The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 20

.84 THE COURIER-JOURNAL METRO REGION SUNDAY, JULY 6, 1997 Teen describes 18 months of torture by stepfather Orchestra treats listeners at zoo with usual fanfare I Steve Maynard, a well-known businessman and political gadfly in Eastern Kentucky, kept Wesley imprisoned in Inez. t. -V 7 Richard Rodgers' "Victory at Sea" didn't seem to be much of a crowd pleaser, but it was excellently played, and it is a beautiful score that deserves more frequent hearing. Gould's "Symphonette" likewise seemed to pass without much notice; it is perhaps a bit subtle for the great outdoors. A special treat was Clay Condon's solo in Paul Creston's "Marimba Concerto." Condon, a student at Youth Performing Arts School, is the 1996 Young Artist Competition Winner.

The Creston work, of which the first movement was heard, showcased his outstanding talent and was delightful listening. And then there was "Lincoln Portrait." It is difficult to listen to the music with any amount of as it has become such a cliche for any patriotic occasion. It is by no means Copland at his best and the pseudo-rhetorical manner in which the Lincoln quotes are presented (the repeated "This is what he quickly wears thin. The piece has now perhaps achieved its last rites it has been parodied as a work of P. D.

Q. Bach. Perkey's relaxed and natural reading of the narration was the best possible approach, deflating at least part of the bombast. Closing the evening was the other inevitable, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." As guest conductor Peter Stafford Wilson said, "Americans have come to expect the Russian national anthem on all our national holidays." By GEORGE R. HUBBARD Special to The Courier-Journal The Louisville Orchestra is back at the Louisville Zoo! The 1997 edition of FifthThird Bank Roarchestra opened last night with a rousing "Star-Spangled Extravaganza." At least that's MUSIC Review what the pro-The Louisville gram said "Star-Orchestra spangled," per- haps, in that most of the music was of the patriotic variety.

And "star-spangled," certainly with Wayne Perkey as narrator for the by now inevitable "Lincoln Portrait." But the real stars, spangled or otherwise, were the members of the orchestra, playing at a higher level of excellence than one ever remembers hearing at an outdoor concert. The excellent sound system helped, of course. All the various sections could be heard in proper balance and without distortion, even from far back in the crowd. And a crowd there was, with lawn chairs, blankets, picnics and parties everywhere one could see. Everything from corporate catering on down to the humblest carry-out bags could be seen, and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

There was perhaps a little too much medley on the program. Robert Wen-del's "From Sea to Shining Sea," Lowden's "Armed Forces Salute" and Morton Gould's "American Symphon-ette No. 2" left one just a bit groggy from all the piling up of tunes. By ALLEN G. BREED Associated Press INEZ, Ky.

For 18 months, Adam Wesley Jordan spent much of his time bound by steel cables in a tiny bath-; room. Sometimes he was tied to the toilet, sometimes to the water heater, sometimes to a 2-by-4 structure nailed to the wall. It was a grimy space, lar8e enougn to turn around in. The floor was concrete, and there was no window. When people needed to use the toilet, they would throw a towel over Wesley's head.

Although he was next to the bowl, he was often tied so right- ly he couldn't undress to relieve himself. "I had to sit in my waste for weeks, until he'd get tired of the stench," Wesley said of his captor. During his imprisonment, Wesley he was routinely beaten. His nose and ribs were broken. They healed at unnatural angles.

Once, he said, he was sodomized "with a pair of needle-nose pliers. Wesley wasn't being tortured in a foreign jail. He was a teen-age boy, his captor was his stepfather, Steve Maynard, a well-known businessman in the Eastern Kentucky mountains. His prison was in a shabby storefront in downtown Inez population 600 across the street the sheriffs office. On days when the curtain wasn't drawn, Wesley could peer across the street and see the stone walls of the Martin County Courthouse.

The local office of the state Department for Social Services looks down on the roof where Maynard would order Wesley to sunbathe, hoping the tan somehow would hide the boy's scars. But to family, friends and authorities, he ceased to exist. "I just felt like nobody really cared for me," Wesley said in his first interview about the ordeal. "It felt like I was a hole in the Earth." Maynard who had run for Congress and governor, who dabbled in everything from vacuum cleaner sales to funeral arrangements was sentenced in May to 20 years in prison for some of what Wesley said was done to him during 73 weeks of torture. Wesley's mother, Bonnie, 33, is to stand trial on July 15 on charges of allowing the abuse to occur.

