Three re-sentenced after convictions
overturned in HYR case
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
Three
men convicted of negligent homicide last year have been re-sentenced after
those convictions were overturned, leaving only the cruelty to a juvenile
charge.
Judge
Parker Self re-sentenced Anthony Combs, of Homer, to five years at hard labor,
“all but two years are suspended and placed on two years active supervised
probation with the following special conditions: comply with all standard
conditions, pay a fine of $1,000 and costs or serve 90 days; suspended until
after 3 months of his release, with credit for time served; perform 300 hours
of community service work during probation period.”
He has
two years to file for post conviction relief and 30 days to appeal this
sentence.
Kelton
Greenard was re-sentenced to “5 years at hard labor, all but three years are
suspended and upon release he is placed on two years active supervised
probation with the following special conditions: comply with all standard
conditions; perform 400 hours of community service work and within the first
year, but after the first 3 months pay a fine of $1,500.”
He has
two years to file for post conviction relief and 30 days to appeal this
sentence. Greenard was given credit for time served.
Arthur
Henderson III was sentenced to “5 years at hard labor, all but one year is
suspended and upon release he is placed on 18 months active supervised
probation with the following special conditions: within 3 months of release pay
a fine of $750 and costs, perform 200 hours of community service and comply
with all standard conditions. Henderson is given credit for time served. He has
two years to file for post conviction relief and 30 days to appeal this sentence.
The
three were convicted of negligent homicide and cruelty to a juvenile in October
2008 in the 2005 death of Hope Youth Ranch resident Alex Harris. The three
could have faced up to 10 years in prison.
The
Second Circuit Court of Appeal overturned the conviction of negligent homicide,
saying there wasn’t sufficient evidence on that charge. However, they found the
three were in fact guilty of criminal negligence, which means prosecutors had
enough evidence for a conviction on the cruelty to a juvenile charge.
Larry
English, legal counsel for Greenard and Henderson, said their appeals went all
the way to the Supreme Court.
“We
appealed to the Supreme Court, because we didn’t think the Second Circuit Court
of Appeals went far enough,” English said. “Either they were guilty of criminal
negligence or they were not. He really sentenced them under the criminal
negligence, and not the cruelty to a juvenile (the first time).”
He also
said he was glad to see that the “young men are out of jail.” Combs and one
other co-defendant are now out of jail.
Patrick
Jefferson, legal counsel for Combs, said he’s pleased with the outcome.
“We
felt this was a grave miscarriage of justice; however, we had faith in the
justice system,” Jefferson said. “Our clients were implicated and convicted,
but the justice system prevailed.”
Although
this is good news for his client, a tragedy has still occurred, he said.
“The
tragedy is that someone is dead,” he said. “The other tragedy is that there
were others who were far more culpable.”
He,
along with English on behalf of their clients, is also appealing to the
Louisiana Supreme Court to get the cruelty to a juvenile charge overturned as
well.
The
paperwork has been filed with the supreme court, but there is no word on when
or if the case will be heard, Combs’ attorney said.
Jefferson also said a civil settlement was also filed and that
Hope Youth Ranch settled with Amber Harris, Alex’s mother. According to
reports, Sam Gregorio, attorney for Harris, confirmed that a monetary
settlement was reached in December as allowed by law. According to court
records, the original suit was filed in September 2006, claiming that Harris
died from the negligence of Hope Youth Ranch employees. On December 28, 2009, the youth facility for boys settled out of court with her for an undisclosed
amount, which was not listed in court documents.
The
case was dismissed with prejudice, with Hope Youth Ranch to bear all costs. A
dismissal with prejudice means the plaintiff cannot come back and sue the
facility again over the same issue.
Harris
died September 13, 2005 when he and a group of boys were serving in school
suspension. They were made to run a pipeline at the facility, where Harris
showed signs and symptoms of heat related illness. The autopsy report showed he
died from hyperthermia and blunt force trauma to the head.
The
temperature that day was in the upper 90s with a heat index of 102 degrees.
