They're tomatoes, officer...

Jimmy Rutherford, 42, of Springdale was arrested Wednesday and charged with manufacture of a controlled substance, marijuana.

Rutherford claims he was growing vegetables in his backyard to sell at the farmer's market. He also claims some plants just sprouted up on their own and he thought they were tomatoes.

The value of the tomatoes that grew all by themselves was estimated by police to be worth $138,000.

Police conducted the search of Rutherford's home after receiving an anonymous tip.

Today's lesson is always be nice to your neighbors.

Chamber of Horrors

A membership in the Springdale Chamber of Commerce automatically gives you membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - whether you want it or not.

Editorials and columns noting that the US Chamber is damaging its reputation and credibility include BusinessWeek, PRWeek, Fortune Magazine's Marc Gunther, Newsweek , LA Times, and the Washington Post.

While many large companies and local chambers are distancing themselves - as far away as possible from the US Chamber and their lobbying antics, Springdale is still endorsing them and sending them your money.

The US Chamber is fast becoming known as the current political mafia with their biggest area of influence being state and federal elections. They vastly outspent every other lobbying group in 2009 with a budget surpassing the spending of BOTH the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee.

How long will it take for Springdale businesses and the local chamber to catch on that the US Chamber is driving down the wages of the customers that patronize the businesses of their members?

Conversations With A Stump

Asking the Springdale Chamber of Commerce for copies of invoices or receipts for their expenditures isn't much different than having a conversation with a stump.

This is a list of checks (marked with a yellow highlighter) that we requested to see receipts showing their purpose. These particular checks were chosen because they seemed to be written to many of the individuals also involved in a lot of the traveling going on.

In what has become typical fashion, we received nothing of the sort. What we did get was a few pages of their general ledger with lots of things blacked out.

It seems to me the more they hide their real spending, the more suspect it becomes. If these were legitimate expenses truly used to promote the economic growth of Springdale, wouldn't they want to prove it?

and the survey says....

In January of 2008, a company called Research Dynamics, Inc. out of Memphis, Tennessee prepared a marketing research study of Northwest Arkansas consumers for The Mullikin Agency.

Page 15 advises us to leverage the positive perception of our local fire, police and school systems. The report also mentions very negative criticism of the city government, city council and the financing of the baseball stadium.

Even after being read a description of what the Chamber of Commerce purportedly does, 45% of all respondents had NO opinion of them. How can that be when they claim to be responsible for every new business in Springdale?

Survey of Northwest Arkansas Consumers

I want to see a copy of Jeff Collins' study they have kept hidden.

The Fayettevillage Voice: Revenues Down Across the Board - March 23, 2009

Another Springdale Volunteer Coach Arrested

For the second time in less than a month, a volunteer coach in the Springdale School District has been arrested.

Christopher Wayne Foster, 27, of 14055 Wolf Drive in Rogers was  arrested Wednesday in connection with felony aggravated assault, kidnapping, promoting prostitution and theft of property.

Foster was an athletic volunteer at Central Junior High School.

Back in April Brett Wayne Foster, 21, of Fayetteville was arrested in connection with two counts of first-degree sexual assault. He allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old student who was a member of the Har-Ber High School track team.

It is unknown at this time if the two are related.

Springdale Athletic Director Annette Scogin needs to take a long, hard look at the screening process for volunteers. The current method is not working and is putting our children in serious jeopardy.

Another Earthquake

For the second time in less than a month an earthquake has been reported in Benton County.

The 2.6 magnitude quake hit near Cave Springs.

Happy Anniversary!

One year after Brian & Melonie Moore's exotic honeymoon holiday in paradise, they took what can only be described as a $10,436.88 anniversary trip to Istanbul, Turkey, paid for by the Springdale Chamber of Commerce.

I don't have any anniversary pictures, but I did manage to entertain myself somewhat on a virtual trip.

The downside to traveling this way was not getting the opportunity to stay at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida before boarding the cruise ship. The cost was not included in the payment to Norwegian Cruise Lines. It was $1,333.84 extra.

Joy to the World

In November 2009, the Springdale Chamber of Commerce paid for Joy Heuer, Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce and Eric Edelstein, Naturals General Manager to fly to Denver, Colorado for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Less than a month later, the chamber paid for another jaunt so these two could spend the Christmas holiday in sunny Orlando, Florida.

Edelstein admits they were a couple, making it even more unlikely these were actual business trips promoting the economic development of SPRINGDALE.

Flooding

Photo by Sarah Bentham
http://www.nwaonline.com/

Traffic backs up moving northbound on Thompson in Springdale as water floods the dip in the road due to heavy rains on Friday.

