STAR CITY — A jury of seven women and five men heard opening arguments and testimony Monday in a trial that will determine whether the mayor of Gould will remain in office.
Gould Mayor Earnest Nash, 43, faces one felony count of second-degree forgery, two misdemeanor charges of nonfeasance in office and one misdemeanor count of obstructing governmental operations.
The forgery charge is related to a bank account Nash opened up in order to store emergency relief funds the city received from FEMA and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management after flooding in Gould, Deputy Prosecutor Wayne Juneau of Pine Bluff told jurors.
The nonfeasance and obstruction charges are related to Gould recorder/treasurer Pam Barley-Gibson, who the prosecution says Nash prevented from entering her office at City Hall, despite being legally selected to serve the position by a majority of the Gould City Council.
Lincoln County Circuit Judge Rob Wyatt of PineBluff is hearing the case, which continues today.
The trial is the latest chapter in a difficult period for Gould, which has faced difficulty paying its bills and keeping city operations going. Residents have seen their political leaders battling with each other. The mayor, himself, was the victim of a pistol whipping last year.
Juneau told the jury Monday that after former Gould recorder/treasurer Mary Prewett resigned her office in December 2011, the council voted in January to replace her with Barley-Gibson, a move Nash quickly vetoed.
The council then overrode Nash’s veto and reinstated Barley-Gibson in February meeting, Juneau told the jury.
“At this time, Gibson was the legal recorder/treasurer for the city of Gould,” Juneau said.
The City Council then requested that Nash provide keys to Barley-Gibson, but when she arrived at City Hall to get them, Nash told her to leave because she was not the city’s legal recorder/treasurer, Juneau told the jury.
On Feb. 21, a locksmith was called in to open the recorder/treasurer’s office, but “Nash shows up and tells [Barley-Gibson] that she is not the recorder-treasurer, then he argues with her, grabs her and pushes her out of the office. He locks the door, and she has not been back at her office since,” Juneau said.
In July, a judge found Nash guilty on one misdemeanor third-degree battery charge related to this incident. He was levied a $615 fine.
Monticello locksmith Glen Palmer testified Monday and in the July trial against Nash that he witnessed the mayor “sling [Barley-Gibson] across the room.” Palmer further testified that the scene at City Hall on Feb. 21 was “a big mess. Everyone was yelling and screaming at one another.”
Palmer said Barley-Gibson had told him that she hada court order to unlock the doors to her office, though no such order existed, according to the prosecution.
Juneau told jurors that the forgery charges related to abank account Nash opened after he applied for emergency funds to repair roads and the Gould Resource Center.
Juneau argued that the $57,000 was improperly used by Nash, and that they were never allocated in the city’s budget to be meted out for weather-related repairs.
The chief deputy prosecutor also told jurors that the resource center was damaged by vandals, not by flooding.
“Spending that money that way was outside the scope of what it should have been used for,” Juneau said.
One of Nash’s attorneys - Hank Bates of Little Rock - fired back during his opening arguments, telling jurors that his client did not steal money, nor did he get any personal gain out of writing checks on behalf of the city.
“What this boils down to is a long-brewing political and legal dispute in Gould,” Bates said.
Related to the recorder/ treasurer position, Bates said that Nash questioned the legality of the February meeting, at which Nash’s January veto of Barley-Gibson’s appointment was overridden by four of Gould’s six aldermen.
Bates said his client was not at the February meeting, and that Nash was concerned that the meeting wasn’t properly called under the state’s open meeting requirements.
Also, Bates said that his client questioned where Barley-Gibson’s primary residence was located, noting that she has a home in Star City, in addition to Gould.
A photo that appeared to be a small mobile home was admitted into evidence as Barley-Gibson’s Gould address.
Further, Bates said, Nash questioned the legality of the votes of two Gould aldermen - Harry Hall and Rosieanna Smith-Lee - who have since been removed from office.
Hall was removed because of a prior felony conviction, Smith-Lee because she didn’t reside in the ward she was elected to represent.
However, Wyatt ruled last week that the votes cast by Hall and Smith-Lee during their tenure on the council were valid.
Bates told the jury that his client never knowingly obstructed city operations , nor did he believe any actions by the mayor were unlawful.
“He never knowinglyfailed to execute laws of his community and the state of Arkansas,” Bates said. “He has never had any personal gain out of his position as mayor.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 09/25/2012