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Vehicle Crash In Newton County Leaves One Dead
NEWTON COUNTY, Mo. — One person is dead after a vehicle crash in Newton County – Friday evening.
It happened shortly after 6:00 p.M., on Missouri Highway 86 – near Stark City.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a vehicle – driven by Nylen Allphin, 87, of Stark City – traveled off the right side of the roadway and struck a ditch.
The driver then experienced a medical emergency – before being taken to Freeman Neosho Hospital – where he was later pronounced dead.
Patricia Allphin, 86, was also a passenger in the vehicle. She was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.
This is the 18th traffic fatality of 2024 for Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop D.
Wrongfully Convicted Georgia Man Shows Life After Exoneration Still Isn't Easy
So far, 38 states and DC have laws in place to compensate wrongfully convicted citizens. Georgia isn't one of them.
ROME, Ga. — Joey Watkins was 20 years old when he was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he did not commit. More than two decades later, the 42-year-old walked out a free man.
It's been five months since Floyd County Superior Court Judge Bryan Johnson approved a motion from the district attorney to dismiss the case. The motion stemmed from the work of the Georgia Innocence Project, which introduced new evidence uncovered since the trial - clearing Watkins. That evidence included cell phone records that placed him miles from the scene at the time of the victim's death.
Watkins had been out on bond since January 2023 and ordered to wear an ankle monitor, prior to his exoneration in September.
In the months since his name was officially cleared the cameras have packed up, the national headlines dwindled to an occasional reference, and Watkins went back to his hometown of Rome, Georgia, to try to move on.
Rome wasn't built in a day
"The air conditioning doesn't work," Watkins apologized as he cracked open the front door to a small 800-square-foot property in Rome. "I still have to fix that."
The sound of cars whooshing past on the busy stretch of Martha Berry Highway is silenced as Joey clicks the old door shut and gestures around.
"This is where my business will hopefully take off from," he says, standing in the middle of the nearly empty room. In the corner, a donated old wood desk covered in papers and an unlit "open" sign sits.
"It's a little suck in the 70s style," Watkins laughed as he gestured to the wood-paneled covered walls. "But beggars can't be choosers, I guess."
Watkins clearly takes pride in the building, which he secured in January - exactly a year after he was released on bond. He points out where he and a friend ripped up the old flooring and replaced it with new laminate. He shrugs at the end of the hall when it tapers off into old, crumbling mosaic tile.
"I ran out of money, so I couldn't finish it," he admitted.
Aside from the unfinished floor, the office is missing something else glaringly obvious: business.
Tough getting back to business
After his release, Watkins spent every penny of the money donated to him via an online fundraiser on office space, insurance and licensing needed to open a used car business.
"I made some calls to the bank, and I was like, 'Can I get a line of credit?'" he recalled. Since I've been home, my credit's been good, but I don't have a long credit history. And they're like, 'Yeah, no problem.' So I spent all my money to get prepared."
But after everything was put in place, Watkins was met with a roadblock that might mean his business would end before it even started.
"The banks can't loan me any money or give me a line of credit because I can't show two years of tax returns," Watkins said. "They say it's something they can't get around. So I'm kind out in the water, hoping and praying."
The shock was personal for Watkins, who hoped to open his used car shop, Watkins Auto Center, after his father's business of the same name went bankrupt under the legal fees needed to clear his name.
"They spent every bit of money they ever made in their life on getting me home," Watkins said, fighting tears. "When I came home, they had absolutely nothing. It's been nothing but a struggle since then."
(The story continues after the gallery below)
Joey Watkins exonerated in GeorgiaPhotosWaiting on a bill
Thirty-eight states and Washington, D.C., have laws in place to compensate wrongfully convicted citizens.
Georgia isn't one of them.
"When men do time, and they're released, [the state] offers programs for them to enroll in grants, stuff like that," Watkins explained. "But when you're exonerated, you're no longer a convicted felon so you're not eligible for those benefits. It's kind of like, 'Hey, we'll see you. Good luck.'"
A bipartisan bill, HB 364, known as the Wrongful Conviction Compensation Act, was proposed in the House this session to establish an independent board to compensate exonerees. As it stands now, a legislator has to sponsor individual compensation resolutions for each wrongfully convicted person.
Georgia Rep. Katie Dempsey of Rome is sponsoring Watkins' resolution, which would compensate him just over $1.6 million, or $72,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment.
"This is not what any of us felt we were elected to do, to sit there and hold someone's life in our hands and try to decide what the value on that might be," Dempsey said. "And it's not much when you think of the value of your life."
Watkins watched in the wings as his resolution passed the House in the final hours of Crossover Day to a standing ovation.
