The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 11

8-3BNEICHBORHOOD NEWS SECTION 63 DEATHS mm 4BBUSINESS TheTENNESSEAN SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1989 Mjf ri n. ABCIelliii! '4. Rooster fowls out worker This rooster with a "little fight in him" and a hen were game enough for fun yesterday morning when a Nashville Humane Association worker tried to pry them from a roost near the Knowles Senior Citizen Center on Broadway. Billy Griggs, a kennel worker, chased the birds without success for 45 minutes. The fowls foiled him before returning to' the roost.

Griggs triumphed last night by catching the hen, but the rooster remained at large. "Let me tell you that rooster tan run," Griggs reported. halls A- PHIL WILLIAMS Staff Writer V. 7 The Alcoholic Beverage Commission mailed letters yesterday notifying bingo halls across Tennessee that they must close now that the state Supreme Court has struck down the state's charity bingo laws. ABC Director Elyoh Davis said staff members also will recommend that the commission formalize that order when it meets Thursday by summarily suspending each of the 150-plus state-issued bingo permits.

Operating a bingo gambling hall now may result in individuals being arrested on criminal gambling charges. "We are telling them that they should quit now because the law has been declared unconstitutional," Davis said. "But we will recommend at the next commission meeting that the licenses be suspended. "It is our opinion that the suspension must be ordered by the commission in an open meeting." Bingo, when operated for charity, had been exempt from the state's criminal gambling laws since 1971. But the high court declared Monday that bingo is a lottery and, consequently, the state's charity bingo laws violate the constitutional provision barring the legislature from authorizing a lottery "for any purpose." Davis said that it is unclear what the agency's responsibilities will be now that the charity bingo laws have been declared unconstitutional, although it probably will at least have to maintain the bingo records that are being used in a statewide federal probe of the multimillion-dollar industry, "There are certain things from those areas that will linger," Davis said.

The Supreme Court decision upheld a March 1 988 ruling by Davidson County Chancellor Irvin H. Kilcrease that the state's "bingo-raffle-pull tab" statutes are uncon- stitutibnal because they authorize illegal lotteries. Although raffles were not mentioned in the high court decision and their regulation has been placed under a different law, the decision has placed the traditional fund-raising device for many charities in grave jeopardy. Secretary of State Gentry Crowell said Wednesday that, wiwiiW j'f' 45 Mike DuBose Staff ma-li re hl Irt 7i y. "fiw, 1 unless advised differently y.

Attorney GenerafjCharles n.uuiauu, tic win uuuiy oil cnanues regisierea wiin MS of ice that their permits do not authorize them to hold, raffles. J-tW'4'rli4 1. Al'j- vf'i Suicide try used to get help: lawyer KIRK LOGGINS Staff Writer Murder suspect Donald Middlebrooks faked a suicide attempt earlier this week in an attempt to gain protection from state prison inmates who have threatened his life, Middlebrooks' attorney said yesterday. The source of fresh slash marks on Middlebrooks' throat became an issue during a hearing on a number of pretrial motions, including a request by defense attorneys that Middlebrooks be transferred from the Tennessee State Penitentiary back to the Metro Jail before he goes to trial March 13. Jail officials sent Middlebrooks, 27, to the state prison after, they said, he was "almost successful" in a suicide attempt by hanging last May.

Middlebrooks, his teen-age wife and a juvenile runaway have been incarcerated since they were charged on April 28, 1987, with the torture slaying two days earlier of Kerrick Majors, a 1 4-year-old East Nashville boy who broke a vase at a makeshift flea market which the Middlebrooks couple were him by some black inmates at the main prison." Barrett said Sheriffs Department officials "would prefer" that Middlebrooks be kept at the prison. But, the attorney said, he and his co-counsel, Richard McGee, need easier access to Middlebrooks while they are preparing for his death penalty trial. "I believe the Sheriffs Department has ample facilities to assure that no danger comes to Mr. Middlebrooks and that he poses no danger to anyone else," Barrett said. And, Barrett said, the Metro Jail is safer for mates than is the state penitentiary.

"Mr. McGee and I have had two clients killed on death row at the main prison in the last two years," Barrett told Criminal Court Judge Ann Lacy Johns. '4 The judge agreed to order that Middlebrooks be transferred back to the Metro Jail "as soon as possible," but that jail officials will be free to send him back to the prison if he "causes concern for his well-being" or that of other inmates. operating beside Gallatin Road. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Middlebrooks, who had moved here from Texas shortly before Majors was killed.

His wife, Tammy Middlebrooks, now 19, was sentenced to a life prison term when she pleaded guilty to murder charges in January. Robert Roger Brewington now 18, who grew up in a series of foster homes here, received an automatic life prison sentence when a Criminal Court jury convicted him last June of murdering, kidnapping and robbing the Majors youth. Lionel Barrett, who is one of Donald Middlebrooks' two court-appointed attorneys, said yesterday that Middlebrooks has said the latest scars on his throat resulted not from a suicide attempt but from self-mutilation designed to get him into the prison hospital. Barrett said Middlebrooks, who is white, "believes that, as a result of the nature of these charges, that he is responsible for the death of a black child. There have been death threats against i Xive-ih' man i indicted in I beating death CINDY ROLAND 1 Staff Writer A Nashville man was arrested and charged with murder yesterday in the beating death of a former Metro school teacher whose body was found at her home last December, police Said.

