The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 19

I 19-A Friday, Feb 26, 1982 Senators Pass Revision Of State Open Bill Permitting The Suspension Of Sheriffs Clears Senate By Jerry Schwartz Conilllulion Staff Writer Milledgeville, who had appealed unsuccessfully to his colleagues to at least delay their vote, "on account of the Henry County case." "You're being asked to move too fast on something that goes too far," warned Kidd, who By Carole Ashkinaie Constitution Staff Writer A bill permitting the governor to suspend a sheriff accused of criminal charges or official misconduct cleared the state Senate Thursday, de- After crushing earlier efforts by a Republican senator to rewrite the state's open meetings laws, the Senate passed Thursday and sent to the House a sweeping revision of the laws governing meetings of all state, county and local boards and commissions. spite a warning from one senator that such a KePt senate seat following his indicttment in On a vote of 36-16, the Senate passed a bill 1976 on bribery charges, on which he was tried Columbus, had introduced a package of bills aimed at making similar changes in the law. They were either significantly diluted by amendments or killed outright. The Senate open meetings bill also would require government bodies to file their minutes within 10 days after the meeting takes place. The bill grants certain exemptions to the law, such as: Discussions between a board and its attor-: ney which would require attorney-client confidentiality.

Personnel matters where disciplinary action is being considered against individual employees. Confidential medical matters including a hospital board's decisions on granting abortions in accordance with Georgia law. The only floor challenge to bill came from Sen. Culver Kidd, D-Milledgeville, who said See SENATE, Page 22-A approved by the House in slightly different form, will be returned to the Hous for final passage. It would permit the governor to appoint a committee consisting of two sheriffs and the attorney general to investigate criminal charges, or charges of misconduct in office or incapacity, lodged against a sheriff.

If the committee recommended suspension, the governor would be authorized to suspend the sheriff for up to 60 days; the chief judge of the local superior court would be empowered to appoint a temporary acting sheriff. However, under amendments adopted by the Senate, the suspension could be extended for up to 90 days if a case remains unsettled that long, and a sheriff could not be removed permanently until all appeals have been exhausted. move might have unfairly prejudiced the jury "in the Henry County case." Henry County Sheriff Jimmy Glass, who is currently on trial on federal drug conspiracy charges, has been under pressure to resign since his indictment last November federal drug conspiracy charges but has refused, maintaining his innocence. His removal on even a temporary "would have damaged him when he came up for trial," according to state Sen. Culver Kidd, D- sponsored by Sen.

Roy Barnes, D-Mableton, which would allow the public to witness any meeting where public business is discussed. The current law only requires open meetings where final action is to be taken. Senate passage of the bill was considered only a minor victory for the public meetings bill since the House has traditionally been much more reluctant to pass such measures. Earlier in the Sen. Ted Land, R- and acquitted the following year.

Kidd, who had been accused by a convicted counterfeiter and drug dealer of accepting a bribe and then reneging on a promise to have him transferred from one prison to another, reminded the senators of his own experience. "I've been on both sides of the coin, and I can tell you, it's not fun," he said. 1 The bill, which has the backing of the Georgia Sheriffs' Association and has already been 4 Mcintosh Blacks To ilw -mam -Design Against Crime' Young Appeal .411 'lit Ill msmmmmimmm" p- 0mm fliiiii I -V" si.H Photos bwigtil Ross The Ceremony Thursday Featured Saluting Guns And A Parade By The Fort McPherson Band And Selected Marching Units Judge's Order. OKs Expulsions By Jingle Davis Constitution Stall Newt Serviot DARIEN Black leaders here say they will appeal a decision handed down' by U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Alaimo, who has refused to require the Mcintosh County School Board to reinstate two black high-school students expelled last November after they allegedly fought with a white teacher, Meanwhile, Mcintosh County Sheriff Robert Cannon said he has requested help from state and federal law-enforcement officials to keep the peace during a weekend Ku Klux Klan rally intended to counter a month-long protest sparked by the expulsions.