"It was emotional," Dempsey said through tears. "Very powerful. Any one of us at any time, from mistaken identity to other things, hold the possibility of something like this happening."
Five other representative-sponsored compensation bills for exonerees also passed the House. The six compensation resolutions would pay out just over $9 million combined. The wrongful imprisonment time served among the exonerees, which include Devonia Inman, Terry Talley, and Darrell Lee Clark, is a combined 129 years.
(The story continues after the gallery below)
Georgia men released from prison after wrongful convictionsPHOTOSHowever, with days left in the legislative session, the Wrongful Conviction Compensation Act and all six resolutions sat stalled in the Senate.
"There is resistance just on the principle I think of the state being financially responsible for something that was carried out by county and local officials," Dempsey explained.
"Is it realistic to ask towns like Rome to pay upwards of $2 million?" 11Alive Investigator Savannah Levins asked Dempsey.
"Exactly, our counties would not be able to assume that," Dempsey said. "I think financially, it's coming from the right place. They have certainly been in the state prison system."
As the legislative clock runs out, so do the few dollars Watkins has left to his family name.
"I'm out of money, so I'm on a day-to-day basis now," Watkins said. "If it if it keeps going like this, I'm possibly out of this place."
'I'll swim until I sink'
Watkins says if his compensation resolution passes, he plans to use the money to officially launch his business and pay off his parents' debt. He also said he plans to be an advocate for other wrongfully convicted people in Georgia.
When asked what he wanted to get for himself, he shrugged.
"I'd like a truck, maybe," he said.
But more than money or success, Watkins said he yearns for things like love and time with his remaining living family.
"When I came home the biggest shock was the reality that half your family is gone," he said. "I see all of my friends from back when I was in high school, they're all married with kids that are grown, and you know, I wonder what that feels like."
Watkins said even if he isn't compensated, he'll continue to push through and chase his dreams.
"It's sink or swim, so I'll swim until I sink," Watkins said. "All I can do is thank God. It's all up to Him, and He's got a plan."
Georgia Innocence Project (GIP) has helped free and exonerate 14 people who collectively spent hundreds of years behind bars for crimes they didn't commit. GIP attorneys are helping advocate for Watkins' compensation resolution, and many others. Learn more about their efforts or donate to GIP's mission here.
You can donate to Watkins' online fundraiser here.
Munster Town Council 'studying All The Options' But Not Planning Any Action On Center For Visual And Performing Arts
The Munster Town Council said it's studying all options after getting flooded with hundreds of comments about saving the Center for Visual and Performing Arts, but is not planning any action.
Munster Town Council President David Nellans said the council has not had any discussions with the Community Foundation that owns the Center for Visual and Performing Arts, or with the School Town of Munster, which is considering buying the facility.
"We don't have any direct plans for the Center for Visual and Performing Arts," Nellans said. "There may be talks in the future but not at this point. It's a complicated matter. It takes a lot of studying to know which way to go. It would take a lot to maintain and take care of it on an ongoing basis. Honestly, at this point we are still studying the options. We are not at the table with the School Town of Munster. Those are closed-door negotiations."
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Scores of residents turned out Monday to the second straight capacity-crowd Town Council meeting to plead with the town to intervene in some way to save the Center for Visual and Performing Arts. The School Town of Munster is in talks with the Community Foundation, which has owned the Center for Visual and Performing Arts since Don Powers first opened it in 1989. The school town is looking into a potential purchase of the property, and to use 8,000 to 10,000 square feet of space in the 72,600-square-foot building for administration space.
Superintendent Bret Heller said the school town hopes to keep South Shore Arts and the Northwest Symphony Orchestra as rent-paying tenants, but is not looking to get into the events business. Trama Catering and the Theatre at the Center, Northwest Indiana's only professional equity theater, could be forced out.
The school has not yet decided exactly what it will do with the space or if it will go forward with the purchase. Heller said the building adjacent to the schools' existing campus was being offered for far less than market value and the district might not get another opportunity to acquire so much land so nearby.
Several residents again urged the Town Council on Monday to consider ways to intervene to maintain the Center for Visual and Performing Arts as it has been for the last 35 years. They suggested public-private partnerships, tax-increment finance district funding and an arrangement similar to the Towle Theatre in downtown Hammond, where the city serves as the theater's landlord.
"My confidence that the school town is going to keep its part of the bargain is very low," resident Tracy Martin said. "Even if they say they're going to keep South Shore Arts and NISO, once that sale happens, we can't bank on it. Once they own the property, they can do what they want. How are you going to stop this? What are you going to do to preserve this?"
Dyer resident Carolyn Jacobs said the Center for Visual and Performing Arts has a major economic impact on the town. She regularly goes with her husband to the theater, sits among a crowd of 400 and reckons most are spending money in the town.
