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The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 17

Location:
Louisville, Kentucky
Issue Date:
Page:
17
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

THE COURIER-JOURNAL FROM PAGE ONE SUNDAY, JULY 27, 1997 A17 A 5 nu(jMiiiViiiBf bribes scanda Tale of sex, murder, embroils city in new "You're always going to have 1 percent of the people that make you look bad," said Chewning, who helped incorporate the town. "It's having a lot of growing pains I don't know of a military installation in the world that you don't have that type of business (around)." Bill Shaut, who moved from upstate New York and bought a bed-and-breakfast business five years ago, said the controversy is overblown and outsiders do not see Oak Grove's positive side. Residents are working to raise money to build two churches. A new tourism and Chamber of Commerce office is opening. And land has been purchased for a park.

New homes are going up and new motels and a truck stop are coming. "I like the area," he said. "I have found some good friends." Shaut even spins Oak Grove's newfound notoriety into free advertising. "At least people now know where we are," he said. A Lf Kvjut shops out of Oak Grove but instead fears more are coming in.

"It's pitiful," he said. "How are you going to stop them?" THE SCANDAL may force the city to confront some serious issues such as how Papler's massage parlor and brothel operated with apparent impunity for more than two years. Mace said that business at one point was so brisk that a city crew was called to clean out a sewer line clogged with condoms that city officials said came from the massage parlor. Tammy Papier told reporters that about mid-December 1993, she handed Oak Grove Police Chief Milton Perry $1,500 in cash in a brown envelope as a Christmas present for officers. Perry said in an interview that he received the cash although he insisted it was only $1,200.

He said he suspected it was an attempt to bribe him, so he asked then-city attorney John Chewning if he could legally accept it. Chewning said in an interview his advice was to accept the money and earmark it for equipment purchases. Mace produced a bank receipt showing $1,200 was deposited in a city account on Dec. 15, 1993. Oak Grove has a long-standing policy of accepting private donations for police because it lacks the money to buy everything the department needs, Mace said.

Perry said Papier had purchased equipment such as light bars for police cruisers, although he was unaware of until after the fact. But Chewning said that now that the city has more revenue for police he thinks it should avoid accepting gifts from questionable businesses. MACE SAID he vouches for the integrity of his cur i. ASSOCIATED PRESS A former massage parlor owner, Tammy Papier, and her husband, Ronnie, now operate Cherry Video, an adult video store in Oak Grove. Continued from Page One buy police equipment.

Oak Grove, cut 23 years ago from the rough cloth of life around a major Army post and an Interstate 24 interchange, has struggled to dispel its image as a rowdy, fast-buck speed trap where trouble is not difficult to find. In fact, controversy for Oak Grove is nothing new. Former Mayor Raymond Jack Elliott and his brother, former Police Chief C.E. "Buddy" Elliott, were acquitted in 1993 of federal charges that they profited illegally by secretly owning land the city purchased for a new sewer plant. Also, the police department settled lawsuits over the use of stun guns in the late 1980s.

Mace, the current mayor, was the victim of a drive-by shooting shortly after winning office uncontested in 1994. Bullets damaged a prized $30,000 antique pickup parked at his home. Mace blames the gunplay on retribution for his clamping down on what he said used to be a wide-open town. Though sensational, many of Papler's allegations are hardly new. But more revelations in the form of documents and tape recordings that she said she would release last week have not materialized.

A newspaper in Hopkinsville, The Kentucky New Era, reported that Papier and Belew have negotiated to sell their story to a movie producer after Papier earlier said she would talk only to "credible" media organizations. Neither Belew nor Papier could be reached for interviews late last week. PAPLER AND her husband, Ronnie Papier of Clarksville, owned the New Life Massage and Fitness Center, where employees Candy Belt, 22, and Gloria Ross, 18, were found shot and stabbed early on Sept. 20, 1994, in what investigators described as an execution-style slaying. The women were working alone in the building, which is within sight of Fort Campbell's main gate.

Former officer Ed Carter resigned from the Oak Grove police department on Oct. 5, 1994, a day after disclosures that he had been "I've given up they'll who did just the day catch Wanda Belt, 1 of Candy two employees MILES I couniy -l OAK i GROVE Fa Campbell Military maticig AREA ENLARGED KENTUCKY yf n-j Nashville W'v TENNESSEE BY STEVE DURBIN, THE C-J "You're always going to have 1 percent of the people that make you look bad." John Chewning, former city attorney for Oak Grove Lipper Slue Danube -Compare at: $3000 Our price: $36.00 Pill names. Small insignificant Gourmet -J Gourmet Fruit" "Forbidden Fruit" never hope find out it. I'm waiting for they them." grandmother Belt, one of the massage parlor killed in Oak Grove in 1994. bySango 3 part divided, chip 'n dip or 14" round platter Compare at: $26,00 Our price: $12.99 ea.

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More recently, Carter became a part-time officer in Lynnview, a small city in Jefferson County. Now, Lynnview officials are looking into the controversy. Carter has not been charged with anything and has declined interviews. Tammy Papier recently produced copies of canceled checks totaling $4,800 made out to Carter for clean- ing services. She said they were bribes paid to police to ignore the prostitution.

