Arkansas Times - August 11, 2016

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It might not feel like it outside yet, but it’s almost fall in Arkansas! That means football season is near, so it’s time to get your game on, tailgaters! We know Arkansas Times readers have some amazing, crowd-pleasing tailgate recipes and we’d love for you to share them.

Submit tailgating recipes for your best appetizer, main dish or dessert and be entered to win the Edwards Food Giant Tailgating Recipe Contest. We will collect your tailgating recipes August-October, then cook them up ourselves using ingredients from Edwards Food Giant to find our favorite!

The winner will be announced in the Nov. 3 issue of the Arkansas Times, where we will publish your aboutto-be-famous recipe. The winner will also receive a $100 gift card from Edwards Food Giant right in time for the Thanksgiving holiday!

Submit your favorite tailgating recipe to: Edwardscontest@arktimes.com ***Ingredients can be found at Edwards*** 2

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COMMENT

From the web In response to Times’ reporting on the Secretary of State’s office sending faulty data on felons to county clerks and jeopardizing voter rights: When only Teapublicans are allowed to vote, only Teapublicans will hold elective office!

And, as usual, no mea culpa nor acceptance of responsibility will be made by Secretary of State Mark (not the race car driver, but the elected official who is NEVER in his office) Martin for this colossal mistake!

RYD This country has evolved to a Third World level when it comes to politics. Folks only want to believe it when it happens to them or their candidate. DNC used every trick in the book to elect Hillary. Corruption and corporate money dominate U.S. politics!

Warren Harper Jr. [Pulaski County Clerk] Larry Crane is the only elected official I have seen call other elected officials

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out when they are in the wrong.

Why would you think Martin would direct his staff? He is never there. Plus, since there are no penalties, why should he care?

The days of constitutional officers doing their job is way over. sundown happens

In response to an Arkansas Blog item about the start of a federal trial in which Arkansas Treasurer Dennis Milligan is being sued for defamation: Dennis looks like he just stepped off the set of Hee-Haw. “...Milligan, for his part, said that the shoving match caused him to have chest pains.” Naw, more likely to have been caused by too many trips to Brown’s Country Store & Restaurant. “...tried to extort a political opponent at a Krispy Kreme, engaged in questionable campaign finance practices, and said we needed another September 11.” Hey, Saline County sends our best & brightest up to LR. “... he illegally hired a cousin ...”

We do all kinds of things with cousins down here.

tsallenarng In response to an Arkansas Blog item about Sen. Tom Cotton’s statement that the world would be safer under Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton: The idea that America will be better with a Donald Trump presidency or that Donald Trump can ever be anything other than he’s ever been — a blowhard Barnum ballyhooer and bully — is either delirious or conniving.

Your pick, Cotton.

Anent the Julian Assange DNC email leaks, complete with unredacted (and also innocent) personal information like phone numbers, Matt Tait exposes a huge and dangerous problem inherent in WikiLeaks and Assange (known for his antipathy toward Hillary Clinton) as its increasingly hostile-to-criticism virtually sole arbiter. (“Anent” is my vocabulary-builder for the week and I’m using it profusely although so far everybody hates it and thinks it’s “pretentious”: a no-no in Hollywood.)

Tait says:

“The metadata analysis I did on the leaked documents that day was almost by accident. I was actually looking for evidence of something much more frightening and which still keeps me up at night: What if the documents were mostly real, but had been surgically doctored? How effective would a carefully planted paragraph in an otherwise valid document be at derailing a campaign? How easily could Russia remove or sidestep an inconvenient DNC official with a single doctored paragraph showing “proof” of dishonest, unethical or illegal practices? And how little credibility would the sheepish official have in asserting that ‘all of the rest of the emails are true, but just not the one paragraph or email that makes me look bad?’ “ Norma Bates Anyone supporting Donald J. Trump should be shunned and labeled untrustworthy, without good sense and perhaps hiding criminal intent.

Would you trust a Trumper to operate on your child or even rotate your tires? Supporting Trump this week screams I AM NOT SMART! Those our idiot friends, relatives and neighbors voted into office to lead our state government and represent us in Congress saying they endorse Donald J. Trump should be removed from office by any means as soon as possible because no one with a lick of sense could be a Trump supporter after what we know Trump doesn’t know.

Cotton may be so bold as to say … ’cause he isn’t up for re-election this year, unfortunately. But every Republican that IS up for reelection across the nation is quaking in their boots.

No doubt they’re on the phone right now begging the Tri-lateral Commission to do something about that fk’ing Trump! Why, there may be a Jack Ruby right around Trump’s next corner! That would be yuge!

The historians of the future will write that between the eight miserable years of the Bush-Cheney crime spree coupled with the Tea Party, plus the inability to nominate a single winning candidate for the presidential race since 2004, resulting in the nomination of the worst human to run for president on a major party ticket since the 1830s, the Republican Party became extinct and few mourned.

Death by Inches

Celebrate American Folk Art on the Arkansas Times Art Bus Saturday, August 20 To Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art AMERICAN FOLK ART. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S BACHMAN-WILSON HOUSE. BLACK UNITY. We’ll take the opportunity to see the Bentonville museum’s temporary exhibition of more than 115 objects from the American Folk Art Museum in New York: postRevolutionary War quilts, paintings, samplers, weathervanes.

We’ll arrange tours of the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House, which was moved to the museum grounds from New Jersey.

We’ll also see the temporary exhibition “Black Unity,” which features photography, painting, tapestry and sculpture, including woodwork by the great AfricanAmerican Artist Elizabeth Catlett.

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Pastries with coffee from Boulevard Bread. and box lunches en route to Crystal Bridges.

Dinner and admission to exhibit included.

Drinks will be served en route to Crystal Bridges.

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Admission into Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is free.

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AUGUST 11, 2016

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EYE ON ARKANSAS

WEEK THAT WAS

“I am officially, and unequivocally, uncertain, and in doubt.”

— Rep. Bob Ballinger (R-Berryville) on whether or not to vote for Donald Trump this fall. Most Arkansas Republicans have fallen in line behind their mercurial nominee, including Governor Hutchinson, but a few conservative state legislators are expressing doubts. Rep. David Meeks (R-Greenbrier) said he was considering Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and was “99.9 percent sure” he would not vote for Trump. Rep. Charlie Collins (R-Fayetteville) said he’s leaning toward voting for someone other than Trump.

Real Republicans don’t do pre-K At the GOP state convention in Rogers last weekend, delegates struck all support for pre-kindergarten education from the state party platform.

Previously, the platform included a paragraph endorsing the idea of the state providing resources to ensure access for all parents who want pre-K for their kids. No longer. Doug Thompson of Northwest Arkansas News reported that only one of the 275 delegates in attendance spoke in favor of retaining the paragraph: Jacquelin Brownell of Benton County, who asked, “If we remove this, what will our response be to people in poverty?” Governor Hutchinson said the action “does not affect the historical bipartisan support of pre-K funding” and said the paragraph in question was “confusing and unclear on its intent.”

Abusing the process A federal judge reprimanded one

BRIAN CHILSON

Quote of the Week:

CASTAWAYS: Driftwood lines the shore of Lake Maumelle visible from the state Highway 10 picnic area.

of the state’s most prominent lawyers and political players last week for his conduct in a class-action case. U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III found that John Goodson of Texarkana (along with his law partner, Matt Keil, and three other attorneys) had “abused the judicial process, and did so in bad faith” by colluding to transfer a lawsuit out of Holmes’ court and into a state court, where it was immediately settled. The result was a settlement with the defendant, an auto insurance company, that produced a hefty fee for the attorneys but a less-than-generous deal for the policyholders who comprised the class the lawsuit concerned. Holmes also said 10 other attorneys involved had “abused the judicial process, but did not do so in bad faith”; they received no sanction. The plaintiffs’ attorneys are appealing the finding.

Prison pastor sentenced Kenneth Dewitt, a former prison chaplain at the McPherson Women’s Unit who’s admitted to having sex with inmates, was sentenced to five years in prison. Dewitt was originally charged with 50 counts of third-degree sexual assault, but

he accepted a deal last month and pleaded guilty to three counts. A U.S. Justice Department investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and harassment at the prison is ongoing.

A little help from the folks Arkansas State University Chancellor Tim Hudson resigned his position after an audit at the school turned up emails from Hudson that appear to show him haggling for special financial aid deals at other colleges for a family member. In one email to an official at the New York Institute of Technology (since r e d a c t e d ), Hud s on wrote, “I would like to talk to you about [family member] — [family member] is very interested in N Y IT — but frankly, we’d need some sort of help to make that a reality.

Perhaps we can find a way to be mutually helpful.” The audit

Tim Hudson 6

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ARKANSAS TIMES

also turned up problems with ASU’s study abroad program, which was run by the chancellor’s wife, Deidre Hudson.

Rutledge vs. the real bullies Attorney General Leslie Rutledge published an editorial on The Hill website last week doubling down on her stance against the Obama administration’s guidance for public schools regarding bathroom access for transgender students. Arkansas is one of 10 states suing over the guidance, which Rutledge described as “bullying and threatening.” Transgender students have no problems in Arkansas schools, she said. “The heartbreaking thing is that it seems as if transgendered [sic] students are being used as pawns by this administration to further a broader political and legal agenda,” Rutledge wrote. Perhaps it would mend her heart a bit to try talking to some of those students and see what they think.

OPINION

Don’t boo, work

A

t the start of my final year at McClellan High School, I was told that I needed to take a civics class to graduate. Typically, students in the Little Rock School District take civics in 9th grade, but because I attended a private school my freshman year, I had to make up the credit as a senior. Like most high school seniors, I had zero interest in taking a class with ninth-graders. Despite my reluctance, it turned out to be a life-changing experience.

Because I was preparing to vote for the first time, I had a different appreciation for civics than my younger classmates. I learned the importance of voting, but I also began to understand civic responsibility.

That understanding developed during college and law school, as it became clear to me that being involved in the growth of my city would require more than just my vote.

Nearly 15 years later, the 2016 Democratic National Convention conjured up memories of my high school civics class.

By way of endorsing Hillary Clinton, President Obama gave an amazing address about the state of our country. The president discussed many substantive issues, but

in our social mediaobsessed society, substantive issues often take a back seat to statements that are no more than ANTWAN 140 characters. After PHILLIPS his first mention of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the crowd started booing. Obama’s 15-character response: “Don’t boo, vote.”

Some have called Obama’s remark the call to action the country needs this election. This is only partially true. Our president was correct that we must vote, not just criticize and complain; as I learned in civics, voting is one of the basic responsibilities that we have as American citizens. However, we need to do so much more than vote. Our civic responsibility starts with voting, but it does not end there.

In the words of my favorite rapper, JayZ, “It’s much bigger issues in the world I know / But I first had to take care of the world I know.” When we listen to politicians, read Twitter and watch the news, we are informing ourselves of issues in the

No tax help

T

he big conundrum is supposed to riddle. The slogans be why Donald Trump does so were still there, but well among white working-class the long-promised people, particularly men, who do not details of his ecohave a college education. Is it just his nomic plan can coded messages about the iniquities of give no succor to ERNEST blacks and foreign nationalities that are the people who DUMAS taking over the land or his promise that think they’ve been he alone can open the gates of prosper- trod upon by the 1 percent, government, ity for them and yank the ladder from political leaders and the financial class. the economic elites who have run the Though he called it a plan for the downRepublican Party? Or neither? trodden, Trump backtracked on some of Trump polls spectacularly better the big promises like fewer loopholes among white blue-collar men in the old and higher taxes on the very rich and slave states, the rust belt and the barren tougher penalties for big banks that run Western plains than any Republican in amok like 2008. modern times, even though his opponent Besides appealing to working stiffs, is not a sophisticated black man with the speech was intended to make peace a foreign name, which was the advan- with Republican politicos like House tage that John McCain and Mitt Rom- Speaker Paul Ryan, whom he finally ney couldn’t capitalize upon, but a white endorsed over the weekend to please woman with a working-class rearing. So, panicky party elders. He may have sucas he often boasts, it must be his populist ceeded better with that group. economic message, which he now asks Trump promised displaced workers Bernie Sanders followers to embrace. that he would repeal the “death tax,” the Monday, he kicked off his post-con- name that polling showed Republicans vention campaign with an economic should assign to the estate tax to make speech aimed right at his strength, the it hated. But surviving spouses don’t pay angry, beleaguered sons of toil, and deliv- estate taxes, and only very few rich heirs ered in depressed Detroit.

— like presumably the Trump children But the speech only deepened the some day — ever owe a dime. The estate

world that require our votes, voices and visions. Likewise, there are issues in Central Arkansas — the world we know —that “we have to take care of.” One issue in Little Rock that urgently requires our voices and visions is public education.

Over the past year, engagement and awareness of public education in Central Arkansas has to have been near an all-time high. Ironically, this is partly because of the controversy created when the elected local school board was dissolved upon the takeover of the Little Rock School District by the state Board of Education in January 2015. I will not rehash the events and the statistics with which we have all become familiar regarding the LRSD. However, I do want to discuss how it takes more than just our vote to be involved in public education in Little Rock. At this time, voting cannot directly influence the direction of the LRSD. So, if we want to exercise our civic muscles and improve the public schools in our city, then the #StandUp4LR coalition is the place to start.

The #StandUp4LR coalition of community advocates and stakeholders has an overall aim to strengthen support of the LRSD. The coalition recognizes the correlation between a successful public school system that serves the needs of every child

and a vibrant city, and fights to ensure Little Rock has both. The coalition is doing awesome work in engaging and educating Little Rock citizens about the LRSD. The coalition has formed committees aimed at building support and engagement for students, parents and teachers. In addition, the coalition recently canvassed the city to spread the word about #StandUp4LR and to sustain the energy displayed throughout the spring and summer. The next big event for the coalition is the back-to-school welcome planned for Aug. 15 at Henderson Middle School. On the first day of school, members of the coalition and others will be there to greet, cheer and show their support for the students, teachers and administrators at Henderson. This event is a great example of why I believe #StandUp4LR and other community groups will continue to increase public involvement in the LRSD. This is the type of impact that goes beyond voting.

Our involvement in public education demonstrates why we must do more than simply vote. So, I will take President Obama’s call to action one step further.

Don’t just vote; let’s work.

Antwan Phillips is a lawyer with Wright, Lindsey & Jennings and a member of the #StandUp4LR coalition.

tax exempts from taxation the first $5.45 million of inheritance for individuals and $10.9 million for married couples. Only about 5,000 very rich Americans a year pay anything. Hillary Clinton’s tax overhaul would slightly raise the estate tax, which was enacted in 1916 to prevent the America of Rockefellers, Carnegies and Vanderbilts from becoming a European aristocracy.

A year ago, Trump shocked the Republican leadership by advocating much higher income taxes on the super rich. Polls showed that even most Republicans thought the rich and corporations did not pay their share of taxes. But when his campaign posted his tax-reform plan last winter it gave the super rich the biggest tax cut in history. His own marginal rate would fall from 39.6 to 25 percent.