"We stop for coffee. We go for dinner. We go to Giovanni's, Cafe Borgia and more recently Fiori. We often see other theater patrons at the other tables. If the tenants lose their lease and have to go somewhere else, there's no guarantee they will stay in Munster. They could go to Crown Point. They could to to Valparaiso. Suddenly, all 400 people are getting in their cars and going somewhere else, shopping and dining in other communities, buying flowers for performers in other communities. I want you to think about that part of it, not just the loss of a beautiful arts organization."
Cathy Tobin, a Towle board member, said there were city partnerships with arts organizations, such as in Fishers, which is building a new city hall and arts center.
"With the Towle Theatre, we took a real hit during COVID, as did all theaters, but we survived," she said. "We had to be very diligent."
The Towle gets some competitive grant funding from the City of Hammond and the Hammond Port Authority.
"It's not handed over," she said. "The Towle board and staff have to prove their due diligence and budgeting. We are very thrifty. We are very engaged in the community and continue to shows. There are partnerships out there where it's possible."
Trama Catering Manager Marie Arteaga said the banquet hall has been selling out all its brunches, such as its Easter brunch and upcoming Mother's Day brunch, but people keep trying to get seats anyway, not knowing if if it will be for the last time.
"People from Munster and all around the Northwest Indiana region want to keep the center from closing," she said. "It's people from all over the Region and other states. Our customers don't want us to leave. People kept asking the other day if we'd have to leave and kept saying they don't want us to leave. That building is not an empty shell. It never has been. There's life in that building. People are spending their money here because of that building. They're spending $200 at Giovanni's. We have brides flying in from across the country and staying at that new Hyatt Place hotel. Could you imagine the revenue potential if there were more events in our ballroom, more shows and plays? That place is a gem. It's a blessing for the city of Munster and can't be lost."
Ray Perea, whose father is the head chef at Trama Catering, has been hanging around there and helping out since he was 12 years old. He describes it as a second home.
"It's a place of home and a place where people gain friends," he said. "This isn't about me and the staff. It will affect me and the Region. Customers have come for years to make memories. It's not just my second home. It's the Region's second home."
Munster resident Mike Buchanan said it's vital for seniors.
"For a lot of them it's the only place to go," he said. "I don't go to Chicago much anymore. I can't get around Chicago. I can't afford it. I see a lot of shows and performance there from people over the years. It's the only place we can go to now. Don't close it down."
A Save the Munster CVPA group convened on Facebook and held a planning meeting at Sip Coffee House in Highland Tuesday night to plan its next steps.
Beer Geeks, one of the Region's first, most beloved and most influential craft beer bars, closed after more than a decade and is being reimagined as a new concept.
The landmark 88-year-old castle-shaped White Castle in Whiting is coming down to be replaced with a newer, larger, more modern White Castle restaurant.
A longtime staple in downtown Crown Point poured its last drink.
The longtime Westforth Sports gun shop is closing.
The Silver Line Building Products plant at 16801 Exchange Ave. Will be shuttered permanently.
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Brewfest in Highland will close in what's been called "an end of an era."
David's Bridal filed for bankruptcy and could close all stores if no buyer emerges to save it.
The 88-year-old Whiting White Castle will be remembered with displays at museums in two different states.
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For years, the "millionaire's club" met every morning in the corner booth of the historic 88-year-old White Castle at Indianapolis Boulevard and 119th Street in downtown Whiting. The landmark restaurant served its final slider Tuesday.
One of Northwest Indiana's most popular and enduring hobby shops is looking for a buyer after the longtime owner died.
J&L This N That Consignment Shop, a popular thrift store, closed in downtown Whiting after a run of several years.
A Calumet Region institution, Calumet Fisheries on the far South Side of Chicago, is temporarily closed after failing a city health inspection.
Just days after reopening after city health inspectors shut it down, Calumet Fisheries suffered a major fire.
Pepe's Mexican Restaurant is no mas in Valparaiso.
Beer Geeks in Highland rebranded as B-Side Bar & Lounge and then closed within a few months.
Troubled retailer Bed Bath and Beyond will permanently close its Valparaiso location as it shutters more stores nationwide as it looks to restructure and shrink its footprint to save the struggling business.
Peoples Bank has shuttered its branch in downtown Hammond.
Viking Artisan Ales will soon pour its last craft beer at its Merrillville taproom.
Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom is closing after 15 years at one of Northwest Indiana's most prominent highway interchanges.
Walmart is closing its big-box store in Homewood.
The Chicago Auto Show, the nation's largest auto show, returns to McCormick Place Saturday, running through Feb. 19.
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