Copyright 1999 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
October 17, 1999, Sunday, Home Edition
SECTION: News; Pg. 6A
LENGTH: 813 words
HEADLINE:
NATION IN BRIEF
BYLINE: From our news services
SOURCE: AJC
BODY:
Atlantan
one of five charged in money scam
An Atlanta man and four others have been
charged with rotating money through a maze of national and international
accounts in a $ 20 million investment scam.
Federal investigators said
they didn't know the number of investors, who thought they were going to reap
enormous returns by investing in a program called Global Funding Limited Trust.
According to a federal indictment unsealed Friday in Gainesville, Fla.,
the men rotated the money, hiding it from customers and keeping it for
themselves, between June 1996 and January 1998.
Trust owner George
Melvin Bevre, 48, of Atlanta and Royce Edward Tolley, 41, a Colorado attorney
living in Denver and Castle Rock, Colo., were arrested last week. Calvin
Frederick Brown, 53, of Williston, Fla., Robert Charles Stewart, 40, of
Gainesville and James Charles Morris, 54, of Gardnerville, Nev., also were named
in the indictment.
Each faces 19 felony counts, including wire fraud,
interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering conspiracy.
GOP strongly supports local role in education
While a federal role
cannot be denied, education in America must return to its local foundations to
protect the nation's future, a Republican congressional expert on education said
Saturday. "Local supervision of schools has been the hallmark and promise of
American education," Rep. Bill Goodling said in the weekly GOP radio address.
Goodling (R-Pa.) said the Republican-controlled Congress is working on an
overhaul of the main government school program, the $ 13.9 billion
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Its current target is
to amend the act's Title I, which aims to provide quality education for poor
children.
Boy's punch wards off possible kidnapping
A 12-year-old
Mobile, Ala., boy foiled a would-be kidnapper's attempt to abduct him by
punching the man in the face, police said. The boy was riding his bicycle to a
friend's home about 7 p.m. Friday when he said a man in a car pulled up next to
him and grabbed his arm. The child punched the man, police said, then ran to
safety. The boy's mother told officers the man's car had been seen earlier in
the neighborhood, and residents thought it was suspicious.
Woodstock CD,
video to benefit rape hotline
Some proceeds from a compact disc and a video
of the Woodstock '99 concert - -- which ended with reports of rapes and other
sexual asaults --- will go toward a national rape hotline. "We felt we had to do
something to make sure this never happens again," co-promoter John Scher said.
Besides the donation, every copy of the Woodstock '99 CD and home video will
include information about the hotline. Rape Abuse and Incest National Network
spokesman Scott Berkowitz said the money also will be used to expand the group's
outreach and educational programs.
Video gambling foes vocal in S.C.
House
South Carolina's legislative leaders Saturday promised to fight any
attempt by the video gambling industry to extend its operations beyond July 1.
"Any attempt to revive the video gambling industry in South Carolina will be
DOA, dead on arrival, at the door of the House chamber," Speaker David Wilkins
(R- Greenville) told those at a victory rally at the State House in Columbia.
The rally had been planned to encourage people to vote against video gambling in
a Nov. 2 referendum. That vote was canceled Thursday by the state Supreme Court,
which said the General Assembly lacked the authority to conduct a referendum
that would implement a law.
School raffle of guns stirs up big backlash
A private Halifax, N.C., school plans to raffle off guns, provoking
criticism that the fund-raiser shows insensitivity to acts of school violence.
John Hardison, headmaster of the Hobgood Academy, said the raffle will go on
despite the complaints, adding that the prizes --- five hunting rifles and
shotguns --- reflect the important place hunting occupies in the community's
culture and heritage. The academy, a kindergarten-through-12th-grade campus,
said it bought the guns from a reputable dealer and will require the winners to
undergo background checks and meet other legal requirements.
John Wilkes
Booth's boyhood home bought
The childhood home of John Wilkes Booth, who
shot President Lincoln, was sold at auction Saturday to a couple who plan to
make it their residence. Robert and Elizabeth Baker made the winning $ 415,000
bid for Tudor Hall in the Baltimore suburb of Bel Air. Besides being the home of
one of the most notorious figures in U.S. history, Tudor Hall is regarded as the
birthplace of Shakespearean theater in America. It is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. A local school, Harford Community College, sought
to preserve the house as a museum and center for theater lovers, but the bidding
surpassed the school's limit.
LOAD-DATE: October 17,
1999 