Monday, he shifted gears. His plan cuts the top corporate rate from 35 to 15 percent, though few corporations pay it. His proposal comes after a decade in which after-tax corporate profits have risen sharply as a share of national income while the share of income for workers has fallen.

He abandoned his own previous personal income-tax plans and adopted the official Republican plan, drafted by Paul Ryan. It lowers income taxes slightly for most people but dramatically for the super rich. Their top rate would fall from 39.6 percent to 33 percent.

So how does the coal miner’s family benefit from any of that? The conservative Tax Foundation said the RyanTrump plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income families by two-tenths of 1 percent but raise it for the wealthiest Americans by 5.3 percent.

Federal deficits would rise by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.

Daughter Ivanka Trump’s highly praised speech at the GOP convention touted tax breaks for childcare. Trump said he and Ivanka had worked out a plan to deduct the average cost of childcare.

But it would primarily help the well-todo. Low-income families who owe little or no federal income taxes would get no benefit. The Trump campaign sent an email statement that he might allow a childcare deduction against Social Security and Medicare taxes for the poor.

But, Trump said, he’s going to make other countries revise NAFTA, the trade deal negotiated by Reagan and Bush I, to get more protections for U.S. workers and cut financial, environmental and safety rules that are tying up the financial houses and manufacturers so they will hire more workers.

To get back to our riddle, none of that could be very reassuring to disenchanted working folks. But voters are moved by slogans and rhetoric. Who care about plans? arktimes.com

AUGUST 11, 2016

7

World in chaos?

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AUGUST 11, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

S

upposedly 2016 is the Year of the Angry Voter. To hear the pundits tell it, Americans are just furious.

Well, call me smug or out of touch, but I think it’s mainly a fad. TV talking heads say they’re supposed to be bitter, so suggestible people persuade themselves that they are. In interviews, people say that the “American Dream” has stagnated, and they’re fearful about terrorism and crime.

Except that crime rates have decreased so much that the statistics can be hard to believe. Writing in Washington Monthly, Mike Males points out that in 1990 “nearly 500 [Los Angeles] teenagers died from gunfire and 730 were arrested for murder.” In 2015, the numbers were 57 gun deaths and 65 homicide busts. This in a sprawling metropolis of 10 million.

Meanwhile, student test scores are up, dropout rates way down, and teenagers are having far fewer kids out of wedlock. College enrollments are rising.

Not only in L.A., but across the country.

One of my pet theories has been that Rush Limbaugh fans get all steamed up because they’re stuck in traffic, but maybe not.

As for terrorism, roughly 100 Americans have been slain by berserk ISIS supporters in the United States this year.

That’s terrible, and events in France have been appalling. But it helps to keep things in perspective: Anything could happen, but the average American is statistically more likely to be killed by a falling TV set than a terrorist attack.

Hotheads heat up when anybody says this, but ISIS has no air force, no navy and no real army. It is a negligible threat to national security. Remain calm.

Anyway, if you do get agitated, you may be suffering from what novelist Ted Mooney dubbed “information sickness.”

My advice would be to turn off TV news.

“If it bleeds, it leads” is the motto of every local and cable-TV news program in America. Even on the high-dollar end.

During a recent “60 Minutes” interview, Leslie Stahl told Donald Trump and Mike Pence, “I don’t remember the last time we’ve seen a world in this much chaos.”

Needless to say, both candidates agreed. Fear and anger are all they’ve got.

Now Stahl’s even older than I am, so she surely remembers 1968. The United States had over 500,000 soldiers fighting the bloody, pointless Vietnam War. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy

was killed in June.

Riots broke out in Washington, Chicago, Baltimore and elsewhere. In August, Chicago GENE cops and anti-war LYONS protestors fought wild street battles during the Democratic convention. The GOP gifted the nation with Richard M. Nixon.

You want chaos? That’s chaos.

But if it’s outrage you want, Trump’s your man. Indeed, most “Angry Voter” interviews appear to have been conducted at Trump or Bernie Sanders rallies, the equivalent of seeking supporters of marijuana legalization at a Dead and Co. show. Not exactly a valid sample.

Anyway, criticize their hero, and you learn fast who many Trump supporters are. “Jason” writes, “YOU SHOULD BE WATERBOARDED AND THEN HAVE TRUMP [DEFECATE] IN YOUR MOUTH AND THEN BE SENT TO GITMO WITH THE REST OF THE AMERICAN TRAITORS.” Sexual insults are common: “I bet you are a cross dresser,” offers “Karyn.”

“Do you fantasize about replacing Huma Abedin as Hillary’s lesbian lover? NEWS FLASH! American voters see right through you degenerate propagandists … Hope to see a group picture of all you media whores jumping off the ledge and killing yourselves after c**t Hillary loses.”

Use of the c-word to describe the Democratic nominee in messages ostensibly written by women is common, a first in my experience. Maybe that’s because email routing marks indicate that some messages may originate in Russia. “Karyn,” for example, would appear to be a foul-mouthed little elf in Vladimir Putin’s cyber-workshop.

Washington Monthly’s Males also points that if there’s one demographic group in America feeling justifiably left out, it’s working class white men over 45 — the core of Trump’s supporters. They got screwed in the 2008 crash, and the Obama recovery hasn’t reached them — partly due to age and lack of job skills, partly where they live.

No matter who’s elected, coal mines aren’t coming back. Trump’s save-thebillionaires economics wouldn’t help working class whites anyway.

Scare-mongering aside, most Americans have experienced real progress under President Obama. They remain hopeful for more.

Changing rules

T

he opening afternoon session of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia was a rambunctious one. Lost in the clamor was an agreement by the forces of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders to significantly revise the party rules related to the presidential nomination process.

It sets the stage for the third significant overhaul of those rules in the last 50 years and will define who wins and who loses future Democratic nomination battles. While Bernie Sanders will not be around as a candidate in those elections, candidates like him will be advantaged.

That Monday afternoon, Sanders delegates and supporters were loud and unified in their frustration with a Democratic National Committee for its perceived bias toward the Clinton nomination. Within that din, the Sanders campaign won two significant victories. First, as we heard numerous times throughout the convention, the Democratic Party ratified “the most progressive platform in the party’s history,” with significant shifts on the minimum wage, regulation of Wall Street, political money and student debt — all propelled by the Sanders campaign. Second, the party agreed to create a “unity commission” to revise nomination rules. While these rules will be drafted over the next couple of years and must be ratified by the Democratic National Committee, motions adopted at the convention mandate that such rules must reduce the influence of superdelegates in the nomination process by at least two-thirds.

Tinkering with Democratic nomination rules began in the aftermath of the 1968 process through which Hubert Humphrey was able to win the nomination without entering a single primary contest. The supporters of progressives like Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy, who had dominated the 1968 Democratic primaries, won a consolation prize with the party’s commitment to revise party rules for future nomination processes. Sen. George McGovern co-chaired the McGovernFraser Commission that modernized the rules through which delegates were selected for future conventions. These rule changes — which required the linking of the votes in primaries and caucuses to delegate allocations and also required that those delegates reflect the party demographically — ensured that traditional outsiders in politics would have an ongoing role in the party, to the detriment of party bosses.

While the core of those reforms

remain in place, “superdelegates” were introduced following the contentious nomination battle of JAY 1980 between BARTH President Jimmy Carter and Edward Kennedy. Carter locked up sufficient delegates early in the nomination cycle to ultimately ensure him the nomination, but many perceived Carter to be a weaker candidate in the general election context against Ronald Reagan. After the 1980 election, North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt chaired a commission that created “superdelegates” — elected officials and other party leaders who are explicitly unbound to any candidate, allowing them, when the party is closely divided, to support the most electable candidate at the time of the convention. “We must also give our convention more flexibility to respond to changing circumstances and, in cases where the voters’ mandate is less than clear, to make a reasoned choice,” the commission’s report stated. These unpledged delegates now make up just under 15 percent of all delegates.

While superdelegates have never deviated from the will of bound delegates since their creation, they often do give an establishment candidate — like Clinton — a significant head start in the process, making the path to nomination more complicated for an outsider candidate. The system was particularly aggravating to Sanders supporters, many of whom were new to electoral politics and cynical of the voting power of superdelegates, who they considered elites.

Thus, the strong efforts to swing the pendulum back toward a purer voice for rank-and-file activists through the total elimination of superdelegates. The effort to completely eliminate superdelegates failed, but the Clinton and Sanders delegates reached a compromise to reduce their influence, by reducing their numbers.

Hillary Clinton had little to lose in such a deal. Her campaign anticipates that she will be an incumbent running for reelection in 2020 and would not be impacted by such rules. In the election cycles to follow, however, candidates with grassroots support in an increasingly progressive Democratic Party will be better positioned than in any election cycle since McGovern won the 1972 nomination with the rules he helped write.

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Preview part II

T

he second chapter in the 2016 Razorback Football Trilogy is an October that starts with a presumed breather in Little Rock (though we know, based on occurrences at War Memorial in 2012 and 2015 that no assumptions are safe), followed by a merciless gauntlet that, at the very least, keeps the team homebound for three straight weeks.

Alcorn State in Little Rock, Oct. 1: The ongoing effort to marginalize War Memorial Stadium means that the Hogs draw the Braves of the SWAC. The good start by the team means that this throwaway game will be well attended but it will also be a shade stiffer than your typical lower-division foe. Alcorn State goes wide-open and athletic, with the original “Air McNair” at the helm; head coach Fred, the late Steve’s older brother, has taken the reins as head coach and promises to employ a downfield passing game that could challenge the Hogs’ secondary at times.

Arkansas, however, fears the fallout of yet another uninspired game in the capital city, and turns up the pressure on the Braves’ backfield. A school-record nine sacks result, three coming from Tevin Beanum, and the Hogs cruise to 5-0 with a balanced offensive approach that allows backup quarterback Rafe Peavey a long-awaited shot to play extended minutes. Hogs 44, Braves 17.

Alabama in Fayetteville, Oct. 8: I’ve toyed with using this space to project a break in Nick Saban’s absolute dominance of Arkansas since his tenure in Tuscaloosa began, and clearly it did not work. Arkansas has played commendably well under Bret Bielema against the Tide the past two seasons, but still, the losing streak is double-digits and the albatross gains weight every year.

The thing is, Bama looks stout again, of course, because their defensive line now offers a brand of pressure and athleticism that was lacking a few years prior. On the other side, despite again having to groom a quarterback (Cooper Bateman seems the likely choice), the skill players remain abundant, led by receiver Calvin Ridley.

The Hogs are fired up on a gorgeous night on the Hill, primed to close the games they couldn’t against the Tide in 2014-15. But again, self-inflicted wounds creep in: a huge fourth-quarter turnover on a muffed punt return, and a bad snap on a field goal attempt leading to a major loss of yardage, allow Bama to break

a third-quarter tie with two late TDs. Crimson Tide 30, Hogs 22.

Ole Miss in Fayetteville, Oct. BEAU 15: There is no rest WILCOX for the weary in the SEC, and after another agonizing one against the power brokers, the Hogs draw the Rebels, who are predictably chafed after dropping two games in a row to Arkansas in disparate ways. The 30-0 whitewashing the Razorbacks put on the Rebs in 2014 was a thing of beauty wrought through ugly conditions; the epic overtime battle last year in Oxford culminated with one miracle (fourthand-25) essentially snuffing out another (an SEC West crown for Ole Miss).

Despite the Hogs’ own struggles offensively in this one, quarterback Chad Kelly fires three bad interceptions, two going back for scores by Dre Greenlaw and D.J. Dean. The second half becomes a grind-it-out affair for the Hogs, and as usual they control the clock masterfully behind Devwah Whaley’s 131-yard, twotouchdown opus on the ground. Hogs 38, Rebels 27.

Auburn in Auburn, Oct. 22: With the Hogs soaring at 6-1, 2-1, Auburn isn’t quite the threat it once presented, and again is too cushiony on defense to do much good against a Razorback line that is really starting to find its unity. Behind a massive effort from Dan Skipper and Conway’s own Colton Jackson, the Hogs have their way with the Tigers’ front and bull their way to over 350 yards rushing.

Whaley and Kody Walker both hit the 100-yard mark.

Meanwhile, Gus Malzahn’s offense is more potent this fall, but still ravaged by inconsistencies and personnel uncertainties. Due to the recent dismissal of presumptive starting tailback Jovon Robinson, the Tigers’ committee approach in the backfield fails considerably to make a dent in an invigorated Hog front. The Auburn passing attack wounds the Hogs a bit with three scores and 300-plus yards, but in the end, Arkansas gets another win over the Tigers and Bielema’s 7-1, 3-1 start is a full two games ahead of his philosophical nemesis Malzahn’s. Hogs 34, Tigers 21.

The Hogs get a bye week to close out the month, and head to November on the fringes of the Top 10, looking for another signature road win and a final triumph at home to cement their bowl position.

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The Observer’s friend Amy of Arabia has been in town for a few weeks, she who has been teaching little children in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates on the other side of the world for the past two years, so far from The Observatory that we can’t quite believe it. She came over last night, drank The Observer’s whiskey from the top of the fridge and regaled us with tales of farflung lands: her car’s transmission falling out in the middle of the desert when it was 115 in the shade; the dashing beau who flew her by helicopter to a five-star hotel high above the bright lights and fed her strawberries and champagne like something out of a romance novel; the way she came to see eye-to-eye with the wild Bedouin boys she suffered for her first year there; the unadulterated joy she found in the care package we mailed her from Maple Street, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA, planet Earth, the box stuffed full of Hamburger Helper and sweet cornbread mix and packets of grape Kool-Aid, the last of which she said she mixed up in a jug and drank on the spot, dreaming of home.

In her time as an expat, Amy has vacationed in Nepal and Thailand and Italy, been to Katmandu and seen Everest, learned enough Arabic that she sprinkles it into her conversation now, then apologizes. The Observer smiles upon her, even when she is out of eyeshot. We stay in touch via Dr. Zuckerberg’s Electrobook of Faces, but it’s not quite the same. So it was good to see her back on Maple Street, even for a little while, and to hug her, and share our food and drink under the ceiling fan on the veranda.

She cried a bit, you know? Drank her old friends’ whiskey and cried at the loveliness of being back home. We didn’t fault her for that. That’s what home is, after all: Even if it isn’t the place you belong anymore, it’s always the place that is still beautiful, even when you have seen what others might consider the most beautiful places in the world.

16

✁

T

he Observer hates boring you, Dear Reader, by writing about the weather. But there comes a point in every Arkansas summer where the sun has baked our noodle to the extent the synapses and neurons and assorted circuitry upstairs just ain’t firing. We reached that point recently. Thursday. Second and Scott.

Varnished in sweat, armpits circled out to the accepted “bring me home now, Lord” circumference, squinting at the crosswalk sign, waiting for the orange warning hand to turn into a hopeful, striding stick figure so we could walk to our even more murderously hot car, when it happened. Full, heat-related neural shutdown, with a nigh-audible whirring from inside our pan-hot skull.

At that point we were, to put it mildly, done with this shit. So we will remain until jacket weather.

