Ledger-Enquirer from Columbus, Georgia (2024)

May 9, 1998

Publication:

Ledger-Enquireri

Location:

Columbus, Georgia

Issue Date:

Saturday, May 9, 1998

Page:

14

Extracted Article Text (OCR)

B2 Ledger Enquirer Saturday May 9 1998 GEORGIA ALABAMA 1 GEORGIA BRIES Storms run through state for second straight day Severe thunderstorms raked 'parts of Georgia for a second straight day riday spawning 'tornadoes and dumping heavy rains across the southern part of the state The National Weather Service a tornado touched down near Douglas about 80 miles west of Brunswick but there were no reports of damage or injuries a few limbs said Lee Clements a dispatcher in the Coffee County 911 center were Another band of storms that moved through north Georgia Thursday night was blamed for storm related death A man who had sought shelter from a tornado under an overpass on Interstate 575 suffered a heart attack and died about 6 pm Thursday said Robbie Westbrook emergency management director for Cherokee County Sharon Statham a spokeswoman for Northside Hospital at Cherokee identified the victim as Troxell Raither 64 of Canton Gov Zell Miller declared a of emergency in six counties hit by "storms making help available for the cleanup The declarationcovered Barrow Cherokee orsyth Lincoln Towns and Union counties A tornado damaged several homes near Lincolnton in east Georgia Thursday night Lincoln Sheriff Edwin Bentley said no serious injuries were reported but at least six people were injured and almost 200 people spent the night in a shelter Officials offer $10000 reward for guard killers ATLANTA Authorities are offering a $10000 reward forinformation leading to the identification and arrest of two men wanted in the shooting i death of a bank security guard Police and the BI are looking for two men between the ages of 40 and 50 and both at least 6 feet tall Atlanta police Lt Tony Biello said Thursday William Hill 47 was delivering money to a SouthTrust Bank automated teller machine about 2 pm Wednesday when he was shot to death Hill had driven to the ATM building in an unmarked white truck and removed several money filled canisters said BI spokeswoman Celeste Armstead The canisters were stolen 1 She said authorities believe Hill was shot with a hunting rifle paramilitary weapon or something similar knowmore after the said Biello called it a heinous crime and said the police and BI are doing everything they can to apprehend the killers will do everything in my power to solve said Biello who had a special interest in the crime I brother former Atlanta police officer JJ Biello was shot during a restaurant robbery while working off duty at the same shopping center where the bank guard was killed JJ Biello who has been i paralyzed since the April 1987 shooting is now a Cherokee County commissioner Miller to receive honorary degree at London college i ATLANTA Gov Zell Miller will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from Richmond College of the American I International University in London when he delivers the commencement address there i next week The small private liberal arts institution enrolls 1270 students from more than 100 countries I Others being awarded honorary degrees include Joseph Rotblat the 1995 Nobel Peace laureate whose campaign 1 against atomic weapons and for peaceful use of nuclear energy lhas drawn worldwide attention Miller a former college I professor developed the Georgia lottery which has Gfunneled $25 billion into education since its inception five I years ago He will complete his second term in January and cannot seek re election Miller received an honorary degree from the University of South Carolina last week and is due to receive honorary degrees ifj0m Oglethorpe University and' Emory University this month Carter urges US to focus on Africa ormer president addresses potential during summit in Atlanta Associated Press ATLANTA ormer President Jimmy Carter said riday he hopes Americans are recognizing the potential and importance of Africa in the aftermath of Presi dent trip there hope is that President visit to Africa will not be just a publicity effort but will be followed up by tangible results in the White House in the Congress and in the corporate Carter told delegates at the opening of a Southeastern US summit on Africa recent six nation trip was the first major presidential visit to Africa since Carter went two decades earlier The summit the first of eight such regional meetings of local and African representatives will help plan a 1999 national summit in Washington to build US Afri can cooperation and a shared policy agenda House Speaker Newt Gingrich Ga former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp