Briefs across Tennessee

No indictment in fatal

bicycle accident case

CHATTANOOGA (AP) — A Hamilton County Grand Jury has decided not to indict a truck driver who fatally struck a bicyclist.

Investigators said 51-year-old David Meek of Red Bank was thrown to the pavement March 6 when a saddlebag on his bike got caught on the footboard of a passing truck, jerking the bicycle from under him. Meek owned a bicycle shop.

The traffic investigator testified the driver could have seen the bike, but it was not likely that he should have seen it.

The driver told police he didn’t see Meek until the victim was lying in the street.

WDEF-TV reports police did not cite the driver at the time of the accident for violating a state law that requires drivers passing a cyclist to leave a safe distance of at least three feet.

Information from: WDEF-TV, http://www.wdef.com/

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Reward offered for info about horse killing

WOODBURY (AP) — The Humane Society is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to a conviction in the deaths of two horses in a Middle Tennessee barn fire.

The Cannon County Sheriff’s Office says a family attempted to rescue their horses from their flaming barn just after midnight Feb. 27.

The horses died before the fire department could extinguish the blaze.

Investigators believe the fire was set intentionally.

The society’s Tennessee state director Leighann McCollum told The Daily News Journal there is “no tolerance for violence against the creatures who share our world.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Cannon County 911 Dispatch Center at 615-563-4322.

Information from: The Daily News Journal, http://www.dnj.com

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Man convicted of killing driver gets added term

KNOXVILLE (AP) — A judge in Knoxville has added 20 years to the life sentence of a convict in the fatal robbery of a Walgreens truck driver.

The sentence imposed Thursday upon Kane Stackhouse is for the robbery that led to the fatal shooting of David Lindsey in November 2006 as the 53-year-old Lindsey made a delivery.

Stackhouse received the life term when a jury convicted him in December.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reported he did not speak at the sentencing hearing.

Authorities have said Stackhouse was 19 and a methamphetamine addict looking for a ride to Florida when he shot Lindsey.

Also pending are charges that he tried to rob a used car dealership about 12 hours after Lindsey was killed. The dealership owner pulled his own gun and disarmed the teen.

Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com

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Gore warns ETSU audience about global warming

JOHNSON CITY (AP) — Al Gore says people are slow to grapple with the issues of global warming because nothing like it has happened before.

Speaking at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City on Thursday, the former vice president and Nobel laureate said the warming of the world is a health issue.

The Johnson City Press quoted Gore saying weather changes, including deeper and more widespread droughts, can be linked to the warming planet.

His speech was part of ETSU’s College of Public Health lecture series.

Information from: Johnson City Press, http://www.johnsoncitypress.com

Published in The Messenger 3.27.09

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