Coming up …

First of all, there is the big blues fundraiser by Buz Lasiter in North Little Rock tonight. All the details and a cool interview are on my home page, lyncho.com, linked at right.

Next week, here is a little preview …

Monday: 10:00, Ray McKinnon, actor, writer, director, “Randy and the Mob”
movie.
Tuesday: 10:00, Susan Welsh Blair, Empress of LR B&B, Bats in the Belfry,
etc.
Wednesday: 10:00, Caroline Stevenson, Beacon Of Peace and Hope at the Inland Maratine Museum in North Little Rock .
Thursday: 10:00, Mike Dollins, Blues Guitar

Filed under: Uncategorized

University Mall sold, UPDATE

Big news (and good news) for mid-town Little Rock. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has the breaking story. You can get it all here. There will be more tomorrow.

University Mall sold to Simon partner

By Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Friday, September 28, 2007

LITTLE ROCK — The fate of the troubled University Mall in midtown Little Rock has taken a turn that bodes well for the retail property built in 1967, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has learned.

The land beneath the mall has been sold to SPC Park Avenue Limited Partnership led by Jim Strode of Dallas for an undisclosed sum. Strode was the developer of the recently opened Midtowne Little Rock retail center near University Mall.

The new partnership will partner with Simon Property Group Inc. to redevelop the property, according to a source close to the deal. Simon Property has managed the mall and is appealing a lawsuit ruling in a case that has dragged on in federal court for three years.

UPDATE: Our pal Roby Brock at TalkBusiness.net has a somewhat different take on his BizBlog.

Strode Property Co. of Dallas, Texas, announced late today that it has purchased University Mall in Little Rock and will redevelop the 27-acre area into a mixed-use, open-air shopping complex to be called Park Avenue.

Contrary to other media reports, Simon Property Group has no further involvement with the project, nor do the previous owners of the property, the William L. Patton, Jr. Family partnership and the Southern Real Estate & Financial Co., according to representatives for Strode.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed and no tenants have been confirmed at this time, although sources tell Talk Business that Target could be an anchor client for the new development.

Strode Property recently developed and opened Midtowne Little Rock, an upscale shopping center that has attracted a host of specialty retailers and restaurants. Park Avenue and Midtowne Little Rock occupy opposite corners of the University Avenue and Markham Street intersection.

”Like Midtowne Little Rock, my hope is for Park Avenue to bring new life to the University Avenue corridor and continue the ongoing redevelopment efforts of Little Rock’s central area,” said Jim Strode.

Filed under: Little Rock

Friday morning summary

The Arkansas Supreme Court has upheld a state law allowing “electronic games of skill” at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs and Southland Greyhound Park in West Memphis.

School administrators warn lawmakers that facility standards intended to create equity statewide will end up costing the state millions of dollars in unnecessary building space. Springdale Superintendent Jim Rollins showed off his district’s new Willis D. Shaw Elementary School to visiting legislators, pointing out that the seemingly spacious brick building wouldn’t have met new state size standards.

The Little Rock School Board will register with the state its opposition to the establishment of six open-enrollment charter schools in Pulaski County, citing a potential loss of 1,000 students that could cost the district more than $5.5 million a year.

The attorney for the Little Rock School Board says the district’s stance of settling lawsuits is causing more cases to be filed and more taxpayer money spent outside of the classroom.

Six students and a driver were injured when the Greene County Tech School District bus they were in sideswiped a bridge railing on Arkansas 168 between Lorado and Fontaine and slid into a muddy field,

The University of Central Arkansas has announced the largest gift in its 100-year history – a $3 million bequest from the estate of an Elaine couple, Mary Ellen White Crow and Jake Crow. UCA President Lu Hardin also announced the start of a campaign to raise $35 million by December 2009. The university already has raised $19 million toward the goal. The money will be used for scholarships, capital projects and faculty needs.

A plan to reduce the budget for St. Francis County government by $200,000 next year will result in the loss of at least two jobs at the county jail. Both cooks at the county jail are being laid off in an effort to cut spending. May said that trusties will take on the job of preparing meals for the inmates at the jail.

