Police: Window not shattered by gunfire

n Business: 2
n Deaths: 3
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2012
MOBILE DEMOCRATIC HEADQUARTERS
Police: Window not shattered by gunfire
Prior damage being blamed
By Theresa Seiger
tseiger@press-register.com
Police say prior damage — and not gunfire — caused a large front window at the
Mobile Democratic Headquarters to shatter
around noon Wednesday.
Police responded to reports that a shot
had been fired at the headquarters on Government Street at 11:45 a.m.
“During the investigation, existing holes
were discovered in the glass front area covered by what appeared to be glass repair
material,” said Ashley Rains, a public information official for the Mobile Police Department. “It was determined the holes
existed in the glass previous to the panel
shattering.”
The Mobile County Democratic Party
Chairman, state Rep. Napoleon Bracy, said
he had not noticed the holes before.
“When the window shattered, a piece of
the tint [on the outside of the window] was
hanging on the inside,” Bracy said. “That
suggested to me and some of the volunteers
that something outside had come in.”
A security guard working at a bank next
door heard a gun being shot from the direction of Government Street just before the
window shattered, according to Bracy.
However, no one saw the glass when it
shattered, and police did not find any bullet
holes in the building.
Volunteers and workers weren’t taking
any chances, deciding instead to review
their security measures for the future.
“We want to make sure there’s the highest level of safety and precaution for our
volunteers,” Bracy said. “It was pretty panicky [when the window broke].”
Volunteers were calling potential voters
in Florida when the supposed shot rang
out. One volunteer ran out the back of the
building to the bank next door, where she
called authorities.
“I’m hoping once the police finish this
investigation they find out it was just an accident,” Bracy said. “I hope that we haven’t
gotten to a point in our political climate Police investigators examine a shattered window Wednesday at the Mobile County
where people have to fear for their lives Democratic Headquarters on Government Street near downtown Mobile. Police say prior
damage — and not gunfire — caused the breakage. (Press-Register/G.M. Andrews)
based on who they support politically.”
Restore Act can
shape future,
Bonner asserts
DINO-MIGHT EXHIBIT
Lawmaker says
officials must work
together to spend the
oil spill fines
By Guy Busby
gbusby@press-register.com
Left: Keisha Williams helps prepare the “Discover the
Dinosaurs” exhibit Wednesday, which opens at the Mobile
Convention Center in downtown Mobile this weekend. It
allows visitors to step back in time and learn more about
the prehistoric creatures that once inhabited the Earth.
Above: The all-indoors exhibit allows attendees to
browse more than 60 museum quality and animatronic
dinosaur replicas. In addition, children can also ride
several of the dinosaurs, including the Tyrannosaurus
Rex. Other attractions for children include a dino dig, dino
theater, coloring, scavenger hunt, inflatables, mini golf,
facepainting and gem and fossil panning. The exhibit
opens Friday from noon to 9 p.m. It will be open from 10
a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on
Sunday. Adult tickets for ages 12 and up are $16. Tickets
for children over the age of 2 are $11. To see more images,
visit al.com/prphotos. (Press-Register/Mike Kittrell)
Last bingo defendant sentenced
However, defense lawyer Tommy
Former lobbyist Jennifer
Spina
asked for leniency, saying
Pouncy gets three years
Pouncy was only following her bosses’
probation, also fined $4,000 orders when she offered bribes to two
state senators to entice them to vote
By Kim Chandler
for a gambling bill.
kchandler@bhamews.com
“She wasn’t going to open a casino.
The last of the people who pleaded ... (Prosecutors) talk about greed. She
guilty and testified for the prosecution was just trying to keep a
in the bingo vote-buying trial was sen- $60,000-a-year job,” Spina said.
tenced to probation Wednesday
morning after her lawyer argued that Case closed
she was only a reluctant go-between
Pouncy was the last to be sentenced
in the scheme to bribe legislators.
among
three prosecution witnesses
U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins
sentenced former lobbyist Jennifer who pleaded guilty, closing a case
Pouncy to three years probation and that, other than the plea deals, resultfined her $4,000. Prosecutors had ed in no convictions. Jurors over the
asked the judge to sentence Pouncy, course of two trials ultimately acwho pleaded guilty to one count of quitted Victoryland owner Milton
conspiracy, to two years in prison, McGregor, four current or former
saying she committed serious crimes. state senators and other defendants in
the case.
Pouncy testified that under the direction of her boss, lobbyist Jarrod
Massey, and casino developer Ronnie
Gilley, she delivered offers of campaign contributions to two state senators to get their votes on a bill aimed
at keeping electronic bingo casinos
open across the state.
Spina said Massey and Gilley, who
also both pleaded guilty and testified
for prosecutors, were the masterminds of the scheme.
“They were driving the bus, she was
just a puppet and an attractive young
lady that they used,” Spina said.
Spina described Pouncy as the
hardworking mother of a 3-year-old
son, and said it would do no good to
send her to prison.
See Bingo, Page 4C
FOLEY — The Restore Act
can be a key to making
south Alabama the center of
a revitalized economic region extending from Panama City, Fla., to New
Orleans, if leaders can cooperate and plan carefully how
to spend the money, Rep. Jo
Bonner said Wednesday.
Bonner, R-Mobile, told
members of the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce
that even $1 billion won’t be
enough for all the ways proposed to spend the money.
The act, signed into law
July 7, directs fine money
paid by BP and other responsible parties to the Gulf
Coast states and the regions
affected by the spill. In Alabama, the money will go to
Mobile and Baldwin coun-
U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner
ties, Bonner said.
“We’ve worked hard to
make sure that the victims
of Deepwater Horizon,
which are the people who
live here on the Gulf shores
of America, have the opportunity to see that money
come back where it belongs,
to be invested like it can be
to do really big things for
generations to come,” Bonner said.
See Restore, Page 4C
Accident or murder?
Car wreck claimed life
of Semmes woman
By Brendan Kirby
kirby@press-register.com
Robin Wells Dickens was
high on drugs and reckless
when she crashed her car
into a Chevrolet Cavalier
last year, and therefore
committed murder, Mobile
County prosecutors alleged
Wednesday.
Defense attorney Jeff
Deen, though, told Mobile
County Circuit Court jurors
that the wreck was nothing
more than a tragic accident.
The jury likely will settle
that argument today.
Jurors heard testimony
from the victim’s daughter
and a pair of drivers who
saw the March 4, 2011, accident on Schillinger Road.
Saraland resident Angela
Harbison testified that her
mother, Deborah Hilliard,
had spent the night at her
house and then helped her
with the fitting of a dress for
her upcoming wedding.
Hilliard was driving south
on Schillinger, on her way
back home to Semmes,
when the wreck occurred.
Robin Wells Dickens
Brooke Nelson, who was
driving home to Saraland
from her teaching job at
Faith Academy, testified
that she was behind the defendant’s Toyota Camry just
before the crash.
“The car in front of me
swerved, veered into the
other lane and hit the car in
the other lane head-on,” she
said.
Prosecutor Grant Gibson
asked what Nelson saw just
before the impact. “No
brake lights,” she said. “She
didn’t try to pull it back.”
Robert Russell, who was
driving an SUV in the southbound lane of Schillinger
See , Page 4C