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Salesman in Shoffner probe resigns from securities firm
Steele Stephens, the securities salesman whose large share of state Treasurer Martha Shoffner's state bond investments triggered a federal investigation that led to a criminal charge against her, yesterday submitted a resignation by fax to his employer, St. Bernard Financial Services, based in Russellville.
Robert Keenan, chief executive officer of the firm, said Stephens, who worked from an office in his Little Rock home, did not state a reason for his resignation and did not talk to him. Keenan said he'd notified securities regulators of Stephens' departure for the firm. He left blank the reason for his departure on the required reporting form, because he said he could only speculate as to that.
Keenan continues to believe, as he told me yesterday, that Stephens was the as-yet unnamed confidential informant who was wired with surveillance equipment in a visit to Shoffner's house last Saturday in Newport. The informant delivered a pie in which $6,000 in $100 bills was hidden, the sixth in a series of similar payments that a federal extortion charge said were made in return for significant bond business. Two well-placed sources have told me Stephens was the informant. He has not responded to requests for comment. The cooperating witness was given immunity from federal prosecution for help that began in January 2012. We first reported on the unusual concentration of Shoffner's bond business in October 2011.
Steele's resignation came about the same time as Shoffner's resignation from her $53,000 state job, a term that runs through 2014. Gov. Mike Beebe will appoint a replacement to complete the term.
Environment
Morning report: ExxonMobil caught; city directors get big pay raise; the return of Ken Starr
The morning report:
* EXXON MOBILE CAUGHT MASSAGING MAYFLOWER SPILL DAMAGE: Interesting post on Daily Kos about documents obtained by Greenpeace through a Freedom of Information Act to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
According to the post, which provides links to the documents, ExxonMobil initially wrote a news release in early April claiming both Lake Conway and a cove that is connected to the lake were oil free. The cove, indisputably, received Canadian tar sands crude from the burst ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline. Conduits connecting the cove and the lake have been blocked. Exxon amended the news release after objections from ADEQ. To say the cove is not Lake Conway, as Exxon has tried to do, is a stretch, as Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has already pointed out. Emails also show reports from Exxon on benzene found in both the cove and the lake.
* TAR SANDS? WHAT TAR SANDS?: With the Mayflower spill standing as ugly testimony to the perils of pipelining, U.S. Rep. Tiny Tim Griffin of Koch Energy is rallying for House passage of the Keystone XL pipeline, an environmentally disastrous project through America's heartland designed mainly to help the Koch billionaires move dirty, problematic tar sands to refineries for export. Its a nominal economic benefit. It's fraught with peril to the Nebraska aquifer. Canadian provinces have refused to approve pipelines over THEIR land. But Tiny Tim thinks it's just great for the US of A, because he's wholly beholden to the Kochs, whose tar sand folly has produced a mountain of nasty byproduct in Detroit.
Meanwhile, Inside Climate News reports on Exxon's slow moving on reopening the Pegasus pipeline. Hints at questions about the line's integrity.
* LITTLE ROCK CITY DIRECTORS GET 75 PERCENT PAY RAISE: Little Rock city directors last night raised their pay from $12,000 to $21,000 a year last night, a 75 percent increase. I know, they technically raised pay $6,000 and gave themselves $3,000 a year for "expenses." But since no expense itemization is required and the money is paid in a regular lump sum, it's treated as ordinary income. A director need spend not a single cent on city service to claim the money. They got a $9,000 annual pay raise.
* 'BILL KELLER IS OUT OF HIS FLIPPIN' MIND": That's how Gene Lyons appropriately labeled a note with this link to a column by Bill Keller, former executive editor of the New York Times. He wants a special investigator to look into the IRS controversy.
The list of candidates could start with Kenneth Starr, who chased down the scandals, real and imagined, of the Clinton presidency
Yes, and Hick Ewing and Jackie Bennett, too. And the rest of the snipe hunting pussy posse.
Environment
Escaping traffic in America: The remotest place in Arkansas
From up East comes a link from a former Arkie about a website, Remote Footprints. What is it?
Remote Footprints is an idea rooted in our concern that the remoteness of the natural landscape is still continually diminishing despite America’s best efforts to preserve its public wildlands. We have discovered that the U.S. road network fills the national landscape so fully, that it is no longer possible to be more than 5 miles from a road within the vast majority of the conterminous 48 United States. The number of roads continually increases, even within many conservation lands. Opportunities for humans to “get away from it all” are all but gone outside Alaska. The roaring sound of roads, light pollution on the horizon, or line of sight views of civilization are next to impossible to avoid. The mental and physical health of a culture farther and farther removed from the natural world is at stake and worth saving. We have developed a unique and exciting approach to preserving remote and roadless areas, called Project Remote, and we invite you to browse our website to learn more about the problem and solutions for preserving America’s famed remoteness.
