By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Gov Mike Huckabee announced his intentions Wednesday to free a Forrest City man convicted of rape in 1970.
Huckabee's notice of executive clemency would free James E. Scott, 54.
Scott, a black man, was convicted of raping a 15-year-old white girl the previous August of 1969. He was arrested in South Bend, Ind., by an FBI agent. It was reported by the agent that Scott confessed to the crime. Scott later denied confessing.
Scott was tried for the rape in St. Francis County and convicted. According to the Feb. 25, 1970, edition of the Times-Herald, the jury was out 10 minutes before returning with its verdict.
Two days later, Circuit Judge Elmo Taylor sentenced Scott to death. Death was a possible sentence for rape at the time.
Later that year, Scott became one of the so-called "Rockefeller 15," when then-Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller reduced all death row sentences in Arkansas to life in prison.
Today, Scott is one of only three of those 15 who were never released. The other two are Albert Harris,70, convicted of rape in Drew County, and John Henry Sheppard, 58, convicted of murder in Union County.
Three other men were arrested with Scott for the rape. According to the Times-Herald story, one of the men, McKinley Green, testified at Scott's trial. According to the Associated Press, Green was later given a 10-year suspended sentence.
The other two defendants were Maurice Stanford of Detroit, who was, 18 at the time, and Jim Johnson of Forrest City, who was 17. According to the Times-Herald files, both had already been tried and given life sentences at the time of Scott's conviction.
According to a story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the average prison stay of the 40 people convicted of rape in Arkansas who were paroled in 2002 was 12 to 15 years. Scott has been in prison for 33 years.
Since February of 2000, Scott has served his time at a Missouri prison under an agreement with that prison system.
According to The Associated Press, the governor's notice said First Judicial District judicial and law enforcement officials had raised no objections to Scott's clemency application since they were notified by the state Post-Prison Transfer Board on June 28, 2002.
In a July 16, 2002, letter to the parole board, Prosecutor Fletcher Long Jr. said clemency should be granted since two other defendants in the case had been freed by a federal court order. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter.
''Mr. Scott has served 32 years and although he is still not telling the truth about what happened, I think he should be released at this time,'' Long wrote.
Long did not immediately return a call to his office.
This would be the second time Huckabee has been involved in the possible release of a convicted rapist from St. Francis County.
Huckabee previously backed the release of castrated rapist Wayne Dumond, who was convicted of raping a St. Francis County teenager in 1984. Dumond was initially sentenced to life plus 20 years, but then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker in 1992 commuted Dumond's sentence to 39 years and six-months, making him eligible for parole.
Shortly after taking office in 1996, Huckabee said he intended to reduce Dumond's sentence to time served -- then, about 11 years. Dumond had said masked men castrated him after his arrest, and Huckabee said that added to Dumond's severe punishment.
The governor ended up rejecting Dumond's parole request, which would have freed Dumond without conditions, but his denial was signed just moments after the state parole board granted Dumond a parole on condition that another state take him. Huckabee said at the time that he agreed with the board's decision.
Dumond eventually was released in 1999 and moved to Missouri in August 2000. He lived there until being arrested on a murder charge in 2000. He has pleaded innocent to that charge, and his trial is scheduled to begin later this month in Clay County, Mo.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The project to bring the nation's largest transportation mall to St. Francis County received a boost Wednesday when the Delta Regional Authority announced a $100,000 grant to the St. Francis County Transportation Committee.
According to a press release from the Arkansas Congressional Delegation, the $100,000 grant was part of $974,342 in grants issued yesterday as part of the 2003 federal grant program. The funding will partially fund the third phase in the development of the St. Francis County Transportation Mall. The commission is currently developing a 200 acre site that hopes to establish the trucking industry in the region and eventually be the largest truck stop/transportation mall in the U.S.
According to Frederick Freeman, interim coordinator for the St. Francis County Transportation Committee the funding will assist the commission in possibly purchasing land for the project along with possible infrastructure work.
"The third phase of the project will allow us to review potential options along with potential infrastructure work," said Freeman.
