When you forgive a misuse of public funds what do you get

More misspending. In what has got to be a case of sheer stupidity the Faulkner County Sheriff's office misspend much of the $86,000 in additional appropriations they received. Last month the F&A committee of the Quorum Court approved an $86,000 appropriation to get the department through the rest of the year. The money was intended for fuel and utilities, but a report of the department's budget revealed a balance of $20,540 in the fuel, oil and lube line item and $17,760 in utilities while other line items were in the negative, again.

Rachel Parker of the Log Cabin writes,

Justice of the Peace Catherin Blankenship said, "We gave them money they asked for to get by on fuel and utilities, and they spent it on other things."

JP Johnnie Wells said, "If this was my business somebody would have been fired."

Hutchens said the sheriff's office plans to set up a computer program to help track how much money is in each line item.

The committee discussed the legal ramifications of making the responsible employee reimburse the county if the department overspends. Hutchens said he will talk to the Association of Arkansas Counties to determine if any other counties have tried this method and what possible legal problems could arise. All purchase orders in the sheriff's office are signed by one or more members of the administrative staff, which includes Chief Deputy Steve Wallace, Lt. Jack Pike, Major Perry Wyse and Jail Administrator Bobby Brown.

The committee also discussed how to put the department's budget under closer scrutiny. They agreed the budget should be appropriated one quarter at a time rather than the full year's appropriation at once. Because there was no time to change the already-prepared budget, the full court passed the 2006 budget later Tuesday with the entire sheriff's office budget intact. Hutchens said the committee will later recommend lowering the appropriation to one quarter.

Hutchens will also keep an eye on the department's spending and notify the committee if any line item goes into the negative or if a large percentage is spent too early in the year, he said.

We could not agree more with JP Wells, someone, the now five horsemen, should be fired. Earlier this month we told you what the law says about misappropriation of funds, it is illegal and the penalty for it is, among other things, loss of employment. These people Pike, Wallace, Wyse, Brown, and Montgomery should be fired for their blatant disregard of the spending procedures and the law.

The people of this county deserve a full discloser for the sheriff's office spenting but all we get is the same old tired excuses and more empty promises from both the County Judge's office and the Sheriff's staff. "We handle too many PO's and there is too many people issuing them to keep up with but we are going to get on top of this by watching it better and use the computers to help us” is the same sort of crap we were fed last month.

Isn't it time for the Quorum Court, Prosecutor's office, and/or the State to end this madness? Quit giving them the benefit of the doubt and enforce the laws. . .

Damascus Keith Robinson has NOT been accused of any wrongdoing

Early reports said that Damascus' police chief, Keith Robinson, had been placed on administrative leave following the discovery of missing money at Damascus city hall. The news reports made it look as if Chief Robinson was somehow involved but as it turns out he was a victim of attack the whistle blower.

In true good ol boy fashion Robinson was suspended after he turned information over to the State’s Legislative Audit Division while the city’s clerk whom he accused remained employed.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Debra Hale-Shelton writes,

. . . Damascus Police Chief Keith Robinson, who reported the suspected wrongdoing, said it was he, not the city employee he accused, whom the City Council placed on administrative leave with pay.

“They [aldermen] told me they needed my badge and my keys to City Hall,” Robinson said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I felt somewhat betrayed because they had pretty much canned me and allowed [the employee ] to return to work.”

Mayor L.B. Pavatt, contacted Wednesday, declined to say why the chief was put on leave but said, “Nobody’s trying to do him in or anything like that.”

Pavatt also said he did not think Robinson was put on leave because he reported his findings to the state.

“Nothing has been decided on this,” the mayor said. “We don’t know anything. I couldn’t tell you whether there’s a dollar missing or not because I don’t know.”

Robinson said the problems were in the office of a specific city employee. Reached by telephone at City Hall, the employee named by Robinson declined to comment.