The cars slid by in the wavering cartoon stinklines baking up from the pavement. Our shoe soles melted to the sidewalk. Down by the river, fishermen in asbestos suits were scooping pre-fried catfish straight out of the water. We considered putting our hands in our pockets to try to wait it out, but that would have only made it seem hotter.

And so we suffered, waiting, wondering if we could be placed into a medically induced coma and wheeled into a meat locker somewhere until Halloween. In our despair, we thought of the interview we heard on National Pointyhead Radio recently about the havoc global warming could visit someday upon cities on the Eastern Seaboard, including the heat-related illness and deaths that might occur once summertime temperatures there begin routinely reaching the mid- to upper-’90s from time to time!

Heavens to Murgatroyd! How will they STAND it, in their crinolines and worsted wool tailcoats?

Somewhere, a car honked. The sound instantly caught flame like a magician’s flash paper and drifted sootily into the air. Soon, the crosswalk sign changed.

We peeled our feet up off the concrete and bitterly shuffled on, a few precious

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AUGUST 11, 2016

11

Arkansas Reporter

THE

Eligible voters removed from rolls Arkansas Times reporters contacted election officials around the state to see how they had handled flawed felon data from the secretary of state. Responses varied dramatically.

BY BENJAMIN HARDY AND LINDSEY MILLAR

I

n June, Secretary of State Mark Martin’s office passed along lists of names of Arkansas felons to county clerks so their names could be flagged as ineligible to vote. The lists turned out to be terribly flawed, including the names of nonfelons as well as those who were discharged, had made reparations and were eligible to vote — indeed, some who had been voting for years. The information was provided by the Arkansas Crime Information Center, which passed along its data on all persons with felony convictions.

Though aware of the flaws, the secretary of state’s office said it was up to county clerks to correct errors in the lists. Since then, county clerks have had to do research on thousands of people, using circuit court and Arkansas Community Correction records to determine who to remove from the rolls. An Arkansas Times review of how 62 county clerks handled the data suggested that dozens, if not hundreds, of eligible Arkansas voters were removed from voter rolls, with no concerted effort in place to reinstate those voters.

County clerks are obligated to remove ineligible felons from voter rolls. The constitution also requires the secretary of state to administer and maintain a voter registration database.

In years past, the secretary of state received periodic criminal history updates directly from Arkansas Community Correction, the state agency that oversees parole and probation, but secretary of state spokesman Chris Powell said an internal review determined 12

AUGUST 11, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

that the office was constitutionally required to get its information from the ACIC. The ACIC, the state’s clearinghouse for criminal justice data, does not contain records of how far along felons are in their sentence or supervision or whether they have regained eligibility to vote. So the ACIC’s list to the secretary of state’s office included nearly 200,000 names — everyone who has ever been convicted of a felony in Arkansas. The secretary of state’s office then passed part of that data to county clerks for removal from rolls. Later, the secretary of state’s office notified clerks that there might be a problem with the data.

The Times has repeatedly asked Powell for the number of people flagged as felons on the list his office passed to county clerks. He has not responded to multiple emails and phone calls. But he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Aug. 6 his office sent 7,730 names to clerks.

Clerks in many counties, including the state’s most populous, heeded the secretary of state’s warning, if they hadn’t already noticed flaws in the data, and did not cancel registrations, the Arkansas Times found. Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane’s staff, for instance, devoted 13 employees and 300 work hours to an initial review that determined that, of the 1,722 flagged on its list, 552 should be removed, 297 were eligible voters and 873 require further research. Crane said his staff will now work as quickly as possible to determine the latter group’s eligibility before Sep-

tember elections.

Not every clerk has proceeded so methodically. After talking to election officials in 62 of the state’s 75 counties, the Times found that officials in at least 17 counties removed everyone on the list they received from the secretary of state and sent all the canceled voters letters.

That almost guarantees that many eligible voters were disenfranchised. Those voters will only be reinstated if they provide proof that they have fulfilled the steps required to regain eligibility — if they received the letter.

In Cleburne County, for instance, election officials removed all 69 voters who were on their list and notified them by mail. Thirty of the letters mailed came back to the clerk’s office with incorrect addresses. Twelve to 15 later proved they were eligible and have been restored.

Here is a sampling of what the Times heard from election officials around the state (for the full list go to arktimes.com/ votersurvey): • Election officials in Clark County immediately recognized that the list they were provided contained incorrect information, so they worked with the circuit clerk, sheriff’s office and Arkansas Community Correction to determine who should be removed.

So far, they have determined that 38 of the 62 names they were given were indeed eligible voters. Of the 38, 25 had no criminal history and one had been charged, but not convicted. “If even two names are wrong, that’s serious,” County Clerk Rhonda Cole said.

• Columbia County Deputy Clerk Barbara Smith recognized the first name on the list provided by the secretary of state as wrong and sent the whole list of 144 names to Arkansas Community Correction to check. It determined that 116 were eligible.

• All of the “around 100 people” who were flagged for removal in Crittenden County were booted from voter rolls and notified by mail. Since then “zillions” have called in, according to an election official, who could not offer the precise number of eligible voters who have been restored. At least “some,” she said.

IN LINE TO VOTE: Some eligible voters may show up to the polls and find they are no longer registered thanks to errors on lists provided by the secretary of state's office.

• Of the 21 people on the list it received, Lafayette County officials removed 11 from voter rolls after consulting with the circuit clerk and determined 10 were eligible. One of the 11 came to the office to provide the paperwork showing he was eligible after hearing about the secretary of state’s mistake.

• After a reporter described the list to Lee County Clerk Lynsey Russell, she said it was the first she had heard about it. “It’s probably in that email that we never check,” she said. She said she would look into it.

• Ouachita County Clerk Britt Williford said he realized right away that the list of 178 flagged names he received in June was flawed — in part because many of the conviction dates were so old, and in part because “I came across a couple names of people who I knew were felons in the past and had their rights restored. ... As far as I’m concerned, the data we received from [the secretary of state] is flawed and I don’t have any way of verifying it, and I think they need to correct it. I’m not going to remove someone who’s been voting these last years.

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It’s terrible. … That’s violating their rights. It’s a quandary.”

Secretary of state spokesman Powell cited Amendment 51 of the Arkansas Constitution in the office’s decision to get felony convictions from the ACIC. Once the secretary of state has the data, his job is to merely pass it on to county clerks, who are the official voting registrars in their counties and who add and remove people to rolls, Powell said.

“We’re just kind of the information gobetween, if you will,” he told the Times.

But according to two University of Arkansas School of Law professors, the secretary of state is at best reading the constitution narrowly and in isolation from other broader requirements and at worst not following the constitution at all.

Amendment 51 of the constitution says, in part, that the secretary of state “shall define, maintain, and administer the official, centralized, and interactive computerized voter registration list for all voters legally residing within the State.” Later, it says that the list “shall be coordinated with other state agency records on felony status as maintained by the Arkansas Crime Information Center.”

“It seems to me pretty straightforward that they have to use the ACIC

records, but when it says ‘coordinated with other state agency records,’ I take that to mean that they should be crossreferencing [ACIC data] with other state agency records to make sure it’s correct,” said Tiffany R. Murphy, associate professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. “I think it’s incumbent on the secretary of state to make sure it’s accurate in some degree looking at the amendment. Whenever we see the word ‘shall,’ that’s the strongest language legally. ... When it says ‘maintain’ and ‘administer,’ maintaining is actually making sure it’s correct and ‘administer’ is about distribution.”

The secretary of state’s reading is “a plausible, but hyper-technical interpretation,” said Jonathan L. Marshfield, an associate professor of law at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville who specializes in the Arkansas Constitution. “I think a better interpretation is that they’re meant to coordinate with other state agency records and that the ACIC is one of the places, but that their broader obligation is to coordinate with agencies as necessary to provide reliable information.” Marshfield described that as a “common sense” and “holistic” interpretation that took into account all of section 7 of Amendment 51.

Marshfield and Murphy said that they were speaking only for themselves and not for the University of Arkansas School of Law. Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane echoed Marshfield’s and Murphy’s readings of the constitution. “The secretary of state’s office reached a conclusion that under Amendment 51 that they were supposed to be using ACIC,” he said. “I think the constitution says they can indeed use other sources.

Whether they can or cannot, they were under a duty to ensure that the data from ACIC was correct. We have determined that it was grossly incorrect.

“There could be a burden [on exoffenders who have already had their voting rights restored] to prove again they are eligible. I believe that under Amendment 51 that is totally inappropriate. It does not say that once [ex-felons’ rights] are restored a bumbling bureaucrat has the right to remove them again.”

Tom Coulter, David Koon and Leslie Newell Peacock contributed to this story.

THE

BIG PICTURE

1)

Inconsequential News Quiz: Get your goat edition Play at home!

According to the website arkan-

theme park, members

sasgoatfestival.com, what will be

of the Southern Rock

real events and attractions at the Great Arkansas Goat Festival, scheduled for Oct. 1 in Perryville?

A) Goat parade!

band 38 Special were staying at a Hot Springs hotel

three-time world champion Benji Hardy of

when, according to a post on the band’s Facebook

Arkansas Times was injured while training

page, keyboardist

and cannot compete).

Bobby Capps did

C) Door prizes for anyone dressed as a goat!

something surpris-

D) All of the above.

ing. What did he

B) Celebrity goat milk drinking contest! (Sadly,

do?

Actual photo of Bobby Capps unavailable. Please accept this photo of Rush keyboardist, Geddy Lee.

2) The City Council of Eureka Springs

A) Saw an elderly

recently voted to approve a six-month

woman having a seizure by the pool and rushed to her aid, with Capps stabilizing her before running to call

moratorium on any new bed and breakfast inns in the city. Why, according to supporters of the measure, was this necessary?

A) Constant fog of high-grade pot smoke over

911 — a move which EMTs on the scene said probably saved her life.

B) Revealed, shockingly, that he never had

Eureka had caused bedbugs to grow to the size of small, very mellow dogs.

B) Recent years have seen a shift away from “quirky sitcom” innkeepers in favor of “kidnappy stabby” innkeepers.

C) A shortage of available housing for both local workers and those looking to relocate to Eureka.

D) Sue and James Plotz of Davenport, Iowa.

inappropriate relations with storied Arkansas

Thanks for spoiling it for everybody, asswipes.

whole summer off lest they get up to no good, an elementary school teacher from

3) Recently, an act of kind-

Benton and her husband were arrested

ness went viral

they did something a bit untoward during

online after a

kin’s hand, thus sparing her the soul-crushing

a night on the town. What, according to witness statements, did the teacher and her husband allegedly do?

A) Got thrown out of a strip club.

B) The wife allegedly told a security guard she would “fuck him up.”

C) Got in their car and allegedly did a tiresmoking “donut” in the parking lot of the strip club.

disappointment of eating at Olive Garden.

D) …while the husband allegedly fired a shot-

B) Allowed someone he was waiting on to

gun several times out the window of the car.

sniff the screw cap from their bottle of wine.

E) All of the above.

waiter at an Olive Garden restaurant in Little Rock was photographed doing a favor for someone having dinner there. What did he do?

A) Slapped the fork out of diner Sandy Mer-

groupie “Sweet Connie” Hamzy.

C) Only held on semi-loosely at best.

D) Confirmed the long-suspected theory that 38 Special and The Marshall Tucker Band are, in fact, the same band.

5) In what could be seen as the world’s best argument for not giving teachers the

in Hot Springs last month after cops said

C) Invented the breadstick rope, which allows diners to eat a continuous stream of free

e test get th ttle fuc r o f 't Don you li nday, on Mo

bread from a large spool positioned beside the table.

D) Fed a baby girl from her bottle after seeing the baby’s mother struggling to feed the child during dinner.

4) While in town for a gig at Magic Springs

Answers: D, C, D, A, E

LISTEN UP

arktimes.com

AUGUST 11, 2016

pop pop ! pop ! !

13

FOLLOW THE MONEY Michael Morton is spending big on a proposed constitutional amendment that would help shield his nursing homes from lawsuits — even while fending off allegations that he bribed a circuit judge.

BY BENJAMIN HARDY

O

n March 28, 2008, a 76-year-old woman named Martha Bull entered a Greenbrier nursing home for what she and her family

believed would be a temporary rehab period following a mild stroke. Ten days later, she was dead.

Bull, a mother of seven who lived most of her life in a small house outside of Perryville, was not a politically powerful or well-connected person.

But her death set in motion an unlikely chain of events that has led to the con14

AUGUST 11, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

viction of a circuit judge on federal bribery charges, an ongoing civil lawsuit against Arkansas’s largest nursing home operator and an FBI investigation into corruption in the state judiciary and perhaps beyond.

In July 2013, two months after a Faulkner County jury awarded $5.2 million in damages to Bull’s family, then-Circuit Judge Mike Maggio reduced the size of that verdict to just $1 million. A few days before that, the owner of the Greenbrier nursing home, Michael Morton, wrote a series of checks to a number of political action committees that backed Maggio’s campaign for a higher office. In March of this year, Maggio was sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting a bribe.

He has appealed to the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Morton, however, has never been charged with a crime for providing

the contributions. To the contrary, he is mounting a counteroffensive at the ballot box. Arkansans will vote this November on a constitutional amendment that would sharply limit the ability of patients and their families to sue for damages in situations like those in the Bull case. The so-called tort reform measure is being bankrolled largely by nursing homes, including Morton’s.

In June alone, his companies directly contributed $135,000 to a committee formed to gather signatures for the proposal, and may have routed more through the Arkansas Health Care Association, the lobby group for the state’s nursing homes. Filings at the

Arkansas Ethics Commission show the “Health Care Access for Arkansans” committee spent just under $600,000 in May and June, almost all of which went to a Colorado-based company that hires professional canvassers to collect signatures from voters. Because the proposed amendment would also limit attorney fees, canvassers framed the proposal to Arkansans as a way to curb greedy lawyers.

The big spending has paid off so far: Last Friday, the Arkansas secretary of state’s office announced the committee had collected 93,000 signatures, surpassing the 85,000 required to place the proposed amendment on the ballot. Nursing homes can be expected to spend much more money in the coming months on advertisements aimed at convincing voters to support the measure.

The legal and political fallout from the Maggio-Morton affair may be far from over. But with many voters unaware of the context behind the proposed constitutional amendment pushed by Morton, it’s worth taking a look back at the scandal thus far.

THE CONSCIENCE OF THE COURT

M

ike Maggio had served as a circuit judge in Conway for 12 years when the Bull case went to trial in his court. Originally appointed by former Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2001, he won re-election to the seat twice. When a position on the state Court of Appeals opened up in 2013, Maggio began considering a run for higher judicial office. In May of that year, the judge met with two key players in Arkansas politics — veteran political consultant Clint Reed and former state Sen. Gilbert Baker (RConway) — to discuss what it would take to mount a successful Court of Appeals race.

Reed later told the Arkansas Ethics Commission that he was at the meeting to share his expertise about the amount of money such a race would require: about $100,000 to $150,000.

The person responsible for actually securing the funds, though, was Baker.

