt said he has talked already with Georgia Gov. Joe Frank Harris and told him that we should have enough water in both states to solve the problems." The two governors are in Washington for the winter meeting of the National Governors' Association. They promised to cooperate with each other "to work out whatever's best," said Hunt, who threatened last fall to oppose any diversions from federal reservoirs in Georgia until he has been shown that there will be "no significant economic and environmental downstream impacts" on Alabama. Hunt's pledge of support came Monday after the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers formally unveiled new plans for a comprehensive, four-year study of conflicting demands for water from growing urban areas in Georgia. Rep. Tom Bevill, D-Jasper, asked the engineers last November to develop a plan for full-scale river basin studies to address concerns that growing water demands in Georgia's urban areas could threaten the 1 Democratic gubernatorial.