The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 72

The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution LOCAL NEWS "F2 Thursday, March 26, 1992 METRO CI BRIEF Tucker residents still hope to sell Zoning issue alive along Fern Drive By Norma Wagner STAFF WRITER Man charged in neighbor's shooting jGWINNETT: A 34-year-old schoolteacher who walked to a neighbor's house to borrow a wrench was on life-support systems Wednesday after she was mistaken for a prowler and shot in the head, Gwinnett police said. Kathy J. Thatcher of 1379 Ashbrook Drive, Lawrenceville, was in critical condition at Gwinnett Medical Center with a single bullet wound to the head. Police have charged her neighbor, Thomas M. Cauley, with aggravated assault "She was getting ready to install a washing machine last night," said Gwinnett police spokesman Larry Walton, "and she needed the right-sized wrench." On Tuesday night she walked to her neighbor's house, where she had borrowed tools before.

But the lights were out at Mr. Cauley's home at 1370 Ashbrook Drive. She tried to find the tool in the carport with a flashlight, police said. "He saw the light and assumed it was a prowler," Officer Walton said. inside his home, he drew a handgun and aimed directly above the white glow of the flashlight, police said.

He fired once through a windowpane, police said. ill i -Cy gs 'fix f- tV isZ: sv: Li i A' -12 cVwN A lit! i ll 1 itli COURTS nouGLASVlLLE: ludee sets bond for susoect in eunfieht. Bond was set at $55,000 Wednesday for a Powder Springs magistrate judge's son who fired 44 shots at Cobb police during a four-hour standoff at his ex-wife's house earlier this month. Timothy John Littleton, 33, told a DeKalb judge called in to conduct the hearing that the shooting was the result of frustrations over his ex-wife's refusal to lowerjiis child support payments. "I think that was the reason I shot at the cops," said Mr.

Littleton, who initially pointed a shotgun at his exrwife as she ran to safety. "I think I wanted them to take my life. A lhan can only take so much." Mr. Littleton faces numerous charges of aggravated assault and criminal damage. In setting bond, Judge C.

David Wood ordered him to stay at least three miles away from his ex-wife and to be evaluated and treated by a psychologist. JONATHAN NEWTON Staff CRIME Conviction overturned: Sheriff Richard B. Lankford with wife Jackie (left) and defense attorneys Barbara G. Moon and Thomas L. Washburn on Wednesday.

Lamctfori imu no: 'MARIETTA: Stolen car involved in high-speed chase. A man fri ffstolen car led police on a high-speed chase early Wednesday, crashing into at least three police cars, Marietta police said. Kenne-saw'ttolice started chasing Johnny Herman Wilkins, 29, of Acworth, who was in a stolen car, on Interstate 75, police said. Marietta police tried, to box the car in as he drove through the city, said Deputy Chief Steve'Wigington. "He took it upon himself to start ramming everybody; The guy was going from side to side, ramming cars," Deputy Chief Wigington said.

Mr. Wilkins was being held in the Kennesaw Jail on charges of theft by taking, DUI, driving with a suspended license, reckless driving, speeding and having no insurance. Marietta charges include three counts of aggravated assault, Chief Ralph Carter said. No one was injured. "a en SltS an? cons By David Corvette and Lyle V.

Harris STAFF WRITERS "All I was was a line oh some prosecutor's resume. FULTON: Remains found are those of young woman. Skeletal remains found near Union City are those of a young woman who has been dead about a year, Associate Fulton County Medical Examiner Gerald Gowitt said Wednesday. The remains are those of an unidentified white female, approximately 18 to 23 years old, he said. The Woman also had extensive dental work.

"She had head and facial wtiuhds consistent with being a homicide," he said, adding the was probably a blunt instrument. The woman was wearing' mother's ring with a diamond, ruby, sapphire and a pink stone, Gowitt said. RICHARD B. LANKFORD Suspended Fulton sheriff Tucker residents won the battle to keep a Home Depot out of their neighborhood, but the war for development along Fern Drive may have just begun. Twenty-nine Fern Drive residents still want to find a buyer and rezone their land.

Still blocking their way is a possible two-year development moratorium on their property and 500 of their neighbors who for now want Fern Drive to stay as is residential. "The residents of Fern Drive deserve an opportunity to extricate, themselves from the bad situation they find themselves in," Joe Sapp said, referring to crime 'and deterioration in the neighborhood. "All we want is to be allowed to go through the process again and propose a project that our neighbors would accept." Apparently, there isn't one. "We're definitely going to continue to try to kill any rezon-ing, there's no doubt about that," said Craig Lacey, leader of the group that defeated the Home Depot proposal. "The zoning issue is dead for practical purposes, so now it's only a question of how it dies.

