Spending is again a problem at the FCSO.

At the last F & A Committee meeting committee members met to start the budget process for next year's budgets just as they do every year at this time. This year however more problems arose when the committee reviewed spending at the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office.

Log Cabin Reporter Daniel Doyle reported that the F & A committee "grappled with the jail spending" once again. If you recall this is the department whose head, Kyle Kelley, resigned in the middle of an investigation into illegal spending. An investigation where a special prosecutor found what he called "egregious incidents of theft and fraud" but due to the limited scope of investigation issued by circuit Judge Charles Clawson, Jr. no charges were filed and no money was recovered.

This latest problem however is one of inadequate record keeping. Apparently members of the sheriff's staff hadn't calculated some of the November appropriations before presenting it to the committee. Doyle writes,

Secretary Mike Hutchens was so frustrated he called it "stupid" that sheriff's officials hadn't calculated certain FCSO appropriations for November's monthly finance ordinance.

"What we were supposed to be doing tonight were normal appropriations, like at any other F&A meeting," Hutchens said. "There's so much to go through, I'm not even sure right at the moment what to say as far as 'what went on.'

It is amazing that after more that 2 years of spending problems at the department they still cannot manage to balance their checkbook so to speak. We think this is one of the biggest problems that led to the theft of taxpayer's money, inadequate controls on spending.

We had a discussion with Chief Deputy Steve Wallace about the departments spending procedures shortly after the helicopter purchase was announced. We asked Wallace if it was a common practice to split purchases between two different departments and his reply was shocking to say the least.

According to Wallace the sheriff's office is in charge of seven different budgets with similar line item appropriations set up in each department. If they don't have enough money in one then they arbitrarily take money from another without any approval by the quorum court. According to the law this is illegal. The law states that all funds must be spent as they are appropriated, this means that if 5,000 is appropriated to the Emergency Squad for fuel it must be spent for fuel in that department. The only way for this money to be spent by other departments is by a re-appropriation by the court.

Wallace claims that his office has no other choice in the matter. We see this as wrong, their only legal choice is to go to the Finance committee, that meets once a month, and request more money. This is how the system is supposed to work. Judging by the lack of proper record keeping we say that they are not even aware of overspending until after the fact. This 'procedure' must change in order to protect us from misspending.

We had a talk with Sheriff-elect Karl Byrd who tells us one of his first priorities will be hiring a fiscal control officer whose job it will be to make sure spending is done properly. Byrd will be asking the Quorum Court for this officer as soon as he takes office. It is our hope that the JP's heed his request for the protection of our tax dollars.

The County pays a sheriff's deputy $6,200 for a vehicle in violation of the law.

The latest Legislative Audit report is finally published and it reveals another spending violation at the Sheriff's Office. Ark. Code Ann. § 14-14-1202 states that no officer or employee of county government shall be interested in any transaction made by the county unless the quorum court previously approved that purchase.

According to the report Deputy Jake (Jack?) Pike was paid $6,200 for a vehicle in apparent direct violation of this law. The Auditors recommend action be taken by the Prosecuting attorney's office.

In reading this report we have a few questions and concerns about it. First it was dated August 31, 2006 yet it was not made public until recently. What is the reason for this delay? Secondly is an investigation ongoing into this misspending? Or will this just me another case where the law will be overlooked for another member of the good old boy system.

With Sheriff Montgomery's time in office quickly coming to an end we the citizens of this county must wonder how much more misspending will be uncovered. We also have to wonder how much more misspending is yet to come as his term ends.

The citizens of this state desperately need better laws that will punish these offenses, we need to make these kinds of crimes a felony that are prosecutable at the state level. But what can we do about it you ask? You can call or write your local State Senator or Representative and ask them to sponsor a drafted bill, MBM516, that will make the misspending of public money a felony. As we see it this is our only chance of preventing further misspending.

Byrd is the word!

There is going to be a new sheriff in town and there is every indication he is going to be a good one. State Police Investigator Karl Byrd defeated Ret. State Police Major Jim Elliott last night by an unofficial margin on 3174 votes.

We had a chance to catch up to sheriff elect Byrd at his watch party last night and he told us he’s looking forward for the opportunity to make the sheriff’s office a more progressive law enforcement agency.

Byrd also took the opportunity to introduce us to who he will be naming Chief Deputy once he takes office, Ret. State Police Lt. Jerry Gross of Conway.

We must say that we too are looking forward to the changes Byrd has in store for the people of Faulkner County. Who knows with a lot of hard work and a lot dedication Karl Byrd just might succeed in making a department that even we’d be proud of…

Good Luck Karl.

Get out and vote

Today is the day for many important races in this county. We will be at the Karl Byrd / Preston Scroggin watch party tonight after 8:00 pm. We will hopefully be updating the results in these races at our site. Visit our election page for these results.

The future of this county is now in your hands, please get out and vote if you have not already done so.

Do the math. . .

There has been a lot of talk in the county about the delinquent fines and how to collect them. So much so that it has become a campaign issue for the candidates for sheriff, Democrat Karl Byrd and Republican Jim Elliott.

At a recent political forum hosted by the Faulkner County Leadership Institute and the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce these candidate squared off on this issue. David Keith, moderator the event, asked both candidates what they would do to collect outstanding fines and debts owed to the county. Log Cabin reporter Rachel Parker, who covered the event, wrote this about they responses:

Elliott said he wants to address the issue immediately and begin serving arrest warrants, now that the new jail is finished. Once the county begins arresting people for unpaid fines, others may come forward voluntarily to pay, he said.

Byrd said he would look at other options besides incarcerating the offenders because jail space is needed for violent offenders. He said he would work with judges and attorneys to look into putting liens on offenders' property and garnishing their paychecks.

Now before we examine these approaches to the problem lets see how bad the problem really is. Currently there are 3,437 people owing a total of $10,004,416 in delinquent fines. If that wasn't enough we also have to consider the 11,287 outstanding misdemeanor warrants and 6,437 outstanding felony warrants. To say the least we are way behind. Criminals in this county seem to have the upper hand while our law enforcement and judicial officials are drowning in this sea of growing numbers. Clearly something must be done to alleviate this problem.

Now let's look at the candidates solutions to this growing problem. Elliott says he wants to immediately start incarcerating these delinquent offenders for non-compliance and hope others come forward and pay. While this idea sounds reasonable at first, let's just put 'em in jail, that'll learn 'em, but considering the limited jail space this idea has many faults. Besides shaming them into compliance by publishing their names hasn't worked, scaring them into compliance will not work either. Wishing and hoping has already been done with very poor results, Elliott really missed the mark on this one.

Byrd's idea however shows some real promise. Byrd wants the county to hire an attorney on salary who does nothing more than go after these delinquents by attaching liens to their properties, garnishing wages, and garnishing tax returns. While this idea sounds like what Within Sight Collections was trying to do however it differs in one very important way, all the money collected will go to the county rather than a percentage of it. The law says that a portion of all fines must go to the court and that portion cannot be used for any other purpose. This means that a collection agency cannot claim any part of the court's money.

In Byrd's plan all the money goes to it's rightful place while the county pays only for the attorney's salary, additional court costs and fees would be attached to the fine holder's balance. Another advantage to this plan would be it does not put any extra burden on the jails helping them remain open, the last thing we need is to fill them up once again with non-compliant fine holders. Byrd wins this one with some creative thinking.

Deputy Stabbed, Suspect Shot

Breaking News: A Faulkner County Deputy was transported by helicopter to a Little Rock Hospital after being stabbed several times while serving court papers to a Conway man. Donald Jones, who is alleged to have caused several knife wounds to the Deputy, was shot during the altercation.

The condition of both men remains unclear at the time of this post. We will update you when information becomes available.

Update: Faulkner County Sheriff's Deputy Dalton Elliott and his unidentified partner were serving suspect 21 year-old Donald Jones with an order to go before a judge for a psychological evaluation when Jones allegedly attack them. Deputy Elliott reportedly received several knife wounds before his partner was able to shoot Jones. Both the suspect and deputy Elliott are in stable condition.

Elliot has been at the sheriff’s office for 6 years. We all wish him a fast recovery.

* Photo courtesy of the Log Cabin Democrat.

Sheriff Montgomery, one class act

First we'd like to apologize to our readers. We have been dealing with some personal issues and haven't posted in over a month. As a result we have some catching up to do, so here it goes. . .
 
Earlier this month the new jail opened and is now housing inmates as we understand it, it's about time that this project was finished. The opening of our new facility sparked a new resolve by the county, pay up or get locked up.
 
County Administrator Mike Hutchens said recently in an interview in the ADG,  "If you owe money on fines when that jail opens, they're not going to send you back home [from court]; you're going to jail," Administrator Mike Hutchens. "All these people have kind of been sliding" because of a lack of jail space. But now, he said, "There's getting ready to be room for a lot of people." Of course the jail is now open but we haven't heard if it has effected the collection of delinquent fines yet.
 
We do know of one person in particular who is still sliding by on his fines. Our neighbor, Hank Turknett, not only has refused paying his fines, he has also refuses to pay his restitution for his 2004 assault conviction. We will be watching with baited breath to see if this new jail space will mean jail time for this particular deadbeat.
 
