Pendergrass, Soltysik and Osgood claim victories
When the polls closed Tuesday evening in Baxter County, 14 percent of the registered voters had cast ballots re-electing Judge Mickey Pendergrass to his first four-year term. Pendergrass captured 2,399 votes (72 percent) to his challenger, Peter Kashpureff’s 918 votes (28 percent).
Judge Pendergrass talked with KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot news Tuesday evening following his victory.
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Pendergrass will complete his third two-year term at the end of this year. He says the longevity will hopefully pay off for Baxter County.
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Pendergrass’ opponent, Kashpureff, says despite losing the judge’s race, he is not done with politics.
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Baxter County voters also returned District 2 Justice of the Peace Lucille Soltysik to her seat on the quorum court. Soltysik won with 161 votes (53 percent)over challenger Aaron Bristol’s 144 votes (47 percent).
Voters also selected a new JP for District 7 with challenger Charles Osgood capturing 140 votes (57 percent) to incumbent Marilyn Williamson’s 106 votes (43 percent).
In the constable races, David Witherington retained his District 1 seat with 199 votes (56 percent) over challenger Douglas Stephens’ 156 votes (44 percent). Scott Thrasher took the District 10 seat with 130 votes (68 percent) over Steven Raines with 62 votes (32 percent) and Frankie Baker secured the District 11 position with 225 votes (56 percent) to Dempsy Thompson’s 178 (44 percent).
The winners of these races face no opposition in the November general election.
At Norfork, voters will return to the polls June 19th for a run-off between incumbent Mike Watts and Shannon Moody who both captured 203 votes each (40 percent) over Chad Maple, who received 96 votes (19 percent).
Despite a district-wide loss, Baxter County voters favored local candidate Johnnie Copeland in the Arkansas Court of Appeals District 2, Position 1 race with 2,534 votes (68 percent) over incumbent Bart Virden’s 1,188 votes (32 percent). The position covers 18 counties, including Baxter, Marion, Fulton, Izard, Searcy, Stone, Boone and Newton.
In state-wide races, Governor Asa Hutchinson secured his first primary victory in Baxter County with 2,291 (68 percent) votes over challenger Jan Morgan’s 1,068 (32 percent).
In the democrat primary, Baxter County voters gave their support to Jared Henderson with 325 votes (67 percent) to Leticia Sanders’ 157 (33 percent).
Hutchinson and Henderson will face each other in the November general election.
In the secretary of state race, Baxter County native Trevor Drown received 1,694 (54 percent) to John Thurston’s 1,438 (46 percent). Thurston will face Democrat Susan Inman and Libertarian Chris Olson in November.
In the race for state supreme court associate justice, Position 3, incumbent Courtney Goodson narrowly edged David Sterling in Baxter County. Goodson received 1,518 votes (41 percent) to Sterling’s 1,515 (40 percent). Kenneth Hixson received 702 votes (19 percent). Goodson and Sterling are also headed to a run-off.
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Massey wins judge’s race to highlight Marion County primary
Marion County’s primary election results were highlighted by the judge’s race on the Republican ticket.
John Massey will be the new county judge in 2019 after winning 54 percent of the votes. With 54 percent of the votes, Massey defeated incumbent Terry Ott who carried 46 percent, and he will not be opposed in the general election.
Tonya Eppes will retain her seat as Marion County assessor. Eppes won the Republican primary with 69 percent of the votes over Alesia Owen with 31 percent, and she will not have an opponent in November.
Brent Mitchell won the Position 2 seat on the Flippin School Board with 64 percent of the votes. Mitchell defeated John Bradford who had 36 percent.
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Mountain Home attorney loses bid for Court of Appeals Judge seat
In Tuesday’s Preferential Primary and Nonpartisan General Election, Mountain Home attorney Johnnie Copeland lost her bid to unseat Judge Bart Virden for the Court of Appeals Judge, District 2, Position 1 seat.
Virden won the race by just under 3,300 votes, ending up with 53 percent of the vote while Copeland had 47 percent. Copeland carried 11 of the 18 counties that make up District 2, but Virden, who is from Morrilton, did very well close to home, winning the more populous counties of Faulkner, Conway and Pope along with Independence County.
The race featured a politcal group from Washington D.C. buying TV commercials against Virden.
