Newspaper Page Text
THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. JUNE 11. 2009 — PAGE 7A
Area News:
Police believe Commerce man shot
grandson over dropped watermelon
By Mark Beardsley
mark@mainstreetnews.com
Police believe Robert L.
Clark shot and killed his
6-year-old grandson Sunday
in a fit of rage over a dropped
watermelon.
Michael Levigne, a kinder
garten student at Commerce
Primary School, was killed
by a gunshot wound to the
chest in the Troy Street,
Commerce, home of his
grandparents. Police say
Clark shot his wife, Linda
Dale Clark, 58, multiple
times in the chest/stomach
area before he himself was
shot by police officers after
he fired a weapon at them.
Two Commerce officers are
on paid administrative leave
pending a Georgia Bureau
of Investigation inquiry into
the shooting. Jackson County
deputies, a Pendergrass police
officer and an officer with the
Georgia State Patrol all fired
their weapons at Clark.
Both Clark and Mrs. Clark
were transported by heli
copter to Grady Memorial
Hospital. As of Monday after
noon, neither had recovered
to the point where the GBI
could interview them about
the incident, Knight said.
“This is clearly a very trag
ic incident for this commu
nity,” said police chief John
Gaissert. “It was very trou
bling for everyone who was
involved.”
Detective Chad Knight
concurred.
“They're (local officers)
taking it rough, not so much
of being in the shooting, but
of seeing the child,” Knight
said. “Most of them have
children. A lot of these peo
ple don’t realize that for all of
us it's tough. There were sev
eral of us who broke down
because it was a child.”
Knight confirmed reports
that police were told the inci
dent started when Michael
dropped a watermelon,
although he was not sure
whether that information
When word went out from 911 of a shots fired and a subject barricaded in a Troy Street
house, officers from the Commerce, Arcade and Pendergrass police departments, the
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia State Patrol responded. Close to 30 law
enforcement vehicles were on Troy Street by 2 p.m.
came during the 911 call
or from interviews with the
other child on the scene at
the time.
The incident occurred at
about 1p.m. Sunday after
noon. Twenty minutes later, it
was all over, but officials are
still trying to piece together
what happened and why.
According to Knight, Mrs.
Clark called 911, and the call
was dispatched as “gunshots
with a barricaded suspect in
the house.”
Knight said a Commerce
officer was patched through
to Mrs. Clark by 911 and
talked Clark into releasing
a 5-year-old boy who was
unharmed but who had wit
nessed the shooting, and to
allow his wife to leave.
“He let the child out and
a Jackson County deputy
scooped him up and got him
to safety,” Knight said. “Then
the woman came out and one
of our officers picked her up
and they got her to an ambu
lance.”
The standoff ended when
Clark came to the door,
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refused repeated demands
that he drop his weapon “and
the situation was such that
police responded with deadly
force,” said Gaissert.
Police had been to the
residence at 228 Troy Street
in the past. Knight said a
number of calls came to 911
from the house over the past
year, a lot of them hang-ups.
Neighbors told police that
Clark was prone to anger and
cursing at and in front of his
grandsons.
“I would characterize the
family dynamic as dysfunc
tional,” Gaissert commented.
Officials are working with
the Department of Family
and Children Services to
understand why the children
were in the custody of their
grandparents, but Knight said
he did not expect that to be a
factor in the case. Knight said
Clark had purchased a gun
from a dealer in 2008 — an
indication he did not have a
criminal record.
Knight said the depart
ment has “had dealings with”
the child’s father, Andrew
Levigne, in the past. Officials
have spoken with Levigne,
but as of Monday afternoon
had not spoken with the boy’s
mother, Crystal Levigne.
Clark was charged with
murder, aggravated assault
and aggravated assault on a
police officer.
Friday is deadline for
digital TV conversion
Friday is the deadline for television stations nation
wide to begin broadcasting exclusively in digital for
mat.
The change is expected to provide much higher qual
ity, but millions of Americans will have to make some
adjustments to receive the new signal.
People who use an antenna to watch free, over-the-air
television on an analog TV set — and don’t subscribe
to a pay TV service — will be affected by the transi
tion. Those who pay for TV services, via cable or satel
lite, will not need to upgrade.
Those not on pay TV will need to install a DTV
converter box that hooks up to the analog TV set and
the over-the-air antenna. The box converts the digi
tal television signal into an analog format, making it
viewable on an analog TV set. The U.S. Department
of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA) is issuing each
household up to two $40 coupons to help defray the
cost of converter boxes.
Consumers using over-the-air antennas will still need
an antenna to continue watching free, over-the-air tele
vision after the transition to DTV.
Generally, the same antenna that currently provides
good quality reception on an analog TV set will also
provide good DTV reception, but this is not always the
case. The type of antenna needed for digital reception
depends on several factors, including how far the recip
ient is from the transmitting station, where the antenna
is located and in which frequency band (VHF or UHF)
the stations are that the consumer wants to watch.
After June 12, some stations will be moving to a
different frequency band, so consumers should check
whether that is the case in their area before deciding
which type of antenna they need.
“To learn which frequency band the stations you
watch are in, type in your address and zip code at www.
antennaweb.org.,” officials said. “This is also a resource
for finding an outdoor antenna that will continue giving
you free local broadcast programming.”
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