Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part CXXIX): County's only lawyer dies, and local headline is a distracted "Lost man found deceased"

A few months ago, my mom texted me to call attention to the fact that my hometown's only attorney--at least the only on there when I was growing up--had died.  His name was Tommy Martin, and he was reportedly suffering dementia and throat cancer.  But neither of those killed him--at least neither was a direct cause of his death.  Martin had gotten lost in a remote, wooded area and, by the time law enforcement found him, Martin had died.  

Interestingly, the story about Martin's death in the Newton County Times, which appeared on the front page, mentions only this about Martin's career and significance to the county:  

[Newton County Sheriff Glenn] Wheeler said the body of Tommy Martin, retired Newton County District Court judge and a long-time private attorney, was found near Brasel Creek, northwest of the Newton County Fairgrounds.

Admittedly, the headline for this story is "Lost man found deceased."  That is, it focuses on the attempt to rescue Martin after he was lost on Monday morning, March 22.  Martin called the Sheriff's office then because he "had gotten his pickup stuck and needed a tow truck."  Apparently, the truck was found fairly quickly, down a logging road a mile and half from any maintained road, but Martin was not in the area.  The search lasted until Martin's body was found shortly after noon on March 24, during which time temperatures dropped into the 40s and 50s, and rain fell, making hypothermia a threat.  

Wheeler said there had been some contact with Martin by phone during the first night of searching, but officials weren't able to get a ping signal from the phone.  The phone battery died Monday night and that was the last contact anyone apparently had with Martin. 

Wheeler said Martin told rescuers on the phone Monday night that he could see flashlights and hear voices but they weren't able to determine his exact location.  Wheeler said it was his understanding that Martin had recently developed throat cancer and had a tracheotomy that kept him from calling out for rescuers. 

Contrast this reporting with that on the death of Dr. Roy Lee, a physician who died from COVID-19, which I reported on the blog here.  That story, also on the front page, features lots of biographical information about the physician, even though he didn't practice medicine in Newton County. Is this a reflection on the relative significance attributed to medicine v. law in rural culture?  or at least in this rural locale? 

Even the obituary for Martin included very little detail of his life, noting only his surviving wife and the fact he'd grown up in Russellville, 60 miles south of Jasper, and earned his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.   As I commented to my mom, I'd have guessed he was from farther away than Russellville, in adjacent Pope County, but perhaps his upbringing there provides insight into how he found Newton County.  

When I googled Martin's name, this story came up about a 2010 murder trial over which Martin presided.  He was also mentioned in this 2011 post about arrests for meth.   

Here's an entry about Martin from an online document (undated) called The People of the Buffalo: A Socio-Cultural Assessment of the Inholders Along the Buffalo National River.  

Tommy Martin is the County Solicitor for Newton County and has fought for the rights of inholders along the Buffalo River. He has faced the state Highway Department and other agencies in court over eminent domain proceedings, but never, he said, has he encountered any group which carries the legal adversary relationship to the extreme as the Land Acquisition Office of the BNR Park Service. Martin said once the LAO went so far as to attempt to suppress evidence by "hiding" a 1972 appraisal which they had contracted. He said most landowners run the risk of running up against the "siege mentality" of the Park Service if they choose to fight in court. With court costs ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 and attorney's fees approximately the same (usually on contingency) the smaller inholders who have 100 acres of land or less normally cannot afford to litigate. They are forced to "negotiate" with the Park Service, said Martin. The County Solicitor especially resents the misinformation given out by the Park Service regarding the people of the Buffalo River valley. For example, the regional office in Santa Fe accused local residents of vandalism and arson in the BNR region. Martin pointed out that this year, which had one of the longest droughts in Arkansas history, there was not one set fire in the entire Buffalo valley. Other misinformation include the often-perpetuated fallacy that "nobody" lives around the Buffalo when, in fact, the rest of Newton County is so rural that the Buffalo River valley is actually the most heavily populated area of the entire county. 

Wow, is there is a lot to unpack here.  I'll have to come back at another time to discuss what this reveals about a pivotal time in Newton County, when the federal government was buying up land for the Buffalo National River.   The source of this information is noted as "Interview with Tommy Martin, December 14, 1980 and January 10, 1981."  

When I was growing up in Jasper, the county seat of Newton County, I'd vaguely known who Tommy Martin was and the significance of his role as the county's only lawyer.  His office was in a pre-fab mini log cabin type structure just off the town square.  I don't believe I ever met him until after I finished law school myself, in 1989.  On that occasion, he and his wife, an Asian American woman named Carole who was also his secretary/paralegal, gave me the most memorable graduation gift I received:  a leather passport cover with my initials, LRP, embossed in gold.  They'd chosen that gift because I'd been selected to go to the United Kingdom as a Marshall Scholar.  They were celebrating my launch into the wider world, my unusual accomplishments for a Newton County kid.  

Over the years, I had only a handful of conversations with Martin. As I reflected on this in recent years, I found it somewhat inexplicable.  Why was that?  How could it have been in the context of a small town?  I suppose it was because I was a shy kid, unassuming.   He was, after all, an important man in town.  How would I have met him except through my father, who also was not around.  

One interaction that I do recall was about what was likely to happen to my younger brother, who was frequently "in trouble with the law."  That was in the 1990s, at least a few years after I finished law school and was living nowhere nearby.  

At another time, after I became a professor, I talked to him some about the nature of his practice. I recall him telling me that even his practice --a tiny rural one--was becoming increasingly specialized, and I recall him mentioning environmental law in particular.  I wish I'd asked him more, or taken more time to get to know him and his practice.  What a font of information he surely would have been regarding rural practice and even the rural lawyer shortage the nation finally seems to care about (well, at least a little).  

I'm aware of a few lawyers who have come and gone from Newton County during the years Tommy Martin was in private practice there, and I'm not sure if any currently practice there.  This study a few years ago indicated it was a legal desert.  This more recent study suggests no active lawyers there, though the graphics may obscure a dot that represents a lawyer (or two) in Newton County.