Maggio and Baker were f riends, a nd a lthough they inhabited different branches of government, their political careers followed

similar trajectories. Baker first entered the state legislature in 2001. He, too, had ambitions of higher office: In 2010, he sought the GOP nomination to run against Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln. (Then-U.S. Rep. John Boozman beat Baker in the Republican primary and went on to defeat Lincoln that fall.) Term limits prevented Baker from seeking re-election to the state Senate in 2012, but like many former lawmakers, he parlayed his political connections into a lucrative post-legislative career, including a lobbying position at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway that paid $132,000 annually. Baker also helped coordinate fundraising for a number of campaigns — around 28 or 30 individual candidates at the time, according to his later statement to the ethics commission — although he says he was not paid for that work.

Among the donors Baker solicited for funds was Michael Morton, a wealthy Fort Smith businessman who owns all or part of 27 nursing homes across the state. The Greenbrier Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in which Martha Bull died five years earlier, is owned by Central Arkansas Nursing Centers, a Morton company.

Morton, whom Baker knew from his time in the legislature, had a reputation for generous political giving. A January 2015 report by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette showed

MAGGIO: Seven PACs assisting his campaign each received $3,000 from Morton.

Morton had given over $1.25 million to various state campaigns over the past 15 years — a huge sum in Arkansas, where individuals’ campaign contributions are capped at $2,000 per candidate.

Morton later said Baker asked him to support Maggio’s run for the appeals court “during a chance encounter” in May, when Morton and Baker ran into one another at Brave New Restaurant in Little Rock. Morton agreed to do so. In a recent legal filing, Morton’s attorneys argue that “while the parties might have understood that ‘support’ for a candidate generally included financial support, there was no discussion of, much less agreement to, any specific campaign contribution” during their conversation at the restaurant.

That same month, in Maggio’s courtroom in Conway, a jury was hearing the details of the death of Martha Bull. On April 6, 2008 (only a few days after she was admitted to the home), Bull began complaining of severe abdominal pain. The following day, her calls for help intensified and she began loudly crying out. A doctor was not called until 2:20 p.m. that afternoon.

Upon reviewing her medical history — which included an abdominal abscess — the phy-

sician ordered her transferred to a hospital emergency room for treatment, but when the nursing director for that shift forwarded the message, her fax was sent to a machine recently installed in a closet. Bull was found dead at 10:20 p.m.; the fax was found the next day.

The trial lasted eight days. Finding the Greenbrier nursing home liable for negligence, medical malpractice and violation of a patient’s rights, the jury dealt it a massive financial blow, awarding $5.2 million in damages to Bull’s family for pain, suffering and mental anguish. On May 16, the night the Bull verdict was handed down, Morton called Baker to discuss the need to institute tort reform in Arkansas — that is, abridging the amount of damages that can be awarded in civil lawsuits.

(The proposed constitutional amendment currently backed by Morton is an example of such a reform.) Morton later said that he and Baker did not discuss Judge Maggio during that conversation.

Maggio announced his candidacy for the Court of Appeals on June 27. On July 8, Baker received a FedEx package from Morton that contained multiple checks. Ten were campaign contributions, each in the amount of $3,000, made out to political action committees, including seven PACs created

by Baker’s attorney, Chris Stewart, in July. The last check was a charitable contribution of $100,000 to Baker’s employer, UCA. (The university has since refunded the donation.) Morton later told the ethics commission in a sworn statement that he was simply contributing to PACs identified by Baker, a trusted ally, and that while he knew some of that money would flow to Maggio’s campaign, the idea of buying a favorable ruling from the judge had “never even entered his mind.”

Morton was willing to support Maggio “because Judge Maggio had made good rulings … and had followed Arkansas law to a ‘T.’” In any case, a favorable ruling is what Morton received. His attorneys had requested Maggio grant a new trial or a remittitur — a reduction of the damage award — in the wake of the Bull verdict. On July 11, Maggio entered an order denying a new trial but granting the remittitur. “[T]he Court does find that the jury award of $5.2 million is arktimes.com

AUGUST 11, 2016

15

It’s the Party to the Party!

The Arkansas Times is launching its third annual Women Entrepreneurs issue in October, and we want to know who you think we should feature.

Here is what to keep in mind: • Your nominee must be a woman who started her own business or took over a business and is still the owner/operator.

Y T R Y! A P RT E H PA T S HE ' T I OT ry a s r T ive n n

Ride the Arkansas Times BLUES BUS to the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena

• She must be an Arkansan.

• She must be in business currently and have at least one year in business by the time of your nomination.

• We welcome nominees who are LGBTQ.

BUS na S E BLU in Hele s e l m s Ti Festiva a s n rka Blues A e it NOMINEES WILL BE ACCEPTED ! e th Biscu d i us R g h n i t UNTIL SEPTEMBER 2, 2016. i r eK Y w dline h t t to A par ea

• She must fit in one of these industry categories: food, professions (teachers, doctors, attorneys, financial advisors, etc.), nontraditional, retail and design, and two new categories - trailblazers (women who do not have their own business but have led their profession to success – pastors, teachers, CEOs, writers, etc.), and those women entrepreneurs outside of Pulaski County.

d h Submit your nominee and her contact info to Kelly Lyles, thng theturekelly@arktimes.com 0 and we will announce those selected in September.

3 i We are bringing the party with ushon g e the ea f n i r r l A panel of judges will determine the finalists fo eb a 's t Arkansas Times Blues Bus. WeIt are celebrating e'r ct. 10 h w d 0 a and they will be announced by industries in the following issues:

M j a T

s on an Biscuit 31 years of the blues at King nu ers p Joi er Join us on October 8th for d by e 9p d i 0 ov 20 AND 27 OCT 6, Charlie Musselwhite along with the $1 n pr13, s o i t R ta ch Line r o K OO: C p Charles Wilson Band, Toronzo Cannon and S: E s a n o n H T E tra ow Co rtati IL C E R MAY ORD s BusCLASS OF 2015 Bus AENTREPRENEUR Beverly “Guitar” Watkins E INCLUDbus transpo rt area WOMEN rr R O E lue C r E MON Times B Suite 200 once PRI -trip tou HONRESTAURATEURS ted c m, nsas d a P g n u Arka . Markha 2201 e BY ards the t o i t 7 o r RESERVE YOUR SEAT BY GOINGRo TO E E t o e R n 0 t v i ,A 20 RockFranke, Suzanne Carolyn Christine Basham ARG CreBoscarolo, dit C kets ta Fa es en rou l c H i e e l C T t D t i r L CENTRALARKANSASTICKETS.COM. jo nc ta aSchaefer, a Sonia Endia Veerman, Yolanda Hughes, Rosalia a M m h l r c l A fo 85 Lun 5-29 Sally Mengel, Kelley Smith, Marie Amaya s per Monroe, 7 e 3 u l b 501 oard Live ena on B s e Hel g era PRICE INCLUDES: NON TRADITIONAL s Bev u l P Round-trip tour bus transportation Kameelah Harris, Jamileh Kamran, Mary Bray Kelley, Kimberlyn Tickets into the gated concert area Blann-Anderson, Rhea Lana Riner, Stacey Faught, Lunch at a Delta Favorite Cassandra Benning, Maura Lozanoyancy Live blues performance en route to Helena

$109 per person

BEVERAGES ON BOARD THE BLUES BUS

Contact Kelly Jones @ 501-375-2985 All Major Credit Cards Accepted or mail check or money order to: Arkansas Times Blues Bus 200 E. Markham, Suite 200 Little Rock, AR 72201

Round-trip bus transportation provided by Arrow Coachlines.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Dr. Beverly Foster, Dayna Gober, Julie Dewoody Greathouse, Marcia Barnes, Lynn Mcmahon, Dr. Melanie Prince, Elizabeth Small, Karen Reynolds

RETAIL & DESIGN

Theresa Allred, Emily Brown, Jamie Darling, Erin Taylor, Mona Thompson Talena Ray, Lawrie Rash, Mary Adkins, Emese Boone

TRAILBLAZERS

Rhonda Aaron, Traci Berry, Jan Hearn Davenport, Dr. Monica Verma, Cathy Cunningham, Donna Hardcastle, Carole Baxter, Dr. Robin Bowen

A luncheon hosted by First Security Bank is planned.

Like our Bus Trips page for details, updates and other perks! facebook.com/arktimesbustrips

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AUGUST 11, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

A TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS: so great that it shocks the conscience of the Court. The Court also finds that the evidence, testimony, and argument

by Plaintiff’s counsel inflamed the jury’s passion and prejudice resulting in an award that is punitive in nature, despite the Court’s previous ruling that punitive damages would not be allowed in this case,” the judge wrote, lowering the judgment to $1 million, an 81 percent decrease.

Candidates for judicial office cannot accept — or solicit — campaign contributions more than 180 days before the election, which was May 20, 2014, in Maggio’s case. Thus, his campaign for Court of Appeals did not begin receiving contributions from the PACs established by Baker until December 2013 and January 2014, when it received $12,700. More may have been forthcoming in the following months, but then Maggio began attracting unwanted attention for other reasons.

‘A DIRTY JUDGE’

I

n March 2014, Blue Hog Report, a liberal blog authored by Little Rock lawyer Matt Campbell, published screenshots of comments made by a user on a message board for Louisiana State University fans, TigerDroppings.com. Under the handle “geauxjudge,” and for no evident purpose besides gossip, the user disclosed confidential details of an adoption proceeding by the actress Charlize Theron, which apparently occurred in Maggio’s court, though handled by a different judge. “Geauxjudge” also made numerous comments disparaging women, many of them sexual in nature.

“Women look at 2 bulges on a man, one in the front of the pants or second one in the back pocket,” read one posting.

“Whichever one is bigger they can do without the other.”

The comments also contained quips about race, homosexuality and Arkansans’ supposed tendency toward incest.

Campbell quickly drew the conclusion that “geauxjudge” was Mike Maggio, based on various identifying details, including the fact that “geauxjudge” wrote proudly of the athletic accomplishments of Maggio’s daughter.

Meanwhile, the state ethics agency responsible for policing judges’ behavior, the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, had already begun investigating Maggio about the TigerDroppings comments.

Maggio dropped his campaign for Court of Appeals when the news broke.

But Campbell then turned his attention to the events surrounding the Bull case. He noted that seven PACs assisting Maggio’s campaign each received $3,000 donations from Morton days before Maggio granted the remittitur. This led the attorney for the Bull plaintiffs, Thomas Buchanan, to file a complaint with the Arkansas Ethics Commission, which interviewed Maggio, Morton, Baker and others.

That summer, after the judicial ethics probe concluded Maggio’s TigerDroppings comments were impermissible, the Arkansas Supreme Court permanently removed him from the bench.

But it was up to the federal authorities to pursue the larger issue of the Morton donations. Since the state judiciary receives some federal funds, the U.S. Department of Justice initiated a criminal investigation of Maggio on corruption charges. In January 2015, Maggio entered a negotiated plea, meaning he agreed to fully cooperate with prosecutors in hopes of a lighter sentence.

The plea agreement signed by Maggio identifies Morton only as “Individual A … a stockholder in numerous nursing homes” and Baker as “Individual B … a lobbyist and political fundraiser.” Baker, it states, directly asked Maggio to consider running for the Court of Appeals in early 2013. On May 16 of that year, the day of the verdict in the Bull case, it says, “Individual B sent Maggio a text message stating, ‘I have a LR lunch today with the nursing home folks. The topic will be judicial races.

You are at the top of the list.’” On June 29, two days after Maggio announced his candidacy for the race, “Individual B sent Maggio a text message stating in part, ‘Well, your first 50k is on the way.’” It concludes that “Maggio granted the remittitur in part because Maggio wanted to retain [Morton’s] financial support of his campaign for Court of Appeals.” The offense to which Maggio pleaded guilty, federal funds bribery, carried a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A year passed with no further indictments. Then, in February of this year, as Maggio’s sentencing date approached, he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, arguing that he could not be charged under the federal bribery statute in question and that his previous lawyer had given him bad advice (he’s since hired new counsel). Another rea-

APRIL 7, 20 08 — MAR THA BULL DIES AT THE GREENBRIER Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, owned by Michael Morton. Her estate sues for negligence and medical malpractice.

MAY 2013 (DATE UNKNOWN) — At a Little Rock restaurant, Morton runs into Gilbert Baker, a lobbyist and political fundraiser from Conway. Baker asks Morton if he would support Conway Circuit Judge Mike Maggio if he ran for the state Court of Appeals. Morton says yes.

At the time, the Bull case is in Maggio’s court.

MAY 16, 2013 — A jury finds Morton’s Greenbrier nursing home liable for negligence and medical malpractice in the death of Martha Bull and awards $5.2 million to her estate.

MAY 17, 2013 — Maggio meets with Baker and political consultant Clint Reed to discuss the money he would need to run for the Court of Appeals.

JUNE 27, 2013 — Maggio announces his candidacy for Court of Appeals.

JULY 8, 2013 — Baker receives a FedEx package from Morton containing $30,000 in checks written to several PACs controlled by Baker, along with a $100,000 check to Baker’s then-employer, UCA. JULY 11, 2013 — Maggio grants a remittitur in the Bull case, reducing the jury’s verdict to $1 million.

DECEMBER 2013 TO JANUARY 2014 — Maggio’s campaign for Court of Appeals receives $12,700 from the PACs controlled by Baker.

MARCH 3, 2014 — Blue Hog Report publishes evidence of inappropriate online activity by Maggio. Maggio withdraws from the Court of Appeals race. Days later, BHR points out the Morton donations.

SEP T. 11, 2014 — Following an investigation by the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, the Arkansas Supreme Court orders Maggio’s immediate removal as a judge.

NOV. 18, 2014 — Attorneys for Bull’s estate sue Morton and Baker for conspiring to reduce the verdict in the Bull case. The suit is still pending today.

JAN. 9, 2015 — Maggio pleads guilty to one charge of federal bribery. The plea states he accepted donations from Morton “intending to be influenced … to remit the judgment” in the Bull case.

MARCH 24, 2016 — U.S. District Judge Brian Miller sentences Maggio to 10 years in prison after rejecting his bid to withdraw his guilty plea. Maggio appeals.

AUG. 5, 2016 — Funded by Morton and other nursing home owners, a group formed to promote a constitutional amendment to limit damages in negligence and medical malpractice lawsuits gathers enough signatures to appear on the ballot in the November election. arktimes.com

AUGUST 11, 2016

17

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ARKANSAS TIMES

son for the about-face later emerged, in part: The U.S. attorney’s office said Maggio had not fully cooperated with prosecutors and had made untruthful statements, so they had recommended a harsher sentence.

U.S. District Judge Brian Miller rejected Maggio’s attempt to withdraw the plea, and on March 24 he sentenced Maggio to 10 years in prison — the maximum allowable under law, and a departure from guidelines. “I put drug dealers in prison for five, 10, 20 years for standing on a corner selling crack cocaine,” Miller said at the time.

“A dirty judge is far more harmful to society than a dope dealer.” Corruption in the judicial system especially erodes public trust in government, he added, because “a judge is the system.”