Seven other projects received funding from the DRA Wednesday. The Arkansas delegation received the second largest amount of funding of the eight member states with $61,500 to the town of Wabbaseka in Jefferson County to update the wastewater treatment facility to comply with state pollution control and ecology consent orders; $73,080 to the city of Clarendon in Monroe County to install a generator necessary to provide standby power for the city's water treatment facility; $86,266 to the city of Magness in Independence County to construct a sanitary sewer collection system, as current users in the city rely on individual septic tanks. Also being awarded to complete the $990,900 project is $904,634 in combined funds from Arkansas Soil and Water and the USDA; $257,996 to the city of Marshall in Searcy County to help upgrade public infrastructure needed to attract industry and promote industrial and commercial economic development in the area; $100,000 to the Blytheville-Gosnell Regional Airport Authority in Mississippi County to upgrade the airports runway in order to encourage commercial development; $135,500 to the Osceola River Port Authority in Mississippi County to resurface and widen the Osceola Port access road, specifically adding two new lanes that would be used as a truck staging area while the existing road could be used as an exit. The funds are being matched by $27,100 from Poinsett Rice and Grain LLC, Osceola Division, to complete the project; $160,000 to the city of Turrell in Crittenden County to extend access to the city sewer system for all citizens residing in the city limits of Turrell.
The Members of the Arkansas Congressional Delegation include: Senators Blanche Lincoln (D) and Mark Pryor (D), Representatives Marion Berry (D-1st), Vic Snyder (D-2nd), John Boozman (R-3rd), and Mike Ross (D-4th).
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
The Palestine City Council meet Tuesday night in a very brief session that centered around a grant from USDA Rural Development.
In July, Mayor Willetta Carroll said officials with the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development division had notified the city of changes that would need to made at the municipality's offices or the city would risk losing the federal funding.
Carroll stated that the USDA Rural Development told the city that the parking lot at city hall would have to be paved and made wheelchair accessible and the water department would have to be moved from its current location.
The city will be responsible, according to Carroll in July, for 25 percent of the $65,000, or $16,250 in funding needed for the improvements.The council also agreed to sell the water department property through a closed bid process in July.
"We have received a letter of conditions from Rural Development for the grant," Carroll told the council. "We need to pass a resolution that states that we agree to the terms for the grant, and that we agree to go into debt with the Rural Development. But I don't see a loan agreement, and I'm not sure if we have to provide one or if they do."
Under the advice of city attorney Jerry Roberts, the council will wait for him to review the contract and prepare a resolution for the council to consider for passage. Roberts also suggested that since the resolution could be completed in a few days, the council hold a called meeting on the matter before the October meeting. No date was set for the called meeting.
Colt Pioneer Days will take place this weekend and several displays and demonstrations are scheduled for both days of the event, Friday, Sept. 12 and Saturday, Sept. 13. The event benefits the William Stone House.
The Northeast Arkansas Civil War Heritage Trail Association will have a booth display with items relating to the Civil War. The group will also hold its quarterly meeting on that Saturday at 11 a.m.
Tom Reedy of Greenbrier will present a Native American demonstration on Saturday. Some of Reedy's relatives came through Taylor's Creek on the Trail of Tears.
Richard Ellis will attend both days to sign his book Pine Tree Times. Ellis will also be interviewing people for his next book, which will be a history of the Telico and Johnson Townships that includes Colt, Caldwell, New Castle and South Cross County. If you have any information on the area, write your history down and bring extra copies of your family pictures to the event. Ellis will be located inside the William Stone House.
Village Creek State Park will provide a Dutch oven cooking demonstration on Saturday. The St. Francis County Hometown Health Network will be on hand with a health information booth and will offer free blood pressure checks. Other activities will include live music and craft booths.
Colt Pioneer Days will be open from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. All activities will take place on the lawn of the William Stone House.
Early voting is winding down at the St. Francis County Courthouse with just two more days for voters to cast ballots in the annual school election before polls open on Tuesday.
So far, 203 voters from throughout the county have taken advantage of the early voting option at the St. Francis County Clerk's office.
Voters in the Forrest City and Hughes school districts must decide on millage issues. Forrest City voters are being asked to approve a 1.5 mill increase, and Hughes voters are being asked to approve a millage increase of less than 1 mill. Both increases are necessary in order to bring the school districts into compliance with Amendment 74.
The polls will be open on Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at various polling locations throughout the county.