Hershel Dale Graham Indicted for Felony Murder

Alleged Driver with Russian Assault Rifle

One of two participants in the November 2011 shooting of David Martin Andrasik has been indicted by the January Franklin County grand jury. Hershel Dale Graham of Red Bay was arrested Wednesday and taken to the Franklin County Jail, charged with Felony murder. Graham's son Elijah, a 2011 graduate of Red Bay High School, has alternately been listed as 17 to 19 years of age. Witnesses say the younger Graham ran over Andrasik's foot before the elder Graham shot the victim in the heart.

Sources say bail was set at 100K, and Graham bonded out earlier today with instructions to stay away from the Andrasik family. If convicted, Hershel Graham will face 20 years to life in prison. We hope this is the beginning of some closure for David's wife Carla and his three young children. We encourage all our readers to join the Facebook page:

Justice for David Andrasik

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Update on Wilson High School volunteer coach charged with Second Degree Rape: Several sources have stated that Dana Myhan Allen will plead not guilty by reason of mental defect. Just as former Sheffield Junior High teacher Amanda Dubose Watkins claimed an earlier rape clouded her judgment, Allen will allege the advances of an older teacher/mentor while she was a student at Wilson left her with the inability to comprehend the enormity of her actions. If convicted, Allen faces two to 20 years in prison.

Shoalanda

Female Predators: A Pretrial & An Arrest

Kimberly Bynum

Pretrial for Kimberly Bynum, the teacher who formerly taught at Vina High School, has been set for March 21st. Bynum was arrested in June of last year for an admitted sexual relationship with a student. Under Alabama law, students who have reached the age of consent are still prohibited from sexual relationships with teachers until they reach 19. If convicted of the Class B Felony, Bynum could face a sentence of 20 years.

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Dana LaShanna Myhan Allen, according to WHNT Channel 19, is a wife and mother. According to her Facebook page, she's an employee of Florence OB/Gyn Clinic in West Florence. According to Lauderdale County detectives, she's a second degree rapist who preyed on underage boys at her alma mater Wilson High School.

The daughter of Danny and Connie Myhan, the 38 year-old Allen has been married for 18 years to Russell O'Neal Allen. For several years, Allen has been a volunteer basketball coach at Wilson where all of her alleged victims were students. According to detective Travis Clemmons, the investigation has linked Allen to several students, but only one under the age of consent. Like Bynum, Dana Allen faces a felony charge that could result in a sentence of 20 years. 

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A Political Forum for Candidates Seeking the Office of

LAUDERDALE COUNTY

SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

at Rogers High School, Greenhill

6:00 PM in the Cafeteria

This event is sponsored by the Lauderdale County Education Association.

The public is invited to attend.

Shoalanda

"The Girl...Wasn't So Squeaky Clean Herself"

"He was a nice guy, he was always laughing ... Everyone could get along with him ...Once I heard his name involved with this [I thought] that ain't him - everyone I know, all the boys, everyone was like - that ain't him, there is no way he would do something like that." Friend of a 16 year-old New Zealand youth who admitted raping a five year-old girl in December of last year.



If you read OB's Corner from January 28th, you're aware of some interesting facts concerning a convicted rapist/robber who served 20 years for his crimes. Among the reader comments was this:

I hope you don't consider yourself a Christian. Seriously is your life so miserable that you have to find fault in someone else's life and something that happened so long ago. You make the statement that 20 years without parole is odd even if he had been let out you would still not accept him. Did you ever think that maybe he just wanted to be done with it so he could live his life. Better yet did you go to him for his side of the story, you know we didn't have all the advancements that we do today back then. One more thing the girl who accused him of this wasn't so squeaky clean herself back then. I guess I would get pissed off too if I spent all that money thinking I was getting cocaine and all I got was baking soda but hey you know everything cause you got his side and all. The world would be a much better place if people just minded their own business. He served his time just leave him alone.

So a woman who sells drugs, or substances she claims to be drugs, deserves to be raped? This type of mentality never ceases to amaze us.

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We've had some questions, and some comments on Tennessee Valley Talks, concerning how to publish a comment here. If you don't want to use an existing ID from Word Press or similar site, you can open a free Blogger profile. This simply clarifies who is posting, but does not reveal the poster's real name. You may choose any name you wish to post under.

Blogger

As for deleted comments concerning accused rapist Corey Griffin, we deleted approximately 25% of them. They were not "legion." Those deleted either named Griffin's accuser and/or contained libelous statements about the accuser or others. Such comments as "She was asking for it" were also deleted. 

We welcome comments, but again, please abide by the rules...



Shoalanda

Doug Ruggles Praises Jimmy Neese

Martin Supply exec Doug Ruggles (pictured) has praised Jimmy Neese for his role in securing the former Rogers Department Store building for the Sheffield company's new corporate offices. From the TimesDaily:

Ruggles...praised city leaders, the Shoals Economic Development Authority and developer Jimmy Neese for making the move possible.

Certainly the use of the majestic building for offices will bring more revenue to Florence than condos, a possibility once tauted on the TD. Yet we're sure Neese didn't perform this service without some financial reward. How soon we forget.

Related posts: Bliss Block: The Fleecing of Florence

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Yesterday's blog on the need for an audit of the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department has produced several e-mails. From a regular reader:

Your article re: an audit of the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office raises an interesting opportunity for Judge Mitchell, an opportunity to DEMONSTRATE his leadership capabilities and do what is RIGHT and NEEDED (an audit of the Sheriff Office's accounts) for the citizens of Lauderdale County. 

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You can't tell the players without a program: The name "anonymous" seems to cover a multitude of sins. For that reason, we're asking those who wish to comment to register or to use one of their other Internet accounts. Thanks in advance.

