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Three sections,
28 pages
Number 301, Volume 137
Seventy Five Cents
TUESDAY
October 28, 2014
www.hotspringssr.com
Published daily in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, since 1877
Suspect arrested in robbery/shooting, others sought
STEVEN MROSS
The Sentinel-Record
Tops
A Hot Springs man was arrested Saturday afternoon in connection with an armed robbery and
shooting in Mountain Pine, but
Garland County Sheriff’s investigators are still reportedly seeking the
man who pulled the trigger.
Philemon Cornell Tops, 19, who
lists an address of 139 Fairwood St.,
located off Bull Bayou Road, was
taken into custody near the scene
of the shooting at 301 McCurtain
St. in Mountain Pine shortly after
3:30 p.m. and charged with aggravated robbery, a felony punishable
by up to life in prison.
Tops, who reportedly has a
previous felony conviction out of
Conway, was still being held without bond Monday and is set to
appear Nov. 4 in Garland County
District Court.
According to the affidavit,
GCSD deputies responded to a
shooting at the McCurtain Street
residence and upon arrival encountered the victim, 28, with
what appeared to be gunshot
wounds to his abdominal area.
Family members at the scene
told The Sentinel Record the victim’s name was Alex Oliver, who
also goes by the name Alex Green,
and that he was injured during an
alleged home invasion robbery.
Oliver was transported by
LifeNet Air to CHI St. Vincent
Hot Springs where his condition
Ross takes message
to the people of Ark.
DON THOMASON
The Sentinel-Record
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross said Monday that
he is in the final week of his Jobs
First tour across the state.
“This is the final stretch, the
final week, and we’re taking our
positive vision for the future of the
state to every corner of the state
of Arkansas, and I have a plan to
create more and better-paying jobs,
and create opportunities for all
Arkansans and to grow the middle
class,” he said prior to touring Alliance Rubber Co.
Other candidates for the state
governor’s position are Republican Asa Hutchinson, Green Party
candidate J. Joshua Drake, and Libertarian Frank Gilbert.
PARADE
ARRESTED, PAGE 10A
Fire victim
identified
DON THOMASON
Prior to visiting Alliance Rubber, Ross stopped to chat with supporters at The Pancake Shop, 216
Central Ave., to discuss his plans
to strengthen education, cut taxes for working families and small
businesses, and create more and
better-paying jobs in Arkansas.
Ross also had stops scheduled
in his hometown of Prescott, Magnolia and Stamps on Monday.
Before touring the Alliance
Rubber plant, Ross told The Sentinel-Record that he wants to keep
more jobs in America.
“That is exactly what I want to
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen
change. Actually, we’re starting to
see more manufacturing jobs come VISION FOR THE STATE: Mike Ross, left, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, visited
back to America. The standard of patrons of The Pancake Shop in downtown Hot Springs Monday morning as he completed
the final leg of his Jobs First tour across the state. Before leaving Hot Springs, Ross toured
MESSAGE, PAGE 5A
Alliance Rubber Co., and then made stops in Arkadelphia, Prescott, Magnolia and Stamps.
Arkansas court:
Minimum wage
stays on ballot
was not known Monday.
Deputies were advised by bystanders that they had detained
one of the suspects and brought a
man, identified as Tops, to them.
The bystanders said they saw Tops
and another black male running
from the victim’s residence shortly
after hearing gunshots.
The Sentinel-Record
A Hot Springs woman died as
a result of a fire in her apartment
Sunday afternoon, officials said
Monday.
Garland County Coroner Stuart
Smedley said Lois Cullum, 74, was
pronounced dead at the scene of
the fire, 128 Hickory St., by Chief
Deputy Coroner Daniel Stramp.
Hot Springs Fire Marshal Tom
Braughton said the fire call was
received at 5 p.m. and, upon arrival at the apartments, firefighters
found heavy smoke but had difficulty determining which one was
involved until residents directed
them to an apartment around the
corner of the building.
“They entered the apartment
IDENTIFIED, PAGE 5A
PARTICIPANTS
ANDREW DEMILLO
The Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ highest court ruled
Monday that a proposal to gradually raise the state’s
minimum wage can remain on the November ballot.
