Ledger-Enquirer from Columbus, Georgia • 1

1 1 IRBI 1 I jillliiljliwijiiiuiini fT Columbus girl 8 steers van to safety A 3 Should bodies be 1 Columbus Uebger Enquirer c) 1988 RW Poe Corp OUR 161ST YEAR 45TH ISSUE MONDAYMUGUST 151988 STREET INAL CENTS GoodMorning! Partly cloudy today a 30 chance of an afternoon thunder (' shower High in Low 90s More about the weather on Page A 2 Today at a Glance Baseball scores Cincinnati 2 Atlanta 0 Detroit 18 Boston 6 San ransisco 15 Los Angeles 4 NY Yankees 9 Minnesota 6 Latest scores Page 2 Sports Jeff Sluman takes care of busi ness in winning the PGA Champi onship 1 Allen Doyle wins the South eastern Amatuer on the 4th hole of a sudden death playoff 1 Editorials Opinions Perhaps Republican nominee George Bush should look to the Northeast for his vice presi dent A 8 Living Buying a house is not the time for human decency 1 If you plan a rock hunt you should know your schist from your pegmatite 1 Money Today Businesses find newsletters an effective way to market products to a specific audience 1 Paul Serff is happy to be back home at 3 Sen loyd Hudgins who knows how to be a team player should be the next mayor of Co lumbus says columnist Kaffie Sledge A 8 3C 4C 5 45C 4A 8C 4C 1A 3D 1C 3A 5A 2B 5B 1 A 3 3 World A 5 I I I Index Action Line: Alabama Classified Comics Deaths Editorials Georgia Living Local news Money Today Movies Nation People Puzzle Sports: Tim Chitwood Lies about sex can increase risk of AIDS By Malcolm Ritter Associated Press ATLANTA Asking about a sexual health or sexual history is not a reliable means of avoiding AIDS because many people lie to have sex a researcher says One third of sexually experienced male college students and 10 percent of women admitted in a study that they have told a lie of some sort to get someone to sleep with them the researcher said partners about risk fac tors is probably not a very good strategy for reducing the risk of said Susan Cochran associate professor in the psychology department of Califor nia State University at Northridge She described results of her survey Saturday' at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Associa tion Cochran said she began the study after noticing that many women were See SEX Page A 2 Convenience store: Is it risky business? Store officials say safe but has gotten a bad rap By Skip Connett Staff Writer Two weeks into her new job Re becca McKinnie woke up in the middle of the night She had been dreaming about the store where she works the Majik Market on the busy comer of Reese and Warm Springs roads There was nothing vivid about the dream just vague shadowy images and a sense of foreboding that would linger throughout the day I went to work I got on my knees and prayed to God that nothing would she said as she stood outside of Court Wednesday morning with her husband and daughter Like most new Majik Market em ployees Mrs McKinnie 33 works alone on the third shift She arrived that night at 11 pm and for the first two 'hours clerk Kathy Hovatter whose husband Clark manages the store stayed on to help her put up groceries Unlike other Majik Markets there was no cowbell on the door no clang to shatter the early morning quiet The soft ring of the electronic doorbell shortly after 1 am however got their attention When they turned around they saw a man dressed in a sleeveless shift and jeans staring at them with brown bloodshot eyes told us to get behind the Mrs Hovatter said just looked at him We believe it He said not playing I just got out of Late at night convenience stores can be lonely scary places to work jail and this is a We still The two women watched the hands disappear behind his back then reappear with a bush knife that glinted under the bright Jights Without a word they moved behind the counter re peating to themselves the rules stand back keep quiet assist that could save their lives They watched the hands reach into the cash drawer and grab up the money: One ten 19 ones and a marked two dollar bill The man looked into the empty register cursed and without an other word walked out the door slip ping the knife down the small of his back Less than eight hours later the two clerks were staring at the same pair of eyes only this time at Re Court Almost as soon as Mrs Hovatter had picked up the phone a police car was passing on Reese Road Other patrol cars soon arrived and a search in nearby Gentian Shopping Center turned up a man with a bush knife and $31 including the marked $2 bill The man identified as Howard Pharr III 30 of Thomaston Ga was bound over to Superior Court without bond After the hearing the clerks dis cussed their job why they work long and late hours for low pay and how they cope with fear fear that has been riding high since the Aug 4 shooting of Spectrum Store clerk Ben jamin Siegfried who died riday Mrs McKinnie and her family came to Columbus in September A big woman she was a welder at General Motors in Warren Ohio making $13 an See ROBBERIES Page A 4 Gun law debate raging By Drummond Ayres Jr NY Times News Service WASHINGTON Nothing fans the ever smoldering gun control argument into flame faster than an incident