OK, that's all touchy feely. Here's the specific angle. Project Remote is aimed at identifying the most remote spot in each of the 50 states. Arkansas has already been visited. The remote spot is in the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in South Arkansas. (My cousin Jewell, late of Huttig, Ark., would be thrilled. He loved to take any and all fishing down in the wetlands.)
In addition to the YouTube of a trip to the spot, there's an extensive post with more photos, including this from a visit by canoe to the putative remotest Arkansas spot in November 2011:
The river floodplain swamp forest comes alive at night. Barred owls ”who-aw” back and forth. A coyote pack yelps wildly. A few arboreal insects are still calling despite the onset of winter. All night, we enjoy the sounds of Southeastern wildness. However, there is one unwelcome sound. US 82 roars constantly through the night, and dominates the other sounds, despite being nearly 3 miles away. This blows our minds. We had no idea that one could hear a road, and quite loudly, from such a distance. This is an eye-opener for us and provides further motivation for conducting Project Remote.
I'm thinking the website's standard for remoteness, distance from a road, doesn't fairly take into account some spots in the vast timbered stretches of both the Ouachitas and Ozarks. They may be right by a forest road, but traffic doesn't come along too often. Still, food for thought. Quietest place I ever traveled by road was the vast desert along the so-called Extraterrestrial Highway (for its proximity to Area 54) between Las Vegas and Carson City. You could hear nothing but wind. Below is their road coverage map of the state.
Rock Candy
Music / Coming soon / Theater / Contests
Got a great cocktail recipe? It could win you tickets to 'Jersey Boys'
- Jeremy Daniel
- The Times is giving away a pair of tickets to "Jersey Boys."
Who doesn't love a good cocktail, right? And who doesn't love "Jersey Boys," the Tony- and Grammy-winning jukebox musical that tells the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons?
Say, here's an idea: what if the Arkansas Times was to have a contest for the best "Jersey Boys"-inspired cocktail, and give the winner a pair of tickets to see the musical June 19 at Robinson Center Music Hall, plus entry to the official after-party at Boscos, where that person's winning cocktail would be served? Sound keen? Bet.
Here's the deal: email your cocktail recipe to tiffany@arktimes.com and put "JERSEY BOYS COCKTAIL" in the subject line. We'll select the most promising recipes, then your trusty and (very) seasoned Times cocktail experts will try them out and anoint a winner. The contest is open from through June 6, and the usual caveats apply (no Times employees, don't scalp the tickets, etc.).
Feel free to get all crazy and "mixologist" with this thing, but know that if your recipe is too out-there, calling for emulsified durian oil or pulverized fresh loganberries or something else that no self-respecting bartender has ever heard of, then you might not win. Cool? OK. Aaaand... go!
Music Videos
Johnny Cash mashed with Jackson 5, Steve Miller
Here's what you get when you combine "Rockin' Robin" with "Folsom Prison Blues" and "The Joker." What say you — abomination or finger-snapping good time?
The mash comes courtesy of DJ Faroff.
H/T: egotripland
LRFF
Little Rock Film Festival 2013 award winners
I'll have more on my impressions on this year's festival tomorrow. In the meantime, here are this year's prize winners.
Oxford American Best Southern Film Award ($10,000 prize money): "Bayou Maharajah"
Heifer International Social Impact Film Award ($10,000 prize money): "These Birds Walk"
Golden Rock Narrative Film: "Short Term 12"
Golden Rock Documentary Film: "Dirty Wars"
Extraordinary Courage in Filmmaking: Jeremy Scahill ("Dirty Wars")
Arkansas Times Audience Award: "Bridegroom"
Made in Arkansas Best Feature: "45 RPM"
Made in Arkansas Best Short: "The Discontentment of Ed Telfair"
Made in Arkansas Best Director: Mark Thiedeman for "Last Summer"
Made in Arkansas Best Actor: Liza Burns in "45 RPM"
World Shorts: "When We Lived in Miami"
A previous version of this post incorrectly listed the World Shorts winner as "When We Live in Miami."
Cover Story
A guide to the 2013 Little Rock Film Festival
Event Calendar
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Re: Conservationists call for Buffalo protection on river, hog farm tour
Willie, we are all quite aware of the oil being consumed these days, which is…
- on May 22, 2013
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Re: Morning report: ExxonMobil caught; city directors get big pay raise; the return of Ken Starr
"A tiny insignificant incident brought down by presidential hubris."---Steven E
Breaking into Democratic headquarters…- on May 22, 2013
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Re: Morning report: ExxonMobil caught; city directors get big pay raise; the return of Ken Starr
What brought Nixon down was 't the original crime, it was the cover up and…
- on May 22, 2013
Arkansas Reporter
Efficiency program from Entergy Arkansas could save you money
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May 22, 201321-year-old Ramon Mathews is charged with shooting 50-year-old Randy Warren. fox16.com /more/ -
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May 21, 2013The owner of a Taekwondo studio in Lonoke County was behind bars Tuesday charged with sexually assaulting one of his young male students. fox16.com /more/
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