U.S. Marshals in Cleveland have arrested a registered sex offender from Anniston who was out on bond for a 2006 murder charge and is wanted in another shooting in January.
Here is the new story
Here is the story from the 2006 murder
Here is the story from the January shooting
Here is a link to Keyonte Chick's sex offender page
Friday, February 15, 2008
State senator introduces bills to allow college students, teachers to carry weapons on campus
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| Cpl. Ricky Gaither works with the Jacksonville State University police department. JSU has a policy banning students and teachers from carrying guns on campus. Photo: Bill Wilson/The Anniston Star |
If two proposed laws pass Alabama's Legislature this year, some college students and teachers could be packing more than books to class.
State Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, introduced bills to allow ROTC students and any professor with a license to carry guns on campus.
Erwin's bills come in the wake of recent shootings like Thursday's rampage at Northern Illinois University, in DeKalb, Ill. A gunman killed five and injured 16 people when he opened fire at a lecture hall there.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Testimony begins in case against Patient First
Testimony began Tuesday in a medical negligence case brought by an Oxford resident against Patient First Healthcare of Oxford.
Attorneys for both parties agreed in opening arguments that in April 2001, the plaintiff, James Slick, was given 10 times the prescribed dose of Phenergan, an anti-nausea medicine, when a medical technician misread the concentration on the label.
Slick's attorney, Ralph Bohanan, of Birmingham, asked the jury to focus specifically on the damage he said the Phenergan caused. He explained that Slick had shown symptoms of a common gastrointestinal virus prior to his visit to the clinic.
The doctor on duty, David Denney, ordered fluids for hydration, antibiotics for an unrelated infection, and 25 mg of Phenergan to relieve Slick's nausea, administered intravenously.
Angela Rank — whose last name at the time was Adams — carried through the doctor's orders but injected 250 mg of Phenergan into the IV instead. Rank was originally named as part of the suit but was dismissed from the suit Monday.
Slick lost consciousness and was transported to Regional Medical Center via ambulance, where he stayed for several hours in the emergency room before being moved to intensive care and released the next morning, said Bohanan.
Trauma from the "global insult" of the overdose caused terrible pain in Slick's arm veins, frequent headaches, and memory loss, he said.
Mike Wright, attorney for Patient First Healthcare from Birmingham, said that the defendant wasn't disputing the fact that a mistake was made but that medical personnel took appropriate actions immediately. Wright said the defendant intends to show that by 9 a.m. the next morning Slick was "essentially fully recovered."
Woman comes to police about November rape
A 22-year-old woman came forward Monday to tell police she was raped by an acquaintance at a house on Arnold Drive in Anniston in November 2007.
According to Anniston police reports, the woman said she was at the man's house voluntarily around midnight on Nov. 1.
Investigators said the evening began in a sexual context but at some point the man forced her to have sexual intercourse with him.
The woman suffered no additional physical injuries, said police.
She told police she had not come forward sooner because she was afraid of retaliation.
No arrests had been made in the case Tuesday afternoon.
Fatal car accident kills Anniston woman
A single car accident killed a 47-year-old woman and sent the 43-year-old driver to the hospital Monday around 10 p.m.
Grady Earnest, 43, and Sharon Cail, 47, both from Anniston, were about 10 miles east of Anniston on Joseph Springs Motorway in a 2003 Toyota Tundra when the accident occurred, reported Alabama State Troopers in a release.
According to reports, Cail was fatally injured in the collision. Earnest, the driver, was injured and transported to Stringfellow Hospital for treatment.
State Troopers continued their investigation Tuesday but released no indication of the cause of the accident.
Former Graysville utility employee charged with theft
GRAYSVILLE, Ala. (AP) -- A former employee is accused of stealing thousands of dollars from the Graysville Gas and Water Board.
Jefferson County Sheriff's Sgt. Randy Christian said 27-year-old Andrea Nicole Creel, also of Graysville, was charged yesterday with first-degree theft, a felony. He said Creel, a former cashier, was accused of failing to deposit more than $30,000 into the utility's account.
She came under scrutiny in December when Graysville Mayor Doug Brewer alerted authorities about the missing money.
Christian said Creel is arranging through her attorney to turn herself in at the sheriff's department.
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Information From: The Birmingham News
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reservSatsuma mayor to pay city $6,252
SATSUMA, Ala. (AP) -- The city council has given Mayor Billy Bush until March 4 to pay the city an estimated $6,252 for credit card expenses and a missing car that police had seized in a drug bust, based on financial records from the past seven years.
Bush called the council's claims "a witch hunt" but said he would pay the credit card charges and $600 for the missing car, which he said was the value placed on it by the impounding agency.
Florence dental office manager accused of $80,000 theft
FLORENCE, Ala. (AP) -- The former manager of a dental office has been accused of taking up to $80,000 from the business during a five-year period.
Lauderdale County court officials said Kathy Henson Cook, 50, of Florence, was indicted for property theft. The indictment was returned during the January grand jury session.
