The Macon Telegraph from Macon, Georgia • 9

MdCOn (Ttkorapl) 11 News Thursday May 31 1990 UUUlnsideuDD LocalState 1B Authorities still following tag lead in Hazlehurst murder probe By Dahlia Wren Macon Telegraph and News HAZLEHURST Nearly a week of tracking down four digits from a license plate has yielded no clue to who killed a Jeff Davis County teen ager Rhonda Sue Coleman 18 disappeared about 10:30 pm May 17 Her body was found three days later in adjoining Montgomery County Authorities got a tip on the license number last week from a man who said he saw the dark colored truck apparently driven by killer on the night she disappeared The man also described the shirt the driver was wearing Since then authorities have been contacting the 84 Georgia counties that issued tags with th sequence of numbers the caller reported They expect to finish the list this week GBI agent Martin Moses said Once they find out who was issued the license plates they will begin tracing the vehicles Moses said Coleman apparently was abducted as she drove out Bell Telephone Road toward home She had been in Hazlehurst with a group of friends working on a senior banner for her June 2 graduation Her car was found about three fourths of a mile from Hazlehurst Her body was found May 20 in a wooded area in Montgomery County about three miles from the Jeff Davis County line Authorities still believe she knew her abductor Harris: ixing delay in tag search too costly The Aisoclated Press ATLANTA Gov Joe rank Harris expressed concern Wednesday over reports that criminal investigations including the search for Rhonda Sue killer are being snarled by slow system of recording new license tag numbers but said correcting the problem may be too costly New tags were issued in Georgia this year for the first time since 1983 but state Revenue Department officials have said it will take up to five months to input tag information from the counties where the tags are sold into a central information system In addition to the problems with tracking down criminals some residents traveling out of state have found themselves jailed on stolen car charges when their tags show up on the national law enforcement computer network concerned about Harris said during his weekly news conference but he added that the price tag for eliminating the delay by computerizing county tag offices may be too high "The solution is a monetary one We could spend probably $140 million to $150 million and computer ize all the counties for this once every seven years (process) and got other pressing needs that certainly would merit the $140 million before maybe speeding this process up a month or the governor said An aide said after the news conference that cost estimates were incorrect Revenue Department projections indicate the computer sys tem would cost $40 million to $100 million Neighborhood still opposed to diversion center site By Mike Billips Macon Telegraph and News State corrections officials tried to dispel fears about a new diversion center for probationers when they met with West Macon residents Wednesday night They met with little success with the 50 or so residents who attended the meeting at the State armers Market want it here so why you just pack up and shouted 63 year old neighborhood activist Vera Bloodworth to ap plause and voiced approval State Rep Billy Randall state Sen Tommy Olmstead and two City Council members attended the meeting and with the exception of Randall expressed anger that the state had considered the site with out consulting local officials not anti Olms tead said need (the diversion center) But I resent them sneaking in and not telling Neighborhood residents and local officials learned that the Depart ment of Corrections was considering building a new diversion center on vacant land at the market only after Bloodworth spotted sur veyors working near her home last week The General Assembly voted $14 million in January to build the center for first time offenders con victed of non violent crimes State Director of Probation Vince allin supported by Randall said the survey was a preliminary one to see if the site could be used He said no final decision would Jiave been made without consulting residents allin and other corrections offi cials showed a videotape that ex plained how probationers at a diversion center are housed and supervised The tape showed proba tioners being counseled and going to their jobs during the day But the neighbors were uncon vinced after the presentation which included a talk by Dennis Cook director of the current 42 bed cen ter that has been on Jeffersonville Road across from the Ocmulgee National Monument since 1976 allin said he will report to DOC Commissioner Bobby Whitworth about the neighborhood opposition and the state Board of Corrections will decide on a site for the center probably within a month ASSOCIATED PRESS tea BBL fca i A KjRBfc' It 1 Bl Yuck! Brenau Academy students Dawn Carpen ter (left) from Thomasville and Tate Green from Atlanta look less than pleased as they dissect a frog The girls were working in a biology class at the Gaines ville boarding school Council panel OKs $129 million plan to help downtown By Larry Wilder Macon Telegraph and News A Macon City Council committee endorsed a $129 million plan Wednesday that is intended to revi talize downtown The plan proposed for comple tion in two phases would include restoring the Douglass Theatre and building a major parking garage on Third Street The Appropriations Committee agreed Wednesday to recommend that the first phase of the project begin Before the committee approved chairman Theron recom mendation he asked that the com mittee the administration to come up with plans for money for it before the budget session If the administration draft a plan Ussery said will try to find the money in this budget and not wait until But Charles Brittain chairman of the Macon Bibb County Urban De velopment Authority warned Us sery that unless city officials commit to all portions of the pro first phase going ahead with the Douglass and Third Street park ing plans would be futile Ussery said' the committee was willing to push for total funding Phase one of the project would include restoring the Douglass in cluding construction of a reception area and support facilities for the Georgia Music Hall of ame park ing for the Macon City Auditorium and parking for the Bibb County Courthouse