The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 4

3 WILMA RUDOLPH New TSU dorm is a tribute Page 4B Briefs 2B Deaths 4-5B Weather 6B WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1995 0 amsm mi may I jH: iHHtWUWfr LOCAL NEWS soimdl of i mm Lucky so far, knock on wood silence Outdated disaster warning system to be reconsidered By JENNIFER PEEBLES Staff Writer HENDERSONVILLE For the past several years, Hendersonville had thought it was prepared. Nuclear weapons? They were ready. Natural disasters? Chemical spills? Sitting on go. The city's warning system formerly called "airraid sirens" stood ready to warn of danger. But when tornadoes swept past Rivergate Mall and blew through the western end of Hendersonville in sentence Rick Musacdio Staff DRIVE-THRU No one was seriously hurt yesterday when this Purity Dairies delivery into the side of the Wendy's restaurant at the corner of Fesslers Lane and Elm Hill Pike 3 p.m.

Calvin Stanfield, 39, driver of the truck, told police that his brakes failed. Restaurant Linda Cotton was unsure yesterday when the Wendy's will reopen. May, as apart- ment buildings and businesses New THE NEW truck slammed shortly before manager jury to decide man's were smashed, the sirens sat silent atop their poles. The city's emergency cable-override capabilities, which would have sent out warnings through the local cable channels, also went unused. What happened? The city's emergency management staff didn't know they needed to crank the thing up: The National Weather Service hadn't issued a tornado warning.

"All we had was a thunderstorm watch," emergency management director Jim Miller said. They learned about the tornadoes when someone called. The tornadoes pointed out some problems with Hendersonville's disaster-warning system. Now, the city Is trying to decide whether to update the system at a substantial cost, or not bother with it anymore. The six sirens, installed in the mid-1970s, were set up like most other Cold War-era siren systems: They were there to warn of attack by the Soviet Union.

But sirens are primarily used these days as warnings for tornadoes, storms and other nonmilitary dangers, said Kelly Zadakaus, the Midstate regional director for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. Federal grant money was available to set up sirens then. But now that Cold War concerns have faded By LAMAR BRYAN Stale Correspondent HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. A Christian County Circuit Court jury recommended the maximum sentence yesterday for two defendants convicted of a variety of charges in a murder trial. But when the jury couldn't reach a unanimous decision on whether to recommend the death penalty for Ernest Amaze Rogers, a mistrial was declared for that portion of the hearing.

Circuit Judge Pat Higgins is expected to call another jury possibly next year to consider the penalty for the murder conviction. Rogers, 22, was convicted Saturday of for Dillard, based on 20 years per felony charge. In addition to the death penalty, the panel considered life without parole for 25 years, life, and 20 years to life. Rogers' mother, Alma Jean Brown of Hopkinsville, pleaded for her son's life during a hearing Monday. She said Rogers did his best to keep the family together after his father left when he was 8 or 9.

A psychiatrist testified that Rogers' self-esteem was tied to caring for others and that he had attempted suicide twice by the time he was 14. Commonwealth's Attorney John Atkins asked the jury to disregard psychological "mumble-jumble" and sentence Rogers to death. murdering and attempting to rape Tracy Geordan, 25, in July 1994 while she and a friend were cleaning a parking lot at the Brickyard Plaza Shopping Center in Hop-kinsville. Rogers and co-defendant Nakia Corneal Dillard, 20, both were convicted of attempted murder, first-degree robbery and kidnapping. A mistrial was declared on murder and attempted rape charges against Dillard.

The jury recommended an 80-year prison sentence for Rogers and 60 years iirt's sister denies she It's never particularly pleasant to learn that you've been not to put too fine a point on it dumb. Wait Make that "ignorant" I'm just lucky it hasnt killed me. 7 I write this in case you are similarly ignorant so that it won't kill you, either. The ignorance is about lightning. Forty-two plus years of living, all in the South, have given me ample opportunity to become acquainted with lightning and its resulting thunder.

As a young man, laboring summers in the pallet production business, I positively relished afternoon thunderstorms. If you had ever spent summers doing manual labor in the unconditioned Mississippi air, you would relish thunderstorms, too. The accompanying drop in temperature, even though only temporary, is welcome relief. It's welcome relief even as a not-so-young man who doesn't have to nail pieces of wood together in the heat anymore, for that matter. Provided you don't get wet Thunderstorms are nature's pressure release valve.

