By TAMARA JOHNSON
Managing Editor
The FBI is investigating alleged voting irregularities in St. Francis County.
According to sources, an FBI agent on Monday presented St. Francis County Clerk Elizabeth Smith with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury investigating problems with absentee ballots in the Nov. 5 election.
The agent spent most of Monday holed up in the election commission's office at the courthouse and returned today to continue the investigation, according to reports.
Smith said she had been told not to comment on the investigation. "I was told I was not supposed to say anything. I received a subpoena from the FBI as part of a grand jury investigation," Smith confirmed. The subpoena was delivered to Smith by the FBI agent inspecting the ballots. The date on Smith's subpoena showed that she was to appear before the grand jury today, but she said that obviously that would have to be rescheduled.
Details of the investigation are sketchy at this point, and telephone calls to a spokesperson with the FBI's Little Rock Field Office were not returned before press time.
Election commission representatives could not comment on the investigation.
Chairman Joe Young and member Bette Proctor said they heard about the investigation on Monday, but have not been subpoenaed. The third commissioner, Paul Spears, said this morning that he did not know anything about the investigation.
"I haven't been subpoenaed. They are going through the ballots, and I was told that Elizabeth has been asked to appear before a grand jury," Young said, adding that from what he has been told, the investigation centers around absentee ballots in the general election.
"I don't know anything about it, and I can't tell you anything," Proctor said.
The Arkansas Supreme Court last week issued an order requiring the judges in most of the state's judicial districts, including the First Judicial District which includes Forrest City, to select one of their number to be the administrative judge for that district.
It is a further adjusting of the rules implementing Amendment 80, which was passed by voters in 2000 and made all judges circuit judges. The only judicial districts not included in the court's orders are districts which have only one judge.
The judges of the First Judicial District are L.T. Simes II, Harvey L. Yates, Bentley E. Story, Kathleen Bell and Baird Kinney. The district covers St. Francis, Cross, Lee, Monroe, Phillips and Woodruff counties.
In its written order, the court stated that it has been understood that the implementation of Amendment 80 would be "an evolving process which would be refined with the benefit of experience."
The administrative judge for each district will be elected by secret ballot. He or she will serve two-year terms, and may serve successively. The administrative judge will have several duties. One is to supervise the assignment of court cases. "The administrative judge shall assure that the business of the court is apportioned among the circuit judges as equally as possible," the order stated.
The administrative judge also has the responsibility for periodically evaluating the effectiveness of the court.
Cases in the criminal or juvenile division may be exclusively assigned to particular judges, but they can also hear other cases. Cases in other divisions should not be exclusively assigned, except for "extraordinary reasons," the order stated. The other divisions include civil, probate and domestic relations.
The administrative judge will also be responsible for the development of case statistics and other management data. The administrative judge will also serve as a liaison between the circuit and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in matters relating to administration.
An elderly Colt man was arrested Friday on charges that he raped a six-year-old boy.
St. Francis County Sheriff's Department Investigator Herbert Neighbors said John Easley, 72, 1609 SFC 239, Colt, was charged with rape Friday, following an alleged Wednesday incident.
Easley's arrest followed a complaint by the victim's mother, who told police that her son told her of the alleged assault on Wednesday evening.
Neighbors said the victim and his family are friends with Easley who had kept the boy "off and on." Neighbors said the boy is believed to have been raped on two separate occasions.
Easley, who is currently out of jail on a $35,000 bond, was arraigned in St. Francis County District Court on Monday.
A teenage girl was almost raped outside her home in a residential Forrest City neighborhood just before school Monday morning.
The Forrest City Police Department reported the 16-year-old was walking to a car outside her home on North Powell Street when a man grabbed her from behind, placed his hand over her mouth and forced her around to the side of the house. The incident occurred about 7:45 a.m.
The suspect, described as a tall black male wearing a dark shirt and a stocking cap, allegedly tore the girl's pants and panties off before she stabbed him with an ink pen. Police said the man fled when he heard the girl's mother call for her.
Building permits for projects valued at a total of $183,799.99 were issued in Forrest City during January, and all of them were for private homes. No permits for commercial work were issued during the month.
Permits included one for a new house, one for a room addition, two for repairs and three for remodeling projects.