Thursday, December 29, 2011

Hearing for Amanda Taylor's Killer/Tuscumbia Lustron History


January 3rd will see Ronald Weems and Matthew Fox in court. It's been reported that Weems has asked for a preliminary hearing. Legal sources say the murderer of Amanda Taylor and his attorney may ask for all or portions of the confession to be declared inadmissible, as well as a change of venue. Fox will be requesting a reduction in his 500K bail.

Sources close to Laurel Pruett (pictured) say she's not requesting bail reduction since none of her family lives in Alabama. We have had conflicting reports as to the custody of Pruett's four-year old daughter, but a second source has confirmed the child remains with Weem's mother in Muscle Shoals. DHR has reportedly petitioned to have the daughter removed.

*****

The Tuscumbia Lustron Home As I Remember It

A Guest Commentary By

Jim Smith


I lived at 705 East 4th street at the time the house was erected. I was the paper boy to everyone in the east end of town so I thought I had to see and know about everything that was going on.

The Catholic Church was on the corner of East Street and 4th. In the earlier years there was a Catholic School and living quarters on the corner of Hickory and 4th.

Sometime around 1948 0r 1949, they decided to build a new Rectory behind the church. It was decided to be a Lustron House. At that time Lustron produced and shipped all steel enameled houses.


The site was prepared and the parts and pieces arrived. A wrecker came to unload the steel parts. They stacked the steel parts and boxes of screws, bolts, etc., along the curb in front of the house. Each part was numbered and much time was spent as they sorted and found the right pieces. Each part had a certain screw or bolt for that section. I was allowed to pick up these things at the end of the day and wish I had saved some of them.

As the house took shape, it was easy to see that once the last screw was in place, it would be ready to live in. Everything was enameled in the color that had been chosen.

I don't remember how long it took them to finish but it did not seem very long. One thing that stands out now as I look back is the fact that there were no fancy electric or air tools as we know them today. Everything was screwed or bolted by hand.


There was some discussion among the workers about not having a back door because of concern for the Priest. Access to him was very limited outside of the Church. I will drop by the site to check this out once the ground dries up and the weather gets better.

This type of house was supposed to be the next best thing to sliced bread as far as technology was concerned. Not only was it pre-insulated, it was designed to last a long, long time. This is evidenced by the one we see off of Woodmont Drive. Even though the years of neglect are showing, I am sure it is in a lot better shape than a wood-frame house would be after all this time.

I don't know the whole story of the company but there are references to bad business decisions and other problems. There does not seem to be problems with the houses themselves. Can you imagine what your house would look like 60 years after it was built had it been neglected and not maintained?

Thanks to Mary for finding it and to everyone for providing the opportunity to tell about it as I remember. Also, thanks to everyone who loves Tuscumbia as much as I do for your interest in saving and preserving as much of our history as we can.

THIS WAS ONE TIME WHERE A meets B and Y met Z that everything came together.

*****

Colbert County native Jim Smith is the author of Walk Through Town (with me as a ten year-old boy). It can be found on Amazon and at several local book stores. Link





Shoalanda

Comments welcome. No profanity. No vulgarity. No libelous statements. Get it? Got it! Good...

15 comments:

  1. Well Mrs. Laurell isn't going to ask for a bond reduction because her family isn't in Alabama. What about all the "faithful" supporters she has...you mean none of them are willing to post her bail. Sounds about right....let's be a supporter/friend if it's going to give me my 15 seconds of fame(shame is more like it) And here they come(the supporters) in 5 4 3 2 1....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tiffany, actually many of her friends rallied to try to raise the money for her bail. They have been told that they either have to be land owners and pay a percentage or pay the total. I am sure $500,000 may be pocket change to you, but not to them.

    As you can read from FB statuses and comments. I am not supporting what happened (I did have a friend who was brutally murdered in her home a few years ago and the guilty was found innocent) however, I am saying that Laurel played a minor roll in the whole thing. Although, knowledge and cover-up is just as guilty as the action......but at least she did not pull the rope or any of the other violent actions. All the families involved have lost loved ones. My bottom line here (to Tiffany) is there is no reason to be hateful in your comments. Everyone is angry and everyone is hurting......

    Status: "Four land owners needed to post her bail. i am begging on her behalf! I know she won't run but she needs to get out and see her baby. im am pleading please help!!"


    Comment: an if we can raise that for her then we could get her out

    Comment: they will put an ankle bracelet on her

    Comment: but thats better than nothing right

    Comment: I don't know if we can raised that but we can try. wish we could get the 4 land owners to sign her bond.

    Comment: yeah i know i would but i dont own my ranch

    Comment: If I owned mine I would do it for her but I just rent! :(

    Comment: She really needs the help, then she could be home with her baby for christmas!!!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Really she needs to get out to see her baby WTF!!!!!! WHAT ABOUT AMANDA & HER CHILDREN THAT WILL NEVER SEE THEY'RE MOTHER! I HOPE & PRAY ALL 3 NEVER GET OUT MAY THEY ROT IN HELL!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Laurel needs to be home with her kids for Christmas ???? What about the fact that AMANDA'S children will never see there mother again!! Laurel knew what Ronald had done to AMANDA & she made no effort to contact police ( what if it was her child ) she is just as guilty as the other 3 & I hope all 4 involved see AMANDA'S face EVERTIME they close they're eyes. JUSTICE FOR AMANDA!!!! JUSTICE FOR AMANDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Where's the clown family???????????????????????

