The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 66

BARBARA BUSH Former first lady to talk at dinner Page 4B News roundup 2B Deaths 5B Weather 6B WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1997 Drags top task force concerns a 1 NEWS 1 new concerns raised about the task force itself at a separate meeting. During the Metro Council's regular meeting, coinciding with the task force's first meeting, Inglewood Councilman Lawrence Hart criticized the commission for being stacked with criminal justice system insiders and' excluding citizens who live in high-crime neighborhoods. He deferred a resolution asking that a murder task force be created that would include three citizens from high-crime areas, a council member and a state lawmaker. Staff Writer Mark Ippollto contributed to this report. city's body count is just five fewer than its all-time annual record for homicides 105 in 1995.

The 12-member commission has been asked to look at two issues: why criminals with long records remain on the streets and whether first-time offenders particularly juveniles get off too easily. While last night's gathering served as a sort of introductory meeting, a crash course in Nashville Murder 101, most agreed there likely are loopholes in Nashville's criminal justice system, and that drugs and violent youths fuel much of Metro's crime problem. By ION YATES Staff Writer One meeting into their 12-week Work schedule, members of Mayor Phil Bredesen's violent crime task force have created a list of concerns as long as the city's growing homicide tally both of which appear to boil down to some common elements: drugs and kids. The commission, which met for the first time last night, is charged with recommending solutions to Nashville's growing crime problem. Already this year, 100 people have been killed on Nashville's streets more than in all of last year.

The "Drugs in this city are outrageous. They really are," General Sessions Court Judge Leon Ruben said. "If people are saying, 'Oh, it's not that serious they're fooling themselves." So are those who think kids arent more violent than they once were. District Attorney General Torry Johnson said the task force has to pay particular attention to juveniles. While there was general consensus among commission members on some crime issues, there also were District Attorney General Torry Johnson listens to concerns during a meeting of an appointed panel on crime in Nashville.

Trk 'it' 1 --'-7'-' Kalodimos being sued for divorce Restraining order against her granted By KIRK LOCGINS Staff Writer WSMV-Channel 4 news anchor-woman Demetria Kalodimos' husband has sued her for divorce, saying that she has threatened to kill him if he left her. Overcrowded school buses prompt review By PAUL DONSKY Staff Writer LEBANON Members of the Wilson County school board decided last night to study measures they could take to ensure that each school bus rider has a seat The move came after the board heard from Mount Juliet parent Pam Charles, who asked that the county's policy be changed to prevent children from standing in the aisles of overcrowded school buses. "It's dangerous and it's wrong," she told the board. Charles, a safety inspector for the U.S. Department of Transportation, said her two children often had to stand on their bus to and from Mount Juliet Elementary School until last week, when a larger bus was moved onto the route.

School officials have said that children are standing on as many as three other bus routes in fast-growing west Wilson County. State law allows school districts to overcrowd buses by as much as 20 if permission is granted by the state Board of Education. Last school year, 38 districts including Wilson received overload waivers. This year, Wilson County got waivers for each of its approximately 85 buses. Not all of them have standing riders, but officials needed the flexibility to temporarily overload twses until changes could be made to ease crowding, Charles handed board members copies of federal safety guidelines explaining how school bus seats are designed like car seats to protect students in the event of a crash.

-r'fji ,1 "In essence, when you put a child in the aisle of a school bus, you have eliminated ttje car seat" she said: i James T. Mauries, who married Kalodimos in 1984, said she located him at 3 a.m. on June 30 the morning after he moved out began screaming and tried to hit him in the KALOCNMOS FREEMAN RAMSEY STAFF 8gL Marc Johnson instructs Stephanie Elsten during a firearms safety course for women at the Sumner County Gun Range. More women taking aim at crime fORWlN A. THOMAS partment In 1995, the General Assembly rewrote the state's gun permit law to make it easier for Tennesseans to apply for and receive permits to carry concealed weapons.

