Stanhope Elmore’s Foshee resigns.
Sports, Page 8 Wetumpka, AL 36092
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SATURDAY-SUNDAY • JUNE 11-12, 2016
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
VOL. 11, NO. 23
Officials stand by arrest in video case
Chamber welcomes 3 summer interns By William Carroll Managing Editor
Three young students have recently started internships with the Wetumpka Area Chamber of Commerce and they hope to use the experience to better the community. Wetumpka High School students Carson Turner, 17, and Sterling Jones, 16, along with Auburn University Montgomery student Michelle Rawls recently started at the Chamber as part of a newly created internship program to help continue to move the entity forward. Turner, who started Monday, said that she was excited to be a part of the program and looks at the opportunity as a way to get more involved in Wetumpka. “I think it will help me be more about what is going on in the community and help me to be more professional,” she said. Jones agreed that the Chamber gives him an See CHAMBER • Page 3
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
William Carroll / The Herald
The Wetumpka Area Chamber of Commerce’s three new interns (front left to right) Carson Turner, Michelle Rawls, and Sterling Jones have been busy working with (back row) Chamber Director Gerry Purcell and Associate Director Jamie Young on ways to grow the Chamber’s footprint in the community.
Inmate escapes from Elmore County work release center
Civil liberties lawyer responds to city, warns of potential for future legal action
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
The Alabama Department of Corrections issued a report of an escaped inmate from Deatsville’s Frank Lee Work Release Center who was said to have run from the center wearing a Burger Myhand King uniform. According to the report, Jordan Devon Myhand, 23, escaped on Thursday around 1 a.m. . An ADOC public information manager, Bob Horton, said Myhand was in the work release program See ESCAPE • Page 7
City officials are maintaining their position that the arrest of a man who filmed police was warranted after calls from viewers were said to have negatively affected city services, and as of Friday police phone lines remain down. On Wednesday the city released an official statement and position in a lengthy press release, and the police have explained their reasoning behind their actions in the arrest of the video’s author, Lynwood Keith Golden, 43. However, some confusion has been expressed at what Golden was exactly charged with, who sent the orders and who signed off on them. Golden said he was initially picked up at his home on Tuesday by the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office. The original video was published on Sunday, June 5, to Golden’s YouTube channel Bama Camera. However, Wetumpka Police Chief Danny Billingsley said on Thursday the initial plan to act to arrest Golden had been in the works for over a week. The actual date of the filming incident was said to have been Thursday June, 2, which left a period of three days before the video made it online. See CITY • Page 3
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
Submitted / The Herald
Police are searching for a vehicle of interest in regards to the massive blaze that destroyed the Tallassee Mill. This video image was gathered from surrounding businesses.
Search for possible suspects in mill fire By CARMEN RODGERS Staff Writer
The Tallassee Police Department released photos and video of a vehicle they are calling a vehicle of interest in regards to the massive blaze that destroyed the historic mill in Tallassee on May 4, 2016. The video was gathered from surrounding businesses. According to Tallassee’s Police Chief, Jimmy Rodgers, the fire began around 11 p.m. at 1 Lower Tuskegee
ka p m u t We
Road in Tallassee. The building was vacant with no electricity running to it. Mount Vernon Pine LLC owned the mill. If the fire is deemed arson, a $5,000 cash reward is being offered through CrimeStoppers for any information that leads to an arrest regarding the fire. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Forearms and Explosives (ATF) is also offering up to a $2,500 reward See SUSPECT • Page 2
The city is doubling down on its claims it was justified in arresting a local man for filming police, not for the act of filming, but for the response it generated from viewers across the country that called to complain to local police. Outspoken critics of the treatment of the video’s author and his subsequent arrest have voiced concerns for first amendment rights violations, while others have sided and sympathized with the actions of the Wetumpka Police Department. The WPD’s non-emergency phone number was still unavailable Friday, and its social media pages, as well as the city’s, remain down. The city made its position clear in a press release on Tuesday, and Wetumpka police have explained their reasoning behind the arrest of Lynwood Keith Golden, 43, of Coosada. According to Wetumpka Police Chief Danny Billingsley, who said he ordered the warrant for his arrest, Golden was charged with interfering See LAWYER • Page 2
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