Robinson has since been offered a full-time position at the Department and no word has been given about the status of the accused clerk’s employment, meanwhile the investigation continues. . .

Conflicting reports

The Conway Police Department and the Arkansas State Police will handle the investigation into the shooting this past Friday while the deputies involved remain on administrative leave. In a Log Cabin follow-up Rachel Parker reveals more details into the shooting adding that the deputies had previously responded to the domestic disturbance that started this altercation. Parker writes,

"There's no questionable actions here on anybody's part," Pike said.

The deputies responded to a domestic disturbance at a Havens Lane home about 1:24 a.m. Friday. Less than an hour later they received word the suspect was on his way back with a gun.

Bell and Martin followed the suspect, Michael Tindoll, into the residence and ordered him to drop his weapon. When he did not comply, they fired on him with less-lethal ammunition. He fired on the deputies and hit both of them with shotgun pellets. Bell returned fire, hitting Tindoll in the side.

Tindoll started down a hallway towards a bedroom, when he was shot in the chest by a resident of the house.

Lt. Jack Pike's assertion that 'there is no questionable actions here' is a bit premature considering the investigation is still underway. We cannot help but wonder in this situation, a suspect refusing to drop his gun with potential hostages in a room just down the hall, why the deputies chose to use 'less-lethal ammunition'. It just doesn’t make sense and it put people’s lives in danger.

Another oddity about this story is KARK News 4’s report where a witness, Jon Noble, gives a conflicting account of this incident,

Neighbors said they heard it all.

"Then the cops voices got a little louder. Put the gun down! Don't do it Chris! Then I heard a boom. Then I heard their guns, pop, pop. Then I heard him again and I called 911 and they didn't even know there was gun fire going on yet," explained Jon Noble, neighbor.

If this account were accurate it would seem that Tindoll fired first which actually would make more sense but is in direct contradiction to what has been reported. Debra Hale-Shelton of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette confirms this in her story and adds,

Bell and Martin responded to a disturbance call at the house. By the
time they got there, Tindoll, who reportedly had broken into the home and
had a physical altercation with Sides, had gone to another residence to get
his 12-gauge shotgun. A person at that house called Sides’ girlfriend and
warned her that Tindoll was on his way back; she in turn notified the sheriff’s
office. Bell and Martin noticed Tindoll driving toward the house and followed
him.

”He jumped out and ran in the house, and they [the deputies] ran after
him,” Pike said.

At that point, Pike said, Tindoll fired his shotgun once, striking both
officers in the side. Bell returned fire with his service revolver, striking
Tindoll in the side, Pike said.

”The suspect turned and started back down the hall toward the girlfriend’s
room,” but Sides shot Tindoll in the chest. Tindoll was pronounced dead at
the scene.

Sides was not arrested, Pike said, because “he didn’t do anything wrong.”
”Mr. Sides did exactly what he should have done. ... He, along with our
officers, potentially saved the lives of other people in that house.”

We believe there are quite a few unanswered questions that need to be resolved before we commend these officers like why didn’t they stop Tindoll before he arrive back at his girlfriend’s house? After all at this point he was a possibly armed man who was reported to have broke into a residence about 30 mins before. Another questionable act would be the use of “the less-lethal” ammunition when people’s lives hang in the balance.

Things simply don’t make sense in this story but in typical ‘move along, nothing to see here’ form Lt. Pike says there were no questionable acts done by anyone. Yep, that’s who we need as sheriff, someone who will continue on in the fine traditions of our current one. One who advocates brandishing weapons and taking care of problems ourselves.

In the Line of Duty

Christmas is the time of the year when friends and families get together to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus, to spread joy and good cheer, and to exchange gifts to one another. This year two Faulkner County deputies should be extra thankful for the gifts that they receive.

This past Friday Sgt. Jason Bell and Deputy Wesley Martin responded to a call about a man with a gun at a residence south of Conway. At 1:55 a.m. the officers spotted Michael Tindoll, 27, of Conway, and followed him into the home of Melissa Weber, his ex-girlfriend, and John Sides Jr.

