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Lorene James
TUESDAY, March 29, 2016 / Vol. 2 Issue 13 / 75 cents
There's a new chief in town
New Police Chief David Burnett has been in Fairfield Bay for five years.
Judge gives Maggio 10 years Saying a dirty judge is worse than a drug dealer, a U.S. federal judge has sentenced Michael Maggio to 10 years in prison. The former Van Buren County Circuit judge pleaded guilty on Jan. 9, 2015, to accepting a bribe in exchange for reducing a negligence verdict against a Greenbrier nursing home from $5.2 million to $1 million. Earlier this month, Maggio, 54, of Conway asked to withdraw the plea of guilty to bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, but the request was denied. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller of the Eastern District of Arkansas handed down the sentence Thursday, March 24. Miller said he was imposing the maximum jail time because of the harm a dirty judge does to
Maggio the system. "What's worse: a drug dealer on the corner or a dirty judge? A dirty judge is far more harmful to society than a dope dealer." The government had also asked for a restitution order of $4.2 million. The judge imposed no financial penalty. Maggio didn't make a statement in court. He was ordered to report to prison on May 23. Maggio formerly was a judge for the 20th Judicial District, which includes Van Buren, Faulkner and Searcy counties. Maggio entered a plea bargain in the case, but the U.S. attorney's office said he did not cooperate and was untruthful in some of his state-
A 20-year law enforcement veteran is now heading up the Fairfield Bay Police Department. David Burnett, who has been with the Fairfield Bay department for five years, replaces John Willoughby. Willoughby has accepted the position of investigator for the Clinton Police Department to replace Jim Thomas who has retired. Willoughby starts his job in Clinton on March 31. ments. As the jury's award in the nursing home case was under advisement, the owner of the nursing home company, Michael Morton, donated approximately $24,000 to Maggio’s campaign for the state Court of Appeal, and the following day Maggio reduced the verdict to $1 million. Before making his decision, Maggio admitted that a fundraiser for his campaign, identified as former state legislator Gilbert Baker, discussed the pending post-trial motions with him and told him Morton had committed money to support his campaign. As part of his plea, Maggio admitted that his decision to remit the judgment was caused by the donations and that he attempted to delete text messages between the fundraiser and himself after the media became aware of the bribes. Neither Baker nor Morton has been charged with a crime; both are parties to a civil lawsuit filed See Magio on page 6
Fairfield Bay Mayor Paul Wellenberger said the city thanks Willoughby for his "outstanding tenure" as chief. Burnett began his law enforcement career with the Stone County sheriff’s office. He was an investigator and chief deputy before moving to Fairfield Bay five years ago. "I have fallen in love with this community and the people that live and visit here," Burnett says. He praises resi-
dents' sense of purpose to their community, saying he has never "seen the amount of volunteering and community service as what the residents of this community provide, from the EMS and Fire Services, to taking care of the plants and flowers of the parks and community areas." Says the new chief: "My goals will be to ensure the relationship between the community and the police moves for-
ward, that every citizen here feels that the police do care and will be here for them. "I want to prepare our department for the changes that we see society moving towards, so we are prepared to meet the challenges that will come," he says. "I firmly believe that true community policing comes from the heart, showing that we care and are working hard to keep this the safest community that we can."
Hunger Run 2016
Debby Prout of Clinton and Laura Davis of Shirley joined scores of other walkers and runners Saturday, March 26, for the 2016 Clinton Hunger Run. The course began downtown then headed up School Hill before returning back downtown. Prout reports that it was a hard walk with lots of hills. The event is for a worthy cause -- to provide funds to food banks in Van Buren County.
Turn-of-century romance blossomed on 'courting rock'
This rock on Highway 16 West has a lot of history.
If rocks could talk there is one on Highway 16 West near Alread that would have quite a story to tell. The rock currently sports a U.S. flag on one side, a partial state flag on another, and a lot of graffiti on a third side that also features plenty of ledges for sitting. But, oh, back in the day ... that was the "courting rock" for a young couple. In the very early 1900s, Ledona McDonald lived with her family up the hill behind the rock when she caught the eye of Elmer Waddle. As the courtship progressed, the
young couple would walk down the hill to the rock, which was not as close to a road as it is now. Back then the narrow road was still more or less a wagon trail and the rock was still in the woods. The courtship progressed and Elmer and Ladona were married in 1905, says their granddaughter, Berniece Jones of Jerusalem. The couple had six children, including her father James Cephus Waddle in 1919. The other children were Cleophus, Alphus, Anna Bell (Ebitson) and Beulah (Anderson). The sixth child died in
infancy. Ladona was left to do the child rearing alone for the most part because Elmer was a traveling Pentecostal preacher. He would be gone for weeks at a time as he traveled by mule from camp meeting to tent revival to brush arbor gatherings. His homecomings were not especially a thing the kids looked forward to because he was a stern man who applied corrections when he was home, Berniece remembers her father saying. See Rock on page 6
"Uncle Elmer" and LaDona Waddle in their later years.