Evolving Universe - William F. Laman Public Library

Inside
Appellate court
strikes down
ruling on oil,
gas firm’s bonus.
PAGE 3B
ARKANSAS
B
Copyright © 2014, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
ARKANSAS ONLINE www.arkansasonline.com
Workers
for state
get early
payday
Surprise payouts
a software glitch
CLAUDIA LAUER
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Thousands of state employees in Arkansas found
a surprise in their bank accounts Wednesday.
By mistake, the state’s
biweekly payroll was direct-deposited into employees’ bank accounts two
days early, on Wednesday
instead of Friday. Department of Finance and Administration officials, who
also were surprised by the
payout, said that just under
30,000 employees received
the early direct deposits,
which totaled about $29
million.
“There was some confusion among employees
who checked their bank
accounts and noticed the
money there early,” said
Kay Terry, the state personnel administrator. “People
wondered if they should
spend it or if there was a
chance it would be reversed
once the error was noticed.”
Terry said the department has no plans to reverse the early deposits and
pull the money back, which
would be costly and unpopular with the workers.
“We weren’t about to
take it back from that many employees,” she said.
“It would have been much
worse if we had paid everyone two days late instead of
two days early.”
Several state departments and institutions have
separate payroll systems.
Those include all of the
state-affiliated universities
and colleges, several constitutional offices and the
Highway and Transportation Department, Terry
said.
“There were a few offices that weren’t affected,
but for the most part it was
all of the state employees,”
she said.
An annual report on
state employees released
by the budget administrator at the end of December
showed that Arkansas had
31,902 full-time employees,
not including those who
work at the higher-educational institutions.
Terry said the department made sure to tell
See GLITCH, Page 3B
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014
Haywire bridge stalls
river, railroad traffic
RYAN MCGEENEY
AND JOHN MAGSAM
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
VAN BUREN — A malfunction in a bridge over the
Arkansas River late Monday
night halted all river traffic
passing through the area
Tuesday and Wednesday,
and forced railroad administrators to reroute rail traffic
in the region.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RYAN McGEENEY
The bridge is owned and
The Arkansas & Missouri Railroad Bridge in Fort Smith became stuck operated by the Arkansas &
sometime Monday evening. Railroad traffic is being rerouted, and riv- Missouri Railroad, said the
er traffic through the area has been halted until the bridge is repaired. railroad’s Police Chief Ron
Sparks. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department describes the span
as a “Parker through truss”
bridge, which uses a system
of cables to vertically lift the
center section to allow barges and other river traffic to
pass beneath.
The bridge connects rail
traffic between Fort Smith
and Van Buren. It runs parallel to the Broadway bridge,
which carries automobile
and pedestrian traffic, about
one-third of a mile to the
AZIZA MUSA
A longtime Benton Police
Department lieutenant is facing a rape charge over allegations that he sexually assaulted a boy, authorities said.
Monte Hodge, 42, surrendered to authorities at the
Saline County courthouse
EMILY WALKENHORST
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BENJAMIN KRAIN
Devin Williams arranges a display in the Esse Purse Museum & Store lobby. The museum on South Main Street in Little Rock features
art installations and exhibits with more than 300 handbags and their contents over the past century.
Exhibit offers Big Bang for no bucks
NLR library’s Smithsonian-sponsored display sheds light on universe
JAKE SANDLIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Anyone who has ever
looked up into the night sky
will be intrigued by “The
Evolving Universe,” said
Dan Noble, Laman Library’s
public relations manager, of
the library exhibit opening
Saturday in North Little Rock.
The exhibit from the
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History includes 27 color photographs,
eight light boxes and an introductory video to allow visitors to explore stars, galaxies
and into the far reaches of
the universe in an interactive
fashion.
The exhibit is free and will
run through April 6. It will be
open during library hours at
the exhibit hall of Laman Library, 2801 Orange St., North
Little Rock.
“If you’ve ever looked up
at the stars and wondered
‘What is that?’ you ought to
come by and see it,” Noble
said of the exhibit. “It answers the question ‘What is
out there?.’ … It will show life
cycles of stars and explore
some black holes. It should
be a really, really enjoyable
exhibit.
