The Commercial Appeal from Memphis, Tennessee • 14

B2 THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL MEMPHIS TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11 1997 METRO MID-SOUTH BRIEFS Visitor center security heightened cant see much of the outside world Kane said some peoploJwve questioned whether tourism officials are overreacting to a single crime one isolated incident and hopefully never have anything like it said one was too many a AIT we want to wait until 8' Second or third happened before we did To reach reporter MickiffAn-derson call 529-6510 at the welcome center which opened June 29 1996 Security training for those who work at the welcome centers and in the hospitality industry Possible addition of police cameras in the area Police have 12 security cameras scattered around downtown and are considering more in the welcome center area Kane said security cameras outside the downtown center should thwart future problems Without the cameras he said workers inside the building point He made her drive to Arkansas and then to Germantown where he raped her Kevin Kane president of the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau said tourism officials believe the gunman chose the victim at random but they want people to feel safe at the welcome centers To that end officials announced these measures: Installation of cameras around the welcome center at 119 Ni Riverside Drive linked to monitors inside Increased police presence By Mickle Anderson Th Commercial Appaal The rape of a woman abducted outside the new down- town welcome center has Prompted tourism officials to oost- security around the building officials said Monday afternoon On Jan 23 the woman had-stopped at the riverside center on a business errand A man asked her for directions then forced her into her car at gun Ruling backs in wrongful A Pulaski County jury sided with in the wrongful death lawsuit in June 1995 Day Michelle Albey 21 was killed May 22 1993 at Dillard Deps Midi artment Store in McCain in North Little Rock LITTLE ROCK (AP) The state Supreme Court has upheld a decision shielding a sporting goods store from blame in the death of a woman shot with a gun bought at the store Three more (lanes) for the road chapter in Fayetteville Nancy Hendricks the chapter director says the group will offer programs to reduce racial ethnic and gender conflicts Because changing through economic growth and demographic shifts we have the chance to sit down and talk together about the best ways to manage that she said are happy to help any groups which wish to resolve their differences through honest dialog first by understanding and respecting each others point of view then finding the common ground we all share as human she said The conference was founded in 1927 as an interfaith group and has since expanded into an organization dedicated to fighting bigotry bias and racism Census officials have predicted that some northwestern Arkansas communities will have twice their current population 20 years from now Associated Press Accident likely in death at park MORRILTON Ark Authorities say the death of a man at Petit Jean State Park appears to have been an accident Hikers found the body around 10 am Monday at the bottom of Cedar Falls at the park The name was not released pending notification of relatives The man had asked for directions from a park ranger the day before and was described as speaking virtually no English The man may have been from France The injuries appear to be consistent with a fall said Conway County Sheriff Mark Flowers The man seems to have fallen about 100 feet Flowers said The body was sent to the state medical office for an autopsy Associated Press State Tech books civil rights speaker Former Tuskegee Ala mayor Johnny Ford will discuss and Civil today at State Technical Institute at Memphis Ford will speak at 10 am at the Whitehaven center 3851 Neely Road and at 2 pm in Farris Auditorium on the main campus 5983 Macon Cove The event part of Black History Month is free and open to the public Ford was mayor of Tuskegee for 24 years and founded the National Conference of Black Mayors and the World Conference of Mayors For more information on his speech call 383-4512 A Derks Options many on ex-dam acreage COLUMBIA Tenn The Tennessee Valley Authority has received hundreds of comments from the public on what should be done with 12800 acres intended for the Columbia Dam project TVA officials received more than 450 written and oral comments at a meeting in Columbia in January said Dan Ferry TVA Columbia Project manager also getting about 30 letters a day and have been for quite some Ferry said The Columbia Dam was supposed to be a nonpower project used for recreation and to enhance the water supply Construction stopped in 1983 with the dam nearly 90 percent complete because of a lack of ftind-ing and possible harm to two endangered mussel species and a clover TVA had spent $80 million on the project by the time construction stopped Four alternatives are being considered for the land: transferring it to the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency and the US Fish and Wildlife Service transferring the land to the Duck River Agency transferring management to local government and having TVA retain management Associated Press BRIEFLY Actor Fred Morsell will perform the one-man play Presenting Mr Frederick Douglass today at LeMoyne-Owen College The play in conjunction with Black History Month will begin at 11 JO am in the Little Theater in the