For Immediate Release
March 20, 2013

Contact: Darlene Schlicher
(615) 741-6336

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
APPROVES AMELIA’S LAW

THE BILL TO REMAIN IN SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE TO AWAIT
HOUSE ACTION

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation on
Wednesday sponsored by Senator Doug Overbey (R-Maryville) that would have
tightened the operations of the Board of Probation and Parole in regards to the granting of
parole for certain crimes. The bill is named “Amelia Keown’s Law” for the 16-year-old
William Blount High School junior who was killed in a fatal car crash at the hands of a
John Charles Perkins, who had a lengthy criminal record.

Perkins, who had numerous traffic citations and automobile crashes on his record, was
on parole at the time of the accident. A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation toxicology
report showed he had methamphetamine and oxycodone in his system when his vehicle
crossed the center line and struck Keown’s vehicle killing her.

“There is a great need for this bill,” said Senator Overbey. “We need to keep those
who pose a threat to public safety behind bars and this legislation is a step in the right
direction to accomplish that purpose. I am pleased it passed the Senate Judiciary
Committee.”

Legislation must pass both the Senate and the House of Representatives in identical
form before going to the Governor to be signed into law. The House companion to
Overbey’s bill failed last week in the State Government Subcommittee in the House of
Representatives. That action means the bill will stay in that committee for the duration of
the 2013 legislative session. Overbey, however, said he presented the bill to the Judiciary
Committee to keep the legislation in the minds of his colleagues and continue efforts to
crack down on repeat offenders who present a threat to public safety.

Senate Bill 438 would have also required that the nine-member Board of Parole keep
records which include social, physical, mental, psychiatric and criminal information for
every inmate considered for release. Overbey said the bill will be held in the Senate
Finance Committee until next year when he plans to continue to push for passage.

“The action of the Judiciary Committee was an important step in the legislative process
and is reflective of the importance of this issue,” added Overbey. “I commend Amelia’s
family for their support and efforts to make a positive difference in our state in her honor
and memory.

###

Join us on Saturday, April 20th, 2013 in Knoxville for the 2013 Knoxville Walk like MADD event. Help Team Amelia in this life changing walk!

Team Amelia will be walking in the beautiful West Hills Park located in Knoxville just off North Winston Road. We look forward to seeing you there!

Registration begins Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m.. An opening ceremony will follow registration beginning at 10:00 a.m. The walk will begin at 10:15 a.m. Please visit www.ameliaslaw.comfor more information.

Address: 410 North Winston Knoxville, TN 37909

Join our team! Click here:

http://support.madd.org/site/TR/WalkLikeMADD/WalkLikeMADDwlm_?team_id=81512&pg=team&fr_id=3155

See the flyer created for this event below. Please share this image with all of your friends!

By Joel Davis | (joeld@thedailytimes.com)

Blount County’s representatives will be involved with a variety of bills during the 108th session of the Tennessee Legislature, which convened at noon on Tuesday

State Rep. Robert Ramsey, R-Maryville, said he is among a group of legislators working with the family of Amelia Keown, a 16-year-old William Blount High School junior who died Aug. 15 in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 411 South.

“We’re trying to work with her family on a bill,” he said. “I may be a co-sponsor. It may be ‘Amelia’s Bill.’ We’re trying to work on doing something that will correct some problems with the parole office that was instrumental in the release of the person who caused that accident.”

The driver of the other vehicle, identified as John C. Perkins, 44, of Maryville, died early the next day after the accident. Toxicology results later confirmed that Perkins, who was on parole, had drugs in his system at the time of the crash.

Amanda Moore is seeking a new state law to prevent offenders like Perkins from being paroled. The proposed legislation, dubbed “Amelia’s Law,” would be similar to the “three strikes” law.

Ramsey is also working on a bill that would create a uniform financial management act for Tennessee counties and a bill targeted at helping curb prescription abuse.

 

William Blount High School’s students are doing their part to honor their school as well as students who died while attending the high school.

Students in Billy Coning’s landscaping class have revitalized the memorial courtyard outside the main building. The high-schoolers have worked on the project for the past nine weeks.

Coning’s class split into five groups and created landscaping designs. They later created PowerPoint presentations and pitched their designs to a panel composed of Principal Rob Clark, Assistant Principal Jennifer Moore and secretary Kim Best.

Administrators approved the project and selected each group’s best design elements for the overall memorial courtyard design, Clark said.

“We’re very pleased with the results,” Clark said. “How could we not be pleased with it? It’s wonderful.”

Students planted miniature butterfly bushes, Colorado blue spruce trees and gardenias around the bronze monument marker, which was originally dedicated in 1992. They selected blue and orange plants, in recognition of the school’s colors.

