TRUE GRIT: Bass Reeves was a real live federal marshal in Fort Smith and a statute of him is being placed there, to be complemented someday by a U.S. marshals museum. Tracy Pennartz sent the photo on Twitter.

  • TRUE GRIT: Bass Reeves was a legendary federal marshal and a statute of him is being placed in Fort Smith this week, to be complemented someday by a U.S. marshals museum. Tracy Pennartz sent the photo on Twitter.

Suddenly, all went dead. So how about I fire up the evening line early? I’ll add stuff as I see it. For starters:

Advertisement

* EVACUATION WATCH: J.N. Heiskell’s ghost was roused by a line in this 40/29 story about a suspicious package being checked by a bomb squad at a Walmart distribution center in Bentonville.

No one has been evacuated.

Thank goodness. People are not evacuated, the old JNH stylebook said (except, perhaps, during a Hot Springs high colonic.) Buildings, areas, cities may be evacuated.

Advertisement

* THE SLIMY SEASON: 4th District Republican congressional candidate Tom Cotton has been targeted by an unsigned, poorly spelled, factually challenged letter that has apparently circulated widely in the district. If half the stuff in the letter was true (well, he did go to Harvard), I’d have to recommend a vote for Cotton. Alas …

* CARD TRICKS: I wrote earlier about the casino-backed Stop Casinos Now campaign. Four days into campaigning against the casino ballot proposals, the committee finally filed its organizational papers. You wouldn’t know unless I told you that the Southland casino operator is bankrolling the effort. That outfit turns up nowhere on the committee filing. House always wins in the gambling game.

Advertisement

* POLITICKING AT THE PORT: Welspun, the Indian pipe manufacturer that has been lavished with government help to operate at the port, is going to host a dog-and-pony show next week for U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin to help him score points on President Obama for not immediately approving a dangerous Keystone pipeline route to tranship Canadian oil across the U.S. for refining and further shipment to foreign countries. He’ll point to big stacks of pipe sitting there. He might not tell you that Keystone pipe job has been completed and paid for and lacks only shipping. He might not tell you that the plant has just announced an expansion. He might not tell you that there are other pipeline projects in place all over. The immediate Keystone impact on Welspun is, in other words, slight. It has, at most, delayed some hours for temporary shipping yard workers who’ll shortly have other work if they haven’t gotit already. Rep. Rick Crawford of Jonesboro will be part of the show.

UPDATES UPDATES UPDATES

Advertisement

* BUS DRIVER CHARGED IN TRAFFIC DEATH: KTHV has news that CATA bus driver Allen Mems, 52, was charged with negligent homicide in the November traffic death of a pedestrian, David Wright, at Capitol and Louisiana.

* CRANK PRESIDENTIAL VOTES ARE POINTLESS: A Democratic Party spokesman tells AP’s Andrew DeMillo that fringe presidential candidate John Wolfe hasn’t complied with party delegate selection rules and thus won’t qualify for any delegates at the national convention, no matter how many votes he draws in next week’s primary. (Same thing happened in Louisiana.) This naturally will encourage continued Republican and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette promotion of his candidacy. Who needs rules to send a message to the Kenyan Muslim in the White House?

Advertisement

Arkansas Times: Your voice in the fight

Are you tired of watered-down news and biased reporting? The Arkansas Times has been fighting for truth and justice for 50 years. As an alternative newspaper in Little Rock, we are tough, determined, and unafraid to take on powerful forces. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, we are making a difference. But we can't do it without you. Join the 3,400 paid subscribers who support our great journalism and help us hire more writers. Sign up for a subscription today or make a donation of as little as $1 and help keep the Arkansas Times feisty for years to come.

Previous article Gallery 26: Strause, Smith Next article Tim Gunn, Rufus Wainwright and The Del McCoury Band to UCA