Luverne PD officer resigns

Published 9:53 am Thursday, May 17, 2012

A Luverne police officer has resigned following an investigation into misuse of classified information.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, the council learned that Officer John Karcher had resigned.

Mayor Joe Rex Sport said that Karcher had removed some classified information concerning family members from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation’s computer system.

Email newsletter signup

An internal investigation was ongoing at the time of Karcher’s resignation.

“He was a steady, dependable officer, but he made a mistake,” Sport said.

The council also heard from a citizen concerned about mobile homes and property values in the city.

“I’d like to know when the last new home was built [on an empty lot],” said Roy Johnston, who lives in the neighborhood of 10th and 12th Streets.

Johnston said that he has not seen a new home put up on empty lots in the 17 years he’s lived in Luverne, and that he would like to see the movement of double-wide trailers into town stopped.

“Trailers depreciate value,” said Johnston, who had previously spoken to the council about the issue.

Johnston also emphasized that he was not trying to get anyone to move existing trailers, but that he was concerned about his property losing value.

Mayor Joe Rex Sport told The Journal that any mobile homes have to be approved by the zoning board unless they are grandfathered in, replace a trailer that was grandfathered in, or fall in the residential-suburban zone, which allows a trailer to be placed as long as there is at least an acre of land accompanying it.

City attorney Mike Jones said he would look into the zoning ordinance for the area and report back to Johnston and the council.