The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 5

2B Thurdy. March 3 1994 THE TENNESSEAN Black churches to take part in AIDS awareness meeting Search yields no weapon at school HENDERSONVILLE il'U A search of 200 Hawkins Middle School students' lockers turned up nothing yesterday, Hendersonville police said. The search was prompted by an anonymous tipster, who said an eighth-grade student had a handgun in her locker. School officials, notified of the allegation, immediately began attempts to identify any students with information about a gun. A search of the students' lockers found no firearms or drugs, according to a statement by police.

This is the second time in a week a Hendersonville school has been searched for drugs or firearms. On Friday, Hendersonville High School was searched for drugs by two drugsniffing dogs but nothing was found. Getting there The Saturday conference is 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Registration starts at 8 a.m. The event is free.

It will be held at Baptist World Center. The Gospel CARES concert at 6 p.m. Sunday will feature Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Lady Corder Chapman, Mike Enough Said, Fairfield Four, Donna McElroy, Music City Mass Choir, Verity Ministries and Chris Willis. Hosts are Teresa Hannah and Tommie Lewis of Channel 4 Gospel Show. Tickets are $15 and benefit Nashville CARES.

It will be in the Baptist World Center. For more information call 385-1510. By RAY WADDLE Religion News Editor Every hour, an African-American dies of AIDS, but only now are black churches overcoming their fear of the disease, according to organizers of a national AIDS awareness weekend. An all-day conference to equip black churches with strategies for ministering to people with HIV or AIDS will be Saturday. The next day, there's a benefit "Gospel CARES" music event and call to prayer at 6 p.m.

Both events are at the Baptist World Center, 1700 Baptist World Center Drive, and both are part of a national campaign called "The Black Church National Day of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS." The events are sponsored by Nashville CARES and the Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship. "There's been a stigma attached to AIDS, and too many churches have been tempted to just call it a sin," said the Rev. Edwin Sanders of Metropolitan Interdenominational Church. "We have to clearly support and nurture people in this crisis and realize it's a crisis for us all. AIDS is another manifestation of a cycle of inattention and neglect in our "An inadequate response to AIDS has not been peculiar to the black church, but it can be on opportunity for us to lead other churches on this." KristJne Gebbie, President Clinton's national AIDS policy coordinator, conducted the Washington D.C meeting Monday.

Also in attendence were Nashville ministerorganizer Forrest Harris and Nashville CARES chaplain Merriann Taylor. "We are organizing an effort around the black church because that's the only institution black people own," said Taylor. "That's where the masses are. We're hoping people can learn to be comfortable talking about AIDS. There just hasn't been enough education about it.

The church has a problem dealing with issues related to the body." The Black Church National Day of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, which is designated for Sunday, is a program of The Balm in Gilead, a nonprofit organization dedicated to AIDS awareness in the black church and based in New York City. Balm in Gilead's director, Pernessa Seele, will appear at the Sunday concertprayer Tax season ends Sanders was one of three Nash-villians who joined 50 national black clergy at the White House this week who met on the subject of fighting AIDS in the African American community. Some 30 of AIDS patients in this country are African American, a group that makes up 12 of the population. "That statistic shows it is manifesting itself among those who are most vulnerable," Sanders said. ASHLAND CITY The deadline has Runaway caught rrn lavergne Lav- wjU ergne police arrested a Murfreesboro teen-ager Monday morning after discovering she was a runaway and was driving a stolen car, police said.

Jamie Lee Kleiman, 17, of 1423 Avon Drive, has been charged with theft over $10,000 and being an unruly juvenile, according to police reports. Kleiman is scheduled to appear in Rutherford County Juvenile Court tomorrow Trials of Truth Ex-Hickman County executive found guilty 3 passed and another tax season is over, but the staff at the county trustee's office isn't breathing a collective sigh of relief just yet Deputy Trustee Dot Jones said yesterday she still isn't sure how many Cheatham County property owners paid their taxes by the Feb. 28 deadline. "Monday was just wild, and Tuesday the day after tax day is the day you usually have a lot of problems to work out" Jones said. Jones said delinquent tax notices will be mailed out around June 30.

