Scott County Times from Forest, Mississippi • Page 1

"Uf TO1 Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Vol. 55, No. 51 Copyright 1994, THE SCOTT COUNTY TIMES December 21, 1994 FOREST, MISSISSIPPI 50 I 'J I TIMES Ready for Santa Lawsuit threatened Lee says Gaddis family may sue aldermen By SID SALTER Times Editor A- 0 12- 4 i Forest City Attorney Thomas D. Lee said Tuesday that he had this week received a letter from attorneys representing Caddis Breeder Farms, Inc. that threatens the filing of a damage suit against city aldermen who voted May 17, 1994 against the issuance of a permit for a proposed trailer park on Trenton Road.

Caddis Breeder Farms, Inc. is owned by Forest Mayor Fred Caddis' family, although Caddis says he maintains no legal interest in the company. Lee also announced a trial date on a bill of exceptions filed by CBF against the city on May 27 has been set for January 23, 1995 in Decatur. The bill of exceptions seeks a ruling from Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon that reverses the city's denial of the trailer park permit and forces the City of Forest to pay GBFs legal fees and all court costs. In the motion, CBF claims the City of Forest "abused its discretion, acted arbitrarily and capriciously, unreasonably, discriminatorily and outside the bounds of law" when their application for a trailer park permit was denied on a 3-2 vote on May 17.

On May 17, Ward One Alderman James Clark and Ward Four Alderman Bob Stringer voted in favor of issuing the permit. Ward Two Alderman Billy Frank Alford, Ward Three Alderman Nancy Chambers and Ward Five Alderman Skipper Warren voted against issuing the permit. Tuesday night, Lee told the aldermen of his receipt of the letter threatening a damage suit against them by CBF and asked the board to enter executive session to discuss the matter, but said that in the absence of Warren from the meeting, the board had the option of dealing with the matter next week in a special meeting. The board is expected to meet on the matter next week and it is anticipated that Lee will again attempt to lead the board back behind closed doors. Should the board discuss the lawsuit Lee told them had been threatened by Gaddis attorney Robert Logan's letter, the public will be effectively shut out of the board's decision on whether or not the proposed Trenton Road trailer park gains a permit.

revises statement Sheriff Richardson By SID SALTER Times Editor a. Morton child suffers critical burns Monday A ten-year-old Morton boy remained Tuesday at press deadline in critical condition at the Mississippi Firefighter's Burn Center at Creenville after suffering severe burns in an accident at his home at approximately 4 p.m. Monday. Josh Frith, a Morton Elementary fourth-grader, was apparently playing with a cigarette lighter near a can of gasoline when the fuel ignited and exploded. He was stabilized at Scott Regional Hospital in Morton before being transferred by ambulance to the Burn Center, where he remains in the Intensive Care Unit.

The son of Morton Policeman Billy Frith and wife, Wanda, the Frith child lost a portion of one leg in an accident two year? ago. The boy was with his 79-year-old grandmother, Mrs. Eva Odom, at the time of the accident. She suffered burns while extinguishing the flames after the child ran to her aflame from the waist up. Mrs.

Odom was treated and released at Scott Regional. A neighbor, Pat Tadlock, said donations to the child could be sent to the child at the Morton Police Department. Derricks to ink football scholarship with MSU Forest High School Head Football Coach Jack French announced Tuesday that standout FHS Bearcat defensive back Anthony Derricks had committed to pay college football for the Mississippi State French said Derricks' final choices had narrowed to Southern Methodist, Ole Miss, USM and State before the athlete announced his commitment to MSU. "Coach (Jackie) Sherrill seems tickled about it and the coaches up there believe he can play in the big time and perhaps make an immediate difference for their team," French said. Forest, Morton publish holiday schedule dates The City of Forest and the City of Morton will observe the Christmas holidays on Friday Dec.

