Robesonian (Newspaper) - July 13, 1993, Lumberton, North Carolina THE ROBESONIAN County Since 1870 1993 Park Newspapers of Lumberton Inc Lumberton NC Tuesday July 131993 Vol CXXIV No 116 14 pages 25 cents More weather on 2A Produce galore at local market The Robeson County Farmers Market will open Wednesday beginning at 7 am Vendors will have a heavy supp ly of cantaloupe sweet corn field peas Irish potatoes tomatoes and watermelons a moderate supply of blueberries cabbage picking and slicing cucumbers eggplant okra bell adn hot peppers plums and squash and a light supply of apples snapbeans eggs peaches garlic blackberries honeydew and hanging baskets The market is located on the corner of Eighth and Elm Street in the parking lot of the old tural building Maxton board meets tonight Maxton will hold its regular board of commissioners meeting tonight beginning at pm at the town hall Tonights agenda includes con sideration of zoning conditional use permits and committee ap The meeting is open and the public is invited to attend East Lumberton meeting tonight East Lumberton Communi ty Watch meeting will be tonight at Janie Hargrave School Guest speaker for the meeting will be Dave Holec Lumberton ci ty attorney All East Lumberton residents are encouraged to attend the meeting Jurors summons cancelled 2 days Jury duty for those Robeson County residents summoned for venire duty has been cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday accor ding to Lum Edwards Chief of Detectives for the Robeson County Sheriffs Department Town gets breather after budget sessions BLADENBORO The news at the Monday nights Bladenboro Town Board meeting was there was hardly any news This is a time when we dont have much news said Town Manger Charles Herring said this morning We didnt really do anything last night After finishing the budget it is kind of quiet around here It is bad for the newspapers I guess but its good for us The town board did hear a report on the towns involvement with a proposed goat meat processing plant Tom Howell public works tor told that a water line to Halah Meat Company has been completed Work on the sewer line began Thursday and is expected to be completed by August 1 The board was also informed that 17 firefighters with the Bladenboro Volunteer Fire Department had completed the ob for water suply levels 12 and 3 The training is expected to help obtain the department reach a higher level Fire Chief Charles Benton told the board Gladys Dowless and Scott Witten AREA DEATHS Ms Inez Billiard Chavis Mrs Heidi S Clark Yuma Ariz Edna Ford Fairmont Maggie Jacobs Pembroke Jannie Lowry Pembroke Colel Skipper Lumberton Pamela Thomas Fairmont INDEX Whats CALL 7394322 DA accused of death penalty misuse TIFFANY Staff writer Former Robeson County Assistant District Attorney Johnson Britt testified Monday that District At torney Richard Townsend pro death penalty cases ar and capriciously This testimony came during the hearing on pretrial motions in the murder trial of Daniel Gardner Defense attorneys Wade Byrd and John Wishart Campbell asked the court that their client not be tried for his life Gardner is of murdering Ray Strickland 20 and Timothy Oxendine 23 at the Rowland Motel in November 1988 That investigation aad research into the practice of District was convicted of first office of Robeson County has revealed that the state is pro Defendants for the death penalty on a selective basis which is clearly arbitrary capricious and inconsistent Gardners motion states Monday Byrd explained to Supe rior Court Judge Gordon Battle that Gardner was married with a child and had no prior record Then be tween September and November of 1988 Gardner got up with the wrong crowd During that period Gardner robbed and killed Fayet convenience store clerk shot and attempted to rob a taxi driver and allegedly murdered ftm man degree murder and is serving a life sentence plus 25 years and and addi tional 60 years for the taxi robbery During the hearing Campbell and Byrd put several law enforcement officers Britt and Administrative Assistant to the District Attorney Martin McCall on the stand to prove their case McCall has been with the DAs office for Townsends entire term and served under former District Attorney Joe Freeman Britt He ex that as a rule every murder case goes to the Grand Jury as a case but that only four cases have been prosecuted as capi tal cases initiated by Townsend I would say that there have been potential murder cases that have been disposed of with lesser pleas he testified Robeson County Sheriffs Detec tive Danny Russ testified that in the case of Darryl McLean who murdered his mother by stabbing her 42 times he objected to Town send accepting a plea bargain of se cond degree murder I didnt like that idea with the way her body was mutilated I wanted to go with death or first degree There were ag factors the fact that she was robbed the number of stab wounds Russ said On cross examination Townsend asked Russ if he was familiar with the 11 aggravating factors in the Please see Davey Allison dead at 32 CHARLOTTE AP Davey Allison died this morning of inju ries he suffered when a helicopter he was piloting crashed in the infield at Talladega The 32 y e a r o 1 