“I think it’s an exhibit for
both children and adults,” he
added. “For anybody who’s
ever had an interest in space
or astronomy, it’ll be very
interesting. If someone has
a telescope and they don’t
come here and see this, they’ll
probably regret it later.”
Visitors will be able to
choose one of two paths to let
the exhibit take them through
the cosmos, according to the
exhibit’s promotional materials. Observers will be able
to either begin a journey
through the Earth’s solar system and move outward into
See EXHIBIT, Page 8B
Wednesday on a rape charge
“after an investigation concerning the rape and sexual
assault of a juvenile,” according to the arrest report. He
was taken to the Saline County jail, but by Wednesday evening he was no longer on the
inmate roster.
The case was handed over
to Lonoke County Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Graham,
who was specially appointed on Jan. 10. Retired Pulaski
County Circuit Judge John
Langston was also specially
appointed Tuesday.
While Hodge was charged
with one count of rape, Graham said the investigation
was ongoing. Graham didn’t
know how long or when exactly the purported rape began and ended.
Graham also didn’t know
the boy’s age, but said the
victim knew Hodge and is
no longer a minor.
Arkansas State Police is
continuing to investigate the
rape allegation and would not
release details of the case, citing the active investigation.
State police spokesman Bill
Sadler said there are a number of reasons an investigation
could continue after an arrest,
including interviews with witnesses and individuals who
See BENTON, Page 8B
62-year-old had 3 guns, report says
SPENCER WILLEMS
An intoxicated 62-yearold Sherwood man was shot
by a police officer Wednesday morning after he stepped
out his door to meet police
while armed with three guns,
police officials said.
Crandle Hopson was
shot once in the upper torso
shortly after 7 a.m. by an unidentified Sherwood officer,
according to spokesman Sgt.
Michael Payne. After being
handcuffed, Hopson was
taken to a local hospital for
treatment.
Payne said Hopson was
“responsive” after being
shot. He reported Hopson
was in “stable” condition
Wednesday night and will
See BRIDGE, Page 8B
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Sherwood man shot
at his home by police
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
southeast.
Sparks said that about 11:30
p.m. Monday, a conductor on
a train from Fort Smith to
Van Buren asked the bridge
dispatcher to lower the span,
which had been left raised so
that barges could pass freely
underneath.
“At that point, the [train]
crew observed that the south
end [of the movable section]
was in the air, but that the
north end was down,” Sparks
said.
Trooper
loses job,
told why
in letter
All in their places
Veteran Benton police officer faces 1 count of rape
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
v
face several aggravated assault charges upon his release from the hospital.
The shooting was prompted by a morning phone call
from a neighbor on Tenkiller
Drive, who complained of a
“domestic disturbance involving alcohol” at Hopson’s
106 Tenkiller Drive home,
Payne said.
When police reached the
home, they found Hopson’s
wife, 49-year-old Gayla Hopson, waiting in the yard. She
told police that her husband
“had threatened her with a
gun” and that he was inside
the house threatening “to
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/RICK McFARLAND
harm himself,” police reports Sherwood detectives gather evidence at 106 Tenkiller Drive after an armed man was shot by an officer
said.
about 7 a.m. Wednesday. Officers responded to a domestic disturbance and were met by a man with
From their spot in the a pistol in each hand. He was shot once in the chest when he pointed one of the guns at the officers.
See SHOT, Page 3B He was taken to a hospital. Neither officers nor anyone else was injured.
A 10-year veteran of
the Arkansas State Police
was fired this month after a review of allegations
that he repeatedly violated
the organization’s policies
over the course of his career, dating back to before
he graduated from trooper
school and most recently
for calling a state lawmaker
a “fool” in a Facebook post.
Cpl. Thomas Weindruch,
39, of Flippin received a
five-page letter dated Jan.
16 that detailed the reasons
for his dismissal from state
police Deputy Director Lt.
