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W E A T H E RToday: Mostly sunny. Rain likely. Highs in the mid 90s. East winds 5 mph.Tonight: Partly cloudy. A slight chance of showers. Lows in the mid 70s. East winds 5 mph.Vol. 157, No. 169
©2011 The Daily Citizen
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$1.5M to Yarnell’s was loanBy Warren [email protected]
Money given to Yarnell’s Premium Ice Cream Company was a loan, according to records viewed Thursday by The Daily Citizen under the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
A state official had said earlier the funds were a grant, not a loan.
In 2001, Yarnell’s was approved
for a $1.5 million loan designated as a Arkansas Community Economic Development Project (ACEDP) and later referred to as a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), according to about 1,000 pages of documents made available at Searcy City Hall by Searcy Clerk/Treasurer Peggy Meads.
Joe Holmes, director of marketing and communications for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC), who had said July 8 the
money was not a loan, reversed that statement Thursday.
“It is a loan,” Holmes said. “But Searcy is not on the hook for this thing. The CDBG grant is made from AEDC to the city of Searcy with the understanding it was to be a loan from the company. They weren’t just given $1.5 million. As invoices would be submitted from the company for equipment or whatever they were
Records viewed through FOIA
dispute state’s claim
CoNTiNuED oN PAgE 2A Senate map
divides county
By Kyle [email protected]
White County officials have some new issues to con-sider after Gov. Mike Beebe released a map of his sugges-tions for new State Senate districts in Arkansas.
B e e b e ’ s map separates White County into four dis-tricts. Beebe is in District 29, Rose Bud in District 18, Pangburn is in District 23 and Searcy and Bald Knob are in District 28. The map was scheduled to be published next week, but was unveiled on Wednesday after several media organi-zations filed Freedom of Information Act requests.
“So far I haven’t had a chance to speak to the gover-nor,” said State Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy. “We have a meeting [today] and, hopefully, it will be produc-tive.”
In a June redistricting meeting with Arkansas Board of Appointment redistricting coordinator Joe Woodson Jr., White County Election Commissioner Winston Collier lobbied for White County to become its own unified Senate district.
CoNTiNuED oN PAgE 3A
Law aids recovery of items, arrests
By Warren [email protected]
A Searcy man has found out how the state’s system for recovering stolen items works.
J.D. Hood’s home was robbed sometime during the week before the Fourth of July holiday.
“From what we understand it was Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday,” Hood said. “My daughter was in the hospital and I was on a cruise. She invited these boys and one of her friends over to visit. She had just met them a few weeks ago. She went to the hospital and they left the next day. They were here two, maybe three
Pawn shop owner: System worked, room for growth
CoNTiNuED oN PAgE 3A
Memphis artist Suzy Hendrix cleans smudges off her stained glass piece, which was installed in the cha-pel of the White County Medical Center’s new Cancer Center. Hendrix said the design is traditional mod-ern, and the plants represent healing and serenity, while the cross represents strength and power. Kyle Troutman/[email protected]
The Associated PressLITTLE ROCK — The
Arkansas Crime Victims Reparations Board has award-ed more than $467,000 to vic-tims of crime in the state.
Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced Thursday that the board pro-vided $467,916 in reparations to crime victims during June. More than $339,000 was awarded by the board to crime victims in May.
McDaniel's office admin-isters the Crime Victims Reparations Program, which was created by the General Assembly in 1987 to provide compensation for victims' unexpected expenses, includ-ing medical treatment, mental health counseling, lost wag-es, replacement services and funeral costs.
Court costs and fees and fines imposed on convicted criminals fund the victim reparations.
Victims get funds from state board
Serenity in stained glass
By andrew DeMilloThe Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas' inmate population has dropped sharp-ly over the past two months as the state prepares for a new law aimed at curbing prison growth by expand-ing parole programs and reducing sentences, a consultant for the prison system told lawmakers Thursday.
The number of Arkansas inmates decreased from 16,146 in April to 15,528 in June, according to the report
from JFA Associates presented to the Senate and House Judiciary commit-tees.
"It's a little bit faster than we assumed," said Wendy Ware, the con-sulting firm's vice president.
The drop in inmate population comes before a prison reform bill takes effect July 27 that state offi-cials say will help reduce long-term growth. The 167-page bill signed into law in April is intended to reduce a projected $1.1 billion in additional
costs experts say the state could face if the growth is left unchecked.
John Felts, chairman of the state Parole Board, credited most of the drop in inmates to changes made in processing inmates eligible for parole. Felts said the board began speed-ing up the processing of parole for inmates who were in county jails and sentenced for less than two years in prison before they were transferred to state facilities.
