The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 9

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1988 gftr Atlanta iotmtal AM) CONSTTTtTlOM Man Dies After Jumping From Bridge; Friends Say It Was Accident him I don't understand how he fell." Several cars on the interstate skidded to avoid hitting the victim, police said. Mr. Miller said they alerted a police officer directing traffic nearby, who called for an ambulance. Police said they initially had thought the death as a suicide, but the man's companions said they were certain the death was ByPatBurson StaffWriter A 23-year-old Clarkston man walking home from the Atlanta Falcons game Sunday jumped over a construction barrier near the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and plummeted nearly 100 feet to the interstate highway below, suffering fatal injuries, police said. Some friends who were with the man at the time said he had not in walk or concrete landing on the other side of the barrier.

Mike Miller, who said he has known the man for three years, stated that his friend plummeted over the side before they knew what was happening. "He ran ahead of everybody," Mr. Miller said. "In between the parking lot and the other barrier was a hole. When he jumped the wall we lost sight of According to Ms.

Holbrook, who was with the victim and two other men, the four left the game about 4:30 p.mM a few minutes before its conclusion, because it had started to rain. "We were just trying to get to the MARTA station," she said. "It tears me apart that we could have gone right after him." The man's friends said they think he believed there was a side been notified, jumped from a section of Memorial Drive above the freeway. The man was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5:45 p.m., according to John Hester, the hospital night administrator on duty. Mr.

Hester said doctors listed the cause of death as multiple trauma, including serious injuries to the man's head and his left side. tended to hurt himself, but jumped thinking he would land safely on the other side of the barrier. "But there was nothing there," said Joyce Holbrook, one of those accompanying the man. According to police, the victim landed in the northbound lane of Interstate-7585 near the Interstate 20 interchange. Police officials said they think the man, whose name has not been released because his family has not Police Investigating Deaths Of Two Elderly Atlanta Women Mi w-.

check on the elderly woman at her home at 591 Foundry St N.W. Atlanta homicide detectives are investigating both deaths, but neither has been declared a homicide and police have not determined whether the cases are related, according to homicide Detective D.E. Genson. 'There is nothing to show that they are related at this time" other than the victims' age, sex and neighborhood, Detective Genson said. Both victims live near the Atlanta University Complex.

Police say autopsy results on both victims should be available by noon Monday. Pat Burson Atlanta homicide detectives are investigating the deaths of two elderly women whose bodies were found this weekend in northwest Atlanta. Mattie Mae McClendon, 78, of 598 Rhodes St. N.W., was found about 8:20 a.m. Saturday by her sister, said homicide Sgt.

Dean C. Gundlach. Sergeant Gundlach said Ms. McClendon's body showed no sips of foul play, but police are investigating the incident as a homicide because a window in Ms. McClendon's home was broken.

The decomposed body of Lillian Lawrence, whose age was not available, was found about 7:30 p.m. Sunday by a relative who went to t9t i Robber Shoots Pizza Delivery Driver The gunman shot the youth in the left hip, pushed his way into the center and took an undetermined amount of money, according to police. No one had been arrested in the shooting late Sunday night, but authorities said employees at the center recognized the assailant as a man who recently applied for a job there and had been seen regularly around the premises. City Staff A gunman shot a 19-year-old Pizza Hut driver in the leg Sunday and robbed a pizza delivery center in southwest Atlanta, police said. Police said two delivery drivers, whose identities were not released, were walking toward the entrance of the delivery center at 387 Cleveland Avenue S.W., about 9:30 p.m.

when the assailant crept up behind them. Tree Protection Is Taking Root In Metro Laws By Margaret Usdansky StaffWriter Fear that rapid development could turn a city of trees into a sea of concrete is making tree preservation ordinances popular among metro Atlanta officials who want to see greenery sprout alongside gasoline pumps and billboards. Cobb has become the latest county to propose a tree preservation ordinance, following the lead of Fulton and Gwinnett counties and the city of Atlanta. DeKalb recently formed a committee to draft a tree preservation ordinance, while Gwinnett and Atlanta are already in the process of reviewing their programs' effectiveness. Currently, 50 acres of forested land are cut down in the metro area each day, while only 27 acres were destroyed daily five years ago, according to figures from Trees Atlanta an environmental group devoted to promoting the growth of trees in the metro area.

Between 1975 and 1985, Cobb County lost 26 percent of its trees, while Gwinnett lost 20 percent, DeKalb lost 19 percent and Fulton lost 13 percent, said Marcia D. Bansley, Executive Director of Trees Atlanta. The organization based its tallies on figures from the Atlanta Regional Commission, which measured the amount of tree cover in each county through aerial surveys. Conservationists agree that short of halting development there is no way to prevent the loss of some trees, and that all tree ordinances in metro Atlanta are not equally effective, although the laws themselves are similar. "You can't have new homes and new office complexes without losing some tree cover," said Kenneth Bailey, an Atlanta-based district forester with the state Forestry Commission, "But you can minimize the tree loss." Both Ms.

