Pine Bluff Mayor Carl Redus (left) and Alderman George Stepps celebrate their re-elections Nov. 25th at the Jefferson County Courthouse. Pine Bluff Commercial/Ralph Fitzgerald

As he did four years ago when he became the first African-American to win the mayor’s race in Pine Bluff, Carl A. Redus Jr. needed a run-off to claim a second term. On the same night he was forced into that run-off, Barack Obama became the first African-American to win the nation’s highest office, being elected the 44th president of the United States.

Redus’ re-election and the election of Barack Obama was the number one local story of 2008, as voted by the staff of The Commercial.

In the general election, Redus finished ahead of five challengers, four of them African-American, coming one vote shy of winning the race outright. Instead, he had to face Pine Bluff City Treasurer Greg Gustek, the only white candidate in the field, three weeks later.

Redus received just over 59 percent of the vote in that run-off, picking up 4,547 votes to 3,145 for Gustek.

His supporters were quick to connect Redus with Obama during both the general election and run-off, holding up pictures of the two together while electioneering across from the county courthouse during early voting, and shouting “Redus-Obama” at rallies.

The mayor ran basically on his record of the past four years, saying he had “represented the citizens of Pine Bluff and worked to improve the quality of life.”

Although Arkansas was not one of the states that Obama, the first term Democratic senator from Illinois, carried, he picked up big wins in a number of states across the country to claim the victory over Republican John McCain.

Housing Story

In May, an investigation by The Commercial revealed that while the city of Pine Bluff had given more than a half million federal dollars to a nonprofit corporation to help the city’s poor become homeowners, few of those actually benefited. The investigation and its aftermath was selected as the number two local story of the year.

Progressive Southeast Arkansas Housing Development Corp. failed to deliver on promises to build dozens of low-income houses and selling them to people qualified to buy them, the investigation reported. Of the 47 new homes and four apartment buildings Progressive promised to build, they had completed and sold only six single-family homes, and all except one came in over budget.

Final inspections were not completed on half the homes Progressive had sold, according to a lawsuit filed by one of the homeowners, and at least three of the homes were sold to buyers whose incomes were too high to qualify for the subsidized housing.

Additionally, records showed that Progressive paid thousands of dollars to two of its co-founders, Larry and Patricia Amos, and their relatives. One of the homes was sold to Amos’ daughter, at a deep discount and in violation of conflict of interest regulations of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Jack Jones

Scheduled for trial next year is former Jefferson County Judge Jack Jones, who was charged with nine felony counts in February after a more than two year investigation by the Arkansas State Police. It was rated the number three story of 2008.

Jones, 64, was charged with six counts of theft of property, two counts of tampering with public records and one count of conspiracy to commit theft of property involving county-owned property, equipment, labor, materials and inventory, dating from 1997 through 2006.

He is tentatively set for trial in Jefferson County Circuit Court in late February, depending on another case in front of it. If that falls through, the trial will be held the week of May 18 to 22.

Jones had been county judge from Jan. 1, 1989, until he was defeated in a bid for another term by current County Judge Mike Holcomb in the 2006 Democratic primary.

Library vs. City

A feud between the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System and the city of Pine Bluff over the location of Division 2 of District Court led to a lawsuit.

The disagreement that began in 2007 developed when the library tried to evict the court from its space on the ground floor of the library complex. The lawsuit and efforts to build a new court building was the fourth ranked local story of the year by the staff of The Commercial.

District Judge Waymond Brown, who formerly used the stage on the ground floor for his courtroom moved to the city council chambers, but the court staff, files, and office equipment are still in the library building.

After a nearly four hour hearing in August, a special circuit judge ruled that the library system would prevail if the case went to trial. Pulaski County Judge Tim Fox was assigned the case after all the circuit judges in Jefferson County withdrew.

Fox also ruled the city could post a $24,000 security bond and remain in the library space until the lawsuit went to trial, a process the judge said could take up to 16 months, depending on his schedule and the schedule of the attorneys representing the library and the city.

