Just One More Question

On this week’s episode we interview author Clay Bryant about his book, Solving the West Georgia Murder of Gwendolyn Moore; A Cry from The Well.  On a sultry August morning in 1970, the battered body of a young woman was hoisted from a dry well just outside Hogansville, Georgia. Author and investigator Clay Bryant was there as a young man of 15, witnessing the macabre scene, as he was tagging along with his father, Buddy Bryant, Hogansville Chief of Police. The victim, Gwendolyn Moore, had been in a violent marriage. That was no secret. But her husband had connections to a political machine that held sway over the Troup County Sheriff's Office overseeing the case. To the dismay and bafflement of many, no charges were brought. That is, until Bryant followed his father's footsteps into law enforcement, and a voice cried out from the well three decades later.

Clay Bryant was born and raised in Troup County, Georgia.  After high school, he began a career in law enforcement in 1973 as a radio operator with the Georgia State Patrol.  In 1976 at the age of twenty-one, he became trooper on the Georgia State Patrol.  While with the State Patrol, he attended Dekalb College, Brenau University, and graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School of Law.  In June 1980, after the unexpected death of his father, he became Police Chief of Hogansville, Georgia and stayed in that position until 1992.  In 2002, he was employed as an investigator for the District Attorney’s Office in the five-county Coweta Judicial Circuit.  He currently serves as an Investigator for the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council.

Bryant’s reputation for clearing seemingly impossible crimes from the past garnered him national recognition.  During his four years as an investigator for the District Attorney’s Office in the five-county Coweta Judicial Circuit, he was reportedly the most prolific cold case investigator in the country for instances of single event homicides.

 

In between our full episodes, we will bring you various shorter segments called “Just a Thought” or “Just a Story”. These segments will feature either Aleks or myself talking about a specific topic, usually related to one of our podcasts. Sometimes we will have a guest who will tell their own history, law enforcement, or court-related story. We will also take time to read and answer listener questions during these shorter segments.  As always, tune in every two weeks for a full episode of our show, “Just One More Question.”

If you like what we do, rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Every positive review helps new listeners find the show. Send us your questions about the books or cases we profile. Tweet them to @just1morepod with the hashtag (#) questions.  Or you can send an email to just1morequestionpod@gmail.com.  The Executive Producers of “Just One More Question” are Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts. Our Assistant Producer is Kaci High. Our music is by Da Sein.  We are your hosts, Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts ,and this has been “Just One More Question.”

On this week’s show we interview Walker County Georgia Sheriff Steve Wilson.  Sheriff Wilson has held his office since January 1, 1997, and this year is seeking re-election for his eighth term as sheriff. He has been in law enforcement for 48 years.  Following a three-year stint at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC as a Fingerprint Examiner, he returned to Lafayette, Georgia and was employed with the Georgia Department of Corrections, the Lafayette, Georgia Police Department, and the Walker County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy sheriff, detective, and commander of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force before being elected sheriff.

 Sheriff Wilson is very active in his community, serving as a committee member for BEAT, (Business and Education Alliance Together), as president of The Al Millard Stocking Full of Love, as a trustee on the Georgia Sheriffs’ Youth Homes Foundation, and a member of the Blood Assurance North Georgia Advisory Board. In addition, he serves as a deacon at Oakwood Baptist Church in Chickamauga, Georgia.

As a follow-up to Episode 2 with Jodi Lowery and her book about moonshiners and whitecappers and Episode 3 with Marnie Pehrson and her book, An Uncertain Justice, about the last legal hanging in Georgia, we talk to Sheriff Wilson about his own law enforcement knowledge regarding the history of moonshiners in Walker County Georgia, as well as the similarities he sees between moonshining in the past and the drug trade of today! Also, we discuss the changes he has seen in law enforcement concerns and practices in his six decades of experience.

If you like what we do, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Every positive review helps new listeners find the show. Send us your questions about the books or cases we profile. Tweet them to @just1morepod with the hashtag (#) questions.  Or you can send an email to just1morequestionpod@gmail.com.  The Executive Producers of Just One More Question are Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts. Our Assistant Producer is Kaci High. Our music is by Da Sein.  We are your hosts, Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts, and this has been “Just One More Question.”

 

In between our full episodes, we will bring you various shorter segments called “Just a Thought” or “Just a Story”. These segments will feature either Aleks or myself talking about a specific topic, usually related to one of our podcasts. Sometimes we will have a guest who will tell their own history, law enforcement, or court-related story. We will also take time to read and answer listener questions during these shorter segments.  As always, tune in every two weeks for a full episode of our show, “Just One More Question.”

If you like what we do, rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Every positive review helps new listeners find the show. Send us your questions about the books or cases we profile. Tweet them to @just1morepod with the hashtag (#) questions.  Or you can send an email to just1morequestionpod@gmail.com.  The Executive Producers of “Just One More Question” are Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts. Our Assistant Producer is Kaci High. Our music is by Da Sein.  We are your hosts, Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts, and this has been “Just One More Question.”

