The state/region in brief

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/ STATON BREIDENTHAL --6/21/12--  Reece Henderson performs a trick Thursday while skateboarding at Riverview Skatepark in North Little Rock. Yesterday was Go Skateboarding Day, held on June 21 every year since 2003.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/ STATON BREIDENTHAL --6/21/12-- Reece Henderson performs a trick Thursday while skateboarding at Riverview Skatepark in North Little Rock. Yesterday was Go Skateboarding Day, held on June 21 every year since 2003.

Inquiry begins in shots by officer

CORNING - Arkansas State Police officials will turn their findings over to a prosecutor once they complete their investigation into the death of a Clay County man shot by a Corning police officer Tuesday evening.

John Grant, 52, was shot at his Park Street home in Corning late Tuesday after an altercation with police, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said.

Police responded to the home after receiving a call about a domestic disturbance there, Sadler said.

When they arrived, Grant charged one of the officers with a knife, drawing the officer’s fire. Grant was pronounced dead at his home, Sadler said.

The officer received a minor injury but did not seek medical treatment.

Police have not released the name of the officer.

Corning Police Chief Jim Groning said the officer is on paid leave while the investigation continues.

Sadler said investigators will turn their findings over to 2nd Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington to determine if the use of deadly force was necessary.

  • ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Forest fire strikes 4 rural structures

HOLLAND - A forest fire either heavily damaged or destroyed two mobile homes and two houses in a rural area of Faulkner County on Wednesday, authorities said.

No life-threatening injuries were reported. Shelia Maxwell, spokesman for the county’s Office of Emergency Management, said one elderly woman was treated for smoke inhalation.

Maxwell said one of the mobile homes and one of the houses were vacant at the time of the fire. People lived in the two other homes.

The fire along the Holland Hills Loop, which is off Arkansas 287, began midafternoon, perhaps about 3 p.m., said Maj. Andy Shock, a sheriff’s office spokesman. By shortly after 6 p.m., it was under control but still burning, Shock and Maxwell said.

Volunteer firefighters from nine area departments battled the blaze, along with the U.S.

Forest Service. The sheriff’s office sent an emergency squad there to help provide water, traffic control and other needs, Shock said.

  • ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Odd device for geocaching game

MARSHALL, Mo. - A suspicious object that prompted the evacuation of a Wal-Mart in central Missouri and the help of bomb experts from Whiteman Air Force Base turned out to be part of a geocaching game.

An employee at the Wal-Mart found a tube wrapped in electrical tape with a small metal tab on one end sitting near the store Wednesday afternoon.

Surveillance tape showed three men placing the object near the store in a spot where it could not be seen unless someone was looking for it. The three then re-entered the store.

It was that suspicious activity that prompted the evacuation, Marshall police spokesman Roger Gibson told The Marshall Democrat-News.

Two units from Whiteman with bomb-sniffing dogs searched the store while explosives experts examined the object.

The object was so realistic the bomb team asked to keep it for training purposes, Gibson said.

The object was part of a geocaching game, where the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Internet are used to hide and look for different objects, Marshall Police Chief Mike Donnell said.

Although the intent might have been innocent, Donnell said it is a federal offense to make something look like a bomb.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Search under way for bank robber

McGEHEE - Authorities in three states are searching for a man who robbed the First National Bank in McGehee of an undisclosed amount of cash.

No one was hurt in the robbery, which was reported shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday at the bank branch along U.S. 65, an Arkansas State Police news release said.

State police and the FBI are asking for public assistance to identify the robber, and authorities in Arkansas, northern Mississippi and Louisiana hunted for him, the news release said.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to contact the McGehee Police Department at (870) 222-3636, the Desha County sheriff’s office at (870) 877-2327, or the nearest Arkansas State Police or FBI office.

  • ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Trial in doctor’s death postponed

MOUNTAIN HOME - A trial was postponed for the stepson of a prominent Mountain Home doctor who was stabbed to death in his home six years ago.

Trial was to have begun Tuesday for Gary Wayne Parks, 41, who is charged with capital murder in the 2006 slaying of Dr. David Millstein.

Circuit Judge John Putman granted the extension after Parks’ lawyer said he found a new witness and needs time to vet the witness’s potential testimony.

The Baxter Bulletin reported that prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

Lawyers for Parks want the judge to set bail for Parks, who is in Baxter County jail.

Parks was arrested in 2009.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pastor sentenced for child porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A southwest Missouri minister who claimed to be addicted to pornography will spend nearly four years in prison for downloading child porn.

Michael Alan Crippen, 53, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to three years and 10 months without parole. He pleaded guilty last July to one count of possessing child pornography.

Crippen was pastor of First Baptist Church in Duenweg when he was charged in October 2010. He was identified during an investigation by Dutch police into a child porn website in the Netherlands.

Crippen told investigators he had been viewing images of adult and child porn on the Internet for several years, usually in the morning before going to work at the church.

Investigators found at least 360 images of child pornography on his computer.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 06/22/2012

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