But Wesley, who turned 17 last Monday, thinks society should also be on trial because of all the failed opportunities people had to rescue him. Officials working in offices all around his prison could have helped. On Sept. 29, 1993, when Wesley yas 13 and before Bonnie Jordan married Maynard, now 36 someone reported to social workers that the family was living in a storefront without heat. A state worker went there the next day and found a hot plate, refrigerator, television and mattresses on the floor, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

About a week later, another com- )laint said Maynard was forcing Wes-ey to work in the hot sun without to drink. The documents show a social worker interviewed Wesley and his two sisters now 13 and 7 on Oct. 6, 1993. Everyone in the family denied the eventually the scars would bleach away, they would peel off." BUT THE WORST incident allegedly occurred one night when Maynard accused Wesley of sexually assaulting one of his sisters. Wesley said that his mother held him down while Maynard inserted a pair of pliers in Wesley's rectum.

"We believe that we could prove that Steve's words were something to the effect that this was what was going to happen to Wesley when he went to prison," said Floyd County Attorney Keith Bartley, the special prosecutor who eventually persuaded Maynard to plead guilty. Wesley said he had opportunities to run and even bolted from the house naked in the snow once, only to have Maynard catch him in front of the courthouse and coax him back inside. He said Maynard sometimes left firearms within Wesley's reach, but the boy couldn't bring himself to shoot. But on Nov. 11, 1995, Wesley said something just clicked inside him.

Wesley said Maynard got him out of the bathroom and the two went outside to work on a car. It was raining and snowing, so Maynard went inside. Wesley just started running. "The only reason I left was because he kept saying the only reason him and Mom couldn't get along was because of me," Wesley said. "It was all my fault.

I just said, 'To hell with it. I don't want to be blamed for it no more. I'll let them get WESLEY HITCHED a ride to Jed and Debbie Smith's house about eight miles out of Inez. He knew their sons and had played basketball there before. When Wesley showed up at the doorstep around 1 p.m., he was a shadow of his former self.

"I didn't recognize who he was," said Debbie Smith's son, Scott Davis, 16. Jed Smith said he saw the purplish stripes on Wesley's arms. "I told him what Steve told me to tell everybody else: I had a motorcycle wreck," Wesley said. But Smith wasn't buying it. The two had a private talk, but' Smith said he didn't believe what Wesley was telling him until the boy took off his shirt.

"It was unbelievable, bud," he said. "His ribs on his left side, the whole rib cage looked like it had been broken. They were sticking out. There wasn't a place on that little boy that wasn't burnt, bruised or had some kind of mark on it." Smith called the Kentucky State Police. Maynard spent most of the next IV2 years in jail, unable to meet a $100,000 bond.

He began suing the judges and prosecutors in his case. Before it was over, three judges, Jazz trumpeter brings New Orleans to town accusations, the report said. The beatings, said Wesley, started when he was 14. He said Maynard bloodied his nose in the car during an outing. From there, it got worse.

"Once him and Mom got married, then whenever he got mad or something, he'd hit me, Wesley said. Authorities say the imprisonment started in July 1994. Maynard had just lost his second bid for the Democratic nomination in the 5th Congressional District. He and his wife were also facing felony theft charges for allegedly writing bad checks, and the state was questioning some of his bills for hauling Medicaid patients through his taxiambulance service. "He did say I was evil," Wesley said, his head lowered.

"He kept saying I was trying to plot against him ruin everything for him." THE MAYNARDS had pulled their children out of school in March 1994 and moved around for a few months. "We tried to find them and couldn't," said Carroll Kirk, director of pupil personnel and truant officer for Martin County. But Maynard was quite visible during that period. He went to Frankfort to file for Congress in 1994. He appeared in Martin District Court less than 24 hours before the May primary that year to answer an assault charge.

In early 1995 Maynard became one of the first candidates to file for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, with his wife as running mate. He fought a highly public battle over his exclusion from a debate on Kentucky Educational Television, then withdrew from the primary during a live candidate forum on KET. Nonetheless, Kirk said Wesley was declared a dropout when school began in the fall of 1994. Friends and teachers wondered what happened to Wesley, but no one tried to find him. Adam Jordan, the children's father, said he had stopped trying to visit his children years ago because his former wife allegedly filed charges against him every time he showed up.