Man convicted in Athens cross burning
WASHINGTON – Daniel Earl Danforth, of Minden, was convicted
Thursday, January 21, by a jury in Shreveport of a civil rights conspiracy, use
of fire in the commission of a federal felony, and obstruction of justice in
connection with a cross-burning near the home of an interracial couple in Athens, the U.S. Justice Department announced.
Sentencing
has been set for April 14. At sentencing, Danforth, 31, faces a maximum penalty
of 10 years for the civil rights conspiracy, 20 years for obstruction of
justice, and an additional 10 years for use of fire.
At
trial, evidence revealed that on October 23 or 24, 2008, Danforth agreed with
his two cousins to build, erect and burn a cross near the homes of a cousin and
her African-American boyfriend (now husband), and other relatives who approved
of their interracial relationship. Danforth and his co-conspirators built the
cross using two pine trees, wire or cable, and a large nail. One of Danforth’s
cousins then went to get diesel fuel to use to burn the cross. Meanwhile,
Danforth and his other cousin transported the cross to an area adjacent to the
victims’ homes where, using chainsaw gas, they set the cross on fire in order
to intimidate the victims. On October 26, 2008, Danforth telephoned a relative
who was living with the victims and directed her to the location of the burned
cross.
The
evidence also showed that several days later, after the defendant and his
co-conspirators learned that the FBI was investigating this crime as a
potential civil rights violation, Danforth, his cousin who helped transport and
burn the cross, and the cousin’s girlfriend formed a plan to get rid of the
burned cross to prevent the FBI from discovering it and using it as evidence.
Danforth’s cousin then drove Danforth to the woods behind the victims’ homes,
where Danforth removed the cross, disassembled it and hid it in the woods in an
effort to thwart the FBI investigation.
“The
defendant and his co-conspirators, driven by hatred, threatened a family with
violence simply because they associated with persons of another race. Incidents
of this kind have no place in this country, but they are regrettably all too
common,” said Assistant District Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, of the
Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Burning
a cross near someone’s home to threaten or strike fear and terror in the hearts
of other human beings is a criminal act deserving vigorous investigation and
punishment. This office will continue to aggressively direct federal law
enforcement resources toward investigating and prosecuting those criminals who
infringe and violate the civil rights of others,” said William J. Flanagan,
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana.
This
case was investigated by the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant
Attorney Mary J. Mudrick for the Western District of Louisiana and Trial
Attorney Erin Aslan from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Allen entertains guests at chamber
banquet
The Guardian-Journal photos/K.H.
Hightower
Pictured above are 2010’s incoming board
of directors for the Claiborne Chamber of Commerce. Nicole Sanders, center,
will serve as 2010’s president. Beside her, Allen takes a moment for the camera
with the new board. Teddy Allen spoke at 2010’s Claiborne Chamber of Commerce
Banquet Monday evening. He entertained the crowd with funny stories of his life
and his short time here in Claiborne Parish.
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
Teddy
Allen kept the crowd in fits of laughter at Monday’s annual Claiborne Chamber
of Commerce Banquet.
Held at
the Claiborne Parish Fair Complex in Haynesville, a jovial crowd greeted Allen
as he stepped up to the podium.
He
spoke of the top 10 fears people face. The top two, he said, are the fear of
public speaking and death, with the fear of public speaking at the top of that
list.
“They
teach you to pretend they’re all in their underwear,” he said to the crowd.
“Well, that makes me more nervous because I know some of ya’ll.”
He
entertained the crowd with his quick quips and comedic stories of his life. He
spoke of experiences in childhood and experiences in church with his father who
was a preacher. He also spoke of his time in Claiborne Parish. He and his
family moved here in the summer of the year Elvis Presley died, he said, and he
couldn’t say enough of his experiences here and the warm-hearted people he’s
come to love.
“Claiborne
Parish has been really good to me,” Allen said.
And
with a story, he proved that point. He told a story of how he got to college
(and he did graduate from Louisiana Tech University). According to Allen, then
Claiborne Parish Sheriff “Snap” Oakes pulled into his driveway after a day of
scrubbing concrete.
“I’m
covered in all that and Sheriff Oakes pulls up in a marked vehicle,” he said.
“He leaned over and he said, ‘Get in Allen,’ but he didn’t say it as cheerfully
as I’d have liked him to.”
