As he crouched in the blocks, listening to the cheers of the crowd, he was overcome with a sense of regret so piercing that it felt like physical pain. John Luttig was not only a prominent white citizen in Tyler but also the father of the Honorable J. Michael Luttig, a federal judge who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and is believed to be on President Bushs short list for potential Supreme Court nominees. I dont want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.. Reynaldo Campos, Jr., 45, pleaded guilty to murder for hire before U.S. Magistrate Judge K. Nicole Mitchell Aug. 12, 2022. North of Chestnut Street, the cars are newer, the streets wider, the yards greener. Read All About It! Start for Free Not Finding What You Were Looking for on This Page of The Grapeland Messenger? Two weeks after Napoleon graduated from high school with honors, one week before he was set to leave for the Marines, a Crime Stoppers tipsettling an old score, perhapssent FBI agents in Tyler hurrying south to Grapeland. And though fistfights were routine among other boys, no one can remember Napoleon so much as raising his voice. GRAPELAND - The Grapeland City Council met on Tuesday, May 10 in a meeting highlighted by the canvass of votes and the swearing in of the mayor and two council members. Your kids were affected. Brazzil asked him if he was all right. On April 8, 2022, the US Attorney stated, Campos and Pittman traveled together from Houston County to Tyler to discuss the murder, to provide the hitman with a handgun to be used for the murder, and to provide the hitman with information about the intended target., Five days later on April 13 Campos and Pittman again traveled together from Houston County to Tyler to discuss the murder and to provide the hitman with approximately one gallon of Phenylacetone/P2P and a shotgun as partial payment for the murder of the intended target., The US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration states, Phenylacetone/P2P is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5CH2COCH3. Grapeland Messenger in Grapeland, TX 75844 - (936) 687-2424 Jackson recommended parents hold off on school shopping until the finished documents are published in early July. She has been in education for a number of years and will bring a great deal of experience to Grapeland High School.. . Jamaal pointed out the North Star, then the Big Dipper. Napoleon awaits the outcome of his final appeal during a court-ordered stay of execution. Grapeland ISD Hires New HS Principal - The Messenger News GRAPELAND The Houston County Sheriffs Office received a call regarding a possible shooting at approximately 6:21 pm on Wednesday evening, Nov. 10. You can also check out other issues in The Grapeland Messenger. I wish Napoleon couldve ignored all that. I wanted to be accepted, so I did what I thought was necessary to fit in, he wrote. Though an unusual array of witnesses had come forward on his behalfhis high school principal, football coach, teachers, friends, and fellow church membersit was not enough to sway the jury. Napoleon Beazley Teen Killer Executed By Texas - My Crime Library On April 8, 2022, Campos and his girlfriend, Robin Pittman, traveled together from Houston County to Tyler to discuss the murder, to provide the hitman with a handgun to be used for the murder, and to provide information about the intended victim. His arrest, even to his closest friends, was mystifyingand set off what would be years of pained examination, not just of Napoleon but of themselves. Why did y'all do this to her?". The biggest apology I can give is to change and to show through my actions that I am a changed person. He now spends his time in isolation, his movements limited to a six-by-ten-foot concrete cell with a slit of window, which provides a glimpse of sky above. That winter day, I stared at Napoleon through the Plexiglas that separated us and wondered at the true, innermost thoughts of a person who was, even to his closest friends, an enigma. The first thing you come to grips with is dying, and afterwards there are only reasons to live. To win a death sentence in the punishment phase of the trial, the prosecutors had to prove that Napoleon was likely to commit future acts of violence. Now, at 47, she is always stylishly turned out, her cinnamon hair done beauty-shop perfect, framing a warm but guarded smile. I hoped he would be safe. Another area covered in the Thursday meeting concerned the use of cell phones by students. The Messenger Sports | Grapeland TX Grapeland Messenger 203 N Main St, Elkhart, TX 75839 - The Real Yellow U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston stated, "Reynaldo Campos, Jr., 44, and Robin Pittman, also known as Robin Hill, 42, were named in an . Before the Kerbys acquired The Grapeland Messenger, as it was known then, Merle and Ed Luker were the stewards, having