The Clarke County Tribune from Quitman, Mississippi • 1

If THE CLARKE COUN i i 4-1 "EVIL MEN DO NOT UNDERSTAND JUSTICE, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully." PROVERBS 28: 5 i Covers Clarke County Like The Dew VOLUME 77 NO. 48 Entered as Second-Class Matter Quitman, Mus 3355 USPS M5I4Q THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1986 101 Main St Quitman, MS 3355 Ph (601) 776 3736. TWENTY-FIVK CKNTS BUN 3 0 Since Saturday Murder npect Elude Trackers nil'-. fit4 "fi 'J i I 1 i ft 1 i I 1 Saturday Day In The Baseball Park A day of baseball will be held at the Quitman Recreation Complex, Saturday, May 3rd. The games will begin at 10:00 a.m., and continue throughout the day.

All local baseball teams will participate. A chicken plate will be available at the cost of $3.00. Hot dogs, hamburgers, cokes, and popcorn will also be served. All proceeds will be used in the operation of the Quitman Boys' Baseball Program. A DAY IN THE BASEBALL PARK Game Schedule MAJORS 10:00 Bank of Quitman vs Stonewall 12 30 Sunflower vs Enterprise 3 :00 Southeast Bank vs Clarkdale 5:30 Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2 8:00 Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 4 MINORS 10 30 Hanson Scale vs Clarkdale 12:30 Wards vsWhynot 3:30 Central Finance vs Stonewall PEE-WEES 10:00 State Farm vs Coke 12 30 Goodman vs Stonewall T-BALL 10:00 Terral Ins.

vs Quitman Drug 11:15 WBFN-WYKK vs Everitt Drug i vv i w- 4 I. i iV 4 I tea out of the refrigerator and left the trailer. "The girls freed themselves after about 5 minutes," said Deputy Jim Denham, "picked up the Lafferty boy, and looked outside. The men and the truck were gone. They got in their car and hit the pavement, driving to a house where they knew someone would be home, which was in the edge of Jasper County." According to guarded information from the State Crime Lab, Thomas died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds to the back and head.

Lafferty's death was caused by multiple gun shot wounds to the head. Local investigators have determined the time of death to be between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. Saturday. A man, identified as "James 'Monkey' Dyess" was seen at a small store in Vossburg Saturday afternoon at approximately 4:30 p.m. He got out of a small truck and went in the store, bought a pack of cigarettes, and left.

The witness said there was another man in the truck, but that clear identity was not possible because "of all the stickers on the back window of the truck." Reported as stolen in the trailer after the alleged murders are: 2 12-gauge shotguns; 2 20-gauge shotguns; 1 Browning .270 semiautomatic rifle; 1 .22 caliber revolver; and 1 Renegade Muzzle Loader, as well as ammunition. James "Monkey" Dyess, black, 29, 200 pounds, and Robert Minnick, white, 22, 160 pounds with a shaved head, are being sought as suspects in the double homicide. Both men are considered to be heavily armed and extremely dangerous. Mixon Jailed 5-HourStandoff BY MARTHA BOND Vaughn Mixon, 26, Stonewall, was arrested and jailed Thursday night, April 24, following a five-hour standoff with Stonewall City Police, Sheriff's Office Deputies and Highway Patrol officers. He has been charged with attempted arson, resisting arrest and child molestation in addition to 5 other charges.

While Sheriff's deputies were completing paperwork on two of the charges made against Mixon, he was being persued by Stonewall Town Police in Stonewall. The chase led to Mixon's trailer, located south of the River Bridge in Stonewall. Stonewall called the Sheriff's Office and Highway Patrol for backup at approximately 9:00 p.m. when Mixon allegedly pulled a shotgun on the officers, then went into his trailer. The situation was a standoff for nearly 5 hours, when finally the joint law enforcement agencies tear-gased the trailer, forcing Mixon out.

Mixon remains in the Clarke County jail under a total $35,000 in bonds, pending review of the case by the September Grand Jury. 'iff Cf, BY MARTHA BOND Two suspects wanted in connection with a double homicide in the Beaverdam community Saturday are still at large, eluding tracking efforts by six law enforcement agencies. Saturday, April 26, Clarke County Sheriff's Deputies were alerted by the Jasper County Sheriff's Office that two young girls had contacted them at 3:05 p.m. about being tied up by two men in a trailer while the men sacked the dwelling for weapons and ammunition. They said while being taken inside the trailer, they saw a man's body in the back yard, not moving.

The description of the men who tied them up was given as "two black males." Units were dispatched to the trailer owned by Ellis Thomas on the Shubuta Vossburg Road, approximately 11 miles west of Shubuta. Deputies discovered the bodies of 20-year old Ellis Thomas and his 22-year-old cousin Lamar Laff erty in a 35-foot deep gully approximately 150 yards behind the trailer at approximately 3:35 p.m. Both men were dead. Descriptions cf the suspected killers given to the Clarke County Sheriff's Office by the two minor girls were the same they had given the Jasper County Sheriff's Office. This description plus the information that the two had left the scene in Thomas's Ford truck was broadcast over law enforcement channels.

