It may be known officially as the Florence-Lauderdale Animal Shelter, but we all know that most call it the "Dog Pound." Other animals make their way to this, sometimes last, destination, but dogs more than most due to the leash laws. Make no mistake that we support such laws, but the result is more euthanasia...both for dogs, cats, and other small animals.
Our friend the Brown Recluse recently lost her long-time family member, Peppy--the Mound of Round Hound. She and Ol' Boy decided it was time to acquire another canine companion; Peppy would have wanted that for them. Instead of looking at fancy dog magazines or the TimesDaily classifieds, this wonderful couple visited the shelter and came home with their latest addition.
Here's hoping he makes a wonderful new family member. Here's hoping more will emulate the Browns in their wise choice.
*****
We recently received an e-mail with links to several sites listing the cost of illegal aliens in the U.S. Most of the links were not in service and were unverifiable. We did find that two were still working and are worth looking at:
The High Cost of Cheap Labor
Immigration and Welfare
*****
In other news of non-working links, the site Christie Scott Is Innocent is no longer accessible. Most of the points made by Jeremy Scott concerned issues extraneous to the case itself. Perhaps he has wisely chosen to put his efforts and funds into activities that will have a better chance of securing his wife a second trial.
Shoalanda
There's a new website devoted to the Christie Bray Scott murder case, but this one doesn't question either her quilt or future eternal resting place. Created by her husband Jeremy, the site fails to provide the public with much new information or reason to believe the Scott jury reached an incorrect decision. Christie Scott Is Innocent maintains that the case against the Russellville insurance agent was an amalgam of politics and bad police work. While we doubt that politics were involved more here than in any other case, certainly the lost electrical boxes present a picture of Keystone Kops at their worst.
The basic surprises of the site are the revelation of juror misconduct and photographs of injuries Scott received from the two fire investigators who conducted an interview with the suspect two weeks after Mason's death. It seems alternate juror Sherye Price spoke openly of her opinion of Scott early in the trial, but Franklin County Circuit Judge Terry Dempsey failed to declare a mistrial due to relative certainly Price would not be among the final voting jurors in the case.
The injuries Scott received from Jay Edwards and Dalan Gasset are much more troubling. It's understandable the officers did not wish Scott to interrupt a similar concurrent interview with her husband when she demanded to leave; however, two men using strong physical force on a woman who had not yet been charged does not make for good PR for the State's case at best, and opens the county up to a serious lawsuit at worst.
Many "irregularities" in the Scott case that the site present are quite a stretch. Once section questions the validity of Terry Dempsey's election to office due to differences in notary signatures found on campaign finance disclosures. We're guessing a notary picked up the wrong seal and hurriedly decided the best way to handle the problem was to use a matching signature. Perhaps it wasn't the best thought out answer to the problem, but we doubt any such act would nullify Dempsey's claim to the judgeship.
We suggest Jeremy Scott would better utilize his time by finding a good counselor for his son whom he says is so traumatized by having a mother in prison. Noah Riley deserves to have a father who is there for him, not one who is obsessed with proving the innocence of his wife at all costs.
Correction: Our apologies to Todd Putman, whom we incorrectly identified as Tom in a previous column. Todd is a member of the Grown Folks Band--check them out!
Shoalanda 
Joey Rushing says convicted murderess Christie Michelle Bray Scott should die. Joey Rushing says a lot of things.
The Franklin County District Attorney is quoted in Thursday's TimesDaily as stating:
There's nothing worse than a mother murdering a child for insurance and because they didn't want him.
We're not sure to whom the word "they" refers. Observers said Christie couldn't handle the child. Friends said Jeremy was more interested in work and possessions than he was his own son. William Markam, the man who admitted on tape to being Christie's emotional lover said he didn't care for the child, a child he thought should have been "whooped" more.
Surely, these others in Mason Scott's life deserve some of the blame for his death. No, they didn't murder him, but they apparently made no attempt to intervene in what was obviously a pathological situation, a textbook dysfunctional family.
