Couple moving from Clarksville for medical pot
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - A U.S. Army veteran and his wife say they are moving from Clarksville to Pueblo, Colo., in order to obtain the marijuana that helps control the pain Max Bailey suffers from injuries acquired in Afghanistan.
Jen Bailey told The Leaf-Chronicle doctors want to put her husband on opiate pain killers, but he does not want to end up addicted to pills. She said marijuana worked well for him until police raided their home on Feb. 25, confiscating 12 marijuana cigarettes and charging her with simple possession.
She said they expect to lose money when they sell what they say is their "dream home," but after the failure of Tennessee's Koozer-Kuhn Medical Cannabis Act, they feel their only choice is to leave.
"This is about getting my husband to some semblance of normal," she said. "This is about him being able to function without the headaches and the back pain that cause him to sleep on the bathroom floor when he's throwing up at night from the pain."
Max Bailey has an 80 percent disability rating from Veterans Affairs as a result of post-traumatic stress and physical injuries, including traumatic brain injury. He also gets full Social Security disability benefits.
Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2000 and legalized recreational use in 2012.
Forest crash report released
VONORE, Tenn. - An initial investigation into a plane crash in the Cherokee National Forest says the wreckage was found upright and the deceased pilot was in the cockpit wearing an undeployed parachute.
Fargo Airshow Committee Cochairman Dick Walstad has identified the pilot as North Dakota native Jim Maroney, a popular performer who was headed to an airshow in Florida at the time of the crash on March 23. Maroney's single-engine World War II-era de Havilland DHC-1 was called the "Super Chipmunk."
According to an initial report from the National Transportation Safety Board, the damage to trees indicates the plane was flying near-level at impact.
GOP lawmaker resigns abruptly
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - One of Alabama's veteran GOP legislators, Rep. Greg Wren of Montgomery, resigned from the Legislature on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor ethics violation.
Wren entered the plea in a Montgomery courtroom shortly after he submitted his immediate resignation from the Legislature. Wren's attorney, James Anderson, said Wren made an unintentional violation of state ethics law. Anderson said Wren did not know that a company he represented also had a relationship with an Alabama business and that the Alabama business would have benefited from language that Wren added to the state budget last year.