Boating accident claims life of Mountain View man
A boating accident on the White River has claimed the life of 47-year-old John W. Webb of Mountain View.
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery says his office was notified about 1:00 Friday afternoon of a boat capsizing on the White River near Buffalo City in the vicinity of Smith Island with at least one person still in the water.
Sheriffs deputies and fire department first responders were dispatched and boats launched by both rescue services and private individuals in a rescue effort. The Sheriffs Office helicopter was also launched.
One of the two occupants of the boat, 74-year-old David Hopper of Mountain View, managed to reach the shoreline and survived. He was found near Smith Island by another boater and taken to the White-Buffalo Resort where emergency services were called.
The second occupant, Webb, was last seen trying to swim to the Marion County side of the river.
At approximately 1:48, the body of the deceased Mountain View man was spotted underneath the rolling water and moving downstream. At approximately 2:39, personnel from the Norfork Fire Department rescue boat were able to reach the body and pull it from the water approximately one and a quarter miles downstream from Smith Island. The body of the deceased was carried to the shore near Cartney Landing.
Four generators were in operation at the Bull Shoals Dam at the time.
Agencies involved in the rescue and recovery efforts included the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office and the Norfork and Buford Volunteer Fire Departments. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will be investigating the boating accident.
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Allen pleas to a life sentence in death of toddler
Twenty-four-year-old Cody Allen of Mountain Home pled guilty Thursday in Baxter County Circuit Court to causing the death of an almost two-year-old Flippin girl in May, 2016. He faced capital murder charges and the state had sought the death penalty. Under a plea agreement Allen was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Defense Attorney George Morledge IV stood with Allen during his sentencing.
As he stood before the bench dressed in prison whites, he acknowledged on or about May 1, 2016 in Marion County, he knowingly caused the death of a child under the age of 14 by inflicting severe brain damage which resulted in the child’s death.
Circuit Judge John Putman asked him if he had anything to say before his sentenced was pronounced and in a soft voice he answered “no sir”.
The case began when officers were called to a Flippin apartment complex May 1st, 2016 for an unresponsive two-year-old girl, later identified as Alithia Ivory Boyd. The initial report stated the girl had fallen down a flight of stairs in the apartment. However, an extensive follow-up investigation by the Flippin Police Department, with assistance from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, began to point away from an accident, especially given the severity of the little girl’s injuries.
Officers observed the two-year-old had extensive and severe bruising over her body, especially in the head area. The toddler was flown to Mercy Hospital in Springfield and placed on life support. Medical personnel said her injuries were apparently sustained from impacts with an object of some sort. It was announced on Friday, May 6th, 2016 she had died from her injuries.
Allen was developed as a suspect in the case after interviews, evidence gathered at the residence and an analysis of a number of electronic and telephone records.
At a press conference in Yellville, shortly after the girl’s death, 14th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge said Allen would be charged with capital murder. At that time he said he had not decided on whether to seek the death penalty.
In an arrest related to the case, the mother of Boyd, 21-year-old Anastasa Weaver of Mountain Home, was arrested on charges of manslaughter and permitting child abuse. According to court records she is scheduled for a final hearing February 14th, 2018 and a trial by jury on February 22, 2018.
Allen was first booked into the Marion County jail, but was transferred to the state prison system after he attempted to kill himself. He was on parole from a Baxter County conviction in August 2014. He was given five years after pleading guilty to burglary, breaking or entering, and theft of property. The charges resulted from the burglary of a house on State Highway 178 in Midway.
He is currently being held in the North Central Unit in Calico Rock.
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Clayborn gets 15 years in prison on child porn charges
Christopher Clayborn of Mountain Home was given 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to several counts of distributing, possession or viewing child porn during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
The investigation into the case was launched in late March when a tip was received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children advising images of child pornography were uploaded to a specific Internet Protocol (IP) address which was then traced back to Clayborn.
A search warrant was executed, and a laptop computer and cellphone were seized. The computer and cellphone were both associated with the 44-year-old Clayborn.
Investigators found 28 pictures were located on the cellphone, and 425 images of child pornography were found on Clayborn’s computer.