Log Cabin reporter Rachel Parker gives us the details according to Lt. Jack Pike, spokesman for the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office.

About 1:55 a.m., the officers spotted Tindoll and followed him to the home.
They followed him into the home and commanded him several times to put down his weapon, but he did not comply, Pike said.

The deputies fired two less-lethal rounds that hit Tindoll in the torso, but he still did not drop the shotgun, Pike said. Instead, he allegedly fired one shotgun blast, hitting both deputies with pellets. Bell returned fire, hitting Tindoll in the side.

Tindoll turned and started down the hall toward Weber's bedroom. Sides, who was in the bedroom, fired one shot from his own gun, hitting Tindoll in the chest, Pike said.

Three small children, ages two to four years old, were in the home during the domestic disturbance. One slept the whole time, Pike said.

It cannot be easy for an officer to have to shoot a suspect, especially one who was obviously distraught but in this case it appears that is was necessary. The two deputies involved do deserve our respect for putting their lives on the line and answering the call to duty.

However the deputies failed to protect the victims and owe a great deal of thanks to Mr Sides for doing what they were there to do. If he hadn't shot Tindoll we could have been reading the deaths of three children and two adults.

Pike's statement about the use of "less than lethal rounds" sort of implies it was done intentionally. If that was the case then it was a serious mistake. In real life it doesn't make sense to shoot a man with a gun in the arm or anywhere else that will give him an opportunity to return fire. Pike probably meant they missed when they failed to drop Tindoll with their first shots.

Back in the summer I had a talk with candidate for sheriff Karl Byrd who stressed the need for more training for the patrol officers because they are our front line of defense as well as the first link in the chain of prosecuting crimes. We could not agree more with candidate Byrd and this incident would seems to confirm his statement. Pike on the other hand acts as if we should be holding a parade for the 2 deputies.

…"We applaud their bravery, and their quick action no doubt resulted in saving the residents of the home," he said.

The officers will be off duty pending an investigation into the shooting. Pike said the sheriff's office has no reason to believe there was a violation of policy or misconduct on behalf of the officers…

For our sake we hope that these officers would learn from this and if something like this should happen again they would handle it differently. We wish these deputies a speedy recovery. . .

More money troubles at another law enforcement agency in Faulkner County

KTHV reports legislative auditors are investigating the books for the city of Damascus. The investigation is looking allegations of missing money at Damascus City Hall has led the suspension of Police Chief Keith Robinson. Although the amount of money missing wasn’t disclosed, legislative auditors have asked the state police to investigate.

This leaves us wondering why this case warrants a state police investigation and the Faulkner County Sheriff’s office’s wide spread and egregious misuse of funds didn’t. After all the sheriff’s office cannot properly document where over $18,000 was spent with county credit cards. Then there is Sheriff Montgomery’s admitted misuse of county money for his tuition and trip taking where the county paid for his family and their friends.

But wait almost all of that was reimbursed so it isn’t a crime, right? My advice to Police Chief Keith Robinson of Damascus is to repay the money that is allegedly missing and say “ops my bad, sorry it won’t happen again”, hey it worked for Sheriff Montgomery and staff. . .

Changes to this blog

We have added an easier and more anonymous way for you to send us comments. Check out the new form added to the right of this page right below the weather channel's script.

Coming up on Tuesday the 27th of this month the F&A committee will be the presenting the County's budget for 2006 to the Quorum Court. It should be interesting to see how the recent abuses have affected this process. We will also be looking for anything new from Attorney Jim Lane regarding his investigation into who owes what to the County.

For now we sit and wait for more news and will fill you in when it becomes available.

Credit card abuses in other counties, how do they compare

An interesting turn of events is going on down in Jefferson County at the Pine Bluff Police Dept. In September of this year an internal investigation revealed a misuse of gas credit cards within the PBPD.

