Fears remain two years after BP oil spill on Gulf Coast
The largest spill in U.S. history also served to tell the world about south Alabama's sugar white sand beaches, city officials said, and that exposure was priceless. But most everyone remains clueless about the spill’s impact on future generations.
Workers dredge Little Lagoon pass in Gulf Shores after the BP oil spill in 2010. (Press-Register/Mike Kittrell)GULF SHORES, Alabama — Fear of the unknown. That’s the biggest concern two years after the BP oil spill.
The largest spill in U.S. history also served to tell the world about south Alabama’s sugar white sand beaches, city officials said, and that exposure was priceless.
But most everyone remains clueless about the spill’s impact on future generations.
On the anniversary of the spill, the Press-Register asked three key questions of officials along the coast. Those invited to respond included mayors of several Gulf-front cities, and area leaders in health, environmental issues and tourism fields. The questions:
- Two years after the BP oil spill, what major concerns remain?
- If a similar disaster came today, what would you do differently?
- How has your city, business, community or industry improved as a result of the oil spill?
Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft
“The biggest concern is the tar mats located off the beach because of the unknown quantity. There is no technology available to get in the surf zone and pick it up. The only option we have is to keep a (cleanup) team in place and BP has committed to do that. The majority of our tourists don’t know what a tarball is. But they know when a guy is walking down the beach in protective or hazmat gear carrying a net. You can’t hide that.”
Craft said in hindsight, he would be “more pro-active in explaining and teaching people how to deal with our beaches.”
“What we’ve learned over time is what BP didn’t know about cleaning beaches,” he said. “We had been cleaning beaches for 30 years and they show up with thousands of people with nets. We had to take our equipment and show them how to clean the beaches. ”
In terms of improvement, “we’ve learned the value of working together,” he said. “It showed us the character and resilience of the people in our community — just like in a hurricane. When it’s all over we work together. It was a regional cooperative effort. And now, everyone in the world knows we have got a beach.”
Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon
“The major concerns are the long-term ecological changes and the submerged oil mats. Although there is no way to remove them (oil mats), we still know they are there.”
In terms of what he’d do differently, Kennon said, “I’d scream a lot louder and a lot sooner.”
“The next time we have to be at the table and involved in the process from Day 1,” he said. “It was almost eight weeks before we got a real audience with BP. They wanted to keep us at arm’s length. They did not want us involved in the cleanup. Initially they had a nickel plan, and we raised Cain and threatened to have them arrested. We wanted Crowder Gulf (Disaster Recovery & Debris Management) on the beaches — they knew how to clean. They finally did follow our request and we got the $1.25 cleanup.
“BP should learn their PR. Their life would have been a whole lot different if they had not kicked us to the curb.”
The opportunity to purchase the Event Center at The Wharf was an unanticipated bonus, he said, as well as “new-found exposure around the country.”
“But most importantly are the relationships we have inside the community and outside the community. Everybody had to depend on everybody else. It was the most amazing experience in the worst of times.”
Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier
“My greatest concern remains that of the ‘unknown,’ although as time passes I have become more comfortable not knowing exactly what may or may not be out there. This emphasizes the need to continue the monitoring and maintenance aspects of the cleanup, which is critical to our long-term recovery.”
Collier said that he continues to push for comprehensive cleanup of that portion of Dauphin Island west of Katrina Cut, but has seen little progress.
“Although crews are hand-cleaning it as we speak, a more aggressive but environmentally friendly effort is likely needed to rid the area of remaining tarballs. Otherwise, this material will be transferred by winds and waves to other locations like public beaches, coastal marshes, oyster beds and the Mississippi Sound, where it will be seen, stepped in, scooped up by shrimp nets, and once again be in the public spotlight via the media. Our ongoing recovery and effort to reassure folks that Gulf seafood is good to eat could be threatened by such future reports as well.”
Collier said one thing he’d do differently is to push for local vendor support early in the response phase.
“When the oil spill took place, it for the most part put the island out of business. As a coastal barrier island, many of the amenities that visitors come to enjoy were no longer available. Eco-tourism is our bread and butter and that industry was hit the hardest. South Mobile County residents who make their living from the local waters could have been so helpful in the oil recovery and protection process had they been brought in earlier.”
The oil spill was a reminder that “living on the Gulf Coast brings with it all types of threats and challenges and our ability to recover is critical for long-term environmental and economic sustainability,” he said. “We can all learn from adversity and I think our island community has a track record of doing that better than most. Although the spill brought much negative attention to the entire Gulf Coast region, it also served to showcase the important roles this area plays on a national level.”
John F. Valentine, Dauphin Island Sea Lab executive director and professor of marine science at the University of South Alabama
“My concern is that the effects from the oil and dispersants on our states could be subtle and not detectable when we were conducting the ecosystemwide effort,” he said. “My disappointment is that we have yet to conduct a detailed assessment of what worked and what did not work. Moreover, we need to proactively invest in studies that can provide us with the data to generate circulation models, which would allow us to know more about how oil moves in the Gulf. This investment would provide us with the insights needed to know where to concentrate our response efforts.”
