The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 28

WED Ine news and voserver, Maleign, N.C., August 14, 1985 Prints could have been made by slain girl, agent says By BEN ESTES Staff Writer HILLSBOROUGH Fabric impressions found on an inside window of defendant George R. Fisher's car could have come from clothing worn by the 8-year-old girl Fisher is accused of murdering, a State Bureau of Investigation agent testified Tuesday. But SBI agent Ronald Marrs said that he had not found Jean Kar-Har Fewel's fingerprints in or on Fisher's car. District Attorney Carl R. Fox called Marrs and several other law enforcement officers as witnesses Tuesday as he continued to present the state's case against Fisher.

Fisher's trial began last week in Orange County Superior Court. Fisher, 36, of Hillsborough is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree rape and first degree kidnapping. He is accused of abducting and strangling Jean Fewel, who disappeared as she was walking to school on the morning of Jan. 30. Her body was found hanging from a tree at the Mason Farm Biological Reserve, a remote area of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

Marrs said he had dusted the outside and portions of the inside of Fisher's 1973 Plymouth Satellite for fingerprints and fabric impressions. He said he found a fabric impression on the inside front-seat passenger window. That impression "was consistent with" clothing worn by Jean Fewel on the morning of her death, he said. He said he could not tell whether the imprint actually had been made by Jean Fewel's clothing. The fabric impression was in the middle of the glass, where a child standing on the seat might lean against the window, he said.

Marrs also examined the girl's lunch box, which was found about miles from Mason Farm. No fingerprints belonging to Fisher were on that lunch box, he said. Also, none of Fisher's fingerprints were found on the girl's two Thermos bottles found miles from where her body was found, Marrs said. Staff photo by Seny Norasingh Five o'clock traffic moves along Beltline between Glenwood Avenue and Six Forks Road WLFL-TV to be bought by Va. firm Continued from page 2C ket price.

The suit, which is pending, seeks to rescind the sale or recover $4 million in damages. The prospectus said that in both cases "TVX acquired or is acquiring stations with a view toward strengthening management and improving the facilities." TVX's first station, WTVZ in Virginia Beach, went on the air in September 1979. That month it applied for a license to operate WCAY in Nashville, Tenn. After it bought Channel 45 in 1980, it bought control of WMKW in Memphis in October 1982. The company is also buying State briefs Haywood sheriff home after bite The Associated Press WAYNESVILLE Haywood County Sheriff C.

Jack Arrington was released from Haywood County Hospital Monday, more than a week after he was bitten by a poisonous snake at a religious service, officials said. "He's still kind of tired and weak, but he's doing a lot better than he did last week," said Arrington's son, Jack. Arrington was bitten on the hand by a southern canebrake rattlesnake Aug. 4 when he grabbed the snake from Charles H. Prince, who handles poisonous snakes to demonstrate his faith.

Prince brought the snakes out during a religious service held near his bait shop in Canton. Prince was charged with two counts of handling reptiles of a poisonous nature and resisting and delaying officers. He is free on $700 bond. Stokes' transfer policy challenged The Associated Press DANBURY A parents' group has filed a lawsuit against the Stokes County Board of Education to reverse a policy that prevents their children from attending school outside the county. "We believe that we should have the right to decide what's best for our kids," said Doris Jessup, one of the parents opposed to the policy.

"They only think of the children in terms of numbers and dollars, not flesh and blood." The suit, filed in Stokes Superior Court by 12 members of Parents for School of Choice, asks permission to transfer 15 children to schools outside the county. The lawsuit also asks for a revision of a board policy adopted in March that prevents such transfers except for medical reasons. Most of the parents suing the board live near Surry County and prefer that their children attend an elementary school in that county. Kent S. Moseley, the superintendent of the Stokes County school system, said the school board had adopted the policy in an effort to curb declining enrollment at two county elementary schools.

Man rides horse into patrol car The Associated Press ENKA Buncombe County Sheriff's Department authorities are searching for a man who damaged a patrol car after he rode a horse into the cruiser while being chased by deputies. The man, whose identity will not be released until he is captured, has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, authorities said. Deputy Howard A. Dawson reported about $1,000 damage to the rear of his cruiser at the end of a chase Monday night west of Asheville. "Horse and rider rolled over my vehicle and landed upside down," Dawson said.

Dawson said he had gone to a store about 10:45 p.m. after a clerk reported that two men were riding a horse through the parking lot and refusing to leave. He said he later had seen a man riding a brown horse through a red light. Dawson said he had chased him and stopped about 25 feet in front of the horse. He said the rider had ridden the horse into the rear of the cruiser, smashing the rear window and damaging the trunk and lights.

The SBI agent William E. Weis testified that a cinnamon twist pastry was found inside the lunch box that Jean Fewel was carrying the day she died. The girl's adoptive mother said last week that she had not packed a pastry in Jean's lunch box on Jan. 30. A convenience store clerk testified last week that she had sold Fisher a cinnamon twist and several other items that day.

