Spin cycle

We read in the Log Cabin that Sheriff Marty Montgomery threatened to pursue legal action against JP Catherin Blankenship over what he called malicious and slanderous comments. Montgomery says his records show the department was never in the red, but rather turned $112,000 back to the county after the end of the year. We find this hard to believe and it’s really kind of funny how the sheriff's office needed $87,000 in October and got offended when the committee asked why some line items were in the red. Then in December they needed $37,000 more to make it through to the end of the year because once again they didn’t spend the money as appropriated and once again got offended. This time they refused to show up to answer questions raised by the committee.

Now Montgomery says they returned $112,000 back to the county at the end of the year, so we have to ask where did the money come from? Was it in some kind of special account that no one knew about? If the money was there then why did they come to the F&A committee with their hat in hand asking for more? Maybe it was revenue made from selling confiscated property. Does any of this make sense to anyone?

Rachel Parker a Log Cabin reporter writes,

[Montgomery] said lowering the appropriation to one quarter is "(the committee's) attempt to micromanage the sheriff's office and only the sheriff's office."

Montgomery appealed to the rest of the court, pointing out the authority is with the full court and not with subcommittees of the court.

"If you want to go to the quarterly, it will not affect the way we do business. It's just another way to micromanage the sheriff's office," he said.

He said the costs associated with running a jail and a sheriff's office are unpredictable.

"Returning $100,000 means we've been pretty frugal," he said.

Montgomery encouraged any of the members of the court to come by the sheriff's office and spend time with his staff to see how the financial process works.

We really think the sheriff misses the point of quarterly appropriations, it is being done TO micromanage the sheriff's office because the committee is concerned about how the financial process works, or in this case doesn't work. The law says it is illegal to spend appropriated tax dollars on items that have not been appropriated but in November we discovered that there were 4 line item categories that were in the red by between 238% and 580%. The correct procedure would have been for the sheriff's office to notify the F&A committee BEFORE the any line item category goes negative so that more money can be appropriated. This is a standard accounting procedure for county government agencies and is what the quorum court is trying to get to.

Sheriff Montgomery goes on to say that JP Blankenship actions and comments were "politically motivated" because she is running for the office of County Judge in the upcoming election. But how does the sheriff explain why the other members 10 members of the quorum court voted for the quarterly appropriation, were they politically motivated?

Actually we think Sheriff Marty Montgomery has a point, the search for answers into the spending issues IS politically motivated. After all isn't it good politics for an elected official to stand up in defense of our county tax dollars? This is something that JPs Kelley and Thessing ought to consider while they try and defend the actions of a friend.

One does have to wonder why Sheriff Marty Montgomery is so worked up over quarterly appropriations and questions about spending within his department. After all there was an audit last year that revealed thousands in misspent money that has led to the F&A committee to seek reimbursement. Why all of a sudden has Sheriff Montgomery come out of hiding and is flex his muscles? One local forum member says, "it seems to me to be an effort to intimidate into silence," which is a valid assessment of the situation. Personally we think this latest spin is a prelude to some upcoming announcement by Sheriff Montgomery, it will be interesting to see what happens as this plays out.

Micro-management and raises for County Employees

As promised the F&A Committee of the Quorum Court recommended an ordinance that would allow the county to micro-manage the budget of the sheriff's office. This ordinance would appropriate money quarterly instead of yearly allowing the committee to keep a closer watch on spending within the sheriff's department. This idea would seem to be a good one but we suspect that the sheriff's office and at least one JP, Marvin Kelley, would have a problem with it. Look for this opposition at the next full quorum court meeting.

The F&A Committee also lived up to their promise and voted to give county employees a 3% raise retroactive to the first of the year. Although we do find that a 3% raise in pay is a slight bit low considering the cost of living increase was higher. People who are on society security got a 4.5% increase this year. But it's better than nothing right. There is one more hurdle this proposed raise will have to jump, it must be voted in and ratified by the full court.

