Between Editions

The investigation into an alleged shooting incident involving Union County Justice of the Peace Jack Reynolds and an unknown person has generated a lot of chatter in an online forum — some of it pretty heated.

Several commentators on the forum, entitled “Jack Reynolds Shooting Spree,” are even calling for Reynolds to resign from the quorum court. Click here to access the site.

Currently, the investigation against Reynolds is in the hands of 8 North District Prosecuting Attorney Chris Thomason of Hope. Robin Carroll, 13th District Prosecuting Attorney, deferred the case to Thomason after the Arkansas State Police completed its investigation into Reynolds late last month.

Carroll cited a conflict of interest because he serves as legal counsel for the Union County Quorum Court, on which Reynolds sits. Reynolds is also the chair of the Union County Finance Committee and the El Dorado Water and Sewer Commission.

Thomason told the News-Times last month that his office is still reviewing the state police file on Reynolds to decide whether or not to pursue charges.

The facts in the case so far are this: In a March 17 letter addressed to Maj. Cleve Barfield, commander of the criminal investigation division of the ASP, Union County Sheriff Ken Jones said that Reynolds allegedly discharged a firearm at an unknown person.

Jones provided the News-Times with a copy of the letter last month, but information on when the alleged incident took place was not included, nor were any further details.

Jones said he deferred the investigation to the ASP because of a “conflict of interest.”

Let us know what you think.

Photo credit: Warick.

Have you ever thought about how much salt you intake during a typical day? Unless you have high blood pressure, probably not. Click here for an interesting piece on the saltiest foods in America.

There’s a clothing store called Steve & Barry’s that sells cool, fashionable threads for under $10. Yeah, don’t feel bad, I didn’t know anything about them either. The New York Times today has an interesting piece about how the new fashion chic is “cheap.”

Suits me. Click here for more. FYI, Steve & Barry’s has a store in the Hot Springs Mall.

I created a special page, which you can access by clicking here, for Joan Hershberger’s Hawaiian vacation stories. Enjoy.

The El Dorado-based oil firm announced today that its income in the first quarter of 2008 totaled $409 million, thanks in no small part to crude oil prices. That’s more than triple the amount of last year’s first quarter numbers.

Click here for more.

Meanwhile…Murphy USA continues to offer the lowest gas prices in the state. Just not in El Dorado, where they’re headquartered. Did I mention that El Dorado is Murphy’s hometown?

Gas prices in our city are nearly 20 cents higher.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Honda Motorcycles.
This is the Honda VTX1300C.

As you may well know, the Bugs Bands and Bikes event will be held this Saturday, May 3, at Oil & Heritage Park in downtown El Dorado. It’s an event worthy of your attendance, especially if you like good food, music and loud motorcycles. Mel’s Seafood will provide the crawfish.

The event inspired one Plano, Texas, man — known on his blog as “Gonzo” — to make a 266 mile one-way trip to El Dorado last year on his motorcycle. Click here for more about Gonzo’s journey.