So Wesley's suffering continued. He said Maynard would sometimes put a U-shaped bicycle lock around his neck and chain it to the wall. Wesley said Maynard starved him off and on throughout the period. Once, Wesley said, Maynard accused him of stealing a candy bar, and made him drink bleach and ammonia so he would vomit it up. Wesley said he was beaten with fists, knives and a solid metal bar.

He said Maynard was mainly concerned with hiding the signs of the abuse. "He had a little hair spritzer, and he'd put Clorox in it, and he'd make me spray myself. He said that and that he also saw Butler later take a plastic container inside. BUT BRONK has since asked to withdraw his guilty plea which called for him to serve 25 years in prison and he will not be available to testify. Mershon has yet to rule on whether Bronk's previous statements can still be used at trial, given that he won't be available for cross-examination.

A hearing on that issue and other matters is scheduled for Tuesday. In court papers, Lockridge said he has numerous witnesses who will say Butler is a cocaine addict and that he regularly steals to support his habit. Lockridge said he has evidence to suggest that Hayes also abused cocaine and that he helped Butler burglarize the warehouse to support his own habit. By RICK MATTINGLY Special to The Courier-Journal Nicholas Payton has earned a name as one of the hottest young jazz trumpet players on the scene, a reputation gained through a variety of sideman gigs in the bands of such musicians as pianist Marcus MusiC Review Roberts and Nicholas Payton drummer Elvin Jones. With the release of his solo album "Gumbo Nou-veau" and increasing appearances with his own combo such as at last night's Bank One Lonesome Pine Special at the Kentucky Center for the Arts New Orleans native Pay-ton is poised to make the transition from sideman to leader.

A lot of the right elements are in place, but he's not quite there yet, judging by last night's performance. Payton certainly played with the confidence of a leader. He was aggressive without being overbearing, and while he displayed an impressive technical command of his instrument, he never let his "chops" override his musicianship. Even at fast tempos he was relaxed and in control, never sounding frantic. Generally, when Payton was playing, his band sounded focused and reflected his musical personality.

But when other members soloed, the band tended to sound generic. But at times, each member did display unique characteristics. Alto saxophonist Jesse Davis was especially Trial begins this week in Strawn Nutter case ASSOCIATED PRESS Adam Wesley Jordan recently showed scars on his arm and back. He said his stepfather, Steve Maynard, tried different ways to hide the signs of abuse, including having Wesley spray his skin with bleach. two prosecutors and a public defender would withdraw from the case.

In April, a judge found numerous flaws in the original 20-count indictment, and Maynard was asking that all the charges be But Bartley presented the case to a new grand jury, and it handed down even more charges. On April 18, three days before his trial on rape and 90 other charges, Maynard entered an Alford plea to seven counts of assault and one count of unlawful imprisonment meaning he maintained his innocence, while conceding he would be convicted. But he immediately appealed, saying Bartley had intimidated him into making the plea. During a sentencing hearing on May 5, special Judge C. David Hager-man said he wished he could have given Maynard 1 million years.

And he apologized to Wesley for what was allowed to happen to him. "The community there' let you down school, teachers, others, he said. "There is nothing I can say to make it right, but it's time to tell you that we care about you," State officials placed Wesley with his father's uncle, Ed Caudill of Royalton in Magoffin County. But he said he has started spending nights at his father's home next door in recent weeks. "Oh, I love it," Wesley said.

"That's what I always wanted to do." Wesley said his sisters are living with their father's brother. He said he thinks he would like to be a psychologist, and he hopes to write a book about his experience someday. Most of all, he wants a family of his own. "What would I do with a family?" he asked. "I'd give it all the love I could give." the firefighters had responded differently, Nutter perhaps could have been saved.

AN APRIL 1995 report prepared by the Louisville Fire Department noted that firefighters had difficulty reaching Nutter. A door on the west side of the building was open slightly, and items were stacked just inside of it. Firefighters at first believed it was a door to a storage area. Instead, it led to a hallway that might have made it easier to get to Nutter. "No one realized until late in the incident the hallway existed or was accessible from the doorway," the report said.

