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:
http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/senators.php

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}

A fair and just system of law

Is it possible to have a fair and just system of law in this country? Judging by the events of the past few years We’d have to say no. In this county we have a system of law enforcement that has been allowed to neglect their duties and allow crimes to go unpunished and fines to go uncollected. We have a system of law enforcement that has been allowed to “steal” taxpayer’s money by spending it on personal items while not receiving any criminal charges and are allowed to remain employed. We have a system of law enforcement that has been allowed to disregard the safety of inmates and not be held individually liable for this neglect. And now it seems that a Federal District Judge is considering allowing this system of law enforcement to neglect the rights and safety of inmates and not be held liable in their official capacity as well.

In the case of Scott Crow v. Marty Montgomery, U.S. District Judge Wm. R. Wilson wrote a response to a Writ of Mandamus before the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals where he says that he will likely reconsider and dismiss the case against the county in light of a statement made by the Court of Appeals in an earlier decision. Judge Wilson writes,

In the penultimate paragraph of its decision, the Court expressed its view on the merits of Crow’s official capacity claim, an issue that was not before the Court on Defendants’ interlocutory appeal:

Crow alleges, at most, institution-wide deficiencies which were known to these supervisory officials but over which they had only partial control. On these facts, we refuse to hold supervisory jail officials liable for acts that may or may not have contributed to Crow’s injury in June of 2001. In short, there is no record evidence of anything beyond the FCDC officials’ simple negligence. Thus, on the facts taken in the light most favorable to Crow, he has not made out a constitutional violation.

[. . .]

If the Court dismisses the Writ of Mandamus as inappropriate, as I think that it should, it is most likely that I will reconsider and dismiss the case against the county in light of the quoted paragraph.

It seems clear to me that this is not an earthquake type of case that would cause the Court to employ the extraordinary remedy of mandamus.

Well it may not be an earthquake case to the Judges but I guarantee you that it was to Scott Crow. Now in the original ruling by the district court Judge Wilson denied a motion for summary judgment by the county stating there is a genuine issue of material fact in question. The County’s lawyer, Michael Rainwater, filed an appeal to the 8th District Court of Appeals asking for qualified immunity under 42 U.S.C. §1983 from individual liability.

In a ruling that the Appeals Court itself calls as out of the ordinary they over turn the District Court’s denial for summary judgment and grant the appeal for qualified immunity. Now this in itself sets a disturbing standard that will make it harder for inmates to get justice for injuries sustained due to the neglect and/or abuse committed by jailers all across the U.S. But to now have the District Judge state his intention to dismiss based solely on an extraordinary ruling is pushing this standard to a dangerous level.

The precedence set in this case should it be dismissed is far reaching. It will allow jail administrators to neglect the needs of inmates without fear of any civil and maybe even criminal liability. Have we as a society really come to the point where our rights are only as good as our standing in the community?

As predicted the Appeals Court has denied the writ of mandamus and sent this case back to Judge Wilson for adjudication. It is now up to him to decide once again if a jury will hear the facts in this case or if he will set the system of justice back a few hundred years.

The facts of this case must be heard. If you feel as we do and want to help call Judge Wilson’s office at (501) 604-5140 and express your concerns about dismissing this case. And if your so inclined call or email the local media outlets and ask them to do a story about this case.

Well, well, well

Well, well, well is all that can be said about last night’s Quorum Court meeting. Marilyn Clifton was scheduled to address the court on the topic of lack of law enforcement but was unable to attend. In her place was an on again, off again, part time investigator for the sheriff’s office, Jim Hedrick, an investigator we are all too familiar with.

Hedrick got up and introduced himself and then proceeded to scold the members of the court for cutting the sheriff’s office budget by $250,000. This he says has led to his dismissal and has left the county unsafe.

“There are many times that we have only 2 deputies on duty for the entire county”, Hedrick adds, “when the 2 deputies were shot recently they were the only ones on duty, what if my wife needed a deputy to respond, what would we have done?”