Another good thing about the new jail's opening is now criminals can be put in jail for their crimes, at least for a little while (the new jail is going to fill up fast). One deputy shared his thoughts on this with the ADG in the same article.
 
"I can't tell you how frustrating it is to pick up someone and be told just give them a ticket and let them go when you know" the offender will likely break the law again, said Lt. Rick Beavers, Even with the extra space, "it's not going to be very long before they're full."
 
It's nice to see that they have finally started admitting publicly that the crowded jail has allowed crimes to go unpunished and fines to go uncollected. It looks like things are finally starting to look up for the sheriff's office. That is until Sheriff Marty Montgomery raised his ‘less than perfect' head back into the spotlight.
 
After many months of laying low Sheriff Montgomery emerges from his public silence still claiming he did nothing wrong. Montgomery told members of the Quorum Court he has no intentions of repaying the money he spent for his tuition payment. A payment that has already been determined to be illegal by auditors for the state, a special prosecutor however decided not to charge Montgomery for this illegal expenditure.
 
Montgomery said "all classes were approved as necessary and beneficial according to the guidelines of our policy and procedure manual. Therefore, I have no intention of reimbursing Faulkner County for any of those charges". How convenient is this, who exactly determined the classes were necessary and beneficial? The Sheriff? His lawyer? It sure wasn't the taxpayer.
The funny thing about this tuition payment is that at the time Montgomery made it he knew it was wrong because he told a clerk he'd repay it. And if it was a legal payment then why wasn't there more of them? The fact is this is simply spin designed to get Montgomery out of hot water, and it worked. The Quorum Court voted not to proceed with the collection of this illegal tuition payment citing the legal cost involved.

We cannot agree with the Quorum Court on this matter. Their failure to enforce the state's spending procedures leaves the door open for other such illegal actions. A possible example of such an illegal payment is the sheriff's recent purchase of the Bell OH58 helicopter.

Once again Montgomery arrogantly side steps the accepted and legal spending policies set forth by the state to purchase a 38-year old dinosaur of an aircraft without the approval of the Quorum Court. The QC and its Finance Committee are supposed to be the taxpayer's representatives who manage and oversees the spending of the county's money. They are our only line of defense in protecting the county from bankruptcy. It is their duty to decide what we spend our money on. Montgomery's unwillingness to work with the QC can only hurt a department he's spent the last 10 years running.

The county could very well benefit from the addition of a helicopter but only if we can afford to maintain and fly it. Even if you take Montgomery's figures of $200 to $250 per hour multiplied by the 100 hours per year estimated usage that comes to $20,000 to $25,000 per year. We are told by members of the F&A committee that there's no room in the budget for that expense. The overall costs to the county to maintain this aircraft will be far greater than Montgomery is letting on. Then there is the issuance payments to be considered as well as any cost involved making sure we have FAA approved pilots and mechanics.

The bottom line here is the selfish, arrogant, and vindictive way this purchase was made. Montgomery demonstrates once again what a class act he is. One step forward two steps back must be a favorite phrase of Montgomery. The truly scary part of this is what's next for Montgomery to spend our money on, a new fleet of patrol cars? New Computers for the Sheriff's Office? If he can purchase a helicopter without approval why not buy these items? After why should he care, he's not going to be in charge next year, the budget's not going to be his problem. The JP's and the County Judge's office really needs to tighten the reigns on Montgomery before we are on the hook for thousands of dollars we can't pay for.

New Police Officers for Conway

The Conway City Council approved 6 new police officers for the CPD this past Tuesday. The department will have 103 sworn officers after the addition of these new hires. Conway Police Chief Randall Aragon says the new officers were greatly needed by the community.
 
"Calls to service went up five percent from 2004 to 2005. In 2005 we had about 30,024 calls," he told Log Cabin reporter Stefanie Sampson. "Let's prevent that bicycle from being stolen and come up with a solution to prevent future crimes," adds Aragon.
 
The department is focusing their efforts on community policing to make the streets of Conway safer. The addition of the officers will give the department just below two officers per thousand citizens, a ratio that is comparable to cities of this size, according to Aragon.
 
Police also say that both violent and property crimes in Conway were up between 6 and 7 percent in 2005 matching a disturbing trend that is plaguing the law enforcement community all across the state. The addition of these new officers coupled with a restructure on roles within the CPD is the department's proactive attempt to stop this trend.

This philosophy is needed at the county level of law enforcement as well. For far too long the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office has been focusing mainly on reacting to crime rather that trying to prevent it. In far too many cases this reaction has come too little, too late leaving victims out in the cold with justice simply out of their reach. A push for more deputies and a more proactive approach to law enforcement is what the new sheriff needs to bring to the department.

The next question will be how to fund this, one way might be the massive delinquent fines the courts are owed. At last check there was an outstanding balance of more that 9.8 million dollars in delinquent fines. In the recent past the county has tried to address this problem by spending thousands of dollars printing the names of the offenders owing fines in the paper, this approach has failed and the fines remain unpaid.

Prior to this idea the Quorum Court rejected a plan to use a collection ageny that was offered by a local company, Within Sight, opting to have the sheriff's office handle this when the new jail opens. But this plan holds little chance of success when you consider the new jail is rated for less than 275 inmates and there are over 3000 people owing fines.

We emailed Chief Aragon about his recent time in the media spotlight. We wanted to remind him that the county's jail and fine collection problems have an affect on the city's crime rate, after all the county's judicial and incarceration systems are used by the city. Chief Aragon stated he is in favor of the collection agency plan and he plans on talking to his JP about adopting the program.

Aragon said, "I support (and have expressed such) your commentary on the collection agency issue and would hope that the county adopts that program; which is used nationally for collecting traffic ticket fines, etc."

It is time once again to revisit a collection agency plan for collecting the delinquent fines.

This Week's Stories

Stories from around the county this week include the following:

Greenbrier: A Greenbrier man facing charges for possession of a meth-lab admits to investigators that he has cooked methamphetamine while out on bond but remains free.

In April of this year William Dean Hamrick, 30, of Greenbrier was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture methamphetamine after authorities were call to his home to put out a fire. But due to an overcrowded jail Hamrick was released on a sheriff's bond.

Since that time authorities have received information that Hamrick may be continuing to produce methamphetamine. This past Sunday investigators had a chance to talk to him about this information after Hamrick was stopped for traffic violation in Greenbrier.

Upon interrogation Hamrick readily admits that he has continued to produce methamphetamine in a lab outside this county's jurisdiction and bringing the portions of the lab back to his Greenbrier home. Authorities were given permission to search his shop but found no evidence to corroborate his claims so as a result they let him go.

Now at the time of Hamrick's release in April he signed a standard release form that states he is to uphold the laws of the state while out on bond or risk having his bond revoked. Since that time he has been charged with a number of misdemeanor crimes some of which are resisting arrest and fleeing. And now he admits to producing more methamphetamine and is not behind bars.

Hamrick is one lucky man, lucky to be out of jail on bond to continue his criminal activities. We wonder how much methamphetamine he made while he was out on bond.

Conway: Faulkner County authorities rescue 32 dogs from a residence in the county after receiving a tip that their owner neglected them. Two different stories were recently published about this case of neglect. Here is what KTHV reporter Stefanie Bryant reported,

[Faulkner Co. Humane Society Executive Director] Cheryl Belazs describes what they saw in the home when they rescued the animals, "There were inches of feces covering the entire property especially indoors. A lot of the dogs did have medical conditions and were really living in unacceptable conditions."

According to Belazs, they were living at the home with the owner, who she calls a collector orhoarder. "Collecting or hoarding is where people take on exorbitant numbers of animals thinking that they're saving them and often they're not able to take care of them."

She says it's a mental condition that eventually takes over.

The owner has not been charged because the animals were being fed and given water.

Currently there is no law in the county on how many animals can be kept at the home. Faulkner County Quorum Court Member Jerry Park says, "I would like to at some point have an ordinance in place so that we can step in, the county with the county humane officer to do just that."

Park says they first want to find a place for the animals, like building an appropriate shelter. All of that costs money and could mean a tax.

Park continues, "I don't know any other way to do it. Anytime you start mentioning tax people get up in arms about it and you say you really can't blame them."

In all, 18 dogs survived. With a little training and love, Belazs says these dogs will make great pets. "They're still available and are being taken care of at various houses until they're well enough to be adopted."

No word on what will happen with the owner.
The Humane society met with the Quorum court on what action should be taken, including making sure the property is cleaned up.

13 dogs are still available for adoption. If you would like one, you can contact the Faulkner County Humane Society at 501-329-2361.

The new jail opening has also been in the TV news media spotlight of late. KATV reports,

Conway (AP) - Officials in Faulkner County are preparing to open the county's new jail. The $6 million jail will have room for 158 inmates. Jail managers are making a few minor fixes before they can start training guards and other staff.

Workers are to install flooring at the jail on July 6 and jailers will be able to train about one week after the floors are complete. Officials say the jail should be ready for inmates the first week in August.

We however remember a Log Cabin article that places the maximum number of inmates at 274. Also from KATV we read that a high crime rate, especially for the crime of murder, is being blamed on a crowded Pulaski County Jail. Imagine that, a overcrowded jail can lead to a higher crime rate, where have we heard that before.