Two years after the spill, “our circumstances have not changed substantially,” he added, “as support for science has not changed substantially.”
Herb Malone, president/CEO of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism
“Thanks to a synergistic effort spanning all levels of the tourism industry from the front-line hospitality employers to the governor’s office, the Alabama Gulf Coast saw a tremendous rebound in 2011 gross lodging tax, exceeding the previous record year (2007) by 17 percent. As we approach the two-year anniversary of the oil spill, we continue to work hard to promote everything that our beach destination showcases.”
In terms of lessons learned, “no two disasters are alike,” he said, adding that each disaster makes officials better prepared for the next.
“In addition to setting new records, our community has proven yet again that it pulls together in the face of adversity,” he added. “Also the development of the Business Support Center at Faulkner State Community College in Gulf Shores proved to be a valuable asset to the community, which will remain to enhance businesses throughout the future.”
Paige Rucker, state director of Project Rebound based in Fairhope
“Available data suggests that the psychological aftermath of an oil spill will necessitate the need for mental health and substance abuse services for up to five years past the event date. Project Rebound continues to witness psychological concerns including ongoing anxiety, depression and feelings of hopelessness. Self-medication continues, which includes the use of alcohol, drugs and the misuse of prescribed medications. Although we have come a long way, there is still much work to be done for a full recovery.”
The “unprecedented nature of this manmade disaster” and the long months in which it continued to unfold meant that “existing disaster financial models for mental health and substance abuse services” did not apply. “It’s my belief that we have created an excellent model to be used for such (long-term) disasters, making us far more prepared in the future,” Rucker said.
“We already had an extraordinarily resilient community due to our experience with natural disasters. This incident caught us off guard, but now we’re stronger than ever,” Rucker continued. “And thanks to Project Rebound’s partnership with BP we were able to use funds, and continue to do so, directly and locally to help restore our community. I think the most successful thing that came out of this was 1) we immediately addressed an emotional crisis and removed the stigma associated with mental health, and 2) we were able to connect organizations, city government, law enforcement and schools in a way that had never been done before.”
Former Alabama football players get stem cell injections from Gulf Shores doctor
GULF SHORES, Alabama — Radiologist Jason R. Williams is offering experimental stem cell therapies to patients using their own fat cells. Former University of Alabama football players Rolando McClain and Marquis Maze, who were among his first patients, say they've had good results.
Alabama’s Marquis Maze returns a punt past LSU defenders in the first quarter of the BCS Championship game on Jan. 9, 2012, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Press-Register/Bill Starling) MOBILE, Alabama — At the end of this past season with the Oakland Raiders, an aching Rolando McClain gave an assignment to his agent: Find out more about stem cell therapies for injuries, like other athletes are trying.
“I’ve been having two seasons of nagging pain in my knee,” the former University of Alabama standout said.
Not long afterward, McClain was on his way to Gulf Shores.
There, radiologist Jason R. Williams performed liposuction on McClain and then injected stem cells from the linebacker’s own fat cells into his knee and into the area of a high ankle sprain.
“It feels a lot better,” McClain said in an interview last week, adding that he’s working out four days a week with the Raiders, running, lifting weights, doing squats and even sprinting “with hardly any pain at all.”
About three months ago, Williams, 38, began the new procedure in which he injects patients — two of them being McClain and former University of Alabama receiver Marquis Maze — with their own stem cells in an effort to repair damaged joints and muscles.
“This is going to be the future of medicine,” said Williams, who owns Precision StemCell, which includes a diagnostic and interventional radiology practice in Gulf Shores.
Stem cells, sometimes called the body’s master cells, are precursor cells that develop into blood, bones and organs, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates their use.
Their promise in medicine, according to many scientists and doctors, is that the cells have the potential to help and regenerate other cells.
While Williams’ treatments are considered investigational, he said, they meet FDA guidelines since the stem cells are collected from a patient’s fat tissue and administered back to that patient during the same procedure.
Dr. Jason Williams began performing stem cell injections at his Gulf Shores practice in January. (Photo courtesy Dr. Jason Williams)Because of their experimental nature, stem cell injections to remedy conditions such as damaged knee joints or injured muscles are not covered by insurance. A typical stem cell therapy with Williams costs about $15,000. The collection of the cells through liposuction, he said, makes up about half of the overall price.
Williams said he spent about four years researching various stem cell therapies, including those collected from bone marrow. He said that the adult stem cells derived from fat tissue seemed to bring fewer chances for complications.
Harvesting stem cells from a patient’s own fat removes the need to culture cells, Williams said, explaining that culturing stem cells can be a weeks-long process that may expose patients to risks such as infection.