Bansley and Mr. Bailey ranked Fulton's tree preservation program as the most successful among Fulton, Gwinnett and Atlanta. "I think right now Fulton is probably the best we've got," said Mr. Bailey. One reason, they said, is Fulton County Ar-borist Edward A.

Macie, who inspects development sites and tries to help developers save trees economically without sacrificing prime construction locations. "I think that to make the ordinance what it should be, you need a qualified professional arborist to oversee the program," said Mr. Bailey. "It's hard to follow any ordinance to the letter. With a qualified professional there's a little more give and take." All three ordinances require developers' applying for land disturbance permits to submit site plans indicating where they intend to cut trees and where they intend to plant trees, but there are some differences.

While Fulton and Atlanta both have arbor-ists, Gwinnett's year-old tree preservation ordinance is administered by the county's regular planning department staff. Noting that the county has never cited anyone for violating the ordinance, Gwinnett's Planning Commission recently ordered a review of the ordinance's effectiveness. Fulton and Gwinnett counties require developers to maintain at least 15 trees per acre. Atlanta does not, but the city is reviewing its ordinance, and Trees Atlanta is lobbying for adoption of the 15-trees-per-acre minimum standard. All three ordinances exempt individual lots in developments of single family homes, a Cobb Jlilik thought Georgia had one-room school houses with "pot belly stoves." "The idea was that our educational system was extremely rock bottom and they were quite apprehensive about moving their children down here.

They really thought We were extremely primitive," she said. After talking with Cobb school administrators and taking a tour of Lassiter High School in east Cobb, Mrs: Joseph said the couple decided to buy in the area just so their children could attend the school. "Fortunately our image has improved immeasurably because of the facilities, the faculty and the curriculum" in Cobb County, Mrs. Joseph said. James Robinson, a staff photographer with Georgia-Pacific said the quality of Cobb schools contributed to "20 percent of our motivation" when he, his wife and two children relocated from Portland, six years ago.

"The educational system in Portland was quite good," Mr. Robinson noted, "but I would have to say these are a little better." From Page 8A you market that school system daily. We can match any school system in the country." However, when comparing how well one metro Atlanta school district rates with another, real estate agents might carry as much influence as test scores and curriculum. "There was a time when everyone claimed the No. 1 system in the state was DeKalb County," said Daisy Pittard, another sales associate in Northside's Cobb office.

"But I think that's long gone. Our No. 1 competition is Gwinnett, but they're still catching up," she said. Mrs. Lane, who has worked with transferees from IBM, Georgia-Pacific and RJR Nabisco, said, "I have sold some homes to people who looked in Gwinnett, but, ended up buying in Cobb because of the schools." But Carolyn Fowler, a sales associate in Northside's Gwinnett office, believes that "overall, Gwinnett's the best that we have in the state." "A lot of people moving here want Gwinnett and they seek out real estate companies in the Gwinnett area because of the school system," Mrs.

Fowler said. Margaret Joseph, a broker associate at Harry Norman Realty, recalled the time she showed homes to a couple from Pennsylvania who OWIGHTROSSJRyStaff proves. The developer gave up 40 parking spaces to preserve it, and he did it because' the ordinance was enforced, said Marcia D. Bansley of Trees Atlanta. serve it, and he did it because Mr.

Macie required him to do so." Cobb Commissioner Thea Powell, who headei the task force that developed that county's proposed ordinance, said the county's upcoming budget will include money for an arborist who would educate developers about the program and help them save old trees and plant new ones as economically as possible. Like those in Gwinnett and Fulton, Cobb's ordinance, scheduled for a final public hearing Tuesday, would require a minimum of 15 trees per acre on development sites but would not prevent individual homeowners from taking down trees on their own property. Nor would it apply to builders of single family homes or duplexes. Instead, the ordinance targets commercial developments, particularly small strip shopping centers, gas stations and fast-food franchises, where the number of trees does not increase marketability as directly as greenery does on residential sites. The proposed ordinance gives county officials the right to deny building occupancy permits to developers who don't comply with the ordinance and to fine violators a minimum of $300 a day.

'Urban forest' protection laws, which are gaining momentum, can work, as this oak in Fulton's Fountain Oaks Shopping Center on Roswell Road loophole Mr. Bailey said he hopes will eventually be closed "because that's one of the biggest development areas we have." Even so, Mr. Macie said he believes the tree ordinances are helping to halt the destruction of Atlanta's "urban forest," the tree cover that plays a critical role in absorbing storm water runoff, improving air quality, controlling soil erosion and otherwise contributing to a healthy environment. During the three years Fulton's ordinance has been in effect, "We can account for about 30,000 trees that have been planted that might not have been planted without the ordinance," Mr. Macie said.

He estimated that about 10 percent of Fulton's acreage has been replanted with trees during that period. Mr. Macie said he has received requests for copies of the Fulton ordinance from across the United States as well as from Canada and Britain. "I even had one from Korea," he said. "It's kind of bizarre." Ms.