Police Det. Cliff Billingsley told the TimesDaily in a story Wednesday that Cook, who worked at Family Dental Care for 17 years, is accused of taking cash payments from patients and pocketing the money instead of making deposits.
"But she was showing on the records that the deposits had been made," he said.
Cook was in complete control of the business' finances and is accused of changing records to show that bills had been paid in full. Authorities said no patients were overbilled.
Billingsley said someone in the dental office became suspicious, and an accountant was contacted for an internal audit.
"After we were called in, we conducted our investigation and made the arrest in October 2007 and then presented the case to the recent grand jury," he said.
Reports indicate Cook, who remains out of jail on bail totaling $5,000, was fired before the arrest. Attempts to reach Cook or her attorney were not immediately successful Wednesday.
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Information from: TimesDaily, http://www.timesdaily.com/
Fite wants to crack down on child solicitation by computer
MONTGOMERY — People who attempt to solicit children for sex over the Internet could lose their property and at least one way of getting out of the charge.
The House passed two bills that would amend the state's law on soliciting a child for sex or transmitting obscene material by using a computer.
The first bill, sponsored by Rep. Lea Fite, D-Jacksonville, would allow the state to confiscate property such as a convicted sex offender's house, money, computer and car if they were used or were intended to be used for the purpose of soliciting a child for sex.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Alabama chief justice warns of layoffs in courts
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb told legislators Tuesday that the state court system will have to lay off employees without a budget increase.
"With the court system, there is no fat to cut," she said in a "State of the Judiciary" speech to a joint session of the House and Senate.
The courts in Alabama's 67 counties are getting a state appropriation of $155.8 million this year to pay judges, court clerks, juvenile probation officers and others. All but $3 million of that is going for salaries and benefits, said Cobb, who heads Alabama's court system.
Food Outlet employees tackle, hold robber down until police arrive
Fast-acting employees at Food Outlet on the 2100 block of Noble Street held a robber down Saturday morning until police arrived to take him into custody.
Anniston police arrested Billy Shack, 58, of Anniston on the scene and charged him with first-degree robbery.
According to police reports, Shack walked up to a cashier around 9:40 a.m., gestured that he had a weapon, and demanded money.
The cashier was able to alert other employees about the situation, said investigators.
Police said a group of employees tackled Shack and held him down until authorities arrived.
The Noble Street location of Food Outlet has had two similar robbery attempts and one successful robbery this month.
On Jan. 28, a man approached a cashier, motioned that he had a gun, and told her to put money in a plastic bag. The cashier ducked below the counter until the man got frustrated and left without any money.
Then on Feb. 2 a man indicated he had a weapon in his pocket, went behind a counter and took money from the register before fleeing on foot.
As of Monday, Shack had been charged with one count of robbery.
No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.
Shack was in Calhoun County Jail on Monday, awaiting a court date and bond to be set in district court.
Crime briefs: Malpractice lawsuit against Patient First begins today
A medical malpractice lawsuit against Patient First Healthcare of Oxford is set to begin today in the courtroom of presiding Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Malcolm Street Jr.
The plaintiffs, James and Donna Slick of Oxford, are suing Patient First Healthcare for an incident in April 2001, when James Slick sought treatment for a high temperature, nausea and vomiting.
Slick alleges the staff over-administered a prescription drug intravenously, causing injury to the frontal lobe of his brain and blood vessels, Judge Street said.
Jury selection took the better part of Monday, and opening arguments are set to begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Woman at Cooper Homes assaulted with knife
Comments between two women Saturday morning at the Cooper Homes reportedly led to one of the women assaulting the other with a knife.
A 29-year-old resident of the housing complex told Anniston police she and a woman she didn't know got into an argument in the parking lot.
According to police reports, when the two began to fight, the unidentified woman cut the 29-year-old with a knife.
Investigators said the victim suffered cuts to the right side of her neck and her right arm.
She was transported to Stringfellow Hospital for treatment.
The wound to her right arm required staples, said investigators.
Police had made no arrests in the case as of Monday afternoon. No other injuries were reported.
Shots reportedly exchanged between two vehicles Saturday
Police were holding a pistol for "safekeeping" Monday, after the occupants of two vehicles reportedly exchanged gunfire Saturday night.
The driver of a beige 1981 Chevrolet Caprice was parked near the 2300 block of Gurnee Avenue when a white Crown Victoria drove past him just after 8 p.m. Saturday, Anniston police reported.
The occupants of the Crown Victoria reportedly shot at the Caprice at least four times before fleeing.
The driver of the Caprice told police he saw the Crown Victoria again later that evening and fired several shots in retaliation.
There was no indication in the report of whether the Crown Victoria was struck by any of the shots.
Police confiscated the man's 9 mm pistol for "safekeeping."
No arrests had been made as of Monday afternoon. No one was injured in either incident, according to police reports.
Man clubbed on Alabama 202 by unknown assailant
A 30-year-old Anniston resident told police a man whom he didn't recognize clubbed him on the head around 1:25 p.m. Friday while he was talking with another man on Alabama 202.