The executive director of the Sebastian Retired Citizens Association said she can justify the $338,000 the organization has requested from the city for 2008. Each year, the Fort Smith Board of Directors appropriates funding for senior citizen services within the city. A recent audit showed that up to $70,000 had been spent to offset deficits at centers in Greenwood, Hartford, Mansfield and Hackett.

Craighead County Judge Dale Haas says that work on levees performed along the St. Francis River to comply with a directive to beef them up has received an initial thumbs-up from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division has received a second application for a private club permit to allow alcohol sales in Crawford County. The permit is for Eagle Crest Golf Course in Alma. Eagle Crest manager Scott Curtis filed the permit earlier this month.

Floodwaters caused powerful and freak explosions inside two homes near the Farrville community. No injuries were reported. Fire Battalion Chief Kenny James said the explosions happened after floodwaters entered the garage area and overturned plastic containers filled with gasoline. “The gas fumes moved to the water heater, which is located in the garage area of these homes,” James said. “When the fumes reached the flame on the heater there was an explosion.”

The former Mena police chief and his wife have filed a lawsuit in Polk County Circuit Court, alleging illegal termination, invasion of privacy and defamation. Marvin T. and Judy Hubbard filed the suit naming as defendants the city of Mena; its mayor, George McKee; and Mena City Council members, and KENA 102.1, a Mena radio station, station owner Jay Bunyard, manager Douglas and employee Norman Gray.

Former state Sen. Roy C. “Bill” Lewellen of Marianna has been reprimanded and fined $5,000 for the way he represented a client who sought legal help after being bitten by a dog, the state committee that disciplines lawyers announced Thursday.

Roger Dale Barrett will get a new capital murder trial in the death of his mistress in 2000, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The court upheld Benton County Senior Circuit Judge Tom Keith’s October ruling that Barrett should be granted a new trial because his defense attorney failed to adequately represent him. The state had appealed Keith’s ruling.

The state Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Van Buren man who was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences plus 100 years on nine counts of rape. A Crawford County jury found Thomas Lee Stone, 46, guilty of raping two young boys several times over a two-year period. The jury acquitted Stone of raping a third boy. The Supreme Court said it could not address his arguments raised on appeal because they were not raised at his trial.

The appointed defense attorney for James Aaron Miller, who faces the death penalty in the December slayings of his girlfriend and her two children, filed 23 motions on Miller’s behalf in Sebastian County Circuit Court. Coy J. Rush Jr. argues in several motions against the death penalty and devotes several others to jury selection in the capital case.

The Fort Smith woman accused of causing the death of her 4-year-old stepson was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of second-degree murder. Maria Vasquez and her husband, Belton Vasquez, brought Flowers to St. Edward Mercy Medical Center on the night of Dec. 11, and said that their son was not breathing. The autopsy revealed that Jujuan Flowers had suffered several injuries from physical abuse on occasions prior to his death, including rib fractures, bruises and several old injuries.

A wild rush-hour shooting that sent bullets flying across Little Rock’s Asher Avenue and cars swerving to avoid the chaos left one man dead and another shot in the gut. According to their accounts, a group of men drove up and parked about 5 p.m. in the small lot next to the Pro-Cut & Styles barbershop on Asher just east of Fair Park Boulevard.

A police chase spanning two counties ends with the arrest of a suspected illegal immigrant now accused of shooting at a Malvern police officer. Police say the chase covered more than 15 miles from Pine Bluff Street in Malvern to Shady Grove Road in Garland County.

A Fayetteville man faces 61 charges of forgery and another count of criminal possession of a forgery device, according to the Washington County prosecuting attorney’s office. Laif Douglas Poulton is accused of counterfeiting checks and driver’s licenses to obtain cash and credit.

People who were recently tattooed will now be able to donate blood at United Blood Services if the tattoo was received at a state-regulated tattoo shop with sterile needles and ink that is not reused.

