I enjoy listening to our students here at Arkansas Governor’s School, especially when they are talking about politics.

But on some occasions, their knowledge base isn’t what it should be.

Governor Beebe spoke to our students the other day and I overheard this conversation at the cafeteria salad bar:

Student #1: I saw you sleeping at Governor Huckabee’s speech today.
Student #2: You mean Governor *Beebe*?
Student #1: Whatever.
ME (butting in): You mean *your* governor?
Student #2: I actually live in Louisiana.
ME: Okay. So who is the governor of Louisiana these days?
Student #2: I don’t know.
ME: I guess you made my point for me.

We’re working on it…

For the first time since the 1960s, Pine Bluff and Central Arkansas are nerve-gas free as the last VX nerve gas weapon at the Pine Bluff Arsenal has been destroyed.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal, located about 35 miles southeast of Little Rock, once held more than 9,000 of the nerve-agent-laced land mines. Friday, the last land mine rolled through the automated conveyor run at the arsenal by San Francisco-based URS Corp., the contractor hired by the Army to destroy the stockpile.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal joins the Army’s Johnston Atoll arsenal, located 800 miles southwest of Hawaii, and its Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah in totally destroying its VX stock, Greer said. The Umatilla Chemical Depot in Eastern Oregon says it expects to finish its VX work in January.

The arsenal that once stored 3,850 tons of chemical weapons - 12 percent of the Army’s entire stockpile.

So, if the threat of a nerve gas leak was preventing you from visiting us here in the Natural State, you’ll be happy to know that all we’ve got now is a little mustard gas.

We got into Chicago late last night; we had to take a slight detour through Mountain View, Arkansas that added about a few extra hours to the trip.

Our detour through Stone County was made necessary by Alan’s first (and last, I hope) trip to traffic court.

A couple of months ago, Alan and a friend were pulled over in Mountain View and he was cited for crossing the centerline.

It sounded to ME like one of those ticky-tack citations that two college-age males would typically receive in a small town if they weren’t paying attention to an unfamiliar road but the more important issue at hand was keeping the citation off Alan’s driving record and my insurance record.

Alan asked ME for legal advice because he knows that I have some experience in these matters (don’t ask why) and I told him that the best thing for him was to plead guilty and ask for some form of probation, such as driver safety school. I also told him to talk to the the prosecuting attorney in Stone County before his hearing and ask if he could do the course in White County in order to save another 4-hour round-trip trip to Mountain View.

But other than this advice, I decided to let Alan handle all of this on his own.

Before we got to court, I told Alan to prepare himself to be a very small fish in a much larger criminal pond and that his story would pale in comparison to most of the other cases before the court. As he was waiting to speak to the prosecuting attorney, he heard her tell at least two other individuals in a very matter-of-fact way, “You’re going jail today…”

At one point, Alan said to me, “Dad, this is really intimidating”. I said, “Good”.

The shortest version of Alan’s brush with the law is that he not only managed to get probation (six months) and driver’s school but the judge also dropped his fine completely upon the recommendation of the prosecuting attorney. I think his good fortune was a combination of speaking politely and in complete sentences to the judge, it was was his first offense, an attorney who wanted to do something nice for somebody for a change, and intercessory prayer.

Now he just has to keep his nose clean until he leaves for Florence in September.

As we were leaving courthouse, another individual who had been in court far more often than Alan had been, asked me if he could give him some advice. He put his arm around Alan’s shoulder and said, “Do whatever you can to stay out of the ’system’, son, because once you’re in, there’s no getting out”.

This gentleman seemed to know what he was talking about but he also seemed to think that Alan had been facing a far more serious charge than crossing the centerline.

The boy was already back in my good graces at that point but when he offered to pay for the extra cost of driving to Mountain View I was ready to let him out of his orange jumpsuit.

It was a nice way to start our vacation.

The Daily Citizen reports that election-night irregularities in White County have reversed one of the judge’s races on Tuesday’s ballot.

On Wednesday night, unofficial vote totals revealed that Mark Derrick, the apparent winner in the the District 17 circuit judge’s race, had actually lost to Tom Hughes.

A programming error with time settings caused a domino effect of further complications, names were left off ballots and a vote-counting machine failed. Candidates, citizens and supporters waited in the second floor courtroom of the White County courthouse until 1 a.m. to get a hard copy of the unofficial results. No preliminary results were announced during the night and little if any explanations were provided as to the delay.

White County Election Commission Chairman Diane Thomas pointed to human error as the cause of most of the confusion, with the absence of election coordinator Leslie Bellamy, who took maternity leave before completing programming for the primary.

When [circuit judge candidate] Hudgins brought the discrepancy to the attention of the White County Election Commission, a recount of votes was announced for 7 p.m. Wednesday. The results of the recount completely changed the totals of every race in the county and changed the outcome of one - the circuit judge’s race.

The (unofficial) results currently posted at the Arkansas Secretary of State’s website in the District 17, District 1 race are:

• Mark Derrick: 3,587 (46.57%)
• Tom Hughes: 4,115 (53.43%)

I’m going to vote today.

Don’t be alarmed but I’ll be asking for a Republican ballot.

My neighbor, Mike Chalenburg, is running for re-election as alderman and has an opponent in the GOP primary.

Mark Pate, one of my former students, is running for district judge.

Mike’s done a great job on the city council and deserves another term. Mark served three successful terms in the state legislature and I think he’ll make a good district judge.

So I’m going to swallow my pride and run with the elephants today and vote for Mike (again). Fortunately, the judge’s race is non-partisan so it doesn’t matter there.

I think it should be that way for city council races as well.

Mike and Mark are both likely winners today.

The latest Rasmussen poll:

• McCain 39, Clinton 53, Und. 8 (Clinton +14.0)
• McCain 57, Obama 33, Und. 10 (McCain +24.0)

Wow.  A 38-point swing.