Coming up in later editions of this blog will be the warrant process. We have a nearly 1 million dollar computer networking system (AIJIS) but it still takes about three working days to process a Failure to Appear Warrant.

New Jail is again the topic

In this past Tuesday's Quorum Court Meeting there were some changes discussed there too. In a previous meeting JP Dan Thessing had moved that the court name the new jail after former JP Ann Harrell. On Tuesday Thessing wanted to have Harrell's name removed from consideration. The Court agreed and voted in favor of Thessing's newest motion. Thessing said they would find a more appropriate way to honor former JP Harrell. Could the recent problems and the extensive delays cause this action? Probably.

Speaking of the new jail, Sergeant Glen Wilcox addressed the issue of problems with the completion of the new jail in a letter addressed Major Bobby Brown, jail administrator. County Administrator Mike Hutchens read the contents of this letter to the court. It seems there are a few more problems that have to be addressed before the new floor sealant can begin.

Computer problems with three doors and a generator enunciator top the short list of remaining problems that are to be fixed before the flooring crew can begin; Wilcox estimates the jail will open the first week of August.

JP Jimmy Bryant addressed the court and members of the media to clear up what he called a misunderstanding on the part of some citizens of the county. Bryant says he understands that some people believe that the cost of the repairs being done to the jail is costing the county revenue.

"The builder is paying for the repairs to the detention center," Bryant said.


We here at the FCSO.INFO blog would like to again add that the costs the county is experiencing in the delayed opening of the new jail isn't about what the county is spending but more about what the county is losing. The ability to collect fines and to house inmates is being hindered by these delays. With a 9.8 million dollar debt owed to the county and people out on sheriff's bonds free to continue their illegal activities we maintain that these delays are costing us plenty.

All is not lost

We are back once again. The FCSO.INFO server is back online and ready to go...

Server Down, looking for a new host

Our web host has failed us again, the FCSO.INFO site is down and possibly lost. We are looking for a new host and will be rebuilding our main site as soon as possible. In the meantime look for new post here.

Thank you for your patience while we rebuild.

If I pay it back is it still a crime?

This is a great state to live and work, especially if you are an employee or an elected official of the state. In yet another case of egregious misuse of public funds the alleged offender apparently will not face criminal charges. John Harris director of the Arkansas Board of Architects is accused of receiving more than $100,000 in unauthorized travel reimbursements and falsified some travel records but faces nothing more than public embarrassment, according to Rep. Jim Medley, R-Fort Smith

On March 1st Harris resigned his post at the Board of Architects and has repaid over $100,000 in misspend tax dollars but admits no intentional wrongdoing. In an Associated Press article writer Andrew DeMillo writes,

"Despite the fact that Mr. Harris disputes any contention that he owes money to, or that he intentionally committed any wrongdoing, he has now reimbursed the state for all the sums the Legislative Audit contends are due,"Little Rock lawyer Patrick R. James wrote in the letter.

James added, "We understand the payment of these sums brings this matter to an end."

In this county you may remember special prosecutors finding egregious incidents of theft and fraud and in similar fashion no charges were filed. Is there no accountability or criminal liability for state employee's or elected officials?

Fortunately for us taxpayers this latest case of abuse got their attention and has raised their awareness of the problem. Senator Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia was reported saying,

"This is the most egregious situation I've seen since I've been a legislator. This is a whole lot of money, and there's a whole lot of questions left.

[. . . ]

What we've created in Arkansas ... is a situation where you can rob a bank and if you get caught, all you have to do is pay it back,"Malone said.

Rep. Jim Medley, R-Fort Smith adds, "About all the leverage we have is some sort of public outcry when something like this happens."

These sentiments are likely shared by most, if not all, of us taxpayers. It is down right outrageous that an elected or an appointed official can get away with misusing public money. All one has to do, if he gets caught is claim ignorance and repay the funds. This does nothing to deter future acts of misuse, what we need are actual laws that make this kind of activity illegal.

If you have read this site's support us page you'd see that new legislation making the misuse of public funds a crime is in the works. Thanks to Rep. Preston Scroggin, D-Vilonia, a new bill will be introduced at the 2007 legislative session that, if passed, will make the misuse of public funds a felony in cases like this one.

With any luck, and help from you and the mainstream media, we can get this passed into law to help prosecutors stop these kinds of abuses.

Be watching for this proposed legislation in Feb 2007…

Winning the Meth War, is it possible

Can the war against methamphetamine really be won? That remains to be seen. In a case that is far too close to us we are seeing some of the difficulties involved. In our last post we told you about the suspected meth lab located next door.

Out on a sheriff's bond because of an overcrowded jail this alleged offender is free to keep up his criminal activities if he chooses to do so. And as addictive as methamphetamine is there is a real possibility of that happening.

For years now this county has seen quite a few problems involving an overcrowded jail, problems that affect many of use law-abiding citizens in one way or another. Everything from poor inmate care that has lead to many lawsuits, to criminal offenders walking the streets free because the jail is closed, to court ordered fines and restitution going collected again because the jail is closed.

To make matters worse we have the still growing problem of methamphetamine, the biggest illegal drug menace in America. Here in Arkansas the number of people seeking treatment at more than 200 publicly funded treatment centers across the state has risen. In 2004, the number of meth admissions was a little more than 5,000 people. By 2005 that number has grown to more than 6,700.

The number of meth arrest also doubled during roughly the same period. The state of Utah is the only state that matches Arkansas's 100% increase in the number of meth arrests. In June 2005 a National Association of Counties survey of 500 law enforcement agencies showed Arkansas and Utah as the only states where meth-related arrests went up 100 percent over the past 12 months.

With these kinds of increases coupled with the overcrowded conditions of the prisons and county jails in this state it doesn't appear that the battle against meth is being won. The war against this epidemic is not over yet however. New laws regulating the sale of cold pills and programs like criminal nuisance abatement are helping communities fight this war.

One such program is working in the city of North Little Rock. The S.A.F.E. (Support, Abatement, Fines and Enforcement) team was designed to be a comprehensive criminal nuisance abatement program that allows cities to fight crime by utilizing civil laws to shutdown crack houses, meth-labs, and properties that are havens for criminal activity. Under this program landlords are giving incentives (support) to improve their property or legal action against the non-compliant tenants and landlords will be taken.

Members of the 20th District Drug Task Force have recently been backing a proposal for a criminal nuisance abatement ordinance in the city of Conway and would like to see it at the county level as well. Speaking as a county resident who had and quite possible still has a meth lab literally right next door we think this is a good idea. You should too, after all with the increases in meth related arrests we have seen lately how long do you think it will take before a meth lab is built next door to your home? Assuming that one isn't there already, of course.

Can the war against methamphetamine really be won? Only with a concerted effort on the part of federal, state, and local officials working with the community and the media to catch, incarcerate, and rehabilitate these offenders and clean up properties that have become havens for criminal activity. This is the challenge our new and returning elected officials must face, a challenge that is important to us all.

Meth, a growing concern

Now that the primaries are over and the victory celebrations have ceased it is time to get down to the issues facing this county. In a recent article in the Log Cabin Democrat both remaining candidates for sheriff feel narcotics enforcement is an important issue in Faulkner County.

According to the DEA's website methamphetamine has become Arkansas' primary drug of concern. While the state's new pharmaceutical laws have reduced the amount of meth labs in operation the number of arrests for possession of meth is still on the rise. Recently we talked with candidate Karl Byrd about this problem.

Byrd, a long time warrior in the fight against illegal drugs,
Says this is due to an increase in the amount of meth making it's way up from Mexico. A fact that is confirmed by information listed on the DEA's website, it states,

The state is encountering locally produced methamphetamine as well as the importation of methamphetamine produced in Mexico. Not only does the state's rural landscape provide an ideal setting for illicit manufacturing, but the wide availability of precursor chemicals also contributes to the ease of manufacturing methamphetamine. Criminal groups are acquiring thousands of cases of pseudoephedrine via wholesalers and use sophisticated schemes to illegally ship, at a considerable profit, pseudoephedrine to methamphetamine producers.

While all these facts and figures give us an idea on the scope of the problem they cannot prepare you when this problem hits your home like it has ours. This past week we have been given an unfortunate education and a new prospective of the problem.

On Friday, May 19th we once again had to call the sheriff's office when a neighbor caused a disturbance in our neighborhood. In a drunken and hyped up state our neighbor was throwing his furniture out the windows, slamming and breaking walls and other objects in his home, and shouting out profanities about his recent separation from his significant other. So I yelled over the fence asking him to take it inside because there are kids out and they didn't need to see or hear that, he responded with threats. Not knowing what he would do next and fearing that someone was there and needed help I called 911.

The deputies responded in force this time and arrested him for disorderly conduct, public intoxication, resisting arrest, fleeing, and possession of a controlled substance. Upon further investigation we found that this was his second arrest in as many months for possession of a control substance and he is currently awaiting trial for having the makings of a meth lab in his shop.

In March of this year the neighbor had a fire in his shop that was believe to have been started by chemicals used in the production of meth. The Drug Task Force (DTF) was called and the burn remnants of the lab were taking into evidence.

