The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 8

Th Twwwn Sunday APRIL 18. 1993 5 TOY irLm few. 1 1 11, Eleven 1990s murders -and counting 1 Linda Orr DATE KILLED 33091 AGE 41 A A Jr Leanna Shoulders AGE DATE KILLED 25 4293 PLACE Days Inn, Dickerson Road WOUNDS 1 gunshot to back Leanna was married. "My life will not ever, ever be the same. I'll never be able to hug her again." Mother Johnnie Hough PLACE Jim Dandy Market, Hermitage area () WOUNDS 2 gunshots, chest abdomen, Unda was a widowed mother of two teen-age sons.

"They Just killed my mother." Son Brian Orr William Jackson AGE ATE KILLED 29 Kjf 4492 PLACE Wendy's, Hwy. 70, Bellevue WOUNDS 1 gunshot to head William was single. "Five more seconds and he would have had the safe open. And Fowl Shot him in the back of the head." Co-worker Henry Ragon Peggy Cox DATE KILLED 2191 AGE 47 49 PLACE Hardee's, Hwy. 96, Franklin WOUNDS 1 gunshot to head Convenience store owners respond Jim Dandy Markets "We have increased security over the past few years.

But what we really believe is that there are not stiff enough penalties for the criminals because robbing a convenience market is never the criminal's first offense. They've done something before, but now they're back on the streets." David Rueff, security director Wendy's "In a fast-food place, the keys to security are safety in numbers and good security procedures which we have in place and continually re-emphasize." Henry Hillenmeyer, chairman, Southern Hospitality Captain D's "Captain D's does everything it can to protect their employees. As a policy, we do not discuss our safety procedures publicly for the protection of the employees." Hank Dye, spokesman Kennedy's Exxon "We are deeply hurt by the our tragedy. We have had and continue to have very extensive security in our establishment For obvious security reasons, I don't feel comfortable talking about them publicly." David Kennedy, owner Jr. Food Stores "The shooting in Murf reesboro is our first experience with such a violent crime.

From the time of the shooting, the store was closed. We simply didn't have the heart to reopen for business." Alan Reeves, president Phillip Rigling, whose wife was murdered at their family-owned market, Phil's One Stop in Lawrence County, did not want to discuss details of the case. Owners of other Midstate businesses where murders of convenience clerks have occurred this decade did not return telephone calls to The Michelle Blake AGE DATE KILLED 26 41990 PLACE Pit Stop South, McMinnville WOUNDS 7 stabs to back, chest, neck Michelle was trie married mother of a 3 year old daughter. "When I saw her lying there between two trees, I knew Immediately she was dead." Resident Sharon Shannon Peggy was the mother of one son and two daughters. "It still rips us apart.

There's not a day goes by that we don't think of her." Sister-in-law Mary Williams p. I 1 Air DAVIDSON VO I COUNTY 0 David Webster ODATE KILLED 92992 AGE 22 PLACE Captain D's, Green Hills WOUNDS 1 gunshot to face David was single. "Where's the money?" the gunman asked, then immediately fired thA shot. MIDSTATE 7 TJ'7 Lawrence rX County i ii tift.nri 1 Co-worker Craij a Mi i pwpcl I -v'l I 1 1 Danny Davis Maichelle Trotter How to help Anyone with any Information on these unsolved "murders of convenience" should contact the following authorities: Linda Orr Metro Police Detective Grady Eleam, 862-7415 Gary Trenary Metro Police Detective Billy Pridemore, 862-7419 William Jackson Metro Police Detective Ed Moran, 862-7329 David Webster Metro Police Detective Mike Smith, 862-7488 Peggy Cox Franklin Police Lt. Tim Taylor, 791-3239 Joanne Rigling Lawrence County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Terry Beecham, 762-3626.

Joann Rigling AGE DATE KILLED 58 61992 PLACE Phil's One Stop, St. Joseph WOUNDS 1 gunshot to head Joann was the married mother of two daughters and two sons. "I just feel like the authorities should be doing more to find out who did this." Husband Phillip Rigling Gary Trenary AGE DATE KILLED 44 12891 PLACE I-40 Liquors, Briley Parkway WOUNDS 1 gunshot to chest Gary was single "We're sick over this." 1-40 Liquors owner John A. Hobbs Cathy Singleton AGE DATE KILLED 35 12990 PLACE Jim Dandy Market, Harding Mall area WOUNDS 3 gunshots to head Cathy was single. "After Cathy's death, our whole family just went down." Adopted mother Hilda Dean AGE A DATE KILLED 43 2893 PLACE Jr.

Food Store, Murfreesboro WOUNDS 3 gunshots to face, arm, back Danny was engaged to be married. "You don't know what it feels like till somebody does this to someone you love." Fiancee Pat Guffey AGE DATE KILLED 23 12193 PLACE Kennedy's Exxon, Green Hills WOUNDS Beaten to death Maichelle was single. "I'd hang them," speaking of the murder suspects. Father Tommy Plumlee The TENNESSEAN Families of vidimus beg for safer stores 3 "It just makes no sense that we keep on letting this happen. You just cannot discount the value off human life." REP.

DICK CLARK D-Nashville ML more or less. Unfortunately, there's no consoling an- swer. In most cases, the killers ran away witb nothing. In others, they got away with a few hundred dollars, at most. r- A meager price, the victims' families say, for the life of someone you love.