This morning Joey Rushing will request that Judge Terry Dempsey sentence Christie Scott to death by lethal injection, an Old Testament eye for a eye. Surely spending the rest of her natural life in the hell hole that is Tutwiler Prison would be enough punishment for this sick, sick woman.
Then again, let's not forget defense attorney Robert B. Tuten says it's not over yet...
What's up with this: It was the observation of several in the Franklin County courtroom that Joey Rushing should ditch his pink candy-striped English tie and take some lessons from the very GQ Doug Evans.
We recently sat down with Laura Nelson*, a Scott family cousin, and asked her opinion on the circumstances surrounding the death of six year-old Mason Scott and the subsequent arrest of his mother Christie Bray Scott.
SS: I understand you're a cousin to Christie Bray Scott?
LN: No, actually I'm a cousin to Jeremy and Patrick's mother.
SS. Patrick was Jeremy's older brother? How did he die?
LN: It happened about nine or ten years ago. He had just gotten into a truck with some boys just north of Russellville when the vehicle flipped and ejected Patrick. I think he was killed instantly. It was sad since I was always much closer to Patrick than Jeremy. Jeremy was always the remote one. He never seemed to change facial expressions, even before Patrick and Mason's death. Now I never see him smile.
SS: Do you think he may have Asperger's or something similar? I know it can be hereditary.
LN: I don't know. I've never really thought about it, but he's completely different from the rest of his family.
SS: How did Jeremy and Michelle meet? I've heard they were high school sweethearts, but I know Jeremy is from Russellville and Christie is from Haleyville.
LN: I really don't know about that either. Jeremy's parents, Nell and Dale, live in the Crooked Oak community. Nell teaches handicapped children at Phil Campbell, and Dale was a truck driver until about a year ago when he retired in bad health. I understand the Bray family has quite a bit more money than Jeremy's, so I'm not sure how they got together.
SS: Christie is an only child?
LN: Oh, no. She has a sister and a brother and a little sister that died when a car rolled over her. Someone, don't know who, left the car in gear and the child was killed.
SS: Do you think her sister's death affected Christie? I mean in a way that could have altered her perception of reality?
LN: I don't know about that, but she's never seemed just right to me. She's always been distant and like she was in her own little world.
SS: Where is Jeremy living now?
LN: Sometimes he and Noah Riley (his younger son) live with Nell and Dale; other times they live with the Brays. It seems he aligned himself with the Bray family. I've heard Don has had a stroke since all this started and he's determined to keep Noah Riley close. They bought houses in Hartselle and plan on moving there when this is all finished.
SS: Two houses?
LN: Yes, one for the Bray family and one for Jeremy and his family, whatever that turns out to be.
SS: Have you been to visit Christie?
LN: I haven't, but Jeremy and his father-in-law Don Bray take all the girls food. They have to do it that way. They can't take food just to Christie without taking it to the other female inmates as well. When Christie's grandmother died a little while ago, the Woodmen of the World took trays of food to the jail for Christie and the others after the funeral. I assume that's how she's kept her weight up. I know jail food is terrible.
SS: I understand you've been at the trial as much as possible. Do you have any opinions or other info you could share with us?
LN: Well, I think she may get off. They're not paying Tuten (Christie's defense attorney) $300,000.00 for nothing.
SS: You know for a fact that 300K is his fee?
LN: Not for a fact. It's just everyone has talked about how much money Don and Kathy are having to pay out to keep Christie out of prison. So, yes, I can see her walking.
SS: Will you be testifying?
LN: No, I couldn't be talking with you if I were to testify. Some of the other cousins are. Maybe that's why Jeremy doesn't act the same around any of us anymore. There were blisters on the bottom of Noah Riley's feet after the fire. Christie said they were from walking on gravel, but the ones in my family that saw them say they were definitely burn blisters. I don't think anyone had a doctor look at them, but I'm not sure.
SS: You say she might get off. Do you think she did it?
LN: Oh, yes. She's as guilty as hell.