acquired it from their father A.H. Luker. Service Information Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net PAYMENT CENTER Click here to make a payment There were also 31 EMS calls with 171 year-to-date. After disposing of several routine matters, Mayor Mitchell Woody requested the council to canvass the votes of May 7 election. The Beazleys wanted to give their children what they had lacked; Rena took a job at a Crockett department store when the children were little so she could buy them new clothes on discount. Hall said she would speak on behalf of BrandyMosley, Vanessa's sister who tragically drowned earlier this year. He stated he had been shot with a 45-70 rifle by the suspect Daniel Luken, white male, age 54. It was a good time for us. The FBI had shown me the Colemans statements, and that blew my mind. He would have to support the child. Grapeland Couple Sentenced to Prison in Murder for Hire Plot I went through the motions, and I performed, Rena says of her time as Grapeland Highs first black cheerleader, following integration in 1968. Her husband was still alive, kneeling beside the car in shock. The well-mannered Grapeland honors student had, according to Fig Colemans testimony, told him to shoot the bitch as Bobbie Luttig lay terrorized on the garage floor that April night. He was a crack-cocaine dealer, and although he would be arrested in 1998 in a Drug Enforcement Administration sting, that was far too late to keep Napoleon out of trouble. He spoke proper English. In 1910, Luker became the sole owner of the paper and the rest as they say is history. 2018 Texas Medical Association Anson Jones, MD, Awards, 1st Place Small-Circulation Print, Crockett Hospital Closure Coverage. By the summer before his senior year, Napoleon was drifting away from his friends north of Chestnut Street and growing closer to Cedrick, whose hotheaded little brother, Fig, was always underfoot. The Grapeland Messenger Thurs. Because I dated white girls, I was ridiculed. Age was not made an issue at the trial by Napoleons defense attorney, and any testimony about his past good character was overshadowed by the sickening details of his crime. Grapeland Messenger can be contacted via phone at (936) 687-2424 for pricing, hours and directions. At that time, the newspaper was known as the Grapeland Times and Farm Journal. He composed himself long enough to consult with a local defense attorney before Napoleons arraignment that morning. He was a member of the Methodist church. However, in an incident that very easily could have been ripped from the TV series Breaking Bad, two area residents are staring at prison time after attempting to pay a hitman with a chemical used in the production of methamphetamine. Officers were able to locate the driver at the CROCKETT, Texas Officers seized 27 animals from a property in Crockett Thursday afternoon. But if I get into other peoples business, Ill get into something I dont want to. Your actions were no less than satanic,"Melson said. The captain of the football team, Jamaal can bench-press 375 pounds, though his big, broad-shouldered build belies his shyness. Ive been in Grapeland since 1992 and served on the (GISD) school board for 18 years, before coming on the council. 2022, to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Johnson was an assistant principal at Palestine ISD before accepting the position with GISD. Napoleon is not the worst of the worst. For Napoleons friends, who have married and have children of their own, there is a yawning sense of guilt as life moves on. [When I told my mother that the FBI had arrested three people, she] collapsed on the floor of the kitchen. Since kindergarten, he had never known Napoleon to miss a day of school. As he stepped out of the car, Bobbie heard him utter one wordNo!and then saw the flash of a gun muzzle. Last June Napoleons appellate attorneys, David L. Botsford and Walter Long, of Austin, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Napoleons appeal and grant him a stay of execution. I think Id be pretty good at astronomy, he said quietly, before resuming his study of the sky. The incident occurred at 1441 CR 1705, east of Grapeland. ANDERSON COUNTY A man wanted for robbery in Houston County was arrested by Palestine Police Department (PPD) officers in Anderson County only a few days after Houston County Sheriff Randy Hargrove issued a warrant for his arrest. The assistant principal at both GHS and GJHS will be Amanda Kincade. Give me a second.. Napoleon Beazley was raised in the Quarters, in a tidy brick house ringed by a hurricane fence next door to St. Johns Baptist Church, whose white clapboard walls shudder each Sunday with gospel hymns. Pittman pleaded guilty on August 9, 2022, to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. You can look for a tighter accountability when it comes to cell phone usage. . You