Weis also said that on the day before Fisher was arrested, he had spoken with Fisher about his activities on the morning Jean Fewel was killed. Weis said a Chapel Hill police officer had stopped Fisher on Feb. 2 because Fisher's car matched a description of a car that had been seen in Jean Fewel's neighborhood the morning of her death. "He said that he had nothing to do with it," Weis said. He said Fisher had told him that he had taken a co-worker to work that morning, but that he had decided not to go himself because he felt sick.

Weis said Fisher told him that he went from his job site at the UNC Student Activities Center back to Hillsborough, where he ate breakfast. Fisher told Weis he again traveled to Chapel Hill and went to a service station to get gasoline. He said he then went to see a former employer to pick up a tax form. Weis said Fisher had recalled having driven through the neighborhood that Jean Fewel lived in dn previous days, telling Weis he drove around there for no reason he could think of. In other testimony Tuesday, a UNC police officer said he had taken photographs of tire tracks that were on a dirt road near the site where the girl was found.

An SBI crime scene examiner said he had been unable to use the photos because they had been taken at angles rather than directly over the tracks. An SBI chemist testified that he had compared soil samples taken from Fisher's car with soil samples taken from where the body was found, and that those samples did not match. Peden's hopes high for Beltline funds Continued from page IC for Greensboro and Wake County's proposed Outer Loop, said Billy Rose, deputy secretary of transportation. Harrington said the board makes its decisions on "a subjective weighing of several factors," including safety problems, congestion and economic benefits to the area. The board also tries to distribute the funds fairly across the state.

Mayor Avery C. Upchurch said the request was in the board's hands, after city officials presented their requests at a public hearing this past spring and at an informal dinner and reception last week. "Knowing the history of highway funding, I'm going to be happy with whatever they grant," Upchurch said. "Things like that move somewhat slowly. I will thank them for whatever we can get." Peden said that on the Beltline project, priority should be given to widening part of the northern leg to eight lanes rather than widening the entire northern stretch to six.

A six-lane road's capacity is about 75,000 vehicles a day, and traffic volume on the Beltline is estimated to rise to 80,000 by 1990, said R.T. Blackwood, state highway planning engineer. "It's not going to last too long," Blackwood said of the relief a six-lane road would provide. Widening the road to eight lanes would cost times as much as widening it to six lanes, said Larry R. Good, state thoroughfare planning engineer.

Upchurch said he favored widening the road to six lanes because there would be fewer problems securing the additional right of way. He said traffic congestion would be eased by new east-west corridors that are part of the city's road improvements program. The Beltline now carries 67,000 vehicles a day, exceeding the 50,000 capacity of a four-lane. road. Accidents on the busiest section from Glenwood Avenue to Downtown Boulevard are three times the statewide average, said Sarah Smith, state accidents studies engineer.

The other projects Raleigh has requested are: 19 Forks 2 8 Beltline Lake Boone Trail New Bern 9 Wilmington Widening Creedmoor Road from U.S. 70 West to Strickland Road. Widening North Boulevard from U.S. 401 to Brentwood Road. Widening existing sections of Spring Forest and Lynn roads.

Widening Six Forks Road from Sawmill Road to Strickland Road. UNC compared to Ivy League doesn't cling to most of the buildings at the University of North Carolina, but an author says a student can get an education there equivalent to that of the Ivy League without the price tag. In his new book, "The Public Ivys," Richard Moll lists UNC-CH among the top eight public colleges in the country. Shortage of funds for tugboat may halt Elizabeth Il's travels Continued from page 1C volunteer crew. The ship needs a tug's help to negotiate Whitfield said he discussed with Patric G.

Dorsey, sources. stations in Little Rock, Buffalo, N.Y.; and San Antonio, Texas. The company expects to raise nearly $30 million through its 2 share stock offering, which Stanley said would be used to retire the company's substantial debts incurred in its station purchases. can sail in open water but channels. the travel costs Monday secretary of cultural re- "She said that she did not feel that those funds were available in the department," Whitfield said.

"What is obvious is that money will have to be raised privately." Mrs. Dorsey, who is from New Bern, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The department's public information office would not release her unlisted home telephone number. The Elizabeth II, centerpiece of the state's celebration of America's 400th anniversary, was built in Manteo with private funds and donated to the state in July 1984 in a ceremony attended by England's Princess Anne. It is a replica of the ships that carried the first English settlers to the Carolina coast in the 16th century.

Last winter, state officials used the Elizabeth II to help justify the dredging of a 2.5-mile-long channel, 10 feet deep, out of Manteo's Shallowbag Bay. The dredging was completed in May at a cost to the state of $685,000. Without it, the ship would have been unable to leave the shallow harbor. "Based on the information that they (Mrs. Dorsey CHAPEL HILL (AP) Ivy and other department officials) have given me, I don't feel like we are going to be able to take the ship to other towns during this fiscal year," Whitfield said.

"What I'm trying to do now is make plans (to visit another port) before the end of the 400th anniversary" in August 1987, he said. Whitfield said a $45,000 budget cut ordered by the legislature "virtually eliminated" chances of making the Beaufort-New Bern trip with money allocated to the Elizabeth II Historical Site. "So I made application to the historic site section as well as the Division of Archives and History and the Department of Cultural Resources to see if other funds were available," he said. "And I was told that the funds were not available at this time. "What we had hoped to do is spend one week in Beaufort and two weeks in New Bern," Whitfield said.