In recent years, professional athletes such as Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and New York Yankees pitcher Bartolo Colon, among dozens of others, have acknowledged seeking stem cell injections outside the U.S. to try to help heal injuries.
FDA urges caution
In January, the FDA issued a consumer warning about claims regarding stem cells.
In it, Stephanie Simek, deputy director of the FDA’s Office of Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies, said that stem cells from bone marrow or blood are routinely used in transplant procedures to treat cancer and disorders of the blood and immune system.
The document cautioned consumers, however, to make sure that stem cell therapy treatments have been approved by the FDA or are being studied under a clinical investigation allowed to proceed by the agency.
“There is a potential safety risk when you put cells in an area where they are not performing the same biological function as they were when in their original location in the body,” Simek said.
Cells in a different environment may multiply, form tumors, or may migrate elsewhere in the body from the spot where they were placed, according to the FDA warning.
In March 2008, a group of pain management doctors published the first study of successful cartilage regeneration in a human knee using adult stem cells, although those cells were not derived from fat.
While several dozen clinical trials involving various forms of stem cell therapies are under way or have been announced around the world, few have included adult stem cells found in fat tissue.
Williams said that universities and research groups have been slow to move forward because research funding tends to steer toward new drug therapies.
He said that he is up front with his patients, telling them that results cannot be predicted.
“It might not work for everybody. There’s a lot of cases that we are taking on right now that have never really been done. It’s the type of thing that if it works, it will be monumental,” he said.
Williams said he feels it is safe to inject someone’s own fat cells back into his or her own body. “There’s been no evidence of problems,” he said.
He said that similar injections have been performed in Asian hospitals and clinics for several years.
Stem cell therapies also have been successfully used in veterinary medicine — in horses, cats and dogs — to treat everything from heart attacks to tendon and ligament damage.
How it works
Here’s how Williams said his stem cell therapy procedure works:
Once collected in a tube through liposuction, the fat tissue is processed to separate the adult stem cells. Those cells do not leave the container until being returned to the patient. Williams injects the minimally processed stem cells the same day — about two hours later — under computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance.
To give the greatest possible benefit, stem cells must be injected into the exact location of an injury, Williams said. When a doctor uses CT scans or an MRI for guidance, there’s a better chance of putting the cells in the correct location.
The results, so far, have been startling, Williams said: “I was expecting some improvement. They’ve got cartilage regrowth. It’s unbelievable to see those changes.”
During the 2012 BCS National Championship game against LSU, Marquis Maze almost returned a punt for a touchdown before partially tearing a hamstring. Television cameras captured Maze on the sideline, visibly shaken by the game-ending injury.
About a month ago, after talking to McClain and another of Williams’ patients, Mobile car dealership manager Mitch McConnell, Maze received a stem cell injection in his hamstring at the Gulf Shores clinic.
The 24-year old Maze said that the pain in his leg subsided in about two weeks. “I don’t feel any tightness in it,” he said last week, adding that he’s been running and working out daily as the NFL draft approaches.
A path to stem cell therapy
After earning a medical degree from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, Williams began an internship in internal medicine at the University of South Alabama and a residency in radiology at USA.
After a few years, he took a leave of absence from USA to treat cancer patients that many other doctors wouldn’t with novel therapies such as cancer ablation from a practice he established in Gulf Shores in 2004.
He eventually returned to USA, completed his residency and took a job in Mississippi, becoming director of radiology for Northwest Regional Medical Center in Clarksdale.
In 2009, he opened an image-guided radiology clinic in Gulf Shores, recently renaming it Precision StemCell.
As he pored over ways to deliver stem cells to patients, he said, he became interested in the company Medi-Khan, with roots in Korea, because it offered a patented enclosed system for harvesting the adipose tissue.
Williams said that Medi-Khan staff members came to his office and taught him how to use the system.
Bob Hubbard, director of stem cell therapy at the clinic, and a former assistant basketball coach at the University of Alabama, received stem cell injections himself a few months ago to treat a torn ligament in his knee, among other issues.
“Within two weeks we actually had increased cartilage in my knee,” said Hubbard, a physician’s assistant before his career in coaching. “I think it’s absolutely a medical marvel and it’s going to change the way we practice medicine in this country.”
Bright and breezy for Earth Day (Tomorrow’s forecast by WKRG’s Jonathan Owens)
Sunday: Breezy, mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 70s. Lows in the low 50s. Chance of rain 5 percent or less.
View full sizePress-Register weather map for Sunday, April 22, 2012.
Today’s high was 76. The record for April 21 is 94, recorded in 1987.
Sunday: Breezy, mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 70s. Lows in the low 50s. Chance of rain 5 percent or less.
Tomorrow’s weather column by WKRG’s Alan Sealls:
Earth Day weather
Today is Earth Day but in meteorology every day is Earth Day. My focus is always air, water and sunlight. These three ingredients create all weather on Earth. Just as in making a cake, slight changes in the quantities of ingredients lead to widely different outcomes. While the weather impacts us, what we do on Earth impacts the weather too.