The law originally went into effect about a year ago, but was revised with the new version kicking in last week "As I saw the gun laws change, I saw an increase," Beasley said. Sumner County receives gun permit applications each year, but as recently as several years ago it was rare to get a gun permit application from a woman, Beasley said. He thinks the increase was prompted I Turn to PAGE 2B, Column 3 "With increasing crime, more women want to protect themselves at home and properly use a gun," said Hender-sonville police Sgt Marc Johnson, who has been teaching the firearm safety program for 12 of the 16 years he's been with the Hendersonville Police Department The course, launched in 1980 specifically for women, consists of classroom instruction on safety and proper gun use along with some time on a shooting range. About 15-20 women participate each year. In Sumner County, the number of permit applications from women in recent years has increased about 40, said David Beasley, a training officer with the Sumner County Sheriffs De Staff Writer HENDERSONVILLE The women assembled for this class have a clear idea of why they came to know how to use a gun and to feel safer.

They talk about some of the incidents that underlie that goal fears of being followed out of a shopping mall or having someone try to pull them over on a highway. "If the guy next to me has a gun, I better have one too," said Melanie Is-ert Crime is so bad, she said, she does not feel safe. "Why? Look at society." So Isert, 49, bought a gun. So did her 24-year-old daughter, Jacqueline and report later J- The problem appears to stem from difficulty attract- ing and retaining bus drivers. Seven buses are now idle awaiting drivers who are in training to be county Schools Superintendent James Francis said.

Wilson County drivers receive no pay during their 40-hour training period; must pay for their own commercial driver's licenses; receive $45 daily once they begin work; and get no health benefits. Francis proposed a three-point plan to remedy the situation: face. Mauries said in his divorce suit that Kalodimos then demanded to know "who he was sleeping with" Jand threatened that she or her father would kill him divorced her. f- Mauries, 35, who wjjrks at the fcumberland Transit bicycle shop pn West Enfl Avenue, said the newswom-' an, 38, closed out their joint checking (nd savings accounts on June 30. He said she and her father, Mike Kalodimos, have "confronted" him twice since the separation.

And, he said, she forged his name a $3,154 income-tax refund check 'jissued to both of them. Circuit Judge Muriel Robinson has issued a restraining order, at Mauries': lawyer's request, barring Kalodimos from "harassing, abusing, threatening or harming" her husband or disposing of any of their property until the divorce case can be tried. Kalodimos refused to comment on the divorce suit yesterday. She and Mauries were married in Chicago, just before she moved here to become a news anchorwom-an at WSMV. Kalodimos' lawyer, Rose Palermo, said yesterday that "many" of Mauries' allegations "are exaggerated or outright fabrications." She said that it was "not necessary" for Mauries to include details of his arguments with Kalodimos in his lawsuit, which asks for a divorce on grounds of irreconcilable differences and inappropriate marital conduct "It's clear that his motive was to I Turn to PAGE 2B, Column 3 Drivers beware: construction's everywhere High-traffic highway construction There are three spots in town where road work has begun or is to begin: 1-65 at Trinity Lane, which is the busiest stretch of highway in Tennessee with 157,000 vehicles moving through on an average day.

Blasting will close the interstate periodically for 15 to 20 minutes. The interchange improvement project will cost $7.1 million. The 1-24 project, a continuation of widening from the county line to Sam Ridley Parkway, which will cost $16.2 million. One new lane in each direction will be an HOV lane for carpoolers to use during rush hours. About 39,000 motorists travel the Bordeaux Bridge each day.

The maintenance work will cost $282,000. Find alternative routes or schedule extra time for travel, Grandinetti said. Drivers also should obey speed limits, which will be slower through the work zones. By BOWWA M. dela CRUZ Staff Writer Road construction on the state's busiest stretches of interstate will snarl traffic in Nashville well into 1999.

Current construction on Interstate 65 at Trinity Lane wont be finished until December 1998, said Luanne Grandinetti, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation. And construction begins this month to widen 1-24 from four lanes to eight lanes from Bell Road to the Rutherford County line. Construction will slow traffic as lanes are closed to allow for work until May 1999, she said. On a smaller scale, Bordeaux Bridge on Clarksville Highway also called Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge in North Nashville will be reduced to one lane each way starting today until April 1998, for repair work.

