Family Council plays hardball

The Family Council plans a campaign to put some sort of constitutional amendment or initiated act on the 2008 general election ballot dealing with gay foster parents and adoptions. It is a raw power play, not that there is anything wrong with that. Isn’t America all about greed and politics?

Homosexuals are not the best parents, however, straight folks don’t have much of a winning record either. The Family Council has never at any time lifted a finger to help the thousands of Arkansas children in state care, even though my Bible plainly advises that we are judged based on what we have done for the least fortunate.

The legislature grappled with this little problem in the last session. How would such a law be enforced? Do we register all gay people? Do we put individuals on trial to prove their sexual orientation?

What is really needed is more case workers to keep up with foster homes and adoptions. We need more hones with loving giving people that can take in a child, maybe even a child with problems. It’s easier to pick on gay folks, and it is cowardly.

One more thing, it should be harder to get a divorce when there are children. In those cases there should always be charges and a trial. Let’s take families seriously, and why not start with heterosexuals?

(Broadcast June 14, 2007)

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Dirksmeyer Developments UPDATED

The trial of Kevin Jones has been moved out of Pope County. You’ve heard that already. Here is a link to the Channel 7 story.

Of course, the “good” part concerns a Russellville Courier reporter who has been posting on a crime discussion board under an assumed name. That is a small ethical problem since such conversations are, by nature, advocating certain positions and theories. Too bad. The Courier is a fine paper. Perhaps this should be a “lesson learned.” Here is a link to the discussion group.

UPDATE – The Russellville Courier account of the hearing has gone online. Warning: this report will not stay up long, so be sure to cut and paste.

Jonesboro attorney Bill Bristow, a Harvard graduate and one of the best trial lawyers in Arkansas, is on the Jones defense team. He is formidable. Bristow was the lead attorney for Steve Clark when he faced theft by deception charges and is generally credited with keeping Clark out of prison.

Highlights of the extensive story are below. Curiously, the story does not tell readers about the newspaper reporter called as a witness. One presumes that it is not Ms. Ginocchio.

Arguments heard in State v. Jones case

Cell phone, fingerprint evidence discussed
By Janie Ginocchio
Reporter

Retired Pope County Circuit Judge John Patterson heard arguments on three defense motions Wednesday in prepartion for the trial of Kevin Jones, a Dover man charged in connection with the death of Nona Dirksmeyer.

Dirksmeyer was found slain in her apartment on Dec. 15, 2005. Jones’ trial is scheduled to begin July 9. Patterson was the presiding judge in the case until he retired Jan. 31. He was reassigned to the case after Circuit Judge James Kennedy recused.

After hearing testimony from seven witnesses regarding the defense’s motion for a change of venue, Patterson ordered the trial be moved to Ozark in Franklin County [see related story], then took up the other two motions.

Shades of O. J. and mishandled evidence.

During the hearing, both the defense and prosecution were shocked to realize a month before Jones was charged in Dirksmeyer’s death, the Russellville Police Department released to Dirksmeyer’s stepfather what the defense called a significant piece of evidence — her cell phone and SIM card, which was found at the crime scene.

Significant? You decide.

“The cell phone was handled and manipulated by the perpetrator,” defense attorney Kenneth Johnson from Monticello said at the hearing. He told the court the phone was found at the crime scene without the battery, and the battery has not been recovered. He also noted during the Arkansas State Crime Lab’s examination of the SIM card, authorities discovered several text messages to Dirksmeyer sent days before her death, but all of her responses had been deleted.

“There was a message on Dec. 9 [2005] sent by an individual who says, ‘I wonder why you’re leading me on,’” Johnson said. He said the same person sent 5 to 10 messages to Dirksmeyer in the days preceding her death.

Prosecutors and police will have their hands full. Stay tuned.

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Thursday summary

Former Arkansas federal prosecutor Bud Cummins demanded an apology from the Bush administration on Wednesday over a former White House aide’s assertion that he was fired last summer for being “lazy.”

An Arkansas legislative committee will ask U.S. Attorney General Alberto “the torturer” Gonzales to investigate the U.S. oil industry’s concentration, after several said their constituents are frustrated with paying high prices for gasoline.

Democrats should abandon efforts to set a public withdrawal date for troops in Iraq, Sen. Mark Pryor said Wednesday. Instead, the Senate should embrace goals of a bipartisan commission that called for more diplomacy, stepped up training of Iraqi soldiers, and benchmarks to measure progress.

