Man arrested in weekend killing
HOT SPRINGS - A man wanted in a weekend slaying in Hot Springs has been arrested, police said Tuesday.
Karon Mohammed, 27, turned himself in to an attorney in Conway on Monday evening after police obtained a capital murder warrant for his arrest.
He is accused of gunning down Sean T. Robinson, 26, of Hot Springs during a purported drug deal on Main Street.
An unidentified witness told police that Mohammed got into Robinson’s car to buy drugs and opened fire, an arrest report says.
“I let him have it,” Mohammed is quoted in the report as saying after he emerged from the dead man’s car with drugs.
Mohammed was held without bail at the Garland County jail.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTENeosho paintball
factory to close
NEOSHO, Mo. - A southwest Missouri factory that makes paintballs will close early next year, putting 60 people out of work.
The Brass Eagle plant in the town of Neosho will shut down in mid-February, although a paintball distribution operation will remain in business.
Neosho economic development director Gib Garrow said he’s been talking with other industries in the area and plans to offer job fairs for the Brass Eagle workers losing their jobs.
Garrow also hopes to find new tenants for Brass Eagle’s 25,000-square-foot plant.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ex-worker guilty of embezzlement
MUSKOGEE, Okla.
- A former employee of the Cherokee Nation has pleaded guilty in federal court in Muskogee to embezzling money from the Tahlequahbased tribe.
Federal prosecutors said 48-year-old Tammy Kay Marshall of Welling pleaded guilty Monday to one count of embezzlement and theft from an Indian tribe.
Prosecutors allege Marshall embezzled more than $1,000 from tribal members who were issued checks from the tribe’s Emergency Assistance Program.
She faces up to five years in federal prison when she’s sentenced in a few months.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lawmaker seeks tax break on guns
OKLAHOMA CITY - A state legislator from Norman says Oklahomans should be able to buy guns a few days each year without paying taxes on them.
State Sen. John Sparks, a Democrat, is proposing legislation that he said would set up a “Second Amendment Weekend.” If fellow lawmakers approve the measure and it becomes law, all rifles, handguns and shotguns would be tax free on a few days a year. The measure would not apply to gun accessories. Sparks said the tax break is a good idea even in a recession.
“I don’t think there is ever a bad time to defend our Second Amendment rights, and I think we should do so every chance we get,” Sparks said.
Similar proposals have been approved in other states.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Man found dead in drainage ditch
JOPLIN, Mo. - Police in Joplin said a man found dead in a frozen drainage ditch had slipped on ice while walking and talking on a cell phone.
The body of 43-year-old Keith Lyons was discovered Monday in the ditch near a Joplin car wash.
Lyons was reported missing by his brother Sunday night.
Police said Lyons had been talking with a friend on a cell phone while walking home Saturday night. The call was suddenly disconnected, apparently when he slipped on ice and fell into the drainage ditch.
The death has been ruled accidental.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Woman, 86, dies from Dec. 20 fire
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.
- A house fire that killed a Springfield woman earlier this month has now claimed a second victim.
Authorities said 86-yearold Virginia Hardison died Monday at a Springfield hospital where she had been taken after the fire Dec. 20.
Another victim, 50-yearold Cathy Hardison, was found dead in the home on the day of the fire. An autopsy showed smoke inhalation as the cause of death.
The Springfield Fire Department said the fire was caused by an extension cord plugged into a space heater.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Testing not done by water systems
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.
- Missouri environmental officials said 39 drinking water systems have repeatedly failed to complete required testing.
The state Department of Natural Resources requires Missouri’s roughly 2,800 public water systems to test for bacteria each month. Slightly more than 1 percent have regularly failed to conduct the tests over the past year.
The agency said the lack of testing doesn’t necessarily mean the public is in danger, but the tests are important to ensure water supplies are safe.
Water districts that did not report test results are located in 18 counties: Barry, Benton, Camden, Dallas, Franklin, Greene, Laclede, Maries, Miller, Mississippi, Morgan, Newton, Ozark, Polk, St. Clair, Stone, Taney and Wright.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSInsanity claim to delay trial start
TULSA - The use of an insanity defense by a former Tulsa high school teacher in a first-degree murder case likely will delay the trial, a prosecutor said.
An attorney for 52-yearold John Kastner filed written notice Monday of his intent to use an insanity defense for his client, who is charged in the death of his wife Lori Moon Kastner, 44.
Lori Kastner, a former Oklahoma Supreme Court attorney, was shot twice in the head at the family’s Tulsa home on June 25, 2008. John Kastner has blamed an intruder for the killing.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 12 on 12/30/2009