involv ing a gun and a well known figure After the assassinations of President Kennedy his brother Robert and the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr Con gress was moved in 1968 to debate and enact controls on gun imports and inter state gun sales Debate over further controls followed the 1975 assassination attempt against President ord and the 1981 attempt against President Reagan Now the debate is raging again per haps as hotly as at any point in a decade or so This time it is being fueled by an array of factors notably an incident involving Carl Rowan the syndicated columnist and television commentator The debate goes well beyond whether Rowan a longtime advocate of strong gun control measures should be pil loried in the court of public opinion and tried in a court of law for firing an unregistered 22 caliber pistol and slightly wounding a young swimming pool trespasser in his backyard here A larger issue is an effort on Capitol Hill to enact the most far reaching handgun legislation since the 1968 law and an effort in Maryland to retain a newly enacted handgun law that is one of the toughest in the country The incident involving Rowan may or may not sway any votes But this much Sec GUNS Page A 2 Superintendent Reagan set to ignite campaign Associated Press NEW ORLEANS President Reagan blistered the Democrats for pursuing liberal liberal on Sunday as he arrived in the Republican National Convention city to ignite a campaign charge for George Bush and his still unknown running mate The president received a tumultuous welcome from Republicans who came to town to nominate Bush and who help but shout more when the 77 year old president and his wife Nancy strode across the stage He extolled resume and lauded the vice president for vision and true Bush was at home in Washington his nomination set for Wednesday night satisfied to let Reagan start the ball rolling on a week worth of Dukakis bashing At a campaign rally a few blocks from the New Orleans convention hall Rea gan described the recent Democratic convention as biggest masquerade since last Mardi Gras masquerade is he said time to talk issues to use the dreaded word to say the policies of our opposition and the congressional leadership of his party are liberal liberal The vice presidential se crecy was being played for all it was worth Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater said it was part of a strategy to keep TV ratings high all week for the prime time convention sessions Talk of a running mate dominated the political discussion in the sweltering See GOP Page A 2 Associated Press Reagan waves to crowd in New Orleans Sunday while carrying a giant gavel rr iv Wil JI tOte in Quitman faces probation threat By Priscilla Black Duncan Senior Writer GEORGETOWN Ga Although a 62 page report delivered in June by the state Professional Practices Commis sion has recommended Superintendent Joe Gary Jr be placed on a three year probation the Quitman County School Board has taken no action School Board Chairman Lloyd Lewis appointed board members CP Redding Larry Wilburn and Willie Anderson this week to a committee to study the recommendations and develop policies to address the problems cited No disci plinary action has been taken against Gary yet he said The committee appointment came See QUITMAN Page A 5 Navy talk about report Vincennes officer disciplined Associated Press WASHINGTON A Navy board has completed an investiga tion into the downing of an Iranian passenger airliner by the USS Vincennes but a spokesman re fused Sunday to discuss a pub lished report saying the board recommended disciplinary action against only one officer aboard the ship report went up and if not already will be in the hands of the (defense) secretary thjs said Navy Cmdr Mel Sutton expect a public report in the near Sutton refused to discuss a story in editions of The Wash ington Post which said the report calls for disciplin ing only the operations officer The story said that officer who has not been identified pub licly drew most of the blame for his role in misinterpreting infor mation that resulted in a decision to fire on the plane All 290 people aboard the plane were killed when it was shot down over the Persian Gulf on July 3 The Vincennes had misidentified the plane as an 14 fighter The newspaper said the report reaches the general conclusion that the tragedy resulted from a series of human errors not from any major malfunction in the sophisticated Aegis radar systems ishbones reels in hobo king croim Associated Press BRITT Iowa Irving Stevens 79 a Maine resident who says been hopping trains since the 1930s was crowned king of the hobos at the annual International Hobo esti val Lynne Be Vermace of Iowa City was selected queen A large crowd elected the pair Saturday by its applause at the festivities along local railroad tracks They will hold the titles until next gathering ishbones said he has been to six conventions but that this was the first time he sought the crown He said he had published a collection of poems and stories on his days on the rails and earned his title after reciting a nostalgic bal lad.