Herald Bulletin, The (Newspaper) - February 10, 2007, Anderson, Indiana SATURDAY FEBRUARY BECAUSE LIFE CHANGES DAILY The Herald Bulletin Anderson Indiana 50 cents A5 Palestinians wonder if new agreement will end violence SPORTS Bl Four area programs play in finals tonight High Low 18 1 Todays weather A2 Economy Inn shuttered Series of fires closes motel THB Don Knight The Economy Inn on Scatterfield was closed Thursday after the city declared the building unsafe By JUSTIN SCHNEIDER Anderson officials have shut down the Economy Inn due to unsafe conditions Representatives of the motel located at 2400 Scatter field Road had planned to fight the citys order to vacate on Friday during a special meet ing of the Board of Public Safe ty of Anderson But William Norton an attorney represent ing ownership group submitted to the citys request on Thursday The order stems from an inspection of the facility made by Anderson Building Com missioner Michael Widing after the motel requested to have their electricity I found all the smoke alarms in one room they took down all the smoke alarms to clean Widing said They had no warning lights and I found two back doors chained Norton did not return a phone message left by The Herald Bulletin and there was no answer at the Budget Inn Widing said the order to vacate was the result of a series of Jan 29 fires A blaze that ignited in the main electrical cabinet at the motel was extin without fire depart ment intervention but started again shortly thereafter Employees of the Economy Inn then attempted to perform maintenance on wiring leading to a third fire The motel then contacted Anderson Light and Power to have the electricity reactivat ed resulting in the inspection They tried to do their own Widing said They need to hire an electrical con tractor Public safety has to be a top Architect Ken Montgomery has submitted plans to over haul the electrical system and emergency warning system See Economy A7 SUSPECT SPEAKS THB John P Cleary FACING THE LAW Jerell Owens talks about the day Damian Hopkins was shot Five days after the homicide Jerell Owens is still shaking His hands quiver as he talks He tries balling them up and cupping one in the other to steady them but it doesnt work for long His eyes dart around the room He cries while he speaks of that night That night he says he saw his good friend murdered But the Anderson police see it differ ently Owens is the one accused of murder ing Damian Hopkins 18 after the Super Bowl game Sunday night He is being held without bond in the Madison Coun Owens spoke with The Herald Bul letin from the jail in a inter view Friday adamantly denying shoot ing his friend in the head Three have been arrested in the homicide including Perry Thompson and Ricky JR Wilson who are both charged with assisting a criminal a Class C night of Hopkins death he kept making phone calls Whoever he was talking to the was laughing Next thing I know his eyes are closed You know when a dudes eyes are closed but not closed all the way like when youre drunk or high He asked me for a drink I went to the kitchen and brought him a Sprite Then it was like I seen it but didnt see Owens said Thompson pulled out a gun and shot Hopkins in the head Hop kins fell to the ground and was shot again Just by looking at Hopkins Owens said he knew that he was dead I didnt have to figure that Owens said The side of his head blood was pouring and pouring out like a water fountain I then thought Thomp son was going to shoot me He knew me and JR and were cool so thats why I think he didnt When someone tells you somethin and they got a gun you do what they say Get his Get Get to the expletive car We were going to put him in the trunk and on our way there he said Drop So we Owens said he sat in the car next to Wilson when they left Oak Apartments I could feel his legs shaking the back Owens said the shooting occurred after Hopkins and Thompson argued about a game of craps There was a pile of money here a See Accused A7 INDEX Business 87 Lotteries A2 Classified C6 Movies C2 Comics B5 Opinion A4 Deaths A6 TV C3 Local A3 Sports B1 7 i Page designer Julie Van Noy UPDATES CARTOON ADS Last we knew Turner Broadcasting Systems and an advertising agency agreed to pay million in compen sation for planting blinking devices around the Boston area in a stunt that set off a terrorism scare Latest The head of Cartoon Network the Turner subsidiary connected to Tracking the news the ad debacle announced his resig nation Friday Jim Staples general manager and executive vice dent said he regretted the incident and felt compelled to step down effective immediately in recognition of the gravity of the situation that occurred under my Whats next The show being adver Aqua Teen Hunger shouldnt look forward to any boost in ratings from the publicity generat ed by the stunt gone awry The car toon averaged viewers last week among its targeted audience of according to Nielsen Media Research The previous week the show averaged a virtually identical Proposal would cut subsidies for richest farmers More money for conservation less to large farmers as subsidies By AVON WATERS A Bush administration would cut subsidies nations richest farmers but would also provide more money for conservation practices The proposal made last week would reduce the bil lion spent on programs in the last five years to billion in the next five years Few of Madison Countys largest farmers if any would be cut from subsidy pro grams under the new pro posal but thats only a guess said John Orick Purdue Uni versity extension educator agriculture and natural resources for Madison Coun ty Farmers income thats very personal and they dont much like to talk about Orick said Some farmers might benefit from the addi tional conservation aspects of the proposal A farmer would always like to see more options Theyd like the money for that but they dont want anything that would cut Anyone making more than in adjusted gross income would be cut off from farm payments under Bushs See Farmers A7 AP photo Business owner Fuzzy Lake president of the Fayette County Ministerial Association predicts Connersville Ind will rebound from the loss of the Visteon plant which once employed more than people Thursday Factory closings not all bad news By TOM MURPHY The Associated Press CONNERSVILLE ners bearing the label Posi Connersville beam happy thoughts to drivers passing through downtown while storefront signs in this eastern Indiana city remind pedestrians the future is in our That wave of optimism however hasnt washed over the entire community which is reeling from the news ear lier this month that its largest employer Visteon plans to shutter its enormous factory The September shutdown will idle 890 employees One of them Gary Mays has no idea what hell do when his run at the factory ends This town is down to Mays 44 said as he finished lunch at Maggies Diner before the start of a recent shift Youre looking at a ghost town for See Factories A7 Community Hospita A hospital Nationally recognized for the treatment of heart attack and heart failure When seconds on Community Community Health Network
