Author: Clint Confehr

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — The imperial wizard of Tennessee’s Old Glory Knights of the KKK requested a public defender Monday and pleaded not guilty to four counts of civil rights intimidation. Daniel Lane Walls, 38, 3372 Fly Road, Santa Fe, is also charged with vandalism and contributing to the delinquency of a 17-year-old boy who allegedly glued KKK membership recruitment fliers on three Black churches’ marquees July 9 when Walls allegedly drove the boy around Columbia in pre-dawn hours. In Maury County General Sessions Court, Walls submitted an application for a public defender, thereby claiming indigence. Noting Walls…

By Clint Confehr LAWRENCEBURG, TN — A new roof is proposed for West Gaines School, closed since integration, now seen as a prospective community center with help starting on the county level. “We don’t want to give them something that’s not dried-in and just going to deteriorate,” Lawrence County Executive David Morgan said late last week, adding, “We’re still trying to figure out some of the deeding issues.” From 1937 to 1964, West Gaines School was where Black students were educated here during segregation. Thereafter, it was used for public offices and storage. Now, it needs stabilization. Advocates for its…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — While an “imperial wizard” of the Ku Klux Klan bonded out of the Maury County Jail within nine hours of his arrest on intimidation charges, the juvenile he allegedly drove around town to post KKK recruitment fliers wasn’t released from juvenile detention until Tuesday afternoon, nearly five days after the adult’s arrest. Tennessee’s Juvenile Court system procedures were followed by Judge Douglas Chapman who placed the 17-year-old boy on house arrest with his grandparents. They appeared in juvenile court as the boy could be seen by video in handcuffs, accused of being delinquent because…

By Clint Confehr MT. PLEASANT, TN — “Serious health problems” were a “common theme” among complaints from residents of Maury and Lawrence counties when a citizens group and eastatewide organizers met here recently. That’s according to Anna Flores of Nashville, the Middle Tennessee organizer for SOCM, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, a 50-year-old non-profit group formed in East Tennessee as Save Our Cumberland Mountains. Nearly 30 people heard a woman’s complaint about waking up one morning bleeding from her mouth after gardening at home the night before, Flores said after SOCM’s Columbia chapter hosted public discussions in Mt. Pleasant with…

By Clint Confehr NASHVILLE, TN — State Sen. Heidi Campbell wants to be Metro’s mayor to build a place to live, not just visit, she said emphasizing affordable housing, better transit and public safety as priorities. Public safety is the “number one thing that a mayor does,” Campbell said. “We have to keep our citizens safe first and foremost. We have real challenges there,” she said, briefly noting Covenant School shootings. To overcome every day crime and gun violence, Campbell advocates more foot patrol funded by savings from “smart city technology” that may include license plate readers, microphones to report…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — Jake and Therri Lane were married four days after Valentine’s Day with plans for a reenactment on a beach in June. They met in the Montgomery County Jail approximately eight years ago while working. She was a nurse caring for inmates. He worked for the sheriff. “We saw each other in one of the jail pods as I was distributing medications to inmates,” Therri said.“Everything was strictly professional. We started dating in 2017.” Their first date sparked hours of “really good banter” at a sushi restaurant in Clarksville. They didn’t talk much at work.…

By Clint Confehr PULASKI, TN — Many African-Americans are the descendants of “brave warriors” despite a misconception that all Black folks’ ancestors were enslaved, a retired educator says, emphasizing that lesson in bronze. “I’m putting a statue up to let Black boys and girls know that we are not just descendants of slaves,” Vivian Sims, 94, says as unveiling of the statue is scheduled for June 17th in Cave Springs Park, 204 Spear St. An 11 a.m. unveiling is planned for the statue — “Resurrection of Valor” — that faces North First Street (U.S. Highway 31). It’s 0.4 miles north…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — The exact location for a planned African American museum and cultural center here is to be officially announced May 27 during a luncheon at the West 7th Street Church of Christ. Maury County Historian Jo Ann McClellan, founder and president of the African American Heritage Society of Maury County, says the society’s building is to be “in the historic African American business district.” In Columbia, that’s East 8th Street where, in 1946, Blacks defended their businesses against local law officers during what was headlined as the Columbia race riot. Despite that, the AAHS has…

By Clint Confehr LAWRENCEBURG, TN — Ownership of an 85-year-old school building that’s not had classes since desegregation appears headed for transfer from Lawrence County to a non-profit group dedicated to its preservation, Black history and education. “Should I clap?” asked Kenneth Boyd, a member of West Gains School Community Center Inc. after hearing Community Center President James Wallace announce the intentions of county leaders. “That’s great news,” Boyd said. He, Wallace and more than a dozen others at the non-profit’s meeting applauded Sunday afternoon in the St. John United Methodist Church. It’s between the school built in 1937 and…

By Clint Confehr COLUMBIA, TN — A revered hunting and fishing guide who worked on the Duck River before and during the first half of the 20th Century is portrayed in a painting on display here at the James K. Polk Home and Museum. Will Evans is described by artist Bernice Davidson of Summertown, Tenn. as an “Unsung Hero of Columbia” and her painting, “Will Evans, Hero of Integrity,” shows him rowing one of the boats he designed and built for use on the Duck River. Davidson’s painting is in a Polk Home art show at 301 W. 7th St.…