at Mulberry and irst streets The Third Street parking garage has been criticized as a project that would benefit local businessman A Emmett Barnes and the planned Macon City Club Ussery said But Brittain assured committee members that parking would be available to the general public Phase two of the project would include improvements at the Macon Coliseum a visitors welcome center trolley car public transportation a downtown arts and cultural center a downtown conference center de velopment at the Terminal Station an upscale hotel a major office building more parking on Mulberry Street at the so called site and developing the Ocmulgee River Last summer the council rejected a proposal for a downtown confer ence center in the Terminal Station The final cost of the project was estimated at $87 million which some council members balked at As the new plan is structured phase two would need public and private support officials said Ussery said he will carry the endorsement to the full council for its presentation to the administration tired of wait he said Waste plant foes question state officials By Don Schanche Jr Macon Telegraph and News ATLANTA An Atlanta judge Wednesday blocked an environmen tal group's effort to interrogate the governor and 10 other officials about their decision to build a hazardous waste plant in Taylor County ulton County Superior Court Judge Don A Langham issued an order to protect the members of the Hazardous Waste Management Au thority from having to give deposi tions detailed sworn statements to the Legal Environmental Assis tance oundation His order stems from a pending lawsuit by LEA seeking to block the development of a multimillion dollar state subsidized hazardous waste incinerator LEA contends that the authority failed to follow its own legal guidelines in selecting a site The plaintiffs a Tallahassee based group with members in the Taylor County area sought to take depositions from Gov Joe rank Harris and the other 10 authority members But the state Attorney Office asked Langham for a protec tive order Assistant Attorney Gen eral Isaac Byrd said if government officials are second guessed about every decision they make it could cripple government leadership Anderson facing more charges Alleged cocaine kingpin Jerry Jerome Anderson appeared again in federal court Wednesday after prosecutors added money laundering to the list of charges against him Two other Macon men Alfonso Green and Timothy Rutledge were also cited for more charges in a superceding nine count federal indictment that accuses them of operating a continuing drug enterprise for four years with Anderson The indictment returned May 15 in Macon was unsealed after Anderson and five co defendants ap peared before US Magistrate Claude Hicks Jr Jerry Anderson 32 the 29 year old Green and five others were originally indicted in January on a federal charge of conspiring to distribute cocaine The charge carries a maximum life sentence Anderson Green and Rutledge are being held without bond until the federal charges are resolved Prosecutors have also charged Anderson his wife Bridget Anderson Jesse Lee Anthony and Green with conspiring to launder drug money Jerry Anderson now also faces three counts of money laundering filed earlier against his wife Bridget Anderson was indicted in April on four money laundering and two perjury counts Prosecutors dropped one of the money laundering charges from the May 15 indictment Cindy Sams No verdict in yet on car fraud charges The fate of two Macon car brokers accused of cheating their customers rests with a Bibb County jury which deliberated about three hours Wednesday without Briefly reaching a verdict Robert Thompson and Wilbur Gil Chancellor each face up to 20 years in jail if convicted of violating state racketeering laws plus additional terms on theft counts Chancellor 41 and Thompson 46 were indicted on one count of racketeering plus 54 counts of theft by taking theft by deception or theft by conversion Two other men Ron Sable and James Rodriquez also were indicted but have yet to be arrested Superior Court Judge Walker Johnson Jr dismissed five of the theft counts Jurors will consider the remaining 50 charges again this morning Prosecutors Sharon Ratley and Kim Shumate contend that the four men bilked clients out of 27 cars and cash while working at Southern inancial Services The fraud allegedly occurred from late 1988 to January 1989 The prosecutors claim that the men pocketed money intended to be down payments and deceived customers by promising clear titles on cars although lending institutions had not been told of the transfers But Macon defense lawyer Robert Raley said Thompson and Chancellor intend to deceive anyone The original owners were responsible for notifying their lender about the deal not his clients he said Cars were repossessed only after the District Attor Office shut down the business Raley said during closing argument Cindy Sams Wilson Southerland on stage Still in it after first three rounds Ha 11 Mi I II IIB 1 Bf I i BfiBBsHBH I Un KNIGHT RIDDERTRIBUNE NEWS Southerland makes it to finals of US spelling bee By Nolan Walters Macon Telegraph and News WASHINGTON Bibb Wilson Thomas Southerland survived the first day of competition Wednesday at the National Spelling Bee Along with 155 other finalists Southerland top speller goes into the final rounds today that should decide a national champ A quiet lanky eighth grader at Miller Middle School Southerland breezed through the words he had to spell in the first three rounds of the bee and which means a small hill But competition among the kids ages 9 to 15 should quickly toughen up today of them are pretty Southerland admitted with a wry smile The first three rounds used words from long study lists available to contestants But beginning with the fourth round today the spelling words can come from anywhere in the dictionary Whenever there was a break in the contests Wednesday Southerland leafed compulsively through booklets of words running his finger down the lists to give the consonants and vowels one last look see But with no lists to study for competition (See SPELL page 2B) kwa EnB Bk Bl ASSOCIATED PRESS Yuck! Brenau Academy students Dawn Carpen as they dissect a frog The girls were ter (left) from Thomasville and Tate working in a biology class at the Gaines Green from Atlanta look less than pleased ville boarding school i.