Pine Bluff police spokesman Lt. Bob Rawlinson said that now former Police Chief Daniel Moses noticed an apparent excessive use of gas credit cards and initiated the investigation. The probe "noticed some ambiguities and identified that there was an excessive amount of gas usage," he said.

One officer, Kelvin Hadley, was placed on administrative leave without pay and demoted from sergeant to patrol officer during the investigation. Rawlinson said he did not know how long the investigation would last. The investigation has since been turned over to Prosecutor Steven B. Dalrymple, the State Police, and the Legislative Audit Committee.

The Pine Bluff Commercial reported on Friday the officer Hadley’s employment has now been terminated for this offense as the investigation continues. The report also gives more details into the firing of former Police Chief Daniel Moses.

Whitmore [of the Office of Professional Standards] suspended Hadley two days after Moses was suspended by the Civil Service Commission when allegations surfaced involving the improper use or calculation of sick leave, personal charges on a city issued gasoline credit card and personal use of a city vehicle for non-department business.

Moses was fired Oct. 11 after the commission said they felt the department "needed new leadership."

The similarities to our credit card misuses are astounding the only difference is that in Jefferson County they do not let credit card abuses slide without any penalties. We will not know how big the problem really is at the PBPD until the investigation is concluded but one thing is clear, the law mean business in Jefferson County.

The question still remains why are our Prosecutors, Judges, and Lawmakers not more like the ones in Jefferson County? Why isn’t more being done to our credit card abusers than simply recovery on the misspent funds? This really is sickening to see the level protection that is afforded in this county, is there no accountability for misuses of our money?

The only one fired at the Faulkner County Sheriff’s office was a deputy who talked about the misspending with another employee, the ones that actually abused the cards are still employed. Now they will argue that there wasn’t a spending policy set by the Sheriff, the County Judge’s office, or the Quorum Court that they violated. But there are state laws that define spending and cannot be argued away. Is the Good Ol’ Boy network really that powerful or will the voters have the last word?

We will be watching the outcome of the PBPD investigation to see where is goes and if more similarities arise. We also want to extend our thanks to a fellow watchdog that emailed us this story.

Join the club Pulaski County

KATV reports a group of citizens known as "County Jail Reform Now" are calling the situation at the Pulaski County Jail unacceptable.

Scott Miller spokesperson for the group says, "Essentially the jail is closed 100-percent of the time... Except for the most violent people. Essentially at this point, you're caught with a meth lab, you're back on the street immediately; you're not going to jail. Domestic battery cases in North Little Rock, you're back on the streets, you don't go to jail. This is an unacceptable condition."

Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines added, "This community, for its public safety, quality of life, has got to have a facility large enough that it can handle those who are charged or convicted of crimes to be able to have a place for them. Until we do that, we cannot guarantee our citizens that they have the kind of security they need and deserve from this community."

These problems are far too familiar for the residence of Faulkner County, we have endured years of an overcrowded jail that has led to the same situations. Criminal acts that have been either downplayed or ignored in favor of jail management.

While our new jail will be opening soon but that is of little consiquence to the victims of crime that received no help from the Sheriff because of our jail situation.

But it really should come as no surprise to the people in this county after all we have been hoodwinked for years. Made to believe the sheriff's office was doing it's best to protect its citizens. Meanwhile Sheriff Montgomery and staff were living high on the county dime while the law breakers are free to victimize the good people of this county.

We feel for the people of Pulaski County, living like we have is no picnic. At least it appears that some of their governing officials are trying to help.

Who is Donnie Owen and is he a candidate for County Judge?

This past Sunday the Arkansas Times Blog wrote a blog entry about sister blog on the City of Conway. While our story and the times entry was about the possibility of the Log Cabin Democrat being sold to Stephens Media the comments that resulted were inundated with talk of local politician, Donnie Owen, running for County Judge.

