The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 21

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 1984 AROUND Judge won't halt condo projects, suggests hearing By PEGGY WILHIDE Advertiser Staff Writer A Montgomery federal judge has denied a request by environmentalists to stop construction of condominium projects on Alabama's Gulf Coast, but suggested the group ask the court to order a state appeal hearing on one of the projects. U.S. District Judge Myron Thomp-1 son did not order the hearing in a ALABAMA Woman pays food-stamp restitution BESSEMER A Jefferson County woman received a six-month suspended sentence after she pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud and handed a judge $2,582 to repay the state. Genetta Brown was one of four people ordered by Bessemer Cutoff Circuit Court Judge Dan Reynolds to repay the state after pleading guilty to food stamp fraud Monday. She had been charged with first-degree theft of property, but her charge was reduced to third-degree theft.

The other three who pleaded guilty were: Jeanette Fuller, sentenced to a year and a day in jail, given five years probation and ordered to pay $1,282 in restitution. Charlie Mae Johnson, sentenced to a year and a day, given five years probation and ordered to pay $1,228 in restitution. Ozzie Lee Lewis, sentenced to a year and a day, given years probation, ordered to pay $2,736 in restitution. Dothan man shot DOTHAN Police say a shotgun blast to the head that killed a Dothan man apparently was self-inflicted and no foul play was involved. Lt.

Larry Lynn identified the victim as Gary Stinson. Lynn said officers were trying to determine if the gun went off accidentally. He said Stinson was found in his back yard and was pronounced dead at Flowers Hospital at about 7:30 p.m. Monday. ftU: -Pfcola iy Alvta 1 Remains of WSLA-TV tower lie draped across road, over station was the second disaster In the station's 1 6-year history Collapse of tower second blow in history of Selma TV station ruling issued Monday because attorneys for the environmentalists had not requested it.

The lawsuit, filed by several environmental groups, asked the court specifically to halt construction of Broadmoor Towers and Perdido Quay condominiums. It also challenged the legality of building permits issued for the projects by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. Before the federal lawsuit was filed, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Phelps ordered the commission that oversees ADEM to hear the groups' appeal of the Broadmoor permit, but not the Perdido Quay permit. That hearing has been held, but no decision has been reached. In Monday's order, Thompson found that both permits were issued without notice to the plaintiffs and that their issuance violated the plaintiffs' right to due process.

Due process on Broadmoor "The plaintiffs have now been given a hearing on the Broadmoor permit, and therefore their due process right has so far been vindicated with regard to this permit," the order reads. "They have not received a hearing on the issuance of the Perdido Quay permit, however. The court is therefore willing to require that the commission give them a hearing on this permit." Thompson stopped short of doing so, however, opting to wait until the plaintiffs request such a hearing. He gave both sides until Friday to submit evidence on the court's suggestion. Thompson first heard evidence in the federal suit April 27.

The suit was filed by Save Our Dunes, The Alabama Conservancy, League of Women Voters of Mobile and Baldwin County, and the Sierra Club. The judge refused to halt construction on either project, saying that Doctor says interferon giving hope BIRMINGHAM (AP) Interferon is providing hope for people suffering from one type of cancer, doctors at the University of Alabama in Birmingham reported Tuesday. Several patients receiving the drug for cancer of the lymphatic system have shown improvement for five months, said Richard A. Gams, associate director of I'AB's Comprehensive Cancer Center. "The tumors have shrunk and the swelling has gone away." he said.

"We're very excited about it. I think it certainly is a breakthrough." Gams was in Toronto Tuesday to present his findings formally at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. A prepared report on his findings also was released here. The lymphatic system is a network of small vessels that nourishes body tissues and filters out harmful particles, preventing infection. Interferon is a natural, tiny substance produced by cells in response to viral infection.

It was once thought to be nature's miracle drug that could cure everything from cancer to the common cold. Extracting the substance is difficult and expensive. UAB has been headquarters of a six-university research effort to examine the use of interferon in patients suffering from what is called malignant lymphoma. Patients who have not responded well to standard types of chemotherapy have made progress with interferon, Gams said. "We feel that while it may not be very useful in many forms of cancer it certainly is in cancer of the lymphatic system.

The results in lymphoma are the only really bright light in the use of interferon in cancer management Interferon causes side effects such as fatigue and fever. Gams said, but most patients don't complain. "The patient often is ill from the lymphoma, so this is a mild price to pay for feeling better when the treatment stops." pand its viewing area later this year when a tower is built in Lowndes County. It is part of a $4 million expansion project that will make the station available to hundreds of thousands of new viewers, he said. The storm did not slow or speed plans for the improvements and Singleton said insurance covers the estimated $250,000 in damages.

He said none of the station's 25 employees will be laid off during the repair period. "We're getting ready with material that can be used when we go back on," said Singleton, who was recently named vice president of Central Alabama Broadcasters, the company that owns WSLA. Plans to increase the station's power has led to protests from Montgomery's two UHF (ultra high frequency) stations, WCOV and WKAB, but all that was forgotten when the storm hit. WCOV General Manager Karl Richards was one of the first callers to offer help to Singleton. "It was very nice of him," said Singleton, who respectfully declined the offer.

