The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 4

LJ Retiring Policeman Typical Of Force's Backbone personality, and has "been like a father figure to the people" at the desk, Hardy, 36, said. "Man, he keeps everybody laughing," Hardy said. McCracken, 43, is looking forward to retirement, aware that Monday he'll drive trucks for a package delivery service instead of listen to complaints or investigate a traffic accident. Accidents sometimes led to what McCracken describes as his most unpleasant duty informing parents of an injury to or death of their child. "The only time the job got to me is when a child" was involved in an accident, said McCracken, a father of five.

The relative calm of his new job also will free McCracken from the inherent perils of police work. "Everyday you go to work, you don't know whether you're going to get back home at night," he said. "That's always in the back of your mind." Overall, however, the job's rewards far outweighed its drawbacks, McCracken said. "The best part is the different contacts you make and the people you meet." By DAVE LOVERUDE Advertiser Staff Writer In March 1967, Larry McCracken made what he thought was a routine arrest of a man thrown out of the Ben Moore Hotel. The man suddenly jumped out McCracken's patrol car, fired shots at him and fled on foot.

The bullets missed him, but McCracken, only six months on the job, wondered if the shooting were a harbinger of routine arrests to come. "I thought, 'Is this going to be worth he said. As it turned out, the incident was McCracken's only serious flirtation with on-the-job violence, and the rest of his 20-year career, which ended Friday with his retirement, passed rather uneventfully. McCracken, said a friend and co-worker, represents the backbone of the Montgomery Police Department loyal officers content with quietly performing their daily tasks. "He's serious about his job and dedicated to this department," Lt.

A.J. Hardy said. To improve his chances of a healthy retirement, McCracken moved behind the front desk at the department's Ripley Street headquarters, where Hardy and McCracken "became best of friends." Before moving to the front desk in September 1986, McCracken spent most of his career on the streets as a motorcycle patrolman. "I loved it," McCracken succinctly replied, typical of his concise, direct responses. Hardy attributed McCracken's reticence to his devotion to the force and determination to depart amicably, not bitterly like some retirees upset over unrealized promotions.

It took McCracken 11 years to reach the rank of corporal. Others have zoomed to the position of police chief in shorter time. "He doesn't care if he gets the credit. He just wants to make sure the job gets done," Hardy said of McCracken, promoted to the rank of of sergeant in 1979 and lieutenant in 1982. In private, McCracken strikes an open, affable By Jamta ShwtavantAdwrtto Staff LI.

McCracken reflects on his 20-year police career Stye MSSi88i3Si PAGE 4 A MnMTRHMFRY Al AH AM A M1NI 1 A NllurMnrn If. OU 7. L5 Clanton Liquor Sales Wet Look Is In, But Dry Trying To Stage Comeback V-' Vr 1 nut offer hpinff tnld th walked out after being told STATEMETRO DIGEST "I imagine that, overall, it could bring in more Those opposed to liquor sales in the city By ALVIN BENN Advertiser Staff Writer CLANTON The wets may have won, but nobody's breaking out the champagne or party hats in Clanton where voters approved an end to a local version of Prohibition Nov. 4. After years of losing on the county level, some have they can't order a glass of wine before their meal.

That brings few tears to the eyes of the Rev. Tony Smitherman, who has been leading the fight against the pro-wet faction for years. "I disagree with the consumption of alcohol because of the destruction that follows," he said. "I can't condemn a man for taking a drink, but he must know what it may lead to." Chambliss and Smitherman have maintained a cordial, if not overly warm relationship during recent wet-dry elections. Clanton Mayor Billy Joe Driver said the city spent $13,000 for the updated census report last February.

He said the city needed the new figures for its tax base. those pushing for the legal sale of alcoholic beverages in the city won by fewer than 300 votes in a general election referendum. than $150,000 for the city each year. Seven counties, most of them wet, surround Chilton, and businessmen such as Chambliss believe their neighbors are benefiting from thirsty residents unable to buy a drink legally in Clanton, Maplesville and other communities. "It's easy to buy an expensive six-pack in Chilton County," said Chambliss.

"The bootleggers will see to that." Chambliss said his restaurant business has suffered because out-of-state travelers do not understand the county's law against alcoholic beverages. His restaurant is located at the Clanton exit on 1-65, and Chambliss said motorists from many states stop off to eat and drink. He said pointed to a state law saying only true 10-year census figures are legal, not updated figures before the next one is completed. The Supreme Court allowed the election to proceed, but announced it will make a final ruling within a few weeks on whether the outcome will be allowed to stand. If prohibitionists win, it would mean Clanton could not call another wet-dry referendum until after the 1990 census is complete.