Col. Tim K’Nuckles, Highway Patrol Division Commander Maj. Mike Foster
and Troop I Capt. Wesley
Smithee.
Weindruch’s attorney,
Little Rock lawyer Robert
Newcomb, said Weindruch
has filed a notice with state
police that he intends to appeal the decision.
State police began an
investigation into Weindruch’s conduct during last
year’s legislative session
after he posted remarks
on his Facebook page that
called state Rep. Andy Mayberry, R-Hensley, a “fool”
for filing House Bill 2274
that would have mandated
that the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State
University play an annual
football game.
“A n d y M a y b e r r y
(R-Hensley) you’re a fool,”
Weindruch wrote. “What a
waste of time to introduce
a bill that would mandate a
football game between U of
A and ASU. I am pretty sure
there are more important
things to take care of than
trying to mandate a football
game. SHAME ON YOU.”
Mayberry said Wednesday that he received a
phone call during the session from someone with the
state police who wanted to
apologize for Weindruch’s
statements.
Mayberry said that was
the first time he had heard
about them.
“I basically said, ‘No big
deal,’” he said. “I’ve been
called a lot worse.”
According to last week’s
letter, the statement violated the state police Rules of
Conduct.
Newcomb said Weindruch’s statements likely
violated the state police’s
rules but that he believed
Weindruch had a First
Amendment right to say
what he wanted.
The letter also details a
complaint filed by a Flippin
High School custodian who
said that, in March, Weindruch entered the school in
his state police uniform and
“began ‘chiding’ him about
being rude” to Weindruch’s
wife.
The complaint from
Bruce Broskovak said Weindruch detained him in his
car for 20-30 minutes and
told him that he was “under
an investigation.”
According to the state
police’s letter to Weindruch,
See TROOPER, Page 8B
8B v THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014 v v
Obituaries
v Continued from Page 5B
The family suggests memorial
donations may be made to St.
John’s Lutheran Church. Condolences for the family may be
offered online at www.turpin-co.
com.
The family also thanks Hospice Home Care for its loving
care and compassion provided
during this time.
–––––❖–––––
STUTTGART — Virgil Wright,
62, died January 21, 2014. Visitation will be January 23 from
6-8 p.m. at the funeral home. Funeral services will be 2:30 p.m.
January 24 at the McAdams Road
Church in DeWitt with burial in
Thompson Cemetery by Essex
Funeral Home.
–––––❖–––––
VIOLET HILL — George Richard Kulczycki, age 67, of Violet
Hill, died Jan. 21, 2014. Funeral
services are Jan. 24, 2014, at 11
a.m. at Tri-County Funeral Home.
Visitation is Jan. 23, 2014, from
6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Tri-County Funeral Home. Arrangements
by Tri-County Funeral Home of
Highland, Ark. www.tricountyfuneralhome.com.
–––––❖–––––
WEST MEMPHIS — James William “Bill” Beck Sr., 78, of West
Memphis died Tuesday, January
21, 2014, at Methodist University
Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
Mr. Beck retired from Arkla
Gas Company as District Manager and from the Arkansas National Guard after 22 years and
from the Marked Tree Fire Department after 23 years. He was
a member of the Marked Tree
and West Memphis Lions club
where he served several terms
as president, a 32 degree Mason
and Shriner, former West Memphis City Council Man, a West
Memphis Utilities Board Member, and a member of The First
United Methodist Church of West
Memphis.
He is survived by his wife, Lydia Beck of West Memphis, Ark;
a daughter, Lori Beck Smith of
Memphis, Tenn.; a son, James
William “Jim” Beck Jr. of Marked
Tree, Ark.; four grandchildren
Alex Smith and Taylor Smith of
Memphis, Tenn.; Shelby Beck
and Abby Beck of Marked Tree,
Ark.; a sister Joyce Wilfong of
Sherwood, Ark.; two brothers,
Larry Beck of Waco, Texas; and
Donald Beck Sr. of Marked Tree,
Ark.