and for mer United Nations ambassador Andrew Young were among others participating along with Ivory Coast President Henrie Konan Bedie former Tanzania President Julius Nyerere and some two dozen African Cabinet ministers and ambassadors Carter who has focused much of his post presidential work on behalf of human rights and democracy in Africa said great er US involvement will benefit the people of Africa and Africa HBH VW mMMM Ji ralM i' A AP ormer President Jimmy Carter listens during a session of The National Sum mit of AfricaSoutheast Regional Summit in Atlanta on riday in the process benefit the people of America and the entire world think Africa holds the key to the future to global peace and global he said believe that to be a Carter and the others followed a drum pounding processional with brightly dressed whirling dancers into the meeting Ny erere also spoke sounding a note of caution for his homeland as he pointed out its long history of colonialism and slave trade big powers begin to take an interest in my continent I begin to ask he said am very pleased that your president went to the veteran leader said But while Africa welcomes development he said it wants cen tered want you to help us to develop but we want to develop in Killer apologizes to family moments before his execution Steven Allen Thompson electrocuted for brutal murder and rape of woman on 1984 Day weekend Associated Press ATMORE Ala or the first time in 14 years Ruby Balarzs can relax on Day weekend knowing her killer has been executed Balarzs now 69 was left with a Day weekend night mare in 1984 when Steven Allen Thompson bound gagged raped and murdered her 25 year old daughter Robin Balarzs Early riday an apologetic Thompson was executed in the electric chair at Holman Prison for the murder as Balarzs and her sister watched deeply he said strapped in the chair and looking at them through the death chamber window Balarzs had arrived at the south Alabama prison from her home in Narrows Va wanted him to see the pain that he had caused He did look me directly in the eye to say sorry and it was worth Balarzs said Balarzs heard apology but she turned her back on him when the 2000 volts of electricity were turned on Robin Balarzs a single moth er left 3 year old Cody when she was slain Now 17 and adopted by his grandparents he only recently was given the details of how his mother died She had been engaged to marry a friend of when he attacked her been hard for me to Cody said wish she could be here right now but the guy that killed her got what he Thompson accused of violent acts as a youth was absent without leave from the Navy when he went into the Balarzs home in Huntsville on May 12 1984 while the parents and Cody were out of town According to the court record Price includes paper bags belt Other parts extra Micro wave Ovens Vacuums Any Make Any Model Electric Shavers All Types of Small Appliances Mixers Coffee Makers etc 'Clean Service Vacuums Coupon must be presented witlapglianc Coupon expires June 1st 1 728 Warm Springs Road "UJ 'MU sat 9 4 BURRELL'S NATIONAL APPLIANCE SERVICE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL REE Estimates on Thompson stuffed a sock in the bound mouth used a knife to cut off her jeans bra and panties shaved her head beat her then took her to secluded Green Mountain where the rape occurred He then stabbed her tied her to the car and dragged her through mud over rocks and pavement for some 3000 feet During the ordeal she was robbed of $1 and her engage ment ring Thompson more recently de scribed by prison officials as a born again Christian won a court order to keep his body from being autopsied after the execution KENTHOMAS 839 VETERAN'S PARKWAY Wl 9 7 SATt9 4 98 HONDA ACCORD LX one owner 4 dr auto only S32102 residual 1047595 95 BMW325is 2 dr 5spd certified i 39864 pmo Residual 16 192 10000 miles per yr 36 month36000 miles 96 ACURA INTEGRA 5 spd 3 dr LS red only s23669 residual 790618 12000 miles per yr 95 ACURA INTEGRA LS 5 spd onlyS29495pmo Res 68251000 down tax 1st payment security deposit and fees 36 months 1 5000 miles per year 95 HONDA DELSOL 5 spd fun car only $1 9959 pmo Residual 5875 "Wc iM urn mb ten Sewict cut tlatf ACURA USED CAR LEASE 96 ACURA INTEGRA LS auto red 3 dr only $25396 pmonth Residual 808510 ALABAMA BRIES ormer CEO of hospital is sought by authorities DOTHAN The state attorney office has issued an arrest warrant for the former head of Southeast Alabama Medical Center who is accused of mishandling nearly $1 million in hospital money But former hospital chief executive officer Jim whereabouts remained unknown riday three days after Attorney General Bill Pryor