Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 9

£h8immghamNtti I 1 I i lory convicts mother of child abuse By CHANDA TEMPLE News staff writer Prosecutor lill Ganus Teague hard forme to understand how a mother can even treat her own child this way unnatural not right prosecutor JIN Gmus Teague tried on a child abuse charge Defense attorney Ellen Bressler said the behavior was caused by her violence and molestation not her beatings However a doctor said he found no evidence of sexual abuse looked squarely into told diem what faces and bathroom neglected to feed her and beat her up and down leaving bruises scars and a broken leg- Teachers and a school janitor testified that an underweight and ill-clothed Terri came to school dirty hungry and unkempt and rifled through lunchroom trash for leftover milk and half-eaten sandwiches waited 14 months to say about Burch who was con-Friday of brutally abusing le daughter on trial beat the living daylights out of her but it her mother Ms Bressler said Three of brothers testified that their mother never abused Terri Terri told police some of her siblings abused her also but the brothers denied it Mrs Teague said Terri who lives in a group home was robbed of a childhood She have her first birthday party until age 16 when she was treated at a hospital for a broken leg heart goes out to her Mrs Teague said Prosecutor Tommy Tucker looked on as a bailiff ushered a manacled Ms Burch from the Bessemer courtroom Jurors saw several pictures showing bruises and bums on Terri's body But Ms Bressler told them that her client was not -Sherry Burch is a freak of a while Mrs Teague said after court hard for me to understand how a mother can even treat her own child this way unnatural It's not right Ms Burch showed no emotion as she was convicted Circuit Judge Mac Parsons will sentence Ms Burch at a later date She feces up to 10 years in prison Terri now 17 said in a videotape played for the jury that the abuse started when she was 5 or good he remarked off in cuffs Ms defense team maintained she was not guilty and that the abuse came from father who has yet to be on trial for abuse that may have happened years ago She said they should consider only whether they thought Ms Burch broke leg Jan 1 1999 the incident for which she was 7 "Court testimony this week painted the 36-year-old Fairfield woman a callous parent who singled out her daughter Terri Burch from 12 other siblings She made die girl sleep in a been waiting to tell that mother what I thought of her for Fiddle fingers of fate Water talks fall through Bowen trial pry hears detective i 4 4 4' I 4' I 4' 4" 4" i 'li 'I By NANCY WILSTACH News staff writer TThe detective who led the Investigation of Brenda death three years ago spent most of Friday testifying in the murder trial of Jerry Lee Bowen the dead woman's ex-husband Circuit Judge Oliver Head allowed Shelby Sheriffs LL Don King to recount a con- County NEWS STAPgjJttL YEAGER Day festivities From left are Allen Peterson Kurt Kin-bacher Terry McGinn and Carter Laney jr The band Vulcan's Britches picks and grins Thursday at the University of Alabama at Earth versation with Bowen the afternoon following Mrs Jan 28 1997 disappearance from her Westover home King said that Bowen 52 flatly stated that his 44-year-old ex-wife was dead and predicted die investigators would find her body in the water That is what happened two months later While King was on the stand prosecutors displayed slides of the Coosa River bank where Mrs body surfaced and one slide of die body where ft was discovered March 29 1997 The body was found bound with telephone cord weighted with logging chains and neatly pinned into a green bed sheet Defense lawyer HL Conwill grilled King on how he managed the investigation Among details brought out were that: King could have obliterated fingerprints when he grasped the door handle and the Ignition key to Mrs Honda Accord with his bare hand after it was found In the woods die night Mrs Bowen vanished former Talladega County resident confessed in October 1997 that he killed Mrs Bowen However no Shelby County investigator went" to the Oregon jail where Clark A Morris was a prisoner to interview him King said version of how Mrs Bowen died ruled him out as a suspect 7 Throughout the early stages of the missing person investigation Mrs pastor was on the scene with law enforcement officers inside the Bowen home and at the site where die car was recovered Ordinarily deputies prevent anyone other than those with official business from entering crime scenes About a dozen persons had walked through the Bowen house including Sheriff James Jones and the Rev David Wooten before evidence technicians arrived to look for signs of foul play contrary to the department's usual operations The trial resumes at 9 am Monday By DAVID PITT The Associated Press ATLANTA Negotiators from Georgia Florida and Alabamd Med to agree on how to sharq river water Friday and may seek a mediator 4 Committee members of the River Basin Commission will ask their governors for more time The delegates from the three states had been given a deadline of May 1 to agree on a water allocation formula Committee Chairman Robert Kerr of Georgia called the meeting to a close after 2 Vi hours Ken argued over river flow rates with Alabama representatives and