The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 15

IHontjgomcrg ducrtist Alabama Michelle Jones Metro editor Phone (334) 240-9268 Fax (334)261-1521 425 Molton St. Montgomery AL 361 04 Wednesday March 30, 2005 IT ffaVOOfl 0ct GsyiiocK in)! By Dan E. Way Montgomery Advertiser dwaygannett.com The owner of Montgom Dr. Greg Waller cited a lack of obstetrical facilities and space at Baptist East Medical Center ery's largest OB-GYN practice testified at a state administrative hearing Tuesday that women are at risk because of inadequate obstetrical facilities and a the hospital, said Dr. Greg Waller.

Waller is owner of OB-GYN Associates and an investor in TriMedica Health Care, which wants to build Vaughn Road Medical Center, a 32-bed hospital, in Bullock County. It would be only a mile and a half east of the Montgomery County line. Waller said women who have miscarriages in the afternoon might have to wait until midnight to obtain a dilatation and curettage (D and C) procedure to remove the remnants. Online xexfra montgomeryadvertiser.com TriMedica considers adding investors them adversely by draining off patients and revenue from the affluent east Montgomery market. Waller's testimony came during the second day of a proceeding before Hearing Doctor Page 5B ing that Waller is exaggerating the situation.

"Dr. Waller may have a conflict of interest, which potentially clouds his perspective of what is a very busy hospital because of the good service provided by our employees and physicians, including Dr. Waller," Williams said. Baptist and Jackson hospitals have asked the state to deny a certificate of need to TriMedica. The certificate is needed to proceed with the project.

The Montgomery hospitals say the new hospital would affect lack of patient beds at Bap tist East Medical Center. morrhage, and delaying an induced labor, especially in cases involving a stillborn child, poses physical risks, Waller said. "It starts to get dangerous because you start to make medical decisions based on the number of beds," Waller said. Jim Williams, an attorney for Baptist Health hospitals, said after the hear- On Monday night, he testified, he was asked by hospital officials to give an early discharge to a woman who had delivered a baby so a labor and delivery bed would be available for an incoming patient who needed an induced labor procedure. Discharging a woman too early poses health hazards such as a high risk of maternal he He claimed that a new hospital in Bullock County could alleviate the problem.

"Someone may very easily be injured because of the lack of facilities and lack of medical care" throughout BIRMINGHAM Senator's olive branch doesn't reach Republicans Music industry group sues 24 over downloads Stateline BIRMINGHAM Police trace trail of box holding body A cardboard box that contained the body of an infant girl found last week at a thrift store came from a residence in St. Clair County, police said. According to Birmingham Police Sgt. Cory Hardi-man, the box was taken from a Moody home to a donation dropoff location on U.S. 78 near Irondale before it ended up at the American's Thrift Store.

Store employees discovered the remains Friday about 10 a.m., but investigators do not know who the mother is or when or where she or someone else put her baby in the box. Investigators said a mailing address on something inside the box showed where it came from. Detectives questioned the people at the home and ruled out their involvement. Hardiman said the baby appeared to be full-term and was born between 24 and 48 hours before she was found in the box. He declined to say how the infant died.

PELHAM Lyon throws hat in gubernatorial ring Pelham attorney Harry Lyon announced Tuesday that he plans to make another run for governor in 2006, and he will campaign on requiring drug testing for all Alabama high school students. Lyon first ran for public office in 1980 and ran nearly every two years after that sometimes as a Democrat and sometimes as a Republican through his unsuccessful GOP race for state auditor in 1998. Lyon said Tuesday he has decided to run as a Democrat because that's the party where he began his political involvement. He ran for governor as a Democrat in 1994 but was disqualified by the party before the primary election. ff i'k mmmmmmi f5T) I) Supreme Court referees feud between entertainment industry, software makers 8B Goss of Alexander City, filed in Montgomery early this year, alleges that hundreds of songs were downloaded on her computer.

Goss was unaware of the downloads by her daughter, then 17, according to her attorney, Angela Hill. "Her daughter didn't have any criminal intent," Hill said. Goss's offer to settle the case for $400 or $500 was rejected, Hill said. U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $30,000 for each song illegally downloaded on a person's computer.

