"Is There Ever Justice in Franklin County?"

One of our readers asked that question of us, and presumably of anyone reading Facebook that day. Obviously there's never total justice anywhere, but we hope our system comes close. Alabama is strapped for funds, with some counties faring better than others. Franklin County is not one that fares well.

Then we have unfair laws (Read: Capital Cases) and juries who come from such diverse backgrounds that finding peers of defendants is almost impossible in some cases. It's not going to change anytime soon, but we can all lobby for what we believe to be fair.

We can't ask a prosecutor in a relatively minor case to continue if the victim won't testify. Sad, but true. We do think a prosecutor should forge ahead in a rape/murder case even if the victim's mother supports her daughter's killer. Apparently not everyone agrees.

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In Franklin County, we will see the sentencing of Hershel Dale Graham on Friday. The admitted killer of David Martin Andrasik has been free much too long, but it's not that rare. It's simply most don't notice the slowness of the mills of justice until it affects their families.

Our petition to Judge Terry Dempsey will be presented to him tomorrow. We're hoping for the maximum of 20 years for Graham. He wanted to know what it would feel like to kill someone; now he needs to know what it feels like to be incarcerated miles away from family and friends (if he has any of he latter).

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Meanwhile in Limestone County...the Capital Murder trial for Joel Moyers is scheduled for September 9th. Will it start that day?

It's not likely. There's a 91-page docket with 268 other cases scheduled to be heard that day. Perhaps they'll skip lunch?



Shoalanda

Retakes and Reruns

The Quad-Cities Daily has an excellent article on the three new board appointments for the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, as well as some candid discussion of what precipitated the three most recent resignations...or should we say four.

New Board Members

Rodney Hall has also contacted us to report the building and exhibits are in much better shape than has previously been reported. It would seem one salient question remains: Will the AMHOF move, leaving a token exhibit in Tuscumbia?

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A reader asked if the AMHOF will actively seek a new director. At some point, yes, but without funds for a salary, we doubt there will be many applicants...

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The young man described as the king pin of Tennessee Valley heroin trafficking has again been arrested. This brings the number of known arrests for John Wesley Akin to five:

New Arrest for John Wesley Akin

Shoalanda

The Return of Ron Wikkid

Ronald Eugene Weems, aka Ron Wikkid, was in the Shoals today. Wonder if he enjoyed the 50 mile trip from the prison in Capshaw where he'll be spending the rest of his life--we hope? It seems Mr. Wikkid had two issues with his conviction.

One of his complaints was ineffectual counsel. Well, Ron, it is pretty hard to get anyone off when there's not only your run of the mill murder but dismemberment as well. So your attorney John McKelvey knows someone who's a big supporter of your victim's family. Imagine that. Did you think you had more supporters than the grieving family of your victim? Hmmm. How does your head get through that cell door?

Now we will have more appeals, but at least the Wikkid One won't have to come back to the Shoals for any more proceedings.

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During Ronald Weems' murder trial, his sometime girlfriend Ashley Greenhill testified that she called in her friend Matthew Fox to help dispose of Amanda Taylor's body. She related that Fox had a reputation for that sort of thing. We asked at the time just how does one acquire such a reputation?

Sometime after we published that blog, it hit us that Fox often played the part of a grave digger in a local Halloween enterprise. Talk about life imitating art...

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Signs of the times? Who knows of some local Neon signs still in use? Or at least still hanging in their original location? Leave a comment or message on Facebook if you think you know of such a sign that may not be that well-known.



Shoalanda

Lauderdale County Didn't Want it?!

One of our most astute commenters on Facebook mentioned moving the Alabama Music Hall of Fame to Veterans Park in Lauderdale County. He felt the proximity to the Marriott would ensure some steady patrons. Good idea?

It certainly shows promise, but apparently no one in any position of power in Lauderdale embraced that idea. Why? We can only assume the HOF is in such a death spiral that no one who has actually seen it recently would want it--not even to get back at Colbert County for their stand on the new RegionalCare hospital.

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Liberal, Conservative, or somewhere in between? A recent comment by an old friend mentioned the conservative leanings of Pen-N-Sword. We had to think about that one. There's very little political commentary on that site--mainly local news. We have noticed that PNS publishes press releases from both federal and state elected officials.

