Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 9

Vf hi vh me newe House demolition approved JOHNSON CITY TN 37601 THURSDAY MORNING SEPTEMBER 10 Mil 11 i V-: i The County Commission's Public Works and Planning Committee voted Tuesday to have the County Highway Department demolish a house on a Wilson Avenue lot the county acquired in 1970 due to delinquent taxes Chairman Archie Hodge said Johnson City officials have objected to the condition of the abandoned house and lot which the county took from Roxie Latham when $2485 in back property taxes remained unpaid The house at 518 Wilson Ave is completely hidden by vines The committee voted to have Highway Department personnel clear the lot when their schedule permits and for the Highway Department to be reimbursed for the expense when the lot is soli The committee voted to refuse the West View Elementary School request that the Hghway Department pave the school's driveway until the Washington County Board of Education agrees to reimburse the county for the expense Commissioner Johnny Mitchell argued for doing the paving since county school buses must use the drive but Hodge said the Uniform County Eoad Law prohibits the-Road Department from doing the paving at its own expense In other action the committee voted to have the Road Department pave Old Mill Road when its schedule permits if -w-w Committee eliminates rule The County Rules Committee voted Tuesday night to eliminate the rule limiting commissioners to two years of consecutive service on a committee Commissioners Larry Stover George Jaynes and Jack Rutherford voted to eliminate the two-year rule Commissioner Robert Patton voted to keep it Patton argued for keeping the Burglaries thefts reported ittmii uTimeit rfitttffiiiiKurwiinir Perfect autumn weather air at night with temperatures dipping into the 50s Warmer weather is expected however before fall finally arrives (StaffPhoto by Lee Talbert) pond at the Veterans Administration Medical Center Mountain Home forecast calls for temperatures much like those Wednesday with highs in the low 70s and a bit of chill in the weather offered a taste of things to come it was a virtually perfect fall day although the end of summer remains several days away The two men pictured here took advantage of the day to take a stroll near the Ohio inmate confesses to armed robbery By LINDA SANDERS P-C Jonesboro Bureau A man serving a jail sentence in the Southern Ohio Correctional Institution has confessed to Jlje robbery of a Jonesboro service station The confession came during the trial in Washington County Criminal Court Wednesday of Donnie Wheeler alias Donnie Wagner who is currently on trial for the offense The Ohio inmate Dave Pilkington testified that he and James Bryan held up the attendant at the Boones Creek Self-Service Station on US Highway 23 on Nov 22 1978 and robbed him at gunpoint Wheeler and Bryan were originally charged with the robbery but Pilkington claims that Wheeler was not involved Bryan pleaded guilty Tuesday to simple robbery in connection with the case and received five years in prison two-year limit on committee service "because a lot of people apparently feel trying to pull something" Patton cited comments from members of the public who believe a few commissioners have monopolized seats on the Finance Ways and Means Committee which makes recommendations on funding ransacked Wiseman said Randy Pitt Rt 2 Fall Branch reported to county deputies Tuesday an AMFM jjtereo radio and cassette player along with two speakers were stolen from his car while the vehicle was parked on Fordtown Road according to Deputy Richard Williams Deloris Smith 814 Johnson Ave reported her residence was entered Tuesday and two electronic games were stolen According to Patrolman Sam Daniels entry to the residence was gained through a basement winndow David Ford of the Putt-Putt Golf Course 2806 Roan St reported the office of the golf course had been entered Tuesday and a black -table model telephone a wall clock and an undetermined number of all-day Putt-Putt passes were stolen According to Patrolman David Pierce entry was gained to the office by prying the hasp off the front door to WSJK-TV their said Jim Kuehn the development director "We have already given the children a full Sunday morning of quality programming as a result of their response to our Friends of Sesame Street "We are presently in negotiation with program suppliers to purchase additional programming that the public has indicated that it wants us to Kuehn said Curtis said the station needs $350000 annually in public support in order to replace the funds that will be lost when the station is changed from its Btate-owned status to a community-owned status by-1986 The August membership drive was the first of two scheduled for this fiscal year The next membership drive is scheduled for March 6 through March 21 be paroled two to five years Unicoi County inmates recommended for parole were Ernest Garland convicted of assault with the intent to commit robbery forgery burglary and grand larceny and sentenced to six years Robert Boyd convicted of petit larceny and sentenced to one to three years Tony Garland convicted of burglary and attempting to commit a felony and sentenced to four years and Beryl Vines convicted of selling Schedule III drugs and sentenced to five years The tenth person recommended for parole was Roy Tweed convicted in Greene County of vehicular homicide and burglary sentenced to two six year