Brian Ingram, profiled in the Jan. 26 edition of the Arkansas Times for his decision to sell the D.B. Cooper cash he found more than 25 years ago, is on Oklahoma’s most wanted list for failure to pay child support.
He owes more than $50,000, according to Barbara Hatfield, the managing attorney in Oklahoma’s El Reno child support office.
Ingram’s ex-wife, Christy Austin, wrote the Times to say their daughter is 12 and Ingram has avoided paying child support for about 10 years. Now she hopes to track him down for a share of the D.B. Cooper cash sale.
Danny Thrailkill, Ingram’s Mena attorney, had no comment except to say, “This is the first I’ve heard of this.” D. B. Cooper was the plane hijacker who parachuted with ransom money. He was never found, but Ingram found some of the cash in rural Washington state.
Midtowne tenants
Much speculation attends the tenant lineup in Midtowne Little Rock, the open air shopping center rising at Markham and University. After promising a Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma when the project was announced, the Texas developer has gone silent.
Here’s something solid. The agency that reviews plumbing plans for new commercial operations has plans on file for these tenants in Midtowne:
Williams-Sonoma, Jos. A. Banks Clothiers, Ann Taylor Loft, Pei Wei Asian Diner (an affiliate of the wildly popular P.F. Chang chain), Chico’s, and White House Black Market, a women’s clothing boutique that sells everything in B&W. We couldn’t find a mention of Pottery Barn. Conventional wisdom continues to hold that Wild Oats will open a second Little Rock store in Midtowne as well.
Presidential numbers
You’ll want to tune into Channel 11 at 10 p.m. Thursday for Andy Pearson’s look at the long-shot possibility of a trifecta of Arkansas-related presidential candidates in 2008 — Gov. Mike Huckabee, Wesley Clark and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
This is the interesting part: Some poll results from Survey USA. We can give you a partial taste, but tune in for more intriguing stuff. From an automated phone poll Feb. 11-12 of 583 registered Arkansas voters:
• Is Mike Huckabee qualified to be president? 39 percent said he was qualified; 53 percent unqualified; 8 percent unsure.
• If the election were today and the candidates were Huckabee and Sen. Clinton, the vote would be 43 percent Huckabee, 52 percent Clinton and the rest undecided.
Let the Republican howling begin.
Suite deals
The new Arkansas Travelers ballpark in North Little Rock won’t open until 2007, but the club has begun taking applications for leases of the stadium’s private suites.
On offer: a “founder’s suite,” which includes a private bathroom, at $35,000 a year for five years; and 19 other suites with 12 outdoor seats and a comfy air conditioned space inside, $26,000 a year for a five-year lease and $30,000 a year for a three-year lease. The deal includes 15 tickets to all 70 home games, two parking passes and hostess service of all the usual ballpark fare and then some.