The state/region in brief

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Events to mark 150 years since battle

LITTLE ROCK - The Department of Arkansas Heritage plans to host a series of events this month centered on commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Arkansas Post.

The Texarkana Gazette reports Monday that the monthlong commemoration will include lectures and exhibits sanctioned by the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission.

The Battle of Arkansas Post took place in early 1863 about 45 miles downriver from Pine Bluff.

Union boats started landing troops on Jan. 9, 1863, to overrun Confederate trenches while Union Army artillery started firing from across the river on Jan. 11, 1863 -eventually forcing a surrender.

The historic commission’s events will include a Jan. 9 lecture at the Old State House Museum in Little Rock.

2 Oklahoma men arrested in murder

SHAWNEE, Okla. - Authorities said two men have been arrested and are expected to be charged in the death of a man whose body was found in the Shawnee area.

Oklahoma City television station KOCO reports that the men were arrested after Adam Pacheco’s body was found on Saturday.

Investigators said one of the men shot and killed Pacheco in a McLoud home before dumping his body in a dam.

Pottawatomie County District Attorney Richard Smothermon said Pacheco and the suspected shooter were seen walking around the area before the shooting.

Smothermon said a law enforcement officer made contact with them but thought nothing of it at the time.

It’s not clear why Pacheco was shot.

BARTLESVILLE, Okla.

The Tulsa World reports the dead man is believed to be Timothy Hauser, who was beaten and robbed Aug. 9 in Osage County.

Osage County Chief Deputy Sheriff Charlie Cartwright said law enforcement officers are certain that the body is Hauser’s but investigators will perform DNA tests to be sure.

Authorities said a hunter found the body Saturday in a dense thicket not far fromwhere Hauser was beaten and robbed. The area is a few miles west of Bartlesville.

The World said three people have been charged in connection with the assault on Hauser.

Kansas City man hit, killed by train

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

The Kansas City Star reports that the accident happened late Friday near the Truman Sports Complex.

Kansas City Southern said in a release that no rail cars derailed in the incident.

The victim’s identity is being withheld while relatives are notified.

accused of rape

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo.

Police said the 30-yearold suspect is from Poplar Bluff and was out of jail on bond on charges of kidnapping, forcible rape, forcible sodomy and robbery from a September incident.

The man is now accused of forcing a 28-year-old Scott City woman at gunpoint to drive to Poplar Bluff on Saturday.

She said she was held against her will and sodomized.

A 14-year-old girl told police Monday that the same man sexually assaulted her.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma City will conclude 2012 with a grim record - the second highest number of homicides ever recorded in Oklahoma’s largest city.

City police records show that as of Monday, a total of 99 people were killed by another person during the year, the most since 102 people were killed in 1979.

The city recorded just 60 homicides in 2011.

Tulsa Police Department records indicate that 46 people died in homicides in the state’s second largest city 2012.

Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department said the reason homicides go up or down is hard to pin down but that gang activity, illegal drug trafficking and domestic violence are the principle causes.

Police Chief Bill Citty said aggravated assaults have increased in recent years, leading to more homicides.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 01/01/2013