23 and Monday, Dec. 26. The New Year's holiday will be observed Monday, January 2, 1995. In Morton and Forest, the garbage routes will run on a regular schedule. Christmas tree can be recycled at MS Power Christmas trees symbolize the spirit of the holiday season.

But after the holidays, discarded Yuletide trees can take up thousands of cubic feet of valuable landfill space. Mississippi Power Company is again coordinating a Christmas tree recycling program for residents of Meridian and Lauderdale County. From December 26 through January 9, area residents my drop off their Christmas trees at the Forest office at 610 East Third Street. Area residents may drop off their trees any time during the day and are reminded to remove all lights, ornaments and tinsel. The trees will be shredded to make mulch which will be used for planting new trees and shrubbery in the area.

The recycling program is sponsored by Mississippi Power, The City of Meridian, Keep American Beautiful, and the Meridian City Tree Board. Our Deaths 2A 2A 4A 13A IB 3A Views Classifieds. Sports Society nil The children of Al and Michelle Easom of Sebastopol are anxiously awaiting Santa's visit. Looking prim and proper in their matching clothes, each claim to have been very good this year. Andie (from left) is six years old and would like for Santa to bring her a pair of roller blades.

Cal, five, "needs" a power tool shop, a Batman car and a barn to go into, and Ally, nine, will be thrilled with a ten Speed bike. (Times staff photo by Leilani Pope) Scott County Sheriff William Richardson issued a formal statement Tuesday revising his previous public comments on the Alan Richard missing person case made in the Dec. 14 edition of The Times. "We double-checked our records after the paper Came out and while the paper reported what we said, we were wrong in some of our statements from my office," he said. "We take responsibility for those comments, but we want the public to know the facts." Richardson's complete statement reads as follows: "On Sept.

19, Amy Meacham, Scott County E911 Dispatcher, received a 911 call from Hughes Aircraft at 10:14 a.m. The caller advised me(Richardson) that Alan Richard, Jr. had not shown up for work in a few days. I advised the caller that I would send a deputy to Mr. Richard's residence.

Scott County Deputy Sheriff Jack McGee and Auxiliary Deputies Earnest Speed and Thomas Wallace were dispatched to Alan V. Richard, residence on 705 Cash Road at 10:45 a.m. Alan's friend, Greg Forsythe, met the deputies at the house. Alan's house was unlocked, so they entered. Nothing at the house looked disturbed.

"On Sept. 20, 1994, Alan Richard's parents came to the Scott County Sheriffs Department. Deputy Jack McGee received all the information that was needed to enter Alan Richard on the NCIC(National Crime Information Computer) computer. Alan Richard was entered on the NCIC on Sept. 20.

This is why Leake County did not receive a "hit" when they ran the tag on Alan's vehicle. "We have worked hard on this case. We brought Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol Investigator Danny Knight into the case on Nov. 10, 1994. We investigated every lead that we had.

Much work has gone into this case. "On. Dec. 9, 1994, Alan Richard's body was recovered on Utah Rd which is in Leake County. In closing, this case 339-94 is now a solved case.

Everything was done to try to find Alan. This case is now a closed one." Victim's parents issue public statement imp i i.t just the implementation thereof, which helped turn a near-routine traffic accident into the type of gut-wrenching trauma that no parent, child, sister or friend should ever have to endure. After this rather lengthy preamble, we would like to get down to the real purpose of this letter, namely to single out those dear people to whom we will be grateful for the rest of our lives. First of all, we thank a man named Sid Salter, who, little more than a week ago, was just a name on the masthead of a small town weekly paper, but whose professional, courageous journalistic effort finally got the printed word into the lap of the man who would provide the crucial evidence which had evaded all of the law enforcement systems, processes and procedures for so many agonizing weeks. We thank you also, Sid, for your personal acts of kindness and consideration which helped us get through this brutal past week.

