The State of Tennessee has not officially decided to request the death penalty for Valentino Miranda, according to Knox County assistant prosecutor Kevin Allen. Now, because of a delay sought by defense attorney Joseph A. Fanduzz, Allen will have until February 19, 2010, to file the paperwork that could mark the beginning of the end of the illegal alien's life.
Should Allen's office choose to request the maximum penalty in the 2008 murder of Jennifer Hampton, Joe Fanduzz, a Democrat who has boasted of contacts with Barack Obama, will oddly enough be relieved of his duties as court appointed defense attorney. Fanduzz apparently has not been a member of the Tennessee Bar Association a sufficient length of time to serve as lead defense attorney in a capital case. Sources say Fanduzz's stepfather, John Eldridge, has also asked to be excused from defending the illegal immigrant.
In the mean time, Joe Fanduzz has secured a delay in the trial. Miranda's day in court has been postponed until September 2010 due to motions by the two defense attorneys claiming the former Days Inn maintenance man will need at least three translators to properly handle his case.
In the interim, Valentino Miranda is enjoying whatever amenities the Knox County Jail has to offer. In other words, the citizens of Tennessee are paying to provide this violent sexual deviant with accommodations far surpassing what Miranda endured in his native Mexico. We do hope Bubba and Mad Dog have provided him with a warm welcome.
Photo of Miranda and Fanduzz by J. Miles Cary
Please write: Judge Bob R. McGee, 7721 Sabre Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919. Judge McGee will have the final say in the sentencing of Valentino Miranda, assuming the illegal immigrant is found guilty. Let Judge McGee know how you feel concerning this depraved criminal who brutally took Jennifer Hampton's life.
Shoalanda 
Republican Brad Holmes has officially launched his campaign for the State House of Representatives District 1. You can learn more about Brad at his website, or better yet, meet him tonight at the Florence Christmas parade. Brad is a novelty in the political world--someone who genuinely cares and means what he says. Whether you are Republican, Democrat, or Independent, we invite you to get to know Brad Holmes and his wife Sara. We think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Florence's Christmas parade begins tonight at 7:00 p.m., weather permitting. Besides several local candidates, you can expect a multitude of floats, the Pride of Dixie marching band, and the guest of honor, St Nicholas himself. See you there.
Congratulations: To Morris Lentz on being re-elected President of the Lauderdale County Association of Volunteer Firefighters. We'll have more on this later.
Shoalanda
It's been 11 months since Jason Lyn (Frog) Gasque was arrested on charges of the sexual abuse of one of his students. Gasque has still not come to trial, and the citizens of Lawrence County continue to pay the coach's salary.
We first reported on the charges against Gasque in our January 13, 2009, column. At that time, we incorrectly stated Gasque had worked in the Florence City system for two years. According to Florence Superintendent Kendy Behrens, Gasque worked only one year for Florence where he enjoyed a perfect record and was eligible for rehire. Unfortunately, he didn't enjoy the same reputation in other systems.
In early May, Gasque was formally indicted in Lawrence County on charges of inappropriate contact with the 16 year-old Speake student. On May 20th, the Lawrence County Board of Education met in its regular session, during which board members discussed the pending litigation and unanimously voted to terminate Gasque. Superintendent Heath Grimes stated the official termination did nothing to stop Gasque from drawing his regular salary until all legal charges are officially settled.
The 32 year-old Gasque is married to the former Susan Robledo, 35, a Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner, who works at a Courtland rural health clinic in Lawrence County. Friends of Susan Gasque report that she has worked independently to obtain information favorable to her husband and plans to testify at his trial. Jason Lyn Gasque has told family and friends that he has no plans to re-enter the teaching profession after his trial, a trial that he and his wife have no doubts will exonerate him.
If the charges against Gasque have been concocted, we hope those responsible will be punished to the fullest extent. If they are true, we wish the same for Jason Lyn Gasque to whom the citizens of Lawrence County entrusted their children.
What's up with this: Good Samaritan Hospice of Madison (at one time ostensibly closed) is suing former owner Randy Gist for fraud. This is a civil suit and can be dismissed as frivolous by the judge; we have not seen a copy of the suit in question, but the word frivolous hardly seems to cover it.
Shoalanda
Part IV in our series on Tony Logan
Like many others last Saturday afternoon, Tuscumbia Police Chief Tony Logan was eager to arrive home in time to watch the SEC football championship on television. Perhaps too eager considering his blood alcohol content.
Logan lives in the western part of North Wood Hills, an older subdivision situated off Cloverdale Road near the small community of Petersville. Drivers in the area reported seeing Logan's Honda driving erratically shortly before three o'clock and reported their observations to police who quickly responded. By 3:10 p.m., Logan had run a stop sign at an intersection near his home on Castleton Road. Most streets in that residential area are posted with a 20 mph limit; observers estimated that the Tuscumbia Chief was traveling at least 50 mph. As Logan approached his home, he hit his mailbox, bounced into his parked Tuscumbia police vehicle, and then careened across the street to come to rest against his neighbor's now badly damaged car.
When Florence officers arrived immediately afterward, Logan refused to take a sobriety test. Such a refusal in Alabama automatically suspends one's license for 90 days. Logan was still lucky, in some states the suspension can last a year. The responding officers declared Logan "drunk" and took him to the Florence-Lauderdale Detention Center where he spent the next 12 hours. One Florence Police officer has been quoted anonymously as stating Logan has been detained previously for DUIs and let go without charges.
Tuscumbia city fathers are refusing to comment on the issue, stating there will be no attempt at a resolution of the matter until Tony Logan's legal problems are cleared up in Florence. Ironically, Terry Sherron is again acting Chief of Police for the small Colbert County town of Tuscumbia.