On this week’s episode, we interview author Marnie L. Pehrson about her book, An Uncertain Justice.  In March 1922, Walker County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Morton was shot and killed after being confronted by two known moonshiners. The suspects, brothers aged 14 and 18, approached Deputy Morton and asked if he had a warrant for their arrest. When Deputy Morton responded that he did not, the brothers assaulted him. A struggle ensued, during which the older brother pulled a weapon and fatally shot Deputy Morton. Soon after, the national media ignited a frenzy amongst boys’ organizations across the country, coaxing the governor to consider a stay of execution for the two youths responsible for this crime. This riveting true story about the last legal hanging in Georgia captured the attention of a nation, but, more importantly, it racked the soul of a boy who dearly loved his grandfather. How does one deal with the long-lasting effects of murder? Does a punishment ever fit the crime? Is it possible, or even necessary, to forgive a murderer? The answers to these questions and more can be found in An Uncertain Justice, a look into the scope of justice and mercy that will make you question what you believe.

If you like what we do, rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Every positive review helps new listeners find the show. Send us your questions about the books or cases we profile. Tweet them to @just1morepod with the hashtag (#) questions.  Or you can send an email to just1morequestionpod@gmail.com.  The Executive Producers of Just One More Question are Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts. Our Assistant Producer is Kaci High. Our music is by Da Sein.  We are your hosts, Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts, and this has been “Just One More Question.”

In between our full episodes, we will bring you various shorter segments called “Just a Thought” or “Just a Story”. These segments will feature either Aleks or myself talking about a specific topic, usually related to one of our podcasts. Sometimes we will have a guest who will tell their own history, law enforcement, or court-related story. We will also take time to read and answer listener questions during these shorter segments.  As always, tune in every two weeks for a full episode of our show, “Just One More Question.”

If you like what we do, rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Every positive review helps new listeners find the show. Send us your questions about the books or cases we profile. Tweet them to @just1morepod with the hashtag (#) questions.  Or you can send an email to just1morequestionpod@gmail.com.  The Executive Producers of “Just One More Question” are Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts. Our Assistant Producer is Kaci High. Our music is by Da Sein.  We are your hosts, Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts ,and this has been “Just One More Question.”

 

On this week’s episode, we interview author Jodi McDaniel Lowery about her book, Murder, Mayhem, and Whitecapping; The Fall of the Northwest Georgia Whitecappers.  Set in northwest Georgia in 1894, Murder, Mayhem, and Whitecapping; The Fall of the Northwest Georgia Whitecappers, is the story of two men who were attacked by a group of whitecappers, a group of men sworn by a blood oath to protect moonshiners, remove immoral people from their communities, and, most of all, protect their own. The area of northwest Georgia had a whitecapper membership of 800-1000 men. Henry Worley, a whitecapper himself, turns on his brotherhood and manages to survive the hangman's noose, but a week later Worley is shot and killed by men he once called friends. A few months later, William Roper, who has been turning in moonshiners for a profit, finds himself a target as well. He is attacked in the middle of the night by whitecappers, who shoot him and leave him for dead in an abandoned copper pit. After six days, he is rescued from the pit and eventually testifies in federal court against his attackers. The federal government would eventually charge more than 30 men, many of them prominent individuals in the county, with conspiracy. These two trials, as well as subsequent plea agreements, would eventually lead to the demise of the whitecappers in northwest Georgia. The trials would be covered extensively by The Atlanta Constitution. This daily newspaper, along with federal court transcripts, essays on moonshining and whitecapping, and other historical references, serve as sources for this historical, nonfiction book.

If you like what we do, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Every positive review helps new listeners find the show. Send us your questions about the books or cases we profile. Tweet them to @just1morepod with the hashtag (#) questions.  Or you can send an email to just1morequestionpod@gmail.com.  The Executive Producers of “Just One More Question” are Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts. Our Assistant Producer is Kaci High. Our music is by Da Sein.  We are your hosts, Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts, and this has been “Just One More Question.”

 

In between our full episodes, we will bring you various shorter segments called “Just a Thought” or “Just a Story”. These segments will feature either Aleks or myself talking about a specific topic, usually related to one of our podcasts. Sometimes we will have a guest who will tell their own history, law enforcement, or court-related story. We will also take time to read and answer listener questions during these shorter segments.  As always, tune in every two weeks for a full episode of our show, “Just One More Question.”

 

If you like what we do, rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Every positive review helps new listeners find the show. Send us your questions about the books or cases we profile. Tweet them to @just1morepod with the hashtag (#) questions.  Or you can send an email to just1morequestionpod@gmail.com.  The Executive Producers of “Just One More Question” are Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts. Our Assistant Producer is Kaci High. Our music is by Da Sein.  We are your hosts, Marc Veazey and Aleks Litts, and this has been “Just One More Question.”