Court proceedings in the mold remediation case involving Westview High School in Martin and Martin Middle School, which reconvened Monday with Weakley County General Sessions Court Judge William Acree presiding, were continued on Tuesday.
    Attorneys on hand during the hearing representing the two families in the case, who filed suit against the Weakley County School Board, were Memphis Attorney Amber Griffin and Larry Parrish of Memphis, as well as Bruce Connley of Union City. Attorneys representing the Weakley County School Board were Jason Panu and Sam Jackson both of Nashville.
    Prior to court getting underway, Griffin was asked what the plaintiffs in the case hoped to accomplish during the hearing? Griffin responded by telling the Dresden Enterprise, “The order that Judge Acree gave us on April 10, 2008 was to have these hearings on May 12th and 13th to determine the extent of remediation needed at Martin Middle School, if any. To determine the ongoing remediation at Westview High School and plans for further remediation in the future.”
Griffin also stated that the remedial processes that have been going on at Westview since Judge Acree’s court order includes the installation of new insulation on approximately half of the chiller pipes at school, with the remainder to be replaced this summer.
    For the most part, during the hearings on Monday and Tuesday, attorneys for the School Board presented two expert witnesses to talk about what they’ve found during their inspections and what remedial actions they recommended.

(Read the rest of this story in the May 14th print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)

    During Thursday night’s meeting of the Gleason Board of Mayor and Aldermen, members approved an audit report for fiscal year 2006-2007, a resolution amending the 2007-2008 fiscal year budget for the Weakley County Economic Development Board, and an equipment lease. Board members also voted to refund taxes to the American Legion on property exempt from taxation, and signed over the city’s interest in Oliver Machine and Welding to the state.

Audit Report

   One of the top items on the agenda considered by the board was an audit report for fiscal year 2006-2007. The findings are listed as follows:
• The findings listed by the audit include a notation that the city of Gleason does not have adequate written policies and procedures, which increases the city’s risk of processing various transactions incorrectly and not complying with various laws and regulations. Auditors recommended that the city should develop written policies and procedures to address all significant government functions. The city of Gleason’s response was that they concur with this finding and will again request help from MTAS in developing these procedures.
• Deficiencies in the record keeping process resulted in the ending trial balances being out of balance. For the year ending June 30, 2007, the general ledger balanced in total. However, the General Fund and the solid waste fund were individually out of balance. The audit recommended that all entries should be entered into the general ledger in a manner that insures that postings are within the designated fund and that no transaction is posted between two or more funds. Any transaction requiring inter-fund postings should be made through appropriate entries using due to/due from accounts. The city of Gleason’s response was that they concur and will request aid from its general ledger software support group, which should correct these accounting deficiencies.
• Actual expenditures exceeded budgeted expenditures by $4,085 in the Library Fund. Auditors recommended that if it appears during the fiscal year that actual expenditures exceed budgeted amounts, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen should amend the original budget or provide supplemental appropriations. City management agreed, stated that in the future, expenditures would be closely monitored to ensure that actual expenditures do not exceed budgeted amounts without a corresponding budget amendment or supplemental appropriation.
• Due to posting errors, there were numerous accounts in the general ledger that did not reflect the correct balance per documentation examined during our audit. It was recommended that all accounts in the general ledger should be balanced monthly to ensure the proper reporting to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the city’s finances. The city concurred with this finding stating that the city recorder will examine all accounts in the general ledger monthly to ensure the account reflects the correct balance, so as to ensure the financial statements of the city accurately reflect the revenue and expenditures of the city.
 

(Read the rest of this story in the May 14th print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)

    A hearing has been scheduled next week for a former Weakley County Sheriff’s Deputy, who was convicted in early November of 2005 of murdering his estranged wife’s male friend.
    A motion hearing has been set for 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 22, 2008, in Weakley County Circuit Court, which could result in a retrial for Claudell Watkins Carpenter, 31, of Gleason.
    Carpenter, a deputy with the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department at the time of the shooting, was charged with murdering Joseph Neal Martin Jr., 35, of Sharon, a man described as a male friend of Carpenter’s estranged wife, Rene Leyhue Carpenter.
    During the murder trial, the jury learned that the incident took place shortly after midnight on Wednesday, June 16, 2004, at Renee Carpenter’s Greenfield apartment, where Carpenter’s estranged wife and their two children were residing.
    When Carpenter discovered Martin, whom he described as a known drug dealer, in a bedroom with his estranged wife, Carpenter shot Martin approximately 13 times with a .40 caliber Glock service pistol.
    While the prosecution charged that the crime was premeditated murder and deserved a first-degree murder conviction, the defense argued that the shooting was done in the heat of passion and should be considered to be manslaughter.
    On Nov. 2, 2005, a jury convicted Carpenter of second-degree murder and first-degree felony murder in connection with the shooting death of Joe Martin, which occurred in the perpetration of and while intending to commit a burglary. He was also found guilty of especially aggravated burglary, and felony aggravated assault. It should be noted that a fifth charge of evading arrest, a Class A misdemeanor, was not considered by the jury, because Carpenter had already pled guilty to this charge. He was given 11 months and 29 days for this offense; but since he has been incarcerated longer than this amount of time, the sentence amounts to time served.
 

(Check out the rest of this story in this week's print edition of the Dresden Enterprise!)