sit there with your mother and your wife and your daughter, and no one says a word, not a single word. His parents initially made their disapproval known, but he assured them he would attend college on the GI Bill and apply to Stanford Law. He was, some of these parents later said, like a son to them. They have scored well on their end-of-course tests. PALESTINE A hung jury of 10-2 caused a mistrial in the case of a former Grapeland teacher accused of sexual assault of a minor. Please hurry!. Robertson. The shooting took place outside an apartment building in . If convicted, the defendants face up to 10 years in federal prison. No one questioned his blackness. Napoleon began dealing crack, though he sold it seldom enough that word never got back to his family or friends. I would like to give kudos to Grapeland Police Chief Richard Lewis and Grapeland Mayor Mitchell Woody for allowing us to have this MOU this cooperation between the two entities to do something to help make our schools a safer place to be, Jackson said. On April 19, 1994, the day that seventeen-year-old Napoleon Beazley committed cold-blooded murder, the high school senior came home from track practice, showered, and changed into a fresh pair of blue jeans. In addition, there 7,500,000 gallons of waste water treated. I just pray that God shows you the same compassion that you showed Vanessa, which is none.". They shone brightly above the line of hackberry trees, where his brother had once ditched his .45-caliber pistol, hoping that it would never be uncovered. A massive FBI manhunt was already under way: Carjacking is a federal crime that falls under the FBIs jurisdiction, and this particular carjackings link to the father of a federal judge only intensified the scrutiny. Their argument relied not only on his past crack dealing but also on the testimony of the Colemans, who took the stand to make three damning assertions: Napoleon had boasted of wanting to kill someone, he was remorseless, and he had threatened to kill them if they talked of the crime. Age 58, with a severe injury to his. May 24, 1973 Samuel Falcon Davis Mr. Samuel Falcon Davis, 89, of Pennington, passed away early Saturday morning. Everyone in Grapeland should feel some blame. Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors. I feel she will be a strong presence for our students as well as a great role model. Her principals certification is from Lamar University while she holds a Masters Degree in Library Science from Sam Houston State University. The police department reported there were 164 calls for service. At Gray, our journalists report, write, edit and produce the news content that informs the communities we serve. In turn, Botsford and Long filed a last-minute petition with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, raising numerous issues, among them Napoleons age at the time of the crime, racial bias on the all-white jury that convicted him, and the veracity of the Colemans testimony. "Crime is falling. They said my son killed a man. Eight years after Napoleons arrest, he is still remembered around town for his unfailing good manners. Serving Houston and Southern Anderson Counties, East Texas Country Music Festival Slated for July 4-6, Grapeland Takes Two of Three from West Sabine, Lovelady Lady Lions Serve Notice on the Hardwood. . I was wondering what the bullet would feel like as it went through my back. Upward mobility has exacted its price, however; in the Quarters they are viewed with equal parts admiration and jealousy. I was wondering what it would feel like to die., The all-white jury (both the prosecution and the defense had rejected potential black jurors) found Napoleon guilty of capital murder. Jamaal has learned from his brothers example; he picks his friends carefully, and he never strays far from home. Beech Grove shooting: Man arrested after killing outside - IndyStar According to the Houston County Sheriffs Office, a property known as the Old Lively Property a little over a mile south []. On June 19, Deputy Whitford responded to a disturbance on FM 2419. Only later did he learn that his son faced capital murder charges. Phone: (936) 687-2424 Address: 119 N. Main St, Grapeland, TX 75844 STAFF CONTACTS Kelly Nicol EditorEmail: knicol@messenger-news.com Cheril Vernon Copy EditorEmail: news@messenger-news.com Greg Ritchie Senior ReporterEmail: greg@messenger-news.com Ansel Bradshaw Sales ManagerEmail: ansel.bradshaw@yahoo.com He was trying to be something he wasnt. Privately, the sixteen-year-old was overwhelmed: A girl he had dated briefly that summer had told him she was pregnant, making the football scholarship he had pursued since junior high no longer an option. The high school has maintained its level of excellence. There is only one thought in all four of your minds and that is that your dads not there, and he never will be again. He told of