Only after the Crime Lab investigation team and the Highway Patrol Investigating team were approaching the scene near dark did the girls tell Chief Deputy Jim Denham that one of the men was white and one of the men was black. "The men told them to say they were both black," said Denham, "and threatened their lives if they did not." Further descriptions of the men fit the description of two prisoners from the Clarke County jail who escaped at 7:00 p.m. Friday, April 25. Between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

a Highway Patrol officer on the crime scene updated the alert Highway Patrol dispatch in Meridian to include detailed descriptions of two identified suspects, James "Monkey" Dyess and Robert Minnick, and detailed information on the vehicle they are alleged to have driven off, a 1982 Ford F-10, dark gray, with white spoke wheels, stickers on the window and bumper, license number CE4607. Minnick and Dyess broke out of the Clarke County Jail twenty-four hours earlier. Although investigation continues in the case, the following information has been confirmed by County law enforcement officials. Ellis Thomas left for work in the oilfield at approximately 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning, and his wife left the trailer between 11:00 and 12:00 noon.

Ellis Thomas, Lamar Lafferty, and Lafferty's 2-year-old son were seen in Thomas's truck traveling towards the Thomas trailer at approximately Sometime after 2:00 p.m., two minor girls pulled up to the trailer for a visit, and were met by a man holding a gun, who demanded the keys to the car, and escorted them inside the trailer through the back door. When they were inside, they saw the two-year-old Lafferty boy sitting on the sofa in the den. They were tied up with hay string, and threatened by the men if sey told anyone about their real iu. According to the girls, the men went into one of the bedrooms and came out with guns and ammunition. They took a pitcher of The bodies of 20-year old Ellis Thomas and his cousin, in the removal of the bodies from a 35-foot gully 22-year-old Lamar Laff erty were discovered Satur- located approximately 150 yards behind one of the vic- day afternoon by Sheriff's Office officials after being tim's home.

Two Clarke County jail escapees are alerted by the Jasper County Sheriff's Office. County being sought as suspects in the double homocide. Staff Coroner Butch Wright and Deputy Robert Owen assist Photo by Martha Bond. Named As Murder Suspects Jail Ecapee Souight Inside. We learned much about the economic development effort in Clarke County doing research for our Salute to Industry, inside your Tribune this week.

If we're not happy with the way things are, we know who to blame. "If The Shoe Fits." Page 4A. Two letters to the editor oppose the satellite prison proposed for Clarke County, and the inmate work program from the Clarke County jail, following a double homocide in Beaver-dam Saturday. Page 4A. Bill Minor says the legislature's superbill from the spring session is goring agency oxes all over the state.

Page 4A. The Quitman Varsity Track and Field teams took top honors in District 5 AAAA meets recently, and are headed for South State at Pearl Saturday. 7A. Enterprise's Girls won the District 5 A Track and Field title last week and are also headed for South State competition. Page 6A.

Quitman Junior High's track and field team won the Sam Dale Meet Championship Wednesday on their home field. Page 7A. Three Enterprise teachers have been honored as "Teacher Of The Year." Page2B. The Quitman Lions Club will hear International Lions' President Green at their 50th Anniversary Banquet tonight. Page 2A.

Nine local women have been named to "Most Outstanding Young Women In America." Page 3 A. laundry out back saw them as they started trying to get over the fence and ran to the front jail door to JAMES DYESS Victim's Kin vmpmrnmic BY MARTHA BOND Two prisoners escaped from the Clarke County jail at 7:00 Friday, April 25, and were named as suspects in a Beaverdam double homicide' 24 hours later. James "Monkey" Dyess, who had been sentenced to Parchman for burglary, escape from Parchman, and escape from the Clarke County jail in an earlier incident; and Robert Minnick, who had been sentenced to Parchman for armed robbery and grand larceny, were waiting for transport to the delta-based Department of Corrections when they broke out of the local jail. Sheriff's office officials are not clear on how they escaped. Neither of the two officers on duty were at the jail at the time of the escape.

One deputy was on patrol in the county and the Sherrif was at dinner. The dispatcher was at her station. The other person present in the front office was an inmate trustee who has the job of helping in the radio center and keeping the jail door locked. "Dyess and Minnick left through the rear fire exit door into the exercise yard outside, after getting out of their cell, which was locked, according to my information." said Chiet Deputy Denham. "A trustee who was washing clothes in the alert the radio dispatcher." "Dyess and Minnick shed their cont.

to 5 A i-T-ri ri-r-n i i "wco.f i ROBERT MINNICK Jail Friday night. Their remarks have come after the two escapees were named as prime suspects in the murder case. "If we had known they were out, and what they looked like," said Greg Thomas, cousin of victim Ellis Thomas, "we might could cont. to 5 A "We Should Have Known" SALUTE TO fc INDUSTRY H4V INSIDE TODAY BY MARTHA BOND Shocked and angry family members of the two victims in Saturday's homicides in Beaverdam have been critical of the lack of public notice after James "Monkey" Dyess and Robert Minnick broke out of the Clarke County.