Cities create and trap more heat. Development removes trees and sometimes fills wetlands, changing humidity balance. Pollution changes the composition of air and rain. Airplane condensation trails create clouds to affect sunlight absorption. All of these byproducts of human existence feedback into the cycles of weather. It’s not necessarily a bad thing but we do influence natural cycles and that’s something to be considered in everything we do as individuals and as societies.
Enjoy the sunshine for this Earth Day and for the next several days. A brisk northwest wind will keep us with plenty of blue skies and golden sunshine. Daytime highs will be a bit below average in the comfortable middle 70s. Nights get cooler, falling into the upper 40s tonight and middle 40s tomorrow night. The entire workweek looks calm and dry.
Two campers in Gravine Island case have criminal record; DA urges public to refrain from speculation
BAY MINETTE, Alabama — The Sheriff’s Office on Friday released the names of three men involved in the shooting at Gravine Island that critically wounded 17-year-old Summer Moody. None of the men has been accused of any crime in Sunday’s events at the isolated Delta island.
View full sizeBay Minette volleyball player Summer Moody was shot at this Delta cabin at 4 A.M. Sunday morning. The cabin sits on the bank of a body of water known locally as Gravine Creek. The creek is actually a dead end slough that runs up the middle of Gravine Island. (Ben Raines/Press-Register)
BAY MINETTE, Alabama — The Sheriff’s Office on Friday released the names of three men involved in the shooting at Gravine Island that critically wounded 17-year-old Summer Moody. None of the men has been accused of any crime in Sunday’s events.
Two of the men have cocaine distribution charges in their pasts, according to court filings.
Meanwhile, Baldwin County District Attorney Hallie Dixon issued a statement Friday urging the public to refrain from forming conclusions about the case based on “speculation, rumor and the claims of lawyers for the individuals involved.”
“The events that resulted in Ms. Moody’s grievous injury had consequences that are undoubtedly tragic,” Dixon said. “Unfortunately, this is being compounded by misinformation, high emotion and the natural desire to see someone punished when a young woman’s life, and that of her family, has been horrifically altered.”
According to investigators, Moody had gone to the isolated Delta island by boat in the dark with three teen boys whose apparent efforts to burglarize a fish camp house roused three men staying at a nearby camp house.
Three Gravine Island campers identified
The Sheriff’s Office identified the three men as William “Nick” Hearn, 37, of Semmes; Larry Dean Duncan Jr., 48, of Mobile; and Lonnie W. Davison, 38, of Theodore.
Hearn had been the subject of a fugitive warrant issued by Georgia in 2010 for a probation violation related to charges of cocaine trafficking and using a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to records located by the Press-Register. That issue was resolved once probation requirements were met, records reflect.
Court records show that Duncan pleaded guilty in 1991 to the sale of cocaine and was sentenced to five years in jail and five years of supervised probation. In 2005, he was charged with killing an illegal deer in Lowndes County.
Davison was the subject of illegal gill-netting and theft of property charges in the 1990s, according to court records.
Relaxing weekend in Mobile-Tensaw Delta goes horribly wrong
View full sizeFrom left, Scott Byrd, Daniel Parnell and Dillon Tyree. Bond was set at $100,000 on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, for each of the three teens, who have been charged as adults with first-degree burglary in the Gravine Island shooting case.
According to the Thursday account of Hearn’s lawyer, Tom Dassinger, three couples that included the men were at Gravine Island for a weekend of fishing and relaxing in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.
He said that the men heard what they believed was a burglary in the early-morning darkness at another camp house and went by boat to investigate. He said they were carrying a spotlight, a .22-caliber rifle and a .17-caliber rifle.
Encountering intruders, they shouted for them to stop, he said. As the intruders scattered, he said, two men each fired one warning shot. Which men did that shooting has not been made public.
Later, the three heard a young man screaming for help as he carried an injured young woman to the dock. Dassinger said the men took the young woman by boat to get medical help.
Arrested shortly afterward were 17-year-olds Scott Tipton Byrd and Dylan Wade Tyree, both of Stapleton, and Daniel Parnell of Bay Minette. All have been charged with first-degree burglary, which carries a possible maximum penalty of life in prison.
Byrd — described as Moody’s boyfriend — was released from the county jail on Friday on $100,000 bail.
Investigators said evidence indicates that the teens had a weapon during the alleged Gravine burglary.
Summer Moody still in grave condition
View full sizeSummer Moody 
On Thursday, Moody was given less than a 1 percent chance of survival after her condition worsened and she underwent surgery Wednesday night, said Robert Stankoski, a lawyer and family spokesman.
Moody, who was struck by a bullet in the head, is under care at the University of South Alabama Medical Center. Stankoski was out of town Friday and there were no updates regarding her condition.
