The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 1

.4. laglGs' sbai? to Me Journal-Constitution honors the prep stars Georgia Southern wins l-AA crown 3 wmm mwm I Morning STREET Edition Morning STREET Edition THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION SUNDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1985 ONE DOLLAR CojjriM ISIS Tli Atluti Jounul and Tk AtlaaU ConUtMioa UMDAY MEWSBAMK Tax official kidnapped as county's cash stolen a VOLUME 36, NUMBER 63 306 PAGES, 18 SECTIONS lnJUii pays? Indigent caught in cross fire as providers debate issue Mostly sunny, cold Sunday will be sunny, with highs in the 40s. Details, 52A 5 if Army's on the march Football is on the rise again at West Point, where if winning isn't everything, it's close. Sports SEARCH FOR EMPTY BEDS 15A By Jim Galloway Staff Writer if 'I 1 i ,11 i I In November, Sidney Searcy had a right side that didn't work, he couldn't speak, and when one sister saw him, he couldn't feed himself. To many of Georgia's 170 general hospitals, 159 county commissions and 8,300 physicians, a man like Searcy is dangerous, a threat to economic existence.

In turn, Searcy's own life hangs by the charitable graces of that health care system an increasingly tenuous thread, according to virtually everyone involved. Not, poor enough for Medicaid, not oldvenough for Medicare, and not able to afford the cheapest private medical insurance, the 48-year-old former pulpwooder normally Uvqs by hims.elj'in a trailer on family land in Talbot County, subsisting in large part on a monthly disability check that runs $87 a month, according to his 'r "All citizens, regardless of economic status, have the same right of access to basic care," stated a joint committee of the General Assembly, which last year studied medical care for people like Searcy. But for Searcy and as many as 700,000 like him in the state, basic health care is perhaps the most ill-defined, ill-secured right they have. County governments want the state to pay the bill for indigent care; the state wants the counties and the hospitals to pay; the public hospitals might not mind paying a little; and the for-profit hospitals say they pay taxes and that covers their responsibility in the matter. United in virtually nothing but dissatisfaction with the current situation, the Georgia Hospital Association, the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, and the Medical Association of Georgia last week unsuccessfully sought an audience with Gov.

Joe Frank Harris, in a last-minute' effort to bring indigent health care into the current budget picture. 1 Christmas glitz Some people feel they have a duty to decorate for the entire neighborhood. Metro State By Kevin Sack and David Beasley Staff Writers A former carnival worker was charged with stealing a "large amount" of cash from the Lamar County tax office Saturday after abducting the tax commissioner at knifepoint, authorities said. William K. Carmichael, 23, of 119 Johnson Barnesville, was charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and car theft after being arrested at the Macon Municipal Airport, according to Lamar County Sheriff Chuck Keadle.

Keadle said Carmichael is a Barnesville city sanitation worker who had been fired by a carnival passing through the small Middle Georgia town, located 50 miles south of Atlanta, about three months ago. Sometime after midnight Friday, a man broke into the Barnesville home of Hope Pippin Callaway, the county's two-term tax commissioner, by kicking in her door, said Macon police Capt. Robert Allen. Armed with a kitchen knife, the burglar then forced Ms. Callaway to drive him to the county courthouse, where she opened her office and removed "a large sum of cash" from a safe inside, Keadle said.

He would not disclose the amount of money Ms. Callaway, who is 34, then was forced back into her car and blindfolded while her abductor drove the car to south Macon, Allen said. The kidnapper then abandoned Ms. Callaway and the car, he said. After Ms.

Callaway called Macon police from a nearby business at 7:53 a.m., detectives learned that a man matching the description she gave them was seen catching a cab, Allen said. A taxi dispatcher told police that a cab had picked up a man in that neighborhood and taken him to the airport. Police arrested Carmichael without resistance at about noon at the airport, where he had purchased a ticket for Cincinnati, Allen said. Police found the stolen money in his pockets, he said. Keadle said Ms.

Callaway was in "pretty good condition under the circumstances." Ms. Callaway, first elected tax commissioner in 1980, could not be reached for comment. A gift of freedom the Christmas spirit eased the escape of two refugees from Nazi Germany. Atlanta Weekly JOHN SPINKStaff 14A See HEALTH 'ONE OF MANY': Mrs. Lucille Allen, 77, has been coming to, the clinic at Grady Hospital' since 1964.