Filed under: Arkansas, Summary

Thursday summary

Gov. Mike Beebe will release of $1.5 million in state General Improvement Fund money for a collaborative technological research effort by three state universities.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to consider a Kentucky lethal injection challenge could have implications in Arkansas and the 37 other states that use the method of execution, a lawyer representing state death-row inmate Jack Harold Jones Jr. said Wednesday. On Tuesday, the high court agreed to review an appeal by two Kentucky death-row inmates who argue lethal injection violates the Constitution’s protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to review the constitutionality of how municipal bonds are taxed in Kentucky, a Little Rock man claims Arkansas’ system for taxing interest from those bonds is also constitutionally flawed by illegally favoring local bonds.

Congress appears to be ready to step in to investigate delays in housing construction at Little Rock Air Force Base. A private contractor has stopped work on homes at the Jacksonville base, drawing ire from subcontractors and Air Force officials. Work by the same contractor, American Eagle Communities, has also stopped at three other bases.

The Green Party of Arkansas submitted signatures to the secretary of state’s office Wednesday, seeking to put candidates on the 2008 election ballot. The party submitted 17,197 signatures, according to Fort Smith lawyer Rebekah Kennedy, who has announced she is running as a Green Party candidate against U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

After two years of renovations, Little Rock’s historic Capital Hotel will be reopening to the public in mid-November. It’s down to detail time, said Joe Rantisi, general manager.

Shelby County Commissioners showed some interest Wednesday in a Pyramid theme park proposal — but the strongest sense was of growing impatience with the city of Memphis-led pursuit of Bass Pro Shops. “I’m not very optimistic about what’s going on with Bass Pro,” said James Harvey, chairman of the commission’s ad hoc committee on the future use of The Pyramid and Mid-South Coliseum.

The city will not become a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, pledged Mayor Steve Womack during a Wednesday news conference to announce the receipt of a “long-awaited and much-anticipated” agreement from federal officials. Rogers officials received on Tuesday a signed memorandum of agreement from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 287(g) program.

Dissatisfied with the federal government’s response to illegal immigration, the Fort Smith Board of Directors will move forward with plans for enforcement at the local level. Federal official say it will take about two years for the city to be in full participation. The annual cost for two full time local immigration officiers will be about $131,000.

The state Court of Appeals overturned a Pulaski County rape conviction and ordered the case sent back to court after finding that a judge improperly allowed hearsay testimony during the July 2006 trial that ended in the conviction of John Seely. Seely was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a case involving a 3-year-old girl. The girl, 4 at the time of the trial, was not allowed to testify. Testimony of a hospital worker was ruled to be “testimonial” and in violation of the hearsay rules.

Little Rock should be able to pay its share of a $130 million project to reconfigure the Interstate 430/630 interchange, Mayor Mark Stodola said Wednesday. 180,000 vehicles a day, according to the Highway Department, use the interchange. More than 250,000 vehicles are expected to be using it daily by 2025.

A Conway man involved in a dispute over the ownership of an adult entertainment club prevailed in his lawsuit before the state Court of Appeals on Thursday. The appeals court dismissed an appeal of a $734,088 damage award Guy Jones received in a May 2003 lawsuit against his six co-owners of unincorporated association called the Southern Club.

Six Hot Springs nuns have been excommunicated for embracing a movement the Roman Catholic Church deems heretical, according to the Diocese of Little Rock. The nuns are involved with the Community of the Lady of All Nations, better known as the Army of Mary. Catholic authorities say the Quebec, Canada-based group elevates the Virgin Mary to the level of God and believes its founder is a reincarnation of the mother of Jesus.

Former Arkansas basketball player Corey Beck is listed in good condition at Regional Medical Center in Memphis after being shot Sunday night. Beck, a starting point guard on the Razorbacks’ 1994 NCAA championship and 1995 national runner up teams, was shot during a robbery attempt in Memphis according to the Commercial-Appeal newspaper.

Two toddlers who died in a Russellville apartment fire had been playing with a cigarette lighter while their mother was sleeping, authorities have determined. The mother, Miranda Edwards, 24, and the toddlers’ 4-year-old brother, Preston Edwards, were not hurt in the blaze Tuesday at Shadow Lake Apartments on Russellville’s northwest side.