Currently the candidates for County Judge are State Rep. Preston Scroggin (D) and JP Catherin Blankenship (R). But most of the commenters feel that Owen will be a better choice and were actually begging him to run. Will Owen be a candidate for County Judge in the upcoming election, only time will tell.

In other news we have updated our elections and race for judge’s pages to include JP Blankenship candidacy. We have also made a copy of this blog in the blogspot.com realm; you can find both our projects there.

The three truths of Montgomery’s tuition payment

There has been a lot of talk about who is a fault for the illegal spending at the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office. While we believe this issue ultimately rest solely on the shoulders of Sheriff Montgomery, there still is culpability that needs to be shared at the County Judge's Office and with the Quorum Court.

Arkansas Code Title 14, section 14 – 1102 Exercise of powers by the County Judge says that all disbursements of county funds must be appropriated, used for what it was appropriated for, and signed off on by the County Judge's office. It further requires that there must be a sufficient appropriation available for the purpose of the disbursement. These laws do not allow for the Sheriff's office to make payments first then figure out where they go in the budget later. Yet this is a common practice used by the County Judge’s office and it allowed the problem to occur. This practice must change to comply with the law and to prevent misspending in the future.

Now let's look at Sheriff Montgomery's tuition payment that started the investigation last year. Last year JP Catherin Blankenship discovered a payment for the tuition of Sheriff Montgomery at UCA for his continuing education quest for a master's degree and brought it to the attention of the F&A committee.

This in turn sparked questions to Montgomery from local report, Rachel Parker, who called Montgomery at home for a statement. It was then that Montgomery told his first "truth" about this payment.

Montgomery admitted to authorizing his clerk, Margie Teal, to pay his personal tuition for him while he was out of town and upon his return he was to repay it. However no repayment was found and the Finance Committee of the Quorum Court wanted answers.

This type of payment is expressly prohibited by the state for at least 3 reasons. First it was not appropriated for or otherwise approved by the County, second, it is unlawful for the county to lend its credit to anyone, even the sheriff, and third and the most important law violation is found at A.C.A 14-14-1202 Ethics for county government officers and employees.

Paragraph (c)(1) Rules of Conduct. States that no officer or employee of county government shall be interested, either directly or indirectly, in any transaction made, authorized, or entered into on behalf of the county or an entity created by the county. Now having the county pay for your personal education even with the intent to repay it is an unethical violation of the rules of conduct and should be prosecuted. While the penalty is still just a misdemeanor it would still allow for the removal from office of the offender and allow for full restitution to be made, including the $13,000 legislative audit fee.

In the ensuing fire storm this issue raised we were offered the second "truth" about this payment. In an effort to avoid the legal ramifications of Montgomery authorizing the illegal payment Montgomery tells the Quorum Court he mistakenly used the wrong card. This spin was designed to cast sympathy on the sheriff and to try to get the Court to simply let him repay the money without any further action taken.

The Quorum Court however voted for an audit and a special prosecutor was appointed. This is when we get the third "truth" of this payment. Montgomery's attorney, Ralph Ohm, told Special Prosecutor Tabor that this tuition payment allowed Montgomery to "better perform his duties" as sheriff. While Tabor did not agree with this explanation he nonetheless accepted this offer and did not proceed down this path.

The real truth is that this payment is illegal and the citizens of this county did not receive justice for this crime. The really sad part is this is just one instance of an illegal payment directly tied to Montgomery, there are many, many more that have also gone overlooked. Tabor said it himself, "it is obvious to me the Sheriff incurred or authorized expenditures which should not have been approved or paid by the County."

Just another Good Ol' Boy getting away with everything short of murder. . .

Sunday News Stories

It is now official

We have 2 candidates for County Judge...

In yesterday’s Log Cabin it was announced JP Catherin Blankenship will seek the Republican party nomination for County Judge. Log Cabin staff writer, Rob O’Connor writes,

When asked why she is seeking the county judgeship, Blankenship said, "We must have strong leadership to develop supportive infrastructure needed to provide services and meet the needs of our citizens, and we must have vision to take Faulkner County into a new era in technology and economic development in one of the largest and most progressive counties in Arkansas."