Definition of Deductible

–noun
the amount for which the insured is liable on each loss, injury, etc., before an insurance company will make payment.

Perry Webb scribbles "write checks" and it is done. If I am reading this correctly, the chamber reimbursed some employees in 2010 for their 2009 deductible.

Apparently, I am doing something wrong. I have to pay my own health insurance deductible. Do you?

Maestri's Succumbs to Tax Man

Among the oil paintings and Maestri family photographs, are the likenesses of Henry Mancini, Joe DiMaggio, Newt Gingrich, George Bush, and many others.

Maestri’s grandmother prepared meals in the restaurant over a wood burning stove, and diners ate by candlelight. Mary Maestri’s eventually added modern conveniences, but the food was still made with her original recipes.

Sadly, After 87 years in business landmark Italian restaurant Mary Maestri's in Tontitown has been shut down by the Department of Finance & Administration for failure to pay sales tax.

The owner hopes to reopen the restaurant soon.

UPDATE
Mary Maestri’s likely is permanently closed after owner Daniel Maestri on Thursday dropped his lawsuit against a state agency pursuing back sales taxes.

A real estate “for sale” sign near Mary Maestri’s indicates the land on which the restaurant sits is for sale.

Update

The Chamber of Commerce meeting minutes from October (pg. 2) says thirteen 'volunteers' went to San Francisco for the "I AM" campaign. The minutes do not disclose who actually was in attendance or what they volunteered to do while they were there.

In the January 2009 (pg. 3) Board of Directors Meeting Minutes, Bill Rogers stated that three volunteers had qualified for trips to San Francisco. Specifically, Brian Moore, Randy Mullikin and Derek Gibson.

The July American Express statement shows Paul Lawrence, Kevin Cortez, Dwayne Flynt, Randy Mullikin, Kim Umber, Derek Gibson, Heath Ward, and Rhonda Hughes purchasing travel packages to an unknown destination which may or may not be connected.

http://foiaspringdale.blogspot.com/2010/04/toast-on-coast.html
http://foiaspringdale.blogspot.com/2010/03/top-shelf-at-fishermans-wharf.html

Pet Food Bank

The Fayetteville Community Services Division has created a community Pet Food Bank called Ranger’s Pantry in an effort to assist families in financial distress to keep and provide for their pets.

Donations can be made at 2650 City Lake Road in Fayetteville.

Smile, You're on Camera!

The website for the City of Springdale recently added video coverage of many of their meetings including City Council, Advertising & Promotion, Planning Commission, etc.

Now you can see and hear for yourselves the truth about who said what instead of relying on Steve Caraway's sanitized versions.

The results are in ...

The Northest Arkansas Council Competitive Assessment report was released yesterday by Market Street Services in Atlanta, Georgia.

According to the results, the top five greatest challenges to attracting and retaining residents in Northwest Arkansas in descending order are:

Creating more quality jobs; transportation and infrastructure; cost of living and doing business; quality development and planning; and Pre-K-12 capacity, financing, and quality.

For the most part, the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers metro is lumped together.

In a few cases, Springdale was separated from the group. For example, more than one-third of Springdale's school population is classified as an English Language Learner (ELL) which may or may not be the reason Springdale was ranked the lowest performing school district in 2008. Although Springdale is listed as having the lowest graduation rate of the region, it is still several points above the statewide average.

The report states "compared to best-practice regions for economic development, Northwest Arkansas has comparatively limited resources for workforce development. Furthermore, available workforce services for incumbent workers and existing or prospective businesses are not featured prominently on any of the regional chamber of commerce websites and the regional WIA website contains only limited information and links to partner websites."

The complete report here.

The Puddin'

It has been nagging at me that the citizens of Springdale were promised monthly invoices for the use of the tax dollars the city hands over to the Chamber of Commerce. Here is the proof that we have been lied to.

In October 2009, the Board of Directors Meeting Minutes state that the chamber will provide monthly invoices for money - taxpayer money - put into a holding account and used by the chamber.

In November 2009 as the city passed the budget without even considering whether the money handed over to the chamber is a worthwhile expenditure the newspaper said "the chamber will segregate the city funds from its other funds, Webb said, using invoices to make payments from city funds.

Also in November 2009, the Executive Committee Meeting Minutes refer to Webb invoicing an economic development account.

And as previously noted, in December 2009 "The chamber plans to continue quarterly reports to the City Council said Perry Webb, chamber chief executive officer and president. The reports will include invoices to show the money spent from public funds. Webb said."

Where are the invoices???!!!

Shakin' in My Shoes

The US Geological Society confirmed a magnitude 2.5 earthquake occurred at about 11 AM this morning in Centerton - approximately twenty miles north of Springdale.