"Early recognition of this fact may have changed the tactics that were employed. Whether the outcome would have changed dramatically, however, would be pure speculation." chase on 1-65 terstate about a mile north of Park City. Briley was taken into custody and returned to Jefferson County. No one was injured, police said. Briley was charged with four counts of wanton endangerment (involving officers), plus driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving, speeding, resisting arrest and attempting to elude police.

Lehman said the pursuit was not abandoned because a felony was involved. vath refused to comment yesterday on the accidents, saying he was leaving to produce another show last night on Lake Wawasee, near Syracuse in Northern Indiana. That display went off without a hitch, fire officials said. Harold Cox of Plymouth, a fireworks professional who says he has bought devices from Mad Bomber for nine years, said Horvath told him the defective 8-inch shell that caused the Illinois explosion was made in China. "We don't know that they're defective until we shoot them," Cox said.

"Ninety percent of what we do buy is from China because the American and Japanese, the twu best, are too expensive." Riders in the Sky deliver harmony cowboy style impressive on the standard "These Foolish Things," displaying a soulful-Iy melodic ballad style dripping with emotion. Drummer Adonis Rose spiced a New Orleans blues with a syncopated, military-sounding drum solo with New Orleans parade band roots. But Rose delivered it with a contemporary funk consciousness that fit the style perfectly. Bassist Reuben Rogers exhibited a unique melodic gift during his frequent solos, and also locked in perfectly with Rose as a rhythm section player and accompanist. Payton's regular piano player did not appear due to an injury, and so veteran jazz pianist Mulgrew Miller subbed with the band last night.

His playing was always tasteful and occasionally inspired. But as well as everyone played individually, an overall group identity was not particularly evident. It came across the strongest on three traditional New Orleans blues tunes, but most of the other tunes lacked a distinctive point of view. One could blame that on the fact that the only composition written by anyone in the group was one by Miller, who isn't really a member of Pay-ton's band. Perhaps as the group develops original material, the members' individual strengths will combine into a group sound.

In the meantime, they are "keeping the flame" well, and last night's performance was rewarded with a standing ovation. mannerisms to fine effect. The Riders stirred in plenty of sagebrush philosophy along the way. "If this was a logical world," suggested Too Slim, "men would ride side-saddle." But wisecracks and trail humor aside, Riders in the Sky are fine musicians with a genuine affection for the music of predecessors like the Sons of the Pioneers and Bob Wills, covering material from both over the course of the evening. Their show also offered their versions of tunes like "Sioux City Sue" and "South of the Border (Down Mexico Way)" from their newest album, a tribute to another singing cowboy, Gene Autry.

Ranger Doug's recent solo effort, "Songs of the Sage;" was also represented by numbers like the ballad "Night Riding Song." It's tough to beat an evening watching the sun set to the strains of the Riders harmonizing on "Tumbling Tumbleweeds." Opening the show was local foursome the Juggernaut Jug Band, serving up an eclectic set of old-fashioned, back porch music that included everything from a lazy version of the Doors' "People Are Strange" and a Led Zeppelin medley to a lively "Don't Get Around Much Anymore'' and a loping, deranged take on the Who's "Pinball Wizard." Weird, wonderful stuff. with others when he fell into the water late Friday night. When the boat circled back to pick him up, the other passengers could not find him. State police were called just after 11 p.m. Rainey's body was found yesterday at 10:45 a.m.

Another witness, Venita Stice, is expected to testify that she heard Butler say, "Nobody will ever find out" a boast she said he made because he said he was never charged with burglarizing the same warehouse nine years ago. The defendants' lawyers are expected to try to exploit the fact that a number of other suspects were implicated early in the investigation and some even confessed but none was ever charged. The defense lawyers contend that Butler and Hayes should have been charged with arson, not murder. Neither Ann Bailey Smith, one of Butler's defense lawyers, nor Diane Laughlin, one of Hayes' defense lawyers, would comment. But in court papers, defense lawyers have suggested that if on a felony escape warrant because he had not remained at home, Jefferson County police spokesman David Lehman said.

