Friday, May 04, 2007

Friday summary

A former Arkansas State Police trooper pleaded guilty Thursday to shooting and killing a disabled man and is waiting to learn whether he will be sentenced to jail. Larry Norman, an 18-year police veteran from West Fork, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor negligent homicide in the death of Joseph Erin Hamley of Springdale.

Officials closed campuses of Pulaski Technical College on Thursday after police received an anonymous 911 call about a threat of violence. Pulaski Tech President Dan Bakke said the decision to cancel classes at the 8,700-student school was a cautionary move by city and campus police.

Joe McCutchen, A Fort Smith illegal immigration opponent is hoping to press charges against the state and its capital city for their involvement in establishing a Mexican consulate.Pulaski County prosecutor Larry Jegley received McCutchen’s letter of complaint after the Southwest Times Record, and Jegley told the newspaper he believed McCutchen has an “agenda.” McCutchen is especially critical of Little Rock’s assistance without competitive bids.

Two years after they were merged, the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services will be established as separate departments again. Gov. Mike Beebe signed the order to make it happen July 1.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock has received approval for the Medicare program to pay for liver transplants. That certification will let more people receive transplants in the state’s only livertransplant program.

Col. Steve Dozier, director of the state says he will resign at the end of the month. Dozier, a state police veteran who was appointed director in June 2004 by former Gov. Mike Huckabee, says he is stepping down to go to work for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as vice president of corporate services.

Danny Hazelwood, superintendent of the Hazen School District since 1996, will become chief of the Watson Chapel School District on July 1. Hazelwood’s starting annual salary will be $118,77 and a district owned car. His professional background includes being a teacher and coach.

State Senate Minority Leader Denny Altes says he will not simply dismiss a threat made against his life by a former employee. James Elvert Dukes of Van Buren was arrested Tuesday for allegedly threatening to kill Altes. Dukes, a Veterans Administration client, told a doctor he wanted to shoot Altes with a handgun he kept in his vehicle.

An investigation into timber thefts in several Arkansas counties has been taken over by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Logs owned by Deltic Timber in White, Cleburne, Van Buren, Stone and Independence Counties were taken to sawmills without the company’s knowledge. A Heber Springs man was arrested by a forestry commission officer March 9 and taken to the Cleburne County Jail. State charges were not filed, but federal charges against the man are pending.

The state Supreme Court has ordered a new hearing on whether a new Sam's Club in Fayetteville should be granted a permit to sell alcohol. The ruling reversed a Pulaski County circuit judge's decision that the Arkansas Beverage Retailer's Association lacked standing in the case. The high court ordered Circuit Judge Ellen Brantley to determine whether allowing the permit would be unfair to liquor stores across the state.

Wal-Mart gave hourly employees more than $1.1 billion in retirement plan contributions, bonuses and merchandise discounts last year. Bonuses, awarded at stores that reach performance goals, averaged $651 for 813,759 employees.

Russellville officials with Grace Manufacturing — which owns the brand name Microplane, a popular brand used in woodworking, cooking and personal care products — have told about 50 employees of its 16th Street manufacturing facility their jobs would be relocated to a plant in Mexico within the next year.

The University of the Ozarks in Clarksville is suing the designers and operators of a fundraising campaign built around life insurance policies that named the university as beneficiary, claiming the school’s officials and donors were duped.

A group of rogue Memphis police officers once gathered after work at an isolated location for what they called "choir practice," sessions where they plotted illegal activities they called "stangs." One of those officers, Harold E. McCall, admitted his involvement to local prosecutors in two stangs in which on-duty uniformed officers shook down drug dealers for money. The officers, who typically worked the Downtown entertainment district, would search the drivers and vehicles and take cash using force or threats of arrest. The victims then were released.

Comments:
Interesting to see that there are other places out there named Pulaski. Wonder what the origin of the name is in the different places. Our Pulaski here in NY is a relatively small village on a major highway, and may be best known for the Pulaski Village Court, which is one of the biggest revenue courts in the state. Not sure if that's a good thing to say about a place though.
 
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