The state/region in brief

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Posted: August 16, 2009 at 5:17 a.m.

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LITTLE ROCK — Murder trial of man,

86, reset 6 months

FORT SMITH - The retrial of an elderly Mansfield man charged in the death of his wife in August 2007 has been delayed until next year because of the man's deteriorating health.

According to the Sebastian County prosecuting attorney's office, Autry Basham, 86, was scheduled to go on trial Aug. 24 for first-degree murder in the slashing death of Lola Marie Basham, 83, at their Mansfield home. The trial was rescheduled for February.

His first trial last October ended in a hung jury when one of the 12-member panel would not vote to convict Basham.

Dates to retry Basham had to be changed at least once since then because Basham has been physically unable to sit through a trial. He fell ill in the courtroom as his murder trial ended last year and had to be attended to by emergency medical personnel.

Investigators have said Basham nearly severed his wife's head with a steak knife, then slit his own throat but recovered. His attorneys argued that Basham suffered from delirium the day he killed his wife and was innocent because of mental disease or defect.

- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FEMA cuts trailers stored at Hope

HOPE - Land devoted to storing FEMA trailers at the Hope Airport will be cut by two-thirds by 2011 as the agency reduces the stockpile of mobile homes and trailers it has kept there.

Under the plan, the city will regain access to the airport's crosswind runway by June 2010. By June 2011, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will lease only 180 acres, down from the 535.5 acres it now occupies.

That lease will be a semipermanent fixture at the World War II airfield, allowing the agency to stage mobile homes and trailers there for emergency responses.

"We're talking about getting this done in a methodic way," City Manager Catherine Cook told the Hope Star.

During a meeting last week, FEMA representative Jon Boyd told Hope city directors thathis agency wants to reduce its presence to as many as 1,500 new mobile homes at the site within two to three years. As of February, FEMA stored about 19,000 travel trailers and mobiles there.

- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Woman burned;

boyfriend sought

FORT SMITH - Sebastian County authorities are searching for an illegal alien for questioning after his girlfriend was set on fire.

Sebastian County sheriff's Capt. William Hollenbeck said Rigorberto Saenz, 32, is wanted on a felony warrant for first-degree domestic abuse in connection with Sunday's incident.

Hollenbeck said Petrina Moguel-Mendez suffered second- and third-degree burns after she was doused with gasoline and set on fire. She remained in critical condition Friday at a Little Rock hospital.

Hollenbeck said an arrest warrant was issued for Saenz because of statements by Moguel-Mendez and the woman's 8-year-old son.

- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Marijuana raids claim 15,000 plants

OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma drug agents have seized nearly 15,000 marijuana plants this summer, including more than 6,000 in the last week.

The seizures are part of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics' annual eradication missions.

On Thursday, agents raided two large marijuana growing operations in Norman and Edmond.

Agents in Edmond found 160 plants in what they called a "sophisticated indoor growing operation."

Another 149 plants growing both inside and outside a home in Norman also were seized.

Bureau spokesman Mark Woodward says one person was arrested at each location, but agency officials have not released their names.

- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 20 on 08/16/2009

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