She made the accusations at a City Council meeting and filed a written complaint. The Paplers pleaded guilty in 1995 to misdemeanor charges or promoting prostitution and closed the business, which has reopened under different management and with a new name. They now operate Cherry Video, an adult movie store. What caused Papier to come for- ward is in dispute. She said she felt freer to talk now because her probation will end next month.

Mace said Papier was silent until earlier this summer, when she was billed $5,000 for an annual license for Cherry Video. Oak Grove requires the licenses for sexually oriented businesses. After a threatened legal challenge from another adult business, Mace said Oak Grove decided to revisit the license issue before trying to collect the fee. Cherry Video aid not pay, he said. In fact, only one of several adult businesses in the community paid, the mayor said.

The expected revenue from the license, perhaps $35,000 to $40,000, was insignificant and the ultimate goal was to discourage more adult shops from moving in, Mace said. He said he'd like to get the sex rent police force and called an allegation that he himself is tainted by the sex scandal "a bare-assed lie." After questions were raised early about police links to the 1994 murders, Mace said he turned the case over to the Christian County Sheriff's Department. Then last week, he asked Kentucky State Police to investigate Papler's accusations. Asked why he waited until this week to invite state police in, Mace said he thought a state investigation was already under way. Two agents from Attorney General Ben Chandler's office met with him last year and asked questions about the case, Mace said.

He said he has heard nothing further from them. Corey Bellamy, a spokesman for Chandler, said tne two investigators were responding to a complaint from the relative of another Oak Grove murder victim. They determined that other agencies were pursuing it, Bellamy said. THE SCANDAL has a very personal meaning for Wanda Belt, the grandmother of. Candy Belt, one of the murder victims.

Belt, 68, who lives about 60 miles miles away in Providence, said she can hardly bear to follow the daily details of the Oak Grove scandal. She raised Candy Belt and thinks that some people may be losing sight of the tragedy that befell her granddaughter. "I would like to remember her for the fine girl that she was," Belt said. "She was a good person till she went down there." Candy Belt, who had taken courses at Madisonville Community College in accounting and according to her grandmother was a bright student, went to work at the massage parlor when she got into money trouble, her grandmother said. "I've never given up hope they'll find out who did it," Belt said.

"I'm just waiting for the day they catch them." MANY IN Christian County view the current scandal as the latest chapter in the town's colorful history. Cosby's daughter and used her as leverage against him. Whether or not she really is his daughter, she lived all her life "with this knowledge and this pain." Cosby has acknowledged an affair with Jackson's mother but denied he is the woman's father. Jackson faces up to 12 years in prison and $750,000 in fines when she is sentenced Oct. 22.

Co-defendant Jose Medina, 51, of Bethesda, Ohio, was found guilty of the same charges as Jackson. A third defendant, Boris Sabas, 42, was convicted of conspiracy and interstate crime, but acquitted of extortion. The jury had eagerly anticipated Cosby's testimony, she said. But once he began testifying, he became, for the most part, just another witness, albeit a composed, gracious and eloquent one, Hyman said. "He came as a man wronged.

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Shawn Ward of Jack's Fry, a unique neighborhood bistro will demonstrate some of the fresh and contemporary selections which make Jack's Fry a "hot" place to go. 4:30 5:15 pm Get your taste buds r-L r- -i ompany Kitchen Superstore': or Winter Rose w. compare ar: Our price: Located in the Springhurst sprin'jhursr Towne Center i I Wesfport Rd. 1-265 Louisville, KY (502)394-9669 Open 7 days Kitchen Company salutes Bellarmine College by donating a percentage of the day proceeds to the Bellarmine Womeni Council 9 am The doors open and the first 100 guests will receive a free gift to kick-off the Grand Cpening extrovoanzalJoinus for four days of cooking demonstrations, gourmet food tastings and giveaways! 10 am Join us as we welcome the Bellarmine College Women's Council when they are In the kitchen preparing delicious dishes from their cookbook throughout the dayl Bon appetit! 10 -12 pm Who can set the best table? Four teams from Bellarmine College Juiy felt sorry for Cosby, Jackson in extortion case The Shop us on the World Wide Web Women's Council will compete for the most beautiful tabletop in town! Come in and vote! Tables will be displayed until Sunday August 17th. Fridqy.

August 9 am More free gifts for the early birds! 12 1 :30 pm Get a taste of the Mediterranean from Ramus. Ramsl Kcrnaar will tempt our palates with some of his inspired Mediterranean selections. 12 2 pm Come meet WVEZ-FMs hot local radio personality Joe Fedele. when he broadcasts live all of Kitchen Company's fun, food and festivities! 2 3:30 pm What's the secret ingredient in the Irish Hovers mo requested recipe? Stephanie Chaffin and James Spearman will share their renowned Leek and Potato Soup. Associated Press NEW YORK During three days of deliberations, the jury in the extortion trial of Autumn Jackson hardly talked about Bill Cosby the person who made the trial headline news, a juror said yesterday.

Cosby was barely discussed, Debra Hyman, 36, said as the jury worked methodically to reach its verdict that Jackson tried to extort $40 million from the man she claimed is her father in exchange for not selling the tabloids her story. "He was a victim," Hyman said. "His star status had nothing to do with it." Hyman, an investment manager and mother of two children, also said she and the other jurors felt sorry for Jackson because they considered her a victim as well as a perpetrator. She was a victim, Hyman said, because her mother and grandmother had told her for 22 years that she was.

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Pages Available:
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Years Available:
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