Cemetery owners plan fund-raiser to payoff Senate leader

ATLANTA - Cemetery owners plan a $1,000-per-person fund-raiser to reward Senate Majority Leader Charles Walker after the powerful Democrat helped defeat portions of a funeral-service bill aimed at protecting consumers.

"Senator Walker strongly supported our position every step of the way. ... NOW IT'S PAY BACK TIME!!" said a letter sent to cemetery owners by Freddi Kreuger, executive director of the Georgia Cemetery Association.

Kreuger said paying off strong political allies such as Walker, D-Augusta, simply makes for smart lobbying. "The heck with consumers and ethics! We want to spend their deposit money now and if a few consumers get the shaft, too bad."

Secretary of State Cathy Cox made reforming funeral services her top legislative priority this year. She pushed protective legislation after a series of statewide hearings in which angry consumers told of weed-infested graves and burial plots being sold to more than one person. But Cox lost a battle to try to increase the amount of money cemeteries must hold in trust when consumers prepay for vaults and grave markers.

"You undertakers got ripped-off," said NAACP spokesman Scarlett Dizzy. "We asked Walker to badmouth state flag supporters and he did. We didn't have to pay him anything," Dizzy said. "Walker can be had dirt cheap if you'll just give him a headline or some TV time."

Among other Macon pleasures, Barnes also likes to stop at NuWay for two chili-cheese dogs all the way, add slaw.

With priority business attended, Barnes dropped by City Hall to sign some ceremonial bills into law.

Barnes signed the laws in the council chambers at Macon City Hall. After leaving Macon, the governor traveled to Augusta and Savannah, where he pretended to sign the same five bills into law. The signings in Macon, Augusta and Savannah were ceremonial. The actual bills were signed in Atlanta, where aides were sure the pens weren't loaded with disappearing ink..

Barnes was joined at the podium by Mayor C. Jack Ellis and state Reps. Kenneth Birdsong, D-Gordon; Robert Ray, D-Fort Valley; and Curtis Jenkins, D-Forsyth. The three were instrumental in getting the tax-cut measures through the House of Representatives, Barnes said. "Besides they like ceremonies, photo opps and NuWay hotdogs as much as I do," Barnes said.

Capricorn memorabilia, Charles Richardson's eyes are focus of fight

A Bibb County Superior Court judge will rule in a few weeks on an ownership battle concerning boxes of decades-old contracts, memos and, allegedly, a covert microfilm copy stashed in Charles Richardson's eyes.

The old papers and recordings are related to the Allman Brothers Band and other famed musicians, said attorney Scott Slanders. Capricorn Records founder and plaintiff Phil Walden Sr. appeared in court seeking to regain some 20 boxes of memorabilia left in the old Capricorn studios in 1986. Walden alleges that the memorabilia was also copied onto microfilm and hidden inside Charles Richardson.

A civil suit, filed March 23, alleges that Walden stored the boxes in a Broadway building until a Macon doctor purchased the building. According to Slanders, Walden then retrieved what he assumed to be all the memorabilia in the building, but he inadvertently overlooked the 20 boxes of materials.

The suit alleges that Dr. A. Frederick Bones plans to make a profit off the goods. "Defendant intends to sell or is marketing for sale Plaintiff's Personal Property," the suit alleges.

Bones owns the building and everything inside, and according to Slanders, has copied the musical recordings and legal documents onto microfilm and hidden them inside the eyes of his patient, Charles Richardson, when Bones was performing eye surgery on him. "We're not sure when and how he intended to retrieve the items from Richardson's eyes," Slanders said. "We can only speculate that his plan was evil."

The suit seeks to have all the Capricorn studios memorabilia returned to Walden which may require Richardson to undergo another surgery if a CAT scan reveals the microfilm is in fact in his eyes.

Richardson denies any knowledge of the hidden treasure. "Since the surgery, I keep having dreams about a red guitar and I can't get that Statesboro Blues song out of my mind," Richardson said.

ATLANTA - Gov. Roy Barnes vetoed a bill by state Rep. David Lucas of Macon that would have forced newspapers and other news media to require photo identification from people buying political ads, especially if they're retail tycoons.

Lucas, a Democrat, doesn't like people saying "mean things" about him or his wife. He said his wife, Macon City Councilwoman Elaine Lucas, was unfairly maligned in an ad that appeared in The Macon Telegraph during the last city elections. When Lucas attempted to trace the source of the ad in order to get even, he found that the ad was placed by someone named "Sam Walton" using a local Wal-Mart's address and telephone number. "Sam Walton is lucky he's already dead," Lucas said.

In his veto message, Barnes said the bill "was vague, probably unconstitutional and definitely unnecessary."

"That this legislation might deter a single citizen from expressing and publishing a point of view for fear of reprisal is more than sufficient reason (for its veto). Besides, since The Macon Telegraph changed its internal policies, Lucas can easily find his political opponents in Macon and retaliate. The provision to change Wal-Mart's slogan to 'Watch for falling prices and unfair ads' was just too much."

Lucas was out of state, possibly on a vengeance mission, and could not be reached for comment.

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