Sunday Globe Specials: Tracking Tennessee Stories

All began last week: 

"Mother, three girls abducted in Tenn.

JACKSON - Three girls and their mother were abducted in Tennessee, police said Saturday. They were last seen in Mississippi, and authorities there and in Tennessee issued an Amber Alert. The girls are believed to be with their mother, Jo Ann Bain, 31, and Adam Mayes, 35. The were identified as Kyliyah Bain, 8; Alexandria, 12; and Adrienne, 14. Mayes is being sought on kidnapping charges."

"Missing Tenn. mother, children had moved to Arizona" Associated Press, May 07, 2012

WHITEVILLE, Tenn. - A woman and her three young daughters, who authorities say were abducted from Tennessee, had recently moved to Arizona because two of the girls had asthma, a family friend said Sunday.

 Isn't that interesting?

See: Arizona Sheriff's Office

Linda Kirkland, a cook at the Country Cafe in Whiteville, Tenn., said that Jo Ann Bain, her husband, and three daughters had been back in the Whiteville area to take care of some business after a death in the family. Asthma sufferers have long flocked to Arizona because of its dry, warm climate.

Bain had visited the restaurant and never indicated anything was wrong. “She seemed so happy,’’ Kirkland said.

“Jo Ann and the kids - everyone loves them. We’re just hoping to hear that they’re safe.’’

Bain’s daughters are Adrienne, 14; Alexandria, 12; and Kyliyah, 8. Authorities say they are believed to have been abducted by 35-year-old Adam Mayes. He is charged with kidnapping in Tennessee.

The FBI has said two bodies were found at a home connected to Mayes in Mississippi, but agents have released few details.

Authorities were working Sunday to identify the bodies, said FBI spokesman Joel Siskovic. He would not say if they were children. They were found late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

The Bains were last seen April 27 in Hardeman County, Tenn., which is about 70 miles east of Memphis. The woman’s husband reported her missing, and her vehicle was found abandoned.

 Authorities were still trying to determine whether Jo Ann Bain went with Mayes willingly.

Authorities believe 35-year-old Adam Mayes abducted Jo Ann Bain (clockwise from top left) and her daughters, Adrienne, 14; Kyliyah, 8; and Alexandria, 12

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Cute kids.

While we are showing kiddy pictures:

--source

I can't see them getting a lot of sympathy in Tennessee:

"Anti-Islam arguments blocked in Tenn. trial" by Travis Loller  |  Associated Press, April 26, 2012

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Plaintiffs in a civil trial trying to block a proposed mosque in Tennessee on procedural grounds were largely stymied Wednesday in trying to raise claims that Islam is not a real religion and that its followers are violent.

The proposed mosque is one of a few Muslim projects in the United States that hit a swell of conservative opposition around the same time as the controversy over a plan to build a Muslim community center near New York’s ground zero.

The plaintiffs want to void a May 2010 meeting of the Rutherford County Planning Commission in which it approved the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro’s site plan.  

If I want to find out about that I go straight to an source.

They claim the public was not adequately notified ahead of time.

Chancellor Robert Corlew, who is overseeing the trial, has limited the scope of the trial strictly to the public notice, but it has not stopped the plaintiffs in the long-running case from raising a series of larger disputes over Islam.

In past hearings before the trial, plaintiffs have claimed that Islam is not a religion and does not deserve First Amendment protections.

That claim prompted the intervention of local US Attorney Jerry Martin. His office filed a brief confirming that Islam is a recognized religion.

Martin said at the time that to suggest otherwise was “quite simply, ridiculous.’’

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Related: Terrorists Strike Tennessee

" A Tennessee federal jury split its verdict Friday against nine people accused of operating a sex-trafficking ring across three states run mostly by Somali refugee gang members....

Muslims, right?

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Back to the search for the missing/abducted kids:

"The net widened Tuesday in the case of a Mississippi man suspected of killing a Tennessee woman and her teenage daughter and fleeing with her two younger girls as authorities charged his wife and mother in connection with the abduction."

Related: Relative says kidnapping suspect claimed girls were his

All roads lead to Mississippi?

"Miss. officials fired after taped prank" February 17, 2012

JACKSON, Miss. - A Mississippi town fired its police chief, two officers, and two town officials after a video surfaced purportedly showing them encouraging a mentally disabled man to eat a mouthful of cinnamon as part of a prank.  

That is sadistic torture.

An attorney for Denareus “Ted’’ Martin, 18, said a video was taken at City Hall by one official in Tutwiler and posted on YouTube, though it was taken down. A separate video, which was also removed, showed a police officer boxing with Martin, attorney Ellis Pittman said.

