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Paula Smith
TUESDAY, July 11, 2017 / Vol. 3 Issue 28 / 75 cents
Hiland tapped for federal post
Sunset over water – Vickey Armstrong shares this photo of a sunset over Choctaw Creek from her deck in Bee Branch. Her house on the mountain provides many beautiful nature scenes.
Will good news for Cody Hiland alsomean good news for the town of Damascus? Hiland, 45, of Conway has been chosen by President Trump to fill the position of U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. If his nomination makes it through congressional confirmation, he will leave his current job as prosecutor for the 20th Judicial District, covering Van Buren, Faulkner and Searcy counties. Earlier this year, Hiland ruled that Damascus is a speed trap and ordered that its police force stop writing tickets on the stretch of U.S. Highway 65 that runs through the small town. He said the sanctions will last through his term in office. City attorney
Damascus police cars are parked behind Town Hall after Hiland’s sanctions against the city. Beau Wilcox has appealed the ruling, saying that the speedtrap law “is even profoundly unclear, arguably to a fatal extent, as to who exactly has authority to act with respect to the inquiry and sanctions provisions.” Recorder/treasurer Pam Mahan told the Voice Friday that the law is so vague that the city does not know how it would be affected if Hiland leaves the 20th Judicial District. Hiland did not return an e-mail request for comment from the
Hiland Voice on Friday. Hiland is a native of Bee Branch. He is married and has four children. Hiland lost his bid last year for a seat on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.
Pair’s pretrial set in battery case A pretrial hearing for a Shirley couple accused of domestic battery has been set for Aug. 18, 2017 in Van Buren County Circuit Court. Martha Roesch, 46, and Richard Roesch, 53, were arrested in March. A child under their care told investigators she was fed a diet of bologna sandwiches and rice and was burned with a curling iron. Other children also told investigator of abuse, including being stabbed with a dinner fork and shocked with a cattle prod. The couple is
Martha Roesch
Richard Roesch
charged with domestic battering in the first degree, a Class B felony, and domestic battery in the third-degree, a misdemeanor. In some other cases in Circuit Court on Friday: • A pretrial hear-
ing was set for Aug. 18, 2017, for Damian Bondelier, 18, of Fairfield Bay, who has been charged with failure to register as a sex offender. According to court documents, Bondelier did not verify his address with Fairfield Bay po-
lice by the date he was required to. • A pre-trial hearing has been set for Aug. 18, 2017, for Earl Bonds, 44, of Clinton. Bonds was charged in June 2016 with attempted theft of property, a Class C felony, and committing a fraudulent insurance act, a Class D felony. According to court documents, Bonds purchased an automobile insurance policy on his 2012 Dodge truck on June 2, 2015. On June 15, See Arrest on page 5
Firing upheld as JPs cleared deputy of ethics violation
Liquor permit
Reyes Medina, owner of Reyes Restaurant in Choctaw, has applied with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division for a private club permit to dispense alcoholic beverages on the premises of 4815 Highway 65 South, Clinton. The application was filed on June 15, 2017.
Closed
The animal shelter was closed late last week due to parvo, according to a worker at the facility. She was unsure how long the shelter would be closed. SNYP Arkansas took the shelter over from the county on July 1.
Masked bandits – Glenda Howard of Howard’s Flea Market on U.S. Highway 65 in Clinton, says she was greeted at the front door by a pack of raccoons Tuesday, July 4. Five of the critters had entered through a ceiling tile. They were lured into a cage with some Ritz crackers by a Clinton police officer and another man, she said, and turned loose behind the old boat factory.
Coming to town – Branson star Charles Crain will headline this weekend’s Clinton Gospel Fest at the high school cafeteria. Read more about Crain and all the other acts that will be performing on Page 8.
The new Corps of Engineers officer who was fired as a Cleburne County deputy in February took his dismissal to the Quorum Court in March 2017, according to a caller identifying himself to the Voice as the deputy Friday afternoon. The Cleburne County sheriff’s office said in a news release that the firing came after an ethics investigation that began when a school bus was passed by a patrol car while the bus was stopped. The Cleburne County Quorum Court upheld the firing of Todd Maxey, according to a March 17 posting on the Sun Times website. One justice of the peace voted against the dis-
missal, while all others backed Sheriff Chris Brown’s right to fire the deputy. As for the ethics violation accusation, all except one JP voted to clear Maxey, according to the report. In the Quorum Court minutes from the March 9, 2017, meeting that were provided to the Voice by the county clerk’s office, there is no mention of Maxey’s hearing. The caller told the Voice that Van Buren County Sheriff Scott Bradley has been provided with all of the information about the incident. Maxey was hired by the Van Buren County sheriff’s office in May. The position is paid for by the Corps of Engineers.