A threatening sky is a beautiful reminder of nature's power and weather's ever-changing scape. It even smells good. And, other than taking the precaution of not standing underneath trees, I never took any particular note of the dangers. It always amused me when people some of them kin warned of all sorts of possible dire consequences, even indoors. They warned of potentially deadly appliances, bathroom fixtures and structural openings.

Silly them. Sure, it could kill or Injure people outdoors. But why should lightning come looking for me in the living room? It had plenty of other, external targets from which to choose. Silly me. There is, I am now aware, a Lightning Protection Institute.

The not-for-profit organization sends out Information under headings like "The Striking Facts About Lightning." Some of that information is interesting, but not especially striking For example: "An average lightning circuit carries 30 million volts and some spikes carry up to 100 million." Or, "lightning strikes the earth 100 times per second." So? There's lots of earth to strike. But there's more. And it got my attention. "Lightning can hit electrical or telephone wires and people have been killed while talking on the telephone," the institute says. It advises avoiding contact with electrical equipment and appliances during a storm, and says you shouldn't stand by doors or windows.

"Resist contact with bath tubs, sinks and faucets or other piping throughout the structure," it says. Resist contact I like that As if we would feel compelled. I certainly don't not now. I also won't unplug appliances during the storm, hang around metal objects, or congregate in a group if outdoors. All are no-nos, according to the institute.

And the next time there's lightning, don't try to call me. Til consider it a death threat Questions or comments? Call 2594047, fax to 2594093, e-mail to Jrogetcaol.com or write to 1100 Broadway, Nashville 37203. Include your name, a daytime phone number and city you live in. Joe Rogers' column runs Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. helped kill brother-in-law "i 0: 1 n.rtrr"'-" Turn to PAGE 2B, Column 3 Motorists ease onto new highway Road will connect Lebanon, Gladeville By ELLEN MARGULIES Staff Writer LEBANON A rumble of engines and an occasional backfire will likely be the only sounds to indicate that the first section of 1-840 is opening today between Lebanon and Gladeville.

It's a moment some Wilson County residents have been waiting for a long time but there won't be any marching bands, ribbon-cutting or political grandstanding to accompany the event The 6.7-mile section of roadway was finished recently, and Tennessee Department of Transportation officials decided there was no reason to keep it closed until the rest of the loop is finished next year. "Right after rush hour, we're going to open up the first little sections," said Luanne Grandinetti, TDOT director of public information. "It's symbolic more than anything." The section will mostly benefit people driving from Interstate 40 in Lebanon to the interchange at Stewart's Ferry Pike in Gladeville. The thoroughfare is part of a 24-mile segment to connect 1-40 in Lebanon to 1-24 in Murfreesboro. Lebanon Mayor Don Fox doesn't expect much change yet in traffic patterns but says he's pleased.

"This will shoot us on closer to connecting us to 1-24, which will give us access to all major inter- l-840's first section sot to open A small portion of the southern loop of 1-840 is opening today, ft will be only open to local traffic. Murfreesboro RUTHERFORD The TENNESSEAN states without going through Nashville," Fox said. "It will be of a lot of benefit to our county neighbors south of us." The entire 77-mile southern loop of 1-840 will extend from 1-40 in Lebanon through Rutherford, Maury, Williamson and Dickson counties. The I-40I-24 leg is expected to open in late 1996. Crews began work on the roadway in 1989.

It has cost about (1.8 million so far but is likely to cost $400 million when completed. "This is the first step of something really great," Fox said. J7otLebanon Gladeville eC vff open-! Smyrna 1 1 SECTION A 0 Mile 1o later that she and the Murrays gave her husband a drugged drink in the Hurts' Goodlettsville home before they led him stumbling to his car. Also, Rowe testified, James Murray reported later that he and his wife had each shot Don Hurt once in the head and then disassembled the gun and scattered the parts along Interstate 40 as they drove back to their home in Sevierville after the shooting. Marcie Murray, who was working as an emergency room nurse at Knoxville's Baptist Hospital in 1991, gave explanations yesterday for inconsistencies in what she and her husband told Metro police in a series of interviews before they were arrested on murder charges last August She said that police misstated or misunderstood some things she told them and that her husband mistakenly said the couple was in Nashville when Don Hurt was shot in his tractor-trailer rig in June 1991.

