The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page B1

By IAN DEMSKY StaffWriter The search for missing east Nashville teen Tabitha Tuders is the Metro Police No. 1 case, Police Chief Ronal Serpas said yesterday afternoon. Also, for the first time since the 13-year-old disappeared April 29, Serpas publicly said the department does not consider her to be a runaway. been here for a he said. in my mind not a father mouthed a silent when he heard those words spoken by the chief.

not a runaway and everyone should know Bo Tuders said. From the day Tabitha disappeared to the day Serpas took over the department, Acting Chief Deborah Faulkner never met with the Tuders couple, family spokesman Johnny White said. Yesterday was last day on the force. Faulkner had been criticized for her handling of the case, including the initial stance that the girl who sometimes slept at the foot of her bed might have left on her own. From the beginning, the Tuders family was vehe- ment that Tabitha did not run away.

Faulkner talked to Bo Tuders twice on the phone and once drove by the house, where the Team Tabitha headquarters is based, waving but not stopping, White said. Faulkner, who has resigned and taken her pension, could not be reached for comment last night. Serpas met about 4 p.m. at the Criminal Justice Center with Bo and Debra Tuders get brought up to speed, to put a family with a face and a mother and father with a The chief said he had been By TIM GHIANNI Senior Writer Channels 9 and 10, which have been quietly sneaking and educational programming into Nashville living rooms for a half-year, are ready to make a bold move. On Channel 9, where Comcast subscribers have been seeing the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, viewers soon will see the Nashville Ballet or perhaps conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn and his Nashville Symphony.

On Channel 10, faces of local stu- dents and teachers soon will be appearing in addition to the classroom activity from around the nation. Taping began Thursday on the first of a planned series examining the impact of the No Child Left Behind mandate on Metro Schools. have dreams, goals and said Michael Catalano, executive director of the Metropolitan Educational Access Corp. that began this transition in July, when the two channels started broadcasting Classic Arts Showcase and programming. The goal is for local productions to dominate the two channels previously programmed by Nashville Public Television within three years.

Programming is being fed via satellite from public foundations and overseen from the PEG Studios tucked behind Nashville Tech. PEG Public Education Government Access Oversight Committee is a state-of-the art complex operated by the not-for- profit corporation under leadership. The vision and the origin of funding for these stations and their local broadcasts came from Metro Council, with Councilwoman Lynn Williams and former Coun- cilman Bob Bogan taking the lead. Catalano was hired a couple of months ago to begin the transition. is an outlet for so much talent here in Nashville.

We can CYANMAGYELBLK TennesseanBroadsheet Master TennesseanBroadsheet Master 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 5 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 5 TennesseanBroadsheet Master TennesseanBroadsheet Master 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1B LOCALNEWS SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2004 INSIDE Midstate Faith Values Volunteer, wish list Obituaries Weather EACH WEEK Sunday: Meetings calendar Monday: School news Wednesday: Friday: Road construction update Saturday: Faith Values TO REACH OUR NEWSROOM Laurie E. Holloway, Deputy Managing Editor Phone: 259-8095 Fax: 259-8093 E-mail: www.tennessean.com Top cop says Tabitha top case, believe teen ran away Cable access channels to gain more local feel By NELLANN METTEE StaffWriter FAIRVIEW A Titans cheerleader who teaches third grade here has resigned because Williamson County Schools officials let her join a USO tour entertaining troops in Guam, Japan, Korea and Hawaii. Ashley Tucker, a teacher at Westwood Elementary, quit after Interim Director of Schools David Heath said she take a five- week leave to join the tour. He cited the length and timing of the trip as reasons, but that infuriated parents yesterday who said Tucker was simply trying to serve her country. get it.

I think serving her said Alicia Tolbert, whose daughter is in class. a once-in-a-lifetime situation. Why not let her In Metro, schools officials are allowing Titans cheerleader and McGavock High teacher Laverne Brown to take the trip. Brown, who teaches special education, said some of the details of her leave are still being worked out, including whether she will receive any or all of her pay while she is gone. Metro school officials confirmed that a five-week leave was granted but knew few details about the agreement.

might be the first time had a request of this spokesman Craig Owensby said. In Williamson County, Heath said the timing of the request, weeks before students take the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program tests, played into his decision to deny the request. was not based on a consideration of being patriotic or he said. was based merely on our Heath said a new teacher would have to learn the strengths and weaknesses as the students reviewed for the tests. He said it was a gamble that an interim teacher would be able to do that, and he deny the leave thinking that Tucker would resign.