Maggio is still attempting to withdraw his guilty plea in his appeal. He is free while the case goes through the courts.

A judge has been convicted of accepting a bribe — but no one has yet been charged with paying that bribe.

Morton and Baker both contend their actions were innocent, if unfortunately timed. Baker has said he knew nothing of the Bull case at the time he sought the donations from Morton.

He resigned his lobbying job at UCA in April 2014, saying he didn’t want to be a distraction. Morton has also denied any quid pro quo; he has said he never intended the contributions to Baker’s PACs to be related to the Bull case. Speculation has ebbed and flowed that the Justice Department is probing even broader allegations of wrongdoing, given that Baker and Morton are such well-connected political figures.

Separately, the two men are the subject of a civil suit filed in Faulkner County Circuit Court by Buchanan, the lawyer for the estate of Martha Bull, who says his clients were deprived of their property (that is, the jury’s damages award in the original negligence case) by “a closed door tete-atete of electoral corruption, bribery and felonious abuses of public trust.”

Morton, Baker and Maggio together conspired to deliver the reduced verdict, Buchanan alleges; attorneys for Morton and Baker have asked Special Judge David Laser to dismiss the case. Much depends on Maggio’s plea agreement, which Morton’s attorneys argue should not be admissible as evidence, since Maggio is still attempting to withdraw it.

“Without Maggio’s plea agreement, plaintiffs have offered no evidence that Morton bribed Maggio — other than

speculation based on the coincidence of the timing of Morton’s checks to the PACs and the remittitur in the Bull case,” a recently filed brief for Morton states.

PLAYING THE LONG GAME

A

s the lawsuit unfolds, though, so does another election cycle.

Michael Morton and other nursing home owners are hoping to convince voters this fall to amend the state’s constitution to circumscribe the right to sue for medical malpractice or negligence. If successful, it will make verdicts like those the jury rendered against Morton’s Greenbrier nursing home an impossibility. In fact, it seeks to cap such damages at one-fourth the reduced amount in the Bull case, at just $250,000. When coupled with the time and expense necessary to perform such complex litigation, that could remove any incentive for lawyers to represent individuals injured by a nursing home or their families.

Besides capping “non-economic” damages a jury in a malpractice suit may award at $250,000, the ballot initiative would also limit attorneys’ fees to one-third of the net recovery in such a suit. Anecdotally, when canvassers for the petition approached voters this summer, they typically only mentioned the second aspect of the amendment and framed the measure as a means of stopping predatory attorneys from charging exorbitant fees.

But the first point is the crucial one for nursing homes. Non-economic damages are those awarded for harms that are difficult to quantify, such as pain and suffering (whereas “economic damages” include medical bills or lost future income resulting from an injury). Non-economic damages are especially essential in cases involving nursing homes, since residents typically have no potential to earn future income.

Morton would not comment on the ongoing litigation brought by Buchanan, but his spokesman, Matt DeCample, provided the Times with the following statement regarding the proposed constitutional amendment: “Mr. Morton feels that tort reform is necessary to ensure that Arkansas nursing homes can stay in business and continue to serve those who need them. Owners and operators cannot get conventional insurance on their facilities because of the unceasing barrage of

unchecked litigation. This means that any case, whether founded or frivolous, can potentially shut down a nursing home, displacing residents and costing Arkansans their jobs.”

Martha Deaver, the president of Arkansas Advocates for Nursing Home Residents, said the proposed amendment is “a scam” that would give facilities “a free pass to abuse and neglect the elderly.” In July, she formed a committee to fight the measure. “Arkansans have a constitutional right to hold corporate wrongdoers of the health care industry accountable when they abuse and neglect our loved ones, and we are going to work hard to preserve that constitutional right,” Deaver said in a statement. “We will vigorously oppose the corporate nursing home owners’ efforts to devalue human life.”

If past battles over tort reform are any indication, the state’s trial lawyers can be expected to oppose the amendment and may well contribute to Deaver’s effort this fall (as of Aug. 8, her committee had reported no contributions). Generally speaking, attorneys have a vested interest in preserving the ability to sue for wrongdoing, just as medical providers generally have a vested interest in preventing those suits. However, although the state’s main doctors’ lobby has endorsed the current push for tort reform, there’s no question it is primarily the project of nursing homes. In May and June, individual physicians and pharmacists contributed about $1,600 to the canvassing effort. The vast majority of the rest of the contributions — over $600,000 during that period — came from nursing homes and their trade group, the Arkansas Health Care Association. Rachel Davis, a spokeswoman for AHCA, said the organization has “long supported this type of reform because it benefits Arkansans, the medical community and our members.” An excessively litigious environment for providers “increases health care cost for everyone,” Davis said.

Unlike individual candidates’ campaigns, there are no limits on the

amount of money an individual can give to a ballot initiative committee. Nonetheless, it is difficult to say how much money Morton himself has invested in the push for tort reform. His business entities contributed $135,000 in June, filings show. But it also seems reasonable to assume the state’s largest operator of nursing homes has been a major source of funds for AHCA, which provided $330,000 to the campaign in May and June. AHCA is a private entity and does not typically disclose its donations, although that could change in this case: Matt Campbell, the Blue Hog Report blogger, has filed an ethics complaint against AHCA, contending that state law says an entity contributing more than 2 percent of its annual revenues (around $2.25 million in recent years) to a ballot access committee must itself file as a committee and disclose revenue and expenditure information.

Donations to trade associations, like donations to PACs, can obscure the source of political giving. Then again, Morton makes no secret of his desire to see tort reform in Arkansas. To him, it’s a matter of sensible public policy — just as his donations to Maggio were a matter of supporting a judge with the right judicial philosophy that happened to

align with his business interests.

Morton may well never be charged with a crime for his role in the Maggio bribery case. It is difficult to prove a campaign contribution definitively constitutes a bribe. Ironically, it perhaps works in Morton’s favor that he has been so profligate in political spending in general. In the 2014 election cycle alone, campaign finance reports show Morton and his companies gave at least $250,000 in Arkansas politics, donating to both gubernatorial candidates, candidates in at least a dozen legislative races, three candidates running for open seats on the Arkansas Supreme Court, and candidates in a number of down-ballot judicial races. Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge alone received around $92,000 from Morton that year. Associate Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Wood — a friend of Maggio’s who also received fundraising help from Baker — received over $70,000 in 2014.

Assume for a moment that Morton didn’t give $30,000 to Gilbert Baker’s PACs on July 8, 2013, with a specific outcome in mind regarding the case then before Judge Maggio. Assume that the checks he sent to Baker, although i ntende d

eventually for Maggio’s campaign, were not meant to obtain a quid pro quo in reducing the Bull verdict. If that’s so, why would Morton give tens of thousands of dollars to Maggio’s campaign? For the same reason he gave to so many other candidates and the same reason any donor gives to any politician: access. In Morton’s sworn statement to the ethics commission in 2014, he told an investigator that “the best way to get access to politicians is to support them in political races.” The investigator summed up his subsequent remarks like this: “Campaigning is an industry; it is big for journalism, media, it is big for everything. Candidates want to build up money early to scare their opponents away, so he is asked early, every time. It never ends, he reiterated. It starts for him as soon as one election is over for the next. People get to him early and often. He wants that, however, because he wants to be able to have access to them to talk about his industry so they can provide quality care for the elderly in Arkansas.”

This fall, a presidential race of unprecedented spectacle will overshadow this and every other state-level issue in Arkansas. But the national discontent that fueled the rise of Republican Donald Trump (and Democrat Bernie Sanders) has been born in large part by a chronic sense among much of the voting public that the political system is rigged — that the few people with “access” get to make the rules, and that that access can be bought and sold. Traditionally, for those who lack connections and wealth, one avenue for political access is the ballot box. Another is the civil justice system, which provides a means for the powerless to demand accountability from the powerful and seek redress for legitimate grievances. In Arkansas, those rules may also change after the November election.

Max Brantley provided much of the original reporting for this story.

THE GO-BETWEEN: Former state Sen. Gilbert Baker solicited funds for Maggio's campaign from nursing home owner Michael Morton.

arktimes.com

AUGUST 11, 2016

19

Arts Entertainment AND

See the

MAIN THING

The comedy trio is a polished — but hidden — gem.

T

he show program at The Main Thing says this about Steve Farrell, head writer, composer and artistic director: “Steve’s writing has been featured on MTV, “Saturday Night Live,” Off Broadway, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the USA Network’s “Night Flight,” “The Today Show” and NBC’s “Nightly News.” Flashy career accomplishments are one thing, but then, you see Steve Farrell in action — and you’re wowed.

So first-timers at one of The Main Thing’s performances must wonder, “How have I never heard of this place — and this guy?” Why isn’t Farrell routinely cited as one of the treasures of the local arts community, right up there with Bob Hupp, formerly of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre ; or Philip Mann, conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra? Heck, more people seem to know — and be proud — that Judge Reinhold settled in Little Rock 30 years after his heyday than know about a guy who arguably is as good at writing and performing sketch comedy as almost anyone who’s ever done it.

Fame seemed assured when The Main Thing debuted in June 2012. “We had both mayors and a huge crowd. We thought we had it made after opening night,” Farrell says. And then, he says, reality set in.

“It’s so hard to explain to people what we do. They have no frame of reference.

It’s comedy theater. It’s not improv. It’s not amateur theater. It’s not stand-up comedy. It’s not The Rep.” Here’s what it is: hilarious, fast-moving, characterdriven, long-form comedies, often featuring the 15 or so members of the Fertle 20

AUGUST 11, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

Family, a dysfunctional bunch living in Dumpster, Ark. Steve plays lots of those characters, adopting voices, mannerisms and affectations, and the comedy itself is tied to a sense of place; you’ll hear references to local spots, people and events, and you’ll learn that almost anything can be linked to “a little baby owl.” Oh, and Steve’s a hell of a musician, too — his fingers fly all over his guitar or keyboard as he leads The Main Thing trio through the original music performances that punctuate each show, with Steve’s wife and decades-long collaborator Vicki Farrell on drums and local Brett Ihler on bass (Steve taught him how to play it).

Their brand of comedy has been hard to explain ever since Steve and Vicki opened Radio Music Theatre in Houston in 1984, the logical next step for the Farrells after they met on a riverboat cruising the Mississippi in 1972 while performing in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” After Steve got his master’s in fine arts at the University of Minnesota, the two moved with a friend to Houston in 1977 to open the growing city’s first comedy theater, eventually developing Radio Music Theatre in 1984, where Steve developed the multiple Fertle family characters — all played

by Steve, Vicki and Brett, master quickchange artists — and all based on “my 15 aunts and uncles and tons of cousins” in Chariton, Iowa, where Steve grew up. RMT helped Steve’s work find its way to the impressive outlets listed in the Joint’s program, notably “Saturday Night Live,” for which he wrote “Pango, Giant Dog of Tokyo,” and “Eggshell Family,” starring Steve Martin and

BRIAN CHILSON

BY KELLEY BASS

FROM FARRELL TO FERTLE: Vicki Farrell, Brett Ihler and Steve Farrell are “The Main Thing,” a comedy trio that began in Houston with the Farrells’ long-running stage comedy, “Radio Music Theatre.”

Martin Short.

Meanwhile, RMT was thriving, regularly filling its 180-seat theater for four Main Event shows a week. Living in Houston was wearing on the Farrells, though, and they decided to slowly pull the plug. “We gave our fans in Houston five years’ notice” that RMT would close, Steve says. “Houston had just gotten too big, too trafficky. When we were raising our kids, it took us 25 minutes to get to the theater. That commute was one

hour by the end.” So, the fleeing Farrells “started traveling to see where we wanted to live,” Steve says. “We ruled out hurricanes, and we ruled out hard winters. That leaves a latitudinal bar from about Santa Fe to Atlanta. We didn’t want earthquakes or water rationing. We liked Austin, but traffic is terrible there. We liked Chattanooga, but it was too small.” Impressed with the beauty of Little Rock, Steve and Vicki “liked the Clintons and the impact they

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A&E NEWS were having here. Adam, our son, and Sarah, our daughter-in-law, were in the coffee business, so we decided to join our skills and open a family business.”

With a mission in mind, the search for a location was on, the family “peering into the glass of what then was an empty shell in downtown Argenta. [Real estate professional] Fletcher Hanson saw us. He took us up to [developer] John Gaudin’s office. We gave him DVDs from Radio Music Theatre. He loved the idea, and we immediately hit it off. He liked our shows and viewed them as art.” The coffee shop, which also features wine, beer and snacks, opened May 15, 2012, and the theater came a couple of weeks later.

Their years at RMT in Houston are still a professional highlight for the Farrells and radiomusictheatre.com lives on, telling their story and offering multiple DVDs for sale. Houston fans come here to see The Main Thing, so many that their impact on local hotels and restaurants led the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau to become a sponsor of The Joint, the Farrells say. And though their shows haven’t yet consistently sold out, wordof-mouth recommendations have things moving in the right direction, they say. In the current show, “Forever Hold Your Peace,” Steve introduces Rev. Jiffy Dillard, a new character with tons of comedic potential, and the political climate today is perfectly suited for the trio’s next production: “Electile Dysfunction,” featuring “a family where Mom’s a Hillary supporter, Dad’s a Trump supporter and the son is an anarchist,” Steve says.

“If people come, they are going to like it. Whatever their preconception is, it’s probably not going to be what they think it is,” Steve says. “If they think they are going to be checking their watches to see when it’s going to be over, they won’t. If they can only take the leap of trust, and only come see one show, they will understand the concept. And then they’ll find themselves struggling to explain it to someone else.”

The Main Thing’s “Forever Hold Your Peace” continues its run at 8 p.m. each Friday and Saturday through Sept. 2, $22. For tickets, call 501-372-0205. For a full schedule of events at The Joint, visit thejointargenta.com.

GOON DES GARCONS (Brandon Burris) is off to New Zealand for a concert tour through Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin with fellow Little Rock rappers Tan the Terrible, Hector $lash and Solo Jaxon. We asked Burris, a member of Little Rock rap collective Young Gods of America and curator of the “Fire Room” series (a showcase of local rap talent), about the Arkansas sound he’s been cultivating. “I get asked that question a lot, and still to this day I don’t have a real answer for it. The only thing I do know is it’s filled with all sorts of different and unique sounds that are about to take the world by storm. Mark my words.” While down under, GDG will mix the finished tracks for his album “Aintnowayinhell,” and is putting together a “coffee table photobook” as a companion to the album, to be offered alongside other swag as incentives on the quartet’s GoFundMe campaign.

POYEN NATIVE Justin Moore, Academy of Country Music’s 2014 New Artist of the Year, celebrates the release of his album "Kinda Don’t Care” (available Aug. 12) with appearances at Waffle Houses, in partnership with the restaurant chain. Following a performance at the Clear Channel Metroplex Monday, Aug.15, Moore will be at the Waffle House at 1220 Rebsamen Park Road, where he’ll scatter, smother and cover behind the grill, play his charttoppers on the jukebox and mingle with (ticketed) fans.

