Free Republic

A federal court jury this afternoon acquitted former Memphis City Council member Edmund Ford Jr. on charges of taking bribes in 2006 in return for his vote and influence on a development and billboard project. The jury of seven women and five men returned its verdict at about 4 p.m. after deliberating the better portion of two days. As a smiling Ford walked out of the federal court room, he said in a loud voice, “My Lord, the Savior is awesome. He is awesome. I just love my Lord.” Ford, 52, a mortician, was indicted on three counts of extortion...

A federal court jury is scheduled to begin deliberations this afternoon in the extortion and bribery trial of former Memphis City Council member Edmund Ford Sr. Federal prosecutors say the 52-year-old mortician accepted $8,900 in bribes from a political consultant in 2006 for his votes and influence in a development project, removal of a city billboard moratorium and the replacement of the chairman of the Board of Adjustment. “Each of these payments was made for official acts,” federal prosecutor Tom Colthurst told jurors as he showed secretly recorded videos of consultant Joe Cooper giving cash to Ford. “You also see...

Wearing a button-sized hidden camera in his shirt and a recorder taped to his waist, political consultant Joe Cooper passed $100 bills to then-city councilman Edmund Ford Sr. in 2006 while seeking approval for a development project. On the tapes presented Wednesday to a federal court jury, Cooper refers to Ford as "the Godfather" and "the master" and encourages him to "work your magic and just make sure it happens." Testifying as the government's key witness in Ford's extortion and bribery trial, Cooper explained how he regularly got such issues approved by the council for well-heeled developers who employed him....

The FBI called it Operation Main Street Sweeper, a relatively short undercover investigation that yielded several indictments, three guilty pleas to date and one memorable quote. After allegedly accepting a $1,900 bribe in 2006 to line up votes to repeal a billboard moratorium, then-City Councilman Edmund Ford Sr. pocketed the money and confidently declared on a secretly recorded videotape: "I'll drum up seven or make somebody walk out." The strength of the government's case against Ford will be tested this week in a trial before U.S. Dist. Court Judge Samuel Mays Jr. Jury selection from a pool of 105 citizens...

Former Memphis City Council member Rickey Peete has been ordered to report to federal prison on Jan. 3 to begin serving a 51-month sentence for accepting $12,000 in bribes for his vote on a zoning issue. Peete, 52, pleaded guilty to the federal charges in June, his second conviction for selling his votes. He was ordered Monday to report next month to the Federal Prison Camp at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. He will join former County Commissioner Michael Hooks who began serving a 26-month sentence there last summer for accepting $26,200 in bribes from informants or FBI...

Former Memphis City Council member Rickey Peete was sentenced to 51 months in prison this morning in federal court, marking the second time he will be doing time for a bribery conviction. The 52-year-old Peete pleaded guilty in June to accepting $12,400 in bribes for his vote on a zoning issue last year. Under a plea agreement, federal prosecutors recommended that Peete be sentenced to between 41 and 51 months in today’s appearance before U.S. Dist. Court Judge Samuel Mays Jr. Peete and fellow councilman Edmund Ford were indicted in December on charges that they accepted a combined $18,900 in...

Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford agreed this morning to drop a lawsuit seeking to force his funeral home landlord to sign a sales agreement. Ford also agreed to leave the property on Elvis Presley Boulevard in 45 days. Attorney Handel Durham, who represents Ford, said his client will seek a new location for the E. H. Ford Mortuary Services he has operated the past 12 years, including the last three at the present location. The settlement with landlord Dennis Churchwell was announced in Chancery Court where a hearing was to be held before Chancellor Kenny Armstrong. "He’s not out of...

Dressed in a pressed navy suit, Odell Horton Jr. entered the federal courthouse in Downtown Memphis Wednesday afternoon. For Horton, the former vice president and general counsel of Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, his quirk of fate was unavoidable. Seven weeks ago, on May 3, President George W. Bush signed a bill adding the name of Horton's father to the Clifford Davis Federal Building on North Main. The late Odell Horton Sr. served as the first African-American on the federal bench in Memphis. But Horton wasn't visiting the building to honor his trailblazing father. He was there, under grand...

Indicted Memphis City Councilman Rickey Peete will resign Friday, council chairman Tom Marshall announced today at City Hall. In a letter to Marshall, Peete wrote: "Effective June 1, 2007, I will resign my seat on the Memphis City Council. I want to thank the citizens of District 8 for giving me the opportunity to represent them. God bless the city of Memphis." Peete’s move came during the final day of the council’s budget hearings, after he and Councilman Edmund Ford had staved off two previous attempts by fellow council members seeking their resignations. Ford remains in office. The pair have...

City Councilman Edmund Ford struck a deal May 19 to purchase the property where his funeral home is located for $750,000. During a Saturday-afternoon auction, Charles Monger of Supreme Lending Group announced to property owner Dennis Churchwell and a group of reporters: "I'm going to arrange the loan for Mr. Ford." Ford, a politician whose credit is blemished by three bankruptcies and a widely publicized history of not paying utility bills, is the type of customer profit-driven banks fear. But the councilman, currently under federal indictment for taking bribes, may have found an ideal mortgage broker in Monger. The 61-year-old...

Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford may be able to keep his mortuary in its Whitehaven home after all. His landlord, Dennis Churchwell, had threatened to auction off the 5.8-acre property on Elvis Presley because of its notoriety. It's where Ford was allowed to rack up a five-digit Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division bill, touching off a scandal that led to the resignation of the utility's president. Advertisement But after the live auction Saturday afternoon, the property's only bid came from a lender of the Supreme Lending Group in Memphis, who offered Churchwell $750,000 to purchase the property on Ford's...

Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton has weathered acrimonious political feuds, tongue-wagging over fathering a child out of wedlock, an overhyped bout with an aging heavyweight, a tremendous dip in polls and a concerted effort among some of the region's political power brokers to replace him. So it should come as little surprise if the turmoil surrounding Herenton appointee Joseph Lee's actions while head of Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division rolls off the mayor like grease off Teflon. "A day in politics is like a light year," said Susan Adler Thorp, a political analyst and former political columnist for The Commercial...

After more than 34 years on the job, Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division's chief financial officer is retiring. MLGW vice president John McCullough, who also serves as secretary-treasurer, will retire from the utility at the end of June, the utility announced today. McCullough joined MLGW in 1973 as a junior engineer and rose through the ranks at the city's public utility.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) _ City Councilman Edmund Ford received a package containing a white Ku Klux Klan robe, and the council chairman wants police to investigate. Ford received the package by special delivery Friday. He said he didn't want to dignify it with a response. Ford, who is black, accused at least some of his fellow council members of racism Tuesday, saying, "Sometimes you might just have to get a white sheet." The KKK robe came with a letter addressed to Ford that began: "Mr. Ford I believe you are in desperate need of a white sheet, so I took...