Local pastor arrested on felony wanton endangerment

By Fred Pace
Coal Valley News
June 2, 2014

http://www.coalvalleynews.com/news/home_top/3753684/Local-pastor-arrested-on-felony-wanton-endangerment

William Wayne Meadows

MADISON — A local pastor was arrested on a wanton endangerment charge following an incident involving his wife on Friday, May 30, 2014, at his home in Madison.

William Wayne Meadows, 67, of Court Street in Madison, was arrested on the felony wanton endangerment charge after police said he discharged a pistol inside a bedroom in his home with his wife in the same room.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Boone County Magistrate Court, police responded to a 911 call about a person shooting a firearm inside of a residence.

Meadows allegedly asked his wife to kill him and after she refused he fired a .25 caliber handgun inside the home.

Meadows’ wife, Linda Sue Meadows, told police the couple had been arguing for about a week and on Friday her husband came into a back bedroom she was cleaning and showed her the gun.

Linda Sue Meadows told police that she told her husband that if he wanted to kill himself, he would have to do it himself. She then bent down and heard a gunshot, but just kept cleaning.

Linda Sue Meadows told police she sent a text message to her daughter about the incident and her daughter called 911.

When police arrived William Meadows was lying on a couch. He told police he shot the gun with his wife in the same room and the firearm was located on a night stand in the bedroom.

Police also observed a bullet hole in the closet door in the bedroom and a bullet was located in a pair of pants hanging in the closet.

Meadows was arraigned in front of Boone County Magistrate C. Porter Snodgrass and was taken to jail on a $50,000 surety or $5,000 cash bond and he also ordered to not have any contact with his wife. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. on June 9, 2014.

Meadows has been a long-time Faith page column writer for the Coal Valley News. He writes “A Closer Walk” under the by line of Pastor Bill Meadows. His column has been placed on hold and no decision will be made regarding it until after the case makes it way through the legal process, newspaper officials said.