Accused gunman held in drug case
The Little Rock man accused of shooting his step-grandfather earlier this month was arrested Tuesday afternoon after police say they found him with drugs and a gun in his bag.
Darwin Bowers, 29, of 4215 W. 15th St. was picked up by Little Rock officers near 10700 Colonel Glenn Road at 5:30 p.m., when police found methamphetamine and a Colt .45-caliber revolver in a bag that he “confessed” to owning, according to arrest reports.
Bowers had been wanted on first-degree battery charges since Aug. 12, five days after 46-year-old Henri Hatten, who is married to Bowers’ grandmother, identified him as the man who shot him in the chest, according to police.
Arrest affidavits said Bowers was at Hatten’s 1905 Michael St. home when an argument between Hatten and his 71-year-old wife, Effie Bowers-Hatten, triggered the shooting.
According to Bowers-Hatten, she and her husband were in the car arguing about the car’s tires when Bowers, upset about the argument, threw the car into park and took out the keys.
Regaining the keys, Hatten tossed them “over the house,” and his wife went inside to “get ready to leave.”
Police said Bowers pulled a gun and started shooting at Hatten in the front yard.
Hatten ran around to the backyard to get the keys.
Bowers followed, and one of his shots struck Hatten in the right side of the chest, reports said.
Bowers sped off with his girlfriend and his grandmother, and Hatten eventually drove himself to the hospital, reports said.
In addition to the battery charge, Bowers faces charges for felony drug possession, possession of a firearm by a felon, simultaneous possession of drugs and guns, as well as possession of drug paraphernalia.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Clinton to speak about health care
Former President Bill Clinton will speak in Little Rock next week about health policy and the 2010 federal health-care overhaul law, his foundation said Wednesday.
In a news release, the William J. Clinton Foundation said the former president and Arkansas governor will speak at the Clinton Presidential Center at 10 a.m. Wednesday about “the critical role a high quality, affordable and accessible health care system plays in the United States and any country’s economic and social well being.”
Attendance will be invitation-only, but the remarks will be broadcast live on the foundation website, www.
clintonfoundation.org.
The news release noted that the speech will come less than a month before the Oct. 1 start of enrollment on health insurance exchanges being set up in every state under the health-care law.
Arkansas’ exchange is expected to make subsidized coverage available to more than 450,000 people. That includes about 250,000 people who will be eligible to sign up for private plans and have their premiums paid by Medicaid.
More than 200,000 others with incomes between 138 percent and 400 percent ofthe federal poverty level will be eligible for federal tax credit subsidies that will pay part of their premiums.
“Throughout his public career and now through the work of the Clinton Foundation, President Clinton has championed increasing access to health care and improving health systems for everyone,” the foundation said in the news release.
On Twitter, White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said he was “excited” about the speech. Alluding to a remark that President Barack Obama made after Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention last year, Pfeiffer noted that Clinton was “once dubbed Secretary of Explaining Stuff.” - ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEDischarge-permits public hearing set
YELLVILLE - A public hearing will be held in Yellville to receive comments on the proposed renewal of two wastewater discharge permits for National Park Service facilities along the Buffalo River.
The hearing is set for Oct. 1 and begins at 6 p.m.
in the Yellville-Summit School District cafeteria.
The affected facilities are the Buffalo Point Lower Plant and the Buffalo Point Upper Plant - both about 17 miles south of Yellville.
Both facilities discharge treated wastewater to the Buffalo River.
Oral and written comments will be accepted at the hearing, but written comments are preferred in the interest of accuracy.
A copy of the proposed draft permits can be found on the agency’s website.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSGas-line fire hurts Tulsa city worker
TULSA - At least one person has been injured after a natural-gas line fire at a south Tulsa apartment complex Thursday.
KTUL reported that according to Tulsa Fire Capt.
Stan May, one city worker was injured and taken to a local hospital.
The fire started around noon at the River Chase apartment complex as maintenance workers were apparently trying to move a waterline and accidentally hit the gas line.
Crews were able to put out the flames within an hour.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSSentence 5 years in bookstore theft
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A man who admitted stealing up to $1.16 million from the Missouri State University bookstore was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for theft.
Mark Brixey of Ozark was also ordered Thursday to make restitution, to be split between the university, the school’s insurance company and the Internal Revenue Service.
Brixey stole from the bookstore from 2003-12, when the theft was discovered while he was on vacation.
Investigators never determined what Brixey did with the money. Law enforcement officers have seized some money, including bank certificates of deposit, from Brixey.
Brixey was ordered to report to prison by Oct. 15.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 08/30/2013