The Selma Times-Journal from Selma, Alabama • 5

THE SELMA TIMES-JOURNAL, FRIDAY, JANUARY 31 1997-5 Judge rules Tatum, Lowder off AU board State football coaches Pat Dye and Terry Bowden Lowder and Tatum contended the state constitution allowed them to continue to serve until their replacements were appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. But on June 3. James kicked them off the board. James, armed with an advisory opinion from then-Attomey General Jeff Sessions, said the two positions were vacant and he could fill them ith Richardson and McDonald The new appointees took their seats and have been. voting board members ever since.

In Gullages ruling, he said trustees can serve a reasonable time" after their terms of office end. and that reasonable time has passed for Lowder and Tatum. But he added that McDonald and Richardson are not trustees because they haven't been confirmed by the Senate. The judge indicated James could nominate them again in the legislative session starting Tuesday and see if he can get them confirmed James' spokesman. Alfred Sawyer, said the governor ould do that.

All the governor is asking is: Let the names go to the Senate and not use parliamentary maneuvers to tie them up in committee," Sawyer said. Auburn spokesman Pete Pepinsky said the university was staying neutral in the legal fight. OPELIKA (AP) A state judge Thursday knocked Gov. Fob James' two appointees off the Auburn University board and refused to reinstate former trustees Bobby Lowder and James Tatum. The ruling by Lee County Circuit Judge James Gullage left the Auburn board with two vacancies and both sides considering appeals to the Alabama Supreme Court.

It's a case where both sides lost and the Supreme Court will have to sort it out." said George Beck, an attorney for Low der and Tatum. But the governor's legal adviser. Bill Gray, said the ruling vindicated James' position that Lowder and Tatum cant continue serving indefinitely as trustees. Under the state constitution. Auburn trustees are appointed by the governor few 12-year terms and are confirmed or rejected by the state Senate In late 1995.

James nominated Phil Richardson, an Alfa insurance vice president from Montgomery', and Albert McDonald, a former state agriculture commissioner from Huntsville, to replace two trustees who had served their 1 2-year terms: Lowder, a Montgomery banker, and Tatum, a Huntsville lawyer. The state Senate declined last spring to act on the appointments. Several senators wanted Lowder to continue to serve because of his close association with the athletic program, including recruiting Sessions sides with Texas absentee voters residence. Sessions' comments came on a day -when federal and state authorities in Alabama issued a 13-count indictment stemming from an investigation of voter fraud including absentee ballots, a probe he initiated as Alabama attorney general. The federal indictment claimed Greene County Commissioner Frank Smith and Connie Tyree, one of his supporters, conspired with others to wrongly cast seven absentee ballots in a race that Smith won.

Sessions also was heavily involved in the absentee ballot fight that led a federal judge in 1995 to throw out some 2.000 ballots and ensure the election of Republican Perry Hooper Sr. as Alabamas chief justice. If the ballots had been counted, incumbent Democrat Sonny Hornsby would have won re-election. Sessions said in an interview there's nothing inconsistent in defending military absentee ballots in Texas, most of which were cast for Republicans, after challenging black absentee ballots in Alabama, most of which went to Democrats. Ive never said that legitimate absentee ballots shouldn't be counted." he said.

is beyond politics. This is a question of rights of soldiers and sailors and servicemen and women of the country. Sessions said he also decided to speak out about the Texas case because the Hispanic woman who filed the suit was represented initially by Texas Rural Legal Aid. which gets 80 percent of its money from the federally-funded Legal Services Corporation. "Legal Services Corp.

lawyers actually going into court and seeking to deny soldiers and sailors and airmen the right to vote, that is fundamentally wrong." he said. It is offensive to me." Texas Rural Legal Aid withdrew from the case after Gramm and Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson objected, citing legislation enacted last year that prohibits the Legal Services Corp. from engaging in any political activity. Sessions, a former U.S.

attorney in Mobile, urged the Justice Department to intervene in the case in behalf of the military personnel whose right to vote in the local elections is being challenged. WASHINGTON (AP) In his maiden speech on the Senate floor. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions sided Thursday with two Texas Republicans whose victories in local elections last fall are being challenged by an Hispanic voter citing disputed absentee ballots. Sessions joined fellow Republican Sen.