terms Reports of burglaries thefts and stolen courthouse keys were investigated by city and county officers Tuesday According to Deputy Stephen Mize Joe Green Washington County road superintendent left his keys in the door to his office at 8 pm but when he checked the door at 8:30 pm the keys were gone Mize said a young woman and two young men were seen running from the Jonesboro Courthouse about the time the keys disappeared Asbury School Indian Ridge Road was burglarized Tuesday and items valued at $233 were taken according to Deputy Gary Wiseman Wiseman said a case of butterTa first aid kit dish towels 10 pounds of hamburger patties earphones staplers stamp pads and stamps were among file numerous items taken Entry was made through a window on the east aide of the school and the building had been Funds pledged More than $150000 was pledged to WSJK-TV East public television station during the first membership drive held Aug 22-30 During the nine-day drive 4065 viewers became members with an average pledge of $3699 The new members include 980 children who were enrolled as "Friends of Sesame Street" "We are totally overwhelmed by the show of support for WSJK-TV" said A1 Curtis general manager of the station "We are already formulating plans to demonstrate our commitment to the "interests of those who came forward during the drive It is our intention and promise to those new members of our family that their trust and demonstration of support for our services shall not be "We have heard our viewing public and will respond positively to Area inmates to The State Board of Paroles has approved paroles for 10 state prisoners from Upper East Tennessee including five from Sullivan County and four from Unicoi County Inmates recommended for parole from Sullivan County were listed as Steve Pendleton convicted of burglary and sentenced to three years in prison JT Sipes convicted of passing counterfeit checks and sentenced to five to 10 years Michael Hall convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to! six to seven years Jerry McCracken convicted of assault with the intent to commit first-degree murder sentenced to six to 21 years and Earl Feagins convicted of concealing stolen property fend sentenced to Phipps Bend staff trimmed by 1 300 so far from the Ohio prison so he would have a better attempt escape Pilkington and Wheeled met at the Ohio prison where both are serving sentences Pilkington said Wheeler said during a motion hear- ing Tuesday that he was actually in Texas at the time the robbery took place Wheeler along with Pilkington are supposed to be escape artists and have several escapes to their credit Wheeler did in fact escape custody when he was first brought back to the county jail from Ohio last year Patrick Cole the service station attendant at the time of the holdup testified that he was not "100 percent that Pilkington was not the other man along with Bryan Cole said Bryan stood outside the car and the 6ther man sat inside and held a gun Pilkington said that both he and go beyond-1985 -there could be changes in nuclear regulations that we know Tom Moore executive director of the development district asked Point about finding new jobs in Hawkins County Moore commented that the possible start up of Phipps Bend is a threat being held over all industrial development in Hawkins County "Industry is going to be hard to recruit once known that TVA could be hiring away all their labor almost Moore said Point agreed that will be a problem and said TVA is planning an industrial development effort for Hawkins County to find jobs and retrain Phipps Bend employees About 70 percent of the workforce was made up of itinerant trade labor construction workers who move from site to site and "they have bfeen leaving on their Point said as they find other work All of the professional staff have been offered other jobs with TVA but Point said not all have accepted The other workers mainly clerical Help Bryan got out of the car Cole also failed to pick Bryan out of a lineup after the incident occured and was unable to recognize a photograph of Wheeler Cole testified that the incident occured at closing time Cole said a car pulled up and a man got out and asked to buy some cigarettes and then told him to give him all the money Cole said he thought he was joking until he saw another man in the car with a gun As the holdup man was leaving Deputy Vic Cansler pulled up and the holdup car left with Cansler in pursuit During the chase a shot was fired from the car which broke the windshield Testimony will continue today at 9 am at the Washington County Courthouse in Jonesboro who lived here before the construction started and cannot relocate are being hurt the most by the lay offs Point said The economic impact on local governments was described as "not Point said TVA will continue its in lieu of tax payments and will also continue to honor its economic impact and mitigating contracts made with area governments Phipps Bend was closed after power projections of a seven percent annual increase (doubling power needs every 10 years) were revised to a 04 percent to 21 percent Even more disturbing to TVA directors were the Department of projection that nuclear fuel producers at Paducah Ky and Oak Ridge supplying all of America's nuclear fuel would have to lower production And the Department of Commerce projected that where a one percent increase in a economy had nteant a 08 percent increase in power need the ratio had now