ACLU challenges jail news ban
CARTHAGE, Mo. - The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a ban on all newspapers at the Jasper County jail, contending the prohibition violates the inmates’ constitutional rights.
The organization raised its objections in a letter to Bill Fleischaker, attorney for Sheriff Archie Dunn, The Joplin Globe reported Friday.
Fleischaker said the ban was imposed because some newspaper articles, such as those concerning criminal cases, can spark fights between inmates. He also said jail officials don’t want inmates reading about repairs planned for the jail.
Fleischaker said he plans to review issues raised by the letter with jail officials “and see if there is an accommodation that can be made.”
The ban, which applies to all newspapers, is “draconian,” said Doug Bonney, chief counsel and legal director for the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri.
“We don’t know of any other jail in Missouri that bans all newspapers; they don’t do that in the prisons,” Bonney said.
He suggested jail officials could clip out and censor news articles that pose a true danger to jail security.
That would be too much of a drain on jail resources, said Fleischaker and sheriff’s Capt. Becky Stevens, who supervises the jail.
The ban was imposed last year when there was extensive coverage of plans for repairs at the jail, Stevens said. It applies to all newspapers, but most subscriptions were for The Joplin Globe and Carthage Press.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Progress reported for state VA office
An auditor said Thursday that the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs has made progress in addressing some of the problems turned up by an audit released last month.
The Legislative Joint Auditing Committee had asked for a follow-up after hearing a report last month that the department had $200,000 in missing or unaccounted-for equipment, lax budgetary oversight and unauthorized credit-card purchases.
Deputy legislative auditor Jon Moore said the department has new approval requirements in place for expenditure documentation, has replaced a nonstandard credit card and has accounted for all but $20,000 in equipment.
Moore said he followed up with the prosecuting attorney on about $1,837 in unauthorized credit-card charges by a managerial employee and that an “investigative body” is looking into the matter. None of the money has been repaid so far, he said.
“We have done extensive repair and housecleaning,” said the department’s newly appointed director, retired Arkansas Army National Guard Col. Alecia “Cissy” Rucker.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Lawyer cautioned for 2011 client
The state Committee on Professional Conduct issued a caution to Paul Schmidt, an attorney from Cabot, for representing a child’s mother several years after another attorney in his firm had represented the child’s father in a paternity andcustody dispute.
Heath Ramsey, an attorney at the Schmidt Law Firm, represented Morgan Ash while he sought to establish paternity of his child in 2006. An order of visitation was entered.
Five years later, Schmidt filed a motion to reopen the order on behalf of Marie Calcaterra, who is the child’s mother and who was on the opposite side from Ash in the case.
The committee ruling this week said that even though Schmidt was not the original attorney in 2006, the prohibition against representing opposing parties in the same matter was imputed to him because he and Ramsey are part of the same firm.
The committee ordered that Schmidt pay costs of $100.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Man, 58, dies in UAMS pool
A man found unconscious in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ therapy pool was pronounced dead Thursday, not long after members of a water aerobics class spotted him at the bottom of the pool.
Davis Young, 58, entered the pool midmorning while the exercise class and its instructor took a break, UAMS spokesman Leslie Taylor said. Young had been using the walking track in the pool, which is used for exercise and rehabilitation.
Young had not been a patient at the hospital but had permission to enter the pool, located in the Jack Stephens Spine and Neuroscience Institute building. He did not check in before entering, Taylor said.
The class resumed while Young was still walking. Later on, someone spotted him under water.
UAMS staff pulled Young from the pool, attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation and then took him to the hospital, Taylor said.
The pool doesn’t have lifeguards, but often instructors are in the room or someone is watching from the deck, Taylor said.
Young’s body will be sent to authorities for an autopsy, Taylor said.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Ex-fireman gets prison for arson
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. - A former Oklahoma Forestry Services firefighter has pleaded guilty to charges of arson and endangering the lives of others.
The Cherokee County district attorney’s office said Friday that Mike Adam Malenski, 39, pleaded guilty to the two counts on Thursday and was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison.
Malenski was initially charged with 56 counts each of arson and endangering lives.
Prosecutors said he set fires in the Cherokee Wildlife Management Area in 2010 and 2011 when he was a forestry services firefighter.
Previous court documents say Malenski was on duty when the fires were set and that he was typically the first person to arrive at the scene.
Malenski’s attorney, Donn Baker, was not immediately available for comment Friday.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 06/23/2012