On Oct. 28, Fox denied a request for summary judgment that would have allowed the library to immediately evict the court staff. The case is tentatively set for trial in May 2009.

In a related matter, ground work began for a new district court building that will be located adjacent to the adult detention center on East 3rd Avenue. The city of Pine Bluff is considering an inter-local agreement that would allow Division 2, which hears only cases from Pine Bluff, to share the new court space with Division 1 District Court, which hears county cases as well as cases from Pine Bluff.

Despite discussions by the Pine Bluff City Council on several occasions, no agreement was reached as the year drew to a close.

Current Division 1 District Judge Kim Bridgforth and Division 2 Judge-elect John Kearney, who will replace Brown on Jan. 1, have said they would share the new courtroom when the building is opened, possibly by late 2009.

Also selected among the top stories of 2008 were the following:

School Theft

On May 7, a former employee of the Pine Bluff School District was formally charged with stealing more than $800,000 from the district, where she worked as a bookkeeper.

Lynda King, 40, was charged with 576 counts of second-degree forgery and 576 counts of theft of property following an investigation that began when the district contacted Prosecuting Attorney Steve Dalrymple to report the alleged improprieties.

Police said King made counterfeit invoices on a vendor named “MTC” that had done business with the school district in the past, then deposited the checks into a bank account she had opened under the name “MTC Inc.,” then electronically transfer the funds into another account under the name “Personal Touch,” so she could access the funds.

King has been held at the county detention center on a $100,000 cash only bond since she surrendered to police May 7, and is scheduled for trial in 2009.

Tax Vote

In December, Jefferson County voters turned down a proposed half-cent sales tax that would have been used for economic development and workforce training, which had been opposed by Redus, city council members, ACORN and others.

The proposed tax was created by a group called the Committee for Jefferson County’s Future and was supported by the Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County.

Proponents said it would have generated approximately $60 million over 10 years, with half of the funds devoted to workforce training and the other half to offer incentives to businesses looking to locate in the county, such as helping to fund infrastructure improvements like roads, bridges or utility service.

After winning the run-off, the mayor said his victory showed that voters agreed with his position opposing the tax, saying that the proposal lacked input from the public and elected officials, and called it “ill-timed, especially during these severe economic conditions we’re facing.”

Gas Prices

There’s a saying in Arkansas: If you don’t like the weather, wait a day and it will change. In 2008, that same saying could be applied to gasoline prices.

From paying nearly $4 per gallon earlier in 2008 to just under $1.50 per gallon in late December, consumers have had a wild roller-coaster ride as prices shot up and down, sometimes several times in a single day.

Two gasoline outlets in Pine Bluff even engaged in a price war in November, each mimicking the other in dropping prices.

Speedway Food Mart at 101 N. Walnut St., and Ernie’s Exxon at 100 n. Walnut St., dropped their prices to $1.38 and $1.39 per gallon respectively, leading to long lines at both stations, and police officers having to stand by to keep customers in line and orderly.

JRMC 100 Year Anniversary

Jefferson Regional Medical Center celebrated its 100th anniversary during 2008, lauding the efforts of Mattie Crawford, described by hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Atkinson as one of the first volunteers, and her successful efforts in establishing a hospital.

JRMC announced a $1 million gift to the community during the 100-year celebration in October, with $300,000 going to demolish the Davis Hospital building on Cherry Street to allow the city to develop the site for, perhaps, a youth center, another $200,000 to be used for healthy lifestyle rewards, and a $500,000 endowment to be used to fund health screenings and health fairs.

Fatal accident cases

Suspects in two fatal vehicle accidents that resulted in the deaths of nine people went to court in 2008, one pleading guilty and the other being convicted of negligent homicide.

On Sept. 24, Roy Lee Jordan, 58, of Benton, Miss., admitted that he had smoked crack cocaine before his truck hit a car on U.S. 425 in July 2007, killing a mother and her four children.

Jordan was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of negligent homicide stemming from the accident which killed LaKetria Wells, 26; LaKiyah Wells, 7; Kaleb Jarrell Stokes, 5; Keyshon Wells, 4; and LaKayla Wells, 2, all of Monticello, and to misdemeanor driving under the influence.