Bansley cited the Fountain Oaks Shopping Center on Roswell Road as an example of the Fulton program's success. "There's a giant oak in the middle of it," Ms. Bansley said. "The developer gave up 40 parking spaces to pre- Court Program Minorities From Page 8A From Page 8A eas where county officials have offered sites for the state-owned plant The incinerator plant is expected to burn, recycle, or permanently- store 76,000 tons a year of the state's most hazardous wastes. In Warren and Taylor counties, the leading contenders for the incinerator plant, local opposition has been so strong that commissioners most in favor of the plant were removed from office by indignant residents in the Aug.

9 primary. In both counties, anti-incinerator commissioners were elected, and in Warren County the balance has now shifted to a commission that does not want the facility. But at last month's meeting of the Hazardous Waste Management Authority, which is chaired by Gov. Joe Frank Harris, the authority voted to allow the original Warren County commissioners to resubmit their bid, before the newly-elected commissioners take office. Many Warren County residents said they were disappointed the Governor's Waste Management Authority decided to allow the original commissioners to resubmit an application, especially before the outcome of the Supreme Court decision.

The commissioners have not resubmitted an application for the facility, although they say they would like to do so. The Waste Management Authority is expected to announce the selection of a site some-time this fall. tary schools." Emory University has sponsored a number of programs, and is pitching for a $493,000 grant that would stretch down to the elementary grades. The Spelman program, now 2 years old, gives students a five-year program that results in a Spelman degree an engineering degree from Auburn University, Boston University, the Rochester Institute of Technology, or Georgia Tech. Tech itself has gotten high marks for its efforts to bring blacks into its engineering and science programs.

It has offered the dual degree programs for years. Dr. Merideth estimated that 600 students from the undergraduate colleges in, the Atlanta University Center are now working toward degrees in that program. At Tech, the top man in the minority recruiting effort said he! hopes to bring in even more minority students. "It becomes fairly clear that women, blacks, Hispanics and American Indians are the untapped resources," said Dr.

Norman Johnson, a special assistant on Dr. Cre-cine's staff. "These are groups that represent targets of opportunity for us," were refurbished. At about the same time, Michael Kirkpatrick, president of Halkirk Companies, bought the five buildings on Reinhardt Street and renovated some of the units. He had hoped to sell them, but couldn't get financing.

The cooperative's plans had fallen through, the neighborhood didn't improve and Mr. Kirkpatrick was forced to rent the units. "We talked to the city of Atlanta and they said this time the thing was really going to work, so we went ahead with our program," said Mr. Kirkpatrick. "But we're still kind of leading the pack." He said he would make little profit on selling the homes, but will have a trained work force to use on other projects "for a more for-profit motive." Urban Revitalization-USA, however, is a non-profit company in the business of training unemployed people, helping families get off welfare through job training and im- proving low-income housing stock, said Mr.

Radtke. In Cabbagetown, where so many plans have failed to materialize, he said, "I didn't want another thing where it was 'we're gonna do, we're gonna I wanted something that would work." Dr. Merideth and Georgia Tech President John P. Crecine are the leaders of this week's conference, which will run Monday through Wednesday, at the Carter Presidential Center. Dr.

Merideth said the group will come up with specific recommendations on the subject and will recommend the establishment of an institute to monitor progress on those recommendations. A number of respected programs already exist in Atlanta area colleges. Clark College, for example, recently received a $720,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to boost programs it founded as much as 10 years ago. Dr. Melvin Webb, a Clark biology and science' education professor who has been a key figure in the program from the outset, said a key element is an enrichment program that begins with third-graders.

"The problem actually begins much earlier than a lot of programs are willing to address," Dr. Webb said. "For example, too many of our students graduate from high school with less than adequate math preparation to major in a scientific or technical field in college. That problem starts backfn the elemen- From Page 8A used a skill saw before," said Carl Zimmerman, an instructor and a 20-year veteran of the contracting business. "Their backgrounds are as varied as you can find everything from a schoolteacher to a guy who ran an oil rig." "I have used all the knowledge of my 20 years in this business on this project and then some," said Mr.

Zimmerman. "I don't think you could get this kind of training in a classroom," said Mr. Amis, a former structural assembler at Lockheed in Marietta, as he plastered the inside of a utility room. He said he had never done home renovation work before, but plans to do subcontracting when he finishes the program. "Now I've got something I can do." In Cabbagetown, where many houses sit vacant on weed-filled lots, the rehabilitation of 10 homes at once is a boon.

The city of Atlanta spent $400,000 seven years ago on about 40 homes in the area and turned them over to a cooperative that intended to renovate them, But over the yars, few of tho homes but nobody in the field thinks it's high enough. "In the very near future, the majority of the working labor force will be blacks, Hispanics, and females," said Dr. Charles W. Meri-deth, the chancellor of the Atlanta University Center and co-chairman of a conference called in Atlanta this week to address the problem. "But it is those groups that are poorly represented in science and technology.

"It's not an issue of civil rights or equal access," he added. "It's an issue that bears on the United Sta-tes's ability to remain competitive on an international level." Mr. Neblett agreed. "You can relate the economic status of. a country, its gross national product, to its utilization of scientists and engineers.

We are at a disadvantage to our major competitors, Japan and Germany, which develop higher percentages of engineers than does the U.S. Japan graduates engineers, not lawyers.".