Coning’s class also worked on the monument marker’s cement base. Students poured a new mixture of cement, gravel and sand for the base, created a wooden mock-up, drilled holes in the base and bolted the marker into it.

The high-schoolers also created a brick walkway between the front parking lot and front entrance. They removed about 300 bricks from outside the vocational building, cut them to size and assembled the walkway.

Students also cleared out the garden beds, making the marker more visible to staff, students and community members. Plants previously surrounded the memorial and limited its visibility.

“A lot of students didn’t know it was out there,” said senior Austin Chandler. “We wanted to make it more noticeable, as a sign of respect to them.”

More than 30 staff and students are memorialized on the marker, honoring every person who lost their lives while attending the school from Teresa Lynn Cannon who died in 1979 to Amelia Dior Keown who died in August. In fact, Keown served as the impetus for Coning’s landscaping project.

After Keown’s death, Coning took students to see the memorial courtyard. The high-schoolers later asked if they could do something to improve the area, and the project was soon under way.

‘Life-changing project’

Students were honored to participate in the project.

“For me, it was a life-changing project,” said junior Matthew Benson.

“We wanted to make people feel good about our school and the people who passed away,” said senior Drew Owens. “It’s a good way to honor them, and I hope it makes them feel good about William Blount even if they’ve been away for 10 years. The memorial means a lot to people, especially those of us who have been close to someone who is on it. I was good friends with Amelia, so this means a lot to me.

“Since my freshman year, William Blount has seen a lot of improvements,” Owens said. “We’re really coming along.”

“We’re finally starting to live up to our reputation,” Chandler said.

‘Amelia’s Law’ tops local stories of 2012
By Joel Davis | (joeld@thedailytimes.com)

The top 10 local news stories that marked 2012 reveal the story of a year of tragedies and accomplishments, community controversies and some farewells.

Amelia’s law

1) Sixteen-year-old Amelia Dior Keown, a beloved William Blount High School junior, died Aug. 15 in a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 411 South, just north of Springview Road.

The driver of the other vehicle, identified as John C. Perkins, 44, of Maryville, died early the next morning. He was driving a 1999 two-door Chrysler Sebring convertible in the left lane of northbound U.S. 411 South when his vehicle crossed the center turn lane and traveled into the left lane of southbound traffic, striking Keown’s vehicle head-on and killing her instantly.

A member of the high school dance team, Keown was on her way home to retrieve her pom poms for dance practice when the crash happened. Keown’s mother, Amanda Moore, said her daughter had planned to go to nursing school and was looking at the University of Tennessee, among other schools.

Toxicology results later confirmed that the Perkins had drugs in his system at the time of the crash. A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation toxicology report showed that Perkins, who was on parole at the time of the crash, had methamphetamine and oxycodone in his blood. The toxicology report shows that the level of oxycodone in Perkins’ system was nearly double the normal or therapeutic range and just under what could be considered a toxic level.

The accident prompted Amanda Moore to seek a new state law to prevent offenders like Perkins from being paroled. The proposed legislation, dubbed “Amelia’s Law,” would be similar to the “three strikes” law.

Visit http://www.thedailytimes.com/Local_News/story/Amelias-Law-tops-local-stories-of-2012-id-031382 to view the other top 10 stories. Amelia’s story was number one, beating the Presidential Election.

For Wayne Keown, once known to fans of professional wrestling as Dutch Mantel, the death of a beloved granddaughter has led to a real-life battle that’s called on his skill at getting a point across in an interview and other skills he didn’t know he had.

Amelia Keown, his 16-year-old granddaughter, died Aug. 14 in a wreck on Highway 411 in Blount County. “She was at school and she was going to come home and get her pom poms,” he said. “She thought her dance teacher would be mad at her.”

She told her mother, Amanda, as she was leaving school. Her mom sent a text saying to be careful.

Just a few minutes after that, another driver crossed 411 and struck her car head-on. Amelia was killed, and the second driver, 44-year-old John C. Perkins, died the next day.

At first, Amelia’s family believed it was just a tragic accident. But they quickly learned that Perkins had been released early from prison despite a lengthy criminal record. Blood tests reportedly showed he had a near toxic level of oxycodone in his system at the time of the wreck, and meth as well.

Wayne Keown and Amelia’s mother were outraged. They believe a flaw system allowed Perkins to be out of prison and driving — instead of behind bars and off the roads.

“Our problem with this is, this guy was a lifetime criminal,” Wayne Keown said. “I told my daughter there’s something wrong with this situation.”