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Landfill lawsuits filed in 3 counties
Three lawsuits regarding the $18 fee charged to property owners in connection with the NABORS landfill have been filed as class action suits in Boone, Carroll and Newton counties.
The Harrison Daily Times reports court records show Robert L. Tanner and Tanner Family, LLC filed suit against the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District and Collector Amy Jenkins in Boone County. In addition, Tanner Family, LLC filed the same suit in Newton County against the solid waste district and Collector Sheila McCutcheon, and Paul Summers filed suit against the solid waste district in Carroll County last week.
Baxter County Judge Mickey Pendergrass, who serves as chair of the solid waste district board of directors, told KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot news Thursday he has not been served with the lawsuit documents. Consequently, Judge Pendergrass says at this time, he is not able to comment on the developments.
The board of what is now the solid waste district voted in 2005 to purchase the RLH landfill in northern Baxter County at a time when the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality said it would not license any additional landfills in the state.
The district sold about $12.3 million in bonds to finance the purchase. The Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District managed the landfill at first, but the board split ways with the agency in 2009.
There were environmental problems with the landfill at the time of purchase, and some money from those bonds was to be directed to rectifying those problems. ADEQ rejected several plans the district proposed, resulting in the identified problems not being corrected.
The district moved to raise tipping fees charged to haulers when they dumped trash to keep revenue flowing. As those fees rose, some of the six counties ceased using the landfill, resulting in a loss of revenue.
Eventually in 2012, the board voted to default on the bonds sold to finance the purchase. Bank of the Ozarks, trustee for the bond holders, sued the district, and a receiver was named to collect money to repay bond holders, leading to the annual $18 fee on property taxes.
In addition, ADEQ took over the landfill in 2014 in an effort to permanently close it. Special language in an ADEQ appropriations bill in 2014, sponsored by then-state Sen. Johnny Key, allowed ADEQ to use money from the Post Closure Trust Fund to close the landfill, but also allowed the agency to seek remuneration from residents in all six counties.
The lawsuits, all of which were filed by Fayetteville lawyers Matt Bishop and Wendy Howerton, say the bonds sold were tax exempt.
The suits allege, Presumably when sophisticated investors make the decision to take advantage of tax exempt bonds, they do due diligence regarding their investment and require adequate security, knowing that the possibility of default exists.
In addition, the suits note, Nevertheless, the Receiver, appointed at the request of the bondholders, recommended the Defendants impose a tax upon the resident and business real property owners within the Defendant counties and that ADEQ also be able to benefit from this tax in obtaining reimbursement for the Landfill Post-Closure Trust Fund. Prior to the 2014 ADEQ appropriations bill, this avenue of recovery for ADEQ or the bondholders did not exist.
The suits claim the unpublished piece of legislation changed revenue sources for the trust fund, which had previously been fees charged to waste haulers and operators and any federal funds or donations obtained.
The suits claim the $18 fee is actually a tax because a fee is imposed in the governments exercise of police purposes.
According to language in the suits, The $18.00 charge herein is not for the Defendants exercise of its police powers. Rather, it goes almost entirely to creditors. Paying creditors is not a function of the Defendants exercise of police powers, for as the Receiver noted, the Defendant Ozark is not operational. Moreover, paying creditors is never an exercise of police powers.
Further, the $18.00 confers no benefit on those taxpayers bearing it, because the entity charging it provides no services to said taxpayers; rather, it is a fee designed solely to benefit ADEQ, which already has the funds it needs to clean up, and the investors in the bonds who chose to take the risk of investing.
The suits ask the court to bar defendants from collecting the fee and to refund any fees already paid.
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State Police: Diamond City mayor arrested for theft
Arkansas State Police say Diamond City Mayor Jan Hudson was arrested Tuesday on a warrant for theft of more than $4,000.
The Harrison Daily Times reports Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler says 57-year-old Hudson surrendered to State Police and Boone County authorities Tuesday.
Hudson faces a charge of theft of property associated with an investigation by ASP special agents with the criminal investigation division and the Division of Legislative Audit.
Sadler says although Hudson is Diamond City mayor, the criminal charge is associated with her work as treasurer of the Diamond City Community Center.
The investigation alleges theft by Hudson in the amount of $4,550. Online jail records indicate Hudson was booked into the Boone County Detention Center on a bond of $1,500 about 11:00 Tuesday morning and released about 30 minutes later.
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