"Many times, those individuals
before they get to the Department of Correction were already eligible to be considered for release on parole," Felts said. "What I had found is that over the years many of those people tend to get lost in the shuffle."
Felts said the new law was a moti-vator to find ways to be more efficient before further reforms take effect.
"It really pointed out to us one statute that was already in place that really hadn't been implement-ed," Felts said.
State prisons see drop in inmate population ahead of new law
Who fallS Where?Cities: Beebe in District 29, Rose Bud in District 18, Pangburn is on District 23 and Searcy and Bald Knob are in District 28Governor’s reasoning? The proposed districts are designed to prevent incumbents from facing one another in the upcoming election, and to create a 1 percent population variance between districts
Stolen itemS Owner/victim: J.D. HoodPawn shop/victim: Jim’s Pawn Shop, JonesboroMore information: Leadsonline.com
yarnell’S Grant Originated from: Federal gov-ernmentAuthorized by: Searcy City CouncilCity liability: Zero
BeeBe
McDaniel
Martin
Proposed map released early due to FOIA requests
The Daily Citizen Friday, July 15, 2011 • Page 3A
By Luke [email protected]
A pair of local authors have finished research and writing for an upcoming pictorial history of Searcy.
In 2010, a freelance writer named Carolyn Boyles contacted Arcadia Publishing Company to pitch the book.
“On a whim, I emailed the editor at Arcadia,” Boyles said. “An hour after sending the email, the edi-tor called me.”
But she came upon one problem: Boyles lives in North Little Rock, and Arcadia requires the writer to have a connection with the book’s town. So she contacted Patsy Pipkin, a founding member of White County Creative Writers, through which the two authors knew each other.
The research began, and Pipkin polled county resi-dents for photos and sto-ries.
“Main Street Arkansas and Amy Burton helped us,” Pipkin said. “The chamber let us go through their pho-tographs. Jeff Montgomery at Harding was very help-ful.”
She said she was able to acquire a huge variety of shots.
“I got a really good aer-ial view of Mars Institute, the hospital complex and downtown Searcy at dif-ferent time periods,” she said. “One of them is of the school complex, and old view when bird’s eye photography was first com-ing to town. I was amazed by the things that could be identified in aerial views.”
Pipkin saw families, houses, churches long gone or long changed, railroads, shops and even an old poor-house built on backbone ridge near the present-day fairgrounds.
About seven months later, the two had col-lected about 350 photos of Searcy, approximately 240
of which will be published. This week, they submitted their work just a day before the deadline.
“It’s been wonderful,” Pipkin said. “Everybody in the community that we asked for pictures gave them to us and trusted us with their precious old pho-tos. It’s been a great experi-ence.”
The process has not been entirely rosy, however. Part way through the research, their editor was replaced with one who had never edited a book before.
“When we sent the first 240, they came back with requirements that we had overlooked,” Pipkin said. “We had to spend another week talking with the new editor. She was learning too, and we certainly were.”
The pair had to replace 58 photos that were deemed too small or blurry.
“We had to go back and search for all of those and redo them, then get them in by Friday,” Pipkin said. “And we did it.”
Pipkin said she is glad to have the work off her chest.
“I don’t want to do anoth-er one of these books,” she said. “You have to live in the town and be better at the computer. But I have other things I’m working on.”
The research for the book is complete, but Pipkin said it will likely not be released until Christmas at the earli-est, and possibly not until early 2012. The book will be available as a general release in local bookstores, as well as from Arcadia Publishing’s website, www.arcadiapublishing.com. Arcadia has published around 6,000 titles, and the Searcy book will the first featuring White County.
Searcy history book nears completion
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This map, released by Gov. Mike Beebe’s office follow-ing Freedom of Information Act requests by numerous news sources, shows White County split into four State Senate districts.
Map: Governor’s Senate map divides White County Continued from Page 1a
days, because my neighbor says she had seen that car over here two or three days.”
While on his way home after departing the cruise ship, Hood got a phone call telling him some things were missing from his home.
“My mother-in-law came in and called me and said, ‘Where’s your TV?’” Hood said. “I told her to just shut the door behind her and leave the house. We called the law and we had them look for specific things in the house like the PlayStation and TVs.”
Searcy Detective Brian Wyatt came to the Hood home after 4 p.m., Hood said, and by 6 p.m. Wyatt got a hit on a pawn shop in Jonesboro on the television and PlayStation,” Hood said.
Hood said the items were found at Jim’s Pawn Shop in Jonesboro, a fact confirmed by the pawn shop manager.