"I'm going to have to be pretty patient and alter my schedule start getting up earlier," said Tami-ko Wright, 29, who travels the bridge sometimes six times a day. She lives near Fountain Square on MetroCenter Boulevard and works across the bridge as a preschool teacher at the Northwest YMCA on Ashland City Highway. She crosses the bridge to eat lunch and to go work out "I almost panicked when I heard about it," she said. "Going all the way around it would be totally out of the way. IH have to get up 20 to 30 minutes earlier." Tennessee's highways are traveled by two to three times the level of traffic they were built for.

"Well continue to see more road construction because of capacity increases and because the interstate system is getting old," Grandinetti said. The road projects include: WILLIAMSON RUTHERFORD attempt to embarrass ana lnumi-date her," Palermo said. Mauries is seeking title to the couple's home on Granny White Pike. In addition to her duties at WSMV, Kalodimos has co-hosted a news show on religious issues for the Odyssey cable channel since February. Managers there said the divorce filing would not likely jeopardize her stint with the United Methodisteponsored show, called News Odyssey.

Z' Tennessean Religion Editor Ray Waddle contributed to this report 1. Bordeaux Bridge. Will be reduced from two lanes in each direction to one lane in each direction. Also called State Route 12 and Clarksville Highway. The bridge is near MetroCenler.

Once you cross it, it splits with SR 12 going to Ashland City and Clarksville Highway going to Clarksville. 2. 1-65 at Trinity Lane. Reduced Irom four lanes each way to three lanes each way to modify interchanges and improve the flow. 3.

1-24 from west of Bell Road to the DavidsonRutherford county line. About four miles long. Widen the interstate from four lanes to eight lanes. Work has already begun on the same project from the county line to Sam Ridley Parkway in Rutherford County. KENT TRAVIS STAFF SOURCE: Tennessee Department of Transportation f.ViUMJF! S3 Brentwood commission says no thanks to Palmer Members of the Brentwood Planning Commission are sending their regrets to the developer of The Governor's Club, turning down an invitation to lunch with golf legend Arnold Palmer.

The appointed board, known for taking a hard-line stance against bending Brentwood's strict zoning codes, decided this week that attending the inwtatjon-onry event on Oct 16 could compromise its neutral stance and image. AMY MARCHESE In first year, Nashville Arena is named top concert venue The Country Music Association has named Nashville Arena "Concert Venue of the Year." The arena took the prize among venues with 6,000 seats or more worldwide. "Since its opening, the Nashville Arena has put Nashville back on the map as a major artist tour stop," said Tammy Genovese, CMA senior director of operations. "Already if hosted country artists like Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, and most recently the combination of Brooks Dunn and Reba McEntire, one of the top tours of 1 997." The arena opened in December. MARKIPPCxijb City Editor.

Tommy Goldsmith, 259-8065 Regional Editors: BMChoyke, 259-8899 Frank Gibson, 726-5907 Gal M. Kerr, 259-8085 Laird MacGregor, 259-8095 Eton Margulies, 726-5977 Robert Sherborne, 259-8080 Margaret Sizemore, 726-5941 NlghtWaekend Editors: Dwight Lewis, 726-5928 Wenc? C. Thomas, 259090 George Zepp, 259-8091 Fax: 259-8093 i E-maUtips: i newstrpsOtennessean.com Flu shots available at Health Department Avoid the flu by making your way to the Wilson County Health Department this week. The Health Department at 400 E. Spring began offering flu shots this past week and is offering appointments as well as two walk-in clinics.

The walk-in clinics will be today and Friday. Cost for the shots is $10, and Medicare is accepted. Flu shots are recommended for the elderly and anyone with chronic health problems. For more information, call 444-5325. WARREN DUZAK Classes to help people cope with cancer begin The American Cancer Society and Middle Tennessee Medical Center's Oncology Clinic will co-sponsor 1 Can Cope," a six-week series of classes for people diagnosed with cancer and their family and friends.

The series runs from p.m. on consecutive Mondays through Nov. 17 starting next week at the MTMC Radiation Oncology Center in Murfreesboro. Participants of the free program get an opportunity to share concerns with others having similar experiences. Call 849-4500f LYNETTE BROOKS.