On February 7, President of the Arkansas Liberty Coalition, Gary Epperson, filed a civil lawsuit against Forrest City and officer Darren Smith.
In the filing, Epperson contends Forrest City is in violation of the Freedom of Information Act. Additionally, that Smith is in violation of the Arkansas Civil Rights Act, and the crime victims statute.
Court documents reflect Epperson’s FOIA requests to the FCPD on November 5, 27, December 11 and 16 of 2018. The two initial requests were related to an arrest of a persons carrying a weapon.
FCPD denied the first request, stating the case was still under investigation. Charges in that case were dropped on November 4, 2018. According to court documents, Epperson followed up with FCPD Lieutenant Eric Varner. At that time, Varner informed Epperson that his office had not received a FOIA request.
“After an investigation, it was determined that after improperly denying Gary Epperson’s request, Darren Smith had deleted Epperson’s FOIA requests.”
The alleged deletion of these requests, and the delay in response, is both a violation of the Arkansas Civil Rights Act, as well as the FOIAstatute.
The complaint stated, “despite repeatedly broken promises and delayed timelines from Forrest City about compliance, Forrest City has yet to comply with either the December 11 or December 16 FOIA requests.”
Epperson noted that the ALC has exhausted all efforts to retain the requested information and this was the only recourse. He added “We aren’t anti-law enforcement. We have always had a good relationship, and we want to maintain that.”
The ALC, which formed in 2013, has more than 16k plus members. According to Epperson, the ALC was formed “to stand up for the every day citizens of the state. The second amendment is the bedrock of the ALC, although we cover other areas other than the second amendment. From this point forward, after Taff vs Arkansas, the ALC will pursue litigation against any law enforcement agency who cites an individual who is carrying a weapon for lawful purposes.”
The Arkansas Liberty Coalition’s attorney, Whitfield Hyman, is asking the court to set the hearing within seven days of the filing.
When my husband and I first got married, one night he requested chicken and dumplings for dinner. Being young and clueless on cooking, I knew I had better call his mother to get the recipe right! She told me that her mother had passed on the recipe to her for chicken and dumplings as well! Now, as the years have passed by, this has become one of our family’s favorite warm comfort foods on a cold winter day! With ball games and busy schedules, I have never had the time to make homemade dumplings. I know a lot of people make them from scratch and that is absolutely amazing. However, I have found that we love Mary B’s Dumplings in the frozen section at CV’s or Wal-Mart. They are a fast and easy solution! Within the ingredients, I have included a picture of the package of the dumplings to make it easier to find them!
Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
1 package of Mary B’s Dumplings (in the frozen bread section at Wal-Mart or CV’s)
1 can of Large Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cans of Chicken Broth
2 Sticks of Butter or Margarine
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Directions:
Fill a large pot with water and place four chicken breasts into the water. Place on high heat, and bring water to a boil. Once water has came to a rolling boil, now bring the temperature back down to a medium heat, and continuing boiling the chicken. Never let your pot run out of water while boiling or it will scorch the bottom of your pot. Boil the four chicken breasts until fully cooked. This takes approximately 45 minutes to an hour. You may have to add more water during the cooking process if your water level becomes too low due to evaporation of the liquid from the heat.
Once the chicken is fully cooked and no longer pink, remove the pot from the burner. The water you have boiled your chicken in has now became part of the broth you will need for the dumplings so do not discard this! You will need it for later in the dumplings. Now, carefully remove the breasts from broth filled pot. Debone chicken meat from the bones. Dispose of bones, and set meat aside.
Open the package of frozen dumplings and begin breaking them into thirds.
Next, add two cans of chicken broth to the broth already in the pot. Take the pot back to the burner and bring the broth to a boil. Once the broth is at a rolling boil, slowly begin to add the dumplings into the boiling broth. You may need to use a fork to help the dumplings to not stick together.
Once all dumplings are dropped in, turn heat to low, cover the pot with a lid, and simmer now for 45 minutes. Stir about every ten minutes to prevent sticking.
Once the dumplings are soft and cooked for 45 minutes, you will now need to add the shredded chicken, the can of cream of chicken soup, and the two sticks of butter.