Clanton restaurateur Buddy Chambliss, who has led previous attempts to end prohibition in Chilton County, said last week that legal sales will mean thousands of additional dollars for the city treasurer. "We figure it will be worth at least $75,000 in the beer tax alone," he said. Prohibitionists eventually may win, however, if the Alabama Supreme Court rules that mid- census population counts are illegal. Cities are allowed to hold local option elec tions if their populations exceed 7,000 something Clanton lacked until several months ago when 2,500 residents were annexed. 7 7 Accidents Kill 5 This Weekend In Alabama Five people died in weekend traffic accidents in Alabama, including an elderly Decatur woman killed when the car her twin sister was driving struck two other cars.

Decatur police said Marion Belmont Hurst, 76, of Hillsboro, was killed in the accident, which happened at 2:22 p.m. Saturday. Also Saturday, Alabama State Troopers said Louis A. Teal, 72, and Georgie Lackey, 20, both of Oxford, were killed in a one-car crash on Interstate 20. The accident happened at 3:32 p.m.

about 2 miles east of Moody. On Friday, Huntsville police said Sonia Jean Roddy, 21, of Huntsville, died Friday after she was struck by a car. Police said Roddy had stopped her. car to assist another accident victim when she was struck at 11:45 p.m. State troopers said a Trussville teen-ager killed in a three-vehicle accident in Jefferson County on Friday.

Troopers said Robin Renee Chappell, 16, was a passenger in one of the vehicles that wrecked on 23rd Avenue about one-half mile east of Birmingham at 9:35 p.m. Friday. Pesticide Ban May Cost State Peanut Growers $49 Million "hi fir- it A- ir: if' to Baby Found Ii In Alabama, dinoseb is used by peanut growers in the Wiregrass region, primarily in the early spring or "cracking time," when young peanut plants first emerge from the sandy soil. The peanuts which are later produced by the plants, develop underground, months later. This week, farmer Ben Bowden was racing the first frost to harvest his last 400 acres of peanuts near Eufaula.

"We have used dinoseb so long so long least 25 years," he said. "We buy it by the thoiull sands of gallons." Ron Weeks, an agent with the Alabama Co operative Extension Service, said as many as 3,000 Alabama farm workers face potential exposure to dinoseb. He said there have bean no reports of problems with the weed killer. Bowden said he wears a respirator, rubber gloves and boots when he pours tie weed killer from containers into the tank ofTa tractor-pulled sprayer. Three pesticide manufacturers will challenged EPA's suspension of dinoseb in a hearing earl next year.

They will claim that dinoseb's bene, fits exceed any possible risk to human health' and that workers can handle the weed killer safely, said Allen Heier of the EPA's Office of Public Affairs. BIRMINGHAM (AP) A decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to ban a weed-control spray used by peanut growers could choke Alabama's peanut fields next summer and chop yields by one-fourth, a state extension service agent said. Experiments earlier this year on pregnant rabbits exposed to dinoseb, used to control Florida beggarweed and sicklepod weed, showed the offspring to be deformed with their brains missing or exposed through their skulls, their spinal cords exposed or their backbones bent. "The defects induced in rabbits were some of the most severe we've seen," said Mike Mc Davit of the Office of Pesticide Programs. "All were serious, irreversible, life-threatening conditions." Mc Davit said researchers were most alarmed that the dose that caused the rabbits' birth defects was similar to the dose farmers can get as they apply dinoseb in the field.

The EPA issued an emergency suspension of the weed killer on Oct. 7 and John Everest, a weed scientist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service at Auburn University, said that could mean a $49 million drop in Alabama farm income. BIRMINGHAM A hospital social worker has taken temporary custody of a baby found wrapped in a blanket stuffed in a shopping bag on the hospital loading dock. Police said a custody hearing has been set this week for the baby, which was found Saturday after hospital employees received a telephone call from a woman who said the baby had been left on the loading dock. V.

4 IIHMIII" 3 'I rrtr4w 7 4 'iEX Calhoun To Vote ANNISTON Calhoun County voters go to the polls Tuesday to elect commissioners in a new district setup, with incumbents ready to.chal-lenge a federal judge's order abolishing the panel's at-large chairmanship. The change in the county's government to five district commission seats is part of a federal redisricting order approved by U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson. Previously Calhoun County has been served by a commission chairman and two commissioners representing the northern and southern parts of the county. 0 I 4- $16,000 Offered For Help In Solving Teen's Slaying UA Paper, Annual Win TUSCALOOSA The University of Alabama's student newspaper and yearbook have been awarded National Pacemaker Awards, the only college in the nation to win the awards By ALVIN BENN Advertiser Staff Writer MONROEVILLE Rewards totaling $16,000 have been posted for information leading to the person who killed an 18-year-old junior college coed Nov.