Phil Gramm of Texas in denouncing a lawsuit challenging some 800 absentee ballots cast by military personnel and their families who claim Val Verde County as their legal residence, even though many of them havent lived in the county for years. The absentee ballots reversed narrow election day victories by Hispanic Democrats over white GOP candidates for sheriff and county commissioner. But the lawsuit has kept the GOP winners from taking office. "It's particularly galling to me that the votes they seek to cancel are those of soldiers and sailors and airmen and women who are serving their country abroad and throughout this nation, Sessions said. I firmly and strongly believe they ought to vote in the location they chose as their Boll weevil eradication more costly in Alabama The state as a whole has poured more money into the program per acre than other states have, said Gail Hubbard, state audit director for the examiners.

The Alabama program cost $28 million in 1994-95, with the money coming from the state, federal government and fees that cotton MONTGOMERY (AP) State examiners found the per-acre cost of the boll weevil eradication program more expensive in Alabama than in neighboring states, but there was no immediate explanation of why it costs more. Federal officials said Thursday they had been made aware of the examiners findings and were niDkiVOe rau charges made in Greene BIRMINGHAM (AP) Two more west Alabama blacks were indicted on voting fraud charges Thursday as prosecutors leveled new accusations about absentee ballot corruption in the 1994 general election A 1 3-count federal indictment claimed Greene County Commissioner Frank Smith and Connie Tyree, one of his supporters, conspired with others to wrongly cast seven absentee ballots in a race that Smith won. I don think its any secret to anyone in this state that these allegations have been out there, said U.S. Attorney Caryl Privett. An attorney for Smith and Ms.

Tyrae said white authorities were targeting minorities. My clients have not violated any laws, said defense lawyer Collins Pettaway Jr. of Selma, Pettaways claims of racism were similar to accusations made after the Justice Department launched a string of voter fraud prosecutions against seven west Alabama blacks and one white in the 1 980s. The lone felony conviction from that case was throw out on appeal. Four blacks from Hale and Wilcox counties were indicted last year on state voting fraud charges related to absentee balloting in the 1994 election.

We are just going to have a repeat of the fiasco of a dozen years ago, said Pettaway. It just appears (federal prosecutors are) targeting somie people and looking the other way for others. Both state and federal authorities denied any racial motives in the joint probe, which they said was slowed by the yearlong dispute over absentee balloting in the race for state Supreme Court chief justice in '94. We do not do selective prosecuting in this office, said Ms. Privett.

"The victims in this case are the people of Greene County, both black and white. Smith and Ms. Tyree are accused of filling out applications for absentee ballots in the names of unknowing voters, forging signatures, and casting the ballots. They also are accused of having voters sign affidavits to obtain absentee ballots which were then cast by someone else. Smith defeated Robert Hines 575-325 in the '94 election to win the commission seat.

Hines could not immediately be reached for comment. University presidents need more time MONTGOMERY (AP) University presidents say they havent had enough time to come up with a plan to consolidate control of higher education. Gov. Fob James said he wanted to see a plan before the Legislature convenes next week, but after a meeting Wednesday, the presidents said time constraints are one reason they are having trouble coming up with a good, single idea. Its an issue that is extremely complicated and we shouldnt rush to judgment, said Auburn University President Williams Muse.

We shouldnt immediately seize upon a solution and put that in place without carefully analyzing it, and at this point there isnt a consensus. A draft proposal circulated among the presidents last week laid out plans for a board of regents that would govern all two-and four-year schools. It would, in turn, reduce the power held locally by appointed university boards and the elected state school board. The draft proposal criticized the current system, with its 11 separate governing boards, as one that is overly politicized and potentially damaging to the states 15 universities. At this point, with limited time for discussion, it can be said: some support the merger some, completely oppose it and some believe that additional information! is needed to learn the actual experience in other states, said a new draft statement, thought to reflect the opinions of the university presidents.