“He was going to go over there the next day to pick it up but they told him the only way he could get it was to pay $400, because that’s what they got on the pawn ticket,” Hood said. “He told them, ‘No, that’s not the way we do business because we’re not going to let these people be victimized twice.’ He went up there and one of the owners got really hot with him.”
Hood said Wyatt then came back to Searcy and did research on the law.
The pawn shop did agree to give Hood his items back, including the wide-screen television.
“They went ahead and gave it to us,” Wyatt said. “There wasn’t any kind of a problem there.”
Leads Online, the Internet-based registration system for items reported stolen, worked like it was designed to work, Wyatt said.
“It’s a law enforcement website that keeps us in touch with all the pawn shops,” Wyatt said. “At first they didn’t want to turn loose of the property, then they decided to.”
Wyatt summarized the state’s laws concerning stolen items.
“What we have found is that according to the statute the pawn shop must release the property to a police depart-ment if requested and then the police department is to hold onto the property or the pawn shop is to hold on to it pend-ing the outcome of the case,” Wyatt said.
Hood’s property was
returned July 5, Wyatt said.The pawn shop’s manager,
Pam Barton, said there are more at issue than the prop-erty owner’s rights.
“We were a victim, too, because we had money in that merchandise as well,” Barton said. “We reported the way we were supposed to report.”
In many cases there is a lag time, Barton said, between when items are stolen and when they are entered into the LeadsOnline system. But the bigger flaw in the system is that she could not access the information even if it had been reported, preventing her from refusing to buy what she would then know is merchan-dise reported stolen.
“It’s reported to the police department and not reported to the pawn shop,” Barton said. “If I had known at all, if I had the serial numbers on the items, I wouldn’t have taken them because we do lose our money. It’s a reporting agency for victims but pawn shops and citizens cannot access the information.”
Barton acknowledged that there is a right to privacy issue involved because the own-er’s personal information is entered into the system.
“Here in Jonesboro, a lot of people will come in and bring their serial numbers with them,” Barton said of how some victims search pawn shops for their stolen items.
UpdateJust after 4 p.m. Thursday,
Barton called The Daily Citizen to say the suspects who had pawned Hood’s items had just walked back into her store.
“I called the police and they arrested them and are putting them in the back of the police car as we speak,” Barton said.
Hood was given the news shortly thereafter.
“Hot dang! Hot dang!” Hood said. “That’s what I’m talking about. Now tell me if that LeadsOnline system doesn’t really work. Whoever came up with that LeadsOnline did a good job.”
“It was my hope White County would remain as intact as possible,” he said. “Apparently, for what-ever reason, that may not be the case.”
Collier’s hopes hinge on the collaboration between Beebe, Rose Bud, Searcy and Bald Knob and the oil and gas explorations throughout the county.
“It would be advanta-geous to have one sena-tor to deal with all the issues,” Collier said. “With the oil and gas shale play, each town in the county will be affect-ed differently when it comes to jobs and property owners’ concerns.”
“My hope would be that we could not split White County four ways,” Dismang said, “And, hopefully, there is an alternative out there. If there are not any changes made, I’m concerned about how strong of a voice we will have in the state.”
The Arkansas Board of Appointment, comprised of Beebe, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel – both Democrats — and Republican Secretary of State Mark Martin, is in charge of the redistricting. Each member is to release a map of new districts by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
According to Matt DeCample, the governor’s spokesman, the main goals for the map were to prevent incumbents from running against each other, and to have no more than a 1 percent popula-tion variance between districts.
“We’ve taken into account the popu-lation shifts from southeast to north-
west,” DeCample said. “White County is the second largest in the state by land mass, so bits must be pulled off.”
State law allows for a 5 percent vari-ance between districts, but with popula-tion shifts and Beebe’s goal of a 1 per-cent variance, White County’s chances of staying intact are not great.
The proposed new districts also have a familiar shape, comparable to when Beebe represented Searcy in the Senate during the 1990s. DeCample said the governor noted Searcy and Stuttgart’s ability to work well together in the past.
“Regardless of how the districts fall, the Election Commission is going to be perfectly capable of moving forward with those districts,” Collier said.
McDaniel and Martin are working on their own maps to be released as scheduled on Tuesday.
Searcy book Publisher: arcadia Publishing CompanyAuthors: Carolyn Boyles, Patsy PipkinRelease date: Late 2011-early 2012
Arcadia to publish pictorial history
Theft: Law aids recovery of stolen items, arrests Continued from Page 1a
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J.D. Hood shows his wide-screen television stolen from his home in Searcy and recovered in Jim’s Pawn Shop in Jonesboro. Warren Watkins/[email protected]
Collier
DisMang