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82-year-old convicted of Altamont murder dies while held in prison
Edwin Jackson, 82, died Feb. iling label 9 at the Jefferson Correctional your paper. Center where he was serving renew today!
life in prison without parole for the 1986 killing of Dennis Wayne Bratcher, 39, at the residence of Jackson’s ex-wife in Altamont. According to a July 30, 1986, story in the Gallatin North Missourian, the fatal shooting happened on an early Saturday morning, Feb. 26, at a trailer house in Altamont. Dennis W. Bratcher, 35, was reportedly shot once in the chest by Jackson, his girlfriend’s exhusband. He was dead when the ambulance arrived. Jackson, 50 at that time, was taken into custody that same morning north of Warrensburg. He was arrested by the Johnson County Sheriff ’s Department. He was held in the Livingston County Jail in Chillicothe, in lieu of $100,000 bond. A weapon was recovered. Officials received a call from Cheryll Jackson at 3:30 that Saturday morning 30 years ago, saying her boyfriend had been shot. According to then Daviess County Sheriff Tom Houghton, Bratcher’s body was found in an east bedroom of the trailer house, which at that time was located south of the intersection of Route 6 and J in Altamont. Mrs. Jackson told highway patrol officials her ex-husband entered the home with a key and shot Bratcher while he and Mrs. Jackson were asleep. Jackson reportedly left immediately. She provided officers with a description of her ex-husband’s car. A coroner’s inquest was held and an autopsy revealed Bratcher had died of a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest.
Feb. 14, 2018
UPSP 213-200 Vol. 153, No. 38
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The Daviess County murder case was transferred on a change of venue to Grundy County. A Grundy County jury convicted Jackson of first degree murder. Jackson’s lawyer appealed the verdict, but the conviction was upheld by the Western District Court of Appeals. Jackson was sentenced by the late Judge J. Morgan Donelson to life in prison without parole. The Department of Corrections noted Jackson’s death in prison was due to natural causes. The newspaper report states Jackson’s residence as Cameron. At the time of his arrest, Jackson listed his address with his mother at Urbana.
Regional jail board discusses court security agreement; will auction vans The Daviess-DeKalb Regional Jail Board agreed during its Jan. 25 meeting to continue an inter-governmental agreement with DeKalb County in regards to court security, which was agreed upon in 2016. The agreement is for the jail to provide full-time court security in exchange for support from the DeKalb County Sheriff ’s Department. The agreement will be signed at the next meeting. The vote was as follows: DeKalb County Presiding Commissioner Harold Allison, yes; Daviess County Sheriff Ben Becerra, yes; DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Clark, yes;
Daviess County Presiding Commissioner Randy Sims, no. Commissioner Sims said he voted ‘no’ out of concern that the agreement did not amount to a dollar for dollar exchange. While it is allowed within the state statutes of the regional jail for two government entities to write an agreement, it must be equitably balanced. “No county is supposed to benefit from the monies of the regional jail,” Commissioner Sims noted. “DeKalb County has a full-time employee for court security, available five days a week, even when they are not having court, which the jail is paying for.
I question whether the exchange for support from the DeKalb County Sheriff ’s Department is an equal trade.” Administrator Ed Howard stated that according to the agreement, which was “verbally” done when the regional jail was started, the jail was to supply court security for the counties of Daviess and DeKalb. DeKalb requested full-time security (not just on court days), so the intergovernmental agreement was written to complete the process. DeKalb County in return provides the regional jail assistance by delivering detainees to the jail (continued on page 12)
Access II still working on details for licensing office Access II Independent Living Center in Gallatin was recently notified about receiving a license office contract award, and staff is currently working on getting all of the details arranged with the Department of Revenue (DOR). “There are very strict and tight deadlines on getting the license office up and running and we are working very closely with the DOR to make sure we are meeting all of the criteria,” noted Jessica Jessica Adkins, Marketing and Development Director at Access II. “As one thing gets approved, we move on to the next so we have to take it one step at a time,” she said. Access II has submitted information to the DOR, but nothing at this time has been approved as far as building location, hours etc. “The time frame we have
been given is to have everything up and running by April 11, but no opening date has been officially set,” Ms. Adkins stated. New technology will have to be acquired as far as security systems and a separate network for the license office. Access II is currently seeking a license office manager to work in the office. In keeping with its mission to provide services that sustain greater independence for persons with disabilities, the Center would like to hire a qualified person with a disability to fill the new position if possible. “Access II is always looking for ways to benefit people with disabilities in our community, and by acquiring the license office we are furthering our mission,” Ms. Adkins said. For many seniors and people with disabilities, it can be hard to travel to another community, and
having an office in Gallatin would be a more convenient option and allows everyone to have more choices. Ms. Adkins said it important to note that this license office is not expected to generate any surplus revenue. The overall goal of acquiring the license office is to be a more convenient option for everyone in the community and not to generate funding. According to data from the previous Gallatin license office, it is expected to only generate enough income to cover the salary of the license office manager position. Access II is expecting to incur the start up costs including new technology and security systems as well as the cost of employee benefits, in an effort to provide this service to the community. If the license office breaks even, runs a negative, or gener-
ates surplus revenue it will depend directly on how many transactions take place each year. Access II is a non-profit company so if it were to generate any excess revenue, it would directly funnel back into the programs and services currently provided to people with disabilities in the community. Those services include inhome and consumer directed services, employments services, transportation, durable medical equipment, independent living skills training, transition services, and much more. Although Access II is still seeking ways to restore funding from the state cuts last legislative season, the license office will not be a way to generate excess funding to restore services that were cut or limited. Access II was the only bidder for the license office.
IT’S LIKE REAL
Blubber! Mrs. Dolan’s fourth grade class at Searcy R-5 Elementary in Gallatin has been enjoying “Kali: A Polar Bear’s Tale.” The feature is presented in eight chapters in the Gallatin North Missourian. The students recently re-read chapter four in the
newspaper which tells how Kali the Polar Bear has a 4.5 inch layer of fat to help keep him warm in the Arctic’s freezing temperatures. The students then tried a little experiment: they dipped their bare hands in ice water to see what it felt
like. Then they put on plastic bags with lard/shortening smeared thickly on top to simulate blubber. Again they dipped their hands in the ice water to see the difference -- and realized it was not nearly as cold with the thick covering of ‘blubber’.