Visitation will from 6 p.m. to
8 p.m. on Thursday, January 23,
2014, at Roller-Citizens Funeral
Home with services on Friday,
January 24, 2014, at 1 p.m. at
Roller-Citizens Funeral Home in
West Memphis, Arkansas, with
burial in Tyronza Cemetery in
Tyronza, Arkansas.
Memorial may be made to St.
Jude Children’s Research Hospital or to Charity of Choice. Online guestbook at www.rollerfuneralhomes.com
–––––❖–––––
WHITE HALL — Carey Wendell Cotner, 72, of White Hall
passed
away
Tuesday, January 21, 2014. He
was born January 24, 1941, in
Humphrey, Arkansas, to the
late John and
Lucy Page Cotner. He attended schools in
Humphrey and
Dollarway School District before
joining the United States Army in
1959. He was stationed in Virginia and also in Okinawa. After he
returned to Pine Bluff from the
Army he worked for JC Penney
and BF Goodrich Tire. In 1970
he started Wholesale Tire on
Highway 79 and a year later he
moved to Dollarway Road where
the business is today. Carey was
a member of Church of Christ on
28th Street.
He is preceded in death by his
parents; brothers, J.C., Billy and
Donald Cotner. Mr. Cotner is survived by his wife, Marie Stell Cotner, whom he married November
22, 1959, and had been married
over 54 years; son, James Carey Cotner; three grandchildren,
Jordan, Carson Marie and Jaxson
Cotner; brother, C.D. (Yvonne)
Cotner, all of White Hall; sisters, Louveda (Lester) Thomas
of Stuttgart and Linda (Richard)
Allred of Hot Springs.
Funeral services will be at 2
p.m. Friday in the chapel of Cranford Funeral Home of White Hall
with Brother Clarence Fell officiating. Visitation will be from 1
p.m. Friday until service time at
2 p.m. Memorials may be made
to the Church of Christ, 4700 28th
Street, Building Fund, Pine Bluff,
Arkansas.
Funeral arrangements are by
Cranford Funeral Home of White
Hall(www.cranfordfh.com).
Flu shots are in ample supply at several central Arkansas Wal-Mart stores and at
the members-only Sam’s Club
stores, according to a company news release Tuesday.
Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club
pharmacists will be available
to administer flu shots for customers 18 years and older and
are able to provide other common vaccines recommended
by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, according to the news release.
Demand for influenza vaccines has been high with state
health officials projecting flu
season will last several more
weeks. There have been 23
deaths attributed to the flu in
Arkansas as of Jan. 16, according to the Arkansas Health
Department.
Stores listed as offering
immunizations and the days
MEMPHIS — Mrs. James “Sylvia” Melton, 75, of Memphis died
Thursday. Survivors: daughters, Debra Brown and Melody
Melton; brothers, Charles, David
and Joseph Mason; sisters, Rubie Mason, Alice Bryant, Josepene Hawkins; half-brother, Paul
Mason; several grandchildren.
Graveside memorial service: 2
p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, Oaklawn
Cemetery, Batesville. Arrangements: Jackson’s Newport Funeral Home. www.jacksonsfh.com.
–––––❖–––––
AUSTIN, Texas — Conley
House, 87, of Austin, Texas, formerly of Hazen,
died Jan. 17,
2014, with his
family at his
side. He was
born Jan. 6,
1927, in Hazen,
Ark., to the late
John and Cecil House. He
graduated from
Hazen
High
School, Alabama School of Technology and Draughton’s School
of Business and Real Estate. He
was married to June Edmondson
House and they have one daughter, Becky.
Prior to moving to Austin in
2010 to be closer to his daughter
and grandsons, Conley was a civic leader and devoted volunteer.
He was president of the Hazen
Chamber of Commerce for three
terms. He served on the Hazen
City Council for two terms and
the Prairie County Equalization
Board and the Criminal Detention Facilities Review Committee
for Prairie and White counties.
He was also president of the Hazen Kiwanis Club.
For six years, he was a salesman and manager for Snap-OnTools, winning its coveted Salesman of the Year award his first
year. With the exception of these
six years, he was a small-business owner and operated a
service station, a wholesale oil
company, a supermarket, a small
manufacturing company and a
hardware store.
