Excerpted from the Panola Watchman, Aug. 24, 1997

Validity of Jim Reeves Agreement Questioned

NASHVILLE -- More than a year of legal maneuvering may have come to an end Wednesday when a probate judge ruled that the nephew of Mary Reeves Davis should oversee her financial affairs.

The issue was stirred in August of last year when Shreveport resident Lani Arnold, niece of the late Jim Reeves, filed suit questioning the influence [of] Davis' husband Terry Davis in the sale of Jim Reeves Enterprises to United Shows of America, Inc.

Arnold was able to show that last May, her aunt entered into a trust agreement that would have provided Terry Davis with $5,000 per month for the rest of his life and would have granted Arnold rights to operate a gift shop and museum in Shreveport, where the singer's career was
launched.

A month later, however, Terry and Mary Reeves Davis entered into a separate trust agreement with United Shows that gave the Nashville-based corporation exclusive rights to all Jim Reeves memorabilia, real and personal property and the Jim Reeves Museum, as well as the entertainer's name, image and likeness.

The second trust provided that the Jim Reeves legacy would be exchanged for $7.3 million, which would be split equally between Terry Davis and Mary Reeves Davis. The deal was struck between United Shows and W.C. White, Reeves Davis' brother who held temporary conservatorship before his death.

Arnold challenged the legitimacy of the second agreement, claiming that Terry Davis had blackmailed White into the agreement with threats of uncovering potentially embarrassing family rumors.

The feud between Arnold and Davis even reached as far as Panola County as adminsitrators of a perpetual trust designed to care for the Jim Reeves Memorial were unclear as to which party actually ahd control of the trust and the memorial site.

On several occasions, observers have reported that the memorial site was littered with trash and unkept. One recent incident led a local businessman and visiting guests from Europe to return to the site with garbage bags to collect litter that was strewn around the private property on U.S. 79 East.