Doyle D.Carter, 39, was arrested in the death of Angle Cato, 58, a former i third-and fourth-grade teacher at Head Elementary School. Carter was arrested after being named in a sealed indictment, homicide detective Mike Smith said. Carter is believed to have been staying with Cato the week she was found dead at her home at 2002 26th Ave. Smith said. "Doyle Carter was a person who could be considered a boyfriend from the information we got during the investigation," Smith said.

"He had been staying there previously and the week of the beating." The case against Carter was presented Monday to the Davidson County grand jury, the detective said. Smith and homicide detective Ed Moran arrested Carter yesterday af- Doyle D. Carter Described as ex-teacher's boyfriend ternoon as he walked down the street near his home at 2709 Jefferson Smith said. "There's no motive right now that we know of," he said. Cato's daughter, Jameslyn Cato, found her mother's body about 9:30 a.ra Dec.

27 in the former school teacher's Bordeaux home. A television was lying on top of the woman's body, officials said. "She was found by her daughter," Smith said. "When they were not able to reach her on the telephone, they found her dead and beaten." Carter was being held in Metro Jail last night under $30,000 bond. Gallatin faces fines for EPA violations IRS wants to inspect Thomas' insurance file A glance at the numbers and statistics that compare community life in our region.

Students in education programs ALAN BOSTICK Staff Writer Federal investigators have requested Fate Thomas' insurance records from his agent, Frank E. Neal, in their ongoing probe of the sheriffs personal and professional spending practices. Neal, whose office is at 2223 Eighth Ave. told TheTennes-sean yesterday that an agent with the Internal Revenue Service telephoned him recently and questioned him about Thomas' insurance records. The IRS agent expressed an interest in seeing the records but has not done so, Neal said.

Neal said he has not received a subpoena for the records, and the agent did not say when he planned to review them. Asked about the substance of his interview with the agent, Neal said: "That's between the agent, Fate and myself." Neal also would not say what specific records were the subject of the agent's questions. The IRS request of Neal appears to confirm that investigators are attempting to construct net worth case against Thomas by looking for discrepancies between the value of the sheriffs insured possessions and his reported income. From that, agents could possibly determine whether Thomas has received money on which he has not paid taxes or has received money through improper use of his office and influence, which could be prosecuted under federal racketeering laws. A West End furrier and a West Meade jeweler have been questioned about items Thomas purchased from them.

These revelations are only the latest in the federal investigation of Thomas, whose activities have been subjected to the scrutiny of a federal grand jury since at least late last year. That grand jury had its last Tuesday' JOHN WATSON Staff Writer GALLATIN, Tena The city faces up to $75,000 in possible fines for EPA violations stemming from altered pollution control systems on nearly half of Gallatin's 43 municipally owned vehicles, Mayor David Schreiner confirmed yesterday. Federal Environmental Protection Agency inspectors, who arrived in Gallatin Wednesday to inspect the city's fleet of cars and light trucks, found emissions systems on 20 of the vehicles had been altered. "I have ordered an internal investigation," Schreiner said. "I should have the results by Monday.

"If we're in violation, we'll correct it. We're trying to get all the loose ends together." Schreiner said the violations cited by EPA ranged from "minor" problems with some of the vehicles to "major" violations, including the removal of catalytic converters from some cars. Catalytic converters are pollution-control devices required on all gaso- The converters require cars to use lead-free gas. Lead-free gas is considered to burn cleaner than leaded gas, and the catalytic converter reduces pollutants even more. Schreiner said he did not know how many city automobiles have been cited for "major" violations.

EPA inspectors were prompted to investigate Gallatin city vehicles after inspections conducted at Four Way Motor an auto repair shop here, Schreiner said. "They do some muffler work and they had done some work on some of our city vehicles," the mayor said. When inspectors discovered that Four Way Motor had worked on city vehicles, they decided to inspect those vehicles, Schreiner said. Officials at the garage could not be reached for comment last night Schreiner said the city's internal investigation is geared toward finding out "how much altering was done by our personnel and how much was done by other sources." Whatever the investigation turns up, Gallatin will still be responsible for any fines since the city owns the vehicles. dull summer basic other COUNTY school education pupils Cheatham 0 153 0 Davidson 2,823 1,967 40,574 Dickson 0 102 32 Maury 270 127 46 Montgomery 0 0 0 Robertson 275 279 7 Rutherford 249 77 718 Sumner 1,107 665 0 Williamson 261 125 0 Wilson 253 161 71 SOURCE Tennessee Department of Education, 1987 In programs other than grades K-12 run by local school boards Compiled by Cindy Roland nne-powerea cars made since 1974.

More southerly 1-840 urged, 2B Man agrees to drop AIDS cure claim, 3B V- in A 1.