"We appreciate his concern." By ALV1N BENN Advertiser Staff Writer SELMA WSLA-TV's 350-foot-tall orange-and-white tower lay near the station Tuesday, a twisted reminder of the day it became a huge javelin. The tower was destroyed this past Thursday when tornadic winds estimated at up to 100 miles an hour lifted the 70-ton tower off its base and hurled it across the road in front of the building. Part of the tower's base crashed through the trailer that housed the station's news department, while the rest of the tower fell across the front lawn. No one was hurt, but, for the second time in 16 years, disaster had struck one of the nation's tiniest television stations. George Singleton was a teen-ager working at the station when fire destroyed the building in 1968.

When the tornado struck last week, he was the general manager on his way back to Selma from a TV executive's meeting in Las Vegas. "The phone rang 15 seconds after I had gotten off the plane in Dallas," he said. "They were paging me about what had happened in Selma." The best news was that no one was injured when the tower toppled. The worst was the Initial projections about how long the station would be inoperable. The biggest fear was possible damage to the transmitter, said Singleton.

"If it had been hit hard we could have been off the air for many months," said Singleton. However, he said the transmitter remained intact after the tower fell, providing at least some hope for a quick turnaround. Singleton was on the phone Tuesday afternoon, making arrangements for a new tower. Singleton now expects WSLA to be back on the air by the end of May. It's a lot better than the five-year delay after the fire.

Although investigators ruled that the fire had been deliberately set, Singleton said it was not a major loss for the community. "It really wasn't much of a station," he said. "What we have today is much better, much more modern In terms of equipment." With one of the nation's smallest markets, WSLA Is planning to ex question should be addressed by the Alabama Environmental Man Higher fines sought In an effort to discourage the sale of beer and liquor to minors, the administrator of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has called for fines of up to $750 on the first offense. Henry B. Gray III said in a prepared statement that he instructed ABC hearing commission officials last Friday to levy first-offense fines of up to $750 for selling alcoholic beverages to people under 19.

Selling alcoholic beverages to minors is a misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $1,000 for a first offense. Gray's statement said that in recent months the fines for a first offense have varied but generally have been about $250. "I want a major emphasis placed on stopping the sale of alcohol to minors," said Gray. "Those who violate the law can expect a stiff fine even for a first offense." ABC licensees charged with liquor law violations go before an ABC Board hearing commission, which can set a fine. The fines may be appealed to the full board and then on to circuit court.

Those convicted of a second offense of selling to minors can have their licenses suspended or revoked and be fined the maximum of $1,000. Mrs. Hilley's attorneys attack conviction on 9 points agement Commission. "The commission is an adequate forum to consider any emergency request for a stay," Thompson ruled. "The evidence at the April 27 hearing reflected that substantial construction has been done and is continuing on the Broadmoor project; and that no, or very limited, construction has been done on the Perdido Quay project," the order says.

"The evidence further reflected that to stay construction of the two projects would cost developers of the projects substantial sums of money. Damage could be "irreparable" "On the other hand," Thompson wrote, "the evidence reflected that if the construction of the two projects should ultimately prove to have been illegal, the damage to the dunes on Perdido Key will be enormous and irreparable." The plaintiffs may request a stay on construction of the Perdido Quay project during the state appeal hearing, Thompson said. During the earlier, court-ordered appeal hearing, the groups asked the Environmental Management Commission to halt construction of the Broadmoor project. The commission Dogs elude capture Montgomery animal-control of' capture in January 1983. Returned to Alabama for trial, she was sentenced to life in prison for her murder conviction.

Defense attorneys contested 18-pages of handwriting samples they described as "highly prejudicial," including a letter to a former lover and bounced checks the state had submitted as evidence of Mrs. Hilley's character. They also argued that vials found to contain arsenic were illegally obtained from Mrs. Hilley's purse and personal belongings. But state's attorney Richard Owens said the searches were legal and that to deny them would afford Mrs.

Hilley "more rights" than the average citizen. "Clearly police could search for arsenic at the time of her arrest," he said. words uttered by her former husband to his sister. "For a husband to say to a sister that the doctor told his wife she's going to have to learn to give him shots is not a tacit admission," said defense attorney Tom Harmon. During Mrs.

Hilley's weeklong trial, the state's case centered on testimony of doctors and state forensic scientists who said both Frank and Carol Hilley had large concentrations of arsenic in their bodies that could not have been received inadvertently. Mrs. Hilley was arrested in October 1979 after doctors diagnosed Carol as suffering from arsenic poisoning. A few weeks later, Frank's body was exhumed and authorities said an autopsy showed he died of arsenic poisoning. The former Anniston housewife later fled and led a double life as a fugitive in New England before her By DIDRIKKE SCHANCHE Associated Press Writer Attorneys for Audrey Marie Hilley appealed her murder-by-arsenic conviction Tuesday, claiming it was based partly on "highly prejudicial" letters to a former lover and the words of a dying husband.