Yes, like him or not, Mo Brooks is the U.S. Representative for many of us. All of us would do well to monitor the mindset of any of our officials in Washington. As for the state representatives who send PNS glowing commentaries of what they've been up to, we've noticed they all seem to be of the Democratic variety.

We decided to ask how these are chosen. It seems that PNS publishes the commentaries that are sent to them from our elected officials. If readers want a more...or less...liberal take on politics, encourage your elected officials to send out regular press releases

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Under the topic of "Semantics Can Be a Dangerous Game," we see where some opposing a state abortion clinic have begun using the term "pre-born." Let's hope none of our Alabama legislators takes up that sadly lacking effort to oppose these clinics. Any laws to protect the "pre-born" would have to prove that those affected were indeed going to be born--something no one can do.

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We've often commented on the legal problems that surround the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office. Is it the only such office in Northwest Alabama to suffer from a lack of leadership? Apparently many in Lawrence County feel that Sheriff Gene Mitchell has his own set of problems. More on this later...



Shoalanda

Shoals Radio Daze?

A guest commentary that asks some surprising questions:

Shoals residents should be questioning this situation. Have you tried to listen to WLAY or WVNA in the last few years? They have both been getting Special Temporary Authorities (STA) from the FCC to operate on "temporary" antennas at low power (after both were off the air for a protracted period). 

I question the use of the word temporary since this has been going on for years now. I think in the case of one of the stations they were renting property for the antenna and the landlord raised the rent. I'm not sure if that happened with the other, or if they just decided to sell the property to make a quick buck. 

It's possible that they are working on getting facilities to broadcast as licensed, but my suspicion is that they're just keeping something on the air so they don't have to turn in the licenses, either in hope of selling the license to someone who will really use it or (my real suspicion) they don't want to turn in the license because someone else might get it and bring some competition to the market. 

Stations are supposed to meet the conditions of their license. An STA is for a temporary emergency, such as a tower collapse or station fire. WYLE-TV had its license revoked by the FCC because they were not operating as licensed.

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Anyone have any ideas on the current situation with these two stations? Comments welcome.



Shoalanda

Barnard Not Paid? HOF to Huntsville?

We're not sure if anything can save the beleaguered Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Everyone has ideas, but no one has any money. It seems Director Wiley Barnard certainly didn't have any money.

Barnard stated in a TimesDaily interview that “It’s hard to do a job with no budget, let alone not being paid consistently.”

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If the HOF is to survive, it may have to pack up its exhibits and relocate, that is if it can legally do so. A great article in the Quad-Cities Daily mentioned Huntsville as one of two areas currently courting the facility. The second area is Baldwin County on the Gulf Coast:

Pulls the Plug

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From Colbert Heights Volunteer Fire Department:

Our monthly BBQ fundraiser will be Saturday August the 10th from 4-7pm at First Baptist Church of Colbert Heights located at 6000 Woodmont Drive. We will have Spring Valley market catering our dinner, we will have BBQ ribs, chicken and pulled pork plates, all plates come with potato salad, baked beans, bread and tea. The cost is $8.00 per plate dine in or carry out. All proceeds go to the monthly operating cost of your ALL VOLUNTEER department.


Shoalanda

What Do You Do With A Stale Donut?

A few years ago we began a list of local eyesores. Our intention was to limit the list to ten, and as one was (hopefully) corrected, insert another less than appealing sight. The first eyesore on our list was the Knight-Humphries donut on East Tennessee Street.

Knight-Humphries Building Showing Donut Sign Under "E."

The corner building now home to a local real estate company has been occupied by many businesses over the years, and while we are only guesstimating, we believe the donut shop was in business in the 1960s. The Florence sign ordinance was adopted in the early to mid 1970s.

The building was home to Trailways after the donut makers folded their aprons and drove into the sunset. It's possible there have been others forgotten over the years. Now we've been contacted by a representative of Knight-Humphries who believes the City of Florence owns the sign. Why?

The sign does appear to be on the city's right-of-way and, if so, was placed their illegally; however, the owners of the donut shop obviously paid for the sign (at least we hope the City of Florence didn't) and it would have been transferred to each subsequent owner.

We've contacted Dick Jordan, the councilman for the downtown area, to get his take on the best way to remove the sign. Should taxpayers pay for having it removed when it does belong to Knight-Humphries, but is on the city ROW?

Feel free to offer your takes on this, and we'll publish them.



Shoalanda