Officer-involved shooting reported in Searcy County
Special agents of the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Searcy County Friday resulting in the death of 23-year-old Daniel Allen Yielding of Paragould.
According to the Arkansas State Police, Searcy County Sheriffs Department deputies and correctional officers of the Arkansas Department of Correction had been involved in a manhunt about two miles north of Marshall off Arkansas Highway 27 when the shooting occurred at approximately 12:30 Friday afternoon.
Local law enforcement officers began the search for Yielding Thursday based on an outstanding warrant for parole violation and reports of Yielding being seen fleeing a local residence.
Deputies and state correction officers were continuing the search Friday when Yielding was spotted in a wooded area armed with a knife. ADC personnel ordered the parolee to drop the knife. Yielding reportedly refused to comply with the order and at that time moved toward an ADC officer who fired his gun as Yielding advanced.
Yieldings body is being transported to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for an autopsy.
The Arkansas State Police investigation of the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer will be submitted to the Searcy County Prosecuting Attorney for consideration whether the use of force was used consistent with Arkansas laws.
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Missing man, wounded by self-inflicted gunshot, now charged with weapon offense
A Mountain Home man reported missing last month and located after his call to 911 following a self-inflicted gunshot has now been charged with a felony count of possession of a firearm by certain persons. According to Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, the charge stems from 37-year-old Lee Euler, III, having a prior felony conviction in Illinois, which precludes him from possessing or being in contact with a weapon.
Euler was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center Thursday morning, with bond set at $1,500. Online jail records indicate he was released less than an hour later. He is set to appear in Baxter County Circuit Court later this month.
In late March, the Mountain Home man’s supervisor asked for the community’s help in locating him after he left his office for lunch and had not been seen for two days.
Later that day, emergency personnel responded to Euler’s 911 call for medical attention for a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he was located near the White River in the Monkey Run area.
At that time, Sheriff Montgomery said Euler suffered a superficial wound after firing a .25 caliber pistol to his head. He then called 911 requesting help. He was airlifted from the remote area and transported to a Springfield medical center for treatment.
According to the arrest affidavit, a Baxter County Sheriff’s deputy found Euler parked on a side trail in a wooded area. The deputy recovered the firearm Euler used in the seat with him behind his back.
Earlier that day, the Mountain Home Police Department officially listed Euler as a missing person.
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Yellville Chamber announces they will no longer promote Turkey Trot festival
In a publication distributed Friday, the Yellville Area Chamber of Commerce announced they will no longer sponsor the Annual Turkey Trot festival. The festival has been a point of contention among animal rights groups who say the Phantom Pilot, who would drop turkeys from a plane, is inhumane.
The announcement from the chamber’s board of directors reads:
“After much consideration, discussion, and soul-searching, it is with a heavy heart we announce the Yellville Area Chamber of Commerce will no longer be the promoter of the Turkey Trot festival.
For many years, we have enjoyed the days of a family-friendly festival that served as a homecoming; an occasion every fall to gather and enjoy a parade, live music, crafts, festival food, and camaraderie.
We feel we can no longer deliver the same experience we have enjoyed in years passed. Our decision was not entered into lightly. Safety concerns, rising costs, and loss of funding were some of the determining factors in making this decision.
As a chamber of commerce, our goal is to help our local businesses grow and the festival has been more detrimental to them than prosperous. We remain committed to the Yellville area and appreciate the support our community has given us over the years and hope you will continue to support us in our efforts to promote our area.”
The festival gained national attention last year as news organizations from coast to coast reported, what would eventually become, a controversial tradition of throwing turkeys from a low flying plane.
In an article, written by Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette News Reporter Bill Bowden on October 5th, 2017, Bowden reports Rose Hilliard of Bruno says she went to the Marion County Sheriff’s office to file a complaint about the tossing of the turkeys. Hilliard says “they are being told a crime is going to be committed,” and “I would hope they would do the right thing and arrest and prosecute”.
The Fedral Aviation Administration found no violations had occured and told the HuffPost “FAA regulations do not specifically prohibit dropping live animals from aircraft, possibly because the authors of the regulation never anticipated that an explicit prohibition would be necessary.”
Yellville City Attorney Sam Pasthing says there were no local laws concerning the dropping of turkeys. He says the issue never came before the Yellville City Council during his 15 years of service and if an ordinance to ban dropping turkeys was proposed, the city would look to state law.
The Yellville Chamber of Commerce says they have no part in the release of the turkeys with “no affiliation, jurisdiction or control over what any individual does in his or her private plane in the air.” Pasthing says at the time he believes the majority of Yellville residents shared the Chamber’s sentiment- the festival is more than that.
A letter was released by the chamber in 2017 focusing on the history of Turkey Trot. The letter says the festival has been a tradition for nearly 75 years, marks the beginning of fall and is a time for family and friends to get together. It states Turkey Trot is more than just turkeys being released from a plane, however to “outsiders” that’s all the festival is.
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Arvest launches 1 Million Meals campaign
Arvest Bank has launched their 7th annual 1 Million Meals campaign challenging bank employees, customers and community members to join together to fight hunger in the more than 120 communities served by the bank in Arkansas Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. Arvest Marketing Director Tiffany Watkins says the initiative is needed, as Arkansas ranks 5th among the most food-insecure states in the nation, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Arvest kicked off the two-month, bank-wide effort to provide at least one million meals to local, hungry families, and it will continue through June 2. The initiative will conclude later that month, when donations are presented to more than 75 locally selected organizations that feed the hungry in their communities.
Baxter and Marion County residents can participate in the 1 Million Meals campaign by dropping off nonperishable food items or making monetary donations at any of the Arvest branches in Mountain Home, Flippin, Bull Shoals, Yellville and Lead Hill, or by calling (866) 952-9523. Arvest credit card customers also can donate Arvest Flex Rewards points by visiting arvestflexrewards.com and clicking on the 1 Million Meals banner.
According to Watkins, this year the local food and monetary donations will again go to the Food Bank of North Central Arkansas and their member food agencies in Baxter and Marion Counties which includes food pantries and other programs.
Listen:
The 1 Million Meals campaign is open to the entire community, not just Arvest Bank customers.
Arvest is conducting its annual initiative in the spring for the third consecutive year due to the fact food banks report an increased need for food items in the summer, when many children do not have the benefit of eating meals at the schools they attend. According to the Food Research and Action Center, for example, only one out of seven children who ate a free or reduced-priced school lunch during the 2015-2016 school year were reached by the Summer Nutrition Programs in July 2016.
Donations to food banks also tend to be lower in the spring and summer than at other times of the year.
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Accident reported released for semi crashing into Camp’s Plants
A private property accident investigation report, from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, has been released describing an incident Tuesday night involving a semi truck smashing through a greenhouse at Camp’s Plants in Midway. According to the report, the driver, 48-year-old Joey Morgan of Dallas, pulled into the Midway Citgo gas station located at 6036 Highway 5 North. He says he set the truck’s parking brake and did not set the trailer air supply brake before going into the store. While Morgan was inside, a man yelled inside stating the truck and its trailer was across the highway.
The semi and trailer had crossed Highway 126 North, clipped a metal building, and ran over a phone/cable box. It continued north and ran into a greenhouse at Camp’s Plants before coming to rest.
Morgan showed the investigating officer the parking brakes were functional. The officer says it appeared to him both brakes worked together and independently. After the truck was moved back to the Citgo, Morgan was instructed to leave the vehicle there until it was road legal.
There were no reports of any injuries at the time of the 6:55 p.m. accident.
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