Blankenship said long-range planning and long-term solutions are needed for the county.

"I don't want a Band-aid approach," she said.

Blankenship said she sees the county judge role as one of "listening, coordinating and seeing needs and bringing together resources and finding creative solutions."

JP Blankenship, wife of former Sheriff Bob Blankenship, has an impressive background in the local community and could bring much to the Judge’s office. It will be interesting to see how this race will plays out.

In other news

There is a rumor circulating in the local boards on a possible change of ownership at the Log Cabin. Speculations are that the Stephens Media Group is looking to buy the paper. The story can be found at our new sister blog http://cityofconway.blogspot.com/

Upcoming stories of interest

This week we will look into some of the specific spending infractions made by Sheriff Montgomery and what Title 14, Section 14 of the Arkansas Code says about them. We will also point out the three "truths" of the tuition payment Montgomery made.

Please stay tuned for more . . .

Possible new candidate for County Judge in 2006

Reliable sources tell us that JP Catherin Blankenship will be running for the County Judge's seat in the 2006 election.

JP Blankenship was the first to alert the F&A committee of the spending violations at the Sheriff's Office and has been in the media limelight lately regarding Sheriff Montgomery's misdoings.

We emailed JP Blankenship for a comment on her possible upcoming campaign for County Judge but haven't received any response. As soon as we know more we will post it.

Things are starting to heat up in the upcoming election.

More investigation required. . .

At the start of last night's F & A meeting JP Diana Keller asked HG Foster to address the committee regarding the Legislative Audit Report. Foster proceeded by explaining that recommendations made by a legislative audit cannot be ignored and the committee must act on them. However his office still has a conflict of interest as stated by the court and special prosecutor Tabor's job was completed. He added that the county's house counsel, Mike Rainwater, also would have a conflict due to pending litigation so that leaves no one for the county to use as counsel. Foster goes on to say after speaking with the County Judge they have come up with an alternative, Foster recommended the committee use local attorney Jim Lane.

Attorney Jim Lane then introduced himself to the committee and gave his opinion on how the investigation should proceed. Lane said the audit contains 8 very specific recommendations that must be acted on and the best way to proceed is to hire a retired legislative auditor or somebody how has worked with a state audit before to compile the data. This person would break down all the questionable purchases into who owes what so that he could better advise the committee on the how to seek reimbursement. The committee voted unanimously to use attorney Lane.

The money to hire Lane will come out of the County Judge's budget under an administrative account. This raised the question of could the county add these fees to the money owed by the abusers of the credit cards? Foster say theoretically it's possible but Lane added since their action will be in civil court it could only be done if a Judge orders it so, but how it would be split up between the parties would be an issue. So the bottom line would be it looks like we the taxpayers are going to foot this bill as well.

What about the other years where misspending occurred was addressed too by Lane who said the committee would have to decide at some point if they wanted to go down that road. He said that an audit of previous years to uncover misspending would cost anywhere from 13,000 to 40,000 or more and it might not be cost effective.

So the bottom line is not only are no criminal charges are being looked at in any of this we the tax payers are going to be out more money to pay for another attorney to take another 3-6 months before any recovery is sought. And if we want to know how much we are really owed by the 4 horsemen, Montgomery, Pike, Wallace, and Wise, we are going to have to spend more money.

Isn't our government grand? Where else can a person misspend thousands of dollars, get caught, and still keep their job. What a wonderful message this all sends, as long as you are well connected you can get away with anything. I say enough is enough, let's end this cycle of protecting the good ol' boy politician and those loyal underlings who abuse their positions. I have updated the election page at my site to include contact information for our local government personnel. If you are so motivated call them and complain, tell them that enough is enough, we demand accountability in government. If they won’t listen then show them at the polls how serious we are about this effort.