"I am willing to do anything to stop kind of crime," says Dean, remembering the murder of her daughter, Cathy Single- ton, the first "convenience" death victim in Davidson County this decade. -T- "I am willing to do anything to make peo1 pie listen, to make these awful, senseless'" killings stop," says Pat Guffey, the ianceli of Danny Davis, 4 1 a two-tour Vietnam Ma'; rine veteran who was killed at a conven- ience market in Murfreesboro last Feb. $, "I'll do anything to help make these senseless killings stop," says Sharon Long;" the sister of Linda Orr, shot to death In Hermitage in 1991. VC! And when Johnnie Hough, the mother of' the most recently slain convenience clerk, i tries to echo these thoughts, her words 4 of Investigation. And without those hard numbers, it is difficult for the victims' families or concerned law enforcement and government officials to mount much of a crusade to stop the killings.

Currently, no statewide attempt to protect the workers is under way. However, a bill passed in the state House this spring would require Davidson County convenience market owners to install bulletproof glass cages. The Senate will debate the bill later this year. "It's going to be hard to pass it in the Senate," says Clark, who sponsored the House bill. "The grocery lobbyists are fighting extremely hard.

"They say the cages aren't effective, but that's not true. It's obvious that they work, because in the markets that do have them, their employees aren't getting robbed, stabbed or injured." Clark says he believes the convenience outlet owners simply "don't want to spend the $2,500" per outlet it would take to install the cages "to protect an employee." However, Tennessee Grocers Association President Wes Ball says the cages cost much more, closer to 1 4,000 each. Regardless, he maintains, cost isn't the issue: "Yes, we are fighting the bulletproof cage legislation. But that's because we primarily feel that this is not the answer." What is the solution? "If I knew that, I could be a very rich man. The truth is, we really don't know," Ball said.

"In our studies, we can't find that cages are the answer or that there is an answer." But Ball concedes that criminals have been "spooked" away from markets that have installed cages and are more likely to target unprotected restaurants and grocery stores. Other convenience outlet owners say the only true way to stop the crimes is to make business owners. To the victims' further detriment, regulations on workers' compensation benefits are complicated and the dollars are few. The benefits come from a state pool into which all businesses contribute, not directly from a business with a slain employee. If the victim has no immediate dependents, "the estate can get $10,000 as well as burial benefits not exceeding $4,500, and any medical benefits," McNulty explains.

"If the deceased has one dependent, 50 of the employee's average weekly wage will be paid, not exceeding 400 weeks or $127,296." Bottom line: Most families never see near that amount and the law forbids them from seeking more. Take the case of victim Linda Orr. Unlike most, her family did get a settlement but nothing near what they believe they deserved. The mother of two sons, Orr, 4 1 was gunned down March 30. 1 99 1 as she worked at the Jim Dandy Market in Hermitage.

Because he was then a minor, her son Brian eventually received a settlement of about $50,000. "Some people in motorcycle accidents get millions of dollars," an angry Brian says today. "I lose my mother, and that's that We can't sue anybody for more. "Is that fair?" Fair isn't a word that often pops up when the topic is murders of convenience. "To me, it just makes no sense that we keep on letting this happen," Clark says.

"You just cannot discount the value of human life." Yet police say, that's exactly what criminals are doing. Across Middle Tennessee this morning, hundreds of family members and friends of murder victims can only wonder why their lovedbnes were killed for a few dollars, i tect the businesses from lawsuits when employees are slain. This has convinced some police officers, some government officials and many of the victims' families that convenience employees are considered "expendable" people. "None of the people who were killed resisted the robberies at all," says Maj. Pat Griffin, describing the seven "convenience" murders that have occurred since January 1990 in Davidson County.

"These victims were just people trying to make an honest living. They were not armed, and generally, they had no protection whatsoever. "Simply, they were just easy prey." If a killer walks through the door, a late-night worker has virtually no chance of staying alive. Griffin profiles typical "convenience murderers" as unemployed males with criminal records who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. And when they move up the crime ladder to armed robbery, he says: "They get nervous and anxious and kill the clerks before it is humanly possible for the victims to move fast enough to hand over whatever dollars are in the cash registers." Aside from the 1 1 Midstate slayings this decade, scores of other armed robberies may or may not end with injuries to the late-night workers.

"We're having sometimes two and three armed robberies a night where no one is hurt," says state Rep. Dick Clark, D-Nash-ville, who has been fighting in the legislature for laws to try to stop "murders of convenience" for more than two years. "Ifs so commonplace, some people don't even report it until someone is hurt." No official statewide count of convenience outlet murdep is kept by any state Cgency, according the Tennessee Bureau catch in her throat "It hurts too much," she whispers. sure the courts keep the criminals off the street In the meantime, could at least some of the late-night slayings be prevented if bulletproof cages or more elaborate security measures were used? Or, are late-night convenience workers considered "expendable?" While business owners say "absolutely not," Clark answers "yes" to both questions. "It does seem to me that the job market availability for this type of work is plentiful," Clark says.

"If they lose any employee because he or she is unhappy, can't cope with the dangers of the job or if they are murdered, they can be replaced fairly easily." Another fact in "convenience murders" is that state labor laws strongly favor the convenience outlet owners, not the workers. "Tennessee's workers' compensation law is an exclusive remedy law," says Nancy McNulty, spokeswoman for the state Department of Labor, explaining that this law covers almost all businesses that employ more than five people. "This protects covered employers with insurance from any other recourse." Put plainly, that means the families of convenience-store murder victims cannot, understate law, file lawsuits against the Her daughter, Leanna Shoulders, 25, a clerk at the Days Inn on Dickerson was killed by one shot blasted into her bact just three weeks ago, April 1 "My life will never be right again," Hough says in an empty tone that seems to creepy into the voices of all the family members left behind. "We were friends. Mother and daughter, yes, but friends, too.

We talked every day. We laughed. We loved each other so much. "But now, I can't call her anymore, ever again. She can't call me anymore, ever again.

I can never put my arms around hir i to hug her, ever again. i "I can't tell her I love her," the mother adds, tears flowing down her face, "ever again." 1.