By STEVEN JONES
The Selma Times-Journal
Gov. Bob Riley has issued a proclamation providing for $5,000 in award money for information leading investigators to Eric Dewayne Blevins.
Combined with an additional $1,000 from Blevins’ father, Lt. Dwight Woods of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, the total reward is now at $6,000.
Blevins, 23, has been missing since July 23, when his second cousin, Dorothy Blevins, said he left her home.
Woods said he hoped the offer of a reward led to information in his son’s disappearance.
“I’m very appreciative. Hopefully, somebody will talk,” he said. “I hope somebody will come forth and tell us something that’s concrete.”
Riley offered the reward money in response to a request from Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson.
Jackson said Burt Allison, lead investigator in the case, brought it to his attention.
“I know the law enforcement community has been very concerned about this case,” Jackson said. “I want to thank Gov. Riley for responding so quickly to my request for some reward money for this case. Hopefully, Lt. Woods’ son will be found safe.”
Blevins disappeared on July 23, Woods said, and no one in the young man’s family has heard from him since.
Blevins of Sardis was staying with his cousin Dorothy on Lamar Street when he disappeared.
Woods said he didn’t think his son had enemies or a reason to run away.
“I don’t know of anybody that would do him any harm,” Woods said.
Woods is looking for any information on the whereabouts of his son.
He asks that anyone who has seen the young man call the Secret Witness Line at 874-2190 or they can call Woods at home at 334-996-8787. Eric Dewayne Blevins is a black male, 5’8”, 140 lbs., brown eyes, black hair and a medium complexion.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Crosspoint returns from relief mission
By Steven Jones
The Selma Times-Journal
Delivering much-needed — and in some cases life-saving supplies — made Teresa Edwards and the rest of Crosspoint Christian Church volunteers thankful and humble, Edwards said.
“It just really touched my heart,” she said.
Crosspoint Christian delivered an 18-wheeler of supplies to Spanish Fort where they were separated and delivered to other areas in South Alabama and Mississippi.
“They break bulk and ship it out to the various small communities,” she said. Many of these communities, places like Pineda Island and Bayou La Batre, haven’t gotten help from FEMA and other aid providers,” Edwards said.
Edwards said the United Methodist Church in Spanish Fort put together a distribution center at their youth center, the Gathering Place.
Formerly a retail outlet, the Gathering Place was perfect for the job, Edwards said. The location featured loading docks and lots of space. Supplies were delivered in pallet form to the Gathering Place. Volunteers broke the pallets down and shipped supplies out to other communities and cities.
Edwards said the level of organization was impressive.
“It blows you away of what people can do when they have to,” she said.
Edwards said she and other volunteers got to spend some time helping out in Bayou La Batre and Pineda Island.
Pineda Island was featured in the Times-Journal when Pineda Island resident Don Chamberlain came to the paper to ask for help for his home.
“Everyone just had tears in their eyes thanking the city of Selma,” Edwards said. “It just really touched my heart.”
Edwards said she and the rest of the Crosspoint Church family were thrilled to help out and made sure United Methodist members knew they cared.
The Selma church delivered a sign along with all their supplies, telling Spanish Fort volunteers they were praying for them.
“They needed encouragement,” she said. “To know people were thinking about them and cared.”
The Selma Times-Journal
Delivering much-needed — and in some cases life-saving supplies — made Teresa Edwards and the rest of Crosspoint Christian Church volunteers thankful and humble, Edwards said.
“It just really touched my heart,” she said.
Crosspoint Christian delivered an 18-wheeler of supplies to Spanish Fort where they were separated and delivered to other areas in South Alabama and Mississippi.
“They break bulk and ship it out to the various small communities,” she said. Many of these communities, places like Pineda Island and Bayou La Batre, haven’t gotten help from FEMA and other aid providers,” Edwards said.
Edwards said the United Methodist Church in Spanish Fort put together a distribution center at their youth center, the Gathering Place.
Formerly a retail outlet, the Gathering Place was perfect for the job, Edwards said. The location featured loading docks and lots of space. Supplies were delivered in pallet form to the Gathering Place. Volunteers broke the pallets down and shipped supplies out to other communities and cities.
Edwards said the level of organization was impressive.
“It blows you away of what people can do when they have to,” she said.
Edwards said she and other volunteers got to spend some time helping out in Bayou La Batre and Pineda Island.
Pineda Island was featured in the Times-Journal when Pineda Island resident Don Chamberlain came to the paper to ask for help for his home.
“Everyone just had tears in their eyes thanking the city of Selma,” Edwards said. “It just really touched my heart.”
Edwards said she and the rest of the Crosspoint Church family were thrilled to help out and made sure United Methodist members knew they cared.