About one month later the neighbor called the Greenbrier PD threatening suicide because his wife left him. He says he has a drug problem and did meth the night before. He was arrested for a warrant issued by the DTF's investigation the month before and more drug paraphernalia was confiscated.

He spent only one night in jail and was released on a sheriff's bond, still think the delays at the new jail aren't costing us, only to get out and continue his criminal ways. In his recent arrest he spent 6 days in jail but is now free again and back in the neighborhood.

We understand that in our justice system it takes time to prosecute criminal offenders and in time our neighbor will not be a problem, however he is a problem now and possibly will be for months while he awaits trial and jail, if convicted.

It will be interesting to see what comes of these cases over the next few months. Will the prosecutors and the courts step up and do what's right? It remains to be seen…

Byrd and Elliott win primaries

Democratic Primary

Karl Byrd 3925 (67%)
Jack Pike 1901 (33%)

Republican Primary

Jim Elliott 1294 (78%)
Ronnie Buckner 365 (22%)


Candidate Karl Byrd has defeated his opponent, Lt. Jack Pike, in the Democratic primary election on Tuesday. Byrd will now face Jim Elliott who defeated career candidate Ronnie Buckner in the Republican primary election.

Both candidates stress the need for change within the department to combat both the bad image the department has been given by recent events and the threat of rising crime rates that can come with the population increase the this county has seen and will continue to see.

In today’s Log Cabin Stefanie Sampson writes,

"The voters in Faulkner County have shown they want good, progressive law enforcement, and they know I have good intentions to take them there," Byrd said.

Byrd said he is still focused on opening the line of communications between the sheriff's office and both the citizens of Faulkner County and the Quorum Court. In addition, Byrd would like to turn the office into a proactive department.

Both of Tuesday's winners feel narcotics enforcement are an important issue in Faulkner County.

Elliott said he envisions greater manpower on the secondary roads in Faulkner County to prevent thefts and rolling methamphetamine labs.

He said, so far, the race has been run on credentials, but the rest of the race must be run on how the candidates see themselves in the office.

"I strongly feel we need a checks and balances system for expenditures, so I am able to spot review all financial expenditures. There will also be someone who would check all the expenditures," Elliott said.

He said serving back-warrants and getting criminals off the streets and in the new jail are very important. He wants to explore the feasibility and practicality of expanding the jail work crew to keep Faulkner County clean.

These are all very good points and both these candidates would make a good sheriff; this will be a close race. We have reset our poll so you can once again vote for who you think will win.

It's Primary Day!

Well the day of the primary is finally here, today is the day when we find out who will be the final candidates for the Race for Sheriff in Faulkner County. In our estimation we think the race will come down to Democratic candidate Karl Byrd and Republican candidate Jim Elliott. Our readers seem to agree and have voted as follows in our poll:

Karl Byrd (D) - 211 votes (74.82%)
Jim Elliott (R) - 50 votes (17.73%)
Jack Pike (D) - 14 votes (4.96%)
Ronnie Buckner (R) - 7 votes (2.48%)

Both the leading candidates in the Race for Sheriff have experience at the state level working for the State Police and both these candidates have similar platforms expressing the need for change. In the next coming months it will be interesting to see how this race will go. Of course we may be counting our chickens before they hatch because anything happen. As the old saying goes that fat lady hasn't sang yet but let's just say she warming up her old windpipes.

Other races of interest on this day are those of Faulkner County Circuit Clerk and Justice of the Peace District 4.

In the Circuit Clerk's race we have two candidates with deputy circuit clerk experience, one is currently the chief deputy circuit clerk. In our poll our readers have picked current Chief Deputy Clerk Ronda S. Long as the winner voting as follows:

Rhonda S. Long (D) - 81 votes (85.26%)
Lorraine Wilkinson (D) – 14 votes (14.74%)

In the Justice of the Peace District 4 we have seen very little input from the public in this race. In our poll we have seen only a handful of votes but we think this will be a close one. Our readers voted:

Russell T. Webb (D) - 10 (66.67%)
JP Barbara Mathes (D) - 5 (33.33%)

At the State level we have several important races that will be set today. A couple of them will be decided today as well. In the State Senate we have two senate district which include Faulkner County, district 18 and 29, that will be decided today as well as a heated House of Representative District 47 race that has 4 candidates running. To find out more about these candidates visit Arelections.org.

But once again "it aign't over till it over" so get out and vote if you haven't done so already.

Wait, wait, and wait

Well it seems that it will be the middle of August until the new jail is open. At Tuesday’s Quorum Court meeting Jail Administrator Bobby Brown brought a list of items that he says must be completed before work on resealing the floor can begin. This was the same issue that was raised at the last court meeting. But now nearly a month later the court gets a list?

Log Cabin reporter Stefanie Sampson reports Brown saying, "The key is, it won't open until it's safe for our officers - bottom line." But as I recall in the last meeting the issues were mainly cosmetic in nature and had little to do with officer safety. In fact Brown said he had already taken a prisoner work crew over to the new facility to do some work.

Some of the more interesting comments that were made by the JP’s are those of JP Diana Kellar, JP Mark Bailey, JP Dan Thessing, and JP Jerry Park.

Speaking of the list of uncompleted items Bailey said,

"I just want to know which of these items are show-stoppers for the jail to be opened. I'm not worried about money. I'm focused on crossing the goal-line. In my opinion, it's been way too long".

Way too long indeed. But …

JP Diana Kellar said the process could not be rushed to get the project finished.
"At this point, we can cast blame. We can say things should be open, but the jail will be open when it's ready. The best is being done to get it completed. We can't rush people to get it done," Kellar said

We’d have to disagree, we think the county should make the contractors work around the clock at their expense to finish the job as quickly as possible. Now say this project was a building going up in the private sector and the owners were told the project would be complete last December, do you think that the owners would be hee-hawing around while their building was sitting idle?

Some JPs questioned why the non-essential items could not wait to be fixed until after inmates begin to occupy the jail.

Park responded, "If you have workers in the jail after inmates are already occupying the areas, you have potential problems."

Now our question is if this were true then how does the current jail manage to get things fixed when they break? Doesn’t the county pay for plumbers and other professional repair services when they need them? It would seem to us that some non-violent inmates could be house there in areas that need little work. Although the smell of the new floor sealant might get pretty bad.

Speaking of the new floor coating, could it be applied in those finished areas while work is being done on others? After all according to Mike Callahan of Taggart Foster Currence Gray Architects Inc. of North Little Rock the new jail is ready for inmates.

According to Callahan, who is project manager, the jail already belongs to the county. He said the county has owned the jail since the certificate of substantial completion was presented and signed March 6. He said at that time, the jail was also certified for occupancy.

"This is a huge project with a lot of complex facilities. There are going to be a few problems after it opens. We could go through this list and fix everything, and get everyone moved in and find 10 more items later," Callahan said.

If this is so and the jail has been certified as ready for inmates then what’s the hold up. Could part of the problem be as JP Thessing suggests a lack of communication.

JP Dan Thessing said he wants to make sure all parties are working expeditiously to get the project completed.

"I want to see the right hand talking to the left hand and see inventive people working to get this done," Thessing said.

Any way you look at it this project has become a nightmare for all involved…
That includes us tax payers too…

The Power of the People

The Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office has had some major problems over the past few years. Leadership and Management problems have left the department lacking in many areas. Among some of the worst have been the egregious acts of theft and fraud investigators found within the department. However prosecutors did not charge anyone with a crime and as a result over $13,000 in misspent money will not be recovered.

In Arkansas we have statues and constitutional provisions that prohibit the use of public money for private purposes but the penalties for these violations, when enforced, are only removal from office and a small fine. This simply does not adequately protect our tax dollars; we need this situation to change; we need a law that makes the misuse of public funds a crime.

In some states it is a felony to misuse public funds. The penalties for such violations are punishable by fines, restitution, loss of employment, and jail time. In Idaho recent additions to their law added specific wording to include the misuse of government issued credit cards. California also has laws that make the misuse of public funds a felony. Why doesn’t Arkansas have a law against the misuse of public funds?

Recently we asked you, our readers, to contact your legislators and asked them to consider this idea and make this new law, we to have approached our legislators and it’s paid off. State Representative Preston Scroggin has had this proposal drafted into a bill that will be before the legislature in January.

The Bill, Draft MBM516, will amend Arkansas Criminal Code Title 5 to include a section that makes the misuse of public funds a crime with the top count being a Class B felony. Anyone convicted of this crime, should it become law, will face jail time if the value of the money misused is over $2500.

While this new legislation will not prevent the misuse of public funds it will however give prosecutors more to work with when prosecuting cases such as we have seen here in Faulkner County. It will also give would be violators less wiggle room in trying to side step the spending laws of Arkansas.

The battle has been won but the war is far from over. We need your continuing support by making sure our legislators, both new and old, vote for this legislation. In our area we have two Senate positions and one State Representative position in question. We need to ask the candidates in these races for their support and vote for the ones receptive to this bill.

Together we can make a difference; together we can change the law.

More jail woes.

Today's Log Cabin features a story about some 20 rebellious inmates following a crack down on cleanliness at the Faulkner County Detention Center. In the story Capt. Jeff Johnson tells LCD reporter Stefanie Sampson that SWAT was called in when the inmates wouldn't comply with an order to lie down so jailers could remove them from the dayroom.