Dixon said in her statement Friday, “The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office has done a phenomenal job investigating and getting the truth from the evidence. My office has worked closely with the investigation, and I am confident that the investigation has been extremely thorough.
“With their assistance, we determine the appropriate charges according to the actual facts and the applicable laws — not conjecture, rumor or emotion. As soon as we are able, we will let the family and then the public know as much as we ethically are allowed to about what really happened on this terrible morning.”
No BP oil spill settlement for recreational fishermen
The new Gulf oil spill settlement offer released this week provides a way for nearly every group affected by the BP spill to receive a monetary award for losses attributed to the spill.
Everybody except recreational fishermen.
View full sizeFILE – Bags of oil collected by clean up crews that washed up on the coastline of Dauphin Island, Ala. Tuesday June 1, 2010 as oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread in the Gulf of Mexico. Since the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig, a disaster scenario has emerged with millions of gallons of crude oil spewing unchecked into the Gulf and moving inexorably northward to the coast. (Press-Register, John David Mercer) 
MOBILE, Alabama — The new Gulf oil spill settlement offer released this week provides a way for nearly every group affected by the BP spill to receive a monetary award for losses attributed to the spill.
Everybody except recreational fishermen.
In the settlement, provisions are made to compensate businesses, commercial fishermen, oystermen, shrimpers, people who lost the use of waterfront property, people who lost wages, and a group described as “subsistence fishermen.”
While the document does not clearly define subsistence fishermen, it specifically excludes the majority of people who buy saltwater fishing licenses in the Gulf states.
“Those who fish or hunt solely for pleasure or sport are not eligible to make claims for subsistence, regardless of whether or not they consume their catch,” reads the settlement.
Case law associated with previous oil spill settlements suggests that only fishermen whose annual income is near the poverty line or Native Americans in coastal tribes will qualify, said Steve Mullins, a Mississippi attorney and the former head of the Mississippi chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association.
“Think of it this way: the guy that sells you the bait, he’s covered. The guy that sells you fuel, he’s covered. The tackle guy is covered. The state that sold you the license is covered. The fishing guides are covered. The charter boat guys are covered. The rod and reel repair guy is covered. Everybody in this process is covered but the recreational fisherman,” Mullins said.
“Is that equitable? No. Everybody has a legitimate claim in the process except the recreational fishermen.”
For those who qualify as subsistence fishermen, the settlement offers 2.25 times the retail value of the lost catch during 2010. With flounder, redfish and black drum commanding prices up to $10 per pound at seafood markets, the settlement could generate thousands of dollars for those who qualify.
No settlement money for people owning 2010 fishing license
More than 700 people flocked to the New Birth Community Church in west Mobile on Friday for an “informational meeting” on the settlement. Many were carrying copies of their 2010 fishing licenses, drawn by a rumor that BP was offering a $10,000 settlement to anyone who purchased a saltwater license the year of the oil spill.
Hundreds of people turned out for a similar meeting at a Citronelle church last week, also clutching licenses, and state officials reported a large uptick in the number of people requesting copies of their 2010 permits in the past three weeks.
“I’ve heard it, but it is obviously not true,” attorney Mike Espy said Friday of the rumor. “There is no $10,000 for producing a fishing license.”
Espy, a former member of the U.S. Congress, was one of 15 plaintiffs’ attorneys chosen by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to help craft the new settlement document. At the Friday meeting, he explained the claims process to people, and offered to sign them up as clients of his firm, Orlando-based Morgan and Morgan.
Asked to explain the distinction between subsistence fishermen and the rest of the license holders, Espy described it as “technical” and said he was unsure how to answer the question.
“Clearly, you have to fish to feed your family,” Espy said. “There are only two types of fishermen involved in this settlement, commercial fishermen and subsistence fishermen. I’m not aware of any claim for recreational fishermen. That’s a hobby and it is not included in this particular economic loss agreement.”
Jerome Henderson stood in line outside the church Friday holding his fishing license and three rejection letters for damage claims he submitted to the Gulf Coast Claims Facility when Ken Fineberg was in charge.
Henderson said he doesn’t have a boat but counts on the fish he catches from the Causeway to feed himself. He was afraid to eat those fish during the spill, he said.
“I catch speckled trout, flounder, croaker. That spill about ended my fishing. I didn’t have anywhere to fish,” Henderson said. “See, this is a city of fish-eaters. Fish and grits, that’s us. That’s Mobile. They took that from us.”
Ted Eicher said he’s purchased an Alabama fishing license every year for the past 35 years. A former fishing guide, he said the fish he catches represent a significant portion of what he eats each week. He called the idea that BP would only offer settlements to fishermen below a certain income level outrageous.
