Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 13

In the news Committee urges 25-member board VV V- Some committee members favored a 24-crmmissKoer plan that requires the re-registration of jS'K) people Still otier favored a 19-commissioncr plan that requires no re-registration The committee had previously recommended the 19-comimssioner plan The 25-commissioner plan approved by the committee Thursday calls for the formation of nine magisterial districts there are now eight Although the plan calls for reregistration of 3700 people Gouge said that about half that number of voters would actually have to be re-registered This is because about 57 percent of the population is registered to vote he said The commission will decide in a called meeting Monday which reapportionment plan it wishes to use The reapportionment must be completed by Jan 1 P-C Eluahethlon Bureau ELIZABETHTON The Carter County Reapportiorunent Committee gate its recommendation Thursday to a plan to increase the County Commission to 25 members through the re-registration of ab- out 3700 people The committee has been studying the realignment of magisterial districts in compliance with a law that mandates reapportionment every 10 years According to state planners the law is intended to insure the 'one min-one vote principle Magisterial district lines must be shifted every 10 years so that each elected official represents relatively the same number of people The present 23-member commission has a 377 percent mean deviation in the representation of its districts State Planner' Carroll Gouge said there can be no more than a 10 percent mean deviation The committee recommended the 25-commissioner plan on a 5-3 vote 1 r' K- I i i A i i i I jA 1 ri-i I i I jfj Jjf 7 7 4 4 i i i 1 1 Legal fees for Fetzer to be paid By JEFF VERNON P-C Elizabethton Bureau ELIZABETHTON The City Council reversed the potion it has taken at several previous meetings and voted Thursday to take step to reimburse legal expenses former councilman John Fetzer incurred in a 1979 lawsuit Fetzer was sued by Cornett and JI Cornett Construction Co concerning remarks Fetzer made at a council meeting The remarks concerned the design and construction of the Elizabethton High School roof In a precedent-setting case the state Court of Appeals ruled that Fetzer had absolute privilege aa a councilman to make remarks about matters before the coucil Fetzer said he incurred about $24000 in legal expenses defending himself He made three previous requests to the former council and one request to the present council for reimburement Each request was denied The citys former insurance carrier has also refused to pay the claim Comett addressed the council and advised that several lawyers have told him that the city does not have the right to reimburse Fetzers ex- penses Councilman John Hughes moved that Fetzer be paid His motion called for a committee of councilmen to review the bills and set a "reasonable and verifiable amount of payment to be brought before the council for approval "This situtation has gone on far too long Councilman Carolyn Dugger said "It should have been handled years ago Mayor Richard Sharpin agreed with Mrs Dugger and added "The question is does this council stand behind its elected officials? Sharpin Mrs Dugger Hughes and Ed "Woody Woodruff voted in favor of the motion to pay Fetzer JB Shepherd and Monta Clark voted against the motion Lee Maupin passed In other action: Community Development Director Robert Oaks told the council that an application for a $11 million Department of Housing and Urban Development grant has been withdrawn concerning a shopping center proposed for the former Bemberg Industries property Oaks said developer Ed Street failed to negotiate the purchase of the property from King Brothers of Sevierville I 1 sy- if 1 I- A -A 1 i rTt-t -S' s- I Route 1 37 section opened Erwin portjon nearly finished i i A I i Kf' Jr M'ljy V- I''1 -U-- Reading exhibit Tina Osborne a fourth-grader at Jonesboro Elementary School looks over the Johnson City schools display in a reading exhibit at The Mall which began Monday and continues through Saturday The exhibit which has as its theme "Reading Is the Key to Your Childs Future features displays from schools and educational organizations designed to emphasize to parents the importance of reading The display pictured was created by the fourth-grade pupils of Cathy Glenn at Southside Elementary School who used the Sunday comics one of the many diverse types of reading material to decorate a Christmas tree and to wrap packages (Staff Photo) A section of state Route 137 in Kingsport was opened today completing the highway from the John Dennis Bypass to Stone Drive Area legislators Kingsport city officials and state Department of Transportation Commissioner James Cotham were scheduled to be on hand for nbbon-cutting ceremonies for the 34-mile' section The highway officially named Appalachian Corridor will provide four-lane freeway access in Southwest Virginia Upper East Tennessee and Western North Carolina when it is finished According to a report by the First Tennessee-Virginia Development District the Erwin segment is about 97 percent complete Contracts are scheduled for let-1 ting on two segments of Route 137 between Johnson City and Erwin in December Once construction begins on Man convicted P-C Erwin Bureau ERWIN A Criminal Court jury found Johnny Wayne Harris guilty of possession of marijuana Thursday Harris was originally charged i with' possession of marijuana for resale He was arrested as the result of stakeout near -a tavern on Watauga Avenue by the Unicoi County Sheriffs Department and Erwin Police Department Investigator Coleman Ramsey testified that dunng the stakeout he saw a "transaction between Harris and Merle Light Harris had 55 grams of mari- ETSU reroofing P-C Nashville Bureau NASHVILLE An increase to $100000 from $85000 in money for reroofmg three dormitories at East Tennessee State University was approved Thursday by the state Building Commission The buildings included in the project are West Browning and Powell dormitories the total cost of the reroofing was estimated at $105000 -1 The commission increased to $81000 from $70000 money to re-1 place the underground natural gas distribution system at the Greene Board moves to change salary fund policy these projects the entire Appal lachian Highway from Erwin to the Virginia state line will be completed or under construction Environmental impact assessments are presently being conducted on the remaining 168-mile section from Erwin 'to the North Carolina