battled over agricultural land acreage numbers with Florida members Each state has developed models based on what they say is accurate data Lindsay Thomas the negotiator appointed by President Clinton to represent federal government interests in the water negotiations told the group to get a mediator and move forward He chastised them for continuing to bicker are frustrating the devil out of all the Thomas said opinion based on what I heard from this committee today is that I think you will ever get an Thomas said environmentalists city and county governments and citizens who rely on the rivers for drinking water and recreation need resolution Commission members have tried for more than seven years to craft a water-management plan to divvy up the waters of the river basin The headwaters are in Georgia and pass through the explosive growth area of metro Atlanta which is often accused of drawing too much water from the system A separate committee also has stalled in its efforts to devise a sharing formula for the Ala-bama-Coosa-T allapoosa basin Because there was no chance of making any progress Friday Kerr told committee members to return to their governors and request an extension of 30 to 90 days He said he hopes the three states can work out a short-term agreement of 10 or 15 years while continuing to work on a long-term 50-year detailed agreement Firefighter Davis applauded for doing job right wajf what happened Thursday af- temoon it was the way he lived up to Thursday afternoon" That life before the fire for the Birmingham native and Banks High School graduate included a family: wife Darlene 15-year old daughter Jessica and sons Tory 12 and Devon 10 He had recently moved them into a new home on White Oak Circle in Pinson was proud of that house" West said of us took a day to help Bearing the cross him put in a sprinkler system We her out when helped each other Mme- Rickey Davis By WAYNE MARTIN News staff writer The future belonged to Rickey Davis He was young smart and skilled In his profession of firefighter was just something about him that let you know he would go said fire Capt Richard Guyton of Bessemer would have been a captain in fire department' The 33-year-old Davis died Thursday fighting a fire in Center Point He was inside a house at 2220 First Place NW when the floor collapsed The fire and the nature of death remained under review Friday by state and Birmingham area investigators Like many metro area firefighters Davis worked for two departments juggling shifts at Homewood and Center Point Thursday he was serving as member of a crew from Center Point Station 2 did his job the right way and he took care of his family the right way" said LL Lonnie West thing that made him a good man thing needed to be An extended family of firefighters and their families surrounded the Davis family Friday providing support and comfort as they struggled with their loss Mrs Davis asked that others talk about her husband Davis developed a close friendship with Randall McFarland and his fam- ily while wo iking at Bessemer picture is still on the wall at McFarland said going to be tough the next time we get a call thing that madl him a good man what happened Thursday afternoon it was the way he lived up to Thursday afternoon LL Lonnie West speaking about Rickey Davis See Davis Page 11A Civil rights figures come back to mourn Turner to-Montgomery march In the 1968 funeral of Martin Luther King Jr Turner led one of the mules pulling tiie wagon bearing King1 caskrt -At the time of his death Turner was a Perry County commissioner ad of a and head of a powerful political in his talk and in his Gregory said have to talk about love and nonviolence He reflected ft You saw The visitation in the rotunda was followed by a memorial service at Francis Marion High School Another of civil rights colleagues US Rep John Lewis D-Ga was scheduled to be the keynote speaker The 64-year-old Turner who died April 13 helped lead a voting rights movement in his home county of Perry and walked in the 1965 Selma- in an open casket in the rotunda of the Peny County Courthouse The hallways were crowded with mourners including political allies and political opponents who came to pay their respects Turner was dressed in a double-breasted suit and had a hint of a smile on his face That smile was something Gregory always associated with his old friend you look at his history in the civil rights movement what he went through ft was never reflected By TOM GORDON News staff writer MARION Some of Albert contemporaries in the 1960s civil rights movement came here Friday to mourn his passing day 10 billion years from now the only reason America will have her name mentioned will be because of the movement and people like said comedian Dick Gregory who first marched with Turner more than 30 years ago A few feet away body lay NEWS STAFFHAL YEAGER machine the Perry County Civic League Today a caravan with a mule-drawn wagon bearing casket is to roll through downtown Marion at 3 pm followed by a family graveside service All Saints Episcopal Church youth director George Mange carries a crucifix on one leg of Good Friday's cross processional The Friday afternoon walk was sponsored by seven Homewood churches ESSBBSgS few WP WiPW mnA tut fti anBi i llM-'iXcfcirti iW t-w si v' hi liar ia it -air- if -4 -a 1 'vi.