A 1.5 late fee is assessed for each month taxes are late. Damage adds up found guilty in a related trial last month of fabricating evidence and conspiracy to fabricate evidence. The two are to be sentenced April 5. Coates could face 5-16 years in prison, but the sentence could be suspended. The jury did not fine him.

ing mileage to the county when he visited Franklin attorney Jane Forbes, who was to defend him in the ouster proceedings. Jurors did not believe his claim the visit was to work on a county lawsuit Forbes' law license was suspended when she was MURFREESBORO As part of National Kelly Miller Smith Memorial Bridge opens 3 ASHLAND CITY Property and business "It's been like a transfusion," said Councilwoman Edith Langster, who represents District 20. "North Nashville is coming back into its prominence. This is only the beginning." The $13.2 million bridge project involved demolishing the old Jefferson Street Bridge, erected in 1911. The new bridge is 1,835 feet long with six traffic lanes and sidewalks for pedestrians.

Chains lifted FRANKLIN About i fti $6,000 worth of jewelry was stolen from the Kmart at Watson Glen shopping center earlier this week, police reported. Store manager Faye Davis told police that someone took several 14-karat Italian gold chains from a display cabinet by lifting the door off the tracks, according to police reports. A clerk working that area left to go to a fitting room for 10 minutes around 8:30 p.m. Monday. When she returned, the jewelry was missing, the police report said.

Franklin detective Johnny Beard said store workers thought another employee moved the jewelry and did not report the missing chains as a theft until the next day when they realized no one from the store knew where the jewelry was. Police seek thief TUf FRANKLIN Police iXCJ are looking for a man who tried to sell three stolen post-hole diggers to a tractor store in Hartsville, Tenn. Three post-hole diggers worth $2,000 were taken from the locked, fenced-in lot at Tractor Supply 1101 Hillview Lane, police said. Also taken were four empty wooden pallets. The items were stolen sometime last weekend, police said.

On Monday, a Hartsville tractor store businessman said someone tried to sell him three post-hole diggers, including one with a Tractor Supply Co. label, police reports said. ment district, which means low-interest government loans are available for revitalization. Another major project there is the state-funded Bicentennial Mall, scheduled to open in 1996, which includes a newly remodeled Farmers Market Women's History Month '94, Middle Tennessee State University is sponsoring a special performance today honoring a former slave and abolitionist. A Woman Ain't I chronicles the life of Sojourner Truth, who became a powerful speaker against slavery and for the rights of women.

The role is being played by Kathryn Woods, an actress from Boston, who has performed internationally. The program joins Truth at the end of her life, incorporating her own words and spiritual music. The performance will be 8 p.m. in the Tucker Theatre, located on campus. A reception will follow.

It is free and open to the public. Elders calls for national effort against violence 3 owners in Cheatham County will have to foot their own bills for damage, but cities and the county government may get some federal assistance, county Emergency Management Agency Director Edwin Hogan said yesterday. Hogan said he is still waiting for figures from Cumberland Electric Membership Corp. before he comes up with an estimate for the county-wide damage from last month's ice storm. The county and cities will submit their individual requests for assistance, Hogan said, with 75 coming from the federal government and another 12i2 coming from the state.

"There was not enough damage to homes and small business" for property owners to qualify for reimbursement under the federal assistance program, Hogan said. One in 77 teen-age males in Washington, D.C, is HIV-positive. Firearm violence has exceeded accidents as a cause of death among youths. Elders said Americans need to take the same sort of systematic approach to deal with youth violence as was used to deal with car accidents when they were a leading cause of death among youths in the 1950s. "We saw it as a public health problem so we put driver's education in schools.

We put seat belts in cars. We built safer highways. "We've got to do the same thing with violence. We've got to go into our schools and teach our young people to deal with confrontation in nonviolent ways." day to stay in business. More of our people know Joe Camel than Mickey Mouse." Later, asked how she could support legalization of drugs and at the same time be so hard on tobacco, Elders quipped, "There have been no known marijuana deaths." Elders cited statistic after statistic as evidence that youths are in dire straits.

Those figures included: One in four children lived in poverty in 1992. 50 of 12- to 17-year-olds report consuming more than a six-pack of alcohol a week. 67 of black children are born to unmarried women. mm Storm's aftermath brings suggestions, plans for the future 3 Metro police, fire, Public Works and the Office of Emergency Management were "treated as just another irate customer." The report says a special phone system has been installed for coordination between Metro and NES. Metro plans a meeting within 30 days to propose a plan.

Nine nursing homes "almost" needed to be evacuated because they had no heat. Backup generators should be required, the report says. NES has no emergency plan. in recent years to the extent that hospitals could not handle their numbers when their power went out And insurance companies and doctors refused to allow them to be admitted. More than car trouble 1731 HENDERSONVILLE LaVLjLl A Hendersonville police officer's investigation of a stalled vehicle on Vietnam Veterans Boulevard led to the arrest of the driver on drug and stolen property possession charges.