The Selma church delivered a sign along with all their supplies, telling Spanish Fort volunteers they were praying for them.
“They needed encouragement,” she said. “To know people were thinking about them and cared.”
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Shooting suspect guilty
By Steven Jones
The Selma Times-Journal
John Jones Jr. pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling and one count of second degree assault in connection with the Broad Street shooting in May 2004.
Jones’ trial was set to begin today, but almost immediately after the jury was struck for the case, Jones opted to take the plea agreement offered by Dallas County prosecutors in the case.
“We were ready to go (to trial),” Dallas County district attorney Michael Jackson said.
The plea agreement had been offered to Jones well before the trial date, Jackson said. He refused it until Tuesday.
“He thought better of it when he was looking at the jury,” Jackson said.
Sentenced to 12 years each for the two counts of discharging a firearm and 10 years for the assault charge, officials said the sentences would run concurrently.
Jones was accused — along with five other Selma men — of shooting into The Selma Times-Journal office building and the Pilcher-McBryde drug store on Broad Street during a May 2004 shootout.
The suspects drove two cars down Broad Street and opened fire on each other between Water Avenue and Alabama Avenue.
During the gunfire, Brandon Lewis, a Selma youth, was shot in the leg. Jones was charged with the assault.
Jones is considered the most culpable shooting in the case, according to Jackson.
“The Jones guy was the main shooter,” Jackson said.
By pleading guilty, Jones accepted three charges. He was also charged with discharging a gun into an occupied vehicle. In addition, Jones was charged with first-degree assault, which was reduced by the plea agreement to second-degree assault. All the crimes Jones pleaded guilty to are felonies.
Prosecutors said they were happy with the outcome of the case.
“The man is a three-time convicted felon (now),” assistant district attorney Mickey Avery said. “The community will be safer because of (this conviction). We feel like that’s a good thing.”
Jones’ attorney, Tommy Treese, said the plea wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but still acceptable.
“We’d have like to have done better but that’s the deal we took,” he said.
Treese said the plea would have gone better for the defense if the crime occurred anywhere but on Broad Street.
“The key to this case was location, location, location,” he said.
The other four suspects - Jerron Stallworth, Julius Ford, Corey Cooper and Justin Johnson - are expected to go to trial in January.
Jackson said other plea agreements may follow since Jones pleaded guilty.
“There’s a good chance that most of them will plead guilty,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the conclusion of the case was exciting.
“We’ve shipped another gunslinger off to prison,” he said. “Broad Street is (again) a place for businesses and people to walk down the sidewalk without having to worry about ducking.”
The Selma Times-Journal
John Jones Jr. pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling and one count of second degree assault in connection with the Broad Street shooting in May 2004.
Jones’ trial was set to begin today, but almost immediately after the jury was struck for the case, Jones opted to take the plea agreement offered by Dallas County prosecutors in the case.
“We were ready to go (to trial),” Dallas County district attorney Michael Jackson said.
The plea agreement had been offered to Jones well before the trial date, Jackson said. He refused it until Tuesday.
“He thought better of it when he was looking at the jury,” Jackson said.
Sentenced to 12 years each for the two counts of discharging a firearm and 10 years for the assault charge, officials said the sentences would run concurrently.
Jones was accused — along with five other Selma men — of shooting into The Selma Times-Journal office building and the Pilcher-McBryde drug store on Broad Street during a May 2004 shootout.
The suspects drove two cars down Broad Street and opened fire on each other between Water Avenue and Alabama Avenue.
During the gunfire, Brandon Lewis, a Selma youth, was shot in the leg. Jones was charged with the assault.
Jones is considered the most culpable shooting in the case, according to Jackson.
“The Jones guy was the main shooter,” Jackson said.
By pleading guilty, Jones accepted three charges. He was also charged with discharging a gun into an occupied vehicle. In addition, Jones was charged with first-degree assault, which was reduced by the plea agreement to second-degree assault. All the crimes Jones pleaded guilty to are felonies.
Prosecutors said they were happy with the outcome of the case.
“The man is a three-time convicted felon (now),” assistant district attorney Mickey Avery said. “The community will be safer because of (this conviction). We feel like that’s a good thing.”
Jones’ attorney, Tommy Treese, said the plea wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but still acceptable.
“We’d have like to have done better but that’s the deal we took,” he said.
Treese said the plea would have gone better for the defense if the crime occurred anywhere but on Broad Street.
“The key to this case was location, location, location,” he said.
The other four suspects - Jerron Stallworth, Julius Ford, Corey Cooper and Justin Johnson - are expected to go to trial in January.
Jackson said other plea agreements may follow since Jones pleaded guilty.
“There’s a good chance that most of them will plead guilty,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the conclusion of the case was exciting.
