Wednesday, November 28, 2012
8 admit to role in cockfighting case
LAKE CITY - Eight men accused in a northeast Arkansas cockfighting ring have pleaded guilty to possessing an instrument of a crime.
The men entered the pleas Monday during a hearing in Lake City. The Jonesboro Sun reported that the men were each given a 12-month suspended sentence and were fined $1,000.
Seven men were arrested Aug. 11 in Monette by Craighead County deputies who were investigating reports of a cockfighting operation. An eighth man later surrendered to police.
Authorities found several cases with sharpened knives that are attached to fighting chickens’ feet.
Seven of the men are from Leachville while the eighth is from Blytheville.
at Missouri zoo
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The giraffes apparently are happy at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield.
The zoo announced Monday the third giraffe birth in three months, giving it three generations of giraffes for the first time in the zoo’s history.
The zoo said 7-year-old Emma gave birth to a male calf Friday night. Emma’s 20-yearold mother, Gidget, gave birth to a calf earlier this month. Another female, “Pammy J,” was born in September.
And it’s not over - another giraffe is expected to give birth in January.
Zoo spokesman Melinda Arnold said some of calves will eventually have to be moved to other facilities, the Springfield News-Leader reported.
Forrest City logs 3rd homicide of ’12
FORREST CITY - Authorities in Forrest City are investigating after a man was found shot to death in a pickup.
Forrest City Police Chief E.P. Reynolds said Dominique Tobar was found dead Monday morning in a truck near Park Drive. Reynolds told the Times-Herald that Tobar was shot multiple times.
The chief said investigators are confident that the attack on Tobar was not a drive-by shooting. Police are searching for suspects and investigating reports that a second person may have been shot.
Reynolds said one person was taken into custody at the scene, but no arrests have been made.
Tobar’s death was the third homicide this year in Forrest City.
TULSA - A 32-year-old man has pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in a fatal shooting that happened a decade ago in Turley.
Jonathan Choate entered the blind plea Monday in Tulsa County. The Tulsa World reported that Choate will be sentenced Jan. 29 for the October 2002 fatal shooting of Mario Ibarra-Ordonez.
Investigators said Ibarra-Ordonez was shot repeatedly in the back. An affidavit alleges that the shooting was drug-related.
Prosecutors did not charge Choate in the fatal shootinguntil May 2010 after investigators revisited the case. Attorneys said Choate does not have an agreement with prosecutors and faces life in prison - either with or without the possibility of parole.
Name on receipt
leads to arrest
EL DORADO - A store robber in El Dorado left his name behind with the cashier after he held up the Day and Nite store and took some beer, police said.
The Thanksgiving Day robbery ended with the robber writing his name and a couple of phrases on a receipt and leaving it at the counter.
When the man approached the register, the clerk asked him to pay for his beer. The man then lifted his shirt to expose the handle of a pistol. When the receipt printed, he wrote on it and left the store.
The El Dorado News-Times reports that police arrested 33-year-old Uganda T. Evans of El Dorado at the apartment complex where he lives. Police said he dropped an unloaded handgun when he saw officers approach.
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma City police are searching for a driver who crashed into a school bus that was taking special-needs students to an elementary school.
Police said 10 students were on the bus when the crash happened about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. Police told Oklahoma City television station KWTV that at least four students and the bus driver were taken to a hospital with injuries that weren’t lifethreatening.
Authorities said the bus was taking autistic children to North Highland Elementary School. The force of the collision caused the school bus to topple onto its side.
Police said the driver of the car jumped from her vehicle and ran away after the collision.
Superintendent Karl Springer praised the bus driver for helping the children to safety.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 11/28/2012