The four missing crew members of a charter boat found drifting and abandoned Sunday in the Florida Straits were shot and killed by hijackers and their bodies thrown overboard, according to one surviving passenger whose account was outlined in an arrest affidavit filed Wednesday in federal court. The passenger, Guillermo Zarabozo of Hialeah, Fla., was charged with willfully making false statements to a federal agent. His companion, Kirby Logan Archer of Strawberry, Ark. was charged with fleeing to avoid prosecution, a charge out of Arkansas, where he has been wanted since January in the theft of $92,600 from a Batesville Wal-Mart.

Filed under: Arkansas, Summary

Attention hunters!

“Tis the season to go hunting and the experts have already been on the Pat Lynch Show. Missed it? How could you?????

Anyway. my visit with Steve “Wildman” Wilson and Keith Stephens from Game and Fish gave a great interview and it is available for free listening and download on my home page.

Filed under: Uncategorized

This weekend: two things

There are two events this weekend that have been prominently featured on Pat Classic. Butch Stone is holding another Family Fest at Maumelle. You can hear all about it in the free audio “on demand” section of my home page, Lyncho.com.

Also, Buz Lasiter is holding a fundraiser for his new blues and New Orleans style jazz venue. The location, however, has MOVED. You can also get all the details and a fine interview on the Lyncho home page.

Filed under: Promotion

Wednesday morning summary

A soldier from Newport died in an accident Saturday in Baqubah, Iraq. Spc. David L. Watson died of injuries from a non-combat related accident. His death is under investigation. Watson’s sister, Christal Hill, said his body arrived in Dover, Del., on Monday. A funeral is pending in Tuckerman High School to accommodate his large extended family and the community, she said.

The public has been given an extra day to view the Emancipation Proclamation at the Clinton Presidential Center in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Central High School crisis. The public will be able to view the document tonight from 5 to 9 p.m. without reservations. An entry fee up to $7 for adults will still be required to enter the library.

The Federal Aviation Administration shut down all airline traffic within 250 miles of Memphis on Tuesday, grounding dozens of passenger and cargo flights around the country, because communications equipment had failed at the regional air-traffic control center there. Air-traffic control centers in adjacent regions handled flights that were already in the air when the problem was discovered, FAA spokesman Kathleen Bergen said. “The airspace was completely cleared by 1:30 (p.m.) Eastern time,” she said.

The U. S. Senate gave final approval to authorize $23 billion in water projects across the country, including a plan to dredge channels of the Arkansas River to 12 feet or deeper.

CenterPoint Energy Inc. and the staff of the Arkansas Public Service Commission proposed an agreement Tuesday that would allow the company to raise residential rates for natural gas by about 5 percent.

RDM Cabinets Inc. will expand its’ operation in Trumann, Arkansas with the addition of 60 new full-time employees over the next two years – quadrupling its existing workforce of 20. Mountain Home also received some good news. Eaton Corp., which makes rubber hoses for hydraulic systems, just completed a three-year expansion that added 150 new jobs to its workforce.

Veterans told state lawmakers Tuesday that the new operator of a community-based outpatient clinic for veterans in Hot Springs is motivated only by money and is not caring for veterans properly. The clinic’s former operator, HealthStar Medical Group, told lawmakers that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said both providers were graded the same on quality, but that the new operator, Valor Healthcare, won because its bid was $1.25 lower per patient on a monthly basis.

Gas exploration in the Fayetteville Shale formation in north-central Arkansas is helping to keep the state’s unemployment rate down, said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

If Acxiom Corp.’s plunging stock price is saying anything, it’s that investors have lost faith that the $3 billion buyout of the Little Rock-based data broker will cross the finish line, observers say.

The 20 or so remaining tenants at Little Rock’s University Mall received lease termination letters Tuesday morning, effective Oct. 27 at midnight.

A state board reprimanded a St. Louis-based adoption agency for forging a letter on Department of Health and Human Services letterhead. Children’s Hope International will be required to file quarterly progress reports with the state Child Welfare Agency Board. The forged letter, dated May 14, promised the chief of the Department of Education of a Russian province in western Siberia, that Arkansas would assume responsibility for post-adoption services for a child if Grace Adoptions Inc., a contractor of Children’s Hope International, went out of business.