“We’ve shipped another gunslinger off to prison,” he said. “Broad Street is (again) a place for businesses and people to walk down the sidewalk without having to worry about ducking.”
Hope dwindles in disappearance
By Steven Jones
The Selma Times-Journal
After 23 years with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, Lt. Dwight Woods has only seen a few cases where missing persons were gone for more than two months. In almost all of those cases, he said, the victim was found dead.
Now he’s looking for his own son, 24-year-old Eric Blevins, who’s been missing since at least July 29.
“My hope is somewhat dwindling now,” he said.
Woods said he last talked with Eric on July 22 over the phone and hasn’t heard from his son since.
“That’s the last time I had any communication with him,” Woods said.
Since then, Woods has been vainly searching for his son. He’s received phone calls from people who’ve claimed to have seen him. He even went through his son’s 24th birthday on Aug. 27 without knowing where his son was or even if he was alive.
Eric Dewayne Blevins of Sardis was staying with his second cousin Dorothy Blevins at 817 Lamar St.
Eric often stayed at his cousin’s house, Woods said, where he’d meet friends and go out with them.
The 23-year-old was not employed except for the occasional odd job.
Sometime on July 23, Eric left his cousin’s house. He hasn’t been heard from since.
Woods said his son’s disappearance is getting harder and harder to deal with.
“I don’t understand it,” he said.
Wood said his son didn’t have any enemies that he was aware of.
“I don’t know of anybody that would do him any harm,” Woods said.
The young man had no reason to hide out from anyone, according to his father.
“If he’d gotten into any type trouble he’d would have called me,” Woods said. “I know he was grown, (but) we were close.”
Since Eric’s disappearance, Woods has received calls from concerned citizens who say they’ve seen his son, but none of them have turned up anything concrete.
Woods said the strain is starting to wear on the rest of his family, including his mother, and Eric’s three sisters.
“It’s been tough. It’s real hard ... the agony of not knowing where’s he’s at, the agony of not knowing if he’s dead or alive,” Woods said.
Woods is looking for any information on the whereabouts of his son.
He asks that anyone who has seen the young man call the Secret Witness Line at 874-2190 or they can call Woods at home at 334-996-8787. Eric Dewayne Blevins is a black male, 5’8”, 140 lbs., brown eyes, black hair and a medium complexion.
“He had planned to go to truck driving school,” Woods said. “We had went up and got his ID and permit. He was planning on going back in the next month and going to truck driving school.”
Wood said that any information would be helpful in the case.
“If he’s alive somewhere or he just run away with a friend we’re just hoping he would call and let us know where he’s at,” he said. “If he’s murdered - we pray to God it’s not true but - if we could find his body we could give him a decent burial.
“That’s the only son I have.”
Monday, September 26, 2005
Wall comes tumbling down
An unidentified Selma man was the latest in a long line of area residents who hit the wall of the Old Live Oak Cemetery last week. Police said the man, traveling west on Dallas Avenue, dodged a large dog, lost control of his vehicle and punched a hole in the stonework wall. No graves were visibly damaged and repairs are expected to begin soon.
Selma man convicted of manslaughter
By Steven Jones
The Selma Times-Journal
Roy “Little Ray” Ray Davis pleaded guilty to manslaughter Monday before Judge Tommy Jones in the slaying of Benjamin Davis in August 2003.
Originally charged with murder, Roy Davis was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime.
District Attorney Michael Jackson said his office had to consider the circumstances of the slaying in determining the proper charge in the case.
“The deceased (was firing) two 9 mm handguns,” Jimmy Thomas, lead prosecutor in the case, said. “(Police) found spent shell casings from a 9 mm pistol and a .380, which was what the defendant was shooting.”
The defendant — of Alabama Avenue — and the victim — of Clinton Avenue — were arguing over a shooting earlier in the month, Thomas said.
He said the motive in the first shooting was over a CD player.
“It was just over nothing,” Thomas said.
The fight escalated and got physical, according to court records.
“This killing was the result of a gun fight that ensued after a physical altercation,” Thomas said.
Roy Davis, 21, and Benjamin Davis opened fire on each other on St. Phillips Street. Benjamin — 24 years old at the time — was hit once in the upper right chest.
No other casualties were reported, Thomas said.
“Fortunately, with all the bullets flying, nobody else was hurt,” Jackson said.
The victim was the brother of another shooting victim, which Thomas said started the argument.
The defendant was seen in the area where the first shooting was reported, Thomas said.
Some court officials indicated the crime was gang related, but Thomas said he knew nothing about that.
“I didn’t see anything that indicated that,” he said.
Jackson said the case was another example of his office’s dedication to fighting crime.
“We will continue to crackdown on these gunslingers,” he said.