"I have seen what this ship can do in revitalizing Manteo's waterfront. And I'm convinced she can help other towns draw attention to the activities they have to offer. That's while I feel it's imperative to be able to move the ship." John Ricky Howell, operation manager for the department's historic sites, said Tuesday: "Everybody here wants to sail the Elizabeth II, and hopefully we're going to be able to work it out budgetarily so that will come to pass." But, he said, "It's going to be very, very hard to move it without some assistance from the ports she is visiting." Durham civic center plans offered By FRANCES SILVA Staff Writer DURHAM A local company has made a bid to become the third developer of the proposed Durham civic center project. The Clingendael Group of Durham revealed plans for the complex, which combines a 13-story hotel and civic center into one structure, during a joint meeting of the Durham City Council and the Durham County commissioners Monday. Allen M.

Nester, president of the group, said the company wanted to build the project because of the opportunities it could provide for the city. "We're great believers in Durham," Nester said. "We own a substantial number of office buildings in downtown, and we think the civic center and hotel is a viable project for downtown and an opportunity for both (Clingendael and the city) to develop the downtown and make it an attractive place." A $10.5 million bond issue to finance the project was approved by voters in a referendum in 1982, but the city dismissed one developer in 1984, saying the company had not made enough progress. In May, a second developer dropped out after a $15.6 million package that would have included a 248- room Holiday Inn unraveled. Durham has spent $3 million for land and other costs associated with the project.

The latest proposal includes an $8 million, 200-room hotel and a two-story civic center with meeting rooms, said John L. Atkins, president of Atkins Associates, architects for the project. The site of the civic center is bounded by Morgan, Chapel Hill, Morris and Holland streets. Atkins said the center would be connected to the nearby Carolina Theater and the existing armory building by a mall area filled with shops. "We see the potential for it to be a very vital area," Atkins said.

The company hopes final plans will be finished by January. Construction could begin in April 1986. Jury begins deliberations in Woodard trial Continued from page 1C said government auditors had refused to accept Woodard's statement that he had spent cash savings of more than $20,000 and liquidated a $13,000 scrap inventory to finance the rest homes. Blondin, noting inconsistencies in Woodard's statements to bank officials and to state and federal investigators about his i income and net worth, said Woodard had supplied no evidence to support Ca That Kuc Moll, whose book will be published in September by Viking Press, evaluated college costs, admissions, academic quality, student concerns, faculty and campus atmosphere at some of; the nation's top public colleges. Moll said students could save up to $12,000 a year by attending of his "'Top Eight" public colleges rather than an Ivy League school.

Firefighters' overtime pay plan offered Continued from page IC sistant and district chiefs to discuss a rough draft of the proposal. Benton is on vacation and could not be reached for comment Tuesday. District chiefs were asked to discuss the proposal with firefighters to see what they thought about it. Benton tentatively has scheduled meetings Aug. 28, 29 and 30 at the department's training center to present the proposal to firefighters.

Three district chiefs, who requested anonymity, said that they had been receiving negative comments about the proposal. Capt. D.T. Perry, who is helping circulate the petition, said that he thought the proposal was "just blatant disregard for the law itself, and I think most of the men do, too. I feel like the firefighters are upset." All but three or four of about 100 firefighters working Monday signed the petition, he said.

Raleigh has about 300 firefighters. The Supreme Court ruled in February that state and local governments must pay employees overtime as required by the federal minimum-wage and hour standards of the Fair Labor Standards Act. State and local governments must comply with the ruling by Oct. 15, but any overtime pay due an employee is retroactive to April 15. Dominick said in a telephone interview that the fire department "is the only major problem" that Raleigh officials have under federal wage and hour standards.

"We have been operating for, many, many years under the same (24-hour) schedule," Dominick said. "This is an effort to keep that schedule intact and not pay a tremendous amount of overtime. We think we've got a fair program already." Kuster, the fire chief, said that it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the proposal until it had been presented to firefighters. Perry said the petition was being circulated because federal law states that sleep-and-meal hours cannot be excluded unless "there is an express or implied agreement" between the city and firefighters. But James C.

Stewart, area director of the U.S. Department of Labor wage and hour division, said by telephone Tuesday that he was uncertain whether the U.S. Labor Department would rule the extended shift a violation even if firefighters did not agree to the change. Eb AC 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 25 25 32 38 his claims that he spent cash savings on real estate in 1978. "Every time the defendant starts talking about cash on hand, the story changes," Blondin said.

"He changed his story to suit the purpose for which the statement was Long argued that bank records were consistent with Woodard's statement that he withdrew the money from a safety deposit box on the day of the purchase. Long said Woodard had committed honest errors including an assumption that Barnes was checking sales invoices against bank deposit slips. "If Charles Woodard were a tax cheat, isn't it illogical that he would deposit checks in the bank and submit to a CPA his deposit slips?" Long said. Woodard was the chief defense witness. State Rep.

Richard Wright, D-Columbus, testified as a character witness. 34 31 31.