Corliss Williamson, a former Arkansas Razorbacks All-American, will announce his retirement from the NBA today in North Little Rock. Williamson who spent 12 years in the NBA, will become an assistant coach at Arkansas Baptist in Little Rock.

A new state election law will slow North Little Rock’s plans to fast-track a city sales tax election for mid-November, according to Mayor Patrick Hays. Act 1049 of 2007, effective Aug. 1, dictates that voters must have 50 days advance notice of a special election, making a Nov. 13 vote impossible. A special one-cent sales tax is set to end Sunday.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered a rebriefing in an appeal stemming from an October 2006 Pope County Circuit Court decision dismissing a lawsuit filed by the City of Dardanelle, in which attorneys for the municipality sought to prevent Russellville’s water utility from discharging its sewage directly into the Arkansas River at a site across from Dardanelle’s Veterans Park.

Workers at a manufacturing plant in Pope County are to be tested today for tuberculosis as a precaution after a worker at the factory was diagnosed with the lung disease, according to the Arkansas Health Department.
The department says the worker had an active case of TB but is receiving treatment and there is no longer a risk of infection to others.

Three Employees of Stiles Construction Co. are recovering from injuries sustained Monday morning when the conveyor system that was being dismantled fell approximately 100 feet to the ground. The accident occurred at the Planters Service operation on Highway 20 south of Helena. Chris Eason of Marianna appeared to be the most severely injured, suffering head injuries. Cornell Moten suffered fractured vertebra. Raymond Stiles is in the Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Clarksdale, Miss. Being treated for a fractured hip. The Fire had to dig Stiles out from under pipes, beams and concrete.

Fort Smith Public Schools Superintendent Benny Gooden says he will follow the law in serving students who are residents in the district regardless if their parents are undocumented aliens. Determining whether people are undocumented is not something the government wants a school district to undertake.

The Fort Smith Parks and Recreation Commission will recommend to the city planning commission that industrial, commercial and residential developers be required to donate property for recreation as part of the price for developing in the city.

A special prosecutor will look into a complaint that Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Jim Gunter struck his sister and pushed her down during a family dispute at their father’s home this month. Gunter was not arrested in the confrontation, which was classified as a possible third degree battery on a Hempstead County sheriff’s office report filed Sept. 4.

A 21-year-old Pine Bluff man who allegedly fired shots inside the student union building at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff during a dance Saturday morning will be held for aggravated assault and possession of a handgun on school property. Deputy Prosecutor Ashley Jacks said Johnny Jones, a non-student at UAPB, was arrested in front of a dormitory complex shortly after the incident when a witness identified him as the person who fired the shots.

Several Jonesboro High School students are suspended from school after a disturbance that started Monday before classes got under way, school officials said. Principal Terry Trotter says a 5-foot plate-glass window was shattered during the incident. Trotter explained that someone “kicked a chair, and it hit the window,” but it did not go through the window, he stressed. School officials believe the incident was a “spillover” event after the fighting at the Northeast Arkansas District Fair on Saturday night.

Little Rock police have arrested two people on manslaughter charges in the shooting death of a woman outside Juanita’s Mexican Cafe & Bar in Little Rock, but court records don’t name either as the one who fired the deadly shots.

Two men with California addresses claiming to be Iranian citizens were ordered held on drug charges in Crawford County Circuit Court. Both are being charged with possession of heroin with intent to deliver, possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. According to court reports, Arkansas State Police stopped a vehicle on Interstate 40 after they allegedly clocked the vehicle traveling at 87 mph in a 70-mph zone.

Two men, one a fugitive wanted in the January theft of $92,620 from a Batesville Wal-Mart, are being held for questioning by federal authorities after they were rescued from a life raft found floating in the Florida Straits near Cuba.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Tuesday Pat Classic

The number of violent crimes in Arkansas in 2006 rose at triple the rate of the national increase for the same year, according to numbers released by the FBI. The state saw a 5.7 percent increase over 2005. The nation as a whole experienced a 1.9 percent increase in violent crime over the same period. The information was released in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program annual report.