According to Haydar Al-Shukri, director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, a previously unknown fault in eastern Arkansas could trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake with an epicenter near a major natural gas pipeline. This fault, likely created in the last 5,000 years, has sparked at least one magnitude 7 earthquake in its history.

The fault is separate from the New Madrid fault responsible for a series of quakes in 1811-12 that caused the Mississippi River to flow backward.

Al-Shukri predicts this fault "...is going to be a major disaster."

2010 Best of Arkansas Survey

Click here to take the 2010 Arkansas Times Best of Arkansas survey.

Springdale Coach Arrested

The Springdale School District denies Brett Foster was an official volunteer coach for Har-Ber High School since he has been arrested on first degree sexual assault charges for having sex with an underage girl. However, he was allowed to ride with students on the bus and attend track meets.

The fact that the school didn't finish processing the paperwork doesn't negate the fact that he was put in a position of authority over the students he was given access to.

More Fluff & Stuff

The April 2010 Economic Development Report will be presented to the Springdale City Council tonight by the Chamber of Commerce.

This slick little newsletter or flier or whatever you want to call it - and you can call it anything but a report - is a pretty little fluff piece and virtually useless.

The local newspaper reported, "The chamber plans to continue quarterly reports to the city council, said Perry Webb, chamber chief executive officer and president. The reports will include invoices to show the money spent from public funds, Webb said."

I want to see the promised invoices and the City Council should demand to see them too. Especially the ones from their annual trip to Washington DC April 13-15 to pay off, I mean update John Boozman, Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln of the future plans for the Don Tyson Parkway.

Toast on the Coast

One of our fine readers has asked on more than one occasion if we have been able to determine who was invited to enjoy cocktails on the coast in San Francisco last September.

Even though we requested copies of all travel itineraries and travel agent statements from the Chamber of Commerce (which I cannot say were entirely provided) we are still unable to name names other than Rhonda Hughes, who signed the tab for the cocktail party.

Hughes turned in a reimbursement request form that Perry Webb approved. On this form it states the reason for travel is "TRC - San Francisco". But just how did she get to San Francisco without any airfare, lodging or car rental receipts? Is it even possible we just haven't found them yet?

I find it interesting that under the TRC codes of the CoC general ledger, the Hughes reimbursement is not listed, but I find it coded under 60200 (General Reimbursements). Relevant GL pages here.

Write Me A Check

Here are three more checks that we asked to see receipts or invoices showing their purpose.

What did the Chamber provide as evidence? See for yourself here.

Smoked Glass & Mirrors

For several years the Chamber of Commerce has written multiple checks in the amount of $1500.00 to Dotson's Glass & Mirror. Being naturally curious, we asked to see the receipts or invoices for what these checks were actually for.

Here is what we were provided. That certainly clears it up. I wish I had known all I had to do to get a check was make some scribbles on a note pad.

How's My Driving?

The sticker on the back of the O'Reilly Auto Parts delivery truck that crashed through the front of the Pontiac Coffee House in Springdale yesterday reads, "How's My Driving?" while the "OPEN" sign blinks above the blown-out window.

Photo by Sarah Bentham

How the Big Dogs Mooch

The Springdale City Council passed a new animal ordinance requiring all animals in the city to be registered and micro chipped.

The Morning News quotes Alderman Jeff Watson as saying at this meeting, "I don't think the city has any business telling me if I can breed my animal."

Is he kidding? First of all, they aren't telling you not to breed your animal. They're telling you there is a fee for doing so. This ordinance was intended to protect legitimate, ethical breeders while deterring unqualified individuals from breeding animals that could ultimately end up being euthanized at the shelter.

So is the city telling him what to do really the issue or is Watson just being a crybaby and a tightwad?

Compared to other cities with similar ordinances, $50 is a very reasonable fee for a litter license and the money would have gone into a fund for the spay and neuter program potentially deterring people that are tossing animals out their car windows or putting them in a dumpster.

This is a much more worthwhile cause than shall we say Watson's health insurance premiums that are conveniently (for him anyway) paid by the taxpayer's.

Secs. 14-38. Litter License; Dog Breeders License
(a) Litter license. Any person who resides in the city limits who owns, keeps or harbors a dog or cat that gives birth to a litter is hereby required to obtain a litter license for the litter from the Springdale Animal Shelter no later than seven days after the puppies or kittens are born. The cost of a litter license shall be $50.00 per litter. Any person who does not obtain a litter license as required by this section shall be issued a citation for failure to obtain a litter license.

(1) All funds generated from the city's dog breeder and litter licenses pursuant to section 14-38 shall be deposited into a fund established for the city's low cost spay and neuter efforts.