Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 17

JOHNSON CITY PRESS Wednesday April 17 1991 Page 17 i I Rangers revise rules to control Smokies bears The Associated Press Rolling in Marines from the 4th Expeditionary Brigade travel past enthusiastic supporters enroute to Camp Lejeune NC Monday after duty in the Middle East The Marines traveled in a 23-bus convoy from the Morehead City NC port (AP LaserPhoto) Re-elect Grandparent visitation gets Burson approval That should reduce what they can get to The old cans also had plastic trash liners which bears had learned to use to their advantage "The bears got smart enough to realize they could pull the liner down from the outside and pull the trash up on the inside So they were able to haul the garbage up to where it was reachable from the top Miller said "Theyre very adaptable The new dumpsters wont have liners The second change at The Chimney Tops is programmatic Miller said the Park Service will be less patient with bears that show a pattern of depending on leftovers for their sustenance "This year rather than waiting until they get to be a real problem well try to trap them when we first starting seeing them hanging around Miller said "Well take them on an overnight stay at the medical building where theyll do a full work-up on them Miller said park officials hope the medical checkup will be uncomfortable enough to discourage the bears from returning to the picnic area "We hope theyll connect The Chimneys with an unpleasant experience and stay away he said Miller explained that bears who panhandle have a shorter life span for several reasons For one they occasionally eat something that kills them like food packaging They also tend to hang out where people and their food are which means the bears are close to roads and more likely to get run over And if the panhandling gets aggressive enough the bears are killed Miller said two had to be euthanized last year GATLINBURG Black bears will be held to a stricter code of decorum in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park this summer in hopes of redudurgsthe threat bears and tourists poise to each other Park spokesman Bob Miller said Tuesday the US Park Service will try a new approach against panhandling bears at The Chimney Tops picnic area the most-used picnic area in the most-visited park in the national park system Panhandling bears are a nui- sance to tourists and a threat to themselves There were seven injuries 1 caused by bears in the park last year Miller said compared to 17 the year before And bears accustomed to eating leftover picnic foods have a life span of about half the life of those who "earn an honest living Miller said The park services first line of defense is a series of new garbage dumpsters designed to pre-vent bears from picking through the scraps of food people put in trash cans Miller said the small dumpsters will replace the 42-gallon garbage cans that had been used previously The dumpsters hold 24 times as much as the cans The picnic area will have five of the new cans The mail-slot-like doors on the dumpsters will be basically the same as the old cans but the food should be further away from the door "The trash wont be as accessible Miller said "The bears have gotten very adept at digging their claws around the flap and they fish out whatever is available to them at arms length "The dumpster is bigger and deeper so the trash will spread out more before it forms a pile that is reachable from the top i i 'mWf WAB5EEM VEST Johnson City City Commission "I believe the 90s belong to us Help me so I con better serve you Re-elect 12 Years Experience They must prove they have a unique relationship with the child and show that the time place and circumstances of the propose visitation are proper Parents may challenge the grandparents contention in court Burson said but if the grandparents prove their case "the compelling interest of the state in the well-being of the child outweighs any liberty interest of the parent in the care custody and control of this child Wood unsuccessfully tried to repeal then amend the law in the General Assembly but the House Judiciary Committee deferred action onthe proposal on April 3 effectively killing it for this year One of the measures strongest opponents was another Hamilton County legislator Rep Brenda Wood D-Chattanooga Woods efforts stemmed from a continuing grandparent visitation battle between BF and Sue Hawk of Chattanooga and their son and daughter-in-law Bob and Bay Hawk The Associated Press NASHVILLE Attorney General Charles Burson says Tennessees grandparent visitation statute does not violate parents' constitutional rights The 1985 law at issue because of a controversial Chattanooga case allows judges in some instances to grant visitation rights to grandparents over the objections of their children "It is well established that a parent has a fundamental liberty interest in the care custody and control of his child Burson wrote in an opinion requested by state Rep Bobby Wood R-Harrison "However it is also established that this right is not absolute Thus the state may terminate parental rights if there is clear and convincing evidence justifying such termination under the applicable statute Burson said grandparents carry the burden of proof when arguing that seeing them is in their grandchildrens best interests WARREN VEST Johnson City City Commission uni Lm stei a mao jmoiq quow Suspect in couples killing alive prosecutor believes home on Lewis Chapel Mountain were reported