Perkins was serving a 12-year sentence. He was let out after serving four years. Even after his release, he was still committing crimes. He had been caught for shoplifting, and placed on probation, Keown said.

“You have a guy not only on parole but on probation at the same time. I don’t know how that works. He didn’t fear jail.”

They’ve found records showing what they believe are additional errors made by probation and parole officials in his case.

Since learning about Perkins’s background, Wayne has been raising funds all around Tennessee by getting his fellow grapplers to put on events. He’s been speaking out to anyone who will listen about the flaws they believe cost Amelia her life. He hopes to see the laws strengthened, and they’re calling the changes Amelia’s Law. Local legislators, including Doug Overbey, are working to move the changes along.

Amelia’s family hopes to see the laws tightened for repeat offenders, and especially people who drive while intoxicated.

Wayne Keown acknowledges prisons are already overcrowded, but he thinks the state needs to reconsider how it sentences criminals so that violent or dangerous criminals stay in prison longer — and so that they complete the sentences imposed by judges.

“We’ve got to take the road away from them. You need to put them in where they can’t get out.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k_766_xZJ0

By MONA NAIR
6 News Reporter

LOUISVILLE (WATE) – A new TBI toxicology report shows the driver blamed in a head-on crash that killed a Maryville teen had drugs in his system.

Amelia Keown, 16, died in August. The report says John Perkins, the driver who hit her, had a level of Oxycodone in his system that was close to toxic. The report also shows that he’d taken Methamphetamine.

“Enraged is how I felt today. I was so mad he chose to get high and get behind the wheel,” said Amanda Moore, Amelia’s mother.

Perkins was let out of prison in 2005 after serving just 4 years of a 12 year sentence for armed robbery.

“I know he had failed drug tests in prison,” said Moore, about records she’s obtained. She also has paperwork that shows after his early release, he was arrested several times.

Amelia’s family has been pushing for “Amelia’s Law”, which proposes tougher parole rules.

Moore says the new toxicology report will now also be a focus in their effort to change how felons are set free.

“We’ll have to add something about drug testing,” explained Moore.

Moore says she’s heard that Perkins had a prescription for Oxycodone. But that information has not been verified by law enforcement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAp3l-mjuTY

By DON DARE 
6 On Your Side Consumer Investigator

CLINTON (WATE) – A woman in Clinton is finding she has a lot in common with another woman who’s been in the news recently, Amanda Moore.

Moore’s daughter, Amelia, and Julia Stockstill’s daughter, Sarah, were both bright, involved teenagers with promising futures. They both were killed in car wrecks.

Sarah was killed three years before Amelia was born.

While the girl’s mothers don’t know one another, they share a tragic link and both want to see changes to the Tennessee parole system.

Julia Stockstill still mourns for her daughter almost 19 years after her death.

A three-sport, first team standout at Clinton High School, the 17-year-old senior was killed on December 22, 1993, on a stretch of Clinton Highway less than half a mile from her home while returning from school to get ready for work.

Julia Stockstill had been visiting her mother the day when she got the news.

“The only thing I can remember is running through my mother’s house yelling, ‘No, no, no, no. No.’,” she said.

A man named Frank Weaver killed Sarah in a head-on crash. A career criminal, Weaver was drunk when he hit Sarah next to mile marker 13.

“I’m more upset with the judicial system for letting him out. Right, with the parole board. He should never have been out,” said Stockstill.

Nine days out of prison, Weaver was on parole when he slammed into Sarah.

“He was a habitual criminal. My understanding is habitual criminals were never supposed to be let out,” she said.

But Weaver was released because of overcrowding in the prison system.

On Aug. 14, 2012, 16-year-old Amelia Keown was killedin a head-on collision on Highway 411 outside of Maryville while on her way home from school.

The man who hit her, John Perkins, was also on parole, having been released early from prison after serving four years of a 12-year sentence. He was also killed in the wreck.

“I know what Amanda Moore is feeling, because my situation is almost exactly like hers,” said Stockstill.

Amanda Moore and her father, Wayne Keown, have been on a crusade for tighter parole rules.

They met with Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey in late September to outline their cause for a bill known as Amelia’s Law that would keep prisoners in jail longer.

“I think it’s something we really need to get straightened out here in Tennessee,” said Stockstill. “So that we do not have criminals who shouldn’t be out, out early.”

Two teens nearly a generation apart had their lives cut short under similar circumstances.

“I want justice for them. They both deserve to know their deaths were not in vain,” she said.

Amelia’s law has sponsors in both houses of the Tennessee legislature and a draft is currently being written in Nashville for introduction before the state senate and state house early next year.