“I’m a fish-eater. I bought a license that year and didn’t get to use it. No fresh fish. No fish fries. I’ve been feeding the family that way for 35 years,” Eicher said. “Why wouldn’t we get compensated like everybody else? Just because we weren’t reaping a profit from it? There’s value in being able to put food on your table, being able to feed your family.”
Mullins said the subsistence fishermen class in the settlement appeared to be designed to exclude the bulk of the Gulf’s recreational fishermen, regardless of how much fish they caught or ate each year.
“If you were selling your catch, you’d be protected. In the end, everybody is going to have a BP claim except the recreational fishermen,” Mullins said. “Maybe they can put together enough people to rattle their sabers or some fishing rods together and get some attention.”
Fairhope teen charged with manslaughter of sister, more charges expected
Police Chief Bill Press said this evening that the two children were Christopher Smith's siblings, but that the department was not yet releasing their names.
View full sizeChristopher Tyler Smith
FAIRHOPE, Alabama — Fairhope 17-year-old Christopher Tyler Smith was handling a scoped rifle when it discharged one time, killing his 5-year-old sister and wounding his 3-year-old brother who were playing about 90 yards away, according to Friday accounts by police.
Smith, charged with manslaughter in the Thursday evening shooting, had bail set at $50,000 Friday by Baldwin County District Judge Jody Bishop.
Additional charges against Smith are anticipated, police said.
Police Chief Bill Press said Friday evening that the two children were Smith’s siblings, but that the department was not yet releasing their names.
He said that they were playing with one or two other children at the time that the shooting occurred.
In a news release earlier Friday, the Police Department stated that two officers were at a mobile home park in the 21000 block of Ala. 181 at 6:18 p.m. when one of them heard a gunshot nearby.
The officer described the gunshot via his police radio. Going to where he had heard it, he saw two children lying in the yard of a mobile home.
View full sizeChristopher Smith, 17, is charged with manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of a 5-year-old girl Thursday night in Fairhope. Police said Smith fired a rifle from this mobile home. The bullet struck the girl and a 3-year-old boy playing about 90 yards away. (Guy Busby, Press-Register)
The girl was dead. The boy was flown to the University of South Alabama Medical Center, where he was in intensive care Friday, police said.
Police said Friday that Smith was at his residence at the time of the shooting. Smith was taken into custody at the scene.
His address listed in the jail log was that of an aging double-wide mobile home with a front porch added on and an overgrown front yard.
On Friday, no crime scene tape was present at that address or at the mobile home to the west where the children were playing in the yard at the time of the shooting.
A woman who answered the door at the mobile home where the children were shot spoke Friday to a reporter but would not give her name. “They were outside playing with my two children,” she said. “I heard a shot and then I heard the kids scream.”
Bishop set the following stipulations for Smith’s bail, according to Martha Simmons, spokeswoman for the Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office:
- The bail must be approved by Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack.
- Smith must reside with his great aunt, and be under electronic monitoring.
- He can have no contact with firearms, and will be restricted from drug and alcohol use.
Campers tried to stop intruders prior to Summer Moody shooting, attorney says
Men at a fish camp on Gravine Island shouted and fired warning shots to stop intruders captured in their spotlight during what their lawyer described as an early Sunday morning break-in at a neighboring camp.
View full sizeBay Minette volleyball player Summer Moody was shot at this Delta cabin at 4 A.M. Sunday morning. The cabin sits on the bank of a body of water known locally as Gravine Creek. The creek is actually a dead end slough that runs up the middle of Gravine Island. (Ben Raines/Press-Register)BAY MINETTE, Alabama — Men at a fish camp on Gravine Island shouted and fired warning shots to stop intruders captured in their spotlight during what their lawyer described as an early Sunday morning break-in at a neighboring camp.
The five-minute encounter with the four teens has led to nightmarish consequences, according to the lawyer, Tom Dassinger of Daphne.
Dassinger represents Wayne Hearn, one of six people — three couples — who had gone to the remote island in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta for a weekend of fishing, frog-gigging and relaxation.
He said that Hearn did not wish to identify who fired the shot that morning that struck 17-year-old Summer Moody in the head, but that all were devastated by it.
“These were not vigilantes taking justice in their hands,” Dassinger said Thursday. “They shouted and fired warning shots trying to get them to stop.”
Summer Moody’s condition worsens
View full sizeSummer Moody
Moody was given a less than 1 percent chance of survival after her condition worsened Wednesday night, a family spokesman said Thursday. The bullet passed from one side of Moody’s brain to the other before exiting, according to Robert Stankoski, a lawyer for her family.
“Which makes this the most severe type of head wound you can get, when the bullet passes through both hemispheres of the brain as opposed to just one side, from what I understand from the medical professionals,” Stankoski said.
Moody was described as comatose Wednesday at the University of South Alabama Medical Center, where she has been treated since the shooting. Stankoski said doctors performed a two-hour emergency surgery Wednesday night, removing the top of her skull to ease pressure on her brain stem.
