Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 1

'le' '5 4 9 REPORT: No smoking W3M i Volume 83-Number 347 Tri-Cities Tennessee Today 500 jfMt ttrt ff V' m- jm' i VwvY tY NM FRIDAY Kingsport get 1-26 through town state rules i i The Associated Press Qusai By James Watson Press Staff Writer jwatsonjohnsonatfpress com KINGSPORT After years of hoping to have Interstate 26 running through Kingsport state officials said Thursday that possibility is all but gone very Kingsport City Manager Ray Griffin said after hearing that the request for interstate designation had been denied by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials will give us an opportunity to review where we are and take advantage of other Griffin said The news of the decision came from Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Gerald Nicely as he met with officials in Johnson City has denied our request to redesignate (Interstate) 181 as Interstate Route Nicely said With the state planning on building an interstate welcome UJJ ftlnKg patg'SEOD Odai I would not be surprised to see an uptick in violence against our forces Paul Bremer US Iraq administrator Despite photos some Iraqis feel American officials staging a ruse It's very disappointing Ray Griffin city manager Kingsport center around Kingsport the commissioner said that intent could also now be in question decision has been made on that Nicely said adding that the location is up in the air think we made a decision on a Kingsport welcome center The plan is now for the 1-26 designation to be extended from Asheville NC through Johnson City and end at the intersection with Interstate 81 The section of what is now I-181 from 1-81 through Kingsport will be called Interstate Spur 126 AASHTO is a group made up of state and federal representa- See KINGSPORT Page 4A of change would resolve issues regarding infrastructure services and security while bringing economic development to Erwin 15 is the gateway to this Paduch told TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely The mayor said there were hopes of expanding the center See WELCOME Page 4A 8 i I 5 1 i i TOOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely meets with area leaders on the 1-26 project Thursday at district headquarters Welcome center change falls on reluctant ears By James Watson Press Staff Writer jwatsonohnsonatypress com Cochran pitched the idea moving the center from Exit 9 down into Erwin at Exit IS Proponents argued the July 25 2003 Sunny forecast Page 3A Inside News To the finish3A Repaving work on I-181 has been going smoothly and may be completed ahead of Eastman report4B Eastman registers an increase in revenues during the second quarter of the year Disaster tour6B Gov Phil Bredesen tours storm-ravaged Memphis and says seek federal disaster assistance Tipton's tastes 1 Out About debuts a new column as Cindy Tipton offers her opinions on restaurant fare across the area Inside Sports Top pick in 1C The Tennessee first round pick signs Also Inside News Local4B Lottery2A Nation7B Weather3A World9B Sports Baseball4C Cycling3C 'Football6C GolfSC On Air2A Scores2A Elsewhere 'Astrology8D Brooks4B Celebs8A Comics9D Classified ID Dear Abby8D Editorial6A Movies2B OutAboutI Puzzles8D 1 Stocks7C TV listing8D Deaths2A JOHNSON CITY Ina Harrison BRISTOL Harold Liebenow Sr JONESBOROUGH Gary McCracken KNOXVILLE Lenore McClain NOKOMIS Fla WC- Baker Jr Front Page DesignDon Dale Visit Our We Site At JohnsooQtyPres8com BAGHDAD Iraq The United States released grisly photos Thursday to convince Iraqis that Saddam sons were dead and to weaken support for an anti-American insurgency But some Iraqis saw the pictures of the bloodied bearded men as a ruse The photographs of Odai and Qusai Hussein were immediately broadcast by US-sponsored Iraqi TV CNN and two Arab satellite television networks widely viewed in Iraq The newspaper held its front and back pages open to publish them this morning is a US ploy to try to break the spirit of the said Jassim al-Robai a computer engineer who was sharing an ice cream tart with two friends at a restaurant in Baghdad After seeing the images Al-Robai said he convinced that the brothers were killed in a gunbattle with US soldiers At a Pentagon news conference Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said it was his decision to release photos of the dead sons and that it was a close He did however acknowledge that it ran counter to the US unwritten convention of not showing images of enemy war dead Some in the military' preferred the photos of the bloodied bodies not be publicly released out of concern for losing the moral high ground in arguing against such treatment of US war dead in future conflicts Rumsfeld likened the circumstance to 1989 when Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown and executed was not until the people of that country saw him saw his body that they actually believed that the fear and the threat that his regime posed to them was Rumsfeld said Washington had hoped that the deaths of Odai and Qusai would weaken the insurgency but an attack on a convoy Thursday killed three Americans from the division that led the assault on hide-out in the northern city of Mosul Paul Bremer the US administrator of Iraq said Thursday that the deaths of Saddam's sons and acceptance of See PROOF Page 4A The idea of changing the location of an Interstate 26 welcome center planned for Unicoi County met a cool reception Thursday from heads of the Tennessee Department of Transportation Johnson City Mayor Pete Paduch and other area leaders including state Reps David Davis David Hawk and Jerome Paduch urges end to PBA giving West Centre responsibility i NY shooting raises issue of local security Area public buildings have security but not a lot i authority over the convention facility located on the property Out of nine members on the board seven have recently resigned from the group forcing the City Commission to hold a special meeting next week to appoint new members Without at least five members the board cannot meet to discuss any issues including such things as paying bills EDB members agreed unanimously Thursday morning to table any further discussion of the issue until Paduch who did not attend the EDB meeting could be present to explain the recommendation Making such a change would not be easy West said and could actually result in the City Commission becoming the governing board think that the PBA is the entity that owns the West said PBA is the entity which issues the See PBA Page 4A City manager claims PBA owns the center By James Watson Press Staff Writer jwatsoniohnsonatfpitacom With the Johnson City Public Building Authority in the middle of reorganization Mayor Pete Paduch is looking at dissolving the board In a request made Thursday to the Johnson City Jonesborough Washington County Economic Development Board Paduch asked the group to urge the rest of the City Commission to delay appointing new PBA members and instead assign responsibility of The Centre at Millennium Park to City Manager Mike West The PBA is the governing board of the Millennium Park development and the From staff reports This shooting of a city councilman in New York has caused local leaders to review their own security practices at public buildings have come by today and talked about Johnson City Manager Mike West said Thursday about the shooting New York Councilman James Davis was shot to death Wednesday by political opponent Othniel Askew in a balcony overlooking the council chambers Askew was then shot and killed by City Hall security The two men who arrived at City Hall together were waved through a jnetal detector There are no metal detectors inside See SECURITY Page 4A Ron CampbeflJohnaon City Pres Court Officer DK Sparks uses a handheld metal detector to check Cindy Lawson at the Downtown Centre i i 1 buy a classified adzalLUZ-OSQt.