Shoalanda

Sheriff's Department Audit/Another Word from Bailey

Lauderdale Sheriff Ronnie Willis

Since a recent mention of a retailer's experience with a Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department credit card, others have related similar stories. What's the problem?

Rest assured, we can rule out financial irregularities related to dishonesty; the department is not responsible for paying its invoices. It is responsible for submitting check requests and making sure all bills are paid on time. Apparently this has not been done since the retirement of the long-time office manager some months ago.

An audit would simply pinpoint where the delays are in the current system and result in the formulation of more efficient policies. We have no idea how often routine audits are done, but it seems past time for the county commission to take a look at what is, or isn't, going on in the sheriff's office.

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From Bailey: I never expected my opinion on a local rape case to stir up so many comments. I still stand by what I said. I don't know this young man and don't want to know him. My opinions are just that-mine, but I believe they're no different in this case than those of most out there who have read about the accusations. I have no children, but I have a nephew Corey Griffin's age and he's never once been accused of rape or anything close to it.

If Corey is innocent of all these accusations, his parents should have sat him down after his first "problem" and told him how to act and react in certain situations. But you know, at 20 Corey should have already figured out most of that on his own. Let's hope he has now.

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If you haven't read OB's Corner this weekend, be sure to catch item number three of his latest...

Rapists

Shoalanda

Bailey Quarters On Corey Griffin

Bailey's Bailiwick:

Did he or didn't he? Most of us just know what we read in the papers and hear on TV, so what should we think about Corey Griffin? Did he attempt to rape a fellow UNA student last fall?

Guess most of us may never know the answer to that, but we can sort out some of the "details" that are rummaging around here. First we have Corey who graduated from high school in 2009. Mr. Russel says Corey was set to graduate early, but Corey stated himself he didn't start classes until fall 2009 and the papers said he was a sophomore at the time of his arrest. Early? Well, we aren't too sure about that one.

I don't think anyone would be stepping out on a limb here to say Corey has been no saint and he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes. Okay, he's just a high school kid when he roughs up a girlfriend and throws her out of a car. She was obsessed with him? He was obsessed with her? Makes no difference. What he did was violent and obviously wrong and he got probation. Most people would have learned from that.

So less than two years later Corey is at UNA and has an older girlfriend. She gets a restraining order just like his Talladega girlfriend, but we don't know exactly what happened there. Corey is either just as volatile as ever or at best isn't a very good judge of character.

Now we come to the fall frat rush of 2011 and Corey is intoxicated. He probably wasn't the only one and he did have enough sense to know he wasn't able to drive. Score one for Corey. Or maybe not since at least two hours after he leaves the party he has blacked out at home, that's quite a bit of drinking for one who isn't even legal age. Still more illegal activity for the tennis ace, but the kind most wink at I guess. BTW, what does UNA say about all this frat activity and underage drinking?

Now Corey calls a girlfriend to give him a drive home. They wind up having sex in the front seat of her car, but was it consensual or was it rape? Well, the woman says rape, so police are called and find Corey blacked out at his home in Muscle Shoals. No one has suggested Corey doesn't remember what happened, but I will. It's a definite possibility.

I also hope the Muscle Shoals detectives read Corey his rights. He sure opened up to them with all kinds of statements and none of them made him look like a gentleman or even a caring human being. That doesn't make him a rapist, but since this is woman number three who's accusing him of violence it's a distinct possibility.

So a grand jury isn't allowed to hear Corey's past record. I understand that's the law. I really don't understand the correctness of this particular law. Someone charged with rape has shoplifted, it's not important. Someone charged with rape has been charged with violence to women twice before it should be important. But since the grand jury didn't hear about Corey's past they didn't indict him. If I had been on the jury, I probably wouldn't have either. But I wasn't and I've read his history and as Ivy says, he's not exactly a moral character.

End of story, unless Corey hasn't learned something from this incident. I hope he has.

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State senator Roger Bedford has gone on record as saying Alabama's illegal immigration law is racist. Surely Sen. Bedford knows that "Hispanic" is not a race; surely he also knows the law has impacted Japanese and Germans as well as those from south of the border?

Related post: "Hispanic" is Not a Race

Shoalanda

Hank Thomas Critiques the Lauderdale County Commission

Dewey Mitchell

"The Lauderdale County Commission lives in the past," according to Waterloo resident Hank Thomas. Thomas further links Commissioners Larry Irons and D. C. Thornton with Dewey Mitchell, who will be seeking his first term in the new position of County Commission Chair. According to this most persistent critic, these two commissioners "take their lead" from Mitchell and vote as he wishes them to.

Thomas presents at least two interesting issues. It seems the county's emergency plan was last updated in 1998. Since then, the commission paid 10K for a new plan in 2008, but has yet to review it--a necessary step before it can be implemented. At this rate, the "new" plan will be out of date before it's inaugurated.

Thomas' second issue with the commission is the 9:00 a.m. meeting times. Obviously, most working individuals are not able to be present at these semi-monthly events. Thomas states there was once a suggestion to move the meetings to a later hour, but no vote was ever taken on the issue, nor was it ever broached by any commission member after the initial introduction by a county citizen.

Hank Thomas wants all Lauderdale County citizens to become involved in its government. We here at Shoalanda Speaks lobby for the same end. Our commission members need new leadership, not the same good ol' boy politics they have experienced since 1994.

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We hope the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department has enough furnishings and supplies to fill its new offices. It seems one retailer refused to sell any merchandise to the department when its credit card was rejected. Did someone forget to pay the bill?



Shoalanda