Judicial Branch

Secretary chases man downtown after theft from purse (04/30/08)
A Memphis man was arrested for theft on Tuesday after a woman whose pocketbook he stole chased him into the Dyer County Courthouse. James Jones, 60, 2815 Bay Wood in Memphis, was booked into the Dyer County Jail on a $500 bond. Teresa Shell, a legal secretary in attorney Ralph Lawson's 306 S. Church Ave. law office, said she and Lawson were talking about a case in the office's back room at about 1:45 p.m. when she heard the door open, then close a few seconds later...

Suspect who stabbed sister plans to be his own attorney (04/21/08)
A 33-year-old man accused of repeatedly stabbing his sister intends to represent himself in court. Tony Adams, 412 Anchorage, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with attempted first-degree murder. His sister, Teresa Adams, received nine stab wounds on her back, arm and head...

State seeks to cancel diversion for former Tiptonville firefighters (04/03/08)
Two men who were sentenced in a series of Tiptonville fires could face additional sanctions. Both of the men -- James Blackburn and his grandson, Brandon Blackburn -- were placed on two years of pretrial diversion in September. The district attorney general's office has filed petitions asking that the diversion be terminated...

17-year-old charged with rape (04/02/08)
A 17-year-old was transferred to Dyer County Circuit Court on Tuesday to face rape and aggravated sexual battery charges as an adult. Timothy Andrew Pettie, no address listed, Dyersburg, was transported from Youth Villages in Memphis after a 30-day evaluation ordered in February by Juvenile Court Judge Tony Childress. He was charged with rape of child (less than 13 years of age) and aggravated sexual battery...

House won't get resolution on new name (03/30/08)
State Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, who represents the geographic area that includes the main Dyersburg State Community College campus, said he is "in no rush to judgment" to vote on the college's name change. The Tenn-essee Board of Regents on Friday voted to change DSCC's name to "Tennessee Western Community College."...

Charges dropped against man accused of two murders (03/26/08)
Murder charges against a Dyersburg man were dropped Tuesday, March 25, in Dyer County Circuit Court. District Attorney General Phil Bivens announced that he did not intent to prosecute Aubrey Tremayne Eison on two counts of first-degree murder. Bivens explained that he's waiting for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to complete tests on evidence in the case. The test results were not going to be ready in time for the April 9 trial...

Woman ordered to repay child's transplant fund (03/25/08)
A Dyersburg woman must repay $10,590 missing from her grandson's transplant fund, a circuit court judge declared Monday afternoon. Phyllis D. Vaughn, 57, 711 Wendell Ave., was charged with theft of property in excess of $10,000. She and her husband, Charles Norman Vaughn Sr., were in charge of a fund to benefit their grandson, Odell Terry, a teen-aged cystic fibrosis patient...

Newbern board approves rezoning Highway 77 corridor to spur growth (03/20/08)
The Newbern City Board on Tuesday approved rezoning a strip along Highway 77 from residential to commercial to encourage retail development. A public hearing at 6:30 p.m. drew little comment, though the board -- aldermen Mary Dycus, Robert Hart, Bill Parks, Larry Fesmire, Olen Parker and Kathy Clements -- discussed the two residential houses currently occupied in the rezoning area...

Alderman voted to approve rezoning of his son's land (03/20/08)
Newbern alderman Bill Parks voted to approve rezoning land his son owns along Highway 77. "I didn't even think about it," said Parks. "He does own that land." Parks's son, farmer and building contractor John Parks, owns 53.59 acres on the north side of 77 immediately east of the Graystone Subdivision. Of that parcel, 7.2 acres is inside the Newbern city limits; the northern remainder lies in the county...

Arts Council to host one-man performance of American icon (03/20/08)
Special to the State Gazette "The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has!" "Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what's going to happen to us with both a Senate and a House?" "I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they do today."...