In this week’s archives of the Cherokee Scout and Andrews Journal:
10 years ago – Jan. 13, 2016, Scout: The Cherokee County Grand Jury levied six criminal sex crime charges against three local men.
- Megan Shields was named Hiwassee Dam High School’s 2016 homecoming queen. Her escort was Josh Mitchell. “Couldn’t ask for a better court,” she said of her fellow classmates.
- For several months, the Cherokee Scout had been working with the Cherokee County Probation Office on “Cherokee County’s Most Wanted” ads. “Your assistance has been most valuable,” manager Dallas McMillan Jr. said.
Jan. 14, 2016, Journal: Andrews Mayor Nancy Curtis presented Kenneth Solesbee with the key to the city. The basketball gym at Andrews High School was also going to be named after the longtime Wildcats’ coach.
- A joint undercover sting operation between the Andrews Police Department and Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office led to a citation against an Andrews store as well as several alcohol- and drug-related arrests.
25 years ago – Jan. 17, 2001, Scout: David Nelson, 30, of Topton, pleaded guilty to four counts of assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer and was sentenced to a minimum of 29 months in state prison. Update: Nelson died in 2025 as officers were looking for him as part of a case where a young woman was found dead.
- Murphy police officers and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were looking for the person who robbed Centura Bank in Murphy, getting away with an undisclosed amount of cash in a daring afternoon robbery.
- Texana residents and visitors to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast gathered to celebrate one man’s dream of unity in race relations, while wondering if the rest of America is even listening.
Jan. 18, 2001, Journal: Andrews owed the state $5,000 in fines and penalties for a wastewater spill that happened three years ago in the wastewater pump station located at the Outboard Motor Corp. plant.
- Local resident Ted Crawford accused the Andrews Board of Aldermen of illegally meeting in secret during closed sessions. “You are not honest,” he said. “You do things behind taxpayers’ backs.”
50 years ago – Jan. 15, 1976, Scout: The Townlift plan for improving downtown Murphy was dusted off and reactivated. The plan would improve sidewalks, make storefronts more attractive and increase parking.
- Of the 494 arrests made in Murphy in 1975, Police Chief Pete Stalcup told town council members exactly 400 of them involved drunkenness, with 303 charges for public drunkenness and 97 more for drunk driving.
Jan. 14, 1976, Journal: Two young Andrews men – Johnny LeQuire, 17, and Robert “Junebug” McLean, 25 – pulled off a rural road late one night, left the engine running and the windows rolled up, and eventually succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning. No foul play was suspected in their deaths.
– Publisher David Brown