Adding butter to the Chicken and Dumplings!
Next, add 2 tablespoons of pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir. Bring Chicken and Dumplings back to a boil on medium heat with continuous stirring until butter is melted and soup is mixed well. Once all is mixed, return to low heat and serve when ready!
If you do not wish to use the frozen dumplings, canned biscuits pinched up in small pieces or strips of tortillas will work just as well for dumplings. Many people make homemade dumplings, but I rarely find the time to be able to make mine homemade and I have found my family loves it all the same, especially using the frozen dumplings. Enjoy!
It was a pretty wondrous season for the Jr High Lady Bulldogs. The girls closed out their 2018-2019 year with a first-round matchup against Charleston in the Jr District Tournament. Through the ups and downs, the Lady Bulldogs played hard and always battled it out.
The Waldron Jr High girls’ team competed in 24 games plus numerous tournaments. Head Coach, Hannah Scantling, shares her thoughts on the season, “Even though the season didn’t go as planned, I am so proud of these girls and the work they put in. They showed a lot of improvement throughout the season and never stopped working.”
“Hopefully, we got some kinks worked out this season that we won’t have to spend so much time worrying about next season. Outside of the win/loss record, I felt we achieved many victories this season. I am eager to get to work for next years season!”
The Sr High Hornets are geared up and ready to outperform their fellow competitors in this weeks 2A-4 Sr District shoot-out which is being played in Danville.
The Lady Hornets just ended conference play last Friday with their dual against the Lady Rebels of Westside. Unfortunately, Hackett picked up a 48-33 loss which set the seal on their 3-9 conference record. The Lady Hornets sit at the #7 seed and will go after the #6 Lady Rattlers in tonights game at 6 p.m. The winner will go on to play #3 Hector on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
The Hornets are still flying high over their final game of the season. Taking on the Westside Rebels, Hackett won by a landslide with a final score of 59-28. The Hornets are locked into the #4 seed position with their 7-5 conference record. Hackett and Westside will get round two against eachother with their first District game on Tuesday at 5:15 p.m.
The Waldron Sr High Bulldogs brought their conference play season to an end last Friday night. The Bulldogs invaded Greenland to take on the Pirates in one last attempt to up their game before District.
The Lady Bulldogs came close to fighting off the Lady Pirates but in the end, got outran 34-28. The girls are a team who consistently compete until the final buzzer of every game. Ending their conference play season with a 2-12 record, the Lady Bulldogs locked in the #7 seed position. Tonight starts Waldron’s round in the 3A-1 Sr District Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs will take on the #6 West Fork Lady Tigers at 7 p.m. District is being played in West Fork.
The Waldron boys’ team sealed their 20th win on the season bringing their total play record to 20-7 as of now. The Bulldogs collapsed the Pirates in a 55-40 conquest. With Waldron keeping the lead the entire game, Greenland never could keep pace. The Bulldogs walked away with 31 rebounds and 12 steals. Leading the team in points was Payton Brown with 33, Isaac Villareal with 10, Drew Dozier with 7, and Jacob Avila with 5. The boys will tackle the second round of play in the 3A-1 District Tournament when they will face either Cedarville or Greenland on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
It’s Game Day for the Mansfield Sr High Tigers. Today is round one in the 3A-1 Sr District Tournament and is being played in West Fork. Mansfield played their last conference game of the season against the Cedarville Pirates on February 2. The boys came out on top with a 58-56 triumph while the ladies succumbed to a 49-38 score.
The Lady Tigers ended their conference play season with a record of 1-13. As of now their total season record is 4-19. The girls are sitting in the #8 seed position for the District Tournament. The Lady Tigers will take to the court first and attempt to overpower the #5 Lady Elks. Game time is at 4 p.m.
Sitting at the #8 seed in the District Tournament are the Mansfield Tigers. The boys hold a 5-18 total play record so far and ended conference play with a record of 2-12. In round 1 of tonight’s competition for the boys, the Tigers plan to run rings around the #5 Lincoln Wolves at 5:30 p.m.
LValentine’s Day is another opportunity for scam artists to take advantage of Arkansans putting their heart and money on the line to find love. Con artists are using dating apps, often pretending to be someone they aren’t, with false pictures and information, to get the attention of others with the intent of stealing money from the kind-hearted people they meet on these sites.