And I was kinda hoping to see Obama in the state sometime during the general election.

White County is Arkansas’ 31st county and a really swell place to live. Unfortunately, a few of our citizens occasionally have to make a police report. These are their stories.

Reports filed with the White County Sheriff’s Department from March 18-22, 2008 include the following:

• Criminal mischief 2nd degree; man reported a known male was repeatedly pulling into a driveway on his property and spins his tires and digs ruts into it, he has asked the male to stop several times and he continues to damage the driveway; Pleasant Plains; 1-7:30 a.m.
• Criminal mischief 2nd degree; man reported sometime during the night someone came and put blocks underneath his tires, he noticed large rocks underneath the vehicle as well, he was unsure who placed the rocks and blocks; Rose Bud; March 29-30
• Abandoned vehicle; officer found a truck in the road, the front window was busted out along with the rear window, the vehicle was towed and an attempt was made to find the owner; Searcy; 4:28 p.m.
• Terroristic threatening; woman reported her son and some friends went out and a known man threatened them and his family; Searcy; March 28-30
• Information; woman reported a known female entered her residence, she stated when she returned home the doors to her home were open and the lights were on, she stated she did not see the known woman but was sure it was her; Searcy; March 31-April 1
• Theft less than $500 all others; a man reported he received a call from his bank stating someone attempted to pass a check with his information; El Paso; a.m.
  Information; woman reported she bought two 4-wheelers in White County and had received only one vehicle; Troutville, Va.; March 11-April 1
• Criminal mischief 2nd degree; man reported sometime in the last four months someone busted out four windows on his abandoned trailer, he stated no entry was made but there were several rocks inside; Searcy; 8:17 a.m.
• Criminal trespass; woman reported a known male was on her property looking at a vehicle, she stated they did not have permission; Bald Knob; 5:30 p.m.
• Public Intox; officer responded to a reported a possible intoxicated person walking in the road, officer located a male lying in a ditch, with a large empty bottle of liquor beside him, the officer arrested the man for public intoxication after her slurred his speech and had trouble standing up; Bald Knob; 11:40 p.m.

Courtesy of the Daily Citizen and the White County Sheriff’s Department.

I missed a Vox Bloguli post last Friday and no one gave ME a hard time about it.

It was almost like some of you weren’t paying attention.

But I want you to know that I forgive you and I’m making up for it today…

• One in Jesus: Church of Christ in Decline? Data Point
  
• Occular Fusion: Subj: Obama is a TARHEEL!!! PLEASE FORWARD!!!
• Crooks & Liars: Oh Give Me a Home Where the Buffalo Roam Die
• Sabernomics: Simple Rules To Speed Up the Game (h/t: jw)
• Neatorama: Obese Inmates Sue Over Weight Loss (h/t: gkb)
• Zeitgeist: Indian Baby Throwing and more… (h/t: sh)

White County is Arkansas’ 31st county and a really swell place to live. Unfortunately, a few of our citizens occasionally have to make a police report. These are their stories.

Reports filed with the White County Sheriff’s Department from  March 18-22, 2008 include the following:

• Information; woman reported she had broken down and two males were trying to take her vehicle, the two males stated they paid for the vehicle and were taking it, officers had the vehicle towed until the situation was sorted out; Russell; 9:31 a.m.
• Theft of property; woman reported she gave her husband 12 Hydrocodone pills in a bottle while she went and changed, later the pills could not be found and the man believed they fell from his pocket; Judson 12:21 p.m.
• Theft of property; man reported prescription drugs were taken from his home, he stated there were over 100 people at his home for a wedding when the medicine was missing and he had no suspects; Searcy; March 5-6.
• Theft less than $500 from building; man reported he was arrested a few months a for hot checks he had not written, he mad contact with his bank that estimated 50 checks were taken and used, the man believes he knows who took the checks; Bradford; Nov. 15, 2007-March 16, 2008.
• Public Intox; officer noticed a vehicle on private property near a lake, upon inspection he noticed three males, the male in the drivers seat smelled strong of intoxicants, his speech was slurred and he could not keep his balance, the man was arrested for public intoxication; Bald Knob; 3:46 a.m.
• Information; man reported when he had awaken to check his livestock he observed an unknown person(s) had run a vehicle through his fence; Searcy; March 19-20
• Violation of protection order lst offense; woman reported her husband had called her and texted her and would not stop: Beebe 8:30 & 8:45 a.m.
• Information: woman reported a man parked at her residence and walked into the woods returning with unknown material, she asked the man who he was and asked him to leave, the man did, she stated she was unsure if anything from the property was taken; Bald Knob; 7:30-8:24 a.m.
• Information; woman reported she is in dispute over a property line with her neighbor, she stated on several occasions the neighbor has driven by her residence and spun gravel; Searcy; 5:30 p.m.
• Public intox; officers made contact with a male outside his brother’s house yelling and screaming, an officer had been there earlier for the same complaint, the man was arrested and and cited for public intoxication; Judsonia; 9-10:55 p.m.

Courtesy of The Daily Citizen and the White County Sheriff’s Department.

It’s 11:15 pm in Searcy and it’s raining (again).

I was winding down for the night about forty minutes ago when the weather alerts started popping up on the local TV stations. That’s just about all that’s been on the air since then.

This looks like a bad one. Initial reports have a tornado touching down on and off between here and West Little Rock. It looks the worst of it is headed toward Georgetown, West Point and Higginson.  That’s just about the last thing they need right now.

We’ve got a secure room to go to if and when we need it.

For right now it looks like we dodged another bullet but I really don’t like thinking about what we’re going to see when the sun comes up.

There’s another storm coming up behind this one.

It may be a long night.