We either get a two-year protection or we don't." DeKalb County commissioners will decide April 14 whether to impose a two-year moratorium on any rezoning request that would allow the Fern Drive residents to sell their lots to a developer. The board, during a packed public hearing Tuesday, denied the residents' request for a land-use change that would have allowed them to sell 21 acres to Home Depot. A vote on the re-zoning was deferred. Now the fight is over how they deny it. If the board next month agrees to deny the rezoning "without prejudice," Fern Drive residents can come back to the board at any time with another rezoning, as long as it's not for a commercial development.

If the board denies their request outright, the residents must wait two years before reapplying for a rezoning. And that would be unfair, Mr. Sapp said, because it was the county that zoned them inside a commercial pocket. The neighborhood is surrounded to the north and east by a motel, a service station, a cosmetic distributor and a research lab. "They have permitted rezon-ings that border us on three sides, and yet we try to do something with the property and are unable to do so," he said.

The homes also serve as a buffer between subdivisions to the south and commercial strips to the north, said Seth Weissman, an attorney for the opposing neighbors. OTHER a sons of prosecution's chief witness had been arrested by state authorities for sale of marijuana erroneously limited defendant's right to cross-examine witness for possible motive or bias," the opinion said, Ruling under review Senior U.S. District Judge Walter E. Hoffman, sitting nr. the panel, said in a strongly worded dissent, "The majority would have us visit the sins of the two sons upon the credibility of tha father." Also, the majority ruled that a defense tax expert should have been allowed to testify that Sheriff Lankford reasonably believed a $1,500 check he received from an inmate during his first campaign in 1984 was a non-taxable gift donated for living expenses rather than a political contribution.

U.S. Attorney Joe D. Whitley said his office is reviewing the ruling before deciding the government's next step. "We are prepared either to retry the case or seek a reconsideration of the decision by the panel or by the entire 11th Circuit." Qualifying in the county-wide election for sheriff is next month. Interim Sheriff Robert H.

McMichael II, appointed by former Gov. Joe Frank Harris in November 1989 after Sheriff jLankford was indicted, last week announced his campaign. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday night. Staff writer Michelle Hiskey contributed to this article. The dapper man at the or-' gan filled Mount Olive Baptist Church with his rich baritone Wednesday night and the congregation rose as one, teary-eyed and arms uplifted in thanksgiving.

The Rev. Richard B. Lankv ford, suspended sheriff of Fulton County, went to his church, his sanctuary since he was convicted of extortion and tax evasion, to celebrate the overturning of that verdict. "I'm not angry at any man, I'm not bitter," the sheriff also pastor of the church said from his pulpit. "The Lord told me to get rid of all that hatred." His words were greeted by cries of "Amen" from the congregation.

"People thought if it was in the paper, then it must be true. If they saw it on TV, it must be true. If the federal government said it, it must be true. But there is no pure government. It is for the folks who have their own agenda, and all I was was a line on some prosecutor's resume.

"But now I'm stronger than I've ever been," he said, and the congregation roared. Plans unsettled The sheriff, his hair grown long since his suspension, said he was undecided about seeking a third term this year, but "if the people of this county want me to run, I will." "I'm going to finish out this term and correct some wrongs that have been done," he told his parishioners. "I don't want there to be any question, any Confusion, any uncertainty, any 'ambiguity about who is the sheriff of Fulton County." That, however, remains to be seen. Sheriff Lankford remains suspended from office pending the final disposition of the charges or the end of his term Dec. 31, said state Attorney General Michael J.

Bowers. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, ordered a new trial for Sheriff Lankford, who was convicted on two counts of tax evasion and two counts of extortion involving alleged payoffs from the county jail's food service vendor. The majority opinion said the trial court should have allowed the defense to present evidence to discredit restaurateur Jack LeCroy, the government's star witness. Sheriff Lankford's defense team contended that Mr.

LeCroy cooperated with the government to prevent a possible federal investigation of state drug charges against his sons. "Exclusion of evidence that "ACWORTH: Marchers thwarted by failure to get permit. Peace came to Acworth Wednesday, but it was turned away for lack of a'permit. The European Peace Pilgrimage, 18 Europeans who plan to walk 2,600 miles across the United States, did not have a parade permit for Acworth, so they had to bypass the town. After spending several days in the Atlanta area, the marchers started to walk through Acworth Wednesday carrying a banner when police stopped them' and told them they needed a permit, Acworth police said.

The marchers were "blocking traffic," said Acworth Police Captain Woodruff, who declined to give his first name. "We asked them to please move over. It was no big deal." The marchers hope to apologia for genocide and environmental destruction caused by Europeans iff the Americas after Columbus's arrival 500 years ago. FULTON: FAA headquarters to be built in College Park. A $26 million five-story, contemporary-style building will be constructed" near the College Park MARTA station for the Southern regional offW'of Federal Aviation Administration, federal officials announced Wednesday.