SWAT used an OC gas canister to affect entry and the inmate revolt was ended. Inmates were later returned to their cell and put on administrative lock down until they comply with the new policy. Stefanie Sampson writes,

Following the incident, the inmates were returned to their cell and placed on administrative lock down. Inmates in other cells complied with the new rules.

Johnston said the new cleaning policy was implemented last week because inmates were not keeping their cells properly maintained.

"It was nasty. I don't live like that; I don't expect anyone else to live like that. Now, they have a mandatory shower, mandatory cleaning, and they keep things neat and orderly," Johnston said.

In a recent letter to the editor inmate Herman Neal says jail conditions are deplorable. But his complaint has nothing to do with cleanliness. He writes,

Inmates and people awaiting processing and/or court are handcuffed to a concrete bench with metal bars, sometimes for hours and even days. To the people who run the Criminal Justice System, I would love to have your cooperation; but I fear you not. You know as well as I, that you could correct the overcrowding at the jail in less than a week. You could do this by freeing the young men who are being held that are not habitual and /or a threat to society. And could make a great change on this sickening food being served.

The asinine policy of political parties and their erroneous belief of, most Americans based solely on the concept, of punishment and it never has nor will it ever be successful in deterring crime. You know as well as I that prison and jail population are growing at an alarming rate, far faster than general population.

We do not agree with his assertion that the release of criminal offenders will solve the problem but his letter does show what has been a common theme for the FCDC, inmate care in an overcrowded facility. After years of lawsuits that has plagued Faulkner County we still have to contend with the overcrowded and unsafe conditions that are costing us taxpayers dearly.

Could tensions related to this overcrowding contributed to this revolt and the show of force by jail administrators? Will this incident result in more lawsuits?

So what about the county's new jail that was scheduled to be open in December? We'd have to say that it's basically a train wreck. Leaks, mold, and questions about floor coatings are among some of the problems that have delayed the opening of the new jail. A facility touted to be the remedy for the overcrowding isn't getting off on a good note.

Jail Administrator Bobby Brown and others have noted that the county is somehow saving money by not housing prisoners but that is simply isn't the case. Sure the county doesn't have to pay for "housing" prisoners but we are paying in other ways, ways that could ultimately cost us more should one of those prisoners win a lawsuit. Then there's the millions in past due fines that go uncollected while we wait for this train wreck to finally get open. Wednesday's event demonstrates a scary reality that jailers must live with everyday, the safety of the jail. Isn't it only a matter of time before these jail conditions lead to a major problem that will cost the taxpayers dearly? Hasn't it already cost us plenty in the defense of the many lawsuits? Somehow we think that cleanliness is the least of their problems. . .

It's Primary Time

Early voting starts next week in the primaries. In Faulkner County we have 2 races that will be decided in the primary later this month and one race that will set the field for November. The two races that will be decided are the race for Justice of the Peace District 4 and the race for Circuit Clerk. And of course in the race for sheriff voters this month will decide who will be on the ballot come November.

We at the Faulkner County News Blog realized the importance of these races and have given you the voter a poll in them. Visit our election page and click on the respective link for these races to vote for your favorite candidate. This will be a very important primary for these so go out and vote in this primary as well.

3 arrested in Faulkner County as part of a U.S. Marshal's sweep

FALCON is an annual U.S. Marshals' Service operation that netted 31 fugitives in the eastern district; three of those were caught in Faulkner County. For the past few years the Marshals Service has toured the country to helped local law enforcement agencies apprehend criminals with this program. Log Cabin reporter Stefanie Sampson writes,

Nationwide, the FALCON operation cleared more than 10,419 felony warrants during the seven-day operation. According to [Jim Hays of the U.S. Marshals Service Eastern District of Arkansas], task force members arrested 462 fugitives wanted for a variety of violent sex offenses, 311 fugitives for other felony sex crimes, 783 unregistered sex offenders, 73 homicide arrests with 87 warrants cleared, and 163 documented gang members. They also cleared 2,941 drug cases, and seized 111 guns, more than $120,265 in cash, and more than 91 kilograms of narcotics, according to information provided by Hays.

Don't get us wrong, we think this program is great but since the state of Arkansas has seen an increase in crime recently and since this county has millions in past due fines shouldn't more have been done? After all 31 fugitives out of 10,419 warrants cleared nationally is only 0.30 % for the entire eastern district.
Our question is where did they put those fugitives that were arrested, in the crowded county jail? One might also wonder about the crimes these individuals are accused of committing, were they committed in this county? In this county and this state we have an epidemic of increasing crime and crowded jails. We need more that this token gesture offered by the Marshals' Service, we need a real effort on the part of our law enforcement community.

Speaking of the crowded jail, at this months Quorum Court meeting we heard about construction delays that continue to push back the opening of our new jail. The jail that was suppose to open in November will still remain closed for at least another month while work is done on the floor.

The new jail has been touted as being a much needed addition for our county. When it's finally completed we have been told that the sheriff's office will focus their attention on the past due fines and getting more criminals off our streets. If that be the case then shouldn't their attention have been to finish the jail sooner?

At the last Quorum court meeting jail administrator Bobby Brown tells the court that no work has been done in weeks leaving one to wonder how they could simply sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting when all they had to do was call the County Judge's office and complain. Heck they could have simply walked across the court yard and complain in person. But they sit idly by and do nothing until asked about the progress by members of the Quorum Court.

At that meeting JP Johnnie Wells when asked about the cost of these delays stated it isn't costing the county any extra money, we just can't put inmate in their yet. Since the Quorum Court refuses to use a collection agency to collect fines and since the new jail still isn't completed the county has no effective way to collect fines and this does cost all of us.

This brings us to our last point in this post, money. There is a commercial that's been playing lately where Senator Tracy Steel is telling low income Arkansans about a discounted phone service for people who make 135% of the poverty level. The commercial states that a family of 4 making less than $27,000 qualifies for this government subsidy. Did you know that nearly all the deputies in this county make less than this amount?

In a past comment posted by Deputy Jason Bell it was noted that he, a deputy of nine years, makes less than 25,000. He said,

This is an interesting bit of information......the City of Oppelo. (A very small city between Morrilton and Perryville), just started a police department. Their starting salary for a full time officer is a little over 25,000 dollars per year. That is a little more than I make, and I have been with this agency going on nine years. Also, a Sergeant at Vilonia Police Department makes almost 16 dollars an hour,
[. . .]
We, the deputies, need citizens to attend these county meetings and help us get a raise. There should not be such a gap in pay. Research it sometime. Check Conway P.D.'s salaries and then check ours. Our dedication and loyalty has not been rewarded.

This could explain why there is a big turn over of deputies in the department. We have been told that the county has lost 33 deputies over the past few years. Something must be done to keep our deputies here. Better training and better benefits are needed to keep accomplish this. Isn't it time for the Sheriff and the Quorum Court to get serious about the collection of delinquent fines and the completion on the new jail?

Empowering philosophy

At a recent dinner honoring the outgoing Faulkner County Democratic Office holders Chief Deputy Steve Wallace is quoted as saying Sheriff Montgomery has been a "visionary leader" with "the (philosophy) that said, I'm going to empower you." Empowering others is exactly what Montgomery's leadership has done, the problem is this empowerment has been nondiscriminatory.

Under Montgomery's reign criminals have been "empowered" to continue to commit crimes without fear of jail time or fear of having to pay fines. We personally have seen violent acts involving gunfire go unpunished or under punished with fines and restitution going unpaid even after 1-1/2 years. Over the past few years while running this site we have heard many stories of the same sorts of lackadaisical attitudes towards criminal acts.

Montgomery's leadership has "empowered" members of his own department to treat themselves at the county's expense. But this "help yourself empowerment" at the county's expense did not stop with his employees, family members of Montgomery and others also enjoyed this empowerment. Read more about theses empowerments in the interview with the sheriff here.

Yet still after years of controversy surrounding the sheriff's office Wallace is quoted saying "[Montgomery] had a vision to make Faulkner County the most effective rural law enforcement agency in the state. He's invested in so many areas that have helped us succeed." Montgomery may have had visions of Faulkner County being an effective law enforcement agency but from where we are standing we'd have to say that he failed miserably.

But Montgomery's leadership has also "empowered" the Quorum Court to initiate better regulation on the spending at the sheriff's department and could possible lead to stronger regulatory ordinances that will better protect the taxpayer's money.

And Montgomery's empowering philosophy has reached even us inspiring the creation of this site and the lobbying for change we do. Yes we'd have to agree with Wallace when he says Montgomery's philosophy is to empower others but this philosophy has only produced problems. Problems that will likely carry over into our next sheriff's term.

Hopefully our next sheriff will have a different philosophy, one that will put an end to these unwanted empowerments, one that says, "We are taking care of the business of law enforcement". Empowerment is great but that alone will not get the job done, hard work, dedication, and ethics are also required.

Does this make sense to you?

A few days ago we were emailed a letter, http://www.fcso.info/FCSO_Info.doc, from an anonymous sender named John Travolta, fcso2006@yahoo.com. The writer of this letter sent it to tell us their side of the story. After reading this letter however we think this writer is sadly mistaken.

