The Macon Telegraph from Macon, Georgia • 2

LocaBstate EJ 3B Markets 4Bi 6B Straight talk Wednesday eb 22 1995 IB Bill will let counties stagger tag deadlines Senate House must reconcile minor differences By Rebecca Adams The Macon Telegraph ATLANTA The annual ritual of standing in long lines for car tags could end under a proposal passed Tuesday by the Senate and blessed previously by the House Both measures which must be reconciled for minor differences would create a 12 month vehicle registra tion program where owners would have a month be fore their birthday to register their vehicles Rural counties would have the option of retaining a four month staggered system but Middle Georgia offi cials seem eager for the change will benefit from this said Dwight Byrd Peach County tax commissioner and a member of the Georgia Association of Tax Officials that backs the legislation will be a much easier system for us and for the applicants than the old timey system we have now The Bibb County tag office probably would give vot ers the responsibility for choosing whether to stay with Please see BILL 2B 4 Legislature '95 fir House OKs Agricenter horse racing study By Nancy Badertscher The Macon Telegraph ATLANTA The state House voted Tuesday to consider expand ing the attractions at the Agricenter in Perry to include horse racing If horse racing were approved betting or gambling would not be allowed said state Rep Newt Hud son Rochelle run races for he said not horses? People would get more out of horse rac Hudson and Majority Leader Lar ry Walker Perrv are the chief sponsors of the resolution calling Please see AGRICENTER 2B 4 Thomas Herrington does a few dance steps while Marcus Rewis picks the banjo in barber shop in Hawkinsville 7s'Vr i 'Al A 4 if" Shave and a haircut and a few songs HAWKINSVILLE If you open the door of Barber Shop in Haw kinsville at the right moment and step inside you might think landed on the set of that popular old television show and Yes sir it is done here Definitely Boot That too This place gets to rocking just about every morning or any other time that Marcus Rewis and friends feel like a hoedown In fact been said that Marcus who will be 83 on his next birthday will stop in the middle of a Bill Boyd I fl Mr IwK a JllAVvW i '( Aaai nn 1 SrjLfet 1: Rewis left Bub Way center and Thomas Bembry share a song and a laugh after Way and Bembry stopped by shop haircut to play the banjo Man surprised they sell tickets for this show Well right now still free and I listened for more than an hour And someone had to put cinder blocks on my toes to keep them from tapping time Shoot I might have joined in except for a couple of reasons irst not a singer My yodel is well never con fused with a real yodel And second I play a radio and keep it in tune But I can listen And if like I will offer a review of the proceedings at on a recent rainy mom Scene 1: Marcus the only barber left in what was once a three chair shop on main business street starts to and alone a one man show Sometimes he will play the banjo and the harmon ica at the same time or he might pick out some old favorite to sing as he strums a time worn banjo I could sit and listen to Marcus for hours on end because he picks and sings the songs that played on radio when I was a kid Scene 2: Larry Daniel the re tired postmaster soon drops into a seat beside Marcus oixms a 1938 edition of Albert Book of Radio a vorites and begins with Marcus Talk about taking me back to songs my mama used to sing tenor voice rises sharply above deeper tone as they sing the two part harmony of the Saints Go Rewis sometimes plays banjo and har monica at the same time I j' I A ''aMSl vi lib 1 wEiiJW THtfnadMRffii Marching Then they throw in "How Great Thou Art" just for good measure Scene 3: Thomas Herrington a 70 year old semi retired mechanic gets lessons from Marcus when the others around But he says he ready to do a duet with his teach er not just yet However Thomas has a talent of his own He does that old hoedown dance that was popular among boot scooters long before countrified yuppies invent ed this craze called line dancing (Per sonally rather watch Thomas any day but just my opinion Scene 4: When it seems that Marcus Please see BOYD 2B NC company bujing WGXA By Mike Billips The Macon Telegraph The owners of WGXA TV Channel 24 in Macon have agreed to sell it to a North Carolina company for $1175 million The buyer GOCOM Broadcasting Inc of Charlotte plans to keep the ABC affiliation GOCOM president Ric Gorman