The Commercial Appeal from Memphis, Tennessee • 7

Li 9 26 9 NO 1019 Friday, June 28, 2002 THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL www.gomemphis.com Fired information officer to sue Arkansas LITTLE ROCK The lawyer for former state information chief Randall Bradford said Thursday he would sue the state and 1 claim that Bradford is a whistle-blower fired for protecting the best interests of all Arkansans. The wrongful-termination lawsuit would center on Bradford's possible status as a whistle-blower under state and federal law, and would raise the issue of whether Gov. Mike Huckabee conducts state business with a private E-mail system to circumvent the state Freedom of Information law, said lawyer Morgan 'Chip' Welch of Little Rock. Huckabee said such a lawsuit would be baseless because Bradford was a political appointee who served strictly at the will of the governor, and that any allegation that Huckabee encouraged anyone to skirt the law was "outright nonsense. Huckabee fired Bradford on June 13 after Bradford submitted his resignation and told reporters about problems with the state's new computer system.

He also said Huckabee aides ordered him to stonewall legislators and committees with oversight of the system. When the governor and his aides called him a liar, Bradford disclosed E-mails to back up his assertions, including one from Huckabee in which the governor directed Bradford to send updates on the system to Huckabee's private E-mail address. Welch said Bradford was fired for blowing the whistle on state problems in the public interest. Huckabee directed Bradford I-55 widening completion to Miss. line beats schedule tion opens all eight of the road's lanes to traffic next week, Hood says he'll stick with Airways.

"It's been so messed up for so long," he said. "They've kind of ruined me." With or without Hood, DeSoto drivers who travel I-55 into Memphis should soon be seeing carefree commutes. Winston Gaffron, TDOT regional director for West Tennessee, said Wednesday the project to widen the road from Interstate 240 south to the state line will be done after the weekend. The finish will be about a nursing assistant for Collierville Health Rehab, husband of Sharon Valrie Jones, died Wednesday at American Transitional Rehab Specialty Care. Willie Lee Jones, 80, of 783 Gillis, supervisor for Riviera Foods, husband of Ollie Mae Stevenson Jones, died Wednesday at Memphis Veterans Medical Center.

Rufus Lee Kinsey, 64, of Buffalo, N.Y., formerly of Memphis, manager for Home Depot, husband of Mary Lou Kinsey, died Tuesday at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo. Barbara G. Little, 72, of Memphis, wife of Bennie Little, died Tuesday at Methodist Healthcare-University Hospital. ies he makes on culture and about himself," said Teresa Dalle, an associate English professor at the of M. One E-mail sent Jan.

13 describes the sorrow and humor of Colombia. "On the way to the movies yesterday, I saw the single most horrific sight in my life. In an area of town (Bogota) that is a mix of dilapidated buildings, colonial architecture, and the center of Colombian government, there was a dead newborn on the sidewalk resting on a pile of garbage. There were some people ORECK CK SCRATCH SHOW MODEL DENT AND SALE! 2 DAYS ONLY Friday, Saturday, June June 28th 29th and Huge Savings On Selected Merchandise Limited Quantities First Come, First Served Factory Discontinued Demonstrators, Show Models, Closeouts, Demos, Canisters, Floor Polishers Oreck 8 lb. CARPET Show Hotel Uprights STEEMER Model Limited Quantity Only Factory Sale Includes Hand Held Nozzle attachment for drapes, stairs, cars and furniture.

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ORECK SALE $4995 ORECK (across Perkins Closed from 820-0014 Seessel's) Poplar Village Shops (next to 624-0774 of Target) Forrest Hill Wolfchase (next to 384-9004 Michael's Commons on Sundays across from HOURS: Home Depot) Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 1-5 p.m. Major credit cards accepted FIRST to break the FOI law by conducting state business in private, according to Welch. The governor's aides ordered Bradford not to cooperate with legislators with oversight of the state's new computer system in violation of the act that created the executive chief information officer position, he said. Huckabee said, "I guarantee you, we've never asked anyone to skirt any kind of law." said. "I'm definitely looking forward to them getting that finished." But commuters should savor the smooth sailing while it lasts work to widen I-55 from State Line to Goodman is scheduled to start next summer.

Mississippi Department of Transportation district engineer Jim Dickerson said the $35 million job part of a push to widen the interstate all the way to Hernando should begin in August 2003. John Gaskill: (901) 333-2017 employee of the City of West Memphis, died Friday at his home. Hoyt M. Tuggle, 64, of Memphis, retired salesman for A Auto Sales, husband of Fannie Tuggle, died Tuesday at Methodist Healthcare-South. WORLD DEATHS NEW YORK (AP) Nellie Monk, wife and muse of the jazz musician Thelonious Monk, died Tuesday of a cerebral hemorrhage.

She was 80. in Colombia, Hastings sees himself as a humble student of the country's culture and language. "They expect me to be condescending," he wrote in a Jan. 18 E-mail. "And (when) they find out I am not, I am welcomed with open arms.