Jo a written order handed down Wednesday, Judge Alaimo held that the school board's action was "amply" justified by the two students' offense, which he described as an "unprovoked, unjustified assault and battery of a schoolteacher and his subjection to profane racial slurs by two young men in their late teens." The judge said in his order that a long history of discrimination against blacks "has caused them to interpret any conflict between black and white as racially motivated regardless of the merits of -the controversy. It is this phenomenon that, unfortunately, often tends to mask the real issues in such confrontations." In protest of the expulsions, an estimated 500 black students boycotted the county's public schools for four weeks, attending special classes conducted by their parents in church buildings, but returned to regular classes on Monday while Alaimo's ruling was still pending. Sam Pinckney, an official of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Thursday morning he had not yet re- ceived a copy of Alaimo's 10-page ruling, but that "if he has ruled against, (us), we will defintely, appeal the decision." Pinckney said he does not know if black children will again boycott the county's public schools to protest the nil-. ng- V' ruled on a lawsuit filed against the school system by Mrs. Clara Jackson on behalf of her two sons.

The the court for a temporary order to reinstate 18-year-old Marvin a Jackson and his 16-year-old brother into their classes at Mcintosh Academy, the local public high school Retirement Ceremony Honors Career Soldiers ByTX. Wells Constitution SUB Writer Mayor Andrew Young urged Atlanta architects Thursday to "design against crime" in order to create buildings that reduce the likelihood of a recurrence of last Saturday's murder of a violinist in the Omni International Hotel. "That's a beautiful building," Young said of the Omni Hotel and office complex, "but somebody, some criminologist or sociologist should have been involved in the design" to warn about the potential for crime. A 48-year-old. violinist, Elizabeth Ann Bertolino, was killed Saturday night in a glass-walled bridge that connects the Omni Hotel with banquet rooms across the street.

Had the architect considered the; possibility that someone could be victimized in the bridge area, Young said, the crime might never have occurred. For example, he added, "a shoeshine stand comes to mind." Not only would it serve to deter crime because it would be staffed regularly, it would provide three or four jobs and be a convenience to hotel customers, he said. Young addressed a luncheon gathering of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Young said another major challenge for architects and urban designers in Atlanta is to create a better pedestrian environment downtown. Although downtown has major hotels, it lacks the restaurants, boutiques and other stores that encourage people to stroll about, he said.

In addition to creating a booming climate for the smaller businesses, Young said more people downtown would make major crimes more difficult and would ease the fears of pedestrians who were alone. "We need a way to move people through that corridor between some of the most beautifully designed buildings in the world. Because there's nothing between (the hotels), people are afraid to walk there," he said. He urged the architects to "help build people bridges and design people flow so that we truly have i city that is well-integrated" architecturally. "I hope that you can help us to fill in the pieces between (the city's major buildings) so we can have a city that is safe by design," Young said.

J' u. .1 ii yww 1... it 1 mum j.iinijiuiiiiiin MmMm- WmMilMV WBIM iliiilllBl III b'-) illilfll- la rfM By Frank Wells Constitution Stiff Writer The Army is always present and "ready to fight" if need be, Gen. Edward C. Meyer, chief of staff of the U.S.

Army, said here Thursday at a retirement review for Gen. Robert M. Shoemaker and four other career Army men at Fort McPherson. After the ceremony, Gen. Meyer said tanks, despite new and sophisticated anti-tank weapons, would be needed to pierce enemy lines quickly.

But infantry is still "queen of battle," Gen. Meyer said. "It is this readiness with a highly mobile force that makes the U.S. Army strong," he said. "The Army Forces Command, headquartered here, is on the ready, and anyone who could be a potential enemy knows Meyer was saluted with a series of 17.

shots from four saluting guns and a parade by the Fort McPherson Band and selected marching units. The parading units were inspected by the retiring Army men. In addition to Gen. Shoemaker, 58, commanding officer of Army Forces Command, they are Lt CoL Pinckney C. Cochran 45; Master Sgt John Aten, 51; Master Sgt Boby G.

Moore, 39; and Master Sgt Frank Snow. 43. Gen. Shoemaker, asked what he would do in retirement, said, "I'm going to Texas and be a rancher." He owns acreage "right in the middle of he said. Gen.

