HANK WILLIAMS STOLEN NOTEBOOK FOUND

Hank Williams

A music publishing company says a 59-year-old notebook that once belonged to the late country singer Hank Williams and is now in the hands of two collectors had been stolen from its offices. Sony/ATV Music Publishing officials say they learned it was missing only after a Chicago Sun-Times article detailed how the collectors acquired the notebook, which contains lyrics to several unpublished Williams songs and has a value as high as $250,000. The company filed a stolen property report with police on Sept. 20. Stephen Shutts and Robert Reynolds said they acquired the notebook this past summer after being contacted by an older Nashville-area woman last November. The two men run the Honky Tonk Hall of Fame, a traveling exhibit that includes among its 1,750 items a pair of Elvis' white underwear, circa 1970. Neither man is suspected of any role in a possible theft, though it's unclear if they might face penalties for possession of stolen property. The notebook remains in their possession.