Waitress’s assault case goes to grand jury

Memphis, Tenn. – A grand jury will decide whether country singer Hank Williams Jr. will stand trial on misdemeanor assault charges filed after a cocktail waitress said he yelled obscenities and choked her at a local hotel.

Criminal Court Judge Gwen Rooks ruled Monday that probable cause was established and bound the case over to a Shelby County grand jury.

The waitress, Holly Hornbeak, testified that she had red marks and bruising on her neck and that she was hoarse the next day.

A private attorney hired by her parents demanded $250,000 from Williams two days later, but Hornbeak denied that the case was being driven by money.

“It was a serious attack and this is not something you take lightly,” said Hornbeak, who was 19 when the incident allegedly occurred in the Peabody hotel’s lobby bar March 18.

Williams, 57, who lives in Paris, Tenn., remains free on his own recognizance. Assault carries up to 11 months and 29 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

Nelson cited for drug charges

Lafayette, La. – Willie Nelson and four other people on his tour bus received misdemeanor citations for possession of narcotic mushrooms and marijuana after a traffic stop Monday morning on a Louisiana highway, state police said.

The citations were issued after a commercial vehicle inspection of the country music star’s tour bus, state police said in a news release.

Each was released after being issued a citation.

Nelson, 73, has recorded songs including “On the Road Again” and “City of New Orleans.”

“When the door was opened and the trooper began to speak to the driver, he smelled the strong odor of marijuana,” the news release said. A search of the bus produced 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and 0.2 pounds of narcotic mushrooms, according to state police.

James Earl Jones’ father, actor Robert Earl Jones, dies

Englewood, N.J. – Actor Robert Earl Jones, a fixture in Broadway shows and movies and the father of actor James Earl Jones, has died.

Jones, 96, died Sept. 7 at the Lillian Booth Actors’ Home, according to the home and Dale Olson, his son’s agent.

Jones was a third-grade dropout from Senotobia, Miss., who worked as a sharecropper, then became a boxer before arriving in New York City and taking up acting. The poet Langston Hughes cast him in an early role in the Harlem Suitcase Theatre.

Hughes spent part of his childhood in Lawrence, Kan.

Jones appeared as boxing champion Joe Louis in “Spirit of Youth” among other films and Broadway productions before his career was interrupted in the 1950s when he was blacklisted for refusing to testify before the House un-American Activities Committee.

His movie career resumed by the late 1950s. He had roles in films including “Odds Against Tomorrow,” “Wild River,” “The Sting” and “Witness” in a career that lasted into the 1990s. In all, he appeared in more than 20 films.

He also appeared in several stage productions with his son, James Earl Jones, the actor who gave voice to Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” movies, among dozens of other roles.

Gibson’s daughter, musician Kenny Wayne Shepherd wed

Los Angeles – Mel Gibson’s only daughter, Hannah, married blues-rock guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd over the weekend.

Gibson, 26, and Shepherd, 29, of Benton, La., exchanged vows in California on Saturday, People magazine reported on its Web site.

Shepherd’s albums include “Ledbetter Heights” and “Live On.”

He proposed to Gibson on New Year’s Eve 2004 in Rome, according to The Times of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Mel Gibson, 50, and his wife, Robyn, have seven children. Hannah is their oldest child and only daughter.

The wedding came almost two months after Gibson, 50, star of the “Lethal Weapon” movies and director of “The Passion of the Christ,” was arrested for drunken driving in Malibu on July 28.

Gibson has publicly apologized for an anti-Semitic tirade he unleashed when he was arrested. He has called the remarks “despicable.”

In August, Gibson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge in a deal that called for alcohol rehabilitation, fines and probation.