Something that has been over looked however by the county is the millions in delinquent fines that still plagues the county. The county voted to publish a list of the delinquent fine owners in the Log Cabin but we haven't seen anything published lately. The first list you'll remember was littered with incomplete and inaccurate information that was suppose to be corrected in the next publication. But we did not see this published, maybe we missed it. At any rate the county has only seen a limited increase in the collection of these fines while millions are still owed. Maybe if the Quorum Court was to allow a collection agency to collect more of these fines a bigger raise could be given to the employees of this county next year.

Food for thought. . .

It comes down to choices

Coming up this Tuesday At 6:30pm is next F&A Committee Meeting and although it isn't listed on the official agenda we have been told that will be looking at changes to how money is appropriated for the sheriff's office.

At the last meeting of this committee entertained the idea of changing the sheriff's budget to quarterly allocations, pass an ordinance that the sheriff's dept. cannot go in the negative in any single line item, get a report back on who has vehicles and why (there are 51 somewhere), and get a report back on who has cell phones and why. The committee also wants to require the sheriff to get prior approval before spending for meals and lodging and cancel all the credit cards. The committee recognizes that there will be some problems that need to be worked out with these last two ideas but feel all of these steps are needed to correct the spending issues.

These measures are the result of choices the sheriff's office made in the management of the department. Facing a tight budget due to budget cuts in the 2005 budget, because of a surplus at the end of 2004, the department chose to ignore established accounting procedures and run many categories in the red without notifying the Quorum Court.

Once it all came to a head in late November and questions arose by the F&A Committee the sheriff's office was asked to explain their actions. The Committee ultimately had to appropriate additional monies and once again the sheriff's office didn't follow the correct procedure by running more line items in the red. This time the sheriff's office made another choice, they choose to ignore the F&A Committee's request for answers.

Speaking of choices, comments recently were made at this blog concerning raises for deputies and apparently the posters feel the problem is at the Quorum Court level. But the fact is it is another choice made by the sheriff and his management team.

The Sheriff is responsible for setting the budget for his department not the Quorum Court. The court simply approves or sends the budget back fro adjustments if it can't be done. Over the years Sheriff Montgomery chose to use his budget to fund trips to sheriff's conferences and a special FBI course for his political and professional career rather that spend money on raises. Montgomery also used this travel budget to take non-county personnel on these outings. If we were deputies we'd be a little pissed at this choice. It is choices like these that call for a new sheriff and management team.

In November the people will get to decide the route our sheriff's department takes. We recently asked one of the candidates for Sheriff what his view on this problem was. Democratic candidate Karl Byrd responded,

A lot of these problems will be easy to fix by simply putting the needed checks and balances in place and re-structuring administration and who is allowed to spend and under what circumstances. You must have set procedures and proper supervision to assure these practices are being followed. To restore the public's view of the department will take some time, hard work, and a lot of professionalism that will be best displayed by sound law enforcement, understanding of the laws, and dealing with the public in a fair and professional manner.

I do believe that I will be able to obtain raises for the deputies and hopefully more of them to better serve the public. I believe this can be done by establishing an open communication with the JP's and explain the needs of the department and the services required to keep our citizens safe. In this day and time, you just can't ask for money from the court and not provide information as to why you need it.

This is an exciting time in Faulkner County with the rapid growth in population, business, and industry, but we need to understand problems that can come with this rapid growth and that we MUST have a progressive law enforcement agency to be prepared for this.

This is probably going to be one of the most important elections that Faulkner County has ever experienced. Not just in my race, but also in the Judge's race, Representative races, and JP's. I hope that the citizens of this County consider these facts and ask questions as you have done before they cast their votes. . .

We agree wholeheartedly with Candidate Byrd on this matter, this will be a very important election for all the races in the county. . .

How soon we forget

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Debra Hale-Shelton's recap of the spending woes at the sheriff's office sparked comments from JP Marvin Kelley. Kelley, a reserve deputy and member of the jail task force, spoke in defense of the sheriff's office even though the sheriff and his staff declined comment.

