The Sun from Vincennes, Indiana • 1

Vincennes 5 A ommeiroa "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." II Cor. 3:17 www.suncommerclal.com mrjsmmzwimmsssmms.m3ssmmsm SUNDAY tare (Iteyia ease top store Dec. 29, 2002 Vincennes, Indiana Vol.70, No, 310 36 pages Today's Temps 2002 YEAR-IN-REVIEW Low 45 By JOSH SAYLOR staff writer The murder of 23-year-old Sherry Lee Gibson has haunted Knox County for more than a quarter of a century, ever since her mutilated body was found in the smoldering remains of a Monroe City farmhouse the morning of March 1, 1975. Who killed the Good Samaritan Hospital data-processing clerk has been the topic of debate and speculation in restaurants and bar rooms ever since, so it should be no surprise Weather Watch, A6 about the Gibson murder, information police say only someone present could know. Eck and fellow ISP Sgt.

Greg Winkler went to Toccoa, and interviewed Ella Mae Dicks, 47. Dicks was later brought to Vincennes for further questioning and was arrested on Aug. 23. Based on the information Dicks See TOP STORY, A6 GULLEY DICKS that the arrests of two suspects in August was selected by the Siw-Commercial as the top story of 2002. The story actually began the year before, when Indiana State Police Sgt.

Larry Eck received information about a woman in Georgia who had information GIBSON rp COIT ranks as second-biggest news of year Tops in sports see Sports, B1 2002 YEAR-IN-REVIEW Staff photo by Kevin J. Kilmer Heavy rains in mid-May 2002 caused considerable flooding In the Wabash Valley. Both the Wabash, left, and the White Rivers overflowed their banks as seen in this aerial photo. Charlie Klein of Klein's Flying Service helped put the photographer in position to capture what Is almost an annual occurrence. See more pictures from 2002 on B1.

Staff photo by Tom Bartholomew Tim Ellerman, president of the Knox County Council, signs passage of COIT In late March 2002. 2002 I mages: By GAYLE R. ROBBINS associate news editor Adoption of the controversial County Option Income Tax ranked as the second-biggest local story of the year. The tax was adopted almost literally at the 1 1 th hour, with the Vincennes City Council meeting in special session on Easter Sunday to get a vote on record before the state-mandated April 1 deadline passed. Negotiations between the county and the Indiana Civil Liberties Union over finding a solution to problems at the 20-year-old jail on North Eighth Street helped to drive adoption of COIT.

The ICLU, representing former inmates, sued the county in federal court charging that overcrowding and the general poor conditions at the jail violated inmates' rights. As negotiations moved forward county officials went looking for funding to pay for whatever solutions were proposed. First up, the commissioners were able to lobby State Rep. John Frenz, D-Vincennes, to include language in a bill to double the county's Economic Development Income Tax rate, with the additional revenues (about $1 per week for the average county wage earner) to be used for building a new jail. But as February turned into March and the stalemate over the state budget in the General Assembly continued, the prospects of that bill becoming law dimmed, and county officials started looking at another option: COIT.

But the county would need the city's help to enact the tax, and in 2001 the city council had voted it down. But that was then, and thinking had changed in the previous 12 months. City officials realized they needed more money to maintain existing Berry festive see Lifestyles, E1 In Brief Gas price decals INDIANAPOLIS (AP) With higher gasoline taxes taking effect on Wednesday, a statewide association of gas stations has produced decals for the pump that explain why fuel prices change. The decals pose the question: "Where Does Your Gas Dollar list some common factors that determine the price of gasoline and explain why gas prices sometimes fluctuate wildly from day to day. "There's a big misconception that gas retailers are out to pull the wool over the eyes of the consumers.

And it's not a big conspiracy or anything like that," Kara Baber, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores Association, said Friday. "We're just trying to get that out." Average gas prices in Indiana have swayed from as low as $1.06 to more than $1.40 during the past year, according to the AAA online fuel gauge report. Beginning with the new year, Indiana's gasoline tax will increase by 3 cents to 1 8 cents a gallon. The petroleum association hopes the stickers will help motorists understand that gas stations have limited control over their product's price. Today's Prayer Dear Lord, as we look back over a year full of events that we haven't always understood, help us to renew our resolve to keep our eyes focused on You.

