We?ve had Pamela and Mary Winkler

I was talking with a reporter from the Jackson Sun last night trying to make sure I had all the correct details of Mary Winkler?s release from jail, which is supposed to happen at high noon today.

I followed the story and its many twists and turns for most of the day yesterday. First, Winkler was going to be released Thursday after lunch. Then word came down that her $750,000 bond agreement had collapsed and attorneys would have to start from scratch. Then it was announced Winkler?s attorneys simply switched bonding companies and she would be released today.

With so many stories flying around, I knew the Jackson Sun would have the most up-to-date information. It?s the largest daily newspaper near Selmer, the town where preacher Matthew Winkler was murdered. As you?d expect, the story has received heavy coverage there, as it has around the nation.

I don?t remember too many preachers who have been murdered. I don?t remember a single preacher who has supposedly been killed by his wife.

?We?re planning to come your way,? the reporter told me over the phone. ?We?ll be filing some stories from there, at least a community reaction story about her being released.?

The reporter went on to predict how Warren County will be in a national media spotlight of sorts until Winkler goes to trial in two months. ?I think you?ll notice a larger media presence there,? he said.

Little did this guy know that when it comes to members of the national media converging on McMinnville, we?re all savvy veterans by now.

?I think we?ll be able to handle it,? I replied rather smugly. ?We?re just getting finished with the Pamela Rogers case.?

That?s when there was a pause on the line.

?You had the Pamela Rogers case too,? he exclaimed in amazement. ?That happened in Warren County??

?Yes it did,? I assured him, while also measuring the astonishment in his voice.

After I hung up the phone, I couldn?t stop thinking about the genuine awe expressed by this reporter that Pamela Rogers and Mary Winkler both have a strong Warren County connection. What are the odds of a small town like ours getting two mega stories in a matter of months.

It?s weird to be watching a CNN report about a terrorist plot to blow up 10 airplanes headed to the United States and then see Mary Winkler?s name in the scrawl at the bottom of the screen.

I know when the Pamela Rogers case first broke in February of 2005, we could have hired a full-time reporter to answer nothing but Pamela Rogers questions. When I say I received phone calls from around the globe, I literally mean from around the globe.

Pictures we took here at the Standard were sent to magazines in France. One photo made it into both U.S. and European editions of The National Enquirer. We sent pictures to People magazine.

I?m not about to speculate on Warren County?s influence on Rogers and Winkler, and whether this fine community had any bearing on molding their apparently criminal minds. Maybe the fact we can?t recruit any industry in this town drives women to do crazy things.

Personally, I reject any theory that suggests Warren County is a breeding ground for abnormal behavior. That?s why my official diagnosis is to blame all this on the mysterious fumes that struck Warren County High School some eight years ago. Those fumes must still be lingering.

James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].