You may remember Kelley was one of the JPs who voted against the legislative audit that uncovered egregious incidents of theft and fraud saying, "I think it's a sad day in Faulkner County when our elected officials are beating each other up in the newspaper." He added, "I don't know how it should have been handled," he said. "If I were one JP with questions, why can't I just go say 'What's the problem?' One (JP) can go directly to a department head. It just appeared to me like it was politically motivated."

It would seem that he would liked to have kept this misspending under wraps and not let the public know where our money is being spent. But that's not what he promised to do in his 2002 campaign for JP. In his run against (D) Jerry Roberts, JP Kelley said, "What I want to do is just be a responsible and accountable representative for the people of the county. We've passed sales tax initiatives for the jail and roads, and we need to see some action," he added he wants to be sure the county isn't "wasting taxpayer money."

Now Kelley speaks out to defend those accused of misspending and wasting taxpayer's money, how soon do we forget. Debra Hale-Shelton writes,

. . . Tabor took aim at reportedly widespread credit-card abuse and evidence of theft by others in the sheriff's office while concluding that no criminal charges against Montgomery were warranted.

"Items from diapers to liquor were purchased using the cards", Tabor said.

Kelly, who is an unpaid reserve deputy, acknowledged the discovery of "a lot of things that were certainly improper or inaccurate" in the sheriff's office. Still he said, "I really don't think it was intentional wrongdoing. All of the people that work for the sheriff I believe to be honest people."

Kelley must think that "improper" actions, "widespread credit-card abuse", "inaccurate" reporting of expenses, and "evidence of theft" are definitions of honesty.

But what is really disturbing is the sheriff and his staff's actions when questioned about this matter, they refused to answer. They are members of our government who have once again misspent our tax dollars and they do not show up to answer questions by the Finance Committee. Furthermore they offer no explanation to the public other than that they are offended by these questions. Do they seriously think that childishly refusing to answer questions about where the money was spent is going to make them look good?

It looks like they still have things to hide and it appears that they have at least one JP that is willing to defend them for it.

Someone send the sheriff a box of Kleenex

In a story from yesterday's Log Cabin Rachel Parker says members of the administrative staff of the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office took offense at comments made after an emergency meeting of the finance committee last month.

Last November the committee gave the department an additional $86,000 appropriation that was to correct the overspending on monies from several line item categories so the department could make it to the end of the year. At that meeting Chief Deputy Wallace 'took offense' at people questioning their expenditures by people who really didn't understand what they do.

Now the department is offended by comments made by the JPs who are in charge of appropriating county funds and had to once again dish out money for negative line items. It's kind of like a parent giving their child money to help them make a car payment only to later find out the child had spent it on 'other things'. Now if you were that parent wouldn't you want to know why the car payment wasn't made?

For anyone who works at a department that is guilty of thousands of dollars in misspent money, in 2004, and that can't balance its budget, in 2005, to take offense is simply laughable. Someone please send the sheriff's office a box of Kleenex, they need to dry their eyes. They should probably open them too and take a good look around, people aren't buying it.

As JP Blankenship says, "The question was the oversight and controls and accountability. We tried to impress upon all the officials to be very frugal so we would have money for raises. There is no frugality in that department. We want them to live within a budget, not just spend and ask for more."

Speaking of raises, Sgt. Jason Bell, who was involved in that deadly shooting, gave his account of the incident that left one man dead. In his comments he notes that the city of Oppelo just started a police department with a salary that is higher than his and he has been at the department for almost nine years. He adds that a Sergeant at the Vilonia Police Department makes about $9,000 more a year.

Sgt. Bell and Deputy Martin were cleared of any wrong doing in the shooting by the way. Check out his comments about the shooing here, Conflicting reports. We think these officers and the other deputies who work to keep this county safe need to be fairly compensated for their work. But what these deputies need to understand is that it is the administration's fault for their lack of raises.