In the cinnamon video, a woman uses a piece of paper to pour a substance into Martin’s mouth while people laugh. Martin holds the cinnamon in his mouth for a few seconds before coughing and spitting it out. He runs to a water fountain.  

And they laughed about it. Lord Acton was right: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Pittman said his client was choking, but the officials “were all laughing.’’

Former police chief Terry Tyler said he and the others were fired Tuesday.

“It’s a bunch of lies and false allegations,’’ he said. “I don’t have anything to hide. I don’t have anything to be ashamed of.’’

Tallahatchie County Sheriff William Brewer said he called the district attorney’s office and the FBI. He said a joint investigation is underway.

The “Cinnamon Challenge’’ is a prank in which people try to swallow cinnamon without water, which dries the mouth and usually causes them to cough and spit the spice.

The video was taken while Martin was assigned to City Hall to work off fines from a minor criminal charge, Pittman said.

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"Former Mississippi mayor sentenced in inmate sex case" Associated Press, April 25, 2012

JACKSON, Miss. - A former Mississippi mayor and prison warden was sentenced Tuesday to seven months behind bars for telling an inmate to lie to investigators about having sex with him in a hotel room in 2009.

Grady Sims, who served as the mayor of Walnut Grove in central Mississippi for 31 years, told the judge that he lost his job as mayor, his personal vending business, and “suffered shame and disgrace.’’

Sims was first elected mayor in 1981. In October 2009, he became warden of the Walnut Grove Transition Center, a privately run prison designed as a reentry facility where inmates are allowed to get jobs in the private sector.

Sims drove the inmate to a hotel to have sex in November 2009. In March 2010, he was secretly recorded in telephone conversations telling her “to lie to investigators.’’

In October, an indictment accused Sims of sexually assaulting the prisoner while acting in his official capacity. In a plea deal in February, the assault charge was dismissed and Sims pleaded guilty to witness intimidation. He was forced to resign as mayor and was barred from seeking office again.

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Gotta get back to Tennessee:

"Asking parents to grade themselves; Tenn. is the latest state trying to boost involvement" by Lucas L. Johnson II  |  Associated Press, May 13, 2012

NASHVILLE - Educators exasperated by the need for greater parent involvement have persuaded Tennessee lawmakers to sign off on a novel bit of arm-twisting: asking parents to grade themselves on report cards.

Another Tennessee measure signed into law recently will create parent contracts that give them step-by-step guidelines for pitching in. The report card bill, which would initially apply to two struggling schools, was passed by the Legislature, and the governor has said he is likely to sign it. Participation in the programs is voluntary.

Only a few states have passed laws creating evaluations or contracts that put helping with homework or attending teacher conferences into writing. Tennessee is the only one so far to do report cards, though Utah has parents fill out an online survey and Louisiana is also considering parent report cards.

The measures are meant to address a complaint long voiced by teachers and principals: Schools cannot do it alone.

“It’s a proven fact that family engagement equals students’ success,’’ said James Martinez, spokesman for the National Parent Teacher Association.

“It’s one of the key ingredients to education reform, to turning around schools, to improving our country’s children’s knowledge base compared to the rest of the world.’’

Under Tennessee’s contract legislation, parents in each school district are asked to sign a document agreeing to review homework and attend school functions or teacher conferences, among other things. Since it is voluntary, there is no penalty for failing to uphold the contract, but advocates say simply providing a roadmap for involvement is an important step.

Michigan is the only state that has enacted a similar measure, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In the case of Tennessee’s report card proposal, a four-year pilot program will be set up involving two of Tennessee’s struggling schools. Parents of students in kindergarten through third grade will be given a blank report card at the same time as the students, and the parents will do a self-evaluation of their involvement in activities similar to those in the parental contract. Parents will give themselves a grade of excellent, satisfactory, needs improvement, or unsatisfactory.

Representative Antonio Parkinson, a Memphis Democrat and the House sponsor of the measures, said the program may be expanded depending on how many parents participate.

“What we’re hoping will happen with the parents grading themselves is that they will, at a minimum, become aware of either the good job that they’re doing in regards to children’s education, or possibly become aware of some areas where they may be able to make some improvements,’’ said Parkinson, adding that educators can review the report cards with the parents if they choose.

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The state has previously been praised as a leader in education reform by US Education Secretary Arne Duncan for other changes in state law, including toughening the curriculum and teacher evaluations.

Nashville resident Christi Witherspoon favors the measures. Despite her busy schedule as a doctor, she and her husband, Roger, spend as much as three hours each night helping their two daughters with homework.

Some families, though, face greater obstacles....

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