said in a press release While offering few details of possible changes in personnel or programming the statement said GOCOM plans community service and enhanced local pro Gorman be reached directly for comment Station manager Ken Gerdes who has been with WGXA from its founding said he and the other em ployees will meet Gorman when he visits Macon on Thursday now we know he said WGXA is owned by Russell Rowe Communications a partnership founded by Raymond Rowe and Atlanta contractor Herman Russell With an initial investment of $43 million the company became third TV station and network affiliate first broadcasting at 1 mil lion watts on April 21 1982 While WGXA has never challenged the market lead ership of WMAZ TV Channel 13 its owners said it has been profitable Rowe has since died and the partnership now con sists of Russell company president Don Heald and Bud Serentean All three are past standard retirement age and are settling their estates Heald said thought business was good and had a good Heald said was a good time to The sale must still be approved by the ederal Com munications Commission GOCOM also has a deal pending CC approval to buy a ox affiliate in the Greenville New Bern NC area Committee reinstates fired orsyth officer By Cheryl incher The Macon Telegraph ORSYTH An officer fired from the orsyth Po lice Department for his part in allegedly falsifying pay roll records will be reinstated after being suspended without pay for three months The orsyth City Public Safety Committee also reduced the rank of Lt George oster by one grade to sergeant The decision was rendered during third and final appeal last week said his attorney Walter Lane of Macon oster who was fired Nov 30 will return to work in March members of the Public Safety Committee agreed that the punishment was inappropriate for the Gane said Tuesday the day he received the committee's written decision But the chairman of the committee Lamar Russell said he voted to go along with the termination recom mendation of Police Chief Ben Ponder and City Admin istrator Doug White Under the personnel policy oster liad appealed his firing to Ponder and White Both appeals were denied In the third appeal Public Safety Committee mem bers Nona Washinger and Ralph Ogletree reversed the decisions and voted to reinstate oster with a three month suspension find rank reduction oster an 11 year veteran of the police force is pleased with the outcome but believes that no disciplinary action was called Lane said Testimony from the hearing showed that oster was suspended then fired after he remained clocked in at Please see ORSYTH 2B Jurors see taped confession to lolling By Eric Velasco The Macon Telegraph Bibb County jurors Tuesday watched a video tape in which ladji Ruffin admitted shooting his mother after she threatened him with a gun then listened as Ruffin took the stand later to say the confession was Ixigus because he was grieving and tired Ruffin 19 is accused of shooting his mother Ethel Thomas three times in the head with her own gun after they argued March 27 Thomas died two days later from the gunshots one of which was fired between her eyes from less than three inches away Tm not going to point the finger at Ruffin sobbed on the videotape shown to jurors Tuesday morning iwint the finger at myself sorry it happened Tills is the lady tliat birthed me There always will be a scar in my heart like to be the one laying down in the (hospital) bed instead of her Because she deserved to live I want to kill my mama I do it intentionally I just wanted to go in and make peace with Tuesday afternoon Ruffin testified that his confession was coerced Ruffin said several factors led him to confess to a crime he commit He was in the po lice station for seven hours His mother was dy ing in a hospital He wanted to see her liad so much pressure on me I take any Ruffin testified was out of my Prosecutors contend Ruffin shot his mother because she had taken away a car she'd helped her son buy Testimony showed tliat Thomas asked the finance company to repossess the car and sell it to her because she was afraid to take the car away from him ive weeks before the shooting Thomas bought the silver 2frcalibcr semiautomatic pis tol She was concerned because someone had tried to break into her homo on Btiarwood Road in west Macon Ruffin told jurors Tuesday he had similar Please see JURY 2B 4 Ladjl Ruffin talks to his attorney Bill Shutting during session of trial Ruffin Is accused of fatally shooting his mother z'i 4 Lx I 4 Ml.