ALEC OUNSWORTH, FORMERLY of Philadelphia indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, is on a solo tour of secret living-room shows across the U.S. and lands in Little Rock Aug. 17. The concert location is disclosed only after the ticket purchase is made, which you can do at undertowtickets.com.

FOR THE SECOND YEAR in a row, Kelly Griffin and his team, Grundle Productions, took home the award for Best Film at Little Rock’s 48 Hour Film Festival event for its “Sector 7,” a doomsday war scenario that takes place (mostly) within a video game. The filmmakers cited the blazing Arkansas heat as one of their chief incentives for creating the film with the use of digital graphics, rather than filming outdoors, and their effort will take “Sector 7” to compete against city winners from around the world in March at 48 Hours' Filmapalooza 2017 in Savannah, Ga.

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AUGUST 11, 2016

21

THE TO-DO

LIST

BY OMAYA JONES, LESLIE NEWELL PEACOCK AND STEPHANIE SMITTLE

THURSDAY 8/11

DAMES, DEMS & DRINKS

5:30-7:30 p.m. Pavilion in the Park. $75.

This inaugural fundraiser for the Progressive Arkansas Women PAC, which is working to elect broad-minded

women to the Arkansas legislature, will feature snacks, signature cocktails and a meet-and-greet with candidates Rep. Camille Bennett (House District 14), Melissa Fults (House District 27), Susan Inman (House District 32) and

Victoria Leigh (House District 38) and other politicians who support progressive causes. Yes, the candidates are all Democrats, but if any Republican woman in the future wants to champion women’s rights, she’ll be considered for

support as well. There’s a link to Eventbrite on the Dames, Dems and Drinks Facebook page to buy tickets, which will be sold until the day of the event, which honors the 96th anniversary of women’s voting rights. LNP

FRIDAY 8/12

'RHYTHMS OF OUR LANDS': BI-OKOTO DRUM AND DANCE THEATRE 2 p.m. Faulkner County Library, Free.

“You can call us the Afrocentric YMCA in Pleasant Ridge,” Bi-Okoto founder and director Adebola “Ade” Olowe told Cincinnati’s City Beat. Olowe, who immigrated to the Cincinnati gaslight neighborhood from Nigeria, was attending the University of Cincinnati when he decided to answer some of the questions he says he commonly fielded from his classmates (“Did you have lions in your backyard?”) by forming a West African dance troupe, one that would tie its performances to a larger cultural context, devel-

oping outreach programs like the one that toured last winter, “Black Dance Is Beautiful.” During the troupe’s audition process, he met Jeaunita Weathersby, now his wife, and the pair eventually purchased a performance space, gallery, and costume and drum repair shop from which they operate the Bi-Okoto Cultural Institute, offering language classes in Hausa, Yoruba and Twi, as well as classes in the cooking and sewing traditions of West Africa. The troupe has toured in Europe and South Korea extensively, and for the last several years has held an annual heritage festival that celebrates and teaches dance traditions, food, storytelling and visual art from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. SS

FRIDAY 8/12

2ND FRIDAY ART NIGHT

5 p.m. Various galleries. Free.

KAY ODYSSEY: Austin music scene vets Liz Burrito, Kristina Boswell, Kelsey Wickliffe and Vajaja Valejo will bring new wave tunes from their debut album "Chimera" to Maxine's Thursday, Aug. 11.

THURSDAY 8/11

KAY ODYSSEY

9 p.m. Maxine’s, Hot Springs.

Morphed from a different lineup and a slightly different name (Kay Leotard), Kay Odyssey is made up of members from a smattering of Austin bands, including ¿Que Pasa?, Dikes of Holland and No Mas Bodas. The quartet released a debut album, “Chimera,” in 2015, a trippy collection of modern new wave that weaves Vajaja Valejo’s hypnotic drums with Liz 22

AUGUST 11, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

Burrito’s Johnny Marr-esque guitar and Kelsey Wickliffe’s melodic bass, topped off with a sonorous, sometimes spooky warble from lead singer and guitarist Kristina Boswell. Live shows and videos — like the one Federico Moreno shot for the band’s song “Snake” — lend an LSDflecked ephemera to the band’s aesthetic, a vibe that’s sure to fit in seamlessly with the red light ambience at the former brothel on Central Avenue, Maxine’s. SS

While the heat outside’s left most people strolling for function rather than for fun, 2nd Friday Art Night is a time you should make an exception to that rule.

Here’s this month’s lineup. At the Historic Arkansas Museum, enjoy American songbook-style jazz from Heather Smith and her band while David Malcolm Rose’s architectural models are unveiled, exploring forgotten Americana like “Sunset Drive-In,” which was inspired by the nowdemolished drive-in movie theater on Asher, and “Gas,” based on the Round Top filling station in Sherwood. Those are paired with fine art photography from Walter Arnold, who travels the

country in search of buildings on the brink of being forgotten, like Hot Springs’ Majestic Hotel. The Butler Center Galleries feature work from jewelry maker and fabric artist Bonnie Krastner, with music from saxophonist Dave Williams and friends. At the Old State House Museum, sip some Stone’s Throw brews, dig some jazz from Michael Carenbauer’s trio and check out “We Make Our Own Choices: Staff Picks from the Old State House Collection.” Matt McLeod Fine Art Gallery is showing "The Human Experience, An Artistic Expression of Human Existance"; next door at Bella Vita Jewelry, there’s a “Summer Shindig Party,” where you can get sweets from Loblolly Creamery and brews from Lost Forty, and make a donation to The Van. SS

IN BRIEF

THURSDAY 8/11

SATURDAY 8/13

DOLLY PARTON

7:30 p.m. Verizon Arena. $66-$120.

“I’ve always been misunderstood because of how I look. Don’t judge me by my cover, ’cause I’m a real good book.”

The real-life Backwoods Barbie is coming to North Little Rock, uniting a stunningly diverse group of superfans in unfettered enthusiasm for the icon, all of whom will regale anyone who will listen with the thousands of ways in which Dolly is so much more than jokes about her breasts — which, by the way, she has humored over the years with boundless grace and wit: “I would have been very tall had I not gotten so bunched up at the top.” Her status as

a patron saint in the LGBT community is long-lived (and local, too: see Club Sway’s House of Avalon T-shirt, an image of Dolly above the hashtag #PROPHET), but was cemented in 2014 when she made statements in favor of gay marriage, quipping, “They should suffer just like us heterosexuals.” Let’s look at Dolly’s career by the numbers: Parton turned 70 earlier this year, and the doctor that brought her into the world was paid one bag of oatmeal for the task. (Later, Parton donated more than a half-million dollars to a hospital named for him.) She was one of 12 children in a one-room cabin in Locust Ridge near the Smoky Mountains. She has composed over

3,000 songs. She plays 10 instruments — a dozen if you count her voice and the autoharp: fiddle, mandolin, guitar, dulcimer, banjo, saxophone, pennywhistle, organ, harmonica and piano. Through her charitable foundation’s program Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, her staff distributes one book a month to over 850,000 children from birth through kindergarten.

If reviews of her current tour — and her reputation for indulging her audience — are any indication, she’ll be playing pareddown versions of her greatest hits Saturday evening at Verizon Arena, backed by three musicians, each of whom have backed her for at least 25 years. SS

town. From underneath whatever tents or umbrella pods we could construct to ward off the relentless sun, we watched as Cedell delivered the bad news over and over again — sans the butter knife he once used as a substitute for his polio-wracked hands to fret the guitar — but still imbued with the gravity of his station as one of the last remaining “hill country blues” musicians: “You know I done brought

that woman my money every time I get my pay / You know, sometimes I wish that woman would change her ways, she’s got the devil in her … She says, ‘I feel like doin’ somethin’ wrong.’ ” Davis was solidly backed up and guided through the tunes with due reverence from his bandmates of several years, Zakk and Greg “Big Papa” Binns, who join him for this early Sunday show. SS

SUNDAY 8/14

CEDELL DAVIS

6 p.m. White Water Tavern. $7.

Earlier this year, Cedell Davis was singing from his wheelchair on a stage in the center of a treeless field on state Highway 23 at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, to which the Eureka Springs Blues Festival had been relocated after years of grappling with limited parking on the winding, craggy streets down-

'DO THE RIGHT THING': Arkansas Times presents Spike Lee's 1989 joint, which explores volcanic racial tensions in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn by following Mookie (Spike Lee), who works as a delivery man for an Italian-American-owned pizza parlor.

TUESDAY 8/16

ARKANSAS TIMES PRESENTS: 'DO THE RIGHT THING' 6 p.m. Riverdale 10 Cinema. $8.

Inspired by a pair of racially motivated killings in 1980s Brooklyn, Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” opens with a dance sequence set to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” in which Rosie Perez (playing “Tina” in her debut film role) dances, thrusts and punches in front of a slide projection depicting the type of Brooklyn neighborhood in which the film is set. The four-minute sequence took eight hours and took a physical toll

on Perez, who admits she didn’t understand what Lee was going for until she saw it in theaters; it’s aggressive and confrontational, and it sets the tone for the film to follow. In colors reminiscent of the Technicolor films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Lee manages to seamlessly integrate a political message in a loose narrative. He’s a filmmaker just as in love with the medium as he is with his peers, even if he’s not often mentioned as a cinephile in the same breath as Scorsese or Tarantino.

Set in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neigh-

borhood of Brooklyn on the hottest day of the year, the story follows Mookie (played by Lee) as he delivers pizza for Sal’s Pizzeria — the Italian-Americanowned locus of the community — and the way tensions rise within the community as the day wears on. “Do the Right Thing” is Spike Lee’s third film (preceded by “She’s Gotta Have It” and “School Daze”), and it marries the director’s artistic talent and film influences with a sense of urgency and purpose that’s just as relevant today in 2016 as it was in 1989. OJ

Liz Blackwell fronts Castle, a metal band stopping through Little Rock on its “Graveyard Tour,” with an opening set from Little Rock’s Mainland Divide, 9 p.m., $6. Kevin Kerby and Mark Edgar Stuart pair up on a bill at the White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. “James and the Giant Peach” opens at The Studio Theater, 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. through Aug. 21, $25-$35. The Block Party music series features Courtney Shepard and Friends, 7:30 p.m., $10. David Bazan (formerly of Pedro the Lion) comes to Stickyz with Michael Nau, 9 p.m., $15. Dogtown Film Series screens “The Color Purple,” 7 p.m., Argenta Community Theater.

FRIDAY 8/12 Acclaimed songwriter Jimmy “Daddy” Davis plays at South on Main, 9 p.m., $10. Rapper Jelly Roll shares a bill with Whitney Peyton at Stickyz, 9 p.m., $12$15. CosmOcean holds down the latenight Argenta scene at Four Quarter Bar, 10 p.m., $7. Ed Bowman plays for the night owls at Midtown Billiards, 2 a.m. Self-described “gentlefolk” of The Great Nothing Yet play a set at King’s Live Music, with opener Taylor Nealey, 8:30 p.m., $5. Markham Street Grill and Pub hosts a show from Psychedelic Velocity, 8:30 p.m., free. Splendid Chaos takes the stage at West End Smokehouse, 10 p.m., $7.

SATURDAY 8/13 Burlesque troupe Foul Play Cabaret accompanies Frontier Circus in “The Circus Variety Show” at Maxine’s, Hot Springs, 9 p.m. The Rev Room hosts a tribute to Sting, “The Homage of Sting & The Police,” featuring Ryan Jackson and Charlie Askew, 8 p.m., $10-$20.

If “The Hook” brings you back, check out Blues Traveler at Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater, 8 p.m., $55$65. Liberty Bridge plays Hibernia Irish Tavern, 8 p.m., free. “Sweeney Todd” continues at Hot Springs’ Pocket Theater, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2:30 p.m. Sun. through Aug. 14, $5-$15. Sean Fresh & the Nasty Fresh Crew join Soulution and Dazz Brie at White Water, 9:30 p.m.

SUNDAY 8/14 French black metal quartet Plebeian Grandstand and Brooklyn’s Pyrrhon share a bill with Throne of Pestilence, 7 p.m., $6, Vino’s.

TUESDAY 8/16 KUAR-FM, 89.1, and KLRE-FM, 90.5, host an open house with music from Gray A.M., Zakk & Big Papa Binns and The Uh-Huhs, 5820 Asher Ave., 5 p.m.

DeFrance plays at Conway’s Bear’s Den Pizza, 10 p.m. arktimes.com

AUGUST 11, 2016

23

AFTER DARK All events are in the Greater Little Rock area unless otherwise noted. To place an event in the Arkansas Times calendar, please email the listing and all pertinent information, including date, time, location, price and contact information, to calendar@arktimes.com.

MUSIC

THURSDAY, AUG. 11

MUSIC

Big Papa Binns. The Tavern Sports Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. thetavernsportsgrill.com.

Block Party Music Series: Courtney Shepard and Friends. Also featuring Karen Jr., Rodger King, Gene Reid and Justin Patterson. The Joint, 7:30 p.m., $10. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501372-0205. thejointargenta.com.

Castle, Mothwind. Vino’s, 9 p.m., $6. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. vinosbrewpub.com.

David Bazan. With Michael Nau. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $15. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. stickyz.com.

Drageoke. Hosted by Queen Anthony James Gerard: a drag show followed by karaoke. Sway, 8 p.m. 412 Louisiana. clubsway.com.

Fundamental. With guest DJ Joel Allenbaugh.

Next Bistro and Bar, 9 p.m., free. 2611 Kavanaugh Blvd. 501-663-6398. www.facebook.com/ LRnextbar/timeline.

Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

John “Papa” Gros. Revolution, 9 p.m., $10-$15.

300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. revroom.com.

Karaoke. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m., free. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444.

Kay Odyssey. Maxine’s, 9 p.m. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxineslive.com.

Kevin Kerby, Mark Edgar Stuart. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. whitewatertavern.com.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Moments Before. Followed by S.I.N. Karaoke.

Kings Live Music, 8 p.m., free. 1020 Front St #102, Conway. kingslivemusic.com.

Nate Hancock & The Declaration. With Darryl Brooks, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. High, Drawing Blanks and The Ozark Travelers. George’s Majestic Lounge, 8 p.m., $5. 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-442-4226. georgesmajesticlounge.com.

RockUsaurus. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 7111 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876.

Ryan Sauders. Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro, 6 p.m., free.

17711 Chenal Parkway. 501-821-1144. yayasar. com.

Smokey. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 8 p.m., free. 111 W. Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com.

Tragikly White. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com.

COMEDY

Janet Williams. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m., $8.

10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. loonybincomedy.com.

EVENTS 24

AUGUST 11, 2016

HEY LUENELL: Tolletteborn comedian Luenell (“Katt Williams: American Hustle,” “Borat,” “Snoop Dogg’s Bad Girls of Comedy”) returns home to Arkansas for a show at Club Envy as part of “Disrespectful: The Comedy Tour” with Hope Flood (“Def Comedy Jam,” “Martin Lawrence Presents”), also featuring Dell Smith, Wideload, LaVantor and Nuf Ced, 8 p.m., $20-$30.