"John" says that this all started when JP Catherin Blankenship notice questionable spending at the sheriff's office and took it to the press instead of going to Sheriff Montgomery privately. John asks, " Is this fair that the Sheriff does not have a chance to give answers for any questions?" Does that make any sense to you? What could possibly be gained by keeping this out of the public's eye? Does John really think this would be fair to the public?

The sheriff had plenty of opportunities to answer these questions and answer them he did. I recall he told us he authorized his clerk Margie Teal to make his tuition payment for him when he was out of town only to later say he made the payment using the wrong credit card. But once the investigation was underway the story changed once again when, through his attorney Ralph Olm, Montgomery argued that he was entitled to further his personal education at the county's expense. An argument that, in part, led to a finding of insufficient probable cause and no criminal charges of theft but failed to convince Attorney Lane and CPA Little of the sheriff need to repay the county for these expenses.

In retrospect JP Blankenship's questions uncovered thousands of misspent tax dollars and in doing the job that she was elected to do it turned out be the best thing for the taxpayer. It helped put an end to an abuse of power that was costing us thousands of dollars a year. We don't know about you but we think that keeping something like this from the public amounts to the old good-ole-boy I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine cover-up that's been all to prevalent in politics these days.

Speaking of secrets "John's" letter casts more doubt on the circumstances surrounding former jail administrator Kyle Kelley's resignation. In a sudden and unexpected move Kelley quits shortly before he was suppose to talk with investigators. Now at the time we hear from Chief Deputy Wallace that Kelley quit for "personal reasons and was not forced by any means."

Wallace adds, "It was his choice. Who knows why people quit. It's just the best thing for them and their family. We think a lot of him. He's been an integral part of this team ever since '97. We're going to miss him for sure. He's been a big part of what we've done. We support him in whatever he does."

The investigators however found a credit card account that was close in March of 2004 issued to Kelley. Charges on this card showed purchases from Lake Liquor and Springhill Wine and Spirits along with numerous other obviously personal expenses. Sheriff Montgomery says he pulled Kelly's card from him in the fall of 2003 because of some problems. Investigators questioned Sheriff Marty Montgomery and Chief Deputy Wallace on May, 19th, 2005 and wrote the following:

Marty was then advised that we had located an old account closed 3-04 for Kyle Kelly. Marty stated that he had pulled Kyle's card from him in the fall of 2003 because of some problems. We then went over Kyle's charges item by item with Marty from the period of Jan 03 to Mar 04. Marty became visibly angry when charges to Lake Liquor and Springhill Wine and spirits and numerous other obviously personal expenditures were related.

Marty stated that he was unaware of any of this and suggested that this be turned over to HG Foster for criminal consideration. Marty was advised that the Legislative Audit had apparently not seen this information. Marty repeatedly questioned Steve on how this could have gotten by them in the review procedures. Steve stated that there are probably PO's with their initials approving payment.

"John" on the other hand tells a different story about the Kelley's resignation, he writes,

"I agree that in the past there was spending at the Sheriff's office that needed looked into and the Sheriff was doing so about the time all this started. The Sheriff disciplined the offender as he should have and things were back to normal. A short time later the offender, what the hell, Kyle Kelley, started spending money from the county jail budget on things questionable. Kyle was disciplined a second time and admonished for his actions. Well this did not last long and the Sheriff made the decision to terminate. Before the Sheriff could make contact with Kyle he turned in his letter of resignation."

Does any of that make sense to anyone? On the one hand Wallace gives Kelley a grand send off and on the other hand Kelley portrayed as the biggest offender in this credit card abuse.

We should note that we did a little investigation of our own and found out that Kelley was not reprimanded for any spending problems he had at the sheriff's office. According to Wallace there are no reprimands in Kelley's file for the years of 2003 thru 2005 when he resigned. Even when Montgomery took away his credit card, Kelley did not get wrote up. Why is that we wonder?

His file did contain a reprimand for 2001 when Montgomery told Kelley he was going to demote him for throwing temper tantrums, not working the required hours, and abusing sick leave and vacations policies. But when it came to the problems with his credit card that caused Montgomery to take it from him Kelley wasn't written up. Does that make any sense to you?

Now you maybe wondering about "John's" identity as we were, we were able to find out that "John" works at either the courthouse or at the sheriff's office because in his email header information it shows it was mailed from their IP address. Now "John" made the mistake of sending his letter out to all his buddies at the Sheriff's office and including us in his mailing. As a result we can tell you exactly who this message was written for. Here's the list of email addresses:

From: John Travolta

To: rachel.parker@thecabin.net

Cc: ahendrix@tcworks.net ; ashock@tcworks.net ; bcmccoyjr@tcworks.net ; coollov72@yahoo.com ; dhaleshelton@arkansasonline.com ; fcsobb@tcworks.net ; fcvu@fcso.info ; fnokes@tcworks.net ; jackpikefcso@hotmail.com ; jb_dapitbull@yahoo.com ; jrandall@tcworks.net ; mattr@tcworks.net ; mjmickels@yahoo.com ; mmontgomery@conwaycorp.net ; perrywyse@yahoo.com ; rainwater@duncanrainwater.com ; rodpearson57@yahoo.com ; rweaver@c21dh.com ; scott35ar@yahoo.com ; shuseas@conwaycorp.net ; tammyfcso@yahoo.com

Looks like the whole crew is represented in this list with the curious omission of Chief Deputy Wallace. I wonder what that could mean?

The more we look at this the more we wonder why charges were not brought against these individuals. Are the laws in this state so poor as to allow this blatant abuse of tax dollars and no one is prosecuted? It just doesn't make sense to us, does it make sense to you . . .

2 years after

It's been two full years since my neighbor decided he'd take a few shots at our co-plaintiff's property. April 1, 2004 was the day the sheriff's office got a call saying "my neighbor is shooting in my direction and shot out another security camera" but did nothing about it. Nothing that is except for taking a few pictures and making a report. The shooter was not arrested and the sheriff's office wasn't doing anything about it, at least from what we could tell.

Months later after talking with victim's services and the prosecutor's office we were directed back to the sheriff and a meeting was arranged. This was the first time I met Sheriff Marty Montgomery and I'd have to say he sure is a politician. Boy he really laid it on thick, telling us everything we wanted to hear. Then he called in Bobby Brown, who was an investigator at the time and instructed him to take the file to Chief Deputy Prosecutor Marcus Vaden. Now we expected to hear something in a day or so seeing how it was already in the afternoon but little did we know Brown had a different plan, to dispose of this case as quickly as possible. In a matter of hours he took a case of what should have been Aggravated Assault and down played it to a simple case of criminal mischief. That's right a man took a gun, pointed it in the direction of his neighbor and pulled the trigger three times while his victim ducked and ran away and all they were going to charge him with was a misdemeanor.

The prosecutor's office seen it differently but failed to raise this to the level of a felony. Although they did charge the shooter with the crime of Assault in the First Degree, the outcome was essentially the same, a Class A misdemeanor. In November of 2004 the shooter pled guilty and he was fined, ordered to pay restitution, and was sentenced to probation.

Now 2 years after the shooting and nearly 1 1/2 years from the sentence the fines and the restitution still remain unpaid. This has been another one of the big problems that has plagued the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office. Victims of crime have had to endure lack of action in some cases, inadequate action in other cases, and to top it all off if their case does get prosecuted the offenders are allowed to not pay their fines. Again what kind of message is this sending to the criminals?

In the upcoming election we the people of this county have a chance to set things right and get rid of the woefully inadequate and seemingly corrupt system of law enforcement, a changing of the guard so to speak. Let us put in power those people that are dedicated to change and not keep those in power that believe things are going just fine. The choice is ours to make, lets make it a good one.

Crow case dismissed, another lawsuit set for trial

In the federal lawsuit of Scott Crow v. Marty Montgomery U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson dismissed the case citing a controversial ruling by the 8th District Court of Appeals that gave Montgomery and others individual immunity. You may remember our post entitled Split Decision where we showed you that the Court of Appeals went outside the norm and ruled in favor of Montgomery.

The Court wrote, " Ordinarily, there is no appeal from a trial court order denying summary judgment," but granted the appeal on the grounds that "Crow's allegations show that the FCDC officials may have acted unreasonably in failing to take particular measures to improve the conditions at the facility, but that does not rise to the level of deliberate indifference." Never mind the fact that case law reads "[A] defendant, entitled to invoke a qualified immunity defense, may not appeal a district court's summary judgment order insofar as that order determines whether or not the pretrial record sets forth a 'genuine' issue of fact for trial." (Johnson, 515 U.S. at 319-20)

The Court however found that the case could go on against the County but Judge Wilson tossed the case because of the wording in the ruling issued by the 8th District Court of Appeals. So not only did the Appeals Court go out of its way to let Montgomery and crew off the hook it succeeded in tanking the case as well.

Attorney Michael Rainwater issued a petition for a Writ of Mandamus compelling the 8th District Court of Appeals to toss the entire case based on its use of this phrase, "n the facts taken in the light most favorable to [Plaintiff-Respondent Scott A.] Crow, he has not made out a constitutional violation". The petition was denied but it made Judge Wilson reconsider his findings.