Photo courtesy of WHNT
Reminder: Heart's Cry Thrift Store in Elgin still has approximately 20 names on its Grandparents' Tree. Making someone else happy is the best part of Christmas. Won't you consider adopting one of these nursing home residents?
Shoalanda
Part III in our series on Tony Logan
In June 2008, the city of Tuscumbia decided a new police chief was in order. For many months, Terry Sherron had been acting chief, but observers noted that department morale was low, with many officers openly criticizing the acting chief.
Besides Sherron, four others also vied for the position: Scott Wallace, Lee Smith, Ronald Dollar, and Tony Logan. By July, the Tuscumbia City Council unanimously voted to hire former Florence Deputy Chief Tony Logan, offering him the salary of $38,000.00 a year. Logan accepted the job, but not without even more controversy. Logan, who holds a Masters Degree from the University of North Alabama, was also working on a PhD from an online university. Would Logan be willing to work with Tuscumbia on a long term basis for such a meager salary?
Once in office, Logan began to receive wide praise for his work with the department, but not without further notoriety. While revamping the small police force, Logan chose to terminate some employees whom he perceived as either under performing or otherwise unneeded. Darlene Webb was one such employee. Upon being terminated, Webb immediately left Logan's office and attempted to return with a gun. Making it as far as an outer office, Webb fired into the ceiling, ran from the building, and was later apprehended in nearby Spring Park. Logan announced at the time that he was unaware of the gun play so near his office and wished his former employee well.
By November 2008, Tony Logan's name was again involved in controversy. During the initial interviews for the Tuscumbia Police Chief position, City Clerk Carol Burns handled the phone surveys, a process Mayor Billy Shoemaker claimed Burns used to rig the initial selection of candidates. Besides her duties as town clerk, Carol Burns had long been affiliated with the Tuscumbia Police Department.
By December, Burns had decided to retire from her position, while still vehemently denying that she had falsified any references or other information in Tony Logan's initial telephone interview. With the removal of this lone remaining impediment to his reputation and authority, Logan was now ready for smooth sailing as Tuscumbia's Police Chief. Apparently the smooth sailing has lasted only a year.
Note: For our exclusive interview with Carol Burns and her views on her job with the city of Tuscumiba, please visit this link.
Shoalanda
Part II in our series on Tony Logan:
As April 2007 came to a close, Deputy Chief Tony Logan's situation in Florence unexpectedly reversed. Police Chief Rick Singleton announced that Tony's problems with the department had been resolved and the veteran officer from Tuscumbia had been reinstated. Logan had not taken his dismissal lightly and had been on administrative pay during the three week period. Singleton refused to answer specific questions, but praised his deputy chief's performance while with the Florence Department. Neither did Logan's attorney Tim Case comment on the reasons for such a swift resolution to the situation. Surely, most saw Logan's quick reinstatement as an end to the matter, but that was not the case.
Less than a year later, Logan was in trouble with the Florence Department again, this time accused of allowing unlawful access to city police records. Singleton once more placed Tony Logan on paid administrative leave on February 6, 2008, and Logan, acting on advice of his attorney Tim Case and family members, stated one week later that the had chosen to resign rather than again face charges. The matter was investigated by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, and Chief Singleton quickly announced there was also no illegal or criminal action involved in the second set of charges against his former Deputy Chief. Singleton immediately replaced Logan with Captain Tim Shaddix, another long-term department veteran.
After his resignation, Tony Logan announced he was happy the trials of the Florence Police Department were behind him. The now divorced Logan stated he planned to continue his work as an adjunct instructor at the University of North Alabama and to open his own consulting business, LAD. Logan also did not rule out his return to Florence Police if certain situations were to change. Whether the former Deputy Chief was referring to Chief Singleton or other matters is not clear, but it was not to be the city of Florence that called for Tony Logan.
Tomorrow: Tuscumbia needs a new police chief, or Tony meets Carol
Shoalanda
Tuscumbia Police Chief Tony Logan spent 12 hours in the Florence-Lauderdale Detention Center, being released sometime after ten o'clock this morning. Immediately after his release, he requested a leave of absence of indeterminate length from the Tuscumbia department. Logan has been chief of the small Colbert County town for only a year, and now leaves the Tuscumbia Police Department again rudderless.
Ironically, Logan began his career in law enforcement in Tuscumbia in 1983. Two years later, Logan became part of the Florence Police Department were he once served as one of two Deputy Chiefs, even teaching law enforcement classes at the University of North Alabama. A 2003 article from the TimesDaily called Logan the most important man at the Florence Police Department; how Florence Chief Rick Singleton felt about this remark is anyone's guess.
Tony Logan and fellow Deputy Chief Pete Williford served without complaint until 2005 when a Florence businessman filed charges of police harassment against his family. Logan and Williford investigated the allegations and found them to be without merit. When the family took their complaints to the District Attorney's office, the Florence City Council became involved. While Logan and Williford's handling of the complaint was never officially censured, Chief Singleton announced the policy for investigating such complaints would be completely revised.
On April 1, 2007, Chief Singleton announced that Chief Deputy Tony Logan had been terminated. The press release took some by so much surprise that they assumed the story was an April Fool's prank. Singleton could not have been more serious.
While stipulating that Logan had not committed an illegal or criminal act (and we're not sure of any difference in the two), Singleton refused to further comment publicly on Logan's termination. Privately, Singleton is said to have stated the situation had been building for some time. Deputy Chief Tony Logan, while claiming surprise at his dismissal, immediately hired Florence attorney Tim Case to defend him before the Florence Civil Service Board.
Tomorrow: What Tony did next... (With apologies to Katie Price.)
Shoalanda
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