Friday, October 16, 2009

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part XXXVII): Catching up

In the busy-ness of the new semester, I have gotten behind in my Law and Order in the Ozarks series, so I'll try to catch up with the just the crime headlines from a few weeks of Newton County Times September issues that have accumulated on my desk.

One headline in the September 10, 2009 issue is "Few criminal cases adjudicated over the summer." It reports on an aggravated assault in which a 21-year-old man pointed a .22 caliber rifle at his parents at close range, in the parents' home. He entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to just five days in jail, with credit for time already served. He was also ordered to attend anger management classes. Another entry in the story tells of a 19-year-old who was charged with theft by receiving after he was found to be in possession of six computers that were stolen from one of the county schools, at Deer. Pursuant to a plea agreement, he was fined $250 and ordered to pay court costs and fees, in addition to $1000 in restitution. He will be on probation for a year. The third item regards a 24-year-old who was charged with terroristic threatening and domestic battery. The victim was apparently the man's wife, and the case was dismissed after she "refused to press charges."

A headline in the September 17, 2009, issue reads, "Budget for 911 physical addressing." The story reports that the county has received just over $20,000 from the state of Arkansas to create a budget for "the 911 physical addressing of the county." The county agreed earlier this year to begin the process.

More catching up to follow ...

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