* Name has been changed to ensure privacy (Photo by Matt McKean)
Tomorrow: Florence's Brad Holmes announces his candidacy for District I state representative.
Three days after the death of Mason Scott, pieces of the puzzle that surrounded his last minutes were already falling into place. Russellville Fire Marshal Bobby Malone had called in the Russellville Police Department, the Alabama Fire Marshal's office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
State Fire Marshal Ed Paulk utilized an accelerant-sniffing dog to determine that the fire was not accidental in nature and that the blaze had originated under six-year old Mason's bed. Could the mildly autistic child have been playing with chemicals that some how ignited? Could an arsonist have known that Jeremy Scott was out of town and used that opportunity to settle some real or imaginary score? The third scenario seemed even more bizarre to authorities: Christie Michelle Bray Scott had herself started the blaze that claimed the life of her older son.
It had been less than three years since a fire had destroyed the family's former home at 35 Steel Frame Road in Russellville. There were no injuries in that fire, and Christie had blamed a Glade air-freshener plug-in for the blaze. While there had been no physical injuries related to the previous fire, the home had been insured, and both Christie and her father Don Bray were insurance agents.
The investigation into the previous fire had been perfunctory at best. Christie was a native of nearby Haleyville, the daughter of Don and Cathy Bray, both leading citizens in the small town. Her husband Jeremy S. Scott was an Information Technology specialist for CB&S, a locally owned bank that had been a Russellville institution for over 100 years. Yet the fire on Steel Frame Road had raised suspicions among many in the community--Christie had been involved in two fires at her family home in Haleyville. Now a fourth fire had claimed not only the young couple's new home, but their child.
Mason had started the first grade at Russellville's West Elementary School on August 4. Less than two weeks later he was dead. Now many who had observed Christie and Mason together characterized the mother as uncaring. Others in the community were surprised that Scott showed so little emotion during her son's funeral at Russellville's Calvary Baptist Church and in the days that followed.
Christie Scott returned to live with her parents in Haleyville, while her husband Jeremy took their younger son to his parents' home in Russellville. The young father also took out a protection from abuse order against his now estranged wife after Mason's autopsy showed large amounts of sedative in his system. On October 26, Franklin County Judge Terry Dempsey issued a warrant for Scott's arrest after her indictment by a grand jury. Information presented during the hearing indicated that Alfa Insurance agent Christie Scott had taken out an additional life insurance policy on her son the day before his death.
Tomorrow: The trial
It was almost two-thirty on the morning of August 16, 2008, when screams accompanied by loud pounding awakened Jennifer Davidson. She rushed to the front door of her 216 Signore Drive home in Russellville to find her neighbor Christie Scott. Scott, who lived at 180 Signore Drive, held her four-year old son Noah, while screaming hysterically that her house was on fire.
Davidson immediately called 911; the call reached the switchboard at 2:31 a.m. Firetrucks arrived at the burning residence within ten minutes, but it was almost five minutes more before Scott, 31, informed the firefighters that her six year-old son Mason was still trapped inside.
Scott indicated the location of Mason's bedroom, an area that was already totally engulfed in flames. The responders looked at the flames already broaching the roof and windows and knew that little could be done to save the child from the inferno, yet they worked swiftly to quell the fire, and by 4:00 a.m. responders were able to enter the dwelling. Franklin County Coroner Elzie Malone pronounced Mason dead at the scene.
Christie Michelle Bray Scott was too upset to answer the investigators' questions coherently, but they did learn that Noah had been sleeping in the bed with her while her older son, a victim of Asperger's Syndrome, slept at the other end of the house. Scott's husband Jeremy, 32, an executive with CB&S Bank, was away on business.
Russellville Fire Marshal Bobby Malone surveyed the charred refuse that had been the Scott's home. It was normal protocol to inform the Alabama Department of Human Resources when a child under the age of 18 died. He also decided to call in the State Fire Marshal; Christie Scott had been involved in four fires within the past eight years.
Tomorrow: Motive
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
