ROE GIVES MONEY TO RIVERWALK PROJECT
1st District Congressman Dr. Phil Roe has announced that Kingsport will receive a grant for the Riverwalk project. 250-thousand will come from the Appalachian Regional Commission while local sources will provide the remaining 250-thousand dollars. Roe said he’s pleased that the model city will receive this important funding for the riverwalk plaza that will spur economic and community development in the city. The project will include 100 acres of retail, commercial, residential, recreational and other mixed uses. The total price tag is 57 million dollars.
BUSINESS KICKED OUT OF MALL AT JOHNSON CITY
The owner of a business in the mall at Johnson city has been booted out because of his anti-Obama merchandise. Graphic edge prints slogans and pictures on coffee cups, bumper stickers and t-shirts. But Dan Fuchs’ has said over half of his business came from the sale of anti-Obama merchandise. But mall officials told the Johnson city press this decision wasn’t based on political views. He was handed a lease termination notice Friday with no reason given for the action. Mall officials told him to take down the anti-Obama items by closing time or face immediate eviction.
BRISTOL MAN SENTENCED IN WIFE’S ATTACK
A Bristol Tennessee man convicted in August of raping and kidnapping his estranged wife is headed to prison. 49 year old Doug Young has been ordered to spend 50 years behind bars. Young beat his estranged wife, raped her repeatedly, and abducted her at gunpoint in January of last year and took her to Georgia were they were later located. He was convicted of aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, especially aggravated kidnapping, and four counts of aggravated rape. Young is also serving a 22-year prison sentence for a separate conviction of aggravated rape of his estranged wife.
WOMAN ACCUSED IN MURDERS DIES IN OKLAHOMA
A Johnson City woman accused of her part in the dismemberment deaths of two Georgia teenagers in 2002 has reportedly died in Oklahoma. Emma Elizabeth Hawk, the mother of accused killer Howard Hawk Willis, died Wednesday. She was charged with two counts of abuse of a corpse, being an accessory after the fact in the murders and coercion of a witness. Hawk was accused of helping her son dispose of the bodies of Adam Chrismer and Samantha Leming Chrismer. Criminal court judge Lynn Brown said her death could impact Howard Hawk Willis’ case because he claimed his mother was the one who killed the victims.