By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
The news on public education in Arkansas is not pleasant, but it needs to be heeded.
That was the message given by Attorney General Mike Beebe to a combined meeting of the Forrest City Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions Clubs on Wednesday.
"I'm here to tell you news, even if it's not very pleasant," he said "I'm here to tell you the straight truth, even if it's not what you want to hear."
He was referring to the Lake View decision handed down by the Arkansas Supreme Court, which declared the Arkansas educational system inequitable and inadequate.
He said currently, all school districts must have at least 25 mills for maintenance and operation. That and other tax money gives what is called an equalization of funding around the state. Smaller school districts, in which 25 mills does not raise as much as it does in larger districts, receive money from the state to make up the difference, so that a minimum amount is spent per child in every district.
"That was when the court test was whether per-child spending was equalized, so that rich districts didn't get it all and poor districts get nothing.
"We ain't there no more folks. The whole system and the rules have changed," he said. "What Lake View said was, 'That might have been good before but we've changed the rule. Here's the new rule: Not only do you have to have equality in operations, you've got to have quality in capital.' It's never been addressed before," said Beebe. "Buildings have to be roughly equal. They said, 'Not only that, but we're going to inject something brand new that's never been talked about before. Not only is it not equal with buildings, the whole system is inadequate.' Not only is the pie not properly divided according to the court, it's not big enough. Spend more money," he said.
"The point is this -- the entire gamut that the Supreme Court says has to be addressed is different from anything we've had before. And your legislature and your governor have to deal with it."
He said even worse, as attorney general, he will have to defend what the governor and legislators come up with.
"I hope they do something defensible. I don't like to lose. And whatever they do, I've got to defend it," he said. "But I assure you this. Whatever they do is better than what the courts do. Whatever they do, even if they did it wrong, you can fix it a lot easier than if you do nothing and the courts have to do it."
There is another aspect of the Lake View decision which is coming up with this year's school elections, having to do with millage. Up until the Lake View decision, school districts were allowed to use excess debt service funding to help make up the 25 mill minimum for maintenance and operation. He said this was allowed in a constitutional amendment passed by the people. The amendment required only that 25 mills be "available" for M&O, he said.
One part of the state Supreme Court's Lake View decision, however, stated that the entire 25 mills had to be "dedicated" instead of "available." That meant, he said, fewer than 50 school districts out of Arkansas' 310 districts met the 25 mill requirement.
He said he believes that is one aspect of the Lake View case in which the court made a mistake.
"In my humble opinion, with respect, the court got it wrong on this issue. It was a throwaway item in the Lake View case that said, 'Oh, by the way, 25 mills means you've got to have 25 mills dedicated to M&O," said Beebe.
As a result, for instance, the Forrest City School District refinanced some debt and will only have to have an increase of 1.5 mills in order to get to the 25 mills. However, if the millage does not pass, the quorum court will have to impose an increase of 7 mills (without refinancing).
Other school districts may be hit harder.
Unfortunately, said Beebe, that isn't the point.
"The point is this: Even if the Supreme Court got it wrong, they are still the Supreme Court," he said. " And I put my hand on a Bible, and I raised my other hand and I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States and Constitution of the State of Arkansas. And part of that is to obey the law. I don't have to like every law. I can disagree. In this country I'm free to speak out against a law I don't think is right. But I'm not free to disobey it."
He reminded the audience that if the 1.5 millage fails this month, the quorum court will have to raise the millage by 7 mills.
"They don't like that at all, and I wouldn't do that to my quorum court if I were y'all. It's not fair to the quorum court," he said. "But they put their hand on the same Bible I did. And they'll do their job, I'm sure. If they don't, the prosecutor will probably do his job."
Beebe emphasized, "It is a serious matter, that serious people need to be seriously discussing. And we are all in this boat together...We don't have to agree on everything. Lord knows, that's the beauty of this country. We're not always going to do the right thing -- we're going to fall on our face or fall in a ditch. We are human, with all the human frailties. But what we can do is face up to our problems honestly together. And then back up and put our arms around each other and try to work together to solve the problem, instead of fighting each other every step of the way."
He continued, "The Supreme Court gave me an order, I'm going to follow it. It gave you the same order, and you're going to follow it, too, until and unless you change the law...But I can promise you this. You will let your children and your grandchildren down, if you don't face up to, and honestly address, the problems that exist, whether you like them or not."
Beebe had praise for state House member Danny Ferguson, whom he called a consensus builder, and said his skills will be needed.
"Danny has developed a reputation in state government as being a consensus builder, as a unifier, someone who brings folks together and in this day and time that's sorely needed. It's easy to divide...It's much more difficult to get folks to calm down and reason with one another."
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The trial of a 73-year-old man accused of molesting two Colt children began today at the St. Francis County Courthouse with jurors hearing opening statements from the defense and prosecution, as well as testimony from one of the children.
During opening statements, First Judicial District Deputy Prosecutor Chris Morledge laid out a pattern of what he referred to as abused trust by the defendant, John Easley. According to Morledge, Easley not only abused the trust of the children, but also the trust of the parents of the girl and boy that he stands accused of assaulting.
