Good afternoon,
I hope everyone has enjoyed this short week after Memorial Day weekend.
Even though the calendar shows the first day of summer isn't for a few more weeks, we in South Arkansas, know better...
I want to thank the Fordyce Police Department for hosting a lunch with all of my personnel and Fordyce police officers in attendance. We discussed several bigger cases we are currently working on together. I am happy to report our working relationship is alive and well! Thanks to Chief Chad Hubanks for setting this up. It was a very productive meeting, and this will be a recurring event. Everyone wins when this happens.
Please stay hydrated and take frequent breaks if you must work outside and drink plenty of water throughout the day. You can dehydrate so quickly with these higher temps we're having. Make sure your pets have plenty of fresh water. Check on your elderly loved ones to ensure that they are keeping hydrated and cool.
We have been working on the click-it-or-ticket campaign this past weekend. If you were around, you may have come through one of our checkpoints. These are designed to deter driving under the influence and make sure people are using their seatbelts. I will not go through every single stat, but a quick breakdown of the number of contacts made. There was a total of 143 contacts made this past weekend. 19 tickets were issued for no driver's license, 1 ticket for careless and prohibited driving, 10 tickets for no liability insurance, 1 arrest for DUI, and refusing to submit to a breath test. 9 no seatbelt tickets, 4 tickets for no child passenger restraint, and 2 tickets for littering. These are the more serious infractions we encountered during this special operation.
We requested assistance from the Arkansas State Police K-9 unit to do a surprise inspection of our jail for drugs. (See Photo) I want to thank Trooper First Class Dillon Robbins and K-9 Chaos for taking time out of their busy schedule to come to help us at the jail with the search for contraband. I am happy to report just a few items were found during the search with the K-9. Only a few prescription drugs were found, and no illegal drugs were located. I want to thank Major Ron Casey with ASP for approving the use of their K-9. For the record, no one acted up around K-9 Chaos. You will see why after seeing his photo!
Mr. Rucker and his crew had a busy week. Starting on Tuesday they picked up both trash and limb removal on the river road at Sparkman. They completed trash pickup on county roads 236-245 in Cartertown, county road 208 to highway 7, Palmetto Road, both trash and limb removal, and county road 113 to Jacinto community. Mowing was completed at the Senior Citizens building, Dallas County Health Unit, and Office of Emergency Services. In the middle of all of these duties, Mr. Rucker oversaw the inmates as they completed a top-to-bottom cleaning of the kitchen at the jail. We have ordered a new stove for our kitchen to cook the beans and cornbread. The current stove is over 25 years old. ALL of the inmate labor pods were cleaned as well. Mr. Rucker never ceases to amaze me. He keeps the inmate labor in check and busy at all times! What a great asset he is to our county and my operation.
Moving on to felony Friday.
A jury trial was held this past Tuesday. Gregory Behr, a native of Las Vegas, Nevada, was found guilty by a Dallas County jury of Possession of a Controlled Substance 2 grams < 10 grams a Class "C" felony, receiving 10 years in the ADC, and Tampering with Physical Evidence a Class "D" felony, receiving 6 years in the ADC. These sentences will run concurrently with one another. This case is a fine example of good solid investigative work on the part of my deputies. I commend the Dallas County jury for helping to keep another drug dealer off the streets of Dallas County.
God Bless,
Sheriff Mike Knoedl
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