The Macon News from Macon, Georgia • 1

Metro T) Edition Out Beat Is the Heart of Georgia 98th Year No 260 CDiUeMTatograpiPiibiWiiiigCiN2 Macon Georgia Friday Afternoon September 1 7 1 982 A Sections 36 Pages 25 Russians say embassy occupied IsiraellDS WEATHER Fair skies -Sunrise 7:20 am Details on 2A TIM tlMCRM PlW The United States today protested to Israel over a shooting incident in which an Israeli officer fired at and missed an unarmed Marine guard at the US Embassy in Beirut State Department spokesman Carolyn Johnson said the unidentified guard was assigned to security duty atop the roof of the chancery on the embassy grounds in the waterfront Basra district in west Beirut when the shooting occurred Thursday She said the shot fired by the Israeli officer apparently from outside the embassy grounds missed the Marine fay two feet The Marine made no move to retaliate she said Ms Johnson said US ambassadors protested the shooting to Israeli authorities in the Lebanese capital and in Tel Aviv Meanwhile Israeli tanks today crushed the last major Lebanese militia resistance to their occupation of west Beirut in defiance of US demands to withdraw and Russian diplomats said Israeli troops had occupied the Soviet Embassy in the Lebanese capital But the Israeli army command in Tel Aviv said "We deny officially that we took over the Soviet Embassy in Three Israeli armored personnel carriers were posted outside the high-walled embassy compound but the soldiers would not talk to reporters A group of Soviet diplomats came to a back door at the embassy and one speaking broken English told Western reporters: (Israelis) occupied the buildings of our school consulate and living quarters and they are taking everything in this building" HE CLAIMED the Israelis entered the grounds with a Please see LEBANON 2A NL West Pet GB LA 83 64 565 Atl 80 68 548 2Vi SF 77 69 527 5tt Game San Francisco 9 San Diego 3 Today's Games Atlanta at Cincinnati 7:35 pm( WTBS Ch 17 Houston at Los Angeles San Diego at San Francisco Saturday's Games San Diego at San Francisco Atlanta at Cincinnati Houston at Los Angeles Calling all kids Hey kids we need your help Send us a drawing for our daily weather report Drawings should show sunny rainy or windy conditions Please use plain white paper and black crayon or felt-tip pen Put your name age and school on the back of the picture You might wind up in the newspaper! Send drawings to Charlotte Reeves The Macon Neum PO Box 4187 Macon Ga 31213 Third prayer bill defeated Senate liberals vow school prayer fight page 4 A By John Gaines Macon Nw Writer Various local attempts at supporting school prayer in the Bibb County school system appear to be dead for the time being at least Thursday the school board kicked around the issue for the third time in three months On paper this version appeared to be as weak if not weaker than any of the resolutions to come before the board But Lillian measure was easily defeated by a 7-2 vote After the meeting one of the board's strongest proponents of some type of prayer in the school system predicted the school board would not be considering the issue any time soon LIE QUIET for said Louie Wood Jr who had a hand in the first two attempts Ms Rice had called her version dear clean-cut and concise It asked the board to support a one-minute period of silent prayer meditation or personal thought for those students who chose to participate Some of Thursday's discussion revolved around the word Board attorney Warren Plowden said that if the word meant the board supported teachers who wanted to lead prayer the local resolution would only repeat the language of a Georgia law STATE LAW says teachers lead their classes in a brief period of silent prayer or meditation Or if local school boards choose they may require teachers to lead the same sort of prayer Plowden said that if the resolution were understood to require silent prayer some additional rules would be needed to declare how the period would be conducted He pointed to a Massachusetts law that set forth fairly simple rules regulating silent prayer Please see PRAYER 2A WCWB news Local A Macon firefighter who was shot in the head during the robbery of a local convenience store has filed suit against the store chain Page IB State SWAINSBORO Robert Hollingsworth found guilty of drowning his 5-yearold step-granddaughter has told a Jury deciding whether to sentence him to death or life in prison that he no longer wants to die for the crime Page 8B Nation WASHINGTON The House mindful of high unemployment rates and the impending November elections has voted to approve a $1 billion public works jobs bill backed by Democrats Page 4A WILLIAM EERRYMocOHltewi As if the 'Closed' sign in the window enough ivy has all but swallowed this Elberta barbershop Elberta: small rural town sandwiched between Warner Robins and Macon World BEIRUT Lebanon President-elect Bashir Gemayel was said to be alive and even quoted as saying he was as he lay dead in the rubble of his party headquarters for seven hours after the bomb blast that killed him Page 7A is signing off ELBERTA Sports NEW YORK Ninety percent of the National Football League's players while hoping that the first regular-season strike in league history could be averted when talks resumed were prepared to walk out according to union officials In Atlanta nearly all of the Falcons agreed with the probable strike Page 1C index By Shety Sheppard MWs 8196 ELBERTA As a little girl growing up in Eltierta Ada Ferguson Fuqua would stand by the tracks near the depot more of a platform than a legitimate train station When she saw the Shoo-Fly chugging up the tracks from its last stop in Wellston the little girl would wave her white flag until she heard the train whistle blow you heard the whistle you knew the engineer had seen she said remembering the many times she flagged down the train for the trip to the end of the line in Macon "Back she recalls of the 1930s and 1940s train was our only form of transportation" The Shoo-Fly a passenger train from Macon to' Valdosta entered Houston County at Elberta but the engineer stopped only if he saw the white flag waving in the distance The small depot still stands at the tracks near Georgia 247 and and Elbert Road But few would guess now that the decaying wooden shell was a depot more than 40 years ago WHAT ONCE was a town twice the size of Warner predecessor Wellston now is a struggling settlement of small farm patches and rows of deteriorated homes The community itself was incorporated in 1958 but the charter was revoked in 1970 after the residents failed to establish a government Elberta has always been a predominantly black area of the county Samuel Fer- Please see ELBERTA 6A By Craig Bustin Macon Now Writer The president of WCWB-TV Channel 41 said Wednesday there will no longer be a half-hour local news program beginning Sept 27 Channel 41 President Lanny Finch said the station will instead be airing CNN2 a half-hour news headline service produced by Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta Finch said CNN2 which updates its news every half-hour allows for up to 14 minutes of local news inserts every half-hour He said Channel 41 will be cutting in on CNN2 roughly five minutes into each newscast right after a roundup of world and national news which starts at the beginning of the half-hour The Channel 41 will consist of local news and local weather voice-overs He said the daily newscasts will be aired at noon 4:30 and 11 pm The noon newscast will have a Over Middle Georgia" segment worked in At least seven news staff members at the station have left or been fired so far this summer which has led more than one observer to call the situation a exodus" Finch said the news staff will be down to about five or six by the time the CNN2 broadcasts take over trying to do is adopt the spirit of a rapid news Finch said cover as much or as little news as there is We're trying to figure out the best way to get the most news to the most To explain in part the move to a 4:30 pm newscast and substituting syndicated reruns of Day at a in the 6 pm slot Finch pointed to poor ratings at 6 pm against the news on WMAZ-TV Channel 11 trying to see if another audience at another time that wants the news" He said many Middle Georgians come home from work as early as 3 pm each day and may be ready for an earlier newscast Officials of WGXA-TV Channel 24 said last week that station was also going to an early newscast (5:30 pm when it debuts Oct 11) for some of the same reasons Channel 13 has been averaging about 60 percent of the 6 pm audience on weekdays to about 5 percent for Channel 41 according to AC Nielsen figures for July May and February just trying something Finch said MIKE MOROANMoCta News Map locates Elberta in Houston County A i.