The Selma Times-Journal
Roy “Little Ray” Ray Davis pleaded guilty to manslaughter Monday before Judge Tommy Jones in the slaying of Benjamin Davis in August 2003.
Originally charged with murder, Roy Davis was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime.
District Attorney Michael Jackson said his office had to consider the circumstances of the slaying in determining the proper charge in the case.
“The deceased (was firing) two 9 mm handguns,” Jimmy Thomas, lead prosecutor in the case, said. “(Police) found spent shell casings from a 9 mm pistol and a .380, which was what the defendant was shooting.”
The defendant — of Alabama Avenue — and the victim — of Clinton Avenue — were arguing over a shooting earlier in the month, Thomas said.
He said the motive in the first shooting was over a CD player.
“It was just over nothing,” Thomas said.
The fight escalated and got physical, according to court records.
“This killing was the result of a gun fight that ensued after a physical altercation,” Thomas said.
Roy Davis, 21, and Benjamin Davis opened fire on each other on St. Phillips Street. Benjamin — 24 years old at the time — was hit once in the upper right chest.
No other casualties were reported, Thomas said.
“Fortunately, with all the bullets flying, nobody else was hurt,” Jackson said.
The victim was the brother of another shooting victim, which Thomas said started the argument.
The defendant was seen in the area where the first shooting was reported, Thomas said.
Some court officials indicated the crime was gang related, but Thomas said he knew nothing about that.
“I didn’t see anything that indicated that,” he said.
Jackson said the case was another example of his office’s dedication to fighting crime.
“We will continue to crackdown on these gunslingers,” he said.
Shooting case held over
By Steven Jones
The Times-Journal
A motion was filed to change the venue in the first trial of the Broad Street shootout by Robert Treese on Monday, defense attorney for John Jones Jr., the first of the defendants to be tried in the case.
Michael Jackson, district attorney for Dallas County, said the motion was filed in response to an article printed in the Sunday edition of The Times-Journal.
Jackson said Treese believed the article might influence the jury negatively against his client.
Judge Tommy Jones, who decided to hold off the case until Wednesday to allow for a death in the family of the lead investigator in the case, won’t rule on the motion until then, according to the district attorney’s office.
Jackson said the delay won’t hurt the case.
“It just got put off for a couple of days,” he said.
Jones is accused of shooting a Selma youth in the May 2004 Broad Street shooting. He’s also charged with two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle.
Jones was one of five suspects charged in the shooting and the only suspect charged with first-degree assault.
Jones is accused of shooting from a moving vehicle, a gold Caprice, into another vehicle, a white Caprice. Passengers in the white Caprice allegedly fired back. The incident occurred on a Wednesday at about 4 p.m. on Broad Street, between Water Avenue and Alabama Avenue.
Bullets from the shooting hit the Pilcher-McBryde drugstore and The Selma Times-Journal office building.
Jones was one of the last suspects arrested in the incident, when he was shot in the back of the head in August of the same year. Tyrone Stallworth, the brother of a suspect in the Broad Street shootout, was accused of assaulting Jones in the incident.
Attempts to contact defense attorney Robert Treese were unsuccessful as of press time.
The Times-Journal
A motion was filed to change the venue in the first trial of the Broad Street shootout by Robert Treese on Monday, defense attorney for John Jones Jr., the first of the defendants to be tried in the case.
Michael Jackson, district attorney for Dallas County, said the motion was filed in response to an article printed in the Sunday edition of The Times-Journal.
Jackson said Treese believed the article might influence the jury negatively against his client.
Judge Tommy Jones, who decided to hold off the case until Wednesday to allow for a death in the family of the lead investigator in the case, won’t rule on the motion until then, according to the district attorney’s office.
Jackson said the delay won’t hurt the case.
“It just got put off for a couple of days,” he said.
Jones is accused of shooting a Selma youth in the May 2004 Broad Street shooting. He’s also charged with two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling and one count of shooting into an occupied vehicle.
Jones was one of five suspects charged in the shooting and the only suspect charged with first-degree assault.
Jones is accused of shooting from a moving vehicle, a gold Caprice, into another vehicle, a white Caprice. Passengers in the white Caprice allegedly fired back. The incident occurred on a Wednesday at about 4 p.m. on Broad Street, between Water Avenue and Alabama Avenue.
Bullets from the shooting hit the Pilcher-McBryde drugstore and The Selma Times-Journal office building.
Jones was one of the last suspects arrested in the incident, when he was shot in the back of the head in August of the same year. Tyrone Stallworth, the brother of a suspect in the Broad Street shootout, was accused of assaulting Jones in the incident.
Attempts to contact defense attorney Robert Treese were unsuccessful as of press time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