But state's attorneys said the evidence was valid, legally obtained and legally submitted during her trial. Alabama's Court of Criminal Appeals, after an hour-long hearing, withheld any immediate ruling. Mrs. Hilley, a 51-year-old former Anniston housewife, was convicted June 8, 1983 of the 1975 murder by arsenic of her husband, Frank, and the attempted murder of her 19-year-old daughter, Carol, four years later. Her attorneys appealed the conviction on nine grounds, including illegal search and seizure and the admission as evidence of 18 pages of writings and ficers will be capturing loose dogs in the Woodley Road area this week in an effort to eliminate the spread of rabies.

But the officers are having trouble capturing a pack of about 30 stray dogs in the area, according to Dr Richard Green, county rabies inspec tor. State officials have confirmed that a raccoon which bit a dog in the area See JUDGE, page 2C Monday was rabid. At least 75 dogs were captured Monday, said Jim Pace, county vac cination-verification coordinator. He said some of the dogs have been School to get library computers identified by owners and confined. Only five of the dogs had been vaccinated against rabies, he said.

Road would link Memphis, Birmingham BIRMINGHAM (AP) Rep. Tom Bevill, said construction of a superhighway linking Birmingham and Memphis. will begin in August and will take 10 years to complete. He told the Alabama League of Municipalities that the four-lane, limited-access highway, called Corridor "is needed because there's no good route to get from Birmingham to Memphis." Bevill predicted Monday that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, which he chairs, will approve more than $6.5 million this year for the highway. The subcommittee last year approved $6.5 million to buy property for the roadway, he said, noting that construction money for Corridor is funneled through the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Bevill said the federal government will pay 80 percent of the cost of Corridor with state governments paying 20 percent. The chief engineer of the state Highway Department, Tom Espy, said that "we'll be lucky" if costs are held to $1 million a mile. Contracts expected in August Espy said the first construction contracts in Alabama are expected to be awarded in August for grading and drainage work covering seven miles from where U.S. 78 crosses the Mississippi-Alabama line to just west of Hamilton. Espy said the exact route of Corridor has not been decided, but that the highway is planned to go from 1-65 south of Gardendale to U.S.

78 near Adamsville and Graysville. From there, Corridor will run south of Jasper, north of Carbon Hill, north of Winfield and south of Hamilton before intersecting U.S. 78 again at the Mississippi-Alabama line. From there, the highway will run 12 miles to Fulton, and then extend westward to 1-55, which connects Jackson, and Memphis. Green said animal-control officers have been trying to capture about 30 stray dogs living in an abandoned house in the woods near the Macedonia area.

"They are having trouble finding a method to catch them," Green said "You can't shoot them because it would pose a danger to the people that live in the area. Green said about 60 stray dogs remain in the neighborhood. One was captured and confined Tuesday, he said. By MARK SMITH Advertiser Staff Writer The Elmore County Board of. Education earmarked $15,000 Tuesday for a computer system to be used in the planned new library at Wetumpka Elementary School.

The original library was destroyed in a fire December 20, 1983. "I think our misfortune could be our fortune," said Barbara Birdnow, librarian at Wetumpka Elementary. Mrs. Birdnow said the estimated $300,000 damage to the school's library "helped speed" the changeover to a computerized library system. She said the county would "come out ahead" by purchasing the system because it is comparable in price to the cost of setting up a card catalog and is more efficient.

"We will definitely cut back in labor costs because of all the time we'll save in book processing and indexing," Mrs. Birdnow said. "Normally, we would have to shut down for two weeks for inventory," she said. "But with a computerized system, using a light meter instead of cards, we probably won't have to. "With the light meter we can cut this to hours instead of days." Mrs.

Birdnow said the computer also could be used for educational purposes at the elementary school. "Every student will be able to learn to use a computer," she said. Becky Brown, a library aide at Wetumpka Elementary, said the fire caused her severe depression. "When I came back to the school after the fire, everything was destroyed inside the library," Ms. Brown said.

"Nothing was left, not even a pencil." "People from Wetumpka, Montgomery and the Gunter air base helped contribute about 3,000 books," said Ms. Brown. With the recent purchase of approximately 8,500 books from a Jackson, library for $9,000, the majority of the school's books were replaced. County School Superintendent John C. Whatley said the new library "will be better than ever." He said a $300,000 reconstruction project will triple the size of the original library.

The library is expected to be finished by September, Whatley said. School board member Ed Dean said, "We're doing everything we can to refurbish and build the new library. But it is going to be real nip-and-tuck to get the library built with the computer system in by September." Green said the dogs constitute an added threat of rabies spreading from raccoons. "We've got a potential nucleus here of rabid animals," he said. "Many wild dogs could have been bitten.

We have to devise a plan to get rid of them." -AP wlrapbou About 24 county rabies inspectors will begin a door-to-door search of Montgomery County residences May 15 to locate pet owners who have not had their animals vaccinated. Tornado damage Dale Henderson looks through the rubble that used to be his trailer home, destroyed when a tornado flipped it over Monday night northwest of Birmingham. Two women inside were injured. Pet tags or vaccination certificates will be accepted as proof of I.