Meyer, speaking to the retirees and their families at the parade ground at Fort McPherson, said, "Each of these five retiring soldiers has adhered to the values of duty to flag and country. Soldiers are not paid as well as they should be, but they get their reward from other sources. "These men know they are members of a close-knit group that has been ennobled by the sacrifices of the soldiering profession a profession at least 4,000 years old." He said, "We all here offer you a salute for doing your duty." 1 Gen. Shoemaker said, after the that his best memories of his time in the Army, were those "of the fine men I've served with." 'GOING TO BE A RANCHER' Gen. Robert M.

Shoemaker Tragic Error Ended Teen's Life 1 56 Pet. Of Teens fin Clayton Survey Admit Shoplifting 1 9 I LiL WIFE OF SUSPECT Toni Dunn INDICTED IN SHOOTING Lonnie Dunn By Celia W. Dogger Constitution Staff Writer Robby Covey went to South Lake Mall In Morrow after work to buy rock concert tickets, but he died In a shotgun blast fired by a husband who authorities say thought the 17-. year-old had raped his wife. The man -who allegedly shot him, Lonnie Dunn, 23, also of Jonesboro, was indicted last Friday for Covey's murder and is scheduled to go on trial April 12.

Dunn was released the day of the killing on 910,000 bond. Today he is working in his father's auto parts store less than 10 minutes drive from the Coveys'. At about 1:15 a.m. on Dec. 24, Dunn had hopped in his red pickup truck and grabbed a shotgun after his 20-year-old wife Toni told him she had been kidnapped and raped by two men in a small black car at Southlake Mall, according to police accounts.

By a freakish misfortune, Robby Covey and a friend had gotten off work at the Red Lobster on Tara Boulevard moments later at 1:20 a.m. and headed to the mall to camp out for rock-concert ticket sales that were to begin the next morning. Dunn's wife has since told police that her story was untrue, but her husband did not know that at the time. She has been charged with falsely reporting a crime, a misdemeanor carrying a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. When Dunn and Covey converged at the mall at about 1:30, Dunn wheeled his red Toyota truck in front of Covey's black TransAm, pulled out his shotgun, and ordered Covey and his friend from his car, according to Ronnie Clackum, chief investigator for the Clayton District Attorney's office.

Whin seconds, Covey lay bleeding on the pavWient, the f.r- By Celia W. Dogger 1 Constitution SUff Writer 1 About 56 percent of the teen-agers who participated in a survey of Clayton County students have admitted they shoplift, but only 17 percent of those who had stolen something said they were caught. Jim Carter, a marketing teacher at Jonesboro High, School, said his students distributed questionnaires to 1,400 stu-I dents between the ages of 13 and 19 at Clayton junior and sen- ior high schools. A survey developed by the Atlanta-based Na-, i tional Coalition to Prevent Shoplifting was used I The survey, which was conducted in November and December, found that the shoplifting record of Clayton teens is I slightly above the national average of 49 percent It also found that 88 percent of the Clayton shoplifters knew that what they I did was a crime, and another 86 percent said they would not do it again. However, Carter was skeptical about their good intentions.

I He said 78 percent of the students who had shoplifted said they had not planned to take anything when they walked into a store. "It's a spur-of-the-moment decision," he said, t' Lax enforcement of laws against shoplifting has contributed to the problem, Carter said. Survey results show that of the 17 percent who were caught shoplifting, only 24 percent of them were turned over to authorities. r'i To combat the shoplifting epidemic, Carter's class of 48 'students has launched a campaign called SHOE, hpplifting Hurts Our Economy. victim of a misunderstanding between a man and a woman he had never met Two hours later he was dead.

The violence was over quickly, but nothing has filled the void left by his absence at the Covey's two-story brown and yellow home In the Bonanza subdivision in Jonesboro. Tuesday evening, three boys were shooting baskets in the driveway next door to the Covey's. Neighborhood mutts of assorted sizes chased each other across the yard in the springy weather. Robby's TransAm sat unused in front of the house. Inside, Joanne Covey, his mother, and Pam Covey, his 10-year-old- sister, remembered him.

He loved playing baseball and football with the South Clayton Association, they said. After he graduated, he planned to work awhile and then join the Air Force or the Marines. DIED FROM SHOTGUN BLAST AT SHOPPING CENTER 17-Year-Old Rtbby Covey Of Jonesboro fa See COVEY, Page.