Conley was an active member
of the First Baptist church until his move to Texas. As young
man, he was Sunday School
superintendant. He was also
a deacon, deacon chairman
and a Sunday School teacher
for decades. His hobbies were
story-telling and professional
speaking…he was very serious
about being funny as a humorist.
He was a member of the National Speakers Association and a
charter member of the Arkansas
Speakers Association. He was
also a Toastmaster.
Conley is survived by his wife,
June; daughter, Becky Dewan;
son-in-law, Raman Dewan; sister,
Carolyn House Benafield; three
grandsons, Remington, Richmond and Raleigh Dewan; niece,
Julie Benafield; and great-niece,
Melissa Vance.
Visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24 at Westbrook Funeral Home in Hazen. A memorial
service will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 25 at the First Baptist
Church in Hazen with burial at
the Carlisle Cemetery under the
direction of Westbrook Funeral
Home of Hazen. Online obituary
at www.westbrookfuneralhomehazen.com.
and times pharmacists are to
be available to administer the
shots are:
m Wal-Mart Neighborhood
Market, 2510 Cantrell Road,
Little Rock, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.
m Wal-Mart Supercenter,
9053 Arkansas 107, Sherwood,
noon-4 p.m. Tuesday.
m Wal-Mart Neighborhood
Market, 8801 Arkansas 107,
Sherwood, noon-4 p.m. Monday and Wednesday.
m Sam’s Club, 900 S. Bowman
Road, Little Rock, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-6
p.m. Saturday.
m Sam’s Club, 5600 Landers
Road, North Little Rock, 9
a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday
and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.
m Sam’s Club, 1368 Higdon
Ferry Road, Hot Springs, 9
a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday
and 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Saturday.
I-40 lane to close Friday near NLR
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Research work on Interstate 40 will require a lane closure Friday near North Little
Rock, the Arkansas Highway
and Transportation Department said.
Crews performing drilling
operations to test the soil beneath the driving surface will
require closing the westbound
inside lane between mile
markers 145 and 146, which
v Continued from Page 1B
Out-of-state
Wal-Mart lists sites, times for flu shots
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Exhibit
Sign from above
is just west of the I-40/1-430
interchange. The lane section
will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m., weather permitting, the
department said.
The work is being conducted in preparation for widening I-40 to six lanes between
Arkansas 365 and I-430. This
includes modifying the Interstate 430 interchange. This
work is scheduled for bid later
this year, the department said.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEPHEN B. THORNTON
Murphy Jackson (left) and Calvin Dean remove a sign from above a storefront in the 700 block of
Main Street in North Little Rock on Wednesday morning. The storefront will become a temporary
space for the Argenta Downtown Council.
Bridge
v Continued from Page 1B
Sparks said investigators
found two damaged cables
on the north end of the span
early Tuesday. The cables,
Sparks said, are each about
5 inches in diameter.
Sparks said the bridge
malfunction caused no injuries or damage to trains or
barges.
Engineering experts from
St. Louis arrived in the area
Wednesday morning to determine the cause of the malfunction, Sparks said. He said
that as of late Wednesday afternoon, the inspectors had
not determined that cause
and were not able to estimate
how long the bridge would
be inoperable.
“The first order of business is to render the bridge
safe to work on,” Sparks said.
“Our second priority is to get
river traffic up, and third, to
get train traffic back up.”
Sparks said that while the
bridge is closed, Arkansas
& Missouri Railroad traffic
is being diverted to other
rail lines, some of which
are owned and operated by
competing railroad companies, including Kansas City
Southern Railroad and Union
Pacific Railroad.
Laurie Driver, a spokesman for the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers-Little
Rock District, said the damaged bridge has stopped all
barge traffic on that section
of river, and traffic will likely
remain stalled until repairs
are made.
Driver said that means
Trooper
v Continued from Page 1B
Broskovak said he had been
approached by Weindruch’s
wife the week before, when
she told him to stop driving
a vehicle on the school’s sidewalk to collect trash.