The RIAA says the lawsuits are necessary to protect its members. Three of the nine lawsuits filed in Montgomery-based federal court have been settled. Jenni Enge-bretsen, a spokeswoman for the industry group, said two of nine people sued in Mobile and one of six sued in Birmingham have U.S. copyright laws allow for damages of $750 to $30,000 for each song downloaded The Associated Press BIRMINGHAM A music industry group has filed suit in federal court against 24 Alabamians, including an Alexander City hairstylist whose daughter downloaded hundreds of songs on the Internet. The suits are among 9,900 filed against individuals since 2003 by the Recording Industry Association of America on behalf of member companies such as Warner Bros.

Records, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Arista Records and Capitol Records Inc. The lawsuits accuse people of using the Internet or an online media distribution system to download copyright recordings without paying to distribute them to the public and to make them available for distribution. The suit against Vickey Photos by Mickey Welsh Advertiser The Chaudoir family of Wisconsin has their photo taken Tuesday with Sen. Russ Feingold, in suit, at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery. The Chaudoir family, from left, Karla, Justin, Jeff and Kit, is on vacation and ran into Sen.

Feingold in the middle of his three-day visit to Alabama. Feingold: GOP drunk with power Lyon, a 53-year-old of the law school at Miles College, said he will campaign on requiring all students in public and private high schools to take drug tests that would be paid for by their schools. Those who fail would have to go with their parents for a conference with a juvenile court judge. HUNTSVILLE Ambulance maker charged with theft An ambulance maker is facing multiple theft charges by Huntsville po Deal in DOT case lessens fee burden lice and possible federal charges in an alleged scam involving thousands of dollars in at least five states. James F.

Agnew, 38, of Huntsville was charged 1992, said he has long worked with both sides, and it is time to tell the truth about the duplicity of the Republicans. "They're against big government when they're out of power, but now that they're in power, deficits don't matter," he said. "Getting into the privacy of peoples' homes, even when it doesn't involve terrorism, doesn't matter." Cutting taxes, "especially for the wealthy," has become more important to the GOP than supporting Community Development Block Grant programs to help local governments with public works projects, he also said. Feingold, asked about what he believes it would take for Democratic presidential candidates to win the South, said there needs to be frank discussions about the economy and the nation's finances and to hear what the people have to say. Isaiah Sankey, a downtown Montgomery restaurant owner, is skeptical of both sides.

He said he is too busy "trying to participate in the free enterprise system" to follow news of Feingold being in Alabama. Sankey quoted U.S. Sen. Huey Long, the Louisiana populist who was assassinated in 1935 as he was preparing to run as an independent against President Franklin Roosevelt. Long argued the only difference between the Republican and Democratic parties was that one was skinning from the bottom up while the other was skinning from the top down.

"It seems to be that both parties are trying to put themselves in a position so they can control the resources of the country," Sankey said. By William F. West Montgomery Advertiser bwest1gannett.com U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold says the national Republican Party is failing to provide responsible leadership and that Democrats must focus on jobs and regaining Southern support to win back the White House.

"I think the Republicans are intoxicated with power," Feingold, told editors and reporters of the Montgomery Advertiser on Tuesday. "What a joke," Alabama Republican Party Chairwoman Twinkle An-dress Cavanaugh said in rebuttal later in the day. "The reason he came back was because he opened his mouth and he inserted his foot to start with." Feingold was touring downtown Montgomery on Tuesday and was scheduled to head up Interstate 65 to meet with residents of Shelby County. The senator was in Greenville on Monday trying to mend fences with residents after causing an uproar with some comments he made to the on-line magazine Salon. In a Salon article, Feingold described Greenville as "the reddest spot" on the presidential election map and made references to check-cashing stores, trailer parks and "rundown" car lots.

He was in Greenville in November playing a round at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. One local resident is hardly willing to embrace Feingold's efforts. Robert Shugart, of Prattville, said that, in the old days, the Republicans were the rich people, while a Democrat was "a poor working man." Now, Shugart said, the problem is the Democratic Party is "so far out in with six counts of nrst-de- gree theft, Huntsville Police Investigator Jerry Trew said Monday. Agnew is owner of Innovative Coach-works, an ambulance man ufacturing company. The scam involves stolen chassis that have the ambu 2002.

