The state/region in brief

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Posted: July 31, 2009 at 5:22 a.m.

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LITTLE ROCK — Reward quadrupled in 2 girls' slayings

OKEMAH, Okla. - A coalition of Tulsa-area oilmen have helped increase to $160,000 the reward offered for information in the shooting deaths of two girls near the town of Weleetka last summer.

Lee Levinson of LPD Energy Corp. and Eddie Rongey of Dexxon Inc. spoke for the coalition Thursday during a news conference held by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation at the Okfuskee County Courthouse. The reward previously stood at $40,000.

Thirteen-year-old Taylor Paschal-Placker and 11-year-old Skyla Whitaker were gunned down June 8, 2008, along a dirt road in rural Okfuskee County, 70 miles south of Tulsa.

No arrests have been made in the case, and authorities still are searching for a motive.

The additional $120,000 is a time-limited reward offered for the next 90 days.

-THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Three officers honored for bravery

An Arkansas State Police special agent from Gurdon who was wounded during a standoff with a murder suspect has been honored as the agency's Trooper of the Year.

State police presented the award Thursday in North Little Rock to Cpl. Scott Clark. Also honored were Company C Sgt.

John Bishop of Bradley and deputy Frank McJunkins of the Hempstead County sheriff's office.

In March 2008, Clark, McJunkins and Bishop were investigating the murder of 56-year-old Donald K. McGee and visited the home of suspect Fred Moore.

According to authorities, Moore fired a shot from a handgun, hitting Clark in the right arm and shoulder, prompting the officers to return fire. Moore was killed.

Bishop and McJunkins were awarded for valor and bravery.

- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS $340,000 in grants to fight HIV in state

The Arkansas Minority Health Commission is issuing $340,419 in grants to help combat the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Seven groups will receive grants of up to $50,000. The groups selected work with high-risk populations in the state, including college students, teenagers, the homeless, homosexuals, and black and Hispanic women.

Blacks make up 16 percent of Arkansas' population but account for 47 percent of the state's approximately 7,375 cases of human immunodeficiency syndrome. About 33 percent of those cases are women, according to the commission.

- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Self-defense seen by suspect's lawyer

BENTONVILLE - Eunice "Yogi" Bradley was killed as she and Roger Dale Barrett struggled over a pistol, Barrett's lawyer said in documents filed Thursday.

Attorney Joel Huggins filed a notice stating his intent to argue self defense in Barrett's murder trial, set to begin Aug.

25. The motion also claims there was no premeditation or deliberation in Bradley's death, as required by the capital murder statute.

Barrett is charged with capital murder in the death of the 40-year-old Bradley of Healing Springs. She died of a .22-caliber gunshot to the chest on Aug. 21, 2000, and was found by firefighters fighting a brush fire near Highfill.

According to the court filing, Barrett and Bradley were drinking and got into an argument.

Bradley reached for Barrett's pistol, and to protect himself and prevent Bradley from harming herself, Barrett struggled with her over the gun. The gun accidentally discharged, and the bullet struck Bradley.

- BENTON COUNTY DAILY RECORD

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 12 on 07/31/2009

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