Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Arkansas newspapers:
The governor’s call
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Aug. 30, 2017
The case of Jason McGehee, he of Arkansas’ prison system and Death Row, has been in the papers for years. There’s not a whole lot of gray area here. The facts are all pretty much settled.
And the case may be, too. Back during the spring, the state’s Parole Board took the unusual step to vote to spare this man’s life. And sent that request to the governor. Late last week, the governor did his job as he saw fit and announced his intent to grant clemency to Jason McGehee. The inmate will likely serve the rest of his life in prison without the chance of parole. But avoid the executioner’s needle. (The governor has a 30-day review period before making his decision final.)
According to court transcripts and Jason McGehee’s own admission, he was caught up in a terrible murder in 1996. He was convicted of kidnapping, beating and killing a 15-year-old boy named John Melbourne Jr.
Mr. McGehee was convicted along with several others in the killing of John Jr. in retaliation for the boy’s telling police about the group’s petty crimes. Jason McGehee doesn’t contest his conviction or his role in the murder when he was a 20-year-old himself.
Even prosecutors never accused Jason McGehee of delivering the fatal blow. But that he was a part of the gang that did the deed. The person who was convicted of actually killing the boy was young enough to avoid the death penalty and will be eligible for parole in less than 10 years. Only then non-minor Jason McGehee was given the ultimate punishment.
Thankfully, the law is written and interpreted by humans, homo sapiens, man the thinker. Robots can be of help predicting the weather, but they shouldn’t be left to decide life or death among humans. Clemency is built into our system because justice without mercy, judgment and thought is no kind of justice.
Speaking of justice with judgment, see the judge involved in Jason McGehee’s trial, who wrote a letter to the state recommending clemency - something the jurist had never done before in a long career. Or see the former director of the Department of Correction who spoke favorably about Mr. McGehee. Or see the clergy who minister on Death Row, who’ve said Jason McGehee helps prepare church lessons.
And see the Voices guest columnist of this past Monday, Carissa Renee Melbourne, who’s the sister of John Melbourne Jr.
Ms. Melbourne writes that she asked the governor to spare Jason McGehee’s life. And, she noted: “I believe Jason has a purpose on this earth. He will be such a positive influence on other inmates. Not to mention the positive things he can do, even if it is from a prison cell.”
Which brings us to the governor’s decision and the example we noted above.
There are many examples to beware in this story. But over the years, all associated with him say Jason McGehee has provided an example to emulate.
He’s accepted responsibility for his actions. He’s asked for forgiveness. He’s been a model prisoner. He helps other prisoners behind bars. If Jason Mc-Gehee doesn’t deserve clemency - with all the details available in his criminal case and all the people who spoke on his behalf, including family members of his victim - then what possible motive could other inmates have to be model prisoners? If there is no hope, for anybody, then what’s the point of becoming a better man on Death Row? We can only imagine how tense things are on the inside already, but take away all chance of hope …
Yes, clemency should be reserved for special cases - very special cases. Juries matter, and should continue to matter. But elected officials, such as His Honor Asa Hutchinson, matter, too. We the People bestow on them these powers for a reason.
This option was built into the system just for these kinds of cases.
Lest we forget, mercy is justice, too.
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Efforts must be made to avoid more FOIA violations
Southwest Times Record, Sept. 3, 2017
City officials recently found themselves in hot water over a series of emails some Fort Smith directors used to discuss a situation behind closed doors. The city got off easy when a prosecutor last week declined to press charges while saying the directors did, indeed, violate the Freedom of Information Act by engaging in an email exchange. City directors deserved to be called out for their actions, because the emails represent a disregard for the FOIA as well as a signal to the public that it’s OK to conduct the public’s business behind closed doors. Calling the law “ridiculous” does not clear the way for the law to be violated. Saying you don’t understand the law is equally inexcusable.
City attorney Jerry Canfield issued a letter to prosecutor Dan Shue stating that the city disagrees with Shue’s opinion that the emails constituted “meetings” in violation of FOIA. It’s fine to disagree with a law, but it’s not OK to break it, even when you believe you aren’t. Calling the law “ridiculous,” as City Administrator Carl Geffken did during a criminal investigation concerning the possible FOIA violations, is troubling. Public officials should not be OK with public business being conducted in private. City directors were elected so that they can represent the people of Fort Smith. By having behind-the-scenes conversations out of the public’s view, that representation isn’t being met. How can citizens of Fort Smith trust their representative if there is a mindset that doing things behind closed doors is OK? Even if the emails didn’t violate the FOIA, as the city attorney says, they still go against all that the FOIA stands for.
Fort Smith officials can’t continue to plead ignorance to FOIA laws when there are so many examples of governing bodies being called out for discussing business out of the public’s eye by using email and other means to communicate. Take a look at the situation the Fort Smith School Board found itself in during the past year. A judge ruled in June that although no intention was found to deceive the public, the board violated the Freedom of Information Act in October when members proposed a new slate of officers by email to vote on at their next meeting. In his ruling, Sebastian County Circuit Judge Stephen Tabor explained why an email exchange between members of the school board was indeed a “meeting” and no prior notice was given to the public as stipulated by Arkansas law.
