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Fire Station
Barbecue
Houston County Fire Dept,
volunteer Brent Harden shows
some of the items that will be
raffled or offered as door prizes
during a fundraiser this Sat
urday.
The fundraiser will be held
at Station 3 in Hayneville, lo
cated along U.S. 3415, and will
feature barbecue plates for a
$5 donation, along with raffle
items such as fire extinguish
ers, cordless spotlight, a gui
tar and Black and Decker
home project kit. Raffle tick
ets are on sale for a $1 dona
tion or $5 for six.
You do not have to present
to win the raffle items. Barbe
cue can be picked up from 11
a.m. until 2 p.m. For more in
formation, contact any Station
3 volunteer or call 987-2878
from 8 untill 5 p.m. or pager
326-4569 after 5 p.m.
Football,
cheerleader
registration
Football and cheerleading
registration for ages 5-12 will
be held July 31-Aug. 18 at the
_ Perry Recreation Department
located at 1060 Keith Drive in
Perry.
For more information, call
988-2860.
Victory
Fellowship
plans ministry
Pastor Glenn Glower and the
congregation of Victory Chris
tian Fellowship, are planning
a dynamic evangelistic minis
try with Joel Hawkins Aug. 20.
He will be at Victory Chris
tian, 504 Marshallville Road at
10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.
When tv. fails
I sat down the other night
and watched “Survivor” for the
first time.
And the last time.
If that’s the wave of the fu
ture for television, I think I’ll
stick to reading.
Right now, I’m reading a book
about a small society that’s to
tally different from the “Survi
vor” society, which is to say that
it’s about people with some
thing more interesting on their
minds than how to create
‘alliances See Page 5
index
OPINION PAGE 4A
CLASSIFIED.... PAGE 5C
LIFESTYLES....PAGE 6A
SPORTS PAGEIB
LEGALS PAGE 1C
NEWS BRIEFS..PAGE2A
New Face
See Page 7A
Legal Organ For Houston County, City of Perry and the State of Georgia
20 year old murder
making headlines
By Charlotte Perkins
Staff Writer
Chuck Byrd isn’t one of those
attorneys who seeks the spot
light. Low-key and thorough, he
measures his words carefully and
speaks of Georgia statutes by
number. He also stands by the
Georgia statute that explains
that the whole purpose of the le
gal discovery procedure in a trial
is to find the truth, whatever that
truth may be.
“That’s the basis on which our
entire system of justice rests,” he
says. “The object of legal discov
ery is truth. That thought re
mains no matter what.”
Which may be why he was just
the man for the job when The
Boston Globe needed a good law
yer in Perry, Georgia to help be
gin a search for some kind of fi
nal truth in the case of the 1981
brutal rape and murder of a 19-
year-old college student.
In the winter of 1983, Ellis
Wayne Felker, a Warner Robins
leather shop owner who had
served an earlier prison term for
rape, was tried and convicted in
that case, and sentenced to death.
It would be 13 years before Felker
was finally executed in Novem
ber, 1996, and for most it was a
simple case of a guilty man’s law
yers delaying the inevitable.
So why is the B’elker case in the
news again? Because, at a time
when DNA testing has exoner
ated eight death row inmates,
and the death penalty remains a
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Willie Thornton with sign that warns what will happen to those
who dump illegally in Perry. This sign is placed on Hickory Drive.
Just days after a massive cleanup on Hickory Drive, someone
illegally dumped this freezer full of food beside the road.
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These Scouts have a blast at Camp Broken Arrow! Pictured, back row: Reggie Davis, Joey Glasscock,
Justin Smith, Jacob Avant. Middle: Ridge Turner, Emory Suits, Sheddrich Thomas. Front: Steven
Falen, John Mathis, Phillip Wilkes, Matthew Stephenson. For story about their adventure, seepage
38.
life
Thursday, August 10, 2000
subject of debate, Felker’s case
came to the attention of The Bos
ton Globe as a rare instance of a
case where (1) the accused had
claimed his innocence up to the
time of his death (2) questions re
mained about the fairness of the
initial trial, and (3) evidence that
could be tested for genetic identi
fication was still available.
As part of an ongoing investiga
tion, the Globe retained Byrd, who
went to Superior Court Judge L.A.
McConnell, Jr. with the
newspaper’s request for public
information access and DNA test
ing of the still-stored hair and fin
gernail scrapings from the mur
der investigation.