When Briley was spotted shortly after 9 p.m., he rammed a corrections officers' vehicle in the Dairy Mart parking lot, Lehman said. Briley took Outer Loop east to 1-65, and then headed south. County police joined in the pursuit. Kentucky State Police formed a moving roadblock, and eventually Briley's car ran off the in Man caught after 70-mile police Continued from Page 1 Louisville Fire Chief John Corso the department is ready for anything at trial. "We'll deal with whatever the defense happens to bring to Jhe table when that happens," he said.

Because much of the potential physical evidence was destroyed in the fire, the prosecution's case will be built largely around the testimony of witnesses, including that of at least pne other defendant who has already pleaded guilty. A report prepared by a forensic chemist from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said that some charred debris recovered from inside the building contained a heavy petroleum distillate. Examples of such liquids include kerosene, diesel, some torch fuels, some inspect sprays and some charcoal starters. But the report says no other flammable liquid was detected in any other debris. The prosecution will rely on the testimony of two others implicated in the crime: BKatrina Byrnes, 21, who pleaded guilty last July to second-degree criminal facilitation to arson.

She testified that she bought the kerosene used to set the fire. David Bronk, 19, who pleaded guilty the same month to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree and third-degree burglary. He testified that he stood guard outside the Juilding while Butler burglarized it Indiana firm Associated Press SYRACUSE, Ind. A Fourth of July fireworks show that injured a 2-year-old boy was produced by the Indiana company involved in a fatal Jireworks accident in Illinois on "hursday. Syracuse Fire Chief Jerry Byrd eaid Mad Bomber Fireworks Produc-Jions held a permit to produce the how Friday night, which was interrupted when a ground display containing about 40 shells exploded unexpectedly.

"One of the tubes went off inside, and it kind of blew the display apart," J3yrd said. "It started flowing every which way. We transported one 2- By ALLEN HOWIE Special to the Courier-Journal Under a cloudless sky on a miraculously cool July evening, the outdoor amphitheater of the Paul W. Ogle Cultural and Community Center at Indiana University Southeast provided a perfect backdrop for last night's MUSIC Review performance by Riders in the Sky Riders in the Sky. For 20 years, the trio has been using its albums, live performances and public radio show, "Riders Radio Theatre," to keep the uniquely American tradition of "cowboy music" alive and well.

Together, Ranger Doug Idol of American Too Slim Man of Many and Woody Paul King of the Cowboy have been doing things the cowboy way. With Ranger Doug on guitar, Too Slim plucking a stand-up bass and Woody Paul on fiddle, the three lent their gentle harmonies and tongue-in-cheek humor to a generous batch of cowboy standards. Fans of the yodel must have been in hog heaven, especially on numbers like "That's How the Yodel Was Born," which gave all three a chance to show off that most western of vocal second fireworks accident The Courier-Journal A man who was supposed to be on home incarceration fled last night when Jefferson County corrections officers tried to apprehend him at Dairy Mart on Outer Loop near National Turnpike, police said. And he kept fleeing almost all the way to Park City on Interstate 65, about 70 miles south of Louisville. Officers were looking for Christopher S.

Briley of 7205 Yorktown Road experiences year-old to the hospital with a contusion, a cut under one eye and some singed hair." The child and two adults who also suffered minor injuries were treated at Goshen General Hospital and released. Their names were not available. A Mad Bomber Fireworks show at Alton, 111., ended Thursday night when an explosion on a river barge killed one worker and left two others missing. The bodies of the missing workers were recovered yesterday at a Mississippi River dam near the accident site. They were identified as Ralph Duty, 44, and Raymound Hernandez, 24, both of Chicago.

Duty and Hernandez apparently drowned, said Robert Lewis, Madison County's deputy coroner. There were no apparent injuries on the bodies; neither man was wearing a life preserver when the bodies were found. The worker who was killed in the explosion was Rick Cisneros, 45, of Markham, 111. Two other members of the five-man fireworks display team survived. Rafael Gonzalez of Chicago suffered a sprained ankle when he was thrown 15 feet by the blast.

Carlos Alalicea of Chicago escaped injury when he jumped onto another barge. "It was real quick," he said. "Nobody really had a chance to react." At Mad Bomber offices in Plymouth, company co-owner Mike Ho'r- Harrodsburg man falls from boat, drowns The Courier-Journal WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. A 50-year-old Harrodsburg mim drowned Friday after he fell from the back of a mining boat on Williamstown Lake. Kentucky State Police said Jerry E.

Rainry riding un a pontoon boat.