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Ann Applewhite
TUESDAY, April 30, 2019 / Vol. 5 Issue 18 / 75 cents
2 charged after traffic stop
Golden sunset - Photographer Alma Wallace shared her photo of a sunset in light rain with Fox 16 viewers last week.
Closed Tuesday
The Voice office will be closed Tuesday, April 30, 2019. We will reopen on May 1.
New principal
Longtime South Side-Bee Branch employee Tim Smith has been hired as the new high school principal at Clinton. The Clinton School Board hired Smith earlier this month to replace Kalyn Evans who was
fired earlier this year. Clinton also will have a new superintendent for the 201920 school year after hiring Jay Chalk, a Clinton native currently with the Atkins School District. Chalk will replace Dr. Joe Fisher as Clinton superintendent; he also was Fisher’s replacement at Atkins when Fisher accepted the job at Clinton in 2018. Fisher has been named superintendent at Guy-Perkins for the
2019-20 school year.
Facebook threat spurs man’s arrest
A Clinton man has been arrested after threatening a romantic rival via Facebook messenger, according to an arrest affidavit. Bobby H. Mullins, 42, threatened to kill Denver Kley because Kley was in a relationship with Mullins’ former girlfriend, according to the affidavit. The message
A traffic stop in state Highway 9 West resulted in two arrests on April 19. A Van Buren County deputy reported that he observed a truck cross the center line several times before stopping it. As he was approaching the truck, a motorcycle stopped and the driver said the truck was his and the woman driving it had missed her turn, according to the affidavit. The deputy reported that the woman seemed nervous. He asked to search the truck and consent was given, but she would not consent to have her purse searched, the affidavit states. The deputy told her to put the purse back in the truck then and he would not search the vehicle but said he had a drug-sniffing dog and would have it do a “free air sniff” of the warned Kley that Mullins was “going to get” him and that he should be with his own wife and leave the other woman alone, according to the report. Kley told police he and the woman were no longer seeing each other because of the threat. The woman has a current order of protection against Mullins. Mullins had been charged with terroristic threatening-I, a Class D felony.
exterior of the vehicle, the report states. At this point, the affidavit states, the male suspect become “extremely confrontational” and continued to put his hands in his pants pockets though he had been told not to. The man emptied his pockets but as the deputy tried to pat him down, the suspect laughed and threw a small plastic bag toward a nearby ditch, the affidavit states, and refused to comply when told he was under arrest. The deputy grabbed the suspect by the arms and forced him up against the bed of the truck before handcuffing him, the affidavit states. The deputy, joined by a second deputy, located the bag said to have been thrown by the suspect and found that it contained a white crystal-like
substance, the report states. The woman told deputies there was a pipe used to smoke methamphetamine in her purse, the report states. Steven Wayne Johnson, 55, of Clinton has been charged with possession of a controlled substance-schedule I/II methamphetamine or cocaine, a Class D felony; resisting arrest and tampering with evidence, both misdemeanors. He is free on a $50,000 bond. Plea and arraignment is set for April 29, 2019. Tonia R. Hicks, 47, of Clinton has been charged with possession of a controlled substance-schedule I/ II methamphetamine or cocaine, a Class D felony. She is free on a $1,500 bond. Plea and arraignment is set for April 29.
2019 School Board Election Clinton - District 1, Zone 7, Phillip Jones/ Sherrin Richardson. (Vote Early, Absentee or at the Clinton School on Election Day) South Side - District 2, Position 4, Travis Love. (Early/Absentee only) Shirley - District 3, Position 4, Lacey Mitchell/Jason H. Wood. (Vote Early, Absentee, or at the Shirley Senior Center on Election Day)
Date for registering to vote in School Elections was April 21, 2019. Deadline for county to county transfer of registered voters is May 17, 2019. Early voting May 14, 2019 through May 20, 2019 (Regular office hours). Election Day - For Clinton School District - Clinton School and for Shirley School District - Shirley Senior Center (7:30a-7:30p)
Senior Night - Last Monday, April 22, was Senior Night for the Clinton Yellow Jackets baseball team. Parents joined the seniors on the field before the game. The Jackets have won their District Tournament and will play in the Regional Tournament this week. More photos, Page 2. (Photo by Robert R. Gaut)
100-day report from sheriff’s office It has been 100 days since Lucas Emberton has come into office at the Van Buren County sheriff’s office. We are pleased to share some of the great things that are going on at the Detention Center as well as the sheriff’s office. The Detention Center, under Jail Administrator Mike Shamoon’s direction, has completed getting the jail a new paint job. Along with the cosmetic upgrade, the interior lights have all been replaced with new LED lighting which has made a huge difference. Thanks go to the county maintenance crew. The pods in the jail were in need of major repairs as well. After hiring a local welder to come in and repair/replace hinges on pod doors so they can
be locked down when required to secure the bean doors and the sprinkler systems from being abused and damaged. The building itself was in dire need of new exterior locks, which were nonexistent, on all exiting doors. These have all been replaced and the building is now secure. Furthermore, the security gate has been repaired and shuts and locks correctly and lastly, thanks to Petit Jean Electric, all our exterior night lights have been repaired/replaced and it is lit up for employee safety as they go their duties around the facility after dark. Also in the Detention Center, they have been hard at work saving money in more ways imaginable. By purchasing food for the
jail locally, we are saving and contributing to our county’s revenue. All Detention officers have new uniforms and we are proud to announce that we have had eight of our Detention officers certified with Jail Standards and two have completed deputy 2 training. We are in the process of negotiating upgrades on our internal camera system and inmate communication system. The sheriff’s office also is doing some amazing things. You may have seen the upgrades to our vehicle fleet. New logos and a spit shine polish have them looking good. We relinquished our vehicle funds in our budget in lieu of keeping a deputy position and clerk’s position. Thankfully finan-
cial support from the prosecuting attorney’s office saved another deputy position from being cut from our fiscal year 2019 budget. With a marginal budget for uniforms, we were able to fit every officer in new uniforms complete with new badge patches, name plates, collar tabs and shoulder patches with the assistance of a great contribution made from Sheriff Jason Massey of Logan County. Our K-9 program is taking off by leaps and bounds. We have got three K-9 units at the sheriff’s office now. We have 2 deputy handlers certified and 2 K-9’s certified. Our third deputy and K-9 are scheduled to be certified in June. We are always taking donations in support of the K-9 program. Our first fundraiser will be
sponsored by our local Pizza Hut on May 14 from 5-9 p.m. Be looking for flyers on it. We are planning another fundraiser in June. Stay tuned for dates and details. More great news is that we have also been approved and received our first grant of 2019. This grant will be used for much needed new body armor for all our deputies. Our deputies have been very active and out patrolling. They have made over 2,800 contacts/calls in the first 90 days of 2019. CID has been very busy also with over 280 Incidents resulting in over 35 felony affidavits. Animal control has responded to over 125 calls and many assists to the department. Our training throughout the entire facility is constantly ongoing. We have set
up online classes for all deputies, detention officers and dispatchers to keep them all certified in compliance with the Arkansas Law Enforcement Standard. Upcoming training seminars are April 30 on medical marijuana, May 10 will be deputy weapon certification, May 11 will be racial profiling class. Additionally, May 20 and 21 are slated for sexual assault Level 1 training and lastly in June we will be doing the IED Explosive Class. Lots of great things happening at the sheriff’s office. We are open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If entry is needed into the facility anytime other then our normal operating hours, you will need to be escorted from the gate to facility.