His
demeanor changed, Allen said, and 20 minutes later, the two arrived in Ruston. Oakes pulled up at Tech and said, “This is where you’ll be going to school.” When
Allen protested, Oakes said, “Son, there’s two kinds of jails that you can go
to. You can be over here at what you perceive as college jail or you’ll
probably eventually be at the Homer jail. I’d really rather you be over here.”
Two
weeks later, Allen was enrolled in Tech.
“God
sends these little people to help you when you don’t know how to help
yourself,” Allen said of Oakes. “It’s the best thing that’s ever happened to
me. It taught me to take care of my business. I got back on track and I did
something really weird – I did what they told me to.”
And as
they say, the rest is history. The Shreveport Times newspaper called him in
1989-90 while he was writing sports for the Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans. He left that job to come to Shreveport and he has been keeping the northwest Louisiana region laughing ever since.
“What I
generally do is I try to look around and see what people are doing and write
about it,” he said. “All I try to do is write down the stuff that me and you
live. The break that a writer catches is that human nature never changes.”
And
again, he warmly praised the people of Claiborne Parish for not only the type
of people they are but for the life lessons they taught him.
“That’s
the kind of people you run across in Claiborne Parish – real people,” he said.
“I don’t worry about Claiborne Parish. Claiborne Parish never gave up on me,
just like the good Lord never did. And I don’t see Claiborne Parish giving up
on each other.”
Oldest Thornton sister passes
Maggie Mae Thornton Renfro, 114 (she said
115), passed away Friday, January 22, in Minden. Known as “Aunt Sugar,” she was
the oldest of the renowned Thornton centenarian sisters. Her youngest sister,
Rosie Lee Thornton Warren died December 18, 2009, just 19 days shy of her 104th
birthday. Her younger sister, Carrie Lee Thornton Miller, passed away at 107
years old on January 5. The three were inducted into the Guinness Book of World
Records as the oldest living siblings in the world with a combined age of 324.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, January 30, at 11 a.m. at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Athens. Family hour will be held Friday, January 29,
from 6 until 8 p.m. at St. Rest Baptist Church. She will be buried alongside
her two sisters.
Homer man arrested for drugs
The Guardian-Journal
A Homer
man was arrested last Monday on drug charges after a traffic stop.
Larry
W. Knighton, 55, of Homer, was arrested and charged with simple possession of
marijuana, with bond set at $500, and illegal carrying of weapons, with bond
set at $500.
On
Monday, January 18, Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Roger Ellerbe initiated a
traffic stop on Green Road for improper display of plates. The driver was
citied for display of plate and expired MVI sticker.
Ellerbe
detected a strong odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle. Louisiana State
Trooper Matt Harris and CPSO Deputy Paul Brazzel arrived on scene to assist.
An
investigation into the matter resulted in a .38 caliber pistol being found on
the person of Knighton. A further search of Knighton was conducted and a
marijuana cigarette was discovered in his inside jacket pocket.
Knighton
was placed under arrest, placed into handcuffs that were double locked and
checked for tightness and advised of his Miranda rights.
Knighton
was then transported to the Claiborne Parish Detention Center for booking on
the above charges.
Haynesville gets clean audit report
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
For
four years in a row, the Haynesville Town Council has come back with a clean
audit report.
Skeeter
McBride, with Kenneth Folden and Co. of Jonesboro, told the council that they
had an unqualified status – which is the best status possible for a
municipality.
“It
means we didn’t find anything wrong,” McBride said.
He also
highly praised the mayor, the town clerk and staff for their hard work and
diligence with the town’s finances.
“We
always like to thank the people we work with up here,” McBride said. “The
mayor, the town clerk and staff – the Town of Haynesville has awful good people
working for them. The staff is very efficient, they get things done. We
appreciate their efforts. We think the people of this town should appreciate
the effort these people put forward.”
According
to audit highlights, McBride said the town’s net assets increased by $642,843
for the fiscal year. The net assets in total are $7,030,032. This represents
both governmental and water and sewer assets.
The
total revenues for all funds for the fiscal year are $2,900,606, up $444,181
from the prior year due to higher grant income. Also the total expenses for all
funds for the fiscal year are $2,257,763, up $79,712 from the prior year
primarily due to higher public safety and utility costs.