While these are very good points, Jim, but you are however wrong about this being a budgetary problem. In a very polite way F&A committee members, JPs Wells, Blankenship, and Kellar, informed Mr. Hedrick that they have not cut the overall budget at the sheriff’s office but simply split its appropriations to quarterly rather that annually. In fact JP Wells told him the sheriff’s budget has increase dramatically in the past 4 years.

Treasurer Regina Oakley then tells Hedrick that the sheriff’s office has over $56,000 appropriated for part-time employees with $48,000 left in its budget at the time. She adds that last year Sheriff Marty Montgomery returned $112,000 from his budget. In what we believe to be a ploy to divert the public’s attention from the spending issues that has led to the quarterly appropriations.

One has to feel sorry for Jim’s plight, well almost. Ironically it was the actions and/or inactions of then investigator Hedrick that has led us in part to write our site and now to see him complaining about the lack of law enforcement is priceless.

This is just another shining example of Sheriff Montgomery’s wonderful administration. It appears that instead of admitting there is a problem with spending at his department and working to correct it he returns money back to the county while leaving us citizens ultimately unsafe.

I had a chance to discuss my feelings with Mr. Hedrick after the meeting that led to him getting very upset. It seems he’s rather disturbed about his name being published at this site and has threaten to sue us. I tried to tell him that we have only published the truth about our experiences with his performance as investigator but that didn’t go over well. He ultimately had to be calmed down by Candidate for Sheriff Karl Byrd who was in attendance.

Also in attendance at this meeting was candidate for County Judge and State Representative Preston Scroggin who was there undoubtedly to hear a report about the newest boom business that is about to hit this County, the drilling for natural gas.

County Administrator Mike Hutchens told the court about his and County Judge John Wayne Carter’s recent trip to Cleburne TX. This trip was to investigate what kind of impact this industry will have on the county economically and environmentally since this town had 41 wells. This biggest concern the court shown was for the growth that will likely occur from this.

Hutchens stated that the projected growth for this county already will put us at the third largest county in the state by the next census even before this industry’s plan hit the books. This raises concerns about traffic, infrastructure, and public safety that must be addressed in the real near future by the court.
Hutchens adds that from his visit to TX it is clear that these gas drilling companies are will to work with the county in alleviate any problems that will arise.

Further research is going to have to be done before the court will entertain any regulating ordinances for this win fall industry. In our opinion the research must include environmental impact studies that target the long term effects on the county’s water table from the deep well injections of waste water used in the drilling.

All in all it was a very productive and informative meeting…

Lack of enforcement

On Feb. 21st the Quorum Court will hear from Marilyn Clifton about the lack of law enforcement in her area. We wish to invite all of you that are concerned about this issue to attend this meeting. We started this site because of this very issue, the lack of and/or the incompetence of the sheriff’s office when it comes to enforcing the law. During this site’s run we have seen an astounding lack of accountability in nearly every aspect of the sheriff’s department ran by Sheriff Marty Montgomery.

Everything from not responding to calls, not listing an obvious suspect in the shooting of our dogs, losing evidence in that case, and not arresting a man who shot in the direction of his neighbor, to the admitted misuse of public funds for the sheriff’s tuition and egregious incidents of theft and fraud of the public’s money within the sheriff’s department. But that’s not the end of their incredible list of inactions.

We as a county still have millions in overdue fines that the sheriff is in charge of collecting but hasn’t. We know of one particular case adjudicated in Nov. 2004 where the offender was ordered to pay fines and cost of just over $900 and $150 in restitution for the crimes he had committed but has failed to pay any of it. This individual was recently given another 6 months to pay these fines by the sheriff’s and victims services’ offices because of his claims of poverty. We find this hard to believe since this man owns his own home, motor home, about 8 cars, a “welding” shop, and at least $20,000+ in auto repair tools that he’s not allowed to use for business purposes. Is it any wonder why the county is owed millions of dollars when the sheriff’s office takes such a sluggish approach to its collection?

Now it is still unclear at this point exactly what has transpired in Ms. Clifton’s area that has lead her to address the Quorum Court about this issue but it certainly needs to be addressed. We will be there to express our views and concerns; we hope to see you there as well…