spending Christmas at his fathers graveside, smoothing the soil around the marker, so it will be perfect in the way that he always wanted things for you. He told of hearing that the blood seeping from his fathers head had sounded like running water. He told of his sisters horror at viewing their fathers body. AboutGrapeland Messenger. There was shock, sadness, a sense of disbelief. Many assumed that the Colemans had pinned the murder on Napoleon or that they had goaded him into pulling the trigger. I believe all schools will put school safety and security at the top of the list. He stood out. Bobbie kept still, her eyes shut, as her husbands blood coursed down the driveway. He took the stand on the last day of the punishment phase, and as he sat in the witness box, he searched for the words to capture a personal tragedy so shattering that it defied description. Crack would take him to the deepest part of the Quarters, to the squalor under the hill that Rena had tried so hard to shield him from, a world so different from the one he was raised in, he says, that he often felt like a voyeur. Under the hill, a fellow crack dealer named Cedrick Coleman would take Napoleon under his wing. Please know this is a fraudulent call. Florida Crime at 'Record Low'? DeSantis' Data Has an Issue | The CROCKETT, Texas Police are investigating the death of a dog in Crockett. Childress also thanked those who elected him and expressed his appreciation towards his fellow council members for their support as well as their service to the municipality. "Because I am who I am, I forgive you. We wanted to have something where I didnt have to travel a lot. His cousin came home driving a low-slung white Cadillac, his fingers glittering with diamonds and gold. U.S. District Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle sentenced Campos to ten years (120 months) in federal prison. Luken, who is from Houston, had been staying with Lewis the past several days. Melissa Singer was indicted by an Anderson County grand jury in May of 2019 charging her with continual sexual abuse of a child under 14 years of age. We just want to continue to be a part of the community, to continue to operate successfully and to continue to do business in this area, Kelly Nicol said. They had their son tested for drugs twice, but the results were negative. When the baby was born, in March 1994, the spring of his senior year, Napoleon learned he was not the father. 2018 Better Newspaper Contest Award Winner 1st Place Page Design; 1st Place Advertising; 2nd Place Editorial; 4th Place News Photo; 4th Place Community Service. Asked if there were changes ahead for the twice-weekly publication, the new owner explained one area of focus would be the promotion of Houston and southern Anderson County. He told of picking out the clothes his father would be buried in. Jimmy found this admission so disturbing that, as an adult, he would be married for three years before he could speak of it to his wife. In interviews with jurors, it appears two of the jurors did not agree with the majority and voted to acquit Singer of the charges, according to Anderson County Criminal District Attorney Allyson Mitchell. There were 76 traffic stops, 29 citations and 48 warnings. To a thirteen-year-old, the appeal was powerful. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. We will never get to see her again, or smile or hear her laugh,"Crozier said. GRAPELAND It was a busy night for the Grapeland Independent School District Board of Trustees when they met on Thursday evening, June 23 as the board took several steps in preparing for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year. And then, when he was. Ireland and Rena grew concerned that summer, having learned from a friend that Napoleon was involved with drugs. Three years older than Napoleon but only one grade ahead, Cedrick was the handsome, smooth-talking star running back of the Sandies, named all-state his junior year and a blue-chip player in Dave Campbells Texas Football. I know in our professional development plan for our students and the staff returning in August, it is at the top of our list how we will operate our schools in a safer manner, he said. Try plugging in keywords, names, dates, and locations, and get matched with results from the entire collection of newspapers at NewspaperArchive! Messenger Reporter HOUSTON COUNTY - Houston County District Attorney Donna Gordon Kaspar met with Houston County grand jury members Monday, May 22 and 17 cases were "true billed." The names, information and offenses are as follows: Justin Weldon Bailey, Crockett, Prohibited weapon Chrysathesus Demon Davis, Crockett, Burglary of habitation EAST TEXAS To be clear, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman arent involved in this. Sometimes I think it must be a bad dream, says Rena, who has been hospitalized twice in recent years for depression. And you say, Merry Christmas. What happened next would prove to be unfathomable to those people in Grapeland, white and black, who had known Napoleon throughout his short but promising life. PALESTINE - A hung jury of 10-2 caused a mistrial in the case of a former Grapeland teacher accused of sexual assault of a minor. The water loss was at four percent. 