The Arkansas Supreme Court denied a Little Rock
businessman’s effort to block a ballot question that
will ask voters to raise the state’s minimum hourly
wage from $6.25 to $8.50 by 2017. Arkansas is one of
the few states with a minimum wage below the federal
level of $7.25 an hour.
Early voting for the election began Oct. 20.
The businessman, Jackson T. Stephens Jr., said
supporters missed a key deadline for submitting
their petition and that some signatures were invalid
because a notary’s signature had been forged. Justices
said the secretary of state’s office properly certified
the question, known as Issue No. 5, for the ballot.
“It gives Arkansas voters an opportunity to vote
on giving hard-working Arkansans a raise,” said Steve
Copley, chairman of Give Arkansas a Raise Now,
which petitioned to place the question on the ballot.
“We always felt that if we could get this before voters,
they would support this.”
Stephens called the ruling “disappointing.
“It is shameful that, according to our Supreme
Court, fraud is not a consideration in this matter of
public trust, and now the whole ballot initiative process is open to fraud,” Stephens said in a statement.
Democrats have been pushing the wage increase,
WAGE, PAGE 9A
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen
St. Luke’s Episcopal School students gather for a group photograph on the steps of The Sentinel-Record Monday after making their annual parade
and trick-or-treat visit to the hometown newspaper.
Second arrest made in alleged plot
to kill woman’s former husband
CAMP LEATHERNECK
STEVEN MROSS
The Sentinel-Record
The Associated Press
Marines and sailors with Marine Expeditionary Brigade — Afghanistan load onto a
KC-130 aircraft Monday on the Camp Bastion, Afghanistan flightline. The handover
of the U.S. Marines’ main base to Afghan control in the hardscrabble Helmand province is more than a signal that America’s longest war is ending. It is a reminder of
the enormous loss and sacrifice by Marines who swept in as part of President Barack
Obama’s surge of forces against a resurgent Taliban in 2009. See story on Page 4A.
A Little Rock man was arrested
Saturday afternoon in connection
with an alleged plot to kill a Hot
Springs woman’s ex-husband, who
learned about it from the ex-wife’s
new boyfriend.
Willie Eugene Evans, 51, was taken
into custody around 12:30 p.m. in Little Rock by Little Rock police detectives on a felony charge of conspiracy
to commit capital murder, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, and
brought to Hot Springs where he
was booked into the Garland County
Detention Center shortly after 3 p.m.
Evans, who was previously convicted of a felony in 2001 in Pulaski
County, remained in custody Monday
in lieu of $100,000 bond and is set
to appear Nov. 4 in Garland County
District Court.
The ex-wife, Shannah Lynn Harrington, 38, who lists an address of 815
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Park Ave., was taken into custody Oct.
17 on the same charge and remained
in custody Monday in lieu of $100,000
bond with a hearing set for Dec. 2 in
district court.
According to the affidavits, on
Oct. 14, the victim filed a report with
Hot Springs police stating he was
contacted on Oct. 11 by the current
live-in boyfriend of his ex-wife, identified as Harrington, who told him
Harrington had hired someone to
kill him.
He said the boyfriend also emailed
him an audio recording of what he
said was Harrington talking to an unknown person about killing the victim.
The victim listened to the recording
and confirmed it was Harrington telling someone his address, his vehicle
description, including three digits of
his license plate, and the manner in
which she wanted him killed.
The victim sent the audio recording to HSPD Detective M. Fallis
Ind
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via email and the detective listened
to it and could hear a female say the
victim’s name and telling someone
how she wanted it
look like an overdose and to make
sure her children
were not there when
it happened.
The female is
then heard giving
the victim’s address Evans
and vehicle description and saying,
“Yes, I am sure I want it done.”
On Oct. 15, Fallis interviewed Harrington’s boyfriend, who stated he
and Harrington were at the residence
of a man named “Willie” about one
week earlier and while there he heard
Harrington and “Willie” talking about
getting someone to kill the victim.
The boyfriend said on Oct. 11 he
PLOT, PAGE 5A
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