Friday, December 09, 2005

First Thing Friday

From Bob Holt in the Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt has a couple of messages for Razorbacks fans. First, Nutt isn’t interested in the Colorado job. Also, he’s working hard to make the best decisions he can for the Arkansas program and appreciates your patience.

The Morning news of Northwest Arkansas reports that state auditors have uncovered further mismanagement in rural school districts. Auditors informed legislators that an employee in the Earle School District was paid nearly $100,000 last year for two jobs, one as director of finance for the district, a salaried job, and the other as administrative assistant to the superintendent, for which she was paid $30 an hour.

The mayor and police chief of Springdale were dropped Wednesday from a lawsuit against the city. The suit claims the city and some of its officials started an internal investigation as retribution against Det. Ed Motsinger after he testified anonymously in an independent investigation of Sid Rieff, former police chief.

The chairman of the Arkansas Racing Commission has named a committee to interview consultants to assist the commission in drafting rules defining electronic "games of skill."

Today’s Democrat Gazette reports that a bird better suited to the frozen tundra of Canada is recuperating in central Arkansas after making a mysterious appearance in the South. A snowy owl, a downy white bird flecked with brown spots and possessing bright yellow eyes, was spotted in Quitman on Nov. 27 by a couple looking for a Christmas tree.

The Southwest Times Record files this one. Charges will not be filed in Newton County against Greenwood teacher Deanna Bobo. Newton County Deputy Prosecutor Wes Bradford says that case files show Bobo allegedly had consensual sex with a couple of students when she was employed in Newton County at Western Grove School District. However, there was no sex crime law on the books that fits for the first incident, and the statute of limitations has run out on the second incident, Bradford says.

Detainees in the Benton County Jail can no longer count on getting free medical treatment during their stay. Sheriff Keith Ferguson decided last month his department can't afford to pay medical bills for inmates with pre-existing conditions.

Darrell Wayne Hill, whose 25 years on Arkansas' death row made him the state's longest serving prisoner awaiting execution, died Thursday of natural causes. Hill's son, Jeffrey Timothy Landrigan, is on death row in Arizona.

Exopack has sold its Monticello facility, but company representatives, bound by a confidentiality agreement, say they can’t disclose the name of the new owner, what the new company will manufacture or how many of Exopack’s 155 employees will be retained.

In order to stay in line with other schools in the Southland Conference, the University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees raised ticket prices on football and basketball games.

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