"They hadn't been paid for two years and three months," said Assistant Transportation Director Dan Morris. The state, meanwhile, is saving 30 percent on legal fees through the negotiated agreement, paying $3.5 million of a requested $5 million. "I believe if this litigation is to ever end, the out-of-control attorneys' fees must be brought into check," King said in a prepared statement. "This new arrangement is substantially more equitable for Alabama taxpayers and represents long overdue containment of the fuel that has fired this litigation for decades." Robert Wiggins, the lead plaintiffs' attorney in the case, was out of town Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. Under the new payment DOT Page 5B By Dan E.

Way Montgomery Advertiser dwaygannett.com The state made more progress this week in bringing to a close the now decades-long Johnny Reynolds racial discrimination lawsuit against the agency formerly known as the Alabama Highway Department. On Tuesday, Attorney General Troy King announced an agreement between the state Department of Transportation (ALDOT) and plaintiffs' attorneys in the suit. The agreement changes the payment process for legal fees in the 1985 lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of thousands of black ALDOT employees. The plaintiffs claimed they were being passed over for promotions by the agency. The latest agreement in the case, signed Monday, will save Alabama $1.5 million in plaintiff attorneys' fees going back to October lance boxes the sections that carry the patients and medical equipment welded onto them.

DeSoto Coun Feingold examines names on the memorial Tuesday with Le-cia Brooks of the Southern Poverty Law Center. left field" on religious and social issues and that they only care about the liberals and their allies. Quoting a saying heard around the South the last several years, he said, "I didn't abandon the Democratic Party. They abandoned me." Feingold told the Advertiser he wants to receive more input from residents of a state that has not supported a Democratic presidential candidate since Georgian Jimmy Carter's 1976 upset of President Ford. Feingold, elected to the Senate in ty Fire Rescue in Mississippi apparently ended up with a chassis stolen from an Illinois Ford dealership with the county-owned ambulance box attached to it.

PATEBOOK Friday The Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs will meet at 10 a.m. Friday in the fifth floor conference room of the RSA Plaza Building, 770 Washington Montgom Domestic violence bill clears House ery. The Community Care Net work's Car-A-Van will be in LEGISLATURE 2005 the Moses area in the parking lot of Mount Moriah Baptist Church 2 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. the first Friday of each month to provide free medical care, medications and screenings in iluiiii.

iii.ua uu liiiiiimi luim .) i. wim.iw.w. w.i -Jit- 1 i 4 jl partnership with the Ark of Love. Coming Up The Lee County Humane Soci ety is looking for people will it takes to be treated fairly in the House." Tension between the parties came to a boil two weeks ago, when Republicans failed to thwart passage of the Democrats' $1.53 billion General Fund budget. Republicans sought to keep the House from getting a quorum, but their plan backfired when House Speaker Seth Ham-mett, D-Andalusia, announced that there was a quorum while many of the GOP members were outside the House chamber.

Knight then called for a vote on the budget, and it passed 46-40. Republicans cried foul and accused Hammett of playing loosely with the rules. "What's going on is, we are asking the leadership to make some procedural changes to promote a little more even appli- Violence Page 5B By Jannell McGrew Montgomery Advertiser jmcgrewgannett.com Political wrangling over a bill to help the state's domestic violence shelters halted work in the House for hours Tuesday, but finally broke through without a single dissenting vote. Rep. John Knight, D-Mont-gomery, fought back objections to his proposal to appropriate $503,583 to the state's havens for battered women.

"This does not completely fund them, but it is part of the appropriation going to domestic violence shelters (for) a very important function they serve in this state," Knight said. Earlier Tuesday, the measure appeared to be going nowhere, as Republican lawmakers lined up to question Knight's bill. While applauding the purpose of such shelters, members of the ing to foster puppies during peak puppy season through July. Homes are needed to keep puppies for two to four GOP posed question after question, stalling both Knight's bill and progress on the floor. In the end, however, the Montgomery representative's bill passed 91-0.

One of Knight's colleagues in the Montgomery delegation said later that the stalling tactic created time for other negotiations. "We were just mainly slowing things down to encourage the leadership to negotiate with the head of the Republican Caucus on some procedural changes that will enable us to represent our constituency," said state Rep. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery. "What that proves is that the Republican Caucus is very united, and we are going to do whatever weeks prior to adoption, tall (334) 281-3222 or e-mail an gieleecountyhumane.org. Staff and wire reports Mickey Welsh Advertiser Rep.

Johnny Mack Morrow, D-Red Bay, left, and Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, share a laugh during a filibuster in the House chamber in Montgomery on Tuesday. Page designed by Gary Goodson Page edited by Terry Manning.