A group of Little Rock school district residents filed a class-action lawsuit against the district and the School Board to stop a potential payment of more than $500,000 to departing superintendent Roy Brooks. Plaintiffs claim the separation agreement violates state law.

A continuing education seminar to help social workers work more effectively with gays wanting to adopt, or be foster parents, and with gay children in foster care, is drawing criticism from a conservative group seeking to ban gay adoptions and foster parenting in Arkansas. Julia Baldwin, executive director of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, denied that the daylong workshop the group has scheduled for Friday was intended to promote a gay agenda.

Alltel’s “preliminary proxy” answers some questions regarding compensation for employees in the company’s proposal sale, but some questions still remain. For the next two years, employee compensation and termination guidelines will remain the same, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

IC Corporation has notified its employees about the possibility of a large number of layoffs coming in the next 60 days. The Conway bus manufacturing plant filed a notice under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act with the Arkansas state government and the city of Conway providing 60 days notice and a maximum number of 500 jobs. IC Corp. has about 1,300 Conway employees.

The Dunlap Co. will close the doors of more than 40 stores in eight states under 10 different names later this year – including Arkansas’ original MM Cohn.

The Arkansas Court of Appeals sent an appeal of the Public Service Commission’s 2005 decision to grant a $4.4 million rate increase to Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Co. back to the commission.

Southern Baptists have confirmed that the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message provides “sufficient” guidance for the 16.3 million member denomination and its governing boards. Some conservative Baptists have sought to exclude from leadership roles those who engage in the traditional Pentecostal practice of speaking in tongues.

Putting the pressure on the state’s shoulders is the Dollarway School Board’s answer to the emergency state of the district’s middle school facility and the fact that no funds will be immediately forthcoming from the bungled millage request put before voters on March 13.

The insurance provider has signed off on a $30,000 settlement of a claim against the City of Searcy alleging gender-based discrimination in pay.

The majority of the voters in Conway decided issuing bonds for the improvement of the city’s parks and recreation system is a good idea.

Criaghead County will build a new lake near Bono as a result of this week’s election.

The state Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of Lloyd Lee Holt, who was sentenced to a year in jail after his 10-year-old daughter died in a fire while chained to her bed. A Johnson County jury found Teresa Dick guilty of manslaughter and first-degree false imprisonment and sentenced her to 14 years in prison.

A Benton County man who pleaded guilty to sexual and carnal abuse of minors should have his conviction expunged because the crimes occurred before a 1999 law went into effect to keep such records on the books, the state Court of Appeals ruled.

The trial of the man accused of killing his beauty queen girlfriend has been moved. Kevin Jones, charged in the 2005 murder of Nona Dirksmeyer, will be tried in Franklin instead of Pope County. The defense called a half-dozen or so witnesses during a hearing in Russellville, including a Courier reporter who ran from Channel 7’s cameras after she testified to posting about the Dirksmeyer case on crime message boards under an assumed name.

The Arkansas State Police have arrested three Holly Grove men and are searching for a fourth in the June 3 vandalism of City Hall and the burning of two police cars in the east Arkansas town.

Sebastian County Circuit Court Judge Michael Fitzhugh has sentenced Meshawn Jamar Steward of Fort Smith to 25 years in prison in connection with the shooting of a former college basketball player. Steward shot Terrist Parramore multiple times in the head and chest on Oct. 28 at a Halloween party in the ballroom of the Ramada Inn. Parramore was taken to Sparks Regional Medical Center with a bullet in his brain and another lodged near his spine — and survived — but didn’t walk again until January.

A Fort Smith man who was previously banned from a local high school for lewd behavior is under arrest after a witness called police saying a man was committing a sexually indecent act at the school. Jerry Dean Ross was arrested after a resident noticed him with his pants down and possibly performing a sexual act on a yellow pole near an entrance at Northside High School.

Memphis police are investigating allegations by a former topless club cocktail waitress that she was recruited as bait in a plot to blackmail Mayor Willie Herenton by luring him into a sexual rendezvous. Gwendolyn D. Smith has touched off an official inquiry with her account, contending that she’s been paid as much as $18,000 — money she says came from rich businessmen trying to smear Herenton, the city’s first black elected mayor, to keep him from seeking a fifth term in October.

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