The issue with the school board happened in the city directors’ own backyard, and yet, directors proceeded with their email exchange with apparently no thought or concern about the potential to find themselves in the same legal trouble. The May email exchange referenced potential actions the board could take regarding the Civil Service Commission when the commission did not approve a change in hiring policies. Police Chief Nathaniel Clark’s request to accept applications from external applicants for positions above patrol officers was denied. This decision kept in place a policy that requires a promotion of internal applicants.
But the merit of the discussion is irrelevant, as it was in the school board’s case. Public business is public business, whether it’s an easy issue or something more complex. Telling a Fort Smith resident that the emails can be seen by anyone who wants to see them via a FOIA request is unfair. Anyone who wants to understand the deliberation among elected officials should be able to hear discussions at a city meeting, announced ahead of time, as per FOIA laws.
City directors have been warned that any violation going forward would mean another investigation. Shue stated in his letter to the Board of Directors that “if there is another occurrence of ’conducting public business in this fashion’ the Sheriff’s Office and my office will be compelled by the law to take further action” and that he agrees with the Sheriff’s Office report that “FOIA training still appears to be relevant to the issue at hand.”
? … no violation like the ones that have occurred should be allowed to occur in the future. The public deserves to be privy to all of the Board’s hard work, not just some of it,” Shue goes on to say.
We advocate for regular training on FOIA laws - at least once per year and following any election where new members join a local governing body. Public officials, including the city administrator, must be proactive on this. It must be done without fail. Fort Smith School Board members underwent the training in March, and the Fort Smith Board of Directors has made plans to conduct its own training later this month.
The training is long overdue. City directors have said their prior training was either brief or took place years ago, and one city director said he’d never received training at all.
We marked the 50th anniversary of Arkansas’ FOIA this year. It isn’t going away, and as media continue to change, the law will adjust accordingly. City directors and other members of local boards must keep the law in mind anytime public business is a topic. We doubt any of these boards wants to go through more of the legal trouble troubles we’ve seen this year. Continue to serve the people by representing them in public, as you were elected to do.
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Abuse, inattention, neglect threaten county’s archives
The Jonesboro Sun, Sept. 3, 2017
It’s a shame Craighead County circuit clerks have allowed the county’s bound record volumes - some dating back to statehood - to fall into such a state of disrepair and disorganization.
The large books, which detail land surveys, court cases, tax records and other important historical information, are literally falling apart due to abuse, inattention and neglect.
People have been allowed to walk in off the street and go through the books without adequate supervision. Pages have been ripped out and many of the volumes are literally falling apart due to age and careless handling.
The situation is so dire, some are held together with duct tape and string.
Stored haphazardly at the courthouses in Jonesboro and Lake City, the volumes at both locations are kept in random sections and different rooms with no organization. Quite frankly, it’s a huge mess.
So how did it get so bad?
That’s on the circuit clerks, who are the official custodians of the records. They’ve apparently ignored their care for decades.
The situation has become so desperate, the president of a Jonesboro title company started voicing his concerns to Circuit Clerk Candice Edwards, who has held the office since January 2015.
Seeing the light, Edwards is hoping to remedy the troubling situation.
“We had a researcher who needed to research some farmland back to statehood in one of the books,” Edwards told Sun reporter Pat Pratt. “Because it was such a massive job, the president of the title company helped him, and when he saw the status of these books, he was just mortified.”
Steve May, president of Professional Title Services of Arkansas, said the books are not only important to preserve historical records, but the absence of those records would make it impossible for title companies to do their jobs.
“It is very hard for us to do our jobs if the public land records are not maintained properly,” May told Pratt. “If the books are deteriorating and falling apart and the documents inside are falling apart, we are going to begin, over time, losing that history.”
May is so concerned he’s willing to make a donation to the county to move forward with a restoration project.
We applaud his initiative.
May is hoping the other three title companies in the area will do the same and that the county will help fund the project.
It won’t be cheap.
Restoring a single volume could cost upwards of $1,000. Between both courthouses, there are hundreds of books.
You can do the math.
But that’s what happens when basic services are neglected for years. Circuit clerks should have been restoring several books on an annual basis, budgeting for their maintenance and organization. Now, the project is almost too big of a mess to remedy.
Of course, spending tens of thousands of dollars restoring the bound volumes will do absolutely no good if better controls aren’t put in place for their storage and care.
The first order of business should be to get the books organized, their condition noted and then stored in one central, climate-controlled location where their use is monitored. No one should be able to walk in off the street and start going though the books willy-nilly. They should be checked out, one at a time, like at a library. Their use should be in a designated area under video surveillance to ensure their care.
The volumes are public records and should be treated as such, with respect and care.
Most counties across the country maintain similar archives, but in controlled settings and with money budgeted annually for their maintenance.
That’s what Craighead County needs to do before important history of our county is forever lost.
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