ArkiePub Trivia. Stone’s Throw, 6:30 p.m., free.

402 E. 9th St. 501-244-9154. stonesthrowbeer. com.

FILM

“The Color Purple.” Part of the Dogtown Film Series. Argenta Community Theater, 7 p.m. 405 Main St., NLR. 501-353-1443. argentacommunitytheater.com.

“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.” With a game of “Capture the Flag” at 6 p.m., as part of the James Bond Marathon. Ron Robinson Theater, 7:30 p.m., $10. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. ronrobinsontheater.org.

LECTURES

History of Native Tribes at Parkin Archaeological State Park. Old State House Museum, noon, free. 300 W. Markham St. 501324-9685. oldstatehouse.com.

KIDS

Garden Club. A project of the Faulkner County Urban Farm Project. Ages 7 and up or with supervision. Faulkner County Library, 3:30 p.m., free. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. www. fcl.org.

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All In Fridays. Envy. 7200 Colonel Glenn Road.

501-562-3317.

Blake Goodwin. The Tavern Sports Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. thetavernsportsgrill.com.

Chris DeClerk. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free.

2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com.

Crisis. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com.

Ed Bowman. Midtown Billiards, 2 a.m., $5. 1316 Main St. 501-372-9990. midtownar.com.

The Federalis. With Josh Powell & The Great Train Robbery, Sea Nanners. Maxine’s. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxineslive.com.

The Great Nothing Yet. With Taylor Nealey.

Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. 1020 Front St., No. 102, Conway. kingslivemusic.com.

Jelly Roll. With Whitney Peyton. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $12-$15. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. stickyz.com.

John Keathley. Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro, 6 p.m., free.

17711 Chenal Parkway. 501-821-1144. yayasar. com.

Kalo. Smoke and Barrel Tavern, 10 p.m., free.

324 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-521-6880. smokeandbarrel.com.

Lady Boi’s Playpen Episode 2: Big Top. A drag show with a carnival theme. Sway, 9 p.m. 412 Louisiana. clubsway.com.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Michael McDonald & Boz Scaggs. Walmart AMP, 7:30 p.m., $41-$81. 5079 W. Northgate Road, Rogers. 479-443-5600. waltonartscenter.org.

Psychedelic Velocity. Markham Street Grill And Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. 11321 W. Markham St. 501224-2010. markhamstreetpub.com.

Salsa Dancing. Clear Channel Metroplex, 9 p.m., $5-$10. 10800 Col. Glenn Road. 501-217-5113. www.littlerocksalsa.com.

Splendid Chaos. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, Aug. 12-13, 10 p.m., $7. 215 N. Shackleford. 501-224-7665. westendsmokehouse.net.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 8 p.m., free. 111 W. Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com/.

Upscale Friday. IV Corners, 7 p.m. 824 W. Capitol Ave.

COMEDY

“Forever Hold Your Peace.” By comedy trio The Main Thing. The Joint, through Sept. 2: 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointargenta.com.

Janet Williams. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $12. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road.

501-228-5555. loonybincomedy.com.

DANCE

Ballroom dancing. Free lessons begin at 7 p.m.

Bess Chisum Stephens Community Center, 8-11 p.m., $7-$13. 12th and Cleveland streets. 501221-7568. www.blsdance.org.

Bi-Okoto African Drum and Dance Theatre.

Faulkner County Library, 2 p.m., free. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-327-7482. fcl.org.

EVENTS

Fantastic Friday. Literary and music event, refreshments included. For reservations, call

SATURDAY, AUG. 13

MUSIC

Ben Byers. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com.

The Tavern Sports Grill, 7:30 p.m., free. 17815 Chenal Parkway. 501-830-2100. thetavernsportsgrill.com.

Blues Traveler. Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater, 8 p.m., $55-$65. 1701 E. Grand Ave., Hot Springs. magicsprings.com.

Christine DeMeo Duo. Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro, 6 p.m., free. 17711 Chenal Parkway. 501-8211144. yayasar.com.

Dolly Parton. Verizon Arena, 7:30 p.m., $66$120. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975-9001. verizonarena.com.

An Evening with The O’Jays. With The Funk Factory. Walmart AMP, 7 p.m., $5-$10. 5079 W. Northgate Road, Rogers. 479-443-5600. waltonartscenter.org.

Foul Play Cabaret Presents “The Circus Variety Show.” With Frontier Circus. Maxine’s. 700 Central Ave., Hot Springs. maxineslive.com.

“The Homage of Sting & The Police.” Revolution, 8 p.m., $10-$20. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501823-0090. revroom.com.

Joshua Powell & The Great Train Robbery.

With The Federalis. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $7. 107 River Market Ave. 501372-7707. stickyz.com.

Karaoke at Khalil’s. Khalil’s Pub, 7 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com.

Karaoke. Zack’s Place, 8 p.m., free. 1400 S. University Ave. 501-664-6444. Casa Mexicana, 7 p.m. 7111 JFK Blvd., NLR. 501-835-7876.

Karaoke with Kevin & Cara. All ages, on the restaurant side. Revolution, 9 p.m.-12:45 a.m., free. 300 President Clinton Ave. 501-823-0090. www.rumbarevolution.com/new.

Liberty Bridge. Hibernia Irish Tavern, 8 p.m., free.

9700 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-246-4340. hiberniairishtavern.com.

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Me Like Bees. Smoke and Barrel Tavern, 10 p.m., free. 324 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville. 479-5216880. smokeandbarrel.com.

Mike Robinson. Markham Street Grill and Pub, 8:30 p.m., free. 11321 W. Markham St. 501-2242010. markhamstreetpub.com.

Queen Anne’s Revenge. Midtown Billiards,

QC:

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CW: Trim: 2.125" x 5.5" Bleed: none

CD: AD: AM:

Closing Date: 3/18/16

Pub: Arkansas Times

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COMEDY

“Forever Hold Your Peace.” By comedy trio The Main Thing. The Joint, through Sept. 2: 8 p.m., $22. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointargenta.com.

Janet Williams. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $12. 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road.

501-228-5555. loonybincomedy.com.

PO:

Job/Order #: 279609 QC: cs Brand: Bud Not Ponies Item #: PBW20167305

FILM

“Live and Let Die.” With a Museum of Discovery exhibit at 6 p.m., as part of the James Bond Marathon. Ron Robinson Theater, 7:30 p.m., $10. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. ronrobinsontheater.org.

2 a.m., $5. 1316 Main St. 501-372-9990. midtownar.com.

Rob & Tyndall. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m., free.

2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf. com.

Rustenhaven. Cajun’s Wharf, 9 p.m., $5. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. cajunswharf.com.

Sean Fresh and the Nasty Fresh Crew. With Soulution and Dazz Brie. White Water Tavern, 9:30 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. whitewatertavern.com.

Sol Tribe. With Nick Caffrey. Kings Live Music, 8:30 p.m., $5. 1020 Front St., No. 102, Conway. kingslivemusic.com.

Splendid Chaos. West End Smokehouse and Tavern, 10 p.m., $7. 215 N. Shackleford. 501224-7665. westendsmokehouse.net.

Ted Ludwig Trio. Capital Bar and Grill, 8 p.m., free. 111 W. Markham St. 501-370-7013. www. capitalbarandgrill.com/.

MUST INITIAL FOR APPROVAL

479-968-2452 or email artscenter@centurytel. net. River Valley Arts Center, Every third Friday, 7 p.m., $10 suggested donation. 1001 E. B St., Russellville. 479-968-2452. www.arvartscenter. org.

LGBTQ/SGL weekly meeting. Diverse Youth for Social Change is a group for LGBTQ/SGL and straight ally youth and young adults age 14 to 23. For more information, call 501-244-9690 or search “DYSC” on Facebook. First Presbyterian Church, 6:30 p.m. 800 Scott St. Orenda Cirque and Sideshow. Vino’s. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. vinosbrewpub.com.

EVENTS

Hillcrest Farmers Market. Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd.

Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market pavilions, 7 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

© 2016 ANHEUSER-BUSCH, BUDWEISER® BEER, ST. LOUIS, MO

FILM

“License to Kill.” With a Cultural Fair at 4 p.m., as part of the James Bond Marathon. Ron Robinson Theater, 2 p.m., $10. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. ronrobinsontheater.org.

“Tomorrow Never Dies.” With a Cultural Fair at 4 p.m., as part of the James Bond Marathon.

Ron Robinson Theater, 6 p.m., $10. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. ronrobinsontheater.org.

SUNDAY, AUG. 14

MUSIC

The Boomers. Part of Faulkner County Library’s Summer Music Series. Faulkner County Library, 2 p.m., free. 1900 Tyler St., Conway. 501-3277482. fcl.org.

Irish Traditional Music Session. Hibernia Irish Tavern, 2:30 p.m. 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road.

501-246-4340. www.hiberniairishtavern.com.

Plebeian Grandstand, Pyrrhon, Throne of Pestilence. Vino’s, 7 p.m., $6. 923 W. 7th St. 501-375-8466. vinosbrewpub.com.

BEST LIVE MUSIC FESTIVAL

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Artists for Recovery. A secular recovery group for people with addictions, open to the public, located in the church’s Parlor. Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, 10 a.m.

1601 S. Louisiana.

Bernice Garden Farmer’s Market. Bernice Garden, 10 a.m. 1401 S. Main St. www.theberCONTINUED ON PAGE 30

Q NATION’S FOREMOST

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COMEDY

Disrespectful Comedy Tour. Featuring comics Luenell and Hope Flood. Envy, 8 p.m., $20-$30.

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arktimes.com

AUGUST 11, 2016

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ARKANSAS TIMES

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arktimes.com

AUGUST 11, 2016

27

Dining WHAT’S COOKIN’ CAFE NEPH(R)ESH, which opened April 4 in Conway on 810 Fourth Ave., is one of those places you can feel good patronizing, because it serves up food with a side of social justice. The sandwich, soup and salad menu draws from local sources, including Grassroots Farmer’s Co-op, Leiva’s Coffee and Van’s Honey. Outside economies get a boost, too; a portion of every purchase is donated to Living Mosaics, a woman’s jewelry-making business in Thailand. The restaurant also donates to Project Zero, an Arkansas-based program that promotes adoption.

The unusual name is a twist on the Hebrew word nephesh, which means soul, life and appetite; owners Dwayne and Shana Wilson, both native Arkansans, added the r to signify the fresh food and refreshing atmosphere of Neph(r)esh. You can read more about Neph(r)esh on the Times’ Eat Arkansas Blog, where you’ll find praise for the potato and tomato bisque soups, the Reuben sandwich and quiche. Cookies, muffins and desserts are made in-house; there’s also a weekly special dessert and soup. Neph(r)esh seats 60, including a party room. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Phone is 501-358-6694. Neph(r)esh also caters. nephresh.com.

JOHN MUNDAY, CHEF at Samantha’s Tap Room and Wood Grill, is not the King of American Seafood. But he’s second in line to the throne after competing Saturday in the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board’s Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans. Munday prepared a dish called August in Arkansas, which he described as “bronze grouper over an Ozark Mountain rice cake with smoked pork belly and lump crab meat, with head-on gulf shrimp, topped with a lemongrass custard sauce and an Arkansas melon and tomato relish.” How is it possible that didn’t win? Eleven chefs, using seafood from the Gulf, competed before a live audience; winner was Alex Eaton of the Manship Wood Fired Kitchen in Jackson, Miss.

LITTLE ROCK RESTAURANT Month continues this week, through Aug. 14, at Midtown, Heights and Hillcrest restaurants.

Some of the deals: Baja Grill, at the corner of Kavanaugh and University, is offering 20 percent food purchases; Cafe Bossa Nova in Hillcrest will knock $3 off the menu price for its deep fried mahi mahi; Heights Taco and Tamale is offering free cheese dip or salsa trio with the purchase of an entrée or salad; the venerable Oyster Bar is discounting a pound of jumbo shrimp by $3. Go to littlerock.com/ dining/featured.

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AUGUST 11, 2016

ARKANSAS TIMES

LAOTIAN DISH IN THE MIX: Larb Gai, minced meat with fresh herbs and spices, a meal in itself.

Thai worth the drive Sherwood staple should be on your list.

D

id you ever frequent a place that held some kind of unexplainable magic? Maybe it was a park down the road from your first home, a particular pew in your church or that spot in the back of the library. But, for whatever reason, every time you were there, things were better, easier. The pressure was off.

The mood was light. All you had to do was relax and let things happen.

For a couple of years now, Chang Thai in Sherwood — a small, familyowned restaurant that is neighbor to a Subway in a mini-strip mall north of North Little Rock — has been one of our magic places.

Let’s just be clear: You don’t go to Chang Thai for a dazzling atmosphere. Those looking for ambiance or a romantic candlelit dinner will instead find florescent lighting and young children playing in a playpen

behind the register, watching cartoons on an iPad. They might be a tad let down, but their disappointment would end there. The restaurant’s unassuming digs belie how absolutely delicious the food is.

But we can already hear you, Little Rock readers. You don’t want to drive out to Sherwood. Of course you don’t.

But do it this once. It doesn’t take as long as you’ve been dreading. Order practically anything off the menu and you’ll never think twice about going to Sherwood again.

We’ve never had anything we didn’t like. But we will offer this very important warning: Chang’s serves up dishes on a spicy scale of one to 10, but five is not the middle! Even those who like it hot probably need to start off around a 3. We thought we enjoyed spice until we ordered something at a 6, a mistake we won’t make again.

We like to start off small, which is good because Chang’s delivers on appetizers. On our last trip, we started with vegetable spring rolls ($1.95), which were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, thanks to the addition of rice noodles. It was a great mix of texture and they tasted great. Next we had a “salad,” except this salad was mostly meat and not greens. Larb (or Larb Gai) is a Laotian dish made of minced meat mixed with a light sauce and plenty of fresh herbs and spices. Chang’s version ($8) is one of the best we’ve had. We opted for the pork variety, which was cooked with scallions and shallots and then tossed with fresh cilantro and mint.

Slightly cooked red onions and the romaine lettuce it’s served on provide a nice crunch. The sauce was a perfect balance of sweet, sour and spicy. The flavor from the fish sauce was subtle and the chili was definitely there, but not overpowering. This could have been a meal in itself.

We decided to split two entrees.

The first was an order of Thai Chili Fried Rice ($9) with beef, a must-order.

The rice was fluffy and there was a good serving of crisp, barely cooked vegetables tossed into the dish. Each bite offered a little heat from the chili

BELLY UP

Check out the Times’ food blog, Eat Arkansas arktimes.com

THAI COMFORT FOOD: The Pad See-You is a hearty dish of chicken, vegetables and stirfried noodles.

and some sweetness from the Thai basil. The whole dish had that light chili-oil sheen that coats your mouth and helps warm each bite.

The Pad See-You ($9) was another hearty and delicious offering. The chicken, carrots, broccoli, and egg were stir-fried with thick, wide rice noodles. A light coating of soy sauce on the noodles lent a richness and depth to the dish that made it something more than stir-fry. It was truly comforting comfort food.