Forget the fact that Judge Wilson had already ruled that there was a "genuine issue of material fact" that needed to be heard by a jury. Forget the fact that the jailers put Crow in with a prisoner who had just come off confinement for beating another prisoner even though Crow was only going to be there over night. Forget the fact that Crow's confinement was due to an errant probation violation complaint and he should not have even been there in the first place. Let's just toss this whole case away because of a controversial ruling by the 8th District Court of Appeals.

Another lawsuit involving the Faulkner County Detention Center and another inmate attack was set for trial this past Tuesday. Former inmate Aaron Bradshaw is suing Sheriff Montgomery, jail administrators, and other unidentified jailers for overcrowded conditions that led to a 2004 attack on him by another inmate. The date for this trial is still yet to be set but you can bet that Rainwater will be relying on Crow's dismissal as well as the ACLU suit that was also dismissed.

It's been a sad and disgraceful display of injustices that have went by the wayside in just about every aspect of Sheriff Montgomery's tenure as sheriff. He and his staff are responsible for giving us nothing but one problem after another. Hopefully it will be a much brighter future when this administration is ended. Provided that the people of this county put a decent, hard working professional who wants to change things for the better in office. One who has the courage and commitment to get the job done and done correctly.

We here at the Faulkner County News Blog wish to send our sympathy out to the Crow family; it's been a long tough road to take standing up for what is right and just. Believe us we know this all too well. . .

The Great State of Idaho has it right

Earlier this month Sheriff Richard Leo Green of Adams County in Idaho was indicted for the misuse of public funds. Green is charged with six counts of misuse of public money in violation of Idaho Code Section 18-5701 and three counts of presentation of fraudulent accounts in violation of Idaho Code Section 18-2706.

These charges stem from Sheriff Green's use of a county issued credit card for personal purchases of around $1,200. But in the great state of Idaho these charges are felonies and Sheriff Green not only faces removal from office but also could see jail time, up to 15 years, for these infractions.

That's right he faces actual jail time for his crimes against the public's trust. We believe the state of Idaho has it right unlike here in Arkansas where a politician can admit to using public money for personal gain and go free.

Sheriff Marty Montgomery was found to have used his card to pay for his personal college tuition and other college related expenses, i.e. books. Montgomery was also found to have used his card for meals for non-county employees, hotel charges for family and friends, and other as yet to be specified purchases. But here in Arkansas Montgomery faces no charges, not even a slap on the wrist.

To further compound Montgomery's violation of the public's trust he has allowed the egregious misuse of the county's credit cards within his department without any repercussions to the violators. In fact his department gave a glowing media send off to former jail administrator Kyle Kelley who quit suddenly right before special prosecutors were to question him. The investigation revealed that the sheriff's administration took away Kelley's credit card for spending "problems" yet he remained employed in apparently good standing.

If the state of Arkansas would have had criminal laws with actual penalties for these violations of the people's tax dollars then maybe these thefts would not have happened. In our last post we talked about the need for accountability of our elected officials and the need for consequences for the misuse of public tax dollars. A good way to accomplish this is for the state legislature to adopt Idaho's idea and make the misuse of public funds a felonious act.

To that end we need to call, write, and/or email our state law makers and asked them to protect the spending of our tax dollars by sponsoring legislation that would make this kind of misuse of public money a felony.

To find out more about Idaho's law and it recent additions visit:
http://www3.state.id.us/idstat/TOC/18057KTOC.html
http://www3.state.id.us/oasis/S1303.html

To contact your local state representative visit:
http://www.arkansas.gov/house/reps.php

To contact your local state senator visit:
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A colossal waste

Tuesday night the JP’s heard from Attorney James Lane regarding his investigation into the misuse of public funds by members of the sheriff’s office. I was there and heard this report, I’d have to say that this investigation by Lane was a colossal waste of taxpayer’s money.

The Quorum Court F&A Committee commissioned Lane back in November on recommendation of H.G. Foster to determine exactly how much money was owed to the county and who was going to have to repay the funds. But upon completion of Lane's investigation the county knows very little more than it did before.

Lane concluded that Sheriff Montgomery still owes $3,561 for books, tuition, and other personal expenditures he made. The report also shows an amount of $12,400 for payroll that was paid to Tammy Weaver while she was unable to work because of an illness in her family, $9,747 of this amount is owed by Weaver.

Lane and CPA David Little say the sheriff’s office was able to “find” documentation for most of the reported $18,762 of poorly documented credit card purchases. It was reported that $2,133 of that amount was determined to be personal charges and is included in the bottom line. A total of $17,359 is all that is said to be owed by members of the sheriff’s office with $19,917 for cell phone charges and $13,785 in questionable spending at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club left outstanding.

What about the egregious incidents of theft and fraud where everything from Pampers to Liquor was purchased with the county’s money? Well that’s in the $13,785 left outstanding. Lane told the court that it would be an expensive and nearly impossible task to nail down the perpetrators of these expenses and recommends the court to seek policy measures to prevent reoccurrences.

I don’t know about you but we seen this one coming. After all the sheriff was allowed to use county funds to pay for admittedly personal expenses without any penalty, why shouldn’t his employees get the same luxury? Just another sad commentary of our pathetic system of justice.

Excerpts from a recent article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette concerning the egregious incidents of theft and fraud at the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office portray me as an angry watchdog of the department. I’d have to say that this reporter hit the nail right on the head with that portrayal. Truth be told there are quite a lot of citizens angered by this and other issues that surround Sheriff Montgomery’s tenure as sheriff.

One of those individuals recently posted comments on this site stating they would be glad to send everyone a copy of the investigation that has been burned to a CD. Desmond Walls Allen’s home was burglarized in April 1998 and Allen says the Sheriff's Office wouldn't investigate the crime. A charge of residential burglary of more than $10,000 in property and nothing was being done about it. Allen found out the name of two of the perpetrators and tried to get this information to the sheriff’s office but they wouldn’t return phone calls much less pursue with an investigation.

This is all too familiar to us having experienced the same sort of inexcusable lack of action against crime in our own neighborhood. It has become as commonplace as a trip to the supermarket for victims of crime to be further victimized by our local system of justice. Our neighbor and co-author of this site has a saying, “If you want to commit a crime do it in Faulkner County and you’ll get away with it”.

With our state prisons and county jails overcrowded and allegations of illegalities in several different police agencies across the state, is it really any wonder that crime is on the increase in Arkansas bucking the national trend. A 2004 FBI report shows a 1.2 % drop in violent crime nationally from last year while here in Arkansas violent crime rose 10.8% (9.3% per 100,000). Broken down further Arkansas showed a 28.0% increase in forcible rape, 6.5% increase in robbery, and 9.8% increase in aggravated assault. Property crimes in Arkansas also increased by 11.5% with the biggest jump of 20.3% for burglaries.

Now who is to blame for the lack of criminal charges in the admitted misuse of county monies? Is it Special Prosecutor Stephen Tabor of Sebastian County for not finding probable cause? Is it Judge Charles E. Clawson Jr. for setting a very narrow focus into the spending issues? Or could it be the Quorum Court for voting for a less aggressive investigation and not turning this over to the State Police from the start? It is our belief that it is a combination of all three events that led to Montgomery and staff getting away with, as Tabor put it, egregious incidents of theft and fraud.

Allen says after reading the investigation file a grand jury should have been convened to seek charges against the abuse of county tax dollars. You can get a copy by emailing your name and address to desmond@ipa.net.

How to prevent thefts like these in the future is the next topic that will likely be addressed by the Quorum Court. A topic that was touched on by some members of the court Tuesday night as well as addressed by Lane in his recommendations. Lane recommended that the sheriff's office limit it’s number of credit cards to only a few and having a supervisor go over the receipts at the time of purchase to ensure legitimacy of the items purchased. Lane suggested termination of employment be the punishment for a violation. However JP Marvin Kelley said “we are here to set policy, not to issue writs of control”. Somehow I think Kelley misses the point.

What we need are more ‘writs of control’ and better policies in order to prevent theft. We need to cancel ALL the credit cards and only buy from stores that will use P.Os. In a county jail system this size that can pretty much guarantee thousands of dollars in purchases a year we should dictate how these purchases are made. There should be no reason why we should ever pay retail price for any food or supply purchases.

But the most important need we must demand from our elected officials is accountability. Our county tax dollars were used for clearly personal items and no one was fired, no one will have to repay over $13,000 in questionable spending, and with no consequences for this theft there is no deterrent for repeat offenses. Isn’t it time we said enough is enough? Isn’t it time we have a new and better administration at the sheriff’s office?

Election News

With the filing date for the 2006 election nearing we have been busy revamping our election page. We have added pages for every race in the county and in cooperation with the owners of a local discussion forum, the Funky Penguin, we have added a local political forum. See the link to this forum at our election page or click here.

Please use this forum to discuss issues in the upcoming election. We invite all candidates to participate in this community-based forum. We have added additional email addresses to better manage information in this very important election.

For candidate information send your emails to:
election-news@fcso.info

To send us your candidate press release use:
press-release@fcso.info

For corrections, comments, and all other election related email use:
fcvu@fcso.info

With the tremendous and continual growth in this county this will be a very important election. We need to elect candidates that understand and are ready to face this challenge.