Letter to Judge Clawson

On Tuesday this week the Finance committee will meet to discuss, among other things, the recommendations made in the Legislative Audit report that showed thousands in misspend tax dollars. Special Prosecutor Stephen Tabor of Sebastian County said in a letter to District Judge Charles Clawson that he doesn't feel charges should be brought even though there is "ample evidence to arouse suspicion" in this case. I recently got a copy of this letter and posted at our website. http://www.fcso.info/tabor.doc

What I find interesting in this letter is the second paragraph where Tabor details how he did his review in this case. Tabor reviewed the file, met with the investigators, met with an unnamed attorney who represented Sheriff Montgomery, then read the report again to make sure.

During the course of my review, I not only reviewed the file, but also met with Mr. McQuary, Special Investigator Mike Richard and representatives from the Auditor's Office. I also met with an attorney representing Sheriff Montgomery to receive any explanations he might have to offer. I then reviewed the file yet again to insure I was confident in my decision.

Now in reading the rest of the letter it would appear that this unnamed attorney had a hand in the writing of it. Statements like "there is clear evidence of theft or fraudulent use of credit cards" and "Sheriff incurred or authorized expenditures which should not have been approved or paid by the County" but none of these are considered to be crimes committed by Sheriff Montgomery. And that was just on the first page.

In the remainder of this letter Tabor goes on to explain away all of the other misdeeds much in the same way a defense attorney would before a jury. Instead of aggressively prosecuting this crime against the people of this county Tabor offers, Montgomery says the expenses were "job related". Even on the tuition issue Tabor backs away because Montgomery said it allowed him to better perform his duties. Never mind the fact that it has already been established as a personal expense and was repaid after it was discovered.

Clearly Special Prosecutor Tabor was not an aggressive advocate for the people but rather just another politician protecting our good ol' boy Sheriff Marty Montgomery. I think we should all email Mr. Tabor with our disgust at his disregard for the people of Faulkner County. You can reach him at stevetabor@co.sebastian.ar.us

Happy Holidays

In the next coming weeks look for us to publish Prosecutor Tabor's letter to Judge Clawson detailing improprieties within the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office along with a lot of reasons why charges shouldn't be filed, and we always thought that prosecutors were suppose to find reasons to prosecute not the other way around.

On the back burner is the Scott Crow case, we have found some interesting differences in what is told to the court and what was told to the press years ago when the county voted on a justice sales tax to fund the new jail.

Also upcoming next month is the opening on the new jail and time for the Quorum Court to set the new budgets for all county departments. It will quite interesting to see how these allegations of illegal spending are going to affect this process. We hope the Finance Committee will take the appropriate action and use it to better control how our money is spent. One just has to look a few miles south and see how important controlling spending is these days. We cannot afford to be lax in this area less we suffer the same fate as Pulaski County residences. All in all it should be interesting to see what transpires this next month and the upcoming new year.

Happy Holidays from all of us here at FCSO.INFO, we sincerely wish everyone well.

The voters are watching

WAi radio personality Pat Lynch has been looking at Montgomery's misspending and says at his blog that a few years ago Attorney General Steve Clark was convicted of the allegation,

http://lynchlarge.blogspot.com/2005/11/faulkner-county-follies.html

Despite a seemingly ineffective special prosecutor investigation by Stephen Tabor of Fort Smith, state auditors have unearthed significant amounts of money owed the county. Unfortunately, the usually diligent Log Cabin Democrat fails to outline the improprieties with the same detail as the Democrat-Gazette report. These are numbers well over 30k. Many county employees, including the sheriff Marty Montgomery, are named in the earlier report.

A few years ago, Arkansas Attorney General Steve Clark was run out of office, criminally prosecuted, subjected to a fine, and deprived of his law license because of similar allegations.