missing on March 4 after family members became alarmed when their store did not open Police found that the house where the Harveys had been known to keep large sums of money had been ransacked and the interior gutted by fire Ms Holland was reported missing after her car was found abandoned March 7 at a truck stop near Baileyton Police launched a widespread search although they said then that her disappearance apparently was not related to that of the Harveys That changed however after Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents interviewed Wooten last week and found inconsistencies with what he told police at the time Ms Holland disappeared "Obviously he held back some on his first statement said Pope Investigators initially identified Ms Holland as Wootens wife but Pope said Tuesday there is no record that they were married Authorities will continue to search the river until "all our avenues there are exhausted Pope said But he said Wootens statement and other evidence give them enough to prosecute without the bodies "We do have a case whether we find Mr and Mrs Harvey or not Pope said Wooten is being held without bond in the Rhea County Jail in Dayton pending an April 26 preliminary hearing The Associated Press DUNLAP A month ago Cheryl Lee Holland disappeared at a truck stop in Greene County and Eolice feared the 26-year-old Georgia woman had een abducted Ms Holland is still missing but investigators now say shes a fugitive suspected of robbing and killing her aunt and uncle at their mountain home in Sequatchie County "We believe she is alive and out there District' Attorney General Bill Pope said Tuesday "Sometimes its hard and sometimes it comes easy (to find a fugitive) But we are going on the premise that she is out there and alive with the fruits of the crime Pope spoke to reporters after Edward Arnold Wooten 30 of Rossville Ga was arraigned in Sequatchie County General Sessions Court on two counts of first-degree murder and robbery Wooten has told police that he and Ms Holland killed her aunt ana uncle put their bodies in the trunk of their car and pushed it into the Tennessee River at Bridgeport Ala Authorities from Tennessee and Alabama have been searching the river for the bodies of Clarence "Joe Harvey 57 and Mattie Teah Harvey 54 since April 11 when Wooten was arrested The Harveys who operated a store next to their Jeep Cherokee Sport Four-door shift-on-the-fly 15946 MSRP four-wheel drived Rarv Available with full-time four- ioooCah Meharry pediatric residents win OK to train at Brooklyn hospital Jeep Wrangler Thelegendary off-" QQ1 (V road fun machine Available with a 500Jk high-output 180 1 A horsepower engine 9 Cl 14946 wheel anti-lock brakes Eagle Summit Three-Door The big little car with lots of interior room Offers longest corrosion protec- 7067 msrp HUU BACK tIO non Available with all-wheel drive 1 k-990 MSRP and a 195 horsepower engine 700 b1 Standard AMFM stereo $22 290 cassette S1X sPeakers- tion in its class The Associated Press NASHVILLE Pediatric residents from Meharry Medical College will begin training at a 620-bed hospital in Brooklyn NY by July the chairman of Mehar-rys Department of Pediatrics said Tuesday Dr Saburo Hara said he was told last week that a national accrediting program had approved the application to reestablish Meharrys pediatric training program at the Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn He said the non-profit hospital serves one of the nations largest black communities Meharry estimates it has trained a third of all black doctors in the United States Approval of the pediatrics program is a first step toward a full-fledged affiliation between Meharry and Interfaith Future links could include residencies in obstetrics and gynecology Loma McBamette acting commissioner of the New York De partment of Health said that in addition to strengthening Meharrys training programs an affiliation would "be a very positive opportunity to train minority physicians who might remain in the inner city Three out of four graduates of Meharry Medical College practice in inner city or rural areas that are traditionally underserved by doctors Meharry a traditionally black medical school stopped training residents in pediatrics last year after accreditation of the program was withdrawn largely because Meharry-Hubbard Hospital didnt have enough patients The college lost accreditation of its surgical residency program for similar reasons and will lose accreditation for obstetrics and gynecology on June 30 Meharry-Hubbard Hospital the colleges main teaching hospital in Nashville is half empty and averages about 100 patients a day That is one of the reasons officials have sought a merger between Meharry-Hubbard Hospital and Nashvilles public hospital Metro General A hospital board has rejected the merger but committees appointed by Mayor Bill Boner and Nashvilles Metro Council are taking another look Interfaith treats an average of 50 children each day compared to two or three at Meharry-Hubbard and six or seven at Metro General Hara said Dr Joseph French director of the pediatrics department at Interfaith said the Residency Review Committee for Pediatrics (art of the Accreditation Council or Graduate Medical Education in Chicago is expected to issue formal written approval later this spring A similar committee turned down an application by Mehany to re-establish a surgical training program at Interfaith said Dr Frank Royal chairman of the Board of Trustees at 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