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh yeah silly me....they should have let her out to spend Christmas with her baby....notice you said baby as in ONE child....ummmmm....hello....she has 3 kids. Why would she not want to see those kids? Oh yeah she can't silly me. **Rolls eyes** If she cared that much for her remaining child then she wouldn't have been involved in this to begin with.

    What about Amanda's kids? They'll never ever have ANY holidays left with their mother? What about Amanda's 2 precious nieces that have to spend Christmas knowing that their "sperm donor" brutally killed their aunt, what about the Leeth family that has to endure the agony of not only losing Amanda but having to deal with hearing the horrific details of her murder/mutilation of her body?
    See that's what I'll never understand about the supporters of ANY murder/rapist/etc. they always want to say how bad they feel for the suspect,or you didn't know them like I did...well Thank God I didn't know them....my family might be looking for me. You should Thank God/Clown God/Buddah or whoever you worship that they didn't sacrifice you.

    Also, I don't know Amanda or any of the clowns(pun intended), I don't have money but if I did I sure as hell wouldn't post it for a murderer. Remember this Anonymous....they are not the victims!! The children are but Ron/Laurell made their child the victim, not Amanda!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Such spitefullness!! I see now why one of the two people posting here has wrongly accused others on FB of the crime. So Laurel's friends can't bond her out? So Ron MAY ask for a change of venue/bond reduction? Does it really matter. My Daddy always said opinions are like a******* and everyone has one. So keep spouting off hateful remarks, it isn't helping the situation, and Their kids have lost parents too. No need to sound so spiteful about children. He was not their "sperm donor" he's their father that took very good care of them as a single custodial parent.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ok let me get this straight....I(Tiffany) am not the same Tiffany that cussed/threatened or accused any of you clown/clown-ettes lol of having anything to do with this. In fact I don't know Amanda,poor lil' Ronnie-Poo,Laurell or Fox really I don't care to know the suspects but what I am saying...why should we worry about if Ron/Laurell get to see their kid on Christmas....Amanda's kids will NEVER see their mother again!!

    Stephanie, you're the one that got on Mr.Leeth's profile and was being so spiteful. Why because little Ronnie got caught....well you better be lucky his ass got caught, it could have been you not coming home to your children/mother/daddy/sister/brother etc. Oh no...I'm wrong because all of the groupies are invincible right? I'm sure Amanda would have NEVER thought that her brother-n-law would have done that to her just like you all thought that he wouldn't hurt you all.

    One more thing you never answered for me....why is it that Laurell wanted to get back to her child with Ron but not back around the other 2 of her kids? Are they not important because they are not Ron's kids or is it because they are disabled? That's a great mom for ya there.

    Listen up everybody.....let's take classes from Laurell/Ron on how to be parent's of the freaking year since they are so great.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yep Tiffanny you know it all!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have never been rude to Mr. Leeth in any way & never would. Also, I have never been a fan of ICP.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm calling Ron/Laurell clowns...OMG. I could care less about ICP that really has nothing to do with this to me.

    Everyone else be careful what you say on FB or the clown groupies will report you for harassment for simply stating your opinion. Wow it would be really hard to create another FB account. You characters really crack me up. LMBO at the groupies!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Not that any one crime is any worse or better than another........but please remember there is only one person here who actually committed the crime. The others are claiming they were fearful for their life. You were not there and do not know the situation. All I am asking is for the hatefulness to stop. Be angry.......we all are.....both sides......but stop with the hatefulness.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What?!? Seriously?!? No crime is any better/worse than another? That's what you just said.I think you have crimes and sin confused.Tell me this would you rather me steal a piece of gum from you or kill your family member? According to you all crime is equal. Would you rather me bust the windows out of your car or rape your daughter/sister/mother? I agree a sin is a sin and one is no better/worse than the others but crime is very much different. That's why they have different levels of crime. Ex: Murder 1, Murder 2, TOP(Theft of property) 1st,2nd,3rd. Do you get it yet?

    There was not just one person that committed the crime. Yes one person strangled her...supposedly but it was a crime to file a false police report(the assault they claimed Amanda committed), it was a crime to see a body w/o telling,it's a crime to dismember a person, burn evidence, load a dead body into a trunk,swing a hatchet at an innocent man(Ashley to Mr.Lee), it's a crime to smoke marijuana and take prescription drugs that are not yours,it's against the law to do all this while your toddler is only feet away. Should I keep going or are you understanding?
    Also Laurell didn't live with Ron so therefore she hadn't plenty of time to go to the police....why didn't she? He wasn't around her 24/7.

    I'm not being hateful. I'm simply giving my opinion and those of you who don't like it take it as being hateful. Listen, I'm being as sincere as possible when I say this, you're going to have to grow some thicker skin and put your feelings on the back burner if you are going to support your friends. There are a lot of people that hate them and want them brought to justice...then here you all are saying "No you don't know them...they're good parents/friends....it's not the same people I knew" I could go on and on...there's no telling how many times I've heard this stuff.

    Please everyone remember the true victims in this crime. The children,Laurell's 3,Ron's 5(he has 6 but I counted 1 as Laurell's)Amanda's 3, Ashley's 2 and the families involved because none of them ask for this.

    Ron/Laurell/Ashley/Laquania/Foxy are not the victims here no matter how you look at it!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Amanda's kids didn't see her before she was murdered, because she didn't have custody of them.

    Whoever runs this "blog" should at least get their facts straight before they start allowing people to scream about things they obviously don't know anything about.

    ReplyDelete
  15. We are aware that Amanda's three children are with their father in Arkansas. We know that some readers apparently were not aware of that, but we chose to publish their comments since they held merit. Her children are suffering no matter where they may live.

    ReplyDelete