There is not even minimal consensus on any one plan, said Alabama State University President William Harris. Catholic priest resigns position MOBILE (AP A political and controversial Catholic priest has resigned as the head of the COR Foundation and has been temporarily assigned to a Dothan church. The Rev. Tom Weise, 60, said a newspaper report that the foundation received funds from a downtown Mobile gay bar, and that CORs treasurer, Robert C. Baker, was a two-time felon had no bearing on his decision to resign the post.

Weise has been a priest in Mobile since 1964, and for 31 years was director of Catholic charities. Weise and Baker incorporated the COR Foundation in 1995 with a goal to help assist financially troubled Catholic schools in the nations inner cities by advising them on how to raise money and cut costs. It originally bore the name Catholic Oversight Reserve Foundation, but soon after changed its name to the Childrens Outreach Reserve, and its mission grew to aiding private schools regardless of whether they had a religious affiliation. Weise said he will remain active in COR projects, but there are 850 Catholic families in the Dothan area and only one priest over there. Dothan Kirklands settles AIDS lawsuit MONTGOMERY (AP) A Dothan store has reached a settlement with a former worker who filed a lawsuit last year, claiming that he was fired in January 1995 because he tested positive for the AIDS virus.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson said he had been informed that a lawsuit filed against Kirklands of Wiregrass Commons Mall of Dothan has been settled. An individual identified in court documents as John Doe sued Kirklands and Amy Headland, the manager of Kirklands, in U.S. District Court in Montgomery last year. Doe claimed in his suit that his firing from Kirkland's nearly two years ago violated his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

He asked for punitive and compensatory damages. Terms of the settlement reached with Kirklands were not disclosed. Doe contended that the store did not offer accommodations for his illness as required under the federal American with Disabilities Act. Doe tested positive for HIV six months after he began working for Kirklands, according to court records. He claimed that the stores manager began to treat him differently after he refused to discuss the results of a HIV test he took in 1994.

Shelby County woman missing WESTOVER (AP) Volunteers searched Wednesday for a missing Shelby County woman described as a leader in her church. Brenda Joyce Breckenridge Bowen, 44, of Westover was reported missing Tuesday after she failed to meet her mother in Inverness at 10 a.m. A searcher with a spotlight found Bowens car on a trail about 200 feet off an unpaved portion of Shelby County 51 The site is about a five-mile drive from her home. I dont think she drove the car County Sheriff James Jones said. I think someone else drove it.

Bowens purse and car phone were in the vehicle, and her purse did not appear to have been tampered with, Jones said. He said the Sheriffs Department is investigating because he suspects foul play. account 'for, program costs in Alabama. Four Rivers Sponsors Widowed Persons Support Group. Four Rivers Medical Center, is please to offer a support group called Widowed Persons Service (WPS).

The program is designed to provide support and understanding for area dnd wothe'Of alFage'SV whti'afe deatirtgwittr r. plf! 'll orb the feeling and frustrations oi losing a spouse. WPS meets on the First Sunday of each month from 4:00 p.m. in the Four Rivers Classroom. All interested individuals are invited to attend these meetings and no reservations are necessary.

For further information please call (334) 418-4123. COLUMBIA Four Rivers Medical Center 1015 Medical Center Parkway Selma, Alabama 36701 (334)418-4441 0 VAUGHAN reviewing the programs finances. The effort tb wipe out the cotton pest is run by the Montgomery-based Southeastern Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation Inc. a private, nonprofit corporation created in 1987 to manage the program in eight states. Officials with the foundation had no immediate comment but said a statement would be issued later.

The examiners said that in 1995 the cost of boll weevil traps Was 59 cents per acre in a 19-county south Alabama area, compared with 27 cents per acre in Florida and a similar amount in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. In 1994, the examiners said, the cost of the traps was 92 cents per acre in south Alabama compared with 23 cents in Florida. WELLNESS and FITNESS CENTER Resolution Solution Join during the month of January and receive: 12 Off Enrollment Fee No Dues For January 8757500 630 Medical Center Parkway Super Saturday Sate MEN HOME KIDS WOMEN 25 OFF All Juniors casual tops. SALE 5.99 twin Smooth Touch percale sheet Reg. 6.99.

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