"This case is about trust. The trust that a five-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy placed in their parents and their family members and the defendant. It's not only that trust, but also about the trust that the parents and family members placed in the defendant. In this case, you will hear the story of two children, not two children that live together or have things in common or go to school together, but two children that had the trust they had in the defendant violated," Morledge said. "We anticipate that the proof will bear out that trust was violated when the defendant engaged in sexual intercourse with (the five-year-old female) and deviant sexual intercourse with (the six-year-old male). This is the story of two children, who did not grow up together, two children who did not know one another, two children who are not in the same grade and share nothing in common except the defendant and the breach of trust he imparted on those two children," said Morledge.
While Morledge painted a picture of broken trust, defense attorney Randal Miller portrayed Easley as the victim of a small boy's active imagination and possible jealousy felt by the girl's family after a divorce. According to Miller, the family of the girl levied their accusations in an attempt to keep the child away from Easley who was a friend of the family.
"Mr. Easley will take the stand, and he will tell you that (the girl's) family were the type of people that only wanted you to have one friend. Once the divorce happened, and they could only see the child every other weekend, if that often, and Mr. Easley was in contact with the child all the time, they grew jealous, and this was the only way that they could think of to get him away from the child," said Miller.
Miller also said that due to medical reasons and age, Easley would testify that he had no interest in sexual intercourse of any type. "My client is 73-years-old and has not had any interest in sex in a long time. He will testify to that, and his wife will testify that after over 50 years of marriage, and due to medical problems, that there was no interest in sex and had not been in quite a while," said Miller.
Under questioning, the six-year-old boy testified that the incident had occurred during a visit to Easley's home. According to the child, Easley forced him to perform oral sex at his Colt home while his wife was watching television in a nearby bedroom. The child said that he then asked to call his parents because he was sick. Easley was arrested two days later on Jan. 31 by St. Francis County deputies.
SFC Detective Herbert Neighbors also testified this morning
and was to be followed by other prosecution witnesses today.
The Forrest City Police Department today reported that a new Level 3 registered sex offender has relocated within the FCPD jurisdiction.
FCPD Criminal Investigation Division Lt. Dwight Duch said the department has notified local school officials as part of the state's requirements regarding sex offenders. The state law that makes high-risk sex offenders' information public also bans them from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care center.
A Level 3 offender is considered at high risk by the state to commit another sex crime. The highest level is Level 4 and is reserved for those considered to be violent predators. Duch said the Level 3 offender is one of two Level 3 offenders registered with the FCPD, but added that there are no Level 4 offenders registered in the city at this time. The newest offender has been convicted three times in another state in assaults on children and adults.
Information on this new registered sex offender may be viewed at the police department at 225 N. Rosser Street. "It is highly recommended that members of the community come by the police department and check on the sex offenders in their neighborhood," Duch said. "A photograph, personal information, and risk assessment sheet with the history of the criminal is available to be reviewed by members of the community.
"High risk means these individuals usually have histories of repeat sexual offending, and/or strong antisocial, violent or predatory personality characteristics," said Duch. "Sexual compulsions are likely to be present, but may be kept under control when relapse prevention plans are followed and treatment is continued. The offense patterns of these individuals relfect a relatively high probability of re-offense and/or a risk of substantial injury to victims should re-offense occur."
The new state law that went into effect on Monday allows all
personal information on the state's 1,131 high-risk sex offenders
to be public and to be posted on the Internet. Once all of the
information is on the Internet, possibly by Jan. 1, people may
access the information by searching for offenders by name, city,
county, sex and race.
Building permits for projects valued at a total of $262,100 were issued in Forrest City during August, according to the mayor's office.
Permits issued in July totalled $217,143 for building projects.
Most of the August permits were taken up in three commercial projects. A permit for $96,000 worth of remodeling work was issued for the former Krystal at 100 Holiday Drive, which is becoming a Popeye's. Dr. Curt Patton's office at 901 Holiday Drive is building an addition valued at $45,000. Also Larry Bryant is constructing a $7,500 building on Hill Street Alley.
The rest of the projects were residential, including one fence, four remodeling projects, one roof repair, one garage, and one siding project.
The early voting for several School Board positions in St. Francis County and the millage increases for the Forrest City and Hughes School Districts got under way Monday at the St. Francis County Courthouse.
As of this morning, the County Clerk's office reported 34 people had early voted in the Sept. 16 annual school election. Voting is being held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Clerk's office.
Only one board race is contested in the FCSD. Incumbent Dr. Wayne Jones is being challenged for his board seat by Pat Flanagin.
The polls will be open on Tuesday, Sept. 16, from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Two people who didn't want to pay for their gas ended up possibly paying for more than that this morning.
According to Detective Sgt. John Riggins of the Forrest City Police Department, the incident began when a gas drive-off was reported at the Phillips 66 station at North Washington and Holiday Drive.
The vehicle was spotted going south on Washington, and was pulled over into the parking lot of East Arkansas Video.
According to Riggins, at first the two people in the vehicle gave false names. However, when officers started to run a check on the vehicle, they gave their real names.
The driver of the vehicle was Patricia Johnson, 32, of Benton. The passenger was Michael Fredrick Jordan, 39, of Alexander. A routine check showed that Johnson is wanted on felony warrants in Benton for burglary, theft of property and several other charges. Jordan is on parole.
The two were arrested and a trace is being run on the car.
"If they had just paid for their gas and gone about their business, they'd be okay," commented Riggins.