Several Weakley County residents, who are students at Union University in Jackson, reflect on the impact last Tuesday night’s tornado had on their school and their lives.

    In addition to causing an estimated $40 million in damage to the college, the tornado resulted in many students having their vehicles destroyed and personal belongings scattered.

    Gleason resident Andrew Jackson, son of David and Kim Houston and Ron and Teresa Jackson, and his dorm roommate, Jakob Perkins of Greenfield, son of Jeff and Tammy Perkins, were two of the students at Union University whose dorms were so badly damaged that the structures will have to be demolished.

    Jackson said during an interview Friday, that on his way to Union University Tuesday night, “I was between Milan and Medina when it hit. It was hailing, just huge hail. I couldn’t pull over because the winds were sucking me off the road. I had to drive. That way, I could stay on the road. I tried to stop several times, but it was sucking me across into the emergency lane. And that wasn’t even the tornado. That was just the wind. I didn’t know that the storm was that bad. I thought it had already blown over. “I got down there right after it happened, maybe 20 minutes.”

Jackson stated that when he arrived at Union University, he pulled in at the back of the campus, because the front entrance was blocked. “It looked like a war zone. It was pitch black, and there were cars everywhere. Power lines were across the roads. It was total destruction. Everyone was just extremely emotional.

    “At that point, they had evacuated most of the guys, because it wasn’t hit as hard as the girl’s dorms,” Jackson said. “There were medical teams inside where they were taking all of the students.”

    Jackson stated that most of the buildings were damaged to some degree. “A lot of them might not be completely destroyed, but even those that weren’t directly hit, like the one I stayed in, is leaning in on itself. It’s just waiting to fall.”

    However, Jackson stated that there is a separate set of dorms on the back of the campus near University Drive, where most of the married students reside, that was mostly untouched by the tornado.

    “It swept though one side of campus where the men’s dorms are located and out the other side through the female dorms,” Jackson said. “Then it jumped Hwy. 45 and went across town.”

    Jackson stated that the tornado damaged every building on campus, except for the sports center located out towards County Club Lane.

    He said that all of the instruments located in the Jennings building, which houses the school’s art department, were damaged when water pipes bursts and covered everything with water.

    “Water got in our library and destroyed all of the books,” Jackson added.

    “Our new science department, there was some damage to it. I think it just did damage to the roof area. They had just opened it up in the fall of 2007.

    “As of right now, anyone who lived on campus pretty much has nothing,” Jackson said. “Because we can’t go back to retrieve it. National Guardsmen and volunteers from the administration are going through it right now and bagging and tagging the items in each room. And we can pick them up on February 18.” He stated that people would not know what’s salvageable until they receive their bagged up belongings later this month.

    When asked if he was going to commute to Union University every day, Jackson replied, “I don’t know. Nobody knows, because everybody’s already paid for housing for this semester. I know they’re going to take care of us. I mean, maybe if we were a state school, or a lot larger university, it would be a much bigger problem. Most students now are staying with faculty and professors.” 

(Read the rest of this story and see the pictures in the February 13th print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)

    The preliminary hearing for a Dresden car dealer charged with allegedly defrauding customers, which was set for Wednesday, February 6, in Weakley County General Sessions Court, has been rescheduled for March 12. Court proceedings are being delayed while some type of possible alternate resolution is being negotiated with victims.

    Charged in the case is former Martin resident, Timothy Paul Rogers, 39, who now resides at 2608 West Kenosha #635, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Rogers was a partner in the now defunct Bersin Rogers Chevrolet dealership, located at 8477 Hwy. 22 in Dresden (formerly McCauley Chevrolet, Inc.).

    Rogers was arrested on two counts of theft over $1,000 in August of 2007 for allegedly selling non-existent vehicle warranties. A $50,000 civil suit filed by a Dresden couple, who say they were sold a defective vehicle, is also pending.

    According to an affidavit of complaint on file at the General Sessions Court Office, on or about June 5, 2007, the victims, Mary and Freddie Harelson, bought a vehicle from the defendant and paid $1,150 for an extended warranty on the vehicle. Then, around June 27, the victims purchased another vehicle and paid $2,000 for an extended warranty, only to discover that the extended warranties for these vehicles did not exist. Weakley County Sheriff’s Investigator Marty Plunk called the warranty provider and was told that there was no extended warranty purchase record for the victims, which constitutes an act of theft.

    According to a news release from Investigator Randall McGowan of the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department, Rogers’ arrest came as the result of a two-month investigation into allegations of unethical and illegal business practices, which was conducted by the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department, working in conjunction with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

    One of Rogers’ former customers, Antonio Conte, first contacted the Dresden Police Department concerning a problem he had with the Bersin Rogers Chevrolet dealership in July of 2007. At that time, Conte informed authorities that he purchased a 1999 Ford Contour for $1,500 for his daughter to drive to college, but Rogers failed to provide him with a title. After his drive-out tags expired, he was given another temporary tag by the dealership and told that a title would be supplied to him soon, but it never came, and the Dresden Police Department informed him that it is illegal to renew temporary tags. Since Conte had no title, this meant he paid for a vehicle that could not be titled to his daughter.

(Read the rest of this story in this week's print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)

    Despite threatening storms, which included tornado warnings and watches for the region, Weakley County voters turned out to the polls on Super Tuesday to cast their ballots in the Weakley County Presidential Preference Primary, and for those candidates running in local uncontested county races.

    According to Weakley County Administrator of Elections Diane Cashon, “The election went well. And I certainly want to commend our election workers. I think they just did an outstanding job of being focused on the business of conducting an election, during that time frame when everyone was so uncertain about the weather.  I was just so impressed with them.”

    Cashon stated that the voter turnout for both early voting and on Election Day were excellent compared to past elections. Out of 17,841 registered voters, 1,432 citizens cast their ballots in early voting, while 4,407 voted on Election Day, for a total of 5,839 votes.

Presidential Preference Primary

    A breakdown of Tuesday’s election by party shows that 3,406 citizens in Weakley County voted on the Democratic presidential ticket, while 2,353 voted for Republican candidates in this year’s presidential race.

    On the Democratic ticket, Hillary Clinton received the most support with 2,273 ballots (66.74%) cast in her favor, while Barack Obama came in second with 753 votes (22.11%), and John Edwards came in third with 292 votes (8.75%).

    The total number of votes cast by Weakley Countians for all Democratic candidates on the ticket are as follows:

Joe Biden = 22; Hillary Clinton = 2,273; Chris Dodd = 5; John Edwards = 292; Mike Gravel = 3; Dennis Kucinich = 4; Barack Obama = 753; Bill Richardson = 14; Uncommitted = 38; Write-In = 2; Total = 3,406

    Mike Huckabee claimed the lion’s share of the votes among the Republican candidates with 961 votes (40.84%), followed by John McCain with 650 votes (27.62%), Mitt Romney 546 votes (23.20%), Fred Thompson with 57 votes (2.42%), and Rudi Giuliani with 21 votes (0.89%).

Results for all candidates are listed below:

    Rudy Giuliani = 21; Mike Huckabee = 961; Duncan Hunter = 2; Alan Keyes = 4; John McCain = 650; Ron Paul = 100; Mitt Romney = 546; Tom Tancredo = 0; Fred Thompson = 57; Uncommitted = 12; Write-In = 0; Total = 2,353.

(Read the rest of this story in this week's February 13th print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)