Hamblen County Lawyer Reinstated

By Order of the Tennessee Supreme Court entered March 10, Douglas Ralph Beier was reinstated to the active practice of law with conditions.

On October 2, 2020, Douglas Ralph Beier was suspended by the Supreme Court of Tennessee for two years, all to be served as active suspension. Mr. Beier filed a Petition for Reinstatement to the practice of law pursuant to Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 9, Section 30.4(d), on September 20, 2022.

After a final hearing on the merits, a Hearing Panel found Beier had demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence that he had the moral qualifications, competency, and learning in law required for admission to practice law in this state and his resumption of the practice of law within the state would not be detrimental to the integrity and standing of the bar or the administration of justice, or subversive to the public interest.

The Hearing Panel conditioned Beier’s reinstatement to the active practice of law upon his engagement of a practice monitor for a period of six (6) months and completion of a minimum of 15 hours of Continuing Legal Education, including at least three hours of legal ethics, every year he remains actively licensed.

Woman and dog dead after being struck by train

A Morristown woman and her dog are dead after apparently being struck by a train near Tennessee Jack’s in East Morristown last week.

According to a Morristown Police Department report, a man – later identified as James Goforth of Morristown – was near the Tennessee Jack’s restaurant about 4 a.m. on March 3 yelling that his girlfriend and her dog had been struck by a train.

Morristown officers arrived on the scene and began walking the track where they found the body of Heather Dalton, 39 of Morristown, and her dog near Team Technologies.

The Norfolk Southern Police were contacted.

Goforth told police he had last seen Dalton on his way to work at Taco Bell about 7:10 p.m. and he’d gotten off work at 3 a.m. and begun searching for her.

Both Goforth and Dalton were homeless and Goforth told police he believed she was moving items from their old camp site to their new camp site.

A witness indicated he’d seen Dalton about 1 a.m.

Both the coroner’s office and animal control responded to the scene.

Medical helicopter service suspended after N. Carolina crash

FRANKLIN, N.C. (AP) — An emergency helicopter transport service announced Friday that it suspended operations, a day after one of its helicopters crashed in western North Carolina, leaving three of the four people aboard hospitalized.

“Safety is of the upmost concern to our program, and as such we have suspended all LIFE FORCE operations until our crews feel ready to return to service,” LIFE FORCE Air Medical, which is operated by Erlanger Health System, said in a statement posted on Facebook.

The service didn’t have information on the circumstances or cause of the crash. Erlanger will still accept patients via air medical transport and it was working with other air medical providers while the program is grounded.

The Eurocopter EC135 medical helicopter landed hard in Franklin on Thursday night, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Macon County Sheriff Brent Holbrooks said the helicopter was taking a patient from a medical facility in Murphy to Mission Hospital in Asheville.

One crew member and three other people on board were injured. The crew member was released from the hospital and the other three people were in stable condition, Erlanger President and CEO Jim Coleman said in a statement posted on Facebook on Friday. Macon County Emergency Services Director Warren Cabe previously had said they had minor to moderate injuries.

The aircraft was severely damaged.

Chattanooga, Tennessee-based Erlanger’s website said the helicopter LIFE FORCE 6 operates out of Cherokee County, North Carolina, with a base radius of 150 miles (241 kilometers). This was the first crash in the 34-year history of the LIFE FORCE program, Erlanger Health System said.