I looked up Former AG Clark's offense and found in January 1990 Clark aborted a campaign for Governor after an Arkansas Gazette report that his office had spent $115,000 in travel and meals, sometimes with false documentation and was later charged with felony theft. In November that same year Clark was convicted of wrongfully charging less than $2,500 for personal use. He resigned as attorney general.

In Special Prosecutor Tabor's letter to Judge Clawson he says, among other things, There were a number of other charges in which the Sheriff charged clearly personal expenditure on the Department Credit card and then made reimbursements for those expenses.

But Montgomery faces no charges of wrong doing even though that very practice is against constitutional law. The worse part about this is that Montgomery readily admits that he has done these very things throughout his nine years in office. Who knows how much money was really misspent. The people of Faulkner County need a full ASP investigation, anything less is an insult to the people of this county.

I'd say that the District Judges, Prosecuting Attorneys, County Judge, and Quorum Court members of this county need to be advised, the voters are watching. . .

Lunacy and hypocrisy

Lunacy and hypocrisy is the only thing that can be said about why charges are not being sought against Sheriff Montgomery and his administrative staff. It kind of reminds me of the theme from the Dukes of Hazard expect for a few changes. Instead of "been in trouble with the law since the day they were born" it would be "been breaking the law since the day they took office". But from the latest report from KTHV it would seem that the media is trying to sell us the line "just good ole boys, never meaning no harm", I for one am not buying it.

In the follow up report by reporter Todd Wilson, who incidentally would not respond to my emails, Sheriff Marty Montgomery is quoted saying, "I have not violated any state law or policy. I've operated like this for nine years, and I don't understand why now it isn't okay." Montgomery readily admits to doing the very kinds of things that has caused this issue for the entirety of his time in office.

And if that wasn’t enough Kim Williams of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee blames much of problems on a lack of policy. And says that can't be blamed on Sheriff Marty Montgomery, but rather on the county quorum court for not setting a policy. That is simply ludicrous, the Quorum Court sets the budget and each department head is responsible for how that money is distributed. That logic would be equivalent to a person getting a loan for a new home and then buying a car instead, would the bank be responsible?

Now we all know that what Montgomery is accused of is morally and ethically wrong but what does the law really say about this. The elements of theft of property are set forth in A.C.A. § 5-36-103 and say that a person commits theft of property if he knowingly takes or exercises unauthorized control over, or makes an unauthorized transfer of an interest in, the property of another person. I cannot see how this does not fit this situation.

In the Supreme Court of Arkansas Opinion delivered May 13, 1999, Brian Alan HODGES v. Jody LAMORA, Myron Lamora, Gary Grimes, and Jim Rush (99-47 S.W.2d) the justices say the taxpayers are the equitable owners of all funds collected by a government and, in most of the cases, are liable to replenish the funds exhausted by a misapplication or wrongful payment. So when the Montgomery took family members and friends to those conferences and used our money to fund it, he stole our property. The Quorum Court and the people of Faulkner County did not give him the authority to use these funds for that purpose so therefore according to the law this is an unauthorized use and constitutes theft.

Another element of the crime that must be decided is did Montgomery know this was an unauthorized payment? In criminal cases ignorance of the law is not a defense that can be used by an offender and the courts have routinely ruled that if a person should have reasonably known that his act was against the law then it meets the requirements of a knowing act. So according to the law not only did Montgomery steal my and your money by taking friends and family on business trips we paid for but he knew it was wrong and should be charged with the crimes he has committed.

The hypocrisy of it all is the most disturbing thing about this. Right now there are probably people in jail or are going to jail for the same crime but Sheriff Marty Montgomery is above the law and does not have to share the same fate. The only question that remains is are we going to sit back and do nothing about it? Or are we going to make our anger known by removing these "good ole boys" from office.

We should all call our JPs and demand a state police investigation to look into not only how much money has been misspent over to past nine years but also look into charges of theft and fraud. Tell your JP we want our money back and an example made so that future acts of theft and fraud might be adverted.