dropped to 06 percent due to conservation and energy efficiency tion of about 300 people Snapp said his staff has completed field work needed to determine the population of county precincts and that a reapportionment plan (or plans) should be ready by the Oct 26 meeting Commissioner Robert Patton argued without support that the reapportioned commission should have fewer members than its present 25 In answer to criticism Patton said a Smaller group might be more "manageable" "Would you say our meetings are orderly and we accomplish a lot" he asked Pilkington who was brought from Ohio to Jonesboro to be a witness in the case said that in 1978 he had escaped from the Ohio prison and was traveling through the Johnson City area on his way to Florida when he met Bryan at a bar Pilkington said he and Bryan decided they needed some money and "decided to' stick' -something- he testified Pilkington said he could not remember the details of the holdup because he "robbed 25 or 30 places while out on He went on to say that the night of the service station robbery he also robbed "a couple of more places that because the local robbery did not net as much money as he said he needed Pilkington said Wheeler who earlier confessed to the robbery only did so in order to come back to Jonesboro workers per -week- By January employment will be down to 400 mostly maintenance workers plant guards and warehouse employees who will continue receiving the materials shipments to Phipps Bend that have already been contracted and cannot be stopped The only work going on now is the weatherization of the reactor site now about 16 to 18 percent complete with permanent and temporary construction Point said Some eight to 10 years of construction would still be needed if the plant is retrieved from mothballs Point said TVA might reopen the construction site around 1985 since power demand projections currently indicate the plant would need to be operational around 1995 There are no assurances that the plant will ever be completed Norman Spencer Kingsport mayor asked Point about the problem of the nuclear technology that is already in place near Surgoinsville becoming obsolete Point said there should be no problem "in the short term As we consider two sus divisions which do not correspond to precincts when it reapportioned and ruled that counties must redesign precincts which are split If the legislature stands by its ruling fragments of precincts cut by the new lines would have to made new precincts in themselves or the entire precinct structure could be changed Election Commission Secretary Martha Brockwell said it would be "very to inform county vo- ters of a new precinct system before the May election Snapp said he has contacted several state legislators who favor ammend-ing the bill to make the new district By RICK PATTERSON P-C Staff Writer Jim Point TVA Appalachian district administrator tried to start his report on the carrying out of the Phipps Bend nuclear plant shutdown with a little humor Speaking to the county executives and mayors who make up the executive committee of the First Tennessee Virginia Development District Wednesday night Point related a cartoon his daughter had brought home from school "What do you feed a 1000-pound space asked the cartoon to which the response is "Anything it wants to However' when Point said kind of reminds me of the comparison brought no laughter from the city and county officials Employment at the nuclear power plant construction site last July was 3561 As of last Thursday the number was down to 2281 Point said Some 1300 had been laid off in August The jayoffs will continue through January at a pace of about 50 to 100 County may By BRAD JOLLY P-C Staff Writer The Washington County Commission rqay have to consider a primary and an alternate plan for reapportioning its commissioner districts before Jan 1 1982 PC Snapp regional director of the State Office told the Reapportionment Committee and the Election Commission at a joint meeting Wednesday night that local reapportioning has been made more difficult by the State creation of new senate and house boundaries which cross some precinct lines in the county Snapp said the legislature used cen reapportionment plans Visits to Smokies decline conform to existing precinct lines but such a change could not take place until after Jan 1 State Rep Bob King who attended the meeting said he was in favor of using existing precinct lines in the legislative districts to advantage to do it the ivay he said Snapp suggested preparing two plans for reapportioning commissioner (and school board) one that uses existing precinct lines and one that Among the oddities that would be created if the legislature does not ammend its bill would be a new precinct in Fall Branch wtyh a popula Recreational visits to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in August fell 3 percent below the number of visits during the same month last year according to Jerry Eubanks acting supertindent of the park Visits to the park for the year-to-date however are down only 1 percent compared to last figures In August there were 1367000 visitors to the park almost 43000 below last total There were 2 percent more campers in developed campgrounds this August but backcountry overnight visits were down 10 percent from last August Percentages of increasedecrease by park entrances over August 1980 are as follows: Gatlinburg down 15 Townsend down 31 Cherokee down 10 and outlying areas up 32 4 i.