
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 24, 1993                   TAG: 9308240173
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WICHITA, KAN.                                LENGTH: Short

JUDGE FEARS ABORTION FOES RESORTING TO `TERROR'

A woman accused of shooting a doctor outside a clinic where abortions are performed was ordered held on $1 million bail Monday by a judge who said activists may be using "terror as a political tool."

Rachelle Renae "Shelley" Shannon is accused of wounding Dr. George Tiller in both arms Thursday outside his Women's Health Care Services clinic.

Tiller was treated at a hospital and returned to work less than 12 hours later.

Sedgwick County District Judge Paul Clark set bail and scheduled Sept. 7 as the tentative preliminary hearing date for Shannon, of Grants Pass, Ore.

The judge caught reporters off guard by moving Monday's hearing to another judge's courtroom and holding it about an hour earlier than scheduled.

Clark told KFDI radio he was concerned about pretrial publicity and wanted to avoid large crowds of demonstrators during the hearing.

He also said the weekend shooting death of an abortion doctor in Alabama could make the Wichita case more volatile.

"This is a possible indication some of these groups are using terror as a political tool," he said.

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB