THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL
DEVELOPMENT SOUGHT WHERE 3 BOYS SLAIN
Date: March 26, 1994
Section: Metro
Page: B1
Edition: Final
By: Bartholomew Sullivan
The owner of Robin Hood Hills, where three 8-year-olds were found dead last May, wants to chop down the trees and bulldoze the area for commercial development, he said Friday.
Lowell Taylor of Hughes applied last year for a permit from the Corps of Engineers to dredge and fill in the 4-acre tract next to the Blue Beacon Truck Wash on an I-40 access road.
"All we'd like to see is a good development that West Memphis can be proud of," Taylor said. "If it's a haven for people -- vagrants off the expressway -- then certainly it would be to the advantage of West Memphis to clean it up."
The tract, which borders the Ten-Mile Bayou drainage canal, was the site of the May 5 murders of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore.
Lawyers for Damien Wayne Echols, found guilty of capital murder in the case March 18 in Jonesboro, sought to have jurors bused to the scene for an inspection during his trial. The trip was never arranged.
Echols is expected to seek a retrial of the case. But Echols's lawyer Scott Davidson said he saw no reason to object to an alteration of the crime scene, although he said he'd probably want the area refilmed before it's cleared.
Paul Ford, a lawyer for Charles Jason Baldwin who also was found guilty of capital murder in the case, said there have been enough pictures taken to adequately show the nature of the area. "It wouldn't bother me if it got leveled," he said.
According to the permit application, Taylor would clear ash, elm and bitter pecan trees and fill in gullies, like the one where the boys were found, with 10,000 cubic feet of dirt.
The deadline for public comment on the proposal was Oct. 25. Officials in the Corps of Engineers' regulatory bureau in Memphis said Friday that no final decision on the application has been made.
Taylor said he has not been approached with a specific proposed use for the land.
Copyright 1994 The Commercial Appeal
DEVELOPMENT SOUGHT WHERE 3 BOYS SLAIN
Date: March 26, 1994
Section: Metro
Page: B1
Edition: Final
By: Bartholomew Sullivan
The owner of Robin Hood Hills, where three 8-year-olds were found dead last May, wants to chop down the trees and bulldoze the area for commercial development, he said Friday.
Lowell Taylor of Hughes applied last year for a permit from the Corps of Engineers to dredge and fill in the 4-acre tract next to the Blue Beacon Truck Wash on an I-40 access road.
"All we'd like to see is a good development that West Memphis can be proud of," Taylor said. "If it's a haven for people -- vagrants off the expressway -- then certainly it would be to the advantage of West Memphis to clean it up."
The tract, which borders the Ten-Mile Bayou drainage canal, was the site of the May 5 murders of Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore.
Lawyers for Damien Wayne Echols, found guilty of capital murder in the case March 18 in Jonesboro, sought to have jurors bused to the scene for an inspection during his trial. The trip was never arranged.
Echols is expected to seek a retrial of the case. But Echols's lawyer Scott Davidson said he saw no reason to object to an alteration of the crime scene, although he said he'd probably want the area refilmed before it's cleared.
Paul Ford, a lawyer for Charles Jason Baldwin who also was found guilty of capital murder in the case, said there have been enough pictures taken to adequately show the nature of the area. "It wouldn't bother me if it got leveled," he said.
According to the permit application, Taylor would clear ash, elm and bitter pecan trees and fill in gullies, like the one where the boys were found, with 10,000 cubic feet of dirt.
The deadline for public comment on the proposal was Oct. 25. Officials in the Corps of Engineers' regulatory bureau in Memphis said Friday that no final decision on the application has been made.
Taylor said he has not been approached with a specific proposed use for the land.
Copyright 1994 The Commercial Appeal
