BY JANET WILSON

Staff Writer    16 September 2003

The White County Quorum Court breathed new life into at least four cases believed to be homicides with the approval of appropriations to spend $2,500 for DNA testing Monday.

In an Aug. 4 letter to the budget and finance committee, Sheriff Pat Garrett explained that he attempted to have the tests conducted through the crime lab of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but was told that due to the attacks on September 11, 2001, and the war in Iraq, there was a huge backlog of DNA evidence.

Garrett said the FBI told him it could take several months to receive the results. He then requested the funds so the samples could be sent to a private lab.

"I am trying to give some comfort to the families who are interested in these cases," Garrett told the committee.

The court denied Garrett's immediate request for the funds Aug. 19, but did agree to have an appropriation ordinance drawn up, which was approved Monday night.

"I can tell you that each represents a victim from our county," Shawna Kirk of McRae, president of the National Center for Endangered Missing Adults, told the court before the reading of the ordinance. Her brother-in-law, Douglas Gene Kirk of McRae, has been missing since Aug. 5, 1995.

"Each has a family waiting for this sheriff's department to provide answers," said Kirk.

Kirk went on to tell the court that the DNA testing has the potential to remove murders from amidst White County citizens.

"Time is of the essence," she said. "Every day that goes by is another day for a murderer to strike again. I urge you to support this DNA testing."

"When it happens again, will it be your mother or your daughter?" she concluded.

After the court conducted a vote and approved the ordinance, Garrett and Kirk left the meeting and could not be reached for comment.

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