“The prognosis is not good when you’ve got an injury like this where the brain is swelling and you have to remove some of the skull to allow the lateral expansion of the brain to come through. That’s never a good sign,” he said Thursday morning. “Hopefully, they can get the swelling under control, but it’s not a good situation. It’s not looking good for her at this time.”
Moody, a volleyball standout at Baldwin County High, graduated from the Bay Minette school in December. She had secured a summer job at Lambert’s restaurant in Foley, her mother has said, and was deciding whether to go to college or cosmetology school.
Attorney describes events that led to shooting
On Sunday, in the early morning darkness, the couples who had gone there for the weekend were asleep in their camp house when the generator malfunctioned, shutting off the air conditioning, according to Dassinger.
“Someone got up to fix it, and it happened again, so things were quiet while they were working on it and someone heard a boat motor. Later they heard crashes and people talking. So eventually the men got in a boat and went over,” he said.
Dassinger said that the three men had a spotlight, a .22-caliber rifle and a .17-caliber rifle. When they shined the light toward the camp where the noises were coming from, “they saw what they thought were grown men that turned out to be teenagers,” he said.
The men yelled at the intruders to stop, but they scattered instead. The men then fired two warning shots, trying “to get them to stop” until law officers could be summoned, Dassinger said.
The men returned to their boat and headed away to alert officers only to hear a young man shouting.
“One of the teens, Summer Moody’s boyfriend, came out carrying Summer to the dock and was screaming for help. The men turned around and went back to help,” Dassinger said. They loaded her into their boat and headed for Cloverleaf Landing, across the Tensaw River.
View full sizeFrom left, Scott Byrd, Daniel Parnell and Dillon Tyree. Bond was set at $100,000 on Wednesday, April 18, 2012, for each of the three teens, who have been charged as adults with first-degree burglary in the Gravine Island shooting case.Dassinger said that one of the men “was holding her head and she was bleeding all over, they are trying to get her to talk and raise her hand. This was a nightmare. The events that unfolded couldn’t have gone more wrong. It was the worst case of Murphy’s Law. But what do you do if you are out there?”
Dassinger said the other two teens “split” from the scene.
“I think her boyfriend stayed at the dock and maybe his friends came back and picked him up later,” he said.
He described the situation as anguishing for his client and the others who were on the island. “But how can you say they did anything wrong? What do you say to Summer’s family?”
He said of his client and the others, “They have received threats and they are worried. They don’t know what’s going to happen. Will they face charges? Will this whole thing just go away? Will there be lawsuits? They were minding their own business camping and in a few minutes’ time, this happens.”
Dassinger said the men know which of them fired the shot that hit Moody.
The three teens who were with Moody on Sunday — Scott Byrd and Dylan Tyree, both of Stapleton, and Daniel Parnell of Bay Minette — have been charged with first-degree burglary and remain in Baldwin County’s jail.
Earlier this week, Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack said the three are accused of breaking into two fishing camps on the island.
Baldwin County public schools spokesman Terry Wilhite said records show that Byrd withdrew from the system in November 2010, Parnell withdrew in February 2011 and Tyree dropped out in April 2011.
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Staff Reporter Guy Busby contributed to this report.
Shooting leaves 1 child dead, another child wounded in Fairhope (Updated)
FAIRHOPE, Alabama — Gunfire left one child dead and another wounded at a trailer home on Ala. 181 just east of Fairhope tonight, police said.
View full sizeFairhope Police officers work the scene of a shooting that involved two children one confirmed dead in a field near a trail home community off Alabama Hwy 181 Thursday April 19, 2012 in Fairhope Ala. (Press-Register/John David Mercer)
FAIRHOPE, Alabama — Gunfire left one child dead and another wounded at a trailer home on Ala. 181, just east of Fairhope tonight, police said.
Authorities declined to identify the children, but said a girl under 10 years of age was killed, and a boy, also under 10, was airlifted to the University of South Alabama Medical Center. His condition was not immediately available.
Fairhope police spokesman Sgt. Craig Sawyer, at the scene tonight, said the suspected shooter was taken into custody. He would not identify the suspect.
According to Sawyer, a patrol officer responding to another call in the area heard a gunshot about 6:18 p.m., and it sounded like it came from the direction of the trailer. He drove to the residence, and found the children wounded in the backyard.
Sawyer said that he was in his car about two miles away when the radio traffic came over, and he drove to the scene, crawled under a fence to the back yard and helped administer first aid to the victims until more help arrived.
Sawyer did not say if there were any relationship among the victims or the suspect. He said authorities were attempting to contact family members Thursday night.
He also did not offer any characterization as to how the shooting occurred.
He said that a rifle was used in the shooting. He also said that the Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office had been notified and would determine what charges, if any, would be filed.
The residence is on the east side of Ala. 181, about 100 yards north of Mission Trace and three-fourths of a mile south of Ala. 104.