student center The performance is free and open to the public For more information call 774-9090 ext 436 Germantown Road between the railroad tracks at Poplar Pike and Stout Road is being widened from two to five lanes according to Germantown city traffic engineer Jim Yarbrough He says the general contractor for the $16 million project is Ferrell Paving that Memphis Light Gas Water Division is taking care of moving its poles That work is being done by Dillard Smith Construction Co IUL tl death suit: She was shot twice by Jfttimy Sweeney 40 who bought the gun and ammunition at a nearby and loaflfed it on the parking lot After shoot-! ing his former girlfriend Sweeney killed himself By Davt-DamaN ail a I the department by juvenile probationers Some payments from the state of Arkansas also were deposited to the account am also going to asl (or a legislative audit of the eounty Juvenile office and I fudge Williams to conduct a physical inventory of all property in the juvenile Wilson said Wilson also directed approve all purchase orders from the department Copies of the check stubs for the account show that -311 checks were written Notations on many of 'the stubs reflecting checks -made payable to Driver indicated the payments were for computers and software trips to 'various cities overtime and other travel Several of the stubs did not indicate what the payments were for and others could not be read and driving a train tt" fits rules: nonnuman and gender-neutral and it'dom-plements the the Mocs which comes from Moccasin on the Tennessee -River The train is for the tanooga Choo-Cboo (PAYINGJHEa CASH PRICEl SWISS NOTCHES I Ebal piagat Cartlar Warn MM Pate PtVippe WAMnUSA -ieJ 'ASTOIUJEWELEKS 376 Perhlno Rd Ext B33-20Q0 Heater blamed as house fire kills Bartlett man A faulty heater caused a house fire Monday that resulted in the death of a Bartlett man Fire Department officials said Bartlett Fire Chief Paul Smith said firefighters were called to the scene on Edwards Road at about 7 am The man whose identity is being withheld pending notification of family was alone at home at the time of the fire He was in his 40s Smith said there were about three propane heaters inside the home one of which caused the fire He said the house was involved" when firefighters arrived and was extinguished in about 20 minutes Goad library adds hours at two branches The Public Library and Information Center has extended service hours at Levi and Gaston Park branch libraries while the South Branch is closed for repairs The South Branch 185 Norwood has been closed since freezing temperatures damaged the roof and interior of the building last month Library officials had hoped to reopen South within a few weeks but learned last week they would have to remove the collection of 41400 items to avoid moisture damage The move began Friday 1 Officials sure when the branch will reopen said library spokesman Daphne Thomas Gaston Park 1040 Third is open 10 am to 6 pm Monday jnd Tuesday and 10 am to 5 open iu am to pm Monday and Tuesday 10 am to 6 pm Wednesday and Thursday and 10 am to 5 pm Friday and Saturday Risher Collierville hit by railroad suit Norfolk Southern Corp filed suit Thursday against the Town of Collierville in Shelby County Circuit Court Ralph Gibson attorney for Norfolk Southern said the action is not a counter-suit Gibson said it is a complaint for declaratory judgment that would allow three Collierville crossings proposed for Poplar View Shea and Bray Station to be considered at one time Colliervillp filed motions against Norfolk Southern Jan 14 requesting condemnation of two sites off Poplar for crossings into the Schilling Farms development motions are scheduled for hearing Friday Colleen Carroll Talks on probe to resume today WASHINGTON An hour-long meeting Monday night between Senate Republican and Democratic leaders failed to resolve their differences over the length and cost of the investigation by Sen Fred Thompson (R-Tenn) of fund-raising in the 1996 presidential election Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss) Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) Thompson and Sen John Glenn (D-Ohio) the ranking Democrat on Governmental Affairs Committee met privately in office Thompson is seeking $65 million for the broad investigation of campaign practices Democrats want to limit the initial budget to $18 million and set a deadline for the committee to report Thompson said resume talks with Glenn today Brosnan Fordice marks 63rd birthday JACKSON Miss Gov Kirk Fordice celebrated his 63rd birthday on Monday with quiet time aides said The governor had no official events scheduled for the day but was meeting with several staff members said spokesman Heath Hall governor and Mrs For- dice are going to spend the day at home he said Hall was not aware of any birthday gifts for Fordice who was seriously injured in a car wreck Nov 5 Last year Fordice staffers surprised the Republican with a party in his Capitol office including a cake loaded with i candles Associated Press NCCJ establishes Fayetteville site FAYETTEVILLE Ark Changing demographics in northwestern Arkansas have led the National Conference of Christians and Jews to open a COUNTY COMMISSION BRIEFS Officer suspended in checking account probe The high court backed a ruling in favor of Sporting Goods because it said neither records contained the evidence alleged to have been wrongly excluded during trial tration to provide emergency fiinding to aid mental health centers and to support legislation