Dogtown Wire

North Little Rock Police Department Narcotics Unit summary report of arrests and seizures for June:

Arrests – 34 people on 65 charges:

Charges:

One arrest for capital murder

Nineteen for possession with intent to deliver

Twelve for possession of a controlled substance

One for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription

Four for possession of drug paraphernalia

Two for fleeing

On the morning of 15 July, 1862 three Union vessels were sighted steaming toward CSS Arkansas.

The Ironclad Gunboat Carondelet, armed with a total of 14 guns and a veteran of several river battles with Confederate forces, the wooden Gunboat Tyler with 7 guns, and the wooden Ram Queen of the West with 4 guns.

The Arkansas, armed with a two 8-inch guns in the forward ports, two 6.4-inch rifled guns in the stern ports, and three different guns in each broadside was both out-numbered and out-gunned. Her Confederate Army gunners had never fired such large guns before and they had no training as naval gunners.

Her gunpowder soaked by a boiler leak the previous day was suspect at best. Protected by makeshift armor and facing three well-equipped ships and with two large Union fleets nearby, Arkansas was facing near-certain destruction the day after entering service.

A running gun battle quickly ensued. The two smaller ships fled downriver, hoping to reach the safety of the large Union fleet above Vicksburg. Carondelet, a veteran of several river battles, closed with Arkansas. In the words of one witness:

“I will sit on front porches…”

Mayor Pat Hays said this to indicate he would stay on top of the concerns of residents around the River City Ministry after he cast the vote to break the tie at City Council to permit the Ministry to add services to the homeless.

Hays added, that if need be Police Chief Danny Bradley might join him on those resident porches; that it would become a city priority to ensure that more crime would not come to the neighborhood because of this ordinance’s approval.

 “It will not be ignored,” Hays said.

It took more than an hour – and two months and a day since the Planning Commission denied the permit – of emotion-filled public comments and council member discussion on the ordinance. It now permits the expansion of services the Ministry already offers many “poor and working poor” as Director Jim Woodell has described in past interviews.

Hays said he had visited with Woodell before the council meeting to tour River City Ministry for the first time since the appeal process started.

The $2.1 million Twin City Bank embezzlement case has gone to the next level according to Arkansas Business which broke this story and continues to bring out the latest on it.

It seems fired TCB Vice President Brent Geels has hired Little Rock defense lawyer Sam Perroni to represent him as the investigation begins as to the full dollar amount of the alleged theft and how it might have been pulled off.

A straw poll was taken of the City Council members on resolution R-08-112 they will discuss tonight that could give control to some public parking spots to the Arkansas Travelers organization.

Ward 3 Alderman Cary Gaines and Ward 1 Alderwoman Debi Ross are the only two who said they will vote no to this resolution if it goes to a vote tonight at the City Council meeting.

Ward 1 Alderman Neil Bryant, Ward 3 Alderman John Parker, and Ward 4 Alderman Charlie Hight, though not giving a definitive yes or not on the way they would vote, all said basically the same thing.

These three said in essence that they didn’t believe it was the city’s place to decide on an issue that would give one business preferential treatment which might set a precedent for other downtown businesses to ask for similar treatment.

Today, rookie firefighters (from left) Justin Bradshaw, Kenny Hartness, Blake Watkins and Corey Eisenhower had to perform dishwashing (spaghetti) duties required by all firefighters in any of North Little Rock’s  Fire Stations.

But the little yellow fire hats are something reserved for rookies at least once while performing this duty in their first month at the department.

Fire Marshal Lt. Mark Shoemaker said this isn’t something that anyone else hasn’t had to put up with for their first month spent at the Central Fire Station. And, another firefighter said the first month is something not easily forgotten as the rookies are made to do about anything around the station the veterans don’t want to.

The four smiled and seemed to be taking the ritual ribbing with a grain of salt.

Hey, you missed a spot Eisenhower.

Scott Miller, an announced candidate for his second run for the Ward 2 Alderman on the City Council, said Sunday he has created a website devoted strictly for his campaign. 

This new site allows the voters and citizens to communicate with Miller in a variety of ways, including e-mail, telephone, fax, mail, he said. And for what may be a first for a council race, citizens and voters can chat on-line live with Miller weekly. 

Voters can also use the website so request yard signs, schedule meetings with Miller and donate online to the campaign. The website shows those issues which are important in Ward 2 and allows the citizens and voters to view his experience, background, qualifications and views on neighborhood empowerment.

If you have two years of manufacturing skills, or a background in automotive or construction work you might want to head over to Little Rock for one of 300 new jobs; some that pay up to $12 an hour.

Fox 16 has a story on wind turbine blade manufacturer LM Glasfiber ’s search Saturday to fill these production jobs soon with plans to hire about 500 total new employees by year’s end.

A June 20 article on the North American Windpower said the demand for wind turbines is strong now and that a study shows the generation of electricity from this alternative fuel is expected to “grow more than fivefold from its 2007 total of 94 GW to more than 576 GW by 2020. Rapid growth is expected in the U.S. and China.”

Lm Glasfiber is located here in Little Rock.

Workers finish up the roof of the new Police Athletic League building Friday.

The vacant Baptist Memorial Hospital will become the Haunted Hospital on the hill again for this year’s Police Athletic League’s (PAL ) fright-filled fundraiser.

The proof of the fundraiser’s extraordinary success, which took PAL organizers police Officer Matt Grace and Sgt. Scott Yielding and PAL volunteer Ken Abel by surprise, is the new PAL building that is nearing completion.

Brace, Yielding and Abel met Friday at the North Heights Community Center at 4801 Allen St. to show off the new building and to discuss this year’s Haunted Hospital plans. Last year’s fundraiser just about paid the entire building’s construction cost Grace said. The goal is to repeat last year’s success.

“It is, and that is a big goal … this is what it built” said Grace, standing in the 4,000 square-foot building. “Matching or beating last year’s goal will be good.”

You can’t beat it with a stick, or at least it is better than the stick our ancestors once used to beat on hollow logs to communicate over distance with each other.

The 60 plus seats of the meeting at Trinity Lutheran Church were barely empty after last Tuesday’s Park Hill meeting and a new website was established that now permits neighborhood residents to discuss issues of concern.

By Sunday morning there were 13 topics posted and 22 comments written on those posts. Not a bad start in less than a week.

This discussion site cannot take the place of the hoped for founding of a neighborhood association in Park Hill that would bring residents together monthly to prove the old adage that there is power in numbers. But it can surely add to gathering support for its founding and participation.