When it rains ...

More troubles

The city attorney in Rogers found himself back 'neath the uncomfortable heat of public scrutiny last week after allegations surfaced from a former employee, alleging that the lawyer two years ago gave him a controlled prescription drug used to manage anxiety.

The allegation is documented on a 2012 police report by the city's former information technology director Rufus Ramey, who claimed City Attorney Ben Lipscomb gave him Xanax on multiple occasions.

The report was released under the Freedom of Information Act request and was addressed in a press conference called Aug. 29 by Rogers Mayor Greg Hines. He said he forwarded the case to the prosecutor after receiving it in 2012.

Van Stone, Benton County's former prosecutor, now an executive with Wal-Mart, did not charge Lipscomb.

Lipscomb recently made headlines of a different kind when he was accused of impersonating a police officer. He's also denied that, but a special prosecutor was named to investigate. Lipscomb said the relevant statute concerns "impersonating a law enforcement officer" and that's just what he is as the city's attorney.

Friday afternoon, that special prosecutor, Marc McCune, said he would not be filing criminal charges against Lipscomb, so at least that case is resolved.

But what's that they say about raining and pouring?

Which brings me back to the latest complaint about allegedly providing drugs to Ramey.

Lipscomb also was denying that allegation. Can't say as I blame him.

Yet the police report (as noted in a news account by veteran reporter John Gore) alleged something else: "Mr. Ramey said that he and Ben Lipscomb are friends and that at various times, Mr. Lipscomb would notice that his (Ramey's) stress level was high and that Mr. Lipscomb would give him 2-3 Xanax pills. Mr. Ramey said that he believed these were Mr. Lipscomb's by prescription because Mr. Lipscomb had removed the pills from a prescription bottle. Mr. Ramey stated that it was always in the context of a friend helping a friend cope rather than with the intent to abuse drugs for the purpose of intoxication. Mr. Ramey said that this occurred approximately 10 times and that there was never an exchange of money or anything else of value."

Lipscomb pointed to his innocence by saying he was never charged in that matter. "I just didn't do it," said the public servant.

I'm not here this morning to pronounce guilt or innocence. I do see the storm of questions and public scrutiny that blew in and settled over Lipscomb's head beginning in August. It's even resulted in the mayor calling a press conference to address Lipscomb's behavior.

Only time and circumstance will tell if his travails blow over and he stands once again smiling in the sunshine.

Abusing dogs

I stand slack-jawed at anyone who finds themselves charged with abusing and killing man's best friend. Of course I'm speaking of our dogs and the unconditional love they so willingly entrust to us.

So my lower chin darn near dropped to the floor after reading the other day about the 32-year-old Fayetteville man taken into custody after being charged with felonies in the deaths this spring of two little dogs.

John Short also was accused of violating probation or suspended sentence, said the police report.

The arrest came after a Chihuahua- Shih Tzu named Esther died in March after treatment for a broken leg that had to be amputated. The suspicious dog owner carried Esther back to the animal clinic several days later; there was suspicion her pet had been abused. Esther died that night.

Weeks passed. She acquired a second dog, this one a Yorkshire terrier-Shih Tzu puppy she named Hector. But she soon came home to find Hector dead. The man who was a roommate of the lady's at that time claimed Hector had died after leaping off the backyard deck.

That version had to have triggered red flags. Two dead pets in a month? She placed Hector's body in the freezer.

A month later, the owner provided the dog's body to the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission and the state Crime Laboratory for a necropsy that found little Hector actually died from fractures caused by blunt-force trauma to his head.

The last I heard Short was released from the Washington County Detention Center on a $7,500 bond. His guilt or innocence will be proven, as it should be, in a courtroom. It wasn't that long ago that this sort of thing wouldn't have constituted a crime.

Among the worst

Finally today, I noticed one senior citizen's group is reporting that our state in 2012 had the fifth-lowest turnout of voters in the nation. That's inexcusable to me.

How can enough of us possibly be so apathetic about our state and nation and the future we are leaving for our children and grandchildren? And in the sad condition we find ourselves in on so many fronts?

How, I ask you, valued readers? Let's hope come November that we can at least climb out of the bottom 10 when it comes to those among us who care enough to vote.

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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected]. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.

Editorial on 09/07/2014

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