Chang Thai has dessert offerings, but our favorite comes from the appetizer menu. Order the sesame balls — deep-fried rice flour pastry coated in sesame seeds and stuffed with sweetened red bean paste ($3.75). If you ask, the kitchen will happily stir up a side of lightly sweetened coconut milk, which makes for a perfect dipping sauce. We keep hoping that if we order this enough, it will officially become a dessert option. No such luck so far, but it’s the perfect dessert option after a spicy dinner.

We’ve always felt like Chang Thai was our little secret. It never fails to impress and has been extremely consistent trip after trip. No beer and wine may be a downside, but it keeps costs low.

We never would have found out about Chang Thai if we hadn’t just sucked it up one night and driven out to Sherwood. For a food scene bizarrely devoid of good Thai places, it’s more than worth the trip.

CHANG THAI & ASIAN CUISINE 9830 state Hwy. 107 (north JFK Boulevard) Sherwood 501-835-4488

QUICK BITE It’s hard to go wrong with any of the appetizers. The hot wings ($4.75) are goodsized, served up crispy, hot and with a great sauce (add some sriracha to make ’em extra special). The dumplings ($3.75) are also a favorite. As for entrees, it’s hard to order Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant and not feel like you’re ordering exactly what every other person who comes in the door orders, but it’s great here ($9). Some of the best around.

HOURS 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sunday.

OTHER INFO No beer or wine. Credit cards accepted.

WORK OUT WITH AN EXPERT Kathleen Rea specializes in helping men and women realize their physical potential, especially when injuries or just the aches and pains of middle age and more discourage a good work out. With a PH.D. in Biomedical Engineering, Kathleen understands how your body works and how to apply the right exercise and weight training to keep you fit and injury free. Workout in the privacy of a small, well equipped gym conveniently located in Argenta with one of the state’s best private trainers. For more information call Kathleen at 501-324-1414.

REGENERATION FITNESS KATHLEEN L. REA, PH.D.

(501) 324-1414 117 East Broadway, North Little Rock www.regenerationfitnessar.com Email: regfit@att.net arktimes.com

AUGUST 11, 2016

29

AFTER DARK, CONT.

MOVIE REVIEW nicegarden.org.

FILM

“Casino Royale.” With card and tabletop games at 2 p.m., as part of the James Bond Marathon.

Ron Robinson Theater, 5 p.m., $10. 1 Pulaski Way. 501-320-5703. ronrobinsontheater.org.

MONDAY, AUG. 15 JAILBREAK: In “Suicide Squad,” the incarcerated (from left) Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Katana (Karen Fukuhara), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Deadshot (Will Smith) and Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) team up to defend the world from Enchantress in exchange for lighter sentences.

A cluttered confection ‘Suicide Squad’ sinks under the weight of its cast list.

BY SAM EIFLING

T

he first look at “Suicide Squad,” the head-on collision between a clown car and a flaming hearse out in theaters now, came in July 2015 at ComicCon. That first trailer cast a gloomy, dour color palette and outlook — the same sort of overwrought faux-operatic tone that shackled this spring’s fellow DC franchise kickstarter, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” When that film’s reviews approximated 800 words of eye-rolls, DC blinked, and desperate for a movie that human beings could actually connect with, went full Nickelodeon on the color correction and reshoots before “Suicide Squad” landed. Bye-bye asphalt-on-black title card. Hello, hypercolored fever-dreamy opening logos and credits sequence. As a bygone villain might’ve asked much earlier in the process: Why so serious?

The pivot didn’t save DC from another blitz of cranky reviews, and rightly so.

Director/writer David Ayer (“End of Watch,” “Training Day”) crammed so many villains-as-heroes into the first 30 minutes that there’s scarcely time to decide whether we care about any of them.

The next hour and a half goes partway to answering those questions, through one of the least interesting structures you’ve ever seen in a film. The story’s a mess, the soundtrack is larded with cliches and, even after its facelift, the film gets bogged down in Dark Urban Gunfighting. All that, and yet it’s also, improbably, a sugary rush that manages to endear itself as a hot mess by the end. You just can’t stay mad at it.

Blame Will Smith and Margot Robbie.

Smith plays Deadshot, the sharpshooting underworld assassin and doting father, and Robbie plays Harley Quinn, a bat30

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ARKANSAS TIMES

swinging, gun-toting psychopath the Joker turned out. We begin with them and other bad guys (we keep hearing this phrase, “bad guys” throughout — stay edgy, fam) chilling in an off-grid Louisiana prison, while a Machiavellian bureaucrat named Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, smilelessly) starts politicking to get them out. She surmises that they’re the only weapons strong enough to protect the world against Superman-level threats, now that (spoiler alert!) Supe is 6 feet under. Everyone acknowledges this could be the worst idea since Windows phones.

And yet. After a vetting process slightly shorter than whatever John McCain put Sarah Palin through in ’08, a whole roster of ex-cons hits the streets under the view of Army badass Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) to stop his lady friend, Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), possessed by a 6,000-year-old Central American goddess, from destroying the world. You see how quickly this can spiral out of control.

Back to Smith and Robbie. Smith knows how to modulate between cocky sharpshooter and reluctant bandleader, even if you never really believe he’s going to grease Flag. Robbie steals the show as the unhinged bad girl who got dropped into a vat of chemicals at Acme and then found enough patience to dye her hair with Kool-Aid. She and Jared Leto’s Joker serve as a sort of Bonnie and Clyde for Juggalos. How is Leto, anyway, at a role Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for? Eh, he’s fine. He doesn’t get enough screen time to really make his mark on the part. How can Joker get so few scenes, you ask? This movie is just too full of people already.

MUSIC

Live music. No cover charge Sun.-Tue. and Thu. Ernie Biggs. 307 President Clinton Ave. 501-3724782. littlerock.erniebiggs.com.

Open Mic. The Lobby Bar. Studio Theatre, 8 p.m. 320 W. 7th St. Richie Johnson. Cajun’s Wharf, 5:30 p.m. 2400 Cantrell Road. 501-375-5351. www.cajunswharf. com.

TUESDAY, AUG. 16

MUSIC

American Lions, Couch Jackets. White Water Tavern, 9 p.m. 2500 W. 7th St. 501-375-8400. whitewatertavern.com.

Charlotte Taylor. Dizzy’s Gypsy Bistro, 6 p.m., free. 200 River Market Ave. 501-375-3500. dizzysgypsybistro.net.

DeFrance. Bear’s Den Pizza, 10:30 p.m., free.

235 Farris Road, Conway. 501-328-5556. bearsdenpizza.net.

Jeff Ling. Khalil’s Pub, 6 p.m. 110 S. Shackleford Road. 501-224-0224. www.khalilspub.com.

Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

Karaoke Tuesday. Prost, 8 p.m., free. 322 President Clinton Blvd. 501-244-9550. willydspianobar.com/prost-2.

COMEDY

“Punch Line” Stand-Up Comedy. Hosted by Brett Ihler. The Joint, 8 p.m., $5. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

EVENTS

Little Rock Farmers’ Market. River Market pavilions, 7 a.m. 400 President Clinton Ave. 375-2552. www.rivermarket.info.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio. DickeyStephens Park, Aug. 16-18, 7:10 p.m., $7-$13.

400 W. Broadway, NLR. 501-664-1555. milb.com.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 17

MUSIC

Jim Dickerson. Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, 7 p.m. 500 President Clinton Ave. 501-324-2999. www.sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.

Jocelyn & Chris Arndt. Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 9 p.m., $8. 107 River Market Ave. 501-372-7707. stickyz.com.

Journey, The Doobie Brothers. With Dave Mason. Verizon Arena, 7 p.m., $54-$119. 1 Alltel Arena Way, NLR. 501-975-9001. verizonarena.com.

Sounds in the Stacks: Ned Perme. Sidney S. McMath Library, 6:30 p.m., free. 2100 John Barrow Drive. 501-225-0066. cals.org.

Will Mendenhall. Dizzy’s Gypsy Bistro, 6 p.m., free. 200 River Market Ave. 501-375-3500. dizzysgypsybistro.net.

COMEDY

The Joint Venture. Improv comedy group. The Joint, 8 p.m., $8. 301 Main St. No. 102, NLR. 501-

372-0205. thejointinlittlerock.com.

Ralphie Roberts. The Loony Bin, 7:30 p.m., $8.

10301 N. Rodney Parham Road. 501-228-5555. loonybincomedy.com.

FILM

“Here Is Germany.” A screening of the 1945 propaganda film. MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 6:30 p.m., free. 503 E. 9th St. 376-4602. littlerock.org.

SPORTS

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio. DickeyStephens Park, through Aug. 18, 7:10 p.m., $7-$13. 400 W. Broadway, NLR. 501-664-1555. milb.com.

NEW IN THE GALLERIES

ARKANSAS CAPITAL, 200 River Market, Suite 400: “All I Can See: Alternative Photography,” open 5-8 p.m. Aug. 12, 2nd Friday Art Night. 374-9247.

ARKANSAS STATE HOSPITAL, 305 S. Palm St.: “Creative Expressions,” show and sale of work by patients, 7-9 p.m. Aug. 18 in the lobby, all proceeds go directly to the artists, hors d’oeuvres and jazz by Recovery.

BELLA VITA JEWELRY, 523 S. Louisiana St.: “Summer Shindig Party,” 5-8 p.m.

Aug. 12, 2nd Friday Art Night, with Loblolly food truck parked outside; portion of all purchases to benefit The Van. 396-9146.

BUTLER CENTER GALLERIES, Arkansas Studies Institute, 401 President Clinton Ave.: “Arkansas League of Artists,” through Oct. 22; “From the Vault,” from the Central Arkansas Library System’s permanent collection, through Oct. 22; “School’s Out: An Exhibition of Student Work,” organized by Arkansas Art Educators, through Aug. 27; “Culture Shock: Shine Your Rubies, Hide Your Diamonds,” through Aug. 27, Concordia Hall. Open 5-8 p.m. Aug. 12, 2nd Friday Art Night, with music by Dave Williams and Friends.

9 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 320-5790.

COX CREATIVE CENTER, 120 River Market Ave.: “The Medium is the Message,” work by Laura Fanning, through August, reception 5-8 p.m. Aug. 12, 2nd Friday Art Night. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun. 918-3093.

HISTORIC ARKANSAS MUSEUM GALLERIES, 200 E. 3rd St. “Walter Arnold and David Malcolm Rose: Modern Ruins,” Rose's constructions in miniature and photographs by Arnold; “Tiny Treasures: Miniatures from the Permanent Collection,” reception 5-8 p.m. Aug. 12, 2nd Friday Art Night, show through Nov. 6; “A Diamond in the Rough; 75 Years of Historic Arkansas Museum,” through February 2017; “Sally Nixon,” illustrations, through Sept. 4; “Hugo and Gayne Preller’s House of Light,” historic photographs, through October. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun. 324-9351.

MATT MCLEOD FINE ART GALLERY, 108 W. 6th St.: “The Human Experience: An Artistic Expression of Human Existence,” receptions 5-8 p.m. Aug. 11 (2nd Friday Art Night) and Aug. 18. 725-8508.

MATTHEWS FINE ART GALLERY, 909 North St.: Paintings by Pat and Tracee Matthews, works by other artists, open 5-8 p.m. Aug. 12, 2nd Friday Art Night.

Noon-5 p.m. Tue.-Sat. 831-6200.

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK: “Pop Up Exhibition: Works from the Permanent Exhibition,” through Sept. 2. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., after Labor Day also 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2-5 p.m.

Sun. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

IN THE JUVENILE COURT OF LEE COUNTY STATE OF GEORGIA TIME OF DAY 1419 FILED IN THIS OFFICE THIS THE 27th DAY OF JULY 2016 CARLA REVELS – CLERCK OF JUVENILE COURT LEE COUNTY, GEORGIA

ARKANSAS TIMES MARKETPLACE

IN THE INTEREST OF: C. F.

W/M

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W/M

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Children Under 18 Years of Age

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NOTICE OF PUBLICATION You are hereby notified that the above-styled action seeking to termination of parental rights and other specific relief was filed against you in said Court on February 2, 2016, by the Department of Family and Children Services, and that by reason of an order for service of summons by publication entered by this Court on July 26, 2016 you are hereby commanded and required to file with the Clerk of said Court and serve upon Patrick S. Eidson, Petitioner attorney, whose address is P.O. Box 570, Leesburg, Georgia 31763, an Answer to the Petition to Terminate Parental Rights within sixty (60) days of the date of summons by publication.

NOTICE OF EFFECT OF TERMINATION JUDGMENT Georgia law provides that you can permanently lose your rights as a parent. A petition to terminate parental rights to your children has been filed requesting the court to terminate your parental rights to your children. A copy of the petition to terminate parental rights is attached to this notice. A court hearing of your case has been scheduled for the 28th day of September, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at the Sumter County Courthouse, 500 West Lamar Street, Americus, Georgia.

If you fail to appear, the court can terminate your rights in your absence.

If the court at the trial finds that the facts set out in the petition to terminate parental rights are true and that termination of your rights will serve the best interest of your children, the court can enter a judgment ending your rights to your children.

If the judgment terminates your parental rights, you will no longer have any rights to your children. This means that you will not have the right to visit, contact, or have custody of your children or make any decisions affecting your children or your children’s earnings or property. Your children will be legally freed to be adopted by someone else.

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Even if your parental rights are terminated: (1) You will still be responsible for providing financial support (child support payments) for your child’s care unless and until your child is adopted; and The termination of parental rights hearing shall not be earlier than 31 days after the date of the last publication. Service by publication shall be as follows:

(B) When served by publication, the notice shall contain the names of the parties, except that the anonymity of a child shall be preserved by the use of appropriate initials, and the date of the petition to terminate parental rights was filed. The notice shall indicate the general nature of the allegations and where a copy of the petition to terminate parental rights can be obtained and require the biological father or legal father to appear before the court at the time fixed to answer the allegations of the petition to terminate parental rights; (C) The petition to terminate parental rights shall be available to the biological father or legal father whose rights are sought to be terminated free of charge from the court during business hours or upon request, shall be mailed to the biological father or legal father; and (D) Within 15 days after the filing of the order of service by publication, the clerk of court shall mail a copy of the notice, a copy of the order of service by publication, and a copy of the petition to terminate parental rights to the biological father’s or legal father’s last known address. If you have any questions concerning this notice, you may call the telephone number of the clerk’s office which is (229) 928-4569.

You are further notified that a hearing on said petition has been scheduled for the 28th day of September, 2016 at the Sumter County Courthouse, 500 West Lamar Street, Americus, Georgia at 10:00 a.m. O’clock on the prayers of the petitioners.

WITNESS the Honorable Lisa C. Rambo, Judge of this Juvenile Court.

This 27th day of July, 2016.

CARLA REVELS, Juvenile Clerk Lee County, Georgia

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(2) Your child can still inherit from you unless and until your child is adopted.

(A) Service by publication shall be made once a week for four consecutive weeks in the legal organ of the county where the petition to terminate parental rights has been filed and of the county of the biological father’s last known address. Service shall be deemed complete upon the date of the last publication.

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