"The trick lies in perspective. I have come here to learn and to see and I have already gotten exactly what I came for." Tom Bailey 529-2388 From Page B1 Budget By James Jefferson The Associated Press By John Gaskill In the three years since work to improve Interstate 55 in south Memphis has been under way, Jerry Hood has sworn off using the highway to get to work. Hood, 52, who lives in Southaven near the I-55 interchange at State Line, works near the old Defense Depot. "I can come that way (I-55) back home or go up that way," he said. "But it's not an option for And when the Tennessee Department of Transporta- toFrom Page B3 phis, retired owner of Hawkins Refrigeralotion, widower of Joyce L.

Hawkins, died Tuesday at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. Kelsie M. Foster Jewell, 77, of West Memphis, nurse's aide, wife of Henry Jewell, died Friday at her home. James C. Jimerson, 77, of Gennar town, retired buyer for Sears, Roebuck and widower of Jo Jimerson, died Saturday at St.

Mary Ozaukee Hospital in Mequon, Wis. Leniel Jones, 43, of Collierville, certified From Page B1 Kitchen in 2001, and returned to the of last fall. He traveled to Bucaramanga, Colombia, in January. It's a city of 500,000 in the Andes Mountains, about 200 miles northeast of Bogota and 50 miles from the Venezuelan border. He wrote about his experiences and E-mailed journal entries to 50 friends.

"He reflects on the discover- week off the Monday target Gaffron touted in May, but better than the original fall deadline. "They're still six months ahead of the original schedule," Gaffron said. A $5,000 bonus to the contractor for each day the job is done before deadline helped keep the project ahead of schedule, he said. "There has been some added work to the project, and we're still trying to sort out how much bonus they'll get," he said. "But that's been a real incentive." The $52 million widening Lucy Belle 'Lu' Massengill, 62, of West Plains, formerly of Memphis, widow of William Gordon Massengill, died Monday at Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains.

Bessie Oliver McDonald, 91, of Memphis, homemaker, died Friday at Methodist Healthcare-South. Frances W. Moss, 86, of Memphis, registered nurse anesthetist, widow of Dr. John Palmer Moss, died Tuesday at her home. Ezra L.

Perry, 20, of Memphis, telecommunications worker, died June 20 at Saint Francis Hospital. standing around it; but, for the most part, people walked by and tried to ignore it. "We, some other travelers and myself, were unable to say anything for quite some time afterward." Later, he writes that unlike much of Central America, Colombia offers hot water to bathers. Unfortunately, it's either scalding or icy. "So, in order to shower, you have to do a sort of dance in the shower so that water doesn't touch your skin more than a second at a time," he wrote.

project began in February 1999. The stretch from I-240 to Winchester was complete in June 2001, and work on the remaining section started in early 2000. Marcus Maples, 21, a management trainee at Enterprise Rent-a-Car in Horn Lake, said that since drivers from his office often pick up customers in Memphis, the construction delays have affected business. "It's a big relief that it's going to be done," he said. Hood's daughter Jill, 19, said she still uses the road to visit friends in Memphis.

"It's crazy. It's hectic," she Noel M. Riggs, 84, of Little River, S.C., formerly of Pittsburgh and Memphis, former employee of Pittsburgh Playhouse and Nixon Theater in Pittsburgh, widow of Thomas W. Riggs, died Tuesday Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Christine Hodges Russell, 87, of Memphis, formerly of West Memphis, homemaker, died Saturday at Methodist Healthcare-University Hospital.

Cedric Smith, 37, of Memphis died Tuesday at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. Marvin C. Trotter, 27, of West Memphis, "I'm sure I look pretty stupid, but it seems to Some think that Colombia is too hot politically for American travelers. Civil war and drug-cartel violence tear at the country. But in Bucaramanga, you wouldn't know there was a war if you didn't watch television or read newspapers, Hastings said.

Many also have a skewed perception of drugs' prevalence in Colombia. "They don't use drugs and don't believe in Although he teaches English nance and Administration Commissioner Warren Neel said. Jackson said he was urged by Senate Democratic leaders Ward Crutchfield of Chattanooga and Joe Haynes of Nashville to try to move the CATS plan directly from the Finance Committee, where it lacks full support, to the Senate floor, where Jackson said he believes it can pass. But when the vote was taken, he fell one vote short. "This is brinkmanship and there are leaders in the Senate gambling on the future of Tennessee," Jackson said.

"They've been working for three years on an income tax and now they're asking for more time. When does it end?" "We've gained some votes, but we've had setbacks as well," Naifeh said of his income tax plan, which won 45 House votes five short the required 50 on May 22. The House on Thursday approved and sent to the governor the bill to allow the use of 34 government reserve accounts to balance the current year's budget. The bill, approved 82- 5, also grants legal immunity and workers compensation coverage to any state employee who volunteers to work if state government shuts down. Adding to the overall tension in the House, a long-running feud between JacksonMadison County General Hospital and Memphis-based Methodist Health Systems erupted on Capitol Hill with a bill to circumvent the state's new health facilities regulatory board and give Methodist Hospital in Jackson permission to expand.

The bill, sponsored by Memphis Democrats Sen. John Ford and Rep. Kathryn Bowers, would grant Methodist's Jackson hospital permission to operate a neo-natal unit and cardiac unit issues that have been tied up in legal proceedings for four years. The bill's chief lobbyist is Betty Anderson Naifeh, wife of the House Speaker. Contact Nashville Bureau chief Richard Locker at (615) 255-4923 or Nashville Bureau reporter Paula Wade at (615) 242-2018..