state line According to the FT-VDD report other construction projects initiated this year include improvements to US north of Elizabeth-ton US 321 west of Elizabethton and US 11-W west of Rogersville Preliminary work has also begun on the Appalachian Connector (state Route 67) from Elizabethton to Johnson City "It should be remembered said the report "that years of work are necessary to plan design and build a highway All work schedules mentioned here are tentative and depend upon future levels of state and federal funding on pot charge juana in his possession when he was arrested Ramsey said Light was also arrested and charged with possession of marijuana for resale He reportedly had 147 grams of marijuana in his possession at the time of his arrest Lights case has been continued until December During Thursdays trial Harris and Light each testified that they received the marijuana from the other Harris was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in the Unicoi County Jail and fined $1000 and court costs He was placed under a $10000 appeal bond by Judge Arden Hill funds raised Valley Developmental Center Greeneville and authorized awarding the contract to Hughey Con--struction Co Its bid was $62000 The rest of the money is for design and engineering expenses Money for day use facilities on Duck Island in Fort Patrick Henry lake at the Warriors Path State Park Kingsport was increased to $11 million from $994000 The added money-will be taken from a project at the Long Hunter State Environmental Education Area It employs the same procedure used by a young child as he learns his mothers speech: listening and repeating Children throughout the world play by the Suzuki method A teacher of the Suzuki method i is now giving lessons on Mondays at East Tenessee State University Interested parents may call 1-288-6358 or 1-239-8152 Tha main event will be a male beauty contest at 9 pm Admission will be charged Board Chairman Wilhoit: Im only supposed to recognize people on the agenda Washington County Education Association President Nicholas Livaditis: The teachers have every right to this very small benefit 8 the board accepted a recommendation by Superintendent Nathan Hale to reduce the staff by five people to compensate for concessions made by the boards negotiating team specifically the teachers portion of the 1975 V'z-cent sales tax referendum In a memorandum marked "for the eyes of board members only recently sent to board members the superintendent provided two courses of action which could be taken The first course would be to retain the present positions with no reductions being made The second would terminate the following employees: Mark Banks Cynthia Mikulencak and Carolyn Maden all of West View Elementary School Janice Snyder Sulphur Springs Elementary School and Rose Wright Jonesboro Middle School The decisions were apparently not made by senority since a source in the system aid one of the teachers is 27th from the bottom of the seniority list and another is 19th The second course of action also called for the transfer of seven teachers including Donna Smith who recently resigned from her position as WCEA president In the memorandum the superintendent recommended that no reductions be made The board has scheduled a special meeting for 7 pm Tuesday to discuss both the reductions in staff and the status of the 1981-82 budget By FRANK TREXLER P-C Staff Writer Action was taken by the Washington County Board of Education Thursday night which if approved a second time would rescind a policy that earmarked the school systems share of revenue from the 1975 Vh-cent sales tax to employee salaries Prior to Thursdays regular meeting the boards policy committee met and voted unanimously to recommend that the board adopt a policy mandating that all revenue locally produced would become negotiable for salary increases The board approved the policy on its first reading by a 6-2 vote it must be approved a second time before taking effect Board members Bill Squibb Paul Black Sherry Wolfe Tom Shelton Harold Johnson and Gilbert Ingle voted for the new Solicy while Dunbar and im Hale voted against the policy Prior to the meeting Washington County Education Association President Nicholas Livaditis said he had asked to have his name moved from near the end of the agenda to a position allowing him to speak before the vote was taken on the policy He said this request was refused Prior to the vote Livaditis attempted at least three times to be recognized by Board Chairman Wilhoit by raising his hand but was ignored Following the meeting Wilhoit was asked why Livaditis had not nr-'7'' I Suzuki violin concerts set at Mall ions to block the rescinding of policy July 1980 the board adopted olicy whereby its share of the '5 i-cent sales tax increase iild be allocated for salaries of 1-time employees with 75 cent going to professional ployees and 25 percent going to l-professional employees lale said that by implementing i policy the board would be ing against its word and aking with a "forked tongue ice it told the County nmission the revenue would be ed for teachers" salaries nbar apparently agreed The teachers worked to' get it ised Hale said following the eting "We promised the inty Commission that it would used that way other action the board tabled icussion on reducing the terns teaching staff by five jring a regular meeting Oct been recognized He said he "wanted the board to decide when he (Livaditis) can speak When asked if those attending the meetings are not allowed to air their views on a subject prior to a vote Wilhoit said Tm only supposed to recognize people on the agenda "We frequently do recognize people that are not on the agenda Wilhoit later added but he could give no reason why he chose not to recognize Livaditis When Livaditis was allowed to speak he told board members that "the teachers have every right to this very small benefit and cited a letter of intent dated March 27 1980 signed by then-WCEA President John Phillips and board chairman Gilbert Ingle in which the board said it "has no present intentions of changing the policy Livaditis said the WCEA intends to "exercise all available i The Kingsport Suzuki Association will present two concerts Saturday at The Mall pear the Sears store' The concerts at 1 and 7 pra Twill feature young violinists from ages 5 to 13 The Suzuki method of playing the violin was developed by Dr Shinichi Suzuki of Japan i fall festival planned at Valley Forge school P-C Elizabethton Bureau ELIZABETHTON Valley Forge Elementary School will hold a fall festival Saturday from 5 to 9 i.