Amen. Staff photo by Tom Bartholomew Dave Snider looks over county-related paperwork in his rural Decker Chapel home. public services and especially for the police department, which was losing trained officers to other communities due to low pay. The city was now ready to support the See COIT, A6 Staff photo by Kevin J. Kilmer Staff photo by Tom Bartholomew A Vincennes University student is framed by fiber The photo of Pamela Nolan, a ranger with the National Park optics, providing a high-tech and almost surreal look Service in Vincennes, earned the at technology taught at Indiana's only state-photographer a citation from the supported two-year university.

Associated Press. Mother who killed son, drug deal gone bad also in top 10 2002 YEAR-IN-REVIEW EinPHiiM INSIDE D1-2 Classified Deaths A2 Lifestyles A5 Opinion A4 Sports B1 Staff photo by Tom Bartholomew A late-September tornado, one of several that raked across Indiana, heavily damaged property In the Monroe City area. Julie Rea's conviction March 4 of killing her 10-year-old son, ranked third in the Sun-Commercial's list of Top 10 stories. of the year. Rea, 33, claimed an intruder broke into her Lawrenceville home and killed Joel.

But a Wayne County. 111. jury disagreed, finding her guilty after five hours deliberation. Lawrence Circuit Court Judge Robert M. Hopkins sentenced Rea to 65 years in prison May 10.

She maintains her innocence and has appealed the conviction. Joel's father, Len Kirkpatrick, and Rea divorced in 1994, but after a nasty two-year court battle, the father won custody. Joel was visiting her mother for the weekend when he was killed. Barnett "B.J." Bass, 21, and Christopher A. Devers, 19, both of Vincennes, pleaded guilty to the 2001 murder of Dale Groves.

The resolution of the case ranks fourth on our list. Another suspect. Amanda Beamon. 17, Vincennes, had her case transferred to juvenile court. She was charged with first-degree murder (accountability) and conspiracy.

She was released from jail for a few weeks during the summer to give birth to her High Court rejects appeal in Baker case daughter. Bass was sentenced him to 25 years in prison and Devers received a 20-year prison sentence. Groves' body was found Jan. 24 in a field near Westport. 111., in Lawrence County.

He had been shot five limes with a .44 revolver. Groves had been missing more than seven months. Fifth on our list was the surprise Feb. 5 announcement that John R. Gregg would not seek re-election to the District 45 seat he had held for 16 years.

The Sandborn Democrat had risen high and fast in the Indiana House of Representatives, eventually becoming Speaker, where he presided with equal measures of humor, hubris and humanity, drawing praise from even his most-partisan opponents. But for all his bravado and bluster, Gregg is, at heart, a serious man with a deep love for his family and community, both of which he found himself missing more and more during See TOP 10, A6 The Indiana Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of the man convicted of killing Vincennes University student Brook Baker in 1997. Brian Jones had appealed the 2000 life sentence without parole he received as part of a negotiated plea agreement. Jones claimed statements Baker allegedly made prior to her death pointed to another man as the possible killer. The court found the statements irrelevant, and the testimony regarding a scene from the movie "Curdled," to be that any error in admitting testimony regarding the scene was harmless to the defense.

Baker, 19, had been found raped and murdered in her off-campus apartment on Sept. 7. Jones confessed to the murder during the police investigation of the 1999 murder of Erika Norman, 21, another VU student found strangled to death, in an Illinois cornfield. DNA samples taken from Jones in the Norman investigation matched samples found at the Baker crime scene. See BAKER CASE, A2 harmless to Jones's defense.

Records show that Jones rented the film shortly before Baker's murder. In the film, a female victim is stabbed several times in the back and the knife is cleaned off in a kitchen sink. Baker was stabbed several times in the back and a knife with DNA material matching Baker's was found in a kitchen sink filled with soapy water. The defense didn't challenge the accuracy of testimony regarding the movie scene at trial or in appeal, so the court found Today' un- Commercial Is prlnlad 9WL y. on raoyowd papar 93 using soy in.

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