Washington newspaper reports the arrest of an Arkansas parolee wanted on a burglary charge in Arkansas. I suspect we’ll be asking for him back.

SPEAKING OF ARKANSAS THUGS: Backgrounding of accused cop killer Maurice Clemmons continues. It would appear he wasn’t out of jail long in Arkansas (after a return for what appeared to be a drug-related home intrusion heist in Camden for which he served only three years before parole) before Washington authorities suspected he was involved in a big drug dealing operation.

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Though Clemmons’ direct involvement remains unproven, the prospect of drug trafficking provides a possible answer to questions surrounding his income.

When he arrived in Washington in 2004, he was a paroled felon from Arkansas. His employment history reveals a series of menial jobs, but public records show he owned three homes in Pierce County, and raised a total of $42,000 to bail out of jail three times between May and November of this year.

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“I don’t think he was doing that through cardiothoracic surgery,” Styers said.

There’smore to know about this story. A violent thug of a teenager with a rap sheet as long as your arm is plucked from among dozens of teens with long sentences in the Arkansas prisons for exceedingly special treatment by Gov. Mike Huckabee simply because he says he’s found Jesus? The parole board quickly agrees he’s deserving, despite a terrible record of prison misbehavior. He robs again and he’s sprung relatively speedily, despite lots of time remaining on his first parole on an 108-year ride. In trouble in Washington, he manages, with the intervention of high-powered Arkansas counsel, to get a warrant lifted (perhaps properly, but still, he knew how to work the system). He posts tens of thousands of dollars in bail. What are we missing here about Maurice Clemmons’ connections?

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