Too much money has been spent for the sheriff's "Great North American Road Trip" and other useless trips that do nothing more that further the career of the Sheriff. Also too much money has been misspent by this administration for personal items and/or gain. The administration has a duty first to the public and then to its officers, self has no place in this picture at all.

And lastly, we think the sheriff and his administration should know that the public takes offense at a department who spends our tax dollars on trips and meals for friends and family members, we take offense at a department who spends our tax dollars for personal items such as tuition payments and everything from diapers to liquor, and we take offense at a department that can't balance their books.

Year in review

Well it’s been quite a year for Faulkner County Sheriff Marty Montgomery and staff; they should feel very fortunate to still be employed and not facing criminal charges. For much of the year the department has been under investigation for spending infractions that turned out to be far worse than anyone knew, well except for the violators that is.

But much in the same way the sheriff’s office has ignored criminal acts, the judges and prosecutors have allowed the sheriff and his staff to get away with misspending our tax dollars. This is quite a system of justice we have in this country, a person can be convicted of embezzlement as long as they are not holding public office would seem to be the lesson we get from this mess.

We’d like to offer our ‘thanks’ to special prosecutor Stephen Tabor for his ‘outstanding job’ of defending the people of this county. It’s too bad that he’s from Sebastian County, we could have shown him our ‘thanks’ at the polls this coming November.

The Faulkner County Detention Center also received favorable rulings by our justice system in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU for the chronic overcrowded conditions of the jail. A U.S. Magistrate dismissed the case saying he was “not entirely satisfied" with the average numbers of inmates held at the facility, but that the "totality of the circumstances" called for the lawsuit to be dismissed.

U.S. Magistrate Judge H. David Young also noted that the ACLU failed to show that the county was deliberately indifferent to the inmates' serious health and safety needs, he said he found no evidence of deliberate indifference. "Deliberately indifferent" whom was he kidding, stuffing 200 inmates in a facility built to hold 121 inmate (140 inmates by fire code regulations) isn't indifferent to their safety?

Chalk up another one for Sheriff Montgomery and the County; they seem to be living ‘charmed’ lives as justice takes another one on the chin. By our count last year our lady of justice is way behind, she has some serious making up to do if she is to win this fight.

It’s also been quite a year for the County Judge’s Office and the Quorum Court. County Judge John Wayne Carter seen a lawsuit accusing him of violating bidding procedures by allowing a JP at the time’s company to repair a county building be dismissed by a special judge appointed to hear the case. What’s with these special legal eagles these days, do they not see anything as illegal?

Now we come to our Quorum Court and it Finance Committee. It would seem that after a year like this the court should be feeling a slight bit impotent when it comes to it power in controlling the budgets of the county’s agencies. After all they have tried to get to the bottom of the spending problems at the sheriff’s office and demanded that new procedures be established as they agree to give the sheriff an additional $86,000 appropriation only to see that misspent as well.

The Quorum Court and the County Judges office need to come to the realization that the only way to prevent the misspending at the sheriff’s office is to come down hard on the violators and get rid of those credit cards that the sheriff and his staff freely hand out to anyone who needs to by something. They also need to spoon feed money to the sheriff and make the department submit a request to the county for things prior to their purchase.

Yep it was quite a year, here’s to hoping for a better one this year. . .

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

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

Rachel Parker of the Log Cabin writes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Damascus Keith Robinson has NOT been accused of any wrongdoing

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

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

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Debra Hale-Shelton writes,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conflicting reports

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neighbors said they heard it all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the Line of Duty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More money troubles at another law enforcement agency in Faulkner County

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

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

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

Changes to this blog

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

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

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

Credit card abuses in other counties, how do they compare

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Join the club Pulaski County

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The three truths of Montgomery’s tuition payment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday News Stories

It is now official

We have 2 candidates for County Judge...

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

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

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

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

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

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

In other news

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

Upcoming stories of interest

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

Please stay tuned for more . . .

Possible new candidate for County Judge in 2006

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

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

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

Things are starting to heat up in the upcoming election.

More investigation required. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

Letter to Judge Clawson

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

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

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

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

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

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