d Allison died at Davey Allison See 1B for story ATM killer ATM habits change Banks No ATM changes SCOTT WITTEN Staff writers There are no current plans to at tempt increasing security at United Carolina Bank UCB Automatic Teller Machines ATM in the wake of a customer murder June 30 After any incident an overall check of security systems is per formed according to John McLaughlin senior and public information officer of the bank We go over everything with a fine tooth comb looking at everything conceivable and see how we can do anything better he said UCB converted some of their walkup ATMs for use in April 1991 for security reasons he added That was the case with the machine at Biggs Park Mall where the murder took place There had been episodes of attempted robbery at some of walkup machines I dont see how anything could have been done better said Dale executive at UCB All of the security equipment and lighting worked perfectly at the murder site according to Harrold There is no way to make that particular ATM site safer he said It is well lit and very visible ATM at Biggs Park Mall sits between and There is no way to make that particular ATM site safer It is well lit and very visi ble UCB official facing Elm Street An thony Wade Leggett 30 of Fair mont was shot while using the machine on June 30 Police believe the shooting took place at pm Leggett had inserted his card into the machine but had not entered his identification number when the shooting took place according to reports The video tape from the machine showed an arm and then a hand holding a weapon which was fired at the back of his head Local banking officials say total security at ATMs is next to im possible What happened at UCB was tragic said David Park Southern National Bank director of support services Im sure UCB like Southern National maintains a very active security program but you cant protect every situation that occurs Park said automated machines are well lit and each machine is periodically checked by branch manager and security per for problems But he added that the of danger is inherent in any outdoor system An automated teller machine is no different than a post office box or taking a grocery cart out to your car he said There is exposure There is no way to 100 percent eliminate exposure without eliminating the convenience Law enforcement are currently conducting interviews and have no new information on the murder according to Det Benson Phillips of the Lumberton Police Department In the ongoing in officers havent ruled anything out as far as motive Phillips said The investigation is continuing Phillips said this morning Were still at the same place we were The murder has changed at least some ATM card owners attitudes I used to go at odd hours leave the car running and not put the money away before walking back to the car said Gina Locklear of Pembroke She added that now she will be much more careful Bernie Stamper of Lumberton said he has changed his habits I dont plan on using the automated teller after dark and will probably do a close observation of the area before using the machine he said Please see ATM page Stow Photographer An unidentified customer makes a daylight transaction Pembroke Cruising Cash for Kids considered Fairmont considers leash law changes Fairmont ELLEN CHURCH Staff writer PEMBROKE A project organized by a local food store to raise money for childrens recreation here hasnt been getting the atten tion it deserves according to a spokesperson for the grocery chain Ray Van Eman manager of Pembrokes Food Folks went before council members Monday night seeking support for the yearlong project Cash for Kids a statewide project spon sored in part by Food Folks owner Don An drews is the program Eman was referring to Customers of Food Folks are asked to save register tapes when they purchase groceries Customers are then asked to return the register tapes so points can be collected Once the total reaches in register tapes Food Folks will donate to the recreation committee to be used for the purchase of baseball equipment and upkeep for Pembrokes youth Eman told the council he would help with any ideas the council may have but added the city will have to do the work This started in June and I havent seen any posters or signs anywhere in town he said The city has to want this in order to benefit from it The donations can be used for childrens recreation only according to Eman This program is unique to this area Eman said No other grocery chains are involved in this type of project Marketing Director Harvey Godwin said it was the stores way of giving something back to the community He attributed citizens lack of involvement to lack of awareness about Cash for Kids No one knows about it he said no ones announcing it at to let people know about it We are looking for a commit ment from council to help promote this pro ject Pembroke automatically received 100000 points when Mayor Milton Hunt attended Food Folks Cash for Kids kickoff in June but lit has Eman concerned Please see PEMBROKe page SCOTT WITTEN Staff writer FAIRMONT Commissioners may begin work on a plan tonight to curb the number of dogs running loose in town The Fairmont Town Board of Commissioners is expected to