Former President Clinton said Monday during the Little Rock Nine Foundation Gala that many of today’s issues – from persistent inequality to terrorism – share the same problem that led to the desegregation crisis in 1957. “What is at the root of all this? The desperate need to believe that someone else is inferior to us,” Clinton said. “The gnawing hunger to believe that our differences are what matter most, not our common humanity.”

Going against the wishes of the city’s school district, the North Little Rock City Council on Monday approved creating four tax increment financing districts within an already thriving downtown area. TIF districts are a corporate welfare scheme designed to enrich local real estate developers by stealing from the local school district. The votes were 6-2 on each of the separate proposals. City Aldermen Debi Ross and Cary Gaines voted no each time.

Sherwood leaders heeded some residents’ suggestions that the opportunity to buy 105 acres in the city shouldn’t be ignored and voted Monday to negotiate with the owners of the former North Hills Country Club on a purchase price.

The state Board of Education will grant the fiscally distressed Bald Knob School District a reprieve from forced annexation Monday after hearing impassioned pleas for a second chance from a community that raised more than $1.5 million in just over a month to save its school.

A second Bentonville high school campus will cost $100 million, equivalent to the school district’s entire annual budget. The estimated high school cost includes construction and furnishings.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel is looking at a federal case in California as a possible explanation as to why so many parents and kids were unable to get tickets for the December 1 Hannah Montana concert at Alltel. Ticketmaster filed a lawsuit August 27th against RMG Technologies out of Ohio. Ticketmaster says they are victims of a company that created software that allows users to cut-in-line and purchase thousands of tickets at once.

Mike Huckabee has kicked off a 24-hour blitz of blogs and video postings on his Web site, days ahead of a critical fundraising deadline for his presidential campaign. Huckabee tried to drive traffic to his site, www.mikehuckabee.com, by promising “rewards” to supporters who referred their friends there. The rewards included bumper stickers, T-shirts, autographed books and even a trip to an upcoming Republican debate in Florida, his campaign said.

A historic single-arch McDonald’s sign will remain in Pine Bluff even after its Main Street restaurant closes later this year, a spokesman for McDonald’s said Monday. The sign, added to the National Register of Historic Places last year, will move to a new McDonald’s location scheduled to open in November on Olive Street, said April N. Hunger, marketing supervisor for McDonald’s Corp.’s Great Southern Region.

The Springdale Police Data Master machine used to test motorists for intoxication is in Little Rock being repaired, a situation repeated too often for Police Chief Kathy O’Kelley. “We’ve had the money in our budget to buy a new machine for two years,” O’Kelley said. The problem, O’Kelley adds, is, “We can’t buy one until the state Health Department approves one.”

Jonesboro police arrested at least ten people Saturday night in what law enforcement said was a chaotic scene on the final night of the Northeast Arkansas District Fair. Although witnesses report gunfire, police say no evidence if that was discovered.

Police in Fort Smith say a 22-month-old girl is dead from having been left in a hot car. The parents of the toddler have been arrested. Mirna Marin and Jose Marin were jailed pending charges of negligent homicide. Police say the toddler and three older siblings went to church with their parents on Saturday and returned home at 2 p.m. Police say the parents took a nap and at about 5 p.m., the mother realized the baby was not inside and then found the child unresponsive in the car.

A Fayetteville man will serve 15 years in prison for raping the wife of a co-worker while the husband was in the hospital. Stanley Blackburn pleaded guilty to rape and must serve all of his sentence because he has four prior felony convictions, ruled Benton County Circuit Judge David Clinger. Someone convicted of rape usually would serve at least 70 percent of the sentence.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Touchdown Club today