Next in line, but no less deserving of our gratitude, comes the man who, after a hard day's work, settled down to his weekly paper, read Sid's column and immediately "made the connection" between a tangled piece of wreckage and our missing son, whose remains had lain for so long in that lonely ditch beside Utah Road. Charles Miller didn't wait until morning to see if his hunch was correct, but went right out and did something about it He confirmed his suspicions, immediately notified the proper authorities, and thereby became the essential "forcing function" that resulted in the grisly discoveries of the next day. If all those responsible for procedural implementation (and you, too, know who you are) had rjerformed as diligently, our agony might not have been so prolonged. We thank Cod for you, Charles Miller, and are glad to have 1 ,1 been able to thank you face-to-face. To Lynn Rudmann, a faithful and trusted friend, who organized Alan's memorial service, who provided us with hands-on physical and emotional support during our many trips to Forest and during the empty days in between, we owe whatever sanity we have been able to maintain.

Greg Forsythe, Bill Schneider and Debbie Williams were by our sides continuously as well. We'll always be thankful to Denise Barnes of the Bank of Forest for her assistance. Alan's fierce pride in his friends was certainly well justified; we will always be grateful. We extend our gratitude to Reverand and Mrs. Richard Forsythe (Greg's Mom and Dad), whose kindness and support went well beyond the conduct of a beautiful memorial service, and to Thelma Goodson, who provided piano accompaniment for Reverend Forsythe and whose vibrant, expressive voice moved us deeply as she sang her own solo.

These precious memories will help sustain us as we get with our lives once again. Our thanks to Alan's fellow workers at HAMI for your prayers, your floral tributes and for taking the time to worship with us in honor and remembrance of our son. We look back with pride on our own years of association with Hughes, just as we take pride in his all-too-short career with HAMI. There's a young man named Alan in FJ Paso whose heart swelled with pride at the delivery of a Norfork Pine living Christmas tree arrangement from the folks at HAMI. It's living proof to him that his Dad really did make a difference.

Thanks also to our long-time friends whose support has helped to keep us going. May Cod Bless You AD. Al and Chris Rkhard Huntsville, AL EDITOR: Chris and I returned safely to Huntsville late yesterday afternoon, after an uneventful drive up the Natchez Trace, with the nightmare of the last three months hopefully behind us. Now it's time for us to attempt to express our thanks and appreciation to those who helped bring that nightmare to some sort of a conclusion, and who supported us with their prayers, with their deeds of kindness and with their acts of civic responsibility and courage. You all know who you are.

The Cowboy, as some of his close friends dared to call him, rode his first horse in the summer of 1964, in the desert of El Paso. That horse's name was Jim. Some thirty years later, on Tuesday the 16th of December, we took Alan on his last ride, as we laid him to rest in his beloved El Paso. This time, his ten year old son helped us carry him those final few steps. Alan came to Forest with the intent to "make a difference" in the manufacturing systems, processes and procedures which make HAMI tick.

"Continuous Quality which to many of us amounts to little more than passing buzzwords, was somewhat of a professional creed, or perhaps a personal crusade with him. He threw himself into his work with passion, and somewhere in the process, he fell in love with the town, the people, and with the little patch of land he had settled on, dreaming of the day he might turn it into a "real" ranch, where he could raise some cattle and "maybe pick some His dream came to a tragic and violent end on the night of 1415 September. Sometime soon, when we are capable of more rational reflection, we will share our thoughts regarding the apparently seriously flawed 'systems, processes and procedures', or iraybe Crash-and-dash robbery As yet unidentified thieves stole this City of Forest street truck from the city maintenance facility on Commerce Loop and then backed it through the front entrance of Lenny's Pawn Shop on Hwy. 80 west in Forest at approximately 3 a.m. Tuesday and stole more than 20 handguns and other merchandise.

Forest Police Chief Hiram Richardson said the case remains under investigation. The keys were In the, vehicle when It was stolen and the thieves drove it over the metal gates of the fence around the city maintenance motor pool yard. staff photo by Sid Salter).