Sawyer said officers expected to be on the scene for a while, as there was a large area to be processed in the search for evidence.
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Updated at 10:20 p.m. to include detail from the scene.
Attorney describes Gravine Island events surrounding Summer Moody’s shooting
DAPHNE, Alabama — Campers on Gravine Island shouted and fired warning shots to stop the people captured in their spotlight during what their attorney described as an early morning break-in, but they never imagined the nightmare that the 5-minute encounter with 4 teens would launch, according to Daphne attorney Tom Dassinger.
View full sizeBay Minette volleyball player Summer Moody was shot at this Delta cabin at 4 A.M. Sunday morning. The cabin sits on the bank of a body of water known locally as Gravine Creek. The creek is actually a dead end slough that runs up the middle of Gravine Island. (Ben Raines/Press-Register)DAPHNE, Alabama — Campers on Gravine Island shouted and fired warning shots to stop the people captured in their spotlight during what their attorney described as an early morning break-in at a neighboring camp, but they never imagined the nightmare that the 5-minute encounter with 4 teens would launch, according to Daphne attorney Tom Dassinger.
Dassinger represents Wayne Hearn, one of six people–3 couples– who had gone to the remote island in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta for a weekend of fishing, frog-gigging and relaxation. Dassinger said his client does not wish to identify who did the shooting that morning that resulted in 17-year-old Summer Moody being shot in the head, but all the campers have been devastated by the incident.
“These were not vigilantes taking justice in their hands,” Dassinger said Thursday. “They shouted and fired warning shots trying to get them to stop.”
Dassinger said the couples were asleep in their camp house when the generator malfunctioned shutting off the air conditioning.
“Someone got up to fix it, and it happened again so things were quiet while they were working on it and someone heard a boat motor. Later they heard crashes and people talking. So eventually the men got in a boat and went over.”
He said the 3 had a spotlight, a .22 rifle and a .17 rifle. When they shined the light toward the camp where the noises were coming from, “they saw what they thought were grown men that turned out to be teenagers.”
View full sizeSummer MoodyThe campers yelled at the teens to stop and then fired two warning shots as they scattered “to get them to stop” so the campers could call authorities. The campers then returned to their boat and headed away only to hear a young man screaming for help.
“One of the teens, Summer Moody’s boyfriend, came out carrying Summer to the dock and was screaming for help. The men turned around and went back to help,” Dassinger said. They loaded her into their boat and headed for a landing across the river.
Dassinger said that 1 of the men “was holding her head and she was bleeding all over, they are trying to get her to talk and raise her hand. This was a nightmare. The events that unfolded couldn’t have gone more wrong. It was the worst case of Murphy’s Law. But what do you do if you are out there?”
Dassinger said the other 2 teens “split. I think her boyfriend stayed at the dock and maybe his friends came back and picked him up later. The campers took Summer on to Cloverleaf Landing to meet help.”
He said his client and the others are “devastated. But how can you say they did anything wrong? What do you say to Summer’s family? They have received threats and they are worried. They don’t know what’s going to happen. Will they face charges? Will this whole thing just go away? Will there be lawsuits? They were minding their own business camping and in a few minutes times, this happens.”
Dassinger said the men know which of them fired the shot that hit Summer, though that information has not been disclosed.
“There is no winner out of this. Period,” he said.
Summer Moody given less than 1 percent chance of survival after emergency surgery
MOBILE, Alabama — Four days after being shot, 17-year-old Summer Moody was given a less than 1 percent chance of survival after her conditioned worsened Wednesday night, a family spokesman said today.
Summer Moody’s condition worsened Wednesday night, a spokesman said today. (File photo)MOBILE, Alabama — Four days after being shot, 17-year-old Summer Moody was given a less than 1 percent chance of survival after her condition worsened Wednesday night, a family spokesman said today.
Moody was shot in the back of the head at about 4 a.m. Sunday, while she and three other teens were on Gravine Island.
She has been in the University of South Alabama Medical Center since the shooting. She had been described as comatose Wednesday.
On Thursday morning, a statement from Robert Stankoski, the lawyer representing Moody’s family, said doctors performed a two-hour emergency surgery, removing the top of her skull to ease pressure on her brain stem.
Doctors did not know if the operation would relieve the pressure and were monitoring her condition today.
Moody had been taken off a respirator Wednesday, but was placed back on the device Thursday, the statement said.
Most victims in similar state would be given a 99 percent fatality rate, Stankoski said.
The three teens who were with Moody on Sunday, Scott Byrd and Dillion Tyree of Stapleton and Daniel Parnell of Bay Minette, have been charged with first-degree burglary.
Earlier this week, Sheriff Huey Hoss Mack said the three are charged with breaking into two fishing camps on the island. Mack said two men on the island heard the teens and each fired one shot. One of the bullets hit Moody. No one else was injured in the incident.