Today I went to the Circuit Court Clerk’s office in Dresden and obtained copies of the records pertaining to this event. There were 5 citations issued by a Weakley County Sheriff’s deputy with $500 shown as amount of damages. Because of the low amount of damages this is the reason they were not arrested. Since there was no arrest that is the reason it was not shown in the papers in the Arrest Reports. The date for disposition of this case is set for August 22, 2007 which is next Wednesday. This will be in General Sessions Court and they will have the option of pleading guilty or having a preliminary hearing. All have admitted to participating in the vandalism which also includes damaging mailboxes on the Stella Ruth Rd. After that hearing is when the newspapers will have the option of printing the results in their General Sessions Court Report. According to the clerks office there are no witnesses shown on the records and if there is more than $500 damage complaints need to be made. One question that comes to mind is who actually owns the Church Building since services are no longer held there. We may have jumped the gun on presuming a cover up from either the newspapers or by anyone else. I do wonder why the damages were set at only $500 when one window would probably cost that much to replace. I do have the names and addresses of the participants but do not feel it is my place to send this to a public forum such as this since there were no actual arrests. I’m not a lawyer but did play one in the late 1980’s until Dec. 1, 1991 when I had a running battle with the City of Martin and some people subscribed to the Weakley County papers in order to see what they would charge me with next. But that’s another story. Damages $500 and under is considered a Class A Misdemeanor. When it is over $500 then you get into felony charges. By the way, damages to mailboxes is a Federal Offence. Vandalism A person commits vandalism when they knowingly causes damage to or the destruction of any real or personal property of another or of the state, the United States, any county, city, or town knowing they do not have the owner’s effective consent. The punishment for Vandalism is based on the dollar amount of damage done. The penalties are a Class A misdemeanor if the value of the property is five hundred dollars ($500) or less; a Class E felony if the value of the property is more than five hundred dollars ($500) but less than one thousand dollars ($1,000); a Class D felony if the value of the property is one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more but less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000); a Class C felony if the value of the property is ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more but less than sixty thousand dollars ($60,000); and a Class B felony if the value of the property or services obtained is sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) or more. Since I live in SOUTH Weakley Co. I have never been to the community where the church is located. If there are any on the list that have a direct connection to the church it would be their place to go further with this. Joe Stout No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.19/953 - Release Date: 8/14/2007 5:19 PM