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Boarts family relives daughter’s shooting by police By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
“I would’ve never called 911, I would never have called 911 if I knew the cops were going to murder my daughter,” said Terry Boarts, mother of Melissa Boarts, who was shot by Auburn Police on Sunday, April 3. The Boarts family was speaking with their attorney, Julian McPhillips, on Wednesday, shortly after visiting the funeral home that would tend to their daughter’s services. McPhillips said the parents, Michael
and Terry Boarts, of Wetumpka, along with Melissa’s twin sister, Melinda Boarts, 36, were overwhelmed. The distress could be heard in the mother’s voice. “I’m the one that called 911 when our daughter had stopped at the rest area, and we thought she was slitting her wrists,” Terry Boarts said. McPhillips said they were overwhelmed with grief and what he said was the lack of any justification for the shooting, along with the knowledge that they had called to get medical help for
their daughter, which ended in her death. He said Melissa, at 5’4”, around 135 pounds, with a pocketknife and the intention of harming only herself, was no threat to any of the three agencies that responded. Numerous accounts of the incident have emerged in local and national news outlets, and interviews with local broadcasters show Auburn police officials saying the shooting was justified, after they said Boarts charged law enforcement. In one interview with a broadcast-
Man who plead guilty in child’s death gets new trial
er, WTVM 9, of Columbus, Georgia, Auburn Police Chief, Paul Register, even seemed to imply that Boarts might have used the police to commit suicide. “I don’t care if Boarts they hadn’t shot anybody in 40 years, they did so this time, See BOARTS • Page 3
County District 1 runoff elections set for Tuesday
By MITCH SNEED Editor
A Prattville man who has been serving a 16-yearsentence for manslaughter in connection with the death of a 13-month old boy will begin a new trial in Elmore County Monday. Joey Alan Grizzell, 30, was awarded a new trial after the state appeals court ruled that a statement from Grizzell had been taken by law enforcement after he had asked for an attorney. The statement was allowed despite a motion to suppress by the defense team for Grizzell. That is where the appeals court said the court erred originally. Grizzell had originally been charged with murder, but agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter. Grizzell said he accidently dropped his former girlfriend’s baby, Jon Keller Monson, on the kitchen floor on Feb. 6, 2016 but that was not what the Department of Forensic Sciences showed. The report showed the 13-month-old boy had suffered head trauma and had been forcibly shaken. Under the terms of the original plea deal, Grizzell was not eligible for parole until he had served at least 80 percent of the sentence. Jury selection is set to begin at 9 a.m. Monday.
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
Corey Arwood / The Herald
Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin, right, appears at a recent press conference with District Attorney Randall Houston. Franklin said the operation of the jail is often one of the most difficult parts of the job.
Locked in on issues Sheriff Bill Franklin talks challenges of operating jail By LIZ ELY Staff Writer
While people know that the job of sheriff in Elmore County is about enforcing the law in an area that consists of 628 square miles of land and 1,100 miles of shoreline, they may not realize what goes into one of the most difficult parts of the job. In addition to enforcing the laws, Sheriff Bill Franklin says that keeping those who break the law incarcerated is often one of the most challenging aspects of being the county’s top law enforcement agent. The Elmore County Jail houses 242
inmates at maximum capacity, all of whom are under Franklin’s watch. Of those 242 inmates, approximately 32 are women, and the infractions that bring the inmates to the jail range from severe crimes such as murder and rape, to menial, less serious actions such as writing a bad check. Franklin, who has held his title since 1991, notes that running a jail can take its toll on both him and his workers. Franklin and the staff must be prepared to deal head-on with many unpleasant situations throughout their workday as each day presents new and See JAIL • Page 5
The runoff elections for the Elmore County Commission District 1 seat are coming up April 12, with candidates Kenny Holt and Shanna Chamblee up for election after unseating incumbent Mark Hraygil on March 1. Elmore County elections specialist, Vicki Stewart, said nine precincts would be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., next Tuesday. There locations are: • Buyck Fire Department • Deatsville Fire Department • Cain’s Chapel Life Center • New Home Baptist Church • New Hope Baptist Church • Titus Community Center • Santuck Community Center • Seman Community House • Weoka Community Center • Stewart said residents needed to be sure they lived in District 1, and that several of the districts are split. She said to determine one’s district, call the Elmore County Board of Registrars, or go to, www.alabamavotes.gov.
Member of historic Hohenburg family visits Wetumpka By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
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Corey Arwood / The Herald
Rudi Scheidt is a descendant of the Hohenberg family, which played a large economic role in Wetumpka during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was taking a trip with his wife, Caryn, and daughter, Rachel, who he said had planned their travels. They said they take their dog, Juno, with them on their road trips.
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A descendant of a family who plaid a vital role in the town’s history, spent the last day of what was called a “family pilgrimage,” touring the sites of the businesses founded during the late 19th century by the Hohenberg brothers. Rudi Scheidt said his great grandfather and great uncle, Adolphe and Morris Hohenberg, founded, the Hohenberg Brothers Cotton Company in the late 1800’s, along with Wetumpka’s, First National Bank. The brothers are also the namesakes of Wetumpka High School’s, Hohenberg Field. Scheidt and his wife Caryn live in Aspen, Colorado and were taking a spring-break trip that he said his daughter Rachel orchestrated. They had visited the import-
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ant places in the history of the Hohenbergs, and the locations of their different business ventures in the cotton industry. They had just arrived in Wetumpka Thursday afternoon, from Selma, the site of the Hohenberg brother’s graves. Their trip spanned three southern states. “It was my daughter’s spring break from school, we kind of went from Memphis to Natchez, Mississipi,” said Scheidt, “And we did a spring pilgrimage in Natchez, and we spent a day and a half in New Orleans and then we went to Selma and now we’ve come to Wetumpka and now we’re back to Memphis again.” He said Wetumpka was the last stop in their historic tour, before they went back to Memphis where Scheidt said he was initially from. See HOHENBURG • Page 3