'THE PLACE WAS STRIPPED' Pope County Judge Ben Cross has had a rough trainsition.

A new wrinkle in Pope County,  where controversy brews over a casino project. Ben Cross, the new county judge, took office Jan. 1 to find the previous judge, Jim Ed Gibson, stripped it of records before departing.

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“The place was stripped of everything including paper clips,” Cross said. “I had to plug in phones. We don’t have computers. They literally cleaned the office of everything.”

File cabinets that held paper records for the last four years are empty, he said. Computer towers with hard drives are gone.

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When I commented that there are a lot of questions to be answered, Cross responded: “You have to eat an iceberg one chip at a time.”

I’ve been unable to get a response from Gibson.

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UPDATE: In a couple of weeks of trying, I haven’t been able to reach Gibson but the River Valley Now website got this comment from him this evening:

“I had ordered new computers for [Ben]. There were two brand new computers there that I told him over a month ago he could start them and set them up how he pleased. I only ordered new computers because we had been having problems with mine. If he had to plug in his phone it’s because the computer guy forgot to plug it back in when he left. All records are in storage where they belong.”

The article elaborated:

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When contacted Wednesday afternoon, former County Judge Jim Ed Gibson said he’d followed the same procedure for record keeping his office had used for many years. At year’s end, those records were moved to storage, upstairs at the courthouse. Gibson said he’s informed Cross some months ago, that new computers were on order; and his intent was to allow the new Judge to format those as his office staff saw fit. Hard drives from the old computers are also located in storage, according to Gibson. The former Judge said he also, some time ago; had informed Cross that he should order new stationery and letter head for his incoming administration; and that the Judge’s office would pay for printing, if he would submit a bill. Gibson said he never heard anything more from Cross about the matter. Gibson said, while his office always worked pretty lean, any remaining office supplies remained in the office, upon his departure.

I talked with Cross in the course of submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to the county judge’s office for communication to and from Gibson pertaining to a casino project for Pope County.

If records are intact I perhaps will be able to see the communications I’ve sought.

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Arkansas voters approved a casino for Pope County as part of an amendment on the ballot in November. Pope County voters signaled they didn’t want it and also passed a local ordinance requiring a referendum before the county judge could give approval to a casino project. Under the amendment, only a letter of support from a county judge or a mayor (if in city limits) is necessary for a casino permit application to be approved by the state regulatory commission.

The Cherokee tribe, a major backer of the statewide amendment, had been expected to eventually seek a permit. But the situation got complicated when a Mississippi casino operator said it had obtained letters of support from outgoing County Judge Gibson as well as Randy Horton, defeated for re-election as Russellville mayor. A lawsuit has been filed over Gibson’s letter and an attorney general opinion is in the works.

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Cross has expressed opposition to the casino. River Valley Now also got an interview with Gibson in which said his letter, while supportive of the Mississippi casino group, was not intended as THE letter anticipated in the constitutional amendment to meet the requirement of local approval for a casino application. Gibson has been subpoenaed to testify in the lawsuit over the issue.

PS: The rumor mill is cranking overtime in Pope County on the behind-the-scenes effort by the Mississipi group to plan for this surprise run at snaring a casino permit. The big political question is whether they’ve made inroads at the Racing Commission, as they did with the former mayor and county judge. They have not made new friends with the public at large, it would appear.

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