Monday, March 20th

From the Tennova Healthcare Cleveland News Desk, here are your news headlines for Monday, March 20th, on Mix 104-1 and Talk 101-3 The Buzz.

From the Cleveland Daily Banner…

Bradley County Commissioner Dan Rawls says the Florida arrest record referenced by Sheriff Eric Watson is not him. He is speaking out to refute the charges made by Watson in last Sunday’s edition of the Cleveland Daily Banner.

In that article, Watson said a police report filed by Rawls alleged an altercation between the sheriff and his wife.

Watson also said Rawls’ arrest record taints the commissioner’s credibility when he makes allegations.

Rawls spent over an hour being interviewed at the Banner office Friday to present his side of the story.

“There are four incidents in Bradley County and one conviction, which I acknowledge,” Rawls said. “If I had it to do over, I realized the guy was not as much of a threat as he wanted me to think that he was, then I probably wouldn’t have struck him. But, I felt he was a threat so I did strike him. Having hindsight, that was not the right thing to do; and I apologize for that.”

The other three county charges were dropped “because the case had no merit.”

“This other assault, by the time it got before the judge, the judge told the gentleman he was the one who should be charged,” Rawls said. “He pulled a pole out of a truck and tried to hit me with a pole. I did hit him and knock him down, but I didn’t feel I had anywhere to go.”

Rawls said he sat at that scene for almost 15 minutes waiting for law enforcement to arrive.

“Probably my mistake was that I left,” he said. “I didn’t leave in a hurry. They had my tag number. I wasn’t trying to get away. I turned myself in and went down there; and the theft was dropped with no merit because those pieces never existed.”

Rawls said the contempt charge on his one conviction was because the schedule for serving his sentence was not properly communicated to jail officials.

“My wife and I had vacation plans, so I contacted Judge (Amy) Reedy who allowed me to flip it a week,” he said. “Somehow, that did not get logged in.”

Rawls said there is nothing else to those situations.

The commissioner said he “really got angry” when he read the report of the Florida arrest.

“According to the newspapers, Edith Rawls was the sister of the perpetrator,” Rawls said. “I don’t have a sister named Edith. I have two sisters. My youngest at the time of these stories would have been 12 1/2 years old and my other would have been 16 1/2.”

“The other problem here is that this Daniel Rawls in this incident is black,” he said, producing a printout from the Florida Department of Corrections.

It has the mug shot of an African-American male named Daniel Rawls, 5’10”, 170 pounds, with a birth date of Aug. 10, 1955.

“I’m white; when I had hair, it was blonde. I’m 6’3” and weigh 245 pounds,” Rawls said. “In 1977, I was still 6’3” but probably weighed 235 pounds. My birth date is 2/4/1958.”

Rawls said he has a private investigator now working to bring “whatever exists on this case and bring it back here.”

For more information you may read the full article on this story in the Sunday, March 19th edition of the Cleveland Daily Banner.

Also from the Banner…

If you have logged onto Cleveland State Community College’s website recently, you may have noticed some big changes. CSCC has launched a new-look site.

It has been five years since the college revitalized its website.

The new website was inspired by the college’s participation in the Pathways Project led by the American Association of Community Colleges. CSCC is one of 30 colleges in the United States and the only one in Tennessee chosen for this project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Pathways Project will allow CSCC to provide guided pathways for students that promote success and completion.

To check out the new website, please visit www.clevelandstatecc.edu.

The Cleveland Daily Banner also reports…

William “Bill” Roy Rominger and Dan Harmon have been announced as two of the inductees for the April 14 Cleveland Parks and Recreation Department’s Old Timers Hall of Fame event.

The inductees will be recognized at a banquet at the Museum Center at Five Points.

The banquet will begin at 6 p.m. April 14. Tickets, which are $25 each, must be purchased by April 12. Visit the City Parks and Recreation or call 479-4129.

This has been your local and state news. You can get news anytime by visiting our website, mymix1041.com, powered by Pioneer Credit. From the Tennova Healthcare Cleveland News Desk, this is Jeremy Gault reporting.