consider a proposal when of meet tonight at 6 pm in the municipal building The proposal calls for updating and im proving the current town leash law The pro posed change suggests fining owners for properly tagged dogs apprehended off proper ty The fine would be for a first offender A second and subsequent offenses for tagged dogs would be Dogs not tagged would be apprehended and removed to the pound After 10 days the animal would be disposed of if not claimed or adopted according to the proposal If the owner claims the dog during the 10 days the owner he tn Hio fine and fined for violation of the law All money obtained through the fines would be used to feed and house the animals as well as for animal control equipment The proposal also calls for the appointment of an animal control agent for apprehension record keeping and financial control No salary has been suggested for the position Charles Kemp who proposed the change said he plans to ask town administrators to begin work on a new policy tonight The board is expected to review the proposal in August If approved by the board the policy could be ini tiated by the end of September according to Kemp Many citizens are concerned about the number of dogs running at large especially in light of the rabies problem we have here Kemp said I really feel we need to take steps to update and improve our current policy In other business the board is expected to reconsider a motion on capital expenditures for the towns sidewalk project oThe board is also expected to consider Franklin Mercers request for a certificate of public convenience for a business a will how funds can be used for a shell building in Fairmont via the Friends of Fairmont Heat Flood Heat eases in North continues South Midwest a third world ASSOCIATED PRESS The heat wave eased its deadly grip on the Northeast but showed no mercy on the Southeast In much of the Northeast a system today was expected to lower humidity and drop temperatures into the and lower 90s On Monday the mercury hit the compared with more than 100 during the past week Considering the past few days its quite relaxing said Cassidy who works at a law firm in New York City where the temperature Monday was down from a weekend peak of 102 I hate the heat Two cooler fronts one from the West and the other from Canada were expected to reduce temperatures even more by midweek Despite the drop into the 17 people died from the heat in Philadelphia on Monday bringing the citys death toll to 58 officials said At least 13 others in six states have died from the heat in the past week Many were elderly people living in apartments without air conditioning Extremely hot weather was expected to linger in the South which on Monday endured its 10th straight day of temperatures of 99 or higher The mercury was expected to reach 110 in North Carolina today Army recruits at South Carolinas Fort Jackson were ordered to drink two quarts of water every hour while training Were in the business of training soldiers Were not in the business of injuring them spokesman Doug Cook said New York City lifted its alert Monday allowing people to water lawns and wash sidewalks The city imposed the ban Thursday after New Yorkers tried to cool off by opening thousands of fire hydrants For some the cooler weather didnt mean a lot Its still brutal said Steve Diamond ten nis director at a country club in North Caldwell NJ I know the experts said it was getting cooler but I just walked one block and I feel like Im in a sauna MIKE GLOVER Associated Press writer DES MOINES Iowa AP Residents car plastic jugs lined up for their rations of drinking water in the Des Moines area and hundreds of Midwesterners were inoculated against waterborne diseases I feel like were in a Third World country said Ed Conlow a researcher for the Iowa state House The Mississippi River and its tributaries continued to swallow up land today in the upper Midwest as residents and National Guardsmen piled sandbags to try to save homes and businesses Des Moines and other cities hai been brought to a near standstill About peo ple in and around Iowas capital were without running water after floodwaters knocked out a water treatment plant over the weekend Damage across the region will far exceed the billion in aid announced by President Clin ton last week Gov Terry Branstad said Branstad said he will ask the government to declare all of Iowa a disaster area The flooding has caused at least 19 deaths 13 in Missouri The Red Cross said more than 7600 homes were damaged or destroyed in Minnesota Wisconsin South Dakota Nebraska Iowa Kansas Missouri and Illinois No looting has been reported but some resi dents still feared losing their belongings In West Alton Mo Michael Payeur refused to leave his waterlogged home and relied on sup plies brought to him by boat by his daughter Theres looters out here he said They can get in and out Water Patrolman Don Carnahan navigated the West Alton area with care You got to watch the road signs he said Theyll sure cut a hole in the boat Vice President Al Gore visited Lemay Mo and Graf ton 111 on Monday The water was so high he had to duck when his boat passed under power lines He also took a helicopter tour and Please see FLOOD page