Construction is expected to be completed during 'die" early autumn of 1993, and FAA workers will move into new fa-ciKfljs during October and November. 'About 1,400 FAA employees will work in the precast concrete building with reflective glass windows on a 12-acre, four-block wood-edftact with room for future expansion. The new facilities will be almost, twice as large as the current FAA building on Norman Berry Djiyein East Point. COBB: Worker dies in fall. A 33-year-old construction worker died after falling from a lift bucket while working at Town Center Mall.Cobb County police said.

Clifton Arnold III, 33, of Kennesaw, an employee of Structural Waterproofing Inc. of Norcross, was in a lift bucket replacing caulking in a glass awning outside the mall Monday afternoon when the bucket began to wobble, police said. Mr. Arnold fell about 20 feet from the bucket, struck his head on the ground and was -taken to Kennestone Hospital, where he died at about 6:40 a.m. Tuesday of head injuries, the Cobb County medical examiner's office From staff reports GEORGIA IN BRIEF IN TODAY'S EXTRA I area, appear in Thursday's Journal and Constitution; AUBURN: Officer surrenders to sexual battery charges.

A police officer accused of trying to get a female traffic offender to undress in front of his headlights surrendered to the Barrow County Sheriffs Department Wednesday after officials spent two days trying to contact him. Frank Crews, 24, of Winder has been charged with sexual battery, a misdemeanor, violation of his oath of public office, a felony, and false imprisonment, also a felony. Officer Crews, who had been an Auburn police officer for about five months, allegedly stopped the female motorist for a routine traffic violation and told her he would take her to jail if she did not disrobe. BRUNSWICK: Two dairies settle bid-rigging suit with state. Two milk companies have agreed to pay the state more than half a million dollars to settle claims that they rigged bids to supply milk to Georgia schools.

Borden Inc. and its subsidiary, Meadow Gold Dairies were among 12 milk suppliers named by the state in a federal bid-rigging suit filed in Brunswick more than two years ago. The suit charged that from at least as early as 1982 through the companies and their agents worked together to defeat competitive bidding requirements and allocate the school milk business among themselves. Under terms of the settlement, approved this week by U.S. District Judge Anthony Alaimo of Brunswick, the state will drop its claims against Borden and Meadow Gold, which will pay the state $562,500.

The settlement stipulates that the payment by the companies is not an admission of guilt or liability. Compiled from staff and news services Court: Reform Bleckley government ATLANTA: The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that Bleckley County's single-county-commissioner form of government abridges the electoral power of blacks in the county. A three-judge panel reversed a U.S. District Court ruling and sent the case back "for the imposition of a remedy." The court suggested that such a remedy could be based on a Georgia law setting up Bleckley County's school board districts.

It said the county's 22 percent black population is a politically cohesive minority and that the white majority votes so as to usually defeat the black minority's preferred candidate. Ruling in the case were Circuit Judges Peter Fay and Joseph Hat-chett, and Floyd Gibson, senior judge for the 8th Circuit. MACON: DA reviews toddler's death in automatic window. The district attorney's office is reviewing the death of a 2-year-old boy who became caught in an automatic window in his grandmother's car Tuesday and strangled, authorities said. Police said Derrick Dewayne Thomas was caught in the upper chest and pinned between the frame of the car door and the window, which continued to push upward.

Mary Willie Thomas, 69, told police the child had been buckled in in the back seat of her car. Ms. Thomas said she didn't know Derrick had freed himself and was trapped in the window until someone yelled at her as she drove. State law requires children under 4 years old to be restrained in a child safety seat. the Gwinnett Extra is published seven days a week.

Gwinnett By the numbers: A profile of Marilyn Morris, a math teacher at Trickum Middle School whose teams consistently win statewide competitions. DeKalb: At the dog track, the greyhounds run for their lives literally. One DeKalb man works to help adopt out greyhounds whose racing days are over. ClaytonHenry: Beginning this weekend on the southside is a six-week long arts festival known as Cultural Crossroads. A listing of events.

South FultonFayette: As the over-60 population grows, more services are required for the elderly. A review of services I'ufor seniors in south Fulton and Fayette counties. North Fulton: About 15,000 north Fulton residents will have an opportunity to sound off about Grady Memorial Hospital, local government and other issues In a private opinion survey that be-it gan hitting mailboxes this week. Cobb: Two bond elections, one In July for $3 1 .2 million and another In November for $89.4 million, are being proposed for (vCobb County, fer Intown: Nortftside Drive residents fight a Department of Transportation easement plan..