Newcomb said the issue
was misrepresented in the
letter. He said Weindruch
had gotten a call from a
school parent who said her
child was almost run over by
Broskovak while he drove a
truck on the sidewalk.
“How that’s … [written
in] that letter is factually
inaccurate,” Newcomb said
Wednesday.
In addition to those two
instances last year, Weindruch has received at least
three letters of reprimand, at
least two letters of warning
and has been suspended on
multiple occasions.
Weindruch received a letter of reprimand eight days
before his scheduled graduation from trooper school
for using “poor judgment,”
although the letter did not go
that barge traffic from Oklahoma and farther north will
be unable to move past the
damaged bridge toward the
Mississippi River, and traffic
from the Mississippi River
moving upriver into Oklahoma will also be held up. She
said that in 2011, more than
1,000 vessels passed through
the lock at Ozark, the nearest
lock to Fort Smith on the Arkansas River.
He a t h e r Na c h t m a n n ,
director of the Maritime
Transportation Research
and Education Center at
the University of Arkansas
at Fayetteville, said the section of river affected is in the
western part of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River System, the major marine highway in Arkansas. She said in
an email that the system connects the ports of Catoosa in
Oklahoma, and other ports in
Oklahoma and Arkansas with
the Mississippi River, linking
the nation’s heartland to the
global supply chain.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Clinton Smith, detachment supervisor for the Coast Guard
unit in Fort Smith, said that
when obstructions halt river
travel, tugboats, barges and
other vessels typically have
to either “tie off” and remain
stationary, or return to their
home ports.
“Unfortunately, there’s no
way to reroute it,” Smith said
of the river traffic.
Kerry Miller of Bentonville, a tugboat pilot for Jantran Inc., said his vessel had
been tied off about 1½ miles
downriver from the bridge
since about 8 a.m. Wednesday. Miller said it typically
takes about seven days for
his tugboat to push a barge
from Catoosa, Okla., to
Rosedale, Miss. He said the
Coast Guard indicated Tuesday that the bridge section
was impassable.
“It’s lost time for the company, so it’s a pain in the tail
for them, but it also gives
us the chance to do a lot of
maintenance you can’t do
without shutting down the
main engines,” Miller said of
the river wait. “We’ll take on
projects just to keep people
from getting bored. There’s
a ton of things you can do to
keep people occupied.”
Miller said a typical tugboat crew consists of a captain, a first mate, a pilot, an
engineer and four deckhands.
He said crew members aren’t
allowed to get off the vessel
during such delays, although
the company may choose to
“de-crew” the boat if a delay
lasts for an extended period
of time.
Products that typically
flow through the now-closed
segment of river in January
include coal, petroleum,
chemicals, farm products
and various manufactured
goods. Nachtmann said it is
difficult to estimate the economic impact of the stalled
barge traffic at this point but
that previous disruptions
have had significant economic impacts.
Miller, who has worked on
tugboats for Jantran for more
than five years, said such delays aren’t uncommon in river transportation.
“It’s kind of part of the industry,” Miller said. “A lot of
things can go wrong.”
into detail.
Other punished actions
by Weindruch outlined in
the letter included using
“poor judgment” by illegally
parking in a handicap space
in his marked state police
vehicle, references to a “pattern of uncontrollable rage
and temperament that could
not be tolerated by the department” and behavior on
police video that was “visibly
angry to the point of being
out of control.”
We i n d r u c h m a d e
$50,282.34 annually, according to the latest payroll report, state police spokesman
Bill Sadler said.
Sadler said that amount is
set by statute. After 4.5 years,
troopers are automatically
promoted to trooper first
class, and after 7.5 years they
are automatically promoted to corporal, the starting
salary for which is $43,560.
After that, cost-of-living adjustments, certificate pay and
merit raises bring up that total, Sadler said.
Weindruch graduated
from state trooper school
in 2004, and he entered the
Highway Patrol Division later that year in Troop A in
Pulaski County.