issued the first warrants for crimes allegedly committed three years ago not in custody and we really know where he said Houston County Sheriff Lamar Glover probably going to be a waiting Glover said authorities in lorida were looking for Blackmon in the Gulf Coast region where he owned a condominium and had been arrested before for indecent exposure Meanwhile the first warrant was released just four days before the three year statute of limitations was to run out The alleged scheme ended May 9 1995 The arrest warrant released this week accuses Blackmon of using false billing to steal $3900 from SAMC on Aug 11 1994 and another $2000 in May 1995 That money apparently went to repair a boat Blackmon had borrowed from a doctor But those charges appear to be just the beginning of a scheme that led the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts to release an audit stating $979000 was mishandled The audit said that beginning in 1992 Blackmon started ordering extra pay for himself and continued making adjustments through 1995 eventually collecting an extra $474315 in pay without approval from the hospital board Kimberly Clark to sell 500000 acres close mill MOBILE Conservation groups the timber industry and possibly big money pension funds could bid on Kimberly 500000 acres in Alabama and Mississippi when the land goes on the market The company has announced it will sell the land and close its pulp mill in Mobile dismissing 450 workers No date for the land sale or price were disclosed however Timber broker Mike Dees of Southern Timberlands in Mobile said Kimberly Clark had a of land in Monroe Wilcox Choctaw and Ud'i Washington counties and a large chunk of valuable1 in Mobile County I 13 The holdings include 70000 acres of bottomland forest in the Mobile Delta that has the attention of conservation groups hoping to preserve it Delta is a top priority for said Chris Oberholster director of science and stewardship for The Nature Alabama One paper industry analyst said the ultimate buyer for the 500000 acres might come frorti outside the paper industry may not be a paper company It may be a timber said Stephen with Robert Baird Co in Milwaukee a Rescue workers search for missing fishermain WATERLOO An angler who disappeared in the Tennessee River was not found after a day long search and rescue workers had little hopejof finding him alive as the searcH resumed riday A The search for Rickey Sims 40 of Decaturville Tenn was temporarily halted Thursday night but continued with the help of cadaver dogs riday1 unoccupied boat was found with its motor still runnihg Wednesday night in Brush Creek Rescue workers searched the area until just before midnight Wednesday and speiH about 12 hours on the water again Thursday Rescue workers searched orje area about 250 yards from the shore of Brush Creek Park and concentrated their dragging efforts in the area but unable to find a body Sims a commercial fisherman who often works in the Waterloo area of Lauderdale County with a friend was putting out trotlines Wednesday night while his friend Bob Bizwell and his i wife Peggy went further up the river Residents noticed a boat traveling in circles and figure eights shortly after? pm 1 Alabama Marine police Ken Rager said A nearby 1 fisherman went to the boat and searched for a survivor and later hooked up the boat and brought it back to shore ri do know he was ejected from the boat but we have noJ way of knowing at this time what Rager said rom wire Day Gift Ideas Br Cargill Nursery I So wfucf'To Like About 3645 Gentian Blvd "Serving Columbus 563 5662 for Over 40 Beautiful Petunia New Guinea Impatiens pougamvillea Angel Wing Begonia Geraniums Lantana Boston erns Blue Wonder Impatiens Collectibles Lighted DeptU Houses Lots Of New Arrivals In An On Display Perfect for Day New Accessories or Day Garden 0 Accents Bird eeders Statuary 1 1 Butterfly Polywood Outdoor urniture Planters Arbors Trellis Garden Plagues Wind Chimes Topiaries 1 iriii I or The Lawn SUMMER 1 TROPICALS: Beautiful Blooming Plants Perfect or The Deck Pool or Patio Large Braided Hibiscus Trees Mandevilla Pink Only Lantana' Dwarf Allamana Yellow 4" pots Ixora PinkCoralYellow onesl' Ion pots STACREEN HAPPY DAY Time to ertilize STA GREEN LAWNS STAY GREEN Slow Release with Iron 5000 sc ft bag )Reg $099 3 6 POTTED PLANTS Hydrangea Rior Begonia Mixed Herbs Plant Wraps and i Containers Availablej 5 it U3 HOURS: ON SAT 9 6 SUN 1 5:30 6 IB 95 BMW325is 2 dr 5 spd certified i pmo Residual 161 92 10000 miles per 36 month36000 miles 98 HONDA ACCORD LX one owner 4 dr auto only S32102 residual 1047595 859 VETERAN'S PARKWAY 9 7 SAT 9 4.

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