The hospital spends a third of its $140 million budget on outpatient clinics. Keller Wilcox's murder conviction overturned J' lf ft By David Beasley Start Writer after informing his client by telephone of Owens' decision. Although the Georgia attorney general's office can appeal Owens' ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, it is likely that Owens will release Wilcox, 34, on bond pending any appeal, Coleman said. Since the state has seven days to present evidence on why Wilcox should not be released on bond, Coleman said, it could Outdoor Advertising, a company owned by Wilcox and his father.

He also held that Wilcox's right to due process was violated when police officers used threats and intimidation to coerce statements from witnesses in the case. Because of insufficient evidence, "The state is thus barred from retrying the petitioner," Owens ruled. Wilcox could only be retried if the ruling is overturned, the judge said. "He feels vindicated but he regrets that four years of his life have been shot," said one of Wilcox's attorneys, Wilby Coleman of Valdosta, MACON A federal judge on Saturday threw out the 1982 murder conviction and life sentence of prominent Valdosta businessman Keller Wilcox and ruled he could not be tried for the crime again. U.S.

District Court Judge Wilbur Owens Jr. ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict Wilcox of the 1972 murder of Hellen Hanks, a 35-year-old secretary and bookkeeper at Wilcox See WILCOX 9A (WW 7 1 'Princely' $30,000 grant helps musicians film video to celebrate King holiday pillion-dollar babies For Xavier Roberts, fun and profits grow in the Cabbage Patch. Dixie Living Papers to combine The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution will be com-' I bined on Christmas with mom- Ing delivery. The Subscriber Ser-I vice Center will be open from 8 a.m. until noon Wednesday.

1 Classified deadline for Christ-' imas editions is noon Tuesday, for Thursday editions 6 p.m. Tuesday, and for Friday editions 1 noon Thursday. The Food sec- tion will be published Monday. Mrs. Mandela dragged from home by police The Associated Press JOHANNESBURG, South Africa Winnie Mandela, wife of jailed black leader Nelson Mandela, was dragged from her Soweto home at gunpoint by police Saturday when she refused -to obey a government order to leave, witnesses said.

A man who was among about 20 people in the house at the time said one police officer drew a pistol and pointed it at Mrs. Mandela's neck as she was forced out of her home into a waiting police car. "They dragged her and she was resisting by holding onto doors, onto anything she could put her hands on. One riot squad policeman put a gun behind her neck," according to the witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Police said Mrs.

Mandela was let go after being taken from Soweto and was not in custody. A close family friend said lawyers By Bo Emerson Staff Writer A last-minute grant from "Purple Rain" star Prince kept the cameras rolling in Atlanta on Saturday during the filming of a music video to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Titled "King Holiday," the video accompanies a rapping tribute to King recorded over the last two months by more than 30 music stars, including Whitney Houston, El Debarge, Stephanie Mills, the Fat Boys, Melle Mel, Menudo, J.T. Taylor of Kool and the Gang, and Run-DMC. Most of those stars assembled Saturday afternoon at the Martin Luther King Jr.

Center for Nonviolent Social Change for a one-day shooting of the video, which will be broadcast throughout the country during the second 'and third weeks of January. The broadcasts are timed to coincide with the Jan. 20 celebration of King's birthday as a national holiday. "I believe what he stood for is still living, and it's up to the younger generation to carry it on," said Ms. Mills, one of the lead voices in the song, which features the refrain, "Sing, celebrate, for a King celebrate." Said Ms.

Mills, "It lets him know that his dream is mi A 1 Frederick Allen ID Furman Blsher 1B Crossword 8F 'Editorials 2D Lewis Grizzard IE Ann Landers 6F Newsmakers 13A Obituaries 22B Celestine Sibley IF Complete Index appears on 2A To subscribe call 522-4141 OWIGHT ROSS JR.Staff Consulting with Santa David Merren Blair, 6, listens while jolly old Saint Nick talks with 3-year-old sister Julia Merren Blair at Phippa Plaza shopping mall Saturday. With Christmas only three days away, Santa Claus is staying busy hearing children's last-minute requests. See MANDELA 22A See VIDEO 8A.