There
are several other things the town was praised for, including the fact that it
incurred no debt for the fiscal year, largely due to the amount of grant monies
the town received for town and infrastructure improvements.
“I
think it’s commendable that the town actively pursued and got grants to cover
these improvements and it managed to put aside money to cover the cost of the
new fire truck,” McBride said.
There
were also no issues with internal control over financial reporting and no
material weaknesses were found.
In
other news, the council heard the first reading of an amendment to Ordinance
No. 577, which deals with building code enforcement. Town Attorney Danny Newell
tweaked the original ordinance to include a third party to act as a building
inspector.
Ordinance
No. 577, Section 6-104 (B) states, “The Town of Haynesville may contract with
certified third-party providers to act in the capacity of a building code
enforcement officer or to assist the Building Official for the Town of Haynesville in enforcing the provisions of this Ordinance. The procedures available to the
Building Official for the Town of Haynesville or any certified third-party
provider shall include, but is not limited to the examination or review of
plans, drawings, or specifications; the conducting of inspections; and the
issuance, denial or revocation of permits.”
If
passed as amended, this means the town will be able to use the parish’s
building code inspectors, IBTS. In December 2009, the council agreed to go into
an intergovernmental agreement with the parish to handle Haynesville’s building
code enforcement.
“We
would still need someone designated as an official building person for [the
town], and that is included in the ordinance,” Brown said.
A
public hearing will be held at 5:45 p.m., just before the council meeting set
for 6 p.m., Thursday, February 18. A copy of the ordinance is available for
review at Haynesville City Hall.
Also in
council news, CAC member Martha Trinko updated the council and the public on
the happenings of several activities taking place. She discussed Haynesville’s
new website, saying Mayor Sherman Brown suggested having a calendar of events
which would allow events of interest to be published in order to help get the
word out.
The
issue is the newspapers of the parish only publish weekly, and sometimes
there’s just not enough time to get an event turned in before publication. This
way, advertisement of events will get to the public sooner.
Later
in the meeting, Brown told council members and the public that he was still
waiting on Shaffer Designs to release the domain name for Haynesville’s current
website. The new link will be www.haynesvillela.org.
The
council also approved a motion to pay Mary Presley, the new web designer, an
initial $150 for setup costs and $50 per month after that to update the site.
Also,
there is a little bit of money left over in the Christmas fund, of which the
mayor intends to use to take advantage of a 50 percent off sale to further add
to the town’s collection of Christmas decorations. Another suggestion Trinko
added was to add more lights downtown.
Coming
up in June is Haynesville’s Music Fest. Haynesville native musician Bobby Rush
has agreed to perform another free concert.
Other
areas of interest include the town-wide cleanup. They are currently looking at
dates to set for the event. Also, they are looking into having a community-wide
garage sale, of which the funds raised will go to a special needs fund. The
purchase of a marquee to be placed at city hall was also suggested.
The
next CAC meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Monday, February 8.
In
police news, Chief Anthony Smith had some concerns about parking on streets,
the mayor said, but Smith was not able to attend the meeting to discuss it
further.
In
other police news, a special meeting was held January 11, where the council
approved the hiring of Officer Scott Glenn as the town’s K-9 officer. Officer
Aaron Christian tendered his resignation to the department and has gone to work
for the Claiborne Parish Sheriff’s Office.
For
more information on any of these topics or for questions, please call Haynesville City Hall at 318-624-0911.
Industry doing its part in Sparta education
MICHELLE BATES, Editor
The
Sparta Groundwater Commission has made great strides in educating the public on
water conservation, and industries are now stepping up to the plate.
One
industry, Flakeboard in Simsboro, is now looking for ways to reduce the amount
of water it pulls from the Sparta Aquifer. Joey Perry, EHS manager, said they
use Sparta water in their cooling towers, which is part of the process they use
when recycling wood chips, sawdust and other materials to make particle board.
The water is also used in processing resin and for fire protection.
Meters
on the wells are very important, he says, to measure just how much water they
are pulling from the Sparta.
