The seemingly endless travails of former Rogers City Attorney and prosecutor Ben Lipscomb got a little uglier the other day, if that was even possible.
Lipscomb has made dubious headlines for several years. His unraveling began full force in 2014 when Lipscomb was publicly assailed for reportedly trying to using his city credentials as a "law enforcement officer" to enter a private VIP tent serving alcohol during a Miranda Lambert concert. He was never charged in that incident. But that certainly didn't improve his image as a supposed "public servant."
That semi-scandal was but one in what would become a litany of news accounts about Lipscomb's questionable behavior. One story reported he gave unsound legal advice about canning a city employee that wound up costing the city $630,000. He also made headlines when, in 2011, he claimed a homestead exemption on a home outside the city limits, although anyone holding his position was required to live within city limits.
Then, as part of the settlement surrounding Lipscomb's resignation, he was required to return about 200 historic street bricks removed from city property to construct flower beds at his home. That settlement came after Lipscomb sued the city council for transferring most of his duties to a staff attorney who answered to Mayor Greg Hines.
Now I read that the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct reprimanded and fined Lipscomb for various actions. Make it stop!
The committee documented a host of violations that led to an agreement with his attorney, in which Lipscomb was fined $4,000 plus court costs.
The news account by reporter Tracy Neal said the committee determined Lipscomb had been ineligible to hold the elected position in Rogers after May 2011, since he no longer lived inside the city. Lipscomb also accepted and received about $500,000 in gross salary and benefits, which were public funds to which he was not legally entitled, the committee found.
There were other violations cited: Lipscomb sued his sole client (the city) in federal court during 2014, which was determined to have been a conflict of interest. He used information gleaned from his role as city attorney against the city. Then he used a city employee under his supervision to prepare court pleadings in his lawsuit against the city, along with various documents for Lipscomb's personal business.
Then there was the matter of Lipscomb voting in a Rogers precinct when he didn't live in that precinct during the 2011 election.
Lipscomb agreed to resign from office in 2015.
When they knew
The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission in three weeks will hear the Big Creek Research and Extension Team attempt to rationalize why it feels no need to verify whether the wet substance discovered by electrical resistivity studies directly beneath a swine waste lagoon at C&H Hog Farms is indeed raw waste leaking through a major fracture into the groundwater.
It's inconceivable that the Big Creek team (the governor-appointed, tax-funded University of Arkansas Agriculture Division group responsible for ensuring this factory isn't leaking waste into our Buffalo National River watershed) doesn't insist on drilling a well to verify the studies that documented the plumes of highly suspicious material beneath the lagoon.
Has denial become a preferred scientific approach for watchdogs?
The commission meeting is scheduled for June 24 at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (cough) headquarters in Little Rock. You might want to attend. Geologist Todd Halihan of Oklahoma State University discovered what appears to be leaking and a significant fracture directly beneath one of two raw waste lagoons in March 2015. However, both the state agency and the commission responsible for environmental protection supposedly knew nothing of his findings until the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance disclosed them during a commission meeting last month.
Arkansans wonder why no one except the team knew of the findings. In October, Tim Kresse, a veteran water quality specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey and Big Creek team member, sent an email to Andrew Sharpley, the team leader, saying: "I did chat with Todd ... some about the pond results ... In short, it would be nice to put a well on the west side in the vicinity of where Todd believed he saw a major fracture and movement of waste. This could be critical to resolving the interpretation of the resistivity data. Todd would be willing to assist on getting the drilling done for free. I just don't know how the amount of grief or worry this would cause in lieu of all the activity at the farm, but again I believe it is a critical component. Todd is fairly confident of his interpretation. Thoughts?"
My thoughts: Lots of taxpaying Arkansans are rightfully curious and worried over what's beneath the lagoon.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 06/04/2016