Fairview parents say their children are distraught at the resignation of their teacher. Parent Clarissa Baltz was volunteering in classroom the day Tucker told her students she would be leaving. Baltz said she was asked to leave so Tucker could have some private time with the children. Her son, she said, to the car and he looked in absolute agony and he burst into Baltz said she talked to 15 parents in the classroom who were willing to call or write letters to Heath or meet with him as a group. Tucker herself says her heart is in teaching, but she felt like the USO trip was an opportunity she pass up.

According to her resignation letter, last day will be Feb. 6 Sept. 11 been inviting people like Tucker said. Staff writer Claudette Riley contributed to this report. Child Left one ofbig projects GEORGE WALKER IV STAFF Janet Murphy, a principal at Charlotte Park Elementary School, talks to Craig Owensby as they film a television show about the Child Left initiative.

CATALANO Denied leave to join USO tour, teacher resigns Titans cheerleader request ill-timed, school chiefsays TUCKER Visitor takes in cocky companion was pitch dark in the bathroom, and I was thinking he crow. Lo and behold, he did at 5:05 a.m. I jumped out of that Pam Strange of West Monroe, La. Pam Strange shows off her new friend ToKe outside, appropriately or not, a chicken restaurant at RiverGate Mall where she was getting eyeglasses made yesterday. PHOTOS BY MATTHEW H.

STARLING Metro Parks officials reported no sightings of a rooster Thursday in Centennial Park, but this photo, with Cheryl Davis of Smyrna enjoying the wildlife, would seem to confirm his presence that day. By ANNE PAINE StaffWriter a handsome fellow who happens to be rather vocal. Aside from that, little is known about this rooster except that he strutted around Centennial Park this week, spent the night in a motel and has travel plans to Louisiana. He also has luck on his side. He was having an encounter with a security guard a couple of blocks from Centennial Medical Center when Pam Strange of West Monroe, came upon the scene.

She was in town while her father, Joe Adamson, a Springfield retiree, had open-heart surgery. She had stopped Thursday night to ask for directions when she saw the security truck. Strange found the guard on a walkie-talkie, trying to find someone to get huge she said. The bird had settled on top of a Jeep the fowl like to sleep high off the ground and then had hopped down from his urban perch. was wanting to go night-night, and the security guard probably woke him Strange said.

guard was afraid it was going to peck him. I said, get it for Strange, it turns out, is the founder of Home for Abused and Neglected Animals and Wildlife Rehabilitation in her hometown. She also was featured in Digest in 2000 for exposing poor conditions in what purported to be a humane shelter for animals. Carrying a blanket, she walked ever so slowly toward the bird and tossed the blanket over him. lot of people chase she said with a laugh.

not going to outrun a rooster. was odd that he was there in town. There any homes Strange and her husband, Glen, took the rooster with them to a Days Inn off Charlotte Avenue. They got the bed. The rooster got the bathroom.

was pitch dark in the bathroom, and I was thinking he crow. Lo and behold, he did at 5:05 a.m. I jumped out of that How do you make a rooster stop crowing? found out you she said. Last night, she took the bird to spend the night at her home. From there, go to live with the couple in Louisiana Strange has named him ToKe, after singer Toby Keith.

has that cocky attitude but sings with such she said of both. Plucked up near Centennial Park, he just had to crow AP FILE Pam Strange said she named her new rooster ToKe after country singer Toby Keith. has that cocky attitude but sings with such SANFORD MYERS STAFF Bo and Debra Tuders, left, Police Chief Ronal Serpas and detective E.J. Bernard, in back, leave a meeting during which they discussed the case of the missing daughter, Tabitha. The 13-year-old disappeared from her east Nashville neighborhood April 29.

TABITHA Please see TABITHA, 6B Please see CHANNELS, 6B City.