“One
thing I hope to see industries get on the bandwagon with is the use of meters
on their wells,” he said, “because to me you can’t really tell how much you’re
using in relation to how much you’re saving if you don’t have hard numbers.”
One of
the uses of groundwater, he said, is in a process called wash down, which is
washing down accumulated wood material. The company has a couple of weirs
(containers) where it discharges water. The water is collected in a weir and
the particles are filtered out
“What
we can do is capture that water in those weirs and we can pump it back into our
fire ponds, conserving approximately one third of our overall usage,” he said.
“In essence our burden on the aquifer for wash down, we can mitigate through
that with the additional rainwater we can catch as well.”
In a
month, Perry said his company uses approximately 800,000 gallons of water.
That’s strictly groundwater from the Sparta Aquifer. Potable water, he said,
comes from the City of Simsboro.
One of
the next projects for his engineers after they complete a capital project, he
said, is to focus on ways to conserve water.
“It’s
surprising how little my employees know about the Sparta,” he said. “Hopefully
by doing this, it’ll put pressure on other industries to start conserving
water.”
In other
commission news, Lindsey Gouedy, Sparta educator, says she is currently working
on a new design for the commission’s website. The new design is up and running,
she said, but it’s still not complete.
The
issue is the website program they are using is not very user friendly, he said.
It is a work in progress and he expects to go live by spring. Everything on the
website will be fact-based, and everything will go before the commission before
it is published on the website.
She is
aiming for a completion date at the end of February, which means when users go
to the website’s url, it will go to the current website. Currently, the url
link is to the website now, www.spartaaquifer.com.
Something
else she said she is pursuing is selling ads on the website. Commission members
were asked to get at least two ads from each community with a price of
approximately $35 per ad. This would bring in an income of at least $15,000 per
year.
“There
is a market out there for this,” said Rick Hohlt, who has championed Sparta education. “This is seed money for more education. At least that’s my vision for
this.”
“This
will be an avenue of revenue that we’ve never had before,” said Commission
Chairman Todd Culpepper.
Another
focus the commission is working on is gaining tax exempt status. Getting a
501(c)3 status will help in securing grant money. According to Dr. Bill Branch,
most of the grants he and Gouedy have sought require the entity applying to
have a tax exempt status.
Along
those same lines, Culpepper requested approval from the commission to sign
cooperative agreements with parishes, cities, towns and villages. He said there
was an issue in getting some donations because the municipality or parish needs
documentation of where the donations are going. He was given approval to sign
the agreements on behalf of the commission.
The
next meeting will be held April 15 in Union Parish. Time and location will
follow soon.
Lake Claiborne Permanent Channel Markers Project Underway
Chic Hines, Claiborne Parish Watershed
District’s (CPWD) Permanent Markers Project chairman, reports that the
Permanent Channel Markers (Pilings) Project is well underway on Lake Claiborne and proceeding smoothly. Chic says that, if the project goes forward at its
current rate and the weather holds, pile driving may be complete by the end of
February. After that, signage will be placed. Chic asks that boaters avoid
the work area if at all possible and, when boating in the work area, proceed at
very low speed under low wake conditions. At http://cpwater.org, there's a
diagram of approximate channel marker locations on Lake Claiborne. To be put
into touch with Commission members for more information, call the Watershed
District office at 927-5161.
(Photo courtesy of Smiley Pemberton)
Voter canvass continues
Claiborne
Parish Registrar of Voters is conducting the annual canvass of registered
voters in the parish.
The
canvass is conducted annually by law to verify the addresses of those voters
who the United States Post Office National Change of Address system cannot
confirm.
If you
receive an identification card or an address confirmation card, please take
time to look at the information. If changes need to be made, make the changes
and mail back to the Registrar.
For any
questions, please call the Claiborne Parish Registrar of Voters Office at
927-3332.
Claiborne
Parish will be having an important election this fall. Voters need to be sure
that their address, name and party are correct before these elections. These
items could effect where you vote. This is why it is important to participate
in the canvass and have your driver’s license or picture identification
correct.
The
Office of Motor Vehicles can change your address free of charge. For more
information, please call the Registrar of Voters Office at 927-3332.
