Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 10

2B WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2012 CLARIONLEDGER.COM THE CLARION-LEDGER STATE JUDGE TO RULE ON STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS Time may jeopardize sex charges where he worked more than two decades ago with children as a music minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Piano. Langworthy admitted to the Morrison Heights congregation, during an August 2011 church service, that he had committed past indiscretions with younger males in Mississippi and in Texas. He told the congregation that he moved to Mississippi because of the indiscretions at Prestonwood Baptist Church. Prosecutors have said Langworthy was heavily involved with youth choirs at First Baptist Church of Jackson and Daniel Memorial Baptist Church in Jackson during the early 1980s. Langworthy resigned as music minister at Morrison Heights in May 2011.

He did not return for the 2011-12 school year to his job as director of Clinton High's Arrow Singers. He remains free on a total $700,000 bond. Langworthy's trial is set for Nov. 26, with a final date to enter a plea before trial set for Nov. 9.

His trial has been continued twice, from April 4 to July 30, and then from July 30 to Nov. 26. Court filings say the delays are due to "ongoing plea negotiations" between Langworthy's attorneys and the district attorney's office, and "research of legal issues surrounding matter." Whether Langworthy will be allowed to plead to lesser charges is a decision to be made by Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith, McBride said. "For any plea bargain, we would have to talk to the victims," McBride said "Any time we have a case where victims are involved, Robert wants their voice heard." To comment on this story, call Ruth Ingram at (601) 961-7303. priate for us to state at this time as the matter is pending before the court." The Hinds County District Attorney's office has not yet filed a response to the motion.

After it does, a hearing will be set for both sides to present arguments. Today, there is no statute of limitations on sex crimes in Mississippi. But during the period in which Langworthy allegedly committed the abuse in Mississippi, there was, said Assistant District Attorney Jamie McBride. However, McBride said, "if there's a statute of limitations and it's expanded before it expired on him then the new statute of limitations would apply. That's been our position all along.

It said nothing would bar prosecution if (a defendant) left the state or the jurisdiction. He did." Langworthy moved from Mississippi to Texas, Clinton police charged him with two counts of gratification of lust; Jackson police charged him with six. Langworthy pleaded innocent before Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Bill Gowan, who will rule on a motion filed Sept. 21 by Langworthy's attorney, Jeffrey Rimes. A motion to dismiss the indictment contends the statute of limitations has expired that would allow Hinds County to file the charges, an issue that came up not long after Langworthy was charged.

Rimes said in his motion that the statute of limitations potentially affecting Langworthy "expired Dec. 31, 1986, nearly three years before the state's statute of limitations was amended in 1989 to extend for a period of seven years." "We stand by the motion that we filed," Rimes said Monday. "Anything further would be inappro By Ruth Ingram ringram8clarionledger.com A Hinds County judge will rule on whether too much time has passed for former Clinton High choir director and music minister John Langworthy to face felony gratification of lust charges. Langworthy was music minister at Morrison Heights Baptist A Church be-, fore his ar- rest in Sep-j tember2011. An eight-rjpl count indict-John ment Langworthy charges him with sexually molesting five boys ages 10-13 between April 1980 and December 1984, with the alleged sexual abuse occurring at the boys' Jackson homes, Langworthy's sister's home in Jackson, or in Langworthy's dorm room at Mississippi College.

1 VT MISS. BRIEFS Attorney elected Greenville mayor GREENVILLE Attorney John Cox has won the Greenville mayor's race. Though City Clerk Amelia Wicks said Tuesday morning that officials are still counting 524 affidavit votes, Cox's current unofficial total of 3,324 would be a majority even if all those votes go against him. City election commissioners were scheduled to meet Tuesday evening to certify the total. Wicks says Cox is likely to be sworn in Wednesday morning.

Former vice mayor Carl McGee was second with 36 percent of votes counted by Tuesday morning. Airport employee Cassandra McMiller and architect Phil Vazzana won smaller shares. The special election came 30 days after Mayor Chuck Jordan resigned because of pancreatic cancer. Cox would serve the remaining three years of Jordan's term. Louisiana murder suspect arrested PASS CHRISTIAN A man suspected of murder in Louisiana was arrested Tuesday morning in Mississippi, the Harrison County sheriff says.

Sheriff Melvin Bri-solara tells WLOX-TV that his office received a call from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office seeking help to catch Billie Glend Rawson Jr. Brisolara says Louisiana officials believe Rawson committed a crime Tuesday morning and then drove east toward Mississippi. Deputies found a vehicle matching the one described to them at a gas station off 1-10 and arrested Rawson without incident. Barge line hiring 50 new workers VICKSBLRG Gol-ding Barge Line is hiring 50 new workers and hopes to acquire new boats.