Evidence was taken to the Arkansas Crime Laboratory in Little Rock on May 8th to be examined. In late June, the lab reported files of possibly evidentiary value had been recovered.
Clayborn was represented by Mountain Home Attorney Paul Bayless. Bayless told the court his client did not contest three of the images found during the examination of the cellphone and computer, but would mount a defense against any attempt to tie Clayborn to all of the images found during the Arkansas Crime Laboratory’s examination.
Circuit Judge John Putman sentenced Clayborn to five years in prison on each of the three counts to which he entered the no contest plea, with the time to run consectively, meaning 15 years in total.
Bayless said he had been in discussions with his client for several months regarding the case, including going over the options Clayborn had, and it was determined that making a no contest plea to the three counts was in his client’s best interest.
Clayborn will be required to register as a sex offender.
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Agreement reached for collection of $18 fee for NABORS debt
After a five-month deadlock, a path has been cleared to collect funding across the six-county Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District to pay the debt incurred in purchasing the NABORS waste hauling operation and the local landfill.
Local officials had been saddled with interpreting and carrying out a Pulaski County Circuit Court ruling rendered last April by Judge Tim Fox. The judge’s decision approved the recommendation of a receiver appointed by his court to find a way to pay the NABORS debt. In addition to Baxter County, the ruling impacts five other counties in North Central Arkansas. Marion, Searcy, Boone, Newton and Carroll counties are also included in the ruling.
The ruling had set the stage for an $18 annual assessment against each residence and business parcel in Baxter County, a task assessors in the six counties had maintained could not be accomplished by the end of the year, as ordered by the court. In addition, the assessors had maintained the ruling was not fair or equitable, not taking into account such factors as the size of businesses or those operating without a store front from their home who would be double assessed.
Until this week, there had been only limited contact between the receiver and local officials, with the exception of one meeting in late August. In that meeting, it was clear to the assessors and collectors the receiver had not considered the challenges in carrying out his recommendation to the court. The meeting ended in an impasse.
Baxter County Assessor Jayme Nicholson taking the lead and working with her fellow assessors searched for a more equitable means for carrying out the court ruling. This week, the receiver concurred her recommendation on behalf of the assessors would generate a sufficient amount of revenue.
Nicholson says while the assessors did not agree with the court ruling, they were charged with carrying it out and decided a more equitable plan was to place the fee on real estate.
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Nicholson says the only exceptions to the $18 fee will be vacant land and exempt properties such as churches.
With the agreement, the six assessors will be able to forward tax bills for 2017 to their respective collectors to meet the court ordered deadline.
Nicholson says how the $18 fee will appear on next year’s tax statements is in the hands of the collectors. She uses her tax statement as an example of the direction the collectors might choose to take.
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The efforts to carry out the judge’s April order is the latest in a saga that began when the Northwest Arkansas Regional Solid Waste District defaulted on the payment of principal and interest to the bondholders in November 2012 and stopped trash collections. After the district defaulted on its debt, Bank of the Ozarks–as trustee of the bondholders–sued the district in Pulaski County Circuit Court.
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Early voting underway
Early voting for the upcoming runoff for the Position Three seat on the Mountain Home School Board began in the basement of the Baxter County Courthouse Tuesday and will continue Monday during regular business hours from 8:00 until 4:30. The runoff election will take place Tuesday, October 10th from 7:30 in the morning until 7:30 in the evening.
Four polling sites will remain unchanged for the runoff in the Mountain Home School District.
East Side Baptist Church will serve as the site for those who normally vote there, as well as the Baxter County Fairgrounds, the Buford Community Center and the L.C. Sammons Youth Center.
The Midway Fire Station will serve as the combined site for those who normally vote there, as well as the Lakeview Civic Center, Three Brothers Community Church and Marion County voters in the Mountain Home School District.
Northeast Lakeside Fire Station will combine those voters with Gamaliel and Henderson Fire Station voters.
St. Andrews Episcopal Church will combine those voters with Clarkridge Fire Station and College and North Church of Christ voters.
Those with questions about their polling location may call the Baxter County and Circuit Clerk’s office at 870-425-3475.
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