In an exclusive interview with The Commercial before entering the pleas, Jordan said “he was sorry about the family that was lost.

“It was an accident, and I wish it had been me instead of them, but God chose them instead of me,” Jordan said.

In October, Stephen Williams, 28, of Bryant was convicted of four counts of negligent homicide and sentenced to 32 years in prison in the deaths of Althea Crapps, 50, of Omaha, Ark., and her grandchildren, Jada Crapps, 9, Hunter Crapps, 7, and Kaden Crapps, 4, all of Lead Hill on Feb. 6.

Williams had been accused of driving his truck with no headlights on the wrong way on Interstate 530 in the early morning hours, and striking the car driven by Althea Crapps head-on.

During the trial, several people who were with Williams described him as being drunk after they went to a Little Rock restaurant and two night clubs to celebrate the final day of Mardi Gras where Williams admitted drinking “seven or eight beers and the same number of shots.”

A blood alcohol sample taken from Williams at Jefferson Regional Medical Center was sent to the state Crime Laboratory and a representative from the lab testified that Williams had a blood alcohol level of .19. In Arkansas, .08 and above is considered legally intoxicated.

A week after the trial ended, the mother of the three children killed in the accident filed a civil lawsuit against Williams and the three Little Rock bars that served him alcohol.

I-530 Interchange

Work continued this year on the Interstate 530 interchange being built near the intersection of I-530 and Ohio Street, which will eventually serve as a connector between Pine Bluff and future Interstate 69 that will run from Canada to Mexico.

In 2006, the first section of the connector road, a 4.5 mile section between Wilmar and Arkansas 35 was completed and work on the interchange at Pine Bluff and a 16-mile segment stretching from near the Pinebergen community to 16 miles south of Pinebergen are currently underway. Both are expected to be completed by 2010.

Two segments of the roadway, north and south of the current construction, are expected to be put out for bids in 2009.

When I-69 is completed, it will be a 3,000 mile stretch, with 185 of those miles planned in the state.

Construction costs were initially estimated at $22 billion, but that figure has since increased because of higher costs for construction materials, including asphalt.

Youth Centers

Problems with the two aging community centers in Pine Bluff may become a thing of the past, at least if members of Goal No. 2 of the Pine Bluff 20/20 Initiative get their way.

That goal was to construct a new, multi-purpose recreational facility for youth and seniors and last month, the site of the old Davis Hospital on Cherry Street was picked as the location for the facility.

Jefferson Regional Medical Center donated $300,000 toward the demolition of the old building, and goal team members expect to interview architects interested in designing the new facility early in 2009.

Boyd Homicides

Of the more than 20 homicides reported in Pine Bluff and Jefferson County during 2008, none attracted more attention than the deaths of Cleophas and Minnie Boyd on Aug. 27.

The elderly couple was found in their burning home at 3124 Pennsylvania St. after police and firefighters were told by a neighbor that two elderly people lived there.

Two 20-year-olds, James Jordan III of Grady and Dewayne Gipson were each charged with two counts of capital murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated burglary, one count of arson and one count of theft of property in the deaths.

Police said the two had gone to the Boyd home to commit a theft, armed with an aluminum baseball bat.

“They each used that bat to beat the victims to death,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Kyle Hunter said during a probable cause hearing Sept. 2.

The couple’s car, a 1990 Oldsmobile, was missing when police and the fire department arrived, and was found the next day approximately five miles down Free Farm Lane of U.S. 65 in Lincoln County, near the entrance to the Department of Correction’s Cummins and Varner units. It had been set on fire and burned.

Three days after the bodies were found, detectives and SWAT team members served high risk search warrants at the Suzanne Apartments at 2123 S. Blake St., where they found Jordan, and at 3220 Ohio St., where Gipson was arrested.

Jordan and Gipson have been held without bond at the county detention center since their arrests, and if convicted, could be sentenced to death by lethal injection, or life in prison without the possibility of parole.