Editorial
Front Page - Friday, February 4, 2011
Are we there yet?
Everybody just slow down
Jay Edwards
The big news so far this legislative session has been legal problems for two of the freshman lawmakers, Fred Smith of Crawfordsville and Bruce Holland of Greenwood.
Smith’s problems are a bit more serious. He was convicted of theft of property delivered by mistake, a felony. Apparently the Dermott Special School District sent duplicate checks of $29,250 to Smith’s nonprofit group, Save Our Kids. Both checks were cashed and Smith has resigned.
Holland was pulled over on highway 10 driving a gray sports car by Deputy Ray Byrd, who says he chased Holland over 20 miles at speeds of 100 mph. If you are going 100 it doesn’t take long to go 20 miles. What, like 10 minutes? I never did like those wordy math problems.
Holland was scolded by Byrd but not ticketed and has since apologized. Gray sports cars will make anyone drive fast, legislator or not.
Holland’s predicament re-minded me of being pulled over on I-30 a few years ago going 105. I was going that fast because I thought I had a dying man with me, which actually I guess I did.
A friend and I were signed up to play in the 4-Ball at the old Rosswood Country Club in Pine Bluff, which would be one of the last for the grand old International Paper club.
I picked up my friend and he complained of not feeling so great, but wanted to try and play. We arrived at the course and he headed straight for the bathroom, choosing to pass on the tempting buffet of bratwurst and sauerkraut. It was a typical July summer in Arkansas, hot and humid, and our closeness to the river only made it worse. When it became time for us to tee off, I looked for my friend and found him still in the bathroom. He was white as a sheet but still insisted on trying to play.
We made it through the fourth hole and after he putted he went to a knee. “I can’t go on,” he told me. We headed to the car and from there to Little Rock. About half way there my friend was seriously ill and was unable to talk. I slammed the accelerator.
When I finally saw the Little Rock skyline I felt a little better, and wasn’t even bothered by the state trooper pulling me over, in fact I was relieved. I had been going 105, he said. I told him my friend was seriously ill and the trooper looked at him and told me to slow down. “How about an escort to the hospital?”
“Just slow down, you’ll be OK.” I had apparently been stopped by the only state trooper who was also an M.D. in his spare time.
I drove 60 until out of his sight then it was back to the races. We finally made it to the Baptist ER where they kept my friend three days. He had gotten food poisoning and then became severely dehydrated. A scary time had ended well, even though he did miss out on the bratwurst and sauerkraut.
On Monday the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that Senator Johnny Key of Mountain Home said, “It’s for the people to decide” whether the actions of Smith and Holland hurt the reputation of the legislature.
The timing seemed a little humorous to me as I had just written a piece on the Arkansas Real Estate Bank, which involved one historic legislative session, way back on December 4, 1837.
On that day there was a bill being debated in the House that concerned wolf scalps. The Senate had already authorized that a bounty be paid on wolf pelts. Speaker (and Colonel) John Wilson was presiding over the session.
The representatives were discussing how to verify where the pelts came from when Joseph J. Anthony of Randolph County, still fuming over the new bank, suggested, “the signature of the president of the Real Estate Bank (Wilson) be attached to the certificate of the wolf scalp.”
This infuriated Wilson and the story goes that the men argued and came to blows. Representative Grandison D. Royston of Hempstead County tried to stop the fight by throwing a chair between the men. But it ended badly when Wilson stabbed Anthony with a large knife, probably a Bowie Knife, killing his colleague.
Thanks to friends of Wilson and a change of venue for the trial, the jury returned a verdict of “guilty of excusable homicide,” the same as not guilty or a pronouncement of justifiable killing.
Fortunately this incident is the only recorded violent death on the floor of the Arkansas General Assembly.
Kind of makes the cashing of a check twice and hot-rodding through the counties seem kind of insignificant, doesn’t it?
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