The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 16

local The Atlanta Journal The Atlanta Constitution Order Official: Sponsor label won't cost city By Robert J. Victor STAFF WRITER ts coad's ring found after hotline call, dad says leave a ring she received as birthday present taped inside telephone booth. But the caller said he would not give the loca tion because he knew the call was being traced and police could And the pay phone on their own "We got excited about this," Luis Melendi said. "We felt that after the press conference may be the abductor felt sorry for us and was letting us know that Shannon was OK." A television report said the ring was found near Rex, where investigators in the case recently searched a man's home. Gerard Waring, a spokesman for the FBI By Bernadette Burden STAFF WRITER A few days after the disappearance of Emory University student Shannon Melendi, a ring belonging to her was found by FBI agents in a phone booth after an anonymous caller to a student hotline said he left it there as proof that he had her, according to the girl's father.

Luis Melendi said he verified the ring's authenticity but was told by the FBI to tell no one, "not even my mother," because it could endanger Shannon further. However, he spoke to a reporter Tuesday night following broadcast reports about the ring. Melendi said he received a 'call from an FBI agent a few days after the family held a March 30 news conference in Atlanta. "He said that they received a call from an Emory student who had been manning a hotline for students in distress to call," Melendi said. "The student said a caller to the hotline said that he had Shannon and she's OK, but lonely." Luis Melendi said the agent told him that the caller said to prove he had Shannon, he would i said that neither the FBI nor De Kalb police had released infor mation about such an incident and the investigation is ongoing.

Melendi disappeared during a lunch break March 26 from a GET ON North Decatur Road conven ience store, near the Softball complex where she worked. Af- ter she vanished, investigators focused on a man who worked as an umpire at the Softball Country THE) BALL AMD WIN Club on North Decatur Road. Melendi worked at the facility as a pro-shop attendant and was on duty as a scorekeeper when she disappeared. TICKETS Ficik slay case goes to grand jury THE FRENCH OPEN! By Doug Payne STAFF WRITER Athens The evidence presented at Jason Ragland's probable cause hearing Tuesday on charges that he killed Southern Tech student Claudette Ficik will not be enough to convict him, defense attorney Bruce Harvey In co-sponsoring this weekend's Atlanta Black College Spring Break '94, the city of Atlanta is supporting an annual event without any cost to itself, according to City Council-woman Carolyn Long Banks. "We have done over 20 co-sponsorships since I've been on council and all it means is that once a person applies for a permit the city services automatically kick in," said Banks, who introduced the resolution that passed Monday after weeks of debate.

"The person applying for the permit has to pay for off-duty cops, sanitation services, police and parks," she said. "There is nothing the city really pays for." Despite reports that the services would cost $175,000, no official estimate for services at the only city-sanctioned venues Piedmont Park, the Atlanta Civic Center and the Atlanta University Center has been made, Banks said. The Atlanta Student Forum Inc. the main organizer for this weekend's events, which city officials expect to draw 150,000 college students and $20 million has paid about $5,000 for Saturday and Sunday permits to Piedmont and a Saturday permit for the Civic Center. Although the Civic Center event is their only money-making venture, the group has drawn corporate sponsorship to aid in all three venues' costs.

In addition, Banks said the Atlanta Student Forum has put down deposits on bonds to cover the cost of their venues. "The business community has indicated that they will try to help them out if they need the money," she said. "Short of that, the city would have to pick it up. Any other promoter that's having an event that requires a permit will have the same responsibility as the Atlanta Student Forum." Tuesday, city spokesman Angelo Fuster denied that Mayor Bill Campbell had signed on to any Freaknik-re-lated events, even though he is listed as a grand marshal for the Sweet Auburn SpringFest '94 parade Friday. Whatever they consider it, the mayor told them two weeks ago he would not be able to do it," Fuster said.

However, Lou Walker, who is planning the event for the Auburn Avenue Area Business Association, said that Campbell appeared at a news conference earlier this year to support the event and that he is still considered a grand marshal even though he won't be there. "This was the only Freak-nik-related event the mayor associated himself with," Walker said, adding that Campbell, who used to represent the Auburn Avenue area on the City Council, is also a co-chair for planning the event known to have frequented. Ficik's body, weighted with two anchors, was pulled from the Oconee River near Athens on March 27, about six weeks after she was last seen on the Southern Tech campus in Marietta. Investigators said Ragland, 23, of Nor-cross, strangled his 19-year-old girlfriend, and that her body was in the river from the time she disappeared Feb. 16.

Among those testifying Tuesday, Marietta Detective Mike Christopher said that Ficik was four months pregnant when she disappeared. He said Ficik and Ragland were to have gone to her parent's house in Trenton, S.C., near Aiken, to introduce him to them "and get married." Ragland told investigators that he did not make the trip because he and Ficik argued before she left, Christopher said. He said one of the weights found tied to Ficik's legs was traced to a construction site across the street from the Petsmart store on said. But it was enough to get the case bound over to the grand jury for indictment, ruled Clarke County Magistrate Court Judge A 1 s- If- 3 ri. Want to win two tickets to see the 1994 French Open In Paris? It's easy.

