Deadbeat roundup
sees 38 arrested
PINE BLUFF - As part of its Operation Mother’s Day, Jefferson County sheriff’s officials arrested 38 men this week on charges of failing to pay child support.
A news release from Jefferson County Sheriff Gerald Robinson said the operation took place Wednesday and Thursday and involved more than 48 deputies.
Those arrested collectively owe more than $339,000 in back child support, the release said.
Several of those arrested were also taken in for misdemeanor offenses, including hot-check violations and failure-toappear warrants, the release said.
Robinson said in the release that “the mission of this operation is and always will be to ensure children and families receive courtordered financial and medical support from deadbeat dads.” - ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE5 animals at refuge die from poisoning
GASSVILLE - Three horses and two donkeys at a north Arkansas animal refuge have died from suspected botulism.
Rocky Ridge Refuge founder Janice Wolf said the animals likely contracted the bacterium from a hay bale that may have contained a dead rodent.
Wolf told The Baxter Bulletin that all five animals had lived at the refuge for years.
A spotted donkey named Gabriel that came to the refuge 20 years ago died from the infection, as did a donkey named Levi. A 12-year-old mare named Promise, a retired racehorse named Jobe and a horse named Chance that suffered abuse before coming to the refuge also died.
Wolf said two of the horses died quickly from the poisoning - with the contaminated food still in their mouths. The other three were euthanized.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSWife faces charge in murder-for-hire
FOUKE - A Fouke woman was accused in a murder-for-hire plot in which her estranged husband was the target.
Authorities said 46-yearold Kelly D. Mercer was charged with solicitation to commit murder and was being held in the Miller County jail.
She had a previously scheduled court appearance on Thursday for a protective order she sought against her husband. Mercer claimed that he was abusive and she was afraid he might kill her.
The Texarkana Gazette reported that Miller County Circuit Judge Brent Haltom signed an order Thursday withdrawing Mercer’s request for the protective order.
Mercer’s bail was set at $60,000. It wasn’t clear whether she had legal representation.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Charter suspended after party shooting
KENSETT - The American Legion charter inKensett has been suspended indefinitely after a teenager was shot during a private graduation party at the facility over the weekend.
A spokesman for the American Legion Department of Arkansas said all American Legion signs must be removed from the facility in Kensett.
Clarence Chatmon, who oversees the building, said he believes the suspension will be lifted after the shooting investigation is complete. Chatmon told The Daily Citizen that low membership numbers also contributed to the suspension.
Chatmon said the American Legion post in Kensett has had a charter since 2003.
Authorities said a 19-year-old Newport man was treated and released from the hospital after he was shot in the shoulder early Sunday. No one has been arrested yet in the shooting.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
$285,000 in car leads to an arrest
EDMOND, Okla. - Authorities said they arrested an Edmond man after federal agents discovered $285,000 in cash in a secret compartment in his car.
Oklahoma City television station KOCO reported that Terry Lee Faulkner was arrested this week by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and local police.
Authorities said Faulkner told agents that the money was his life’s savings. Authorities said the cash was hidden in a compartment that could only be opened with a magnet while the car was in reverse with its headlights on.
Authorities allege Faulkner was being paid to deliver the money to Texas.
Faulkner was arrested on a complaint of possession of proceeds derived in violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act.
Court records do not list an attorney for Faulkner.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFire kills husband, burns his wife, 74
NEOSHO, Mo. - An elderly southwest Missouri woman was being treated for burns from a fire that killed her husband.
The Neosho Fire Department said the fire Wednesday night a mile east of Neosho killed 80-year-old Charles M.
Parsons.
His wife, 74-yearold Doris Parsons, was hospitalized with burns to her head and arms.
Newton County sheriff’s deputy Chris Jennings said that when emergency workers arrived, they found Doris Parsons outside the house trying to break out a window in an effort to save her husband.
The Joplin Globe reported that the state fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 12 on 05/11/2013