1 inside the dry cleaning store where she worked part time. Ronda Reene Morrison was shot several times by someone using a small-caliber pistol not long after she had opened for business on a Saturday morning. Store owner Rick Blair said only about $50 was in the cash register. Dozens of people have been according to Monroeville Police Chief Bill Dai-ley, who said five Alabama Bureau of Investigation agents have assisted him. Dailey refused to disclose many details about the investigation, but he did say the slaying appeared to have preceded or followed the rob-.

bery. Authorities close to the investigation have said Morrison was not sexually assaulted dur ing the attack which they believe lasted only few minutes. District Attorney Ted Pearson said appeared five shots had been fired, and she was struck three times. Dailey said the autopsy was performed ifc Mobile, but no report has been issued yet fronj the state toxicologist who is handling the case. Gov.

George C. Wallace posted the maximum $10,000 state reward. The Monroeville Citj Council approved a $3,000 reward, and Ala-bama River Pulp, where the victim's father worked, authorized another $3,000. Morrison was graduated from Monroe Aca demy last spring and had been attending PaG rick Henry Junior College. in both categories.

Presented annually by the Associ ated Collegiate Press and the Ameri can Newspaper Publishers Association Foundation, the awards were Tiring Activity By Frank C. WllllamtAdvartlter Staff mother, Charlotte, both of Daphne, vis presented in Washington. ited relatives and enjoyed the afternoon Three-year-old Lauren Wood played Sunday on a few spare tires at Spinner's Park in Prattville. Lauren and her Fire Destroys Trailer. in the park.

A man was forced to iumD throueh a window of a trailer house Sunday after he tailed to put out a lire, a ire Payne: Cuts Won't Kill 2-Year College Reform Department official said. Jerrv Smith was watching televi sion when he noticed smoke from the back of the trailer at 20 Armor Drive in frpws Mobile Homes Park on the Birmingham Highway, District Chief R.A. Wallace said. Smith discovered a small fire near a heating unit and unsuccessfully triprf to douse the flames with buck els of water before jumping through a window to safety Wallace saia. Wallace said the fire had spread throughout the house before firefighters arrived at 4:15 p.m.

The fire, which destroyed the house. was additional $2 million. The state Board of Education also has approved a tuition increase to $200 a quarter, which will bring in $30 million in revenue, Payne said. And the system has laid off 300 of its 5,000 employees, Payne said. Even so, salaries cost more than the state appropriation for the system, said Jim McEwen, director of instructional and student services.

Since Payne became chancellor of Postseconc-dary Education in 1983, he has steamlined presidential selection policies, standardized courses throughout the system, improved relations with business and industry, modernized equipment and accomplished the only merger in the history of higher education in Alabama. The merger of a junior college and two technical colleges in Gadsden was done, like other reforms, through a task force. Payne has used task forces to bring about changes in the system by giving the people who will have to live with the changes an to di-vclop them. Payne said the staff-development program was based on effective programs used in private industry and is imitated in other Southern states, including North Carolina. One of the top priorities for the upcoming year will be to formalize agreements with four-year colleges to smooth transfers of junior college students, Payne said.

By establishing a core curriculum in junior colleges, so that all students who take a course are learning the same material, the schools have made it easier for students to transfer from one school in the Postsecondary system to another, he said. This month, the state school board approved the first standardized degree program for an associate in applied science. Most of the junior colleges plan the curriculum so that students can transfer easily to nearby four-year colleges, but Payne wants more formal agreements that extend throughout the state's universi- Sce 2-YEAR SYSTEM. 5A By BETTY CORK Advertiser Staff Writer Budget reductions of more than $20 million in the past two years will slow, but not stop, efforts to reform Alabama's two-year college system, Post-secondary Chancellor Charles Payne said recently. "We're having to adjust, and the budget cuts and proration are probably slowing us down," he said.

Payne said he hopes to standardize financial practices and improve academic offerings at Alabama's 42 two-year colleges during the next year. He said he plans to smooth transfer of academic credit from the junior colleges to the state's universities. Payne also plans to upgrade staff, although the Legislature cut all funds for a staff-development program that has been used as a model for other states. In one area financial management the budget reductions have aided reform efforts. Last month, the state Board of Education approved standardized investment policies for the collivix wiiicl TVivm' i iini'iti' will brim! in nn brought under control at 4:21 p.m., Wallnrp said.

In an unrelated incident, a two-car accident in south Montgomery Coun tv nn Sundav injured four oeoDle. one seriously, said a Kala Moore, a state troopers communications officer. Moore said the accident occurred about 5:20 p.m. on U.S. 331 boHvecn Sprneitp and Chancellor Charles Payne.