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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19 , 2013 ▪ VO L . 1 2 9 , N O. 3 5 ▪ T H E VO I C E O F TIPTON COUNTY S I N C E 1 8 8 6 ▪
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Jail expansion is right on track Currently operating at 140 percent capacity, expansion will ease overcrowding
By JEFF IRELAND jireland@covingtonleader.com
Plans to expand the overcrowded Tipton County Jail are moving forward. Tipton County Chief Deputy Billy Daugherty presented a plan of action at Monday's Tipton County Legislature meeting. Additions include two male segregation units that can house 44 inmates, a female dorm unit that can hold 28 inmates plus four isolation cells and an expanded medical facility. There will also be a new records room, uniform and property storage area and modifications made to the
kitchen, court holding cells and the intake area. The additions will increase the facility's square footage almost 50 percent from 24,743 square feet to 36,292. Daugherty said the plan is to begin construction early next year and hopefully be finished by December 2014 or the spring of 2015. There have been approximately 87,000 bookings since the jail opened in 1997. Since 2005, the average jail population has been over the maximum occupancy of 122. During November the
average daily population was 166, with a high of 185. For 2013 the average population is 155. When expansion is complete, the jail will be able to hold approximately 200 inmates. The jail was inspected by the Tennessee Corrections Institute last August and deemed to be operating at 140 percent of certified capacity. Daugherty said taxpayers typically aren't excited about footing the bill for jail expansion. But because of overcrowding, it's absolutely necessary. “We don't have a choice,”
Daugherty said. “The TCI says we have to expand to remain certified.” Jails that aren't certified by the TCI can face federal and/or state sanctions and are more susceptible to law suits. “The jail is an essential component for a county,” Daugherty said. “For most people, it's out of sight out of mind. The average house size is between 1,500 and 2,000 square feet. In about 24,000 square feet here we've got the people who can't behave. Then you have overcrowding. It's a challenge.” The ball got rolling for expansion SEE JAIL, PAGE A2
Bond reduced for murder suspect By ECHO DAY eday@covingtonleader.com
Above, Lee Johnston and wife Dawn wave from a float during the Covington Christmas parade on Monday night. Photo courtesy Shane Waits
Highway closed following Train wreck claims Brighton wreck Tuesday Covington man By ECHO DAY eday@covingtonleader.com A section of Highway 51 South in Brighton was closed Tuesday night following an accident that sent a fiveyear-old to the hospital. Brighton Police Chief Mike Durham said the accident took place at approximately 4:15 p.m., just prior to the evening rush hour traffic, at Woodlawn Road. "A lady was crossing from Woodlawn onto 51 and said the sun was in her eyes," Durham said. "She pulled out and struck a southbound car." In that vehicle was five-year-old girl who was ejected from vehicle and airlifted to Memphis. "I don't know how she was ejected with being in a booster seat," he said. The child was treated and released, sustaining only minor injuries. Some Brighton residents – even the police chief himself – say the intersection is much too dangerous and something needs to be done to keep
motorists safe. "We have an accident there about every four or five months," Durham said. "They're usually just fender benders, but when you have a bad one, there are usually serious injuries." Covington resident Anita Naifeh was seriously injured in a June 2009 wreck at the same intersection. She spent several weeks hospitalized. "It's a very dangerous intersection. We have three or four factors that cause most of the accidents: the sun's real bright at that time of day, the driver isn't paying attention, you can't tell the speed of the other vehicle and blind spots," the chief continued. "If you turn at a certain angle, the bar that goes down from the passenger side window to the windshield blocks your view and you can't see what's coming." Following that accident and prompted by the media, in 2009, the Tennessee Department of Transportation conducted a study to determine the feasibility of putting a red light at SEE WRECK, PAGE A3
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By ECHO DAY eday@covingtonleader.com
A Covington man was killed Wednesday night when his car was struck by a train in Haywood County. Preliminary information from the Tennessee Highway Patrol report Tyler Stroder, 23, was traveling on Sugar Creek Road. Officials conducting the investigation said Stroder failed to yield at a railroad crossing and was struck by a CSX train.He was killed on impact. His fiancée, Anna Reyna, told the media she blames the accident on the lack of warning signals at the intersection. "It don't make no sense why there's not no lights, no rails to stop people. Nothing. I mean if [it was] there ... he would still be here with us now," she said." No charges have been filed in the fatality. A special agent with the railroad police is conducting a separate investigation for the agency. In addition to family and friends, Stroder leaves behind a young son, Brayden Tyler Stroder; his fiance, Anna Reyna; his mother, Cindy (Terry) Lovett; one sister, Brianna Arwood; his grandparents, Jerry and Jan Byrd and Connie Trippet.
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On Tuesday, the bond for a woman accused of murdering her husband earlier this month was reduced. At her preliminary hearing, Angela Brewer's bond was reduced by 80 percent, from $100,000 to $20,000. Members of her church family filled the courtroom, presumably in support of the woman who told police she accidentally killed her husband on Dec. 8. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation originally reported Brewer, 43, had been charged with reckless homicide and aggravated assault in the fatal shooting of her 37-year-old husband, William “Stan” Brewer Jr. According to spokesperson Kristin Helm, Brewer admitted to accidentally shooting her husband in their Hwy. 14 home. Brewer reportedly told investigators she believed she heard an intruder. “She obtained the shotgun from the couple’s gun case and loaded and cocked the weapon, then proceeded to look out of the front and back of the home, not seeing anyone,” Helm said. Brewer reportedly then went to wake her husband up, putting the loaded weapon in the bed with the barrel pointed at his head. “When she leaned in to wake him, her hand was on the weapon and the shotgun discharged, shooting and killing him.” When she was arraigned, however, Brewer’s charges were increased to seconddegree murder, citing her familiarity with the firearm and completion of a hunter safety course as the reason for the charge. SEE BOND, PAGE A3
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