Weindruch was moved
to inmate duty at a Department of Correction facility
in Little Rock after a 2007
incident with Maumelle
Monitor reporter Bill Lawson, in which Weindruch
handcuffed Lawson for taking photographs of a house
fire. Weindruch had argued
that the flash from Lawson’s
camera left him with blurred
vision.
A Command Staff Review Board determined that
Weindruch had used “poor
judgment” in the confrontation, according to a letter
to Weindruch from several
state police commissioners
dated March 10, 2008. State
police suspended him for 16
hours, made him ineligible
for promotion for a year, as
well as ineligible to participate in specialty assignments
for a year.
In 2011, state police moved
Weindruch back to highway
patrol duty in Troop I, which
has headquarters in Harrison, Sadler said.
the universe, or start with
the Big Bang theory model
for science’s estimate of the
earliest development of the
universe 13.7 billion years ago
and move forward to present
day.
“The Evolving Universe”
exhibit is a true “get” for the library, Noble said Wednesday,
because the exhibit is sponsored through the renowned
Smithsonian Museum. The
exhibition is in collaboration
with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and part
of the Smithsonian Institution
Traveling Exhibition Service.
The exhibit will be in 16 other
cities on a tour lasting through
2017, Noble said, after it leaves
North Little Rock.
“Smithsonian exhibits
don’t make their way to Arkansas often,” Noble said.
The library paid $7,000 to
have the exhibit, Noble said,
part of the library’s “investment in the community” to
bring exhibitions to the state
that many Arkansans might
not ever be able to travel to
see in big cities like New York
City or Washington, D.C.
Such national exhibits at
Laman Library have proven
to be popular, he said. In 2012,
about 17,400 visitors attended exhibits in the Laman Library’s gallery. Last year, visitor numbers to see exhibits
grew to more than 23,000, bolstered by more than 8,000 attendees Sept. 6-Dec. 1 for the
World Trade Center Recovery
Operations exhibit that documented the sorting of debris
from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York.
“We’re real proud of that
attendance,” Noble said. “We
think that says something
about people here recognizing
that we are a community resource. We think it’s our duty
to bring these here.”
Benton
v Continued from Page 1B
may come forward after the
arrest or forensic evidence is
tested.
When asked how state police became involved in the
investigation, Sadler said he
couldn’t disclose that “because
of the matter in which the investigation began.” He also
wouldn’t disclose the boy’s age
at the time of the purported assault, saying that the type of
investigation banned him from
“directly or indirectly” identifying the victim.
Sadler said Hodge, with his
attorney, surrendered to state
police special agents Wednesday after a warrant was issued
for his arrest.
According to a news release from the Benton Police
Department, state police told
department officials about the
allegations on Oct. 26. After
learning about the “off-duty
incident,” department officials
“immediately” placed Hodge
on administrative leave with
pay, department spokesman Lt.
Kevin Russell said.
The department has
launched its own internal investigation, which is ongoing,
he said, adding that the department will likely wrap up its investigation soon. Hodge will
remain on administrative leave
until department officials complete the internal review.
Hodge has worked for the
Benton Police Department
since June 1995 and most recently served as a patrol shift
lieutenant, Russell said.
Calico Rock man
gets life in prison
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
MELBOURNE — Izard
County Circuit Court jurors
found a Calico Rock man
guilty of first-degree murder
and arson Wednesday in the
2010 death of his wife, according to a news release from
Circuit Court Clerk Rhonda
Halbrook.
Circuit Judge Tim Weaver
sentenced Donald Dickey, 67,
to life in prison in the Arkansas Department of Correction
after jurors deliberated for
two hours before returning
with the guilty verdict.
Sixteenth Judicial District
Prosecuting Attorney Don
McSpadden of Batesville
prosecuted the case.
Dickey was first charged
with arson after Calico Rock
firefighters found the body
of his wife, Mary Dickey, 67,
in the rubble of their burned
home on July 25, 2010.
In August 2010, McSpadden filed the first-degree
murder charge. A police affidavit said Dickey was facing
domestic-violence charges at
the time of his wife’s death.