Call 222-8280 today to enter. All entries must be received by midnight Thursday, April 21,1994. SEE THE FRENCH OPEN! If you're our Grand Prize winner, you and a guest will head to Paris, France on Lufthansa airlines to watch the 1994 French Open. Winners will leave Atlanta on Sunday, May 22 for Paris and return on Sunday, May 29. Accommodations will be provided by the Astor Madeleine.

You'll also receive two tickets to the Finals of the Challenge on Sunday, May 1 Michael Claudette Coleman. Rcik Harvey argued that testimo- ny by two police detectives and a GBI agent pointed to only circumstantial evidence, hints and suspicions. After two hours of testimony, "there is simply no evidence to connect Mr. RaglandX Peachtree Road in Buckhead to the death of Claudette Ficik," where Ragland worked. Harvey told Coleman, asking for After Coleman ordered the Andre Agassi a finding of no probable cause.

case bound over, Dickson said it But Clarke County Assistant OR YOU COULD WIN ONE OF THESE PRIZES! probably will be presented to the grand jury in two weeks. By then, he said, investigators and District Attorney Harry Gordon will have determined whether a second murder charge will be added, based on Ficik's pregnancy at the time she died, and whether the death penalty will be sought. District Attorney Rick Dickson argued that the evidence showed a relationship existed between Ficik and Ragland, that they had argued on the day she disappeared and that a weight tied to her body was taken from a construction site that Ragland was I I 5 FIRST PRIZE WINNERS will win one Wilson tennis racquet and two reserved seats to Opening Night at the Challenge (Monday, April 25, 1994). 10 SECOND PRIZE WINNERS will win one pair of K-Swiss shoes from Champs Sports and two reserved seats to Opening Day at the Challenge (Monday, April 25, 1994). 10 THIRD PRIZE WINNERS will win two reserved seats to Opening Day at the Challenge (Monday, April 25, 1 994) and a single-use Kodak Camera to capture the day's events at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

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Contest ends mkJ-t night, Apr! 21, 1994. For complete rules, call 222-8280. CLAYTON COUNTY: Woman dies after being hit by truck. A woman on Monday bled to death internally at a hospital four hours after she was hit by a truck, because she was so obese that doctors didn't realize she had suffered a ruptured blood vessel in her leg, Clayton County authorities said. The victim, Bernice Brooks, 45, of College Park, weighed nearly 400 pounds, authorities said.

When she arrived at Southern Regional Medical Center shortly after 10:30 a.m., her heart had stopped, her blood count was "drastically below normal levels" and she showed symptoms of being comatose, said hospital spokeswoman Mary Jane Kinnas. Doctors saw a bruise on her left thigh, but they didn't know if it was swollen. After resuscitation, doctors began transfusions of blood and fluids and did chest and pelvic X-rays and ultimately did exploratory surgery to her abdomen. She died after the surgery four hours later. "The fact that the patient was massively obese, it would take a lot longer to notice any size difference or swelling, because of obesity and the amount of fatty tissue," Kinnas said.

An autopsy revealed Brooks died of internal bleeding as a result of the accident, said Jim Mabe, a forensic investigator for the Clayton Cototy medical examiner's office. i I Official's daughter is struck by pickup The daughter of an Atlanta city councilman was in critical condition early today after being bit by a pickup on Peach-tree Road, police said. 1 Carson Morris, 14, the daughter of Councilman Lee Morris struck by a truck about 7:30 p.nt in the 3700 block of Peachtree Road, according to Officer Darin Rush. He said Carson, her brother and another teenager had emerged from behind a MARTA bus to cross the street when a pickup struck her. John Mandate, 33, of Atlanta, the pickup driver, was charged with failure to exercise due caution, said Rush.

Morris was in intensive care at Scottish Rite Children's Hospital Bill Rob inson COUNTY: Authorities search for baby's body. Clayton County police, Henry County police and district attorneys from both counties were at the Henry County Lion and Safari Park on Tuesday digging for the body of a baby, according to Clayton district attorney investigator Randy Cobb. "We just got a tip that it involves the Walter West case, and that a baby could be buried there," said Lt Doug Jewett, Clayton's police spokesman. "We're just assisting, for this is Henry County's jurisdiction." Walter P. West 37, former Hapeville police officer and chaplain, pleaded guilty in Fulton County last June 1 0 to one charge of enticing a child for indecent purposes.

Authorities at the scene of Tuesday's search off Walt Stephens Drive, in the Manderly Subdivision apparently found what looked like a makeshift grave, Jewett said. AM hc Atlanta 3ounul THE ATLANTA CONSTITUTION CHALLENGE From staff reports.