TODAY, MONDAY at the Little Rock Touchdown Club

“SPORTSWEEK”
BRUCE JAMES, DAVID BAZZEL, & STEVE SULLIVAN
A fixture on KATV Channel 7 Sunday nights for the past 9 years,
“SPORTSWEEK” no longer airs on the station but today former Razorback All-American Defensive end Bruce James, former UA linebacker and team captain David Bazzel and KATV Sports Director Steve Sullivan will be back together again at the LR Touchdown Club. Along with using the format of the television show there will also be Q&A opportunities.
******
Membership dues are $50.
Lunch is $15 for members and $25 for non members. There is a $10 attendance fee if you are not going to eat, but still want to attend the meeting.
******
For More Information
www.LRTouchdown.com
******
The Little Rock Touchdown Club
“Where Everyone’s Opinion Counts”
Buffet Lunch 11:00-12:00, Program 12:00-1:00
Embassy Suites Hotel
presented by
METROPOLITAN NATIONAL BANK

Filed under: Uncategorized

Monday morning summary

Arkansas tailback Michael Smith was held in the Washington County jail overnight Sunday after being arrested and charged with two felonies stemming from his alleged use of a stolen credit card. Smith is charged with second-degree forgery and theft by receiving after allegedly using the card during the early morning hours of Sept. 16, after the Razorbacks flew back from a 41-38 loss at Alabama. Arkansas defensive end Marcus Harrison was suspended indefinitely after being arrested in August on a felony drug charge and several misdemeanors.

Five decades ago, nine black students stepped onto the all-white Central High School campus, and into history. On Tuesday, the Little Rock Nine will return with more than 5,000 others to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the tumultuous integration of the capital city’s flagship high school in September 1957, in a celebration of the past that organizers said was all about the future.

North Little Rock School District officials have asked a federal judge to end more than two decades of court supervision of the district’s operations. Lawyers for the 9,800-student district filed a petition in federal court asking U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson Jr. to declare the system “unitary” — fully integrated — and no longer subject to the oversight of federal court.

A proposed initiated act aims to bar unmarried couples from serving as foster parents or adopting children in Arkansas, but the restriction on foster parenting would be nothing new. Since February 2005, the state Department of Human Services has prohibited “cohabitating” couples from becoming foster parents.

The state decides the future of the fiscally distressed Bald Knob School District this morning. Last month, the State Board of Education fired Bald Knob’s superintendent, took over the district and gave it one month to raise 2.2 million dollars or risk annexation. Without counting all of Saturday’s Save Our Schools Festival money, fundraisers are at 1.4 million.

A few hurdles still remain before 19 local police officers can begin working under a federal program that will allow them to enforce some immigration laws. The officers must have additional hands-on training with a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. The officers spent five weeks in Boston but did not complete training because they ran out of time.

With a moratorium on developing North Hills Country Club set to expire next month, Sherwood City Council members are expected to talk today about initiating negotiations to buy the property.

A Lonoke County woman has filed a lawsuit against CATA and CenterPoint Energy. Cyndi J. Aviles says that about Sept. 15, 2004, during installation of River Rail streetcar tracks, construction workers struck a gas line in the proximity of 500 President Clinton Ave., where Aviles worked at the time. The lawsuit says she lost consciousness from the fumes and had to receive emergency medical care. It also states that Aviles lost wages and continues to be afflicted with “chronic voice problems.”

A 7-man, 5-woman jury returned with a plaintiff’s verdict in the case of a Jonesboro attorney accused of sexual harassment. The Craighead County jury deliberated four hours and awarded Sandra Smith, who now uses Gadberry as a last name, $10,000 in her civil lawsuit against David Rees.

The Northeast Arkansas District Fair in Jonesboro closed earlier than usual Saturday night after fights broke out on the midway and someone reported that shots had been fired. At least several hundred people were at the fair when the fights began about 10:20 p.m., said Jerry Reece, the fair’s general manager.

A well known Conway businessman credited with building the Cadron Valley Country Club is free after police arrested him for assaulting a once prominent, now disbarred local attorney. James W. Miller says he had wanted to hit Guy Jones Jr. with a two-by-four for 40 years before he actually did it.

A Waldron police officer whose conduct was deemed unbecoming an officer resigned from the department. Gerald Heifner resigned after an accusation of rape was levied against him. Waldron Police Chief David Miller said an Arkansas State Police investigation found that the sexual relations Heifner had with a 21-year-old woman were consensual and not rape, as originally alleged. However, the woman is related to someone in a case Heifner was investigating.

Filed under: Arkansas, Summary