Murray insisted that she and her husband were at their home in Sevierville, surrounded by their two children and several of their children's friends, on both occasions when Don Hurt was shot She said Don Hurt owed her and her husband $30,000, but that she bore him no ill will for that Rowe testified last week that the Murrays were angry at Don Hurt over $15,000 that he owed them. Rowe said Sharon Hurt offered early in 1991 to pay the Murrays the $15,000, plus an additional By KIRK LOCCINS Staff Writer Nurse Marcie Murray spent five hours yesterday on a Criminal Court witness stand laboring to fight off charges that she helped to murder her sister's husband. Murray denied any involvement in the shooting that left truck driver Don Hurt disabled in June 1991, or the second shooting six months later that ended his life. She said her sister's former boss and lover, electrical contractor Leonard (Joe) Rowe, lied when he testified last week that Murray and her husband boasted that they had shot truck driver Don Hurt on both occasions. Marcie Murray, 41, testified that Rowe threatened to "take our entire family down" for helping her sister, former gospel singer Sharon leave him at one point in 1993.

Murray testified that early in 1994, after Rowe and Sharon Hurt had been charged with murder in Don Hurt's death, Rowe told Murray and her husband "that he would send our children to us in a pine box" if they did not help him account for the gun that investigators linked to the killing. Rowe testified last week that he lent Marcie and James Murray a pistol a few hours before Don Hurt was shot to death in the passenger seat of his car on Dec. 19, 1991. Rowe, who was at a karate school banquet when Don Hurt was killed, said Sharon Hurt told him Detores Detvin File Marcie Murray is one of four people charged with killing her sister's husband. $15,000 fee, if they would kill her husband.

Sharon Hurt, 42, and James Murray, 44, chose not to testify in their own defense. If James Murray had testified, he would have had to explain what he meant when, according to police, he said last August that he hoped to make a "deal" in exchange for information he had about Don Hurt's death. If Sharon Hurt had testified, prosecutors would have been able to question her about the admitted- Turn to PAGE 2B, Column 1 ii 01 DAVIDSON What did yOU dO on your summer vacation? Metro school students have just two weeks left to do something exciting so they'll have a reply to that age-old question. The first day of school will be Aug. 17, a half-day for students in grades K-6.

Registration for new and transfer students takes place Aug. 7-10. Each school has different opening and closing times, based on school bus schedules. For details on back-to-school matters, call the Metro School Board offices at 259-8400. USA EENAV1DES DICKSON A Red CrOSS blOOd drive here has been scheduled 2-7 p.m.

today to help alleviate a critical supply shortage at area hospitals, officials said. Plans call for a Red Cross bloodmobile to be parked in front of the South Central Bell office on Hensley Drive. "O-negative donors are desperately needed to participate, as O-negative is the universal blood type and can be used by any patient needing blood," Red Cross spokeswoman Nancy Thomas said. TERRY BATEY ROBERTSON The property tax rate win stay the same for city residents in Robertson County, but will increase 13 cents for those who live in the unincorporated areas in the county. The Robertson County Commission approved a $3.42 county tax rate and a $3.28 city tax rate per $100 assessed property value at its Monday meeting.

The county's budget was also passed as proposed, with the addition of a $5,000 salary increase for the county executive's position, to $52,131 annually. WENDt C. THOMAS RUTHERFORD A job at the Pentagon will take Don Sullivan to Washington, for at least two years. He was among 250 students chosen from 1,300 applicants nationwide for the Presidential Management Internship. A former Metro police officer, Sullivan has just completed his master's degree in criminal justice at Middle Tennessee State University.

The program was established to recruit talented potential managers into work with the federal government. JENNIFER GOODE SECTION EDITORS City editor Tommy Goldsmith, 259-8095, Regional editors: Day: Frank Gibson, 726-5907; Lisa Green (database editor), 259-6095; Robert Sherborne, 259-8080. Nightweekend: Dwight Lewis, 726-5928; John Richards, 259-8090; Richard Stevens, 259-8090; George Zepp, 259-8091. Fax: 259-8093. E-mail new Bps: newstips (gtennessean.com 4-.