“Arkansans should have the opportunity to meet new people without the fear of someone taking advantage of them and their wallets,” said Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. “On dating sites, Arkansans must be cautious and keep personal information private. Con artists know how to play on emotions to convince people they need help when they are only wanting to steal money and identities to open credit accounts.”
Attorney General Rutledge released the following tips for social media users:
It’s called personal information for a reason—keep it to yourself!
Do not give out personal information such as addresses and telephone numbers.
Consider speaking by telephone before meeting in person, and when meeting in person, make plans to meet new people in a public venue, or bring a friend.
Don’t post any information that would let someone know you are away on vacation or your house is empty. Posting about being out of town for a few days could make someone a likely target for thieves.
Don’t post any information that can lead hackers to passwords for online banking or other accounts. For example, common questions for those who have forgotten their passwords for financial or other sites include: “What’s your mother’s maiden name?” or “What’s your favorite pet?” Criminals may be able to find those answers easily on social networking sites.
The Attorney General’s office provides a tip card for consumers, information for parents to spot cyberbullying and offers a Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety. Community educators are also available to present an internet safety program to parents and educators across the state.
Oh what a run the Lavaca Junior High Ladies had this year! It didn’t end the way they wanted but they should be extremely proud of themselves for being able to play in the final game of the year. The Lady Arrows ran though the conference with their only losses coming to Mountainburg. This allowed the Arrows to have the two seed in the 2A-4 District Tournament. Last night the two teams met once again in the Championship game as expected.
According to Coach Vire, with a bye to the Semifinal game, the Lady Arrows were able to come up a strong game plan. That plan was working well and the ladies from Lavaca were able to keep the game close until they lost one of their key players. Lindsey Morgan went down midway through the second quarter and the girls lost momentum. Lindsey is such and important part of this team. Mountainburg is a very good and very well coached team. Being as solid as they are, its near impossible to regain momentum against them once lost. To the Lady Dragons coach Vire offers his “Congratulations on a great season.”
I had asked coach Vire to talk about the fantastic season his Junior High Ladies had this year, this is what he had to say, “Words cannot express how extremely proud of this group of girls I am. We took some lumps early in the season but the girls came into practice every day hungry and wanting to get better, which says a lot about these girls. We kept grinding away and started to see some success. On November 30th after our game at Mansfield I told them that if they kept trusting what we were trying to do, and to keep coming to practice ready to get better, come February we would bring home a trophy (and we brought home two). Then when we got into the conference part of our schedule after the Mountainburg game I gave them a goal to win the next three games and go into Christmas on a streak. After achieving that goal you could really see their confidence grow. We then went on to finish the season Conference Runner-Up and after yesterday, District Runner-Up.
It has been a pleasure coaching these young ladies. I credit their being able to accomplish what they did this season, and their being able to play for a championship to their hard work and them being coachable. Our seven Freshmen: Rylie Green, Anna Todaro, Elle Williams, Lindsey Morgan, Kaile Burnett, Selena Shelly, and Maycie Wilbanks are going to missed next year. They have been a joy to be around and I am excited to see what the future holds for them. Katie May will be the only returning starter and Anna Davis who played off the bench will also be returning for us next year. I want to thank the community of Lavaca for getting behind our team and supporting us throughout the season, the girls and I appreciate all the support from everyone.”
These seven players will indeed be missed on the Junior High roster, but will be well received at the High school level. The High School team will be graduating six and this group will be a welcomed group by Coach Wyles.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has proclaimed the week of February 24-March 2, 2019 at Severe Weather Awareness Week.
Hutchinson made the proclamation in order to create “…an important opportunity for every resident of Arkansas to prepare their homes, place of business, and communities for severe weather.”
He went on to detail the necessity of preparedness, and stated that it is up to each individual to be prepared and educated on what action to take during the event of an emergency.
“All citizens of Arkansas are encouraged to participate in Severe Weather Awareness Week activities and are asked to visit the Little Rock National Weather Service website at www.weather.gov/LZK or the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management website at www.adem.arkansas.gov to become more prepared.”