More Hypocrisy at the FCSO

We now have a copy of the investigation into the infamous credit card scandal that has plagued the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office and tarnished its reputation since the story broke in late 2004. In reading the comments made and the conclusions drawn we’d have to say that this investigation is so full of hypocrisy its really quite pathetic.

In Sheriff Montgomery’s and Chief Deputy Wallace’s interview on May 19th, 2005 the investigators told Montgomery they found an old account closed 3-2004 for former Jail Administrator Kyle Kelley that was not reported to the Legislative Audit Committee. In reviewing this account’s history Montgomery became angry and suggested that criminal charges be sought against Kelley.

Marty was then advised that we had located an old account closed 3-04 for Kyle Kelly. Marty stated that he had pulled Kyle's card from him in the fall of 2003 because of some problems. We then went over Kyle's charges item by item with Marty from the period of Jan 03 to Mar 04. Marty became visibly angry when charges to Lake Liquor and Springhill Wine and Spirits and numerous other obviously personal expenditures were related.

Marty stated that he was unaware of any of this and suggested that this be turned over to HG Foster for criminal consideration. Marty was advised that the Legislative Audit had apparently not seen his information. Marty repeatedly questioned Steve on how this could have gotten by them in the review procedures. Steve stated that there are probably PO's with their initials approving payment.

Yet Kyle Kelly is allowed to resign in good standing shortly before this interview was conducted. Eight days prior to talking with investigators Wallace was quoted in the Log Cabin saying,

Faulkner County jail administrator resigns

By RACHEL PARKER
LOG CABIN STAFF WRITER

[. . .]

Chief Deputy Steve Wallace said Kelley resigned Monday for personal reasons and "was not forced by any means."

"It was his choice. Who knows why people quit. It's just the best thing for them and their family," he said.

"We think a lot of him. He's been an integral part of this team ever since '97. We're going to miss him for sure. He's been a big part of what we've done. We support him in whatever he does."

Now how convenient it was for Kelley to resign when he did, a little to convenient if you asked us. Did, as Montgomery stated, the sheriff and his staff really not know what he was charging on his card? What were the problems that led the sheriff to take Kelley’s card from him in the fall of 2003? If Montgomery was so angered by these revelations of misspending that he wanted charges brought against Kelley then why was Kelley given a glowing send off in the media? Could this be part of a calculated plan to avoid criminal charges or is this coincidence just another lucky break for Sheriff Montgomery.

Speaking of lucky breaks, did you know that Chuck Lange, executive director for the Arkansas Sheriff’s Association, reluctantly paid the bills for the Seattle trip that were in question without documentation? Did you also know that Sheriff Montgomery was given the Associations credit card to pay for this trip? Was this another lucky break?

The hypocrisy of it all really stands out when you read the summary of the May 19th, 2005 investigation,

This inquiry, conducted in the form of an audit review, reveals that public funds have been used within the Sheriff's Office for personal expenditures and other budgeted funds have been used for questionable purposes with respect to the Jail and personnel.

Sheriff Martin P Montgomery:

Sheriff Montgomery has utilized his Visa Business Card Act# XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-4736 during the period Jan 1, 2003 through Dec 31, 2004 to pay for personal expenditures. These expenditures include, but are not limited to educational expenses, travel expenses for family members (San Antonio TX, Nashville TN, Seattle WA, and a family vacation to AZ), vehicle maintenance, and other questionable purchases. It should be noted that Sheriff Montgomery has made some reimbursements toward these purchases but reimbursements do not match or equal expenditures to this date.

Sheriff Montgomery did authorize Tammy Weaver (civilian employed) to take paid, administrative leave well above the amount of available time she had accrued for maternity and sickness of a child.

Sheriff Montgomery did allow his wife (Arlene Montgomery, sole occupant) to drive a county sheriff's vehicle during which time an accident occurred involving this vehicle.

Chief Deputy Steve Wallace:

Chief Deputy Wallace has utilized his Visa Business Card Act# XXXX-XXXX- XXXX- 4744 during the period Jan 1, 2003 through Dec 31, 2004 to pay for personal expenditures. These expenditures involve, but are not limited to the registration of his wife and family to attend a National Sheriff's Association Conference in Nashville TN., as well as educational classes purchases.

Other questionable expenditures on this account arise from the practice of lending the card to other Sheriff's Office personnel to utilize while on trips for prisoner transport or other travel. Examples of these types of expenditures would include meals and hotel rooms at various Casinos, etc.


Major Perry Wyse:
Major Wyse has utilized his Visa Business Card Act# XXXX- XXXX- XXXX- 0462 to pay for and not limited to, the registration of family members of Tammy Weaver and Alison Hendrix to attend the National Sheriff's Conference in Nashville TN.

Other questionable expenditures on this account arise from the practice of lending the card to other Sheriff's Office personnel to utilize while on trips for prisoner transport or other travel. Examples of these types of expenditures would include meals and hotel rooms at various Casinos.

Kyle Kelley - Jail Administrator
Kyle Kelley had utilized his Visa Business Card Act# XXXX- XXXX- XXXX- 3335 to make purchases at Liquor, Retail, and Pharmacy stores; Pay personal DirectTV bills; On-Line purchases via Pay-Pal Accounts; and grocery. Although charged with the county card the majority of these bills were paid personally by Kyle Kelley. It should be noted that Kyle Kelley has resigned his position with the Sheriff's Office and is no longer employed.

Sheriff Montgomery wanted charges brought against former Jail Administrator Kyle Kelley for obvious personal expenditures on his credit card and now revels in the lack of charges against him for the same crime.

No probable cause? Give us a break…

Changing Minds

Faced with overwhelming evidence Faulkner County resident Tim Flanigan recently changed his mind about his support of the sheriff’s office. Back in January Flanigan wrote a letter to the editor condemning the actions taken by the Quorum Court saying their "attempt control or humiliate the sheriff's department" amounts to simple "petty politics".

But after reading the 1,350 page investigative report into the credit card scandal Mr. Flanigan now believes the Quorum Court did the right thing. He is now wondering how special prosecutor Stephen Tabor could not find evidence that rises to the level of probable cause. In a new letter Flanigan writes,

I was wrong in my letter when I said that the sheriff's office does not have to be micro-managed. After reading the report, one can only conclude that we need all new management and spending controls. I only got through about 450 pages of the report but that was more than enough. Why Stephen Tabor, the Special Prosecutor from Fort Smith, was unable to determine if criminal charges should be brought is completely unbelievable. Mr. Tabor states that, "While there is ample evidence to arouse suspicion, I do not feel the evidence rises to the level of probable cause."

If you are a taxpayer of Faulkner County and if you read the report I did, I would be willing to say that not only would you be suspicious, you would be outraged. You would also be able to find probable cause and you would want our local prosecutor to go after the people listed in this report.

In the first 40 or so pages of the report I added up over $22,000 in charges, some so blatant and poorly explained that you just know the taxpayers were being taken to the cleaners. The report also gives the names of the people whose credit card was used. What is scary is that this 1,350 page report is only for the year 2004. By far the biggest reasons given were either that the person did not know the charges were made to their credit card or they gave the credit card to someone else and they did not know what was charged.

Just how many taxpayers do not know what is charged to their card unless it is a case of theft? Or would you hand your credit card to someone to use; see they have run up a bill; not even ask what they charged; and then forget that you even gave the card to anyone? These poor excuses are what the prosecutor says is not probable cause - I don't know, or I forgot.

This report is a true embarrassment to the sheriff's department. It does not need to get filed away by our local authorities and swept under the table; it needs to be investigated. I can understand now why we have so few deputies actually patrolling the county and risking their lives for us. If the sheriff's department had actual spending controls in place, we would have more money to put more deputies on the street that could arrest some people. The taxpayers of Faulkner County deserve better.

Recently I took a business trip to NW Arkansas to install a computer and networking system at our warehouse. My boss gave me his personal credit card with his name on it for gas expenses. I used this card without any questions from gas station attendants.

While there I needed to get a couple of cables and other various items to complete the installation so I called the home office and asked to use the card to purchase these items, I also asked to use it for lunch. Again I was able to use the card without too much trouble, the guy at the local Radio Shack was looking intently at the back of the card while I signed the slip. I told I wasn’t the person who was issued the card but I was his employee. After looking at my driver’s license he completed the transaction.

Now I should note that I signed my name to each credit card slip, as I was the authorized agent of the card holder making the transaction. Now these transactions were perfectly fine because I got the permission of the entity responsible for paying the card before the purchases were made. In the many incidents in question at the sheriff’s office however, the people responsible for repaying the charges, you and me, the taxpayer, did not authorize these "agents" to use those card for the personal items that were purchased.

This unauthorized use the very definition of theft and for Stephen Tabor, who is incidentally up for re-election, not to find efficient probable cause is inexcusable. I’d say that is where the politics lie in this case.

Lack of officers to patrol the county, the lay-off of part time deputies for political reasons, the non-enforcement of laws, the lack of charges in the credit card scandal, and the lawsuits of neglected inmate care have blackened the image of the sheriff’s office, yet the sheriff and his staff remain employed. Sheriff Montgomery is either leading a charmed life or he "knows where all the bodies are buried."

{Editor's note: The above quotes were taken from letters published at the Log Cabin Democrat. Please visit the link to the entire letters as written by Mr. Flanigan}