during the transition to managed care Members receive Rout nominations Commissioners received county Mayor Jim nomi-' nation of Mary Baker for appointment as deputy director of land use controls in the city-county Office of Planning and Development Baker has been an OPD planner since 1985 serving as principal zoning planner since 1989 The appointment is a joint city-county appointment Commissioners also received nominations of Margaret Coleman Drl Lane Rawlins and Ellen Vergos for reappointment to the Shelby County Health Care Corp which runs the Regional Medical Center at Memphis The appointments are to be for commission action on Feb 24 after committee review BRIEFLY Commissioners authorized an agreement with the state Department of Transportation to allow installation of a traffic signal on US 64 at the Interstate 40 eastbound on and off ramps Jimmie Covington board executive 'director said last week the board could not hear all the cases by April 20 She said most appeals are handled through agreements but the exchange of information and discussions between the Office and taxpayers are time consuming Scheduling too many cases would break down the system Rains said To reach reporter Jimmie Covington call 529-3289 WEST MEMPHIS (AP) A Crittenden County juvenile officer has been suspended with pay until the end of the month during a review of a department checking account that wrote checks to him totaling $18000 Circuit Judge Ralph Wilson suspended chief intake officer Jerry Driver as of Thursday He said the suspension would Ive Driver time to produce ocuments supporting transactions in the county Juvenile Services department The account was opened in September of 1993 It was closed last October after County Judge Brian Williams said its funds should have been deposited with the county treasurer Wilson met with Driver and Williams last week to go over account records The account held fees paid to Law supported to help transit with tag' fee County Commission members Monday unanimously endorsed proposed state legislation to reallocate part or the auto license tag revenue to mass transit systems across the state Commissioners Shep Wilbun Julian Bolton and Mark Norris commission chairman said the change if approved would give Shelby County an added source of funding to help finance a light rail system or other mass transit needs Wilbun said be believes funding for a light rail system can be achieved through shifting tax fiinds without any increase in gasoline or other local or state taxes The City Council has been split over a proposal to seek state legislative authorization for a referendum to allow a 3-cent local gasoline tax increase Commissioners however are not seeking approval of that measure Commissioners recently endorsed another legislative proposal that would switch the current 6-cent gas tax for Bicentennial parkways and other projects to a new formula that would permit local governments to choose the projects to be fiinded Also Monday commissioners adopted a resolution calling for Gov Don adminis From Page B1 Assess Sisson: maybe we can take care of that Clark on Monday presented proposed alternate hearing schedules She said one would wind up 1996 cases by April 20 when the 1997 property values are to be certified and the other would complete them by May 13 Pam Rains equalization rfi VMV UTC hopes its new mascot mock any cultures- CHATTANOOGA (AP) The new politically correct mascot for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga his debuted Chancellor Fredrick Obear retired Chief Moccanooga after Indian activists complained the mascot was offensive The new mascot which appeared Monday at a basketball game is a mockingbird The chief wore a long feather headdress suede-fringed pants a jersey and moccasins His face was painted with Tom Kunesn of the Chattanooga InterTribal Association said the mascot exhibited pure and The new logo depicts a mockingbird bearing a menacing gnn wearing a hat Pubic NoOca Public Notice During Na ragular maadng on Fabruary It 19f7 Cm Tina al 12 North Md-Anwricu Mi Mam-pWa aw Cnunoi ol tia ethf ct MimpbH ion Ouiar Corpora oortakt hnd In in Any Projaot No TMn Project No TOrm 11-77 la bounded generally by Qapoao Awanua on die north Danny Thomaa Boute-Yard on lie aaal Undan Avenue on aw aoulh and am Ika VVBBnOr NM (Ml MW MK a invpropuMQ at MampMa a and a He- INSOMNIA RESEARCH University of Memphis researchers are developing more effective treatment for Eor sleep Volunteerpuinust at least 59 years of be given free Insomnia treatment and will belaid $200 Transportation £an be provided This research Is supported by the National Institute on Aging and the Durham Sleep Research Project Alley not liable in death judge says FORT SMITH Ark (AP) A federal judge says the operators of a local bowline alley cannot be held responsible for the death of a student kidnapped from its parking lot Tne judge said the operators of Bowling World could not have foreseen that Melissa Witt would be kidnapped Witt 19 was abducted Dec 1 1994 She was found dead Her estate sued Bowling World Tho CwnmncM Appall Hat ilgnlflcant avants and public actlvlttoa to halp you plan your day or aknply ba bettor Infonnad Uattnga ara aubfaet to adltorM dlacrotton Sand wrtttan Itama ona waafc In advanca to TODAY Tha Commando! Appeal Box 334 MampMa 31101 or laava a racordad maa-aaga at S20-5010 doeumama a ba ovalabla at aw meaUng aMch la open to pubic anrt any paraonpiaaanIBiaihoya jhoopportiaiW to bo haard on the quaadon al the CITY OP MEMPHIS Dr Hare mow.