Now the family-owned company wants Warren County and the city of Vicksburg to give it property tax breaks on building a new office. The company made an initial pitch Monday to the Warren County Board of Supervisors, The Vicksburg Post reports. Supervisors say that they're interested in helping when the company formally applies. Starkville installs electric meters STARKVILLE Starkville's Electric Department could begin automatic utility metering by Thanksgiving. The Starkville Daily News reports the city utility is installing 23,000 feet of fiber optic cables around the city to create the system.

The system will allow the utility to monitor customer usage and allow customers to check their own usage in real time. Once a second phase of cabling is completed through the Mississippi State University campus, the city will also have the infrastructure in place to offer Wi-Fi Internet service throughout the city. It could also enhance the city's ability to control its own electrical use, including street lights. General Manager Terry Kemp says he hopes giving custom- ers more information will help keep rates I dwn. 3 it' THV; As d.v 4) 4 7 III (v -i i MAKING PAINTINGS WHILE THE SUN SHINES Mississippi College junior Rachel Stockard of Clinton paints Monday along the intersection of West Main and Jefferson streets in downtown Clinton.

Stockard and fellow students were working on assignments outdoors to take advantage of the pleasant weather. Stockard's painting of a scene outside Clinton City Hall was an assignment for Professor Albert Smathers' acrylic painting class. PHOTOS BY GREG JENSONTHE CLARION-LEDGER 2ND ANTI-DRUG UNIT DISCUSSED Jackson Co. official seeks task force unity Associated Press PASCAGOl'LA Jackson County Board of Supervisors President John McKay wants to reunify the county's anti-drug task force. "I think it's time we all grow up and get back on the same team," McKay said Monday, suggesting the supervisors pass a resolution or host a meeting of Sheriff Mike Byrd and police chiefs.

"I think we need to get together and put this task force back Pascagoula, Moss Point and Gautier have been in talks about forming a second, separate task force. They, along with the county sheriff, the city of Ocean Springs and Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, have historically contributed agents to one unit. Having separate task forces "is going to present a lot of conflict, from the way I look at it," McKay said, although admitting he has little experience in law enforcement. The cities of Pascagou la and Moss Point pulled out of the unit after police chiefs said they didn't get enough information about a July 31 shooting at the task force's office. A report found the shooting happened after one agent poked another with a syringe.

The second agent, afraid of needles, shot into the floor to stop the poking and gunshot debris injured an officer. Byrd denounced the split later Monday, saying opponents in the Pascagoula department were undercutting him for "purely political" reasons. Byrd said the task force agreement says each agency manages the employees they contribute. "Enough is enough. They are beating a horse that is already dead," Byrd said in a statement.

"I don't feel like anything was kept from anyone. When I was asked about this, I showed the chiefs the reports. "The chiefs do not tell me when they have a shooting at their department," Byrd continued. "There have been several, including a shooting at the FBI office in Pascagoula and I was never called. Mr.

McKay needs to worry about being a supervisor and not try to be the sheriff of Jackson County." Byrd said he replaced the agents Moss Point and Pascagoula withdrew and said the task force is still serving the county "on the best possible level," citing 10 arrests the unit participated in Sunday in Moss Point, including eight in a gambling raid. Former Miss. Justice Blass dies at age 95 Waller Jr. of Jackson said in a news release. "He lived professionalism by example and was an inspiration to attorneys and judges." Former Gov.

Ray Ma-bus appointed Blass to a vacancy on the Supreme Court in 1989. He served through December 1990. Blass also represented Stone County in the Mississippi House from 1953-1960. He was much admired by the bench and bar "for his civility, integrity, honesty and forthrightness and his legal ability and intellect," Chancery Judge Jim Persons of Gulfport said in the news release. "He had a bril liant mind.

He was a good man and a good lawyer." Former Mississippi Bar President Len Black-well II of Biloxi described Blass as progressive and regarded as one of his heroes, saying the late justice inspired him to go to law school. "He was a leader in racial reconciliation" in the The Clarion-Ledger Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice William Joel Blass of Pass Christian died Tuesday, four days after his 95th birthday. "He was a great legal scholar and outstanding leader of the bar for many years," Chief Justice Bill 1950s, Blackwell said in the news release. "He was a real stalwart and an example of what a lawyer ought to be." Blass attended East Mississippi Junior College and Pearl River Junior College. He earned his bachelor's and law degrees from Louisiana State University..