3 talking about this. I played roles and changed colors to fit the scene and the script. Most of all, he wrote, I wanted to be black., No one, in Napoleons eyes, was blacker than his cousin Timmy, a Grapeland Sandies football player five years his senior who moved, poor and without prospects, to Houston after graduation. By sundown, the towns business strip is deserted, the occasional Union Pacific freight train casting the only bright light for miles when it hurtles down the railroad tracks along Main Street, its high beam cutting through the darkness. The rifle, which belonged to Lewis, and Lewis truck (a white 2007 extended cab with large tool boxes in the rear bearing Texas license plate DMN 623) were stolen from the scene by the actor prior to law enforcement arrival. It was like a knife through the heart of this town, says Sandra Kerby, the editor of the Grapeland Messenger. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld his conviction on appeal, and after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower courts denial of habeas corpus relief, Napoleons execution date was set for August 15, 2001. But in the Quarters his peers nicknamed him White Boy. Warrant Arrest Scam in Grapeland - The Messenger News He told of how his mother trembled through the night from fear and bolted out of bed at the slightest noise. Fig Coleman strode behind him, holding a sawed-off shotgun, while Cedrick waited in the car. He said that was the last time he saw Melson alive. And yet in Texas, hardly known for its hesitation in administering the death penalty, Napoleon Beazleys death sentence has given some unlikely people pause: As Napoleons first execution date neared last August, the hard-nosed state district judge who oversaw his 1995 trial asked the governor to commute his sentence to life in prison, citing the fact that Napoleon was seventeen at the time of the crime. Still, his friends noticed that he was changing. It's not that big of a deal.". Inside the Mercedes, Bobbie Luttig sensed that she and her husband of 41 years, independent oilman John Luttig, were being followed. GrantWorks, Inc. was selected as the administration/project delivery service provider for the City of Grapelands 2022 Texas Capital Fund Downtown Revitalization program while KSA Engineers, Inc. was selected as the engineering. I made choices, bad choices, he says. Were looking to do some things with the local schools by involving the students more. We are a local newspaper. Some of the duties will be: to coordinate the district safety plan; student interventions; relationship building; and being a presence at school events, whether at home or on the road. Jimmy Moffett had a bad feeling the next morning in first-period government class when he saw that Napoleons chair was empty. You pretend like nothing has happened and that there is nothing else on your mind. You listen to the pain, and you watch her face. CROCKETT, Texas (KTRE) - A state custodial death report has revealed details on a Houston County prisoner who died of natural causes. At the time of her arrest, the Grapeland ISD website listed Singer as a fourth and fifth grade math teacher. Judge Luttig asked that those who committed this brutal crime receive the full punishment that the law provides. A Smith County jury later sentenced Napoleon to death. I asked him, Why did you take a loaded gun? But for a light-skinned black teenager mocked by his black peers for acting too white, success was not always a blessing. According to a Facebook post by the Crockett Texas Police Department, officers executed a search and seizure warrant in the 1000 block of West Houston Avenue. Mr. Davis was born in Trinity County on Aug. 18, 1883, and had lived there for his entire lifetime. Upon arrival, deputies found the victim, John Lewis, white male. WARREN, Mich. (AP) A suburban Detroit police officer was charged with assault after video showed him punching a young man in the face and slamming his head to the ground at the jail, authorities said Tuesday. People find the most success using advanced search. Her yearning for a better life was born in a drafty frame house under the hill, the poorest part of the Quarters, where she grew up hungry alongside six brothers and sisters and whatever drifters her grandmother took in. The 2020 Grapeland crime rate fell by 96% compared to 2019. Im biased. I was contemplating my own death, which I thought was imminent, John Luttigs widow told the jury, her pale face lined with grief and private sorrow.