Last month, in a precedent-set
ting decision, McConnell ruled
that “the public’s right to know
must prevail,” and ordered that
the hair samples (both from the
victim and Felker), and other
physical evidence be tested for
DNA and comparisons made at a
laboratory acceptable to District
Attorney Kelly Burke.
Three other news organizations
- The Atlanta Journal Constitu
tion, “60 Minutes”, and The Ma
con Telegraph - got involved af
ter the Globe took the lead. The
cost of the testing, by the judge’s
ruling, will not be borne by Hous
ton County or the State of Geor
gia, but by the media seeking the
testing.
In an interview with The New
York Times, Ben Bradlee, Jr. of the
Boston Globe, was quoted as say
Honored
See Page 5B
ing, “We think that only DNA
testimony with its reliability
could prove that a person was
wrongfully executed, this has
never been tested, but if it could
be proven (i.e. that Felker was
wrongfully executed) it would
significantly alter the terms of
the death-penalty debate in this
country.”
For middle Georgians familiar
with photographs of the sweet
face of Evelyn Joy Ludlum, and
weary of the Felker debate, this
may seem to be a major waste
of time and money and an un
due hardship for both of the
families involved.
Houston County District At
torney Kelly Burke (who was not
available for interview by press
time) said in a recent Associated
Press interview that “The part
that is tragic is that it’s got to
be opening up wounds for both
families for something that they
thought was a done deal.”
For Mike Mears, however, the
testing is a good idea that comes
too late.
An attorney with the Georgia
Indigent Defense Council, who
defended Wayne Felker in the
last months before his execu
tion, Mears said, “It’s about four
years late. I wish they had been
around in 1996 to help us.”
Mears was, in fact, one of the
first defense attorneys to learn
of the evidence that is now be
ing tested in a California lab,
and that was years after the
Sharp:
Dump at
your
own risk!
By Emily Johnstone
News Editor
Perry City Public Works Su
perintendent Hugh Sharp is
sounding a warning to illegal
dumpers...you’d better stop or
you may have to face the conse
quences.
Sharp said his department, in
conjunction with the Perry Po
lice Department, will be keeping
Continued on lOA
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Chuck Byrd, well-known local attorney, was retained by the
Boston Globe to request access to evidence related to the 1981
murder of Evelyn Joy Ludlum.
original trial.
Just days before Felker’s sched
uled execution date in 1996,
Mears explains, he and other at
torneys petitioned under the
Public Information Act and
learned that there were four
boxes of evidence that Felker’s
attorney’s had never seen during
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Principal Ed Dyson of Northside High School chats with some
members of his staff in the hall way of their latest addition. The
building which houses 8 standard classrooms and 2 science
classrooms was built in an amazing 16 weeks with a new product
called Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.
Northside opens new wing
By Lanorris Fleming
Staff Writer
WARNER ROBINS - Northside
High School had something old,
the main building, something
borrowed, the portables, some
thing blue, the eagle’s colors and
now they have something new. No
one will be walking down the aisle
Westfield starts August 17
By Lanorris Fleming
Staff Writer
. A week later than Houston pub
lic schools but just as raring to
kick off a new academic year are
the students at Westfield Schools.
The students will return to school
on August 17 well rested and rar
ing to go. According to Dr.
Michael Drake, headmaster, the
staff and faculty are looking for
ward to a very productive year.
“We think we have some really
good faculty this year and are
looking forward to a great year,”
said Drake, “We are really excited
Three Sections. 30 Pages
the original trial.
These boxes included, in addi
tion to a rape kit, hair and fin
gernail scrapings, a confession to
the murder made by another per
son, and a credit card receipt
signed by Evelyn Joy Ludlum the
day after the prosecutors had
Continued on 2A
but many of the students will
be walking down a brand new
hallway. Not only will the stu
dents be able to begin the new
school year holding class in their
newly built wing, but this wing
is the first of its kind to be built
Continued on 9A
about the whole year.”
Losing a senior class of prime
athletes and academically high
achieving students to graduation
Drake expects the rising class
of seniors to fill those shoes.
“We lost a good senior class last
year, but our seniors this year are
bright, have good leadership
skills and are good athletes. We
expect them to live up to their
full potential,” said Drake.
According to Drake, the school
lost three teachers to retirement
last year and welcomes three
Continued on 2A
500
Photo by Charlotte Perkins
Photo by Lanorris Fleming