MH Education Foundation receives $15,000 grant
The Mountain Home Education Foundation, which supports educational programs for both students and staff of the Mountain Home School District, received a $15,000 grant contribution from Eaton Corporation yesterday for the Project Promise initiative. Executive Director for the Mountain Home Education Foundation, Mollie Morgan, says the funds will go to help local students pay for college.
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Morgan says graduating high school students from the Mountain Home area don’t have to worry about funding for college if they stay in the area and the Project Promise program is a tri-fold win for the community.
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Students have to complete the FASFA, fill out the YOUniversal state scholarship application application, apply to ASU Mountain Home and graduate from Mountain Home High School.
Eaton Staff were on hand to deliver the $15,000 check. Kate Wright, Plant Manager, says Eaton staff collaborated to help facilitate the grant.
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For more information on the Mountain home Education Program go to this story on ktlo.com.
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Valley Springs School District falls victim to cyberattack
An area school district is the recent victim of a cyberattack. Valley Springs Schools’ computer system was infected Thursday with malicious software as hackers locked access and demanded a ransom to restore its files and programs.
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, a malicious software program known as “ransomware” locked the district’s computer network until a ransom is paid. The hackers demanded a payment of 7,000 British pounds, approximately equal to $8,500 United States dollars, within 96 hours or the ransom would grow by 200 percent. Valley Springs Superintendent Judy Green told the newspaper Friday the district will not pay the ransom, and they are working to rid the system of its malicious software.
Ransomware is designed to enter a system through an infected e-mail or Internet link. After the link is clicked on, a code will infect the computer and encrypt the system’s files. Green says the district has not yet determined what may have been lost, but their student and financial information are on a state server and were not affected.
Boone County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Tim Roberson told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the office has a school resource in the Valley Springs School District, and they are aware of the issues. Deputy Roberson also says his office has contacted the FBI.
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Fitness to proceed exam sought in Gengler cases
The lawyer representing David Gengler of Lakeview, who faces a number of charges stemming from the alleged beating, rape, torture and robbery of a female victim who was reported to have been bound with tape and held against her will for a number of days last year, has filed a petition in Baxter County Circuit Court asking that his client undergo an examination to determine if he is mentally fit to proceed.
The petition for the examination was filed Tuesday by Deputy Public Defender Mark Cooper.
The 54-year-old Gengler was initially charged with kidnapping and five counts of first-degree battery on June 1 last year. In late June, the more serious charges of rape and aggravated robbery were filed. The latter charges were based on information developed during the investigation that the victim had suffered what was described as severe sexual trauma while being held against her will. It was also determined that money was missing from several locations in the residence. Gengler was reported to have had a large sum of money in his wallet when he was booked into the county jail.
Gengler’s problems with the law began when deputies responded to a residence along Greenwood Avenue in Lakeview on May 24th last year and found a badly beaten female victim. Gengler and the 57-year-old victim shared the residence, according to investigative records.
The victim was lying on the floor by the front door of the residence.
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said at the time that the victim had marks on her wrists and appeared to have been bound for days. She also had numerous other injuries, including what were thought to be cigarette burns.
Investigators also reported finding blood splattered on the walls of the residence and a large amount of tape with hair stuck to it on the bathroom floor. A knife and bloody cigarette butt were also found and taken into evidence.
The victim was able to make a 911 call requesting assistance. According to a Sheriff’s Office incident report, the victim asked for an ambulance but was hesitant to say why one was needed. She eventually told the 911 dispatcher, “He will kill me”. Gengler who was at the residence told investigators that the victim was bipolar and that “she falls all the time”. He had denied inflicting the injuries, holding the woman against her will or having forced sexual relations with her.
Deputies had been to the home in answer to a domestic disturbance call on May 19th. The victim had told deputies on that occasion that she and Gengler had been in a heated argument over his “drinking habits”. She said that Gengler had shoved her during the argument. Gengler said the argument was about the victim’s gambling and he denied having any physicial contact with her during the confrontation.
The court has sealed the probable cause affidavit containing specific details that led to the rape and aggravated robbery charges. The affidavit in the original case involving the battery and kidnapping charges is not sealed.
During an interview with the victim at a Springfield hospital following the May 24th incident, she told investigators that she had been bound for two or three days. She said Gengler taped her in an upright positions and punched, beat and kicked her. The victim said Gengler also chocked her and burned her with cigarettes. Officers noticed during the interview that part of the victim’s right ear was missing, something she had not realized until it was brought to her attention during the hospital interview.
According to the victim, her relationship with Gengler started when he moved into her residence in October 2015 to work as a handyman.
Prior to the filing of the petition asking for a fitness to proceed examination, Gengler’s case was set for trial during the week of January 30th. The granting of the petition for the examination will bring activity in the cases to a halt pending the results of the examination.
Gengler has been an inmate in the county jail since being booked on May 24th last year. His bond is set at $250,000.
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Locals remember Dr. Baker’s important role at ASU-Mtn. Home
Funeral services for Dr. Bill Baker, President of North Arkansas College in Harrison, were held Thursday morning at the college where he served as president from its beginning in 1974 until his retirement in 2001.
Baker, who died Friday at the age of 84, was remembered by United State Congressman, Steve Womack from Arkansas’s Third Congressional District in the floor of the House of Representatives Monday. He called Baker an admired, respected, and visionary educator, and a genuinely terrific person. He recalled the 1993 merger of Northark and Twin Lakes Technical College in 1993 which was the first consolidation of a community college and a technical college in the state.
Baker’s impact and influence in higher education also had a significant impact locally with the establishment of Arkansas State University Mountain Home. Mountain Home Mayor Joe Dillard, who calls Baker a great man loss whose death is a great loss to all of us, recalls during the 1980’s, when he served as Baxter County Judge, the major role Baker played in the development of the college.
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Lang Zimmerman of Mountain Home, Chairman of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and a major supporter of ASU-Mountain Home, says when Mountain Home businessman Steve Luelf was serving in the Arkansas State Senate from 1985-1995, a bill was passed to allow the establishment of technical colleges.
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Zimmerman describes the important role Baker played at the new college in Mountain Home.
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A graduate of Marshall High School and an all-conference basketball player at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Baker was on the faculty and an administrator at Arkansas Tech in Russelville for 17 years. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville. Baker will be buried in Osborne Cemetery in St. Joe. Memorial donations may be sent to the North Arkansas College Foundation.
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Marion County man arrested for terroristic threatening
A Marion County man, 54-year-old Patrick Todd, who lists an address in Yellville, was arrested Tuesday evening, by the Bull Shoals Police Department, for terroristic threatening. According to Bull Shoals Police Officer Sergeant Rhodes an investigation is ongoing regarding threatening phone calls Todd allegedly made to an individual who had a no-contact order against him.
The no-contact order was filed by his girlfriend who made previous allegations Todd had hit her. Over the last week she has apparently been receiving texts and phone calls, some of them were threatening.
Todd is being held in the Marion County jail on violation of act 266 of the 1991 Protection Act, terroristic threatening and harassing communications. His bond is set at $5,000 and he is scheduled to appear in the next session of Marion County Circuit Court.
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