According to Anniston police reports, the victim was sitting on a guardrail, talking with a man with whom he had had an altercation earlier, when a blue and silver Dodge pickup drove up.
A stranger stepped out of the vehicle and walked up to him, swinging a long, wooden object that appeared to be a table leg, according to the police report.
The stranger clubbed the victim behind his left ear, then drove off, police said.
Emergency medical personnel transported the injured man to Regional Medical Center.
No other injuries were reported in connection with the incident, and police had made no arrests in the case as of Monday afternoon.
Sept. 11 charges take Pentagon into uncharted legal territory
WASHINGTON — The plan announced by the Pentagon Monday to seek the death penalty against six suspects accused of planning and organizing the Sept. 11 attacks could be complicated by the recent acknowledgment that one of the accused was the subject of waterboarding, as well as the legal and international communities' antipathy to the Bush administration's military tribunals.
The charges filed against the six, including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, outline a litany of war crimes and include conspiracy, murder, attacking civilians, terrorism and supporting terrorism. All six suspects are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the military plans to try the six together.
Monday's announcement takes the Pentagon, and the country, into largely uncharted legal territory. The procedures of the military commissions have been repeatedly challenged in court, with some success, and legal precedents that have been developed by courts over decades or longer hold less sway than in the civilian criminal justice system.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Detroit man slain on visit to Alabama, suspect arrested
BELLEVILLE, Ala. (AP) -- Authorities in Conecuh County have arrested a suspect in the robbery and beating death of a Detroit man who had traveled to southwest Alabama to settle his late mother's estate.
The suspect, 35-year-old John Battle, has been charged with capital murder in the slaying of 68-year-old Julius Grace.
Conecuh County District Attorney Tommy Chapman said officers pulled Battle from a Greyhound bus on Saturday in Richmond, Virginia, capping a three-day probe into the murder.
Sunday blaze kills person in Shelby Co.
COLUMBIANA, Ala. (AP) -- A deadly house fire in rural Shelby County is under investigation. According to the Shelby County sheriff's office, one person was killed in yesterday's (Sunday) blaze.
Authorities said firefighters responded to the blaze on Ross Drive in northwest Shelby County just before 2 p.m.
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Information From: The Birmingham News
Homemade bomb explodes at DeKalb County home mailbox
KILPATRICK, Ala. (AP) -- DeKalb County and state officials are trying to find out who built a homemade bomb that exploded inside a mailbox at a home in the Kilpatrick community.
DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris said Monday that the state fire marshal's office has been brought in to examine the shrapnel.
He said the explosion occurred about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, but authorities weren't notified until Friday morning.
Details scarce in New Year's Eve shooting at Anniston nightclub
The family of an Ashland man shot to death by a security guard at Dee Ford's Underground on New Years Eve is living in a dark place.
The Rev. Billy Ross, the brother of Richard Dewayne Duncan, said the family has spent the last month searching for answers.
"It's a devastating event," said Ross, "the worst thing that has ever happened to our family."
Ross said members of the family have passed away before, but not like this. The scarce details surrounding Duncan's death have provided little solace.
Police have been more than happy to communicate what is happening on their end, said Ross. He knows they believe his brother was shot by a guard who worked for a Birmingham security firm.
"They have been answering all the questions they can," he said.
But a lack of witnesses who aren't employed by the nightclub has been vexing. Few in the crowd of New Year's revelers have come forward to fill in the gaps.
Calhoun County's mounted patrol unit helps out at Mobile's Mardi Gras parades
A horse is like an SUV for crowd control. It's big, it's intimidating and its rider can easily see trouble spots beyond the immediate traffic.
That's what Anniston equestrian Susan Waldron found as a reserve deputy for Calhoun County's mounted patrol unit on duty at Mobile's Mardi Gras festivities last weekend.
The adventure lasted more than a week, from Jan. 28 until the homeward journey this past Wednesday. Waldron took her own mount — Miller, who belongs to her husband, Craig — as well as her own feed, supplies and English-style tack.
Forty hours of training in Mobile, in addition to other periodic work during the weeks before, were needed to ensure Miller could handle the rigors of civilian crowds.
"All day long we're working with our horses with smoke bombs, flares and guns," Waldron said. "They [the instructors] do a lot of evaluation during training to ensure that any horse going down there is not going to cause harm to either the rider or the crowd."
U.S. to seek death penalty in 9-11 case
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has charged six detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks, it was announced Monday. Officials said they'll seek the death penalty in what would be the first trials under the terrorism-era military tribunal system.
"These charges allege a long term, highly sophisticated, organized plan by al-Qaida to attack the United States of America," Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser to the tribunal system, told reporters. He added that the charges have been sworn "against six individuals alleged to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks" which occurred on Sept. 11, 2001 and killed nearly 3,000 people.
Ben Stanford remembered by senate
The Star's capitol correspondent posts on her blog that the senate officially remembered Ben Stanford last week.
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