Lisa Kay Scruggs, 30, of 300 College Lane, Portland, was arrested after Officer Monica Lynch stopped to investigate the stalled car and found a small bag of marijuana lying on the vehicle's front seat Lynch then searched the car and found a stolen 35mm camera and drug paraphernalia. Scruggs was charged with one count each of theft of property, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving on a suspended license. Scruggs could not be reached for comment She is scheduled to appear in General Sessions Court on March 9. Call 242-NEVS for home delivery The TENNESSEAN I Keeping Women Healthy Buses purchased RTH LEBANON Students IImiI in the Lebanon Special School District will soon be riding their own buses to class. Tuesday night members of the Board of Education voted to buy eight to 10 new buses, with delivery expected by Aug.

1, according to Tommy Hall, compliance officer for the school district Hall said Kile International of Nashville had the lowest bid at $46,000 per 78-passenger bus. The special school district has 2,500 students enrolled in three elementary schools and one junior high. In the past Lebanon students have been transported on Wilson County Board of Education buses. Hall said officials with the state Department of Education are helping the Lebanon system with planning and implementation. The system will have to employ drivers.

Repair and maintenance may be contracted out to area mechanics and repair shops, he said. Soccer kicks off RTTl MOUNT JULIET LilU Soccer players for future World Cups could get their start here soon with the Mount Juliet Soccer Association. The association will hold registration drives this Saturday and again March 12 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Arby's Restaurant on Mount Juliet Road. Registration forms are also available in local schools, organizers said.

Call 2264400 or 758-3206. CONTRIBUTING: Cheatham County, Ellen Margulies; Robertson County, Peyton Jobe; Rutherford County, Tony Evola; Sumner County, Rochelle Carter; William-ton County, Bonna M. de la Cruz, Paul Oldham; Wilton County, Paul Oldham, Warren Duzak. Theft was inside job nnri pleasant view LLU The theft of $15,000 in cash and jewelry from the home of a Robertson County woman during the recent power outage was apparently an inside job masterminded by the woman's juvenile son and an adult police said. Faye V.

McQuiston, 51, told police she stopped by her Earl Dowlen Road home around 3 a.m. Feb. 16 before running a newspaper delivery route and found that thieves had broken into her home. The back door of her home had been forced open, and several bedrooms were ransacked. Some $700 in cash and thousands of dollars more in jewelry was taken from a safe that had been pried open.

Late last week, police took McQuiston's son, Johnny, and Michael Wayne Armstrong, 27, of Ashland City, into custody in connection with the burglary. More than $10,000 of the stolen items were recovered at the time of the arrests. Calls to the McQuiston home were not returned. Armstrong remained in jail yesterday in lieu of $20,000 bond. Mother, child charged CTl SPRINGFIELD A Lk-2l Cheatham Park Elementary School student who carried a knife to school at her mother's suggestion was issued a juvenile citation late last week.

The child's mother, Tabytha R. Turner, also was cited for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, police reports said. A teacher discovered the knife in the child's purse and sent her to see the principal. Turner told the principal that she had told her daughter to carry the knife for her own protection, police reports said. M'VDlnt lllllllri A visit to the gynecologist is an important part of women's health care.

Pap tests and breast exams are critical to detecting problems early. i And, when a test reveals an abnormality, it is common for a S. woman to become anxious, emmar Learning about what to expect during a routine gynecological exam, the importance of mammograms and what test results may mean, can be very helpful. Dr. Phillip Bressman, an obstetriciangynecologist at Saint Thomas, will provide information on these topics in a free seminar to be held in the Laurence A.

Grossman Medical Learning Center. New school discussed fTI FRANKLIN An or- ganizational meeting of parents of students who will enroll in Woodland Middle School this fall is scheduled tonight at the Crockett Elementary School cafeteria. Edwin Dean, supervisor of middle schools for Williamson County schools, is to speak to the group about the new school, which will enroll students from Crockett and Nolensville elementary schools. Topics include budget issues, membership, the hiring of a principal and teachers and fund-raising. Dean also will answer questions from parents.

The meeting will be from p.m. For more information, call Mary Hayden, 370-4048. Gun safety taught FRANKLIN Women who want to learn more about safely arming themselves with handguns can attend classes Monday and Tuesday. The Franklin Police Department is hosting women's handgun classes those days from 6-10 p.m. To register, call To register, or for more information, please call 222-2036.

SAINT THOMAS HOSPITAL ol tha Daughter! of Chanty National Health System 1 1993 Saint Thotpaj Hospital.